Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Are the Seattle Sounders Undisciplined? - Ep. 113
0 Plays2 seconds ago
Three more goals and two more penalties conceded later, and it was a 3-3 draw for the Seattle Sounders against the Colorado Rapids at Lumen Field on Wednesday. After a similar script vs. Sporting KC with more self-inflicted wounds, what should we make of the discipline issues afflicting the Rave Green in recent weeks? Later on, we hit our Agenda Check, the news that Inter Miami are reportedly close to signing Rodrigo de Paul, and take a quick check of some of the other MLS results from this midweek slate.
SPONSORS
Haxan Ferments - Specializing in unique, small-batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Haxan Ferments is handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Use Code LS for a FREE Hot Sauce w/ purchase!
Sounder at Heart - Our network host and biggest supporter, Sounder at Heart covers the Seattle Sounders, Seattle Reign, and MUCH MORE! Subscribe and Support to the BEST independent Seattle Soccer coverage.
Podium Edmonds - Located at 114 4th Ave N, just off Main Street in the heart of Downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore the best menswear in the Pacific Northwest. Tell them Lobbing Scorchers sent you!
Full Pull Wines - Founded in 2009, they the best boutique wines of the world to members, with special focus on our home, the Pacific Northwest.
My Data Removal - Data brokers are selling your personal information! Fight back with My Data Removal. Hunt down and scrub your sensitive information from the internet. Use code "LS" for $10 off your annual plan.
Seattle Sounders Tickets - Get tickets to an upcoming match straight from the club and help support the show at the same time.
MLS Season Pass - MLS Season Pass is back on Apple TV with access to every single MLS match—including Leagues Cup and the entire Audi MLS Cup Playoffs—with no blackouts! Subscribe today to support the show.
MLS Store - New year, new gear! The 2025 MLS jerseys are here, and MLSStore is the ultimate destination for every fan. Every purchase helps support our show!
Follow Lobbing Scorchers:
Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be scorcher.
Seattle Sounders' Performance Issues
00:00:21
Speaker
What's going on, everybody? Welcome in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers. We are recording this on Thursday morning, just after the Seattle Sounders played the Colorado Rapids midweek at Lumen Field in Match Day 25.
00:00:36
Speaker
and Noah, we've got a lot to talk about on this show. The Sounders are making history right now. ah They are on a truly unprecedented pace and not in a good way. We're going to talk about that and more as we also look ahead to what's going to be a Match Day 26 weekend matchup with the San Jose Earthquakes, also at Lumen Field.
Community and Merchandise Promotion
00:01:01
Speaker
Noah, we haven't laid one of these down in in like a week or so. how are you doing? I'm all right, Ari. it's um you know It's always good to see you. We're not in person today, but the reason for that is that the content must come first. And this game was such a it was such a match that ah that that happened that we had to we had to jump on the cans and and just and just rip let it rip. So I feel good. i I thought last night was fun, all things considered, because of the throwback kit. like That was like super sick. It looked great.
00:01:32
Speaker
It looked great, but... um Listen, last night's match was some content, so let's just get into it. because And it's really it's really the last two matches. Yeah, true. We didn't hit that.
00:01:43
Speaker
Both of them in because, as some of you may have noticed, there's been a bit of a recurring theme over the last couple matches, but really last, like, five or six matches, if you want to get technical about it. So...
00:01:56
Speaker
Don't worry. We're going to dive into all that discourse. We're going to hit our agenda check. We got a couple of news items to hit, and we've got some other results from around the league to break down at the end. So a lot to get to. But before we do all that, I do have to let you all know that Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network.
00:02:13
Speaker
If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com. What's that link? Sounder at heart.com slash L S. All you got to do is scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days
MLS Kits and Fan Reactions
00:02:25
Speaker
completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show.
00:02:29
Speaker
Uh, are we still on the road to a hundred sounder at heart subs? Yeah, we still are, but we, we did, we did rack. We did rack a couple. We racked a few where the road to a hundred is slowly, but surely.
00:02:39
Speaker
getting there and uh now more than ever it is a great time to become a member with the season in full swing subs get access to lobbing scorchers under the lights audio versions right to your podcast feed lobbing scorchers kickoff is now on the main podcast feed which is exciting news so uh if you ever want to listen to that in your car or throw that audio on that is on our main feed now uh shout out to our sponsors hacks and ferments podium menswear full pole wines my data removal uh Sub to our YouTube.
00:03:08
Speaker
Yep. Follow us on Instagram. Follow us on... Join the Grandma Bot Brigade. ti talk Yeah, join the Grandma Bot Brigade where you have summited1k on Instagram, but we're on the road there on on TikTok. Our TikTok's eating up.
00:03:21
Speaker
So go ahead and if you have not yet, give us a follow on all those platforms. We do have one more... new thing to plug regarding Seattle's new, uh, orca kit, which just dropped, which, you know, we're going to talk about some of the negatives, but the, the new kits Seattle's look fantastic, but really, know, I thought everyone pretty much cooked here.
00:03:41
Speaker
Basically. It wasn't really, there's maybe a couple where I was lukewarm on, but for the most part, I was like, these are all fire. The san San Jose clash one, incredible. The Dallas burn one was incredible. ah the minnesota one which i think you uh are you rocking it right now or is that i am rocking a minnesota kicks t-shirt this is actually from the 70s this was in honor of throwback week i had to put this on but this is basically they they did the minnesota kicks oh it's so good it's like my favorite nasl branding like the colors everything
00:04:13
Speaker
no these are yeah failed These archive kits were all great. And ah this this new Orca one that Seattle put out, I was thinking, man, like I think this is my favorite. I'm not a big kit guy. like I kit discourse among soccer fans is like way hotter than I typically wade into. I don't really care that much about the kit. Famously the fashion guy. Yeah, not really the fashion guy, but ah these Orca kits that Seattle put out, I think are my favorite kits they've dropped since the ah my my all-time favorites, which were the black and like neon green ones in 2014.
00:04:46
Speaker
yeah like I don't think I've had a... they' They've had some really good ones, like the Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Lee. They've they've been they've had a good run, but these are my favorites since though those black ones. They're so good, man. And like the just yeah the whole collection is crazy good. The Anthem jackets, the shoes they put out. like I said it on online, but man, like this is a generational run by MLS. Like we've we've seen some pretty bad kits in the past where it was everyone had a white kit.
00:05:15
Speaker
Everyone had a solid colored other kit. Adidas has stepped it up, folks. I mean, this is this is this is this is generational. So if you want to go and you want to buy some of these kits, any of them. I bought three, Ari. I spent my entire cut of the Lobbing Scorchers ah salary that I received, which is not that much. But, you know, if you buy some more kits, it might be more.
00:05:38
Speaker
um On three, I got the Clash, the Minnesota United, and the Sounders one. And guess who I got on the back of the Sounders one, Ari? ah Would that be Paul Rothrock? It'd be Paul Rothrock. It would be Paul Rothrock. So, but anyway, if you want to get any kit from the collection at all and also support the show, you literally don't even have to pay more money or anything. You just go lobbying scorchers.com slash archive, and it'll take you right there to all the kids, all the archive collection.
00:06:05
Speaker
We get a kickback. You get a cool kit. And if you have other discount codes and stuff, you can add them on top of that. So Pretty sweet. Pretty sweet, Ari. BobbingScorchers.com slash archive.
00:06:17
Speaker
BobbingScorchers.com slash archive.
Sounders' Discipline Problems
00:06:19
Speaker
ah All right, Noah. ah Enough intro, and let's just get into the discourse because, like I said, there's a lot to get to with this team right now, and... ah I'm just going to set the stage.
00:06:32
Speaker
I'm going to set the stage for what we have ah witnessed the last two games because it's kind of incredible how common of threads we've seen across these last two games. ah down to like what the scorelines were, but also how they got to that point.
00:06:51
Speaker
ah As we sit today, Seattle Sounders' last two matches, the first one at Sporting KC, a 3-2 victory, and a 3-3 draw versus the Colorado Rapids last night. We have seen the Sounders come out of the locker room after after kickoff and really play as good of attacking footy as they played all season, I think,
00:07:16
Speaker
ah The first half in each of these two games was this is the funny thing. It's some of the best they've looked all year easily like it's not even debatable. I would say that ah the sporting case. The first half was 100 percent the best they've looked in a road match all year.
00:07:32
Speaker
And then it carried over to the first half of the Colorado game. where they in both of these games they go up ah well and in at sporting KC they went up to zero or a three zero in the first half the Colorado game they go up to zero in the first half and then add the third ah like very early in the second half if I'm not mistaken And then from there in both of these matches do their absolute level best to blow the lead.
00:07:59
Speaker
ah They, they tried their hardest at sporting Casey to, to blow the lead. Couldn't quite do it. They, they end up winning that three to zero. And then this Colorado game, they uh they do blow the lead they blow a 3-0 lead at home end up dropping two points against the colorado rapids and as part of these ah second half debacles two and two of them in a row now you have uh knew who getting one of the craziest red cards we've ever seen from a uh sounders player incredible kansas city uh
00:08:31
Speaker
he I don't know if you saw this, Nuhu actually made international headlines for this. he was This got picked up by like British tabloids. Footballer throws ball at fans and ah gives middle finger to referee, which apparently he was demonstrating to the referee. that Allegedly. Allegedly flipped off the referee. and I think if I watched the clip and ah that explanation does make sense, but it doesn't. I don't think that really assuages the situation. It's still not smart. still not something that we've done here.
00:09:03
Speaker
ah So you have that, which almost costs them the win at the at the sporting KC game. And then, of course, ah came out yesterday, I believe. That new who has gotten suspended an additional game on top of his red card suspension. So he'll be out on the weekend as well.
00:09:19
Speaker
I thought if he got off a little easy, frankly. They could have justified two or three games additionally if they wanted to on top. If they had given him a couple more games, I wouldn't have really argued with it just because of the extent of the game.
00:09:34
Speaker
of the meltdown. And also like, I feel like anytime there's ah that boundary between player and fan that gets violated and you have a player that's, you know, throwing stuff into the stands or something like that, that's where it gets into territory where they can hit you with an additional suspension, ah but they didn't.
00:09:53
Speaker
He only gets the one game extra. So, I mean, I guess real quick, did you have any thoughts on the outcome of that suspension? Well, you know, as a fan who consistently chirps new who ah in podcast form and online, I do think that fans who chirp knew who should be protected by the league.
00:10:13
Speaker
It is our God given right ah to crash out about that individual player. And, um you know, I do as a part of the anti new who brigade.
00:10:24
Speaker
um I am. In fact, we are a union and we were collectively bargaining and arguing against the league that it should have been more time in a higher fine and uh no but all things all like seriousness wise what is he doing I mean we talked about it after the game if you watch the reaction show with Jeremiah basically he wasn't even involved in the foul he wasn't even involved in like the play like in anything he just like started going over and Brian said apparently like
00:10:55
Speaker
there might have not even been anything said to him. The provocation, as I understand it, was that the fan flipped him off, which is like, that is ah that's par for the course. like Yeah, like, brother, you you play professional soccer. You've got to...
00:11:12
Speaker
ah assume part of the job is also it's sporting kansas city they do we not remember jordan morris scoring his like fourth goal there going one two three four and then in the background all you see is people just flipping him like it just the whole crowd flipping him off no i mean i don't get it part of part of the job is uh getting heckled and ignoring it that's like what you have to do so we're playing uh throw a ball at someone Yeah, definitely not smart decision-making there. I did think Schmetz's response to some of the, there was a ah funny quote he had, I thought, where, ah you know, he was getting he was getting grilled about it at training, and he was like, well, you know, to my memory, this is the this is the first time that ah that he's ever, like, thrown a ball in the in the stands and then and then ah and then flipped off the ref or demonstrated a flip off to the ref. And it's like, okay,
00:12:07
Speaker
Yes, technically, it is the first time that he has made international headlines by throwing a ball into the stands and then flipping off the ref. That is true. He has never done that before. However, I think you could argue pretty credibly that there is a pattern that extends beyond this.
00:12:23
Speaker
ah particular incident, including one like two weeks earlier in Vancouver, ah where he got a red card on just a very ill-advised about as ill-advised a foul as you're ever going to see.
00:12:38
Speaker
So I would not necessarily dub it in isolated incident. Uh, but your honor, my client only killed. This is the first time he's killed someone, my yeah honor. Like i he hasn't done it before.
00:12:49
Speaker
i I didn't know about... I mean, I get it. like you know he Schmetz has to balance ah you know disciplining the players and talking to them behind the scenes or whatever. I know he gave it Nuhu, man. He has to just protect them publicly. yeah yeah but As you would want your coach to do. like I don't want Brian to come out and throw Nuhu under the bus as much as I think that what he did was absolutely diabolical and silly. i don't want my coach to be like doing that to my players. That's how you lose a locker room. regardless of how you feel about new who regardless of how you feel about like the situation like you want your coach to still stand up for his players because he would I mean he was basically as publicly disappointed in him as I've ever seen him in anyone he was like we're gonna handle this internally trust me you know like like and that's and that's he was fined by the league and suspended by the league but that's not even taking into account what the Sounders might internally choose to do on top of that
00:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. Well, here's, uh, here's what I'll say, ah about that as it relates to this last game against Colorado, which is that I'm actually, I'm glad that knew who was not playing in this, uh, in this Colorado game, because if you had been, ah people would have found some way to, to make this whole situation about new who.
00:14:09
Speaker
And, ah It is about New Who to an extent, but this is about everyone right now, in my opinion. New Who has had the crazy red card to two raise crazy red cards, one in Vancouver, one at Sporting Kansas City.
00:14:22
Speaker
ah But let's just go through the the track record in these last five, six games, because like I said at the top of the show, this is a historic pace record.
00:14:33
Speaker
right now they're micro dosing the red card wedding right now like they're micro dosing like i i follow the whole league a lot in addition to seattle i have a select group of teams that i follow not as closely as seattle but i follow pretty close i've never seen a run like this i've never seen it this is unprecedented let's just break it down after a uh a sequence last last night at women field against the Colorado Rapids, where they got two penalty. They gave up two penalty kicks in three minutes.
00:15:06
Speaker
I think. Yeah. Two penalty kicks in three minutes with a three zero lead, which is not what you want. No, uh, They have now accrued five red cards and conceded six penalties in their last five games.
00:15:21
Speaker
ah And the first thing I want to say about this is that, you know, after the Sporting KC game, we were doing our postgame show and we were talking about how that ending was not...
00:15:33
Speaker
Good. Not a vibe. It was not a vibe. and We were not a bobbe you're kind of joking around like they shouldn't be singing Jingle Bells. No one should be. No one. Jingle Bells video was a little bit sad. Half hearted Jingle Bells.
00:15:44
Speaker
ah So we we we joke. We joke. But ah we had some people in in chat saying like, you guys are crashing out over a win. A win is a win. Like, doesn't really matter. Who cares?
00:15:56
Speaker
This is why it matters. This is why it matters because yes, in that situation at Sporting KC, they got away with it. They ended up winning the game anyway. But our point at the time was that if you continue on a path like this where you're having these lapses in discipline, you're getting red cards and you're conceding penalties by the boatload every single week, that is going to catch up to you and you are going to drop points and And if yeah i mean if you're on a pace of five red cards and six PKs in a five-game span ah or anything close to that, it you're not going to win anything of consequence.
00:16:33
Speaker
ah Because when you play against good teams, you're not going to get away with that stuff. And it's not like the Colorado Rapids are all that incredible this year. But if you spot them two PKs in three minutes, all it takes is one other goal. And then you drop the points and that's exactly what happened.
00:16:51
Speaker
So that's why this stuff, like the pattern of this stuff is, uh, even though they've been taking the results, it's just, it's not sustainable.
00:17:01
Speaker
And I think it it brings up the, uh, topic of discussion that I wanted to hit with you here this morning first, which is like, ah does this team have a discipline problem right now? Five red cards, six PKs in the last five games. Schmetzer was downplaying that notion at his presser last night. He was saying, look, when I look at these, it's not really a pattern of one type of thing, one type of player.
00:17:22
Speaker
It's all different kinds of players. You have the KKR. I'm paraphrasing, but this I think this is sort of what he's getting at. The KKR and RBW and ADT incidents are like young guys who are either trying to make plays or not like thinking it through fully in the moment.
00:17:39
Speaker
The new who won you have the new ones, you have a guy. Crashing out twice in a row, which ah there is pattern disciplinary patterns with Nuhu dating back to last year. That's one thing I might disagree with Schmetz on.
00:17:53
Speaker
But Nuhu also, historically, he really is. don't think he is like a repeat red card offender consistently if you look at his track record through his whole career he got the one in van in vancouver last year but that was like a handball one that wasn't a crash out yeah and then you have these so he i think he's trying to kind of frame it like even these crash outs are ah a little out of character for new if you go back through his whole career and then you have the j bell one which i think that's one that uh
00:18:26
Speaker
You could argue he got a little unlucky. So sch Schmetz is saying that this is not necessarily like a team wide discipline issue. It's just isolated incidents that you have to handle individually. And then hopefully they'll stop happening, which, okay, but like this is happening every game right now and it's led to i mean five red cards and six pks conceded that's 11 instances in five games of shooting yourself in the foot and in this situation in colorado you drop two points when you're dog fighting for that top four spot in the west that's uh and you had a lot of other results go your way last night we're going to talk about that later
00:19:07
Speaker
but if they If they win that game, they're above LAFC in the table. And just outside of that, anytime you were up 3-0 in any given game, that game has to be dusted.
00:19:18
Speaker
That's it. like but You have to be able to see out a three-goal lead in the second half, ah especially at home, but even the Sporting KC game where they let him back into it. That's you can't have two scenarios in a row where you give up three goals and then you almost blow the lead.
00:19:37
Speaker
So ah before we get into our next topic, what do you what do you make of this? do you think there's a discipline issue going on right now or do you lean more towards what Schmetz is saying and that this is isolated stuff that can be corrected?
00:19:48
Speaker
I think it's a mixed bag. Like I do kind of tend to agree with Schmetzer that it's a little bit hard to point a finger at a specific like thing that's going wrong.
00:20:01
Speaker
If it was all melting down and like they were incredibly silly fouls, then it's like, yeah, okay, you have a discipline issue. You have a team who's playing scared or they're playing frustrated or they're playing one one way or the other.
00:20:15
Speaker
But the reality is that that doesn't seem to be what it's like. Like ah RBW gets sent off on a second yellow for trying to make a play and keep a result. ah Same thing with ah waing with k yeah with KKR. Same thing with Andrew Thomas. Right. You just concede a penalty.
00:20:32
Speaker
They are surging. I mean, they were surging at that point. You're just going out to try and make a play. You're trying to keep yourself in the game. And I talked to him after, and you know ah he was very disappointed in himself that he gave that up.
00:20:44
Speaker
And he felt a little hard done by it as well. He felt like he got the ball and was like, hey, I got to rewatch it. But like I felt like I got a little hard done there. like I was like, yeah, he sold it a little bit. but like He might have got a little hard done, but he shouldn't have come off his line. Sure, yeah like I mean, the striker's going to take that every time. You know what I mean? like if he If he flops down like he did, he's going to win that foul, especially you know when you're um when you have momentum and you're surging.
00:21:15
Speaker
um and But what I have to say is like the new who... The Nuhu red cards in both instances, you are a veteran player. He has been playing here.
00:21:27
Speaker
Basically, he's the third longest tenured player or something like that. Third or fourth. You absolutely cannot be making a mistake like you made in Vancouver. We were both there.
00:21:38
Speaker
We watched it. We were like, why in the world are you doing that? That is frustration. was a horse call. it was 50 yards automatic first. Yes, yes. Brother, you got the flag. The refs threw the yellow flag, okay? Like, it was on the – like, i I cannot even imagine – Why in the world and how in the world you would get so frustrated to the point where that's what you chose to do as a defender. You can't do that, man.
00:22:04
Speaker
You can't. that is That is losing your head. Absolutely. And, you know, I was like, all right, whatever. Classic new who, you know, fine, fine enough. And then... And then the Atletico Madrid thing happens where he... Botafogo.
00:22:18
Speaker
Botafogo, I'm sorry. Where he's getting in a fist fight off the ball for no fucking reason. like And then on top of that, at like after that, he is absolutely crashing out and throwing a ball at the fan. yeah that's That's unacceptable.
00:22:32
Speaker
That's unacceptable. That you are... you are showing that is a pattern. That is a pattern that you can't fix with coaching. Everything else is a pattern you can fix with coaching.
00:22:42
Speaker
And so for me, when I look at it, Listen, I've been hard on Nuhu. I've praised Nuhu this year. I think he's gotten... He basically had a run where I was like, no wonder he's on this team. No wonder no one can replace him. like He's playing incredibly well. He was actually playing... He was pretty good in the Sporting KC game. he was He was fine. He wasn't doing anything like crazy. But it's like that's the problem, is when you're always on tilt for something like that to happen...
00:23:11
Speaker
Not worth it. Not worth it for me. Not worth it for me. And honestly, these these and and not to be like reactionary, but after after these three incidents, it's like I think that the team should really look long and hard and think about what his future is with the club because he's clearly... That's just three instances in a row.
00:23:36
Speaker
In a row of match-changing decisions from him who's supposed to be a veteran leader on your back line, that's that's unacceptable. That's unacceptable ah for any team across the board. And I would say that, you know, for anyone.
00:23:53
Speaker
And so I'm not going to pull the punches about it because, like, that's ridiculous. And everything that he keeps doing is... It's to his own detriment. There's no need to do it. and And, like, there is no one who can help him but himself. And so...
00:24:09
Speaker
i don't know what to I don't know what to say because i have been kind. I have been harsh. And now I think it's just time to look at the reality of like, as a defender, you kind of have to have some poise.
00:24:23
Speaker
He doesn't bring anything as a wingback. You have a young player in Reed Baker Whiting who, I'm going to be honest with you, I think has a way higher ceiling and can develop as a defender just as good as Nuhu.
00:24:36
Speaker
I don't know. It's food for thought. I i just, i I think that that's unacceptable.
Sounders' Offensive Strategies
00:24:41
Speaker
And the rest of them, the rest of these kind of fouls can be coached. But this stuff, that's up to Nguyen to decide what he wants to actually do.
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, as far as Nuhu goes, we'll see what Schmetzer and the coaching staff, like how they handle it, to what extent he has to re-earn his role. Oh, he'll probably play again. They love him. Yeah, I mean, I don't think he's going to be exiled from the team.
00:25:04
Speaker
I would be surprised if there's not some sort of ah protocol he has to go through to like re-earn his normal role, but maybe not. ah we're going to find out. But if, I mean, if stuff like this continues from New Who and ah and everyone else, I mean, you're saying like that ah it's stuff that's coachable, but it's also it's also a pattern like for...
00:25:32
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you the other defenders on the team. Let me say this too. And not just with the red cards, the backline giving up in penalties. Yeah, but the backline has been in shambles. The backline has been a ah huge rotation, a huge like plug and play mix and match kind of situation where you're you're you were missing Kim Kihei. You were missing Yamar. You're missing Jackson Reagan.
00:25:55
Speaker
And then, you know, your wing backs were kind of just like moving around and rotating. The RBW one is so unlucky. He doesn't need to do it, but he's, he's, he's inexperienced in, in that situation.
00:26:08
Speaker
And that's something that you can coach. That's something you can coach. That's the patience you can coach. We were talking about it yesterday with Christian Roldan. he was He was running on a yellow and we were watching the way that he was playing.
00:26:20
Speaker
And it's like that is that is the experience, right? Same thing with KKR, man. like you know The last level of soccer that he was playing was Next Pro and then college. And let me tell you something. You could punch someone in the face in college and not get a yellow card. So it's you know it's it's learning about the level. It's learning about the patience. It's learning about how to play on a yellow.
00:26:40
Speaker
You only get so many opportunities to play on a yellow ah You know, so it's it's like you have to know how to switch that off and and change your game. i don't I don't think those things can't be grown into.
00:26:52
Speaker
It's the attitude stuff that you can't change you or you can't have a coach be like, OK, when you get a yellow. Think about this. Think about that. Or I'm going to shift your positions and all of this kind of stuff.
00:27:05
Speaker
Like you can take someone off when they're on a yellow. You can't take someone off when they pick up a ball and throw it at someone's face in the crowd. No, you are you can't.
00:27:16
Speaker
So... Oh, I mean, we'll see like like i said earlier, Tish Metz's point that it's more... This is like a recent thing, more of the career-long thing. I don't think that's necessarily... I don't agree with that. Like, yeah, we talked about the disciplinary issues he had last year with were when he and Rui Diaz had the locker room crash out.
00:27:40
Speaker
there was There was the ah Uber situation in D.C., which that one's not like that big a deal to me in isolation. But when you you'd combine it with everything else that's happened, is just like another thing. So that I mean, the new who the the new situation is one that they're going to have to figure out.
00:27:56
Speaker
on its own, but the overall pattern of shooting yourself in the foot, and ah for now, you're unbeaten in four, somehow, in this run of five games where you've gotten five red cards and yeah six PKs.
00:28:12
Speaker
But like if if it keeps going like this, you're not going to keep taking results. They're fortunate that they've taken the results. that They're fortunate that they won the Sporting KC game, and they're fortunate that they didn't lose the ah Colorado game. You could argue they deserve to lose the Colorado game based on how that second half went.
00:28:29
Speaker
and I'm not going to say they deserve to lose in Kansas City. That that that was a good road win at the end of the day. ah And they earned that win. But I will say if they if they had lost that game, I wouldn't have said it was undeserved based on based on how that went. So it's just ah it's just the what's happening in these second halves, especially these last couple weeks.
00:28:53
Speaker
It's not sustainable. And, you know, it's going to get into it a little more in the agenda tech and agenda check, but it's doubly frustrating because like we were talking about the offense in the first half, the last two weeks has been fantastic. Like I have no notes really for either of those performances.
00:29:09
Speaker
Um, jesus ferreira uh let's save that for the agenda check but he uh he scored a goal in sporting kc and i thought he looked good again last night and just generally looks like he's fitting in with this team and attack a lot more ah jordan morris scored a goal in his return at sporting kc didn't have as good a substitute shift last night but the fact that he's already back on the score sheet and just how he looked in that kc game that's great news and uh albert rusnak has been fantastic He was incredible last night. Two goals and an assist.
00:29:43
Speaker
Sharp, dangerous the whole first half. scores that ah Scores that open netter, which despite some of the talking points out there, does count. It does count. that I was already, but all za we yeah we don't need to, like don't know and he's bad. It doesn't count. Ari Zach, Stefan, you can't, we we were you we don't need to turn this into like, ah you know, us, us bantering with the brigade thing we've done. We've done enough of that over the last year. I think it's played out, but I will say it was funny. the numbers don't lie.
00:30:18
Speaker
Numbers on the board. That's that's what i that's what I'm saying. like The Roosnack stuff at this point, the mental gymnastics have gotten laughable. Yeah, but Ari, he's lazy. You don't understand. yeah ah like The argument, as I understand it at this point, for a while...
00:30:35
Speaker
ah dating back to last season, but now especially this season, you you can't argue with the stat sheet production anymore because it just is what it is. So the argument comes down to like, well, the stats are fake. And because I have superior ball knowledge, I can see why the stats are fake and casual fans and national pundits can't see that because I'm a superior intellectual.
00:30:55
Speaker
I mean, he's, ah he has 16 goal contributions this year. He's on pace to push 30 again, like he did last year. There's got to be a threshold where like the at what point is the threshold where the stats aren't fake?
00:31:07
Speaker
Well, because there's got it. yeah There's got to be one. There's got to. You can't just keep doing this. It's not just stats. He's putting the ball in the back of the net. it the yeah did It's the undeniable stats. It's the ones and zeros like you can't. And and it's even the eye test. Like I don't.
00:31:24
Speaker
Oh, he looked you watch like game he looked like one of the best players in MLS last night, which is what he is. Which is what he was and is, yeah. and And it's getting recognized nationally. You got Apple TV talking about him as a Dark Horse and MVP candidate. yeah well Don't say Dark Horse.
00:31:38
Speaker
what't say dark horse are Well, so the broadcasters were talking last night about just genuine MVP candidate. So, I mean, if you're ah if you're if you're still on this stuff, it is literally, your it's comedic.
00:31:51
Speaker
It's actually, good it's a good bit. It's a good bit. Keep doing it. But you should understand that ah this is... entirely mental gymnastics. It's not bared out by anything statistically or frankly results wise when he's playing at this level. I know they dropped the points last night, but like that definitely wasn't his fault. And the open netter was, uh, that was,
00:32:13
Speaker
That was a ah I know people are saying that that goal didn't count because of Zach Steffen and it was an open net or whatever. You know why that goal happens is because Jesus Ferreira was pressing Zach Steffen, forced him into that mistake.
00:32:26
Speaker
And then Albert Rusnak, I think the thing you have to realize is that Jackson Reagan assist on that, by the way. this is if This is the last thing I'll say on the roost neck thing.
00:32:37
Speaker
And this this is your this is why the it doesn't count thing is silly. Like if you're on the it doesn't count thing because it was on an open net, I just want you to think of ah think to yourself what you would be saying if you had missed that shot.
00:32:53
Speaker
What would you be saying? You would be skewering him. You would be skewering him if he missed that shot. And you know, that's the case. And if that is the case, then if he makes that shot, it counts and you have to get him credit that give him credit.
00:33:07
Speaker
That's it. That's it. That is the end of that discussion. They're like, ah These things are subjective sometimes. This is not. This is not. I'm subjective. you are You are provenly wrong statistically.
00:33:20
Speaker
So anyway, I went longer on that than intended to. Look at the numbers. The XG. But the ah it's frustrating because you are playing so well on offense right now. Six goals in your last two games.
00:33:35
Speaker
You can't really ask for much better output than that, especially because of how they come out in these games. They jump right on top they jump right on top of Sporting KC, jump right on top of Colorado. They get three goals in the first half at KC and then three goals in the first 45, 50 minutes Colorado.
00:33:51
Speaker
right against against colorado ah But, like, that's what makes last night's meltdown even more tilting, is that you did so much good work. You played so well.
00:34:03
Speaker
You were so banging in goals. You've been banging in goals. The attack looks incredible. Like, just just see it out. Don't give up two penalty kicks in three minutes. Don't get... international headline making red cards where you throw the ball in the stands and uh get ejected and suspended for two games if you just i guess that's sort of ah positive is that theoretically if you just stop doing dumb shit like that you'll be able to win these games instead of either putting yourself in danger of mortal danger of blowing it like you did in kansas city or actually blowing it like you did against uh colorado so uh
00:34:38
Speaker
We're going to hit some lineup discourse and our agenda check. But ah Noah, any last ah thoughts on this whole discipline situation before we hit the ad break? how How long until we get sent off in the press box?
00:34:51
Speaker
Can we get sent? Can we get a red card in the in the PB? Is that possible? it It definitely is possible. Okay, so we'll keep you updated on if we can keep our composure. Zero red cards for us in the last two games.
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I don't get sent off. I stay on the field.
00:35:08
Speaker
And just like staying on the field, you should stay tuned while these ads play. That's what I was getting to. And we'll be right back. This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar.
00:35:22
Speaker
Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest.
00:35:35
Speaker
Their model is simple. One, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto tasting room is also open to the public.
00:35:47
Speaker
If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit fullpullwines.com. Breast conference not spicy enough? Not as hot-headed as Peter Vermees? Are your hot takes just not hot enough? Spice up your life with Hacks and Ferments.
00:35:59
Speaker
Handcrafted in Georgetown and made with the best local ingredients from across the Pacific Northwest. Specializing in unique small batch fermented hot sauces and vinegars, Hacks and Ferments brings bold flavors and natural fermentation together for something truly special. Whether you're a heat seeker or just looking to elevate your cooking, you'll find something you love at hoxonferments.com. That's H-A-X-A-N-F-E-R-M-E-N-T-S dot com. And right now, if you use code LS at checkout, you will get a hot sauce completely free with your order. Again, so go to hoxonferments.com, use code LS at checkout for a free hot sauce with your order. Hoxon Ferments, proud sponsor of the Flaming Hot Press Conference.
00:36:38
Speaker
Trademark pending. You know what keeps me up at night? No, not Alba Rusnak and definitely not the latest Sounders loss. It's the fact that right now, shadowy data brokers are collecting and selling your personal information online. Your address, phone number, email, date of birth, and even your relatives are all available to anyone willing to pay. That's why I started using MyDataRemoval.
00:37:00
Speaker
This scrappy team of Lobbing Scorchers listeners are experts at what they do. Scanning hundreds of data broker sites, finding your personal information, and demanding they take it down. Protect yourself and your family.
00:37:12
Speaker
Visit MyDataRemoval.com and use code LS for $10
00:37:18
Speaker
Ari, as a dedicated fashion expert, how do you do it? Day in and day out, I see you rocking the best fits. I need your help. Noah, I'm glad you asked. People ask me that a lot, and I can tell you need an upgrade.
00:37:30
Speaker
Looking for timeless menswear and durable home goods with a touch of the Pacific Northwest?
Team Lineup and Rotation Strategy
00:37:35
Speaker
Podium in Edmonds, Washington has you covered. As Edmund's first ever men's general store, Podium offers a curated collection of quality clothing and durable goods featuring domestic and European brands.
00:37:45
Speaker
Whether it's Filson, Dayhen 1920, or Wax London, everything in the store is made to last, be loved, and even passed down. Located 114th 4th Avenue North, just off Main Street in the heart of downtown Edmonds, come shop and explore at Podium to find all the essentials for the modern Pacific Northwest man. They're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 6, or Sunday from 12 to 5. Also, anytime online at shoppodium.us, as well as Instagram at Podium Edmonds.
00:38:19
Speaker
All right. Before we hit this agenda check, Noah, let's do some brief lineup discourse because... And if you skip the ads, we know. We know. Don't skip the ads. um I think there was there was talk, Nico and I were talking about it on Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff.
00:38:32
Speaker
Should Schmetzer rotate for this game with it being a three-match week? And do we think he's going to rotate? We did our little projected lineup, which was absolutely incorrect. I think I should have built it differently. I should have built it as like what we how we would handle it. Not what we thought Schmetzer is going to do, because we we put our completely rotated like Ryan Kent, Pedro De La Vega, Danny Leva, KKR, RBW starting 11.
00:39:00
Speaker
out there. Looking back on it, Spetz doesn't really do that very often, like a fully rotated lineup like that. If he's got his is first choice starting 11 relative good health, even if it's on short rest, I feel like his...
00:39:16
Speaker
normal pattern is to just keep riding it. that's what he did in this game. There was not really much rotation. Moose started for Jordan, but the Christian and Obed double pivot was out there. Yaimar was, ah was back. So that was freaking awesome.
00:39:32
Speaker
He looks amazing. Oh my God. He looked good. Yeah. He looked out of his mind. So good. He was, you could tell how hyped he was to be back out there, but he, he subs off at, uh, at half, but this was more or less like the first choice 11, even the guys who just played on the weekend at sporting Kansas city.
00:39:52
Speaker
Um, So I think the question is, do we think that this lineup should have been rotated more considering the fixture congestion and heavy legs that we were witnessing in Kansas City? And I think that we saw a little bit last night. I think you could argue one of those PKs, the one that Christian gave up, that's like pretty out of character for him. And the guy has played 1,200 minutes in the last like 20 days.
00:40:16
Speaker
So ah you could argue maybe he shouldn't have been on the field. at that point, but let's let's talk about this through two lenses. ah Should the starting 11 have been rotated more?
00:40:30
Speaker
And then should the subs have come earlier? ah For my part, I will say that on the topic of should they have rotated the starting 11 more? I was saying yes before the game, and I was saying yes when I saw the starting 11 graphic come out. But but I mean, I think you have to acknowledge it did work. they The team looked incredible in the first half.
00:40:54
Speaker
And my kind of criteria for if it was a successful thing to do would be like, all right, I mean, if you're going to run it back again with a lot of these guys on short rest, it's just, it just has got to, they got to be playing up to their level. Like they can't look tired and they got to be able to play good attacking footy, get on top of them like they are, like like they're the home team, which they are.
00:41:16
Speaker
and score some goals. And they did, they did do that. So from that standpoint, like I do think you have to acknowledge that running the starting 11 back work, but where I think I start to question it is like, honestly, there's nothing wrong. He subbed Kim Ki-hee in at halftime because the IMR was on a minutes restriction.
00:41:37
Speaker
I imagine, but if you go up, I guess you're up two zero. As soon as you go up three zero, I think you can start like the process of getting getting Christian out of there, ah getting even getting Rusnak out of there, giving him some rest, getting Ferreira out of there at 3-0 before.
00:42:00
Speaker
and like it's tough because those PKs... both arrived right after Roosnack scored the third goal. And I think at that point, the calculation changed because it's like, well, this is a game now and I can't empty the bench like that.
00:42:13
Speaker
But it's like just right after, right after he scores, right after he scores, I think that's where I go back. And I'm like, if, if you had done that differently, maybe you wouldn't have seen some of the heavy legged kind of mistakes and fatigue and just frustration that we saw in the second half. You could tell there was like two or three yellows for descent in this game.
00:42:31
Speaker
ah I think Jesus Ferreira, Christian, and Jackson Reagan all got yellows for dissent. There might have been even more. So maybe that could have but have been avoided with earlier subs. But ah I mean, what do you what did you think? do you think that the 11 should have been rotated? And what did you think of the subs?
00:42:48
Speaker
I mean, I think either either can work. Like, I understand and respect the calculus by Brian for being like, Colorado's probably going to roll out their best 11 because they want to get a result on the road.
00:43:00
Speaker
I understand that. I respect that. But also at the same time, and he he really pushed back on this in the postgame presser, especially from Nico. And Nico asked him basically the same question three times about his substitutions and like how he kind of just like, it didn't seem like he had any urgency to get players off the field.
00:43:21
Speaker
And he was like, well, I used all five subs. Well, brother, um that was, yeah, you did. But it seemed like it was a lot of, a lot of it late there. um You subbed out your wingers.
00:43:32
Speaker
You subbed out, you subbed out your wingers. And then you subbed out a center back. Maybe if you knew you were going to like need to sub people out, like, I know it's hard to keep Yamar out. I know he played so well, but like, that's a calculus you got to think about. That's taking up one substitution. Yeah.
00:43:48
Speaker
Christian Roldan was dead. He was dead. By the 45th minute, that man was dead. He wasn't even playing that great of a game. like he This was probably one of his weaker games this season. like He looks a little fatigued right now. I thought Rothrock also looked fatigued. Rothrock did too, and I talked to him after the match, and he was like, dude, it was fucking hot.
00:44:07
Speaker
yeah Like it was hot. It was so hot. I don't, I don't. And that's another thing, man. Like you just rolled out a squad who was down in Kansas city playing in excruciating heat and then rolled them out in excruciating heat here. It is a toll on the body.
00:44:21
Speaker
It is a toll on the body to do that for in four days in between four days. Right. And Brian's like, Oh, well they had an extra day off brother. That doesn't, That doesn't mean anything.
00:44:32
Speaker
You know that. Like, that that's that's a silly excuse. And so I think that, I think for one, it should have been ah it should have been a couple of things. Here's what I would have done. I think it should have been more rotated.
00:44:44
Speaker
i think that Christian should not have started. i think you play Obed in that double pivot and you play Danny Leyva. You keep Rusnak on the field. so I think you start Jordan Morris.
00:44:55
Speaker
I think that you probably either pick Jesus Ferreira or Rothrock to play. And with Rothrock looking a little bit gas, I probably would have put Kent on in there.
00:45:08
Speaker
um and Let it rip. i I think that it was... And I hate to be so negative about this game, but like... And just in general, ah but like this is like... This felt like it was on Brian a little bit with with the substitutions and with the way that everyone was playing. Like...
00:45:29
Speaker
You can talk about mental lapses, and we did. We talked about you know how how it is on the players at the end of the day, right? You're on the field. But you have to put your players in a position to succeed.
00:45:40
Speaker
And I don't think you're putting your players in a position to succeed by rolling out the same exact, basically starting 11, two games in a row, in the middle of July, in the summer heat, with with with four days in between.
00:45:55
Speaker
Three days, four days, whatever it was. I think that's, that's, that's, I'm sorry. That's, that's c i mean that's malpractice. I see. I don't, I don't know if I can call the starting 11 malpractice because they, they were absolutely, got they were beating the absolute. Yes. That's, I think that's, they beat the absolute breaks off sporting Casey in, uh, through the first season.
00:46:18
Speaker
50 or so minutes or whatever it was. So if that is the result of what the starting 11 you rolled out was, then i don't, I don't really have, I can't really argue with that.
00:46:28
Speaker
Like, and that's, you got, like you got three goals. argue You put yourself in great position. you put yourself in position where it's like you should win that game 100 times out of 100. Anytime you're up 3-0 at home in the second half, like you are you have done like task one. yeah But I think it's about what happened after that to me.
00:46:47
Speaker
As far as Christian individually starting, I had this thought after because we put the Danny Leyva-Obed double pivot in our projected 11, and afterwards I was thinking about it. The concern I have with a Danny Leyva-Obed double pivot is that you've got – ah two players that are similar in skill set in that they're both like hyper-technical finesse players and they're not really like...
00:47:14
Speaker
dogs, like physical presence, like Ozzie Alonso. Obed can play that like holding D mid a little bit better than Danny. But he's, see, with the JP injury, you don't really have like bruiser. I mean, wasn't playing very well anyway, so it doesn't matter. But in terms of profile, it does matter because in terms of profile and skill set, he's more of like bruiser, enforcer, slide tackle, like dog on defense type of guy.
00:47:42
Speaker
I worry, i and and like I haven't seen them play together a lot, so maybe in practice it actually would work, but I worry that a Danny Weva-Obed double pivot doesn't have like the bite and physical presence and overall defensive presence that ah and maybe a that you kind of need from...
00:48:02
Speaker
Like, well, but like if you put if you put a double pivot out there that doesn't have those attributes, I think then you get a three, three, you might lose. you might be susceptible to other teams exploiting that a little bit.
00:48:16
Speaker
So, I mean, i don't think Christian played well, though, so I don't even think it mattered. Like, I don't think he played up to the standard that he was normally playing. I think he would tell you that. I like, I think that he looked like he was gassed. He looked like he was tired. He was making mental mistakes. He was giving up the ball in areas that were, you know, not great.
00:48:35
Speaker
And so if you were going to say, all right, we have Yamar back. Yamar is the type of center back who's going to step up and help in that defensive midfield if needed. Jackson's back. ah You have, you know, you have, um, it,
00:48:49
Speaker
Alex, right, who's been playing center back, who can, in ah in a moment's notice, kind of slide into that position as Yehmar goes forward. I just don't see the need to play Christian. I really do not see it. You can tell, you can assign Obed, say, brother, I know that you go forward and you're way more technical and way more all of this, but he can, he's also a ball winner.
00:49:09
Speaker
Like, he is also a ball winner. He can, he can, He's not a bruiser. He's not a physical beast. But like he can play that role in a in a kind of more conservative way.
00:49:21
Speaker
Danny Leyva, more of a... like Almost like a cam kind of situation. I just, but they're both, they're both up and down the field, right? They can both get back. And I just, I don't see the reason. the Colorado didn't look like they were doing anything damaging in the first 45 minutes. Anyway, they got momentum when they were given two penalties and you have to think about, okay. And hindsight is 2020 hindsight is 2020. I'm going to, I'm going to give you that Brian, you know, you, you only know what you know, but
00:49:53
Speaker
Christian Roldan gives up that penalty kick, gives up that that penalty on a mental error, on a mental lapse and mental frustration. and That he doesn't normally make.
00:50:04
Speaker
Exactly. And um I'm going to tell you right now, we were saying it from like minute 10. I said it from minute 10. I said, Rothrock looks tired and and Christian looks tired.
00:50:14
Speaker
And the fact that both of them were not subbed out at halftime, what are we doing? I'm confused. I'm not a coach, but I was confused.
00:50:25
Speaker
i See, i can if i I can look back on it and be like, all right, I can see why you ran the same 11 that was beating the brakes off Colorado up 2-0 at the beginning of the second half to try and get that third goal early in the second half, which they did.
00:50:43
Speaker
They did get the goal early in the second half, and that's where I question That's where, yeah that's where like to me, like with the benefit of hindsight, like you said, right after Rusnak scores that third, right there, get Christian off. yeah You can even get Rusnak off. you can get Just get everyone risk off. and then and these That dude that du could play 400 minutes in a week and be fine. Yeah, it's true. He's kind of yeah freakish like that. yeah They were going to run him out against San Jose oh definitely he'll play ninety on Saturday and play 90, and he'll probably be fine. He'll probably score three.
00:51:14
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, you know, it's, a it's funny. Before this game, i I issued the Sounders a challenge. I said, can you make it through one MLS match without one of the fullbacks getting ejected? And they said monkey's paw curl.
00:51:29
Speaker
good But they they did make it through the game without a fullback getting ejected. So, I mean.
00:51:38
Speaker
bob right Great job there. made it through Made it through the game without a fullback getting ejected. Unfortunately, you gave up two penalties in three minutes. So, I mean, I don't know. Overall, it kind of comes down to, like, if you can correct these issues and play like you did in the first half of each of these last two games and not have these disciplinary mental lapses where you're getting guys thrown out and giving the other team multiple penalty kicks every single week or whatever it is.
00:52:07
Speaker
i They look like a really good team, like in the first half. So I guess that's a positive, but just the fact that you have two games in a row where they went up three zero and then did everything in their power to relinquish the lead. And then in this case against Colorado did relinquish the lead.
00:52:27
Speaker
ah It's not, that's, that's, that's not what you want. That's not what you want. It's not what you want. ah All right. Let's hit our agenda check. Noah, there's going to be some more, there's going to be some more positive. know it's been a little bit of negative show we don't like to be negative but sometimes it has to happen i mean i think uh i think six red cards and five penalties 45 red cards and 27 penalties in three games you know you gotta got start to think i think that necessitates a little bit of uh critical discourse yeah
00:52:58
Speaker
let's get it Let's get into this agenda check. We got four written down here. ah Let's check in on the Jesus Ferreira is a bust agenda because we haven't checked in on that in a few weeks.
00:53:08
Speaker
And, you know, that's been a hot button one around here because, you know, Noah, I made my stand on this. I did too. made my stand. Yeah, we both we both made our stand on this, which was that He hadn't scored a goal, his first Sounders goal for a while. And the he's a bust agenda was already skyrocketing to the moon in in some circles.
00:53:32
Speaker
I was very, I made a whole there's a whole video about it. I said, I'm not, I'm not on this. I'm not on this yet. I believe in track record. I've watched this player a lot. I think he's going to figure out his role on this team. And eventually the goals are going to start coming.
00:53:48
Speaker
And i I essentially predicted that. And look, i've been I've been patient about victory lapping, and I'm still not going to do it as we sit here today on July 17th when he has three MLS goals to his name.
00:54:04
Speaker
ah However, i will say if we're talking taking the temperature of this agenda right now, My take is looking like on the trajectory to pay off to be the correct one. He has three three goals in ah in his last seven, I believe now, because he didn't he didn't score.
00:54:26
Speaker
Last night, but he got the ah game winner against San Diego. He got the one from Rothrock against Austin, and he got the one where he and Rusnak combined in ah Sporting KC.
00:54:38
Speaker
So he is starting to score goals, which is great to see for the team outside of ah any of the ah agendas, but also... I thought he looked really good last night, even though he didn't get on the score sheet. I thought he looked sharp.
00:54:51
Speaker
I thought he was combining with everyone well. I thought he was making good runs. I know that people were crashing out because of the breakaway that he had saved. that's that's Maybe that's something that I view differently than some people. That's a great...
00:55:06
Speaker
run. it was a great great chance, a really good save. He put the shot on target. Those are the exact types of chances I want to see him getting. So I was encouraged to see him continuing to do that.
00:55:17
Speaker
And then, uh, as mentioned earlier, he helps create that first goal from Rusnak, but through work rate, pressing Zach Steffen and forcing Zach Steffen to a split decision where he makes the error that leads to, uh,
00:55:33
Speaker
to the goal. You can say, you can say that a goal like that doesn't count because it's a, it's a howler by the goalkeeper, but we talk about making your own luck a lot on this show, right?
00:55:44
Speaker
That is a perfect example of making your own luck. You force the goalkeeper into that error by pressing him and making him make that decision. And he, if you make him make the wrong decision and he kicks it to the middle of the field for some reason like that, you give yourself a chance at a goal. That is not a,
00:56:02
Speaker
that is not just like merchanting that is forcing the other team into a mistake that you then capitalize on. That's what good teams do. Jesus Ferreira contributed to that. So I think he's looked excellent the last three or four weeks here.
00:56:15
Speaker
And it's looking like this might actually have been ah good trade. after all. And I think that anyone who is being honest with themselves and actually watching what's happening in these games right now should be able to acknowledge that even if you've been dug in on this, like he's a bust thing.
00:56:32
Speaker
and I agree. And they sold FC Dallas sold Leo Chu. So Sounders get a sell on percentage of that, which the Sounders could never sell Leo Chu for whatever reason so even just that bit of business that's a w because we i think there's like a 15 sell-on fee for him so whatever fc dallas got bring me my money plus we got their best player well one of their best players and don't know man i think it's looking good i think it's looking good i'm definitely clear like there's no shot i'm getting this tattoo uh three two more goals all comps
00:57:07
Speaker
And there's so many games left. There's so many games. They played 22 games. So they got 12 league games plus leagues cup. Yeah. Like there's so many games and this game specifically, i said this, I was like, you know, I hate to be wrong, but I also love to be wrong about stuff like this because I was like, dude, he's not a winger. He's a 10. He's a 10. He's a 10. He's a 10. And well,
00:57:29
Speaker
i may I may still think that his best position is the 10. He's really grown into his own out on the wing over there, and you can tell why he's getting starts there. like You can tell. You can tell why he's getting starts there over De La Vega and over you know the whole slew of other, because the entire team is wingers, but you know over everyone else. like he is He has shown that he is more talented than everyone was trying to tell me that he wasn't.
00:57:57
Speaker
Yeah, the ah I think that he's looked so effective in that wide channel the last few weeks and is starting to ah offer the end product and and get his goals.
00:58:09
Speaker
It's sort of like, ah it's part of the beauty of the player and like the the type of versatility and adaptability that we we both saw watching him at FC Dallas for years and that we were hoping he could bring to this team and it took him a while to bring to this team, admittedly.
00:58:25
Speaker
But that's, I mean, that's kind of what's cool about him is you can plug them in kind of anywhere on the front front line. And theoretically he's going to be able to adapt to it and be effective. And I think that's what's happening right now. Like he, ah he definitely, he does not play that position like a traditional, like Ryan Kent or Dave LaVega Paul Rothrock type winger where he's, ah you know, attacking from out wide and making runs like right at people.
00:58:51
Speaker
like that but he has figured out a way to be dangerous and effective playing out there and i was i was most encouraged honestly seeing that goal in kansas city where like the interplay between he and rusnak we talked about about that a lot ah earlier this year and you know i was saying i think it's a situation where i would expect talent to win out at a certain point you got two guys who are both the very like high iq players i think they'll figure out how to play together and it seems like ah that a wrong hero i was i was thinking about like you know another thing that i'm happy to be wrong about as well yeah like i was saying ah that uh
00:59:32
Speaker
hey I don't know. i just It's just good to see. i It's good to see. It's good to folks it's good to see. yeah It's great to see. No, I mean, he's, listen, it's, if you were like, this is what I don't understand about brigade people and just people in general who consume the team as like a, as an, and just like a constant negative lens of like, we're sitting here saying, listen, he's, he's a good soccer player. He's going to figure it out. No, it's the end of the world. He's the worst thing ever.
00:59:57
Speaker
Like, Who else? who like I don't understand. What are we going to sign some other random person? like i don't so I don't get the hate. I don't understand it. I've never gotten it. And so I'm glad that he's proving the haters wrong.
Player Evaluations and Potential
01:00:10
Speaker
here here was Here's what I was going to say, which is that like I was thinking about just the trade and in general and if it's...
01:00:18
Speaker
if it's going to work out. And I think we just kind of overthink these things sometimes. Like the way I was thinking about it when they first made the trade was like, Oh, Jesus Ferreira. I mean, I've watched him a lot. He's good at soccer.
01:00:30
Speaker
He's good at it. Correct. If you put him on a soccer field, he's better than Leo Chu. If you put him on a soccer field against other soccer players, he often is going to play it better than the players that he's playing against because he is good at it.
01:00:48
Speaker
yeah that's all that all That's a lot of what you need to be factoring in when you're making these roster decisions sometimes. like We talk so much about like tactical fits and the like is he the right position, right player, oh blah, blah. blah like Sometimes if you have an opportunity to just like go get a guy who is good at soccer.
01:01:08
Speaker
And in MLS specifically. that it is like that simple, and I think this is a case where it actually is just that simple. ah Next agenda. ah This is one from the national pundits. This is not us. I, we were not, we were not even talking about this. Cause I mean, we did make a video about this. Like,
01:01:24
Speaker
three months ago but we did but we haven't been it's not like we've been sitting here beating the drum no no no know this is an outrage that he's not in the discussion more like you know i get it leonel messi's probably gonna say what the agenda is yeah all right yeah it's it's the albert the national pundits albert rusnak one uh dark horse mvp and and a couple like actual mvp talk like this stuff is happening It's happening. It's happening. And it's not just us.
01:01:50
Speaker
I don't think it's the situation where he's going to get it. like No. i think Messi is on one of the craziest runs, statistic like statistical output-wise, of his career right now. He had a ah stretch before this last game where they got destroyed, ah where he had a brace in a league record five straight games, ten goals in five games.
01:02:08
Speaker
So he's, he's probably going to get it again when you're averaging 1.78 goal contributions per game for the season or whatever it is right now. Like you're probably going to get it. That's fine.
01:02:20
Speaker
But like Albert Rusenek has 10 goals, six assists. You can say it's fake, but it's similar to a guy like a Haney Mooktar.
01:02:31
Speaker
It's not quite at the pace of like an Anders Dreyer. Who's another guy in the discussion. But if he stays this hot, he's gonna he's going to be Maybe not on the exact same pace as Dreyer or Evander. Definitely not Messi.
01:02:44
Speaker
But like he's going to be in the in the mix. And that's the type of production that gets you in these types of national award recognition type discussions.
01:02:57
Speaker
And he should be in those discussions. He's playing fantastic right now. ah That first half last night was among the better halves I've seen him play. like I thought he was...
01:03:09
Speaker
a maniac yeah out there. And you know what I thought was so funny about his game last night was that he scored the open netter off the Zach Steffen mistake and that you, of course, instantly it doesn't count. like Yeah, everyone in the press box, we turn, we and Ari turn to each other doesn't count. and jeam But then you look at Twitter and Blue Sky and it's like, oh, yeah he has to have the open net. like yeah ah Like, I think you had a post about the... I asked the brigade if it counted and they said it didn't.
01:03:37
Speaker
They said it didn't. They said it didn't count. Yeah, exactly. But what was so funny about that is literally like, you know, not that long later, right after the second half starts, he scores just an absolutely disgusting, like openro head through the legs, classic Albert Rose and I goal as Brian Spencer would say, literally in the, he got asked about it in the presser and he goes, this is his favorite line when talking about Albert scoring goes,
01:04:02
Speaker
classic Albert Russ snack goal. It was. And the, the great thing about when he scores those is you can like see it before it happens. We literally, yeah, we were, yeah, we were like, oh I was just, wanted to yell at Zach Stefan, like go to the other side right now, go. Cause he's going to hit it right there and he's going to score that just ah I mean, uh,
01:04:21
Speaker
Tell me what was what didn't count about the quality on that finish. That was sick. That was a great goal. and And he also gets the assess assist on the Obed goal. So again, he's up to 10 and 6.
01:04:32
Speaker
And you know outside of ah brigade and agenda talking points, if you really want to contend for silverware and trophies in this league, you need your DPs and your centerpieces to be producing. That's step one.
01:04:48
Speaker
And he is in... some of the best form of his Sounders career right now. And it's fantastic to see. I listen, I think he'll go down at the end of the day as one of the better Sounders DPs.
01:05:02
Speaker
And that's just that. And you know what? People might not like it, but that's, that's kind of the truth, right? Like I think, He is not the bust that everyone wants to pretend that he is. Let's be fair. It's not everyone. It is a very small vocal minority. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not everyone. I think it's gotten to the point where the vast majority of the fan base respects and loves and appreciates him.
01:05:25
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's hard to... But there was... you were still It was funny. You were still seeing it last night. Like, like like do people ever get tired of like the mental gymnastics? i would go but I would get tired of every time he does something like that, having to be like, oh, it doesn't count because is the open ne that pass didn't wasn't actually that good. I would get tired of that.
01:05:48
Speaker
I don't understand what more you should ask for. Yeah, you should just be a fan of the guy. like It's a lot easier. i i don't i know let's tell him i don't know what to tell him ari i don't know ten goals five assists six sex let's hit our uh de la vega stock check he doesn't start this game which i thought he would we projected he would uh and he gets on as a substitute when the game is like in the balance there after the two pks I mean, i I actually thought he looked all right, but i think what it is is a situation where, and I think a few a few Sounder at Heart people pointed this out, but it's like he's the kind of he's kind of player like who isn't really effective as a super sub. like he He's got to start to find the game, get into the game, and then make his impact.
01:06:39
Speaker
When he's like had the time to find his footing and establish himself. That seems pretty clear to me that that's when he's at his most effective compared to coming off the bench. So, uh, I, I thought, I thought last night was among the, uh, the better that he has looked lately, but,
01:06:59
Speaker
yeah My thing with De La Vega just overall right now is like, you know, we get caught up in how we rate players, how I rate this guy versus that guy. Like, is he not producing because of...
01:07:16
Speaker
how good he is, or is it the coaching staff's fault? ah Ultimately for me, I'm not evaluating it. I'm not doing the evaluation on any of that, like the subjective nature of how I rate a player versus how someone else rates a player versus how Schmetz rates a player. Is Schmetz giving him enough opportunity to make an impact?
01:07:39
Speaker
I'm evaluating it on what the production is at the end of the day. And at the end of the day, It's one goal, four assists in 1,400 some odd minutes over the past two years.
01:07:55
Speaker
It just is what it is. Like, if you want to say that Schmetz is underrating him and suppressing him and he would be produced he has the talent to be producing more if he was given more opportunities or more runs and the coaches aren't giving that to him, or if you're saying, like, Craig Wybe's whiffed, this guy just isn't really that good. That's why he's not getting minutes and not producing.
01:08:17
Speaker
It doesn't that doesn't matter. It does like that's not what I'm talking about with this. And I think my my takes I feel like I've gotten twisted a little bit of like, oh, like you're saying that De La Vega isn't good when in reality it's like the coaches who aren't giving him the opportunity.
01:08:35
Speaker
I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about one goal for assists for his and MLS career while taking up a DP spot. I fully believe that he is a talented, I know he's a talented player. I've, we've seen in flashes how good and dynamic and flat out electric he can be on the ball and eliminating defenders.
01:08:53
Speaker
And he's the assist that he has picked up in ah both in league play and ah in CCC where I thought he, that was, he looked really encouraging in the Antigua series at the beginning of the season.
01:09:06
Speaker
But just as it stands right now, you got your number 10 DP that you spent $7 million dollars on like as a bit player, like a role player on the team with like overall production that doesn't match what he got paid for. it So that's just what it is.
01:09:25
Speaker
It's bad. It's not very bad. It's not ideal. It's not ideal. It's not good. It's not bad. And he's not playing well. He's not playing well at all. He's not playing. He hasn't been playing well.
01:09:36
Speaker
And i don't I don't have the solution to it. i I don't think anyone has. If anyone had the solution to it, they would be doing that and it'd be fixed. And to the people who...
01:09:50
Speaker
I had some people in my mentions like, you don't understand. Pedro de la Vega is actually statistically speaking just as good as Paul Rothrock, but he never is able to get on the field. And then immediately Paul Rothrock scored ah in that game, which was awesome. And I just said, mm-hmm, anyway.
01:10:09
Speaker
it's It's the reality of the situation that you can put 11 players on the field at one time. And what you're going to do is always put the best 11 players that give you a chance to win.
01:10:22
Speaker
I'm not saying that that piv Pedro de la Vega didn't get to run the rust out and you know do all of that and like really like cement his position that he wouldn't be able to figure it out.
01:10:32
Speaker
But he got that opportunity. He got that opportunity early in the year and it and he didn't win his position. He didn't. he' He's been injured. he's been you know He's played poorly when he's gotten minutes.
01:10:46
Speaker
yeah Yes, maybe he is not a come-off-the-bench player, but then you have to earn your starts, and he's not earning his starts. And Paul Rothrock is by far and away outplaying him in this league and the way that this league is set up. Jesus Ferreira, by far and away outplaying him in this league.
01:11:02
Speaker
you know i don't i don't know what to say like i think he's a great great player super talented but it's undeniable to say that like his stock is at the lowest it's ever been like it's at a sell now type of vibe sell now before it gets worse type of vibe and i i don't he's not a dp if you want to talk about a wasted dp spot
01:11:28
Speaker
Right there. I mean, it's hamstringing you. It really is. And it's, it's, I think that they have to be thinking about moving him. They have to. And I was saying this at the beginning of the season that I'm like, I don't really buy into the Pedro de la Vega hype.
01:11:41
Speaker
And everyone was hyping him up and calling me crazy, calling me names and saying, this is why we signed Pedro de la Vega. Cause he had those flashes. He did. looked Remember the goal he scored against Antigua?
01:11:53
Speaker
I was like, all right, there we, here we go. Banger. Yeah. And then I said, listen, let's wait. Let's let's wait till it bears out. Let's wait till it plays out. We got it. We got to see this. we got to see this over a longer sample size.
01:12:05
Speaker
And when it, when it came to it, It just wasn't it. And he isn't it. and And you know what? Maybe it's the team. Maybe it's the coach. Maybe it's the the city. Maybe it's whatever. It doesn't matter what is. doesn't matter what it is. If you're looking at the reality, yeah it's bad.
01:12:21
Speaker
It's bad right now. It's bad. And I mean, on that note, I'll say, thank freaking God they got Jesus Ferreira. Yes. Thank freaking God. where would they Where would they be on one of the with a week in, week out starting 11 right now if they hadn't traded for that guy?
01:12:35
Speaker
Like, let's be real. Yeah. I mean, seriously, it'd be because he maybe Paul on that side and Ryan Kent. I don't know. Who, by the way, I mean, we should point out that like we yeah we were the main purveyors of the he's the greatest player alive agenda and ah his cameo was not lackluster. Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:58
Speaker
So that's ah that's a whole separate issue. That's a little lower stakes, though, because he's not like on a DP spot. If that one doesn't work out, it's like you a short term. you took a shot. He looked like the second coming of Lionel Messi and Christ combined for his first three games in MLS and then didn't really do much after that. that That's where this that situation appears to be headed.
01:13:20
Speaker
There's a lot more games to play for him. like go ahead I still have my Ryan Kent stock. I'm not selling, Ari. No. I'm not selling. I believe in what I saw versus St. Louis City SC and the Houston Dynamo. Okay.
01:13:35
Speaker
i Like, that's one where I'm like, oh, man. the i You see, like, such quality there in individual moments. But unfortunately, didn't really see it last night. Even in the moments when when when Ryan Kent is not, like, working, he has a style.
01:13:53
Speaker
He has a confidence. He has a place. He has a he has a very like... um manageable and coachable style of play to where it's like, you know what you're getting out of him.
01:14:05
Speaker
you I have no clue what Pedro de la Vega does. I don't understand his positioning. I don't understand his mindset. He's just this chaotic agent of chaos that's not actually doing anything.
01:14:19
Speaker
he's like he He can like do some defensively nice things, but like sometimes he's like just getting forward. He's like... His crossing has just gone away. He's skying all of his shots.
01:14:32
Speaker
there's He's not settled at all. like i don't I don't know. like At least with Ryan Kent, it's like he's getting dispossessed while trying to dribble 10 like that's you know like He's doing his bit, at least. It's consistently his bit.
01:14:46
Speaker
Petra de la Vega doesn't even have a bit. His bit is just being... below average and you know what honestly i'm just gonna say it because there's been a lot of people who keep telling me no no he's he's not playing that bad he actually i thought he actually played fine in this game i don't know what you guys are seeing i really don't i first of all i really like pedro devica one as a person he seems like the coolest possible dude to hang out with like i would love to drink mate with him two i want him to work out more than anyone wants him to work out like that's i want our players to be successful But dude, it's bad. he's playing He's bad. He's not playing well. He's not playing well. He's not.
01:15:20
Speaker
He's not. And I'm not going to pretend like I'm done pretending. I'm done pretending. I'm done. I'm done giving the credence. I mean, regardless, um it's going to be one of the big storyline subplots for the rest of the season. Like we mentioned earlier,
01:15:39
Speaker
There are a lot of games left, and they've got Leagues Cup, where I think in Leagues Cup, I have to imagine Schmetz won't roll out the ah classic first-choice starting 11 every single Leagues Cup game.
01:15:52
Speaker
So I think both De La Vega and Ryan Kent are going to get their minutes in those contexts. And let's ah let's see what they make of them. I'm going to keep in... ah in open mind. I'm not going to condemn anybody, either one of them to bus status yet. I'm going to wait till the end of the season and make my final evaluation on all these guys on, uh, on, uh, Ferreira, Ryan Kent and Pedro de la Vega.
01:16:17
Speaker
And we'll see at that point, but right now, I mean, the agenda stock is, is not hot.
Player Protests and Economic Disparities
01:16:24
Speaker
Uh, Real quick at the end here, i'm I'm on a little bit of a time crunch at this point. We'll hit the ad break and just roll into the the news stuff. All right, let's hit the ad break right now, and then we'll wrap it up with a couple news items and then other results from around the league. We'll be right back.
01:16:39
Speaker
You didn't skip the ads because I'm sitting next to you right now and holding your eyelids open. Because if you skipped our ads. Don't skip the ads. Don't skip. I can't even say it on the podcast. They won't let me anymore.
01:16:51
Speaker
um couple news items to hit before we jump around the league. the As reported by Sounder at Heart. And The Athletic. The Athletic first and then Sounder independently confirmed.
01:17:03
Speaker
Correct. Sounder at Heart. The Club World Cup bonus issue has been finalized. The players, after their protest regarding the Club World Cup bonuses, end up getting 40% more than they were previously making, $400K in total.
01:17:17
Speaker
which So that brings it to $1.4 million dollars that they will split between themselves. So ah they end up... getting a boost of the bag, which it's honestly, it's not as much of a boost as it should have been if we were actually going on like the merits of what the split is between the guys who are actually playing the games and the panel of oligarchs who put on the tournament.
01:17:45
Speaker
But I guess when I reflect on the ah whole club world cup protest saga, I'm glad they did it because Pretty much all of us have been in a ah situation where the oligarch class is ah like would never pay you more.
01:18:08
Speaker
No. Ever. And we live in a society right now. We live in a society. We live in a society where like the cost of being alive and just basic day-to-day functioning and necessities gets exponentially more expensive by the year, by the month in some cases.
01:18:28
Speaker
And the oligarch class will will never pay any normal people more to accommodate that fact. So it was a little satisfying watching a group of people. And like we, the normal people have no agency over that.
01:18:44
Speaker
you You can't do anything. but You say, hey, can you pay me more? And the oligarch class says, fuck you. No. Yeah. It was pretty satisfying to watch a group of people that actually do have agency be like, no, you are going to pay us more.
01:18:56
Speaker
Like, this is blatantly BS, and you're ignoring us on it. We're not going to be ignored. We're going to make funny shirts about it. We're going to clown our boss while he's sitting next to the FIFA oligarchs to the point where he's going to crash out at us in the locker room.
01:19:13
Speaker
And you know, every single oligarch that has ever existed in that situation, if they sense like the employees getting out of line, they love being like, okay, you feel that way? You're fired.
01:19:24
Speaker
You know, you know that Hanauer, like if this was like, you know, if this yeah he was trying. Well, you know, if this was the frame shop and someone did that, he oh yeah you would fire them that yeah and and he wouldn't have a second thought about it.
01:19:36
Speaker
Guess what? You can't fire your players. You can't. You literally can't. he cant are and They are your moneymaker and they know it and they use that against you and they got four hundred k out of it, which is not as much as it should have been.
01:19:50
Speaker
But I thought it was, I thought it was great. but How embarrassing of Adrian Hanauer to belittle his own employees over $400,000. How poor are you, Adrian? How disgustingly, incredibly poor are you? First of all, pay all your employees more.
01:20:07
Speaker
You're a coward. You're a coward. For four hundred k you're going to go yell at people? Damn, that's crazy, you know? Me personally, I wouldn't be yelling at people over 400K, but you know I guess i'm just i just guess I got it like that better than you. you know i don't know.
01:20:21
Speaker
I don't know, Ari. I don't know. Just saying, If I had that much money... if i had if i had that much money i like I just wouldn't care. I don't know. i' never been I've never had like generational obscene wealth, so I can't like relate to it. It probably really fucks with you so but yeah must like it must honestly before,
01:20:40
Speaker
do something with your brain yeah and i you know i've alluded it to it before but like ah It's not you know so just Hanauer, the whole oligarch class. They have no... Correct.
MLS Transfers and Fairness Concerns
01:20:50
Speaker
It was the whole panel of MLS oligarchs. they had It's people who have zero concept of what... like Adrian Hanauer's literally not for one second in his life ever been like, oh, how am I going to pay rent? How am going to pay Yeah, he's never had to think... never had to did i do that. my So it's just like... There's just like a fundamental disconnect there, but...
01:21:08
Speaker
yeah anyway they got their 400k so that was good news in my opinion another big news story from around major league soccer inter miami are getting rodrigo de paul it looks like that's happening atletico madrid superstar argentina national team world cup winner one of and it's it's not a technically a barca boy because he plays for atletico madrid right now or before going inter miami yeah but it's But it's essentially another Barca boy.
01:21:34
Speaker
yeah They're adding to the Barca boy is stable. But I think the question here is, it's an exam they already have Busquets, Jordi Alba, Messi, and Luis Suarez. So it's like, how are they getting Rodriguez to fall? Suarez is Tam, I think. Well, yeah. But basically, there's a lot of talk about something nefarious being afoot and how they're able to get this player.
01:21:57
Speaker
All right, let's talk about that real quick, just because... I mean, if there is something nefarious going on, I'm not saying that there is or isn't. But can you explain what that is? because Absolutely. I would love to, Ari.
01:22:12
Speaker
would love to. Can I just lay the groundwork? Lay the groundwork for how I see it. Sergio Busquets is on a DP deal that is coming off the books, like in the winter transfer window.
01:22:26
Speaker
They got Rodrigo de Paul on loan from Atletico Madrid with a purchase option, not on a DP slot right now. When Busquets' DP deal expires in ah in the winter transfer window, at that point, they're they're in all likelihood going to trigger the purchase option. and option Busquets will no longer be one of the DPs.
01:22:50
Speaker
Rodrigo DePaul will. I get that it's tilting. I get that it's tilting because it feels like they can just stack any player on the global stage that they want with no repercussions that other teams that are beholden to the roster rules or whatever, like they they can't do that.
01:23:10
Speaker
And I understand where the frustration comes from. i think there's an element to this band that it's just like that. This is the type of stuff that you can do. Like when you get messy on your team, like that, you It's like other other teams would be doing stuff like this if they could.
01:23:27
Speaker
Oh, they did. But they can't. Yeah, they're not allowed to because they're not Inter-Miami. And they're not trying to keep Messi in the league. Explain the conspiracy. Dude, in 2019, the LA Galaxy signed Christian Pavone.
01:23:41
Speaker
Do you remember this? Yep. He was it was basically the same exact thing where he was a TAM player, quote unquote. And then ah and then ah other parts of his agreement were not included in the payments.
01:23:56
Speaker
And so in 2022, the Galaxy were sanctioned because he should have been a DP and was going to be a DP. They were fined a million dollars. They lost a million dollars in GAM.
01:24:07
Speaker
They were banned from ah whatever. And also very funny that this happened. And then Inter-Miami did the same thing but got fined less. Or I guess they didn't get fined less. They did famously have five DPs. They had famously five DPs. And I'm just saying, this is...
01:24:24
Speaker
You can't sign a player on loan and be like, oh, no, no, he's it's fine, he's Tam, but like you're agreement. You can, though! That's what I'm saying. No, but you're in agreement to make it, he's going to be a DP once the other DP comes off the books. Is that not playing the goddamn system?
01:24:41
Speaker
And they're just going to pay him more in the being in the in the later part to make his salary whole, and they're going to end up paying him the same amount. if we're going to I don't have a problem with trying to bend the rules and do all of this, but the reality is, man, they're bending the rules. They're playing they're playing a dangerous game that they that the league, if they are actually being genuine and they do want to protect their own product, what they would do is is be like, no, you can get the the other guy off the books and then put Rodrigo to Paul on.
01:25:21
Speaker
But they're not even pretending like the rules even matter anymore. And if they don't matter anymore, awesome. Add another DP spot. But you know why they won't do it? It's because the cheap-ass, poor-ass owners don't want to add another DP spot.
01:25:34
Speaker
So they can't vote for it and all of this. So basically, it's MLS's way of allowing something they know is like But like one toe over the boundary that they have fined people for in the past that they have gotten people in trouble for in the past, but they want the league to move forward with spending.
01:25:54
Speaker
So they're allowing it to happen and they're allowing it to happen as well. because Messi is involved, and they want Messi to stay happy, and they want him to stay here, which, as a business, can you really blame them? Absolutely not. But if we're being real, if we're being honest here, this is basically cheating.
01:26:09
Speaker
This is basically bending the rules to the point where you you have an unfair advantage. And okay, that's fine. They're probably still not going to win anything, so I don't care. But it's it's it's pretty funny.
01:26:21
Speaker
I mean, it's pretty funny to pretend like this isn't bending the rules at the at the least. i'm Okay, can you i'm honestly asking I'm honestly asking, like, what is bending the rules about a loan with a purchase option?
01:26:35
Speaker
I've seen that a million times. Absolutely, but his salary is TAM right now. Yeah. Right? Yeah. When he signs his next agreement, when they make the purchase on the loan, like they weren't going to buy him anyway...
01:26:51
Speaker
They're basically just saying, hey, loan us this player. We guarantee we're going to purchase him regardless. And then... That is, yeah, it is it is a loophole. That's a loophole. That's what I'm saying. But I guess it's a loophole. i don't know. i'm not I'm really not trying to like... that's what Also, LAHC did this as well.
01:27:07
Speaker
Yeah, like there's been like the Sounders got a loophole with Clint Dempsey. ah No, the league bought Clint Dempsey and changed the rules on allocation because of it.
01:27:19
Speaker
If they want to change the rules, they can change the rules. I'm fine with that. But don't do this bullshit. Don't do this bullshit and pretend like it isn't it isn't pushing and prodding and putting other teams at a disadvantage.
01:27:33
Speaker
Because if this is the truth... i think I think that the Sounders should sign every single player to a contract with Ballard at FC. buy Ballard FC, and then just loan everyone for a dollar.
01:27:47
Speaker
You could have a super team. Why not? There's a purchase option included. daddy just Now we're cooking. they just They just don't have to do it. They just don't have to execute it. you know i like were this is Because if you take it to its logical conclusion, which is, I'm just going to loan an entire team to myself, or like City Football Group loaning a bunch of players to New York City FC so they can win another title,
01:28:12
Speaker
Come on, man. ah That's bullshit. That's fucking bullshit. That's where I stand on it. Either way, there is a another Barca boy in the fold, which is... ah I mean, you know... what is It is like i see i see what i see what you're saying i also like when i When I look at the situation that they're in, which is a very unique situation where you have the greatest player of all time on your team and all the leeway and pull that comes with that. They're already paying him out of the league's pocket. He's getting a cut of every single fucking TV dollar. You don't need to give them any more advantage. Don't let them do this.
01:28:58
Speaker
But like if i was if if I was in their position and had the ability to leverage the situation that they're in, I don't know if I can sit here and say I wouldn't do
Recent MLS Team Performances
01:29:09
Speaker
the same thing. Jorge Moss should be imprisoned. That's all I have to say.
01:29:13
Speaker
Put him in jail. that's how That's how I want to end this show. That's a good agenda. All right. Yeah, real quick before we ah get out of here. i did want to ah just run down some of these results that we saw last night because there was like Seattle took a bad result.
01:29:31
Speaker
a lot of teams took bad results last night. It was, it was I'm not even pointing that out to like, uh, ease the, or to cope. I'm just, I'm, it was just kind of a remarkable San Diego FC, uh, top of the Western conference supporter shield contenders, best expansion season of all time, played some of the best, uh, footy we've ever seen from an expansion side. Absolutely destroyed Seattle.
01:29:51
Speaker
Anders Dreyer, MVP candidate. I could keep going. They're, uh, having an absolutely phenomenal season. They lost their second straight game at home last night to, uh, Toronto FC.
01:30:03
Speaker
Who? They lost to Toronto FC, one of the worst teams in the league. Famously with no DPs right now. so that's worst that is ah that is a worse result than Seattle took. The Portland Timbys, second straight loss.
01:30:15
Speaker
They lose one zero at home to Real Salt Lake after after losing to St. Louis City SC. on the road in their previous game. So they lost the Timbs in their last two games have lost to one of the worst teams in the league and at home to an RSL team. That's below the playoff line.
01:30:34
Speaker
Those are worse results than Seattle just took the Columbus crew. ah a club that we have praised to no end on this show. Wilford Nancy, our favorite coach in the league, the best coach in the league. They play some of the best, uh, most aesthetically pleasing footy in the league.
01:30:49
Speaker
Absolutely waxed three zero at Nashville SC. It was the je absolutely destroyed the jorts that, that is a worse result than what Seattle took. Minnesota United second place in the West ahead of, ah of ah Seattle in the, in the standings, a club that Seattle's chasing right now.
01:31:09
Speaker
They lose one zero at home at Allianz field to LAFC. Undefeated since hello kitty came around. Just saying. LAFC, I can't believe you have that thing. LAFC are, you know, a Western Conference and contender. They're in the mix for the top four spots in their own right.
01:31:26
Speaker
But Minnesota United under Eric Ramsey, they've been one of the hottest teams in the league lately. They lose at home. So that's another worse result than ah Seattle took. And then Inter-Miami.
01:31:39
Speaker
Inner Miami, Messi and the Barca boys themselves. Messi was out there, and ah it was like it was their whole the whole gang at TQL against FC Cincinnati.
01:31:50
Speaker
3-0'd. Skyline Chili. So these are, these are, that is five clubs right there who are all like Seattle in the thick of fighting for the top seeds in their respective conferences. And they all have trophy aspirations.
01:32:08
Speaker
They all took, fat L's. In the case of Minnesota minnesota United, they only lost 1-0, but they got shut out by LAFC at home and lost against in um in like a measuring stick yeah game. so really i don't Like I said, i i i don't bring that up as cope. I mean, it is cope a little bit. It is definitely cope, but it's also just like kind of felt like everyone who's contending... July, baby. Yeah, it's July at MLS. It's July. don't know what I was getting at. Yeah. Like, this kind of stuff does does happen.
01:32:45
Speaker
it was not just the Seattle Sounders that fell victim to it. But ah there is a lens through which that makes it almost even more frustrating because... Seattle was up 3-0 in their game and looked like they were cruising to a victory and then self-inflicted wounds yeah led to them dropping the points and it didn't need to happen.
01:33:07
Speaker
yeah Whereas you look at these other games and I mean, if there's a few 1-0s in there, but like ah one zero to Toronto, 1-0 to RSL, Minnesota 1-0 at home, LAFC. mean, it's tough.
01:33:19
Speaker
It's tough. So that was my observation from the midweek slate. As Brian said, this was a draw that felt like a loss and even more so with looking at the results around the league because exactly you had an opportunity to take meaningful points in a time when chaos does ensue.
01:33:33
Speaker
And so it it sucks. Like you, you really want a home. You want to have a home playoff game. You want to have a home playoff game. And so I think you got to, I think you got to yeah like, I mean, they last year, they, they did get,
01:33:47
Speaker
top four in the west and they were able to make it to the western conference final but had to play that on the road is if you you gotta you gotta charge as hard as you can like for the two spot and try and keep these games at home if at all possible and with the white caps kind of fading minnesota losing san diego's lost two straight there's still some separation there but there is like The gap can be closed. the gap This gap can be closed, and it sucks. They missed the opportunity to pick up two crucial points in that race last night, but lot of games left, so they have ah there's a chance to make up this ground here as as they get set for Quakes on Saturday. All
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
01:34:29
Speaker
right.
01:34:29
Speaker
We're going to call it right there for this episode of Lobbing Scorchers. As always, thank you all so much. for tuning in we appreciate all the uh the love and support we've been getting the growth that we've been seeing uh that's all thanks to you guys the listeners and the viewers so thank you for that scourgers.com slash sauce lobbying scorchers.com slash archive lobbying scorchers.com slash just lobbying scorchers.com and then scroll down to subscribe athar dot com slash ls yeah that one yeah ah We will be back.
01:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, please sub to the YouTube. We've we've got a lot of credibility on Instagram and we're slowly accruing credibility on TikTok. But let's get these YouTube subs.
01:35:09
Speaker
Let's keep them churning. If you haven't subbed to the channel yet, please do so. It really helps us out. And like all our videos. ah We will be back at it on in ah on Saturday. do our I'm going to do my best to fire up a postgame live that evening. We'll see if that happens. Could be on Sunday, but...
01:35:27
Speaker
We'll be back at it with the postgame live. Nico Moreno and Lobby Squirters, kickoff Monday at 8 a.m. Thank you guys for tuning in. Until next time, we out. Peace.