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The Worst 6 Minutes of Soccer Ever Played - Ep. 93
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It’s unfortunately an emphatic L pod as the Seattle Sounders went down to sunny San Diego, CA and got routed 3-0 by San Diego FC. We break it all down in our game review, hit our Agena Check, then mercifully move onto some league-wide coverage where we give our winners and losers from Matchday 7 in MLS.
Later on we discuss the pipe dream of Kevin De Bruyne one day coming to Seattle (before we saw the news that Inter Miami actually have his discovery rights).
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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Introduction and Welcoming Noah
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:00:21
Speaker
What's going on everybody? Welcome to episode 93 of Lobbing Scorchers. Noah, we're about to lay down an emphatic L-Pod. How are you feeling?
Therapeutic Breathing Exercise
00:00:33
Speaker
Ari, I wanna start this episode with a breathing exercise. I learned this from my therapist after she had to kick me out of her office for talking only about the Seattle Sounders. She said, no, I think that you should probably just stop watching. And I said, I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't, I can't. So breathe in and hold it and out. Let's crash out, Ari.
00:01:01
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. We got to ah a little ah ah peek into the behind the scenes of your life right there that I wasn't really expecting. But no,
Seattle Sounders vs. San Diego FC Analysis
00:01:10
Speaker
that's right. We have an emphatic L pod as the Seattle Sounders went down to sunny San Diego, California, and it did not it did not go well. That was not good. no They got absolutely smoked by San Diego FC after giving up a goal in the second minute of the game, which that's not like when you're starting out a game.
00:01:28
Speaker
that's not how you want to start it out. It was, just it was really chalked from the jump, ah but it all fell apart from there. ah We're going to break that down. Unfortunately, in our game review, we're going to hit our agenda check and then mercifully move on to some league wide coverage where we're give our winners and losers for match day seven in MLS. And we're also going to be laying down some more exclusive members only content. That's something that we've been doing and we're going to continue to do. So if you want to get that exclusive content, become a YouTube member.
00:01:56
Speaker
Uh, before we get into the L pod, I do have to let you all know that lobbying Scorchers is a part of the sounder at heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounder at heart.com slash LS. No, what's that link? Sounder at heart.com slash L S scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free.
00:02:18
Speaker
Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. The road to a hundred sounder at heart subs is, uh, alive and well, and now more than ever, it is a great time to become a member with the season in full swing.
00:02:28
Speaker
Uh, subscribers also get access to the audio only versions of our live shows right to your podcast feed. That's a big perk. Yeah, it is. Um, Shout out to our sponsors sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, and Full Pull Wines, My Data Removal, and BodySpec.
00:02:43
Speaker
We're stacking. We're stacking. It's great to see. Noah, do we have any new subs to thank this week? We sure do. We have three new subs. That's great haul. Edward Geiger, Amy Semler, and Peter.
00:02:58
Speaker
Listen, Peter, I'm so sorry. I'm going to try your last name. Ecompate? Something like that. Hit us on the email. We'll get it right the next time. Always feel free to send us the correct pronunciation of your name.
00:03:13
Speaker
ah Thank you to our new subs. ah What does that put us at? Like 80 something? 85? All right. The 100 is alive and well. If you haven't done so yet, please sub to the YouTube.
00:03:25
Speaker
ah Like all of our videos, write reviews, rate five stars. Is there anything else to that I need to get to here? Should we just do this L-Pod? Yeah, I wanted to plug. We did an interview with Tom Bogert. I think a lot of you have probably already listened, but if not, we had a lot of fun doing that.
00:03:41
Speaker
And our post show special that we did with him where we we did another 30 minutes just talking about how he got to where he's at and some really funny just like inside baseball stuff. It was really fun to talk about. So become a YouTube member. Watch that.
00:03:58
Speaker
And with that, let's jump in. San Diego FC three Seattle Sounders zero. so that's not great. No, needless to say, Noah, uh, let's do our lineup reaction before we get into the key moments.
Lineup and Defensive Critique
00:04:13
Speaker
Uh, this was a lineup that I saw and was not sure what was going on. Uh, so, the What to do at the number nine with Jordan Morris injured has been a topic of discussion because i think the idea going into this season was that in any situation where Jordan was either injured or rotating out, Jesus Ferreira would slide in there. And I was thinking, i was like, oh, that's a great rotation right there. That's like if Jordan if jordan misses a game, that's problem solved.
00:04:41
Speaker
And I think it's pretty obvious at this point that that's how the team was thinking of it as well. That is not panned out. Um, obviously Moose is next on the depth chart, but he hasn't been scoring goals for about two years now. So, uh, as I mean, you know, he played well against the quakes. We talked about that and that was the, uh, I was advocating for him to be the starting number nine, but he got, he picked up a back injury in that game.
00:05:05
Speaker
He ended up subbing on in the second half. He, but it seems like he was only good to go 30 minutes. So what do you do? What do you do in that situation? Do you plug Ferreira back in there? That's probably what I would have done.
00:05:17
Speaker
do you, uh, you know, throw Paul Rothrock in there? I don't know. Georgie Georgie was the, uh, selection to play up top at the start of this game. And, I think my eyebrows were raised right from the jump. No, what was your reaction when you saw Georgie, the number nine?
00:05:35
Speaker
I said this on our post-match livestream, another plug, feel free to go check that out. We had people call in and crash out with us. I thought this was a mess-up by FootMob, because you know I normally get a lot of my score updates from FootMob, and they always have the wrong lineup.
00:05:51
Speaker
They have the right players, they're just in the wrong places usually, or the wrong formation, or something like that. And I saw Ferreira on the wing, Georgie at the nine, and Rusnak on the other side there. And i was like, ah okay. You know, I guess, you know, Georgie's starting, Ferreira's playing the nine, whatever. And then I saw it line up and I was like, Ari, Ari, Ari, ari no, there're this is wrong.
00:06:14
Speaker
This is wrong. What are we doing here? What is this? I'm confused. Yeah. So needless to say that, uh, did that did not work. Georgie looked really out of place playing that position for the entire, like 12 minutes that he did it before he and Ferreira switched. There's two plays, one where he got, uh, he got a ball at the top of the box with his back to goal where, uh, he had space if he had been able to like control it and get turned and wasn't able to do that. You know, that's something that, uh, uh,
00:06:48
Speaker
a number nine by trade might've been able to do. And then they, ah Jackson Reagan hit him with a perfect through ball. That would have been, if it was Jordan Morris, that would have been a phenomenal ah play, but Georgie couldn't get on the end of it and control it to, get to make that a meaningful chance.
00:07:05
Speaker
And that was right about when they switched ah Brian Schmetzer was asked about this after the game, and I think this is ah this was an interesting answer because he basically said, like, oh, you know, we are we're pretty strapped for personnel right now.
00:07:19
Speaker
Jordan's hurt. Moose was hurt. So we're basically just grasping at straws. That's the exact term that he used, grasping at straws, which that quote... um like He's right.
00:07:31
Speaker
That is true. They were grasping at straws. But I guess my thing is like as an MLS team or really a professional team at any level, like if you're using the term grasping at straws, you should never... like Regardless of injuries or absences or anything else, i understand MLS can get...
00:07:49
Speaker
wonky like that, but you should never straws should never be grasped at in that way. Like if you're in that situation, something's gone wrong either with your roster build or with how your roster is playing compared to how you thought it would play.
00:08:04
Speaker
I think in this case, it's the ladder when they were doing their off season roster tinkering for Rara was supposed to be the easy money, like second striker up if Jordan goes down.
00:08:14
Speaker
Uh, and when that didn't work, and Moose was out also you're grasping at straws and that's not great. That's not good, but it's also silly because is Jesus Ferreira, even in the form that he's in better at the nine than putting a player who's literally never played that position in his entire life.
00:08:35
Speaker
Well, and you need like you're still in ah at a point where it's possible that if you keep playing Ferreira at the nine and get more reps and more time that it could get better. So I guess that's why like I would have just done that from the start and maybe it wouldn't have worked.
00:08:51
Speaker
But, you know, you already know he's coming in at halftime. You're giving him 30 minutes like you're game planning for it. But so on one hand, I do want to acknowledge that, uh, we have, but you and I specifically have said a lot of times in the past, like if something isn't working, just try something different. Who cares? Like it might be a not good idea. it might not work, but at least you're trying something. Yeah. Just let them cook. Yeah. So I guess I can, I can see it from that perspective, but it didn't
Injury Concerns and Implications
00:09:20
Speaker
work.
00:09:20
Speaker
They should not try that again. uh, At least he switched the formation very quickly. i think when it was like, ah as much as we're like kind of getting on Brian here, at least he acknowledged it very quickly and made that switch literally during the first 20 minutes of the first half, they were already switched back. So, and like he, Schmetz, uh, went into a little more detail about it after game. He said the way that they wanted it to play was that they would be more kind of like,
00:09:47
Speaker
switching and it wasn't like he was supposed to play like a pure Ben tech, target striker. yeah was supposed to be more fluid between the two of them then that. But it just, ah it just didn't work. And for whatever happened offensively, defense was, i mean, it was just a disastrous game defensively.
00:10:06
Speaker
ah Second minute of the game, the sounders concede the opener, like right after kickoff. And I think the thing with that is when you're a road team in this situation, playing in a team that's as in as good a form and scoring as many goals as San Diego, you can't go into their stadium and ah get caught up in a track meet.
00:10:27
Speaker
You just can't. ah Like if you do that, that's what happens. you have to do whatever you can to make those first 15 to 20 minutes. Not that, you know, like, and really like literally from the first kick of the game, it looked like, uh, it looked like a track meet.
00:10:46
Speaker
Like it was just way too open, way too frantic of pace and energy, zero control of the game or the tempo or the game state at all.
00:10:57
Speaker
That played exactly into San Diego's hands hands as the home team who's trying to come out and get on top of them. And they're executing at like an extremely high level right now. So I think um the first thing that went wrong in this game was just the game management was...
00:11:12
Speaker
way, way off. Like I I'm sure they didn't intend for it to get out of control like that, but it did. And there was no, uh, gradual buildup to that. It was literally from the first kick of the game.
00:11:25
Speaker
All of that was just, i mean, you can't play like that in a road game against a team like this, unless you want it to end up how this one ended up and you get run on. Yeah, it was bad.
00:11:36
Speaker
in the one thing I want to highlight too is San Diego was always the better team in this coming into this game. So you always knew San Diego was coming back into full strength. They were getting a DP back.
00:11:48
Speaker
All of this. They have the momentum. They're at home. You know they like to play like this. They've been lighting up the league. You know they're an attacking threat. And you play them... exactly how you shouldn't.
00:12:01
Speaker
Yeah. Like you, you, you see all of this. If I can see it, I know the coaching staff can see it. You see all of this and you're like, you know what we should do for the first five minutes? the thing that we tell you not to do. And Brian even said, you know, Brian said they're a great team.
00:12:19
Speaker
Coach is great. His players actually did what, what i would they practiced. He said they made players and my players didn't. Yeah. And I mean, I really do think that that is true on one hand.
00:12:33
Speaker
And also there is some blame that Brian did take of like, it's just, it's, it's a tough watch. It was not good. Yeah. I mean, even, even that, uh, two minute span between kickoff and when the first goal was scored, it popped into my mind right away. It like, this is not like if they, if this is how the whole game goes, this is bad. Like that's just, uh, again, like when you're the road team, you're undermanned, you're playing a team that looks like one of the best teams in the league right now.
00:13:03
Speaker
Um, you need to, you need to make it through those first 15 to 20 minutes at zero, zero, if nothing else, and really just manage the, the tempo and the game state way differently than that.
00:13:17
Speaker
And, uh, that was the first thing that went wrong in this game, The first of many, the first of many. Um, so after the goal in the second minute minutes, ah you know, minutes two to 40, to be fair, I thought like the game management and and and all the stuff we were talking about was still not what it needs to be in these circumstances.
00:13:39
Speaker
But I wrote reasonably competitive on the outline like ah Seattle. there There was some OK sequences and attack. They were giving up chances, but they didn't give up the second goal yet. But it did feel like it was coming. They had really like it to me. It felt like it was coming the whole time.
00:13:57
Speaker
And then in the 41st minute, San Diego just this was a sick. This was a as good beautiful build up. I'm not even gonna lie. It was, I was a really good buildup. This made me so envious.
00:14:09
Speaker
This made me so envious. I'm like, this is the soccer I want to watch. Yeah. I mean, their whole team right now looked like, like we were on the post game live. was talking about how it really reminded me of the just buzzsaw type teams that just overwhelm you that we've seen a couple of an MLS in the last few years. I always say 2019 LAFC as the, as the comp, but I mean, you can like inner Miami of last year had that attribute to them. The Philly union, the year that year that LAFC did it had that attribute where just, it looks like they're playing at a different speed than the teams that they're playing against. That's what this looked like. It looked like one team was kind of playing at a level and a speed that the other one just couldn't keep up with. That's, that's what it looked like. There was, yeah, there was probably 10 to 15 minute stretch.
00:15:00
Speaker
Like if i'm I'm looking at the, um, that chart, you know, where it it charts like momentum yeah from the 18th minute to the 31st minute, the Sounders were in control of the game.
00:15:12
Speaker
The rest of the game, nothing. I mean, yes, they might've had possession, but they were not in control of that game. No. And this, this six minute period, uh, where Godoy scored and then Chucky scored, ah was one of the worst six minute stretches in the history of the Seattle Sounders. Yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
Like, and did I say that without hyperbole or exaggeration, Well, you are not alone in believing that, by the way. Paul Rothrock literally said this is rock bottom. He was talking about this season, though.
00:15:44
Speaker
I'm talking about that that specific stretch. I've never seen this team get. like They gave up four breakaways in a row. Four in a row, like backto back to back to back to back.
00:15:57
Speaker
That's like... unconscionable for that to happen. um Like Chucky finally scored the one right before halftime, but they could have all four of those literally were chances that could have or should have been goals. Like I, i couldn't really believe what I was watching at that point. Like there's, you know, there's going to be,
00:16:19
Speaker
stretches of games where you're going to get outplayed. The other teams are going to get theirs, but that was crazy, man. Like four in a row, like super high percentage breakaways. Uh, the last of which like two of them were from, ah from their best player. Yeah. and the, the, what, like when he finally scored it, it was like, yeah, okay. That was, with you're basically asking for that.
00:16:42
Speaker
Uh, and then at that point is three zero and the game is chalked. And the second half, Seattle comes out. And my thing, I think I said this on Blue Sky, but it's like it's like about dignity at a certain point. Yeah, you did say that. it Like, you know, you're going to lose the game.
00:16:57
Speaker
You're playing a team that is just, let's be honest, much better than you. You're not going to get a result like you have no chance at that. But just compete with dignity.
00:17:10
Speaker
do some, maybe score a goal, you know, I mean, they didn't, but maybe that that should have been the goal, like get something to get some sort of positive, anything out of this game.
00:17:21
Speaker
i I was thinking of it like, you know, if you can go out there, get a goal, maybe make it three, one, have some good sequences of play. Obviously it's a horrific L, but at least you leave Snapdragon stadium with dignity. So that was my criteria for what I wanted to see.
00:17:38
Speaker
in the second
Season Overview and Tactical Challenges
00:17:39
Speaker
half. Uh, but then they get out there and Ruse snack has been subbed out of the game. I didn't know what to make of that at first. I guess I figured it was probably, well I was like, I thought it was kind of white flagging it like same. All right. Like we may as well, we shouldn't even have our, uh, our DP 10 out there right now. This game's over. Let's just get him out of there and chalk it to ah next week. Cause it was like another thing that entered my mind was like, this could be like sending a message of Schmetz not being happy with how he played, but I didn't like, they're definitely, ah I thought he was fine. Yeah. He wasn't good, but he, he didn't do anything that was benchable.
00:18:13
Speaker
He was not the worst player on the field. I can tell you that much. he He didn't do it like, like a, a benching to send a message like that. That's like when someone, ah does something like lazy or isn't hustling or it looks like their effort isn't there.
00:18:28
Speaker
i don't think, uh, I don't think, I didn't think that was the case. So, I was like, why would he take Rusnak out there? I don't really get that. But then after the game, he obviously got asked about it. And he said that Albert Rusnak came out with an adductor injury.
00:18:43
Speaker
So that's awesome. Another and another muscle injury. Adductors usually are at least a few weeks. So don't expect him to, unless it's like super minor and it was precautionary, maybe he doesn't miss that much time or any time. But I mean,
00:18:58
Speaker
They knew to know right away. Yeah. Like, uh, for me, if I had to guess right now, you're probably not going to see him on the field for, at least two to four weeks, depending on severity, maybe four to six. So that's not, uh, that's not good.
00:19:13
Speaker
Um, And maybe, you know what? Maybe he'll be playing next week because last time Brian trolled us with one of those, the player trotted out. then Yeah, I don't know. I did. I'm not. We're not certified medical professionals. I'm not saying that this is what happened, but ah there was a tinfoil hat part of me when I heard that answer that like that was like,
00:19:35
Speaker
what if there is no injury in there? What if they like got into it at halftime about something? And Schmetz was like, you're coming off the, again, like I have no reason really to believe that happened other than that's just like what popped into my head as a possibility. But, uh, I mean, again, depending on the severity, I would not expect to see him on the field, at least for the next few weeks.
00:19:54
Speaker
The way he announced it too, man. Yeah. Jeremiah asks the question. Jeremiah's like, oh, you know, we saw Rosanat come off at halftime. Was that like, you know, I don't even think he had an idea that he was injured.
00:20:06
Speaker
Like, it didn't seem like it. That's the thing. Like, there was no point where he came up lame or was limping, yeah which usually that's what you what you see. Yeah. So that's, that's one reason maybe it was for caught like, he felt like a little tweak and they're like, and that's the white flag. that So, I mean, that would be the correct decision, but we're just going to to wait for the update update on that.
00:20:27
Speaker
Um, as far as salvaging dignity goes, there was none. the Yeah. Like let's, I guess that's a good so segue into positives and negatives. Obviously most, most of this is going to be negatives. Um, I'll, I'll give my positives cause I had two. Yep.
00:20:44
Speaker
De La Vega came on in the second half and I thought he looked, he looked good. He looked like he, uh, pretty much, I think how he was looking before he got injured. And, ah that's like, I guess, a ray of hope that that could be a boost in the short term here, especially if Roosnack's out, you're definitely going to need him to step up.
00:21:01
Speaker
So that was, uh, that was something. And I think he, he was playing hard and i think he has dignity, you know, like, I mean, but he didn't do anything.
00:21:12
Speaker
he He played okay. Yeah, he played fine. Yeah, all right. I don't know if that changes any dignity here. I'm grasping at straws here. I'm grasping at straws. De La Vega came back that was and looked pretty good. that was The sun was out in Seattle. yeah it was a beautiful day.
00:21:26
Speaker
i went outside. and ah my ah My only other positive is that it's it's April and there's a lot of time. like I know I keep saying that every week, but really until June, that is true in this league. I guess in general,
00:21:40
Speaker
i guess in general we've seen this movie with this team a lot of times where they, uh, they start really slow and then they pick it up as the season goes along. It's annoying that that's what it's going to have to take again to get this team anywhere close to the potential that we thought it had.
00:21:56
Speaker
But that's just the reality of the situation. That brings me to my negatives, which is that, i mean, right now, like you're, you're off to a bad start of the season. Concaf champions cup was a bust.
00:22:07
Speaker
You crashed out of that in emphatic fashion, pretty terrible L on the road in Mexico. And you got one win in seven to start your league season, which is, but which is bad. You're like healthily below playoff line, right?
00:22:20
Speaker
ah outside of the LSE games, the offense doesn't look like it's working with Ferreira as, ah as one of the focal points in the D LAFC game that they won.
00:22:32
Speaker
I think we can both caveat. They were heavily rotated. They did not have like, okay, I actually hate that caveat because Seattle was too. Absolutely, but I'm saying if you look at the quality... It's not a caveat. No, no, no. If you look at the quality that LAFC had on the field versus what the Sounders had on the field, I think there was a pretty big talent gap even with backups. There wasn't. That's not true. like It was the exact same idea. The only thing you could say is that Rusnak and Morris came on in the second half, but Bowanga came on in the second half for them.
00:22:59
Speaker
That was two teams equally rotated, and so like the that that caveat is actually... Uh, that's, you're reaching for something to discount it. Like that's not actually that. way I mean, that's, uh, uh, incorrect take, but that's why you're still better than true. You're entitled to, yeah. Okay. Still better than true. Um, rest of the negatives,
00:23:21
Speaker
the the lineup thing with Georgie didn't work at all. And, you know, tried something, tried it that at the wall. That didn't work through it at the wall. Didn't stick again, the game, the game management really all night, but just especially to start the game, you, you can't play ah road game.
00:23:37
Speaker
It fell apart, man. You can't play it like that. that I'm sure that that wasn't the game plan and like it just got away from them on the field. But like you can't let it get away from you to that extent. Like you're basically predetermining your own fate.
00:23:54
Speaker
Looked vastly inferior to San Diego, which a couple of people pointed this out. And I think they're actually right about this. Like we've been talking about how. ah getting Jesus Ferreira adapted in this team is like this process that is taking longer than we thought. But like eventually, ah it could get there, but it hasn't gotten there yet. Despite like them, you know, drilling it all preseason and in training this season and everything, this San Diego team, their entire team just got together in the same timeframe. Yeah. Like this Sounders team still has guys that have been playing on it together for years now. Most of the team. Yeah. Most of the team, um,
00:24:30
Speaker
So like for there to be that big a gap between your team and an expansion team, like they got, they got everyone fitting and clicking right away, you know?
00:24:42
Speaker
yeah So clearly it can be done. So that's not good. Uh, you got shut out again. The Freire thing doesn't seem like, uh, it's making much progress. It looks the same week after week and you got one win in your first seven games.
00:24:55
Speaker
So that's not, you're that's not good. Um, I think those are all my negatives. Yeah. Don't worry. I've got more for you. Yeah. Keep them going. Here's my positives to start. Cause you know, this is ah this is a, we always do both. No matter what, do both. No matter what. on us. But guess what? That's what we're for. I know I was reaching, but that's, yeah. Anyway, I think you are right in the fact that it it's, it's early and this team is injured and this team is a little bit snake bit, a little bit of their own fruition, but like,
00:25:30
Speaker
If you want to look ahead, you do have a lot of things coming, like in terms of Pedro is back healthy. Jordan is getting healthier.
00:25:40
Speaker
It seems to be less of a severe injury than they expected with Jordan. He's been training, I believe. ah Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent is basically fit from what I've heard. ye um And this isn't about the game. This is just about the Sounders because there were no positives about this specific game.
00:25:56
Speaker
I like this like more season wide. but Yeah. Like if you want to, if you want to be like, I'm crashing out, but I i want to stop. Yeah, like there's things to look forward to. This team does have a lot of pieces coming back, um and that's great. Like that rocks.
00:26:16
Speaker
The other positive, dude, San Diego like might be the best team in the league. They look like it. Like the I want to see them play. i want to see them full strength versus full strength under Miami and and see who gets that done. But like...
00:26:30
Speaker
you know what, get all these bullshit losses out of the way now. Get hot when when you need to get hot. You know what I'm saying? It sucks that that is what it's come to because... I've seen this movie so many times, Ari. Every year it's like we hope to avoid that movie and every year it's kind of the same thing. But like no, I agree with what you're saying. like i have I have no doubt in my mind that when Jordan Morris is back, when De La Vega is back in the fold, and then hopefully with Ryan Kent getting involved, like...
00:27:00
Speaker
the The level will get higher. The results will be better. They'll start scoring more goals. I have no doubt about any of that. But the disappointing thing about that is that this team is supposed to be the deepest team in the league. Like we spoke very highly of the depth over the off season. We liked the Ferrera trade. I still think like the process behind that trade made sense.
00:27:20
Speaker
And I still think that as much as everyone's writing it off right now, there's a chance that he could come good and be player. positive contributing member of this team. There is time for that. Definitely. Yeah. and so like in the short term, especially he's going to be able to play where he's more comfortable and he'll probably it'll probably look better when he's doing that. But like ah this team was supposed to be built in a way where even if you had a bad injury situation, you could, you you know, maybe not be a 1.8 points per game team, but definitely not get your, the doors blown off like that in any game.
00:27:56
Speaker
We don't really see Sounders teams get blown out like that, that often. That's just not something that happens to this team. Even last year when they were boring, not taking results, getting zero, zero draws at home, they were at least defensively good. they were defensively good. and that in general, they were competing. Like they were, these were like hard fought, close games that they weren't getting results from. And it was very frustrating to watch, but they weren't getting embarrassed out there. yeah They got embarrassed. and They got embarrassed. Like there's, i I don't even think any, I don't think anyone on the team or the coaching staff would contest that. Like,
00:28:34
Speaker
Anytime you get rolled to that degree, that's embarrassing. And like, we're not really used to seeing Sounders teams get embarrassed. So anyway, I kind of stole your, no out over there I'm here for it. I think to add on to specifically getting embarrassed, it feels like,
00:28:55
Speaker
a lot of these losses have been embarrassing losses. We do not have a defense that is preventing these embarrassing losses anymore. I think that there's enough time to say this is not the best defense in the league anymore. I had this on ah agenda check. Okay, we'll save. I will save it. I'll save it, but...
00:29:14
Speaker
but i that was okay i jackson reagan was bad knew who was bad i don't know name yamars just he's literally jesus christ reinvent reincarnated but um though that's my negatives defense played awful uh the defense has been bad all year midfield played didn't do shit they played bad they actively played bad this was embarrassing to watch this was one of those games where I was frustrated, but I wasn't mad.
00:29:45
Speaker
I was just sitting there laughing like this is really bad. So like this is this is just awful. Like this is not good. This team looks bad. There are multiple players on this team who it just feels disjointed. i think that's something you even said like no one seemed to know what to do.
00:30:03
Speaker
And I just, the the whole game was a negative for
Sounders' Strategy and Defensive Issues
00:30:08
Speaker
me. Yeah. There was not, there was, there was not a single person on the field where I was like, hell yeah.
00:30:17
Speaker
Hell yeah. I don't use the term embarrassing lightly. Like, I feel like you use that more liberally than me. Like taking and Some people, not you, but some people, and anytime you take an L, they say it's embarrassing.
00:30:30
Speaker
And I don't subscribe to that. Like, I think when you're playing at, uh, at this level, first of all, you're not like, it would be sick to go 34. Oh no. Every season with a plus 87 goal differential.
00:30:42
Speaker
but you're going to have negative results. You're going to have L's. And really to me, it's about like competing with dignity. You know, you compete with dignity and it's a hard fought, close game. And you still take an L you can tip your cap, uh, give it a GGs onto the next one. That's not embarrassing, but like anyone who wants to use that word to describe this, I don't disagree.
00:31:04
Speaker
That was embarrassing. It was terrible. And I, I don't know, maybe we don't seem as upset as people want us to be, but like, I think we're we're both kind of, I don't know, maybe we're trying to hold it back a little bit because, I mean, it was objectively awful and it was awful coached. It was awful played. The players looked bad. The coaches looked bad.
00:31:28
Speaker
It was just ah it was a failure. like we're Like I said, we're not used to, like, even when they're not taking results, it's usually not like that. Yeah. Like, that was okay. Anyway, we're going to hit our agenda check, but first, we're going to hit an ad ad break.
00:31:44
Speaker
We'll be right back. Welcome back to episode 93. If you skipped the ads, we know what you did. We know. Okay, we have your IP address. We're coming to your house with the ad police.
00:31:57
Speaker
Noah, let's get into this agenda check. i got ah I got a few written down and these are not my own agendas. These are um just... Oh no, they're yours. there These are ones that I've seen okay out there. Cowardly. He doesn't even want to take them on.
00:32:12
Speaker
Chat. Get him. The agenda check has long been not necessarily my, like our own agendas. It's just, it can be our own or it can be, ah agendas that we just see out in the, uh, in the fan base. Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
Uh, the first one is the, then this is agenda that a lot of people were dishing last night. that which is that the jesus ferreira is just bad agenda which you could say is strengthened based on another game where he was ineffective no i think that take is ridiculous like that he's bad at soccer yeah ah people say this stuff sometimes and like i get it like heat of emotion and he hasn't been playing well he hasn't fit into this team at all.
00:32:53
Speaker
The guy has 50 plus goals in MLS. You literally like can't be bad at soccer and score 50 plus goals in MLS. Like that's not possible. I've watched him play enough to know he is good at soccer.
00:33:07
Speaker
you you You're saying two different things. Like if he's bad at soccer or if he just isn't fitting into this team right now, he's not fitting into the team right now. He's not producing and he's not playing good right now. He is bad right now. Yeah. So that's the caveat you used when I was pushing back last night was like right now. Okay. Yeah. He's playing poorly right now. That's obvious. Like anyone can see that, but like the take, which I saw this, you didn't dish this take, you gave the caveat, but the take that he just sucks and is bad is, I think that's ridiculous. Like he was a, he was a best 11 player in the league.
00:33:39
Speaker
I think that he is bad as a number nine. I think he is a bad striker. I think that he is undisciplined as a striker. I don't think that he should be put at the nine, but the problem is you signed him to play there.
00:33:54
Speaker
And so there is some sort of... Did they sign him to be a pure nine? I don't think so. I mean, that's what he's ended up playing out of necessity, but... yeah Absolutely. They planned to play him off of Jordan is what I assume. Craig, come on the podcast.
00:34:09
Speaker
But you have to acknowledge that Jordan is not going to be able to play every game. Who is your backup striker? That's where the planning was suspect. Who is your backup striker? You, if you're looking at the depth chart, it's Jesus Ferreira.
00:34:25
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira doesn't fit in there. Yeah. I could have told you that if you play, well, I don't know. That's a little revisionist because I think I thought that it was a good idea. I'm saying if you're trying to play the same system of Jordan Morris, right okay if you're playing the Jordan Morris system of him at the nine, it was never going to work.
00:34:44
Speaker
I mean, you've known, I've long known, he plays the nine and had in the past very differently than a poacher, center forward, like striker kind of player.
00:34:57
Speaker
I think that there, I dished this take. I think Paul Rothrock would be way more effective in that position and having Jesus out wide to play off of him because he understands the space better and he is happy to move over, give give that space to a player like Jesus Ferreira to kind of come in and overlap him. He can also be out on the wing.
00:35:22
Speaker
Jesus Ferreira is a space goblin. And I'm not talking about ah what's that movie with with Michael Jordan Space Jam Space. I'm not talking Space Jam. He's a space guy. Dude just wants to be everywhere on the field.
00:35:35
Speaker
That's a good thing. But it's also a bad thing when you're a target nine. He's not a target nine. He's bad at that. He is bad in certain moments. He's played bad regardless of where he's played. He's played bad on this team this season. He is not a bad player.
00:35:49
Speaker
Okay. Yeah, I can. I can accept that. Next agenda. The Sounders defense is just bad agenda. Similar agenda, but talking about the defense now, ah which, you know, it's early enough in the season where I'm not going to like ah call that.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, but it's, they are off to a bad start. Just way too many shoot yourself in the foot type concessions. It was happening again in this game. And this was the best, highly touted best defense in the league last year, only gave up 35 goals.
00:36:26
Speaker
And that's really what carried this team through those rough times. And like you said earlier, like they don't have that to lean on right now. Like, last year you could hang your hat on that to an extent through some of that stuff.
00:36:39
Speaker
And I think the ominous thing about what's going on right now is it's like, Oh no, like they're actually not good, uh, playing well on that side of the ball either.
San Diego FC's Dominance and Sounders' Missed Opportunities
00:36:49
Speaker
And like, if they played like the Sounders defensive last year, maybe you're able to stay in a game like that.
00:36:55
Speaker
yeah I mean, San Diego looks good enough that maybe not anyway, but, uh, You're not getting embarrassed like that if you play defense somewhat competently. Exactly. And, then you know, if this was just this one game, that would be one thing, but it's not. Every game, you get one of these these gaffes. it's been It's been every game, pretty much. Houston, San Jose, all all of them.
00:37:16
Speaker
There's a lot of time for them. RSL. Yeah. There's a lot of time for them to right that ship and prove this agenda wrong, so I'll say that. But right now, it's looking kind of hot. Like... a Next one I have written down here. i got to cook on the defense. yeah. I'm sorry. I was processing. I was taking a deep breath before I released this. Sorry.
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah. They're bad. They're bad right now. They are bad. i don't know what it is, but I think also you got to realize the formation is is different. Right? Like they're playing more counterattacking.
00:37:48
Speaker
That was what I said in the beginning of this season. I said, I am interested to see because we saw them give up a ton of goals in preseason on those counterattacks on this stuff. These weird defensive breakdowns centrally and outside. That's right. It did happen. I literally did. I mean, I literally said that I said, i am nervous.
00:38:06
Speaker
I am nervous about this. I'm nervous about when you have new who going forward. What's he going to do when he has to track back? What's it going to happen when Jackson Reagan gets caught up because he's helping in in the central, de you know, like ah a defensive midfielder?
00:38:22
Speaker
What's going to happen with these three center backs? It's bad. It's not working. And I'm frankly, I'm kind of shocked that we haven't gone back to a more defensive formation, knowing that the offensive production is just not there without Jordan.
00:38:35
Speaker
You might have to start grinding 0-0s and 1-0s again. well and that's what you did last year. And that's why I'm so confused because Brian literally said... ah The last home game, I believe it was, in the presser, he said, we need to start getting points before it's too late.
00:38:53
Speaker
Okay, well... If you want points, sometimes you have to grind it out. Most of the time you have to grind it out on the road. Why are you playing counterattacking soccer against San Diego FC?
00:39:05
Speaker
That's fucking stupid. I just don't think that that was the game. the i think how would the play formation is I think how it played out on the field had to have been vastly different than what the game plan and the instructions were.
00:39:17
Speaker
Because like you, you don't play a Western conference road game like that ever. Like when you're especially against a team like this, this team, this team has been a good road team pretty much for the whole Schmetzer era. They know how to play these games.
00:39:31
Speaker
They've taken a ton of results in games like this. They took, they won eight road games last year. They haven't scored on the road. Uh, this year you mean? Yeah. Yeah. No, well, they haven't won on the road. They haven't scored on the road this year. They've been, uh, they've been awful on the road, but like I'm saying, I'm saying historically, ah so that, but that's just why I like, I don't think they were instructed to go out on the field at Snapdragon and get into a track meet like that. That had to have been a plan that went off the rails, but there's just, that's what they've been doing.
00:40:04
Speaker
Not to like, what was the, what was the game that was comparable that played out? mean, that's basically what they did with LAFC. Right. But that was a home game. Sure. But I'm just saying like, they scored five goals in that game. Absolutely.
00:40:18
Speaker
And that's the high of it. Yeah. I, I'm not, I'm not going to discount. You just, you can't do that. That's, that's, that's what I'm getting at is like, I'm very confused as to,
00:40:30
Speaker
why this What made Brian successful last year and what brought them to where they were was when they were struggling, they just focused on defense. They just played defense and they made their opportunities.
00:40:43
Speaker
Why are you not playing like that right now? I understand that you want to play attacking soccer. You want to play interesting soccer. You want to do all of this stuff. And that's what we were asking for. But there's times when you have to grind out results when you're shorthanded. They're shorthanded.
00:40:59
Speaker
barr They're very shorthanded. Why are you trying to play attacking soccer right now? See, like, I guess we, there's no way for us to know for me, uh, if we're doing blame pie, i think that's got to go on the, on the guys on the field like that, because again, like there, there's enough experience on this team, guys who have been on this team playing together for years now to know that you don't, maybe that's part of the problem. Don't play like that on the road. Like, yeah,
00:41:29
Speaker
unless it's like a team that you think you have way overmatched, but that was obviously never the case here. So I don't know. Um, next agenda, the San Diego is the best team in the league agenda. Uh, no, I'm not going to lie. Like we've, we've, ah we've obviously been ripping on Seattle this episode and, uh, I think deservedly so, but I mean, God damn, that team looks really good. Like, yeah,
00:41:55
Speaker
Just the way that a the way that they were moving the ball around and that might be our new slicing and dicing. This might be the galaxy of this. Yeah, honestly. Because, um again, like they had that buzzsaw type look to them where they looked like they were playing at a different speed. The one touch...
00:42:15
Speaker
passing and one touch play is my favorite type of soccer to watch think it's everyone's favorite like when they are just locked in man and i mean it's also easy when you get out early and score it's easy to play like that it's easy to play a little bit more free when you know there's not this like weight on you of we need to get one we need to get one we're in a scoring drot That's part of the sounders problem too. I think is like, there is a big weight on every single one of those players on the field. They know they're playing bad.
00:42:45
Speaker
They don't want to lose. And you have San Diego who's just been ripping it up and they they're playing a lot more freeway. They're playing with confidence. They got the vibes on their side. The city has embraced them.
00:42:56
Speaker
The home games look lit. I mean, Tip of the cap, tip of the cap. They got it going on right now. And San Diego is a great city. Yeah. I like San Diego. I've only been there a couple of times, but I got nothing against it.
00:43:08
Speaker
um So best team in the league ah early to say that, but they, they like, they literally look like they're in that tier of like the Columbus Cincinnati's inner Miami's like whoever you want to name. They are earning their place in that.
00:43:24
Speaker
So good for them. i'm I'm interested to see if they hang on, but It like, yeah, we'll see, but it looks, it looks sustainable to me. It looks sustainable to me. If the injury bug comes, it's not like I can, I can spot a fraud. Everyone knows my fraud watch meters like pretty good. Yeah.
00:43:40
Speaker
And, uh, it's not going off at all. It's really not like St. Louis. I could tell right away, like that team there. I think they're that good. Yeah. It's, it's tough too, because they literally said how they were going to play.
General Manager's Decisions and Player Trades
00:43:55
Speaker
Committed to it. Committed to it and are playing that way. And everyone clowned on them. Yeah. There was a lot of people clowned them like, oh, you you think you're just going to come into MLS and play this space this way? And they're like, yeah. And tell everyone? And they're like, yeah. I was i was skeptical of so working of ah of Tyler Heaps. I was like, is that...
00:44:13
Speaker
Like a guy with no MLS experience. Who's like my age. Yeah, like the best guy to lead you into him. Apparently was apparently give us a call because we are both available. All right. We will coach at least two wins. in the We'll be better than Peter Vermees.
00:44:29
Speaker
All right. You have a couple of agendas here. What do you got My first agenda here. ah I saw some discourse online. This is not my agenda. See, now I'm using my asterisks, but There were some people being a little hateful on our and one of our our ah fellow Sound Art Heart members who wrote an article, said, Craig's cooking, you're just you just have bad taste.
00:44:51
Speaker
People were saying, Craig's not cooking agenda. craig Craig's ass. Craig burnt the food. He's taking a lot of heat right now. Yeah, it's fair to say. But... um How do you feel about that, I guess? Because I don't really see this as a Craig Weibel issue as much as I see this as like there's a lot of underlying problems stopping this team from performing to their top quality. There's certain things that obviously I think you could pinpoint on Craig. For me, like Jesus is one of those deals where you like can't really say no.
00:45:27
Speaker
it's It's too good of a deal to pass up. And also... It doesn't fit it. He's he's he's not fitting in with this team and his best position or what seemingly would be his best position.
00:45:38
Speaker
He's not first on the depth chart. And does Brian have the balls to not play him? I think there are three things that will determine this agenda. Number one is how the Ferreira thing pans out. Like if that doesn't, if that doesn't get better and it's like this all year, ah Craig Wives is going to take the blame for that. Yep.
00:45:59
Speaker
ah We need to see what happens with Ryan Kent. That's where, that's where I'm like, if he hits and is an impact move the needle type player for this team and elevates this team, Craig Wives will get the credit for that.
00:46:13
Speaker
So we have to see how that pans out. And then we have to see how De La Vega makes it through the rest of this season. If he keeps going in this injury cycle and can't contribute and can't be an impact player because he can't stay on the field, Craig Wives is going to take the blame for that because the, ah the narrative will be that he just, he might've signed a talented player, but a player that had an injury history had cha trouble staying on the field earlier in his career.
00:46:40
Speaker
And you put yourself in a situation where you spent a lot of resources and capital on a guy who can't really play. yeah So I think this is our first year where we're getting a really good assessment on Craig Wives, because I feel like a lot of the heat he's taken up to this point It's for, you know, like it's like a bear and moose or whatever.
00:47:05
Speaker
That stuff like that is not what I judge a GM on. You know, buying out right. Well, it was one. yeah Okay. Yeah. But like you, to me, the biggest thing that you judge a GM on is like their big signings, like the big swings that they take, the big money that they throw around. yeah Do you get difference makers and impact players that can help you compete for trophies with those resources?
00:47:29
Speaker
And this, the Ferreira and Ryan Kent and now De La Vega, those are the determining factors, I think, on how to judge that. So the rest of this season is going to tell us like yeah there are there are clear outcomes that That will tell us the answer to this.
00:47:48
Speaker
And I think we have to wait and see. I also think for me, i get annoyed with this talking point consistently because people think that this is just some gem, some like you, you get a different sporting director and immediately the team is going to be signing the next messy or is going to be signing Ricky Pooge too. Yeah. No, your, your issues is with the owner.
00:48:12
Speaker
Your issue is with the owner. I'm fine with that. He's cheap as fuck. He is. He's broke. He's broke. Like we will both say that. I think he would admit that. I think he, I mean. That he's broke. We'll ask him. But I mean, I think he would admit that he is not going to compete with Atlanta. not Arthur Blanking. He's not.
00:48:29
Speaker
And, and like we've said, if you like that kind of spending, be an Atlanta United fan. They're fun to watch. They don't win, yeah they're fun to watch. And they sign cool people. Yeah.
00:48:40
Speaker
And that's not to say that Craig doesn't have to like work within those means, but the reality is the budget that's set is shitty. It's shitty.
00:48:51
Speaker
And banking everything on a U22 player who has an injury history because that's what you have available to pay for, or signing a free agent, a distressed... a This is distressed asset FC, okay?
00:49:05
Speaker
And it's it's hard. It's hard because... if you If you look at it through that lens right of this is the reality of this football club.
00:49:16
Speaker
This is how we operate. This is our modus operandi is we find us we find good deals on players. We have good pedigree within the international market. So we're able to like get those distressed assets to pick us over other clubs. Good youth development. Good youth development and a coach that can generally integrate anyone into the locker room and solve problems. Right?
00:49:38
Speaker
What do you think they're going to get? Like there is inherently a higher level of failure that's going to happen because of that. And so if you're constantly beating Craig's ass about this.
00:49:53
Speaker
It's silly. yeah Like, I'm not going to argue just devil's advocate. Like, yeah, I think you could argue that ah with all the ah constraints that you mentioned, if it's not about even Craig, it's just if anyone is showing to be ineffective at money balling, give it to someone who you should be more effective. Sure. And I'm, we don't, we don't know yet. I don't think. And I'm, and I'm here to hear that out and I'm here to hear that out. But if I'm looking on paper, which I'm sorry, a general manager, 99% of their job is on paper, right? You are prospecting, you're prospecting, bro. You're playing football manager. you don't know going to happen on paper. Every single person loved the Jesus for air trade. Why? Because he wasn't a DP.
00:50:35
Speaker
It was Tam. Okay. That's where people get mad. It's like Jordan Morris, DP escalator, Albert rust neck, DP. Fine. We can have that conversation separate you have, but then everyone's stoked about the Ryan Kent deal.
00:50:47
Speaker
Even national pundits are like, I'm shocked that he was able to get that deal. Even, even fans who are critical of everything that, uh, Craig wives has done like the Ryan can't deal. Yeah. So that's my defensive Craig.
00:50:59
Speaker
I don't care either way. I'm going to be honest. Whatever sporting directory you put in there, I think they're going to do a fine job. I don't think that they are the reason that you lost this game, that you lost other games, that the team's not performing, whatever, because he was in charge last season and they made the Western Conference Final. So I don't really...
00:51:16
Speaker
I do think you have to judge these things on process over results. Sometimes the process on the Ferreira deal makes sense. It does. Anyone who's saying that they like, don't get why they would do that. Or like they have like superior ball knowledge. So they knew that Ferreira like, wasn't going to fit on this team right away or, or whatever. Like when you have a 50 plus goal score, best 11 player in the league who you can swing on Tam money, not as a DP, like,
00:51:47
Speaker
you can't not do that. Like that, that's bad. It's bad process to not do that. Even if it's a player who's a little trick trickier tactically to fit in as he's proven to be, you still got to make, you got to make that deal. Like there's no way you don't make that deal. Yeah. And there's conversation fair enough to be had about how it's working, how it's working and maybe Craig, Craig's relationship in the trio of owner coach and GM.
00:52:13
Speaker
That is fair. But I think that like the things they're pointing to is like, oh my God, they lost this game. Craig out. What the fuck are you talking about? the The players that are on the field are, are to blame the coaches to blame. What are, what are we, what are we crashing out about Craig for?
00:52:30
Speaker
He brought in reinforcements. What are we talking about? Again, I'll say like, i think I think for me what it is is like a lot of the issues that people express towards him are are more to do with on high.
00:52:43
Speaker
yeah that like he like Like you mentioned, like he's he's working with what he's given. yeah know so go and Listen, instead of Craig out, go do Hanauer out. That's fine. I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck.
00:52:54
Speaker
Dude, I'm sorry. Do it. Do it. I don't care. That's fine. like this too yeah This team has proven very like effective at the money ball in over the years.
Sounders' Legacy and Future Transfers
00:53:06
Speaker
And like what I've been saying the whole time is that ah whatever their approach is, whether it's spending big or not spending big, I don't care as long as they're winning and contending. really don't.
00:53:18
Speaker
And to this point, they've done a great job of that in their history as a club. They have a better trophy case than just about anybody besides the Galaxy. So, uh, it's, they've done it to great effect through the years, but right now, as we sit here today, it looks like it might not be working as effectively. And again, like I'm going to, uh, let this season play out before I fully judge it. But like, mean, I'll definitely under can so understand where the, uh, frustration comes from, but yeah, I mean, I basically agree with what you're saying. Yeah, it's, listen, change your hashtags. Go Hanauer out instead. I don't want to hear the Craigout shit until the end of the season.
00:53:59
Speaker
And until we get more on De La Vega and Karr. So you're Hanauer's sell. that's even a more radical position than Craigout some might say. Well, I'm not saying that I am. I'm just saying I think that that's a more logical take because you're getting mad at the fact that, I don't know, you go and try and have a budget of under $10 million dollars a season, basically, working within already stringent MLS budgets, and I i don't think that it's a ah ah secret fact that Brian has more sway than Craig does.
00:54:37
Speaker
I don't think that's so secret. I think Brian has more sway. He has more tenure. He knows... I'm not saying that's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's where it is. Maybe I'm wrong. Brian, you listen, you tell me, you give us a call, you know, you know how to get us, but you know, I don't know.
00:54:53
Speaker
I'm just, I'm just putting that out there. Maybe there is a conversation to be had. If you got a thoughts on this topic, drop them in the comments. It's good debate. It is. I think we're I'm good with that.
00:55:04
Speaker
I think we hit my other one that I had in here too. So we're, we're good with that. Okay. Uh, you had something in here on the summer window. What is this? ah I don't know Speaking, like we'll just go back into Craig Weibel here.
00:55:15
Speaker
More signings. I'm interested to know, we've been talking about the U22 spot that's going to come in the summer, how this is a big signing, all of this.
00:55:27
Speaker
um San Diego FC were looking to sign Kevin De Bruyne as he's leaving Man City. They're no longer going to do that because they're just goaded. Because Anders Dreyer is better. Yeah, like on unironically.
00:55:42
Speaker
My question is, do you make a play for him? I know that it's hard. I know that that you would have to do some crazy business and move some people around and you'd probably have to negotiate down ah Jordan Morris.
00:55:59
Speaker
But if you could get him here, what are your thoughts? I think that's one where if it's even a possibility, you move absolute heaven and earth.
00:56:10
Speaker
And I say that, you know, i think I've been very clear that I don't, I don't value name recognition or big names as much as I value the, ah the substance of what, of your game and what you can actually contribute.
00:56:26
Speaker
I think KDB is one of the goddamn sickest players of all time that I've ever watched. I think he makes any team that he's on way, way better because he some, he has the best passing vision I've ever seen.
00:56:42
Speaker
ah Watching him, like how he sets other, like plays that point guard ah as the number 10. ah he's He's one of the best ever at it. He might be the best ever just purely at, at that.
00:56:55
Speaker
And then he also scores incredible goals. He works hard. All his teammates love him. He's one of my personal favorite players to watch, ah those especially those Belgium teams. Yeah, dude, it's so good. Those Belgium teams with Lukaku and Hazard were my favorite international teams that I've ever watched, I think.
00:57:18
Speaker
um So I'm just personally a huge fan of the player. like if they If they ever got him on the Sounders, I would be like, hell yeah. Like I would not knock that for being name chasing at all. Like I think he's that good in every facet of the game on and off the field.
00:57:36
Speaker
I don't know what he's been doing lately, but I don't, I don't believe that he would be able, that he wouldn't be able to come into MLS and be successful. I really do think that if you make a big name signing,
00:57:52
Speaker
It would make a lot of people happy. It would help the vibes. and i think and i think We you saw it with Ryan Kent. Even Ryan Kent helped the vibes a little bit. Here's what I'm going to say. I think that there is a truth to the matter of rosters can get stagnant.
00:58:08
Speaker
Rosters can feel the same. Things can feel the same. Momentum can halt. And bringing in someone with that pedigree to transform a locker room, to transform a club, to bring more people out to matches, to do all of this, it's not a necessity.
00:58:28
Speaker
But it can help. And I think a player like De Bruyne absolutely would do that. I don't care how much he plays. it doesn't really matter to me. The reality is he would make this he would make this team better.
00:58:42
Speaker
he he That guy makes any team he's on better. Like way better. And I think that They should be doing anything they can to. Maybe it's not the Breyna. There's also Muller's available, but he's like 800 years old. I don't like that as much. yeah I just think like there are players available in the market right now like him.
00:59:03
Speaker
yeah i think that from what I've seen in the beginning of this season, it's got to happen. You got to make something like that happen. I'll say this. If they actually got KDB, I would, uh, I would go from pretty down on the season right now to just locked right the fuck back in.
00:59:24
Speaker
I would be still like, yeah and that's, you know, uh, again, I'm someone who's critical of teams that, that name chase like that. Uh, but I think that just in this situation specifically, I would be so about it. And you'd like, listen,
00:59:38
Speaker
Maybe he doesn't play every match. Maybe, you know, he rotates with with Albert and whatnot, but you don't think that that's going to give Albert more incentive to go off? I'm not saying Albert's lazy. I don't believe that, but that is a talking point that he only performs when he has heat on him.
00:59:52
Speaker
You don't think KDB wouldn't put some heat on him? KDB is only 33. Dude, come on Come on. JP's like 45 and he plays great. Oh man. Like I, um it's I mean, it's probably not going to happen. It's fun to talk about though. And but that's so sad, man.
01:00:09
Speaker
Why can't we have that happen? Like, I think the reaction from the fan base, if they, if they did that, or even just a player of similar name recognition and stature, it really would like, whether it made as big a difference as people think it would on the field or not, it would just give like a jolt of,
01:00:30
Speaker
like like Like I said, um I even felt that little bit of a jolt from Ryan Kent. Like yeah even from the most disgruntled, bitter cynics in the Sounders fan base, when the Ryan Kent stuff happened, they were like, oh, tight this that's tight. yeah this is They're like, oh, another injured player, classic Craig, but also it's tight.
01:00:47
Speaker
Like, yeah, he could, he he seems like an exciting, fun to watch player. So, yeah um, I just love KDB. I think he's, he's, he might be like my favorite player of all time because, um, because of how big a fan I was of watching those Belgium teams and he was in him and hazard were the most important players on those teams. And I just thought the way that those teams played, man, uh, like that golden Belgium generation, oh I know they're like kind of thought of as ah a letdown because they and and they never won the World Cup.
01:01:17
Speaker
But where God, when that when that team with those guys all at their peak playing at the same time when they were going, that's some of the most beautiful soccer you'll ever see. That's childhood football for me. It was phenomenal.
01:01:30
Speaker
It's so good, dude. Like, And that that' that's kind of where I do agree with the argument of signing a big player will is important.
01:01:41
Speaker
It is important to pedigree culture, all of that. Like they did it with Dempsey. They did it with Dempsey. They changed the league with Dempsey. They, they, they, they were good. They weren't amazing. They weren't winning anything.
01:01:53
Speaker
Listen, Dempsey didn't ever, I guess he technically did in 2016. He won an MLS cup, but like, They were in a slump and they signed that he's, he's, he's legendary. You know what? You know what? This conversation has um made me think of a new agenda. That is my agenda. okay It's my agenda.
01:02:10
Speaker
They should sign some, they need to sign. They should sign someone like that. It doesn't have to be KTV, but like some sort of signing sort of like that. They should do that. I think it would help like morale.
01:02:23
Speaker
Which, that's not necessarily reason to do it itself, but like whoever it might be would ostensibly help you a lot on the field as well. And ah you shouldn't do it, i don't want to say you should do it like purely off name value like that, but ah it wouldn't hurt matters if it was a name like You are playing in the Club World Cup and you're getting...
01:02:47
Speaker
$10 million, Ari. ari You are playing in the Club World Cup and you are getting $10 million. dollars Spend that money. Spend more than that money. Spend as much money as you have to. You are playing in the most important tournament you will ever play in.
01:03:03
Speaker
Ever. Ever. There is not a single bigger tournament. I don't know most but most high profile. Sure. Absolutely. Important implies that if they lose, I would care about it. That's nice. I mean, I mean, if you're going, i see in terms of pedigree of the tournament, like the teams you're playing. Exactly.
01:03:23
Speaker
I want to beat Botafogo. I want you to do everything that we can to beat Botafogo. I want you to do everything. specifically Botafogo? What'd they do to you? Just because they're... Because PSG and Athletic Cup. Yeah. I want you to score against PSG and Athletic Cup. Do whatever you can to get there. Compete.
01:03:39
Speaker
Do it. Compete with dignity. Do it. But also go sign KDB. Sign Kevin DeBrono. that was I wasn't expecting that to come up on this show, but like, uh, I knew you were Katie B head. Yeah. I'm a, I'm one of the all time Katie B heads. he's like one of the, uh, like I was watching those Belgium teams, right? Like 14, like right when I was first getting like obsessively, obsessively into soccer. And those teams were the ones I was watching. And I was like, the sport fucking rules, man. Like the way these guys play is just, it's, it's beautiful.
01:04:12
Speaker
Move heaven and earth, Craig, please. Heaven and earth. How many frames do you have to sell Adrian to get this guy? I will personally get more jerseys framed. You heard it here.
MLS Matchday Highlights
01:04:25
Speaker
Lobbing scorchers will fund the transfer. ah All right. I think we can hit these match day seven winners and losers from around MLS and then call it a wrap for episode 93. And then we were going to lay down some YouTube member content. Yeah, let's do it.
01:04:40
Speaker
All right. Winners and losers for match day seven. I just I didn't watch this game. I just saw the score today. Yep. San Jose Earthquakes 6-1 on D.C. I know it's a ball. I mean, God damn. I know, I know, uh, DC isn't any good, ah but still six goals.
01:04:58
Speaker
It kind of makes the sounders result against San Jose, uh, not as bad as, but at least been tech. I got one. Benteke got what got that is this DC team. It's like, he must be pretty fed up of being the only guy on that team that can play.
01:05:14
Speaker
Yeah. But it is probably pretty tight to know that you're going to get one goal, basically a game, no matter what, even if you lose yeah by five still, if I'm him, I've got $10,000 every 10 goals or like a thousand dollars a goal. Cause that dude is, I want to know how much he made from like escalators from goal scoring.
01:05:34
Speaker
Probably a lot. Yeah. Um, six to one and Joseph had a hat trick. So dude that's, uh, our San Diego arts, San Diego, our San Jose back. Yeah. Like that's, I think that's a fair question to, to ask after that. And, and they've looked, uh, to be fair, like a lot better this year so far than they did. It's still been like a little uneven from them, yeah but, uh, they're not going to spoon this year. Bruce ball is in full swing. Bruce is the guru, man. Like you can put him on any sideline in this league and he'll get it competent.
01:06:06
Speaker
Uh, Next winner, San Diego FC. Absolutely obliterated the Seattle Sounders. I mean, Jesus Christ. No, I don't think the Sounders played this week, Ari. I mean, ah again, I said it earlier, but like as much as ah we all are ripping Seattle and like I get it, everyone in our comments and in our little ecosystem is ripping Seattle, you do have to hat tip a team that...
01:06:34
Speaker
is in his first year in MLS and is already playing like that. I mean, that they they dog walked us. Yeah. They straight up remind me of like when Atlanta United came into the league.
01:06:45
Speaker
And frankly, like even LAFC's first year, they were, they, they blew up their second year. Even their first year didn't look like this. Like this is one of the, if not the most impressive expansion launches I've seen. i think Houston, Houston won it in their first season, right?
01:07:02
Speaker
Well, I, that was before my time to be able to say like, like how are they, how they were playing. Yeah. Well, I mean, that was what like 2004 or five or something. So yeah, maybe not in the full in fully modern times, but also i don't know if they destroyed the entire league that year. That could have been a situation where they were like pretty good and then got hot in the playoffs.
01:07:21
Speaker
I honestly don't know. That's too old for us. Yeah, that's too old for us. Um, but I think, uh, this might be the most impressive expansion launch I've seen relative to expectations because Atlanta and LAFC, they came in with the glitz and glamor and the big money and like the ah star power.
01:07:39
Speaker
Whereas this San Diego team was built like more under the radar than that. And like, it's not like they spent like insane money on like this dryer guy or like all these other Danish guys who I hadn't heard of. Like they really, it's, you can tell that Tyler heaps,
01:07:59
Speaker
like had an idea and a vision of what he was trying to do. Like you said earlier, they committed to it. They got the players that suited it. And now they're executing it at as high level as anyone in the league right now.
01:08:16
Speaker
You got a hat tip that man. You do like, they are really onto something. Yeah, I think that for one, i will say if you have a vision and if you want to build to that and if you have the money behind it, it's a lot easier to do that from zero than it is from a baseline standard, especially like if you look at Seattle when you already essentially you have a DP locked in, you you yeah had another DP locked in and whatever. But man, hat tip to them. They're so good.
01:08:47
Speaker
and you know yeah And to be like for, I've watched a lot of them this year. Cause I, out of curiosity and expansion team, I'm going to watch. That's just how they play, man. Like that's, that wasn't like a, a game where they were randomly playing like real Madrid, like out of nowhere. Like that's just literally, style that's what they do week. They've been doing like week in week out.
01:09:05
Speaker
So, uh, like you can't dismiss it as a fluke either. That's just, that's just, that that's just them. ah Sporting KC, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, has won a game.
01:09:17
Speaker
Congratulations to them. what happens when Peter Vermees gets kicked to the curb and the one and only, we didn't even talk about this, but the man himself retired the biggest wrestler of all.
01:09:29
Speaker
ah Their goalkeeper who I'm now. Oh yeah. Tim Amelia. Cause he's not even important in my head.
Tim Amelia's Retirement and Sporting KC's Win
01:09:34
Speaker
ah Tim Amelia retired. It's really the and end of an area with ah the wrestler himself. Yeah. Retiring. People were posting that video in tribute. And I just will say.
01:09:46
Speaker
watch it because rolled on is going to outlive you buddy. ah First win of the post Peter Vermees era new coach bump day on Yovelich scored both of their goals.
01:09:56
Speaker
It is like interesting how anytime there's coach firing the team like wins the next game. yeah It seems like it's always it's kind of a The new coach bump is something that I was kind of agnostic on when i kind of first like discovered the concept. And then, you know, the more uh, the more I follow it, the more I'm like, I think that is actually a thing. Like, it I mean, Seattle famously benefited from it. They want a cup. They want a cup off the new coach bump.
01:10:22
Speaker
So I don't think sporting Casey is going to do that, but, uh, They won for the first time in 14 games. So they definitely, you definitely get in the winner's bracket for that. Uh, losers from Ash day seven, Seattle Sounders absolutely obliterated by San Diego FC. Uh, and we, you know, we talked about, uh, we've talked about the positives and and negatives from both sides.
01:10:46
Speaker
Uh, and San Diego, I think it's a situation where you credit San Diego more than you drag Seattle, but Seattle also needs to be clowned on for this. The game plan was all wrong. Uh, the offense still can't get going and they made a lot of defensive errors.
01:11:06
Speaker
They had one of the worst performances of this slate this weekend. Like that's reality. They're bad in this game. They lost loser loser.
LA Galaxy's Struggles and LAFC's Variability
01:11:17
Speaker
LA galaxy lose again this time at America first field. That's always a loss. I think I said this on on the, on the live, but like they are cooked Like Seattle, there's still, or like not even just Seattle, but like there's teams that are not playing well to start the season that you can see a path to course correcting. Like yeah Seattle in my mind, I'm like, all right, you know, if when Jordan Morris gets back, when De La Vega gets healthy and Ryan Kent gets in there, maybe it'll look better there. You know, you don't know that for sure, but it's a possible outcome. It's not like the most delusional thing I've ever heard. Definitely not. when I look at the galaxy, I'm kind of just like, I don't really know what you do to but solve this. There's spooning.
01:11:58
Speaker
There's no shot. Like they might actually, like I would be, it'd be crazy if the MLS cup champion, reigning cup champion spoon, but like that dude, they had to offload and everybody. yeah and then you lose the best player on your team to an injury.
01:12:15
Speaker
Like the guy who you like, let people go probably because of, because of all the incentives that are in his contract. I guess that's the one thing maybe because he's a dp that's the one thing that they could say is like when he comes back, but it's like, like you said, they lost everyone else.
01:12:33
Speaker
So like him coming back, yeah, that'll make them a little better, but a prop, maybe even a lot better, but a lot better from one of the worst teams in the league right now. Where does that leave you? So we were talking to a galaxy fan in our chat last night about it. And, uh,
01:12:47
Speaker
They sold out for the ring and they got it. So that's, uh, that's honestly mission accomplished. I think if you get a ring, you make that trade for a season like this every single time. Like if, if you told them, you told Greg Vanny last year, you're going to get the cup this year, but next year is going to be rough He takes that. Like you take, you take the ring easy. Like that's not even a discussion. So, well, they literally, they, they played the game, which is in a salary cap league. You could be sustainable or you can win all, you can go all out and win. We've seen this before, right? Like Sounders went all in on champions cup. That's what they wanted to win. And they want it.
01:13:26
Speaker
Yeah. Right. It's a, it's a, it crushed their season. It's a good comparison. Like, like, and people, can say whatever they want. I make that trade every single every time. And I don't even have to think for a microsecond. I make that trade. I would trade winning MLS cup for that.
01:13:42
Speaker
Like easily. Would you trade both? What do you mean? Like both cups for that? For CCC. Sure. I think I would. Yeah, I think so. That's actually a good debate. That's, that's tougher say. That is tough. because Well, cause the thing with that is that you need cup in your trophy case for it to be like fully. Yeah. They would say, Oh, that's a fluke.
01:14:01
Speaker
or Or just like you like, if you've never won MLS Cup, that hangs over you. Yeah, Timbers fans would be the most fucking annoying ever. Yeah, well, you won the Champions Cup, but actually, we won the... They still like to do the, we won MLS Cup first, which is like, okay. It's like, all right, okay, whatever you want.
01:14:20
Speaker
Next loser, LAFC. this This feels good to be able to do. like Happy foot, LAFC lost. Sad foot, the Sounders also lost. Like... ah the So the Sounders lost. They got absolutely destroyed, but they were playing one of the best teams in the league. So at least there's like that aspect to it. If they had got if they had gotten blown out like that against like the Galaxy of right now or something, that would be even worse. Yes. The LAFC lost to the Houston Dynamo, who are not good.
01:14:51
Speaker
Seattle only tied that zero zero. So, uh, it's not like we can say all that much, but it's, we got the point. It's still pretty funny that LAFC lost to Houston. Yeah. And you know, they're in champions cup right now and they got a phenomenal result, honestly against inner Miami. yeah So there's really actually no reason to all for any of their fans. I think to care about this game or this result when you're 90 minutes away from toppling messy.
01:15:21
Speaker
and 90 minutes away from potentially being in club world cup. Oh yeah. Is that actually like, I can think it got confirmed. Okay. i wasn't sure about that. ah Reports were confirmed, but it hasn't been announced. yeah So honestly, any LAFC fan who's like, I literally don't care at all about that game. Yeah. that You guys can clown on that. all want totally That is, that is valid. I still think you're still a loser for losing the diet. I still think it's funny. Yeah. yeah Yeah.
01:15:45
Speaker
um And then speaking of inter Miami, they got to get the messy ah keyword in here in
Inter Miami's Champions Cup Journey
01:15:50
Speaker
this article. Yeah, they, well, they tied Toronto today, which Toronto is also not good.
01:15:56
Speaker
And ah so messy scored. It was like messy and Bernadeschi both scored in first half stoppage time. And that was the only two goals of the game. But Inter-Miami was coming off a Champions Cup game where they lost to LAFC. Like, they're down 1-0 in that series.
01:16:12
Speaker
um And then they tie Toronto. i still i mean, they're very clearly the best team in the league by a country mile in terms of talent and results, frankly, so far.
01:16:24
Speaker
Um, but they don't seem to be at their, the peak of their powers right now. no And I'll say it right now. I still think they're going to win the, the champions cup series, even taking into account that they got eliminated from the playoffs by Atlanta last year.
01:16:41
Speaker
and they crashed out of champions cup last year. So there's precedent yeah for them choking in this type of situation. I think, And I could be wrong, but I think l LAFC needed to put at least one more in ah to feel at least to feel good about their chances. Because LAFC has gotten praise far and wide for that result. And I get it. like It was a great result. And honestly, the performance was great, too. It was a good performance. It was not a fluky performance.
01:17:09
Speaker
But like that with that dust settled, the reality is... Messi could score in the second minute of leg two and basically all the work you did in that last game means nothing.
01:17:21
Speaker
This is what I will say, though.
01:17:25
Speaker
the The inner Miami love to give up goals. That's their favorite. Not as much this year, though. That's true. But I'm saying when you are working on a margin like that. if LAFC score, they they they win on away goals.
01:17:39
Speaker
Like if yeah if it's one, one or two, two or three like the away goal, the thing is, it's like there is a lot of momentum for LAFC going into this match. It's just a reality. And they, they ah the fact that they held inter-Miami without an away goal, that's big time. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like it's there.
01:17:59
Speaker
i'm And honestly, I'm rooting for LAFC because that will mean that no um MLS teams will win. Champions Cup ah because it will be LAFC versus either Pumas or the Whitecaps and then whoever wins that would go to the final. Let's say LAFC go to the final. Doesn't matter who they play. They're losing because that's their favorite thing to do is lose in CONCACAF Champions Cup final. That's literally their whole thing. Honestly, the further they make it, the funnier it is for us. That's what I'm saying. It's the whole thing that their club is built on is losing that final.
01:18:26
Speaker
Yeah. And like three would be amazing. I would be down for them to make the make the final. Yeah. they're They're not good like I also if Inter Miami does win Champions Cup this year. It doesn't count because yeah because they cheated by signing Messi and the Barca boys. Yeah. So that's easy. They're not like a real MLS team. Well, they also had an easy path. They didn't play an and easy path.
01:18:47
Speaker
They played LAFC, whatever could could the whatever. It doesn't matter. Easy path. ah All right.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:18:55
Speaker
Unless you add anything else, I think we can call it right there for episode 93. Thank you so much, as always, to everyone for tuning in.
01:19:04
Speaker
i know that was a tough game, but we bring the content regardless of what happens. That's our job. That's our job. That's why we're here. ah Like the video if you're watching on YouTube. Rate us five stars, please. Comment, subscribe, rate five stars. I think we're like one rating away from like 150 ratings or something like that. So give us a rate. On Apple Podcasts? Yeah, on ah across all of the podcast platforms. All right, yeah. give us the Give us the rating.
01:19:30
Speaker
Like everything. Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram, Road to 400 Credibility on IG. Like, comment, subscribe. Tell your friends. Tell your parents.
01:19:41
Speaker
Tell Messi the Barca Boys. Until next time, we out. Peace.