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How the Sounders undercooked their brisket in Kansas City
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Aaron joins Jeremiah to talk about how the Sounders missed a golden opportunity and that was more frustrating than any of the individual performances they saw in that match against Kansas City. In the second and final segment they air world cup grievances and talk about how they feel they should be a lot more excited about what feels like a once-in-lifetime event as a host city.
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Transcript
Introduction and Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come on. Hey, O'Shaughness. Let's The Seattle Sounders have done
Seattle Sounders Celebrations and Podcast Sponsorship
00:00:18
Speaker
it. MLS Cup winners. The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:43
Speaker
Ooch of a gooch! All creatures, great and small! Rothrock gonna collect it, he does just about, runs into the advertising order. Low to our left, ball goes in! Oh, what a Where's my copy? got bunch of them How many do you cost them? 50 bucks.
00:01:08
Speaker
I'll deadline you.
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Match Analysis: Sounders vs Sporting KC
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Nos Adientes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Monday, May 4th, 2026. That is, yes, May the 4th, for those of you who know.
00:01:59
Speaker
but That's so awful. All right. Anyway, i am your host, Jeremiah Shan, and today I'm joined by Aaron Campo and an engineer Lickett. Everything seemed to be lining up for the Sounders to continue their best ever start to a season. Facing the league's worst team, they staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in just the second minute against Sporting Kansas City and were barely letting their opponent touch the ball through 15 minutes.
00:02:22
Speaker
Then, on a seemingly innocuous play out of the back, Christian Roldan failed to see Dejan Jovulic lurking in his blind spot. Jovulic jumped on Roldan's weak back pass and beat Andrew Thomas with his first touch.
00:02:35
Speaker
The Sounders mostly dominated the match from that point forward, but they could not beat our old buddy, Stephen Cleveland, and had to settle for a tie. Aaron, I assume this is how you feel, but I don't want to pre-suppose anything. But for me, this was more about a frustrating missed opportunity and less about dropped points, per se.
00:02:57
Speaker
Like, I'm not really that mad at the result itself. I'm just mad at the missed opportunity. Yeah, I think that's more or less accurate. I think, I mean, the dropped points are bad. This is a very bad sporting Kansas City team. I think that we said on this very show last week that not winning this game would be somewhat embarrassing, and I think that that's true.
00:03:17
Speaker
We did, yeah. But I think that... if the Sounders had dominated this game in a real way and just hadn't been able, you know, the bounces hadn't gone their way or Steph Gleadlin stood on his head or...
00:03:34
Speaker
whatever it was that, you know, it wouldn't be as big of a deal, but it didn't really go that way. I mean, the Sounders had a lot of possession. They racked up a lot of shots. ah They got, I think they edged it in in XG by the end of the game.
00:03:50
Speaker
But a lot of that was similar to the way ah the Sounders have hung on to to wins this year on the road where, The Sporting Kansas City, I think, was largely content to let the Sounders have the ball and and be comfortable in defense. And the Sounders created a couple good chances after it went to one one but it wasn't like this constant knocking on the door feeling where you really felt like they were unlucky not to get the result.
00:04:13
Speaker
And by the end of it, I mean, the Sounders were under a little bit of pressure themselves at the end of the game. And that's just not what you should expect from this team against the Sporting Kansas City team. The Sporting Kansas City team is really bad. They were giving up two and a half goals a game at home so far this season.
00:04:30
Speaker
They have looked like a mid-table USL team. And if I think that if you had any doubts about the Sounders or you wanted them to put in a performance that made you feel better about some of the questions you know national analysts have had about you know some of their underlying numbers,
00:04:49
Speaker
I mean, for me, it kind of felt the opposite, right? I really wanted them to have a statement game, a statement win, where they showed that they were clearly several classes above Sporting Kansas City, and that's just not the way it played out. And that's that's really frustrating.
00:05:03
Speaker
I'll quibble a little bit with your assessment. I i don't think that the Sounders... I think the XG numbers are maybe a little deceiving in this case. Because i mean I just watched the game back and I would say the Sounders had five or six pretty good scoring chances. you know ah you know They had the one that they hit off the crossbar.
00:05:22
Speaker
They had... you know Jordan Morris was a little unlucky not to score that that little exchange he had with Kalani Kosarienzi where it basically grazes Stephen Cleveland's hip, I want to say. And you know that that's potentially a goal.
00:05:38
Speaker
There was the the Paul Areola chance where Albert Rostak blocks it by jumping it trying to deval trying to jump out of the way. ah You know, and there there was a few other chances that I, I'm not going to say we're super high quality chances, but we're chances that were, were decent looks. And I thought the Sounders did an okay job of, of moving around the box and trying to work quick combinations.
00:06:02
Speaker
And, you know, the, it the play in the box I thought was reasonably dynamic where it fell apart for me was just their complete inability to do anything in transition, to get out in transition.
Sounders' Strategy and Performance Concerns
00:06:12
Speaker
And, I think that's the more frustrating part is that they sort of, even with the, the play in the box, they were pretty predictable in that sporting Kansas city essentially went down into a shell and they said, you got to beat us with 11 behind, you know?
00:06:29
Speaker
Yeah. 11 guys behind the ball essentially. And the sounders just, weren't able to do that. And they needed to be more aggressive, I thought, in the way that they're pressing and in the and in their transition opportunities. I don't know that there was one real chance that they got out in a like where they had a ah numbers advantage.
00:06:49
Speaker
And it's their inability to do that stuff that for me is a little bit more frustrating. Yeah, I think those are the best chances in the game. And I think that this team is at their most dangerous when they're when they're counter pressing and they're they are getting out ahead numbers.
00:07:03
Speaker
And I think that you would would expect them to be able to do that against the Sporting Kansas City team. Yeah, expect them to be able to create those situations, right? like I know that playing on the road in MLS should not be underrated. It's difficult to do.
00:07:18
Speaker
um Sporting Kansas City is you know, it's always been the tough place to play for the Sounders, even when Sporting Kansas City has been a bad team. I think it's worth asking why that is, right? Like, why is this a team that the Sounders continue to struggle with? Because I don't think that there's any matchup issues that jump off the table, right? So I think it is is worth asking that question because I don't think it's personnel.
00:07:41
Speaker
I think the Sounders are much, much better. um But at any rate, you know, it's a road point is never a disaster in the grand scheme of things, even when the team is bad.
00:07:52
Speaker
It was just more the performance. I really wanted to see the Sounders dominate a bad team. on the road and they weren't able to do it and and that's that's frustrating i think i think it's reasonable to have that expectation of the sounders team it is if they feel like they have supporter shield aspirations and that's straight up exactly what brian schmetzer said after the game you know yeah it was hey if this team thinks that they can win the supporter shield they shouldn't be dropping points in games like this and i i you know i got to agree sorry I don't disagree with any of that. I think that it's fair to be for those reasons. Exactly. It's fair to be frustrated. And it does feel like to me, what it felt like is almost like the first 15 minutes of this game were so easy that the Sounders sort of got lulled into a false sense of security. And, you know, like up until the goal that Sporting Kansas City scores, they weren't really pressing the Sounders.
00:08:46
Speaker
They weren't really doing anything to trouble the Sounders. right And I would even hesitate to say that the aunt Jovo, which was really pressing anyone. He just happened to be sort of loitering in the area. And Roldan does not do a ah good enough job. And what's frustrating is of all the players to have this happen to Christian Roldan is, is the guy who really should know better.
00:09:09
Speaker
And if it was anyone else, We'd be beating on them up. You know, Yamar makes passes like this. New Who makes passes like this. and And look, the reason that that they get beat up for it is because it is sort of a recurring problem.
00:09:26
Speaker
And the reason we're not as frustrated, I think, with Christian is that this doesn't happen. He doesn't do this as often. yeah But it it doesn't excuse the time that it it did happen. And, you know, he's playing under a microscope.
00:09:38
Speaker
I saw someone suggest, well, they need to give Christian a rest. man No. Christian just came. ah you got a week off last week. the Christian is not tired. I assure you.
00:09:50
Speaker
he He is, you know, he's basically playing one game a week for two months. He's fine. i'm not I'm not worried about Christian's fitness. This is not a fatigue issue.
00:10:02
Speaker
I suppose it's possible that he has some brain fog from his concussion. I don't think that's really the case here. I think he just had a good old fashioned brain fart. I just don't. Yeah.
00:10:12
Speaker
I don't think he was as aware of his surroundings as he needed to be. No, I think, i think that that's easily the most plausible explanation. ah it's you know, it's something, I mean, you make that pass a thousand times. It's not shocking that one of them is, is going to go wrong.
00:10:28
Speaker
It's unfortunate that, the one player on sporting Kansas city's team that would be capable of punishing that mistake was the one hanging around there. That's a little annoying, but I'm much less bothered by the mistake than I am the response to the mistake.
00:10:42
Speaker
Right. Like yeah what I want to see from the Sounders in that situation is them being pissed off that they allowed a goal like that to happen and coming out and stepping on the opposition's neck. And instead it it seems you've had the opposite effect of rattling them and You know, I don't i don't want to make a big deal out of one game, right? And it's a game where they got a point at at the end of the day.
00:11:04
Speaker
ah But it's just the... it took It took some wind out of the sails, I think, is is the biggest thing. Like, I wanted the momentum to keep going and do a really tough stretch of games that they've got coming up here.
00:11:15
Speaker
And it's it's, you know, it's tough. And if they come out and they batter San Diego and they get a win over san Jose, ah who cares about this game, right? But I think...
00:11:27
Speaker
keeping that momentum going into into the stretch would have been would have been real nice. Yeah, and I think that it's it's worth remembering and it's worth acknowledging that momentum in MLS is fickle.
00:11:39
Speaker
And you never know when one result is going to derail your season. I don't want to be, I'm not trying to be alarmist or anything, but I will note that the last time the Sounders started 6-1-1 in a season, they actually won their ninth game.
00:11:55
Speaker
But then they went on like a seven-game game. ah or maybe even longer. They went on a long, a winless streak that didn't completely derail their season, but certainly took them out of the Supporter Shield contention. and And my point is that That can happen. You know, the the Sounders have three big games coming up. They're luckily all at home, but they have San Diego. They have San Jose, who looks like a juggernaut themselves.
00:12:22
Speaker
And then they have the LA Galaxy. And i would say anything less than seven points is has to be considered a pretty significant ah setback. And with this tie, i think.
00:12:36
Speaker
Nine points really has to be the goal. And that's, you know, look, I realize we're we're jumping past when the San Diego game and all the way to win all three of them. But that's sort of the reality of a situation like this is if the Sounders want to be supporter shield contenders, they can't just drop points that they should be winning.
00:12:57
Speaker
ah yeah You're going to drop some points throughout the season, but you got to save those for I don't know, San Jose at home, for instance. Like it would be a lot, it would be a lot more convenient if they could have won this game and then you tie San Jose at home and you go, okay, no
Supporter Shield Aspirations and Challenges
00:13:13
Speaker
big deal. we can we, you know, we've, we've built up a whole bunch of wiggle room, but now they, they've given some of that back.
00:13:21
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, it it is helpful, right? That the the other results went the Sounders way this weekend. Very helpful. It's a tie. Vancouver lost, I think, right? Oh, well, no, they, they, I think they tied also, but all seven of the teams that were the top seven teams in the supporter shield standing,
00:13:37
Speaker
ah coming into the weekend, all drop points. yeah And, you know, there's worse results than the Sounders had. Miami lost four to three after leading three zero at home to Orlando City, who is the only other team who is in contention for being worse than Sporting Kansas City.
00:13:55
Speaker
I think unequivocally, Sporting Kansas City is has to be considered the worst team now after ah Orlando got such a nice result. But You know, just because there's worse teams out there, it's not the worst result of the weekend, I guess is my point. But that's not the standard the centers are aspiring to. They're not aspiring to be pretty good. They are in their own words saying they want to contend for the supporter shield. And in that way, yes, the drop points more than the way that they played are, I suppose, frustrating.
00:14:31
Speaker
I think, too, and this isn't entirely fair, but that's showbiz. If this result happens in August, when the Sounders are 10 points behind Miami or Nashville or whoever for the supporter shield. Or 10 points up.
00:14:45
Speaker
Or 10 points up. Sure. let's let's be It's not a big deal. But with the pace that's being set by San Jose, Vancouver, Nashville... Yeah. Like, ah do I think these teams are all going to be able to keep up his pace all year? Of course not. Like, I don't think San Jose is best team in MLS history.
00:15:02
Speaker
Probably not an 80 point get team. Probably not. Probably not. Vancouver, probably not a 75 point team. Right. Nashville, probably not a 72 point team. But the bar is high this year. I think if you if you want to be in the supporter shield conversation and if the Sounders drop out of supporter shield contention,
00:15:21
Speaker
then I can, then I'll stop caring about results like this. Right. It's not right like, because the supporter shield is not the most important trophy to me. um It's distant, distantly behind the, the MLS cup, fairly distantly behind the champions league, probably ahead of league's cup. Right. But like the third most important trophy by a pretty decent margin.
00:15:43
Speaker
But if they're in the race, I want to win the race. And beyond that, I want the the whole regular season to be exciting because that hasn't really been case for a while. And ah and in that sense, you know, this is a game that they should have won and they didn't. And that and that is frustrating um whether or not they got help from from other teams, because I would rather be six points behind San Jose with two games in hand than eight points behind San Jose with two games in hand like that. that mean That is better. Yeah, that's but that's that's illustrative of the difference, right, is the Sounders would have been essentially controlling their own destiny if they had.
00:16:20
Speaker
Look, I realize this we're talking about week nine, but sure the Sounders would would be in a position where if they win their games in hand, they're tied for the supporter shield lead. That would be a nice position to be in.
00:16:32
Speaker
But if if anyone is interested, this is how Nashville tied Philadelphia, another bad team on the road. Philadelphia might actually be as bad as Sporting Hands City.
00:16:43
Speaker
they that's that's a fair shout that's a fair shout they're pretty putrid but uh the earthquakes tied toronto on the road and toronto ah again missing a whole bunch of players i don't think that result is as bad as sounds as the sporting kansas city one but it's you know it's it's a bad result um or like i said miami lost blue a three zero lead for orlando city ah
00:17:11
Speaker
then who else is it? LAFC drew San Diego to two, two, uh, after going down to zero though. So they they're probably pretty happy with that. Uh, and then Vancouver tied the galaxy one, one.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I guess that's all the teams that are in contention with the sounders, but, uh, or the top teams, but then, you know, we also like, a team that the Sounders are battling for playoff position. They beat the Timbers, ah Minnesota United, another team that's battling the Sounders for position.
00:17:38
Speaker
They beat Columbus crew. So it's not, it wasn't like it was all great results for the Sounders. And, and look, we don't need to be too wrapped up in, in a whole bunch of results. But look again, the Sounders are, have set this bar for themselves and to the degree that they are failing to live up to that, it's worth, it's worth pointing it out now on an individual level. Were there any performances that really freaked me out?
00:18:05
Speaker
No, i don't I don't think I was really upset with anyone in particular's play. I thought there was but like, I think Kalani Kosarienzi, I'll just highlight. He continues to do stuff that gets me excited. You know, he had at least two or three plays in this game that were among the most dynamic plays the Sounders made on the evening. His, my favorite one was where he, he, you know, uh,
00:18:31
Speaker
He beat a guy off the dribble, sent him to the floor, and then put in a cross that just barely got headed away. But he had yeah you know he had the pass to Jordan, which was a slick little pass.
00:18:41
Speaker
Then he had a ah play where he he vol he sort of like took a half volley off his chest and nearly beat Cleveland. I really liked what I saw from Kalani and I can see why he's continuing to get all these minutes. And I think that's probably says more about the, what he's doing and less about how great Alex has been at center back.
00:19:00
Speaker
Although Alex had another solid game at center back. I will note that the closest, the probably the best scoring chance that, that sporting Kansas city had after the, after the, the goal was a play where,
00:19:15
Speaker
Alex got five hold with a pass and, uh, and they got a, and ended up forcing Andrew Thomas to make a ah pretty impressive save after Tyler, uh, Calera took a little too long to get the ball out of his feet. If he had hit that first time, i think that would have been picked up to stop, but I was really encouraged by Kalani Costa Rienzi. Anyone that used either liked or didn't like from this game.
00:19:42
Speaker
Uh, I thought Andrew Thomas had a a couple of pretty good saves, um, which is not my favorite guy to be highlighting against Spurgeon in Kansas city, but that's, you know, that's okay. Uh, I thought Jordan looked pretty dangerous. Um, he had, he had that pretty good opportunity, ah He had a play which elicited the most annoying thing I've ever heard Warren Barton say, which is a bar that is high bar ah above heaven, is how high that bar is, ah where he said, Jordan Morris, not a natural striker.
00:20:14
Speaker
oh yeah. Love that. Which I just... That guy... there's He doesn't listen to the show, right? There's no way he listens. There's no way Warren Barton listens to the show. There's no way. That's too i don't think Warren Barton does...
00:20:26
Speaker
I don't think Warren Barton ah reads or listens to anything about MLS because he seems to just sort of like wing it every time he's on the air.
00:20:37
Speaker
He is the soccer commentary version of vibe coding. Like he just he just whatever feels right. He just says it. And and he says and yeah a lot of things feel right because he never shuts up.
00:20:50
Speaker
It's it's impressive almost. But ah yeah, I thought I thought Jordan looked pretty dangerous. I thought I saw they look pretty good after he came on. i am ready to not see Danny Masovsky start for a time. You know, I would say.
00:21:05
Speaker
It was interesting. I was surprised that not only did Danny Masofsky stay in the game instead of like, I would have thought that Morris would have been moved to the nine and got a few minutes there, but yeah he left Masofsky in. And then after the game, Brian made a comment about how he really liked the running that Masofsky was doing.
00:21:23
Speaker
I, I did notice he, he made a couple sort of like, uh, recovery run type of plays, which is not necessarily his game, but I did not think this was a particularly.
00:21:39
Speaker
performance of worthy of him being praised by Brian. I was a little surprised by that. He, he you know, he really is. i mean, we've said this many times. His game is almost entirely predicated on getting into dangerous spots and finishing.
00:21:56
Speaker
And if he's not consistently getting service, he is borderline useless. and And I don't mean that in a, he's a useless player. I just mean, he just does not touch the ball enough or do enough off the ball uh, aside, you know, he does make some good runs, which has, you know, has like this gravitational element to it.
00:22:16
Speaker
But when the Sounders aren't getting in transition, like they weren't yesterday, the runs like, aren't really doing anything for you. And i don't know. I, I am with you. I, I don't know how, how you could, they can justify keeping Mussovsky starting right now.
00:22:33
Speaker
And then that is sort of the the problem, right? I, Yeah, I really don't understand why Jordan Morrison started at the nine. I like I understood it at a certain point in the season. I don't get it. I just don't understand. I like Osaze.
00:22:48
Speaker
He's not as good of a striker as Jordan Morris, and I would rather have Rothrock, Areola, Jesus on the pitch. Right. um it's i just i don't understand i mean i think what needs to happen the reason right now i think is that neither areola or rusnak were probably 90 minutes or were deemed capable of starting because they and so i assume that was the main reason and maybe this is all sort of brian soft pedaling you know is able to sort of let
00:23:20
Speaker
Mussovsky down easy when he doesn't start next week and and then it all makes more sense I suppose but I was I was definitely fair I was I was definitely surprised that he got as much praise as he did and again it wasn't that he was bad necessarily but I thought Morris was probably their more the much more dynamic player in that in the game between the two of them yeah And I will say, I also appreciate that Jesus is continuing to be to look for his own shot and is and is looking dangerous. Now, he's you know, he scores. He scored ah last week, but he didn't score this week. But he had, i thought, a couple plays where i was like, yeah, that's exactly what I want to see. Yeah. hey su
00:24:02
Speaker
He had that really, really nice curler that I think, I think that was probably Cleveland's best save. Yeah, it was. Really nice save, really nice shot. um Where he, that's exactly like, he absolutely just created his own shot and did a really good job of doing that.
00:24:16
Speaker
um I thought, I thought he had a ah good game. It's, it's funny because it's like, as we talk through the game, I still feel very much the way I did at the end of it, which is frustrated that they weren't able to get the result, but it's kind of like you said earlier, it's hard to single anyone out for,
00:24:31
Speaker
too much criticism other other than Christian. Right. Um, But again, you you would hope that the team would have been able to to bounce back a little more effectively from that. um Yeah, I'll tell you, yeah if we're hanging hanging on Christian, we may as well point out, he did get a really good look at a header off of a corner kick that he ends up putting over the crossbar when he it. It wasn't a bad attempt, but it was one of those ones where it would have been like kind of poetic for him to get it because it would have yeah you know definitely made up for his back pass. But yeah, I...
00:25:05
Speaker
Go ahead. I was just going to say, i feel like we're going to see them spamming that far post corner to Christian a lot for yeah few few weeks. So hopefully, hopefully it comes off again because I think we're going to be seeing a lot of that play.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yeah, I do too. ah So the other, and then who's the other one that i Oh, the other question I was going to ask is, or ask you was at the end of the game, we saw Hassani Dotson and Peter Kingston come in late and,
00:25:35
Speaker
I think that was one where a lot of folks were asking, why are we making defensive sets? Maybe I even saw you suggest that. i And Brian, after the game, said it was more about just getting some energy on the field. and they didn't have a lot of great options offensively off the bench at that point.
00:25:55
Speaker
and it's To me, it's just more interesting that Peter Kingston continues to get as much run as he's getting. And I i really do like him. i think he like i I don't know if either one of them were super involved over the last 10 minutes or whatever that they they got on the field.
00:26:12
Speaker
But i didn't i didn't mind that one as much because I at least understood sort of what the attempt, what Brian was trying to do. I guess... um i I say this as somebody who was supportive of the Georgie Mnongu trade. Yeah. and And still think it was a good a good deal. This is a game where you miss him, though. This is a game where you miss him. Yeah, if you're bringing on Hassani Dotson and Peter Kingston, players who I like, you know, I don't i don't have any problem with either of these guys at all.
00:26:43
Speaker
I think that's fair. But there are also guys in the organization on the roster that did not make this 18 that could have provided a more attacking threat.
00:26:55
Speaker
and I mean, Yusuke Nome and Sebastian Gomez, I would think, would be the two yeah obvious candidates, right? And in a game like this, I think I would rather see Yusuke Nome than Hassani Dotson.
00:27:06
Speaker
You know, if like... Yeah. And maybe maybe you don't make the decision to... Like, maybe Yusuke Nome should be making the bench over Cody Baker in a game like this, right? Or... um i don't know. And it's this is this is the worst kind of Monday morning quarterbacking, and I'm aware of that. You're talking about the 20th...
00:27:22
Speaker
player on the bench but it but it is like we have these young attacking players that just don't get any minutes and this is a game where hey this team sucks go show me what you can do against this team that sucks because we need a goal it would have been a nice a nice option i think to have um yeah i yeah i mean i i guess it kind of i think i told someone this on on the website. And so I should, I guess I should at least back this up where if you're worrying too much about the 20th player,
00:27:55
Speaker
You know, the mistakes have already been made, but you're, I do think you make a valid point. And this user probably made a valid point too, when they said, why not have you so can only available in this game. He hasn't been getting any run.
00:28:06
Speaker
ah Even Sebastian Gomez, frankly, I mean, he is a player. If you watch the coma defiance game and by the way, they, they drew sporting Kansas city to two, two ah in a, in a very sort of annoying performance. Cause had a bunch of first teamers.
00:28:22
Speaker
on the roster and most of them played fine, but whatever, whatever I'm not going to get into Tacoma Defiance right now, but you Suga Nome, you know, had a couple, you know, had one particularly good look that could have won the game for him and he, he didn't finish it, but I am with you. I do think that this is a game where you miss, first of all, you miss Georgie Minungu a lot. Now, can you justify keeping Georgie or this one for this one game like this?
Summer Transfer Window and Team Improvements
00:28:50
Speaker
you know, that's the problem, right? you You needed to be getting him more minutes, but right it's still fair to point out that this is why the Sounders should do something in the need to do something in the summer is because they have their holes like this, that they should be feeling like the Sounders are an organization where you should be able to bring in a high quality attacker off the bench. I mean, that's there's, I don't think that's crazy to ask for, to be asking for them to do this.
00:29:18
Speaker
but They're the kind of team that should have starting caliber players coming off the bench every single game. and And yes, even if they're the the fourth or fifth sub,
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, I 100% agree. And they have the resources to make that happen. and And there's part of me that hopes the reason players like Kingston are getting so many minutes right now is because Brian wants to give them every opportunity to to get minutes before the summer window. That could be. I hope i hope that that's the case. um I think, and I know we we talked about the the Jordan thing, and and I think you're probably right that this is just...
00:29:56
Speaker
trying to get through the, what is hopefully the tail end of the specific, the specific injury crisis. But if Brian wants Jordan on the wing and he thinks that that's his best position, I think they've got to get a striker in the, in the summer one, right. You know, it doesn't have to be a DP cause it can't be a DP almost certainly, but I like a Sazeta Rosario. I don't think he's ready to be a starter on a championship caliber team.
00:30:21
Speaker
um I don't think Danny Masovsky is ready is is this that guy either. and And I think that some competition there, if nothing else, would be good. so um Now, I would rather see Jordan there and and you know maybe get another attacking midfielder or something like that or more ah true winger, quote unquote. But it is something that has to be on the table if if Brian wants to see Jordan over on the on the wing.
00:30:47
Speaker
Right. And I think that's ah ah another great point is that the Sounders have some flexibility coming into the summer and they can't do anything about it right now. And it's not really worth getting into a huge debate about whether or not they should have moved Georgie Manungu when they did, but it does just sort of underscore that there's room to improve this roster. And I know you and I have said on this very show that, you know, they need to, that this is a good, that they, they have a pretty stacked roster, but you should make it more stack.
00:31:20
Speaker
You should be, you know you should, when you're chasing a goal, you should be able to bring in a more potent attacking threat than Hassani Dotson or Peter Kingston. Always. You always should be able to bring in a more potent threat than either of those two guys. And that's not to slag either one of Dotson or Kingston. I think they're both very good players who have no problem even starting a fair amount and fair number of games.
00:31:45
Speaker
They're just not the guy I want to be bringing off the bench when I need a goal. I think that's a pretty fair statement. Yeah, i think I think that that is the fair statement that you're you're going to make, frankly. And I think the nice thing about the Summer Window is that there are players who...
00:31:59
Speaker
who aren't going to necessarily feel the need to start who are going to raise, you know, the floor of the team coming in off the bench, potentially starting, I guess, um, who are going to be available on free transfers who, you know, maybe you can spend some of that game on. Um, I think a better version of a Ryan Kent type player is, is the kind of player that they should write looking for. And that's not, not to throw shade on Ryan Kent, but just like somebody who's going to be able to make a more immediate impact, um,
00:32:26
Speaker
um You know, I think those guys are out there. Like, I'm not asking you to go find Denny Mwanga, although that would be nice, you know, but but that there are players of that profile who, you know, are worth taking a taking a risk on.
00:32:42
Speaker
I mean, look, the reality was last year they were able to bring Georgie Manungu and Ryan Kent off the bench in situations like this. I don't think it's too much to ask that they get back to that point.
00:32:53
Speaker
And, uh, and that's, that's what the remit should be this summer. There should be no excuse making of, well, we shot for the moon and we didn't, we didn't hit it. Like, no, get me like, let's have two. Let's, let's target two guys that one of them we know we can sign.
00:33:09
Speaker
The other one can be our moonshot, you know? Uh, the summer window has to be active and hopefully they go into, you know, that there is a ah very plausible world where they go into the, into the summer flying, even after this result, but they kind of take care of business now in these upcoming home games.
00:33:32
Speaker
And then of course the the road game against LAFC. ah But I think that's about all I have to say about this game.
World Cup Discussions and Criticisms
00:33:39
Speaker
ah You know, I would like to talk to you a little bit about,
00:33:43
Speaker
the world cup. We had a nice little conversation about the world cup before we started recording. And I want to, want to get you on the record a little bit with that because this is a ah big thing that's happening pretty soon.
00:33:54
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, if you want to stick around and hear us talk about the world cup, we'll do that after the break. Uh, but you're listening to nos audietes on the center podcast network.
00:34:06
Speaker
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00:36:04
Speaker
Welcome back to Nos Adientes on the Sounder Heart podcast network. All right. So the World Cup now is, i don't know, five weeks away. Is that right? Something like that.
00:36:18
Speaker
Five weeks away. And we are should be you know, it's it's funny to think about this. I actually just wrote the editor's note for for the Center Heart magazine, which will be focused on the World Cup. And so it seems kind of funny to be talking about the World Cup like this when we have a magazine devoted to it.
00:36:38
Speaker
But sort of what I the premise of my thing was four years ago when we found out that Seattle was going to be a host city in the World Cup. ah We were over the moon.
00:36:50
Speaker
i mean, we were very, very excited about this. It was sort of a dream. It was a pinch myself kind of moment that the World Cup was going coming to ah city where I live, where I have a, ah you know, ah a significant,
00:37:04
Speaker
place in the soccer media scape, I suppose you can say. And it was, it was pretty exciting. And then when we found out the United States was going to be playing a game there and it's like, Oh my God, the, this is going to, this is a huge opportunity for us.
00:37:17
Speaker
And it was really exciting. And it's just amazing how over the last year or so, FIFA and the U S government has like, and I suppose the U S national team to a degree to have just squeezed all the joy and excitement out of the buildup into this thing. And there's part of me that still thinks once the games are here, I'll find a way to, to enjoy it, but there's no way it's going to live up to the expectations I had four years ago.
00:37:44
Speaker
No, no, I don't think so. I mean, it's that's true of a lot of things. Uh, how I felt about them four years ago, but ah that's, you know, neither here nor there, I guess. Uh, yeah. I mean, I think that, uh,
00:38:02
Speaker
just the naked, ah the naked corruption and cozying up to, uh, strong man dictator types that FIFA has done over the last six months, the just complete tone deafness.
00:38:18
Speaker
Um, um, you know, trying to force the representative, the representative of the Palestinian FAA smile and shake hands with the, the just no matter what you think ah about that specific issue, like, come on, like, why, why would you think that was a good idea? Do you have any concept of what is happening in the world right now? No, because you don't,
00:38:42
Speaker
Gianni Infantino doesn't live in the same planet as everybody else. He lives in the same planet as, ah you know, Saudi royal family and Donald Trump and and all these guys. And and that's just been become very obvious. And um the amount of just, you know, trying to bleed everyone dry for the last cent left in their wallets during a time when the economy is in the toilet.
00:39:06
Speaker
People are very scared about the future, cutting back on discretionary spending. And then, you know, you can buy $40,000 worth of World Cup tickets at Costco if you if you want without without airfare, you know, or lodging or anything, just tickets to the game.
00:39:22
Speaker
ah it's yeah, it's I mean, I'm not naive. Like I know sports is this way and to varying degrees has been for a very long time. This is sort of, a you know, Infantino has sort of said that And as sort of a defense, it's like, look, sports are expensive, especially in the United States. And, you know, Taylor Swift concerts are expensive, too. And it's like, yeah, but not like this. Like, they they just aren't like one of the lines that got repeated a lot during the.
00:39:54
Speaker
Run up to the World Cup, you know, back in 2022 was is this is going to be like hosting six Super Bowls? And I think at the time they meant it like the worldwide audience will be equivalent to six Super Bowls.
00:40:12
Speaker
But somehow that morphed into it's like hosting six Super Bowl. Like you have to be prepared to pay Super Bowl prices to go to any of these games. And look, the reality is that going to the Super Bowl.
00:40:26
Speaker
is not as expensive as going to these group stage games, let alone the equivalent of the world Superbowl, which would be a world cup final by, by the way.
00:40:36
Speaker
ah Like, it's just not, this is not on, there is no equivalent to what we're seeing right now in terms of the price gouging. the The only tickets I could have plausibly, not even justified because I couldn't justify it, but plausibly have had the money to pay for were to a game featuring arguably the worst team in a tournament and the team of a country, the United States is currently at war.
00:41:05
Speaker
um and that And that was like, those tickets were absurd, you know? ah And i just... And that's that's a whole other thing, like forcing Iran to come play in the us de it during all this.
00:41:21
Speaker
it's It's just disgusting. It's so gross. And it is so indicative of the way the elites around the world view normal people as just you know a means to make as much money as possible off of.
00:41:42
Speaker
And don't view anything that's happening in the world with like any actual seriousness. And it honestly, like looking at the amount of tickets that are on the secondary market, like looking at some of the stuff that they're kind of having to try to do now, we're out. It's crazy. These tickets keep opening up. Isn't that interesting? Like people are not going to travel for this world cup the way they have in the past.
00:42:02
Speaker
ah There is not a built in audience in the U S to support this kind of price gouging. I don't think. Um, I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if like we saw some some non sold out stadiums in Cotter in 2023, I guess it was technically.
00:42:21
Speaker
um And in in 2018 as well. I mean, they they weren't able to sell all the seats for for some of the games, um which is just. Diabolical, like it's the most watched, most popular sporting event in the world,
00:42:37
Speaker
and you are so concerned with maximizing profits that you can't make it affordable enough to to sell out the whole stadium. It's just, it's, it's shocking. So it's a bummer, man. i'm I'm like you. I'm sure that by the time the games get here, I'll probably be a little less cynical about the whole thing. But the, like if you had told me four years ago, Oh yeah, you, you won't be going to any games.
00:43:01
Speaker
You'll actually be traveling while it's happening for, for one of the weekends, weekends of the U S game. In fact, um you, probably won't even go to hang out like in the fan zone or anything like that because you're just so turned I would have you know I would have said oh shit I guess maybe I shouldn't be so optimistic about the future because it sounds like things have gotten pretty bad and yeah that's you know that's that's where we're at and like my hope is that maybe this will teach FIFA a little bit humility, but I, I don't, I don't want to thought the club world cup would have done that too, but would have you would have thought so. And the way the Olympics have gone, right. We're like, nobody wants the Olympics anymore because you know, the IOC has gotten so greedy to the point that they're having to have them in like Adelaide now. Right. No, no shade to Adelaide, but.
00:43:51
Speaker
you know, maybe not as marquee of a city as we've seen in the past. And they're, you know, they're not changing anything they're doing. and And I don't suspect FIFA will either. So depressing. I've heard that it's less so in in Canada and Mexico from folks that I've talked to that it's, you know, it's a little less, but it's still very price gougy, obviously. But maybe some of the other things surrounding the whole tournament are are a little less fraught. But ah yeah, it's it's really depressing.
00:44:20
Speaker
And, you know, it's it's looking like the World Cup has been like a bucket list thing for me for a very long time. And if if I can't even be asked to go to games 30 miles from my house, i don't I don't know what that says about the likelihood of me going to one ever in the future. So it's a bummer.
00:44:36
Speaker
You know, I will say I'm still holding out. And I i should also add that my my letter to the ah my letter to the editor. It's not a letter to the editor. It's a note from the editor. ah it it does end on a vaguely positive note, which is i do think there's a chance that once this is here, that it will feel less gross because we will be in it.
00:45:00
Speaker
And it will, you know, we might not feel great when we wake up in the morning, but there's going to be an element of, well, I'm glad that I did this thing. And especially if prices come down and I am looking forward to seeing people And, you know, like we're planning on a big watch party the day of the
Local Excitement for the World Cup
00:45:18
Speaker
the US Australia game.
00:45:20
Speaker
And a lot of people apparently are planning on being here without necessarily going to the game itself. So that might be kind of interesting. And, you know I still think I will probably take my kids out to some fan fest. It's hard for me to imagine going to games unless tickets... like Right now, I think the cheapest tickets that you can buy to any of the you any of the Seattle games is $250, and that's to sit like in the corner of the third deck to see two teams that I don't really have that much interest in seeing.
00:45:52
Speaker
And my suspicion is that those tickets will invariably have to come down. Like there's yeah just, no one's buying them at that price. So, you know, hopefully that happens.
00:46:04
Speaker
Maybe I'll end up going to a game. i do have some hope that this could not be as bad as it is, but it just bumps me out that, you know, here we are five weeks before the game start and we're having such a negative conversation about this.
00:46:16
Speaker
And it's all stuff that's in The people in powers, like none none of this is because of unforeseen circumstances. These are all man-made errors. The pricing, the warmongering, the stupid statements.
00:46:33
Speaker
but You just go on a long, long list of of things that are wrong with this, and they're all the result of people making stupid decisions.
00:46:43
Speaker
And that's what bums me out. Yeah, I think that there's we have this habit in our current political and economic moment of. Accepting the framing that powerful people like to put around things like this of like, well, this is just an inevitability. I mean, this is just how this works and it doesn't have it doesn't have to work like I remember a time when the Superbowl was not the way it is now.
00:47:11
Speaker
I remember a time when like the world cup was here when I was 11 years old and it wasn't like this. It wasn't in Seattle, obviously, but it wasn't like this. It was a big event. There was lots of marketing, blah, blah, blah, but it was not this Right. um College football has not always been like this. Like none of this stuff has to be shitty.
00:47:28
Speaker
It is, right like you said, conscious decisions by people in power doing things that nobody but them likes so they can make more money. And right.
00:47:39
Speaker
Like, what are you going to do? Right. I'm i'm still going watch the games. So I guess I'm complicit, but. ah you know, you can at least hate these people, right? the very least. Yeah, you can hate these people and you don't have to pay.
00:47:52
Speaker
and you know, I'm not going to tell anyone not to go to these games. Yeah, no. I'm just saying, i think you're justified. I think more what I'm saying is if almost everyone I've talked to feels the same way. So I don't feel like, I guess I'm just giving people the comfort of knowing that a lot of people feel this way.
00:48:13
Speaker
That, you know, I know a few people that have bought tickets and they are like sheepishly ah ah admitting that they bought tickets and they want to go to this historic event and God bless them.
00:48:25
Speaker
And I hope they have a great time, but I do not blame anyone for saying like, look, I'm drawing a line in the sand. Either I'm not going or I'm waiting until these prices come way down.
00:48:36
Speaker
And, you know, hopefully that's what, you know, hopefully a message gets sent. Um, I still think that Seattle at the end of this tournament is going to end up being even more like people are going to appreciate the beauty of Seattle. I think a lot more than they do now. Like Seattle is is still a an unbelievably beautiful city on its day. And if we get good weather during this tournament, it's going to blow people away and maybe i mean maybe with the transformation that's gone ah you know through in the last few years especially on the waterfront like maybe even more beautiful than it's ever been right so right yeah uh yeah that's that's that's a silver lining that's a nice silver lining and that we can share share the city with the world
00:49:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, on that really positive note, why don't we get out of here? want to say thank you to our sponsor, Full Full Wines. And of course, thank you to our subscribers. I'll give you an I'll make another plug that if you want to support Sounder at Heart's efforts and read some interesting stories that are not all about like, frankly, they're mostly about what could have been and and some of the other amazing stuff that's going on in the region.
00:49:44
Speaker
I would urge you to pick up for the Sounder Art Magazine. We'll have a World Cup issue. We are currently taking pre-orders. They are now $15. Although if you will are a ah if you're a subscriber at the supporter level or above, you can get a $5 discount.
00:50:01
Speaker
So that makes it $10. i Just hit me up if you are such a person and you didn't get an email about it. But I guess I should just send that email out. Anyway...
00:50:13
Speaker
ah Let's get out of here. I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and Lickit. This is Nos Adietas, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:50:55
Speaker
Let's go, and Sounders.