He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say he's cheating. Hello and welcome to
another episode of Sounders Scuttlebutt. I am
one of your hosts Cameron Collins and I am here
today recording live with the one and only Nicholas
Biela. What's up? And we are not only live with
each other, we are live with the Sounders St.
Louis game. We're going to try something new
today. We are recording this as the game goes
live and we are seconds away from first kick.
Matter of fact, if you want to watch along with
us when you're listening to this, the first kick
is kicked right now. Here we go. We are live.
Okay, so what do you think about this experiment,
Cameron? It will be tough, but I think we can
do it. I think the result of the match will really
determine how much fun it is. Yes, yes. I mean,
I think we're experimenting a little bit. I think
it'll be interesting. But before we do that,
let's crack open a beer. We are ready to go on
that. You'll hear. Oh, that's beautiful. Thank
you. And I'm back to Rainier. Nice. And you'll
hear me typing a little bit. That is just me
communicating with the discord, letting them
know that we're recording right now so they can
get those questions in that are live about the
game that is happening. And I will try to hold
my reactions a little bit since I am about two
and a half seconds ahead of you. Oh, that's okay.
We can just roll with it. I will open my Coca
-Cola Zero. Alternatively, you could try hitting
pause and play really quick. Oh, yeah. So about
104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110. All right.
I think I am less than a second ahead of you
now. Perfect. Much better. So what do you think
about this starting 11? We've got a pretty good
starting 11, given all things, in my opinion.
Yeah. I mean, considering that. Oh, no. considering
he just looked like he got bowled over there.
Yeah. Considering the injuries that we have,
yeah, it's not a bad starting XI. I think the
most interesting thing, we'll see if Jesus Ferreira
can play at the number nine. That's not something
that we have seen yet and something he hasn't
done for a bit. Well, yeah, and I think the philosophy
is sound because I really do like his... His
distribution, he's already got three assists
on the year, so I can understand him not being
the true number nine. But right now, that's what
we said at the beginning of the season was all
that tactical flexibility. Well, now we're unfortunately
having to use it not so much as a privilege but
as a necessity. So let's see. How that goes?
You know how St. Louis has been doing this year?
They've been kicking ass defensively. They, I
believe, have not allowed a single goal. It's
impressive. It's impressive. I mean, when our
defense isn't scoring on ourselves, I think we've
been kicking ass defensively too. I mean, you're
not wrong. But yeah, they're currently a goal
differential of plus three, but they've only
scored three goals. Yeah, they had a couple nil
-nil starts to the season against Colorado and
San Diego. And then they had that one 3 -0 lead
against LA Galaxy last week. And I did watch
that whole game, so it was really interesting.
Their goalie is so damn good. What's going on
here? Are they reviewing that? That's outside
the box, right? That's not VAR -able. Okay, no.
Okay. Just wanted to check on that. So, anyways,
we can talk a little bit while we're watching
this game about some of our recent results. I
know it was a rough week to try and get coordinated
schedules just with everything happening. The
good news is we won't have to record multiple
times a week because of fixture congestion. Yeah,
that's beautiful. The bad news is it means we're
out of CCC. Yeah. Yeah, but, I mean, that was
bound to happen. Save some drama and some other
things. Man, the Sounders cannot get the ball
out of St. Louis' half. Well, I expect that to
start. I expect St. Louis to try and take a...
playbook from Cruz Azul uh who was doing a really
good job of pressing us and and controlling that
midfield and so so I think just kind of weather
these first 10 minutes just kind of get our legs
back under us and uh and let's see how that goes
yeah it's interesting there's a lot of switching
you see Ferreira I mean I guess we do it with
Morris up top too but he's switching over to
the right he's uh back in the center now but
Definitely an interesting lineup, to say the
least, just because it hasn't been a while since
he's been in that number nine. I'd love to see
him succeed. That was the first time we got the
ball out of their half, I think. So let's keep
that up. I mean, I feel like lack of possession
isn't something that we can afford during this
match. That giveaway there by Ferreira, where
he just kicked it straight to the other team,
isn't what we're looking for. Also, do you think
you could ask your daughter to move a little
bit further away from the mic with her kids'
show she's watching? Oh, yeah. Is she doing that?
I'm trying to set up my – I had to move everything
into my living room. Oh, no problem at all. We
know. I mean, she's got to stay entertained.
We love Roma, and we want her to be happy. It's
just a little bit in the background. Yeah, I
kind of warned her, like, hey, if you're going
to do that, you need to put that on elsewhere.
Probably better than – Wearing headphones, though,
that can damage your ears. And watch this. It's
hard to react live, but up at the top of the
box, we had a beautiful almost shot from Roldan
Krah followed by an almost shot or a shot that
was ricocheted sideways by Defender from Nuhu.
Pretty fun five minutes. We won't do all live
commentary. I think it's just as we are sitting
here, it's the first. The first time we've done
live commentary during a match in this way. Now,
Nicholas and I, although we had to mute Nicholas's
mic quite often, he and I were both involved
with the 2020 when everything was shut down and
the Sounders had live streams and I was hosting
those and Nicholas would come co -host with me
sometimes. And it was very much hosting people
rather than talking about Sounders while watching
the match. So it's a little different. Yeah.
And I mean, that's where the running joke in
our in our in our in our podcast of and muted
comes from. Yes. Where I would make borderline
I would make jokes that, you know, they weren't
vulgar. They weren't bad, but they were pushing
the edge of of good taste sometimes. Alex asks
us if St. Louis season ticket members and players
get free dog food from Purina. Well, I mean,
as long as they don't play like dog food if you
were a fan, right? Yeah. What are your game day
routines when it's an away game? How does that
change your watching of the Sounders? Well, I
guess it all depends on if I'm watching with
people. Or if I'm watching at home. But usually
I definitely like to crack open a beer. Oh, Roseneck
coming up with a nice run. See what happens here.
Oh, good idea. St. Louis is giving them a lot
of space to just run up there. I hope that's
a trend that continues throughout the game. That's
our ball. I don't know why they were trying to
take it. Let's also. We'd be remiss if we didn't
mention that Freddy Juarez is a Sounders coach
tonight. He's the acting manager, as Brian Schmetzer
did not make the trip due to illness. Yeah. Yeah,
hopefully get well soon, Brian. Hopefully it's
nothing major. Hopefully maybe just had some.
uh sickness with the travels you know to mexico
the flu has been coming around you know it's
all over the place too hopefully it's not the
flu but i wouldn't be surprised so get get better
brian but also um i guess i should we should
mention some non -sounder stuff sadly uh slick
watts supersonics legend passed away um i'm on
the board of his foundation and i found out this
morning uh that that had happened and you know
he suffered a stroke a few years back i got to
spend some time with him but unfortunately well
i know that's not true i got to talk to him a
bit during the sonics gate stuff and and really
uh meet him and he he he was real funny but he
was he he hated um oh god who was the chris hansen
no russell uh uh the the guy who was a usf legend
uh he hated him and also that's also because
russell tried to work with the uh um bill russell
tried to work with clay bennett to keep the supersonics
here but never but he basically went to the other
side and then they never kept him here obviously
there's no intention of that so uh slick was
always super fun i didn't get to know him much
until after he had his stroke and he was not
the same person after that sadly you know in
the show notes um Either in the show notes or
in our Discord, we should definitely post the
link to the Blue Scholars song by Slick Watts.
Yeah, that'd be awesome. That's a good Seattle
hype song. Yep, absolutely. So Slick passed away.
He'd been doing pretty good. But, you know, that's
the fear when you're older and you have a stroke
of that magnitude and the way it affects your
life. I feel like we've been talking about this
multiple episodes now where someone's passing
away. We had more musicians pass away since our
last episode, too. It was so much time that I
think more people have died since. It just keeps
coming. And then also, let's be sure to shout
out Michaela Purvis, who today is her final day
as an employee of the Seattle Reign slash Seattle
Sounders. She's been 12 or 13 years with the
club. So over a decade. And Guerrilla FC put
out a statement yesterday. Saw that. About her
departure. She really, you know, no matter what
her position was, she was directly involved.
She was the liaison with the support groups.
And she worked really hard to, at all times possible,
including with the Iron Front stuff, create a
fair. and transparent process and atmosphere
and really pushed the league wide at different
meetings and security head of the league to move
away from a policing view of this is how we take
care of supporter groups, especially away travel,
and move towards a more holistic grassroots approach
of... We need supporters because they are what
make us good. So let's figure out how to allow
them to support the best way possible without
causing any issues. And one of my favorite Mikayla
stories is actually right around that indeed,
where the Champions League run that we had in
2022, FIFA came in. This is also, mind you, before
they announced the host cities for the FIFA World
Cup. So FIFA was in attendance in Seattle. And
they tried to get ECS to take down the Trans
Lives Matter banner. And they went to Michaela,
and Michaela advocated for us, stood up for us,
and essentially, in a nutshell, politely told
FIFA where to shove it. So, I love the... The
time I've gotten to spend with Michaela, she
has been the main point of contact for us during
my entire tenure on the Alliance Council. And
I've been on the Alliance Council since December
2016. So, you know, just big shout out to her
being just an absolute legend. And so hopefully
she will have put in place. the expectations
for those who come after her. Yeah, absolutely.
You know, it's interesting seeing Freddie Juarez
sitting there on the bench for this Seattle versus
St. Louis match here. Of course, we're recording
live March 15th at almost 6 p .m. We're not quite,
well, I guess we're 13 minutes into the match.
But Freddie, of course, was the head coach of
Salt Lake. He was the assistant coach 2016 to
2019, and then caretaker coach 2019, and then
later got hired full -time in 2020, 2021. That's
unfortunate. Sorry. Jackson fell on the ball.
Literally fell on the ball. Yeah. I don't know
why it's a yellow card. Did he touch it with
his hands? Yeah. Illegal handing. I hate that,
but it does happen. I think the other interesting
thing is Freddie has coached three seasons at
both Real Monarchs and three seasons at Seattle
Salt Lake. And in both those, he had 18 wins
and 14 draws. His Real Monarchs record, 18 wins,
14 draws, 28 losses. His Real Salt Lake record,
18 wins, 14 draws, 23 losses. So this is a chance
for him to get his 19th win in MLS, which would
be awesome. A little free kick coming up here
for St. Louis. How are you feeling about this
match? What did you pick for the score going
into it? Honestly, I picked 2 -0 Seattle. I feel
like St. Louis has had problems scoring. And
I feel like we need a palate cleanser from Mexico.
And I think I've already blown my prediction
as St. Louis scores on that free kick directly
after Jackson Reagan landed on the ball. Yeah,
it was a dangerous spot. I'd like to see that
again, the replay, because Fry looked slow in
his reaction, which is something we've alluded
to or talked about our Discord. mentioning a
few times in the past. This is still in line
with my score. Here we go. I'm going to watch
this replay real quick. He even moved the right
way. He just couldn't get to it. It was like
the perfect shot. Well, Fry was set up. That
was the side away from, that was right over the
wall. So Fry was, I don't want to say cheating,
but Fry trusted that the wall would do what the
wall needed to do. And it's just a really good
shot more than a failure on the wall because
that distance is kind of the ideal distance to
get it up and over a wall. So that's just really
good. That was a great shot from, I don't know
if it's Lowen or Loven. We'll call him Lowen.
Actually, Loven. We'll call him McLoven. McLoven
with the goal there for St. Louis, unfortunately.
But we keep it going. Georgie getting dangerous
there but couldn't do anything with it. I'd like
to see us put together some possession now. My
score prediction was 3 -1, actually. I think
Ferreira has a chance to show himself. I did
it before I saw the lineup, though. While I like
the lineup, I find it interesting that they're
playing Georgie up on top. Rusnak up on top,
essentially. They're attacking mids. But then
you have Rothrock on the left on a wing -type
position, but he's playing wing -back. Yeah,
I'm curious to see if the lineup as it's presented
is a true tactical shape or if it's a different,
you know, or if the actual field play is going
to be different from a 3 -4 -3. I mean, they
often have been shifting in interesting ways.
Wow, that number six there for knew exactly what
Georgie was doing for St. Louis and just immediately
cut it off. So here's that beautiful shot again
on a replay from McLovin. Yeah, there's nothing
Fry could have done. He even jumped that way,
cheating that way, right? So unfortunate, but
my 3 -1 prediction can still hold. We'll see
what happens. I think it's mostly hopeful for
me. because I think the Sounders need to do something
to get the taste of that game at Mexico City
out of their mouth, where, of course, Paul Areola
tore his ACL out for the season, and we have
Jordan Morris out four to six weeks with a non
-contact injury. Although, Paul's ACL was non
-contact too, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. But I think
it was... I think it's a little different when
you're talking about a hamstring versus a knee
when we're talking about non -contact. Oh, sure,
sure. But I mean, the hamstring worries me with
Jordan because he was just running and it went.
That's going to be an injury that he can't rush
back from, especially with his injury history.
So I would be surprised if he was on the four
-week side of that rather than the six -week.
I mean, I think you and I had a little bit different
take out of that game. I think we probably felt
similarly, but what was your takeaway from the
game at? at uh mexico city versus blue blue simult
yeah so so honestly the the easiest way to kind
of describe it was it was clear from the beginning
that we are getting overrun in the midfield you
know we had a good five to ten minutes in the
beginning but then from then on it was just a
little rough but i was still positive that we
were you know we were giving them all the possession
but they weren't doing much dangerous with it
and we were still one goal away from a result
one goal away from a result for most of that
game yeah and taking a look at what vancouver
did to monterey i thought that was um potentially
how that how this game might shape up let's check
on rustnack real quick right now oh that's uh
sorry it's alex alex got run you got you got
stepped on oh that should not be an injury though
i think it was just his ankle got kicked as he
was spinning he'll be all right um so yeah we
were within one goal most of that game sorry
go ahead yeah and so and so with that we were
not the better team we did not deserve a result
yeah but we were I don't look at the scoreline
as a 4 -1 loss. I don't. It was a 2 -1 loss.
Those last two goals were when we had to really
push, and that's going to open things up at the
very end there. With that in mind, even 2 -1,
they... should have scored more i just don't
think that those last two goals uh i think those
last two goals were game state goals yeah um
we did enough even though they very easily could
have been up four to one long before that game
state the fact remains that they weren't so chances
weren't being finished or we were bent but don't
break so it's um You know, it was a bad beat,
and if that was the result and we didn't lose
Jordan and Paul to injury, I think it would have
been a little bit more palatable. Oh, see, I
think the only—I mean, obviously I don't want
to lose them to injury, but losing them to injury
is the only reason the score was that, in my
opinion. I think we have a chance to win that
if they're not hurt. Well, I do agree with that,
but— But the reality is I don't mind losing in
this tournament. There are no easy outs with
everyone that was left. I don't mind losing.
But I don't think 4 -1 was representative of
even the game with the injuries in there. I think
2 -1, 3 -1 definitely. Maybe 2 -0 would have
been a better representation, actually, since
our goal was kind of bouncing around something
in front of the goal. It wasn't like it was a
skilled play that led to that goal. Yeah, and
let's not forget the fact that the injury that
Jordan Moore sustained was on a really good opportunity.
Yeah. Now, who scored that goal for us? Danny
Mussofsky. And what have you been saying? I've
been saying if he can get that first goal of
the season before the third way of the season
point, that I think he can get five to ten goals
all competitions this season. Yeah, and take
advantage of that moment where the ball's there,
and that's what he does. And I feel like he's
been putting himself in good positions. Let me
reset that. All of this is being graded on a
scale. And the scale I'm talking about is a third
string center forward. Because of the way we...
Second string, but yeah. Second string, but yeah.
He's supposed to be Will Bruin, is who he's supposed
to be. Yeah, exactly. So I'm not going to...
I'm not going to criticize him the same way I
would if that exact same performance was happening
from Jordan in the number nine. Yeah. And so
I think that's – you got to understand what we're
dealing with. Like are you going to criticize
– Are you going to criticize Stu Hawkins the
same way you would Jackson Reagan? No. No. You've
got to – that's not how that works. Yeah. And
I see a lot of people, not necessarily on our
Discord, but on the Facebook groups, saying,
well, why isn't Stu Hawkins playing? Why is –
Kalani starting over him, even though Kalani
is a different position, a different position,
but it's like, why is he getting minutes? And
basically why is John Bell starting over? I mean,
John Bell is a great backup and I think Stu,
you know, he's, he's good, but he's got, he's,
he's stealing is what's so impressive about him,
right? He is, he has become what we thought Sam
Rogers would be. Speaking of which, I believe
he started in Chicago today. Nice. I know they
won again, so that would be pretty sweet if he
did. But, you know, I think Sam was a player
who there was so much hope for, and I think moving
to another team really helps that pressure that
he had on him. So not only did Sam Rogers start
today, he completed the most passes in the match.
He was 96 of 102 for 94%. Wow. Played the full
90, 110 touches. That right center back next
to... Oh, and it's helpful, I'm sure, that he's
next to Jack Elliott, one of the best center
backs in the league. I mean, yeah. You're setting
up for success there. That's what I mean. I'm
not putting down... uh what sam did but i mean
that's that's a great pairing there for him to
have i mean you we do the same thing uh well
jackson reagan when he was getting his first
starts we were putting him with yamar and then
it turned out you and then jackson was starting
to show his quality so and and i think we do
it center center defensive mid as well when we
see when we were pairing obed with JP at first.
Yeah, so you're absolutely right. Yeah. Can you
do me a favor there and kick your mic down to
about 68, 69? Yeah, my little – nice, nice. Yeah,
you're just – you're getting excited, which we
all are, of course. We don't always – that's
the way we roll here, right? The behind -the
-scenes commentary, we just do live because,
you know what, we're watching this game live.
And, you know, I'm not – Disappointed. Oh, you
have your daughter asking you a question, so
if you want to jump on that. I'm not that disappointed
with what's going on, despite the fact the Sounders
are down 1 -0. Even though we haven't had great
possession, we've had a few times now where we're
pushing the ball. We've seen in the second 15
minutes, which we're only 10 minutes through,
the Sounders have actually been able to push
forward, get a few shots off. Not the most dangerous
shots, but I'm not... I'm not sweating it right
now. This is a game the Sounders could still
easily win. I think this is a new lineup. You've
got new players on the field playing together.
You've got a coach who is known for halftime
adjustments. He's usually the one making those,
but he's upstairs watching. I wonder if that's
going to affect this game. I don't know what
you think, Nick, where he's on the field instead
of upstairs being able to watch formations and
the way the players are moving and the flow of
the game. Well, yeah, I'm curious if there's
someone in his role up there or if they're just
kind of shorthanded tonight. Yeah. Ooh, what
a turn there from Georgie. Nice move by Georgie.
Knocked off the ball and they didn't call the
foul. That's ridiculous. At least the ref stopped
them from breaking away. Interestingly enough.
I was going to say real quick. St. Louis has
done this a few times this first 26 minutes.
They've been really good about being physical.
And they're going shoulder to shoulder. But they
shove them too. I usually don't like... Here,
I don't think that's a foul under the rules,
but that gets called in the MLS every single
game. I think that's where I would put that.
I felt like that was the... The Arriaga -Carlos
Vela defensive action. Although the Arriaga was
far worse because he did shove him. But that's
what that looked like there. But this has been
a couple times now where Sounders have gone flying.
Knew who in the first couple minutes right there.
There's been a few moments where we've gotten
muscled off the ball. Hopefully it's not a trend.
But last week, watching St. Louis do this to
LA Galaxy, they were really controlling some
aspects of the game, but the reality was they
were giving up a lot of opportunities, and Berkey
just had a really good game. I felt like LA Galaxy
was getting offensive opportunities, but they
just couldn't finish. So I'm hoping that will
happen tonight with the Sounders, that we can
get some offensive opportunities and exploit
some of this. But we'll find out. I'm not seeing
much of it yet. No, and we're seeing incredible
ball movement from St. Louis during the match.
So it's nice defense there from the Sounders
to stop what could have been a dangerous chance.
But something that's frustrated me about the
Sounders, and I think it's only because I know
that it's happening, because this is the same
thing, and it's not the Sounders' fault, it's
the Seahawks' fault. When Pete Carroll was the
coach of the Seahawks, the Seahawks made easily,
the best halftime adjustments of any team in
the NFL and could play one of the worst halves
of football you've ever seen and then completely
dominate in the second half. The problem is the
question was always how far behind are the Seahawks
going to fall before they can come back and play
well. And so I worry about that with the Sounders
where, you know, we're not going down early a
ton, but we're keep letting teams hang in it.
And that's what I worry about where we could
have been up to nothing. early in a match and
instead it's still zero zero and so if they get
a late goal like charlotte did uh they can tie
the game uh you know i was watching that charlotte
cincinnati broadcast earlier because they are
uh they started at 4 30 so they're a little bit
ahead of us and it was interesting hearing what
the announcer said because uh their coach uh
dean smith said that uh They didn't play bad
against Miami. They just lost. The game where
they played bad was against Seattle. And despite
getting a point there, they were still very frustrated
with only getting a point because they felt like
they should have come away with a win, where
I think the reason they played poorly in that
match is because Seattle was so good in that
match and just blew it at the end. I don't know
how you feel about that, but that's my takeaway
from that first match. Seattle really was able
to shut them down. How was that not a foul? These
refs are just letting them completely trample
over us. And we're lucky that we didn't get scored
on there as our entire team has their hands out.
Alex is really upset there. Let's take a look.
Oh, he got crushed. He got absolutely crushed
right here from behind. Wow. That's not shoulder
to shoulder. No, that's a shoulder in his back.
He didn't get hit hard, but he did get crushed.
Oh, he turned into it, though. You know, I think
it's a fact. Where at the last minute, because
he turned at the last minute, it's almost, uh
-oh. It's the opposite of what we saw. Oh, man,
Nuhu. Yeah, they're not going to call that. Nuhu's
got to be careful here. I know, but yeah. And
he's arguing with Nuhu. He's not arguing with
the ref, which is interesting. But obviously
the ref is talking to either VAR or his side
assistant. Yeah. Well, Nuhu's getting frustrated.
St. Louis has three Germans in the attack, and
they are all doing, you know, they had a good
game last week. That's the definition of shoulder
to shoulder. Took us here and he needs to get
out of the play, get out of there. He didn't
shove him. He kind of swung his arm like, get
out of here. To me, that's a very mild new who.
That's not typical. Oh, now they're hugging.
Yeah. I got to say though, I like, I like, I
like a new who's hair there. Yeah. New who's
hair looks pretty awesome. That's what my hair
is. Like where, where he's letting it grow out
just a little bit. Yeah. Oh, they called that
on us. They said play on. Yeah. This ref has
clearly lost the plot. And now you can see New
Who doing it. You can see them doing it. Now
they're just letting... Like, oh, this is the
line. Now people are starting to do stupid stuff.
This game's going to have a red card. Yeah, no
kidding. Absolutely. Faltas Basakos. I am not
familiar with Basakos. I recognize the name,
but I don't know why. I think because it seems
like such a unique name to me. Faltas. Yeah,
so... I think that Alex play going back was similar
to the one where they tried to give the red card
to Christian in Mexico City. I mean, Christian
got the ball, went down, and the guy stepped
over him and stepped into a dangerous play. Yeah,
he put himself into that position. And I think
Alex did the same thing. Yes. Essentially. Opposite,
essentially. But yes. So it bugged me that Stu
Holden went on and on about how... I don't think
that's a red card, but they're giving him a red
card, and then afterwards, no, that wasn't a
red. Like, shut up, dude. He did that twice.
He did that twice, where it's like, oh, it's
definitely this, and then as soon as it's not
called the way he just told everyone it was absolutely
100 % going to be called, he's like, yeah, I
agree with that. Like, fuck you. You know what
I think is though? I think because Apple TV has
the rights to MLS, they don't want to talk anything
bad about the refs. That's what I think it is.
I know, but then you can't – there are ways to
not talk bad about the refs than to not basically
be a flip -flopper. I'm sorry, Fox, not Apple.
They're not Apple. They're Fox. Because Taylor
Twelman used to do that when he was at Fox as
well or was at ESPN, wherever he was. Now that
Taylor's at Apple – He's a little more free with
his words, which I like. Because Taylor Twelman,
people hate him, but his announcing is so much
different than it used to be. I feel like he
said a couple, like in the LA Galaxy Western
Conference Final, people were criticizing him
for what he said at the end of that game, but
he spent the entire game just heaping praise
on the Sounders and saying how good we are and
how our defense was the best in the league and
all of these things. I think just because they
say something that is arguably correct about
your team that isn't positive doesn't mean that
they're hating on your team. Come on. Oh, exactly.
I mean, you can be critical. You can be critical.
I mean, I'll tell you one example of someone
who won me over in the soccer world was Sebastian
Salazar. Oh, interesting. As his career went
on. Oh, that sounds good. As his career went
on. I started to look forward to having him as
a ref. But that's kind of the life you sign up
for when you're a ref. Coaches are hired to be
fired. Refs are just disliked by everyone. Ricardo
Salazar. What did I say? Sebastian Salazar. Yeah,
Ricardo, thank you. As I was saying, I'm like,
that doesn't sound right, but I couldn't put
my – who is Ricardo Salazar? Or, I'm sorry, who
is Sebastian Salazar? There's Sebastian and then,
I don't know if his name is Salazar, but it's
something very, very close. Who is an announcer
for Apple TV, I believe. Who is a decent announcer?
Oh, you know what? No, Sebastian Salazar was
Herc Gomez's co -host for Football Americas.
Oh, ESPN. Okay, he was ESPN. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Although he's out as he's no longer co -hosting
Football Americas. Oh, interesting. I wonder
what happened with that. Yeah, I don't know.
He was very critical of... Oh, it looks like
family stuff. Looks like family, sounds like.
So did he cheat on his wife? I mean, I feel like
when it's family... This is not always true,
because I know the Greal C statement said that
Michaela Purvis was leaving for family reasons,
and yes, she is leaving for family reasons, because...
She has family that she's going to spend time
with. It has nothing to do with anything nefarious.
But politicians always say, oh, I'm going to
step back to spend time with my family when they've
cheated on their spouse. No, no. What I mean
by that is ESPN has been trying to get them to
studio instead of having it be kind of web stuff.
And he's based out of D .C., not Bristol, Connecticut.
So it was so truly, in this case, family. Although
that's not a bad – that's not a terrible – Train
ride, I bet. Okay. We might have something developing
here. We might. Let's see. Ooh, Georgie! Georgie,
great, but I'm very impressed with the physicality
of St. Louis' defense. I am very impressed with
that. It's frustrating, but I also... Don't know
if this game – oh, that was such a power move
right there. The end of the game in Seattle that
was so funny. The LAFC? Was it 5 -1 in that game?
5 -2, LAFC. Oh, LAFC, excuse me, yes. Because
– Go ahead. Go ahead. I would say, how did you
feel about that game and then going directly
into Mexico City? I feel like it's the tale of
two games in our season. Yeah, but it's two very
distinct, separate things. You cannot draw inferences
between the two games. Sure. I just mean going
from the high of our backups being that much
better than LAFC's backups to the low of losing.
uh you know two key players i would argue was
our team mvp thus far this season and then loved
watching him play i know and then jordan who
are only true true number nine so it's it's i
mean it's very frustrating luckily jordan's injuries
is shorter term than we uh feared but only four
to six weeks that did come out this week that
he's four to six weeks pedro's four to six weeks
paul of course is the whole season Uh, Yamar
is only missing this match for family reasons.
And, uh, we don't know Schmetz is out at least
for this match. Yeah. I mean, it's just kind
of, it's an MLS season. It's so MLS. Sure. But
that loss made it, it, I think it was the injuries
more than anything made me feel, uh, the high
of the previous game, which was only what. three
days four days earlier uh completely crushed
um you know it's like that was the first time
this season like winning against antigua was
fun but uh it we still knew it was antigua that
was the first time this season they felt really
excited about the possibility of the season and
then to have two of our main players taken out
of the equation real quick just stop for a second
look at how many numbers are in the box for st
louis yeah one two three four five six seven
eight nine ten in the box that is yeah oh and
georgie gets away okay and wins a corner again
but yeah so i mean unless we start unless we
start uh shooting from distance counter -attack
we're gonna get a counter -attack Well, step
one, I mean, look at that. Look at that. Look
at how much red. Nine in the box with one just
outside. Nine on five because we have five attackers
in there, and that's going to be a tough numbers
game. I don't know why that St. Louis player
is pointing at the ball. Does he think it's not
placed in the right place? Here's a beautiful
chance. Oh, okay. Was that Obed? No, I think
that was Jackson Reagan. Okay. He got it down.
Good header, but straight to the goalie, unfortunately.
Yeah. Well, not straight to the goalie. It went
down. It hit the ground. So you did what you're
supposed to do. You get that header down. But
Berkey's a very good goalie. Oh, God. They must
be way ahead of us on the Discord. Because I
don't like what I just saw. We'll see. You and
I can react to this own goal together. Because,
oof. If this is an own goal, this is trouble.
What's your time mark right now? I'm at 39 .47.
I'm at 39 .49. Oh, he's just predicting what
happened. Okay. Thank goodness. Oh, Jesus. Alex
Diaz, you're getting a negative shout -out on
the podcast. I was worried. Like, how did you
already see an own goal here? Like, they haven't
even started. Shame. Shame. Oh, man. This is
going to be one of those games or this podcast
where it's really good to turn it on during the
match. Maybe we'll take a little. break at halftime
and then come back in the second half. So we
don't go over time -wise since we've got to keep
it under two hours for that. I agree. I think
that'll probably be good for all of us. It'll
probably be good for all of us. So I called that
game in Mexico city, the most disastrous game
in Sounders history. I know you have a different,
I love your hyper. I love your hyperbole. But
to me – I get it. I'll disagree, but go ahead.
Go ahead. Make your case. You had two that you
felt were far worse. Tell me those two. Yeah,
so your philosophy here, and I don't know why
he's pointing to his ear right now. Right now
there's a holdup on the corner. They're looking
to see if it was a header out of bounds. I mean
there's no reason you look at that unless it's
– No, it can't – Yeah, you wouldn't review it.
He does a lot of shithousery, is what I'm trying
to say. Yeah. Okay, so state your pitch for why
you think it was the most disastrous Sounders
loss. I think losing 4 -1, I mean, the score,
even though obviously we said it doesn't reflect
that, but really it's losing Areola for the season
in a season where we needed to prove to the fans.
That we can make moves that will make us better
without breaking the bank. And then also, and
so losing Areola. And then we obviously didn't
know the extent of the Jordan injury. So I don't
know if it's as bad. I thought he would be out
longer than that. But absolutely, I felt like
we're early in the season. But in the moment,
yeah. We crash out in that tournament, which,
you know. Overall, we had the hardest path, so
that's not the end of the world. But to lose
that way, to have those injuries, and the effect
it would have on our season, the Sounders basically
have to go out and replace Paul Areola before
the summer transfer window ends, or they will
be unable to. Yeah. Now, so to answer your question,
though, first off, I am going to say no. It's
definitely not the word. It's definitely hyperbole,
and it's in the emotional state after a game.
So I'm going to give you credit there, but I'm
always trying to talk people down off the cliff.
But for me, though, the red card wedding is still
the most disastrous match. I'm curious why. One,
it's against your rival in the U .S. Open Cup.
At Starfire, where we have not lost a game at
that point, we had owned that. We lost – I was
about to say Obed, then I was about to say Obama.
We lost Obafemi Martins. We lost Obafemi Martins
to a major injury in that. We lost Clint Dempsey
to suspension from that. I didn't feel like that
had a major impact on our season that year. Huge
impact. Huge impact. Oba was out for like six
– I don't want to say six months. He was out
for quite some time. That was a major injury.
To me, in retrospect, I view that as one of the
greatest Sounders games of all time. The fact
that Dempsey took that dumbass ref's book and
tore it up is – Number two moment. Oh, I guess
number three moment all -time in Sounders. No,
we got to go four now because we've had a few
things since then. Number four moment all -time
in Sounders history behind Roman's penalty kick,
the goal to put away the 2019 MLS Cup, and the
goal to put away the Champions League. Oh, and
let's not forget the goal that Oz scored to put
away the U .S. Open Cup at home. Frankly, that
was my wife's first ever Sounders game and my
mom's first ever Sounders game. The one where
Ozzy scored that? Yeah, the 2010 U .S. Open Cup
Final. Where were you sitting? I'm sorry, 2011
U .S. Open Cup Final. Was 2010 the one versus
Columbus? We also played Columbus at home in
one of those games. Yes, that was the 2010 because
29 was D .C. at D .C. That's right. And their
goalie was Columbus. Yeah, and then 2012. Where
did you sit that match? I was basically around
the top of the box on the southwest corner. So
I guess that would be – hang on. So if you're
facing east, yes, you're on the right. So about
section 128 -ish, somewhere around there, 128,
129, somewhere around there. Hang on. Oh, other
side. Okay. That east corner, northeast corner.
I was sitting in Gorilla FC row two or three.
Now, that's very frustrating right there. To
allow earlier in the game some of really aggressive
shoulder -to -shoulder tackles and then a very
light shoulder -to -shoulder tackle there with
Ferreira, and they call it on Ferreira. And he
gets the yellow. Although the yellow may be for
the descent. But still, I don't think you should
get a yellow for descent when they're making
bad calls, when it comes down to it. If you make
a bad call, that's on you. But yeah, so as we're
going a little cyclical here, because obviously
things are happening in the game, and so we're
going to react to that as it happens. But so
yeah, red card wedding, that's number one for
me. The second one for me that I think was definitely
more disastrous, just at first glance, was the
2020 MLS Cup against Columbus in Columbus. We
had just gone through the emotional high of coming
back against Minnesota with Gustavsson. Yeah.
Yeah. And now we're in the championship. They're
missing multiple players and star players. There's
no reason we should have lost that game on paper,
but the games aren't played on paper, and we
shat the bed. That's absolutely more disastrous.
I would even put the Charlie Joseph game as more
disastrous, but again, it's because you're playing
against your rivals. I'll give you Red Card Wedding,
and I don't necessarily agree on 2020 just because...
It was the final game of the season, so I didn't
feel like it gave away. It ruined our whole season,
which this very well could have. We'll see. But
the Showery Joseph game sucked. I hated that.
Absolutely. It was awful. I feel like I should
have got my money back from having to go. I went
all the way down to Portland sitting in a seat
that wasn't even a seat in a van and my legs.
went numb and I felt claustrophobic. I had a
terrible, terrible experience. And then to get
in the stadium and see that lineup, it was awful.
But we were not affected beyond that game. But
it also shows where you value... Disaster. What
I'd consider disaster. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And
playoffs versus... And US Open Cup versus CONCACAF.
Oh, well, yes and no. Because the MLS Cup final...
And I think the difference is that in both of
those cases, I think... How is that not a yellow
card? He absolutely grabbed him and spun him
around. That's the definition of a professional
tackle when he was getting away. Body language.
And not that. I'm a little... And we're watching
this without sound, so we're not getting certain
context. Did they call halftime? Yeah, it's halftime,
thankfully. Okay. Okay, so let's wind down this
thought, and then we'll take a break. Yeah. And
Jesus is there talking. Stupid -ass ref. And
I think he's trying to explain. Yes. And it looks
like with the numbers and gesticulations, it
looks like he's saying, I don't understand the
consistency. The way he's saying it, it looks
like he's pointing a lot at the field. And like,
hey, I'm just asking for consistency. That's
what it looks like. Yeah, no, it looked like
a healthy conversation. It was animated, but
that's how I read it. Yeah. Okay, so let's do
this. Finishing up that discourse on disaster.
Yeah, I think the opponent and what kind of competition
matters, given that... The odds were already
stacked against us in Mexico, given that that
team clearly outplayed us in Mexico, where I
just... We weren't expected to win that game.
I think that matters, and that changes the dynamic
to me. When you, you know, Red Card Wedding,
we hadn't lost at Starfire ever. We had Obaduse
on the field at Starfire. So that changes that.
The MLS Cup, for the reasons I said before, we
were expected to win that game. We had a very
dynamic offense. They were missing players. No,
we were missing players too, ultimately. That's
what happened to us. Bob. Why don't we take a
break here? Let's take that break. Yeah. With
our audience here, you will hear the Patreon
ad. And so then we'll come right back. So if
you're watching along live, a replay of this
while we are doing this, if you want to do that,
you can skip to the beginning of the ball being
dropped in the second half. And Nick, you and
I will be back. Let's come back as they're coming
back on the field. I mean, I guess we will still
see each other. Yeah, obviously. But, yeah, we'll
do that, and we'll kind of kick back in right
as they're kind of cutting to the camera to get
ready to start the second half. Awesome. Let's
take that break. Hey everybody, this is one of
your hosts, Cameron Collins. Now, I know we said
this time was time for a break, but really, it's
a time for me to talk to you about our corporate
overlords. And our corporate overlords are us.
That's right. We would love it if you would head
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-T -R -E -O -N dot C -O -M. Now back to your
regularly scheduled programming. And we are back.
That means the second half is just about to start
here. And before it goes, I think you have something
important to do, Nicholas. I do. This is exactly
where you Terrence and Philip and just fart into
the microphone. But that's not what I'm going
to do instead. I'm not your friend, pal. I'm
not your pal, buddy. I'm not your buddy, friend.
That was a beautiful opening of your beer here.
Thank you. As the sounders drop out, I think
I'm still a couple seconds ahead of you. I'll
tell you when I'm starting here, and you can
tell me how much later you are. So for anyone
listening, kick right now. And kick right now.
Yeah, so give me a second. Give me a clock. 450
-234 -567. Just barely ahead of you, and I paused
it for a couple seconds, so hopefully we're a
little closer in. If you are watching along...
obviously not live with the game, but live with
us, meaning you're listening to this podcast
and you have the game on the TV, you can kind
of match it along with that. I know I had to
do that one time when Jackson Feltz got his first
ever announcing, like he was the main announcer.
Oh yeah, where you were listening to the radio.
Yeah, so I was at my parents' house, so I had
it on the TV and the TV was ahead of the radio.
And so I could pause the TV until it lined up
with the radio and play it. So I had Jackson
calling the game live, which, you know, Jackson,
not just a good friend of the show, but good
friend of mine. Never get to see him enough.
But yeah, he actually it was pretty cool to see
him or hear him, I suppose, is the better phrase.
He's off and on with Softie. doing actual discussions
now so he's not just a producer as uh that ball
gets shot over the net by christian christian
rolled on doing his best jesus ferrara impersonation
i was gonna go ozzy alonso but we know how ozzy
loved to kick it over the the goal no but but
the ozzy bomb was a shot that was like a chip
that just went wrong that was like a chip that
just kept going that's true uh so with that in
mind Real quick, it said the English commentators
on the screen, Tony Hubbard and Ross Smith. In
my head, I didn't think English language. Oh,
good job by Paul keeping that in. Oh! Yep, yep.
And then it bounced up and hit Jesus' hand. Yeah,
who is, what's happening in my brain right now?
Who's number seven? Yeah, not having a great
week. Exactly. Or were you legitimately having
a stroke and could not remember? I was legitimately
having a stroke. I'm not having a great week.
Right after I thought English language meant
that we had English people announcing, not English
language. I was like, why don't we have American
do it? Ross Fletcher? Or no, not Ross Fletcher.
Yes, Ross Fletcher. Wait, no, I don't remember.
Yeah, Ross Fletcher was from England. Yes, okay.
My brain is breaking. Oh, that does bring up
an interesting point. We didn't get to talk about
Trump is heading the FIFA task force now, which
is very interesting. Did you see the speech he
gave on it? He was like, my name is Donald Trump
and I think soccer is great. That's my Donald
Trump impression for the show now. Was that a
Bill Cosby? Was that a Fat Albert? What was that?
Oh my God, it was kind of close to those. No,
that was Donald Trump. It's huge. He doesn't
see you that way. And we've just lost anyone
who was born after 1994. I'm going to have to
redo. I didn't realize my impression. It was
a little more guttural than normal. I didn't
realize my Trump impression sounded like he who
shall not be named. So I was talking about this.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. He who shall not be named.
Voldemort? Yes. So you're okay. Oh, no, no, no,
no. Was he hurt? I don't think he was hurt. I
think he just slid into the ball. No, it was
just a bad pass, a bad giveaway. Yeah. And just
had trouble written all over it. It's okay. We
got defense. We got defensive players. They've
done nothing that makes me think they're going
to score a goal despite all of their possession
other than that free kick. Oh, Paul wants to
go. Oh, and now we have multi ball. Yeah. But,
uh, but yeah, so I clearly will need to find
a new Trump impression because that one invokes
Bill Cosby, which, um, you know, he was one of
the, my best celebrity interactions I ever had.
And so it makes me sad that he turned out to
be such an awful person because he buy you drinks.
No, uh, I was at the, uh, 90, I think it was
a 92, uh, Western conference or Western regionals.
And, uh, It was Chris Webber and the Fab Five
playing against Georgetown and Vander, I mean,
George Washington, excuse me, and Vanderbilt
playing against Temple. So he was there to see
Temple. Yeah, because he's a Temple, he's a famous
Temple alum. He went to his seat and he was sitting
like in the front row on the side and I went
up to talk to him and the security pushed me
away and he said no and pushed them away and
brought me up and I got to have a quick little
conversation with him. So, you know, he was always
someone that I looked up to. as a kid so such
a such a bummer no it is a bummer because i really
enjoyed those are classic comedy albums and i
can't listen to them and i won't listen to them
and and the way they worked them into the cosby
show was great too but he also worked his off
on this into the cosby show yeah yeah and i mean
it's anyways let's not talk about bill cosby
i'd like to just no i'd like i'd like for him
to just you're right that is The gutturalness
of my Trump impression got a little bit too Bill
Cosby -ish, so I'll work on it. Next episode,
I'll debut a different one. But yeah, Trump is
leading the FIFA panel or whatever you want to
call it, group for the United States government,
which is surprising because there's no way Biden
would have done that, right? That's a job for
someone below the president. Wait, wait, wait,
wait, wait. What do you mean that's surprising?
You mean this president? wants to be closer to
the most corrupt organization in the world yeah
look at that rothrock shoving totland off of
him yeah no totally and that's that's exactly
what it is and we knew from the beginning uh
anyone who's been in fifa circles uh that they
were rooting for trump to win that election and
i'm sure they found ways to funnel money into
it as well what uh i have no proof of that but
Yes. Okay. So with that in mind, we are five
minutes into the second half. We'll give you
a quick heads up on the end of the first half.
Sounders had possession about 64 % to 36%. The
expected goals for both teams were pretty miserable,
.23 and .1 for the Sounders. Four shots each.
It was just kind of what you expect from a road
result where you're just trying to... You're
just trying to grind out results. So the Sounders
are doing a good job of stifling them defensively,
but they're just not doing a good job of creating
offense right now. So that's what I'm interested
to see in the second half, if that can change.
Although the trio of Germans for St. Louis is
creating moments of... I don't want to say creating...
because none of it has been happening. Yeah,
but they're creating moments where they're like,
oh, they are one pass away. Who knew? Yeah, no,
who knew? He's no longer on Minnesota, but I
wish when he left Minnesota he'd come here because
I would have loved to have knew who and who knew.
We need to see our midfield step it up here.
They've been, I feel like, Not non -existent,
but what a beautiful pass from Russnack. Is that
going to be outside? Oh, Georgie. It's no matter
if Georgie can't do anything with the ball. That's
the one thing. I feel like Russnack this year,
he's got these moments of brilliance where he
has these amazing weighted passes through that
create chances. Just getting in our own way.
That header may. go in not because of the pace
of it but because of where it was headed that's
a bummer but but i feel like there's games where
rothrock last year when he wasn't on the field
that was noticeable and this this year there's
been a few games where he's he's on the field
and absent a pass here or pass there where you're
just absolutely stunned at how brilliant it is
he seems non -existent he's not having an impact
on the match and i don't know what's going on
no rust rust snack rust snack has moments of
like we just saw that brilliant pass but that's
maybe only the second time i've really felt like
he's had an impact on this game well yes this
game is a grind this is a grind game but but
right now our midfield we're doing what you're
saying right now these last five minutes we are
we are controlling the midfield obet and christian
nice okay okay so so yeah but i just feel like
I don't know. And it may not be his fault. It
may be the way possession is happening. It may
be the way he's being played, but there's been
times where I've just felt like Russ knock has
not had the impact that he had last year on games,
except for in the LA, the LA FC game, of course.
And, and the, one of those Antigua matches, but,
but I feel like those were not, those kind of
don't even feel like real games. So possibly
because, but, but, but then again, you're, you're,
you're talking about where, only a handful of
games into the season, including the CCC games.
And you mentioned, oh, except for this and except
for this and except for this. So I don't know.
I feel like I'll take the positive of, well,
that's quite a few games where he's doing stuff.
But I get what you're saying. You want to see
more consistency. And I can respect that. Oh,
is he onside? I don't know if we're going to
find out. Okay. But I think, oh, oh, am I drunk?
Am I just realizing now that Berkey's not in
the game? Oh, yeah, it's Lunt is the goalie.
He looked pretty close to onside there. I don't
know why they're. Oh, shit. That's who they were
talking about. Okay, again, we've been watching.
Okay, so for those listening, we were scrambling
minutes before the game started to kind of decide.
We decided we were going to do this experiment.
We decided we were going to do this experiment
about 10 minutes before the game started, which
meant I had to move all my equipment into the
living room to set up. So there was a big scramble.
Then we were muted the whole time, so I did not
realize until right about now I caught someone
saying, oh, yeah, that St. Louis player has a
broken hand. I did not realize it's Berkey. Oh,
interesting. So, yeah, so Berkey is out with
a broken hand. Yeah, wow. I'm more reacting to
what's on the screen. I have not been able to
do a deep dive because we're usually during a
game. I'm researching and I'm paying attention
to different things. But here, all that time
I would be looking at another screen to research
stuff, I'm talking to you. So this is a unique
experience. It's a little frustrating to me that
we aren't putting the ball on goal more when
they have their backup keeper in there. You should
be peppering him with as many shots as possible,
but we haven't been able to get those. We haven't
had the possession. But you're right with Rusnak.
Maybe that's unfair. It just feels like his impact
on the game is lesser than it used to be throughout
the games. But sometimes that happens. We did
have a couple of things come in from... but discord
in the scuttlebuck mailbag. And I think I can
start by hitting on some of those over under
a 5 .5 goals until Jordan comes back in six to
eight weeks. Did we fix that? No one can score,
but Jordan in the off season, I would assume
we're going to get over. I mean, we should be
able to score more than five and a half goals
throughout. I mean, six to eight weeks is going
to be, let's say it's eight weeks. That's going
to be, well, let's go with six because six is
one goal a game. Yeah, even that. I mean, I think
we should average more than one goal a game.
If we can't get one goal a game, the season's
over. I mean, wait, wait, wait. But again, I
may, okay, well, let's look at the data analytics
here. So we have a home game against Houston,
a road game against San Jose, road against San
Diego, road against Dallas. Yeah, we should score
a goal in every one, at least a goal in every
one of those games. Home against Nashville and
then road against Colorado. And then again, then
at home against St. Louis City. So it's going
to be an interesting run. This is about if I
had to handpick an area for De La Vegas and Morris's
injuries to happen, I think when I'm looking
at the schedule, this is exactly where I'm putting
it because I don't want it to happen during Club
World Cup. Oh, go ahead. Oh, yeah. I'm saying
this is it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the only other
spot where I would maybe consider it... Oh, Jesus
Christ. The only other spot I would maybe consider
it would be the League's Cup time frame when
we play Cruz Azul again. That's where I said
Jesus Christ because I realized we're playing
Cruz Azul. Yeah, let's play our backups in those
games. I'm not interested in even competing in
that tournament after what happened in CCC. Well,
I am because I always want to be in Champions
League, and that's how you get into Champions
League. Right, but I don't think we're going
to win that tournament. Not with considering
how we, I don't know, with our injuries. I don't
want to twice give up our MLS season. I think
that's my problem. I get it. I get it. I mean,
reality, though, is every team's got injuries.
Miami just lost one of their players. Obviously,
Berkey here just broke in hand. So, I mean, every
team's going to be dealing with injuries. Hopefully,
it's just ours are going to hit, you know, at
this time, and hopefully they won't be, you know,
won't be building up. Suddenly he's not giving
fouls on shoulder -to -shoulders again like he
was for St. Louis in the end of the second half.
Oh, goodness. How shocking. Well, I wonder if
he – maybe sometimes he's – maybe he's – at halftime
he kind of considers and who knows. Could be,
but I think you've got to call the game consistent.
That's the only thing. If you're making the change,
just be consistent. That's all I ask. Along with
the injury talk. Alex Diaz asked us what's the
over -under on Pedro being out for total weeks
a season, and he puts it at 10. I'd say under.
I agree. As long as they don't rush him back,
I wouldn't expect another injury. In fact, I
bet you this injury isn't a six - to eight -week
injury. I think it's let's be as cautious as
possible so we don't have a repeat last year.
Especially give it last year, yes. I think you
might be right. Yeah, and we know the impact
he has. Oh! That would have been a brilliant
chance there as their defender maybe tore his
ACL or injured his knee in some way there. I
don't know what happened to that defender, but
when he went down, that left a brilliant chance
open. What a save from Fry on that previous play.
I mean... It kind of would have been funny as
he turned if he just pushed the ball in the net.
No, thank you. We don't need another own goal.
No, no. This is not something Nicholas will know
anything about, but I watched qualifying today,
or was that yesterday? Late yesterday. It's got
to be the McLaren. I mean, finishing 1 -2, having
Piastri, the Australian, be on the second place
spot in Australia is pretty sweet. That race
is tonight at 9 p .m. Seattle time. So kind of
exciting for the F1 season to start. And it's
too bad Aaron's not here to talk about it. But
Aaron will be back soon. He will. He will. One
day. He's settling into his new life in San Diego.
We promise he's not becoming a San Diego FC fan,
we think. I think he's still a Sounders fan.
But he is a Lakers fan, so you can hold that
against him. Indeed. But shout out to Bryce.
Bryce to Jeff. Bryce, I do have a question for
you. You'll have to get back to me on this one,
though. Now, Bryce DeJeff, how did you come up
with that name? I know you work in the restaurant
industry, so I keep seeing DeJeff, and I keep
wanting to call it DeHefe. I keep wanting to
go. So I am curious about that. You're going
to have to let me know on that. A couple of subs
in there for St. Louis as they're changing up.
A little bit left. Sounders only have about 30
minutes left to come back in this game. A little
heat check. It is 62 -48, 49 -62 -50. If you're
paying attention to the clock. And it's still
1 -0 St. Louis. I think at this point, the Sounders
have looked like the better team in the second
half so far. That's the way I've been seeing
it. You know, the momentum meter is certainly
also showing all rave green right now. Yeah,
look at that. So the momentum meter certainly
kind of plays off with that. They're conceding
possession to us. Current live possession is
64 % to 36%. We did get a few more expected goals
on there, but let's get some more opportunities.
So let's see what happens. Looks like we just
got a yellow card to Obed. I don't, again, don't
understand why yellows are going our way for
stuff like that when more egregious fouls are
not getting called the other direction. Yeah,
I think it'd be one thing. But still. And Jesus.
Yep. They subbed off Jesus. Who's Mazovsky. Who's
number nine now. Yeah. It looks like Danny. Yep.
Okay. Well, I mean, this, this to me shows where
we might have some issues with Jordan being out
and not addressing the number nine position.
I mean, if we weren't going to sign a new number
nine, we, uh, I think had to go out and get a.
uh will bruin style number nine someone who's
a quadruple a can start when needed type player
except for that one year will bruin had an awesome
year for us but uh i think ferreira was great
at the nine for a while and then he just hasn't
played it in several years so maybe he just needs
some warming up but we've seen his game this
season and even in this match you saw that he
wasn't making himself dangerous at the nine he
was making himself dangerous by uh getting open,
but the ball wasn't getting to him. And usually
it's the other way around. He's the one getting
the ball to people to score. So a question for
you. Last season, LAFC had as their center forward
for $89 ,716. So it looks like the veteran's
salary minimum. Kai Kamara, would you sign Kai
Kamara at this point? Absolutely, yes. I mean,
we should have signed him. I don't know. I mean,
I think I'm throwing it out there. to advocate
for it, but more to discuss because I feel like
that could be like a Raul situation where, you
know, he's, he's the kind of striker that is
going to want to get playing time. And will that
be a problem in the cohesion of the locker room?
I don't, I don't know. All I do know is the fact
that all I do know is he's a player who has played
for, I think, 13 teams in the league. But he
also is 40 years old now, so... Yeah. I mean,
I think we've seen him, and that's probably why
he goes, but Montreal, I think the year in Montreal,
the year in Chicago, in Montreal he had nine
goals, but five for Chicago and three for LAFC.
Obviously, I wouldn't have wanted him when he
was younger, but I think now we've seen just
a little bit more out of him, and maybe it's
just because... all of his goals come against
the Sounders. That may just be it. Now, with
that said, I actually like Kai Kamara. I just
don't know if – anyways, just throwing it out
there. No, I think I would have taken any actual
number nine in this offseason because even Danny
last year wasn't playing the nine. He scored
as a right winger against LA – I mean against
San Jose when I was down there. One of his –
he had two goals last year. Yeah. So, I mean,
let's look at last year for Kai Kamara. This
is his full career. I only want one season. Here
we go. Not 24, 25. 23, 24? 24. Boom. So last
season, he had 27 matches. I was hoping it would
tell me how many he started. Maybe if I go to
detailed here. Here we go. Three goals, five
assists. He subbed in 17 times. So that means
he started 10 in MLS. He also had three goals
in League's Cup and two goals in the U .S. Open
Cup. So in 40 appearances last year, eight goals,
five assists, subbing on 24 times. So he subbed
on over half the time. 187 total minutes over
40 games. So that totals out, what, 187? Good
ball by Musafsky there. Goodbye by 40. And they
gave it as a corner. Okay, hang on one second.
We got a corner. Okay. It's cleared out, sadly.
All right. Oh, that's average per competition.
I see. I see what happened there. So, uh, I don't,
I don't have the math to figure out. So he scored,
uh, looks like one point. He, he played 1500
minutes. Okay. Total last season, basically.
Um, so, uh, but I also think, I also think the
Sounders MO is to try and, I, I feel like. I
feel like if they're going to make another signing
that they're going to try and use like a U22
slot for a player like that. The problem is that
any kind of attacking striker, you're going to
be getting a project. I mean, a Leo Chu. Oh,
we spilled that one out. I mean, I think we just
don't have that is the issue. We don't have a
number nine that can come up from defiance. And
I mean, I think Dan the Bastard was talking about
it. I haven't seen anyone being ready to do that.
No, Rosario is not there. He's, I get, I get
the pedigree. Yeah. You know, even last year
he was okay for defiance. He wasn't great. And
it's because he's coming in from the Canadian
Premier League, right? He was good there, but
the Canadian Premier League. is largely on par
with MLX and X -Pro, I would say. Might be a
little better for Alvarez. It's USL. It might
be USL championship level. Yeah, they're tough
teams, but not their... A little deflection,
and okay. So Zander, they're showing much better
life right now. Yeah. But yeah, sorry to finish
you. This is kind of an interesting challenge.
commenting on the game while having side conversations.
But Kamara, yeah, I'm not, unless we have an
actual something dangerous, I'm not, I'm just,
the game's just kind of on in the background
for me. But yeah, I mean, Kamara averaged 37
and a half minutes last season. And I think having
a forward that could come on and do that, now
will he be able to do the same this season? You
know, he's a year older, so obviously I think
that'd be hard. So, I mean, I don't even know
where he is right now, if he's playing for anyone.
but I would like to see a player like that come
in right now. I think we have to do something.
Our roster's not full, is it? I know we have
at least one spot open, but if we have more than
one, bring in a veteran who could fill that spot.
But I just don't know if the forward position
is where you want it to be. I almost feel like
the winger position. I just don't know. Who's
going to score our goals? We have no number nine
now. We have no one to score a goal. That's the
thing is I don't see us scoring. I mean, I think
realistically, no, it's not just a yellow card.
That's a good free kick. I know. He took them
down from behind. What is it about Christian
that gets the WWF takedowns? Yeah, let's see
this again because to me, when did takedowns
from behind stop being red cards? That's a more
egregious version of, yeah, that's a yellow.
That's definitely a yellow. I'm okay with no
red because he fell and he didn't actually pull
him once he fell. Christian just fell backwards.
But still, yeah. So, I mean, I think in the Sounders
match day here on our Discord, which you can,
of course, join, they say. We don't have a starting
or backup level nine if you're not playing Ferreira
as the nine. And, you know, this is one sample
size on the road. I would like to see Ferreira
actually get some minutes at the nine and see
what he does. I don't like that Christian is
down right now, though, off the ball after. I
mean, he obviously got twisted. Yeah, so. Hopefully
he's okay here and it's not a knee injury for
Christian. Luckily, the one position where the
Sounders do have depth is center defensive mid.
I'd sub him off regardless right now. Might not
be a bad idea, but we'll see what the trainers
are saying and what they find out. While we're
doing that, why don't we take a quick look at
the live standings of the prediction standings.
Alex Diaz is leading with 13 total points. Paul
is in second with 12. Eric, 13, with 11, along
with myself. Jeff Ram is also tied for third
with 11. You're right behind with 10, and Daniel's
right there with 10. Cedar with 9. Aaron with
7. Asianman1974 with 7. And that rounds out the
top 10. We have more, obviously, more below that,
but we'll just kind of rack out the top 10. I
was surprised that I was that high considering
I've had two games where I got an email that
said I only got one point, and that was pretty
frustrating to get an email that showed that.
Well, there's only five questions. There's only
five points available, and none of them are gimmies.
So it's an interesting game. I'm getting zero
today. So this is what I think we're going to
do. For this, I think we're going to definitely
give a prize to the winner. the overall of the
season, the winner is going to get some sort
of a prize. It might be a top three that I'm
not going to commit to right now, but I am going
to commit to the winner getting something. But
then I also, because I always want to encourage
people to continue participating. that what I'll
do is at the end of the season, for every game
that you submit a pick in, you will get entered
into a random drawing. So there will be a winner
for whoever does the best, and then there will
be a random winner for everyone that's participated.
So that's kind of how we're going to do that.
And what those prizes are, not important. But
I promise they'll be cool. I got enough cool
stuff that I'd be willing to donate to a fun
cause. But I just don't know what that will be.
It may even be reaching out to whoever the winners
are and see if we can come up with something
that works well for them. So keep participating
in that. Keep playing with that. I think we're
having a lot of fun with that. I hope you're
having fun with it as well. And, yeah, so we'll
keep going there. Uh -oh, we're getting more
drink comments on Sounders Match Day. So that
must be something that's being said by the announcers.
There must be something going on. So I want to
go back to this number nine talk because we have
a list of... MLS free agents. So we're just talking
MLS level players that can play forward. Where
are you pulling this list from? Some of their
winners transfer market. So it's all the players
without a club that were in the league last year.
Can you share that into the chat or share your
screen so I can see with you? I'm just going
to read it. I'm just going to read it to you.
Okay. Ask you players. So first off, and this
is of course not going to happen, but Carlos
Vela. Yeah, no. I mean, I would take him, absolutely,
if he were available as a short -term stick.
Someone, anyone. Okay. Kai Kamara, obviously
we talked about. Johnny Russell. No. Ilarra Mendy
out of Dallas, who only had two goals last year.
All the Dallas players. Yeah, basically. Here's
one that's more interesting, though. Bobby Wood.
Didn't he have a major injury? Yeah, he hasn't
been the same. Victor Wanyama, who had 12 games
last year and no goals. So these are not a lot
of goals. You know who did have eight goals last
year in 24 appearances? It was Raul Ruiz Diaz.
Would you take him back at the number nine right
now for a league minimum? No, and it's the same
reason why they didn't show interest in bringing
back Lodero. it's not the right time right now.
You're trying to move on from someone, and you
can't. It's not a good fit, I don't think. Did
that hit his arm? Hang on a second. He's down
on the ground. No, I think it hit off his chest.
Okay. And another player that's interesting is
a Canadian center forward. who doesn't have a
team right now um but he was on toronto as a
youth player uh not uh oh wait did he and then
he got sent to real monarchs in st louis so i
mean uh sl no that's uh real spotlight uh but
you could take a flyer on a young player coming
out of some of these these other i just i feel
like there's something we need to do at this
point uh obviously we're not ready To replace
Ferreira as a nine, he's going to be that for
the next six to eight weeks. But I just feel
like this shows the lack of depth we have at
forward and that it actually was not addressed
in a way that it should have been. I mean, I
think that could be potentially fair. But we
are 77 minutes into these four to six weeks.
against a team that is not allowed a single goal
all season long where we mentioned earlier they
had nine ten people in the box so that is their
their park the bus strategy it's not glamorous
they haven't been playing that way in the second
half though i mean that we've we've had several
opportunities to move the ball closer and have
chances and we're just we're not we've had moments
but we're not being creative with the ball we're
chasing them around the field largely It seems
like we look like an aging team right now, which
is funny because we don't have a lot of old players
on the field at the moment. We have a lot of
young players. Well, I don't know if that's entirely
correct. Like right now, we are absolutely outpossessing
them. They're just parking the bus. I mean, just
that whole last possession. They had the ball.
They're running around, and we can't keep up
with it. versus when we have the ball, it doesn't
feel like we're moving. Yeah, I mean, they probably
should have pulled them off a few minutes earlier.
I think Freddie probably doesn't want to rock
the boat with some of the late, you know, Jordan.
I mean, Brian usually makes the late subs. Danny
Leyva could have a huge impact here, of course.
Oh, good, Kosarienzi. But Kosarienzi. Kosarienzi
coming on. Like, he might be, you know, he might
be a little more willing to take on some players
right now. By the way. Did you see the picture
of him in the locker room with his shirt off?
He is ripped. Holy hell. It suddenly makes sense
to me how he was able to out -muscle that LAFC
defender for his first goal because he is absolutely
ripped. Young dude, easy to get ripped. Let's
see him do it at 40. Hmm. So as this game winds
down, what do you think the Sounders can take
away from a game like this, which is the first
back from a really rough game down in Mexico
City where we saw significant injuries on the
road, although against a backup keeper that they
should be trying to challenge? What's your takeaway
from this game? Well, right now, I still think
we can get a goal. But let's just say this result
holds. We are in the middle, we are at the end
of so many games in such a short period of time.
We're on the road against the best defensive
team so far this season. So, you know, it's frustrating,
but we're, you know, we're doing, sorry, Roma's
very much running in the background. But it's
very much what I expect to see. from this game,
and I'm not disappointed. It's a grind. This
is never going to be super easy, but I still
think we can get a result. It bothers me that
road games are such a grind for us because they're
always a bit of a grind, but it always seems
like the Sounders are struggling to get points
on the road lately, and that is frustrating to
me. I mean, this team used to dominate some games,
and I don't, outside that LA Galaxy game, LA
FC game, I haven't felt like we've dominated
maybe the second Antigua game. Those are the
only two games I felt like we've dominated in
the last few years. And maybe that's a little
bit of the muffin top model talking. Cause I
know he, he wants goals and maybe he's rubbed
off on me because obviously our defense is impressive.
Only allowing one goal when that wasn't even
really, I mean, it was a free kick on a freak
play where Reagan fell. It wasn't, they have
not looked dangerous. Otherwise, you know, like
we've talked about their goal against average.
I just, there's nothing that makes me look at
this team and go, yeah, this team is making the
playoffs. Other than the amount of talent that
we have and having seen them play together, it's
just not turning into goals. And if we're not
scoring goals, I mean, you and I talked about
for the season, we expect 30 to 40 more goals.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Like 12 to 16. Yeah,
30 to 30 more. That includes assists. But, you
know, like 30 to 40 more goals and assists than
last season because we have more talent coming.
But those included Ferreira and Areola at the
wing. And that's not happening right now, obviously,
because neither are in on those positions. So
Ferreira needs to step it up and score or we
need to make some signings. Obviously, you don't
want to make a, what do you call it? Like emergency
signing, you don't want to go and act rashly.
No, you don't want to go 2015. We did that in
2015, and that's how we – as a matter of fact,
that was all – you mentioned you couldn't remember
the aftermath of the red card wedding. Well,
let me kind of remind you. The red card wedding,
Oba went down, so we made four emergency signings,
panic signings. We brought in – we brought in
– Roman Torres. We brought in Flacco. Great signing.
We brought in the second time. I don't know about
great, but... Oh, the second time. No, fine signing.
Oh, no, I'm sorry. No, we brought not Flacco,
Freeberg. We brought in Freeberg for his second
stint with us. Yeah, I mean, that was on... Nelson
Valdez. Nelson Valdez and Andreas Ivancic. Ivancic,
you know, whatever. But the rest of those...
I mean, that's four signings, but three of those
were fine. Even Schitt's, not going to hit on
all of them, sadly. Also, that's pre -Garth,
right? Or that's the first beginning of Garth?
That was the transition to Garth. Those were
signings that technically were under Garth's
radar, but they were already being signed as
Garth was coming in. So it kind of hampered Garth
the next year or two. Craig is much more... In
line with the way that Garth thought, which isn't
surprising because Craig worked under Garth at
RSL. And so bringing him in here is more of a
continuation of the winning philosophy that we've
had. To me, the one thing that's held in common
between the end of Garth's run and the current
run is that we have an ownership that is unwilling
to spend. And I think both Garth and... Craig
deserve amazing credit, especially guard for
what they've been able to do with so little money.
I hate this so much. I hate this so much. To
me, this is obvious. I mean, we don't spend for
good players. You could easily sign a DP that.
that costs millions of more dollars. Good block,
good save. Okay. I get what you're saying. That's
not a cap issue. That's why I hate that we get
Brock back to the cap all the time. There are
cap discussions we have. Non -TAM, non -DP players,
yes. But when you have a DP that you're bringing
in, you could pay them a billion dollars and
it won't matter. Because they only hit the cap
at that smaller number, which is much less, right?
Obviously, no one's spending a billion dollars.
I get that. Right now, we have one DP quality
starter on our team, I think. Jordan is close
to proving it, but then he got hurt. You can't
have DPs getting hurt like that. He has a history
of injuries. So to me, he must immediately be
restructured contact and no longer be a DP. I
don't see how we have any chance of success with...
our three dps that we have rust snack i love
um but he's one and done in this dp unfortunately
unless unless he blows up at the end of the year
because he is not i mean look at today's impact
has been nil he had one good pass we'll see over
time but how can we put out dps that are okay
instead of dps that are world beaters we're never
i mean people want Dempsey -level DPs. We're
not going to sign people that big. We can sign
people better than the DPs we have under the
way we have everything structured, and we're
not doing it. We're getting production. Like,
I think... Against Antigua, against a team that
would be equivalent with our minor league squad,
we've had one good game this season outside of,
I mean, in the MLS and in Champions League in
terms of being able to score and actually win.
So, to me, like, these injuries have shown the
absolute failure to address needs. When they
couldn't find a starting number nine to move
Jordan back to the wing, they just didn't address
the position because they said, oh, we have Jordan.
I disagree. Well, clearly we're not deep enough.
I so disagree. I know you do, but I think you're
wrong. No, I mean, everyone is so quick to be
reactionary. And, yeah, I just think that people
– Until the end here. Yeah. Yeah, by the way,
I got to say I really appreciated that one -time
hit from Danny Leyva, even though the whistle
had blown. Oh, Jesus. Oof. To me, this is a road
game, but we had to play better coming out of
that last game. Great save by Fry, but I think
they're going to – oh, knew who saves the day.
If that forward for St. Louis had actually hit
that well on goal. That's an easy goal for St.
Louis. Oh, it was a tap -in. It was a tap -in.
Yeah, I'd much rather have the 1 -0 loss than
2, obviously. Save our defense there. Awesome
play from Nuhu getting back. Also, great save
by Fry. Yeah, for me, it's just... Yeah. Oh,
yeah. For me, it's just... We need to... We're
never going to outspend... The New Yorks, Miami,
Atlanta. But we should be the next team below
those teams. And I don't think we're even close.
We're usually 10th, 11th, 12th. It's apples and
oranges. There are different ways to build squads.
And we are building it with our development.
We are building it with the consistency of rosters.
But I think you need to put stars in. Sure, Rothrock's
great. We've seen him play great. but put a superstar
next to him so he can develop into one. I love
Russ Knack. He's probably top two or three player
on the team for me, but he is not a superstar
right now. Jordan Morris is a star. He can be
a superstar, but not if he keeps getting hurt.
Pedro La Vega, same thing. Wait, wait, wait.
Stop on the Jordan Morris. He played every game
last season. So, I mean, let's – I told you he
did not deserve that DP contract last season.
The fact that he's a DP is why we're in this
problem right now. Like I said, we've been over
this time and time again. He scored all those
goals from the wing. He did not score them at
forward. He is not a number nine. The fact that
we – the only reason he's still at a number nine
is because we couldn't sign a number nine in
the offseason. I do not – I do not think this
team is a problem. I think this is a very, very
good team that is having – I don't disagree.
I don't want a very good team. I want a championship
team. This is a team that in the end of the season
can be a top four team that can be running for
a championship. Now, will they win the Shield?
I don't know because things like this happen.
Oh, I don't expect us ever to win the Shield.
Yeah, I don't expect us ever to win the Shield.
But we can. With this squad, we can. I do believe
this squad can win the show this year. And I
don't think we can for practical reasons. We
have too many other tournaments. Well, not anymore.
I mean, we've not got one of the season. Yeah,
but we've already, I mean, we've played four
more games than everyone else already. By the
end of the season, that starts to take its toll,
right? It's not – and then we have League's Cup,
and then we have CONCACAF Champions League. Like
these are things – Oh, he called the penalty.
He called the penalty. Kalani Rossi. Kalani Rossi
draws the penalty. He spun around. Sorry, sorry.
Obed. Obed. That was a beautiful spin there.
I don't know – I'd like to see it again because
I don't know if it deserved it, but I thought
it was at first. As we see a beautiful pass in.
No, it was to Kalani, and then Obe got it and
spun around and still can't see right there if
he was taken down. Uh -oh, did he touch that?
It was a penalty, but it may have been a handball
prior to the penalty. Did it touch his hand?
But if you don't score, they don't always go
back to that, do they? The handball? What's that
rule? Paul Cox talked about that, where if it
touches your hand and goes back down. If you
don't shoot it, it doesn't always get called.
Oh, no. In this particular case, they would wave
it off. The handball? I believe. Or they would
say no penalty. Wait. If it touches his hand,
I do not think this is a penalty. Oh, yeah. That's
what I'm asking. It absolutely touches his hand.
That's too bad. Yeah. That is probably going
to get waved off. Let's see. Yeah. That's going
to get waved off. Too bad. Well, there was our
chance to tie it. There's still plenty of time.
There's two minutes. Yeah. We're in the 94th
of 96. Yeah, plenty of time. I mean, yes, that
is enough time. That absolutely looks like the
coach of a team that's got three forward Germans.
That's true. That's true. I think they should
not put the VAR right next to players like that.
You mean next to Bert Kreischer? Yeah, next to
fans like that. To me, that's totally inappropriate.
With the exception of that little kid in Germany,
I think it was a second division game or maybe
a third division game where the little kid bit
the referee's testicles while he was looking
at the VAR. I'm sorry. What? It was incredible.
It was incredible. So, but yeah, why is it there
and not somewhere where the refs can't, I mean,
the refs not going to get influenced by the fan,
but it just seems inappropriate. Like in Seattle,
it's all the way up at the line. Like if you're
building a soccer specific stadium, that's, I
get why the Sounders have talked publicly about
wanting a soccer specific stadium. But to me,
this is an example of why it's a bad idea. Like
why you should not have, first off they're small.
Secondly, you should not have fans that close
to, The referee. Here we go. After review...
Oh, we won't be able to hear it. But everyone's
laughing, so it must be a handball. And they're
all clapping. Yep. So, oh well. It's fair. But...
Game's not over. I mean, he could blow it. within
the next 45 seconds he doesn't need to add extra
time on here hopefully he will he doesn't they
don't they often don't the number of injuries
in the second half they should though um i'm
always surprised when not fans but when coaches
like that not that it was a huge reaction but
their coach got pretty excited for coach um what
It asked me if I was still here. That's very
strange. I don't know if you got that, but if
you have it on your screen, make sure to say
you are. No, I'm not. That worries me, but oh
well. But yeah, so what do you take away from
this heading into next week for Houston? Honestly,
not much. Not much. It's, again, a three -match
week. A three -match week just coming back. from
international. Obviously, the injuries, yeah,
that also does not help. But we're playing against
the best team in the league defensively, and
they gave us plenty of possession. We got 66
% possession, 13 shots, only one on target. That
part's a big bummer, but seeing how they were
blocking. In the whole game? Yeah. That is wild.
Because usually we don't get that. To have that
and not challenge their keeper, who's a backup
at all, is very frustrating. Well, I mean, again,
that's the whole thing, is that they are absolutely...
Just shoot it. Stop trying to be fancy and dribble
around and pull a Georgie and shoot the damn
ball. Just shoot it at the keeper. We had eight
shots inside the box. They blocked five. uh yeah
we're just we're just not uh they had they had
314 passes we had 595 passes it's just they they
they second half we absolutely dominated them
in terms of uh in the last part of the first
half and the second half we dominated possession
yeah i ultimately they are just absolutely packing
those boxes that that's what they were doing
So, uh -oh. But to me, that means you're going
to start taking those shots from outside. Coach
getting yellow? Yeah. They're complaining about
the throw -in and threw the ball back. I don't
even really know what's happening. Or maybe that
player did who subbed out. I mean, to me, this
is like you've got to come into Seattle firing
at all cylinders and score some goals or fans
are going to start turning pretty quick based
on what happened last season. season and their
perception of what's happened in this offseason.
I don't think their perception is necessarily
correct. I think my critiques aside, that's a
critique of ownership. I think the players we've
signed are good enough to win this league. Shut
up, you stupid asshole. Sorry, I'm yelling at
one of their fans who's complaining about time.
They went to VAR for longer than that amount
of time. No, not you. Of course not. That should
be the end of the game. That should be the end
of the game. So with this game, honestly, this
is kind of a big nothing burger for me. This
is just a tough one. I don't have much to think
about this one. It's just kind of a, okay, we
lost on the road to St. Louis. I'm not really
too upset. We're coming off of high altitude.
Well, that's not good. They just had a bad giveaway,
but thankfully they went to the corner instead
of trying to score. But yeah, I mean, you're
probably right. But for me, I think in my head,
despite the fact that we've had such a busy schedule,
this was a chance to reset and we didn't take
it. Their only goal was on a freak accident on
defense that... Yeah. that this game should be
0 -0, it should not be 1 -0, like if the soccer
gods weren't against us today. I think my frustration
is how many games over the last several years
have we been out there, shot 13, 15, 18, 20 times,
and not scored a goal. I think that's where my
frustration lies. No, I don't care. I get it.
You've got to figure out how to stretch the defense.
Just put it on frame. That last shot that we
had that was way offside was just at least get
it on frame. If you're going to take a chance,
shoot it at the goalie. Maybe he'll drop it.
Maybe it'll bounce off, ricochet to one of our
players. Because the idea of rolling down the
side and passing it in isn't working because
of the way they have so many players in the box.
So we had no ability to overcome that. And that
lack of creativity is what bugged me because
now we're missing our most creative players.
I think if you have a Pedro de la Vega out there
today, he can make a difference in the pulling
those some of those players away. I think you've
had Jordan Morris and he actually runs at them.
I think you see that pull players away. We're
not we're not seeing that, though. Well, again,
again, short rest. We're missing two of our three
designated players. What what does everyone say
when you're missing when you don't have two of
your three designated players? I'm not making
excuses. It's just making, you know, understanding
how we get to this point. And full credit to
their free kick. It's exactly the spot you want
your free kick to be taken from. Yeah. Because
if you can get up and over that wall, you're
in a really good spot. Absolutely. I thought
defensively we did the job defensively. I'm okay
with this game and just calling it, okay, a move
on game. Looking forward to Houston next week.
I think Houston is going to be a big one. They've
played four games. They have one draw, three
losses, negative five goal differential. If we
can't put up goals against Houston, I'm going
to start being quite concerned. But, you know,
like you said, this is a good defense. We're
hampered by the injuries. They just set a record,
I think. I think they just set a record four
straight games to start a season without a goal.
Let's do one final quick – I think to me it could
be the beginning of an alarming trend, so let's
follow it. But I'm not going to call it that
until yet. One final thing, Paul, in the Scuttlebutt
Metal Bag asked, did you notice any difference
in strategy attributable to our backup coach?
That's a good question. And I'm going to say,
I don't think I did. I think he kept it largely
Schmetzer -esque and maybe didn't. I mean, I
don't know how he was when he was the coach of
RSL because I was not following him that closely,
but I saw nothing that seemed different. Maybe
the subs were a little bit different, but I feel
like some of the subs were injury necessities.
Ferreira coming off early, I don't know. That'll
be interesting to see. information on that is
he not 90 fit did they feel like he wasn't working
at the nine or maybe he wasn't getting the service
they expected a lot of those passes the question
is were those passes to him that he didn't get
on the end of were they his fault for over running
under running not going was players expected
or were they our uh midfielders faults for not
getting him to the ball uh to where he was going
and and i don't know the answer to that because
we don't know enough about those players yet
and how much time he's played at the nine in
practice Yeah, I mean, I think the only question
I have on that, the only suggestion I have is,
you know, right now it could be, I think the
club is being much smarter and much more deliberate
about listening to the sports data when they're
making subs. And that, you know, they have that
data analytics. They can see how much people
are exerting themselves. They can see these things.
right now in particular, you can't afford to
also lose a Jesus Ferreira after losing Jordan
and Pedro in back -to -back games. Sure. Oh,
that would be a nightmare. And I think losing
Christian would be a nightmare too, despite the
fact that I wonder... Alex has played so much
better lately. I think preseason, obviously,
I thought Christian should be in that position
and we should be playing JP. or Danny. But I
do wonder what we lose if Christian, if that
knee injury is more severe than it looked like.
Yeah. I mean, hopefully, hopefully just, yeah.
Kind of see how it goes. In the meantime, a big
shout out to all the people on the Discord. Really
enjoying just kind of the daily people chatting
and talking about things. There's an ungodly
number of you that are awake at 2, 3 in the morning
when I'm up. So, yeah, like I'm like, OK, well,
I guess I'll post here on the Discord. And all
of a sudden, like four people respond. I'm like,
what the hell is happening? So shout out to you,
Night Owls. If you're not in the Discord yet,
Link is in the show notes or go to Sounder Scuttlebutt
on Discord and join. Yeah, come join us. Join
the community. It's been super fun. We've had
a chance to get to know some of the people in
person or we've already known some in person
and then had them come in and be a part of the
community. Let's keep growing. Let's keep getting
more people there. Don't forget to give us reviews.
Those reviews are the best way for us to get
noticed and definitely a good way to continue
to have this podcast grow so our influence can
grow. We have insider information that's very
different from other people and probably better
than other people and other podcasts, but we
can't talk about it publicly all the time. So
if you still want a little look inside the club,
give us some love. Keep those reviews coming
in. Offset that one one -star review that was
just a major New Who fan and obviously didn't
listen to our episodes where we talk about why
we were critical of New Who, which had more to
be a Brian Schmetzer problem than a New Who.
Junior, let it go. No, we need all the five -star
reviews ever. Indiana, Indiana, let it go. Go
give us reviews. Go give Aaron some love on the
Discord. Is he just at Scuttlebutt? Yeah, he
is. He is the at Scuttlebutt. Tell him to get
his butt back on the podcast because we miss
him, and we want to hear the things he has to
say. By the way, did you watch – have you watched
any of that Onside show? By the same producers
as the F1 show that you like. I heard it's great,
but I have not yet. But I will someday, for sure.
All right. But yeah, so let's get out of here.
Let's pull it into port and let James take it
away. Where can they find you on the internet?
Yeah, you can find me at Instagram at Cascades2C.
That's probably the best place where I post most
frequently. So come join me on Instagram, Cascades2C,
or come join us on the Discord, where I am Nicholas.
Yeah, and spelled the Santa Claus way. Well,
I was born in Germany. You are kind of Santa
Clausian. I do like to... Give gifts. You know,
I was going to say I do have a big sack and muted.
Yeah, I was once told that mine was the largest
she'd ever seen by a doctor I was dating. And
we're going to move on. Of course, you can get
me, Cameron Collins, anywhere on the Internet
or social media exists at Legal Minded Punk.
And I have been posting on Blue Sky. I think
I put a post there this week, so you can find
me there. Usually, I think I posted about a podcast
I like on there. We'll let James take it away,
and I think it's really important, Nicholas,
that you take very good boy Dempsey there to
get some cheese. Oh, that's a good idea. The
cheese tax is a real thing. Yeah, I mean, I was
telling him earlier when you were in the other
room, I kept saying, Dempsey, want some cheese?
And I heard his collar go... So he heard me earlier,
so I think he's ready for that cheese. You bastard.
Because now I gotta pay the cheese tax. Pay the
cheese tax to the dog man. Gotta give that boy
some cheese. We'll see everybody next time. Have
a good week. We'll see you in the Discords, right?
Sounds great. Later. You can follow the Sounders
Scuttlebutt Podcast on Twitter at SSFCScuttlebutt.
And for all inquiries, including questions for
the gents or sponsorship opportunities, please
email contact at scuttlebuttproductions .com.
Be sure to subscribe to the show for new episodes
following every Sounders FC match. And don't
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And you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook at BritVoxus. That's Brit Vox US. We'll
see you at Lumen and go Sounders! Alexa, who's
the best MLS team of all time? The Seattle Sounders
are both unequivocally and irreparably the best
MLS team of all time.