Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Sounders-San Diego FC Breakdown & Inter Miami’s Historic Choke!
1k Plays2 days ago
We check in after Seattle’s surprising 1-1 draw at Sporting KC and discuss if we should be worried about the offense or chalk this one up as an outlier amid an otherwise strong start. Then it's time to preview Seattle's upcoming showdown with San Diego FC at Lumen Field this Saturday. We'll see if we can figure out why SDFC have regressed from last year’s historic expansion form, and why Anders Dreyer still makes them dangerous. Later on, we'll dive into some league-wide results reaction from Matchday 11, including the fallout from Inter Miami blowing a 3-0 lead to Orlando City, which many are calling one of the biggest chokes/greatest comebacks in MLS history. Are they in freefall in South Florida, or can Lionel Messi & Co. right the ship?
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
SPONSORS
☕️ Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff is presented by QED Coffee a Seattle based roaster, coffee shop and coffee subscription service. Visit them in person at one of the three Seattle locations or online and use code ‘LS74’ for 25% off across the site: https://www.lobbingscorchers.com/coffee
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2026 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:00:22
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Hosts Introduction and Discussion Points
00:00:44
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. I'm Ari, that's Nico, and we're going to be hanging out here this morning talking some Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer. We'll be breaking down this 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City. In match day 11, we're going to be previewing the upcoming matchup at Lumen Field against San Diego FC at Lumen Field in match day 12 on Saturday. And we're going jumping around the league a little bit. ah Some big stuff going around going on in Major League Soccer, particularly with a one Inter-Miami CF who are officially on downfall watch after their epic collapse against Orlando City SC. ah
00:01:25
Speaker
Nico, what's up, man? Thanks for tapping in. How are you doing here this morning? What's going on, Ari? yeah We are feeling good, man. Rejuvenated, recharged over the weekend. We got to see some fun MLS games. We're prepartting prepping up for CCC semifinals, the second leg. Those are going to be fun. getting Starting to feel a little bit of that...
00:01:50
Speaker
World Cup feel, you know, the preliminary rosters are going to be
Sponsor Message from QED Coffee
00:01:56
Speaker
out here soon. So, yeah, man, the soccer vibe in the Pacific Northwest is definitely out there.
00:02:02
Speaker
Without further ado, let's get into it. Before we do get into it, I do have to let you all know, as always, that Lobbing Scorchers kickoff is now presented by QED Coffee, our new title sponsor and our favorite Seattle-based roaster, coffee shop, and coffee subscription service. Visit them in person at one of their three Seattle locations in West Seattle, Three Tree Point Burien and Mount Baker Ridge. Tell them that Lobbing Scorchers sent you. Or online, use the code LS74 for 25% off across the site on anything site-wide. So you can get little mug like I have here, 25% off code LS74. Or the best way you can support this show and Lobbing Scorchers as a whole, get your QED Coffee subscription, 25% off for all new subs right now. That is the number one best way you can support Lobbing Scorchers kickoff. If you like this show, you want us to keep putting out this content, go subscribe to QED Coffee. All right, Nico.
Seattle Sounders vs. Sporting KC: Match Reflection
00:02:54
Speaker
Let's get into it, man. And let's start with this latest result at Sporting KC. I think everyone's still feeling a little pissed off about what transpired at Children's Mercy Park. A 1-1 draw. We haven't caught up about this really at all yet, Nico. So interested to see what you thought of this game.
00:03:12
Speaker
Paul Rothrock obviously gets the goal in the second minute, puts Seattle ahead before Sporting KC even touched the ball. We're all feeling pretty good at that point. It's the literal worst team in the league. Score on them two minutes into the game. And then we all saw what happened from there. Obviously bad giveaway. Day on Jovolic. You give it to him right in front of goal, he has the equalizer, and you're unable to get the game winner, and the end result is a pretty frustrating. Anytime you draw the worst team in the league, it doesn't really matter if it's at home or on the road, no one's going to feel particularly good
00:03:47
Speaker
about that. So I do think there's a couple of ways to look at it. ah The start of the season so far, I think has gone pretty well, all things considered. It's fair to say the team's still six, one and two. So that's a good record. They're averaging 2.2 points per game. That's an elite points per game, but you are coming off a game that they drew that you really feel like they should have won, not just because of how poor the opposition is, but how the game actually went. I mean, i'm gonna pull up the head head stats here in a second, just to see what we think of them.
00:04:14
Speaker
But I do think it's also fair to say that this was a game ah where one team drastically outplayed the other and you had to draw anyway. So, I mean, is that cope or are you taking any positivity from that? Nico, what' you think of this situation?
00:04:29
Speaker
No, I don't think cope is the word, but I do believe that there has to be a bit of rationale and a little bit of calmness when it comes to this sort of result, because on one hand, you don't want this to just be dismissed as, you know, it happens, you drop points, you had some uncharacteristic mistakes, but then you don't want to hammer down on
00:05:03
Speaker
that the drop points and on some of those mistakes. So it's a, it's a balance for me. I think it's all about understanding the epsom flows of the season, right? So be even before this game, as the team played well, it was almost as if you're waiting for the team to have one of those performances where you don't play particularly well, you drop some points, or you do play particularly well
Sounders' Defensive Critique and Missed Opportunities
00:05:33
Speaker
and you drop some points. Because you've had a mix of both to start of the season. Results have all been there, but there has been times where maybe the Sounders haven't played as well, but they stole some points. They've been able to do some smash and grabs. and They play really well and earn some points. So you kind of saw it coming. When I saw this game on the calendar, I had a feeling that this was going to be the game where the Sounders drop points. And
00:05:59
Speaker
I don't want to call it again, code, but it is just something that it is almost inimitable for a team ah to not go through a season without falling short in one of those games where everyone is expecting you to win. i mean, go look at, you know, MLS specifically, right? I mean, it's such a parody league that this sort of things are are going to happen. Now, the Sounders need to learn from this sort of game and understand that you cannot give a team life in the fashion that they did because you score within two minutes.
00:06:37
Speaker
it's ah It's a good play, direct play from Alex Roldan into Ferreira. Ferreira kind of flicks it. It deflects back into Paul Rothrock. Paul Rothrock puts the ball away. That's in the second minute.
00:06:49
Speaker
This team This Sounders squad needs to have the killer instinct to put that game away. Right. It has to be controlled. It has to be by design. You have to be able to overwhelm the competition, specifically when they are so much less talented than you are and they have issues of their own.
00:07:14
Speaker
So when right after Ferreira puts a ball into the crossbar in a pretty nice little triangulation pattern ah combination that they had on top of the box, and the next play after that, KC gets the ball onto your end. You're able to pick it up.
00:07:34
Speaker
And then trying to build that the back, you have a
00:07:40
Speaker
negligent moment from Christian Roldan because it's it's too... I don't want to call it lazy because that would be unfair, but it's just it's a little too comfortable for for him to not check his hip, for him not to look around. And again, very uncharacteristic. If there's anything that I know about Christian Roldan is that his soccer IQ is up here, that his field awareness is up here. And i um I mean, high as he can be. So that sort of thing doesn't happen. But once that mistake happens and you allow a killer like Jovlich to get the ball in that position and you put...
00:08:14
Speaker
the equalizer, then the win of the sales of the team clearly just were not there. And a couple of minutes after the Sounders have another moment where they once again get dispossessed in their own third. And there's another potential opportunity that Alex Rodan does very well into emergency defense and he gets the ball. But those are the,
00:08:41
Speaker
the types of situations that at one point or another, this team needs to get over because if you're an elite team and you do have this attitude and this philosophy that what makes you a contender in the West is that cohesiveness of your play and your defense, then you cannot give this sort of goal. So overall, I think that,
00:09:09
Speaker
the Sounders need to take into consideration that some of these sort of performances with irregularities and mistakes are going to happen, but you need to use those so they don't happen again. So moving forward, when you do face a team that you should be beating, you're putting them away early and you're controlling the ball with possession and you do a better job closing the game because you're when you look at the flow sheet of when a sporting kind of CD had moments, it's the mistake and maybe like six, seven minutes after that. And then is from the 77th to about the 88th minute where the,
00:09:54
Speaker
Sporting Kansas City, i think, sees that the Sounders are a little bit exhausted. Sporting Kansas City has been doing a lot of RoboDope. They're playing deep. They're not chasing the ball. The Sounders were the team that was trying to move it around, trying to get behind. And so you could see a little bit of this kind of fit it in. And transition moments happened for Sporting Kansas City and...
00:10:16
Speaker
Thankfully, Andrew Thomas was up to the challenge to come out big in several moments in those transition plays that Sporting Kansas City had. But those are the elements that the Sounders need to continue to fix. To do what Brian wanted to do and said he was going to do is we're going to look for what's the next level. We've been really good so far, but we need to reach the next level. The next level is consistency.
00:10:45
Speaker
being clinical in front of goal and not allowing teams to come back in this sort of fashion.
Unpredictability of MLS and Match Analysis
00:10:51
Speaker
Yeah, it is it is frustrating. We do all know that MLS mls is the type of league where you know you can go into a game thinking you have all the talent advantage in the world and thinking that you should win the game easily. And then you end up fighting for your absolute life against the likes of Jake Davis and Jaden Reed.
00:11:12
Speaker
That is just how it goes. But when you take a when you take a kind of negative result like that, I try i look at you know how the game actually played out performance-wise. I know some people don't think that that is...
00:11:28
Speaker
relevant noah and i have gone back and forth on that topic for years you know he'll tell you the the xd doesn't matter it what matters is if the ball went into the back of the net or not you know but like for me and i get that i think that is true at the end of the day but for me personally i think there is value in kind of assessing whether this is the type of the game where you outplayed the opposition and didn't get the result anyway Or did you play down to their level, right? Like, did were they going actually toe-to-toe with you based on things like game state and chance generation and all stuff like that? So it's just me. Personally, I do like to look at that, and especially in ah in a game like this. I think there's value in that. Not as it pertains to the result, but predictively, if we're trying to assess if this team, if there's things to be concerned about regarding the performance or if this was just a fluke one off outlier type of result, we're going to find that out in the coming weeks. But I try and predict that stuff. So, I mean, let's just let's just pull up the stats, Nico, because this was frustrating to look at. But I thought it was also pretty much what I expected. I mean, you got your head to head numbers. right here. And so let's just go through it. I'll tell you guys how I kind of look at these. You have a game where Seattle had a 63-36 possession advantage, which is, does does that doesn't necessarily mean anything in itself. You know, you can have possession without purpose and you see teams that are willing to yield the ball like that. So, you know, Minnesota United, just because you have a 60-40, that doesn't necessarily mean you were dominating. But then you look at the rest of these. Seattle took 27 shots in this game at nine on target.
00:13:03
Speaker
27 shots, nine on target. The fact that they took 27 shots, nine on target, and only ended up with one goal is kind of mind-boggling to me, especially when you consider everything else that we're looking at here. 633 total passes Sporting KC's 358. 90% accuracy on 633 passes.
00:13:22
Speaker
When you see 90% passing accuracy on 633 passes with 63% possession and 27 shots, that means it wasn't possession without purpose, really. That means that you were actually using that possession to generate danger and generate chances. And in this case, you end up with nine shots on target, 27 shots. So, I mean, those are good totals, but it is it's like almost more frustrating to look at that because you're like, how did they only end up with one goal? Especially when you go down the list of these chances we're talking about, man. The the one that Ferreira, Ferreira had two of them. He puts one off the post, and then he has one where Steph and Cleveland, this was the Steph and Cleveland legacy game, okay? He went God mode.
00:14:01
Speaker
That save he made on Ferreira was insane. You also had the one that Jordan Morris had where he got threaded through, where he was a wide open look on goal, and Steph Cleveland makes a kick save where he hits... barely gets any contact with the ball and barely saves it. That could have been a goal. ah there was There was more than that. There was the Christian header that was wide open at the back post. That could have been very easily another goal. So the point is, to the eye test, you don't even have to look at the XG to to tell that that from the eye test. But then, i mean, you if you actually, if you care, you know, I know some people don't care, but if you do care, the XG ended up at 2.9 per this measurement in this game.
00:14:40
Speaker
which if you see anything close to three, that usually that should mean that it is the type of game where the team generated a lot of good clean chances on goal. And I think the eye test kind of confirms the XG in this case. So I don't know, Nico, you could keep going down the list, but when I see 63% possession, 27 shots, nine shots on target, 90% passing accuracy on 633 passes, all leading up to three x g Call it cope, but I look at that and I see a game where Seattle was pretty much on top of this team the way that they needed to be. And they generated the chances they needed to to win the game.
00:15:20
Speaker
And they should have had more goals than they did. And they didn't. And they take a bad result. But just the only reason that i see value in looking at that, again, is just like predictively. Like if they play roughly like that against San Diego this weekend, if they put up anything close to those type of numbers, if they put up 27 shots and nine on target at home with pushing three XG, I would venture to guess it's a good bet that they're going to score multiple goals and they're going to put themselves in great position to win the game. And by the same token, if I looked at those numbers and, you know, it was even possession, Sporting KC was getting just as many shots. They put just as many shots on target.
00:16:00
Speaker
They racked up guys as good a passing numbers as Seattle. The XG was even. If I saw, if I pulled that up and I saw all that I would be looking at this game and I would be like, that's, that's not good. That's bad. That means you actually played to their level. That means they actually were going straight up with you. That means they were going toe to toe with you. And they're the literal worst team in the league. So you don't want that. That's not what happened. That's not what happened. People want to frame it like that's what happened. That's fine. I get it. It was a very frustrating way for that game to go and for it to end.
00:16:26
Speaker
But ah it's a long way of saying, Nico, like I think I'm um'm i'm past it. Past it. It's annoying. Shouldn't have happened. Should have been able to get more goals based on the chances that you generated, but you didn't. And you settle for the draw. And if you can just take care of business at home, I don't think anyone's going to really be talking about this anymore. But That's kind of where I'm at. Is that is that cope, Nico? Or do you think that those numbers that we just went over are a pretty fair representation of how the game state went, how the chance generation was going? What what do you think?
00:17:00
Speaker
Look, I think the numbers are... I'm not a stats guy. I i like to field the game a little bit differently. And i actually, even looking at those numbers, I don't think it was as dominant as we might think. i Because i lot of those...
00:17:20
Speaker
Numbers that you kind of
00:17:26
Speaker
of putting it out there, they're by design, right? it's important because the city...
00:17:33
Speaker
ah It looks like we have lost Nico. ah So hopefully I think his internet just went out there. So hopefully get him ah tapped in in a second. And I'll just ah I'll just keep monologuing until we get him ah back in there. But ah yeah, I mean, i don't know. What do you got? What do you guys think of the of the stats there, chat? What do you think?
00:17:55
Speaker
Leave your thoughts in. We got Nico back in. All right. You're back. Sorry about that. I was getting ready to to say something really cool, but they kind of killed it for me. A minute booted you, but you're back now. I think I got you.
00:18:07
Speaker
Yeah. So what I wanted to do was say that, although I'm not a stats guy, I think that there's some of those numbers that paint a picture that to me say,
00:18:21
Speaker
that it wasn't as dominant as performance Seattle wanted. and And let me explain why. There are numbers on the Sporting Kansas City side, like possession and XG that,
00:18:35
Speaker
are by design. I've mentioned this going into this game. This Sporting City team wants to play against the run of play. They're going to play a little deeper or a lot deeper. They're going to concede possession because they don't have anybody. They're really going to run the tempo of the game. But what they want to do with that very little possession is creating chances. And I think that's where they did their job. And i I was unimpressed or disappointed with the Sounders press and their active defending. And I think that they allowed Sporting Kansas City to do what they wanted to do, which is create certain moments. If they if Sporting Kansas City would have had less chances, because look, they had seven shots on target to Seattle's nine, right? I mean, with that little bit of possession and that limited amount of ah shots,
00:19:26
Speaker
that says that they're doing their job. I think that the Sounders should have done better and not allowing those moments to happen. So because they do have a high standard, a high bar for what I expect the Seattle team to do, I would say that Maybe it wasn't evenly matched and the Sounders were the better team, but it wasn't a dominant performance from Seattle. It wasn't a dominant performance on the scoreline and it wasn't dominant performance by you completely putting the opposition on a quarter and not allowing them to get out of there. um I do think that there are positives, though, out of those numbers. I think that...
Sounders' Tactical and Offensive Insights
00:20:04
Speaker
When it comes to chance creation and creativity and volume of play, Jesus Ferreira was the epicenter of everything happening right for the Sounders, whether it was with the couple of good pressing moments that Sounders had and him creating some turnovers. I thought he said pieces were on point. You mentioned that Christian Roldan, far post, you know, wide open that he doesn't put away. There's another one that I think...
00:20:31
Speaker
Christian Wolden could have done better on the same type of far post corner. I think that Kalani Kosariensi was getting into prime assist positions, but maybe he wasn't as effective and maybe wasn't able to put the ball where he wanted it as many times as he did. But I like the the width that Kalani was providing. we We talked to Kalani over the week. And if you haven't seen and and checked out that interview, it's on Lob and Scorchers, really interesting.
00:21:04
Speaker
Really think you guys should watch it. It's it's phenomenal. He says some really cool stuff. And one of those things is when he plays with Jordan Morris, you know, there is a little bit more of Jordan being the wider player and Kalani having to use those inside channels. But I think in this one, trying to get more numbers in the in the box in the 18, which if you look at the shot,
00:21:26
Speaker
map, the Sounders had a lot of shots inside the at attend inside the box. And I think that's a positive. if You're crashing the box, you're you're being dangerous, you're put in you're using your offensive movements adequately. So all those things, when it comes to that XG, rather than just look at those chances, I think that when I i perceive what they wanted to do I thought they did it effectively. i think that Jordan Morris was more of a second forward a lot of times instead of being the widest player to that right at times. Because you're supposed to be that pocket winger, right? You're supposed to be the guy that comes inside more often. But Kalani was telling us that with Jordan...
00:22:03
Speaker
he tends to gravitate more outside, which is opposite of when Ferreira plays that position, where he's often more central. So, you know, in all those concepts and principles, I would focus more on what the Sounders did right on offense.
00:22:17
Speaker
But defensively, I thought that they allowed way too many chances for a sporting Kansas City team that is not that talented. And Calvin Harris came in off the bench, and I thought that he created some really good moments. I think that Manu Garcia was seeing the field pretty well, and he put some through balls that really cut that those lines of the Sounders usually have pretty tight. i think that it's very easy to turn off when you have, what was it, 69% perception?
00:22:47
Speaker
63 sometimes you can turn off you're so on the ball it was 80 20 it was literally 80 20 for the first 20 minutes of the game it was 80 20 they didn't even touch the ball before seattle scored so when that ball turns and they do have possession sometimes you do get a little comfortable because you've had the position so long but those are the moments where seattle needs to be better that that's the next level that's what they need to do so although i would agree with you just to conclude that the Sounders were the better team and that there's a lot of things to like.
00:23:18
Speaker
and and I'll say it real quickly. I thought that Jesus Ferreira was the man of the match. I thought that, um, Snyder Bernal had a really, really good game. I thought that Kalani played well. I thought that new for the majority of the game, he had some boo-boo moments. He had some, some, some lapses in his play. Uh, and so does Christian Roldan, of course. Uh, but I thought Andrew Thomas was also very good when his number was called getting himself big, cutting off the angles. Uh, The corner kicks, he needs to be a little bit more careful on. I don't like to see him fly like Superman and just completely miss the ball because he's done that in a couple of games. So I think that he needs to kind of really tighten that up because those are going to lead to bad moments. But overall, I thought the team was very good, but not to their standard. And whether it is that they – I'm not going to say they played down to Sporting Kansas City, but I think that they were –
00:24:15
Speaker
Aspects of this game that Brian Smetzer tried so hard to get right, right? Let's have the intensity at certain level. Let's make sure that we're sharp in the final third. All those things that he really focused on, they didn't really show.
00:24:31
Speaker
And I have to put it on the players when it comes to execution. So as a team, they need to do better. Turn the page, sure.
00:24:41
Speaker
Don't let this be... A defining moment of your season because it's not going to be, right? But but you do got to learn from these moments. And that that's all I want to get around is that I don't think it was as dominant and I'm not as happy about that performance as, I don't know, maybe some are.
00:25:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, no, I'm definitely not happy about what transpired. And look, I fully recognize that any time that you drop points against the literal number one worst team in the league, I mean, this is a historically bad team.
00:25:16
Speaker
any anything Anytime that that happens and you start pointing at the underlying numbers, that it it it comes across like Cope because it is Cope. But... ah Again, like for me, I would be much more concerned about it if I honestly felt like they got outplayed, outchance generated, anything by that team. And I definitely don't feel like that. that's kind of my other takeaway from ah this game, Nico, as we kind of push along the show here, is that to me, it's just kind of indicative of we're in the part of the season right now where it's grind mode, like kind of everybody's
League-wide Challenges and Sounders' Forward Concerns
00:25:54
Speaker
going through it. Look at what happened in this match day with a lot of the other teams that Seattle are competing with right now. And I think that is, that's important to look at because you can take a negative result in a given week, but at the end of the day, it's a relative game, man. It only really matters as it pertains to how you stack up against the other best teams in the league that you're competing against. And ah pretty much everybody went through similar stuff this week, man. I mean, you could go down the list. ah Vancouver, Vancouver,
00:26:22
Speaker
drew, uh, LAFC drew at San Diego, who, uh, Seattle are about to play. And San Jose also took a, uh, a one, one draw against, I can't remember who these teams were playing. I had it in my head, but, uh, like it was not against very good opposition. San Jose drew one, one at Toronto FC, you know, Seattle draws one, one at sporting Kansas city,
00:26:46
Speaker
ah But LAFC fighting for their absolute lives at San Diego. They were down 2-0 in that game against the San Diego team that we're going to talk about, but they're not very good. LAFC, they're balancing CONCACAF Champions Cup right now, so that's why their league form is suffering, but that doesn't really matter. That's why that's what they're going through right now. And then you had the Whitecaps at the Galaxy who are not a very good team either, and they were fighting for their lives, and they had to scrape out a 1-1 draw so everybody's grinding right now a lot of people took some results in this match day that they probably feel like they could have and should have done better seattle's in that exact same boat ah but the good news is if everyone else is going through it it doesn't make you unique or in a worse situation than anyone else you just got to power through it and then hope you come out on the other side of it with yeah with your record and your points per game still looking good and i guess
00:27:34
Speaker
You know, that is the that is the good news. This team is still averaging 2.22 points per game. That's an elite number through nine games. They have two games in hand on both LAFC and San Jose. They got a game in hand on the Whitecaps, which are the three teams that they're chasing right now. So I think the challenge as they look ahead to these home games here and starting with this game at San Diego.
00:27:55
Speaker
ah you've done They've done a lot of good work, hard work to get themselves to this point where they're nine games into their league season and they're still averaging 2.22 points per game. So the challenge now is to keep that points per game hovering in that two range, above that two range as long into the season as humanly possible. And if you're able to do that,
00:28:13
Speaker
You put yourself in as good a situation as you could hope for to get these home playoff games and stay in the mix for the supporter shield and all that good stuff. So while this result was unfortunate, all that stuff is still in front of this team for them to go out there and take. And frankly, if they go out there and they beat up on this San Diego team, who again,
00:28:32
Speaker
not that good you should be able to put make a good run at that at home then i think i think we'll probably all forget that this happened the only way that this lingers is if it starts kind of a uh downturn in form and you start dropping points at home you drop point you keep dropping points against the team like san diego who's coming into lumen field on saturday and if that happens and it starts to snowball then you know we'll have that conversation as it comes. But as it stands right now, I'm going wait to see what happens on this homestand, starting with this San Diego game, before I ever think about this Sporting KC game again. but um Yeah, okay or or or if some of the you know same lack of finishing continues to happen, or if, to me, one of the...
00:29:24
Speaker
one of the one of the elements from this starting 11 that still hasn't quite clicked continues to be that that number nine. And I know that Danny Mussovsky, if his job ah or, you know, Osase for that instance, if their job is just to occupy space and allow other attackers to be dangerous and Paul Rothrock to continue to be a far post merchant and and and be a guy that, you know,
00:29:51
Speaker
is leading the team in goals and it allows Ferreira to continue to play well, then that's fine. I just, I wish there were a little bit more dangerous. And I think that's where like Danny Musaski, I think he had one shot in this particular game. um And Jordan Morris as well. I thought that he could have been more dangerous, had a couple of,
00:30:13
Speaker
moments where the ball just kind of dragged behind him. He couldn't quite get it get it where he wanted. um He had an opportunity off of like a ah little chip pass that Jesus was just trying on. And I love those little, we call it like spoon fed, you know, just kind of push it up. And he tries like a little back heel, good resource, and and then tries to take a shot. But I want to see Jordan be more dangerous, get into more prime scoring positions. um So those two things, I think, that Seattle still needs to get better at. One thing to note was that Kalani did come out with some tightness or cramping.
00:30:50
Speaker
no I think it was cramping is what Brian called it. So hopefully he he's all right. He's putting a lot of minutes. I think that the heat I'm hearing was a little bit... Maybe you couldn't see it in the broadcast, but maybe there was a little bit of that that had to do with some of that cramping. So we'll see what happens there. that There is possibilities that maybe Alex goes back at that right back position. You bring Tina Lopez in. I've been wanting to see that as well. So at least there's a little bit of depth there. But I would say that the only reason I would be concerned about what happened in this game is if some of those
00:31:26
Speaker
mistakes continue to happen and some of the lack of sharpness continues to happen in the final third. Zach says no mention of the DP performances speaks volumes. He thinks we're trying to gloss over talking about how the DPs performed. I mean, let's let's talk about how the DPs performed then. Well, I just kind of mentioned some of that. You just mentioned some of that, but let's let's talk about Jordan more specifically. I mean, Albert Rusnak came off the bench in this game. He's coming back off of injury. It wasn't like a full... workload for him so i don't know how much value there is in talking about how he performed but uh jordan morris i think you know there is it's worth assessing his performance because he's just coming back from injury and you know a lot of this team's ceiling hinges on him performing at his top level But for me in this game in particular, ah you would have liked to see him get a more a few more looks on goal.
00:32:19
Speaker
He did get, he did have that one very good chance that it was disappointing that he didn't finish. You want him to finish that. It's a wide open shot on goal. I also think, i don't know, maybe this is just me. that's one where you tip your hat to the goalkeeper a little bit. Like Steph Cleveland, again, went God mode there.
00:32:36
Speaker
ah The shot is on target. It's going in and he gets barely his, the tip of his toe to it. So it is a really good save, but you know, it was, you do expect and want your DP striker to finish it. Like I agree with that. But when i think about,
00:32:52
Speaker
Jordan Morris's overall body of work since he's come back from this injury I'm pretty pleased with how it's looked so far uh he has a couple of assists I like some of the work he's been doing as a facilitator kind of playing in that wide role he did score a very nice goal against FC Dallas that helped them win that game so uh this was not his greatest game but uh overall too like when I look at these things I'm I'm A big part of how I think of it is how did the offense perform as a whole? So again, like they only scored one goal in this game, so that's disappointing. But when I look at a game where they put where they put up 27 shots, nine on target and three XG, to me, that's a pretty good day at the office chance generation wise for the whole attack. And this was just a case where they didn't finish it. Part of that was on Jordan, but it wasn't just on him. I mean, Christian, like you mentioned, had a couple of looks that, He didn't finish the Jesus ones are the ones that really not me. The one that went off the post would have been one of the sickest goals. The team has scored all season. That little one, two triangle sequence you were talking about. God, I love it when they play like that. That was awesome. It was a great chance. Great shot by Jesus.
00:33:57
Speaker
That to me, that's unlucky that that didn't go in. And then the the second Jesus chance that he put that he put top corner in Steph Cleveland again went God mode. So it's just like ah it's frustrating. But no, I mean, there's no doubt about it. The DPs are going to have to ah be, they're going to have to be contributing to goals that are actually scored more than the, more than the XG. But I didn't think this was like a horrendous performance from the attacker, the offense at all. Like I get it. They only scored one game goal against the worst team in the league, but the chances were there and you know,
00:34:33
Speaker
Jordan, it I guess you would like to see Jordan get a couple more looks like the one that Steph Cleveland saved on him, I i guess. That is something that your DP yeah striker you want to see. And again, let's forget the DP stuff. I mean, yes, i mean that that's what you want out of that. And you know i mean to to the comments you know point in this whole thing, Jordan Morris should not be that much less of a threat than paul Rothrock is. and And I think that Paul Rothrock has been so effective. He creates havoc. He's consistently just pushing on that side. He's getting goals. So Jordan Morris should be doing the same. and And I would agree that in this particular game, i wanted to see him be more aggressive. And i don't want to patronize Jordan Morris either. He's not a kid. has already had...
00:35:28
Speaker
i don't know, three or four or five games maybe since coming back from injury. So those, not excuses, but circumstances are no longer going to be taken it into consideration. So he does need to...
00:35:43
Speaker
create more he does need to look more threatening he does need to be more decisive and and that's the element of his game where i think it costs him a little bit when once he gets back from injury is that decisive enough so what you're gonna do i'm gonna put my head down i'm to beat this guy with my speed i'm gonna do a a quick faint i'm gonna find some space and i'm gonna take a shot uh you know those things i feel like that's where he struggles And he gets into two minds and that's when you have the ball kind of dragged behind him or he gets dispossessed or he dribbles with the ball and takes off his own angle or has to play negative. So those are the things that I want to see from Jordan because they do expect that. it I know he has it in his bag. So I'm not going to make excuses for Jordan because I know that he's better than this and I know he wants to be better than this. I'm
00:36:34
Speaker
Moving forward, we do need to see more from Jordan and whether we need to move him around and make sure that he's getting where he wants to be and get him going the right way. he He had a really good game just recently, so I don't want to put too much stock into this game. I'm just saying that there needs to be more consistency from Jordan Morris because he does create a lot when he's at his utmost influential moments.
00:37:00
Speaker
And the reality is that that there is a clog for starting minutes, right? Because, yes, Albert came in late in this game. you know he He's the one that sets up Ferreira for that shot that Stephen Cleveland, who, like you said, had a phenomenal game, saves.
00:37:20
Speaker
So I still think that he's a guy that I want to see consistently on on the the starting 11. So in that case, and this is the non-pop, the unpopular position of mine is that I think the only place to play him other than where he's at is up at the nine. So we'll see. Cause I know a lot of people like what Jordan's doing out wide and he has looked dangerous. He scored goals. He's assisted on that, that position. But I just feel like there's just too much talent and there's too many players that are
00:37:52
Speaker
that are not going to be bench players that you need to fit in those positions behind that nine. So it's going to be a thing where, you know, even Jordan Morris himself, if he's not performing the way you want him to perform, i mean, if you've got to bench him, then then you bench him. But you've got to give him more time to to prove himself. But he does need to be more consistent and be more dangerous. And I know he has it.
00:38:20
Speaker
I think Jordan will be fine. I think the offense will be fine, but you know, we'll see the, this, this whole conversation does remind me of the XG merchant debates of lobbing scorchers 2024. So hopefully that that's, that's not a recurring theme and we'll see if it is, it is, it could be a recurring theme, but this also is something that does happen in soccer. and does happen in MLS sometimes. So we're going to, we're going find out exactly what the outcome is in these games coming up here. Uh, Let's hit this super chat from James first super chat of the stream. And then talk some San Diego FC.
00:38:50
Speaker
ah James, thank you for the $2. Appreciate the support. As always, my guy says, we missed the attitude and drive of Nico and Raul. I mean, I, I agree, man. Like I've been, I've been saying for the last three or four years that, uh,
00:39:02
Speaker
this team could use some more bite and edge and swagger. And Nico and Raul were guys that provided that. I always even go back even further than that to Ozzie Alonzo. Like, have you ever replaced the bite and edge and energy and swagger that that he brings? You need a couple of guys with that type of disposition on your roster. And I think it's fair to say maybe like the the Seattle rosters, they're all great guys. They're nice guys. And that's awesome. But you need a couple Ozzie Alonzos on every team. And I think there are guys that have stepped into that role. I think Paul Rothrock is a big guy who has provided some of that. I honestly think Jesus provides a little bit of that. He at least maybe not the the disposition of Ozzy Alonzo, but the energy of a Nico Ladero, the pressing and the kind of constant work rate. Nico Ladero is the gold standard of all time at that, but I do think Jesus brings a lot of that. So, you know, you're you're starting to see guys fill in those roles. Christian has filled in a big leadership role for this team.
00:40:01
Speaker
But, yeah, like, is there enough meanness on the team? I've been on that agenda for years, James. But ah I think I like what I've seen in that area a little more kind of dating back to last year. I think guys are starting to step into that. But, no, I mean, I agree with you, Nico. You got any thoughts on that real quick?
00:40:18
Speaker
No, I you know have been saying for a long time that Pedro De La Vega might be the only game-breaker that you have, game-changer that you have in your roster. And Raul and Nico were that in every sense, not just with their skill set, with their ability to change the game on the field, but that attitude of...
00:40:39
Speaker
I'm just better than you. Like, I'm going to walk in and just be like, I'm going to take over this game because I'm better. Raul Riedias will come into the game not wondering if he was going to score, is how many he was going to score. And now, obviously, that wasn't always the case. But it is that mentality that I think James is referring to. Same thing with Nico. Nico was as respectful as they can, but when he came to...
00:41:02
Speaker
the moment you blew the whistle, you were nothing to him. I mean, you he was going to use everything he had against you. He was better. He was going to out-physical you. He was going to get in your head. He was just going to change the game completely. And I do think that there's aspects of Jesus' game that are molding him to be that.
00:41:21
Speaker
the the The longer he's here, the more he feels like he has this leadership and like ownership of the team. And, uh, although he might not be a guy that is going to say f you, I'm better than you. There is a little swag to him when you see him just push guys off and be like, get off. like Now he's not going to like try to fight you because he understands that he needs to stay composed, but he's going to be like mean get off my face. And he's done that quite often with this team, the pressing, uh, the more you get him on the ball with set pieces, the more you give him this role of responsibility, I think you can mold him to be more
Inter Miami: Leadership and Cultural Issues
00:42:00
Speaker
of that. Um,
00:42:03
Speaker
But I agree. You just don't have that one-two punch of two guys that were going to take over the game at any given moment. um And Paul Rothbard does have that attitude at least, right? And and he look, he performs. he He's a guy that you know you could say he's a game-breaker to the sense that you're always waiting to see when Paul Rothbard is going to break a line, break a tackle, get through pressure and score a goal or or assist on a goal. So he has some of that stuff. It's just...
00:42:33
Speaker
Maybe there isn't the the trajectory that makes it almost a no-brainer that a guy is going to take over a game. And that has a lot to do with the game. So I think Pedro, Jesus, and Paul are some of those guys that can give you a lot of those other things. But they definitely don't have that legendary status and that ability to just take over a game the way Raul and Nico did at one point.
00:43:02
Speaker
Nico, let's talk some San Diego FC and then enter Miami to close it out. I'm really excited to talk about that. But before we do that, everybody, 19 likes that we have seriously fallen off. If you're watching on YouTube right now and you haven't liked the video, come on, like the video. Also, sub to the channel. We're coming up on 3.3K as we get on the road to 4K here. So toss us a sub, turn on noties, but like video. What are we, 19? 19? What are we doing?
00:43:28
Speaker
nineteen what are we doing ah All right, Nico, San Diego FC coming up at Lumen Field on Saturday. Let's talk about him a little bit here because this is a team that this matchup last year, have been a matchup against the one of the best teams in the entire league, the number one seed in the Western Conference last year. They had the best expansion season any MLS club has ever had. and there was no like when st louis did that that was like a magic carpet ride everyone knew that uh regression was coming for them same thing when austin fc had a really good expansion year everyone was like all right that was not you're not actually that good and then lo and behold they turned out to not be that good but san diego last year was not fluky at all they weren't like they were genuinely one of if not the best team in the league for a lot of the year They were playing some really great high-energy, high-octane attacking soccer. They 4-0ed Seattle in San Diego. Remember that game at the beginning of last year? And everyone was like, wow, San Diego's really good, and Seattle might be terrible. Like, that was what it was like at that time. And so it was –
00:44:28
Speaker
there was Everything was real about that is the point. But i will I will say, looking back at my preseason predictions, I had this team pegged as a regression candidate. And I said my logic was kind of just, you know, based purely on vibes of the past couple expansion teams that we've seen kind of regress in their second year. And then if you looked at the Chucky Lozano situation, I thought that was bad vibes. They lost one of their best players. He's still not playing for them. Is he even playing pro soccer right now? Like, I don't think so. He's in soccer jail.
00:45:01
Speaker
Yeah, he's in soccer jail, so that didn't seem good. ah But then they started off the season really hot. They had a really good game against Toluca in CCC where they 3-0'd him in San Diego. They ended up losing that series, but that was almost a really impressive CCC run
San Diego FC: Defensive Struggles
00:45:15
Speaker
that they had. And just in general, I was like, oh, man, I guess they actually are still that good. But ever kind of ever since CCC, they have been kind of actively bad, Nico. like This team is in...
00:45:27
Speaker
12th place right now averaging 1.09 points per game. That's mediocre. They have 19 goals scored 19 goals conceded. So they're still scoring goals, but their defense is really not good. They've been shipping goals like no one's business lately. But they still do have Andrews Dreyer, who's one of the best players in the league. He had 19 goals, 19 assists by himself last year, MVP candidate, all that good stuff. So he can definitely get you at any time. Seattle's going to have to watch out for him in this game, assuming he plays. You know, I don't want to spend all this time talking about him like I did with Petra Musa and Logan Farrington and then neither of them play. But if Andrews Dreyer ends up playing, Seattle is going to have to deal with one of the best, most creative, dynamic, explosive
00:46:10
Speaker
players in the league with really good set pieces. So that's always a danger, but in general, you're getting another matchup against a team that's wounded. That's struggling. Nico, how are you sizing up this San Diego FC team?
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah, look, I think that San Diego FC might have been a victim of being too high in their own product. And as much as we gave Mikey Varis his flowers last season for creating an exciting team with clear principles, excellent concepts, the best position team in the league, um a squad that even with just two DPs was able to take the league by storm.
00:46:51
Speaker
But when that allows you to
00:46:57
Speaker
dismiss the impact that putting your DP and one that was very expensive at that in the freezer, like Chucky Lozano, and you don't do anything to move them. You don't replace them. And maybe you find yourself in this battle of like teaching him a lesson.
00:47:19
Speaker
You're doing your team a disservice, especially when in the off season, maybe you didn't do enough to create depth. Yeah. Look, I love Godoy. Godoy is a phenomenal player. He's a guy that sets the tempo.
00:47:33
Speaker
But he's he's a year older than last season. And then sometimes that's a lot for a guy his age. And I think you're seeing him lose a couple of steps and making him play 90 consistently and forcing him to cover all of the space is making you very gappy. As much as Dua has been...
00:47:55
Speaker
Named and rightfully so one of the best prospects in in MLS as a center back. He's still a prospect and he's still growing and he's made up quite a few mistakes this season. him yeah notice He's not a center back by trade. They moved him there. They took him number one in the super draft. He was more of a fullback or a winger. They moved him to center back and it was going awesomely.
00:48:17
Speaker
But at this year you're seeing like the perils of that. Yeah. Like he's, he's like a awesome physical talent and raw ability, but learning the nuances of CB, it's not, not everyone can Alex rolled on it, you know?
00:48:30
Speaker
Absolutely. So that that's part of it. When you don't have Chucky Lozano, you're forcing Bambino to get higher up the field and create more. And then you're opening yourself up to be countered on that side. So there's just so many things that, you know,
00:48:49
Speaker
I think that the front office has done poorly and that Mikey Vera thought, look, with with my ideology of the game, we're going to be okay. And they're realizing that's not it.
00:48:59
Speaker
They just don't have the prime product on the field to keep up with a lot of these teams, including you know the San Jose's and the LAFC's. And it's not just the top teams right that they're struggling with. So when I look at this team, I see a group that
00:49:18
Speaker
offensively, they can add a lot of numbers forward. They can disbalance you with those overlaps that, you know, when you allow Valakry to kind of pull the strings from this team and and be a guy with a lot of freedom and you don't press him closely and you allow him to get into the game, they can put you into some bad positions and they could really affect the game. But If you play them tight, if you don't allow those certain players, because they don't have a lot of them, to be disconnected from the game,
00:49:54
Speaker
They're very vulnerable. And defensively, i mean, it's open season for San Diego. I mean, I've yet to see a team this season that I've you know watched that had issues creating chances. Maybe they didn't put them away 3-2-4-0, but the chances were there. And so for me, looking at the way that Seattle has been, if anything, very good about playing into the gaps and using in-between line spaces to either triangulize those patterns, those passing moments, or or simply getting...
00:50:33
Speaker
them themselves behind the back line, I think that there's going to be plenty of chances for Seattle to score. ah And with how good they've been defensively, then you minimize the the dryers and you minimize the Pellegrinos, which, you know, I hate to put them in the same phrase as um dryer, but you know, he's the the other guy. And it um i got killed this name all the time. Oh,
00:51:03
Speaker
Vartsen? Inversen? Yeah, they're they're number seven. you He just finally got a couple of goals. And and he he's that he's a he's a pretty good player that you've been following this season maybe a little closer than I did last season. He was a DP that came in, that he maybe struggled a little bit first. But he could put the ball in the back of the net. He is very good on on the air. I think he finds himself...
00:51:26
Speaker
located in the right places in the 18. So I don't want to call him a poacher, but he's a guy that when you play him direct, I think he could affect the game pretty strongly So the Sounders are going to have to kind of figure that part out. But overall, man, this is a team that's very beatable, regardless of the players that they do have and and a very good head coach and that they're struggling because they don't have depth.
00:51:48
Speaker
And that depth has also led to some lack of cohesiveness on the field. The goalkeeping situation is... Odd, you know, Refri has been kind of the guy and then Siegna and then now Dos Santos is back. I mean, they've just been rotating there in the back with with the goalkeeping situation. So there's a lot of things that to me doesn't, they don't portray a team that is going to be consistent and that the Sounders can very easily beat.
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, they ah this is a team that can definitely score goals. It's not going to be an easy game for Seattle to keep a clean sheet, but they are they're one of those teams that's a little reliant on one guy at this point. So if you can ah take Andrew Dreyer out of it to whatever extent that's possible, ah you should have a great chance to win this game because this is a team that does concede a lot of goals. as well. Kenny coming in with the $1.99 donation to the Noah tattoo bet fund. Send super chats. Thank you for the support on that, Kenny. Yeah. You know, if you want Noah to get his tattoo, send in a super chat. Also like the video and a sub to QED coffee, lovin's quarters.com slash coffee. All right, Nico, this is, this is what I'm most excited about for this show here this morning. Let's jump around MLS, but really let's let's just talk about Inter-Miami and their downfall watch. Wade's got them on fraud watch, and I think that's accurate, but for me, downfall watch is kind of like the next step from fraud watch. Fraud watch is it's like, are you as like good as everyone says you are? like I don't know. That's kind of fraudulent. Downfall Watch is like, all right, this might all be coming apart at the seams. This whole operation is teetering on the brink. I think there's a few teams that are on Downfall Watch every year, but specifically right now to start the season, I mean, I think the Timbys are on Downfall Watch. A team like St. Louis in Philadelphia, they're on Downfall Watch. But those are less... Downfall Watch for a team that's bad, it has less juice for me. But when you have a team near the top of the table, especially this team in your Miami that is now on downfall watch, that's interesting. That has league-wide implications, Nico. And first of all, let's just let's just have a little fun with why they're officially on downfall watch, Nico. You want to talk about teams that took poor results against bad teams. Seattle did not have the worst result against the bad team in this match day.
00:54:15
Speaker
i will I will say that. Probably second worst. Poor result against a bad team. But InterMiami, they were playing Florida Derby, Orlando City SC at home, at New Stadium, their new state-of-the-art venue. Orlando City SC, if there is any team in the entire league that's worse than Sporting Kansas City, it's Orlando City.
00:54:34
Speaker
They're the one team that you could argue. I mean, you got, you got Philly in there. Atlanta has been pretty bad. Montreal is obviously in the discussion, but this Orlando team, they they've conceded more goals this year than sporting Kansas city. They've conceded 32 goals. You can see 32 goals. They're on pace to be historically bad and MLS defensive team. They're playing on the road, Darby match at Inter Miami, new stadium. Lionel Messi and all the boys were out there and Inter Miami goes up three zero. And at that point you're thinking, all right, like it is the worst team in the league, but this Inter Miami team, they're doing what they're supposed to do. ah They needed to get right game. They needed to win at home and they're getting it. So whatever, like I wasn't really thinking all that much of it. But at no point in my mind, Nico, did it even cross my mind and that they would blow the lead and then lose the game. But that's exactly what happened.
00:55:26
Speaker
Four unanswered goals for Orlando City on Inter-Miami at New Stadium. a horrendous L. People are calling it the... Worst choke, biggest comeback in MLS history. You know, i'm I'm not the one to say that, but that's what people are saying. And it really was just indicative of a team that is spiraling, that is teetering. Lionel Messi did his thing where he stormed off the field. He seems like he's not happy. And then on top of the poor results they've been taking lately, they still haven't won a game at home. They're also beefing with a reporter. I don't know if you guys have seen this. We haven't talked about this yet, but this is some good drama. They're they're be beefing with Franco Panizo, like very publicly, who... Franco, you know i would say it's it's fair to characterize him as a polarizing figure. His brand is he' like he's the guy who's going to tell it like it is, and I'm going ask the tough questions, and I'm going to cover this team critically when no one else will. So I appreciate that about him.
00:56:25
Speaker
But they're they're beefing with him. They're denying his credentials, which for me, if you're talking about denying credentials, it's got to be something really extreme. And best I can tell what started that beef, and you can correct me if there's anything more to it, but best I can tell... is they're they're really mad about the whole thing where he was ah he was basically implying that Rodrigo DePaul left the team to go party with his celebrity girlfriend who's like a pop star. And they were saying he was injured, but then there was photos on social media that showed that he was hanging out with his pop star girlfriend. And Franco was kind of tweeting like, hey, why is right why are they saying Rodrigo DePaul is injured when he's pictured partying with his girlfriend or whatever? InterMiami got so mad about that that they're denying Franco his credentials. He was like trying to get credentialed for this Orlando game, and they denied that too. So that's just another whole thing where it's like, that's not something that you engage in when things are going well on the field. Like if you're winning games and the vibes are good, you don't give a shit about what Franco Penizo is tweeting about Rodrigo DePaul. But when you have the results going how they've been going, that maybe makes you feel more inclined to get in this beef with him, which is like, I don't know. To me,
00:57:37
Speaker
that small club behavior, man, like getting in a spat with a reporter over something like this. Why is inter Miami, the team with Lionel Messi and all this star power, why do they even care about that? Why are they getting involved in something like that?
00:57:51
Speaker
It just kind of adds to the kind of downfall spiral type vibes that we're seeing in South Florida. So Nico, I posed the question to you, like, what do you think of all this? And is this inter Miami team just, just chalked? Because I mean, if you look at it, they are, uh,
00:58:06
Speaker
They are zero zero or ah zeros one and three at home, which is really bad. They have yet to win a game at their new stadium. And then just when you throw in everything with the performances and this Franco beef, I don't know. What do you what do you make of all this?
00:58:24
Speaker
I think that Inter-Miami is a club in shambles because they have given the players the keys to the team.
00:58:36
Speaker
And that goes to their lack of but good performances and consistency. The the fraud that is at head coach right now, the guy is Absolutely. didn't even mention that. He's not a coach. He's not a coach.
00:58:57
Speaker
he's not Just because you've been in soccer for a long time. doesn't mean that you know soccer or that you're a head coach. I mean, the guy has no, he's never been in a club more than two years, I believe. He has honestly been run out of several teams throughout his career. I mean, the the the guy's biggest honor is discovering Messi as that legend goes. Yeah.
00:59:24
Speaker
and so Made his whole career career off that I discovered Messi That must have been a tough spot yeah Exactly so you know Because he was at Barcelona B or whatever right i mean The reality is is that Hoyos is over his head yeah And you can see it In this game where the team is not responding Orlando City keeps Getting better and better after the Ojeda goal That makes it three one They continue to make substitutions. They bring in, um they bring in, what do they bring in? ah
01:00:03
Speaker
They bring in Atuesta. They bring in ah Tyree Spicer. that That's the guy that really changed the game for for Orlando. And Hoyos is just sitting there just, I don't know, playing Candy Crush. I don't know what he's doing or he's just doodling with, I just, I don't know what he's doing. And there's just no response. There's no guidance to the team. You're just hoping that Messi continues to do Messi stuff, that Luis Suarez puts the ball in the back of the net, and you're just allowing him just to play a scrimmage and just run the game themselves. I mean, might as well just be strict pick-a-ball at that point. And you call your own subs. I mean, that's literally how...
01:00:42
Speaker
out of Out of source, this team looks on the field and how they allowed Orlando City to just regain the midfield, to put them into a bind. They they completely dropped a team that is poor defensively, and they kept pushing deeper and deeper. They have no defense ah out wide. I mean, it's just a a very unbalanced team that even with much, and I cannot believe I'm saying this,
01:01:09
Speaker
With Macerano, at least they had character. At least they had pushback. But now there's nothing. Because I'm i'm pretty sure Messi was calling the shots through Macerano. But now they don't even have that. They have no fight.
01:01:24
Speaker
And Guillermo Jodos taking one question in the presser and bouncing out. That is some cowardly stuff. I mean, that is just...
01:01:36
Speaker
Awful way of handling and lack of accountability from everyone involved. So overall, I just think that this is an issue that they created by allowing Messi to call the shots.
01:01:51
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I mean, we've talked about this, but I think everything that's happening with them is a picture-perfect example of what happens when you blur that line between coach and, in this case, Lionel Messi's buddy.
01:02:05
Speaker
Hoyos is, like we're talking about, not even ah coach. He is a guy that's made his name and his reputation in his career on being the guy that supposedly discovered Lionel Messi. And the best I can tell, he's kind of just followed Messi around throughout his career. And he's basic he's basically like Messi's manager. The fact that he ended up, like Mascherano getting hired because he was Messi's boy, that was very clearly what was going on there to begin with. But now it's like the coach is literally Messi's manager. There's no, there he just has no experience. yeah There's no reason to think that he would know what he's doing in this situation.
Inter Miami's Media Controversy
01:02:42
Speaker
And then, yeah, the presser thing, man, he goes to the presser. He takes one question and storms out. That's another kind of example. I think of a culture of the entitlement that's going around. Absolutely. I think, ah you know, the, the prime example of that was probably when they lost the league's cup final and their 43 year old malcontent strikers spit on gene. Yeah. But, you know, when you have a situation where you have a team that feels like they can then do that, it leads to situations like this where the coach is storming out of the press. Like, you can't do that. You can't. just Yeah. and And all of that goes into what you mentioned with fra Francisco Panizo. Francisco Panizo has every right to ask any questions or do any reporting questions.
01:03:28
Speaker
But it it it is the players that decided that that was just too much, that he should not be on my IG and looking at what I'm doing. And it's to the point where...
01:03:40
Speaker
the PR staff who you've trusted your entire time there, because look, Perla Garcia is one of the nicest girls in in ah PR personalities that that, you know, there are in MLS. She's been in the league for a long time. Now she's with Miami. frances Francisco Peniso has known her for years, probably longer than I have. Rafa Cabrera has always been a guy that used to, at least before Messi, pre-Messi, to always take the calls and be willing to, Put you into the press box Now those people that Were supposed to be the bridge Between the The media and the club They've gone radio silent on Paniso And that only has One real Possible reason And that's because they're being told Look just don't tell them anything You don't have to tell them anything Uh Apparently they told Peniso that MLS has no rights over who the club decides to credential. So all of the things go back to Rodrigo DePaul and his boy Messi decided, i don't want this guy here and I'm the all be all, I'm God. So he's just not going to come in and he's probably never going to get his credential back because he decided to ruffle the feathers off of a
01:04:57
Speaker
Look, superstar dad, you know how they say you should not meet your idols? I i was a huge Messi fan. My son idolized Messi. And now that I've seen him in the league, man, I've been disappointed consistently by all of this pettiness of, of you're the best player ever, arguably. Why are you so concerned with what the media is saying? Why are you storming off? Why are you trying to get into the referee's room?
01:05:23
Speaker
You're Messi, man. Why are you trying to pick fights with Obert Vargas and Pedro De La Vega when you're Lionel Messi? So all of these things of Messi and his boys is what is creating all this animosity and... and Mayhem in that club and I don't know if it's gonna cost them to the point that they don't make a playoff spot because that that that seems unrealistic But I don't know if they have enough to to win a title if this continues and you allow Messi to just Run this thing like if he's playing FIFA, I mean, I just I don't see it
01:06:02
Speaker
I don't think they're going to miss the playoffs, but they definitely don't look like a team that at this point is going to be making a run at a number one seed or a supporter shield. Frankly, they look like what the sixth or seventh best team in major league soccer right now at absolute best. Like, yeah, I don't even think they're a top five team in MLS right now. And I think that speaks to, you know, we heard a lot when Messi came to the league about how he was going to dominate the whole league. He was going to win every single trophy. no one was going to be able to stop him. And on one level that has panned out in terms of his individual performance and his individual statistics He is the back-to-back MVP. He had 29 goals, 19 assists. 44 assists in like 90 games or something absolutely and insane and ridiculous like that. So that is very impressive, and he has very much flexed his GOAT credentials in that way since he's been in MLS. But if you look at their team-wide accomplishments, they won MLS Cup last year, and they got a Shield, and they got a Leagues Cup. But he is not they have not dominated
01:07:11
Speaker
the league. They have not created a dynasty. They have not won every single trophy available to them at all. ah Frankly, they have spent a lot of time sort of in that third to fifth best team in the league type of range, except for, you know, the year that they won the shield. Yes, they were the best team in the league in the regular season that year. But other than that, like the trophy hall,
01:07:32
Speaker
And the final outcome has not matched what the expectations were when Messi got here. And it kind of, it like it reminds me a little bit of, ah you know you know how Zlatan always brags about how good he was in MLS? And he's like, yeah, I went to MLS and I scored 52 goals in 50 games. No one could stop me over there. And my response is always like, brother, what did you win?
01:07:53
Speaker
what did you what did what What team accomplishment did the LA Galaxy actually achieve with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a centerpiece? Yeah, you scored a lot of goals in MLS. Congratulations. You are one of the highest scoring strikers of all time. But what did you win?
01:08:07
Speaker
What did you win? Now, Zlatan would tell you that's because the team around him was trash. But if you're that good and you're that dominant, then shouldn't you be able to transcend that? I don't know. I'm just ah i'm just asking. But it's the same it's the same thing where, you know, yeah everyone's saying... oh, this guy's going to come in. He's going to dominate the league. He's going to win everything that's there.
01:08:26
Speaker
That isn't what happened. That doesn't look like what's going to happen. And if anything right now, that team is, I don't know if they're cook cooked, but they're, they're trending that way. And I think the tough, the reason it's tough for them to see a way out of it is because it's like when you're under it like this,
01:08:42
Speaker
the One of the most important things you need is a head coach who's going to be like professional and competent and know the right buttons to push, both tactically and in the locker room. And you need experience managing these situations to do that. You can't just throw someone in there and expect them to know how to do that. So there's I kind of see, I don't know, maybe I could be wrong. Maybe Hoyos like figures it out. Maybe it turns out that he's just a naturally awesome coach. But it does not look like that so far.
01:09:10
Speaker
He's not going to be. He's not going to be Ari. He he he should not. He's in over his head. And the funny part is that I'm sure that Jorge Mas and his endless checkbook is going to go out there and get another messy homie like Xavi Hernandez or do whatever. and And you are going to get another big time kid coach. ah And you'll feel like you're doing the right thing. But Once Messi's gone, man, I really fear for a team that has put so much stock on one specific player. And that's why I, I hate it And I laughed whenever people will be like, Oh, every team needs to be like inner Miami. And that's what they're doing. And they're setting the culture. Look, I'm not saying that, you know, Messi hasn't been good for the league and that he hasn't done some really good stuff and he's added eyes and, you know, it's, it's been fun to watch, but
01:10:06
Speaker
there There has to be a a balance when it comes to creating your own culture. And to me, and and this is just me, It is more important. I hated anyone who would even try to indicate that the Sounders should be anything like Miami. Look, other than getting bigger players and spending more money, and that's not a Miami thing. That's just anybody. I mean, I like the way LAFC runs their business, to be quite honest. If if I was trying to...
01:10:37
Speaker
Be jealous or or wanted to Replicate someone's business model And soccer model I probably would go LAFC But the Inter-Miami thing You saw it Falling apart from the inside out Look, they ran Tata out of town Chris Henderson out of town There was a whole bunch of issues with just too many people that have too many ideas on how the team should be run. You have the Jerry Jones of MLS in the back of every interview saying, look, I'm the owner. Hey, look, I'm excited. I'm happy. I'm i'm paying for all these players. I should be over here talking to the press when they won the shield and and all of these things. I mean, the the amount of
01:11:17
Speaker
the circus that inner Miami is, it's only up to implode. And I think it's going to implode as soon as Messi is gone. and And once that happens, they're going to have to rebuild and figure out how they should have maybe spent more time in an academy and trying to figure out a culture of that team and continue to, um,
01:11:41
Speaker
create a better atmosphere for their supporting base, not picking petty fights with qualified media members. I mean, all those things, I feel like they are what we all expected this team to at one point be, which is we have Messi, so we don't have to respect the rules. But once he's gone, we'll see what's what's what's left of that club.
01:12:05
Speaker
What do you think of the whole Franco thing? Because for me, like i'm I'm looking at that. I'm like, this is just not what you guys need to be spending your time on at all. I get that you're annoyed at how he handled the Rodrigo DePaul situation, but that is, that is just not something that's worth making this big of an issue over. And I was kind of thinking, you know, you and I have both interacted with Sounders PR a lot at this point over, over the years. Can you imagine them like doing something Like this, i'd like, a nose no, no, it would never happen. Like, even if they don't like the reporting that you do or the takes that we have on the show, like, even if they didn't agree with them or felt like we were being unfair to a player or felt like we were critiquing the team unfairly, they literally, I can't think of one time where they've ever given us a hard time about that or definitely made like a public thing about, they just wouldn't do that because they have like more important, better stuff.
01:13:00
Speaker
to do as a major league soccer operation they're trying to win games they're trying to you know do other stuff that's not this petty stuff like why are they doing this
01:13:14
Speaker
there's so much stuff i want to say but i can't in five minutes so i'm going to try to give you what i think is important here i think the difference is the franco peniso
01:13:26
Speaker
And forcing him out of a credential as a media member that has been there from the very beginning that was ah doing his job to not just cover the team, but amplify it. I mean, he yeah he's been doing it for forever when he's actually in shambles. He's actually good. He's good for them. Exactly. And and he's always been given the respect to,
01:13:49
Speaker
for that He's been you know being given you know perks. He's been celebrated as the the only reporter that didn't like had a perfect attendance to all of their home games or something like that. And then they just took it away in a shameful way because Messi and his boys...
01:14:09
Speaker
don't think he's good for him. I mean, have a little respect, have a little backbone. And that goes back to ownership. You mentioned my situation and and the relationship we have with the team.
01:14:20
Speaker
And now maybe we're privileged and that is something that maybe you don't see anywhere in the world because although in South America and in England, media is extremely respected because they're believed to be the third power. And there's a lot of power in media. And as much as In other countries, I mean, it's this sort of reporting all the time. I mean, you know, we found somebody in the bar and it was the day before a game. How many times have you not seen the Mexican team, you know, being cut up because they were having parties with like escorts right before a World Cup game? I mean, that that's how media runs in in the world. So you got to have a you got to have thick skin. You got to be able to respect the media, them do their job and just go out there and and and feel it. But when it comes to our situation here in Seattle, I just know that.
01:15:15
Speaker
Adrian Hanauer might be someone that people. um criticized for many things that I don't think is fair because if the guy doesn't have certain amount of money, he can't keep up with, you know, the the top tier owners in in in richness that he has to deal with.
01:15:36
Speaker
But he cares. he He understands it. He has seen our reporting. He saw the reporting that we had when he came to the Club World Cup and the situation. And, you know, Sondra Harden and all of us were part of the reporting of – that he had this blow up in front of all the players. And still, when he goes by the training fields, he shakes everybody's hand. He says hello hello because he gets it. He understands that we've been doing this for a long time and we've been reporting for this team in the best way that we can. And and there is value there. And I respect Adrian for it. And that's something that Jorge Maas doesn't have because he feels like...
01:16:18
Speaker
he owns the world and and he, because he makes money and he has messy, he could do with people whatever he wants. So that, that social aspect and that community aspect is something that I feel that Seattle is,
01:16:33
Speaker
supporters in Seattle media is privileged to have, but it is something that all clubs should have. And so the Franco Peniso stuff, that's somewhere where Jorge Mas should be getting involved with, or there should be just a check and balances situation in which this isn't allowed, but yeah. Here in Seattle, we just don't have that those problems because Adrian gets it. ah Alex Caulfield and Matt Winters, they're a phenomenal PR team. They're always giving us the tools. They're always us giving always giving us the respect to feel like we can do our job.
01:17:08
Speaker
objectively they're not saying hey this is what we want you to write this no not at all you do your job and and we appreciate you for it and that's the way it should happen yeah they get they give us that respect even with the knowledge that there are times where the team's going to get covered negatively there are going to be negative results there's going to be you know negative coverage of player performances and team performances and they never let that affect how they treat us or the access they give us or anything like that so honestly yeah this whole situation has given Shout out to Sounders PR for not operating like this. Like, I definitely appreciate
Closing Remarks and Audience Engagement
01:17:42
Speaker
that. Like I said, small club behavior. It'll be interesting to track Inter-Miami on downfall watts because they are officially on it after that epic collapse against Orlando City. But all right, Nico, we are all out of time for the show this morning. So we're going to wrap it right there. Thank you all, as always, for tuning in to Lobby Torture's kickoff. Love and appreciate all of you and appreciate all the support that you've given to the show. you want to keep supporting the show, Lobbingscorchers.com slash coffee. Get your QED coffee subscription, our new title sponsor.
01:18:13
Speaker
Any and all support that you can toss their way is the best way to support Nico and myself as we try and continue to grow Lobbingscorchers kickoff presented by QED coffee. But we'll be back at it this week for all our coverage ahead of this San Diego game. And we'll have the postgame live fired up from Newman Field. as well. So thank you all for tuning in until next time.
01:18:33
Speaker
Yeah.