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Niko Moreno and Jeremiah recap the North American teams World Cup performances, how to capitalize on the post-cup momentum in Seattle
1 Playsin 2 hours
Niko Moreno joins Jeremiah to analyze the performance of Mexico, Canada and the United States’ performances in the World Cup. The two also discuss how the international soccer atmosphere was magical and that the local Seattle clubs need to really capitalize on that momentum for long-term fan retention and not let it just fade into the history books.
Follow Niko Moreno on BlueSky and YouTube.
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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 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 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.
Sponsorships and Announcements
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.
International Soccer Performance Analysis
00:01:43
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adientes on the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. I am Jeremiah Shan. Joining me on this beautiful Tuesday is my good buddy, Nico Moreno. How's it going, Nico?
00:01:55
Speaker
Is it beautiful, Jeremiah? Is it? Yeah, I know. I don't think it's beautiful. I think it's a nice sunny day out. And I had to, you know, mow my lawn to take some frustration out of my body. But it it's not beautiful. but but But I am happy to see you and ah to once again drop another episode for our phenomenal audience that I'm hoping they are also maybe on the...
00:02:22
Speaker
either grieving stages or getting over happened there. Yeah. USMNT team. Yes. Well, not even just the US now, you know, this is the thing is that this was a brutal few days for, i think North American soccer fans like Canada goes out.
00:02:42
Speaker
Mexico goes out. Ronaldo, i don't know if how many pounds there are of Ronaldo, but Ronaldo's Portugal goes out. The U.S. national team goes. i thought it was going to be messy going out today.
00:02:53
Speaker
i really did. i was i i i was very into that match. I was rooting on Egypt. And then the gut punch for this show, at least, Colombia going down in penalties to Switzerland.
00:03:06
Speaker
What happened there, Nico? ah Yeah, that was a brutal punch to the face, to be quite honest. ah Look, it was one of those games where Colombia was not clinical enough, where your top players did not decide the game for Colombia.
00:03:26
Speaker
I thought that Switzerland did a great job at also absorbing pressure. I thought that they did a good job at defending set pieces. They also put Colombia into some issues in some transition moments.
00:03:39
Speaker
I thought that um ah Saka and his veteran and experienced leadership from central areas were were key.
00:03:52
Speaker
I saw that the Nestor Lorenzo, Columbia's head coach, just held on to two extra subs for no reason, really. I guess he was thinking about PKs, but you got to try to win it in 120. If you can't win it in 90, you got to try to win it in the extra 30. And I don't think he did enough to do that.
00:04:13
Speaker
James came off early because he's obviously not the guy that he used to be. i expect more out of Luis Diaz. i thought that, unfortunately, just wasn't good enough. not Not because I don't want to spend a lot of time on Colombia, but in a nutshell...
00:04:30
Speaker
The team just wasn't good enough today. I thought that they had more talent and they had a better team to expose this ah Switzerland team. And they didn't do that. And again, you got credit the opposition. They did a good job at keeping Columbia at bay and...
00:04:48
Speaker
kind of containing a lot of the good things that they do on the flanks. And it was a 0-0 game all the way to PKs. And in PKs, it's anyone's game. And my boy, Kucha Hernandez, missed the PK. I was gutted for him. was gutted for him as well. That is my dude. And he missed it. And it was over after that.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. ah And so that comes a day after the U.S. national team falls to Belgium in pretty depressing fashion. And not because, you know, at least I guess you could say Colombia was competitive and you could be frustrated that they didn't do more.
00:05:24
Speaker
But the U.S. was atrocious. The U.S. spent the better part of a month looking like a team who was better than this and who could go toe to toe with the competent, talented teams. And they never looked up for this game, which is weird because the energy in the stadium was crazy.
00:05:48
Speaker
it was so positive and energetic. And they're, they they're saying there may have been a million people in downtown yesterday. comparable to the comparable to the, to the Superbowl parade. And I believe it, you know, at first when I saw that, I was like, there's just no way. But the more pictures I've looked at though, I went down on the, I went to the, the March and it, it was 20 minutes long. It was, it was like,
00:06:17
Speaker
Six blocks. It was crazy. ah Just so many Pioneer Square, all or not Pioneer Square, Occidental Square, all four sort of like the two roads coming in the two roads going out.
00:06:29
Speaker
It was packed. like I don't see how you could move in there. like So many people downtown, I talked to so many people that just said they went down there to be what it was to see what it was like. They were going to Pacific Place. They were going to Westlake Park. They were going to International District Chinatown.
00:06:47
Speaker
I mean, they were all over the place. And it was was very impressive. i And there was just you know the the Star Spangled Banner, everyone singing, the the fighter jets fly over.
00:07:03
Speaker
Boom, boom, clap right at the start. Just, I mean, it could not have been more of a, like just perfect dream of a afternoon. And then almost from the first minute, the U S just is, is shitting the bed.
00:07:16
Speaker
Just, just horrible, horrible, horrible defensive play. And it doesn't get better. And they can't really connect passes in dangerous areas. Just, uh, just, I don't know if it was too much for them or what, but they were, they were, they were doo-doo.
00:07:29
Speaker
They were bad.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yes. Let me give rant that I've almost prepared because I said it maybe six times after the game on my broadcast with Fox 13.
00:07:50
Speaker
This was an unrecognizable version of a USMNT team that dad had displayed some of the most impressive soccer we've seen out of this golden generation at the beginning of the World Cup.
00:08:09
Speaker
I'm not sure if it was a perfect storm of a distraction and a circus surrounding the Florian Balligan situation that on one side inspired and unified, cemented a very broken and inconsistent Belgium team over the tenure of this tournament.
00:08:35
Speaker
And it did the opposite for... a USMNT team that looked flat and uninspired and distracted.
00:08:47
Speaker
And perhaps that's what I can only decipher as a factor to excuse and maybe not excuse, but to explain a team that from minute one looked crazy.
00:09:02
Speaker
flat they look passive they look nervous on the ball and they got out dueled outperform outplayed out uh challenged outeete out of their own stadium out of their own stadium Pochettino said himself that they were never able to connect, and I could not agree more.
00:09:28
Speaker
In no point of this game, in three separate occasions where they had the opportunity to restart and settle, the first hydration break where they came off, they looked a little better, they get an equalizer from Tillman on a deflection shot on a free kick.
00:09:49
Speaker
Then they... forget that they just scored and they get beat off of basically the kickoff yeah and they give up a second goal. Then they had the halftime to once again, reset and settle. They come out of that second half a little bit better. And then they go back into a bad nutshell because freeze froze on the ball and has a terrible mistake that is unforgiven.
00:10:19
Speaker
and then finally, with an electric stadium that continued to support him and cheer and and try to put some air into the sails of this team.
00:10:34
Speaker
And in none of those occasions, they they were able to connect and gain momentum and create tempo in any single way. So it's unexcusable. And I don't use this word often, but it was embarrassing go out the way they did.
00:10:51
Speaker
I think embarrassing is a fair summation of it. You know, you look at this game and I know the hot takes have been basically they are who we thought they were. They just weren't that good.
00:11:02
Speaker
And they they got, they got found out. I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's at all fair. And I think it actually lets them off the hook. because the reality is that this is a team that had played better than it if they had lost two to one or if they had lost, you know, they had lost a close game where they were in it. I would say, okay, maybe, and maybe Belgium is a better team, but that doesn't, don't let that, don't let that confuse.
00:11:27
Speaker
They lost to a better team and they played who they, who they are, who we thought we were because that was way worse than what we thought they were. That this is, Every analyst, you know, there's there's a great article today in Michael Cayley's sub stack. And he talks about all the data that goes into this game. And one of the things that data is really good about assessing is not necessarily who's going to win or lose a game. Look, those are all percentages.
00:11:56
Speaker
And, you know, things get crazy sometimes when you get into actual results. But what we are usually able to predict is is how well a team is going to play against another team because you have all this data that comes together and it's pretty predictable. And like I said, sometimes the breaks go the way they go. But this was an ass whooping that came out of nowhere.
00:12:15
Speaker
and I think you have to, like everyone's saying, oh, the Balogun thing didn't make a difference. The Donald Trump thing didn't make a difference. I'm sorry, but there's there is a variable somewhere in here that threw this off.
00:12:30
Speaker
And it wasn't the support, you know, because if this is the thing, if Belgium had been overwhelmed by this moment because it was just so big, you have 65,000 U.S. fans on top of you creating this cauldron.
00:12:43
Speaker
Look, maybe you can use that as an excuse. But when there's no, that's all all the stuff that's working in the U.S.'s favor. And they just lay this egg. I'm sorry, but I think you have to, we have to admit that the Balogun thing was at the best case, best case,
00:12:59
Speaker
and a slight distraction and worst case, maybe a huge distraction that threw everything off the vibes, the attention. And there was just so much emphasis on Balogun suddenly being available that I don't know just the fact that he played 90 minutes in this game also felt very like kind of, he was, there was a point to prove or something.
00:13:22
Speaker
And ah i don't know. I just, I was very, very disappointed. And i think embarrassed is the right word. Yeah, look, the individual performances were...
00:13:35
Speaker
Atrocious. Tim Ream was awful. Matt Freeze was awful. Pulisic was uninspiring and ghost for the majority of that game. yeah Just as bad, maybe awful, you could add to that too because he's supposed to be your best player. He's supposed to be the face of this team. He's supposed to be Captain America. and And to be quite honest, ah he he wouldn't be...
00:14:02
Speaker
I don't know, a Thundercat or, you mean, he he had definitely knew Avenger. I mean, he- Snarf. Nothing. Maybe maybe a ah Teen Titan. I mean, I don't know what you would call him, but the reality is that he was bad. And um overall,
00:14:19
Speaker
That's not what bugs me. And Bolligan himself, maybe it was the pressure of everything going on. I'm not sure if there was a pre-game plan. And when you found out that Bolligan was going to play this game, then you changed back.
00:14:34
Speaker
I'm just trying to find a reason why this team was so poor. But I also want to credit Rudy Garcia and this Belgian team for...
00:14:44
Speaker
Maybe using all this as bulletin board material at the simplest way, perhaps. I'm simplifying how good they were. But this was a team that at one point was fighting each other the second half of the Senegal game. and After this game and when Lukaku scores, they have synchronized ah celebrations mimicking the Trump celebration. So if you want to tell me that this team wasn't motivated by everything that happened, then I think you're fucking blind. And the reality is, is that they did take this upon is us against them is, is the team that's trying to jade us and cheat us out of this, but you know,
00:15:30
Speaker
tournament. And if I'm Rudy Garcia, I'm telling them, look, that's what they're doing. that They are breaking the rules to make sure that you don't go over to the next round. Are you going to let them do that? And this team came out with their head, their hair on fire from the first minute, something that they had not done all tournament long, all tournament. They have not been this good in the first half until this game. So,
00:16:00
Speaker
Spare me your opinions on it because there's no way that a team that – decided to do a video in their locker room to make fun of and troll Donald Trump was not at the very least motivated by this whole situation. But beyond that, on the soccer aspect, I thought that Rudy Garcia at that Senegal game by pulling De Bruyne and Doku realized that this team had other options on how to play. I thought that Benfica's winger, Luca Bacchio, was phenomenal in this game instead of Doku. He understood his role better. He wasn't so incised to just do one thing to just to get to the end line. thought that he went in and out, to outside and inside channels, very well with Castagne on that side. i thought that ah Trezard in this game was phenomenal. I thought Tillman was very good. And the one guy that we had been hoping, or at least some of us had been thinking that was going to have a breakout position,
00:17:02
Speaker
roca because he has not had the best year with Atlanta, but last season in Serie A, he was one of the best strikers in that in that league.
00:17:13
Speaker
ah Charles DeCatelare ends up getting a brace, and that's credit to this team to just kind of get those pieces right back. Rudy Garcia has not given up on DeCatelare, although he should have by now, which is crazy, but he continues to play him. He has the ability to...
00:17:32
Speaker
insert a spark plug Lukaku to just finish games. And he works every time, whether it is in a leadership aspect, Energizer Bunny, or just scoring goals like he did in this one. So Rudy Garcia really has this team dialed in now, and that's credit to them. Not to mention the fact that they were able to exploit the deficiencies that – this US was national team had during this game. They realized that they were having issues and being very nervous out of the back end. They pressed higher. They pushed their line of confrontation and they made it difficult for the US business national team. So I do want to credit them because I want to make it all about the USMNT and they had a bad game because although they did, they had a very good, very strong and very ready locked in as the kids would say team in the other side of the field.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with all that. And and I'll just just add one more thing. Even if, and I don't i think all the evidence suggests that that aside from what people said, that Belgium did use this as motivation. But even if they didn't use it as motivation, at the very least, they did not allow it to become a distraction. And I don't think you can say the same thing for the United States.
00:18:48
Speaker
ah But let's, beyond the the game itself, I do want to talk about some positives that came from not just yesterday, but the whole tournament.
Seattle's Soccer Community and Culture
00:18:58
Speaker
And it was, it was genuine. Honestly, i say this from the bot. It was inspiring. It was amazing.
00:19:07
Speaker
It was so awesome to see Seattle come out the way that it did. And yeah, I mean, I'm going to put the U S and like the, the whole atmosphere around the Belgium game was the highlight. Like there's no look, you, you, you get a million people to show up downtown. That's the highlight, you know, I'm going to, but every game felt special. Every game felt different. Every game, the crowd was into it.
00:19:30
Speaker
There were different, you know different ethnicities, different diasporas that all came together and just made magic happen at Lumen Field. And it was, you know, it was great. It was every single game was great. Every single time I went there, i was excited to be at the stadium I was lucky enough to be in the Tribune, which essentially is a outdoor media section, which is in the third deck for the last four games.
00:19:58
Speaker
And i the the reason I did it is even though you didn't have a real workstation, you were in the atmosphere and you could soak it in and you could just feel what was going on there. And it was it was magical. It was really, really magical. I loved it.
00:20:13
Speaker
And I really do think that there's something... there's going to be, I think, I feel like there's legs from this, you know, there's, I think at the very least you got people to recognize that soccer is different, that soccer, there's something about soccer that is that you just don't get with the NFL that you don't get with the NBA that you don't get with baseball. And it's this,
00:20:34
Speaker
It's this common language that people speak across the world and and that we had that going on in Seattle, that we had people from Bosnia, that we had people from Egypt, that we had people from Iran, that we had Belgians, that we had Australians, that we had Qataris.
00:20:52
Speaker
All these folks were coming to Seattle and enjoying themselves and enjoying the company. And I think Seattle welcomed them with open arms. And it was it was beautiful. I loved it.
00:21:06
Speaker
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00:21:48
Speaker
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00:23:04
Speaker
Yes, it was phenomenal to see Senegal. Sorry, I forgot Senegal. but No, no, absolutely. that that then The Senegal-Egypt game was phenomenal. The Senegal-Belgium game was phenomenal. I mean, the the the games that Seattle had, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the US sf national team, every single game was either a decisive match,
00:23:31
Speaker
Group stage game Like you had when I ran in Egypt Or you had a Big game because the US Men's National Team was in town Or there was always something Where he made A compelling Game Out here in Seattle And it was great to see The global stage and maybe the the the the the global eyeball, if you will, of people just realizing what Seattle provides. And I'm not going to give him the... the the
00:24:10
Speaker
i'm not leave him the cloud to to to mention his name, but what I'm only guessing was a troll reporter from Portland talking about, you know, how perhaps why the U.S. national team lost was because there was this fortress here. That's just fucking lazy narrative. And I can only think as a troll because what I did see is that,
00:24:32
Speaker
If I am the U S soccer Federation, I'm trying to figure out in which way and how I can make sure that Seattle is one of the places where we play qualifiers. Cause they had, they were unbelievable here. And, and the, the, the, the fan base really comes out to support the U S miss national team. So I, I'm just proud that now everyone sees this soccer community that we have here in, in, in Seattle specifically. And, uh,
00:25:02
Speaker
I couldn't be more proud of that particular aspect of it. um And to add to your point in terms of just the overall gauging and almost making people and casuals fall in love with soccer in general,
00:25:24
Speaker
I think that's the one thing that makes me somewhat say that what this USA team did was a success during this World Cup. Because if anything, they were entertaining.
00:25:39
Speaker
They did win the group. They have scored the most goals they've ever had during a World Cup. And those were objectives. And those objectives were reached. So that's the only reason why I think that there was some success out of what they did this World Cup. And that's the positive because I like that you said that. We we do got to talk about some of the positives. So that is one of the positives is that between the atmosphere that Seattle as a city provided and and and in general, what this U.S. s soccer fan base provided,
00:26:12
Speaker
some of the things that this team was able to do on the field was captured the eye of even some of the big networks and and and some of the personalities in sports that have no idea about soccer. And it was hilarious trying to hear them talk about soccer and act like the yeah they were talking about. But at the very least,
00:26:32
Speaker
they cared enough to talk about it. Yeah. And I think, you know, there was a, a thing on blue sky that I saw a guy named Kevin Morris, who i follow, who it mostly covers Austin FC, but he you know, he, he mentioned that there were,
00:26:46
Speaker
Look, was there an opportunity missed by the U.S. losing this game? Of course. Yes. There was a chance that if they won this game, that they maybe could have had ah even bigger audiences that you would have given people even more positive. There's always missed opportunities when you don't win, right? That's that's the nature of this.
00:27:03
Speaker
But there is truth to you know the the the what we gained was the friends we made along the way which sounds silly but is in some ways true in this case because a lot of people were exposed to soccer and they had a lot of fun watching soccer it was yes it ended badly that's fair but they enjoyed the steps to get there too and that's equally important you know if they had fallen flat on their face against paraguay and then, you know, played uninspiring soccer, i think that's, that's fine. You would have, there wouldn't have been that many positives, but they left people with a lot of positive feelings after a lot of these games, they went out and they hung out with friends.
00:27:45
Speaker
They met new people. They, they hugged strangers. And I think when anytime that happens, there's positives that are going to have legs. And I think the key for Seattle is both,
00:27:56
Speaker
the Sounders and also the the local leadership here. We're talking city, county, state leaders. I think they they have to see what happened here and figure out how to replicate it. You know, I was talking to Casey Keller the other day for a story that what will come out in a little bit.
00:28:13
Speaker
And he mentioned, you know, I think a little cynically, he said, you know, they they did a good job of cleaning up downtown and now they need to keep it that way. But there's truth to that. You know, there's truth to that that, that Seattle was inviting and it did cut against a lot of the negative images that people have of it.
00:28:31
Speaker
And while I think that the negative images have always been overstated, there's something to be said about maintaining what we've built at the same time. We want this to be a place that people want to come.
00:28:43
Speaker
And we see what happens when they see it. at We see what they see Seattle at its best. And i think on the same token, the Sounders... need to pick up the baton and take it. And that can't be just going back to business as usual. And I think the first, the first, the first opportunity is this game against Portland. And look, they are running this, this, uh, promotion right now.
00:29:05
Speaker
They call on it 20, 26, $20 and 26 cents gets you a ran a ticket in the stadium and you'll be assigned to it later. I actually love this promotion. They're of trying to, they're trying to get people into,
00:29:18
Speaker
ah into Lumen Field for this Timbers game. And that's a good start, but it it can't just be a one-off. It has to be continued. We should be doing this kind of stuff for League's Cup.
00:29:30
Speaker
We should be doing it for regular season games. This whole thing where we've basically stopped opening the third deck because of creating the sense of scarcity, i think has been...
00:29:41
Speaker
really detrimental to the Sounders brand and the way that they reach people. And it, and it, there needs to be different price points for people to come into games. Sure. You got to have premium spaces and the premium spaces. I think FIFA showed, look, I don't love FIFA, but I think they did show when you pay for a premium space, you get a premium experience.
00:30:00
Speaker
And I think that that's a, that's a worthwhile thing to remember. And I think FIFA could have done a better job of making tickets affordable, but the Sounders, can too. And I think the Sounders need to keep in mind that if you're not creating new fans, your existing fans are just getting older.
00:30:18
Speaker
I agree. And I feel like if there's a club in MLS that it's going to take advantage of the euphoria and the, ah I don't know, the vibes and in the auras, as the kid would call it, that are left from this community World Cup is the Sounders. And look, I have my brother-in-law who is not a sports guy at all. Maybe a little baseball here and there because he likes going to watch the Mariners. But now he's like, hey, Nico, if ah you see some cheap tickets for the Sounders, man, I'm i'm down to go. You know, I'm I'm hooked now. I've been watching. There you go. Mexico has been fun. It's been cool. You know, it's the first World Cup I really watch. And it's, you know, super exciting. i have my neighbor right right here you know, asking me about, ah you know, where the the this Christian Roldan, the Sounders guy that didn't play for the U.S. soccer team, you know, like, is he worth watching? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. come Come watch a game. It'll be fun. So there are people that are –
00:31:24
Speaker
if They're not even casual to watch soccer. they're just They just randomly have heard all of this spectrum that that has been the World Cup, and they're like, man, I'm i'm intrigued.
00:31:36
Speaker
So I think that I love the fact that the Sounders are always very tactful and and understanding players. ticket prices and providing certain people for certain experiences. So I think that they will benefit out of this world cup and get a substantial different demographic of fans going to the stadium.
00:31:59
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that would be great. I think that would be an absolute win if they, if we can, cause there's a lot of momentum here. And the only way that this is a failure is if we just,
00:32:11
Speaker
let it stop. If we just yeah say we've proven ourselves to the world now come and we're done with the work. Like the work continues. This is, this should be the start of the next era of Seattle, of the Sounders of everything that's going on here. And if that happens and this was a huge success and if it doesn't, then it was a good time. And and we, but it would be a huge missed opportunity. And from what I'm seeing that I don't, I'm not really worried about that happening, but I do think it's a good message to remind people of.
00:32:42
Speaker
And I'll just say one more thing. I think it was also a reminder of the importance of Lumenfield's location. Cause let's be real. Part of what made this a magical experience Was it being a downtown stadium where you leave and you're just thrown out into a neighborhood and it's organic and it feel you can walk there, you can bike there, you can take the train, you can take the boat, you can get there in so many different ways.
Downtown Seattle During the World Cup
00:33:09
Speaker
And this is what makes it different from everywhere else that the, basically everywhere else that the World Cup was being held, is that when you get, when it's when it's over, you're there's just another party.
00:33:21
Speaker
You just go out the door and there are dozens of bars waiting to welcome you. There's street festivals. There's all kinds of things that make you feel like you're in a vibrant place.
00:33:32
Speaker
And i think this, I would like to think that the Sounders saw this and they go, okay, look, we get it. Being in Seattle is very important to who we are and not just who we are, but who we want to be. And I understand there are a lot of reasons to be exploring a potential move.
00:33:50
Speaker
I get it. I understand that there are leverage points here. And I understand that, that you know you you don't know what's going to happen if the Seahawks get sold.
00:34:01
Speaker
Look, these are all valid things, but like let's keep our eye on the on the on the focus here. with ah Keep focused. Being downtown is utterly, utterly important and and central to who the Sounders are and what they want to be.
00:34:18
Speaker
Yeah, I'll just add one more thing real quick to that. I mean, look, I have to praise... with everything in me, the, the job that Fox 13 did to amplify how every single location in Seattle was just a phenomenal party. I mean, every single time, right. I mean, everything right. The pier and pioneer and the house of soccer right there, or right in front of the stadium. I mean, all of it, I mean, it was phenomenal. And to your point, uh, As the night ended on Monday, um I talked to a couple from ah l L.A., East L.A., and they were very drunk, but they were already leaving the stadium. And they were like, you know what we love about Seattle is that we went to like three –
00:35:13
Speaker
different soccer parties and we walked to it. Like we in in l LA, we'd never be able to go to three different locations. Like there's no way you go to one and you, you stay there cause you're not making it to the next one. And we were, we started at the pier. We went to Pioneer square and watched some of the, the, the first early games there that we ended up at the stadium. So, I mean, I love to hear that, that, that, that it is the way the city set up for this sort of,
00:35:42
Speaker
event that that really captivated people. Yeah.
Sounders Player Updates and Future Prospects
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah. Well, ah we do want to talk a little bit about the Sounders. It sounds like we have some vague sense of of news here. Do you have anything you could share about what's going on with the Sounders right now?
00:35:59
Speaker
ah Just mainly ah Alex Roldan. I mean, both you and I were there at ah the facility. I don't know, but we can go out, but man, i don't know. Days are kind of coming together here, but the last time we were at the facility, alexoral dad Alex Alex Rodan was not um in the inner squad scrimmage. When I was walking out, i actually saw him in inside and it sounds like it's the same hip injury that he's been dealing with. And it looks like it could keep him or at least make him questionable because for that um first Timbers game. So that's unfortunate. i think Christian Roldan could be questionable as far as I've been hearing, as he has not completely been... He hasn't quite...
00:36:54
Speaker
been ready to and available in its max capacity um because of an injury that he picked up with the and i was big national team. i would think they might give him some time off anyway, but I i don't know. ah Yeah.
00:37:08
Speaker
That's my explanation. No, so so the and I think that's part of it, right? So um we'll see. We'll see what happens, but it definitely feels like at least two of those players are not going to be ready. I'm hearing Pedro De la Vega might not be...
00:37:26
Speaker
ahead of the game and maybe a little bit behind schedule. Now, I don't know what happened. I don't know if there was a setback. I'm not sure what's going on, but it sounds like he has slowed down in the amount of time he spends with the team. the, the, the partial training stuff, all of that, he was also not even out there for the inner squad game. and just kind of picking up things around, the hallways of the facility, it sounds like maybe they're slowing him down again. so that's, I don't know if you want to be concerned about it, perhaps maybe I am. i mean, it's a concern. any looks It's not ideal. It's not ideal, you know, and he hasn't played in almost a year and he's, you know, we thought he was going to be back coming right out of the,
00:38:21
Speaker
out of the break. It doesn't look like that's going to happen. And look, until he's playing without restrictions, there's going to be a concern. That's natural. i get it. If people are frustrated, it's frustrating. It is. I'm sure it's frustrating for him. And, ah and, and it's hard to rely on a play. He's a DP who you can't rely on is tough. The same reason people are frustrated with Jordan Morris. The same reason people are frustrated with Albert Rusnak right now is that they're not producing at that level.
00:38:50
Speaker
Uh, so fingers crossed that Pedro eventually comes back, but until he does, it's going to be, it's to be something that people are stressing about. And I can't really blame anyone for that. Uh, Christian, I feel gutted for man, uh, to go to two, to make two world cup rosters, to play this, to have two games in your home stadium, to have two more games in this, in a, in your hometown of l LA where he grew up.
00:39:19
Speaker
And to not be able to plan any of them, that is, that's brutal. That's brutal. There's no way to, I can't imagine that he is feeling great emotionally.
00:39:29
Speaker
you know, he, to his credit has come out to the mix zone after both Seattle games and talked, and he's been a total professional. He has been the exact player you expect him to be. um,
00:39:45
Speaker
the fact that he hasn't been able to get on the field or that he didn't get on the field now, is is really, it's a tragedy. Like, I don't want to overstate it, but it's it's it sucks. No one, he doesn't deserve that. ah he He is a player who has been remarkably fit and the degree to which he has missed games and he has been extremely available for the most part as a pro, but when he has missed games, it is very rare, exceptionally rare for him to miss games for
00:40:17
Speaker
a muscle injury and that he missed three matches this during a three of the five matches with a muscle injury is just almost too, too brutal to to speak. I agree.
00:40:28
Speaker
Now the positives, if you want to, see a very small silver lightning is that Stuart Hawkins has looked ah not just fit, but very good as a center back. He was next to Yemir Gomez-Andrade in the inner squad game. i believe they had another game before that as well. um and he's getting raving reviews. He just looks poised on the ball, looks very physical, good on the air duels. He has been dominating the percentage of clearances off of the E18.
00:41:10
Speaker
Hassani Dotson also getting back into this sort of things because I think he was dealing with some sort of ah soreness and And he seems to be 100%. It seems like Jordan Morris has looked very good in the game that you and I were at. I believe he like bodies.
00:41:28
Speaker
I want to say it was Jackson Reagan and then crosses the ball into yeah Paul Rothrock for a goal. So he has looked very good. So there are some positives going into this game.
00:41:41
Speaker
next part of the of the season. i am hearing that they are starting to be more aggressive towards some targets in terms of ah players for ah the transfer window. They have been in in talks.
00:41:56
Speaker
no No, no, no, no. Let me rephrase that. They have been doing some heavy scouting and closing in on some targets and they're getting ready to start some actual conversations with some teams. So we'll see what that looks like and what they're able to get. We've have seen already a couple of and MLS teams make some moves. So I, I hear that the Sounders are starting to,
00:42:25
Speaker
get a little bit more aggressive in what they need to do in order to bring somebody in, in the summer window. Well, that's, that's encouraging. We like to hear that. Yes, absolutely. I think, look, Craig, I'd be more excited when we start seeing names associated with it, but I get it.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yes, and and it's coming. i'm I'm doing my very best to very soon. I'm not putting that on you. not putting that take Take some stuff out. No, because I really don't think it's going to be you know as quickly as you've seen other teams kind of put it together. But if anything, I i hear i hear that Craig Weibel is ah very active.
00:43:04
Speaker
in regards to bringing somebody in, and that's a good thing. With the war chest that he has, I'm guessing that he is going to, at the very least, in my my opinion, this is just my opinion, get an MLS player and get an out-broad player, a player from out-broad, if they're able to get him on their the right budget. So, yeah, hopefully a couple of more weapons coming in.
00:43:31
Speaker
to this team. And I'm excited for what's ahead. I'm excited to get back into, ah i guess, yeah, I am excited to getting him back to what we know. i mean, it's been really fun and exciting and amazing to,
00:43:47
Speaker
have this World Cup experience, but it does kind of make you feel like, you know, it's it's a huge world out there and getting prepped. I tell you this right now, Jeremiah, getting prepped for this many teams is difficult and trying to figure out names that, know,
00:44:02
Speaker
you know They're very difficult. You know, like the Bosnia-Herzegovina in Croatia, I mean, there are some teams out there that are difficult. So I am very happy to get back to what I know, what becomes very natural with MLS and the Sounders.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I got to say, shout out to Nico Moreno. I got so many people coming up to me and saying your boys on TV that everyone noticed you, everyone, you were all over the place, man. And up and down the West coast, let's hear it. Like, let's not, let's not, let's not sleep on this. Nico Moreno getting into so TVs in l LA and San Francisco all over the place. I mean, this was,
00:44:46
Speaker
Nico Moreno hitting big time. So I'm very, very, I want to make sure people recognize the, the, the level of talent that they are getting to hear on this podcast all the time. So Nico, good work.
00:45:00
Speaker
My man, I couldn't do it without Sandra Hartman. Exploded me out there, baby. That's what I like to hear. Powered me through. Absolutely loved it. was It was fun. it was exhausting, I'll tell you that. But but but it it definitely was was fun. Learned a lot of things. Again, Q13 team is phenomenal. And I did hear the same things. And I'm glad that people that are our audience, you know, get excited. And it's almost like your family member. You know, when I was walking around the stadium, it was
00:45:31
Speaker
kind of felt like they knew me. Hey man, I'm so yeah proud of you. And you know, and you know, there's like, they watch me grow. And and it's, it's amazing. I love, I love our community. I really do.
00:45:42
Speaker
It's great. No, it's great. Well, ah awesome. ah I think that's about what we have, Nico. It's been great catching up with you. We will now, I think we're going to be get back to our regular cadence now that the world cup is not quite, the world cup is obviously still ongoing, but the, the, we're down to one game a day, I believe from here on out, except for one exception.
00:46:04
Speaker
And more importantly, there's just no games in Seattle. So we have a much more normal schedule that we can adhere to. So I want to say thank you to Nico for all the work you did. I want to give a shout out to Charlie Boehm too. He's been doing amazing work. oh yeah Ryan Rosenblatt has come in and done some great work. Dave Clark has been doing a lot of world cup stuff. Sam from a wits, Tim Foss, a lot of people doing good work on Sandra Hart right now.
00:46:30
Speaker
And I just wanted to make sure that people are reading them and that people are recognizing the effort and, ah and frankly expense that goes into covering the world cup. So if you are inclined, I want to encourage you we're right now in the middle of ah of a membership drive on Sounder at Heart.
00:46:45
Speaker
If you are a listener and you like what we do, please considering becoming a member. The membership started just $30 a year, $3 a month. And then if you go up to the $75 a year level, you get access to discord and then we have other tiers that you can get in on.
00:47:02
Speaker
But if you just go to Sounder at Heart, you can sign up. And this is honestly, that's what makes this podcast possible. It's what makes the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network possible. It's what makes all the written content possible. We pay for everything that we produce. This is not a a charity.
00:47:18
Speaker
And so hopefully people, we're not telling people just to write for clips or whatever. So hopefully people appreciate that. They want to support what we're doing. If you have not purchased an issue of for the sounder at heart magazine. Plenty of those are still available. Again, you can do all that stuff at sounder heart.com.
00:47:36
Speaker
Nico. Thanks again for doing this. ah And you can, people can follow you on, you're still going to be on Q13. You're still on blue sky, El Rolo NW. And of course you're on soccer down here, lobbing scorchers, anything else you want to plug.
00:47:51
Speaker
Nope, that's it. Of course, ah our show. And yeah, no, just ah excited. And yeah, be ready. We're going to come hard and and motivated in the second half of the MLS season.
00:48:03
Speaker
I got some giveaways that we might be able to do. I might reach into my own, you know, locker and and and get some memorabilia to get you guys, you know, going out there, do some giveaways. So yeah, i mean, I'm excited for Sunder Hart is going to be able to do here in the next season. second part of this MLS season.
00:48:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I won't say one more. We are going to do ah a watch party with the urbanist, which is a fellow reader supported independent website that covers ah not sports, but urbanism in the Seattle area.
00:48:35
Speaker
We're going be doing a watch party with them on July 19th at fast fashion or not, sorry, at project nine brewing up in, in Maple leaf. And so if you want to Join us there. there's ah There's a post about it on the site. You can RSVP. And we'd love to see you.
00:48:53
Speaker
With all that said, i am Jeremiah Oshan signing off for Nico Moreno. this is No Sadie Yet. This is part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. And we will catch you next time.
00:49:30
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders.