Transcript
Speaker: Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
Speaker: Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
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Speaker: This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
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Speaker: Welcome to another episode of Nos Adiates, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, and now the Soccer Wise Media Collective, sponsored by Full Pool Wines and our subscribers.
Speaker: We're recording on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026. I am your host, Jeremiah s Shan. Today, I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Well, at least the Sounders gave us something a little different this week.
Speaker: Yes, it was another tie, their fifth straight, but the Sounders Got this one after coming from behind twice, including from a 3-1 deficit with the equalizer coming on a second half stoppage time blast from debutante Caden Clark. That's 13 straight without a win.
Speaker: But I actually found myself a little more encouraged this time. Aaron, what did you think? Yeah, I mean, I think that the it's funny how the order in which you get to the result matters so much, because I think if they if they had been on the other end of that, right, if they had been 31, it would have felt my mind. Yeah, it would have felt horrible. um So, you know, the fight back was was good to see. And I think I've never questioned this team's effort. And and I think that.
Speaker: for a Brian Schmetzer team to not, you know, play until the whistle would be one of the most shocking things I could ever see. But I absolutely question their ability to come back from, from a deficit like this and that they've managed to do it. And, and honestly looked like the more likely team to, to get a fourth was I think a ah pretty encouraging sign. Yeah.
Speaker: ah I'm, I'm tired of encouraging signs. I think we all are. i want to see. Yeah. I want to see actual momentum, actual results, actual things turning around. But, you know, this was like you said, this was different.
Speaker: um They didn't blow a lead. they They came back. They asserted themselves on the game. They got big plays from, you know, their their biggest players. And they got a huge play from a guy that... I think a lot of people were skeptical as ever going to make any kind of contribution. I mean, I think that whatever happens with this trade, getting that point may be worth what they gave up, you know, to get Caden Clark. We'll see come into the season. But if that if that point is the difference between eighth and seventh, I mean,
Speaker: Or 8th and 9th or 9th and 10th. I mean, really, if if it's a difference between any any one of those, those are the difference between each of those three spots. And I guess in the effort of and MLS trying to make the um regular season matter, it's fair to point out that you know, each spot does make some difference. I mean, yeah if you if you're seventh, you're out of the, you're out of the playing game. If you're eighth, you're hosting the playing game. If you're ninth, you're in the playing game at least.
Speaker: ah you know And we can debate, you know, how much difference there is between first and sixth, I guess. but the difference between seventh and 10th is ah pretty significant on each incremental spot.
Speaker: And so, yeah, I mean, I think the point matters and Kate and Clark did not, I don't want to make it make too much out of it. He, he did not really influence the game outside of the goal, but look, you score a goal 22 yard minute.
Speaker: blast in the ninety third minute you don't really need to do much else, right? No, I don't think so. I mean, he, he didn't play a ton. He came on fairly late in the game, so it's not like he had whole lot of time to, to totally get a handhold on things. And yeah, I mean, that's, that's about as impactful as you can be as a sub.
Speaker: And I, and I think, it's, it's encouraging to see because that's, that's a shot that you're not going to take if you're not relatively confident. And he, he hit it really well.
Speaker: ah It's, it's just both of the the second goals in this game, but both of the second, well, I guess the, the first one was actually in the second half too, but, both of the late goals from Jovlich and Clark yeah were both just guys deciding they were going to score a goal and doing what they had to do to work score a goal. like it Just speculative efforts, I guess you could see say,
Speaker: but I'm not a guy who's going to, you know, bitch and moan about the team not taking long shots and not taking speculative efforts because usually they're bad. That's a bad decision. Those are bad choices.
Speaker: But in a game like this where you need a goal, Colorado is seems very comfortable in defense. You can't really break them down because the Sounders weren't, you know, having a ton of luck breaking them down ah before the the second goal.
Speaker: you get sometimes you just got to have a crack. And if you get in on target, good things can happen. And both goals, I think were extremely well taken. And yeah, big, I mean, big plays from one guy we know is a big player and another guy who, if he could end up being a big player, it's going to make Craig Weibel and Brian Schmetzer look like geniuses.
Speaker: Yeah. ah You know, Jovlich, that's his second goal from distance. I don't know if that's what I was signing up for necessarily. That was not that was not the ah the striker we were promised. But look, if he's got 20-yard bombs in his arsenal, ah sorry for the the violent metaphor there.
Speaker: but I'll take it, you know, like cause the the other stuff's going to come. You figure like he's going to get himself into spots. He's going to score his share of goals, especially once the Sounders sort of figure out how to play with him better. But in the meantime, this is great. You know, ah both of his goals have, have helped the Sounders or all three of his goals have helped the Sounders secure points.
Speaker: You know, I don't, I don't, I'm with you. I don't want to make too much out of, yet another tie, but this, there were, there were a lot of things in this game that I, that I liked, you know, Jovlich, the other thing I liked about the Jovlich goal was that it came almost as an immediate answer to, know,
Speaker: the rapid scoring, frankly, a great goal. Morgan Whitaker, their newly signed designated player looks very good. He scored a a goal off like a half volley essentially. And then the sounders came right back.
Speaker: They scored actually on a goal that was ruled out for off side, which i I think was the correct call. And then, but like almost immediately after that, all within like two or three minutes, the Sounders gave up the goal.
Speaker: They, they scored a offside goal and then they, they actually scored again. And just yeah the wherewithal to stay with it, to not get their head down, to keep driving forward. And really from the, for the last 15 minutes of the game, the Sounders after the the second or the third, after the third Rapids goal, the Sounders really, I thought were the better team.
Speaker: and and they were rewarded for it. You know, you can oftentimes say that like, Oh, well it's, it's a game state or whatever, but they actually made a count this time.
Speaker: I liked, I liked a lot what I saw from Sebastian Gomez, who is a player who yeah I have been on record as saying, i think he has done well, but I, I just think he's playing too many minutes. And yet,
Speaker: In a game like this, you see a player who, if he hadn't been playing as much as he had, he wouldn't have had the he probably wouldn't have had the confidence that he had in this game. And you know he looks like a real like he looked like a real player in this game.
Speaker: Yeah, he absolutely absolutely did. he he's had moments where he looked very good and you could see the promise and you could see why everybody was so excited for him. But this was the first game where I felt like he really put together a cohesive performance where he looked like he absolutely belonged at this level.
Speaker: And I do think in a perfect world, he's not playing as many minutes as he's hes playing. But that's always true of younger, unproven guys until they cross that threshold. Like I'm sure I said the same thing about Obed Vargas at a certain point, right? Like I'd really, I look, I like this kid a lot, but I'd rather somebody else be taking these minutes. And then, you know, and, and that doesn't always happen. Like there, there are plenty of younger players who maybe I feel that way about and they'd never end up taking that next step.
Speaker: But I'm increasingly confident that, that Gomez is is going to, I just think he, he's doing things that, and not at the same level of Pedro de la Vega, obviously, or Georgie Menungu, but the kinds of things that those guys do, he's taking guys on, he's dribbling at people. He is causing problems for defense. He's trying to make them feel uncomfortable. He's going at goal, just things that nobody else is doing from those wide positions that,
Speaker: I think really make the team a lot more dynamic and a lot more balanced and and more dangerous. And so if he can have more games like this, you know, it's again, it's going to make the Sounders look pretty smart for for not bringing in another winger in this window ah as much as I really wish they had. I mean, if he can take advantage of the opportunity, then that's that's a positive thing for the future.
Speaker: Yeah, he came in at halftime for Peter Kingston, who was not as effective in this game as he was in his brief appearance against the Galaxy. And, you know, he was he was effective the whole time on. I think the highlight was probably a play...
Speaker: that happened probably around the, in the, like the 80 something minute where he takes on Rob holding, who is a former premier league player. Right. And, and he, he just breaks him down.
Speaker: He works himself open for a shot and it's, and it's saved, but you just like the aggressiveness. You like the, the ability. I mean, he, he pulls off what he was trying to pull off there. And it and it took a, he took a good save from rapid goalkeeper, Nico Hanson to keep the sounders from equalizing there.
Speaker: And he just kept pressing. ah There was a moment late in the game you you alluded to when the Senators probably could have won this game. where Snyder Brunel is driving up the field. He's got Albert Rusnak to his right. He's got Dejan Jovalich to his left, and he has Sebastian Gomez streaking down the middle, drawing two defenders.
Speaker: And he chooses to try to force the ball into Gomez. We asked Brunel about that today, and he says said, look, I thought it was the right play. I thought if he had if i had been able to connect on that, that would have been, you know, we I think we would have scored there.
Speaker: but the smart play is probably to put it into the feet of one of your veteran attackers. yeah Brian said the move, he thought the the move was obviously to push it out to Jovlich and maybe he shoots, maybe he crosses it back to Gomez. Maybe he cuts it back to Brunel. Who knows? Right. But there's, there's options there. And,
Speaker: we We won't know how that would have played out, but probably there were both safer and smarter options than the one that Brunel did. But you kind of love that the the young guys are confident enough to try to feed each other.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think that it's it's very easy to say when a play like that doesn't come off that, you know, XYZ would have been the better play. And and to be clear, i I think that, like, I definitely think that there were better options there and that that's not the best pass to make. But this team has looked so conservative in attack over this stretch and so unwilling to try things and press the issue.
Speaker: Maybe that's not the best spot to do so when you don't have a lot of time left, you have some momentum and Even if one of the other options isn't as guaranteed you know to be a really good chance if it comes off, you still have the opportunity. I mean, because that moves ah a binary thing, right? it's It's a goal or at least something that should be a goal or it's what happened and it completely kills the threat.
Speaker: And so maybe the better option there is to keep possession, get get the ball to somebody that you would expect to be able to do a little bit more with it. But it's hard for me to fault that mindset, you know, in that situation of saying like, I trusted myself and I trust my teammate to make something of this chance. And that's what we're going to do.
Speaker: We're going to go for it. If we had it back, I probably prefer he makes another pass, but it's not so reckless. You know, it's not so. No, it's not a reckless play. Yeah, it's it's it's worth the risk, I think, especially in a game where you you have a point, right? Like it's not if if they're still down three to two, I'm probably a lot more frustrated.
Speaker: But I think in a situation like that, where it's like it would be one hell of a thing to come back from that three one deficit and get our first win since May. uh, yeah, I think that, you know, it's, uh, I, I understand the inclination to go for it and, and it's, it's not something I'm ever going to fault. That's, that's Brian's job, right?
Speaker: If Brian wants to read him the right act and, and have him make the more conservative past, that's his responsibility. I'm just glad that somebody is trying to force the issue and, and make things happen late in the game like that.
Speaker: Yeah, i'm I'm sitting here watching the play right now, and I have to admit it's not quite as clear-cut of a chance it was in my head. ah But it was, and it and I can see a little bit, watching it again, I can see a little bit more Brunel, like why he felt that was the play.
Speaker: ah It's not like he had... It wasn't like it was a four on three break or something. It was sort of like there was a lot of bodies still around him. But for sure, again, I like you. I appreciate the the thought process.
Speaker: I appreciate the aggressiveness. I you know, the execution could be better. And I think that's sort of what Brunel said today is like, look, the execution on that could absolutely be better if I need to connect that pass. Essentially, if I'm going to make that pass, I need to connect it.
Speaker: Yeah, but I actually appreciated his unwillingness to sort of like totally second guess it and and just be like, look, no i saw I saw what I saw and I tried to make the play that I thought was the best play. And you know what?
Speaker: ah Ray, you know, i appreciate it. Back yourself, you know, back yourself. And that's that's sort of what we need more of right now from the Sounders. There's not enough of that. and And this is a game where I think you maybe start to see that. Yeah, there were some defensive lapses.
Speaker: ah You know, I think for sure the first two goals are are frustrating ones to give up. The first one is basically a pretty basic cutback where ah Whitaker is is just not closed down near the penalty spot. And then the second one was a play where I don't know if if we really fault Andrew Thomas too much on it. he He's forced into a close-range save, and he leaves the the rebound right at the feet of the of the guy who eventually scores for the Rapids, who I feel like the marking should have been better on that whole play.
Speaker: but I think I find more encouragement in the, like the Sounders have struggled much more. The Sounders struggles during this stretch have been far more about offensive ability than they have been about defensive ah fragility.
Speaker: And this was the first time they scored three goals since their last win, which was on May 13th. This is the first time they came back from two goals down to get a result in any game in, in over two years.
Speaker: So like I'm inclined to define more positives than that. Now, of course, theyre those positives only matter in as much as they can create genuine momentum and win some of these home games that will come up that are coming up. And we'll talk about that and later on in the show. ah One other positive to come out of this game, which we didn't find out was really a positive until today,
Speaker: was Jordan Morris went out in like the 82nd minute. There was a play where it looks like someone maybe stepped on his foot and his his knee ended up getting tweaked. And he was clearly in a ah fair amount of discomfort.
Speaker: he can't He comes off, and as it i didn't I didn't really clock this, but Clayton Clark is the person who replaced him. So, ah you know, ended up working out ah for the best, I suppose.
Speaker: But ah we found out today, that in case you missed the news, Jordan Morris was back in training. He was a full participant in training. He's going to be available probably off the bench tomorrow or against ah RSL.
Speaker: And all things considered, it feels like the Sounders may have may finally be getting a few breaks when it comes to player availability. Because not only is Morris not hurt, which would have been a real blow. Like if if Morris was out for any extent, for any period of time, one game, two games, three games, ah long it's certainly longer, that was going to be a huge blow because the Sounders have some massive matches coming up like immediately.
Speaker: ah but then we also found out that Jovulic is the only player that they have that got called up who will miss all three of the games during the international break. Obviously, Jovulic will be missed, but this was sort of like a known thing that was likely to happen.
Speaker: Snyder Brunel also got called up to the U-20s, but he's only going to miss the Sporting Kansas City game, which, look, if you're going to miss one game, that's that's probably the one I'm most comfortable with him missing.
Speaker: And and then everyone else is going to be here. There was some thought that Andrew Thomas might get called up. There was thought that Christian will Don might get called up. There was thought that Stu Hawkins might get called up.
Speaker: ah There was apparently they were a little worried that that Albert Rusnak could get called up. I don't know if if Cameroon is playing or not, but normally we would expect new who to get called in.
Speaker: So where the Sounders could have been really shorthanded this week, like perilously shorthanded. Yeah. They're going to be like as close to full strength as they've been in a long time, especially with, you know, now that Areola is back, Dotson is back, Christian Roldan is back.
Speaker: And Yamar is actually supposed to be available on Wednesday too. ah The Sounders have so many of their first team players available that they actually decided not to make any call-ups from Tacoma Defiance.
Speaker: And I guess that, i don't know, this feels, it feels positive. We'll see what they can get out of it. Yeah, they have to do something with it, obviously. like They have to make it count that they're that they're not going to be as hampered as they could be. And that's just something they haven't done yet. But they also... like This is despite missing...
Speaker: their, you know, ah biggest goal scoring threat and arguably best players since he he arrived, they're still going to have more players than they've had in quite a while. They're going to be able to rotate a little bit in defense. um Potentially they can move Alex back to right back, which I think Costa Rindisi has done a fantastic job, but I just think the defense works better with Alex there.
Speaker: ah and And I just think that they're going to be holistically better at even missing Jovovich. So ah there are reasons to be optimistic. And and I think that that...
Speaker: those those moments have felt so few and far between over the last, you know, three or four months where one guy gets healthy and like three more get hurt. Right. Like right as Jordan was coming back, Jesus is out.
Speaker: um Stuff like that kept happening over and over and over again. And now it feels like the scales have shifted a little bit. But, you know, they I mean, look, we keep saying that these are must win games. This one really feels like one Yeah.
Speaker: and yeah bare bones level, right? Like we we talked last week about how, what West must win means keeps changing. Yeah. And this feels just like the definition of everybody understands. Like, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, again, like at at the, we had some people kind of questioning our, our use of the term must win. And I'll just be totally clear when we're talking about must win, we're talking about from like like a
Speaker: mental perspective, like a vibes perspective. Like the math is the math. the The Sounders could lose. Theoretically, they could lose the next three or four games and still theoretically be in the playoff race. Right. That's sure. We all know that if they, if they don't get at I want to say at least six, but probably closer to seven. And they, and I really, they should be, I mean, they should be looking at this three, three game window. This as a, as a nine point window.
Speaker: Hey everyone, David Goss here from SoccerWise and I am coming to you with our MLS Minute presented by Continental. We are so excited to be working with some of the best local MLS coverage in the league as part of our new collective. So after you're done listening hear about your team, come on over and listen to myself, Doyle, and Tom talk about the entire league.
Speaker: let's dig into the highlights of the weekend and we start of course the hudson river derby julian hall a manhattan native a red bull academy grad just wants to kill nycfc he scored the game winner in a 1-0 victory on friday night hall scored his 10th goal of the season the same week he got his first ever call up to the u.s men's national team he becomes the youngest player in mls history to score 10 goals in a single season 18 years in one hundred and 178 days is also the third most single season goal scored by a teenager in league history now if they were to play nycfc again he would be going up against a new jersey native and a former red bull academy graduate himself in matt miazga who tom is reporting will be joining nycfc
Speaker: But Julian Hall wasn't the only American teenager who got a call up this week and followed it up with a big performance. Peyton Miller out in New England scored two goals to help his team to a 4-2 victory over over Orlando. He got called for a penalty kick.
Speaker: to equalize at 2-2, but came back and scored the game winner for his team alongside Brooklyn Reigns, who also will be a part of the national team. And another set of American teenagers who starred this weekend were for Philadelphia. Now, first, It was Andre Luis, the $18 million dollars signing for Sporting Kansas City, who had two goals in 10 minutes. Probably could have had three, but helped put SKC up 3-0 early on. But Philadelphia came back with four goals. in a nine minute span in the second half capped by an own goal by Zoran Basang to win four three for the Philadelphia Union Frankie Westfield got it started and of course Gavin Sullivan had a goal in this one as well we had some stoppage time drama across the league let's start
Speaker: with San Jose playing against LAFC at Levi's Stadium. It was a wild match. An early Aaron Long red card puts LAFC down a man. But Sun and Buanga both scored, and late on, LAFC was clinging to a 2-1 lead when none other than Reed Roberts, the center back, steps up with a stunner from outside the box to equalize in the 98th minute and send the stadium wild.
Speaker: In Cincinnati, Kevin Denke scored a stoppage time equalizer for the second straight game. Last week, it was in the 91st for a 3-3 draw against Charlotte. This week, it was a penalty kick in the 97th versus Houston to make it 2-2 in the final. Nashville, Vancouver, each 1-3-0 to extend their leads towards the top.
Speaker: of both conferences this week one Wednesday game and a full slate of weekend games next week that will be during the international break so we will have all your USMNT coverage coming up as well as MLS and and NWSL this week on the soccer wise channels this is the MLS minute is a part of our soccer wise media collective sponsored by Continental Tire where we are proud to work with local soccer media partners across the country
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Speaker: We're also looking for sponsors. Send an email to partners at pnwsoccermedia.com and we'll get you all set up. Thanks for listening. These are all beatable teams. These are all teams who in various ways are worse than the Sounders right now. They're playing these games at home.
Speaker: all three of these should be circled as games. They should be winning. And, and if they, like, if yeah i just think you, you got a question, if you can't beat art, like I said, this about Austin.
Speaker: I said this about New York. And it turned out that, you know, maybe it wasn't as true then. But really, like if you can't beat RSL, this is a team who the only team in the in the league who has fewer points since the World Cup break than the Sounders. They only have three points from 10 games since the All-Star since the World Cup break.
Speaker: They have not won a game since like May 16th. So they have a 12 game game. a winless streak essentially as bad as the sounders if you can't beat this team at home and they are missing ruben luna they're missing ah who else they're missing a whole bunch of players that were hurt they've got a few guys that were on international duty the sounders got to win this game uh and i don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves talking and previewing it but This is where the seat like this. These three games, I really feel like are where the season is going to ultimately be decided.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think that they've kind of blown their chances to really get back in the mix to move up the table because like it really wasn't that long ago where we were talking about, look, if they can actually turn this thing around soon, it wouldn't be crazy for them to finish like fourth or fifth. Yeah, yeah absolutely.
Speaker: That's dead. Yeah, that's dead. So we're talking about positioning. We're talking about putting themselves in the best spot, you know, to maybe get through another round and and who knows after that. ah But if they lose one of these games, ah then then it becomes like, well, they're going to have to do something special just to get in at that. Right. You know, right.
Speaker: And that's that's those are big stakes. I mean, I think that. We've had this conversation so many times making the playoffs is not in and of itself a successful season make.
Speaker: But it's how you start. It's the first step. It is. And and missing the playoffs is the like absolute slam dunk, most obvious way for it to be a failure season. Right. Yes. The playoffs and you don't win a continental trophy.
Speaker: You don't become the first MLS team to win that continental trophy. that's That's a big problem, right? Because they've always had that to fall back on. Like, well, yeah, we missed the playoffs once, but like, come on, you know, we all know what that season was about.
Speaker: You don't get that this year, right? So it's it's the bare minimum to not make everything feel like it needs to be blown up, which is crazy, you know, because... Nothing that happens the rest of the way changes what happened previously, right? They've still got a ton of problems that they need to fix. They've they've got to have some come to Jesus type conversations about the next core and and what they need to do to turn over the roster.
Speaker: All that stuff still needs to happen no matter what. But I would much rather have those conversations in a positive light because they managed to get into the playoffs and, you know, they avoided the play in game and they got an upset in the first round and they got into quarterfinals. And you know what? That's not great, but they finished on a strong note and they can go into things with a little more positivity and a little less panic. I think that would be that would be ideal.
Speaker: It would be ideal. I totally agree. ah The Sounders, for what it's worth, they have six home games left. Three of those home games are going to be played basically in the next... 10 days.
Speaker: ah They've got Wednesday against RSL. Then they've got Saturday against Minnesota United, a team who maybe quietly has fallen apart. They are currently last in the support. They they believe they're last in the Porter shield standings.
Speaker: ah Is that right?
Speaker: uh they no no no sorry they're not last in the sorry i was looking at something above sporting yeah yeah no they're they're they're actually in 24th but they're behind the sounders in the standings uh but they are 10 they're five winless uh
Speaker: And they're on a four game losing streak. And i think they've only won once in the last 12, something like that. And then they close out against Sporting Kansas City, who is in the ah in the the lead for the wooden spoon. Now, I will say they are a little bit scary because this Andre Luis who if you listen to ah Monday Soundcheck, we talked quite a bit about.
Speaker: but he is scary. This is a ah really good player. So like they at least have the wild card of maybe the best player on the pitch, which is always a a little scary, but these games against Minnesota United, we also like, especially I think are just like, look, you got to secure those wins at that point. They would, I believe move into a playoff spot and, and seventh is not out of reach. A seventh is very much still in play, but again,
Speaker: they got to get the points for that to matter. I mean, we, I don't want I'm not trying to get ahead of ourselves here, but the points are, you know, we could talk about what's possible for a long time, but what's realistic is another question. And the Sounders need to start getting some wind. They need to start collecting points for us to really have any sense in, in being realistic about any of this stuff.
Speaker: So, uh, you know, we'll see, we'll see what they can actually do. um Anything else from this ah from this game that you feel like is worth breaking down?
Speaker: i think I'm very glad that Jackson Reagan and Yamar are are getting back to healthy. i appreciate what Stu Hawkins has done. I think he's just given us a lot to think about. And he's he's been outstanding. He's been better than I think anybody could have guessed. I think Alex has been very solid at center back.
Speaker: But I'm ready to get some of the, you know, a team guys back and into their spots at center back. And, yeah you know, like with Yamar, it's going to be a while till he's fully fit. So, yes, I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself. But, ah you know, getting Jackson back is going to be big. And ah yeah, I think that ah seeing a little bit more stability at that center back spot is going to be nice.
Speaker: it It would definitely be nice. ah The Sounders are, yeah i will just as ah as I'm saying, the Sounders are getting healthy. Kim Kihee today was training off to the side. He's this calf issue just isn't going away.
Speaker: But look, if we can get anything out of him at this point, I think we have to consider that a win. Yeah. And, I mean, the centers don't have a lot invested in them. There's not really a whole lot of point in getting worked up about, about the Kim Kihei situation, but if they can get Yamar back, it might not even matter. Right. Like right between Yamar, Alex rolled on Jackson, Reagan, Stu Hawkins.
Speaker: I will take that rotation. Yeah. at least for the rest of the year. ah Tino Lopez too. I mean, you know, Lopez a kind of forgotten man at this point, but yeah. Yeah. Which is crazy considering how, how good he played earlier, but you know how well he played, I should say.
Speaker: Yeah. um Yeah. There, you know, I love Kim. I always will. a A Sounders legend. I think it's fair to say at this point, but I don't think he's going to be the make or break for the season.
Speaker: No, I don't think so either. ah Well, all right. So before we get out of here, I did want to share one more piece of news that I i found out today.
Speaker: Apparently, the Seattle Times is going to be ending their beat coverage of soccer, ah which is absolutely brutal. Like, i i think Jada Evans does a great job. My understanding is Jada is still working at the Times. She's just being reassigned to do other stuff.
Speaker: but ah she's not going to be on the beat anymore. And there's no one going to be replacing her. That sounds like the times is planning on just taking AP coverage or wire coverage. And, you know, maybe they'll rewrite some press releases here and there, but they are for all intents and purposes, not really covering soccer, at least not on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker: And, man, it it's such a kick in the balls, really. As someone who is both a member of the media, who is a newspaper veteran, and who has dedicated a lot of my life to a covering soccer, and also I'm a soccer fan, it's just another reminder that for all the you know, the demographic gains that soccer makes, that it's it's perpetually like the sport of the future. It's the sport that young people are watching, that are the young people are consuming.
Speaker: i mean, the Sounders are drawing 30,000 fans a game on a regular basis out to Lumen Field. There are probably, you know, something close to a million Sounders fans in the larger region.
Speaker: And the times is just saying like, yeah, we're not really that interested in it. And I'm sure they have data to back it up. I'm sure their click through rates or, or whatever are telling them that this is a, ah a justifiable decision, but it just feels like it's totally abdicating any responsibility that they have to the, ah to the community that they are, you know, would like you to believe that they are a Vanguard for.
Speaker: Right. Yeah. I mean, we were talking about this off air, but I think that one of the worst things that ever happened to the media, local news media, especially is having insight into exactly how many people were reading exactly what stories rather than saying that this is a newsworthy thing that we should be covering. That's a important. job to cover the news It's, well, people, I mean, you know, our click-through rates are blah, blah, blah. And this has got this many views, X, Y, Z, right? Like that's that shouldn't be the metric.
Speaker: And it's it's disappointing. and And that explains so much about local news media and and how marginalized it's become. And, you know, there are economic reasons and there are media consolidation reasons, right? And and I think the people that work for the newspapers, right?
Speaker: that care about local news media are doing the best that they can, but the people that are making decisions don't care about any of that stuff, you know, and they, and they haven't for a long time. It's, it's, it's not about a responsibility to providing a service. It's about maximizing ad revenue and, and, you know, providing ah column inches for editorials that back up the owner of the papers.
Speaker: beliefs. And that that's pretty much it. And, you know, it's it's frustrating because as soccer has become more and more popular in the U.S., there's also been this sense that it's the sounders have become less relevant in, in the market. And it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me because I, you know, obviously the, the hype about the sounders and the, the sort of space they fill in the local sports and, you know, ecosystem is not what it was in 2015, 2014. Right.
Speaker: But they're still by any metric, extremely popular. I mean, they're, they're drawing more fans on average than the Mariners. Yeah. and They're filling Lumen, you know, 17 times a year with more people that, you know, go to Sounders games and anything else at Lumen other than the Seahawks games. Like they're still very relevant.
Speaker: I know last year, I don't know what it is. This, i haven't looked at it, what it would be this year, but I know last year the rain and, and so Sounders outdrew the Hawks last year at Lumen field. I mean, they play a lot more dates, which obviously is a, it's like not an apples to- apples comparison, but a lot of people are watching soccer. Like you can't, do like i want to,
Speaker: I run a soccer media company and I can tell you there is an audience here. And like selfishly, I would like to think that people who are frustrated with the Seattle times decision are either already subscribing to sound or heart, or we'll go out and support sound or heart as this is just another reminder that, you know, we're only able to do this the way that we do it because of people like you who are supporting us.
Speaker: But i I am bummed out that the times like this might, who knows, maybe this is a good thing for us, but that doesn't make it it a good thing for me personally. Like I want, I would much rather have the the competition. Look, Jada asks a lot of good questions that help me do my job better. ah it's It's good for the soccer ecosystem when there are a lot of outlets out there doing this that are holding each other responsible, that are holding the Sounders accountable, that are,
Speaker: just lifting sort of lift, making it a better place to, to be covering this team to it make it more fun to read about the team. I want different perspectives. I think this is good. And it sucks that the times is just sort of, ah and I, my understanding is the times wasn't even planning on, on making any sort of announcement. They were just going to kind of quietly stop covering the sounders and rain after Saturday.
Speaker: And I'd like to think that people, if they, like, I would imagine we have a lot of listeners who are some are Seattle times subscribers. And I would hope that a lot of them reach out to the times and tell them how upset they are. And that wasn't going to happen if they just quietly stopped covering the team.
Speaker: But here, I'm telling you right now, this is the plan. The times is ah getting rid of their, their soccer beat coverage. Again, that doesn't mean that they're literally never going to cover soccer. It just means that there's not going to be someone out there every day on a regular basis and really gets to know the beat.
Speaker: And the thing that makes newspapers, I think so valuable or outlets like us so valuable is that we understand the ins and outs of the team. We, we have sources. We are able to get stuff that isn't just being totally spoon fed to us by, by the team, but they also understand the stories that are going on and the narratives and the, the ebbs and flows of the season that they aren't just parachuting in and finding one story. And that's the stuff that Seattle times readers are going to lose when They don't have a reporter out there on a regular basis. And I don't know how many other ways I can say it. It's just really, really disheartening.
Speaker: And, you know, I realized that the times is probably one of the last newspapers who had a beat writer. And I'm sure that's another way that they will justify this decision is like, well, the Oregonian cut their, their beat writer and, on and on and on. And all these other papers that don't have beat writers,
Speaker: But that doesn't make it like that's what was supposed to be different about Seattle. Like Seattle has a market that will support this. And again, like I am sure there is a business, a perfectly valid business argument to do this. But.
Speaker: Do we need six bylines on every Hawks game? Do we need five bylines on every UW football game? i don't know. I don't necessarily think so, but <unk>m I'm not making those those decisions.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's disappointing because, you know, in 2009, 2010, 2011, when the PI still kind of existed, uh, you know, the Sounders had, they had Seattle times beat writer. They had a PI beat writer. They had Donnery's at the, at the news tribune. they had people from like the Olympian who weren't necessarily beat writers, but who were actively covering the paper. Cause I remember reading about being like, Oh, they have a dedicated Sounders writer for the Olympian. And,
Speaker: I mean, and it felt like the local news media was in really bad shape then, right? And that was 15 years ago. And it's gotten so much worse. I know. Obviously, there are so many more important implications of this this kind of attrition and and these kinds of decisions being made than the Sounders coverage. But this is a Sounders podcast. It affects both of us. I think you more than me, I think, because these are people you get to know and develop relationships with.
Speaker: um But it still, it sucks for, I think for, for all Sounders fans and it ah it's also just, it's a bellwether, right? For just how things are going as a whole and in local media coverage. And it's,
Speaker: The implications are not good, man. they They really aren't. And I think that, you know, we'll probably see some of that with the Sounders, with not having that that sort of regular visibility. You know, it's the kind of thing where like my father in law doesn't care about the Sounders, but he reads the Seattle Times every day.
Speaker: So he has something he can talk to me about, you know, when when I when I go over there. which I'm fine with my father-in-law not talking to me to be clear, but you know, that's not realistic. So it's good to have a neutral topic. Right. Right. And, and like, he's not, he's not going to have any visibility to that anymore. And I think that's probably true for certainly not a lot of diehard fans, but you know, water cooler talk, all that kind of stuff. So it's, it's, it's very sad.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I think it, it definitely strikes a blow to the sounders, aspirations of being, well I think the centers are already sort of a team that,
Speaker: has relevancy in the market. And this is, and you know, on top of, you know, the the biggest blow obviously was getting off of local broadcast television. That was a, that was a pretty bad blow to ultimately, i think that did a lot more damage than maybe you or I immediately appreciated, but I think has, has been a pretty bad blow, but not having beat coverage for your local paper is going to be a tough one to recover from.
Speaker: Uh, so i I can only say that from our perspective, we want to keep like, we're going to keep doing the work that we do. I can't say I, I suddenly have a new, ah new resources to offer more that would somehow replace the times.
Speaker: But you know, I, would like to think that Senator Hart does a good enough job that the times is not necessarily like, if you're a Senator Hart reader, you don't need to also get the times. Like, I think that's ah a fair thing to say, but, uh,
Speaker: I do want to just like remind everyone that it's not like the gap between us going away and us continuing to do great coverage is essentially every individual's ah decision whether or not they want to be a subscriber and support what we're doing. And ah yeah, it's been, i will I will admit, it's been a little tough since the the World Cup started. The Sounders being bad has not been ah great for our bottom line, but, ah you know, things are are still reasonably healthy and we're plugging along. But look, if you are, if you needed a kick in the pants to remind you ah what can happen if you don't support Sounder at Heart, the Seattle Times kicking, getting rid of soccer beat coverage is is a pretty good thing.
Speaker: Pretty good, pretty good kick in the pants, I suppose you can say. Yeah. But um all right. Well, I think ah on that wonderful note, probably you should get out of here. we will be back on. I'll be back on Friday. ah We'll be doing what we learned this week. Of course, if you if you missed it, we've started a new live.
Speaker: YouTube show called Monday Soundcheck. That's with Nico Moreno and Adam race. And it is also showing up in the podcast feed, but it's primarily intended to be a video product. So I would encourage you to go check it out on our YouTube page. If you are not already a subscriber, you can just hit that, that subscribe button on ah YouTube. And of course, if if you feel like rating us on this podcast, that is also very helpful. So I may as well throw in a plug for our own thing here.
Speaker: But let's get out here. I want to say thank you to our ah sponsors, Full Pool Wines. I should also say i mentioned earlier in the show that we are now part of the Soccer Wise Media Collective.
Speaker: That is a new network of... of podcasts that we will periodically hear ads from, ah but they are ah also helping to grow the soccer, the the local soccer media landscape.
Speaker: So I want to say thank you to them and a shout out. With all that said though, I am Jeremiah O'Shann signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickett. This is No Saudietes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And remember, you'll never get alone.
Speaker: Let's go at Sounders.
