He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the point
I can't say is CHEAT! and welcome to another
rendition of Sounders Scuttlebutt. Or edition.
I think that's what I really wanted to say. But
I am your host, Aaron Lingley, and as always,
I am joined by your Alliance Council Secretary,
Cameron Collins. Hello. And your Alliance Council
Extraordinaire, Nicholas Biela. Hello, my friends.
Welcome. Hello. Welcome. Hi. Why are we recording
this week? I thought there wasn't a Sounders
match. You just because you're not because someone
didn't go to the game. So I found out the night
before that we had a home Sounders match. Oh,
no shit. I thought we are road this past weekend
and home the next weekend. And that meant I had
to struggle to find someone to put up the Gorilla
FC banner. And it didn't happen because the only
other people who know how to do it also had to
work. I was going to say, yeah. I realized last
minute that Bernadette would be able to make
it. So I put a shout out to see if anyone was
selling a ticket or getting rid of a ticket.
I put that out in one channel. And then like
five minutes later, you offered up your tickets
to someone. And I was like, son of a bitch. Passing
in the night. Shout out to Jose Raze. But no,
it all worked out. Everyone got to go to games
and everyone got to have a lot of fun. And we'll
talk a little bit about that as we go. They played,
though. They did. They played a game. Damn, they
played well, too. Wait, they played a game and
I wasn't there? Just like the other day they
played a game and I wasn't there? I think I need
a beer. You know, that sounds like a great idea.
It is Cinco de Mayo. It is. Shall we? You go
first. All right. Enjoy your Ranye. And you?
It's funny. I said it's funny it's Cinco de Mayo,
but I'm actually drinking a La Croix. I've been
drinking all weekend, and actually, I just don't
have any... My mom and her husband visited, so
we just had a good three -day weekend. That's
cool. And it's mainly because I ran out of beer,
not because I've had three days of drinking.
Maybe it's not a LaCroix. Maybe it's a LaCroix.
LaCroix. No, I think cross is masculine and fresh.
Elcroix? Elcroix? That's a good question. I don't
know what cross is in Spanish. Crooks. Crooks.
Yeah. All right, let's move on. This is not fun.
No, no. Sounders played. I wasn't there. And
guess what? When I'm not there, the Sounders
win by three goals. It's happened two home games
in a row. Lots of winning. Lots of winning. Nicholas,
why don't you go over some other winners from
our prediction? Yeah, we can hit that up right
away. So in the prediction challenge, this was
a pretty busy week. We had six people with three
points. And so two of those six are right here
in this room right now. And I am not one of them.
It is not me. So Cameron, Aaron, congratulations.
And then Bryce DeHeff, Bryson, Cedar, Jerry.
And T6JRAM all got... I picked it 2 -1. Is that
what you picked, Aaron? No, I did 3 -1. Yeah,
but it was 2 .5 goals was the over -under, so
that's why we all got that on that one. Yeah,
and T6JRAM does go by RAM on the Discord, so
I just wanted to make sure I had that information
correct before I announced it. So congratulations,
everyone. Really good, really good week. And
a big shout -out, actually. I want to give a
big shout -out to Muffin Top Model, Tim. Set
up a really nice barbecue and margarita party.
Alex Eagleson, fellow Alliance Council member,
was making margaritas. We had a nice little group
of people there and a little street party before
the game. Always nice when you're walking up
into the stadium with a red Solo cup with a freshly
made margarita. It's a good way to start the
day. I love tailgating. I can't remember the
last time I did it. I like tailgating. One done
properly is so much fun. For me, it's a college
football thing because Husky football, that's
where it's done. It's never been a Seahawks.
People do it for Seahawks, but it's not. Not
everyone does it for Seahawks. It's just not
set up. It's just not set up very well. So it's
weird for me thinking soccer, tailgate, but it's
huge around other stadiums. Other sport groups
have parties and tailgates. uh, outside the stadiums
with barbecues and all sorts of cool stuff. Actually.
Yeah. So for San Diego FC, we obviously met up
with ECS with Gracie before we, you know, did
our pre pre -funking, which everywhere else on
the planet says pre -gaming. Um, I stand by pre
-funking. A pre -funk is for me, a pre -funk
is a pre -game party is where you go to pre -funk.
Pre -funk to me, like that's where you're going
to. To party before you party. Yeah, exactly.
It's a pre -function. Anyway, you walk through
this big open lot, basically, and it was almost
too big for their fans because they weren't very
condensed, but there was a shit ton of people
barbecuing, listening to music, had tents up,
and so they were getting down. Shout out to...
Yeah, I was just going to say, I got to get you
guys out to join me for a pre -funk in Buffalo.
That would be fun. I've done Lambo. I've done
Lambo in Green Bay. That's pretty legit. Shout
out to the Boniface family. In December. No,
that's gross. It was. What's up with the Boniface
family? It was Russell's four interception game.
Sorry. We are not on the same page today. I take
a week off and we forget how to talk. Yeah, that's
pretty much it. That's pretty much it. Hey, you
know what? I'm so drunk right now. This is La
Croix. Yeah, off of my smart water. Cameron,
go. Shout out to the Bonifaces. They went to
the Sounders game a couple weekends ago at Colorado,
of course, and Stan was there and comes on to
talk about the Rapids we used to cover. Unfortunately,
sometimes listener of the show and future Colorado
Rapid, Beckham broke his foot during practice
or playing before the game at the... tailgate
so uh we're thinking of you becks and uh shout
out to dan because today is the 24 year anniversary
of him setting the steeplechase record for university
of miami and uh they have a little athletics
you know one of those desk calendars and he sent
me a picture today of the desk calendar with
him as the stat of the day because he set the
record on cinco de mayo oh cool uh miami hurricanes
or university of miami ohio miami Miami Hurricanes.
He started out at WSU and then transferred to
South Beach. I think he traded up going from
Pullman to South Beach. Do you think anyone from
the University of Miami, Ohio ever says the Ohio
part? No. Or just clarifies when someone asks
that question? I think it's probably regional,
though, because if you say you went to UW, here,
we would assume they meant UW. But Wisconsin,
they're going to mean that. In Wyoming, they
think you mean that. But that's different. You
know, that's just the initials, but I went to
University of Miami. Yeah. Where though? Yeah.
Ohio. Well, let's, let's do some other, I guess,
good news for some people that is scuttlebutt,
but is not related to the Sounders. MLS sponsorship
spikes as US soccer gains popularity, says Lillian
Rizzo on CNBC. So this is a non. Sports publication
talking about it. We've made it. So far in 2025,
MLS sponsorship revenue is up double digits compared
to 2024. MLS counts brands like Adidas and Michelob
as sponsors. I honestly didn't know Michelob
was a sponsor. Have you seen Michelob on stuff?
Have you not been watching those messy ads? Oh,
those are Michelob? I just know them as the messy
beer ad. Yeah, Michelob Ultra. Yeah, I don't
think I'm their target audience since I... For
me to drink a non -craft beer would be pretty...
Rainier is no longer a craft beer. Would you
ever drink a Rainier? Yeah, not by choice. That's
the only thing I had. I'd prefer a Natty Bow,
which is just Rainier for the East Coast. No.
Rainier for Baltimore. No, no, no, no. It's literally
the same formula now. Either that or... Yeah,
it's the same formula. It might be the same as
Olympia. Somebody's tapping their fingers and
picking it up there on the... Not me. That would
be me. You don't want to do that. Sorry, I'm
in a different situation here. I prefer... Like
the other day, I went to a cool spot in Columbia
City. I got a sour. Take me to your craft beers.
Real craft beers. None of this Elysian Budweiser
crap. I mean, I generally do like a good craft.
That's good news, though. But when I'm drinking
at home, I try to just go for bulk. That's why
I drink Guinness. I've got some subtle bugs.
Hold on. One more thing. Oh, yeah. Lionel Messi,
part of that. As much as people want to hate
on Messi, people are signing up and sponsoring
because of him. Oh, shit. I just enjoy watching
Messi and Miami lose to Vancouver and CONCACAF
semifinals. I enjoyed watching Miami lose. I
don't know why. I mean, I get why people make
it about Messi, but to me it's silly because
Vancouver's just so good. I have no problem with
Messi by themselves. As a matter of fact, I enjoy
watching Messi. Um, but I don't want them running
the table. I, I want them to struggle. Oh, here's
a little tidbit real quick. And then we'll get
back to that. Then I just saw in this article,
uh, Adidas extended its multi -year partnership
with MLS in 2023. Had we known that? I don't
think we did. I knew they were on like a 10 year
deal. Um, so now it goes till 2030 and it's valued
at 830 million. from what does that mean well
basically what does that mean we have adidas
for at least five more years instead of it being
done the the the problem is the goal was the
hope for me at least personally was that when
the deal would expire they can negotiate where
teams individual teams could negotiate with their
own jersey sponsors so yeah that was never gonna
happen i know Legally, I don't think it can just
because it's a single entity. It would be difficult.
But yeah, in MLS, that was not going to happen.
Of course, that's profound. I get it, but you
know the struggles. No American League does that.
Rugby, maybe? Rugby has different sponsors, perhaps,
but everyone else, it's always the same. Well,
it wasn't always that way. Baseball, anyways.
You got to go back to the 80s for all that, though.
Early 90s. So just a little bit of a hoop dream
there. Pipe dream, I guess. Yeah. So it's unfortunate.
But otherwise, yeah, soccer is more popular than
ever. Speaking of soccer and popular, we got
the Club World Cup coming up in just about a
month. But tomorrow we will find out if. leone
has winning will win their appeal or not the
court of arbitration uh for sport will rule on
their dispute and so one of two things will happen
either leone will be allowed in or um they'll
be kicked out and fifa will need to replace them
with the almost confirmed rumor being a play
-in game between lafc and club america um And
that's because Club America is the leader in
the CONCACAF coefficient. And LAFC because they
were the team that lost to Leon in the final
that year. Which is just kind of a shame that
they're not following their own rule where U
.S. or Mexico can't have more than two teams
in. Because it would have been nice to see Alahuanse
or Vancouver Whitecaps, for example, get the
shout. I mean, if you had gone back to when that
team made it, though, it would have been Philadelphia.
So a lot of teams are getting screwed. No, because
then, again, once again, because if they're following
their own rules, Philadelphia would be ineligible.
They're not following their own rules, though.
And so in which case, it would have been Philadelphia.
If you took the team that was eliminated by Lyon.
It would have been Philadelphia in that instance.
So they're going to feel aggrieved because the
rules were not followed, and then they didn't
go to them. No, Leon won against LAFC in the
final. Okay. Well, all I know is Philadelphia
was the highest -seeded one at the time, and
that's why they were reporting that they were
likely to get it. But I think it was wishful
thinking. I think their thought was... Yeah,
I think the idea was they were the highest non
-Mexican team, but there was already two U .S.
teams in. So, anyways, it's just FIFA's going
to FIFA in this case. And, you know, whatever.
We'll see what happens. Just kind of watch with
interesting eye there. Aaron, do you have anything
to add to that? No, because I don't really know
what you're talking about. Why isn't Leon in?
Leon got kicked out of the Club World Cup because
they have the same ownership. Co -ownership is
Pachuca. And the regulations say you cannot have
two multi -ownership. I can see why there's so
much. So like Red Bull Salzburg wouldn't be able
to play in the Club World Cup with Red Bull New
York, for example. And it seems because then
Manchester City can't play with New York City,
can't play with Auckland City, can't play with.
I mean, they own so many clubs, so it seems like
a short sighted rule. As long as they're not
loaning players to one another to try and make
it, it seems short sighted to me. I'm actually
OK with it because I don't want multi ownership.
groups in soccer so anything to discourage that
i think would be would be better i don't think
i'll discourage it they'll just favor their i
get it but i'm just i'm just trying to you know
i'm just trying to say um the other i have i
have something good okay i got another thing
but go for it well it's gonna be it's gonna be
a change of subject but it'll still be soccer
oh no i have one more scuttlebutt item so go
for yours okay um so on mlssoccersoccer .com
A article is up here, the Match Day 11. I hadn't
really looked at these before by Joseph Lowry.
Is it the best 11, are you saying? I don't know
if it says Match Day 11, but anyway, it kind
of just gives like little glimpses of what happened
this weekend for each team. And number four is
Seattle Sounders are fun. Yeah. And I just want
to say he gives a shout out to someone that you
are, that you really love, Cameron. So I just
want to read it. Allow me, if you will, to quote
the excellent Jeremiah O'Shan over at Sounder
at Heart. There are a lot of adjectives that
can describe the Seattle Sounders during Brian
Schmitzer's tenure in charge. Successful, stout,
hardworking, industrious, relatable, reliable.
They all work. Anyway, it's just saying how great
Brian Schmitzer is. And I thought it was really
funny with that one thing you told us about.
Did they change the meaning of the word excellent?
Yes. Sure they did. Well, that's fine. Sounders
jumped to fifth in the MLS power ranking, so
I'm happy with that. That's amazing. Yeah, and
these little snippets are actually pretty cool.
So if you don't have time to watch any games
like I do, I think I'm going to start reading
this. Whose power ranking did they jump to fifth?
Because MLS has them as 12. ESPN. oh gotcha gotcha
okay we don't we use we've always used the spns
on the show for some reason i don't know why
we look at both i think it's because the sounders
are always higher um yeah i haven't really noticed
that yeah what do you got what do you got what
do you got nicholas one of my favorite results
this weekend was the sport in kansas city versus
la galaxy game where galaxy an absolute new low
uh already setting the record setting setting
the record for winless start to the season although
that record could still be broken because they
currently share that record with montreal and
they both have set the record this year so which
team is going to blink first Do they play each
other? Do they play each other at some point?
That'd be great. I would watch that match for
you. And it'd be a 0 -0 draw. So not only do
they... LA Galaxy lost on an own goal? Wait,
wait, wait. It gets worse. It gets worse. It
gets worse. Okay, good. So a 13th minute own
goal. Kansas City had... zero shots on target,
zero shots off target. They had a 0 .00 expected
goals. The only thing that got a sniff near the
net was a cross that was own -goaled by LA. They
set a record as the first MLS team to ever win
a game with no shots on goal. Keep in mind that
both the MLS Cup in 2016 and the RSL playoff
game are considered ties. But that was the other
game where a team got advanced with the 0 .0
expected goals. So just wow. LA Galaxy finding
new ways. Oh, and I think Peck and Payne still
both went down with injuries. Can I ask you both
a question? Here's the question. You're seeing
what's happening in LA right now. Would you,
knowing what you know right now, would you swap
out the results? Would you swap out us advancing
to MLS Cup, us winning at home for MLS Cup, and
us going 0 for 13? or no wins to start this season.
I'm not sure how I feel. I don't know. For another
championship? Yeah, if we had won the championship
last year. Yeah, I love the championship. Yeah.
But boy, this is embarrassing. I'm not confident.
This is embarrassing. I'm not confident we'll
ever win a championship again. That's not a comment
on our team. We could be the best team in the
MLS history and not win the championship because...
uh there's no guarantees ever right you can win
a game without taking a shot i mean look so red
bull red bull have been successful throughout
their their identity and they have never never
until this yeah yeah so i mean i take the championship
in the third star absolutely uh because i have
confidence that we would write as well i have
confidence that if yeah if we were in that position
I mean, we've been in that position. I mean,
to a degree, that's kind of what happened with
CONCACAF. Yeah, it's also what happened in 2016.
We weren't losing every game, but we were the
worst team in the league. And we won the MLS
Cup. So you can turn it around. There's ways
to do it through signings, through firings, through
whatever. And to have it happen at the beginning
of the season rather than the end of the season,
right? It's like you kind of just get... just
a slap in the face, woken up. This is a state
of emergency. Let's, let's change some things.
The pendulum swings in the other direction. And
you also have a championship. Yeah. I mean, so,
so to you, you're always like, Hey, give me the
championship. Take it, take it because you never
know when you're going to be a world Mariners
world series this year. And then they can fold
next year. Just give me, give me the one. So,
so, I mean, honestly though, this is one of those,
this is a. primary example of some of the stuff
I've talked about especially at the beginning
of the year and entering the offseason where
be careful what you wish for when you're talking
about roster construction because the Galaxy
went for it last year and they got it but it
came at a great cost now granted Ricky Pooja's
injury that's unanticipated but yesterday's game
had 10 of the 11 starters for mls cup and they
still lost in that embarrassing fashion but they
they had to get rid of a lot of people they had
to they lost their talent in depth yeah yeah
it's it you're right it is we were they were
hamstrung worse this year than we were after
winning concrete half champions league but we've
been through this but but that's thing but that's
where i really want to say i really want to encourage
people who do um who maybe only passively pay
attention to the roster construction rules it
really highlights just how good of a job seattle
has done i think in in my opinion yeah uh over
the years okay so very steady shit oh that kitty
is talkative today yeah i can't do anything about
this either i'm in the living room guys who cares
it adds depth to the show i'm it's captain james
hook that's the kitty's name you know well affectionately
hook. Yes. Yeah. That's cool. I, I was reading
my favorite movies. Yeah. I was reading an article
this week and I think I sent you a video that
came up after I read the article. Both of you
may be from Rufio, but that cat, that movie is
one of the most underrated movies of all time.
For sure. A hundred percent. Nick doesn't appear
to agree. He seems perplexed by us. I can't imagine
why. No, I'm just trying to withhold the urge
to go Ruthie or to Crow or to Bangerang. I'm
really trying to resist the urge. I mean, it's
a Spielberg film. I mean, it's great. It's a
great film. Is it his best film? No. Jurassic
Park's pretty fucking good. Yeah, that's true.
I mean, that's the thing, is he has a lot of
classics. I would put it pretty high up there,
though. I'd put it over... Is it top five? I
mean, you've got Indiana Jones films. You've
got... Last Crusade is also in my... Yeah, and
that's the thing. I mean, Jaws is number one
for me by far. So, like, not even close. What
a fantastic movie that was. I mean, Close Encounters
of the Third... And Raiders of the Lost Ark,
E .T., Twilight Zone, which that was a mess,
but still iconic in some ways. Yeah, Temple of
Doom, Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Last Crusade,
Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List. Is Schindler's
List a good movie? It's much like Grave of the
Fireflies, where you only need to see it once.
I saw it in the theater on the anniversary. Was
it the 25 -year anniversary? When did that come
out? I saw it recently. Saving Private Ryan.
yeah yeah that's a uh yeah i mean munich was
good crystal skull was not but i still enjoy
it i guess he's a pretty good director um yeah
yeah we should get moving on though i think my
favorite is probably in our discord too either
raiders or lost crusade is probably my favorite
yeah that's fair uh yeah because we have a bunch
of the mailbag we do we do um Go for it, Nick.
Okay. Show us your mailbag. All right. So Alex
Diaz starting us off. Talking about Houston this
Saturday. After letting the performance from
Saturday marinate, Rothrock is playing well.
Kent is playing like he wants that starting spot
on the left. Pedro de la Vega is exciting still,
but didn't contribute to the goals assists like
Kent and Rothrock did. Houston's forecast has
highs of 82, humidity level of 60. So the question
is, would you start Kent on the left and bench
Rothrock, start Kent and move Rothrock to the
right, thus benching Pedro, or continue with
the current starters that started against St.
Louis? That is, given that we stick to a 4 -2
-3 -1. Now, I mean, there's a lot to unpack in
that question, I think. So I guess the heart
of the question is, who do you expect to see
your attacking options in Houston? I think Kent
is the heart of the question. I think that's,
does he start? And if he does, how does that
affect your lineup? Yeah, I think you slot Kent
in for Rothrock. I wouldn't be surprised, based
on Brian Schmetzer's post -game interview, if
that's the case, because he said Kent has earned
it. Yeah. So, I mean, and that moving forward
will be... I mean, Rothrock is great, but he's
not going to be starting over a player of Kent's
quality if both are completely healthy and ready
to go. But I mean, if you're bringing Rothrock
off the bench with energy, I mean, these are
great problems to have. Between him and Georgie?
Yeah. Rothrock and Georgie on either side coming
in? I mean, I see the same lineup. I would see
the same lineup as last week, but with Kent.
slot slotting in for rothrock because it would
be my expectation i mean right now yeah that's
absolutely the case but when jesus gets healthy
georgie's not in the 18 you know but then again
something else may happen like so so who who
knows um yeah also georgie is playing tomorrow
i wonder how much that will take out of them
before saturday well Earlier in the Open Cup
run, when we had similar situations, we were
playing our first -team players for one half,
but it's against Portland, so all bets are off.
Yeah, that's my thing. I think he's starting
and playing all night. Yeah. Well, he wouldn't
be starting on Saturday if he would just be in
the 18th anyway. Oh, sure, sure. And he's young
enough that it probably won't be an issue. That's
not even a thought. Yeah. It's not like he's
Jordan Morris or something where even if he weren't
hurt right now, you're limiting his minutes in
those situations. But the other question, though,
is that comes into De Rosario because we really
only have one attacking forward right now. Poor
kid. He's that sitter. Man, we would have had
to shut the podcast down after what we said last
week. If he just comes in and just... knocks
one in. I do stand by what I say. I know. It
just would have been hilarious just to be like,
you know, there's just no room. There's no reason
to even talk about him. Well, I mean, that's
honestly how I felt when Rothrock started his
first, like, four games or three games with goals.
Open cup game and then a couple first team sub
appearances where he kept scoring. I was like,
oh, okay. This just seems like a flash in the
pan. And I was gladly proven wrong. Well, he
didn't score, so. Yeah. But it was interesting
to see him. So the next question here. Did we
answer his question? Yeah, I think so. I think
so. I didn't answer my side, but I think, I think,
yes, I think you start Kent. Uh, I think you
start Kent and Pedro and, and Albert, um, against,
against Houston. And then you allow that speeding
press of Rothrock to come in with high energy
on tired legs in Houston and high humidity. Uh,
Eric 13. Did you all see enough defending from
Kent that you wouldn't be worried about him as
a left wing back in a 3 -4 -2 -1? He has another
follow -up question, but we'll start with that.
I don't think that we... I mean, we do kind of
play that, but without Jesus, we won't be playing
that. If he's playing wingback, no. The only
time he's playing left mid is if we have four
at the back, would be my guess. Yeah, I think
I'd expect to see a 4 -3 -2 -1. Or 4 -2 -3 -1.
I do think that Kent is an unknown quantity on
defensive actions, only because that entire second
half, St. Louis couldn't get out of their own
zone. It couldn't get out of their own half.
It was, it was really, um, they struggled. Uh,
categories. Captain Hook agrees. Yeah. Hook agrees.
Well, here's, here's my, I don't think we saw
enough. No. Um, that doesn't mean I don't think
he has the quality to run and run him out as
a starter. Um, he's played plenty of big matches
against high quality talent. We can see how good
he is. Um, I mean, I don't think we've played
three at the back without having, I don't think
we played that formation without having Paul
Areola on the team. As far as I know, we might've
shifted into it at times during the game, but
when we're having three at the back, it's a three,
four, three, or a three, two, three, two, two,
one, three, two, two, two, one, however you want
to put it. We're playing three. We're playing
two wings with a forward, then midfielders, then.
the defenders so i'm not i'm not seeing him be
in a position where he's playing wing back because
he's not that's not i mean the same reason you
wouldn't see pedro play wing back that's not
his position well i mean in the end i think that
um i think that that's a risk that houston would
have to take even if if he wasn't contributing
defensively the same way that some other players
in that position were like paul rothrock Well,
then that opens up with his pace to break on
the counter. So there is a risk there. But honestly,
I don't know what to expect. I don't think I've
seen enough to make an informed decision on that.
Agreed. Eric, follow -up question is, make a
list of the best 11 players on the Sounders if
everyone was healthy, ranked by whatever you
value, and put together your ideal 11. I feel
like that's kind of... Maybe something that we
should do on the Discord. Maybe we should answer
that on the Discord. Or Patreon. Also, we've
had requests. Wow, that's going to be loud. I
apologize if that doesn't get brought down because
I leaned forward as I started talking. Still
thoughtful. What? Your apology. That was so nice.
Oh, yeah. So thoughtful. Thank you. we still
need to get our last Patreon episode, our lineups
up for the, everyone to comment on the ones we
drafted. Yeah. Yeah. We got to put that together,
put a nice little graphic together. Oh yeah.
All the actual. all the actual work you did.
Let's keep it going for now just because we've
got about 12 minutes -ish before our break and
we want to make sure we get all the mailbag questions
in. A lot of Ryan Kent talk here. Cedar asks,
how many assists will Kent get in all competitions
this year? What would be the over -under? Well,
I think the over -under, honestly, I would probably
put the over -under at... I feel like that's
low. It feels low to me since he already has
three or two. Two. Two. So you think he's only
going to get six in all competitions? I think
that it's not guaranteed he's going to be a starter.
I think it's, I mean, we see a lot of excitement.
I just feel like, well, It's the reason I drafted
him on Patreon. You know what? The only way he's
not getting that many assists is if Jordan Morris
isn't out there scoring goals, in which case
it just proves what we've said at the beginning
of the season. Jordan Morris needed to prove
it, and he didn't. So I would expect him to have
that many assists if there's people scoring goals.
If he's the one scoring goals, then maybe he
won't. That's the only way. I don't see it happening.
We've seen too much talent from him in minutes.
Can I give you context? Context last year. Last
year, Albert Rusnak led the team with 12 assists.
Second place was Jordan Morris and Obed Vargas
with four. Yeah, we didn't score a lot of goals
last year. We're expecting 20 to 30 more goals
this year than we had last year. Totally get
that. So that's why I feel like eight is still
a fair over -under. I'm going to say 8 .5. Assist,
okay. Write it out. Let's review this later.
If he starts scoring, then yeah, he will not
be getting assists because he'll be the scorer.
So it is a distinct possibility. In all competitions,
it's barely May. Yeah. The only thing I see right
now is that his talent level, his ceiling, the
only player I think that even comes close to
him. is Pedro de la Vega, and that's because
he's out there just dominating. There's a lot
to be excited about, and I think that with 8
.5, while I do think we may all end up taking
the over, I still think that's a fair... Yeah,
I think that, I mean, half season, granted more
than half games, because we're going to have
Leagues Cup, Club World Cup, and MLS. Yeah. Write
it down. Stick it on your wall. I'm trying to.
I'm trying to. All right. Excuse me. All right.
So what are you going to say? I'm going to say
8 .5 assists for Ryan Kent. Cameron? I'm going
over. I think Jordan Morris comes back and scores
goals. Yeah, over. Okay. I mean, I do also believe
it's going to be over, but maybe I should have
said it higher. Whatever. We're going to stay
with 8 .5. We'll take the over. Okay. Dan the
Bastard points out that at home, we have 14 goals
for, four goals against, and undefeated. Away,
three goals for, eight goals against. Looks like
Lumen is a fortress again, but what is really
behind such great form at home, and how can we
get the away form just as good? You know, what's
interesting is of those four goals scored against
us, one was an own goal. Yep. And two were on
really bad mistakes that shouldn't have happened.
So does that mean we only have one goal scored,
a real goal scored against us? Like one real
one -up play that wasn't a penalty? Yeah. Yeah.
I mean. Oh, no, that was a penalty. Yeah. No,
the other one was a penalty. So, no. Has there
been a goal from the run -up play against us
that didn't involve a major mistake from a defender
or a penalty? I don't think there has now that.
You say that? Maybe LAFC's goal. Yeah, yeah.
That super sub dude coming off who's going to
be a star where he just train wrecked. He train
wrecked. That was a beautiful goal. That might
have been the best goal I've seen in our games
this year, either team. And I didn't see it.
I was walking down to your seat, so I was away
from a TV for a moment. It was really good. But
yeah, no, no. Yeah. I think, I think, well, yes,
Brian Schmetzer commented on this. It has become
a place that is hard to play again, which we
kind of fell off from. And it also, he commented
the fact that go to playoff times when it's cold
and rainy and you have the same energy we're
bringing now, how much harder it becomes to play
there for teams. Yeah. Jackson felt also mentioned
yesterday or Sunday, Saturday, excuse me, was
another one of the first game on us games. And
they had 2000 people there for that one. So that
was 2000 extra people in there. This was their
first soccer experience. Okay. So I remember
listening to the post game and I must've missed
that. that that was specifically this match.
Yeah. Well, there are 13, there are 13 matches.
Yeah. So they do it frequently, but this was
the second one, I believe. Correct. I'm not mistaken.
It's the second one. There was 1000 at the first
one. That's 1200. Yeah. Yeah. So the first one
was Houston. Not a good, I mean, it was fun,
but we did, it was not that fun. So it was not
a great match for that. This was a great match
for converting people into full -time fans. Yeah,
I mean, I think... Hey, Tim Hamilton's got to
be happy because Tim has said multiple times,
sorry to interrupt you there, Cameron. No, you're
right. He's 100%. He's always said, I yearn for
the days where we're scoring a lot of goals at
home. That's a big thing for him. And so, you
know, I'm going to give credit to Tim on this
one. He set up this nice tailgate and he got
rewarded. So, Tim? Provide us with booze before
games and you'll be rewarded. And you won't lose.
I mean, like I said then and I'll say now, I
don't care where we get our points. I just want
to finish first place. So it don't matter to
me if it's home or away. I will say, though,
that your goal should never – your expectation
should not be to win on the road unless you're
playing against a really bad team. Your expectation
should be three points at home, one point on
the road. You, you, you win all your home games,
tie all your road games. You're going to, you're
going to win the league. That should be our expectation
every year in my mind. So I've just always wanted,
I just want a dominating season from start to
finish. Yeah. Unfortunately, I think the travel
in the United States and how far you have to
go and the very, the varying weather. I just
think it's, it's much harder than say England
where. Like you're basically playing everything
within the Pacific Northwest. You have all those
teams. I just think it's not realistic, unfortunately,
for that to happen in a country of our size.
But I agree. That's what I want. I just don't
think, especially not because we don't have money
to throw. A team like Miami can do that, right?
Miami, they've now lost three in a row, but they're
arresting people for two of those games. But
still. Well, they, they got off the Schneid,
they got off the Schneid this weekend, but they
did win. They did lose three in a row, but the
body language and the, there were frustrations
and yeah. Yeah. But, but that's a team that's
built to do it because they have so many players
that are beyond MLS level because of the way
they've set that team up. But, but then there's
a team like Chicago who, then they ended up losing
seven, two. Was that the final when they got
this two at the end, they were down seven, nothing.
In like the 50 -pitch numbers. Was that against
Nashville? Yeah, now it looks like they're getting
De Bruyne. So, Kevin De Bruyne. Wait, I thought
he resigned with... I thought he already resigned
in Europe. No, unless he's done in the last few
days. He announced he was leaving City, and he
said there's still options in Europe. Okay. Chicago
was in on him as of this past weekend, so unless
he signed yesterday or today. I could be off
on that. I may also be thinking of Griezmann.
Griezmann re -signed. Yeah, he did, because he
was going to, what, LAFC? The rumors, the rumors.
I mean, he went and met with them even, but yeah,
it did not happen, obviously. Yeah, and so ultimately,
that's what I got for the mailbag this week.
do we want to take a quick break and then talk
about the game in more depth? Or what do you
want to do? I think that's exactly what I would
like to do. Well, you can't. Sure. You want to
do that? I mean, we had one more mailbag question.
Oh, did I miss one? We got a couple minutes.
Yeah. What's your favorite soccer news sources?
Oh, easy answer. You too. I'm not going to share
the contents of our text thread earlier today,
but we're breaking some news to you, but that's
okay. Podcasting, I used to love Extra Time.
I just like their camaraderie. Unfortunately,
that went down. SoccerWise is doing a really
good job. Kyle Gass and Mr. Massash, come on.
I don't know. Tom Bogert. Tom Bogert. Okay. I
like him a lot. Yeah. They're doing really good
work with their stuff there. I really enjoy listening
to a couple other different podcasts from time
to time. The UK Soccer Show is one that I'll
put on from time to time. Total Soccer Show is
another one. They often will do world soccer.
I really liked Football Americas, but it was
hard for me to get that in podcast form. I think
it was video only for a while, so it was a little
tough. That's Hercules Gomez's stuff. Athletic
does really good. stories they don't always keep
up with up -to -date news per se but they do
a lot of really good interesting stories and
um i'm really enjoying like on my mondays when
i'm when i'm working like today when i was driving
listening to the 360 wraparound show and that
and where i don't really even need to see the
actual action of the games but just listening
to the the mls 360 group just talking about the
games i find that really interesting what about
you guys cameron i mean sounder scuttlebutt is
my number one news source um this podcast right
answer this podcast uh i know cameron and nick
from this podcast you and i have a direct line
with the sounders gm and are informed on a lot
of stuff that uh unfortunately we have ndas so
we can't talk about like some of the other news
um jackson felts uh would be my number one and
outside of us. And that might be it. I mean,
I don't, I, yes, Herc and I love that show on
ESPN. That was the only one I watched. I don't
really listen to other soccer podcasts, especially
Sounders podcasts. For me, they tend to be a
little over the top. They tend to be too much
like I am when I'm trying to. Push the envelope,
but they do it on an everyday, every episode
basis. And I'm just not into that. Shots out.
And yeah, so I, I, I spend my time usually listening
to history podcasts or political history podcasts.
So that that's where I stand with podcasts or,
or lately star Wars audio books. Yeah. I, I,
I like a lot of film. audio podcasts uh what
went wrong unspooled uh rewatchables um love
this video game podcast get played i i used to
read the athletic pretty religiously but uh once
i got that out the new york times um i stopped
because i don't particularly support the new
york times or their right -wing bent on the news
and we were just talking about earlier today
about how uh Pablo Morrow let go from The Athletic.
Yeah, they didn't renew his contract. You got
any soccer news down there, Aaron, that you've
been keeping up on since you've moved away now
and you're not connected to Seattle on the same
basis that you used to be? Do you have time to
keep up with anything right now other than my
kids? You don't have a commute to and from work
where you can listen to stuff? That's why all
my listening is in the car or, but it's only,
it's really, it's not about a community. It's
only about 30 minutes and well, it's about 45
to an hour, but 15 of it is dropping the girls
off. So that's, that's perfect for an episode
of princess. That's mostly Disney princess. Yeah.
And I do actually listen to our show. Um, just,
uh, quality check sound like quality check. Yeah.
You know, I have, I have an F one. I have an
F one. podcasts i like to listen to that's weekly
okay yeah i used to listen to f1s i fell off
um because i just got tired about hearing max
winning but thankfully that's not always the
case anymore well you can listen now yeah um
and then generally any general seattle sports
just to keep in touch with seattle so that's
probably like 710 or or or jackson yeah shout
out to jackson i listened to a lot yeah 93 .3
That's just what I just want to catch up. I wish
you were here right now because the Mariners,
if they win this next series, will set the record
for the most consecutive series wins. I know.
It's very strange for them to be as good as they
are considering they didn't sign any bats. Think
of how good they would be if they actually signed
bats. Anyways, this isn't a Mariner's Scuttlebutt,
so let's take that break. It's time for Scuttlebutt
Ultras. Quick takes from our Patreon Ultras,
sharing their soundest thoughts straight from
the heart. Your voice, your moment. But before
we get to the Patreon promo... Let's have another
segment with the one and only Dan the Bastard.
What is up? How you doing, Dan? Hey, thanks for
having me back. I really appreciate it. I had
so much fun last time. I'm not going to say I
had fun listening to myself this morning, but,
you know. No, you were great. I was, I mean,
I know we talked a little bit about your public
speaking past, but not everyone can sit in front
of a mic and talk. uh, right away and you were
confident and it was fun. Yeah, no, I, you know,
and I wasn't looking for a compliment. It's just,
it's just so hard to listen to yourself. I bet,
I bet Obama listens to himself talking. He grimaces
when, uh, I had sinus surgery in 2007. So that
meant when I was on the radio before that. i
sounded more like this very nasally so i cannot
go back and listen to my old interviews from
before that you uh you never want to talk like
hank williams sings i don't know i grew up in
texas so that reference may be lost on some folks
but no hopefully our our listeners are are music
savvy uh for sure the the one of the the two
out of three hank williams is that is good yeah
yeah that's it's that's it Hank and Hank the
Third. We'll forget that Junior exists. Oh, you
like Hank the Third? Not necessarily musically.
I like him as a person. Oh, okay. I only listened
to his first album, and it got... Some of the
music was good. yeah he he now has like a punk
band a metal band yeah yeah and just yourself
but the thing about Hank the third was he shares
the sentiments of his grandfather oh okay well
then I may have to reintroduce myself to him
because I I thought he shared the sentiments
of his father and it turned me off and I stopped
listening okay well then I will reintroduce myself
to Hank the third yeah he's he seems pretty cool
um but let's talk some sounders I mean that's
why we're here right Yeah. So my thought coming
out of this game is Ryan Kent said that he wants
to take bombs out of seats or something to that
effect. I think if he keeps playing the way he
is, Lumenfield might as well just uninstall the
seats, right? Just take them all out because
nobody's going to want to sit down. Yeah. I mean,
the things he can do are truly exciting. I mean,
and that shows based on where he's been. but
he's got to prove it, right? Yeah, and I was
cautious just because how long it's been, and
I know Brian's cautious too as he's slowly ramping
him up and getting him time. But question for
you, if Ryan Kent was fit enough to play 90 minutes,
what would that score have been if he'd have
played the entire 90 minutes the same way he
played the last 30? Yeah, I mean, it would have
been ridiculous because St. Louis is only...
Felt like the only real danger they had, minus
a little here and a little there, was thanks
to the referee. So penalties and whatnot. It
could have been – I mean, we saw it when he came
in at the end of the other game with Jordan too.
I mean, they could have had three goals at the
end of the – was that Nashville game? Yeah. So
it could have been four, five, six goals. Six
maybe. Did you see him, the highlight of him,
Megan, the defender this week without even touching
the ball? It was just beautiful. um so and that's
something that is hard for players to learn i
think um the one thing that i've always heard
from uh people who come and watch the mls is
the difference between the mls and other higher
up leagues is that first touch but that also
includes not touching the ball when you don't
right and it's uh it's like watching when he's
on the field it's like watching a higher level
league I'm not a huge fan of the higher level
league because I like my little hometown league
and the Sounders. But yeah, it is like watching
European football. And in that vein, I was looking
at, before we got on, I wanted to make sure I
had something to talk about. So I was looking
at the MLS's power rankings. I don't know if
you've taken a look at the power rankings. We
looked at the ESPN ones because they tend to
be more favorable to the Sounders than MLS sites.
This one's good, I think. So it has the Sounders
eighth, but it has them third if you just took
out the Eastern Conference teams and you just
looked at the West, it has them at third. But
what really caught my eye was a little blurb
in here where Seattle put up more XG in this
game than any American soccer analysis database
has on record going back to 2013. And as a fan
watching the game, I felt it. It was all over
the place in your face attacking, especially
from that 60 minute on. There was definitely
a sea change in the 60 minute. We were good,
but once that 60 minute hit and Ryan Kent came
on and we were almost an unstoppable force. And
I talked about it at the top of this episode,
which you'll hear when this gets melded in with
it, but I... thought this weekend was a road
game and i had to work so i was not in attendance
which means i've now missed this match and i
missed the nashville match so maybe i'm not allowed
to go to well um i yeah um i can see that i'd
be okay with that so whatever it takes to win
uh but as as a note maybe maybe that's a chance
to plug the discord because if somebody's listening
to this and they're not on the discord and they
had been they would have saw that you said that
you're missing the game and that you had some
tickets for people so that's uh yeah that's a
good reason to be on the discord come talk to
us and gave away my club seats for the game and
uh uh you know super super fun to be able to
do that um of course i worked for a minor league
basketball team and what happened there was i
went outside for a few minutes and in that time
i went outside we were down 16 and we came when
i came back in we were only down three so uh
it turns out that i just shouldn't go anywhere
near sports because my teams will yeah so so
i guess you have like an unlucky gene and it
carries over between all these different sports
that's that's really interesting i spent all
my luck in uh 2013 when or uh was it 2013 yeah
i didn't i put on a seahawks belt buckle from
1975 and i wore it every day until they won the
super bowl they never lost the game while i had
it on so uh i used up all my luck and now it's
ever ever since then interesting well yeah i
mean it could be worse you know our owner did
sell his soul for three super bowls in the 90s
and we haven't recovered yet yeah you know what
I will take that. A great question that we asked
each other on this episode that I'll ask you
then is, would you switch places with LA Galaxy
right now? If we could have won the MLS Cup last
year, but we have zero wins and are in last place
and no prospects of getting better because of
injuries. I'm going to allow my recency bias
to just take over completely and say no. Absolutely
not. So you asked that question, but it really
made me think of what the Sounders did to win
CONCACAF and how they were able to really keep
the ship afloat for a couple years after that
squad, as that squad was dissolving, and how
they've done a really good job with turnover
without blowing everything up. Right. We didn't
see a complete drop. There was a drop, obviously.
We didn't make the playoffs the next year, but
we didn't see a complete drop. Actually, I was
just looking at them. They still haven't won
a game? No, they still – and not only have they
not won a game, the game they lost is the first
time ever a team had zero expected goals, zero
shots on goal in one in a regular season game.
I guess because they were ties in the other time.
It was an own goal that Kansas City won on. Kansas
City had zero shots and won 1 -0 on an own goal.
Negative 13 goal differential. That's just amazing.
Good for them. Yeah, it's rough. At this point,
I'm starting to feel bad for them. Yeah, I can
see that. Now, if it was happening to Portland
or LAFC, I don't think I would feel bad at all.
Yeah. Although I do, historically, LA was the
team we used to view as a big rivalry. You came
out after that time because LAFC was, were they
here when you started your fandom? They had just
come into the league. And, you know, I've always
said since I've really got into the Sounders
is that I want a player who can score the game
winner in the last five minutes of the game,
run to this opposing team supporter section and
do a backflip. Well, that happened to me. I saw
somebody do that. So I want a player that can
do it. And I don't know. Can Ryan Kent do a backflip?
He can do everything else. That's a good question.
That's a good question. I think Oba was our last.
Oh, no. I mean, we got. Yeah, he did a backflip
in the Open Cup. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so there is
someone who can do one now, I guess. So that's
good. But why don't we finish off with then.
what are you expecting out of the Sounders moving
forward? We've got a bunch of road games coming
up and tough, tough ones. You know, Houston's
not great, but it's going to be gross out and
humid. And then Portland. Well, Houston's a cesspool,
and I'm not saying Dynamo is. I'm saying I grew
up in the Houston area, so that's just my own
bias that I have for the city, and I would love
to win. Houston's got to be a winnable game.
I know that we had that nil -nil draw whenever
they came here, but I believe we're still playing
with Jesus up top instead of the Moose. Four
goals in a row. I was wrong on my game prediction,
but I was right that Moose would continue his.
his goal scoring. That's got to be, you got to
think that's a winnable game. I think that if
we can pull out of these three games, if we can
pull five points, that's outstanding. I think
we can get all nine points. Yeah, that's absolutely
possible. But realistically, I think five points
out of these three is a really good showing.
And then they're going to come back home. And
I think they're going to come back home and destroy
Dallas, which will make me feel better. One of
the things I was thinking as we go into this
yet another long string of road matches is how
different Seattle plays at home versus on the
road. And Brian even mentioned it in the press
conference. He said that, hey, we're going to
play this style at home a lot. You're going to
see this style at home a lot. And so hopefully
some of it will be able to carry over. But if
you can get these, if you can get draws and pull
out a couple wins on the road and keep playing
like that at home, you're going to finish in
the second. Second in the West, as long as Vancouver
keeps doing what they're going to do, they'll
probably be hard to catch. Yeah. Vancouver, I
don't know what's in the water, but maybe their
owners are like, here, we'll pay you extra money
because we want to make more when we sell this.
Yeah. How are they so good? I mean, I get that.
But I just don't understand where it went from
last year to this year. Yeah. You know, they
did go down in the playoffs in Portland and win.
Was it 5 -0? Yeah. So it felt like there was
just something. I went up there for the Sounders
game, the away Sounders at Vancouver. And I think
we won 3 -0 in that game maybe or something like
that. And you could tell the crowd was out of
it. The players were frustrated. And something
happened between that game and the playoffs that
seemed to be a turnaround that then has carried
into this year where they came together. And,
I mean, you wouldn't expect Brian White to be
the – an MLS superstar. Here he is. Brian White
and Moose. I can't even say his last name. Say
his last name for me. Yeah, that's it. Yeah,
they're two of the best goal scorers right now,
so good for them. Yeah, I love it. That's perfect.
Well, thank you so much, Dan. We're so happy
to have you. Where can they find you on the internet?
I am only on Blue Sky at DanTheBastard. Perfect.
And of course, on the Discord, which people can
join and get into the discussion. Hey, thanks
for your time. See you next episode. Hello and
welcome to our other Scuttlebutt Ultra segment
here. We've recorded one today already. Here's
our second one. It is with the one and only Alex.
What's up, Alex? Hey, Cameron. How's it going?
Good, man. How you doing? Pretty good. A little
bummed out about the Barca game, but a great
game. Yeah, that's wild to go two minutes away
from victory to suddenly losing is tough. Yeah,
but I mean, hats off to Inter. They played a
great game. Yeah, they were playing way over
their heads, it felt like. But we're not here
to talk about Barcelona or Inter. We're here
to talk about the Sounders. You got to attend
the match this weekend, is that right? Yeah,
I got to sit pitch side. That is amazing. How
was that experience, especially in a game like
that? It was great, but it sucked that all the
goals were scored on the other side of the field.
Oh, no. But I did get to see Rothrock draw that
penalty. That's cool. That's cool. But still,
yeah. I mean, you're still closer than you would
have been if you'd been in the stands behind
where you were. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, to be
in ECS in that game probably would have been
fun too. That's true. That would have been incredible.
I think that's the second time this year they've
gone off on that end. So that's pretty exciting.
What were your biggest takeaways from that match?
That was honestly Seattle's best performance
of this season from start to finish. Very dominant
in the attack. We limited St. Louis' chances.
Apart from the PK, they didn't have really no
attack going forward. Yeah, it seemed like they
relied on the ref to get their offense going.
And yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking.
I'm like, the only way that we'll lose to St.
Louis is off a set piece. which is how we lost
when we went to St. Louis a few weeks ago. It
was from a set piece. Yeah. Oh, what's that dog's
name? That's Zoe. What's up, Zoe? She's trying
to go back inside. Welcome to the show. Yeah,
so what did you see that felt different than,
I mean, I guess we've had two home games that
were like this now, but what felt different than
what we've seen from the Sounders in the past?
There was a lot of, A lot more crisp ball movement.
And it was a lot more fluid. And I think with
the formation change, instead of playing the
3 -4 -3 and going back to the 4 -2 -3 -1, which
allowed Nuhu and Alex to go more forward and
attack, knowing that they had the defensive cover
that they had, led to more crosses into the box
and better attacking play. Yeah, I think that
was especially apparent in the second half. Yeah,
I want to say that Ryan subbed on. He was the
game changer. Because once he subbed on is when
we scored three goals. Yeah. In 30 minutes, he
got two assists. What do you think is the difference
with him on the field than off the field? It's
just that... That soccer IQ, that European pedigree
that he has, that he's played in Europe at a
high level, that it's something that we haven't
seen in the MLS, especially in the Sounders for
a while. It kind of gives off like Oba, like
the moments that Oba would do. Yeah, I thought
that, especially the way he plays away from the
ball when the ball comes towards him. Like Oba
knew when and when not to touch it and to let
the momentum of the ball go. And that's not something
we've seen since Oba. We've seen Jordan do it
a couple of times, but Oba did it all the time.
And I don't think it's anything we saw before
Oba on the Sounders. So yeah, he seems to just
have this way, this knowledge of first touches
and the ball that is missing largely from the
MLS, I think. Yeah, the way that he can use his
body to manipulate the defender with a body feint.
I believe that he had... They passed him the
ball, but he let it like a dummy and it numbed
the defender. And then he got at the end of the
ball. Yeah, that's pretty incredible. So what
were you feeling being in that stadium on...
because notoriously I've talked about in this
episode where I thought it was a road game, so
I was not there. So if I was just this random
fan you were talking to, how would you explain
how it made you feel? It was pretty electric,
especially once Ryan went on us. Every touch
that he had, the crowd was getting excited. Like
he said, he likes to lift bums off the seats,
and that's pretty much what he did on Saturday.
and then knew who got the crowd going. And I
think when Seattle is playing at home, playing
the attacking football that they are, and gets
the crowd into it, that's what makes it so exciting.
And I think there was like 2 ,000 people that
were there from the first match on us. Yeah.
So that was a pretty good game for them to go
to for their first match. I'm sure that they'll
want to come back. Yeah, what an opportunity.
I feel like the first of those matches was, we
talked about this on the show, I can't recall
if this is a preview of what's to come or based
on where we're going to insert this segment,
but that first one against Houston was not the
most fun match for people attending their first
match compared to this one. No, yeah, I was at
that match and it was just dead. It was just
a lot of possession. Houston was hunkered down
and we weren't able to break them. So what do
you think the Sounders can take out of this match
as they move forward and head to Houston where
it's going to be in the 70s with 65 % humidity?
I think you have to just, you kind of got to
stick with the team that was able to get this
result. The real question mark is going to be
whether or not you start Kent. And it might be,
harsh to stardom and you know that type of weather
you might want to keep rothrock going and then
bring ken off the bench so he can have another
great 30 minutes and be impactful yeah tough
decisions i mean i think brian alluded to that
in his postgame press conference where he said
he's earned it but now we've got to figure out
what to do yeah and i feel like houston houston's
a very possession -based team and they're gonna
have a couple of their guys back because when
we played them in Seattle, they were missing
a few on international duty. I think Jack McGlynn
is going to be back, and I think he's a good
player on the ball in possession. He's like their
number eight. So maybe we'll go back to a 3 -4
-3 just to crowd up the midfield, pull more bodies
in there so we can control the midfield. And
what are you expecting score -wise? Are Sounders
going to continue their winning ways, or is it
going to be tough heading out there? I think
it's going to be tough. Given our recent history
with Houston, they've been 0 -0 games, 1 -1s.
They've been very close games. And so I think
it might be a tie. I think it'll be 1 -1. Danny
keeps the streak going. You know, can't complain
about a tie on the road, right? Mm -hmm. Anything
else you want to hit on the Sounders before we
get out of here today? Reagan and Jesus are close,
but they're not ready yet. Reagan's in full training,
so that's good to hear, good to see. We need
him, but also Kim Kihei has been tearing it up,
so now there's some real competition there too.
Oh yeah, I love the way that Kim Kihei's been
playing. He's defense first. He's not really
looking to... play the same type of progressive
passes and build up from the back like Reagan,
which has led to not having any mistakes in the
back. Yeah, absolutely. There's some pros and
cons to that. For sure. So where can they find
you? It's fine if you just want to say on the
Discord, but where can they find you if people
want to hear more of your sage wisdom on Sounders?
They can find me on Instagram. Alex underscore
Diaz 509. Yeah. Let's note that 509. You come
from the other side of the state to come watch
the Sounders as a dedication. And I hope that
every time I go that they put on the show. Yeah.
Yep. That'll make it more fun to come on it.
Yeah. I'll probably make it out there for San
Diego. Awesome. Well, we're looking forward to
seeing you then. Let's wrap up this segment and
we will see you next episode. All right. Peace.
Later. It's a time for me to talk to you about
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-m. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
We're back. So, 4 -1 win. Where are we sitting
at in the table right now? Who's got that up?
I didn't even know we had a game, so I certainly
don't know where we are in the table. I mean,
we were in the last playoff spot, I believe,
going into the game. And I would assume we jumped
up. So, Nicholas, what are you thinking? As far
as where we are in the table, I know exactly
where we are in the table. Yeah. Yes. And that
is? We're right in the middle there. We did jump
into the playoff spot now after the results,
which is great. Yay, go team, go. We are, I believe,
we're tied with many teams right now with 16
points. We're tied with Colorado, Austin, and
the West. We are just a few points off of second
place. Minnesota's in second with 19 points,
so we're one result away from that. Portland
is in third with 18, San Diego with 17, along
with LAFC. Why does Austin have the tiebreaker
over us? They have one more win. Oh, I didn't
see the wins. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was looking
at goals. I forgot that they changed that rule
in order to let LA Galaxy do better one year.
They went from goal differential to wins. That's
a good one. Whatever. I mean, we were in ninth
coming into the game, which was the play -in
game. So, I mean, we're going to continue to
be moving up considering how we're playing now.
Ah, boy. You know what? You say that, but I'm
not entirely positive. I like our team. I think
we're going to be okay. But we do have a really
tough stretch in front of us right now. So I
don't want to pump the hype train a little bit
because we do have three straight road games
against Houston, which historically has been
tough. They are, but they've also been Houston
is tough. Fortunately, it's May and not June,
July. But then we play at LAFC and at Portland.
So I would just say let's take it one game at
a time and let's see. I mean, Portland is going
to be reeling off of their loss to Tacoma Defiance
tomorrow. And probably won't win a game for the
rest of the season. So I'm not worried about
them. Mr. Hot take right there. Hey, I do have
a question. Okay, so let's put it to you this
way. We got three road games right now. We got
a three -game road trip. Saturday, Wednesday,
Saturday. So three games in seven days. At Houston,
at LAFC on Wednesday, and then at Portland that
Saturday. Is an acceptable points result out
of that? Do you think three out of nine is acceptable?
Do you think which could be one win and two losses?
It could be three draws. What is your expectation?
I think we need four. I think five. I'm expecting,
wait, sorry, four. So a loss and two results.
A win -loss draw. Yep, but I would expect...
I mean, here's the thing. If you lose at Houston,
they're terrible. I know it's Houston, but you've
got to win that game. You've got to win against
your rivals. So to me, it's Houston win, Portland
tie, LAFC loss, but I think we've got to beat
Portland. Is this the fuck, marry, kill of road
trips? It is. It is. I'm marrying LAFC. I'm fucking
Portland. Okay, so let's actually play this game.
Win -loss -draw. You got to give a result to
each one. Who are you giving your win -loss -draw
to? I think it's draw, Houston, loss, LA, and
I think win in Portland. I mean, from a standings
perspective, win Portland, tie LAFC. I mean,
sorry, we win Portland. we tie LAFC and we lose
to Houston. That's not what I think will happen
or, or that's not acceptable to me, but from
a standings perspective, that would be the best
because we would rather have them get three points
than either of the two teams above us in the
table. But what do you, if you've got to pick
one, that's where you're going to go with. Yes,
because it's the most favorable standings wise
for us. If I've got a, if I've got a pick here,
I'm saying. Beat Portland. I'm going to say draw
LAFC and lose to Houston. Now, this whole premise
is a false premise anyways. It's predicated on
the idea that it has to be one win, one loss,
and one draw. My expectation is we have to beat
Houston and Portland. I don't care what happens
in the other game because I don't think it affects
us one way or the other at this point. I mean,
but I think from a, from a team perspective,
you got to win against the bad teams and you
got to win against your rivals. I don't, I mean,
those are the most important things. I mean,
I would argue that both LAFC and Portland are
your two biggest rivals right now, but that's
just, that's just me. Yeah, but I don't think
LAFC is the same level. I mean, we beat them
last year, and we lost to the Galaxy. Obviously,
the Galaxy are terrible this year, but that brought
me back to the Galaxy being our rival more than
LAFC. So with that said, on this road trip, I
think we are going to lose one game. We'll get
two results. What those two results will be,
a win, a draw, two wins, I'm not sure. But I
do think we're going to drop one of the three.
Aaron? Yeah, I feel like Houston's going to be
an annoying trap game. I think we'll draw still,
right? But I don't think... I mean, they're pretty
terrible. And I feel like we're riding high right
now. I don't want it to happen. They're two wins,
two draws, and a loss in their last five. They
did get a red card in the dying minutes of the
last game. so Escobar, their right back, will
not be playing in this game. I think they're
susceptible, but I don't... Yeah, I think they're
susceptible. Yeah, I don't know. Just gut feeling.
I think Houston's going to draw L .A. loss and
win in Portland. Okay. I think we're going to
improve on that 0 -0. That was a miserable game.
It was. It was cynical. Yeah. It was cynical.
Did we not get at least one offside goal that
should have been a goal? I don't think so. I
think that was the two games around it. Okay.
That was just one where we kicked a lot of them
over the goal. Fair enough. Could be interesting.
So let's talk about this LA, let's talk about
the St. Louis City game. St. Louis, yes, let's
talk about it. So lineup comes out. We see anything
jump out to you from that lineup? To me, it was
pretty much kind of what you expected to see,
especially knowing no Jordan and no Jesus. Yeah,
I mean, I talked about it. a couple weeks before,
but I would have liked to have seen Kent start,
but I understand Rothrock has earned it, so I
expected Rothrock to start. And it worked out.
Soft penalty on our defense, but he made a very
strong play on that penalty they got our way.
I don't know that we come back in that game the
same way we did if Rothrock doesn't start. I
mean, he earned the penalty two minutes later,
yeah. That's what I'm saying. Like that, that
penalty felt like a punch in the gut and he immediately
got our hopes back into it and made us start
pushing. And I mean, he knew what he was doing.
I wasn't. Yeah. Because he kind of, I feel like
he broke the play down. Yeah. And he kind of,
that's how we recovered. And which is just, you
know, the blue collar, you know, dribbled, he
dribbled into three defenders. Like, what are
you doing? He is so the traditional. kind of
player that Seattle sports fans love. Paul Rothrock
is that Christian rolled on mold. That, that
hardworking Zach. Yeah. Yeah. But, but I, I just
can't believe that the St. Louis player stuck
his foot in there. He had nowhere to go. All
they had to do is stand still. And anyways, that
that's their problem. Was not enamored with the
officiating in the first half. it got a lot worse
in the second half. Do you think, I mean, I didn't
love the penalty calls or the VAR calls, but
I didn't. Yeah, that's a penalty call for sure,
which I want to know your takes on it because
I don't know. I feel like my eyes are deceiving
me in some ways on that. How did you feel about
the ref? Because I felt like we've had pretty
egregious referees overall this year a lot and
this one didn't to me feel like he seemed consistent
with the exception of the terrible penalty non
-penalty calls he didn't have control of the
game three yellow cards for us in the first half
one for them um obviously the the the penalty
against yamar was was pretty soft uh the penalty
against rothrock was was was pretty soft uh both
like neither neither were particularly... The
difference between those, for me, is Roth...
Or, Reymar made a play on the ball, and it didn't...
And the guy deliberately went down, where I think
Rothrock actually got stepped on. Yeah. Yeah,
I think that's fair. That's fair, but I... Anyway,
I... Those penalties aside... I think both were
generally soft, but yes, they are different.
Yes. The... I mean, we're just going to absolutely
just put it out there right there that the handball
was just a blown call. Was it? Say what you want
to say, Cameron. So on the first time I saw the
replay on the TV, it went off his chest. It went
off his chest and bounced off. And then when
they slowed it down, it was because it was near
his hand. It kept going off. But then when they
slowed it down, it kept looking at me like he
came off his hand. So that's where my eyes are.
Because when they did the first slowdown, it
came off his pec. It definitely went off his
hand. I didn't see a change in direction until
it hit his hand. Then how do they not... How
does VAR get it that wrong? That is what it is.
It's the official. And I got proof on this one,
by the way. I got proof that it hit his hand.
The proof that it hit his hand was the... The
ref said on the VAR that no handball offense,
his hand was in a natural position. Did he? The
fourth official, that was on the broadcast. That
was on the broadcast. Yeah, the broadcast said
the fourth official said that the reason that
the handball was not given was that he determined
to be in a natural position. Which he was like
this, which people can't see. You're basically
chesting the ball. So his arm was out like that.
I don't agree that that's a natural position.
Not at all. It's a 40 -degree angle. I could
see how someone would argue it because when you
go to chest the ball, your arms come back like
this. I will say. Chest the ball, that's how
your arms go. That's what you're taught to do.
You should have your arms down, though. If you'd
hit his hand, you're right. This should have
been a handball. What I'm saying is I could see
how they could make that argument. It's wrong.
I mean, MLS 360, all of them were like, oh, absolute
handball, absolute handball. The Apple broadcast,
Apple broadcast, everyone, absolute handball,
absolute handball. Sounders broadcast, absolute
handball, absolute handball. The only person
that seemed to think that it wasn't a handball.
It was like the Ichiro Hall of Fame voting. Yes.
There was one person who didn't think it was
a one motherfucker who didn't think it was a
handball. Thank God it didn't come back to bite
at the ass. No, it ended up being meaningless.
This goes back to the changes that need to be
made to VAR where it's not the center ref making
decisions on his own calls. More like NHL style.
Yeah, or NBA or MLB. MLB still gets it wrong
sometimes, but make someone else do the wrong.
Where ego's not part of it? No ego, because we've
seen multiple times them get VAR wrong inside
our stadium. I will say, though, to highlight
how rough of a game this was, besides that, I
would say... In terms of officiating. Yes, I
would say St. Louis were... the beneficiaries
of some of that and their coach is the one who
got a bench yellow. It's just, I think, unfortunately,
I think he just lost control of the plot. Uh,
but let's not talk. I don't want to talk any
further about this. Yeah. Yeah. I, I don't want
to, I mean, ultimately I'm going to, he's, he's
on my list of someone I want to pay attention
to in future games to see if this is a aberration
or a norm for this guy. Do you know his name?
Yeah, Lorenzo Hernandez. I don't recognize him
from previous games. Lorenzo Hernandez. Yes.
Okay. Yeah. So, first half goes into the break
1 -1. A big shout -out to Stefan Frey, his 400th
career game with the Sounders. Not only... not
only there he's in rarefied air i mean you've
got your diego charas kyle beckerman's nick ramondos
uh i think graham zuzy these are the kind of
players that are on how dare you mention beckerman
in the same sentence as a great player like diego
chara yeah like diego chara hey and and say the
other half of that though fries 400 What did
Schmetzer bring up in the post -game press conference?
Oh, this was great, actually. Yeah, this was
great. I looked at Ryan's face when he said this.
He was kind of like, hmm. So, I want to make
sure. Osase De Rosario, who is Dwayne De Rosario's
father, or son, Dwayne's son. Stephen Fry got
his debut in a game that... duane de rosario
was playing in because they were teammates in
toronto toronto and now all these years later
duane's son is debuting in a game in which stephen
fry is playing and that's just that's just so
cool and and and i i loved it i loved it that's
awesome um so halftime you know it's one one
uh i thought i thought we're Looking good. I
thought we were doing okay. We had a ton of shots
in the first half. I'd have to take a quick look
at what it was. At the end of the first half,
it was 13 -3. Our expected goals at halftime
was already 1 .57. We had two big chances, scored
on one of them, so things were looking good.
Second half comes on. And we just kind of, everything
changes when we brought on Ryan Kent. Ryan Kent
coming on for Paul Rothrock in the 57th minute.
Is that the move you would have made? Or would
you have taken off Pedro? No, I want to see Ryan
Kent with Pedro. Yeah, I want to see them together.
I think people seemed a little confused by that.
Turns out, I think they... Sideline reporting
for the home broadcast was saying that Schmetzer
thought with Rothrock's yellow, he wanted to
get him off. I think that's probably a testament
to questioning some of the decisions by the officiating.
That's kind of my thought there. I think he's
off without the yellow. Yeah, I think he's off
without the yellow, but he did bring that up
for sure. I also want to say the official, this
was his fourth ever. mls game as a center ref
okay okay he's been a fourth official one two
three four five six times this year he's been
a center ref four times he gave out five yellows
this time cincinnati beat chicago three two he
gave up four nashville beat montreal three nothing
he gave out one and colorado rap is in dallas
tied three three with colorado giving up two
goals in the final moments, and he gave out two
yellows in that. Was that his first match? What
about penalties? His first match was a 3 -3 with
Stunner. Let me see. Penalties. I don't think
I have that information. If you do find out,
I am curious. He gave out one against Chicago
and two in our game. Interesting. Okay, so not
enough to create any kind of sample size of trends.
And you've got to start supporting him, but maybe
he's young and not ready. Yeah. Maybe he's still
shitty. Yeah, maybe. I felt like he was struggling
with controlling the game. He definitely was.
Okay, so you bring on Ryan Kent, and four minutes
later, he immediately assists with a goal for
Obed Vargas, who's having a season. Great to
see that. Anything you want to add to that goal?
I mean... Ryan Kent shows that he can do it through
finesse or he can do it through straightforwardness.
And that's what I love about it. The oohs and
the ahs from the crowd in -house watching him.
Oh, yeah. Little turns, little dummies. Everything
is quick. It's not just him just starting to
run quick. It's the decision -making, the precision
on short passes, the combinations. The fact that
you're seeing Obed and Pedro link up, that's
why I wanted to see him on the field. And that's
why, you know, ultimately, you know, that Rothrock
is watching up from the bench and then coming
on and playing a, what will be pivotal. Plus
all these minutes are going to be needed. He's
Rothrock starting multiple more matches. This
isn't replacing him, but if we're kind of harkened
back to that other question, scuttlebutt question,
like Ryan Kent is your. on your ideal 11. well
yeah i mean i mean in in in that question which
was which was submitted by eric 13 uh make a
list of the best 11 players in the roster if
everyone was healthy That if is doing a lot of
work in that statement. That's why it's so hard
to have that conversation. Because Paul Areola
is on that list, and he's not going to be back
with us. By the way, I got to meet Paul before
the game, and I got to say hi to him, and that
was just a really nice surprise. It was really,
really awesome. That was really cool. Good dude.
Yeah, just very affable. In good spirits. I'm
looking forward to, I love the signing. I wanted
to remember. I haven't considered this before.
Imagine the conversations we're going to have
when Paul Areola is healthy. So next season.
Next year is going to be wild, especially since,
I mean, this is a topic for another show, but
because of injury, it doesn't look like Jesus
is going to earn enough stats to become a DP
next year, which means. There's going to be questions
around, do you re -sign Rusnak? Do you bring
in another DP? What do you do? So it's going
to be, I mean, Jesus can still do it, but there,
you know, there's a lot, I think there's a lot
of expectation on him that makes it hard. You're
right. So it's going to be pretty wild. So going
into, going into the late stages of the game,
Pedro comes off for Georgie. And then a few moments
later. Scoring his fourth goal in four matches,
Danny Mussofsky. Four straight games with a goal.
Do not sleep on Nuhu's beautiful assist on that.
Comes in off the edge. I was saying to Bernadette
and Eric, saying, man, well before this moment,
Nuhu is getting really involved offensively in
a very productive way. He was foot mob's man
of the match. uh 9 .1 i mean coach commented
on it afterwards that because of how good kim
kihi was it allowed new who to push forward and
become more offensively dangerous i mean and
and he was being smart he was looking for those
passes he had assist he had a goal he uh not
to get ahead of ourselves 94 accurate passing
uh three chances created two big chances created
Uh, just a, he, his, you know, XG was 45 .45
is expected assist 0 .68. Uh, just, just a really
great, great game from new who, uh, great game
from a lot of players, but, uh, don't want to
lose sight of that. So, um, so Musafsky Musafsky,
just beautiful pulling the new who's ball quick
turn. And just blowing it by. You can't get away
with that. You can't get away with that. I did
not mean that. Phrasing. Hey, leave the mailbag
out of this. So, question for the two of you.
Yes. Can you name the four players in Sounders
history who have scored in four straight matches?
We'll throw that to Aaron because I heard Coach
Schmetzer, who could only name three, talk about
it on the postgame show. I'm going to go with
Freddie. He was the first. Okay. Ruidias. No.
No Ruidias. Never did. Oba. Oba. Deuce? Oh, yeah,
yeah. No Deuce. So you got two. Well, we know
Danny Mussofsky, so who's the fourth? Don't overthink
it. Nico? Nico. Who's our all -time leading goal
scorer? Jordan Morris, really? There you go.
There you go. Jordan, Obafemi. I think last year
he scored four games in a row. I think you're
right with Leo Chu. Yeah. So that's the list
right there. That's great verified air. Danny
Mussofsky is putting in the most of his minutes.
And you know what? He's making me look like a
goddamn genius. So thank you, Danny. Danny, you
make me look good. Thank you. But no, I said
earlier in the year when he was struggling, he's
putting himself in good positions, and I expect
once he gets that first goal that he'll get five
to ten all comps, and he's there. He's got five
because he got the one in CONCACAF Champions
League against Cruz Azul to unleash. So he's
already done what I said he'd do. So congratulations,
Danny. In a weird way, it's exactly what... this
offense kind of needs is a striker that isn't,
you know, shooting from 18, 20 yards out, but
can put away the four or five channels. Aaron,
we had 20 shots in the box. Yeah, that's fantastic.
We had 20 shots in the box. That's fantastic.
I mean, we ended up. Like five players. pumping
the ball in and yeah it's we ended up with 29
shots 29 shot thank god we are we are putting
a video right we're not putting a video um 29
shots to seven eight shots on target seven big
chances um we're just we're just clearing it
uh but Let's not sleep on our fourth goal, the
most important goal. Well, actually, just before
that most important goal, we bring on Osase De
Rosario, who gets a good opportunity. He gets
a really good opportunity. Christian Roldan puts
a beautiful ball in right in front of that. He
puts himself in a good spot. He missed it. Okay.
All right. Get the yips out. Let's see what happens.
Capital Y -I -P. I mean, it was a Wondolowski
-level miss in the World Cup. But he did what
my coach last year in PubLeaks, Michelle, always
said not to do, or said to avoid, by going boobs
over ball. Put your boobs over your foot when
you're shooting. He leaned back, and that's why
it skied it. Boobs over ball. The bumper sticker
right there. Yeah. I mean, we're moving on. So
moments later, though, right off of a corner,
ball gets cycled back in, ball gets cycled back
in. Ryan Kent makes a beautiful run inside the
box, fights off a defender, and then makes this
little feint, brings the ball back, cuts the
ball back over to New, who does his best. to
sky it higher than de rosario but he's so close
to net it just goes into the upper part of the
net beautiful i'm gonna say he did it on purpose
to try and hit it as hard as he could into the
upper back corner but uh that's probably not
the case but we're gonna say that he did because
i mean no he he put pace on that he he he got
he got christian rolled on in against houston
in the playoffs level penalty like that Yes,
yes. I mean, he, you know, and hey, I'm not going
to shit on him because he had a great offensive
game. With saying that, it was great to see.
It was great to have the fans. He had the goal
and two assists, right? Yeah. He might have gotten
a secondary. He definitely had one assist for
sure. He might have gotten a second one. Might
have had no secondary. But he's looking really
good. I will say the crowd hearing them scream
New Who, and then if you listen to the game on
repeat, whether it's a broadcast or the Apple
TV or home TV broadcast, you'll hear us doing
the Hey Jude, New Who song, and the whole stadium
was getting into it. I don't know that song.
Can you tell me what that is? The end of Hey
Jude, where it's like, na, na, na, na, na, na,
na. Are you really? We are going to get. We're
going to get. Yeah. So then you say, hey, hey,
new who? No, just new who. Oh, okay. Hey, Jude.
Yeah. Okay. Because I was like, that's too many
syllables. But new who makes sense. Okay. I'm
going to do it. So it's na, na, na, na, na, na,
na, na, na, na, na, new who. That's definitely.
I'll be right straight. i think copyright if
we're singing it is okay it's it's it's i mean
there's a there's without getting into it there's
two copyrights that comes with every single song
one of it is the underlying music and the other
is the sound recording and we've licensed neither
but yes we don't have ask at bmi but what we
do have is under 30 seconds of the song so we
should be fine moving that's also a thing that
does not exist but but let's uh let's talk about
then what did it feel like to be in the stadium
when that went in and have that joyous moment
that feels like the perfect topper off and and
almost like we had we had more injuries what
the fuck is happening and then that goal goes
in and it's just like everything's perfect you
know what it really was honestly it reminds me
of a goal way back in 2014 where we beat Dallas
5 -0, and our fifth goal was just a late goal
just like this from our left back who never scores,
and Leo Gonzalez popped one in, and we just all
were so happy for him because he's just one of
the nicest guys. Everyone loved him. Same feeling.
Same feeling. It was great. It's one of those
goals that, you know, it's just great energy.
Crowd was really into it all game long. A lot
of love for Tom Biro in the stands. You'll have
seen a number of two polls that say, hi, Tom.
We did talk about Tom. Did you last episode?
We did. I was not aware what happened to Tom,
so I found out on the internet during the match.
Okay, so I will reiterate that Tom does have
a GoFundMe. Tom is the former ECS co -president,
also my former public co -coach with me. We coach
Scum and Villainy, a Star Wars themed team. Tom
was hit by a driver in Pioneer Square who sped
off and took off. They were driving the wrong
way down a one -way street. Yes. It was awful.
Yes, and just absolutely awful. Tom has been
in the hospital. He has GoFundMe where details
of his condition and the incident of the accident
are public there. I don't feel comfortable sharing
everything. You got the details. He was injured.
It's going to be a long road to recovery. Yeah.
And so I want nothing but the best for Tom. He
is genuinely a really nice guy. Actually had
his own Sounders podcast for a long time. They
had a video, a sonar feed back in the day. That
was an ongoing video YouTube podcast. uh podcasts
that they had for for years and i think they
stopped recording maybe five years ago or so
um but that was actually one of my first sounders
podcasts that i would ever listen to so uh lots
of love for tom and uh and and really hope he
can recover absolutely good get well tom that
sucks so much um aaron give us the final word
on this game so that we can quickly hit uh our
predictions on Houston. It's refreshing. That's
for sure. It was refreshing to have a match that
I think officiated a little bit more smoothly.
Could have been six goals. Could have been something
like that Nashville match, right? It just seemed,
especially once Kent came on, just some cohesion.
some talents were connected. Um, so that was,
it was just refreshing to see pieces fall into
place, um, the way we want them to be. And I'm
excited to see, um, can start really. I think
that's, I think can, and the new who story is
just a great story, but we know it's going to
be another 102 matches before he scores again.
And I also still do not want him running into
the offensive attack unless, you know, there
is something. If he's picking people out. you
know I just don't I feel like before it was just
we couldn't figure it out so we're seeing it
more often as more of a like try shit but I think
if it fits better then of course I mean maybe
that's what unlocked his now scoring prowess
or something so but yeah refreshing match for
sure excited to watch it all in full and remember
it and not fall asleep too that was huge for
me Absolutely massive. It's fun. So let's talk
about Houston versus the Sounders coming up.
Obviously, we talked about Houston is near the
bottom of the table. Always a tough place to
play. Most recently, we had a scoreless draw
against them in Seattle in a game where we honored
Nico. So that was super. Ooh, beer. That was
super fun. Oh, dang. Yeah, that's true. You know
me. I love me my LaCroix. I wish it was called
LaCroix as a French speaker. But I do want to
note one thing about this game coming up. If
you look at Houston, they have a negative six
goal differential, 10 goals scored, 16 given
up, and we've scored 17 and given up 13. So we're
plus four. Very similar to St. Louis. Yeah. We'll
start with you again, Aaron. How are you feeling
going into this game? Obviously, the weather
will be a factor, but what are you thinking we're
going to be? I think I said we're going to draw.
I think it's just going to... I don't think this
last match was an anomaly. I do think we'll find
our balance at about two goals a game, but I
don't think we're going to... Come away with
a win on this one. It'll be a new lineup. They
looked great. So I think we'll probably score
a goal. Maybe even two. So let's go 2 -2. How
about you, Nick? I just want to point out first
off that Houston's a better team than they look.
They're a much better team than they look. They've
had a rough first. 11 -game schedule. They open
up against their rival for Dallas against Dallas.
They lose. Then they play Inter -Miami, Columbus.
They had to play Portland. They had to play LAFC
twice. Colorado and Austin. So, I mean, that's
not... easy schedule uh and and obviously they
played us as well so they also lost just lewis
in the uh on a way goal oh no they won on away
goals against uh houston i mean it's against
st louis houston in the concacaf champions league
they have one loss in their last five yeah they
got pretty but they got pretty manhandled uh
against lafc that red card was a late red card
Obviously, LAFC is good, but that's not a – it
is not a – They scored two goals in three straight
matches. Yep, yep. I mean, they scored – they
beat Austin 2 -0 at home. They tied Colorado
2 -2 at home. Well, they tied at LA Galaxy, and
then they beat LAFC at home. So they – They're
a good team. They have been playing well, and
they're more talented than they are. I think
my frustration with losing, not beating them
at home, is that they had a guy making his MLS
debut come in on goal halfway through. Yeah,
that's frustrating. So, yeah, all that being
said, what's your prediction, Nick? Yeah, so,
I mean, I think we're feeling very confident
offensively, and you want that. I think that's
going to be a really important thing. Keep in
mind, last game we played them, we didn't have
Kent. We didn't have Pedro. We didn't have Jordan
in that game either. So I think things are going
to be a little different. I do think we're going
to win this game. I'm going to say 2 -1. Talk
into the mic, bro. 2 -1. Rookie. Two to one.
That is also my prediction. I think that we are
on fire. We are that good that I would expect.
I mean, yes, they haven't been getting their
points, but there's a reason for that. They are
better than their points, but we are a better
team than them. We saw that against them when
they played here in the rain. I think we should
go down there. And if it were a home game, I
think we would win 4 -0. But since it's in Houston,
I'm saying two to one. I am curious to see what
happens, who's going to take that right back
position and how Pedro or Ryan Kent, depending
on how they line up, is going to attack that.
It could just be a little rough. It could be
a bit of a long day if they pick on him. I think
it also depends on how they use Nico. I mean,
we saw he was still... a team leader when he
played against us. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I
feel like they gave him the start against, against
us at home out of, out of honor and respect.
I don't know if he's going to get the start.
Yeah. He hasn't been starting every game, but
you saw that the play, when he did start, the
play went through him. Oh, 100%. Cause he's just
a force multiplier, even at his current age.
Sure. Yeah, sure. So, yeah. Who's scoring? You're
not going to give that away yet. Got to save
it for the amazing... We don't necessarily have
to say who's going to score first. But honestly,
I do tend to wait on that until the lineup gets
released so I can kind of see who's starting.
Also, how do people practice during the week?
Stuff like that. Who's got a knock? I think all
of that helps. I will say I do like watching
the, I do subscribe to the Sounders YouTube feed
and it is good stuff hearing the midweek updates
and that. So that's another, I know it's not
exactly a podcast, but it's definitely one that
I would encourage people to listen to to keep
updates on what's going on. Yeah, for sure. That's
a great YouTube channel. They always get those
interviews up and they've had some interesting
ones with Freddy Juarez and stuff too. It's fun
also when Brian gets saucy. Saucy. What's up,
Aaron? So speaking of watching things, and before
we end the show, I wanted to maybe put this out
there for another Patreon -type episode. Maybe
if listeners wanted to suggest things the three
of us could watch together and commentary on.
So it could be maybe a past match that's available.
Or a soccer movie or show or clip. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I think that'd be kind of fun. You know
what soccer movie I've never seen? What? End
It Like Beckham. For real? Never seen it. I know
what happens in it, but I would like to see it.
Shaolin Soccer? There's one. Shaolin Soccer is
one of the, it's maybe the greatest sports film
of all time. Can I be honest? I own the DVD.
I've never watched it. I've owned it for maybe
20 years now. I've owned it. Yeah, I owned it
as well. It's incredible. I've never seen it.
This is a good suggestion. Go me. What was the
Pele movie? The Pele movie with, I think, Sylvester
Stallone was in it? It was. No. Sylvester Stallone.
Wait, no, Sylvester Stallone... He did a great
melee. Wait, wait, are you not aware of this?
Okay, Sylvester... No. He can sculpt in Maradona
in one as well. Sly Stallone was Escape to Victory,
where it's a sports war film. What? With with
Sly Salone, Michael Caine, Max von Sydow and
Pele about allied prisoners of war who are interned
in a German prison camp during World War Two
to who play an exhibition match against the football
team. 1981. Yeah. Oh, Max von Sydow was in it.
Oh, Michael Caine is in it. Bobby Moore was in
it. Michael Caine. Yeah, Michael Caine. This
is an interesting... I want to see this now.
Okay. 70 % on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe we need
to start doing special Patreon episodes with
movies and stuff. We should get our little watch
-along party. Maybe I should just suggest that
on our own podcast. Maybe I should do that. We
can call them Patriots now. That's my new name
for them. Patriots? I think calling them patron
is stupid. Wait, wait. Our patriots? And what
percentage of our listeners would you say are
patriots? Would you say maybe 3 %? We're moving
on. We are moving on. I do want to end on a serious
note real quick. Today, we're recording on Cinco
de Mayo. It is, of course, National Day of Awareness
for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and
Girls. And during class today at Seattle U, there
was a big, I wouldn't say it was a protest, but
there was like a drum performance out and with
a bunch of stuff for awareness. And I mean, it's
a big issue everywhere, but we're so close to
British Columbia where there's so many, so many
missing indigenous women and girls and they're
not being, I mean, there's some here too, but
that highway that runs through BC is a very dangerous
place and something that. People need to be aware
of everything that's going on. So definitely
look in to the National Day of Awareness for
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
It affects us very much up here. Four out of
five Native women experience some form of violence
in their lifetime. So it's messed up. But yeah,
I know that's a sad note, but just before we
stopped, I wanted to mention that. Usually I
would mention it at the top of the show. But
soccer, yay! I mean, what is an episode without
us having our death watch, unfortunately? Oh,
did we have one? Who died? Yeah. Someone died.
Yeah, so 90s, 90s artist Jill Sobule. Oh, that's
right. She sang I Kissed a Girl. She was on the
Clueless soundtrack, the song Supermodel. Really
tragic. She's a really witty folk singer. um
definitely in my vein of music uh she died in
a house fire at 66 and uh she was supposed to
tour later that yeah like uh i was supposed to
tour in the middle of anyways it's just just
you know just just a bummer um if you're not
familiar with her work uh check out i kissed
a girl it was the the the og i kissed a girl
Matter of fact, I always thought when I first
saw Katy Perry's thing, I thought she was covering
that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, Jill Sobiel in the
90s was, I mean, I feel like she's been very
influential since then, but none of that's garnered
the attention she got in the 90s. But I found
out because Tom Morello posted about her passing
away and how... much she was into fighting righteous
causes and just how much he was going to miss
her. So, um, kind of, kind of a real bummer.
Um, especially hopefully I'm assuming she died
in her sleep. So hopefully that's, um, she didn't
suffer. I mean, that's, that's in my vein of,
you know, Anita Franco's and Indigo girls and
just right up in my, my alley of, uh, politically,
uh, using music to activate. Um, so, um, yeah,
so, you know, it'd be nice if we can go through
an episode without talking about someone that,
that we appreciated that passed away. Um, so
Margo might be walking soon. That's pretty cool.
Oh, household system positive. No, that's not
cool. I mean, the idea is cool, but that's going
to suck for you. Actually, I feel like she, I
think she gets frustrated not being able to.
do things. She's a lot of work, man. She's got
the big sister. When she can talk and she can
walk, I think she's going to be a whole different
animal in a good way. That's what Gracie was
like. Frustrated, she couldn't communicate. Frustrated,
she couldn't get places. And then when she could,
she was just exploratory, but more... And then
frustrated that you're, yeah. Frustrated that
you're taking her away from the places she wants
to go to because they're dangerous. Yeah. I mean,
do not stick a fork. I've been pretty lucky.
I've been pretty lucky. She doesn't really. You
want to knock on wood somewhere around there?
Yeah. I'm looking right now. Yeah. She also,
I don't think Margo does not have that deviousness
that. That Nicholas's child has. Who got it directly
from him. Who pushes the envelope. As much as
she can. Until her dad starts doing a countdown.
Oh man. She's. You know okay. So we're in the
pro shop after the game. After the game on Saturday.
And she sees. The Orca stuffy. It's got the Sounders
logo on it. And she's like, I want the orca stuffy.
And she's got a lot of stuffies. And she puts
on her little pow. I want the orca stuffy. No,
no, you can't have it. And I'm firm. I am firm.
Like, no, no, you don't need this. We're not
going to get this right now. And who swoops in
and goes, hey, Roma, can I get that for you?
Jerry. So thank you, Jerry. Bye. Bye. But if
he hadn't, I was going to get it and have it
ready for her. I was just about to say, this
is not her first rodeo because you have gotten
her a few different sports stuffies. You know
what? It sounds like a good way to get your daughter
memorabilia without ever you having to buy it.
Yeah. Just get her to cry on stage just like
that. In all fairness. Maybe you were doing that.
I've been, I I've been given out some, I've been
given out some stuff. So it all comes around
full circle. Maybe we need to have a Patreon
add on where every month you give an extra $5
and two 50 of it. Oh, two 50 of it goes to Roma
and one 25 goes to each of your kids. So that'll
just make it easier. And you can use that to
save up for a plush because I did 50 50 before
realizing you have two kids now, even though
we just talked about it. $3 .33. Fuck you. Each
of you get $1 .11. Extra $3 .33, $1 .11 for each
kid. They're not half humans, you know? Children
aren't half humans. And what does Cameron get?
He gets sleep. Yeah. Not enough, though. The
bags under my eyes are so big. That's not what
your Xbox usage says. Yes, actually it is. Just
let me tell you. Did you read the text I sent
before we started recording today? I was playing
Saints Row. Busted. Busted. I played it for about
15 minutes before we got on. I am excited because
I think tomorrow one of the monthly free games
for PlayStation is a game that I've been wanting
to play because I hear it's really fun, but I
didn't want to buy it, is Bellatro. Have you
heard of this? Have you played this? No. Okay,
it's kind of like a, well, this will be a conversation
for another time. Let me play it a little bit
first, then I'll explain. But on that note, where
can they find you, Aaron? Since you just said
that, I just want to say, if you're an Amazon
Prime member and you aren't taking advantage
of Prime Games, head over to there because they're
giving away, every month they give away a lot
of games, and this month they are giving away
the entire nine -game saga of Star Wars. in Lego
star Wars games. So, and if you haven't played,
I've played them on three. I've not, I played
the original trilogy on both three 60 and X and
Xbox regular, uh, the late, not original Xbox,
but the current one. Uh, and those games follow
the movie along, but as Lego characters, they
are so fun. Uh, and it's free for play on PC.
So you can just, uh, and your computer. So go
out and get, get those games for free. Cause
it's, it's pretty awesome. Where are they? Yeah,
they are pretty fun. Uh, prime. Prime Games,
and they'll send it to you too. GOG, I think,
it's like Steam, but it's a different company.
There was a huge Xbox sale, and I had just downloaded
Red Dead Redemption 2. I remember playing the
first one like 20 years ago. I got Saints Row
in that sale, and I just got another game. But
maybe this is a Patreon discussion. We'll do
a video game Patreon episode. Yeah, that's right.
So, Aaron, where can they find you? On our Discord
and on Instagram, at Aaron Lingley. On Instagram
and at Aaron Lingley on X as well. What about
you? Let's pick Cameron. Legal -minded punk on
everywhere that social media is, unless you are
on LO or Mastodon. I'm not on there. Nicholas?
Wake up. You can find me. Wake up. No, no, no.
Wake up. I was going to do it. I was going to
do it. He did it. He did it. You can find me
at Instagram at Cascades2C. Cascades2C on Instagram.
Nice. That's good. You know what? I think James
should take it away. Nate, Jake were. You can
follow the Sounders Scuttlebutt podcast on Twitter
at SSFC Scuttlebutt. 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 forget to share your feedback by rating
and reviewing. 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 unequipped and they're
arguably the best MLS team of all time.