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Are The Seattle Sounders Fraudulent? - Ep. 53
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The streak of Dub Pods has sadly come to an unceremonious end as the Seattle Sounders were blown out 3-0 by LAFC at Lumen Field on Saturday, falling victim to the evil demonic goal-scoring force of nature that is Denis Bouanga. Were the national pundits correct in their prior assessment of Seattle’s improved play of recent weeks being fraudulent? We debate exactly that and more in our game review and Agenda Check.
Later on we take your questions, hit on a couple news items regarding Leagues Cup and the US Open Cup, then discuss winners and losers from around MLS in Matchday 28.
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pole Wines, a Seattle-based seller. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:00:29
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpolewants.com.
Seattle Sounders' Losing Streak Begins
00:00:36
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 53 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I've got producer Noah here with me. And Noah, the streak of dub pods has come to an end and not just an end, but an emphatic end. How are you feeling? It was crashing. It was a burning. I couldn't look away at some points, Ari, but, you know, all good things must come to an end. This won't hurt, though.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's right folks. The winning streak is over. The vibes have been tempered as the Seattle Sounders got absolutely demolished by LRC 3-0 at Loom & Field last night. The people are upset. Agendas are imperiled. Were the national pundits proven right? Did the Seattle Sounders get exposed? We're going to debate exactly that later in the show during our agenda check.
00:01:28
Speaker
As always, we'll also take your questions, we'll jump around the league, give some thoughts on the other results that took place, do winners and losers from match day 28 in MLS. We also had a couple of news items related to the Sounders that we're gonna talk about. So another jam-packed show, and our first L-Pod in a while. You know, the streak of dub pods that we were on, I mean, it was never going to last forever, but like you said, the manner in which this L-Pod came about was
00:01:55
Speaker
was troubling, you know, for all the positivity that we had been espousing the last few weeks, and rightfully so. The team has been in very good form. We're unfortunately going to have to clown on them quite a bit, I think. I mean, because there was just, there were several instances that took place in this game that were not just unfortunate, but also they had, I think they had that comedic, that comedic value.
00:02:22
Speaker
Yeah, I felt like we were back to the improvisational comedy trip in a way. Yes, exactly. That's a good way of putting it. Before we get into all that, though, I did want to let you 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 sounderatheart.com slash LS. That's sounderatheart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days completely free.
00:02:50
Speaker
Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. As always, we'd really like to thank all of our paid subscribers and I'm gonna go back to reading off all their names this week, Noah. Because that's how much we love and appreciate every single person who subscribed and supports us.
00:03:09
Speaker
Kenneth Wade, Joey Pascanelli, David McCoy, Owen Mason, Dan Pavato, Samuel Fout, Ian Mitchell, Christopher Smith, Norm Bonnier, Thomas Martin, Greg Hoker, Chris Malley, Andy Hill, Mike Lentini, Nate Bonnier, David Rodriguez, and my nephews, CJ and Miles Maranakis. Thank you all so much.
Support and Subscribe
00:03:30
Speaker
Can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate all that support. And folks,
00:03:34
Speaker
I just need one thing from two of you listening to this show. We're at 18 subs right now. We have a new goal that we're setting of 20. So all I need is just two of you out there listening to go to sounderatheart.com slash LS, subscribe and support the show. And yeah, no, anything to add there.
00:03:53
Speaker
Yeah, there's going to be some really fun potential upcoming things that subscribers are going to get access to. Not going to leak too much, but I'm just saying it is more than worth the subscription price. Soundredheart.com slash LS.
00:04:08
Speaker
the drive for 20 that should be attainable like i said just two people out there and we will hit that goal speaking of that um if you're listening to this and you haven't done so yet also please subscribe to the lobbying scorchers youtube the drive for 300 subscribers on there is alive and well knowing i looked i just looked at it we're up to 284 or thereabouts
00:04:28
Speaker
So, yeah, we're kind of cooking on there. So let's get to 20 subscribers and then 300 on the YouTube. How about that? Let's see if we can do that before the next show.
Sounders' Defeat and Criticism
00:04:39
Speaker
All right. Enough of that. Let's get into this LFC game review because this was a big game. I mean, we talked about it on the last show, but going into this game, this was Seattle's chance to make a point, make a statement. National pundits, the analysts, the experts and the prognosticators, they all they had
00:04:58
Speaker
coordinated their talking point on this. For the most part, they were not giving the Sounders recent good run of form much attention at all. But even when they did, it was mostly to say to downplay it, to discount it, to say that none of these results had come against any good teams that were notable or really worth acknowledging.
00:05:17
Speaker
And with a win here in this game, or at least a competitive dignified performance, even if they didn't win, if they drew or they lost but played LAFC straight up and it was a super competitive game, that still could have spoken to a claim that Seattle was at least in the realm of the upper tier clubs in this league, among the clubs that are going to be contenders this year.
00:05:41
Speaker
And instead, they got absolutely blown out on their home field, saw the winning streak come to a crashing halt, got bammed on twice by Dennis Bewonga, which I think we kind of all knew was coming. Bewonga was doing backflips on the Lumen field turf. It was an all-out disaster. So we're going to break down the fine points of that.
Lineup Choices and Team Performance
00:06:04
Speaker
But before we do that, Noah, let's do our lineup reaction, as we always do before the game reviews.
00:06:08
Speaker
I think there's a lot to talk about with this lineup. I have quite a bit to say. So let's riff on that real quick before we get into the recap. So Paul Rothrock was on the bench for this game. Pedro de la Vega and RBW were both starting flanking Albert Rusnak. And I think that's where we should start because I think it's worth discussing. Was that the right call or did it mess too much with the continuity that Seattle has had going over this recent run of form?
00:06:38
Speaker
health and continuity had been actually Not as much talked about factors for why this turnaround of recent weeks had happened but I think that had something to do with that and Starting de la Vega and RBW in this game I think you could argue that it's sort of messed up that read that rhythm a little bit now I can understand the logic particularly
00:07:01
Speaker
with starting De La Vega. I can see why this seemed like a good opportunity to kind of unveil him. He's healthier now. He's going to need to be a centerpiece of this team for this team to actually ascend into that tier of contenders as they are hoping to do. So with him healthier now, theoretically able to play a bit larger complement of minutes than he has been playing, I can see the logic
00:07:27
Speaker
But in practice, I don't think it worked. I think it looked like he just doesn't have Chemistry with his with his teammates yet. It looked out of rhythm It looked a little disjointed the offense never really got going in part because Seattle was playing from behind for most of the game but
00:07:44
Speaker
I think, and we obviously have the benefit of hindsight with this because we saw how the game played out. But just looking at how it worked out, I would not have started De La Vega
Controversial Penalty Analysis
00:07:56
Speaker
in this game. I would have brought him off the bench like they had been doing. Whatever you had to do to make that happen, I think starting Paul Rothrock, maybe moving Christian back to Reitman and then starting Alex at right back.
00:08:10
Speaker
Like I said, I understand we have the benefit of hindsight, but I think that's how I would have done it. What do you think? Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sunny Yetis, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023.
00:08:35
Speaker
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00:08:58
Speaker
Most notably, entry into our members-only Discord where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening!
00:09:21
Speaker
Yeah, I was quite surprised seeing Pedro de la Vega start. It felt like a little bit of a guess, in a sense, and I really don't think that guessing against the toughest opponent in the Western Conference is your best bet. I felt like the biggest issue with Pedro was his positioning. I think he is so talented at just
00:09:45
Speaker
Roaming the field and making himself useful, but that comes at the cost of what has been built that structural Rusnak and Morris want to punch that we talked about it felt like Albert and Jordan's connection was invisible Yeah, I barely saw Jordan touch the ball all game and really the only time when he had meaningful contributions was once de la Vega
00:10:11
Speaker
came off. I was surprised to not see Paul Rothrock. I was surprised. I mean, even though we talked about that knew who probably should start, I was surprised that knew who started and that RBW was on the wing instead of in his position. But yes. OK, let's talk about that. Starting RBW on the wing. I know like we've talked about how we're intrigued by the notion of him playing there, starting him there against LFC, especially when most of the run he's gotten this year has been as a fullback.
00:10:40
Speaker
It feels like that's a pretty big ask to ask him to be carrying as much of the attacking load as he would need to given the start in this scenario. I think those two things are the things worth scrutinizing with the lineup selection. And it just, I mean, we saw how the game went. It did not work at all. It didn't work at all.
00:11:01
Speaker
And I don't know how much of that is because of personnel and how much of that was the dumb goals that were conceded that put the whole team behind the eight ball and sort of the offense. They look shell shocked after that. We'll talk about that. But the offense just never really got going in this game until the very end of the second half when it was effectively out of reach anyway. Yeah. So
00:11:25
Speaker
I was surprised. I know that Chu has not been in good form and I understand that he's probably fallen out of favor with Brian, but I was surprised that he didn't even feature in this game. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think it would have been a logical opportunity to maybe keep running him. I don't know, but, uh,
00:11:42
Speaker
De La Vega, RBW, Flanking Rusnak, it did not work in this game. It seemed like they were trying to do too much all at once. That was my lineup reaction. LAFC got the first goal of this game just after the 10 minute mark. So they, I mean, they did what you need to do on the road. You know, weather the storm early, they scored within the first 15 minutes of the game. But let's talk about this sequence. Cause this was one of the crazier sequences that I've seen all year. And there's a lot of discourse.
00:12:11
Speaker
flying around about it. This was as hot of press box discourse as I can remember. We were all trying to break down this play and given our takes on it. But it was a lot a lot happened in this sequence of events. Okay, so the whole thing started because the right side of the tell me if I'm misremembering but I watched the highlight again the highlights again this morning whole thing started because look to me like the right side of the defense got unbalanced.
00:12:35
Speaker
and here i think you saw the relative inexperience that christian has at right back i think when that ball went out wide they had basically a two they had an overload right there but he took the wrong angle in trying to cut the attacker off and then the guy was able to get by him and get a dangerous cross in which JP then he tried to stick his foot out
00:12:58
Speaker
get a foot to the cross and get it out of there. He ended up hitting it back towards the goal. And at that point, the whole situation devolved into all out chaos. Stephen Fry goes to the ground. Seattle's defenders are scrambling and flailing. It was anarchy in there. New who sees all this going on. And he had a few options for what to do there.
00:13:20
Speaker
The one he selected he decided the best course of action was to He essentially belly flopped on top of the ball. I think the logic to whatever extent he was applying it in this situation being if Alright, if I belly flop on top of the ball and essentially try to start a dog pile in front of goal Think about it. No one's gonna be able to kick it into the goal if I'm on top of it
00:13:47
Speaker
So he made that calculation or something to that effect in his mind. I don't think he really was thinking it through to that degree. I think he was in a desperate situation and made a desperate choice. And a desperate man sometimes makes rash and impulsive decisions. That's what New Who did here. He jumped on top of the ball.
00:14:09
Speaker
And unfortunately, in the process of jumping on top of the ball, he hit it with his hand. It gets correctly called a handball in the box and gives LAFC a penalty kick, which Bawonga converted. Now,
00:14:25
Speaker
I know that everyone is gonna pile on new who for this play and I understand that he did I mean I don't know what he was thinking there like out of all the options that he could have picked that was one of the thing is he didn't need to do it so I was there yeah like
00:14:41
Speaker
if he just did not jump on top of the ball and hit it with his hand fry covers that and it's not a goal you play on it's zero zero so that's the frustrating thing about it but i do think i do think and i know i've become like the new hoo apologist even though i don't really think that's what i consider myself i just kind of try and look at both sides of the whole new hoo debate and
00:15:03
Speaker
See the value in what he brings, but we're not gonna get into that whole discussion But like it's just a sequence like that is about what leads up to the final results as much as it is about Like the final result if that makes sense. I thought Christian Yymar and JP all held Capability on the sequence that put new in that situation that put the whole team in that situation in the first place
00:15:30
Speaker
And just generally speaking, when you are letting the road team take the game to you and create a dangerous opportunity like that, let them get out and transition. Let them create that overload that unbalances your defense and lets them put in a cross that your own guy kicks towards your own goal. You are playing with fire fundamentally before you even get to what the last defender does to to concede the penalty.
00:15:53
Speaker
Okay, so the game management at that point in the game was not what it needed to be to prevent a chance like that from happening in the first place. And I count four guys that could have handled that situation differently to prevent that to begin with because what you don't what you never want.
00:16:17
Speaker
is a mad scramble like that in front of your own goal where their guy is right there trying to kick it in and then you suddenly have your left back belly flopping on top of the ball. That whole situation needs to be prevented before you even get to that point.
00:16:33
Speaker
yeah i mean i listen okay i gotta say i'm kind of in a little bit of disagreement with you oh yeah i think a new go for it new who is fully at fault there he is a veteran leader on this defense he needs to make better decisions that is silly that is stupid i had the perfect angle for it i was
00:16:52
Speaker
I guess if you're looking at the front of the goal, I was on the right hand side, right behind the net on the corner. So I could see it all happening right there. Perfect angle fry. It was, it was a sketchy moment for him. And I understand who wanting to intervene, but you have to have a little bit more trust in your goalkeeper and your other defenders and not put yourself in a silly situation because I really think that that, that entire sequence changed the game.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think that we were playing particularly well in the first 10 minutes But I think that a moment like that where if you're able to weather a moment like that you can kind of turn that into a little bit more momentum going the other way and I just it frustrates me because that is the continuous silly stupid mistakes that new who keeps making that make him
00:17:40
Speaker
I'm sorry, not as good as RBW or another player in that position. Those are the mistakes that matter. That mistake, it negates every other defensive thing that he does in my book because that goal doesn't happen. If new who doesn't literally swan dive onto the ball.
00:17:59
Speaker
That was so dumb.
LAFC's Tactical Gameplay
00:18:00
Speaker
I'm certainly not defending the swan dive, so hopefully my take does not get interpreted as such. But I do think when you blame a sequence like that all on one guy, you're overlooking a broader issue which led to it.
00:18:19
Speaker
I think that's what I'm that's what I'm pointing out. But as far as the individual decision that knew who made in that moment, I mean, it was insane. It was it was it's one of the like, I don't know if I've ever seen a sequence exactly like that. I mean, I've seen like, you know, a deflection towards your own goal and a mad scramble in the box. That's not out of the ordinary. I've never seen a defender swan dive on top of the ball and then get called for a handball.
00:18:45
Speaker
in the process um it was that i mean i it was this team has conceded a lot of bad goals this year and they conceded another one uh just a few minutes after this one but this i mean this was just crazy like and it puts you behind the eight ball immediately off rip in again playing against a team where you can't afford to do that so anyway i i certainly uh
00:19:10
Speaker
I'm I'm I will never hear me try to rationalize the decision making for new who right there. But I do think the whole the whole defense kind of let LFC cook them getting up to that. And I will say I will say JP did not cover himself in glory in any means across this entire game. But I think that like, yeah, that that ball that he played in, I think that that's a little bit more of a mistake that's forgivable than a choice that you make.
00:19:38
Speaker
to intervene in a play that you don't need to that causes the end result to be a penalty. So LAFC is up 1-0 within the first 15 minutes of the game. They get their second goal to go up 2-0 in the 26 minute. This time it was a set piece. The service comes into the box. And this was a goalkeeping error the way I see it. Stefan Fry did not need to come off his line right there.
00:20:04
Speaker
See, I don't like, I believe it was Jackson Reagan made the clearance and he couldn't get it further than Bogus. Bogus takes it at the top of the box. But because Fry came off his line to try and punch it, they didn't have anyone in the goal. I think Christian got back there to try and cover it and clear it off the line. But honestly, that was, I got to give it to Bogus there. That was a really good finish.
00:20:26
Speaker
He took that volley perfectly. Not only did he get it on target, but he managed to place it either by luck or just really good skill. He managed to place it by Christian who was trying to clear it off the line just like inch perfect with his shot on that.
00:20:46
Speaker
Fry stays back, you know, he can probably he at least has a chance at saving it, right? You know, you don't know what his positioning is gonna be but he gave himself no chance to save it by coming off his line when he didn't need to like you got to just you got to trust your six foot six CB to get to that ball right there and
00:21:03
Speaker
If I think if Jackson Reagan, if he lets just let Jackson Reagan clear it stays on his line and the exact same thing happens with the ball falling to Bogus, it's way, way less likely that there's going to be a goal scored right there. So just like another self-inflicted error that didn't need
00:21:20
Speaker
to happen like two of the dumber goals that they've conceded all season within a half hour span first half hour of the game against the best team in the West you're never gonna win a game like this if you have probably one concession like that let alone two in the first half hour like yeah the game is pretty much chalked right there
00:21:40
Speaker
Right there within the first 30 minutes you have put yourself so far behind the eight ball that your chances of winning are pretty much zero. It was two zero at halftime and that's when De La Vega was subbed
Halftime Adjustments and Rothrock's Impact
00:21:55
Speaker
off. I'm not really sure what the plan was with him like if he was initially supposed to go more like 50 or 60 or you know we were talking about how it might have come down to them tracking his output and figuring that
00:22:10
Speaker
He had already exerted enough to where if they kept him on too deep or at all into the second half his risk of re-injuring his hamstring Could have been higher but either way he subbed off for Rothrock at halftime and I just thought it was funny You know, I was sitting in the press box. I'm looking at what's going on on the field at halftime I see Rothrock warming up and it's just like it's pretty funny that we've reached a point where that's like the secret weapon and
00:22:36
Speaker
You know, the game's not going well. We're losing. What do we do? Deploy him. We deploy him. We get him out there, put 14 in there. This whole game is going to change. That's what I was hoping. You know, I was like, OK, all right. Now it's on now. It's on now. Scariest lead in football. 2-0 now. Well, in all seriousness, like,
00:22:55
Speaker
Your percentage chances of winning go way down with those concessions. That's true. But if you come out firing in the second half and you just get the one goal, a result, maybe a 2-2 becomes possible. It's not impossible. And especially when you've got the secret weapon of Paul Rothrock in there.
00:23:16
Speaker
And it felt like that. Like once the second half kicked off, they felt like they were on the front foot for the first, especially I thought, yeah, like 10 minutes, like Paul, Paul Rothrock was bringing the energy. It felt like Seattle, Seattle's offense in this game didn't really generate very good, meaningful chances. But I thought the sequences of play like they felt and looked
00:23:37
Speaker
dangerous like it wasn't as teeth pulling the bad as it was like earlier in the season but it just never really manifested in like really truly clean looks and then LAFC
00:23:52
Speaker
before Seattle could bring one back. LAFC got their third. In the 74th minute, 54-year-old Kaikomara, who's still playing in MLS for LAFC, he threads Bwonga through, and Bwonga did what
LAFC's Third Goal Analysis
00:24:07
Speaker
he does. He is an evil, demonic,
00:24:10
Speaker
goal scoring force of nature spawned from the depths of hell and He did basically what he does to every team in the league when he gets out when he gets out and running like that It's just it's over like I'm wide open on the flank and I was like I had to turn and you know He actually had another chance like that later in the game and fry stuffed him. That was Yeah, like that's I mean
00:24:33
Speaker
That's like one out of a hundred times he gets in that situation that you're able to like, I mean, it's just ridiculous. But, you know, Seattle is pushing really hard to try and get a goal at that point. And when you get caught out like that, you have a player like the Bwonga, who's the best player in the league in transition. I mean,
00:24:52
Speaker
That's why those concessions, that's part of why they're so debilitating is that you're going to have to kind of leave yourself exposed like that as you try to chase that goal that gets you back in the game. And then in this situation, that allowed Bwango to get that look and he's just not going to miss that all that often.
00:25:11
Speaker
I wanted to talk about this Paul Rothrock penalty shout.
Missed Opportunities and Referee Decisions
00:25:14
Speaker
This was a big topic of discourse and I think I see it a little differently than a lot of people do. There's a lot of slam dunk screenshots going around of the LAFC defender making contact with Paul Rothrock.
00:25:26
Speaker
in the box, and it was actually a play where Seattle had two penalty shouts back to back. Jordan Morris is making a run into the box. He goes down, but if you watch the replay of the challenge on Jordan, the guy 100% got the ball first, so no Pique shout there at all. The one on Rothrock, the ball fell towards Rothrock, and he ran onto it, and the defender did make contact with him
00:25:49
Speaker
The box but not only did he not get the penalty kick call he got simmed the ref gave him a yellow card for simulation and They they looked at it, but no no PK. I mean they look at every close call like that
00:26:06
Speaker
But like no PK was awarded people were pissed about it They thought that should have been a spot kick and I'll just try and explain this like for my theory of how the ref was calling that because I mean you can disagree with it, but I think it does like
00:26:22
Speaker
He responded to Jeremiah's pool reporter question after the game and I what he said made sense to me which is that and like I don't know if this is officially in the rules, but if you have a play like that where a Defender makes a challenge on an attacker and they make contact but the referee Like uses his discretion to deem that the contact was not such that the player had to go down like he wasn't knocked down then
00:26:52
Speaker
I think they can use their discretion in that situation and be like, look, yeah, he might have technically made a little bit of contact with you, but you could have easily stayed up and instead you dove, so therefore that's simulation and not a penalty. I don't know if that's what the rule technically is, but I'm actually, I always try and look at these things like if it happened to Seattle in reverse, like would I feel the same way about the call?
00:27:18
Speaker
And I get annoyed when I see penalties get awarded where there's very, very minimal, insignificant contact made. And the guy, you know that the guy does not have to fall down off it. You see what I'm saying? And I think in this situation, if the guy made contact with Rothrock, he, I mean, he dove. He dove. And I think the simulation was probably
00:27:43
Speaker
fair so i don't know like i said i don't know if there's anything like laws of the game wise with that but i'm talking more in principle i can see why i got called like that what do you think i mean i i it's hard to agree with you because you're right but
00:27:59
Speaker
I also think that that gets called nine times out of ten. I think that the hard part to understand is like, wow, the referee may be correct in his assessment of the situation and even going to the monitor and reviewing it and agreeing with his own, uh, his own discretion. If Boanga goes down like that in the box, I'm going to be honest. I bet you that referee gives him that penalty. And that's not to say that it's, that's not to say that, you know,
00:28:24
Speaker
that's wrong or right that's just to say that like players with more pedigree and status they some of them just know how to flop I mean we talked about how Obed learned his dark magic from Nikko I mean Nikko won a ton of those penalties and
00:28:42
Speaker
I don't know. I still think like it probably should. It could go either way. I think that's the tough part about it. It really is a 50-50 where it's the rest discretion, but I think that's a tough one to get a no-call down 3-0.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I do see both sides of it. You know, if you disagree with my analysis of that, feel free to flame me. I do like I definitely think that it could have been called. But when I watch that replay, I really like if I'm honestly looking at it without the rave going green glasses on, I don't really I cannot really say that that contact that contact that was made with Rothrock was such that he needed to like go down in the way that he did. I'm just not I'm not sure about that.
00:29:25
Speaker
I'll flying kick you in the knee and then we'll see how you feel about it. And then you can tell me if it's a penalty or not. Okay. We're really calling that a flying kick. I mean, I feel like he got tapped. I don't know. I'm defending our boy. That's fine. That's fine. And I fully, I fully acknowledged with that take that I, that I could be wrong about that. I don't know. I'll look at the replay again. That was just my initial reaction to it. And like, honestly, more than that, just like trying to understand like what the ref was looking at and what he saw.
00:29:55
Speaker
That's my best guess is that he saw that contact and did not deem it sufficient contact to where Rothrock had to go down for it to be a foul. And to be fair, he did wave off a penalty shout kind of of the same. Now that I'm remembering it, I can't remember who got fouled in the box for LAFC, but he waved them up on kind of a similar play where the player dove as well.
00:30:20
Speaker
you know i think i think i do see it how you see it i agree with you it's just a tough one to to see and like rothrock also tried to go down another time in the box and got waved up and that one really frustrated me because he had a pretty good look on attack and i felt like the sounders that's like their their their mentality that they get when their their heads get down their body language gets down and that hasn't been something that i've seen from rothrock so it kind of bothered me a
00:30:45
Speaker
Well, so there was a point in this game where it felt like the game plan became like we're going to Like send the ball into the box and then when it gets cleared out We're gonna put our hands up and try to get a handball. There was that one play I think it was Aaron long that looked like it that was closer to a penalty for me than the Rothrock play But like I don't know it felt like a little too much like trying to be PK merchants, you know
00:31:10
Speaker
But yeah, and then I did think there was a couple sequences outside of that PK shout where Paul our boy Paul was trying to he was trying to draw fouls and the ref wasn't giving in to him and I don't know it felt like there was like a dynamic there where the ref felt like he was making a meal at the contact and it happened like two or three times so anyway
00:31:33
Speaker
That was pretty much a wrap from there. Seattle did have a bunch of chances at the very end. Rui Diaz came on, and it's honestly insane that they didn't score at least once. Rui Diaz, he had another one get saved. He's a-bearing out there right now, getting really... So did Moose.
00:31:49
Speaker
Moose had one saved. There was like a couple cleared off the line, and Rothrock almost had a goal, but he got- That was a nice save too. Yeah, that was a really good save by Hugo Loury. Laurie's just so good there. He was like going- He was going nutty mode. At the end right there, that's as like in the zone as a goalkeeper can be. He was like having the time of his life out there just swatting away all those chances.
00:32:15
Speaker
Wouldn't have mattered anyway, though. It would have been the difference between 3-1 and 3-0. But I mean, it is just very unfortunate that Seattle got shut out in this game, especially with all the hype around it. Schmetz was talking it up. We need everyone out here. The team had been playing so well lately. Like I said, chance to make a statement. And then you go out there, not only concede a bunch of dumb goals, but you get shut out yourself. Unfortunate. Seattle takes the L. They fall to 10-8-7 going into this league's cup break.
00:32:44
Speaker
and a definite downturn in vibes. The vibes have been flying high around here with six dub pods in a row, the squad making a run in open cup, getting back above the playoff line, putting themselves right in the postseason mix.
Post-game Reflection and Future Strategies
00:32:57
Speaker
But a loss like this, it brings up...
00:33:00
Speaker
a lot of questions and talking points that we had been talking about earlier in the season when this team was struggling. So we're going to get into those right now. Speaking of which, good segue. I'm going to rapid fire these takeaways and then we're going to debate a couple of topics that I have written down here. I mean, my first takeaway
00:33:18
Speaker
LAFC owns Seattle right now. I'm sad to report. And I report that as someone who we recorded a full podcast absolutely reveling in their CONCACAF Champions League final defeat, which I don't regret and would do again. But the reality is, ever since the 2019 Western Conference Championship, which Seattle famously beat LAFC on the road to punch their ticket to MLS Cup, which they ended up winning famously, the greatest result in club history, I think, one of the greatest performances in club history,
00:33:47
Speaker
Pretty much ever since then, this has been pretty one-sided. I think Seattle has maybe beat LAFC like a couple times in that stretch, but pretty much every time Seattle plays LAFC, whether it's in Seattle or, I mean, when Seattle goes to BMO Stadium at this point, I just don't even like, I don't even let the possibility into my mind that they're going to get even one point.
00:34:12
Speaker
And then when LAFC comes here, it's like I expect them to take a result too, whether it's a draw or a win. So as much as the Timbers owning that rivalry had become a talking point in recent years, this rivalry that we were talking about, this kind of secondary rivalry with LAFC, they have the upper hand on that. I mean, that's just a fact.
00:34:35
Speaker
Something I was thinking about with this game is just the comparison between what their DPs and their different makers did compared to what Seattle's DPs and difference makers did. Their DPs and their difference makers. Bwanga, two goals. Bogus, a really good goal, a huge goal in a game-changing moment. That's a result game-altering play that Bogus made with that volley. Hugo Loris, we were just talking about it. Bunch of crazy saves. Clean sheet.
00:35:03
Speaker
That's the output and the performances that LAFC got from their DPs and their difference makers. Seattle's DPs, their difference makers. De La Vega, no goals, no assists. Looked lost. Albert Rusnak, as well as he's, we've been the,
00:35:21
Speaker
Biggest purveyors of the Rusnak hype train. We've been dunking on all his haters because of how well he's been playing. He has been the most statistically productive 10 in the league over the last like probably six to eight games, maybe even a little longer than that. He had been blazing hot. One of the hottest players in the league, even if you don't agree that he was the hottest.
00:35:40
Speaker
No goals, no assists in this game. Did not get close to rolling like he had been rolling lately. Jordan Morris, totally off the score sheet like we were talking about. He just never really got rolling. The one-two punch never got rolling. They had been so good about getting him in on those runs behind.
00:35:59
Speaker
just could not get that going in this game. Ruby Diaz the other DP is still super subbing doesn't get a goal coming off the bench game was pretty much chalked by the time he came in anyway but the point is like
00:36:14
Speaker
like when i look at just the pure footy in this game i really didn't think the level was all that different the difference was that their difference makers their dps their big money guys they stepped up and they made those plays in those game changing moments and that is sort of i think it just illustrates
00:36:35
Speaker
the kind of gap between where Seattle is at right now and where these elite upper tier clubs are that have these players that they have multiple of these players who can make those plays in those moments. And they do so consistently and they do it when the lights are bright. And it does not appear that Seattle has that right now. Ruth Snag and Morris, they had been cooking.
00:37:02
Speaker
But this was a scenario where this is where you need them even more. And it's not just on them. The entire team didn't come through. But it's indicative of the gap between this team and the elite teams in this league right now. And LAFC, they have
00:37:25
Speaker
the leading goal scorer in the history of the French national team, like one of the best strikers of this generation coming to their team. They're adding to it. They're adding to it. It makes me think about the piece that Jeremiah wrote on Sound Red Hard where he was saying this team can't afford to sit out the upcoming transfer window. And based on how Seattle had kind of improved, I wasn't sure like,
00:37:50
Speaker
About that take as much like I thought maybe they could get to a place where Like a big blockbuster type audition wasn't as necessary but like just looking looking at these two rosters and The contrast in how their difference makers performed in this game versus Seattle's it was a stark comparison
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, I was shocked because I knew that the gap was big, but I didn't think it was this big. This was a real bringing it back to earth moment. Reality check. Reality check. And I think another big issue when you have your budget stars working well together, don't tinker with it. I think that was a big issue here.
00:38:34
Speaker
Morris and Rusnak have been playing well in the system that they are used to, in the specific system that they have been playing the last, you know, five weeks. Why would you change that? Why would you change that? Yeah, yeah, I agree. Like I understand like wanting to make this a De La Vega showcase.
00:38:55
Speaker
but just looking at how it turned out probably shouldn't have done that until he's got more run like it's kind of unrealistic to expect him to slide in there in a game like this and the attacks just gonna be humming like everyone's gonna gel together just off of training in the few minutes that he has played
00:39:13
Speaker
Think they should have just kept running with what had been working like even though It's a much better team than you've played at all like in these recent games Like you've made you may as well just kind of try and keep riding that hot hand, right? Yeah, I think about how long it took roast snack to heat up and get settled in his position Same with Morris at the nine that was
00:39:33
Speaker
weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks of chemistry building and mixing and matching people around them to find what works and it's like that has to be your first choice lineup if that is who is winning the game and I just felt like they put the cart before the horse on this one and I understand you know the need it's not even a want to showcase De La Vega it's the need to make him hit and get minutes because
00:40:02
Speaker
We have to have more players than what we have to compete with the LAFC, but it just was way too early. And that sucks. Yeah. Unfortunate how it all panned out. Dad insult to injury here. Brad Smith bammed an absolute galazzo for the Houston Dynamo. You know, I saw that highlight and I was just like, OK, all right. Yeah, pilot on.
00:40:24
Speaker
Pilot on why don't you but like in all seriousness we have talked about this a lot, but I don't think enough Like for all the new who debate or whatever whatever you think of new who and you know Like I've been I've been a defender at different junctures Like this team has really missed the Jovan Jones Brad Smith style of left back. I really think like
00:40:46
Speaker
You know, everyone was touting the Brad Smith trade at the time because they did get a bag for him. And Brad Smith, admittedly, is not like a super great defensive player. He's a very, very like attack minded fullback, right? Yeah. But this team has really missed that element of really good and productive wide defenders who can provide a two way presence. Alex rolled on at one point
00:41:13
Speaker
was a very consistently effective and productive attacking fullback for this team. But that has not really been the case as much this year. We all know that New Who is a pretty much zero in that capacity. All his value is derived from what he brings on defense. And it just felt like this offense could really use that variable, right? And Brad Smith, he really did provide that. Like he was,
00:41:39
Speaker
He was a really good him and Jovan Jones both. They played that position to a great effect. They got a lot of assists. Brad Smith member. He had that run where he was scoring a bunch of goals. So I don't know. It's kind of like an irrelevant tangent. But I saw that goal and it got me thinking about that again because it was just like this team hasn't had that in a while. And I really think like that should be a roster priority, man. Get like a dynamic.
00:42:04
Speaker
wide defender like that who can get forward, put in good service, contribute on the stat sheet, like rack up assists, like get the strikers this service. Like neither fullback position is providing that right now. And I think that's one of several factors that have kneecapped this offense at times.
00:42:23
Speaker
yeah I mean I think specifically for this game that would have helped so much I mean I saw you know they left they let new who make as many runs as possible if you watch teams have really they upped they let him do whatever he wants because they understand that he is a non threat going forward I mean
00:42:41
Speaker
Honestly, I think he's gotten a little bit better in the past like 10 games, but that like going on his game going from the worst to Slightly not the worst is not a big improvement and yeah It's not his game and that's an issue when you have a team that is so hardened defensively like LA FC in the way that they shifted to pack the center of the field you have to be able to draw some of that pressure and
00:43:08
Speaker
out of the center of the field, open up the pitch so that you can play in Albert Rosinac, so that you can play in Jordan Morris, so that you can play in Pedro de la Vega and like not having to worry about that left back or that right back.
00:43:21
Speaker
That's an issue. That's a problem that that is genuinely like handicapping your team in a way. So I I just I I miss him. I miss him so much. Sorry. I miss him so much. It was such a sick goal. Just the angle he hit it from like oh my God.
00:43:40
Speaker
All right, let's get into our agenda check this week. I have four written down, one of which I believe, or a couple of which we talked about last week. So we're going to do a status update there. And then two new ones. And then the last one I've written down, we're going to do a little debate off of that. All right, first one is the Roostnack Morris best one-two punch in MLS one that I laid the groundwork for last week. All right, to be fair, I tried to couch it as heavily as I could. It was more of an agenda.
00:44:10
Speaker
like laying the groundwork and the agenda could take shape in the future if they keep up their current form I you can go back and listen to it I acknowledged that the sample size was such it was too small to actually call this like an agenda that had very many legs but
00:44:27
Speaker
with the way that they had been producing, the numbers that they had been putting up, should they be able to sustain that pace and maybe put on another very dynamic performance in this game against LAFC, the lofty agenda might have had some legs. But unfortunately, I mean, it's diminished in this game. Neither one of them really got rolling. The whole offense never really got rolling till the end. And if anything, there's just going to be more questions about
00:44:56
Speaker
whether that hot streak that they had, how much stock you put in that, and how much was them just kind of beaten up on bad teams, which is what we're going to talk about in a second.
00:45:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean they got demoralized this game. I mean it wasn't even close they looked Jordan Morris was invisible until basically the end of the game Albert got his this this literally I I Screamed in the stadium when this happened Albert was standing there. Just like slowly dribbling and got his pocket picked. Oh, yeah
00:45:26
Speaker
strung a counter attack and then just stood there. And I was like screaming. I was like, I felt like I was my coach, my youth coach back in the day where it was like, you'd get your pocket picked and you just like threw your hands up and walked away. I mean, they got demoralized. So I still think that they have the potential to build something around them that can be successful. And the stats are real and they are manifesting in a lot of goals and assists. But like you said,
00:45:56
Speaker
This agenda hinges on them keeping up that streak. And if you play teams like LFC, apparently that's just not going to happen. So this agenda took a pretty big hit. Yeah, it was like barely boiling. And now it's the Christian right back agenda, which I had came out in full support of in our last show.
00:46:17
Speaker
I think I think it got diminished man. I really I know you were saying it was all new who's fault I know everyone's gonna say that and like trust me man. I'm not I'm really I'm really not I'm not trying to absolve new who from any responsibility on that play but if if
00:46:33
Speaker
If that sequence is defended better on the overload, watch the go watch the sequence again and tell me if I'm wrong. Like the angle that got taken by the right back Christian in this case there, that's like kind of what started the whole thing. That's what started the whole thing. And it's really like I don't really even blame Christian for it because he's not played this position that much. But I think we probably got a little caught up in like, OK, you can plug this guy in anywhere and he's going to excel and he's going to play it at a high level.
00:47:00
Speaker
And I do think that's true to an extent, but I think here you kind of saw what happens when you're playing a player out of position, in a position that he hasn't played that much. And that was in part what they paid for on that sequence. And it wasn't just him, it wasn't just Yymar, it wasn't just JP, it wasn't just Nuhu. I think that whole group that I just named bear certain degrees of culpability on the sequence, and Nuhu does bear the brunt of the blame for the swan dive.
00:47:28
Speaker
But I do think I do think I want to acknowledge that this agenda is slightly diminished even if I still think that It's probably the best way to get him on the field and I have faith in his ability to learn the position and adapt and not kind of have individual errors like that, but like After that sequence, I think it is diminished slightly. What do you think?
00:47:53
Speaker
I think that that was the one defensive action that he really messed up on and I really think that the rest of the game I I don't I don't think that he performed poorly in in accordance with the rest of the players on the field I mean, I don't think he holds a flame to how well that Yemar played I think he Probably if I was gonna pick a man in the match, I'd pick Yemar Maybe I'm wrong, but that's that would be my pick but I mean Brodon had
00:48:19
Speaker
He won eight duels, he went seven for nine on ground duels, and I mean he didn't do well on aerial duels, but you know, one for three. Eight recoveries, six defensive actions, and he was only dribbled past once, which was like that play.
00:48:34
Speaker
I just I still think that he Is pretty damn good at that position and while the whole team itself didn't cover itself in glory I don't think he was the reason that they lost this game in any means and so no I would say I would say maybe slightly diminished, but I still think I still think it's a pretty strong agenda Yeah, I think that exactly That's a good way of putting it
00:48:59
Speaker
The Pedro de la Vega is the savior for the offense agenda. Let's talk about this one. This is one that we, I mean, we've, we've talked about this sentiment a lot, but not in terms of an actual agenda. And I think, you know, it is one. Um, and I haven't marked down as, as diminished, but not dead. And you know, these, these are subjects to change. Like if he starts bawling out and racking up huge numbers and the offense looks like super dynamic with him as one of the centerpieces, like this agenda could always skyrocket.
00:49:29
Speaker
It just it did not feel like he was on the same page as everyone else in attack really at all It did not look especially close to me. He had one Like early on in the game He was doing some fun stuff and he had the one shot from distance that didn't miss by like all that much where I was like, whoa Okay, that was kind of sick but just in terms of the chemistry and the cohesion with everyone else in attack the way that he functioned with Rusnak and Morris and
00:49:59
Speaker
it just it did not come off in this game and I think it kind of underscored a reality that this is going to be more of a process than we would all probably like to get him acclimated and to get him on the same page with everyone else in the attack because it did not they did not look like
00:50:20
Speaker
they were on the same page to me in this game at all. And that's sort of, I think, where our questions about the lineup selection come in because of just how disjointed that it looked for most of the time that he was on the field. Yeah, I feel like they did a disservice by starting him in this match. I understand that you also want to show him that you have full confidence in him to build it back. So it's like a catch-22 in a way, right? You need to build his confidence back and show him that
00:50:48
Speaker
you he is still that number 10 on the back of his shirt that you gave him like he is a centerpiece to this team but also understanding that like he's not ready to go and play if he can't play 90 minutes he probably shouldn't be starting against la fc or at least like 60 yeah it's like he may have been able to go 60 and i do want to like say he was working hard i don't think that what he was doing was effective necessarily but i don't think he was
00:51:17
Speaker
not working or not trying or not like giving it a hundred percent like i really do i mean he he fought hard when he was on the ball i just think that his movement and generally his positioning was more of a detriment than it was a positive to the offense
00:51:36
Speaker
i don't think that's necessarily fully his fault i just don't think that he's ready to be fully integrated into this offense but you have to get in minutes so it's like again it's a catch 22 it sucks but he's not just this drop him in and he's gonna save the entire offense exactly and that's unfortunate because i don't know that's kind of what i was hoping he would be even though i knew that was
00:51:58
Speaker
not necessarily the likeliest outcome. It was an outcome that felt possible and it just doesn't appear to be the case when you take into account the injuries and just like the fact that he hasn't played with these guys that much yet. But I'm happy to be patient. I mean genuinely.
00:52:13
Speaker
you can see you can see what his potential is it just sucks like i mean i'm not good at being patient we're gonna we're gonna keep tabs on this agenda and like i think what i'm gonna start doing with de la vega is we're gonna do like minute benchmarks where we check in you know let's see like when he hits 500 minutes what's it looking like where we at when he hits a thousand minutes what's it like where we at and as the sample size gets bigger and bigger i think we're gonna have we're gonna start to be able to formulate
00:52:37
Speaker
a true idea, like more conclusions as to what type of impact he can make and is ultimately gonna make. But the larger that sample size gets, the more pressure is gonna be on this for him, like he needs to be producing for this team to get anywhere close to being able to reach the goals that they have. So we're definitely gonna keep tracking it. All right, last agenda. And then we're gonna spend a little bit of time on this one. We're gonna debate it.
00:53:05
Speaker
I called this one, it's the Bradley Wright Phillips Honorary Seattle Sounders are fraudulent agenda. Bradley Wright Phillips, he was one of the foremost national pundits that I saw on MLS season pass who before this game and in the last couple weeks, he said multiple times when the Sounders were brought up that I'm not sold on anything they're doing yet. They've been really inconsistent all season. And then even when they started winning games, he was saying,
00:53:34
Speaker
It's fraudulent. They're capitalizing on a soft part of their schedule. Look at the teams that they've played. Look at the teams that they've beat. This doesn't really mean all that much. Talk to me when you beat some real competition. We addressed his take with his status as part of the national pundit class.
00:53:55
Speaker
And I acknowledge that he had a fair point there, but I also pointed out that you can only play who's in front of you and that good teams take care of business against inferior competition. So I wasn't knocking Seattle for that as much as he was. But in terms of this agenda,
00:54:16
Speaker
I mean, it's strengthened, okay? There's no doubt about it that it's strengthened because not only did you have a scenario where you were playing against one of the best teams in the league and you could prove that this agenda was false, but you got boat raced. It looked like they were in a completely different class than you.
00:54:37
Speaker
on your home
00:54:52
Speaker
Seattle is now oh five and five zero wins Five losses five draws against like the upper tier opponents. I forget exactly how it was measured It might have been like top three or top four, but basically against the good teams. They're oh five and five That's I just learned that last night. That's worse than I thought and that frankly
00:55:14
Speaker
proves pretty much proves this agenda until proven otherwise. Like I don't know how else to interpret that stat, which, like I said, like I was not aware that the splits were that drastic. I figured that they were pretty drastic. But until this team proves that agenda wrong, BWP might have been right.
00:55:38
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I owe you an apology, BWP. I really wasn't familiar with your game. You know, the W and Bradley Wright Phillips does actually stand for Wright, apparently. But man, it's always hard to accept a fraud watch claim against a club that we cover. It doesn't feel so good to be on this side of it. You know, BWP coming out with a Seattle Sounders fraud watch claim was tough. But I hate to say it. He cooked.
00:56:07
Speaker
He cooked, he cooked, he cooked. And you know, we cannot shy away from these allegations now. The Sounders, they've got some proving to do. And I think that he was correct and I was incredibly wrong. But I think in our defense, we both couched it saying this game will define the Sounders more than the last six had.
00:56:27
Speaker
Yeah. And like like I said earlier at the top of the show, like it's one thing to lose this game, but to like not really compete to shoot yourself in the foot multiple times within the first half hour. Get played off your home field. Like I said, belong is backflipping on your turf. They're basically clowning on you. It was the manner of the result as much as the result itself. Yeah. And
00:56:57
Speaker
And with that with that record in mind, combined with how this game went, the the fraud, the Seattle Sounders are on there on fraud watch and basically, basically,
00:57:13
Speaker
they are fraudulent until proven proven otherwise. That's kind of how I see it right now. And you know, that's not that's not being reactionary off one result. That's really just what I think a stat like that record against the top teams indicates, especially when you look at your hottest run of form, and it was all against teams that are below the playoff line, you know, it's just
00:57:36
Speaker
Have to call it how we see it. Yeah, and I don't think that that's saying that the sounders are bad I just don't think that that's saying that the sounders are top tier or that they're elites or that they're they're like that like they're good not great Yeah, it's as Penn State's James Franklin would say they are good
00:57:50
Speaker
Not great. Yeah, it's not about like good or bad It's more about the gap between them and the true contenders and I had an idea for a thought exercise Actually that I was thinking about addition for this episode, but didn't end up doing it But I think maybe we'll do it on the next one But I was gonna I was gonna make tears right and like, you know have them go from elites like trophy shield contender to
00:58:16
Speaker
competitive but not great all the way down to like mid to actively bad to you should probably disband your club. Yeah relegated. Yeah. And so I think we'll go I'll go through and do that at some point but like the point of that would be to sort of like peg where Seattle is like assess the gap between them and the elite trophy contenders and maybe like talk a little bit about what it'll take to get back there because that's what this team is you know used to being
00:58:46
Speaker
And I think it's just becoming increasingly clear that that's not where they are right now. All right, let's dive into questions. Noah, thank you to everyone as always who submitted. We really appreciate you getting the discourse flowing. Sorry that we can't get to every single one. I mean, my tweet got like 50 plus responses this week, but we're gonna hit a few right here and always appreciate everyone blowing up my mentions with your takes. All right, Noah, what do we got?
00:59:13
Speaker
Friends, thank you all for the responses. We're going to start out here with a tweet that blew up. Honestly, Nat Lang asks, how bad of a look is it for new who that an 18 year old RBW had a cooler head on his shoulders in a big game and had to rain in new who on the field. We got an immature new who when we needed a veteran presence the most. And it's just with the picture of RBW pointing to his forehead while new who is flaming out.
00:59:39
Speaker
That picture is hilarious. It's iconic. It's my cover photo right now. It's like, it was changed the Kevin. I did. Yeah. I mean, okay. It did. I know I'm going to take heat for that, but it had literally been like over a decade. Yeah. And, uh, the Parson Maine screenshot, it had a good run. Um, but I just, uh, I saw that picture and it just really,
01:00:00
Speaker
This really sized everything up, I thought. Like you said, like RBW being the one to go up to Newhoo and be like, bro, like, what are you thinking? Like, he's saying, like, use your head, right? That's like what he's getting at right there. So, honestly, I look at that photo as probably the only positive to come out of this game because it is hilarious. Like, when you factor in, like, the pose he's doing and the players involved, like, amazing photo or screenshot, whatever it is.
01:00:29
Speaker
Connor Close asks, agenda check. Can Rusnak play as effective 10 against a top tier team in MLS? I may be wrong, but it feels like his assists recently are coming entirely from transition moments and set pieces. In and around the box tonight, it felt like he was a liability for Chance creation.
01:00:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean this was definitely one of his less effective games of the season, especially considering the circumstances and how hot he had been lately. I guess we'll have to see in the games throughout the rest of the season how much he's able to bring that previous level that he'd shown the last few weeks against upper tier competition.
01:01:08
Speaker
I've talked about this a lot but I mean I've been watching this guy play in MLS for years and I never thought of him during his real salt lake days as necessarily a guy who brought it more or less based on who they were playing like I still think I still think he's a really good arguably DP caliber player that we're still we're still kind of getting
01:01:28
Speaker
A feel on what's gonna happen with that But he I mean he's got 11 assists this year and a lot of them are primary assists transition moments and set pieces I mean that's where he should be getting I think most of his assists I mean I see what you're saying about around the box The whole the whole team and like the attackers in particular not being clinical enough not being effective enough, but I guess overall
01:01:52
Speaker
That question is sort of, it's a very valid question and it's something that we're going to get to see answered down the stretch run of the season. And it could be determinative towards like whether he is brought back as a DP and a centerpiece on this roster again.
01:02:08
Speaker
Because for as much praise as we rightfully have heaped on him, it is just one run of form, and it does need to be sustained and built upon, repeated, to truly be considered what he is as a player on this team, I guess.
01:02:28
Speaker
Yeah and I think that the way that LAFC were playing defensively, I mean they were looking for the counter attack basically the entire game. Two counter attacking teams playing each other or a team that has been playing very well on the counter like the Sounders have but have also been well in possession.
01:02:45
Speaker
That's kind of hard. That takes away half of their game, right? Like it was a tough scene. I also think they did well to defend Rusnak. Like I think you do have to give it to LFC a little bit. They are a talented defensive team and they played a really good scheme against the Sounders. They had a good game plan. Like I think Steve C kind of cooked. I we clown on Steve C a little bit. And I was saying that how bad they got boat race by the crew a couple of weeks ago, maybe poured some cold water on his USMNT candidacy.
01:03:15
Speaker
but I think that's a good point like their their game plan coming in as the road team and sort of how their tactics and how they matched up with Seattle and then also how they executed it was lights out and I think you do have to credit stevie see for that unfortunately yeah
01:03:30
Speaker
Like I'm not to not to like keep beating on the point and I'm not a master tactician by any means But they packed in the middle of the field and they were so heavy Transitionally on defense that it made it almost impossible for Morris to get the ball It was this okay. Look for a pass look for a pass I mean the amount of times the ball was going back and forth and the inside of the 18-yard box and there just wasn't a clear shot I mean, that's that's a tough defensive task and I really do think that LA Did a great job
01:04:00
Speaker
to like basically hold them scoreless. And you really only saw them kind of fumble and fold towards the end of the end of the game. Skillijo asks, Raoul at the nine agenda started up.
01:04:13
Speaker
He has looked way more dangerous against a team who doesn't press. Does he start in the open cup? Question mark. He I it's it's kind of tough to gauge right now because I agree. He has looked more dangerous coming like in his substitute apparent appearances recently. And like part of that is because he's actually getting looks closer to goal from inside the box. But he's snake. But he's not scoring. He's not scoring. But like.
01:04:42
Speaker
a couple of these shots that he's hit like you really like I know it only matters if it goes in but there's been at least two of these that I can think of off the top of my head where you really you cannot hit it like all that much better he's just gotten sometimes the goalkeeper just just gets you
01:05:00
Speaker
and that's it seems like just kind of nothing's falling his way right now it's the a bear effect the ghost of a bear is alive and well on this team it afflicts whoever the backup nine is whether it's moose whether it's raul it might just be a curse i don't know but either way like it's kind of a weird balance between being encouraged by uh
01:05:22
Speaker
the improvement in the runs he's making and the positions he's getting in with the fact that he's not like he hasn't been finishing. He hasn't been, he hasn't scored a goal at any of these appearances, even though he has gotten really close. I mean, the one he, that Laura saved on him last night, it's just like, I mean, I feel bad for him. Like he hit that perfectly.
01:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he just played the two best goalkeepers, well, depending, but two of the best goalkeepers in the league against Louris and Berkey. So it's like, yeah, there's not much better you can do. And Martin Poss as well, we played. I'm going to be honest, he shouldn't start.
01:05:58
Speaker
There's no way like he is. He has been doing very well in his super sub role. And I think that that's a great role for him. I'm happy that he's getting looks. One of them will convert eventually, probably maybe unless the A-Bear curse is alive and well. And at that point, it's time to sage the locker room, folks. It's time to do an exorcism because A-Bear is actually doing well in China. So it's you know, I don't know what's going on, but
01:06:27
Speaker
Soundaboy asks, 3-0 at home is always depressing, but I'm more afraid of further evidence that this team cannot consistently compete with top dogs. A lot of good players, but need more great players. Hopefully, hopeful for PDLV and maybe speck... Dude, I don't even know how to pronounce his name. RE, can you help me? Speakich? Yeah, Speakich. But I fear that it's not enough at this level.
01:06:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean we hit on that a little bit already, but it's a very fair question and it's a very fair concern. Like there's so much of it hinges.
01:07:06
Speaker
on De La Vega, right? And I think there really was a lot to be encouraged by how they had been playing offensively the last few weeks, whatever you think of the competition. Anytime you have your number nine and your number 10 playing with that much cohesion and chemistry and execution and confidence and the finishing looks that good, that is a good start. And it's a lot to build on. But I mean, like I was saying, man,
01:07:33
Speaker
in this game it got really underscored how you have one team who has dps and difference makers who step up and produce in those moments and you have the other team where they didn't in this game and frankly like haven't been enough in this in these scenarios this year so um
01:07:56
Speaker
Think like the the situation is that this is going to be the narrative that hovers around them until they prove it wrong That's like there's nothing that we can say that's gonna like change anything the only thing that's going to change that concern and that talking point is if they have a couple more of these big games against better opponents and They play up to the moment and they win a couple of these games. That's that's how you dispel this until then It's gonna keep getting talked about especially based on how that game went
01:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, this is a team that could maybe win the U.S. Open Cup with this roster, but I don't see them winning. I don't see them winning MLS Cup unless they make some signings. I mean, genuinely like it is not enough with what's on the roster. And we've been talking about that for two seasons now. And it is it is.
01:08:45
Speaker
it is an issue if they don't sign anybody at this transfer window which we're gonna get into uh after questions uh but you can't hinge your entire game plan on one signing that is just irresponsible you need to be looking towards the future uh and i just think that with this aging roster and with what's coming up especially with the club world cup this summer you have to make some
01:09:11
Speaker
hard and drastic decisions. And I know we just talked about Raoul at the nine, but I gotta be, I mean, I'll ask you, I guess like, I think you have to buy him out. I don't, I don't think that there is a way in which this team can get any better if you don't buy him out, even if that comes at the consequence of, you know, putting you in a, in a sketchy financial situation.
01:09:37
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think it's a fair point. Um, I just think it's kind of a question of like what they should do and what they will do. And I personally, if I had to predict it, I don't think they're going to buy them out. I don't think they, I don't think they want to take that hit. And, uh, I think they are in a situation where
01:09:58
Speaker
It seems like they have a ceiling and they're like kneecapped from being able to make the additions they need to like break through and like reach another level. And they're in danger of like kind of staying in purgatory, right?
01:10:15
Speaker
yeah it's pretty pretty tough to watch i'm not gonna lie because it just feels like we're chained to something that isn't that we that we don't have to be but that's how it's been going ending it off here with our final question from Kenneth Wade pretty easy to summarize
01:10:32
Speaker
Good as the Sounders have been, there is still a gulf and high end talent between them and good teams in the league. It doesn't feel like LAFC even played that well, but Bwonga and Bogus banned their chances, Larisse makes a couple of saves, and that's the game.
01:10:46
Speaker
Yeah. Well put, man. I mean, Bwonga and Bogus, like they've been look, look at what they've been doing for LAFC all season. Like what they did in this game, that's like what they do. Most games, you know, they had the, they had the kind of anomaly where they got cooked on by the crew. But generally week in and week out, this is a team that that gets that elite production.
01:11:12
Speaker
from those spots and like even even loris like the fact that loris and jayru are both going to be on this team and jayru jayru's on his way he's not even here yet and they're going to get even better like pwanga and jayru that's insane in the short term that gap is
01:11:31
Speaker
Only gonna get bigger when I mean, what do you think Jerus gonna do an MLS like I mean, yeah I mean even if he doesn't perform particularly well if he can win them a couple more games, that's like that's it. It doesn't matter You're just adding more and more and more top-end talent when the Sounders are adding
01:11:49
Speaker
John Bell, who's great and has been playing well, but like, okay. Dude, Paul Rothrock needs some help, Ari. Paul Rothrock, I posted our podcast, our first ever podcast, which was Paul Rothrock needs some help and the XG debate. And here we are in episode 53, still talking about how Paul Rothrock should be starting. Exactly. Thank you all for your questions. We really appreciate it. Keep BAM and Ari in his mentions and we will get to your question eventually.
01:12:18
Speaker
Yeah, thank you to everyone who submitted. All right, let's hit these news items real quick before we do winners and losers and then get out of here and sound good now. Let's do it. The first news item that we had written down here is apparently this beakage transfer completely fell through. Noah, did you have any more details on that or what happened?
01:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, if you wanna go ahead and read more about it, you can go to sounderatheart.com. Which you should subscribe to, sounderatheart.com slash Alex. There you go, yep. But basically, the transfer on the team's ends was agreed upon. The transfer fee was fine, but the problem was his salary demands could not fit into what the sounders were able to pay for the salary cap. So the transfer is off.
01:13:04
Speaker
um and there just wasn't enough like wiggle room to to meet speakage's compensation needs and um yeah there's there's this has happened before but um it's
01:13:18
Speaker
It's a tough thing to see and hear and feel because I haven't heard any other rumors. It was exciting to have a rumor. I don't know, with the acknowledgement that I know absolutely nothing about this guy other than what I've read on the surface level and watched a little bit on YouTube.
01:13:39
Speaker
i don't really know if i saw this as like a hugely needle moving edition it would have been fun and you know maybe it could have helped a lot and boosted the level but i mean there's just there's just kind of levels to this man like
01:13:54
Speaker
We're talking about Speak It, you know, AFC's talking about J.Rue, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not saying that you have to necessarily, like, make a play for an older, like, legend, like, a Zlatan or Gareth Bale or, like, type signing, like that.
01:14:10
Speaker
but I mean just look at uh look at some of the names that have come in the league in recent years like even just like looking at the galaxy for example like they ended up getting ricky pooch that's a that's a like that's a pretty big significant needle moving signing and then like like would speakage have been on the tier of joey paints or gabriel peck
01:14:30
Speaker
Maybe, maybe, but I don't, I don't know if I saw anything to that effect. I could be wrong about that. Like maybe he is that good. But I guess what I'm saying is like, uh, it feels like this team needs like a big, big swing. And I don't really know based on what I saw as speakage was, it was exactly that.
01:14:52
Speaker
I think he was an upgrade to Chu. I think that's realistically what they were looking at him as and you know then maybe being able to move Leo Chu. I think they just they should have moved Leo Chu before they I think they should move him this transfer window to open up more space regardless of what happens but it seems very clear and and in the Sounder and Heart article they talk about it that the Sounders are looking to bolster their wide attacking options. That's something that they want
01:15:19
Speaker
Uh, and I, I don't think speakage is going to be your superstar DP signing that, you know, is going to fill up the stadium or anything. But if he's a piece that ends up building you some momentum for a non DP slot.
01:15:36
Speaker
Like that's not a bad idea, but it feels like we're money balling Ari. I don't know. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. I don't want to turn into the Philadelphia union. Like we need to make, we need to make decisions. You have to buy out Raul. You have to move. You have to move people who are not playing well on this team. You have to open up space if you want to compete. And I just feel like they're not willing to make the tough decision.
01:15:58
Speaker
It does feel like moneyballing. Let's talk about League's Cup real quick because that's getting started. This was the last game before League's Cup really kicks off. Seattle's grouped with Minnesota United and club Nick Aksa of League of MX.
01:16:16
Speaker
Neither one of those teams are especially good. Minnesota United has really torpedoed in recent weeks, and NACACSA has their 13th on the Liga MX table. So Seattle should be able to hang in that group.
01:16:38
Speaker
So a lot of people are down on League's Cup. They don't care about it. I gave my take on that on the solo pod a couple weeks ago. Like, you know, I admit that I'm a sicko, but I do think I think there is honestly merit and value to getting MLS clubs run against League of MX competition.
01:16:54
Speaker
I witnessed firsthand how that elevated Seattle's level when they took this tournament really seriously. They got in a ton of reps against League MX competition. They made it all the way to the final where they played against a League MX team. I'm telling you guys, I really saw the effect that it had on their level going into Champions League the next year.
01:17:17
Speaker
And I really believe that is part of the reason why they won because they had gotten so many reps and played in pretty high stakes games, played in a final against League MX teams, got a feel for what those games are like, how they needed to execute in those games. And it made them better and it helped them win Champions League. And just in general for me, like I like seeing MLS teams play against these teams because I think the level is higher.
01:17:44
Speaker
the games are really competitive they're usually pretty lively and energetic they're back and forth it's like entertaining and at the end of the day like when you play better competition that is how you get better like it's as simple as that so I'm looking forward to it from that standpoint even if you know even if I get the cynicism around it like
01:18:02
Speaker
especially when you take into account the context of like The league trying to like get MLS clubs out of open cup and stuff like that and it feels like feels cynical It feels like a money grab, you know I don't know how much more of a money grab it is than anything else in a capitalist society But that's kind of a deeper conversation for another day I'm gonna I'm going to be watching the tournament, but that's just me
01:18:27
Speaker
Yeah. I have to watch all of it. Yeah. I mean, we're gonna, we're gonna watch it. We'll lay down pods. I enjoyed watching it last year. I enjoyed watching it the year the Sounders made their run to the final. And I think that it is something to be excited about. I also think that it's completely fine to not care about it. And I think that's the beauty of it. I think that it sucks that it's coming at the collateral of the open cup, but at the end of the day, you know, can I say something controversial? Oh yeah. Dish it.
01:18:52
Speaker
I actually kind of loved that there were way more usl teams making deeper runs in the open cup this year just simply because there were not as many mls teams to play I think that it's Also, there's like a give and a take to that right, but it was fun to see it's fun to see indie 11 in You know could potentially be hosting a final that would be so sick like that would be so sick and like I don't know if that happens if there's every MLS cup every MLS team in there um
01:19:22
Speaker
I don't know it's It sucks, but it also is fun And I think that if you want to care about it care about it if you don't it doesn't matter I think the sanders were probably most likely rather be playing league matches right now But who cares man go for the go for the trophy try and win it if you can win leagues cup and open cup I feel like that's a pretty successful season I mean if they did manage to win both that would be that would be huge although I
01:19:48
Speaker
My confidence level that they have any chance at all at beating LAFC in the Open Cup is pretty diminished right now. It's dwindling, yeah. It's dwindled after witnessing what we witnessed last night. We had one more news item here regarding US Open Cup hosting rights. Noah, what's going on with that?
01:20:04
Speaker
Yes. So the, the sounders have a chance to host as long as they beat LAFC and sporting Kansas city beats indie 11. So either if the cylinders go on to beat LA and indie wins, it will be at indie 11, which would be so sick to have a final there.
01:20:22
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of a win-win, honestly. You're either hosting or Indie11 is hosting, which would be... That would be incredible. I'll be there. I'll be going to that. We'll go to that one, yeah. For sure. We'll pod live post USSC. At the Indie11 stadium, absolutely. But, I mean, big task to beat LAFC, add Starfire.
01:20:42
Speaker
which should be an electric game. It's going to be like a Bwango on that little ass field. That's going to be lit, dude.
Player Potential and Match Day Outcomes
01:20:48
Speaker
I just listen. He's going to bam. He's going to bam unless Andy T goes God mode. God, I'm just I'm just so sick of that guy. I know. All right. Let's hit winners and losers real quick. And then that'll be a wrap for episode 53.
Rocky Mountain Cup Victory
01:21:05
Speaker
winners for match day 28 in MLS first one I got the Colorado rapids they beat Rial Salt Lake who are kind of reeling low-key without Chico 3-2 to win the Rocky Mountain Cup which is there it's like kind of their version of the it's their rivalry trophy like kind of like the Cascadia Cup or the Heritage Cup which no one really outside of those two teams cares about it but I will say I saw a video that the rapids tweeted of Chris Armas parading that trophy around did you see that
01:21:32
Speaker
He was jacked and the fans were going fucking nuts. Yeah, like it really looked like It made me kind of happy for the rapids fans because they were down bad last year and a lot of people a lot of rapids fans are Like low-key way more devoted to that club then a lot of people probably realized Yeah, and so for them to get just like a bit like a pump-up moment like that where and then I think it kind of showed to me that Chris Armas is he's just sort of vibing and
01:21:59
Speaker
He's loving life right now. I think he's kind of relishing the fact that Everyone clowned on his hiring and clowned on the rapids going into the year predicted that he's probably screenshot at all the predictions that had them in 14 They've been good this year. They like Georgie Mahilovich was a great sign exact Stefan not so much but like the roster makeover they did it seemed like it really worked and
01:22:22
Speaker
I mean, they've been fourth in the West for the last few weeks. They're very much like, they're in possession of a top four spot right now. Things are pretty good in Rapids-Rentland, and that's a big dub for them this week.
LA Galaxy vs. Timbies Recap
01:22:36
Speaker
Next one I got, LA Galaxy. Okay, this goes to what's sort of become the theme of this show, but they beat the Timbies 3-2, Ricky Poosh,
01:22:44
Speaker
Gabriel Peck and Joey paints all scored. I mean those are there that's another example of a team that has those those DPS those weapons those difference makers performing at an elite level and you see the difference it makes their points per game are up with their up there contending for the shield and the galaxy for whatever flaws they may have in defense in
01:23:09
Speaker
That attack, man, I'm telling you, it's a buzzsaw and you saw it again in this game.
Houston's Win Over Vancouver
01:23:16
Speaker
And then my last winner, I got the Houston Dynamo in Brad Smith. Did you see the highlights of this Vancouver game? I did, yeah. This was one of the most insane games of the season, honestly. It was MLS coded as hell. Yeah, it was. So what happened was Houston was up to zero at Vancouver.
01:23:33
Speaker
We conceded three times in a row, fell behind 3-2, Brad Smith scored a banger to tie it, and then Houston scored the winner to win 4-3. So just like a crazy back and forth game where the lead swapped a bunch of times, just really fun and entertaining game, Brad Smith scored a banger, and Benny O and company get a really big dub over Whitecap's team that, once again,
01:23:58
Speaker
They're just like perennially one-player way type stuff. Based on how they've built around Ryan Gold and Brian White, which, God, now that I just say that, I have not mentioned them once when I'm comparing in the one-two punches. That could be the best one. At least if you're measuring it just in terms of raw output. But it's like outside of that,
01:24:25
Speaker
doesn't seem like they have a lot going on. And they just got bammed on by Brad Smith in Houston. But yeah, big dub for Benio.
Sounders' Competitiveness Concerns
01:24:35
Speaker
All right. Losers, Seattle Sounders had a chance to make a statement and flopped. I mean, to get both like that at home against like in these circumstances, again, against LAFC, that's, that's not good. Like you needed, you could lose the game. Honestly, you could take a negative result.
FC Cincinnati's Injury Struggles
01:24:52
Speaker
But like you needed a better performance than that to kind of show and give confidence Both internally and externally that you are up for competition like this and they just did not do that at all Yeah, I mean we cooked on that FC Cincinnati they're just in freefall right now so many injuries bammed on 3-1 by the Red Bulls who the Red Bulls are low-key like
01:25:19
Speaker
really good. I was thinking about the tears and like whether I would put them in elite or just like very good and I've leaned more towards very good but they're like closer to that upper tier in the east than I think a lot of people probably realize the pundits don't give them all that much attention but FC Cincinnati more to the point with all the injuries that they have right now I mean they're just taking really bad results they lost to the Chicago fire they were not all that competitive against the Red Bulls
01:25:46
Speaker
their shield hopes are definitely on the ropes and it's not necessarily like uh their fault in the sense that a lot of it's to do with just you can only withstand so many injuries uh so many absences but I think it's looking like we're gonna have a new shield winner this year at least as it stands right now and then Nashville SC bammed on 3-0 uh for a second game in a row this time by the Philly Union who um are they
Nashville SC's Form Decline
01:26:14
Speaker
back
01:26:14
Speaker
They're kind of back. They've won by a combined score of eight to one the last two weeks. Gosdog scored a hat trick in this game. They have Kevin Sullivan, like, debuting. So the vibes in Philly are... I've turned around a little bit, but it's just crazy how Nashville went from this, like, ascendant, consistent playoff team built around an MVP winner and perennial candidate.
01:26:41
Speaker
in Haney Muttar to they've been I mean, they're one of the worst teams in the league right now top All right, that's all I had for winners and losers So I think with that we can get out of here for episode of 53 Thank you all so much as always for tuning in we really appreciate each and every single one of you who listens every single
Conclusion and Farewell
01:27:01
Speaker
week and
01:27:01
Speaker
Like comment subscribe rate five stars right with the ghost of a bear share with a bear Subscribe to the YouTube subscribe to the all the social medias sub to sounder at heart sounder at card comm slash LS That'll do it for this one. We'll catch you next time until then we out peace