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Nos Audietis, episode 255: Karmic balance
62 Plays8 years ago
The math may say that the Seattle Sounders came up a point short when they were on either side of stoppage-time equalizers this week. But emotionally, it feels like the Sounders ended up ahead. Maybe it’s just recency bias, but the 94th minute header by Clint Dempsey feels like a bigger boost than the 94th minute equalizer by Orlando City felt deflating.
In any case, Jeremiah and Aaron weigh either side of that argument while also finding time to discuss the Gold Cup and taking a bunch of your questions.
This week's music: "Star Blazers Theme", Perry Como - "Seattle", RVIVR - “The Tide”, Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia"
Thanks to James Woollard, Sounders Public Address Announcer, for doing our sponsor reads. You can follow him on Twitter at @BritVoxUS - if you're looking for a British Voice to advertise your business or non-profit, please reach out to him.
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Sponsorship
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of Nos Adietes is sponsored by Designers Marble. Designers Marble is the premier custom cultured marble manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. Their synthetic marble products, made with patented true stone technology, offer the beautiful look of natural stone at a fraction of the cost, while maintaining exceptional durability and ease of maintenance.
00:00:23
Speaker
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Hosts Introduction and Soccer Updates
00:00:48
Speaker
Hi, this is Brad Evans. You're listening to No Sadi Addis.
00:01:00
Speaker
For the KSHG! The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle And the hills the greenest green in Seattle
00:01:25
Speaker
Welcome back to another edition of No Scradia Discs, sponsored by Focal Wines, Constellation & Company, Queen Anak, Puncture, Verity Credit Union, Designers Marble, and our broadcast partner Bootstrapper Studios. This is episode 255, and we're recording on Monday, June 26, 2017.
Sounders' Recent Performances Review
00:01:41
Speaker
I am your host, Jeremiah Shan, and I'm joined by my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our producer, Lickit.
00:01:47
Speaker
It's been far too long since we spoke, and suffice it to say, a lot has happened. The Senators have gone 0-1 in 2 in League and beat the Timbers in Open Cup play. They now find themselves 8th in the West in preparing to play the San Jose in the Open Cup round of 16 on Wednesday.
00:02:03
Speaker
which we probably won't record immediately after. For the sake of sanity though, we'll just be focusing on last week's proceedings. You may have tried to erase it from your memory, but the Sounders dropped two points to Orlando City on Wednesday when they allowed the equalizing goal on the actual final play of the match. The math may disagree, but Carmack Balance was basically restored on Sunday when Clint Dempsey scored a 94th minute equalizer to salvage a point in Portland, despite the Sounders playing down a man for more than a half.
00:02:32
Speaker
Given all that, am I crazy for feeling as though they may have actually, this like sequence of results may have been preferable to like winning in Orlando, like just assume that last play doesn't happen and then losing, assuming the Dempsey play doesn't happen. The matches effectively played out exactly the same except the results were different.
00:02:57
Speaker
I'd rather have the points, especially in a home game. I mean, I guess the nice thing about Portland is that it's a conference game. They're not one of the teams that have a game in hand. And in fact, I think they might have actually played one more game than us. And they're pretty close in the standings. They're a team that we might have to beat out to get into the playoffs or get good seating.
Sounders' Emotional and Strategic Resilience
00:03:26
Speaker
You know, I guess that helps. But as great as it was, I mean, if you if you offered me the points, I think I'd probably take them. And I guess it is something bored. It's like the old field goal. Exactly. Exactly. And, you know, if they if they do
00:03:45
Speaker
if they do get that extra point, they're level on points with LA for the last playoff spot. But I get what you mean, especially from kind of an emotional level, you know, to have such a gut punch against Orlando and, you know, and then against Portland to kind of erase that against, you know, your rival, a team that you are in direct competition with for playoff positioning.
00:04:09
Speaker
You know, that feels really good and I think the biggest thing is that
00:04:16
Speaker
this team did not all of a sudden forget how to play soccer. And they just, I feel like it's the way Jordan Morris at the beginning of last year where he was getting into good positions, he was getting good looks, and he just wasn't finishing. It feels like the whole team has kind of had that this year. And maybe something like this is what it takes. Really before that goal, and it looked like it was gonna be a 2-1 loss,
00:04:45
Speaker
My thought process was basically this entire season feels like just this endless string of bad results that if they weren't in the context of this endless string of bad results, wouldn't bother me that much. You know, games where.
00:05:01
Speaker
the Sounders played pretty well and just couldn't convert their chances. You know, games where they like the Orlando game where, you know, the opposition gets one or two good looks and that's enough for them to get points. But it's just game after game after game after game like that.
In-depth Analysis of Sounders vs. Portland
00:05:18
Speaker
And so, you know, I think to kind of
00:05:21
Speaker
turned that around a little bit was definitely helpful and I think another theme this year has been you know the sounder's kind of not really dealing well with adversity whether that's real or whether that's just kind of a convenient narrative I don't know but you know to play really really well for the first 44 minutes look like you're gonna take a lead into halftime look like you're pretty well cruising I mean Portland hadn't done
00:05:45
Speaker
anything up until that point. And then give up a penalty, get a player sent off, give up another really soft goal right after that. It would have been really, really easy to fold and just kind of fall apart. And the opposite of that happened. They came out, I thought were the better team for most of the second half. It's weird to have that set of circumstances happen where you're on the road against a team that's ostensibly better than you if you look at the records.
00:06:15
Speaker
playing down a man and then have this kind of collapse at the end of the of the first half and then come out and play as well as they did in the second is pretty encouraging so you know it's not it's not all great i mean the sounders still have to play much much better in the second half of the season but i think there are reasons for optimism
00:06:38
Speaker
I think that was maybe where I was coming from a little bit is that you know we we saw what how that half-ended and I think there was a lot of people that were immediately kind of saying well this is kind of the story of the sounder season you play well and they play like I thought they were controlling the match they had given up one really good look to uh... to portland before that word darona sprea hit a header off the crossbar although I didn't actually think that was that
00:07:06
Speaker
it was like off the top of the crossbar it was like one of those ones where if he had hit if it was gonna be on goal it probably would have been saved anyway either way the Sounders I thought had been better up to that point I think you know and we'll talk about this maybe later in this segment I think you and I probably
00:07:25
Speaker
basically agree that the call was by the book correct on Evans. Clearly a foul, so that's a penalty, even with the clarification from FIFA as to the so-called double jeopardy of a penalty and a red card.
00:07:45
Speaker
I think it can be reasonably interpreted that his second leg was not so much playing the ball as it was playing the man. I think that there's an equally reasonable interpretation of that, that he was playing the ball and that the second leg was more of a momentum situation than it was some kind of dangerous or cynical tackle where he's bringing down a guy on purpose who has a clean look on goal.
00:08:12
Speaker
which would justify a red card and a penalty if that's assuming that's the way it's interpreted. But I thought and then and then to give up that the second goal immediately after I mean it was just you know to go into 44 minutes
00:08:28
Speaker
with a lead and then to go into halftime down was almost like, God, can the centers do anything right? And I really, I mean, in some ways, I think it was really lucky that that second goal came at the end of the first half and not at the beginning of the second half, because I do think it gave the centers a chance to regroup. And I was watching that whole second half amazed that they were controlling play a lot of the time and that they were finding space. And I can understand why Caleb Porter was pretty upset with his team afterward.
00:08:58
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I was blown away by how much of the ball Portland was giving to the Sounders. I mean, you see teams play like that. And space. Yeah, yeah. How much time and space. And you see teams play like that when they have a lead in a game where a player has been sent off. But usually, they're the team that has had the player sent off. It's crazy to me that they just weren't going for the throat. I mean, and the Sounders,
00:09:24
Speaker
They're not a great counter-attacking team, especially after Jordan Morris came off. They had no
Sounders' Playoff Prospects
00:09:30
Speaker
real threat to get in behind the defense on the field anymore. A goal was either going to come from the run of play or from the set piece. It's not going to come on a counter where Portland is pushed too far forward.
00:09:45
Speaker
I thought it was absolutely crazy that they were playing so conservatively. And I don't know that they would have easily been able to go on and win it. I mean, the Sounders defense aside from 30 seconds played, I thought, really, really well in this game. But you have to at least try. And the biggest thing, I think, is that in those conditions,
00:10:09
Speaker
playing down a man, the Sounders had to be tired. You almost forget like the Sounders were playing down. They were chasing a game down a man in like 95 degree heat and you know, 50% humidity.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah. And, and, you know, you would think that Portland would want to make them chase shadows for a little bit and wear them out. I mean, it was just crazy. And it's so bizarre for, you know, a Caleb Porter coach team who I know he's evolved, but he, I mean, his big thing has always been, you know, possession and keeping the ball and, and, you know, playing the right way in a situation fit for his wheelhouse.
00:10:49
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And it was just it was very bizarre. And I have to say I do disagree with you a little bit on the red card on Evans. Oh, okay. I, I don't think that it's one of those calls that's so egregiously bad that you feel like it's
00:11:06
Speaker
a huge miscarriage of justice um but i do think it's really the exact kind of situation that the double jeopardy rule was introduced to prevent i mean really what they're trying to do is to prevent people from making cynical challenges where you're pulling players back in the area um that was just a bad tackle yeah handling a ball stuff like that um that was just a bad tackle you know and i think um
00:11:34
Speaker
Is there a reasonable interpretation of the rule that says, well, he couldn't have possibly been trying to play the ball because the ball was past him. If you think that if you think that that's the case, I mean, yeah, that's a reasonable interpretation. I just don't understand how you could think that that was the case given the situation. I mean, it was a pretty bang bang kind of play. So
00:11:54
Speaker
I think it was a bad call and If it hadn't have been for all the other calls that I kind of feel like have gone against us this season It probably would bother me less but it just seems like we're always on that end of those 50-50 calls that that change games
Clint Dempsey's Impact on Sounders
00:12:15
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I guess I'm sure timbers fans will say that the last game, the sounders were maybe a little bit lucky to not have had at least one penalty called against them. But but I think, well, and every game you can find at least one call that, you know, you can make an argument for that.
00:12:35
Speaker
And I guess that's one of the other things is it feels like when we kind of get away with something, it's a penalty doesn't get called or, you know, what could have been a red card is a yellow card instead of some like benefit rates. And, and, you know, I don't think it's, it was just such a Salazar thing to do where it's a very borderline call. And, and I think.
00:13:02
Speaker
in a game like that. I mean, I think you should call the game by the rules, but there's definitely discretion allowed. And I think that's more my issue is that I think that was a play that called for discretion. And Salazar would have been well within his right to award a penalty and not in there. No one had a gun to his head, making it like there wasn't like he was going to get called to the carpet if he didn't issue a red card there.
00:13:24
Speaker
And I think that that's kind of where it comes down to me is why I'd like to see that not be given a red card because You already punished the sounders are being punished. They're they're giving up a penalty. They're effectively giving up their lead There's no reason to like I just I'm I mean I'm with you
00:13:40
Speaker
I do think that it's a little bit more reasonable to have interpreted that as a red card, but I am with you in spirit in that. I think that there was a lot of room to essentially give them their punishment, let them have that, but you don't need to rub it in, essentially.
00:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, and I guess my thing, we've spent way too much time on this, but I guess my thing is that if the point of the new rule interpretation is to not overly punish people for making mistakes or whatever, it's to basically not destroy a team and their chances in a game
00:14:27
Speaker
For bat, you know a bad tackle or something like that while still punishing, you know the very cynical You know stopping the ball on the goal line with your hand or just pulling the guy down from behind. I just it's I don't understand how That can fall into the the same category as those kind of things. That's I guess that's my thing and you know It definitely is not as clear-cut as a lot of people would like you to think it was I would I would agree with that
00:14:56
Speaker
So, but aside from that, we haven't even really talked that much about Clint Dempsey's equalizer, which I think in and of itself, Clint Dempsey's performance overall, I think deserves a lot of praise. He's been, rightfully so, I think, the subject of a lot of consternation, especially over the last month.
00:15:18
Speaker
And he didn't exactly star when he was with the World Cup national, the US national team. He was an early sub out of the first qualifier. He didn't play at all against Mexico. He came back. Now, I did think it was interesting that Brian Schmetzer said that he basically exhausted himself in the Orlando game. And I thought it was interesting,
00:15:44
Speaker
In that, you know, if you're going to question his effort, I think you have to at least acknowledge that he gave whatever, you know, whether it was enough, he gave a lot in that Orlando game. He always seemed to just be a step too slow. And I don't know, you know, I think you can interpret that two different ways. One is that he's literally a step too slow. The other is that the balls that he was a step too slow to were just out of his reach. And I don't know that he would have necessarily gotten to those balls two or three years ago anyway.
00:16:13
Speaker
That said, I think that what we saw, the version of Dempsey that we saw against Portland is basically the version of Dempsey that we're going to have to see for a lot more of the rest of the year if the Sounders are going to not just make the playoffs, but actually make a run in the playoffs.
00:16:29
Speaker
and have any kind of hope of defending their MLS Cup. We saw him at times try to do too much. There was one play in particular stands out where he took on like three defenders. He ended up dribbling into the box and he kind of went down looking for a penalty. I don't think there was a fair shout for a penalty there. That's a great example of him trying to do too much. But then we also saw,
00:16:52
Speaker
He had a couple plays where he had some flair, drove behind his back, and set up open teammates. I thought it was actually a really smart play to try that chip that he did, which was from almost midfield. I wouldn't say he almost scored on it, but he forced Jake Gleason to definitely recognize that this was a ball he needed to be worried about.
00:17:12
Speaker
And I've been saying, and I actually said this about Jordan Morris in particular in the game, is that what the Sounders need to be able to do is keep goalkeepers and defenses honest, which I think too much this year they have not been able to do. They haven't been taking early shots. They haven't been taking shots from distance that they sometimes could. And it's not because you expect necessarily to score on those shots, just like Clint probably didn't expect to score on that chip.
00:17:38
Speaker
It's just making sure that the goalkeeper knows that if he wanders too far off his line, that you're capable of burning him for it. And I don't think that that led to the goal, but I do think that it showed a kind of confidence that he had. And I think that the confidence that he attacked that cross from Roman Torres with was kind of a vintage Dempsey. And man, the guy just loves scoring in Portland. That's his fifth goal in Portland. I think he's only played four games there all time.
Sounders' Offensive Strategy and Improvements
00:18:07
Speaker
That's the second most goals that any calendar has ever, and this is going all the way back to 1975 when they first played the Timbers, has ever scored in Portland. The first is Roger Levesque, who has six. Similarly, that's his ninth goal against Portland. The only player all time to have scored more against Portland is also Roger Levesque, who has 10. And that's five goals is more than any other
00:18:33
Speaker
opponent has scored in Portland. I guess Robby King and Chris Wandaloski have both scored four in Portland.
00:18:40
Speaker
You know, he kind of tried to downplay the importance of playing in Portland to him, but man, the performance actually says a different thing. I mean, this is a guy, you know, you can also just look at that reaction when he's, of course it happens right in front of the Timbers army, and he kind of just gives him this, you know, arms out shrug, like, what'd you think I was gonna do? And it's just, you know, it's great to see, you know, in a lot of ways he's just kind of the perfect villain for this rivalry.
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think that it's very weird to me that people that know Quint Dempsey and what he's all about and what fuels him would taunt him. That seems like the absolute worst thing to do. I don't know. Some players, it definitely gets in your head, but with him, I mean...
00:19:27
Speaker
I don't think that Clint is unmotivated. I don't think that he has lacked an effort at any point. I think that, you know, like when he's playing against Portland and he's getting shit from the crowd, it's kind of like when a mom's kid is pinned under a car and she can pick it up, you know, like this adrenaline rush. It's the same kind of thing. And he's like, you know, 24 again.
00:19:48
Speaker
It just it's crazy that that you that you would take that tactic but Yeah, I mean Dempsey is it's a it's a really I'd say it's a big question If he was a Guarantee to come back next year, which I thought he was you know until recently I
00:20:09
Speaker
I guess you think they would have already exercised this option and they haven't and in fact Garth was openly talking pretty recently about the fact that you know that's still a decision they have to make.
00:20:20
Speaker
Um, and you know, he has looked a step slow at times this year, but he's also a player that's reinvented himself so much that maybe that's something that lasts for three or four games until he kind of makes adjustments. I don't know. Yeah. At a certain point, you know, Clint Dempsey is just going to be done and that's the way it goes with athletes. But, um, and I mean, if he, if he can't
00:20:46
Speaker
do more than he did against Orlando, maybe we're at that point. But I just, I don't know, there's so many extenuating circumstances there that I don't know that I'm ready to call it yet.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think I'm quite ready to write off Clint Dempsey yet. I do think that his return is far from guaranteed. I think it was probably as recently as a month ago we were saying that we fully expected him to be back. And I think that he's given the Sounders a little bit more reason to be skeptical. But if this ends up being the turning point of the Sounders season, if it ends up being the turning point of Clint Dempsey season,
00:21:24
Speaker
Uh, you know, if he goes on and scores, let's just say 10 goals from here on out, which I don't think is unrealistic, centers have 16 games, he'll be available for most of those games, especially since he's not going to the groups, well, there's a possibility he doesn't get called up to the Gold Cup at all.
00:21:44
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, I think, you know, 10 goals is maybe a high, a high target. But if, you know, if he gets to 10 goals in RV, he scores 10 goals from here on out, it would be pretty hard for the centers not to bring them back. I think that they probably
00:22:01
Speaker
I don't know, maybe they would just as well move on from him, but I don't know. I think that the Sounders would probably rather feel good about bringing him back than feel comfortable with not bringing him back, if that makes sense. Yeah, and I think, I mean, there's something to be said about the relationship, you know, that he has with the team, which seems like it's really good. He seems like he wants to be here. Yeah. And, you know, the Sounders talk a lot about wanting to treat, do right by their players and treat them well and everything. And if he's productive,
00:22:28
Speaker
Um, you know, if he does end up scoring 15 goals on the season and they say, well, see ya. Right. You know, and so, um, and you know, I mean, if he ends up looking like his old self or reinventing himself in some way and, and being effective.
00:22:44
Speaker
Maybe he's not anybody's first choice in the world for who they would like to be in one of those DP spots But he's certainly not a bad one And he's still you know He's still the most famous American soccer player in the world and that does have some value and I don't think that's why the Sounders are gonna keep them I mean ultimately I think they're they're being truthful when they say that you know, they're designated players or soccer decisions, but I
00:23:08
Speaker
I mean, I don't know, it's gonna create, it'll be interesting, I will just say that. And I don't mind the idea of Clint Dempsey feeling like he's being disrespected and that people are writing him off. And if that's what it takes to get him to perform like Clint Dempsey of yore, then I'm all for it. You know, if, if Cristiano Ronaldo
00:23:30
Speaker
obviously this is hyperbole. If Cristiano Ronaldo can, you know, turn himself, go from, you know, can lose the steps that he's lost and still be the best goal scorer in the world, I mean, I don't think it's, you know, it's too much to think that Clint Dempsey can't do something on a relative scale at MLS. I mean, this is still probably the most talented
00:23:56
Speaker
talented American to ever play an MLS and you know I think he you know I think he's still got he's still got a gear left if he or he's still got a he's got a reinvention left in him I think and it will be interesting to see and then I guess that's get getting to title back to my my opening premise
00:24:14
Speaker
Is like if you know the Sounders hadn't scored more than one goal in a game since April 29th That was a span of eight games Clint Dempsey hadn't scored since Since May 26th, I believe it was a span of five games for him and or four I guess he got four games scoreless
00:24:31
Speaker
but it you know, it's it's like if you got if the cost of that one point was kind of kick-starting your offense and kick-starting Clint Dempsey and Getting the mentality of the team to believe that every time something goes wrong that it's not gonna snowball and that's kind of one of the things that ended up defining I think
00:24:50
Speaker
Ziggy Schmid's final days was this sense of woe is us, and why can't we catch a break? And if they can kind of, if this is the game that breaks that cycle, if this is the game that essentially gives their mojo back, I think that point will be well spent, essentially. We don't know what will happen, and I'm clearly putting a positive spin on all this, but I'm not, I think today, I feel pretty optimistic about the sounder's ability to
00:25:20
Speaker
you know do something this year especially when you consider that they've got at least one significant addition to make and that could come within a month or so.
00:25:29
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that the biggest difference right now between this year and last year is that the West sucks. Like it's not good. You know, the sounders are, um, let's see, nine points out of first. So, you know, okay. They're not going to get sporty guys. Probably not four points off of everything else. I mean, that's.
00:25:53
Speaker
you know, every other position. And yeah, there are some teams that have games in hand on them, but those teams suck. So I mean, it's right now, I feel like this team could make the playoffs because their schedule is about to get a whole hell of a lot easier. They could probably perform the way they've been performing this far and make the playoffs. If they play better and they make a key addition or two, I think they'll probably be fine.
00:26:19
Speaker
I mean, it's important to remember that the end of their skit, they got 16 games left. They've got nine of those games to play at home, which is significant. And they're playing mostly Western teams, a conference, by the way, that they've done far better against than against the East. Against the East, they've just been atrocious. Against the West, they've actually been pretty darn good. And there's, you know, I think it's not that hard to talk yourself into a strong finish similar to last year. I'll put it that way.
00:26:48
Speaker
No, I mean, not at all. And, you know, the remarkable thing about last year was the gap that they erased. They're probably not going to have to erase the inclusive after this year.
Gold Cup Impact on Sounders
00:26:58
Speaker
And I think that's an important thing to remember. It wasn't that they were so bad and then they were so good. It wasn't just that. They were trailing by 9 points at one point. And to erase a 9 point... The distance between them and the 6th playoff spot is... Sorry, the distance between them and Sporting Kansas City is the same as it was between them and the 6th playoff spot last year.
00:27:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's the thing is like, what they're doing now is what the LA galaxy did for years. You know, this is just kind of the like, Hey, we've got an older core. Um, it might take us a while to figure, you know, we're trying to do some rebuilding on the fly kind of thing. Um, last year it was, you know, it was like a, it was a movie plot kind of thing. It was like a situation and yeah. So.
00:27:46
Speaker
You know it's not great, but it's it's not especially dire. I don't think Yeah, well that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We're gonna come back We're gonna talk a little bit about the gold cup roster that came out and
00:28:00
Speaker
And the sounders, the impact on the sounders, there is quite a lot of impact on the sounders for the Gold Cup. And kind of talk about some of the, you know, we'll talk about that. And we'll finish off with taking your questions. You're listening to Nurse Olypis.
00:28:20
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:29:10
Speaker
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00:29:44
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Arietes. We had the gold cup roster come out while we were
00:29:56
Speaker
We had the Gold Cup roster come out this last week and the most notable, we can kind of go through the whole thing but we'll at least start with the direct impact on the Sounders which was Christian Roldan and Jordan Morris both being called into the group stage and Clint Dempsey being left off the group stage roster. Now there's still a chance that he could get called in
00:30:18
Speaker
for the knockout stages which would suck partly because then he's not gonna he wouldn't necessarily well I guess he would at least miss the July 4th game if he had been called in to the initial roster so I guess that's the trade-off is that you get him for July 4th but maybe you lose him for what is it July 19th
00:30:38
Speaker
that's their first game during the group stage. And there's two games that players in the knockout stages would potentially miss. But anyway, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan, that's the headline aspect of this. I don't know, I guess I'm kind of ambivalent about Jordan being called up. I think that it makes a lot of sense from a national team perspective to call him into the team. From a Sounders perspective,
00:31:05
Speaker
I'm perfectly fine with him leaving. Maybe it would be good for him to get this time. I don't think it's like the world... What annoyed me so much about him being called up for the World Cup qualifiers wasn't just that the sounders were going to lose him. It was the knowledge that there was virtually no scenario in which he would be used
00:31:27
Speaker
He was going to be needed so badly that it was going to justify missing as many games as he was going to miss for the Sounders.
00:31:37
Speaker
And on another level, I just didn't think that Jordan Morris played well enough to deserve a World Cup qualifier call-up. It was kind of baffling. I guess they're calling in him for his tools. But I kind of found it really off-putting and unnecessary. And I don't know what he got out of it. The Sounders certainly didn't get anything out of it. The Sounders were hurt considerably, I think, by it.
00:32:03
Speaker
and I just don't I mean I just don't get it it makes sense you know this is Jordan Morris is the kind of player that should be getting calls for the gold cup yeah I mean he definitely should and he you know I would expect him to play I think
00:32:18
Speaker
Agadella is probably going to start over him, but he's a good option to have around. He might start a game or two. And if, you know, maybe he maybe he figures it out or or gets off the Schneider or whatever it is, maybe a change of scenery for a little bit will help him. Because I think in fairness, he hasn't scored since he's been back, but I think he's looked pretty good since he's been. Yeah, he's kind of looked like the same, the same, you know, the same as the old Jordan.
00:32:45
Speaker
And, you know, and I think a big part of why he struggled earlier in the year was was that he was injured and I think he's healthy now and I think that helps but yeah, I mean he's, you know, and we actually have a big break for these games which is nice. So it's not as big a deal.
00:33:04
Speaker
Roldan hurts, though. That hurts a lot. And it hurts less because we have Svensson who's played so well in midfield. Of course, this is all compounded by now not having Evans for the July 4th match. Right, which is true. But it's against Colorado, so...
00:33:21
Speaker
You know, who gives a shit. But I mean, I guess I guess Fisher's with Jamaica. Dilem is with. Martinique. Martinique. So I mean, yeah, I have no idea who's who's going to play. Jovan will be gone too, right?
00:33:36
Speaker
No, Jovan actually Trinidad did not qualify for the Oh, that's right. Yeah. And Roman Torres, thankfully, is not going to be going up to Panama because I guess it sounds like there was a mutual decision by him in the Panamanian Federation to basically give him this time off. You know, he's been playing in the World Cup qualifiers and he's in the middle of a season and I think everyone there.
00:34:01
Speaker
made a very level-headed decision to not play in both the Gold Cup and the World Cup qualifiers, which- Yeah. Seems fair, right? Seems reasonable. Fair. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so I have no idea who's going to start it right back. Again, I mean, I think there's a chance we could potentially see, I guess, a Trey Wingo. Trey Wingo. A Henry Wingo. We could see, I guess we could see Svensson. That doesn't seem to be very likely. I mean, I guess you can play ship in midfield, but oof.
00:34:31
Speaker
Although if you're going to do it, Colorado is probably a team to do it again since they don't actually use the midfield. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's going to be an interesting, it'll be an interesting setup for sure. Ship has kind of fallen out of the rotation, it seems like a little bit, but I don't think that's going to, I think that maybe speaks more to the general health than it does to anything Harry ship has or has not done. But, you know, maybe this is a good chance for a Harry ship.
USMNT Call-ups and Player Development
00:34:57
Speaker
I actually feel okay about the state of the sounders roster going into this
00:35:01
Speaker
this gold cup period. I don't think that there's any cause for serious, serious alarm. And I think that, you know, that Ledero is here, that Alonzo is here, that, you know, most of their Marshall is going to be here, who thankfully just still can't get a sniff in the US national team pool, even with Bruce Arena. I do not get it. I'm perfectly happy to not have, not be losing Chad Marshall.
00:35:28
Speaker
But man, it just seems like I like look at this. Depends. You can't tell me that he's not better than Matt Biesler. You can't tell me that he's not better than Eric Lee Chech, Lee Chaj, Eric Lee. I'm just joking. Fucker.
00:35:48
Speaker
uh... i mean but you can't and i don't i don't think he's but i don't think that means august better i don't think justin mora's better i don't think gram zucy is on this roster as a defender which i am fine with i'm i think it's great that uh... sporting kansas city is losing gram zucy and and uh... domed wire but i don't know that grams like if i'm supporting and see that i have to admit i'm a little teed off that uh... gram zucy is getting called into the
00:36:17
Speaker
into the early stages of the gold cup and i'm also kind of annoyed if i'm you know some of these like alejandro bedoya being called in just seems really unnecessary uh i mean i think the spring case he has a better right back than zucy so maybe you know maybe maybe right who knows yeah maybe it was like maybe uh it was they're colluding to that's the buzzword these days uh to to like get
00:36:43
Speaker
a better, you know, to get Graham Zusi out. But, yeah, I mean, putting the roster thing aside, I am genuinely happy for Christian Roldan. He clearly wanted this call. He clearly would like to represent the United States. You know, he's still pretty young, but I think this makes him feel a lot better about not accepting calls to El Salvador and Guatemala.
00:37:07
Speaker
who admittedly are not teams that are likely to be ever going to the World Cups. I don't know, maybe in the expanded World Cup, maybe they could get in. But that's eight years away still. So I think it's great for Christian Roldan. I think it has some potential benefits for Jordan Morris. So I mean, from the Sounders perspective, I think I'm at peace with this roster.
00:37:36
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I think that I would like to have both players, but it's a tournament MLS is taking time off for. I think it's two games that happen during the tournament. Yeah, I mean there's the July 4th game, which is not technically during the tournament, but because of the
00:38:00
Speaker
because the players, as far as I know, were called up actually today, you know, it impacts that July 4th game and then it potentially impacts two games in the knockout stage. Yeah, I mean, which, you know, that's not ideal, especially to lose Roldan, but it's part of the arrangement and so it bothers me less. And, you know, I think from Roldan's perspective,
00:38:28
Speaker
As good as he has gotten over the past year, I mean, he's I don't want to say he's a different player because he was he was pretty good all of last year, but he's.
00:38:38
Speaker
He's just a much, much better version of the player he was at this time last year, I think. And I think that there's a legitimate chance that he could be on the World Cup roster, that he could maybe even be pushing for a starting spot on the World Cup roster. But he has to actually get into the player pool and play for the US first. And I think that's a big step towards that. And it's going to be interesting watching him play with Acosta. That should be pretty fun.
00:39:06
Speaker
So I mean looking at this roster, I wouldn't be shocked to see him be one of the guys that gets sent home at the knockout stage. I don't know if there's a whole bunch of candidates to come into midfield. I suspect that most of the guys that get called in at
00:39:23
Speaker
You know, they might call in a couple of attackers. I guess I don't. I maybe should look at the preliminary roster to see how likely it is to send home any midfielders. But I think that there's, you know, a decent chance like you might start one or two games in the group stage.
00:39:38
Speaker
But I don't think he's a guaranteed starter in this group. You know, you've got to assume that Bedoya is only there to start, right? Like if Bedoya doesn't start games, you've got to wonder why they bothered bringing him in. Kellan Acosta, another guy who clearly, I mean, this is a guy who's probably the future of the newest national team, along with a Christian Pulisic.
00:40:00
Speaker
If you don't know who Kellan Acosta is at this point, man, watch yourself some FC Dallas games. I don't know that there's a player in MLS that strikes a more true free kick than Kellan Acosta, and he is a quite impressive player. I think the reason that Morris has been kind of frustrating is Acosta just like stole all of his hype through telekinesis or something and absorbed all of his talent.
00:40:25
Speaker
And, you know, I feel like we would be a little remiss if we didn't like give a shout out to Kellen Rowe, who is a federal way native, who is a Seattle product of the Seattle soccer scene through and through. You know, if the Sounders had existed two years earlier, he would absolutely have been a Sounders home grown player. This was a player who, when I interviewed him before the draft in 2012, I think it was,
00:41:10
Speaker
feather in the in the cap of the Seattle soccer scene to have three genuine Seattle area products in that and I'm definitely counting Christian Woldon as that because I think so much of his development has happened since he came to UW and since he's been with the Sounders so I feel like it's very fair to include him as a Seattle soccer product.
00:41:15
Speaker
he ended the interview
00:41:32
Speaker
So anyway, I mean I think those were the three players who I was most interested in though Is there anyone on this right? I mean you got to be pretty excited about Eric Lehigh being being in this yeah, I guess I mean that that fire is cold Since he hasn't been playing a villa for a while, but I'm happy I mean it's it's been weird that he's been completely left out of the pool for as long as he has because he's been I
00:41:54
Speaker
I mean, it's crazy I look at his his 11 caps and I think honestly remember the last time he played I think was a gold cup final in 2011 I think really I think cuz I was only lost four two to Mexico Yeah, it was so it's it's been a long time these last game I believe
00:42:16
Speaker
Yeah, it might have been. Yeah, so it's been it's been quite a while. And he's been, you know, one of he was, I think, Nottingham Forest player this season this year. I mean, it's not like he's been struggling. So it's weird. But I have no idea why Brad Gazzan is still getting caps. It's insane.
00:42:40
Speaker
But, you know, I don't know why Sean Johnson is getting caps either. Yeah, I feel like it's crazy to me that Bill Hamid has fewer caps than Sean Johnson. Yeah, it's pretty nuts. I think like Bill Hamid is everything that Sean Johnson people think Sean Johnson is. Right. Except that he doesn't allow as many bad goals. I mean, Bill Hamid is like any goalkeeper prone to, you know, every now and then he'll have a gap. But this is, I think.
00:43:07
Speaker
the best shot stopper, maybe an MLS. I think I'm really, I really like Bill Hamid and I've never been a big fan of Sean Johnson. And so I'm hoping, I'd like to see Bill Hamid get a lot of play in this tournament. Although my suspicion is that Brad Guzzan is gonna end up getting most of the starts because the US still seems to think that he is like,
00:43:30
Speaker
with Tim Howard. I mean, Tim Howard is like 55 years old and clearly the best goalkeeper in the pool, which is crazy. Yeah. I mean, Guzhen was for like two years was legitimately miles better than Howard. And and I don't I still think it must have been shell shock in his last season at Villa, but he just he's been awful, like actively bad to the point where I mean, he like
00:43:56
Speaker
I wouldn't start him over, uh, over Cannes in Atlanta. There's no way. Uh, and you know, and yet here we are. And he will. Do what? I said, and yet he will. Yeah, he will. Definitely. Cause he makes a ton of money. So it's weird. All right. That's probably a good place to call this a segment. We'll come back, uh, answer some of your questions. You're listening to Nos Adietes.
00:44:27
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:45:56
Speaker
Okay, ding. Rofe says, is a credible title defense still in the realm of possibility? I guess it depends on how you define credible. That seems the main thing. Yeah, I would agree with that. And I mean, I don't know. I think that the sounders, I don't think them getting to the playoffs is crazy. And I think that if you add a
00:46:24
Speaker
a D.P. winger or a D.P. target forward to this roster that you can't tell me that it wouldn't be competitive in the playoffs. So yeah, I mean, I guess credible is a fine way of putting it. R.D. J.R. 37. R.T. J.R. 37, yeah.
Player Contracts and Future Speculations
00:46:47
Speaker
Should Roman take over free kick in corner duties after that sublime cross seduce?
00:46:53
Speaker
It was a really good cross like it was I and I would like to take some credit like as soon as I saw Roman Torres run into that ball I was like he's gonna cross this to Dempsey and I'll just say I called it a call to goal there. I don't think I actually did but yeah, I mean that was I don't know how many center backs there are that are capable of Footy putting in a cross like that so hats off for sure
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah, I kind of want him on the end of those, though. Yeah, I don't think we want to be switching him to... There was a while back where there was this guy that was really high on him being a right back, and I don't think we want to do that.
00:47:35
Speaker
Okay these two questions are about Torres and they're kind of polar opposites so I'm going to ask them together and you guys can kind of just talk about them together. Dudes be asked raise your hand if you still believe in Roman Torres and then Twimberly23 asks is Torres forever broken? I mean I think it's a weird weekend to
00:47:55
Speaker
asked that question. I went back and I watched most of that game and in my head I thought that Roman Torres had had a really bad game. But the more I thought, he was clearly at fault for the first goal. He slips and he makes a meal of the header and he puts Brad Evans in an impossible position.
00:48:21
Speaker
But he slipped. It wasn't like he made the wrong decision. It wasn't like he, you know, he slipped. And he ended up slipping, I think, three times in the game. But, you know, it wasn't his fault that, you know, it was Svensson who lost his mark on the second goal.
00:48:36
Speaker
Even, like, there was another play where I thought that he was kind of at fault originally, where Nuhu made a throwback to Fry, and Fry and Torres had a bit of miscommunication, and Torres basically had to, like, scramble to clear it, although I think it ended up going off of a Timber Spire. It was almost a disastrous sequence. And at first, I was inclined to kind of blame Torres, but after watching the play a few more times, I actually
00:49:04
Speaker
think it wasn't Torres's fault. And I understand why Fry was upset with Nu-Hoo because he basically put the ball in exactly the wrong place to play that. So I don't think Torres had a bad game. I don't think he, I guess he did lose his mark in the Orlando game. I think that, but that was also a situation where the Sounders as a defense collectively got caught where they didn't have the matchups right.
00:49:34
Speaker
And I think in hindsight, they probably shouldn't have put two people in the wall when they had, when they were bringing up a goalkeeper to be an attack so that they were effectively down a man on marking there. So I don't know, it was not a great decision for sure. But before that, I thought he was playing pretty well. So I mean, I don't know, I don't think Torres has been like, I don't think he's broken.
00:50:03
Speaker
I think a big difference between Torres this year and Torres last year is that other teams are just punishing the mistakes and they weren't really doing that last year. And it's kind of fallen on him a little bit more than you would really expect it to. So I think he's still a very good center back, but he's always kind of been prone to brain farts, I guess is the way to put it.
00:50:31
Speaker
And I mean, I guess if you, you know, I don't think you want to be spending $500,000 a year on a guy who effectively might be your third best center back. But if you don't have to pay him $500,000 a year, you know, I don't think Torres is like, I don't think we want to write off Torres yet. I guess is my point. Okay. Uh, series of density questions now. Um, first one is muffin top model asks, is density going to be cool with being a super sub?
00:51:00
Speaker
I don't think he's going to be a super sub. But he does look great when he has a super sub. I just don't think that's going to happen. Okay. And the second question is, Turner ESQ asks, pretend you're a bookie and give odds of following for 2018. One, sounders pickup deuces option. Two, deuce leaves via free agency. Three, renegotiate. Um, Tam. Question mark.
00:51:30
Speaker
So I actually thought about this a little bit, and I'm putting the odds four to one that he simply comes back at whatever number he would be guaranteed to come back. I don't think that's super likely. I don't think it's totally unlikely, but I don't think that's super likely. I would say the most likely option is probably that he, given what we know today, is that he leaves as a free agent. I put those odds at even money.
00:52:00
Speaker
I gave slightly better odds than being picked up as being renegotiated. I don't think he's going to come back as a Tam player. I don't think there's really any hope of that unless somehow you talk him into taking the NBA equivalent of a veteran minimum because you're bringing in such good players around him that
00:52:23
Speaker
that you can you can make that work but i don't i don't think that's that's gonna be happening uh so i put that at three to one i would like to disagree for the sake of radio but i think i think you're pretty i think you're you're pretty spot on so i won't you're here first first they both agree uh
00:52:48
Speaker
And then this question is Torres and Dempsey. Adam P. Underscore 360 asks, Torres and Dempsey bring back both, one or none?
00:52:56
Speaker
I wouldn't be shocked if Torres leaves just because I think there's a pretty active market for him. At least we're being led to believe there's an active market for him. That's definitely true. That's a fair point. I think the odds are pretty good. Both of them finish out the season. Dempsey definitely will.
00:53:20
Speaker
Torres is a little trickier because, you know, the offseason in Columbia, which is where he's most wanted, apparently, or we're being led to believe he's most wanted. Next year, I think, I mean, we kind of covered Dempsey, I think he's probably back. Torres is, I don't know, it's tough because
00:53:40
Speaker
He's still a really good center back. He's just making a lot of money. And Gustav Svensson, even if you don't think he's as good as Torres is, is not making a lot of money. And so that makes it kind of tricky. Although we don't know what Svensson's going to be on net. That's fair.
00:53:58
Speaker
is that, you know, the reason one of the reasons that sentence on such a low number is because his team in China is picking up a big chunk of a salary. And we have no idea if that's something that would continue next year or how much it would cost to bring them back next year. Yeah, that's fair. And that I mean, that definitely complicates things. I still think down to my head he's back, even if even if the sentence is on the same number next year. Oh, I do, too. But it's a complicating factor as well. Well, I mean, Torres is back.
00:54:27
Speaker
I think even if, even if Sensen's cheap, yeah. Right. Okay. Okay. Monvers asks, what are your thoughts on Roll Dawn starting in different positions in three matches?
00:54:41
Speaker
I mean, I don't think it's ideal, but I think it's impressive that, you know, he started, in case you didn't know, he started as a number 10 in the Portland match. He started as a right back in the Orlando match, and he started as a defensive mid his normal position in the New York City match.
00:55:00
Speaker
And I think he played well in all three positions. He had his goal against New York City. That's a hard game to assess, but I think we know he can play that position. I think he acquitted himself very well as a right back. I thought that, you know, the biggest danger with him at right back is that you have to move him out of his best position. And then as an attacking mid,
00:55:25
Speaker
You know, I don't think he was a star by any stretch, but I think he gave you what you expected to get from him. And then he actually ended up playing probably more minutes as he did, but he played more minutes as a right back than he did as an attacking mid because he moved over to right back as soon as Evans came out.
00:55:45
Speaker
You know, it's hard to compare all those, but I think it's, it shows it's an oppressive sign of growth that he could move around as much as he has and he looks confident in all three positions. And I think he might, he's still, you know, like as at the same time, he's become an elite, you know, defensive mid.
00:56:01
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that Zakwani said after the game that the biggest concern he has with roll down right now is that his versatility is going to keep him from developing. But I think as long as he's getting 75%, 80% of his minutes, and he's just getting spot starts as need dictates at other positions, I don't think that's a huge concern. And as he gets older and grows as a player, that's going to be hugely beneficial to him.
00:56:28
Speaker
it might not be beneficial to the Sounders because you know players with that kind of versatility command a little bit more attention so I would love to keep him forever but the better he gets the harder that is so but you know I'm glad he can do it but I hope he doesn't have to do it a whole lot more I guess is is the short and skinny of it yeah I think he's we're better off he's better off we're better off if he's able to stay in one position
Sounders' Depth and Lineup Flexibility
00:56:58
Speaker
BG Kev asks, how do I applaud CR7 getting the call up while still wondering how many tributes District 12 must send Bruce Arena in the capital? I love the imagery. But I mean, I don't think it's
00:57:14
Speaker
It's not that hard, I think, as long as, you know, you keep in mind that, that Svensson is gonna be, you know, is, I guess you hope that whoever plays right back on, against the, against the rapids is, plays well. And then after that, I think the Saunders are fine. I think that having Gustav Svensson for this exact scenario is perfect.
00:57:40
Speaker
So I actually think they're reasonably well covered. I think you can cheer for Christian Roldan with a clear mind. It's always one of those tricky things, though, where it's like you're happy for him. But MLS players don't get any attention outside of MLS until they start playing for the national team. And then it's like, you know, people come and start sniffing around.
00:58:02
Speaker
Yeah, I guess that's the bigger concern. Yeah, but yeah, we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it, I guess. Right. I mean, at the beginning of this year, we were all worried that we were supposed to be worried that Jovan Jones was on his way to
00:58:20
Speaker
Don't I don't remember who it was but I was listening to the the post game show on the radio because I needed to be in an air-conditioned environment for a few minutes and They were saying that you know knew who was playing and this was on the the post game show That knew who was playing cuz Jovan Jones was in the shop window and it's just like are you I don't I don't know who it was, but I thought it was pretty funny because I
00:58:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, best I can tell he has apparently he had some knee tendonitis flare up this week. And that was the reason that he was on, you know, I guess on the show, on the broadcast, they said that he was on a fair amount of painkillers to be able to play as much as he did. Yeah. Speaking of New Who and Jones, Matt Glass asks, how impressive has New Who been in the past few games?
00:59:12
Speaker
He's been impressive. He knew it was great because he's just everything happening at once all the time. And it's, even if it's bad, it's pretty cool to watch.
00:59:31
Speaker
I mean he's, I think that it's a situation where NuHoo is really fun to root for. He's kind of a bull in a china shop. He's got this great body. I think he's a lot of fun to watch. I do think that we've maybe, and I was really skeptical of NuHoo being an MLS quality player. I'll admit that.
00:59:54
Speaker
And I think that I was clearly wrong. I think he's got a future in this league. The fact that he's 19 years old, that he's already able to competently play, he's showing great improvement even from week to week. That said, I don't think that New Who is in, is like, bang is like in danger of, or that Joe Ben Jones is in danger of losing his job to New Who. I don't, like, Joe Ben Jones is just so much more of a Polish player right now.
01:00:27
Speaker
Okay, let's see. Going to Jordan Morris at hooligans underscore 29 asks, is Jordan Morris just having a sophomore slump or just bad luck? Well, I mean, I think that Jordan Morris is legitimately having a sophomore slump. I don't think it's bad luck. I don't see him, you know, he's not banging balls off of crossbars and he's not, you know, he's not even putting a ton of shots on frame, frankly.
01:00:56
Speaker
So I think that he's legitimately in a slump. I think that he's doing a lot better recently than he had been doing during the worst parts of his slump. But I mean, he hasn't scored since the since the RSL game, right? I mean, it's been a long. I mean, he's only got two goals this year.
01:01:15
Speaker
He's got to start banging in some goals. I don't think he forgot how to play soccer. He's definitely in a slump. There's no way around that. I think the question is, and we kind of talked about this earlier, but how much of that is
01:01:34
Speaker
him in a slump and how much of that is he's been hurt and he's just starting to get healthy and you know every now he starts to get healthy he gets called away to the national team um but he definitely looks tentative in a way that he did not down the stretch last year i mean you know he was popping in goals with the outside of his boot and and you know just clowning people and and we haven't seen that as much this year so
01:02:00
Speaker
Um, you know, it would be nice to to see that kind of swagger come back Related question Aspect ratio ross asks how many how much will and can will or can uh jamo benefit under usmt Coaches, well, what will it take for him to fall out of favor for club and country or country? I don't think he's gonna fall out of favor with the club just because
01:02:29
Speaker
I mean, right now, even with this version of Jordan Morris, he's one of the best, you know, best for attacking players on the team. And so he's probably gonna start. If they sign another attacking player and he continues to struggle as much and Wilburn continues to score, I think there's a definite, you know, possibility that he could get parked on the bench for a few games or maybe even the rest of the season. For country, that's trickier because so much of his,
01:02:58
Speaker
so much of his call-ups are based on potential and and so when that patience runs out is kind of a an open question but i think he's he's got a little bit of a little bit of leeway there yeah i i would say you know he i don't think he's gonna completely fall out of
01:03:21
Speaker
favorite with the national team as long as he's healthy and because I think he's still getting calls for his tools more than his production. But yeah, I don't think it's like that level of crisis yet where he's in danger of seriously losing his spot. It's really not permanently.
01:03:44
Speaker
OK, open cup questions. Dave W Montgomery asks, predict the open cup roster on Wednesday. Will Brad Evans play since he's out for the next MLS game? And then Disknut also asks, how many first-teamers will start on Wednesday? Well, Brad Evans, I think, might be on the roster. I definitely don't think he's going to start. You know, weirdly, this roster may include
01:04:09
Speaker
it's
01:04:24
Speaker
He'll probably get another look. Aaron Kovar, I suspect, will start this game. And then Zach Mathers was the only other, I guess Tyler Miller technically too. But Zach Mathers, I assume, would start in this one. And then Christian Roldan, obviously not going to be in it. He was a first teamer that was on this roster. Henry Wingo probably moves into the starting lineup.
Path to Playoffs and Attendance Challenges
01:04:45
Speaker
I would suspect that he's probably a good candidate to play right back.
01:04:50
Speaker
Elviro Fernandez obviously won't be in this one. I think Shae Atakoya may actually be hurt, so...
01:04:55
Speaker
He might not be in this one. I think Will Bruin will be on the roster. He may, I guess it wouldn't be crazy to start him, but I would be a little surprised if he starts, given that he's still dealing with an injury. And then, you know, the guys that are left, Harry Shipp maybe gets in there. Maybe Gustav Svensson, no, I take that back. There's no way Gustav Svensson, Tony Alfaro's healthy now, so he'll probably get in. Trying to think who else from the first team might.
01:05:25
Speaker
might make that like you're not gonna see Jovan Jones you're not gonna see Chad Marshall you know I'm trying to think who else would be I mean I guess I don't know maybe their next game is until the 4th of July so I guess right is that right there next yeah the next league games until the 4th of July so you have almost a week but
01:05:46
Speaker
Don't know that this roster is gonna be much better than the roster that was they played against the timbers I guess I wouldn't be shocked if Evans played if only because he can't play in the fourth So if he you know if he doesn't play He it's gonna be another God like three too long two three weeks between games. So That's true. Yeah, I can see them playing No, that's fair. That's fair
01:06:15
Speaker
Okay, dudesBS, what do the sounders need to finish as a playoff team? So I did a little bit of math, and right now the sixth place team in terms of points per game is the LA Galaxy, and they're on pace to basically get 46 points. And the sounders to get, or I'm sorry, they're on pace to get 47 points. And for the sounders to get to
01:06:44
Speaker
to 47 points, they need to get 26 more points. And to do that is not actually that outrageous. They could do that simply by winning the rest of their home games. I doubt that's going to happen, but that is a viable path to the playoffs, is just winning your home games. They'd have to play at a 1.62 pace and
01:07:10
Speaker
they could more realistically do something like 20 points at home and six points from the remaining seven games on the road, which that seems...
01:07:20
Speaker
doable, right? I mean, like if you can't get six points from your last seven on the road, what are we doing, right? Yeah, that's not great. And honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if the sixth place team ends up on less than 40, 47 points. I think there are some teams that have been overperforming a little bit. So we'll see. But I don't think it's, I think you're pretty right on it. I don't think that the path to the playoffs is especially difficult.
01:07:48
Speaker
I mean it's definitely not like last year where they had to average two points a game over their final half of the season. It's nothing like that.
01:08:08
Speaker
You know, it doesn't look, I mean, at some point you'd like to think that maybe we will, but right now Atlanta is averaging 4,000 more per game than we are, and they're on pace to break our all-time record, I think, by almost 1,000 seats, and they haven't even moved into their new stadium yet, where I suspect they will maybe not draw more, like I don't know how many of those seats they're gonna open up ultimately,
01:08:37
Speaker
They might cap it at 46,000 and then it, you know, so, and I don't think it's impossible for the Sounders to push past 46,000 someday. But I definitely, I think it's almost a foregone conclusion that Atlanta is going to be at least, maybe not break our all-time record, but they will certainly end our streak of leading the league.
01:09:00
Speaker
Yeah, and good for them. I think it's okay. It's good, actually. I'll even go so far as to say it's good that there's a team that can compete with us on attendance and best us on attendance. It's a good sign for the league. And, you know, that's okay. It's a bummer, I guess, in a sense that it's kind of been the calling card for a long time.
01:09:27
Speaker
But we're still averaging 42,000 a game, which is really good for this point in the season. Yeah, for sure. So I mean, it's good. Especially considering some idiots just thought that the franchise was totally going to fail and be away. So I'm an expansion fee.
Personal Stories and Creative Ideas
01:09:43
Speaker
Right? Yeah, I'm glad to see it.
01:09:50
Speaker
Okay, Levex Stash asks, favorite porter pouty face? Can you pick one? I mean, it's... I think mine is when he tries to shake Pep's hand after the game. That's pretty good. That was pretty good. I don't know that I have a favorite. I just love that he's so predictable in supplying them. ShotsFired asks, how are there no summer signing rumors yet?
01:10:19
Speaker
You know, every year I feel like we end up maybe not answering this question on this show, but there is a fair amount of consternate. Like even last year I think that there was like
01:10:33
Speaker
hand-ringing over not just like that Nico Ledera was the only player that was seemingly rumored to be coming here although that's not entirely true but in 2015 notably I don't think there were any notable transfer rumors and that was by far our most active transfer window
01:10:52
Speaker
Uh, you know, we didn't hear anything about Eric Freiburg until we basically reported that it was already a done deal. We didn't hear anything about Andres Avonchitz until he was announced. We didn't hear anything about Nelson Valdez until it was basically a done deal. We didn't hear anything about Roman Torres until after the window, like the day the window was closing. So it, you know, I don't think that the lack of rumors is indicative of a lack of movement. I guess that's what I'll say.
01:11:23
Speaker
Fair enough. Shield K2. Wow, I got that all wrong. Favorite best post wisdom tooth extraction foods. Perhaps a power ranking of them? Scrambled eggs.
01:11:39
Speaker
Definitely scrambled eggs because they like they're not like their food that you would eat any time, right? They're great. Like it's through like, you know Good call tomato soup or whatever or Vicodin. That's when I got my wisdom teeth out. That's what I did Yeah, well not with a Vicodin ideally but
01:12:02
Speaker
Good point. Definitely not pizza, Kyle. No, definitely don't eat pizza. And I'll say this, I'll throw this shout out. It's not about food, but the biggest mistake I made when I had my first wisdom teeth extracted was that like two days later, I felt way better. And I was like, I'm going to go to the gym. And I went to the gym and I worked out and then
01:12:28
Speaker
like the next day I felt worse than I had felt like almost at any other point in that recovery. And because the thing is, is that when you work out, you get lactic acid running around your body and that lactic acid will mess with your wisdom teeth wounds. So don't do that stuff.
01:12:48
Speaker
I got mine out when I was in seventh, sixth, seventh grade. Oh my God. And maybe it was eighth grade, I don't know. But my birthday present that year was, and it was my only birthday present because it was really expensive, was tickets to go see the Smashing Pumpkins and Garbage at Key Arena. And my mom scheduled my wisdom teeth appointment, and she bought the tickets too, by the way, for the day before the concert.
01:13:17
Speaker
And so I couldn't go because I was on a ton of Aikidin, and she was like, well, too bad. So I didn't get anything for birthday. My birthday that year. What? It was terrible. And then my grandma died on my birthday. That's the worst story ever. It was not a good year. It was not a good year. No, my god. But on the left side, I didn't have to see the Smashing Pumpkins and concert, which I would have been excited about then, but now it seemed kind of embarrassing.
01:13:46
Speaker
What? Garbage would've been pretty cool though. What? Garbage? Garbage was great. Oh my god. I cannot engage in this. Okay, moving on from that. MLS Watercolors asks, I have to paint Esprita to settle a wager. What should he be doing?
01:14:10
Speaker
I had not even considered this aspect of this wager that... Yeah. They have to be doing something. Yeah. Maybe... God, what could he be doing? I don't know. I think maybe it should be he and Dempsey with his arms out, kind of like the Titanic movie. Yeah. Oh, I like that. I like that. That's a good idea.
01:14:35
Speaker
Cause I mean, I feel like in the spirit of the wager, you have to, it can't be like him, like on the toilet or something, you know, like, uh, he has to be doing something positive. He could be like feeding the homeless or distributing water to the TA people in line. Oh, I like that. Right. That's good. I like that.
01:15:01
Speaker
Or if you just want to, you know, go full troll, just have him sign Timber Joey in half. That's a good idea. Oh, like a magic trick. Like a magic trick. Or just literally someone with enough. Or, yeah. But you could put him like in one of those dastardly hats, like top hat kind of thing. And the captions should read, where are your safety glasses now, Timber Joey?
01:15:30
Speaker
I'm an awful person. Okay. Next, next question. SSFC Scuttlebutt asks, or says, my, uh, in parentheses, Aaron, bachelor party was important in this weekend, sitting with the ECS family, singing full 90 plus five, twas 10 out of 10. What were your bachelor parties? I didn't have one. I eloped. It was great. Did you really? Yeah. I went to Vegas. I told you that. I told you that literally the last time we hung out.
01:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think you did tell me that. That's pretty funny, because we were talking about, so, because we were talking about Bachelor partners, now that, yeah, so the, uh, but for the show, this was for the show, I was reacting, because it sounds better on the show if I didn't know that. Yeah, that's definitely, I can't believe I fucked up the show so much.
01:16:20
Speaker
Great, exactly. It was going so well up until that moment. My bachelor party was only slightly more adventurous than more elaborate than your non-bachelor party.
01:16:33
Speaker
I had a few friends, me and a few friends and my dad went to the horse track in the Bay Area called Bay Meadows and we gambled on horse racing and then we had some dinner and then we came home and my wife
01:16:53
Speaker
my future wife decorated the house the apartment in like bachelor party esque stuff like she put some like lad posters up and stuff like that and like my best man totally dropped the ball did not do any planning at all and then we came home and we basically paid poke played poker and got drunk
01:17:17
Speaker
That doesn't sound bad. No, it was like really, it was like a fine evening. It just was not very like bachelor party. Right. I think that, uh, the, like the whole thing with bachelor parties that is gross is that, uh, if your best man is like kind of a dick, like he's going to make you do stuff you don't want to do, right? You're totally uncomfortable with and it's just like, no, you know,
01:17:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it was, I mean, I'll say this, is that the bachelor party was the pace, the speed that I wanted it to be. But some of my buddies were like, this is pretty low key, dude.
01:17:57
Speaker
I mean, I did get really drunk the night before my wedding, but I was with my wife. So, you know, like, I don't know how much that counts as a bachelor party, but mine was also, I was also in Vegas and, uh, my cousin decided it'd be funny to chain a bowling ball to me.
01:18:16
Speaker
I allowed it only knowing because the first stop we'd go they would absolutely make me take it off. So I Let them do that and humor them and then of course two minutes going into a casino Security comes up sir. You can't have that bowling ball attached to you Nice try though, it's dry sir Okay, last question
01:18:44
Speaker
Terrify asks, it seems that me watching games on TV, excluding games watch with Mark Kastner at his place is bad luck. Any suggestions for breaking a curse? You can move in with Mark Kastner. It seems like you answered your own question. That doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world to just have to watch games with a friend of yours. Yeah. It seems like a... When that friend is Mark Kastner, though, I don't know.
01:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, I know. He's going to yell at kids to get off his lawn and yell at the game. At least he'd be in person with him. He would have to read his tweets. That's true. That's true. You wouldn't if you do it. Yeah. But he probably says all his tweets out loud. I actually do that. Watching games. I did call. You're like, oh, hold on. Got it. No, I called Salazar a toilet seat before I tweeted that. Well, that's OK. But you're good material.
01:19:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's good. It's okay for you to do it because you have good tweets. That's true. I do. I do a very good tweet. Right? No. So that it? That's it. That's it. All right. Well.
01:19:55
Speaker
uh... good show everyone uh... thanks to our sponsors uh... football wines constellation company queen and acupuncture very pretty indian designers marble and of course a broadcast partner bootstrapper studios uh... signing off on behalf of licket in erin i am german this is no study at this and remember
01:20:20
Speaker
Green Douglas fir where the water's cut through. Down to wild mountains and canyons you flew. Canadian Northwest to the ocean so blue. It's Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Roll On, Columbia Roll On. Your power is turning our darkness to dawn. Roll On, Columbia Roll On.
01:21:07
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!