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Injuries will severely test Sounders’ depth
3.9k Plays15 days ago
The Sounders just finished playing seven games in 21 days, but did not escape remotely unscathed. In addition to losing Paul Arriola to an ACL tear, Pedro de la Vega and Jordan Morris also went out with muscle injuries.
In “What we learned this week w/Niko” Jeremiah and Niko Moreno discuss how the Sounders managed all those matches and how well positioned they are to overcome them.
They also think now is the time for the Sounders to use some of their flexibility to bolster the roster.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters.
00:00:16
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now i get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Come on.
00:00:36
Speaker
Hey, O'Shea. Let's go. I'm sorry, Mike Fry. The Seattle Sounders have done it. I don't know.
00:00:57
Speaker
founder that has come nila so
00:01:17
Speaker
This is a tiny dog. Nice work on your little yacht thing. Ever since that we didn't take over seriously.
What We Learned This Week
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adietes. This is Friday. i am doing another episode of What We Learned This Week with Nico. And of course, I'm Jeremiah Chan, joined by Nico Moreno.
00:01:55
Speaker
Not the funnest day to be doing this show. It's a little bit, you know, it's cold out there. There's some clouds in the sky, little bit of rain. There was some hail yesterday.
00:02:05
Speaker
i think that's kind of what we're seeing if we were to put that into like this metaphor of what's going on around the Sounders right now. I mean, yeah we'll we'll get into everything that's going on with the team, but it wasn't just getting bounced out of CCC at CCC.
00:02:23
Speaker
a you know, Stadio Universitario against Cruz Azul, but it's much more than that. So that's what we're here to tell you. We're here to just more of ah providing our opinions. We're kind of giving you a broadcast of of what's going on, kind of the the weather. We're telling you how things are going, what we're hearing, but it's definitely not good, Germán.
Impact of Paul Areola's Injury
00:02:45
Speaker
It's not good. So the big news today was sort of a quadruple or even a quintuple whammy of unfortunate availability news. First and and foremost, Paul Areola, they confirmed, has an ACL tear.
00:02:59
Speaker
he They did not say he's out for the year. They said he was out for an extended period, but that he's out for the year. Yeah, you and I can both say that can – we can ah Give an educated guess, if you will. it took him he has done this He himself has done this injury before, other leg. It took him 10 months to return.
00:03:19
Speaker
Players do not suffer this injury in March and come back the same year. That's just not how it works. And it would make sense for Seattle to put him on the end of the year ah list. Season-ending injury. Season-ending injury.
00:03:31
Speaker
And be able to get some of that cap for him back, go get another player. So... That's the reason why everything that we can positively and accurately look at indicate that he's more than likely, almost surely, out for the season. Yeah, and and I would think that that's from a, you know, and I suppose that provides some sense of relief. I actually think it would be a little bit of a mistake for them to even hold out hope for him because not only is there a short term cost of you can't if you don't put him on the season entry list, you can't recoup his salary cap hit, which is something like six or six hundred and fifty thousand dollars is a significant amount of money.
00:04:11
Speaker
ah But it also just creates a ah unfair expectation of a player coming back. I mean, he would have to come back in eight months or something like that to even get in for the playoffs, which would be an almost unprecedented time frame to come back in. So I don't think that's a realistic thing to put on him. i don't think it's a realistic thing to put on fans.
00:04:34
Speaker
it's not an unreal It's an unrealistic thing to put on the Sounders organization. ah And then, the but the other bits of news were also kind of
Sounders Player Updates
00:04:41
Speaker
disappointing. ah Jordan Morris has a strained... Hamstring. Hamstring.
00:04:46
Speaker
ah They clarified that Pedro de la Vega has a strained quad. And then, Yemar is also out with ah personal matters. don't know if you want to get into that at all, but he's going to just miss this one game. He went back to Colombia.
00:04:59
Speaker
He went straight to Colombia from... Mexico. From Mexico. Yep. And then on top of that, Brian Spencer has missed the last couple days with an an illness. He may or may
Brian Spencer's Health Challenges
00:05:08
Speaker
not travel. It sounded like he's probably not traveling to St. Louis.
00:05:12
Speaker
You know, that's a more of a minor frustration, inconvenience. It looks like I would assume Freddy Juarez will probably be the coach. ah He's who talked to the media yesterday. ah i don't know why they didn't make any him available again today, but whatever. They they didn't.
00:05:26
Speaker
um But yeah, that's a lot of what that's a lot of unfortunate news to come out in one day. Yeah, I think they were still hoping that Brian can make the trip, but yeah or maybe just making it seem like there was a way that he could make the trip. But both you and I know that it's very unlikely, again. yeah what are we doing here? Yeah, I don't really see but We do wish Brian Spencer our best. We hope that he is not dealing with anything beyond maybe some, ah you know, a flu or flu or something that's minor. I really do. like he's He's been under a lot of stress and things like that. He has sounded a little under the weather recently. He has, and we know that he's had, so and that's where my mind went when I heard about it. He's had some things with like his skin where, i don't know if you remember that. Yes, yes.
00:06:10
Speaker
With the scab. Yes, yes, yes. From the bottom of my heart, did kind of got taken back by the news where I'm hoping that there is something like that. I mean, sounded like it's on... that serious? no, Because they were still saying like there's a possibility he could, like, he's day-to-day is basically what they're calling So I'm hoping he's a fool. Maybe I was thinking you way too far into it, but we do wish him our best.
00:06:30
Speaker
um The Yammer situation, yes, there was a family matter. It's what it sounds like, and he's obviously not going to be at the St. Louis game. But he should be back. But he'll be back.
Pedro de la Vega's Form and Injury Concerns
00:06:41
Speaker
He'll be back. The the biggest ones here are Pedro de la Vega, Jordan Morris.
00:06:46
Speaker
Pedro had been very good, he Yeah, I think he looked great. He looked fantastic. He looked at the best that we've seen him since he arrived. And he's unfortunate. Having fun.
00:06:56
Speaker
Having fun. he And, you know, with all of this, like, hunger. And that's what I really like. Me and you were both, I think, in various parts of the preseason and during the regular season, we both kind of pointed out at moments. i was like, man, this guy is hungry.
00:07:10
Speaker
He wants to get out here and play. And that's something that they're they're really going to miss. Yeah. to the other end, there is that, ah man, is he injury prone? I hear it all over. God, this guy is broken. This guy, he was soul broken. He's lemon. Return him to the auto shop, whatever it is that people are saying. i feel like at times it's a bit unfair, but but but I do understand where he's coming from because there has been a history of injuries and regardless of how good he was when he was healthy,
00:07:41
Speaker
In some ways it almost makes it more frustrating because it's like you think you've turned a corner. Exactly. He came in so much better shape. He looked better. He was playing better. And to sort of go through this cycle again after only playing in five games or whatever, six games, it's just it's a it's disappointing and it's frustrating.
00:08:02
Speaker
you know i i would say i draw some hope from you know he was out at training today on the side. He was. Great point. Which I think is a sign that it's maybe not the most serious injury and that maybe they're just being a little cautious in terms of giving a timeline.
00:08:17
Speaker
And it should be said it was four to six weeks from his original injury. So he had now already been out for a week. Actually, yeah, he's been out for a week. sure And so you can say it's maybe three to five weeks.
00:08:30
Speaker
I had heard originally that they thought he would be out two to three weeks. That's still in the ballpark of of possibilities. ah you know But it's a blow, and it's it's a bummer. But you know fingers crossed.
00:08:42
Speaker
ah On a more positive note, Reid Baker Whiting did participate in – he was a partial, but he did participate in parts of training today. So you'd like to think he's maybe a week or two away from coming back.
00:08:53
Speaker
ah That would help, especially with the Paul Areola situation. Kim Kihee still is not training in full, but my suspicion is next week he'll be training in full. So, you know, and there's some more, you know, that doesn't necessarily impact. It would be nice to have him this week with Yamar out. He is. that would It would be.
00:09:12
Speaker
um but But just like you you put it perfectly, I've been hearing the exact same things is that he is still weeks away. They're... Definitely being cautious as well with not putting him in a position where he's going to be exposed or have a bad first game, if not worse than injuries. So...
00:09:30
Speaker
um There's enough depth there. I mean, I feel like J. Bell has been decent enough. yeah I thought that he hasn't you know made this team look any worse. I know that a lot of people like to point to certain moments where I think it was the LAFC game, the Perla Martinez goal that was all Martinez, by the way, that was fantastic, where he loses the ball.
00:09:52
Speaker
But I mean, that happens to absolutely anybody. And he beat a bunch of guys in the box, too. He beat everybody. That was an amazing goal. I mean, he he was fantastic. And, you know, he he's a guy that has those qualities. So I don't want to put that on J-Bell. I think he's been good.
00:10:05
Speaker
ah He has the right qualities. He's physical. So I think he can provide some of that Yammer-ish attributes that he brings to the field. So... There's obviously a drop because he's no Yammer Gomez and Ryan. don't want to say that, but he definitely holds.
00:10:19
Speaker
He's a good placeholder for it, especially over one game. The big one, though, and it'll probably serve as a segue here before we talk about the Cruz Azul game very briefly. Jordan Morris.
00:10:31
Speaker
Clearly, man, it's unfortunate the way it happened, when it happened. But it does bring us the biggest question out of any of this season. injuries if you will, because there's only one really main starter with a long-term injury in this,
00:10:51
Speaker
I don't know, grouping of of injuries, and it is Jordan Morris. And he played the most. He had the most minutes. He'd been the guy that started.
Jordan Morris and Team Dynamics
00:11:00
Speaker
He did not start one game, I believe. you played Yeah, the only game he didn't start was the LAFC game, and he played half. He played half. He had to.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah, and, you know, i I'm sympathetic to the idea that they could have rotated more there. I'm also sympathetic to the idea that The Sounders have been monitored. i I mean, I assume that they everything we've been hearing is they've been monitoring. They believe that he had the he had the capacity to do this stuff.
00:11:27
Speaker
He has been one of the healthiest players on the team really since his ACL injury. He had gotten himself into a position where he could handle multiple games a week. He had been playing, you know, all last season at the end down the stretch.
00:11:38
Speaker
he was playing all these games, but maybe it was a little early in the season to be pushing him like that. I agree. And I think it's fair. It's a, it's a fair thing to ask. I don't think it was some horrible mismanagement, but it does tie into the way they're using Jesus Ferreira, which is not at the number nine that might change this week, but they have been for whatever reason, not wanting to use him in place of, of Jordan.
00:12:03
Speaker
They had not been wanting to, you you know, they, they just, they hadn't been doing it. And, ah He has not really gotten a lot of looks in front of goal. He did get one very good look against the Cruz Azul. had some boo-boos.
00:12:17
Speaker
But, you know, it does call into question what they see what they're seeing out of him, why he isn't playing more. You sort of asked Brian, you you directly asked Brian about that in the postgame, and I would say he answered the question. i don't know how straight with you he was.
00:12:32
Speaker
He basically said it was a tactical choice, and they wanted to make sure he was ah but he was available for St. Louis, but that sort of comes back to... Is it a fitness issue? Because they have not said that, but it does seem like that must be part of it is they just don't trust him to play a lot of minutes yet.
00:12:48
Speaker
But then of course, who knows? So I was frustrated because he was very vague, but then because
Jesus Ferreira's Role: Is He Being Utilized?
00:12:54
Speaker
you are my, you know, counterbalancing and you keep me, you know, straight lined.
00:13:00
Speaker
I do think that he answered the question and maybe it was my fault for not asking ah follow-up question to that. But that's what I wanted to hear. I just want a reasoning and understanding why the biggest signing that you had ah in the offseason, the guy that has been portrayed as the guy that was going to put your team from being in a a An offense that struggled to score to be in an ah offense that was going to be prolific at that particular part or aspect of the game, or at least the one that brought the answers to those unanswered questions as the nine. And...
00:13:40
Speaker
He's played zero minutes instead of Jordan Morris. People have said, well, you know, let's not worry about Mosovsky because he's the third option. He's the second option. he He's been the second option, or that's the way that Bryant sees it. And look,
00:13:55
Speaker
I want to give Brian the benefit of the doubt. There is a lot of things that Ferreira does that you can say, hey man, I'd rather have him a little bit deeper, bringing the ball up, being creative. You saw that wonderful ball he put into Kalani in the LAFC game. He has three assists. He's got great vision. He's a guy that could definitely do a lot in the creative components. He almost set up Jordan a goal in the Cruces tool game.
00:14:18
Speaker
he He put a great ball for for Jordan Morris. His link of play is very good. We've talked about his IQ. But at the same time, the depth and in that area of the field is a lot broader than it is at striker.
00:14:35
Speaker
You could basically put Ovid Vargas a little bit higher, put JP next to Christian. then You could play Danny Leyva. You could play ah Manungu, where he's played him there in the in in the past.
00:14:47
Speaker
There's just so many more options there. And that's my frustration. So if there's something wrong with Ferreira, if there is a conditioning concern, if there's whatever is that they're thinking behind not having your biggest acquisition play 90 minutes in six games of 2025, want to know.
00:15:08
Speaker
i want to know And that's all I was going for. Yeah, and it'll be interesting to see how they use them this weekend. And more importantly, it's going to be interesting to see how they use them in the following weeks. Because after this game, they have basically two months straight of note of single game weeks.
00:15:24
Speaker
And that's going to be a lot. you know There's going to be ah ah you know several, you know three or four, maybe five games that Jordan isn't available in those times. And hopefully, this is all building up.
00:15:35
Speaker
for you know The argument I made in ah in the column I wrote this week is as much as you built this roster to withstand the rigors of multiple competitions, yes you also built this roster to withstand injuries.
00:15:48
Speaker
100%. And so it's it's frustrating to be knocked out of this tournament. Don't get me wrong. I would love to be going on in this tournament. but the reason you But the reason you built the roster you did is not just for those tournaments.
00:16:00
Speaker
It's four times exactly like this one. yep is that if you have a deep team, you shouldn't have a big step back because the way I look at it right now is hopefully we see Jesus Ferreira starting at the number nine.
00:16:14
Speaker
And then all of a sudden the the roster around him looks okay. If you have Albert Rusanek, if you have Georgie Menungu and Paul Rothrock as wingers, if you and then you go all the way back and it's like, okay, this is not that different than the roster that went on a really good run last year.
00:16:29
Speaker
So we'll see. And that's exactly where my frustration falls sometimes because and this might just be my personal opinion, and i don't know if people hate to hear me talk about me and my opinion, but that's just what I do. because Not the listeners. so non listen not Not the listeners, but you know maybe there are people outside of the listeners that are frustrated with me providing my my opinion. But...
00:16:52
Speaker
there seems to be some sort of miscommunication when it comes to the roster built on what Craig and and and the front office see to what Brian sees. Because when I talk to Craig, when I talk to anybody that decided to bring in Ferreira. They're like, hey, this is going to be our second striker. This is going to be the guy that's going to facilitate and help out the fact that Jordan Morris was the only one.
00:17:20
Speaker
And that just hasn't been the case because whether Bryan rates him up there or not, or he sees more things from him playing deeper, it still goes to the depth component.
00:17:32
Speaker
And that's exactly what you just said. yeah When we were talking about how good this team was, the floor was as high as it was, the depth was as good as it was, we were putting things in certain places.
00:17:44
Speaker
And that's just not where I have seen it so yeah When everybody's falling on Craig Weibel, because I hear it, oh, this is exactly it. Oh, well, you know, it's interesting that Paul Arriola and Ferreira weren't the answer to getting to the next RNNCC.
00:18:00
Speaker
Shut up. that that's That's not what it is, right? I mean, it just, it's very circumstantial. And it is about where players have been played. But I do understand the frustration behind it. I mean, I understand the frustration. Going out against Cruz Azul is definitely a blow.
00:18:17
Speaker
um But, I mean, the reality is that the reason you sign these guys isn't just, like I said, it's not just for Champions
Sounders' Roster Depth: Is it Sufficient?
00:18:23
Speaker
Cup. It's for, you know this is, to me, this is really the test of the roster build. It's not so much whether or not you advance past Cruz Azul. Cruz Azul has a more talented team. Yes. Club America has an even more talented team. There was no world where the Sounders were gonna just go standing toe to toe with these two teams. They might, I mean, don't get me wrong.
00:18:42
Speaker
They are capable of beating those teams on their day. yeah But there was no roster build that you were gonna put together that's gonna be a better one to 30 roster than those teams, because that's just not how this works.
00:18:53
Speaker
But the real test of this is right now. When they go through this next stretch of games, and they're all of a sudden in the Supporter Shield race, You say great dr roster build. Absolutely.
00:19:05
Speaker
If they don't, then you start... then it's I think there's a lot of fair questions to ask because the whole point of having depth like this is to withstand an injury to a Jordan Morris, to withstand an injury to your starting left wing back.
00:19:17
Speaker
So let's see how this works out. And it's going to be interesting to see how the Sounders manage it too because I do think it it makes sense this week, especially with Yamar out, that they'll go to 4-2-3-1 because it yes it puts...
00:19:29
Speaker
ah puts ah John Bell in a better spot to be next to Jackson Reagan than to start getting wild with trying to fit three center backs in there. But after that, once Yammer comes back, my suspicion is that they'll go back to the 3-4-2-1. think so.
00:19:45
Speaker
and that would in that and And so be interesting to see how you know how that looks. i it you know it this is This is a blow to the depth of the roster, no doubt, but I don't know. I think it's going to be it'll be interesting. And I think it's it's I'm not freaking out yet about this the situation because I do look at the roster and I still like what I see. I still I still see guys coming off the bench who I'm I think can be can do a job.
00:20:11
Speaker
ah Not as much as it was before, admittedly. Yeah, but but but this is your straining test or your tension test. yeah And you the more I talk on you know your platform, I hope that people get used to my analogies because I'm all about analogies.
00:20:26
Speaker
But this is one of the things when you put a product out yeah and you say, this is how much- Stress test. a Stress test, that's what I was looking for. Please forgive my English. ah but But that's what I was looking for, right? I have a product, they're safety glasses.
00:20:38
Speaker
I need to make sure that they can withstand this X amount of force. This is what the Sounders are going into. yeahp And they're going to have a big one here against a very good, very ah disciplined, difficult to break down, St. Louis team. And we'll talk about that later on. But...
00:20:56
Speaker
This is what you're getting into. And this is where, whether you or I or the pundits were right or wrong about how deep this team was, this is where it
Adapting Game Strategy with Injuries
00:21:08
Speaker
meets. This is where the threshold is going to be set.
00:21:11
Speaker
The bar is going to be set here going on out. And I'm just i'm curious about it. and um Again, all these injuries are unfortunate. There's no doubt about that. But we're hoping that this roster is built to withstand it.
00:21:23
Speaker
Yeah, and and mean I do think that one of the challenges is going to be like what they do to change. I do think the starting lineup is actually pretty solid. Yeah. But the question is, how do you change games from here? And I'm not quite sure what game changes there are coming off the bench right now.
00:21:37
Speaker
Danny Masofsky suddenly is elevated into your top offensive player off the bench, which is a challenge. Not my favorite. He got a goal. And I'm happy for him, but he's not what I want to see. But, you know, otherwise you're looking at bringing in Danny Leyva, who's a fine player who I actually like a lot, but is maybe not the most offensive player.
00:21:56
Speaker
But you're probably going to, we're probably going to see Obed Vargas moving up the line sometimes. We're probably going to see Kalani Kosarianzi coming off the bench and trying to sort of alter things a little bit. ah So it'll it'll be interesting to see how they manage this This next stretch of games, like I said, I'm not down in the dumps about it, but there are going to be some challenges and it'll be interesting to see.
00:22:18
Speaker
Was there anything that you felt like you learned about this team out of the Cruz Azul match? Or are you, you know, you talked about the idea that there is some sense of people sort of blowing off, being eliminated.
00:22:34
Speaker
You didn't like that.
00:22:36
Speaker
You didn't like the idea that people were just saying it's no big deal that we got eliminated from concrete. No, that that was my biggest complaint or you know pet peeve about the way people were taking this. And again, this is just my opinion.
00:22:52
Speaker
But when the fan base is complacent with saying, hey, you know what? It's all right. I did not expect the Sounders to get through this round of CCC and maybe we should just focus on MLS and and that's okay.
00:23:09
Speaker
Look, and again, this is just me talking. But I have seen this team lose their elitness and their... um Overall thought as an elite team in MLS over the last four to five years, I've seen their commitment and investment in in players decline over the last four or five years.
00:23:38
Speaker
Let's not decline and lose the expectation and standard of a team that every single time that they go into a tournament, they want to come out with silverware. Because I believe it, because I know Adrian says it, and every player in that locker room believes it.
00:23:56
Speaker
I believe it. And I think that fans should believe that as well. We should not see a decline on everything surrounding that. I look at that stadium, and I see...
00:24:08
Speaker
the attendance decline and the experience decline to what it was just five years ago. And I find myself thinking as someone who's covered this team as long as I have, why is that happening? Why why should that be the new standard? It should not be.
00:24:26
Speaker
So if we've already lost that physically, i don't want to... have that be the new mentality for this squad. well These teams should go into every single tournament trying to win it.
00:24:37
Speaker
And again, this Cruz Azul game was was difficult to watch. But at the end of the day, i expected this team to do better. yeah And that is what it is.
00:24:50
Speaker
I still believe that you lost this series at home yeah where you had every single opportunity with six players out at home with things in your
00:25:03
Speaker
most controllable atmosphere to win this series. And you didn't. You didn't put him under pressure. And then in the second game, every single one of those players that I told you were key components, yeah they came to play. Rotondi was amazing. Charlie was great.
00:25:20
Speaker
Sepulveda was on every ball. I mean, all those guys that we talked about, they were game changers. So should that be the responsibility for the Sounders to have taken more of a...
00:25:31
Speaker
aggressive approach. We asked Freddie for worries about it. He said, look, there's a disrespect on the overall roster. I get it. i I respect his thought process on it, but it was a missed opportunity. it makes me frustrated. It was a missed opportunity. And I'll say two things can be true. One is that Cruz Azul was a better team, but the Sounders had an opportunity to put them under it at home and they didn't do it.
00:25:56
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild.
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00:26:03
Speaker
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00:26:47
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:27:17
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:27:55
Speaker
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00:28:11
Speaker
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00:28:24
Speaker
And if you look at their run in 2022, they basically held serve every time they went on the road. They tied ah Olympia. They tied Leone. They tied New York City.
00:28:36
Speaker
And they tied Pumas all ah on the road. But what they did at home is they smashed every single one of those teams. Yeah. They put themselves in a position. points. And that's what they didn't do in this in this one is that they did they had the opportunities. And I don't think it was from a lack of aggressiveness.
00:28:52
Speaker
I just think it was from a lack of execution and a lack of sharpness that, you know, they should have had two or three goals at home. And i think you and I both said this on the last show that 0-0 was technically a better result than 1-1.
00:29:07
Speaker
Admittedly, Vancouver... got 1-1, and moved through. They did. And it was, so even though it may have been technically a better result, I think emotionally ah getting that goal, but especially just not scoring at home, I think, put them under it a lot. And even, they you know, they had a decent 5-10 minute start to the road leg.
00:29:26
Speaker
And then once they didn't find a goal, they were really under it from minute 10 until, really until, uh, the miss that Ferreira had at the 58th minute where that was a killer because if he hits that, which was a great run by Rothrock, a greatra run great piece of service, and he just skies the shot from the essentially from the penalty spot, that was a bummer.
00:29:50
Speaker
And really from that point forward, it was the Sounders were were in trouble. And let's talk very briefly about that. I have a couple of notes. one That was Christian Rodin's worst game that I've seen him play since I started covering this team.
00:30:03
Speaker
He was not good. I do not expect him to have a repeat of that. mean, it was bad in terms of possession, precision passing, overall spacing. That first touch was just not there.
00:30:16
Speaker
yeah thought Obed Vargas was... just as bad, to be honest. I mean, he was not very good. He seemed like he was rushed, like he was pressured. Everything about those two pivots, which is such a big component that in the system. The strength of the team, yeah. Yeah, the system needs those pivots.
00:30:33
Speaker
They were both very poor. And the fact that Overall, as a team, you're just sloppy. Coming out of the back. The center backs, they could not possess, they i mean how making a whole position no they can not they, I mean, how many times did they connect five or ten passes in the same sequence?
00:30:53
Speaker
Almost never in that group. Never. Almost never. Yeah, it was a very sloppy game, and it was sort of, and Brian talks about this sometimes, is you get into this cycle of defend, defend, defend, and then as soon as you get the ball, you just give it away.
00:31:05
Speaker
And that was sort of the cycle that they fell into this game. And I don't know that it's it's, I think it stands out whenever it happens to the Sounders because they're so good about not doing it. They are good about it. But when it does happen, it's like, oh, geez, this is one of those games where they just cannot connect passes.
00:31:20
Speaker
And, you you know, they're they're sending clearances when they have ah connecting passes that they could make, or they're just missing connecting passes, or they're turning it over in bad parts parts of the field.
00:31:30
Speaker
And it just is this cycle that repeats, and they end up, especially at altitude like they were, it just bears down on you. And I know it's funny, there's this there's this prevailing narrative that the Sounders are particularly bad at altitude, and playing at altitude is
Challenges of Playing at Altitude
00:31:44
Speaker
a challenge. play It is. Talk about it. Playing at mexico in Mexico City is definitely a challenge. ah it is there these are These are real challenges, but the Sounders, I don't think, are any worse at dealing with it in general than most teams.
00:31:56
Speaker
If you ignore the RSL game, They actually have a pretty good... the If you ignore all the ah RSL games, they actually have a pretty good record at altitude. They've been very good against the Rapids. They they looked good against Antigua, which is at altitude.
00:32:09
Speaker
But, man, it but when things go bad, it's very easy to... steamroll and a like a snowball, sorry, and to sort of get into this habit of like, we can't catch our breath. We feel like we're drowning out here. And that's sort of what ended ended up happening against Cruz Azulay. No, and that's exactly it, right? And Steph talked about it today. He was very clear.
00:32:30
Speaker
If you don't think that altitude makes a difference, it makes a difference. You just have no idea. You're not an athlete. You you don't go here. It's not just the the the oxygen and how difficult it is to run, but it's the way you strike a ball, the way a ball drives through the air. The way legs feel.
00:32:49
Speaker
Everything about it. Look, as someone who has grown up in common ball where Bolivia, one of the most limited national teams in our area,
00:33:01
Speaker
seems to have only a chance to play well at La Paz, at the highest possible altitude that we have in South America, yeah it's because they they have an advantage because it is different.
00:33:13
Speaker
I'm telling you, the way you kick the ball, when you look at this game, there were so many times where there was a through ball to Jordan and he felt like he had just a little too much. right That's that altitude.
00:33:24
Speaker
And it's just a little bit more. And you could practice on it, you could do anything on it, but it it does have... it is a it is a factor on it. So let's not go too much into it more beyond that.
00:33:38
Speaker
That's kind of what happened. Cruzour was a rightful winner in this one. They ended up making a count. Maybe the last goal, the last two might have been Letting it down a little bit. Yeah, letting you down. Sounders are trying to push for ah for a score, and you get caught up in a certain the really frustrating goal, though, was the Rothrock penalty, which yeah there was no... They were in the... It was so frustrating. They were in it They were in the game. They were they had just... you know they They were looking like they were starting to get to find the game a little bit.
00:34:09
Speaker
And then all of a sudden, ah Paul... just runs up the back of a player. There was no danger. there was just sort of a sloppy play. And again, look, I didn't love Bryant's substitutions. And I don't want a Monday quarterback. I heard somebody say that, by the way. Keep giving me stuff on comments. I love that.
00:34:29
Speaker
I read it. I live off of it. to I really do. I'm not trying Monday quarterback it, but when I was watching that game, I felt like JP was a guy that could have brought a little bit of possession, of experience, of let's...
00:34:45
Speaker
Just hold it down a little bit. Christian was, like I said, he didn't have a good game. I feel like he should have came off. He was lucky, lucky not to get a red card on the VAR call that he did because I thought he was a little bit... i will say that yeah I think he was lucky because VAR recommended a red card. And I actually was frustrated with that because...
00:35:07
Speaker
I mean, he to me, he wins the ball. He clearly wins the ball. It's maybe a sloppy follow-through, but I don't know. i just don't like to see... like it It wasn't like a dangerous tackle. it just was sort of... But it could have been taken as reckless. But it could have been taken as reckless. yeah and and i think that's And so in that sense, he was lucky.
00:35:24
Speaker
Obed was also lucky not to get sent off for a second yellow card. Really lucky, frankly, not to be second a second yellow card. So it was just a was just a sloppy all-around performance yeah from... yeah The Sounders. And that's why I don't, you know, um this is not an indictment on the team.
00:35:42
Speaker
and And I don't want anybody to think that yeah the season's over, let's crash out. There's no more, you know, silverware that is going to come onto the team. No. It's okay to be upset about being, you know, bounced out of CCC.
00:35:54
Speaker
But I i expect the team to do better. And I expect Obey to learn, Christian to learn. Yeah. Yeah. k Christian is one of the greatest sounders of all time, in my opinion. I mean, I've i've watched them, and I'll never remember i'll never forget when i was asking Siggy why he wouldn't play him more, and Siggy would be like, you don't know shit. That's right. Siggy was serious, man. he he i What I love about Siggy is that he told me straight up, you don't know shit, man. I'm i'm on the coach.
00:36:21
Speaker
And from then on to here, I mean, Christian has been outstanding, so I'm i'm not trying to, like... dog him in any way. i just He had a bad game. And I expect him to do better next time. And yeah that's just the way circumstantial games go. So now we'll move on to St. Louis, which we'll talk about.
00:36:39
Speaker
And we'll see how this team plays out. Yeah, so St. Louis comes. The Sounders go to St. Louis. They have never lost, actually, to St. Louis. They're 4-0 against St. Louis, including two wins in St. Louis. But this St. Louis team is different. 4-0 in Wentz?
00:36:52
Speaker
Yeah. they Oh, wow. yeah therere yeah they've I think they've had an own goal in every game. Okay. the senator of me that' says I'm going to put some juice boxes here in a second. I'm getting after the muck after this.
00:37:04
Speaker
Well, this is a different team. St. Louis looks very good, and it's in not necessarily in the way that they have. This is a team in the last few years has been very press heavy, sort of ah a Red Bull style approach.
00:37:18
Speaker
And Olaf Melberg has come in and been very defensively sound, but not necessarily in the same way. Yeah, and you could definitely tell that this team, they haven't conceded a goal.
00:37:31
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, they haven't conceded you know at all, and I have some notes on this, but they haven't conceded any goals. And I feel like this team, after that 3-0 win over the Galaxy, can also...
00:37:44
Speaker
Bring the ball up. They're very well they're good on set pieces, especially. Very good on set pieces. I thought Klaus was good. Hurdle was the best player in that last particular game. I think he gets himself some really good positions.
00:37:56
Speaker
Klaus is a very good link-up play, and he's a hold-up striker where he's going to create habit. He's going to make teams collapse or the defensive line collapse on them. Mm-hmm. So Seattle's going to have be very polished when it comes to the way they attack, but they're also going to have to be very good at how they break this team down.
00:38:15
Speaker
And that's why I'm so curious on how Brian's going to set up for this one. Or Freddie. up Or Freddie. I'm sure Although Brian has probably set him Brian's sending some yeah you know some notes at the very least on how he wants to play.
00:38:29
Speaker
I think Freddie... It's going interesting seeing how Freddie maybe handles in-game substitutions. yeah But in terms of the way he's set up, I expect it to be Brian. And the other thing is, I do... I mean, i don't know how big of a deal this is, but Freddie is the guy...
00:38:44
Speaker
during games where he'll sit up in the bo in the booth and relay notes that he's he's getting from the broadcast. So it'll be interesting to see how they manage that. I wonder if if Andy will go up there or if they'll just have an assist like one of the other assistants handling that.
00:38:59
Speaker
I don't know. But it and it is an interesting little little quirk. What else have you liked from St. Louis that you've seen? ah the The midfield play. ah Luan, because I always have um leun yeah leuvevin have a hard time with with the German. yeah it Might be a Hispanic thing, but Luan, I feel like he's so good at getting players into space. So when we're talking about a four-man back line, but three when when it comes to the buildup, any time that you lose the ball, going to be those three.
00:39:33
Speaker
The way Bell, Reagan, and Nuhu react to that, I'm curious of because Lohan could put a ball anywhere he wanted.
00:39:44
Speaker
He's like this guy that could put the ball into a dime and he any moment in time. So I do want to see some discipline and awareness on where the line is. We've talked about consistently that these Sounders teams used to play with a pretty high line most times. I don't expect that to be any differently in this one.
00:40:04
Speaker
I'd be surprised if they play more of in a mid-block. for this particular game, but that's what we're going looking for. So Lohan, very good. Harlow's the guy. Tuchard?
00:40:16
Speaker
Tuchard, he's another guy that I feel like gets in great position. So overall, if if i'm if I'm being honest here, my biggest question is can the Sounders break this team down?
00:40:32
Speaker
Because right now, without Jordan, without Pedro, is Ferreira going to be the guy up there that's going to be... He's going to have the responsibility to provide either that speed behind their own back line or create as a false nine, as everybody believes Ferreira to be his best position, and how much the wingers can provide.
00:40:55
Speaker
How much can they really stretch out that defense? Yeah. There's a lot of things that I like about St. Louis, specifically at home, because they do have a great record at home. And they're a great atmosphere. And they've got a great atmosphere. So regardless of what you just said, because like I said, that that they made me kind of question some things because of how good the Sounders have been against the St. Louis team. Yeah.
00:41:18
Speaker
But this is a different squad. And it seems to be ah team that plays from the back to the front where we're gonna figure out how we're gonna be disciplined, how we're gonna be hard to break down, and then everything else will just fall forward. Yeah, you know, a funny little detail about the last time, the Sounders actually, yeah the last time they they played St. Louis at home, ah John Bell started and scored in that game. Off a set piece, I believe.
00:41:45
Speaker
Interesting. And I feel like that's somewhat what the Sounders need to take my advantage of. They haven't, you know, it's funny. They've been pretty good. They they have like 14 goals this year across all comps.
00:41:58
Speaker
All 14 goals, I believe, have come from open play.
Capitalizing on Set Pieces
00:42:02
Speaker
I don't think any of them have come off set pieces, have they? Oh, no, I guess technically the goal is... No, the Paul Rothrock one against... Yeah, that's true. The Rothrock one and honestly the goal that they scored against... Pumas. Cruz Azul. Yeah, I mean Cruz Azul, yeah. Yeah, that was a step used Yeah, but Paul Rothrock on that play... Yeah, you're right. It's a setup. No, you're 100% right. You're going to play it at the top of the 18. He puts it away. Yeah.
00:42:24
Speaker
But all in all, it's going to be a difficult game. Yeah. And I'm curious on... Is JP going to get more time? Are you going to be able to just...
00:42:36
Speaker
Because it was Tuesday. mean, it wasn't that long ago that you played Christian 90, Obed 90. do you kind of flip those two? You got... I would imagine this is one of those games where we will see Leyva come in and they'll either move Leyva up into one of the kind of dual tens or they'll move Obed there.
00:43:00
Speaker
yeah and give him a little bit more of a an opportunity to get into the attack. Obed has not been, you know, it was funny when we talked all, there was a lot of talk this offseason about Obed raising his offensive game, and I don't think he's been bad this year, but he hasn't been nearly as ah dangerous offensively as I think a lot of us expected him to be. And he after it might to do with the system. And it could be the system. and And that'll be interesting is if that's another thing that could come out of this stretch of games where he's maybe being, they need him to be a little bit more ah putting himself out there offensively because they are, their their offensive depth is taking a hit. There's no question about it. Like, like whether or not you like the starting lineup and, and I think I, I'm a, I feel good about the starting lineup.
00:43:44
Speaker
The options off the bench just aren't the same anymore. No, no. They had been being bringing able to bring Paul Rothrock off the bench. They'd been able to bring Georgie off the bench. They'd even been able to bring Jesus or Pedro at times off the bench.
00:43:55
Speaker
None of those are going to be ah bench options at this point. So most of your, you need to get more productivity out of the rest of your roster. yeah And they i the reality is they lost eight eight of the goals they scored this year are now injured. Sure.
00:44:10
Speaker
ah That's a blow. That's ah that's a problem. blow. 100%. Yeah, they need Jesus. Rusnak to kind of... Rusnak's actually been, I think, very good so far.
00:44:20
Speaker
But they they need these players to continue to be productive and to maybe even step up. Yeah, Alba's been good, but I expect him to be great. And that's that's me, right? When you have that DP role, when you have that...
00:44:36
Speaker
When you're that cam, right, people people lot of times get caught up on, oh, you know, Pedro was the 10. He was the guy, you know. Don't worry about that number. Yeah. He might have 11 on his back, but he's the guy that's supposed to be the Nenico. He's the 10. Yeah, yeah. He's supposed to be the guy that puts this team on his back. So I expect him to be better than he has.
00:44:56
Speaker
I thought he was a little bit MIA. Yeah. in the Cruz Azul game. He was not good in the Cruz Azul game. There's no question about that. And again, nobody was good. but Nobody was good. But but he was MIA. And that's the guy that I'm expecting that he's clapping his hands, let's go, let's get ready. Now, that's not him.
00:45:10
Speaker
But maybe just with his play he could do that, and he didn't. And, yeah, and so this is an opportunity for him to sort of do that. And, yeah know, we'll see. ah Anything else from this week that stood out to you?
00:45:23
Speaker
ah I think one of the things, you know, i wrote about this Off of the press conference last week, I wrote a little bit about how My concern with the Sounders getting so adamant about getting their own stadium, this is a completely different subject, is that I don't want them to lose sight of the current problems.
00:45:44
Speaker
Like they can't look to seven years from now and say, well, we're going to move into our own stadium eventually. So we don't have to be worried about what's going on right now. And I think that would be a huge, huge mistake to just treat the current environment at Lumen Field as something that's just going to sustain itself in any way because it's not sustaining itself it's getting worse and for all the good words they're saying about uh knowing they need to improve it i don't know that we've seen a lot of that in action and that's my concern is that this team i don't want to lose sight of they should hold like going back to one your earlier points this is a team that's got to where it is by holding itself to a very high standard and i don't want to see them
00:46:27
Speaker
lower that standard, especially when it comes to home atmosphere and sort of the entertainment value of coming out to a game. And, you know, part of that, I do think that the soccer side, the talent identification side is actually doing a pretty good job. I think they've put together a very competent roster, but they aren't being given the same resources that a lot of the top teams in MLS are being given.
00:46:49
Speaker
That's why we haven't, we've seen the Sounders pay two transfer fees in the five years since COVID. That's a that's ah appalling level of it is a pile of of investment into the roster.
00:47:00
Speaker
They've invested in other ways, but they need to be, ah and especially right now, when they have these injuries, they need to be willing they need to be wheeling and dealing. they need to be like There are moves to be made, maybe even before the transfer window closes,
00:47:16
Speaker
that are maybe don't even require transfer fees, but they need to be prepared to spend some money and to do some stuff because this is the time to kind of capture the imagination of fans when you're getting ready to go into the Club World Cup.
00:47:27
Speaker
Let's close this podcast there because I love that you brought that up. And we started with that. Let's do a circle. yeah I'm not going to say anything. The F word almost comes out. But let's do a circle on it because that is the reality. Look, I have...
00:47:41
Speaker
for better or for worse, been judged on saying, look, this team is not ambitious. and And I'm not afraid to say that they are not ambitious because maybe they're not ambitious to the point of Miami or LA Galaxy when they brought Beckham and all these stars, but they've been successful. This team has been successful and there's no doubt about it. Look at the trophy case.
00:48:06
Speaker
Look at what what what they've done. There is a infrastructure that has worked. However, do I believe that the investment has been less? Absolutely.
00:48:19
Speaker
Do I feel like Craig Weibel today has a lesser budget than Lagerwey did? Undeniably. It's undeniably, right? So that's where...
00:48:32
Speaker
Me and you, as you especially, feel like you take a lot of heat by people who believe that you're like this apologetic person towards the club. You are not. You are someone who believes that this team can do better.
00:48:45
Speaker
And a lot of times people just... Take that notion and run. And people have put me in both places, whether, you know, hey, man, you you're just there for the team. I've been told that I get paid by the team. And then I've been told that I'm this a-hole that is a negative Nancy. right But the reality of- That's a sweet spot right there. I'm trying to be right in the middle. You know, I'm trying to be right in the middle. And I feel like that's where we both lie.
00:49:13
Speaker
But we cannot deny is that there has been a decline on what you just talked about, the experience, the fan base on the stadiums, the investment into this team, and that needs to be figured out because when I see a team that in 2016 won a championship, that in 2019 had a full stadium of people, an atmosphere that I've never lived,
00:49:39
Speaker
Even in Colombia, going to Bogota, Estadio El Campin, Millonarios, Nacional, full stadium. The atmosphere I left here was amazing. 69,000 plus that day. And I think we sometimes lose sight of the fact that it was 2022, post-COVID, they packed Lumen Field for a CONCACAF Champions League yeah final. Yes.
00:50:04
Speaker
this There is a huge fan base here. I see it every day on Sounder Heart. We have a huge, sizable subscriber base. These are people that are willing to pay real money to read about the Sounders.
00:50:17
Speaker
No team in the MLS has an audience like the Sounders do. no No one has a fan base that is this big and just ready to be activated and ready to get excited. And for them to sort of treat it like, well, what are we gonna do? We don't own our own stadium. I just think is such a defeatist.
00:50:33
Speaker
And ah I hope they don't go down that road of thinking because there is energy to be mined. And the Club World Cup, they're not gonna go win the Club World Cup, now but you can get people excited about the k Club World Cup, and more importantly, you can use it as an excuse to build a roster that can compete for MLS Cup, that can compete for League's Cup, that can go out and maybe even win the Supporters' Shield.
00:51:00
Speaker
but they gotta actually put some resources into it that go beyond, like you can't moneyball it forever. No, i not you cannot. At some point, moneyball catches up to you, and I think that's what I'm a little worried about is use the talent identification strengths that you have and let them actually cook, you know?
00:51:21
Speaker
and use everything else, right? right with In today's day and age, we're talking about three U22s that you should be able to go out there and get something off. go use it like They need to use the season.
00:51:33
Speaker
If Areola has to have his ACL done, he's out for the year. Put him on his injury list. Replace him. Yeah, 100%. And then in the summer, if not already, but go get a For me, it's got to be a striker, in my opinion. yeah But whether it's not or whether it isn't, just go get somebody. Make me excited. Make me want to go to the stadium.
00:51:57
Speaker
Make me want to spend $600 to sit in a club seat for the Club World Cup or whatever it is. I think you told me that. I mean, that that's what I want to see from the squad. So...
00:52:08
Speaker
Again, all I want to put out here on the record is that a lot of times people have certain conceptions about you and I. And I want to very make it very clear because we don't hide from shit.
00:52:18
Speaker
Me and you don't. And excuse me, the S word. It's okay. Me and you don't hide from anything. i read every comment. I laugh at every comment. I've been... but By the way, I got... I don't said this here, I said it in Love is Courageous.
00:52:30
Speaker
I got crapped on by the Messi fans because I said something about Messi. Oh, really? And you know Miami, and I got some crazy bots coming Oh, my. But I don't mind, man. All I know is that you and I both are thick-skinned, and we're going to talk about things the way they are.
00:52:46
Speaker
We're going to be as objective as we can. Yeah. But again, we're going to be true to ourselves. Right. That's the thing. It's like you hit you can't... you We got to face our readers every day. We have to face the sounders every day. we are here to like receive the feedback and we just got to be honest about what we're seeing. And sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad and sometimes it might come off as apologetic and sometimes it might come off this way or that way. But I assure you that it's coming from a place of honesty. And right now what I see is a team that needs to ah invest and get people excited. And I hope that that's what they do.
00:53:19
Speaker
I gotta face Brian every day. and I love the comments on people between me and Brian. Why is Brian me? know whatever Don't worry about that thick skin. Don't worry about it don't don't worry i know bri yeah believe me. Believe me. Me and Brian, you know what we got our thing going on, but this is the reality, man.
00:53:36
Speaker
This is my favorite quote from my favorite movie, one of my favorite movies. Remember the Titans. it It is, I don't dance unless I hear some music. I don't scratch my head unless unless it's itching.
00:53:47
Speaker
And I'm not going to be intimidated by anybody to say what I need to say. That is me. I'm going to call it like I see it. And we'll handle it beyond that there. So I appreciate all of our listeners' comments.
00:54:01
Speaker
I hope you guys like this. We're getting way beyond here. I know. don't know where we got up. I have no idea, man. But I'm excited, man. I am hyped about this podcast. You got all this red going on the recording. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:12
Speaker
all right It is late. I know that. I know. well Anyway, that's a good place to call this. Thank you, Nico Moreno. ah You, of course, can find him on El Pulso. You can find him on all the socials, Rolo, NW.
00:54:26
Speaker
ah And, of course, listen to him on Lobbing Scorchers, where he is ah cooking always, especially on Mondays. Yes, Monday mornings. At 8 a.m.? Yep, 8 a.m. 8 a.m. I can't believe you guys are up at 8 a.m. I can't believe I'm at 8 a.m. I got second cup of coffee. I got iBurgers. It's bad, but um but I'm out there.
00:54:45
Speaker
I'm out there with my guy, yeah Ari, trying to make it happen. Absolutely. ah That said, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is Nosadietes, and we will catch you next time.
00:55:29
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!