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Lobbing Scorchers: Danny Musovski Should Be An MLS All-Star
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It’s our 100th episode and an emphatic Dub Pod as the Seattle Sounders have departed Houston, Texas with a 3-1 victory for their fourth win in five matches. We’ll talk about all the goals and the controversial red card to friend of the show Femi Awodesu in our game review, hit our Agenda Check and reveal the Winners and Losers from Matchday 12 in MLS.
We also have another Blazing Hot Coach Press Conference of the Week sponsored by Haxan Ferments, as Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen delivered the goods while discussing his thoughts on that first-half red card vs. Seattle.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Transcript
Episode 100 Celebration and Reflection
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 scorcher.
00:00:22
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to a historic episode of Lobbing Scorchers. Folks, it is our 100th episode. We have hit triple digits.
00:00:33
Speaker
And Noah, we are about to lay down another emphatic dub pod for it. How are you feeling? It's only down from here, Ari. It's only down from here. Ladies and gentlemen, 100. Thank you for sticking with us.
Podcast Growth and Success
00:00:46
Speaker
And if you were if you've been here since the beginning, you know that this started out as a Seattle Seahawks podcast, obviously. It's crazy to ah think about the ah the early days.
00:00:56
Speaker
But yeah, triple digits, man. it is ah It's a big milestone for us. We really appreciate everyone ah tuning in each and every week and helping.
00:01:08
Speaker
ah facilitate the growth of our show, which I think, Noah, it's safe to say ah it's grown to be a lot of ah bigger operation than we thought when we started this thing.
Seattle Sounders Match Analysis
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think we could have ever imagined that this number of people would be listening to us and that we would have multiple employees working on the production of the show and still looking like this, you know?
00:01:30
Speaker
it is ah It is a dub pod for our special 100th episode. A 3-1 victory for Seattle Sounders at Houston Dynamo. Fourth win in five matches. I mean, the dub pods are becoming routine these days.
00:01:44
Speaker
ah The Sounders remain one of, if not the hottest teams in ah Major League Soccer. Danny Mussofsky has made some history scoring for a fifth straight game. Albert Rusnak scored two goals that didn't count.
00:01:57
Speaker
And Ryan Kent might just be the greatest player alive. We're going to talk about all that in our game review, hit our agenda check, and hit our winners and losers for match day 12 in MLS. It's going to be a great 100th episode.
00:02:10
Speaker
ah But before we do all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing 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 sounderathart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? Sounderathart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free.
00:02:29
Speaker
Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. The road to 100 Sounder at Heart subs. It's alive and well. It's alive and well. It's a great time to become a member with the season in full swing.
00:02:41
Speaker
Subs also get access to the audio only versions of our live shows right to your podcast feed. We had a great one yesterday. Do we have any ah new subs to thank? We do. Parker Meacham, thank you so much for becoming a Sound Earth Heart supporter.
00:02:56
Speaker
You are number 90. Do we know? Oh, that's Waylon. Yeah, that's Waylon Francis. Parker, thank you for becoming our Waylon. We appreciate you. a Shout out to our sponsors, Hacks on Ferments, ah Podium Menswear, Full Pull Wines, My Data Removal, and BodySpec.
Community Engagement and Promotions
00:03:13
Speaker
If you're watching on YouTube, please like the video, subscribe to the channel, and follow us on all socials, especially Instagram.
00:03:24
Speaker
as we try and ah gain credibility on that platform, which is actually going decently well. Anything else we need to show before we get into this dub pod, Noah? No, we um were're just we're just existing and doing
Content Creation Efforts
00:03:36
Speaker
great things. I have to suggest that you go back, if you haven't, and and watch our Wade Weber interview that we did at Starfire Sports.
00:03:43
Speaker
We've got an exclusive vlog coming out. It's really good. It's so good. We got a guy who edits the videos. Yeah, Eric. Real professional-like. Yeah, Eric is our new producer guy, and he's incredible, and we are so excited to share some of the content that we're making. We'll be out in Portland this weekend, so please, if you see us, come say hello.
00:04:05
Speaker
ah We'll also be making content there, so we may ask you to talk at the camera for a minute. So don't be shy. Come up and say what's up. But that' that's all I had. All right, let's
Sounders Lineup and Strategy Discussion
00:04:14
Speaker
get into this dub pod. No, a hundred episode dub pod, 100 dub pod, 100 dub It feels like if they're L pods, they're always dub pods in my heart. It feels like it's been a hundred dub pods in the last few weeks here. Uh, four out of five dub pods. So feeling blessed and a drop on, uh, and a drop pod. Seattle Sounders three Houston dynamo one, uh, Noah, let's hit our lineup reaction before we get into the key moments.
00:04:39
Speaker
Uh, I was very happy and excited when I saw this lineup ah going into this game. I was sort of assuming that De La Vega was going to be a ah ah written in pen starter, so to speak. So in my mind, was sort of a debate of who do you start, Paul Rothrock or Ryan Kent?
00:04:58
Speaker
And we got a lineup that had both Paul Rothrock and Ryan Kent together. And i love that. That front floor is the exact front four I actually wanted to see in this game.
00:05:10
Speaker
And I didn't I didn't think that we were going to get it. So I was really happy to see it. And I thought it worked really well. Rothrock looked great in the first half.
00:05:21
Speaker
So I think this was my favorite 11 of the season so far. Noah, what did you think? I thought it was the perfect lineup, a bait. You know, I probably would have loved to see Jordan get into this lineup and feast a little bit.
00:05:35
Speaker
But other than that, man, I mean, this is this is quite literally perfection. You've got in in it's And it's it's funny to say that it's perfection, too, because it is not what we would have expected would have been the best 11 starting out this season.
00:05:50
Speaker
My thing was that you you had to start Rothrock in this game because he's a Houston Dynamo merchant. He dominates this team. so If he's going to have a goal contribution, it's going to be against Houston.
00:06:02
Speaker
But i I thought that meant that Ryan Kent wouldn't be starting, and then he was. So... How do you not start him after, you know, last match? And I think that's exactly what happened. But it's like, you know, it ah it brings up these lineup debates that we're going to be having.
00:06:16
Speaker
Even going back to preseason, we were talking about how in a first choice 11, it might arguably not include De La Vega. ah But De La Vega has had a really good start to the season. So it's just it's all good problems to have. But ah I really loved how they lined it up in this game. And it ended up paying off.
00:06:34
Speaker
uh, quite handsomely, in the first half, let's get into our key moments because Noah, this game was, it was a really good game. Like it was, it was back and forth end to end, a lot of action and, and probably the most memorable eight minutes of, uh, Houston dynamo defender and friend of the pod Femi Odessu's career. Yeah, yeah, no, we're going to get into that.
00:06:55
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, there's a lot of things I think to like about this performance from Seattle on the road. ah Starting with, ah you know, when you're the road team in a situation like this, i think your first objectives are to weather whatever storm there might be with the home team coming out, ah trying to get on top of you and ah controlling the action and generating chances and all that.
00:07:18
Speaker
You're probably going to have to absorb a little bit of pressure. The other team might have a couple of looks. So you need to get through that without conceding and then ideally get the first goal yourself.
00:07:30
Speaker
And that's exactly what Seattle did. Houston, ah they they had ah they controlled some of the run of play, I think, for the first 20 minutes. But I thought it was relatively even. And Seattle ah didn't get all that close to conceding, I don't think, until the 22nd minute when we got another moose goal.
00:07:50
Speaker
fifth straight game. Uh, and this was a great goal. Great goal. Uh, the Houston center back had a little bit of a rough one on this one.
00:08:01
Speaker
ah he totally whiffed on, uh, on the ball that was coming in over the top and that left Paul Roth rock with as much space as he could ever want.
Controversial Game Decisions
00:08:10
Speaker
And that's not what you want to see if you're the Houston dynamo defense is Paul Roth rock chugging up that right side. into acres of space.
00:08:19
Speaker
Rothrock puts in a beautiful cross and the the run that Moose made on this play, his movement was fantastic. The way he moved off that guy's shoulder where i think the CB thought that he was with him and ah Moose just floats to the to the far post, times that up perfectly and free header.
00:08:43
Speaker
off great delivery from Rothrock. Now, I do have a grievance with this goal, which is that they apparently have taken away Paul Rothrock's assist, which... The game's gone. I'm going to complain about this. you know it's It might not seem significant because they got the goal anyway, but I have no idea what we are talking about with the not giving Paul Rothrock the assist.
00:09:04
Speaker
I don't know if it's some like rigid adherence to a rule where if it gets deflected, at all. You take the assist away. If that is what they're doing here, that's just stupid because, ah it did. I don't think whatever deflection there was did not meaningfully change the trajectory of the cross.
00:09:23
Speaker
No. Uh, so that is absolutely Paul Roth rocks assist. And, uh, it actually does matter like a statue production, like their bonuses that ride on that sometimes.
00:09:35
Speaker
And, uh, like, You know, if if you put in a ball like that, you got to have the assist. So ah hopefully that gets rectified. I looked at the stat sheet today and they still hadn't given to him.
00:09:47
Speaker
What the hell, man? What are we? What are we doing? Listen, if that was messy, you know who gets an assist on the score sheet? Messy. I I'm just saying we got a, we got to provide an even slate here for statistics. Speaker 3 0. It's laughable to think of them taking an assist away. If it was messy or any other like big star player in the league, they're literally, they're taking away because it's Paul Rothrock and they're like, oh well it got deflected.
00:10:14
Speaker
It didn't even like, okay, I understand if it's a deflection that's like very meaningfully changes the trajectory of the ball, but he put in a cross with space and it, yes, absolutely. The little tip of the foot arced the ball a little bit more and made it maybe a little bit easier for Moose to head that in.
00:10:34
Speaker
But you can't tell me that Paul Rothrock didn't put in the effort to build up that cross and put it in. And then it gets play like, I don't know, man, this is, this is, it's just one of those things. We all know that that's Paul Roth, rocks assist. Like I, it's common sense. Danny Leyva scored on his debut. Paul Roth. I have, I have, I honestly have no idea what, ah what they're talking about with that, but either way,
00:10:57
Speaker
This is why stats are always lying to you, Ari. The stat of assists. Either way, they get the goal. And like I said, I think that's the first thing to the first positive. We'll get into positive and negatives. But the first positive, ah you withstand whatever early pressure there was from Houston. And then you get the first goal. You can't really draw up the start to a road game any better than that.
00:11:20
Speaker
Uh, but then just 10 minutes later, the Houston dynamo did find their equalizer. Noah, uh, loving scorchers has had exactly one, a guest from a different team yeah in MLS in the history of our show. Uh, who was that guest?
00:11:38
Speaker
Femi. Oh, a desu Femi. Oh, a desu who the story of Femi Oadesu in this game was very, uh, it was a rollercoaster. It was an up and down.
00:11:49
Speaker
It was a harrowing tale that had highs and lows. And I just thought it was so funny that he ended up being such a key character in this game because you literally that's you interviewed him. I did. like You interviewed him. That was ah yeah for those who don't know. Well, go watch Noah's interview with Femi.
00:12:06
Speaker
friend of the friend of the po Friend of the pod. But he he's a very cool kid. he He went to Penn State, so I think that's why you were initially drawn to him. But he's also a content guy. he has a He has a really awesome YouTube, actually, where he basically goes does behind-the-scenes documentary-style content of him trying to make it as an MLS player. And it's it's like very compelling, well-done content. Noah interviewed him about it.
00:12:33
Speaker
Uh, and then in this game, he gets his first and MLS goal. Yup. Um, and his first MLS red card. Yeah. Well, yeah. So we're going to get to that, but first he got the equalizer ye and and it was a great header. It was a, it was a great header. And, uh, Jack McGlynn has one of the best left feet in MLS beside messy. Yeah.
00:12:57
Speaker
he might, he might have as good a left foot as mess. I don't know. looked like in this game with the delivery that he was putting in, but it was, ah it was a great free kick. Very, uh, uh, good header by Femi.
00:13:08
Speaker
Uh, no, I think we're going to have to start a new segment on this show for whenever the Sounders concede called was that Stefan Fry's fault? Uh, cause there was more discourse about that.
00:13:19
Speaker
The dumbest people, you know, online. uh, so, uh, for me, when the when the CB has a free header from literally point blank range, ah you're kind of asking to get scored on. Like if you if you ah simulate that shot a hundred times, Stephen Fry might save it 50. I don't know. Like I feel like it doesn't,
00:13:45
Speaker
it doesn't really matter in this case. The problem was that the CB had a free header from literally directly in front of the goal. So, uh, for, for this new segment, I'm going to say no, but okay yeah, everyone's, are you ready for my, my take on this? Cause I'm tired of the slander Ari. I'm tired of it because later in this game, not only did Stefan Fry prove himself once again, to be the reason that he's starting very quality goalkeeper and someone who can save results, but I think the reason that people thought that this was his fault was the way in which he splayed out his body in a comedic fashion to try and save the goal.
00:14:25
Speaker
But like you said, if he's point blank range and you're any kind of professional soccer player, I think that nine times out of 10, that's going in the back of the net if you have a free header. So I'm going to put that on the defense way more than I'm going to put that on Stephen Frye.
00:14:41
Speaker
Could Stefan Fry have done a better job? I'm sure he could have. And I bet you that's exactly what he would have told you in the post game. But I think the reality is. why Why are you bashing on the goalkeeper for that?
00:14:53
Speaker
yeah I'm not really sure. That's really stupid. And we're going to talk about Seattle set piece defending later. But like, yeah, for me, that that was more of the issue on this play ah than the goalkeeping. Why is it become such a issue?
00:15:08
Speaker
Is it just like the new new who? Is it like the new like new who's gotten good? So we've got to move on to something else. I mean, I think it's because, you know, he's ah up in his late thirty s So maybe people have concerns as to decline.
00:15:23
Speaker
But, uh, I personally have not, uh, seen goalkeeping really be the biggest issue with the defense this year. i think there's maybe a few that you could point to where he could have done a little bit better.
00:15:37
Speaker
ah you could also point to a lot of, uh, really great saves that he's made. Uh, as you pointed out, he made one later on in this game, which we'll talk about, but, uh, uh, Houston equalizes on 32 minutes and, uh,
00:15:51
Speaker
that was That was unfortunate because you put yourself in a good situation 1-0 and you have 10 plus minutes to get to halftime at 1-0, which I think that's really obviously you want the second goal, but really the i think the biggest priority is getting to halftime, still having the lead.
00:16:09
Speaker
ah And they couldn't quite... do that. ah But since they scored first, they were still in great position to take a result. That's why you want to score first. So a little bit of a mixed bag there. But then ah six minutes later, we have to get back to the story of Femi Odessu because it took a tragic turn.
00:16:30
Speaker
ah This was the controversial call of the game. We're going to get to that and our blazing hot coach presser of the week. But ah this was a controversial call.
00:16:41
Speaker
ah Stefan Fry comes off his comes off his line and just absolutely smashes a long ball over everybody. And ah Danny Musovski makes a run to try and track the ball down. He and Femi are jostling for position and then Moose chest it down and it looks like he actually controls it in a way where he's gonna have ah pretty free ah shot on goal.
00:17:08
Speaker
ah But then the referee calls Femi for dog-so handball and initially points to the spot for a penalty. It looked like it might have been inside the box.
00:17:20
Speaker
But then... and upon 10-minute review. Yeah. got An expeditious 10 minutes. Got a nice little 10-minute review in there. But he initially, he sent him off for Dogso and called the penalty.
00:17:34
Speaker
They video review it and determined that it was... at just, just outside the box, but that the dog so red stood. And Ben Olsen was not happy
Second Half Performance and Tactics
00:17:45
Speaker
about that. you could ah you could see that much on the broadcast and then also in his press conference after the game.
00:17:51
Speaker
ah But let's just talk about the call. I'll give my take on this on this call, which is that All right. I always try think of these things like if the roles were reversed. Yeah. And if a Seattle player got called for that. This is one of your best takes, by the way. It would like it's tough. It's tough. I don't think he was trying to do it.
00:18:13
Speaker
I think it was like inadvertent. But I think that.
00:18:20
Speaker
Okay, if they hadn't dog-so-redded him, I don't think I would have had that much of an issue with it. But I think the call makes sense because Moose ah won like he won the positioning battle there.
00:18:33
Speaker
And he's chesting that ball down. And if Femi doesn't have his hand out there and he hits his hand, ah it is an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, I think.
00:18:45
Speaker
ah So it's ah hor horrifically unlucky for the kid. I felt bad for him, but
00:18:53
Speaker
i think I think the call made sense. I think it did. I think that the call does make sense, but that said, i am a i am of the opinion, I guess, that it sucks.
00:19:09
Speaker
Like, yes, you're right. If we're looking at the letter of the law that's called correctly, and I think it was even more called correctly, and I'm glad that they didn't issue a penalty when it wasn't in the penalty area, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah But, man, you've got feel hard done by that. Like, I just i feel like...
00:19:26
Speaker
That's like just, they're playing, you know? I don't think that Femi is the reason that Moose was... in I don't think there was any, like, very blatant impediment of him.
00:19:39
Speaker
i just, like... But he's impeding the ball going down where Moose is going to have goal-scoring opportunity with his hand. I just... I guess, like, it's the whole natural position versus unnatural position versus, like, oh, well, this is a handball, but that's not a handball, but this is a handball, but that's... And that's a red. It's just... It's just...
00:19:59
Speaker
It just sucks. I think, I don't know, the guidance is is like really clear on certain things and super unclear on others. And like I'm saying, like, I think it was the right call. I think the referee made a really, like, good decision there in terms of letter of the law and doing his job.
00:20:16
Speaker
But you got to feel hard done and you got to kind of feel bad for the kid. like I feel bad for him. feel bad for him. He was so upset. he would he like that was in a six minute stretch for the ages there. His first MLM like his YouTube is going to pop this week. Dude, if he does Femi, if you do not click bait the hell out of that,
00:20:38
Speaker
lost respect on the YouTube game, bro. But no, it's, it's, it's really for me. It's like, yes, I understand it is, but like if it's happening to my player, I'm going to be pissed off. And like, that's suck we talk about stuff like this all the time, but if that, so if you just clean reverse these roles and it was Mar who got called for that, my take would be that sucks. It's horrifically unlucky and it's really tilting because he literally was not trying to do it at all. Yeah. But as the CB in that situation, you got to have the awareness to not ah even give the ref the opportunity to make a call like that. That's fair. We'll get to this more when we get to the Benno actually talked about that in his presser. So when we when we do the blazing hot coach presser, we'll dig into that a little bit more. ah But no, I think you're right, though, because if if if I'm seeing if Yamar does this, I'm blaming Yamar.
00:21:33
Speaker
Like, do you know what i mean? I mean, also he's a veteran, so I would be like, it is this is your fault, but it's it's just a, it's a tough scenario. yeah It's one of those ones where you are, uh, you're putting it in the hands of the ref, uh, in a 50 50 situation.
00:21:47
Speaker
And when you do that, you're going to get burned sometimes. That's just how it goes. And you know, people will probably say we're like being homers on that or whatever, but I will stand on that. We, there's been a lot of calls that have gone,
00:21:59
Speaker
against Seattle that are similar to this, where we always acknowledge that we say like, we might not like the call or it might be an unlucky call, but, it's on you to not, to put your, to not put yourselves in situations where those calls can go against you. And, uh,
00:22:15
Speaker
I think ah you know it was it was unlucky, but one thing I know is that ah pretty much every good team I've ever watched, it seems like they get all the lucky breaks like that.
00:22:30
Speaker
And then not good teams, that stuff seems to always go against them. you know so It was tough for the kid though. It was tough. right after your first MLS goal gets sent off.
00:22:42
Speaker
And I'm sure we would feel differently if the result had been impacted by a no call. Do know what I mean? Like if that hadn't been called and the Sounders end up losing 2-1.
00:22:54
Speaker
i would be maybe i would be complaining like about maybe there's a different about the like the Jackson Travis thing. Yeah, exactly. So it's it's a I have to give props, you know, to the official for that because he he, he made the right decision, but it's, it's just like the game of soccer is so cruel sometimes, man. So cruel.
00:23:14
Speaker
So Seattle wasn't able to get the second goal before the half. I actually really liked, uh, the set piece that they ran, uh, like on the, on the, uh, one from outside the box where the handball was, yeah where a Christian, he, uh, Christian sets it up and he, Bruce Knight comes in and just,
00:23:32
Speaker
blasts it. They just, it didn't quite get executed to into a goal. Right. But I liked what they were trying there. And I was really hoping in the immediate aftermath of the red card, like, all right, jump on them right here, get this second goal right here.
00:23:47
Speaker
And they weren't quite able to do that, but not the worst situation in the world. You still got a whole half to play up a man. And at that point, it is you got you got go out and capitalize. That is your objective.
00:24:00
Speaker
You have been given a man advantage. You have a whole half up a man. No reason why you shouldn't be able to go out and bang a couple goals and win the game and start the road trip off.
00:24:14
Speaker
with a three point result, which, you know, we were talking about our expectations for this road trip, getting this wind to start it off puts you in a really good situation. So oh whatever you think of the call with the red card happening, it was Seattle's duty to go out and capitalize on it, take advantage of the situation.
00:24:33
Speaker
And I think that's the other thing that I really liked about this performance was how efficient they were in doing that to start the second half.
00:24:44
Speaker
ah they They did not waste any time at all. I thought the the response coming out of the locker room was excellent. Literally the first...
00:24:55
Speaker
Sequence of play on second half kickoff the Houston Dynamo didn't even touch the ball and the Sounders get their second goal in the 46th minute Albert Rusnak This was this was a great team goal.
00:25:08
Speaker
ah How about the dime from Yamar on this What a pass. He was looking like Jackson Reagan. He was looking like Jackson Reagan out there. Excellent pass from Yimar to Thread in De La Vega, who entered at halftime.
00:25:21
Speaker
A man possessed entered at halftime. he yeah know well so okay What was your take when you saw that Rothrock was off for De La Vega at half? Did you like that or were you tilted?
00:25:31
Speaker
Yeah, i didn't mind that. I thought it was great because, you know, for me, I was thinking, OK, there's a midweek game coming up. The reality of what Brian is doing is giving himself an opportunity to play either Rothrock or De La Vega or both together.
00:25:47
Speaker
And I just I liked the potential there. You know, you give them both 45 and you can run them another 45, 50, 60 in the midweek game. in the midweek game It's cool to see how this depth is really taking shape and like you can do stuff like that when you have fixture congestion and a big road trip like this. Yeah. Give a guy 45 and give another guy the second half.
00:26:10
Speaker
And this one paid off immediately. Again, great dime from Yamar to spring de la Vega there. And, uh, It was a back heel from Alex rolled on actually wait, is that the right I thinking of the wrong? I think I can't remember but regardless either way either way.
00:26:28
Speaker
but No, no that I think the back hair back heel was the the second the third goal. No, no, no. It was this one because the other one was Ryan Kent. That's right. You're right. Yeah. Ryan Kent with the, yeah, anyway. So nice back heel from Alex rolled on off the Yamar dime, uh, to find De La Vega.
00:26:48
Speaker
And, uh, I don't think it should be slept on how good a pass this was from De La Vega. Uh, actually I watched the sequence again, right before you came over Noah and,
00:27:01
Speaker
God, I mean, this team's chance generation is just so good right now. Uh, he actually, if he sent in a low cross right in front of goal, he had moves right there.
00:27:12
Speaker
So that could have been a goal, but I think the higher percentage look was actually exactly what he did, which was a hidden roost snack as the trailing runner.
00:27:23
Speaker
ah into just acres of space in the box. Rusnak is cash money from right there. yeah yeah So it was just it was just an excellent read by De La Vega to not just smash it across the front of goal, but to pick out Rusnak in all that space and make it an even...
00:27:43
Speaker
Higher percentage chance. I mean, I don't know We don't know what would have happened if he had tried to hit Moose. ah But what he did was, i think, the right play. And that was really good to see from De La Vega.
00:27:54
Speaker
I talked about this on the postgame live, but I felt like the last couple weeks he wasn't as influential as he looked earlier in the season in CCC and then some of the run that he got before he got injured.
00:28:05
Speaker
So I really wanted to see him ah impact the game in some sort of way. And he did so instantaneously. That was great to see. Just a great assist from from Pedro there. what' you see on this goal? I loved this goal so much because I was literally taking a shower at halftime because I was just knew we were going to do the postgame and whatever. And I'd been bumming around all day.
00:28:30
Speaker
And i like I heard my phone notification go off, and i was like, okay, halftime's over, so I turn off the shower, I get out, whatever. And I look, and it's like, goal, 46th minute. And I'm like, oh, shit, click on Apple TV. I regress spam the rewind button, and I'm just like, this is a thing of goddamn beauty. And it was so...
00:28:52
Speaker
good and like to the point of what you were saying, the fact that this offense basically generated two equal options to where De La Vega, he doesn't either decision that he makes is the right decision.
00:29:07
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Like he can play in Moose, who's in a very, very, very good position to score, or he can play in Albert, who's in, you know, arguably a better position to score, who And there's a second runner there. who Who was running there with him? Was that Jesus?
00:29:22
Speaker
No, he wasn't in in yet. and Who was it? I can't remember. there was um Maybe it was Obed who was crashing with him. ah But like that was i mean that was just great. was I love the goals that this team is scoring right now. It's the exact type of goals that you want to see in terms of, you know, they're not fluky. They're not against the run of play. They're sustainable.
00:29:47
Speaker
They're repeatable. It just looks like a well-oiled machine right now. And we're going to, we're going to talk about some of this same stuff on this next goal that Seattle scored in the 58th minute to dust this game, another Albert Rusnak goal.
00:30:06
Speaker
I mean, Ryan Kent. I mean, okay, let's talk about Ryan Kent because ah the first half ah people were talking a lot about how he didn't look as good as he had in his first few appearances, especially in that last one against St. Louis.
00:30:21
Speaker
I thought early in the game he had a couple more moments that were bums off seats moments, ah but they were double team. He was getting double teamed a lot in the first half. And ah he I would say it's fair to say that it wasn't quite as like like the St. Louis game was just crazy. It was every time he was on the ball and this wasn't quite like that.
00:30:41
Speaker
ah But I think this play that he gets. ah his third assist of the season on, it's just another one of those individual plays where, yeah, it's not like every week is not going to look like the St. Louis game where he's just ah absolutely dominating every single time he touches the ball. That's not sustainable.
00:31:01
Speaker
Uh, but like this, this play, it's like, okay, he's got this type of stuff in his bag at any time. Uh, so let's just talk about this run that he made. If you look at this goal back where he starts that run, he is so he's up against the sideline on the left side, i probably closer to midfield than he is to the eighteen And he just goes gallivanting run through the Houston Dynamo defense.
00:31:28
Speaker
What I thought was the best part of this run was how he used Obed as a shield. Dude, as a blow-up practice dummy. That was just brilliant.
Post-Game Analysis and Player Performances
00:31:40
Speaker
Like... Oh God, his, just his IQ, how he has been, uh, freeing himself into all this space. He's just got so many different ways of doing it. We saw it in the St. Louis game, ah where he's doing dummies and like letting the ball go past the defender and then running onto it And then he's got all this space.
00:31:58
Speaker
This one, ah he gets himself to the touchline by using Obed as a shield and really like freeing himself into even more space than, ah than you could ever hope for, for a winger getting into primary assist zone like that.
00:32:14
Speaker
and then he lays the ball back across perfectly. Noah again, two different guys could have finished this goal. Bruce snack gets it, but if he didn't, De La Vega was right there.
00:32:25
Speaker
it was such a high quality chance that literally like if one guy didn't score it, like the other guy would have just as easily. Uh, so was part of that, them being up a man, ah probably, but, ah just a great run by Ryan Kent.
00:32:45
Speaker
And then, like to have, to have the runners right there, both waiting to finish. I mean, you can't draw it up any better. This formation is perfect.
00:32:57
Speaker
Like, I don't think I know we're not the tactics podcast, but like this formation is perfect for this lineup. And I know Brian, like in the postgame said, oh you know, like we're not committed to any one formation. You know, we'll move it around based on a point.
00:33:15
Speaker
This is exactly what this formation brings you. Like you're just saying, like I was bringing up, the options are endless when you have these incredibly talented wingers and these really high IQ, like,
00:33:30
Speaker
ah strikers and central midfielders like like Albert is a 10 is really great at finding that space uh Jesus is great at finding that space and uh Moose has been amazing at at finding his lines and his space and kind of just being a being a menace right yeah and and that's like that's all you could ever ask for but you know to go to go back to the Ryan Kent thing it's like Dude, he he looks like he's played with these guys for two years.
00:34:02
Speaker
How do you have the confidence in your teammate, and ah in Obed Vargas, that you know you're just going to dummy around him, get the ball on the other end, and you know Obed's just going to stop moving?
00:34:14
Speaker
And not try and take the ball or think you're passing to him. Because that sequence doesn't happen if Obed sticks his foot out because he thinks you lose, like, lose the ball or whatever. It's, like, so clear that this team knows how high of a soccer IQ and just how much talent that Ryan Kent has. They're like, yeah, bro, just go.
00:34:30
Speaker
Just go, bro. Like, we're not going to. If the ball, the ball, if you make me a pass, it's going to land at my feet. So I'm just not going to worry about it until it gets there. Yeah. Again, I loved everything about how Seattle came out in the second half.
00:34:43
Speaker
That was an absolute clinic in how you play up a man on the road. ah Great execution, very professional performance, how they dusted this game off.
00:34:55
Speaker
And really, once Rusnak gets the third goal, ah I wouldn't say you're in cruise control, but really ah you just have to make sure nothing stupid happens from ah from that point on. And you know we'll we're we'll going to do positives and negatives, and we'll hit on some of the things in the second half.
00:35:16
Speaker
that maybe weren't so great, but I think on the whole, getting the first goal and then the ah the way they were able to take advantage of the red card was great.
00:35:30
Speaker
That is not a
Seattle Sounders' Defensive Concerns
00:35:31
Speaker
given. Like a lot of times when a team goes down a man, they ah they close up shop and they try and make it as hellaciously difficult as possible for you to get the winning goals.
00:35:46
Speaker
And I think from listening to Ben, Oh, I think that is what he wanted his team to do. So good on Seattle for not letting that happen, going out in the second half, immediately getting the go ahead goal, and then not sitting on that, getting the third goal that, uh, just may puts, puts your win probability at an extremely, uh, high level.
00:36:11
Speaker
And, They go on to see it out at three one. ah There was one other key moment that I had, which was the Stephen Fry save on on Griffin Dorsey's header.
00:36:22
Speaker
ah That was one of the best saves I've I've seen in MLS this season. i don't know if it's going to be a save of the year contender. It might be, but it was it was that good. I was a great save. It was so good.
00:36:34
Speaker
And you know, he's washed. So, all right, we're going to take an ad break and then we're going to hit lobbing scorchers, man of the match and positives and negatives and agenda check and blazing hot presser.
00:36:46
Speaker
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Individual Player Dynamics and Team Depth
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00:39:45
Speaker
Welcome back. If you skip the ads, we know what you did. Don't skip the ads.
00:39:54
Speaker
Noah, let's do Lobbing Scorchers, Man of the Match. You go first. Who you got?
00:40:01
Speaker
It was a tough one Ari. Um, I don't know. I, I, I really went back and forth on this. Um, and man, you're really just putting me in a tough spot. Cause honestly I was, like I was gonna, I was gonna hear yours, i have but I think I have to go.
00:40:19
Speaker
with someone who's a little under the radar, but I think at a monster game and has been showing up in a monster way and that's Christian rolled on good choice. I think he's doing a ton of the dirty work for the Sounders and in ways that are obviously if you, if you know ball, you know, ball and you're like that dude's a beast, but you know, I don't think he's necessarily getting the praise cause he's not getting on the score sheet or the assist sheet.
00:40:47
Speaker
But this, you know, this game and this double pivot of of Obed and Christian is functioning so damn well. And I just think that he he had a monster game here.
00:40:58
Speaker
If I'm looking at his stats, obviously he played full 90, 72 76 for passes.
00:41:04
Speaker
for passes Speaker 2 0 0 0 that is that is an insane amount of passes any a ninety five percent past completion rate is crazy in in a game where it's not like they were just knocking the ball around no the offense was firing so if to complete that high percentage is very impressive And then I think this is an even more, like if we're talking stats, this is an even more impressive
Coaching Strategies and Reactions
00:41:27
Speaker
stat. 10 of 11 for long balls.
00:41:31
Speaker
For Christian? For Christian. Wow. 10 of 11 for long balls. Now, I mean, obviously, i don't know exactly what they count as a long ball. But regardless, 91% on accurate long balls.
00:41:42
Speaker
That's crazy, man. Yeah. that's That's crazy. And then if you even want to talk about something that he's even better at, he was two for two on tackles, had a block, a clearance, a headed clearance, three interception, three interceptions, eight recoveries, and two dribbles, one 10 duels, and lost six.
00:42:01
Speaker
So... I mean, the guy just was kind of a monster in the midfield, an unmovable object. And the I just feel like he is helping unlock this offense as well, just in ways that like there's security in taking risk with Christian ro don on the field.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great pick. Christian is on absolute fire right now. ah Man, I love watching him body a guy off the ball and win possession. Like that's that's always been like, I would say his like superpower. Yeah, that exact thing.
00:42:36
Speaker
The last few weeks, the where he's winning the ball, how he's winning the ball. ah Just beasting out there, man. Like this is I think one of the better little runs a form of form of his career, honestly.
00:42:49
Speaker
And that's been great to see because after the San Diego game, there was a consternation about how the, not just him, just how the double pivot looked. in that game and really ever since then they've been dominant so great response ah from that result really just in general I would say ah but particularly from the double pivot they've been playing pretty lights out ever since ah Christian in particular you can make an argument he I think Moose is the and MVP of this little five game run that they've had he's Christians right up there yeah
00:43:24
Speaker
I got Albert Rusnak as my man of the match. Albatross snack, baby. The haters are going to say that they don't count. They're going to say that they don't count. ah But guess what? ah If Seattle had gone up a man in this game and Albert Rusnak hadn't scored any goals, the people who were say who say they don't count would be crushing him.
00:43:46
Speaker
ah So if you acknowledge that that's the case, then you literally have you have to give him credit for for capitalizing the whole team, but him in particular for getting into good spots, capitalizing, making no doubt about ah this result. ah it's I know that the narratives are going to be the same thing as the ah Sean Zawadzki game.
00:44:07
Speaker
And I will acknowledge that ah the the comedy behind like that he's racked five goals against teams with 10 men. ah But I'll say the same thing that I said back then, which is that part of what part of what you pay your DPS to do is when you are put in an advantageous situation like that, make sure you capitalize on it. Don't let anything silly happen.
00:44:30
Speaker
ah Put your foot on their neck and make sure that you get the win. He gets credit for doing that. Five goals, three assists now on the season.
00:44:44
Speaker
ah Sounds like a DP. Even missing some time with injury. Yeah, it's almost like he's producing like you want your DP to produce. And ah it's been good. I mean, he's got three goals in the last ah two games.
00:44:57
Speaker
They're going to say the penalty doesn't count. They're going to say this doesn't count because it was against a 10-man team. And the ho the Houston Dynamo are on the list of teams the where the goal... There's only four or five teams in the league where, um, a Seattle Sounders player scoring a goal counts and the Houston Dynamo aren't one of them.
00:45:16
Speaker
Uh, but they counted on the scoreboard. So that's all I care about. Yeah. You know what? Houston's in 14th. Who gives a shit, man? They were down a man who gives a shit. You know, it's crazy. You know, it's crazy.
00:45:28
Speaker
um He scored twice. He scored twice. He scored twice. It's a tough one. you didn't just do it once. He did it twice. And it doesn't matter if he's a stat pad merchant.
00:45:40
Speaker
He scored twice. It is a tough. This was a tough game for the brigade. I mean, it was a tough game it of game for the brigade, too, because De La Vega got an assist. They're down bad for this. They're not doing well. It's a.
00:45:52
Speaker
It's tough, but also the brigade is pro Kent. Um, so it's like, you know, it's it's a balance. It's give and take there. all right, let's hit positives and negatives. Uh, positive, positive. The brigade is upset. That's always a positive, uh, brigade in the mud, uh, positives. The attack and chance generation right now are just so good. Uh, I like, I love watching this team play offense at the moment.
00:46:19
Speaker
Uh, just again, the, the offense that they're playing is it, it's sustainable. That's what's encouraging about it. Like just the, uh, the patterns and the sequences of play they're putting together.
00:46:32
Speaker
ah it's just great footy. Again, very professional how they handled the red card, ah making absolute sure they took advantage of it and getting in the win, not letting Houston hang around and get a lifeline and maybe squeeze out a draw.
00:46:49
Speaker
And that was part of because of the response coming out of the halftime locker room, which was also excellent. And then Rusnak with the two goals. And then Ryan Kent making another bums-off seats play, fry save. I mean, I think we covered most of it, but ah and yeah do you have any other positives that you wanted to add in there?
00:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Any shout-outs? were were We're on an unbeaten streak. Yeah, 4-0-1 in the last five. that's ah That's five games, taking points away.
00:47:17
Speaker
You've got a midweek a midweek winnable game and an end game. Then you've got a derby coming up. yeah so It's going to be a good test. but Going into Portland hot is always, that feels good. And going into this road trip, I think I was saying leading up to this game that picking this game off to start this road trip would be huge because then you put yourself in a situation where obviously you want to try and 3-0 and 0 this. That's going to be the number one goal.
00:47:45
Speaker
ah But now you're already in a situation where worst case scenario, I mean, you could, I guess, lose the next two of these games. Sure. But worst case scenario, it feels like a 1-1-1.
00:47:57
Speaker
which would, I think that would be a little disappointing, but that wouldn't be like the worst thing in the world. So that's another positive. Just ah they put themselves in a good situation to really maximize this road trip, which is ah which is what we wanted them to do. Yeah, I think we both were happy with four points out of the three.
00:48:16
Speaker
You know what I mean? We were both like, if you were looking at this on paper, you'd be more than happy doing that. You're always happy to go down to Houston and get three points. Any road match ah any road win is a good win in my book.
00:48:28
Speaker
And um I mean, we'll see about these next two games, but you know, but that is what it is. negatives I only have one negative, but it's actually it's actually a pretty prominent negative that it I think is, if there is a concern about how they've been playing lately, it would be this.
00:48:47
Speaker
ah but So the set piece defending ah in general, I don't think it's been very good this season. I think that's an understatement. But the last, ah the last two games in particular, it's not just the set piece defending, but this game in particular, they were conceding way too many free kicks in dangerous areas. Yeah, there was one way, one way that the Houston Dynamo were going to take a result in this game.
00:49:14
Speaker
And it was wild down a man. And that was Jack McGlynn with that goddamn left foot getting piece, getting free kicks in dangerous spots. ah and putting in lethal delivery and like generating high quality chances off those.
00:49:32
Speaker
That's how they scored their goal. And there, there was just too much of that in the second half where they were fouling Houston in these areas that was giving McGlynn a chance to do that.
00:49:43
Speaker
And that, uh, That wasn't good. Like there was so, there was so many, there was so many in the second half. I think the worst sequence of it was at the very end where Georgie gave up one, like in a pretty dangerous area. That was so silly by him. He didn't need to do that. The guy's back was ah to the 18. Like you, there's just no reason to pull them down right there.
00:50:09
Speaker
And then literally like, ah Like, so that happened. Seattle got out of it. And I was like, okay, just don't do that again. Literally a minute later, Osase did the, like the same thing. And you're like, you are asking to get bammed on, like repeatedly doing that. I understand. Like I'm a reasonable guy.
00:50:26
Speaker
I understand there's going to, there's going to be moments in a game where stuff happens and you might give up looks like that. And you got to just be able, you're, you got to be able to stand on your head defensively when your headers clear everything out, whatever, all that.
00:50:39
Speaker
ah But yeah, For me, there was there was too many instances in the second half of like ah potentially throwing them a lifeline by yeah giving them these fouls in dangerous areas where they have one of the best set piece takers in the league.
00:50:53
Speaker
Yeah, i I fully agree with that. I don't literally I literally have like nothing else to add to that. I just think that it's. kind of shocking that this is what they're deciding to be bad at right now is just simply refusing to defend these set pieces. Um, I have more of an issue with the fouls, honestly. Yeah. Giving them, giving them up is, has been a crazy issue. I mean, we were harping on it about Yamar last week and the week before that, and now it's Georgie and, you know, and Osaze before that. And,
00:51:26
Speaker
What are we doing? What are we doing? You're right. This is the way that you can beat the Sounders right now. Like if you're looking at it from a tactical advantage, I am playing the hell out of the man when I'm in the final third for the Sounders no matter what.
00:51:43
Speaker
Yeah. ah So I think the the good news is that that is something that I think is fixable. Like it's hopefully doesn't become just like an inherent quality of the team.
00:51:55
Speaker
ah They've been good at defending set pieces in the Brian Schmetzer era. That's not something that's been to my memory, like a ah consistent issue. So let's hope this is just kind of something that it's like, I don't know, we're a third of the way into the season now and it has been kind of an issue all season.
00:52:14
Speaker
But really, like the St. Louis game, too, wasn't a set piece, but it's like it was another situation where the opposing team has one way of getting back into the game or taking a result in the game and and you're giving it to them.
00:52:26
Speaker
So, yeah, that that's the negative. All right. Let's hit our agenda check. No, we got a lot written down here. I'll start. 100th agenda check. 100th.
00:52:38
Speaker
I mean, I wonder what the agenda check probably became a thing like what? Episode like 10. gotta be so It was up there. And I don't think we did them every single episode. episode well I'm just saying it's this is this is a special 100th episode agenda check. Yeah, I'll start.
00:52:53
Speaker
Uh, my, uh, Danny Mussovsky is an MLS all-star agenda. I'm going to stay on this one. Uh, he scored looking hot. he scored again. It's looking hot. Uh, he's got to, I mean, I don't, he's obviously not going to stay this hot all season, but if he keeps, uh, if he keeps banging in goals and, uh,
00:53:12
Speaker
Really, like, he is saving this team's ass right now, like with Jordan out he's playing He's playing the position at as high level as anyone in MLS right now, Danny Mussovsky, aside from maybe Brian White.
00:53:26
Speaker
ah But low-key, like, Moose is looking like Brian White right now. He's he's he's feeling like he's Brian White right now that's for sure. if he yeah If he keeps doing this and he's not on the All-Star team, I'm going to problem with that.
00:53:40
Speaker
I'm going to a problem with that. Give him a goddamn spot on the all-star team. Who's even coaching? Who knows? I have no idea. i But, uh, is it in Austin? yeah This is, this is not like sometimes the agendas are like a little facetious or we're doing bits. This is not a bit.
00:53:55
Speaker
This is not a bit. If he keeps doing this MLS all-star, I think we should go regardless. I feel like we should go to MLS all-star, but, uh, Yeah, if he gets if he gets in, we will be front row.
00:54:08
Speaker
I'm buying an MLS All-Star Moose jersey if he becomes an All-Star. And i if you missed the stream, I literally bought a $180 Danny Musavski jersey. It's so sick.
00:54:19
Speaker
Yeah. So I'll wear it when it gets in. let's tell the people who don't know the full, it's a Las Vegas lights. It's a Las Vegas lights kit from the five mattress or whatever that he played there.
00:54:30
Speaker
Uh, pretty sure it's game worn. It has a fucking Bitcoin logo on it. It's crazy. It is crazy. I'm actually jealous that you're gonna own that thing. Um, We'll put it up in the in the studio. next ah Next agenda I got here, your Ryan Kent is goaded agenda.
00:54:47
Speaker
I tried to tell y'all. People, ah I think if you ask people about the first half, they would say that this agenda was diminished. But I'm i'm telling you, like that run that he made on on that goal, ah again, just another example of the type of stuff this guy has in the bag.
00:55:08
Speaker
Just... ah First away match too, by the way, first away match with the squad, just a fantastic individual play. Uh, he, he started running, he kept running. Uh, but the, again, just the, ah the Obed shield was just so good.
00:55:22
Speaker
And then also, ah just the weight on the ball to like drop that in right where De La Vega and Rusnak are both, uh, both running onto it. It was just like, I mean, the creativity and ah the technical ability all on display on that sequence.
00:55:43
Speaker
Excellent. Excellent stuff. Yeah, no, i I have been obviously chirping constantly about my love and affection for the man. ah But this is, you know, sure, you can say he had a slow start to the first half, but I would argue This is his first start for the club.
00:56:03
Speaker
This is an away match. This is a very different temperature and feeling and everything that ah you're going to have to get settled into.
00:56:14
Speaker
That's just how it goes, man. The first time you play in Houston, I don't think everyone's going to play up to their par. But I also think that he was serviceable. he was he was He was good. He wasn't Ryan Kent quality in that first half, but he was pretty good.
00:56:30
Speaker
And I think that you he kind of suffered from the the suffering from success. right Exactly. that's what was going to say. like he ah He's done the bar so good. Yeah. He set the bar so high in the St. Louis game.
00:56:42
Speaker
And I think the first half was just like a, uh, I don't know if reality check is the right word, but it's just, he's not going to do that. What he did to say, know, it's every single game. That's just not like, that's unrealistic. that's unrealistic But, uh, I think the great thing about what we saw on the assist he got was it's just like, he can, he can come out with stuff like that at any given time in a game.
00:57:04
Speaker
Even on on games where he's maybe not ah at his best form, he can always, it seems like, come up with something like that. which And if that's not his best form...
00:57:16
Speaker
I think we're going to be just fine. Ari, I think we're going to be just fine. But really, uh, I mean, the bums are off the seats. The bums are off the seat. My bum is always off the seat for Ryan. Can't my goat.
00:57:29
Speaker
Uh, the last agenda that I had here was just the Paul Rothrock is a Houston dynamo merchant agenda. Uh, he lived up to it. He lived up to it. This this guy just dominates the Houston dynamo. He loves playing this to hear him, bro. late The Houston Dynamo fan base sees Paul Rothrock in their absolute nightmares.
00:57:47
Speaker
I mean, his first MLS goal, I think, was a game winner at Houston. If it wasn't his first, it was one of his first. yeah There was that one. i think he scored there again.
00:57:58
Speaker
This time he gets... I think he scored against them in Seattle. And then this assist... He had an Open Cup goal against them, I thought, maybe that's what I'm thinking of. But ah if they don't if they don't give this assist back to him...
00:58:11
Speaker
I'm going to keep whining about it because that's bullshit. but ah Well, it's a good thing you have a direct line to the oligarchs, Ari. I mean, I'll have something to say to the oligarchs about this.
00:58:21
Speaker
ah But ah just another another great Rothrock play. to that I loved that combination between him and Moose. The delivery ah and then the the ru that that the movement on that goal by Moose was so good. It was...
00:58:37
Speaker
The way he peeled off his defender to get to that back post just even more was like, oh, it's just dude, that's that's that's top tier striker play. Like that's like that's textbook. i i book I continue to be impressed by Moose. I continue to eat crow for every type of shit that I talked about him because that is a beautiful goal.
00:58:59
Speaker
That is a beautiful goal. And they're all great they're all like that. Yeah, the little spinny turn one. and All of them. They've been increasingly just like so good. and i If Emmanuel Latte Loth was doing what Moose is doing right now, it would he would be hailed as the greatest signing ever. Which fun fact Moose has more goals on the Moose has more goals. ah All comps. Yeah. No, what do you got it? Paul Rothrock, Houston Dynamo merchant.
00:59:29
Speaker
Give him the goal back. um I can't remember what else I was going to say about this. sily assist back Assist back. Yeah. Give him the assist back and whatever. If I remember what I was going to say, I'll, well, you got your, let's hit your agenda.
00:59:43
Speaker
All right, my other agendas here, I put down three. I had four, but I cut one because we got shit to do here. So first agenda, I'm i'm perpetuating this on behalf of the community.
00:59:56
Speaker
Kim Keehee over Jackson-Reagan agenda. The people the people are talking The people are murmuring. The people are saying, I don't want that line breaking passer. I don't want that big boy from Michigan.
01:00:09
Speaker
I want that 85 year old dude, Kim Kihee. Ari, how are we feeling about this agenda? ah Look, I think Kim Kihee has deputized absolutely at as high level as you could have possibly hoped for. I think he's looked great.
01:00:24
Speaker
I think he's ah turned out to be member when they signed him and people were like, That was me. yeah That was me. you're bringing ah It wasn't just you, though. Yeah, no, it was others. You're bringing back a retread. This is so unambitious. and unins I wasn't saying it was unambitious.
01:00:40
Speaker
And really, there was there was discourse going on. of Remember, because Ladero wanted to come back. That's where I was at. It was sort of maybe a debate of what should you do with that spot? Should you give it to Ladero or Kim Kihee?
01:00:54
Speaker
This is why yeah they brought Kim Kihee back because apparently he's just an ageless wonder. He can play at level indefinitely. yeah Here for love of the club basically.
01:01:08
Speaker
And he's doing a great job. I do think that Jackson Reagan's passing ability is so valuable to this team. And i think we've seen, even with how well they've been playing lately, we've seen, that they miss that attribute. It's a very unique attribute that he brings.
01:01:27
Speaker
So, uh, I just feel like that alone elevates the ceiling of the team to add that, to add that to what they've got going on right now.
01:01:40
Speaker
I honestly can't wait to see what it looks like when you have that, uh, when you have that in there. So, i'm not I'm not there yet with this agenda, but I definitely do think that Kim Kihee is earning his keep on this team right now and absolutely deserves minutes and ah and a big role.
01:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, I'm um i I don't agree with the agenda. What I will say, though, is Kim Ki has definitely proven to be a great signing. And, you know, I i was definitely ah very skeptical um at the optics of, yeah, like like you said, signing him over Ladero or just signing him in general and taking up a roster spot.
01:02:25
Speaker
It was just like, I don't like i don't know. you know do i want Anytime you have a guy in his mid-30s who played for the team previously and doesn't have like the icon status of a Ladero, people are going to, especially with all the ambition discourse that was going on in the offseason, that narrative was probably inevitable.
01:02:47
Speaker
But another example of why it's good that fans aren't GMs. wait Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did Craig cook on this? I think he might have. I think Craig might have cooked on this. We've been talking about how he might have cooked with the Ryan Kent thing, but ah he might have cooked here too.
01:03:02
Speaker
I guess Kim reached out, this ah to be fair. Yeah. but ah I'm giving it to Craig. I don't care. I'm giving it to Craig. I will say this. He had to print out the contract. He had to send it via PDF, via pigeon.
01:03:14
Speaker
This has been a ah ah good five-game stretch for Craig Wabs. It has. It has. See, I should have, but you know what? I'm adding that to the agenda check right now. Is Craig Weibel cooking agenda? We checked in on this earlier. It was down in the dumps. I took heat for it. You took heat and said, ride it out. Let's see how it's going.
01:03:34
Speaker
um So um Craig's cooking. You just have bad taste. How are feeling? I mean, i'm goingnna I'm going to wait to... like I think we got to see how the rest of the season plays out.
01:03:47
Speaker
But if it keeps looking like this, you got it you do have to give him credit. You do. Like... You can't be on on on him all the time for whatever it was, for bringing Roosnag back, for De La Vega getting injured, for the JMO DP escalators.
01:04:02
Speaker
You can't both be on him for stuff like that constantly, all the time, but then not give him credit for stuff like Ryan Kent and Kim Keehee. Like, what sense does that make? And Moose, by the way.
01:04:14
Speaker
Like, Moose was... such like a key part of the anti wives sentiment. It was, yeah Oh, you, he's not Danny Musovsky as like a striker on this team. Like what is his guy what is he doing? Like this is a terrible, that's why he did it.
01:04:31
Speaker
This is why he did it. It works. It looks like it's working. I mean, did take a while to get there. I'll acknowledge that. Yeah, I mean, I think that you can say what you want about Moose.
01:04:46
Speaker
He's kind of vindicated at this point as to, especially as a backup striker, you can only ask so much of a player who isn't getting consistent minutes to perform. And This is all you ask for is that when there's an opportunity for you to step up and be that guy, you're that guy. And guess what? He's doing that, right?
01:05:03
Speaker
And so if that's what you're judging it on, by all means, that's a smash out park hit. If it was like, yeah, we want you to just be a super sub and score a million goals. Like, yeah, you know, it's been a rocky path, but we we we are where we are now. And that is what it is.
01:05:20
Speaker
But yeah, man, like re-signing Rusnak to a DP contract, he's performing. He is performing to that eight contributions just in MLS. ah with That's goals and assists combined. You've got you've got ah Ryan Kent. What an amazing bit of business.
01:05:35
Speaker
You know, yeah, maybe you can knock him for Jesus Ferreira, but, you know, we'll see. Yeah, I don't even... we talk about the business of it, right? I am not. I'm absolutely not giving like i'm anyone who's trying to write the Ferreira thing as already an L. I'm not giving you that.
01:05:50
Speaker
Like he hasn't been as bad as a lot of people are saying. And there's still so much time left to go in the season. Can I tell you a fun stat about Ferreira this ah this game? Yeah, he went 100 percent on his passing.
01:06:04
Speaker
And ah he had another really, really good dime. Yeah, he had two really good dimes there. but I mean, I'm just saying i maybe he didn't get it done. and But he sure had 100% passing, which he's a dish merchant. That brings me into my next one. This is actually a perfect segue.
01:06:23
Speaker
Albert Rusnak cannot play with Jesus Ferreira. Ari, I think it's pretty clear at this point that these two players need to exist on separate planes, on separate places, in separate worlds, in separate universes, on separate pitches.
01:06:39
Speaker
Because when they're together, they bring each otherss they bring each other's floor down. But when they're by themselves, they are both really damn good at that 10 spot. I was going to say, I think it it seems...
01:06:52
Speaker
That way. But what I would say is that I don't think that's a bad thing. No, I think that's means you have two incredibly sick number 10s. Yeah, which is awesome. I love that. Like, it'll be interesting to see who who is like the ah regular starter and who's more of the supers. I got to be right. like the way I see it right now is it's Roosnack as like the weekend week out starter and Ferreira as the, as the super sub, which is, it's kind of wild to think about, but I think that's just like the, the, the depth of the squad right now like that. And really, I definitely think it's undeniable that Ferreira has looked way more effective having that role in that space to himself.
01:07:41
Speaker
ah But like just the situations that they're in where like you you bring Pedro de la Vega and Jesus Ferreira in off the bench like that is awesome.
01:07:52
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, that's that's not a complaint from me. I mean, yeah we've talked about terrorizing an already tired MLS defense, right?
01:08:03
Speaker
If if think about this, right? If a team has to strategically game plan that they're going to need to sub or put in fresh legs in defense consistently against the Sounders, that takes away attacking options as subs against the Sounders. If you if you're going to you're going to game plan that out, right?
01:08:24
Speaker
That's a really nasty thing to have. That's really a nasty, nasty thing to have. And what a game, like, what what a potential, like, game advantage that you can have with that.
01:08:37
Speaker
pulling ah Being able to swap a starting number 10 for a starting number 10 and basically i have no drop-off, being able to swap wingers, like, their candy in a and one of the, like, Halloween baskets that the lazy people leave outside,
01:08:51
Speaker
handful, handful. No one's going to notice because guess what? That candy bucket, it automatically refills Ari because everyone on this team is a winger. It's a great problem to have and outside of the effect that it can have in the games themselves, like it's going to allow you to keep people fresh. yeah so so yeah Maybe they can't play together, but...
01:09:13
Speaker
Maybe that's not the end of the world. I still, uh, I don't know. Maybe I'm, uh, just out on an Island on this, but uh, I still think it's possible that they could get it to a place where it's more effective than it has been. But I definitely do think that, uh, we've seen enough now to credibly say that it's looked way better when, uh, when they're not on the field together.
01:09:39
Speaker
Yeah. And, uh, my final agenda for the agenda check of today, new who defender of the year candidate question mark. He went 59. I'm the passing merchant guy today, but he went 59 for 60 on passing.
01:09:52
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, maybe he didn't have a monster game, but, uh, New who defended the year candidate question mark. I like this. I like this agenda. I like it. It wasn't as electric as is that one of the best two way fullback performances I've ever seen in the in the last game.
01:10:11
Speaker
Uh, but, uh, I thought he was locking it down like he usually does. And then, just his decision-making and like how, like, uh, when he chooses to make those movements forward and how he's combining with Ryan Kent, I thought, again, that looked really good.
01:10:29
Speaker
Uh, I think new who we'll, we'll see, uh, if he builds on this, but this is some of the best ball I think I've seen him play. He is his own defender of the year.
01:10:39
Speaker
Like if we're going to give an award to the best new who season, I mean, it's shaping up to be by far the best, but that was a marathon agenda. Just so many agendas to be checked. So little. That was a good agenda check. We're going to take another ad break and we're going to be right back with our blazing hot coach press conference of the week sponsored by hacks and ferments.
01:11:06
Speaker
Welcome back to the hundredth episode of Lobbing Scorchers. ah Folks, we have got another God, we've been so blessed with these. We've got another phenomenal blazing hot coach presser of the week sponsored by hacks and ferments.
01:11:20
Speaker
And Noah, it's always great when the blazing hot coach presser comes from the Sounders game. yeah That doesn't always happen. like We go all around the league for these. ah But this week... there was a lot of There was a lot of fodder this week. This week we were we were blessed with ah with a great one from Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen, who was not happy about the red card on Femi.
01:11:43
Speaker
Not happy at all. And he was... Very happy to talk about it after. Well, he wasn't happy to talk about it, but he had a few things on his mind yeah about this call and just the, uh, the game in general.
01:11:56
Speaker
So, uh, we're going to, we're going to play some highlights from Benny O's post game press conference after this match to eight match day, 12 game against Seattle. Uh, and then we are going to, uh, we're going to break it down. Give our thoughts on, uh, on Ben, on Ben's takes.
01:12:11
Speaker
ah everyone. Hey, Coach. Ben Olsen. Ben will open up to your thoughts don't have anything. Go ahead. Okay. Open up to questions. Start with David up front. Coach, um good evening. Good night.
01:12:25
Speaker
Did the referee tell you anything about the red card? I mean, he has his version. I have the version that I'm watching on the screen at halftime. and ah And then I'm also looking at it afterwards, every angle. And I just don't i don't understand. it ah I'll wait for an apology this week, I'm sure, from the league and ah why we got our another red card against Seattle. it's six I think six red cards in seven games against Seattle.
01:12:55
Speaker
That's not normal, right? Some of that's on us, right? Hector spinning, right? But three of them we've earned. So um it's just the wrong call.
01:13:08
Speaker
It's the wrong call, and he gets he makes the call, and then it ends up being something that he has to stand by. And that's ah i think that's a problem.
01:13:20
Speaker
i just Again, I just completely disagree with with the call. i was like I was looking at the red card. I didn't see anything that. You're not going to see it. I've seen a few angles, pal. I didn't see anything that that registered ah a red card. Maybe a yellow card? Maybe. They'll come up with something. They'll come up with some you know explanation, and and I've heard some of it already. I just completely disagree with it. So we'll we'll see. We'll see. that You know, I think.
01:13:46
Speaker
Sometimes we get bogged down by the letter of the law and you know sometimes we just don't make the obvious the The play that doesn't screw the game up, but we'll see we'll see maybe I'm wrong that was Houston Dynamo head coach Ben Olsen after their match day 12 defeat to Seattle No, just ah watching that again just now, I think that was the best blazing hot presser of the season. And I'm not just saying that because it ah Seattle was the beneficiary of it.
01:14:21
Speaker
ah There was just ah there was just so much good stuff there from ah Benny. yo Where do we start? ah So I would say the first thing that I would say is, ah you know, he goes with the we're going to get an apology yeah like on this call this week before that the reporter is scared to ask him about this red card like everyone's already prepared for a Benio for red hot. Yeah, Benio.
01:14:47
Speaker
ah But i ah I don't think they're going to get... like That does happen sometimes where pro where we're about to talk about it after this where ah when the with the previous Seattle game. But this call, ah i don't think they're I don't think they're going to retroactively rescind this red ah because you even if you don't think it's a handball, if it's called as such, ah then then it is dog-so, right?
01:15:13
Speaker
yeah So... ah I've been wrong about, I've been famously wrong about, uh, about these things before a couple of years ago when Christian rolled on got a red, I tweeted that, uh, there's never been anything less likely in the history of MLS than this red card getting overturned. And then it got overturned.
01:15:33
Speaker
So, uh, it can be, it can be tough to predict sometimes, but do you think they appeal that? I think they're probably though they'll probably try. They'll probably try.
01:15:45
Speaker
ah But i don't I don't think that one is getting overturned. I don't think they're going to ah apologize to Benny O. He was hot, man, and I loved it. And um I think my second favorite thing, I'm sure you're going hit on it, is the grinding.
01:16:02
Speaker
They weren't grinding. My boys weren't grinding. They weren't grinding out a result. I mean... Yeah. So to be fair, he, he acknowledged that, uh, even with that situation, his team didn't do what it needed to do to get a point out of the game.
01:16:21
Speaker
So there was that, uh, but then, Oh God, I mean, what else was he mad about?
01:16:29
Speaker
I think you could see at the end there, he he finally got to the point that I would have made the whole time when he was talking about Femi, right? When he was saying that ah regardless of what the call is, ah he needs to... He said he was naive.
01:16:48
Speaker
Yeah. In that situation. And that it's more about not putting yourself in that situation than whether or not the call was right or wrong. I think that is the takeaway that he should have been going with the whole time.
01:17:01
Speaker
yeah And I think the fact that he acknowledged that I think should, should mitigate the outrage that he feels over the call. But I mean, uh, what Benno is doing here is, his team just lost at home.
01:17:17
Speaker
They're not having a very good start to the season in general. They're down like 12th or 13th, 14th, whatever. on the table. Uh, so if you have a controversial refereeing decision that you can pin the result on, uh, I think there's even an element of that. That's like protecting your players. You know, uh, if you, uh, if you blame it on the ref, blame it on the call, yeah then it's like less on the team.
01:17:42
Speaker
Right. Speaker 0 0 0 that's what he's going for and i think that's why he was coming in that hot even though he acknowledged the mistake that feme made on the play but
01:17:56
Speaker
I don't know. I mean, I love a banging the table. he He experienced the full run of emotions. He went through ah all of the grief stages. He started with anger and frustration and then he went to bargaining about, well, they're going to apologize later.
01:18:13
Speaker
And then he went to, yeah, that's kind of just what happens with young center backs. He should have been stronger on the ball so he doesn't put himself in that situation in general. That was a good answer. That was a good answer. It was just like, I love how high he was off the rip. That's what I was trying to say earlier. He put it way better than that. Yeah, like he's right. I mean, listen, and I mean, you got to stand up and defend your players and, you know, I'll keep your locker room. But that was so funny for him to just be like...
01:18:37
Speaker
You know when the ref chose to make the game a loss for us. I always love that. I always love that. That is like top five for me. Another another one was like the whole thing about like letter of the law right like oh yeah like he's saying that we get too wrapped up in the being played to the letter of the law instead of what's right buddy what's right is the letter of the law unfortunately. Yeah, like what he's saying is like, you know, even if it technically hit his hand, ah common sense should dictate that if he wasn't trying to do it, you shouldn't make a potentially game deciding call on a play like that.
01:19:14
Speaker
ah But I ah disagree with that because The reality is, man, if that ball it doesn't hit his hand, Moose is in on goal.
01:19:26
Speaker
And with the form that Moose is in right now, probably scores that. Like he prevented an obvious goal scoring opportunity with his hand. So it's not about like rigid adherence to the letter of the law in the face of common sense.
01:19:40
Speaker
It's about ah you're really, really not allowed to... deny an obvious goal scoring scoring opportunity with your hand when you're the last guy back.
01:19:50
Speaker
So like, ah I don't think what he's saying about the common sense call being like the more fair call there holds water. Like it's not fair to, ah to the striker in that situation to who it's, ah it's also, if if that was his striker, he's throwing a fit as well, by the way.
01:20:08
Speaker
i watched I watched it back a few times, obviously. it's actually It's a great play by Moose. Yeah, it is. Like his positioning and how he ah he wins ah a ball off a goal kick like that and puts himself... He's beat Femi at that point. He's beat him, exactly. So like that is that was the one Ben O'Quote when he started talking about Letter of the Law and Common Sense.
01:20:26
Speaker
So it's like, okay, so you're acknowledging that it was a handball, but you're saying that it shouldn't have been... adhered to by the letter of the law. i don't, I mean, I don't know. Like, uh, I feel like he was actually acknowledging that the call could have been correct with that one.
01:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, no, I agree. It's a confusing. Benny O presser is an everyday Benny O presser. I just feel so blessed that this game delivered us that content. That was, uh, that was my favorite blazing hot presser of the year. So far, we are going to watch one more blazing hot coach press conference in the after show. So if you want to become a YouTube member, you're going to get one more extra blazing hot coach press conference.
01:21:10
Speaker
All you got to do is hit the join button. If you're on mobile, hit the link in the description of this video. You can join and you'll unlock that exclusive secondary blazing hot coach presser, which in my opinion, cause this was my pick. I think this one's even funnier and more hot, uh, than, than this Benny one. So.
01:21:30
Speaker
And also support hacks and ferments. Yeah. Use code LS and get a free hot sauce. Free hot sauce when you buy anything. ah All right. That was our blazing hot coach press conference of the week, sponsored by hacks and ferments. Shout out Ben Olson for, for giving us that one. Great presser.
01:21:46
Speaker
Uh, no, our next topic is actually somewhat related to this, yeah which is that, uh, the Seattle Sounders actually did get one of the hard done. um They did get one of the pro apologies that Benio was referencing folks. They have come out and, uh, this is shocking.
01:22:03
Speaker
They acknowledged that the handball in the St. Louis game was a, uh, was a missed call, which, uh, no, I, uh, in the direct aftermath of that game, I called it the worst call I've ever seen. I still think it's the worst call I've ever seen Yes. So not surprised to see this come out, but I'll just read the statement from pro.
01:22:21
Speaker
Uh, the referee was incorrect to maintain his decision of no penalty after video review. The ball continued on the same general trajectory toward the goal after it had hit Nielsen's thigh and struck the arm, which was away from his body and made him unnaturally bigger. This was not a successful block with the body because there was no clear change in the direction of the ball.
01:22:39
Speaker
A penalty should have been awarded. So I'm glad they acknowledged it. Yeah. I'm glad they acknowledged it. And ah Pro actually has more transparency ah with this stuff then than people give them credit for, I think.
01:22:51
Speaker
People always talk about, like, we need transparency. Greg Vandy's talking about we need them to do press conferences. ah They literally have an a segment that they post on their website. It's awesome. It's called Inside Video Review, which, the like, the head of Pro or whatever ah hosts it.
01:23:07
Speaker
And he literally goes in to each one of these calls each and every week. And he he gives his assessment on whether they got it right or wrong. And for a lot of they didn't for this one for potentially nefarious reasons, but they oftentimes with these videos, literally you can hear the audio. I think that they should release all of that in general. I think that's the only change they do but for the most part. I don't i just think in general, like I think the broadcast should have access to it as well.
01:23:36
Speaker
Like I think that that just is good television for one. And for two, I think that it helps quell general feelings around that and just like feelings of transparency. Right. Cause you get the camera in there.
01:23:47
Speaker
But that's about it. People are like, I don't know what they're doing. I don't know that these are real people. What I've loved is the referees getting to actually announce and address. It would be great if we could hear their comms they're actually discussing these specific things. That would be cool. But I appreciate how often they put them out after the fact. It was weird they didn't put this one out, though. I know. I don't know why. Yeah.
01:24:12
Speaker
and They are. They're legitimately. I really recommend watching the videos. Yeah, they're really well done. It's well done. And it's interesting to hear how those comms go, even if we couldn't hear it in this situation. um not but Noted. Noted.
01:24:25
Speaker
Noted defenders of pro here. I mean, yeah, i've I've become like the disgruntled ref guy the last few weeks, especially after the ah the defiance game. ah But I just wanted to deliver all that news to anyone who hadn't heard because ah It was just so mystifying how they could have missed one that blindingly obvious.
01:24:48
Speaker
And then hearing their explanation of it, like, so there was the whole thing. He was the ref in his statement after the game to the pool reporter was talking about how it was all hinged on the fact that he was saying that it hit the thigh.
01:24:59
Speaker
Yeah. He's like, oh so it hit his thigh. So whatever happened after that, that's not his fault. His arm was in a totally like reasonable position. So the deflection, I still don't know about this supposed deflection. I don't think you could clearly and obviously see that, but they explain it right here.
01:25:13
Speaker
It had the same general oral trajectory toward the goal after it hit the thigh and struck the arm. Exactly. So, but how could you not, how can you not see that in the moment? We can, ah we can move on from this call after this, but I still,
01:25:27
Speaker
It's a bad call. It's a bad call confirmed by pro and everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has those days. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. Everybody gets that way. Quote Hannah Montana.
01:25:38
Speaker
So that's where we're at. Uh, all right. No, anything else you wanted to hit before we go around the league a little bit for, uh, winners and losers? No, i'm I'm stoked for a little winners and losers and galaxy schadenfreude because we've never been a galaxy podcast. No, no, absolutely not.
01:25:53
Speaker
For the winners, I have both the Philadelphia Union and Columbus crew who played this weekend. 2-2 draw, just an excellent game. Yeah, great. High level footy, like so fun to watch.
01:26:05
Speaker
Two, just two of the best teams in the league right now going at it. I thought 2-2 was like, was fair for how good of a game it was. and uh the crew are really really good and the philly union are back are totally back i think they're really really good so uh that's a that's a double double winners for the week for uh for giving that game uh as viewing for us uh the new england revs they only took a uh three it was a three three draw uh but they're just they had a
01:26:41
Speaker
really, really bad start to the season. Yeah, they did. Where they didn't score an open play goal for like nine games or something, which was a good bit. Yeah, which was a good bit. But Caleb Porter's actually got them playing like legitimately good ball right now. And they they scored three goals in this game.
01:26:56
Speaker
And then CF Montreal. They've won a game. They've won. They've done it already won a game. Who did they beat again? That's actually that. I don't know. It was someone that was was someone who's, oh, they beat New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. NYC FC is down bad Yankee with no brim?
01:27:13
Speaker
But ah that leaves, I mean, we're about to talk about this in the loser section, but that leaves the l LA Galaxy as the last team in Major League Soccer to not win a game. Congrats to CF Montreal. You know, they're harmless out there. They're just trying to live their French Canadian life. yeah And I've said it once and I'll say it again.
01:27:33
Speaker
Not a real place. You cannot make me speak French. That's like you're not real. I got, I got no ill will towards a CF Montreal. Happy to see them finally get in the wind column, uh, against an NYCFC team. That's ah not terrible. So good win for them.
01:27:49
Speaker
Uh, and then the losers, uh, let's, I mean, let's just get right into it. The LA galaxy, man,
01:27:59
Speaker
seven to zero. We saw the Chicago fire lose seven to two a couple of weeks ago. at least they scored At least they scored a couple of goals after they went seven to zero. They got the the touchdown scored on them and the shutout, uh, against the, the, the team they beat in the final last year. This was like, this shit was personal. Ari. Yeah. they It was personal. Red Bulls got their revenge. Uh, Noah in a game that did not matter. Listen to this.
01:28:29
Speaker
The LA Galaxy are now 0, 9, and 3. Yep.
MLS Team Struggles and Management Decisions
01:28:32
Speaker
yeah Three points on the season through 12 matches. 0.25 points per game with a negative 20 goal differential.
01:28:43
Speaker
28 goals conceded. The most in MLS of any club. ah The worst start in MLS history. Not only is it the worst... start of the season for defending MLS cup champion in league history.
01:28:55
Speaker
I think it's actually, I'm not sure about the exact stat on it, but if it's not the worst, just general start, any club has had an MLS history. It's like right up there. It's that bad. Uh, and man, the question I think right now with them is like, how long can Greg Vanney survive this? Yeah, that's what was going to It's just like a crazy thing to be contemplating because they literally just want MLS Cup last yeah year.
01:29:20
Speaker
I've never seen a club in a situation like this where they won and MLS Cup and then start the next season so historically bad that like it seems like a foregone conclusion at this point that unless they...
01:29:35
Speaker
really, really turn it around. they're spooning, they're spooning and back to back trophies. Vanny's going to be out of there, but like I see, I wouldn't fire him. I wouldn't man. I think he, I think he's a good coach. I think their roster, he's clearly a good coach. yeah he's very clearly He built Toronto FC into a juggernaut, which that apparent that's honestly one of the most impressive accomplishments. Yeah, like if you know anything about the Toronto ownership and shit like that. Well, and look at what's happened to them since he left, right? no And then he built the LA Galaxy into a juggernaut.
01:30:05
Speaker
it Took him a couple years, but they won MLS Cup last year. Had one of the best ah attacks that we've seen in MLS in the last few years. He didn't suddenly like just forget how to coach this season.
01:30:16
Speaker
That's not what happened. like They had to shed... like half their roster and they don't have Ricky Pooge. Should it be this bad? Absolutely not. This is crazy. Yeah, this is brutal. i I don't understand how it's this bad. I was watching the highlights of the game and I was looking at their starting lineup and I was like, okay, I get that this isn't good, but it is not this bad.
01:30:37
Speaker
I don't know what's going on with how it's gotten to this, but I will say, i i even if it stays this bad, I don't think I would fire him.
01:30:48
Speaker
I would not. I would keep him. I think you have to look at what all they lost in this last season. They gave legitimately everything, built a roster on everything just so they could win MLS Cup.
01:31:04
Speaker
And they did it. And they did it. They did exactly what they set out to do. The fan base was tired. They were upset. They got their president fired. There was so much change. They brought in, you know, Vanny and all of this and all this new change.
01:31:17
Speaker
And they did exactly what they set out to do. The problem is... They built a club specifically to do that. And then, you know, the salary cap that happens, man. theres Something like also Marco Royce, probably the worst signing. One of the worst signings in our history. He's been a bust. ah But like, ah I don't know.
01:31:44
Speaker
what's what's happening to them even with the salary cap stuff taken into account we've seen teams before be in a situation where they've had a run like that and then had to blow it up and it's like it should not be this bad like there's no way there's no way it's a very it seems like a very demoralized team it seems like a team that is kind of just like mentally beat down.
01:32:08
Speaker
And, um, it might just be one of those things where you literally sold your soul to win the cup. And now you're going to have, it's up you have blowback. I've been saying the entire time that the trade-off was worth it.
01:32:21
Speaker
This is so bad right now that it's like making me question. Yeah. Like, would you trade the MLS cup to just have like a normal season to not this tire fire? Like, The answer is no, but the fact that it's like ah gotten to a point where that thought has even entered my head is just crazy. It is wild. like this is I don't think anyone could have predicted this.
01:32:42
Speaker
Let's just say. Oh, hell no. I think if anything, I thought they were still going to be, i think everyone knew they were going to take a step back. Everyone saw what happened with their roster over the off season.
01:32:52
Speaker
ah But I couldn't have even, fat I couldn't have fathomed. Oh, nine and whatever it is. Jesus. Oh, nine and three. Just awful. Crazy. um I didn't even have him written down here, but let's do some Atlanta United Schadenfreude.
01:33:06
Speaker
Let's just do it yeah ah this i mean They're not as down bad as the Galaxy, but they're pretty close. They lost 2-1 Chicago, and i think this was one of their worst performances. car out and like they They might be starting to talk about that soon because this was not good.
01:33:27
Speaker
Anytime you lose to Greg Berhalter in the Chicago Fire is a day that you should question everything about your football club. So they went down one zero and then they tied it on the one of the worst own goals that I've ever seen. And it was unfortunately scored by big Sam Rogers. Yeah, slamming Sam. I think he's been, I mean, I actually have no idea what his form has been like for them this year. Their defense hasn't been very good, so maybe not that good.
01:33:54
Speaker
ah but they get a ah they get ah just an absolute gift like they they were generating nothing in attack the whole game they get a gift of an own goal where they weren't gonna score the winner but they could have been like if they had kept that at 1-1 off that own goal they could at least have some sort of something to hang their hat on coming out of a game where they had another really bad performance and then they immediately concede again like ah They just seem like very...
01:34:26
Speaker
like fragile mentally. Yeah. You know? And there's just so much stuff going wrong. I think it's funny, but it's not good for it's not good for them.
01:34:38
Speaker
ah couple So the Almiron move hasn't worked at all. Latte Loth is doing good, but it isn't helping anything. ah But just a couple of... Click from DC, who I think I think i spoke highly of that move, has been has been a bust.
01:34:54
Speaker
This Marinchuk guy, Oh my God. He sent him anywhere. Sell him. He ah committed a handball penalty in this game.
01:35:05
Speaker
Where did you see the, the replay of this? Oh yeah. He, he wrote dribbled like a basketball. He like stuck his arm out and looked like he intentionally yeah put his elbow into it.
01:35:18
Speaker
What are you doing? right What are you doing? They spent $10 million dollars on that guy. And ah we were talking about with JL on the postgame. I, but he might be one of the biggest busts I can remember.
01:35:29
Speaker
Like, like in terms of not only not contributing, but like actively bad. Yeah. Like what was this? What was this sign? Send him back to the Farmers League known as Syria. That's my take.
01:35:43
Speaker
ah Yeah, it's just I mean, i'm going to stay on the Atlanta United beat because I just think it's fascinating how like the Galaxy thing as surprising as as it is, like you can explain it like they had to shed their entire team and Ricky Pooja's injured. Correct. The Atlanta The Atlanta thing, like everyone, i thought they, I bought into it. I'm an idiot. I bought into it again.
01:36:03
Speaker
ah But you know what I think is- Someone sell this guy some fool's gold. You know what I think is interesting about this is that ah if you go back or remember Garth's quotes from before the season, ah he could have hedged a little bit.
01:36:19
Speaker
yeah he could have said you know we got a new coach coming in we've had some uh we got some new players that we got to integrate uh we're really confident that we're going to be a lot better than we have been it might be a little bit of a process but i think we're going to get that like he could have done all he could have said done and said all that garth was talking all in the lead up to this season he literally said we're back baby at one point when they signed marin chuck i think said, we're back, baby. It took me a little bit, but like we got this thing rolling.
01:36:49
Speaker
he he yeah He said, had multiple quotes to the effect of like ah like it's on us now to like re-earn our fans' trust, and we really feel like we've done that, and we're going to go out there, and we're going to show that this year.
01:37:05
Speaker
He was like talking it up in a way that with this outcome, it's It doesn't look great. No, it doesn't. It looks actively not great, actually.
01:37:16
Speaker
And I fear that um I feel like Garth might be on fraud watch. Atlanta United are for sure on fraud watch. I mean, it is. I don't mean, I don't even know if it's watch at this point. It's just fraud. They're just committing fraud. They are stealing. OK, new agenda, Ari.
01:37:34
Speaker
Atlanta United's front office are stealing money from an old senile man. Arthur B. in this case. Arthur blank checks, man. I like you, dude, I'm just saying they're going to need some Home Depot shovels because he might bury these guys under this stadium. He's, they can't figure this out. He's good. to He's got to be upset right now.
01:37:57
Speaker
ah last loser of the week. Inter Miami. Oh yes. Oh, four, one defeat at Minnesota United.
01:38:09
Speaker
ah the vibes are way off ever since they crashed out of CCC. It seems like it's kind of torpedoing to be honest with you. And Noah, I'm starting to think that, uh, hiring Lionel Messi's boy from Barcelona as your head coach when he had no experience doing so at the club level at all, indefinitely no MLS experience. Starting to think that might not have been a good idea. You know, Ari, I agree.
01:38:31
Speaker
It's like a, it's a little validating, I think, because when that hire was made, we were both like, all right, that is not a good hire, but they're just so stacked that it's not going to matter. And that's kind of frustrating, but whatever.
01:38:47
Speaker
It does matter. it does It does. I think it does. Well, if you look at what Tata was doing, and this is a take that I'm i'm i'm stealing ah here from ah Flavian Renko.
01:38:59
Speaker
I'm stealing this from you. He said, if you look at the way that they used to play this team, the Barca boys were not going 90. The Barca boys were playing 70 minutes, 60 minutes, going crazy, and then they were taking them off.
01:39:15
Speaker
They're playing these guys 90 minutes and it is so clear that those minutes are weighing on him and it's decaying this club and then crashing out of champions league for them.
01:39:26
Speaker
I think it, I think it might just blow up this entire experiment. It low key looks like that might, that might happen because like the thing is, Messi is clearly pissed right now.
01:39:38
Speaker
Yeah. He's not happy. They won a game, but won a game last week by three goals and he was still pissed. Yeah, and he can't be happy to lose in a revenge match from Julian Gressel, who I still believe he farted in front of Messi, and Messi had him traded. Because inexplicably, Julian Gressel just...
01:39:57
Speaker
stopped showing up on Inter-Miami rosters. Something must have happened. so Like, he has a podcast. said He said that Mascherano told him that he didn't fit the system, which... Mascherano doesn't have a system. Well, also, Julian Gressel doesn't fit... Julian Gressel, it's just like...
01:40:13
Speaker
I feel like any system could use a guy that has that good a wide service unless you just never are trying to create danger from out wide. Like what system are you like? Oh no. Gressel is like, i don't I mean, I don't know. Maybe that's some tactics that are above my head, but that, that whole thing felt weird.
01:40:30
Speaker
Good on Julian Gressel for his new team, uh, destroying them like that. But, uh, It's going to be interesting to see if this downfall continues because this was supposed to be, uh, I mean, this has been a juggernaut team. They set the pass record.
01:40:45
Speaker
They set the points. for What does that matter? I mean, it means they were clearly far and away the best team over the course of the entire season last year. Yeah. But that was the only trope like, okay, here's my question, I guess to you and to, to, to those in the audience.
01:41:01
Speaker
if the experiment at inter Miami ends with messy winning only a supporter shield and a league's cup. Okay. Yeah. And a Mickey mouse league's cup. I guess they did play a Columbus, but, um, is that, are those two trophies together? Is that a success?
01:41:20
Speaker
Is that a success for messy and MLS? It's a letdown. it's not, uh, I'm not, I'm, some people are going to say abject failure. I'm not going to say abject failure. Uh, when, you know, whatever you want to say about leagues cup, they had a great run in that tournament.
01:41:36
Speaker
They beat, uh, they beat a couple of, maybe that Dallas and they be Cruz Azul. Uh, so it was, and that is, that is considered a major trophy. Like, so I personally don't consider that nothing, but,
01:41:50
Speaker
ah But I also I'm not a shield truther, but I do I do think the shield matters. I think it is the demonstration of who actually had the best team all year. And they did that like at a historic pace.
01:42:03
Speaker
So they were very clearly ah like at their peak. one of the most elite teams I've seen definitely play in the league. Some of the footy they were playing was some of the, definitely into some of the most dynamic attacking soccer that I've seen in the league. So all that is still true.
01:42:20
Speaker
ah But the reality is when I just want to let you know, inter Miami did not play ah single league. I'm Mickey's team. They, this in 2023, when they won, they beat Cruz Azul in the first, in the first game.
01:42:34
Speaker
No, that was Charlotte. Orlando, play they played... I don't know what you're looking at, but Manmar Messi hit the... ah oh that was that was the round of... That was the like group stage.
01:42:46
Speaker
Oh, okay. So not, so I guess, yeah, you're right. They did. But if you're looking at straight, uh, bracketology, if you're just looking at the the play playoff games, inner Miami played Orlando beat Orlando. They beat FC Dallas in penalties.
01:43:00
Speaker
Uh, they, they beat Charlotte and then they beat the union. and then in the final, they be Nashville. Yeah, that's right. And it was at Nashville.
01:43:13
Speaker
So, I mean, not like that. Okay. You know, a tournament is a tournament. Anyone can turn up, but like, come on. it's I don't even think you need to take anything away from the Leagues Cup to say that it would be a big disappointment if the Leagues Cup and the Shield are the only thing that they won. Yeah, that's fair. like the the The whole point of this was to dominate everything, to win everything, to win CCC, to like go make noise at this Club World Cup that they got a charity spot in.
01:43:44
Speaker
oh That's gonna be so interest now. I'm looking at that and I'm like man. What if they like crash out of that in Embarrassing fashion. They've got a fire there. They got a fire master. I know if they crash out a Club World Cup, right?
01:43:57
Speaker
I Mean, i think it depends in the manner but like just the vibes right now it it seems like It seems like it's going down a dark path, which is funny for us.
01:44:07
Speaker
It's funny for us. And I feel like Tata has vindicated. Like they just, they disappeared the guy and they disappeared the coach after him. Yeah. For farting on the bus.
01:44:18
Speaker
Massey doesn't like guys who fart around him. Apparently um All right, Noah, I think that's a good place to end it.
100th Episode Celebration and Future Teasers
01:44:27
Speaker
Unless you, you got anything else you wanted to hit? No.
01:44:31
Speaker
Thank you all so much. for tuning into episode 100. Great milestone for us. Again, we really appreciate all the support and the increased viewership. the it's ah It's been crazy to reflect on the journey from episode one to triple digits, episode 100.
01:44:50
Speaker
And
01:44:52
Speaker
We're going to keep the road to 200 starts now. Wow. We're going to keep churning churning out this content. I'll be'll be back at it Monday morning with Lobby Scorchers kickoff with Nico Moreno.
01:45:06
Speaker
Got a Thursday evening under the lights. We'll probably put out another podcast this week, too, because we got midweek game. We got a midweek game. Post-game reactions. Post-game reactions. Like, comment, subscribe.
01:45:20
Speaker
Share with Ty Buribo. don't know. Share with Javier Mascherano. Share with all your friends. Julian Gressel. Follow us on Instagram. I think that's it. Yeah. All right. We'll catch you guys next time. Until then, we out.
01:45:34
Speaker
Peace.