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Are the Seattle Sounders back? - Ep. 27
60 Plays1 year ago
With Noah out of town, Ari wins his battle with technology and solo cooks his reaction to the Seattle Sounders' massive 5-0 victory over Canadian foes CF Montréal for their first win of 2024. It's an emphatic dub pod! Are the Seattle Sounders back? Or was this simply a mirage? Ari then lays down his takes on the rest of the Matchday 8 slate in MLS.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to episode 27 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lilianwa, and I actually don't have producer Noah here with me today. I'm going to be running the show solo today.
Seattle Sounders' Victory Recap
00:00:21
Speaker
Producer Noah is out of town, for those of you who don't know, in addition to his podcast producing and co-hosting capabilities here on Lobbing Scorchers. He's also a photographer, so he's out on the road tending to that.
00:00:35
Speaker
So I'm gonna be running it solo today and you know, I'm a little technologically challenged and phobic so we'll see how this goes but I think I actually have everything all figured out and I'm gonna be able to lay this audio down and So we're gonna see how that goes But I'm excited for this show today because folks we got our very first dub pod of the season. That's right
00:00:54
Speaker
The Seattle Sounders have won an MLS game their first of the season. And not only is it a dub pod, but it's an emphatic dub pod. Five zero over C F Montreal, dominant performance from Seattle. So we're going to lead the show with them. You know, I've been toying with this policy of only leading with them if they scored multiple goals, mostly as a bit. I kind of don't adhere that here to that. And I lead with them regardless if they score multiple goals. But this week they left, no doubt, five goals. You don't really see a five zero all that often.
00:01:24
Speaker
So i'm excited to talk about that it was cathartic to watch at lumenfield last night i think anyone who's there would agree it felt like old times it felt like watching the team that we had grown used to watching over the years when the end.
Are the Sounders Truly Back?
00:01:38
Speaker
won a bunch of MLS cups in CONCAF Champions League and all that. It was good to see them perform at that level. We haven't seen that enough over the last calendar year. We're going to dive into all that and then I'm going to take some of your questions that you all submitted to me on Twitter last night and then I'm going to jump around the league and do some winners and losers.
00:02:00
Speaker
Uh, adhering to the same protocol that we've been doing. So it's going to be a good show. Uh, we're going to see how it goes with me running it by myself, but, um, let's just dive right into it because I'm excited to talk about this game. Like I said, truly cathartic to watch five zero Raul Rui Diaz scores a brace, including, uh,
00:02:20
Speaker
one of the best goals he scored in the Sounders uniform. He's had a lot of good ones. That was one of his better ones. He also gets a penalty kick. Jordan Morris gets his first goal of the season, so that was great to see. He needed that. Alex Roldon and Dylan Tevez both find the score sheet to round off an all around dominant display. So we're going to talk about what that means. I think, you know, the first question a lot of people are wondering after that game are the Seattle Sounders back so.
00:02:48
Speaker
I'm gonna give my opinion on that right off the top. And I would say no, not yet. You can't declare them officially back off one game. But what I will say is they could be back if they keep playing like this. And one thing I'm not gonna do today is tell you not to be encouraged by this result. I saw a lot of things to be encouraged by in this game. We've been definitely pretty negative so far this season. And I think rightfully so, given the lack of goal production that we've seen from this team.
00:03:17
Speaker
But I'm going to give credit where it's due and give everyone their flowers and their plaudits for this performance because this was a great performance. And I think more importantly than the result was how they played. And they kind of they showed that they're capable of performing at their ceiling again, which was great to see. And I'm going to talk about the necessary caveats, too. So we're we're going to touch on it all. But the first thing I wanted to talk about was just my reaction to the lineup.
Lineup Strategies and Surprises
00:03:47
Speaker
Back to the old reliable 4-2-3-1 with Jordan and Christian on the wings and Ruby Diaz up top. I think Raul Ruby Diaz in this game ended the debate on what the lineup should look like or whether he should start or not or whether Danny Musofsky should start. I think those were good discussion points and you know there was cases to be made for however anyone would prefer to line it up but
00:04:12
Speaker
I think especially on that first goal, Raul Rui Diaz showed the element that he brings that no one else on this team can bring. And so I'm going to break down all five goals later and talk about that a little bit more. But the way I see it with people getting healthier, Albert Rusnak started in this game. Jau Paulo made his first appearance.
00:04:32
Speaker
back from the hip injury in this game. I think exactly how Schmetz lined it up last night. Going back to what he knows, the 4-2-3-1 with Raoul up top and Jordan on the wing, Christian at right mid. That's been working pretty well for years. It was good to see that he was able to put that lineup back out there.
00:04:51
Speaker
That's what they should roll with, assuming a full bill of health, which, you know, you can't assume that with this team, but they are getting healthier. So that's another positive sign from this game. This game got off to an ominous start with new who getting injured really early in the match. But Cody Baker came in and he continues to ball out. A lot of people pointed it out last night, but this was a great performance from Cody Baker. He brings a lot more in attack than new who his runs forward are much more productive and seem to have much more.
00:05:19
Speaker
potential for end product than new who's do. So whatever you might lose in defense, I think you're gaining a little bit in attack, even though Cody Baker is not necessarily, I don't know if he was profiled as a hyper attacking fullback when he was coming up through the academy. I think he was kind of billed as more of a defensive player, but I continue to be really impressed with Cody Baker and I don't know if correlation equals causation here, but it really seemed like
00:05:43
Speaker
the team looked a lot better after he came on and I don't think that's a coincidence. I think Cody Baker has a plenty good argument to be starting on this team and at the very least he should be getting a lot more minutes. That's one of my biggest takeaways from this game. I'll talk about the caveats when we're talking about what we should read into this result. There's a couple caveats that people were pointing out.
00:06:06
Speaker
Um, number one, that it was against CF Montreal, which CF Montreal was predicted to be one of the worst teams in the league by most of the pundit class going into this season. Uh, and they actually got off to a surprisingly good start, which is why I said before this game, I thought it was probably going to be a tougher game than it looked to be on paper, considering the struggles that Seattle has had on offense, kind of regardless of who they're playing.
00:06:30
Speaker
And the fact that CF Montreal really hadn't looked as bad as people thought they would be. They got a couple of really big wins early this season, including winning at inner Miami, who were short handed for that game, I believe. But that was still a big result for them. And it had people talking about them as potentially a better team than a lot of the pundits thought. I tend to think not just based on this game, but now that we have a little bit larger of a sample into the season here, CF Montreal is probably going to end up
00:07:00
Speaker
being closer to the wooden spoon this season than they are to making the playoffs. So that is one fair caveat to point out is the strength of the opposition. And they also went down to 10 men in the second half. CF Montreal got a red card that really allowed Seattle to put the game in cruise control and extend the lead. But I'll offer a couple of quick rebuttals
00:07:22
Speaker
to those caveats. I mean, first of all, I watched this team get shut out at home by Austin FC and also tie the Colorado Rapids 1-1 at home. So the quality of the opponent has not necessarily been dictating whether they get necessary results or performances or not. And on top of that, good teams take it to inferior opponents. That's what you're supposed to do.
00:07:45
Speaker
The reason they were down to 10 men was that Seattle was playing well. So I think you have to be honest and give credit for Seattle creating a situation that gave them the man advantage. And then on top of that, capitalizing on it, controlling the tempo and the game state very well while they were up a man, and then ultimately adding to the lead. So I understand those caveats, but I'm not going to sit here and use them to detract from the performance. This was a fantastic performance.
00:08:11
Speaker
And I want to give the credit to everyone who was involved in it.
Midfield Strength and Key Performances
00:08:16
Speaker
JP makes his first appearance of the season, which that is just great to see. I was not necessarily expecting that. I saw that he was in the match day squad, but I didn't know if they were going to give him a run out. And he was back out there. Jordan Morris talked about this after the game, but that's going to be a huge addition. I think
00:08:35
Speaker
uh with him being out to start the season here we kind of forgotten a little bit or maybe taken for granted the impact that this guy can have on the team this is one of the best two-way players in the league so it was great to see him back and uh most of the fireworks came before he even subbed on so i think it's definitely encouraging and um
00:08:57
Speaker
we'll see what impact that has ultimately but getting JP back in the mech mix here is going to help a lot and Albert Rusnak uh started and played all 90 last night had two assists and won the penalty that Ruby Diaz converted so uh you see the type of impact that he can make too you know i really there there's still this segment of the sounders fan base that uh
00:09:19
Speaker
down on Albert Rusnak. They think he's not worth the DP tag. You can debate whether or not you think he's worth the price tag. I don't really see the debate as far as his quality as a player. And I think you saw that last night. But overall, like I said, I feel quite encouraged by this performance. Like I said, it showed that they're still capable of performing
00:09:42
Speaker
at that level with the opponent caveat and the main advantage caveats acknowledged. I feel like you now have a situation where people are getting healthier. The lineup is more set and you just you have a data point that shows that you're physically capable of performing at your ceiling. So now it's all about if they can do that.
00:10:00
Speaker
consistently and that remains to be seen and that's why I'm not ready to declare them bully backpack yet. But if they're able to replicate or come close to that level with any sort of consistency going forward, I feel pretty good about this team making a run back up the table.
00:10:16
Speaker
Um, but they have to go execute on that and they have to show that this wasn't a one-off. It very well, like, you know, I won't lie, it very well could prove to be a one-off and we might look back on this and say, okay, well, they beat up on a bad CF Montreal team and, uh, we're given the benefit of being up a man for most of that game. And then the offense went right back to, uh,
00:10:38
Speaker
being a struggle after that. So I'm not gonna call that yet though. I feel like there was still a lot of negativity out there last night where people were like, well, this is clearly a fluke and I'm gonna read more into the sample leading up to this than I am like a one-off game. And that's entirely fair, but I don't know. I suppose some of it comes down to what type of fan that you wanna be. A lot of people derive enjoyment from negative fandom.
00:11:04
Speaker
I'm not really like that. If the team I'm invested in has a great performance like this and gives reason for optimism in the short term or the long term, I'm going to acknowledge that. And I'm going to choose to feel encouraged. Maybe that's overly optimistic of me.
Player Highlights: Rui Diaz and Vargas
00:11:23
Speaker
But I think when you really break down the performance in this game, I saw a lot to be encouraged by. Let's break down the goals, because there were some really good goals in this game.
00:11:34
Speaker
First one in the 20th minute minute, Raul Rui Diaz. Galazzo. I mean, not many players line that shot up right there. Jackson Reagan deserves credit on this play. He made a great play to beast his header in the box and knock the ball down so that Rui Diaz could line that up. He lines that up with his left foot. There's a defender right on him, and it did ultimately take deflection. But you know, you make your own luck, OK? So Raul.
00:12:02
Speaker
puts that shot on target and it takes the deflection and goes in but you know he had the one off the post in the Austin game so you know you hear me talk about this sometimes like stuff like that evens out and it's really just it's just sick finish man it's a sick finish Rui Diaz has four goals to start the season here i know three of them are pks but he just seems like he's good in in good form he's playing really well and like i said i just think
00:12:29
Speaker
this whole, Noah and I were talking about it on the last show. He was advocating for Raul as a super sub. We were talking about the notion of starting Moose. I just think that's over and done with. And actually, after having watched last night's game, I think it would be, I mean, it would be insane to put Raul as a super sub at this point.
00:12:46
Speaker
Um, you can call him a PK merchant if you want, but, uh, that first goal wasn't a PK. And like I said, he's just, he's one of the only, he's the only guy on this team that can do that. And he's really one of the only players in this league that scores those crazy goals like that with the level of consistency that he's managed to do over the years. It's really impressive to watch. I mean, you think about the best number nines in the league right now. Um, uh,
00:13:10
Speaker
Georgia's chakamakis in Atlanta and day on yovalich are probably the two hottest nines in the league right now and They're very good poachers and they're capable of pulling stuff out of the bag like that from time to time But I just feel like you see Rui Diaz
00:13:25
Speaker
You seem to score those. I've seen him at training back at Starfire when I was going to training there a lot. He pulls those out in training all the time. And he does it in games, too. He hits those. And it's kind of an example of what a difference
00:13:42
Speaker
having a player like that can make. I thought Seattle looked pretty good up on offense to that point, but I'm not going to lie. When he scored that, I was like, I don't really know what to think of that because it's not like that's all that sustainable or repeatable when you're thinking about chance generation and stuff like that. But it kind of is something that he can do semi-frequently.
00:14:05
Speaker
And that changed the whole game because CF Montreal was not able to stick to their game plan, which I imagine was being very conservative and defensive. But once you go down a goal early, that's why those early goals are so important. And that was just a huge play by Raoul.
00:14:22
Speaker
I think one of the other things to be encouraged by in this game is just the fact that he seems to be in good form. I think you're going to see him start getting more books and goals from open play. Seattle is winning. They're winning a lot of penalty kicks earlier in the season here.
00:14:38
Speaker
which you know that's not necessarily a sustainable way to get goals but uh he's converting them those count on his ledger um and the the penalty kick that he uh that he scored last night was another clinical finish no panica um but let's get to that goal because it was just seven minutes later let's talk about the call first um this is where i have to dive into the unfortunate story of
00:15:01
Speaker
CF Montreal's Joel Waterman. Joel Waterman had a rep one. He gets dinged for the PK here. It got awarded on video review after the referee didn't initially award it. And if you watch the replay, he clearly kicks Russnak in the leg. And Russnak actually had a pretty interesting decision there. He took a really good first touch to put himself into space. And he essentially looked like he was going to be in a one-on-one if he got by Waterman.
00:15:31
Speaker
And here's the thing, I don't think the contact that Waterman weighed with his leg is what made Rusnak go down. I think he probably could have kept his footing there, but he makes the smart play by just going down and getting the call. I think he sold it a little bit, but he did a really good job of making it look like the contact made him go down in a fluid motion.
00:15:56
Speaker
And it's one of those ones where, you know, Waterman was arguing the call. But I think the second you kick your leg out like that and you make contact, you are you're giving the attacking player the opportunity to kind of make the read and decide if he's going to go down or not and try and get the call. And Rusnak, I think, did the right thing. You know, he's he might be in on a one on one there if he gets by Waterman and keeps his footing. But
00:16:20
Speaker
There's a lot of stuff that can happen there. You might get the shot saved. It's definitely not a guarantee at all that you're going to make it. So I think Russnak made a really smart play. They get the PK on video review and then Ruby Diaz. Nice finish from the spot. 2-0.
00:16:38
Speaker
Jordan Morris gets his first goal of the season. This was a great team goal. Another encouraging thing from this game. Obed Vargas actually created the play that caused this goal with a perfectly weighted pass for Christian Roldan to run onto into space.
00:16:53
Speaker
Christian sends in a vicious cross and then Jordan hits a nice like back heel scorpion finish. So my take on potentially benching Jordan Morris was wrong. I was kind of suggesting in jest last week that maybe he just needs a mental health break after that, after he missed that sitter against the galaxy. But again, I think the lineup is pretty much set now back to the four, two, three, one with Jordan on the wing where you can debate what
00:17:21
Speaker
It's his most effective position. I know he likes to play at the nine. He's been very effective out wide over the years. And I think just with where the personnel is at right now, the 4-2-3-1 with him out wide and Raoul as the nine, that's your best lineup. And I think this kind of solidified that for me. You at least have to keep running that going forward here and see if you can replicate this performance. But back to Obed Vargas. I mean,
00:17:48
Speaker
One thing that I wanted to see more from him since he started playing with the first team as much as he has is, you know, creating more in attack and ideally getting on the stat sheet. And so he gets a secondary assist for setting Christian up for the cross in that game or on that play. And this actually brings me to kind of a side tangent, but a lot of people hate on the idea of a secondary assist. I think Noah and I have talked about this before, but
00:18:14
Speaker
I'm pro-secondary assist. I feel like it's something where people say it doesn't make sense when if you actually think about the concept, it makes perfect sense. Like the guy who sets up the guy who gets the primary assist should also get the assist. What's illogical about that? And people are like, well, where do you draw the line? Should the guy before that get the assist? Two, no, you draw the line at one, one degree of separation.
00:18:43
Speaker
from the primary assist should also get an assist so anyway side tangent but Obed Vargas secondary assist and it's just good to see him be involved in a sequence like that and I think you're in pretty good shape at your at your deeper lying mid field spots with JP coming back because
Midfield Strategies: Double Pivot Discussion
00:19:01
Speaker
Obed Obed starting to play well means that I feel pretty good about any game With the Obed attention double pivot. I think you're still you're still dealing with quite a bit of an experience there And there might be tough individual moments in the games where you run that double pivot but overall
00:19:21
Speaker
I think they both have kind of established themselves as trustworthy options and you can kind of run your normal stuff when they're out there when you have to rotate JP out and now JP is coming back so I would probably start JP and Intensio as my first choice double pivot but feel fine about
00:19:41
Speaker
Obed rotating in there when necessary, or just based on match-ups and personnel and where you're at with needing to rotate, guys, I'd feel pretty good about a JP Obed double pivot, or like I said, an Obed attention double pivot. The fourth goal, great team goal. Rui Diaz gets a secondary assist on this one. He makes a really nice chip to find Albert Rusnak making a run.
00:20:11
Speaker
Russnak does well to control that with his head. He sends in a great cross. Alex Roldon is all alone, unmarked at the far post, easy tap in finish. Nice to see Alex Roldon get a goal. The right back doesn't typically score all that often. I think that was the fourth MLS goal of his career. And at this point, Seattle is playing upper man. So they're kind of just doing what they want. But you know, like they get credit for that. Like it's not goals that you score when you're upper man, like still count. And that's like what you should be doing.
00:20:38
Speaker
when you're up a man is trying to score more goals. So I just don't know about this notion. It doesn't mean anything that they scored because they were up a man. No, that's what you are trying to do when you're up a man is control the game state and the tempo, which they did a great job of, and ideally extend the lead. So great team goal. And good to see Alex rolled on, get on the score sheet.
00:21:03
Speaker
The fifth quote from Dylan Tevez was all about the moose. The moose had a really nasty assist on this. It kind of looked like Jordan Morris, one of those outside of the foot whip assists or passes that he has. So he lays one in perfectly for Dylan Tevez to run onto.
00:21:22
Speaker
and then it's actually an even better far post finish by Tevez. It's good to see Dylan Tevez get on the score sheet because, you know, when times get tough and they have to rotate or, God forbid, if there's any more injuries, you would like to be able to put him in there and have a reasonable expectation that he can get a goal contribution in a game. He has won an MLS goal to his name that he scored away at Toronto a couple years ago.
00:21:49
Speaker
But he really he just hasn't gotten very much run since he's been on the team. So if you can get him contributing, I think that's just I mean, that's an added bonus. So the game was out of hand at this point. But I mean, if you watch it again, it's a it's a really nice finish by Dylan Tevez. So credit to him.
00:22:10
Speaker
I think ultimately it was just great to see them play like this. Like I said, it's been a long time since we just saw a dominant suffocating effort like this from the Seattle Sounders. We're going to have to see if it sustains itself. But I genuinely do. I feel I feel better about the outlook of the team, knowing that they're still capable of
00:22:30
Speaker
taking on an inferior opponent at home and just laying the smack down. They played Austin FC at home earlier this year who Austin FC are not a good team and they got shut out. They got shut out at home by Austin FC. So I'm definitely not gonna complain or say that it doesn't mean anything that they scored five on CF Montreal. That's what you're supposed to do when you have an inferior opponent on your home field that is gonna be playing defensive and conservatively
00:22:58
Speaker
You have to get that early goal and then you have to take it to them. Stay on the front foot, extend the lead. Seattle gets credit for creating the opportunity with the red card and allowing themselves to play as much of the game as they did. Up a man.
00:23:16
Speaker
So this is one of the most necessary dubs I think.
Team Dynamics and Upcoming Challenges
00:23:21
Speaker
Arguably in club history there was an incredible amount of pressure on Seattle going into this game with how this season has started. Not even necessarily just the table which they were I mean they had two points they were last place in the west going into this game although they admittedly have played
00:23:38
Speaker
They'd played a couple less games because of the Philly game getting canceled, but just, you know, for the table, but for the vibes, you know, I think.
00:23:49
Speaker
people were getting pretty tired of watching an offense that was seemingly incapable of scoring multiple goals in an MLS game or even an MLS game where they did score multiple goals, they lost. It was just so cathartic to see that.
00:24:10
Speaker
I don't know if it's going to sustain itself. I certainly am not going to guarantee that it's going to sustain itself. But I think there is decent reason to believe that it could sustain itself, especially with Resnak and JP getting healthy. But we've talked about that so much on this show, just like how much of these early season struggles are attributed to anything other than just the fact that
00:24:47
Speaker
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00:25:13
Speaker
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00:25:43
Speaker
You haven't had your best players healthy. And we haven't even talked about Pedro de la Vega yet. Like imagine in a month or so when Pedro de la Vega's hamstring is healthy, imagine what he can add to this. And that's gonna generate some interesting lineup discussions. So I'm definitely, I give anyone who wants to full license to feel encouraged and optimistic at this result with the caveat that there are no guarantees and that
00:26:11
Speaker
It very well could prove to be a fluke. I don't deny that, but for now.
00:26:17
Speaker
I'm going to bask in the glow of what was just a pretty electric attacking performance. I've talked about the Charlotte game last year as kind of the reference point for the last time the team looked like that on offense. And there's been, I guess, a few individual spells that you could point out that looked pretty good, I guess, but nothing like this. I mean, this was a dominant effort from front to back.
00:26:43
Speaker
Huge dub. I'm going to dive into some of your Twitter questions now. You know, it's funny, I've been sourcing questions and observations and takes from all of you, the listeners after the games. And after the last two losses, everyone's wanted to pop off and I've gotten like,
00:26:59
Speaker
60 or 70 responses to both of those tweets. And it kind of devolves into people just discoursing about the team in my mentions and not necessarily asking questions, which is totally fine. That's what my mentions are for, is for you all to discourse and give your takes and generate discussion and all that. I actively encourage that.
00:27:20
Speaker
but like I only got like 10 to 15 responses on the on the dub pod question crowdsourcing so I guess you know people love to pop off when it's negative which is totally fine
00:27:36
Speaker
But you know, I would like to see a little a little more responses, positive responses last night, just given how negative the vibes have been lately. But thank you to everyone who submitted. I appreciate it. As always, it was a lot of bots that responded to me last night, unfortunately. But yeah, let's dive into these. At Piffy says we are so back winning streak and coming. Hey, I mean,
00:28:03
Speaker
I hope so. I'm not sitting here guaranteeing that, but my feeling is that I feel like that is more possible today than I did going into the game yesterday, which I went into with admittedly pretty low expectations. Jeff O'Neill says, how bad is Montreal? Like I said, that was a big talk point for sure. And I've tried to acknowledge that. But like I said, that's what you got to do against an inferior opponent.
00:28:32
Speaker
If they had zero zeroed or lost to CF Montreal, I mean, they would have taken deserved criticism and scorn for that. So if they destroy CF Montreal, I think you have to give them credit. That's just how I look at it.
00:28:48
Speaker
Ian Bergman says, that was fun. That is all agreed. It was, it was really just a, it was a fun game to be at again, because I think everyone was a little surprised to see a barrage of goals like that. I know I was, I certainly was not expecting a five spot. Um, so it was fun to see women feel like that again. Um, at J underscore SS FC says Cody Baker deserves an extended look at left back. Rothrock also should be getting minutes.
00:29:18
Speaker
Regan is still making some silly choices when defending. Roldanbros were looking much more like themselves. Cody Baker, 100% agree that he should be getting more minutes. Like I said, I really don't think it's a coincidence that the attack looked as much better as it did when he got on the field. Nuhu, Ashmessa Nuhu is supposedly healthy, so we'll see what they choose to do with that.
00:29:41
Speaker
I think you're kind of making a choice between like, you know, if you start Cody Baker, maybe you lose a little bit on defense, but you gain something in attack when new who you get nothing in attack, but new who's been defending pretty well the last couple of games, I think for all the criticism that he's taken and for the lapses that have happened with him this season that have admittedly led to goals.
00:30:06
Speaker
I thought the galaxy game, yeah, I mean, I don't know. People are free to disagree on this. I know there's the anti-nuhu court out there, which I don't begrudge their criticism of his play at times this season. But I thought going up against the galaxy in the last game, he did a pretty good job on Joey Paints when he had to.
00:30:29
Speaker
Regan making some silly choices when defending, maybe a little bit, but I thought he looked a lot better last night. And also, the header that he won to set up the Rio Díaz Galazzo was a huge play. And that was also nice to see because I feel like I've been kind of saying that I want to see him make more plays and attack and
00:30:50
Speaker
you know, establish himself as an aerial threat because he's got such a big physical imposing presence. So I really liked seeing him win that header like that. And it ultimately led to a goal. And Rolled On Bros looking much more like themselves is also a good shout because for all the talk that we had about the left side of the attack being a black hole earlier this season with the new who Leo Chu combination.
00:31:12
Speaker
not really cooking. I didn't think the Roldombros on the right side were cooking all that much more. So it was good to see that Christian played really well last night. He got a really nice assist on Jordan's goal and Alex scored as well and also looked a lot better. So that's a good shout.
00:31:38
Speaker
Sebastian at sec bush 22 says on a scale of big F and deal to simply regressing to the mean how back are we? I mean, yeah, I kind of talked about that. But like I said, my take on this is you can you can never declare any team fully back based off one game. But I do think that you can look at this performance and be encouraged that
00:32:02
Speaker
being back is at least possible, which that's progress. All I'm looking for right now at this point,
00:32:10
Speaker
after the attacking struggles that we've witnessed this season and dating back to last year is signs of progress.
Expressing Optimism: Victory Sustainability
00:32:18
Speaker
And I think we got that in this game. So I'm personally happy about that. If you don't want to be happy about that, I know some people out there are not happy about that. Apparently, they were having more fun when the team wasn't scoring goals. You're free to not be encouraged and call it a one-off or a fluke and dismiss it entirely. That's your prerogative, but that's not what I'm going to do.
00:32:41
Speaker
At maybe Bard says, how repeatable is this? Is this our SKC game from last year on repeat? What else does Cody Baker need to do to be our starter? Without PKs, we'd have five goals with these season. Are we getting ahead of ourselves to say the attack is backed by running it up against 10 men? Again, I kind of touched on a lot of that. How repeatable is it? That's what we're gonna see. But like, I think there's at least decent reason to believe that it could be repeatable.
00:33:07
Speaker
considering the cleaner bill of health that you're getting. And now you have a data point where
00:33:11
Speaker
you actually performed at the level that you thought you were gonna be able to perform at going into the season. So you gotta start somewhere. A few people have brought up this point about the SKC game last year. I mean, last year Seattle started really hot and looked like the best team in the league. And they had the famous game at Sporting Kansas City where Jordan Morris scored four goals and assisted by Leo Chu. And that was kind of the point in the season that people look back on as,
00:33:39
Speaker
Oh man, we all thought this team was the greatest attacking MLS club ever assembled after Leo Chiu bagged four assists and Jordan Morris scored four goals in a game. And then we all saw what happened. They missed the playoffs. I mean, my answer to that is just that it remains to be seen. This is either going to be a repeat of the SKC game last year, which turned out to be an outlier and it's going to be back to struggling after this, or it could be a jumping off point. You just, you can't say that yet.
00:34:09
Speaker
A lot of people are already proclaiming it as the SKC game from last year. Well, I mean, unless you're psychic and can see into the future, I don't know how you would know that. That's what we're going to find out in the coming weeks.
Match Preview: Sounders vs. FC Dallas
00:34:20
Speaker
I'm looking forward to finding that out.
00:34:25
Speaker
Let's see. That'll do it for questions this week. Sorry if I missed one that you submitted. Oh, I did wanted to address one from listener Nick who hit me up on Twitter. He was asking a question about the front office on the last show that he said that Noah and I didn't quite, we didn't quite
00:34:44
Speaker
part of the question that he wanted to. And it was regarding transparency in the front office. Nick, I remember, I'm proud of myself for, I remember that question. I'm going to holster that one because I'm planning on asking Jeremiah O'Shawn from Sandra Hart to come on the show soon to lay down.
00:35:01
Speaker
some takes and I felt like that would be a good one for for him to get his takes in too and also I'm not exactly sure what you mean by transparency as far like you know are you talking about them announcing roster moves or just general I mean I don't really know if you want to hit me up on Twitter again and maybe clarify exactly what you mean
00:35:22
Speaker
But Jeremiah, if you're listening, I was going to hit you up soon and we can talk about that on the next one. But in general, if you ever if I if you ever had a question and I didn't get it exactly exactly like touch on the topic that you wanted. What Nick did is totally cool. You can just at me and say, hey, man, you didn't answer my question and then I'll do my best to get back to it and hit on whatever part of the topic that
00:35:52
Speaker
that I didn't get the first time around. Anyway, I think that'll just about wrap it for the Seattle Sounders segment of the show. I'm still cloud nining. I really wasn't expecting them to drop a five spot. I was not. I'll be honest. I was pretty much expecting CF Montreal to do what Austin FC did to great effect.
00:36:15
Speaker
and make Seattle prove that they can break down a low block. And I didn't really expect them to be particularly interested in scoring themselves, but I don't know.
00:36:26
Speaker
feeling that we were looking at another 00 or a 11 or something like that. That's kind of what I've, uh, grow used to. So I was happy to just see the goals flowing and, uh, just the, uh, just the performance in general. I mean, I don't know how accurate this is because Apple XG is kind of weird, but 4.42 XG. I mean, that is a cook show. That is a cook show. If you put up over four,
00:36:54
Speaker
that means you were balling and that 100% matched the eye test. So it's kind of funny because Seattle still only has five points for the season. They're still kind of down there on the West table, but they now, because of the five zero, they have a positive two goal differential. So you usually don't see a team in 12th or 13th place or whatever with a positive goal differential and one of those weird early season things. But
00:37:21
Speaker
FC Dallas is up next. I guess we'll talk about that real quick. I'll talk about that real quick. FC Dallas on the road up next. Here's what I will tell you about this game. Ordinarily, I would say that a road trip to FC Dallas, you can probably honestly expect to lose no matter what type of team FC Dallas happens to be in a given year. Those road trips to Frisco, you're usually maybe not as bad this time of the year when you have to go there in the summer in the dead heat.
00:37:48
Speaker
It's so hard to pull a result there. Seattle definitely has not been historically very successful in trying to do that. But this game right here, this represents an opportunity. You were coming off your best game of the season. You just scored five goals.
00:38:05
Speaker
Confidence is high. The vibes are high. I was in the locker room last night talking to some of the guys. They seemed very relieved, but also confident that they had just showed the type of ball that they can actually play and that they were looking forward to the opportunity of building on that and trying to sustain it.
00:38:26
Speaker
And this is a great opportunity right here because FC Dallas is often one of the worst starts in the league. This is one of the worst teams in the league right now. They've had a lot of injuries, but they're also just not, I think they might just be not good.
00:38:41
Speaker
So given that, theoretically, I don't know what the weather is supposed to be like, but theoretically, the heat should be a little less oppressive. You've got a struggling team, you're coming off your best performance of the season. Ordinarily, I would say just trolling for a zero-zero or trying to pull out a one-on-one in this scenario, you take the point and get out of Frisco, Texas as fast as you can. But no, I think this is a game that you should be,
00:39:08
Speaker
You should be really gunning to try and win this game. Try and put FC Dallas' misery in an even worse place. If they lose this game at home, I mean, they're down bad. They're
00:39:24
Speaker
that would kind of solidify their status as one of the worst teams in the league. So this is a big opportunity to get a win on the road, first road win of the season. And really, if you go into this game and then the offense just looks how it did previously, again, you know everyone is going to start talking about how
00:39:44
Speaker
The Montreal game was a fluke against a bad team that was aided by a red card. So if you want to disprove that narrative, go win this game. Score a couple more goals. Get a road dub. Let me record another dub pod. You know what I mean? So I think this game is much more winnable than your average FC Dallas game.
00:40:07
Speaker
We'll certainly be laying down the post game pod after that match, whatever the result may be. Thanks to everyone again who submitted questions this week, much appreciated as always.
Vancouver Whitecaps: Western Conference Leaders
00:40:19
Speaker
I'm gonna jump around the league real quick, do my winners and losers from match day eight in MLS, and then I'll call that a rep for episode 27 of Lobbing Scorchers. For winners, Vancouver Whitecaps, 4-0 over Toronto FC,
00:40:36
Speaker
Folks, the vancouver whitecaps are in first place in the western conference, and it's still early in the season.
00:40:42
Speaker
We'll see how it pans out. But I think the Whitecaps, they might just be good now. That might be the new reality that we live in. It's felt like the last couple years they've been on the cusp of becoming a legitimate Western conference contender. Their roster has looked pretty damn good for a couple years now. I think it looks really good right now. Vanny Sartini is
00:41:08
Speaker
I think he might be
00:41:25
Speaker
Tangents, he said he might he might resign his position as their head coach because they're in first place so we could go out on top He was cooking so definitely You know, I keep track of the blazing hot head coach press conferences When they're popping off after a bad call or a bad loss or something like that But Vani Sartini is he's fun in the like man. This guy is just seems like a fun Italian guy kind of way But anyway
00:41:51
Speaker
Ryan Gold and Brian White, that might be one of the best 1-2 punches in the league, if not up there with the best, has certainly been one of the most productive dating back to last year. So I think you've got a Cascadia foe here that
00:42:08
Speaker
They've been kind of considered a potential up and comer in the last year or two. They might just be good. Toronto FC is down bad with injuries and they're kind of rebuilding under John Herdman. Got off to a better start than expected.
00:42:23
Speaker
their rebuild is certainly still in progress. I don't give the caveat with that for the Whitecaps. They had an inferior opponent, a rival at home. They took care of business, 4-0. So they're in the winter section for the week.
00:42:39
Speaker
Seattle Sounders. I'm putting them in the loser's section every week, kind of as a bit, but also because the results have been legitimately bad. But like I said, I'm going to give him credit. Winner's section for the week, 5-0 over CF Montreal. Needed a win in the worst type of way. Needed a good performance in the worst type of way. Got both. Credit where it's due. They're in the winner's section for the week. Let's see if they can keep staying in this section.
00:43:03
Speaker
And then New York Red Bulls 2-1 at FC Cincinnati. Great result for them. That was one of the marquee games of the slate. These teams were, I think they were 1 and 2 in the Eastern Conference up there with the supporters, Sheila leaders before this game.
00:43:18
Speaker
And the Red Bulls continue to have a really nice start under their new head coach, Sandro Schwartz. And FC Cincinnati, you know, they won the supporter shield last year and they were an elite team at home at TQL Stadium. And the Red Bulls came in there and they they they snatched the 2-1 victory. So I think, you know, similar to to the Whitecaps, we might just have to accept the reality that the Red Bulls are good this year.
00:43:46
Speaker
Still early. Can't say that for sure. But that certainly looks like something that may be the case. Losers San Jose earthquakes are off to the worst start in the league. They are now one
00:44:01
Speaker
six and 0 league low three points and the the only reason that they have those three points is because they beat the Seattle Sounders which if you just look back on that now god that's such a that's such a bad L that's such a bad L but uh the Lucci Gonzalez era is not going very well for the quakes it seems like they've been in this section a couple times this year but uh they were actually they were ahead against Austin FC I think that's what was uh
00:44:29
Speaker
the most galling about their latest loss is they were playing Austin FC at Q2 and it was actually going well. I should have done this beforehand. I'm pulling up exact minutes that the goals were scored now, but I mean, yeah, so San Jose went up one zero in the 20th minute. They went up two zero in the 58th minute. Then they give up goals in the 62nd and 63rd.
00:44:54
Speaker
And then they go ahead again in the, or no, and then Austin scores in the 67th to go up 3-2. San Jose ties it in the 74th, and then they give up the game winner to Sebastian Drusi in 90 plus 11. This changes pretty much absolutely nothing that I think of Austin FC. I think Austin FC, they're Sebastian Drusi or Bust. It's kind of like Nashville SC with Hany Mukhtar.
00:45:20
Speaker
If Sebastian Grier is cooking, Austin can compete in any individual game, but he is not cooking or taken out of the game or injured, which he's been a fair amount over the last year. They're they're like a one point oh to one point two points per game MLS squad. Austin FC are not good. No offense to Austin FC. But the Quakes might be the worst team in the league right now.
00:45:47
Speaker
Nashville SC, uh, they had a, they had a choke at the end for a two, one loss at home to the Philly union. Daniel guys, goes dog gets the game winner there. Um, the Philly union are obviously really good. They're always really good, but, uh, Nashville SC, man, I just feel like,
00:46:06
Speaker
You got to get they got to get past the Haney Mook to our robust thing that I was just talking about. I mean, they they could have had a point in this game if they were able to score multiple goals in a game. It's kind of the national sees offense kind of like the Seattle Sounders man like.
00:46:21
Speaker
Hammy Mooktar might be able to, he can carry you pretty far, but not every single game, every single week. They got to figure out a way to reinforce that team and not just, they've been in this cycle of just being defense merchants where they can hold you to zero or one goal, but that's dangerous living in this game against Philly. That showed exactly why that's dangerous living.
00:46:44
Speaker
And then final loser of the week LA Galaxy 2-1 El traffico defeat to LA FC This wasn't like an embarrassing or undignified loss It was a competitive game and also they got hosed on a PK call that gifted LA FC the game-winning penalty You know fair play to LA FC if they if you get gifted a PK, it's not like you should try and miss it but the point is
00:47:08
Speaker
L.A., the Galaxy, it seemed like having kind of partially watched this game while I was in the press box at Lumen, it seems like they competed well enough to potentially take a result in this game, which was at BMO Stadium. But they got hosed on a PK call. But I'm putting them in this section because the Galaxy could have made a real statement with the win in this game. They've been getting some of the most positive press in the league. And I think rightfully so, because they I think they have
00:47:37
Speaker
the best attack in the league right now, other than when Inter Miami's at their apex with the Barca boys. But a Galaxy win here would have been a statement. If you can go into the house of your biggest rival and take it to them and get a dub, I think people would have been like, all right, I mean, the Galaxy, they're also on the hunt to be declared backpack in a similar way to the way we've been talking about Seattle, except the Galaxy, dating back like four or five years, what they've needed to come back from.
00:48:06
Speaker
So They just weren't quite able to do that. I'm still pretty high on the galaxies long-term outlook because I think their offense is so good But it does it really does not seem like they've solved their biggest issue over the last few years Which is the frequent and ill-timed goal concessions so I mean their games are exciting though like they're they're probably the team that
00:48:29
Speaker
When I'm when I'm pulling up the games that I'm watching every week, they're kind of appointment viewing for me. Joey Paints is probably my favorite player in the league to watch right now. And just the way they play offense is it's envy inducing, man. I really like watching the galaxy. But for this week, they go in the losers section.
00:48:48
Speaker
All right, I'm going to wrap it right there. I don't know how long I went right there. I feel like that might have been a short one this week, but I'm carrying it solo. So so that's why. Thank you for everyone for continuing to tune into these. Our our download numbers have looked really great. And I just really appreciate the fact that we're seeming to see listenership grow and
00:49:11
Speaker
I've been getting good feedback from all of you and you're responding to my tweets and submitting questions to give me stuff to riff on. So I just really appreciate all the support. Like, comment, review, subscribe, do all that fun stuff. Let's keep growing the show.
00:49:30
Speaker
And producer Noah will be back here with me for the next one. I might see if he wants to record one with his takes on the dub. Maybe we'll do like a double dub pod or something. But if not, he'll be back post FC Dallas game. And thank you all for tuning in and bearing with me while I run the show solo. Until next time, we out.