It's time for Scuttlebutt Ultras. Quick takes
from our Patreon Ultras sharing their soundest
thoughts straight from the heart. Your voice,
your moment. We are back with another segment
of Scuttlebutt. what ultras i'm cameron collins
i am here with dan the bastard uh who's got some
spicy takes today i'm excited about uh what's
up dan how you doing i'm doing great my job decided
to pay me today so uh i have no complaints yeah
that's always that's always a good thing to have
money in your bank account yeah yeah being paid
for the work i i enjoy that i wonder if the summer
players enjoy that Oh, yeah, that's a good point.
Coming off a match where there was a protest,
we were talking a little bit off mic. What are
your thoughts on the protest that just happened
at the match? I thought the protest was more
exciting than the game. Is that a fair take?
Yeah, I think it could be, yeah. So, you know,
I'm notoriously, especially online, hyperbolic
and critical. I will say that I think there's
a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that
us, the fans, and maybe even the news media,
we're just not privy to. There's a lot of unknowns.
And so it's unfair to just jump to conclusions
and get super upset at Adrian or the league.
I'm going to workshop a term with you. I want
to call it the worker's razor. And so what I
mean by that is whenever there is a dispute between
owners and workers and there's gaps of information,
you side with the workers until you get the rest
of the information. And I think that's what I'm
doing here is I love the players. I don't love
the owner. I don't know the owner like other
people. I haven't been around the team long enough,
I guess. But anyways, I love the players. I root
for the players and the badge. And I definitely
would like to see them at least be listened to
by the league and ownership. Yeah. Yeah. And
we see the article in Sound at Heart from Jeremiah
O'Shan that did say that Adrian went in on the
team. I'm curious, and really he found it disrespectful
is what was said in that article. To me, if you're
an owner in that situation, you kind of have
to step back and realize that it's not necessarily
about you. I mean, that didn't need to be viewed
as aimed at him. There's only so much he can
do as owner, right? It's a single entity league.
That was a fine line I had to walk all the time,
and I made it clear to the Sounders whenever,
i'm protesting it's usually not the sounders
it's the league when the iron front stuff was
going on i wasn't throwing the sounders under
the bus ever because i knew what they were doing
behind the scenes i was i was going after the
league and so i think uh the same kind of uh
what you're saying we need to do with the players
i think the ownership needs to do too and realize
that they shouldn't be expected to play for nothing
yeah it's um It's definitely frustrating. And
there's been an undercurrent of, I don't know,
the term bad vibes gets thrown around a lot.
And I'm 40, so I think I maybe missed some of
that lingo a little bit. But there's been this
undercurrent of bad vibes or just upsetness.
mostly stemming from the fans uh here here lately
the past couple years but uh it seems like it
may be seeping in with the players too one of
the things i kept thinking about is as they were
talking about the the communication piece and
i think uh jackson on the radio mentioned multiple
times like hey the the biggest thing is is you
know they need communication and uh that was
the same thing that lodero said was whenever
he was on his way out. I was like, hey, I didn't
get that communication piece. That's the same
thing Raul Ruiz Diaz says. Hey, I missed a communication
piece. And I wonder if that's kind of becoming
a trend is just there's a communication breakdown
between the top of the organization of the Sounders
and the players. And that leads to being on different
pages and that leads to being, you know, situations
like this. One of the other things about that
is You know, I was in the service for 21 years.
I was in the Air Force. So that may tell you
a little bit about where I'm going with this.
I lose respect for anybody, any superior that
walks in and yells at his employees and throws
curse words out of his employees. I lose respect
all over the place for that. No one should have
to work in an environment where they are berated
and cursed at. And if that actually did happen.
I know it's sports and maybe locker room talk
and stuff like that. But if owners are cursing
at employees, to me, that's unacceptable. And
I would lose a lot of respect for Adrian if that's
true. Yeah. I mean, I have no doubt he's cursing
about the situation. I don't know if he did it
directly to the players. Obviously, we don't
have that information. That would be a speculation.
Yeah. Yeah. But I mean... It was before your
time, I believe, as a Sounders fan. But Eddie
Johnson, do you remember when Eddie Johnson did
the show me the money sign on the field? No,
no. Tell me about that. So Eddie Johnson scored
a goal and basically was like, pay me. Did like
a money sign as he was running. And Adrian was
very upset about it because he felt like it was
upstaging him. and kind of making him look bad
and uh i get it on both accounts um but obviously
like you i'm going to side with players more
often than not it's not the millionaires and
billionaires that are entertaining us as much
as they want to believe it uh and there's plenty
of people behind the scenes doing amazing things
i'm not referring to that i'm just saying i'm
there to watch the product on the field and that
product is the players yeah i'm not buying an
adrian kid i'm i'm I'm buying a Pedro kid. Yeah.
I mean, I'm grateful for all he's done for the
soccer community. And, you know, I've gotten
a chance to get to know him a little bit. And
so maybe there's a little bias there, but it
doesn't mean I have to agree with everything
that he or the front office does. And I don't,
obviously. I've spent a lot of time talking to
them about things I don't agree with. And I think
because of the relationship I have fostered with
them. It has allowed me to have those conversations.
And so you would think that the players would
have some good faith just based on their performances
alone, let alone what they've done for the team
over the years and who they are as people. I
think maybe because the locker room is so close,
too, that maybe there's more solidarity in there
than there usually would be. And it's also possible
that Adrian's reaction has taken them by surprise
a little bit, thinking that he would, in public,
in the locker room, maybe support them a little
bit more. Or maybe something happened beforehand
and they're upset with Adrian, too. And that
goes back to just, we don't know and I want to
support them. I would like one of the reporters
to ask. one of the players next time, you know,
this comes up and one of the immediate scrums
is because this topic isn't going away. And if
you're, if you're on. Twitter or Discord or any
of the message boards, I think there's a lot
of support from the fans for the players. And
I think there's a lot of fans who would like
to know how the players would like us to support
them in this. Is it buying the shirts? I've seen
some of the shirts posted in our Discord to go
out and buy. Now, I don't know who's selling
them. I don't know where that money is going
to. But is there something like that? Is that
what the players want us to do? Just how do they
want us to support them? because I'd be willing
to do it. Yeah, that's a great question. And
part of it, you can always call your ticket rep
if you're a seasoned ticket holder and tell them
what you think. Usually on business side of things,
they don't listen, but in this instance, they
might because it's such a high profile issue.
Well, maybe I'll just add that right after I
get done calling my senators today, I'll give
them a call too. Perfect. Why don't we talk about
the match a little bit since we are a Sounders
podcast and I could talk about this for hours,
but what was your takeaway? Because I think this
will again come back to maybe Adrian Hanauer
and money for you. What was your takeaway from
a 3 -2 loss to Minnesota where the score looked
much closer than the play on the field? So I
made a mistake before the game. I didn't sit
down and watch Minnesota. I'm busy. I'll typically
watch the Sounders. I'll watch some Premier League
stuff, but I won't just sit and don't have time
to watch all the different MLS games. So I made
a mistake. I listened to the talking heads and
I looked at the stats and the analytics and I
was like, hey, feeling pretty good about the
Sounders game. And 10 minutes into the game,
I was like, oh, I made a mistake. And I think
the Sounders felt the same way about 10 minutes
into the game, too. The Minnesota plays, especially
at Lumen Field, they play Seattle Sounders kryptonite
because we cannot do anything against eight,
nine men on the box. And then the way Minnesota
can counter out of that, especially whenever
we're – our offense was so hamstrung, if I can
use a word popular with Sounders fans. That we
were pushing our right quarterback up and playing
him as an extra man putting crosses into a box
with nobody crashing the box. So going into the
season, I was pretty vocal. And after this game,
I think I'm still going to remain vocal that
the Sounders are a really good team, but they're
not a great team. And they're missing a piece
that will allow them to break down teams like
Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it seems maybe
teams have figured it out in that way. Well,
it's been going on for three years now, right?
It isn't just this year. It isn't just this game.
It's going back a couple years that teams, even
bad teams, can come sit down in a low block,
and I get it. Low blocks are hard to break down.
But if they were impossible, every team would
sit in a low block while they're away. And that
just doesn't happen. There's other teams in the
LMLS that can beat a low block. And I think the
Sounders, hopefully, I'm sure they are working
on it. You hear them using the words like exciting
and attack whenever they're talking about bringing
in players. So it's something that you know they're
working on, something that they're conscious
of. I'm just impatient. I want to see it happen
faster. Yeah. You know, it's amazing how... much
offense it seems like we should be able to generate
based on not maybe not against minnesota but
based on possession based on the talent we have
out there but we don't have that piece that can
kick it into the goal we i wonder if we fall
into a trap of overvaluating some of our players
talent levels especially since we have a group
of guys that are absolutely lovable right is
there is there anybody on this team that you
know just doesn't seem like a good person and
somebody that you wouldn't like to have a beer
with or right everyone on this team there's usually
a player on every Seattle team I hate and there
is none on this one yeah I there's there's none
so I you know and that that makes it harder to
say that I love all the players but still think
that we're we're missing some sort of final touch
that would move us from being a fourth fifth
best team in the west to a first second best
team in the west yeah yeah i mean i think part
of that is you look you look at the results we
get down the stretch and it reinforces every
year that maybe we don't need to spend well it's
because we have one of the best coaches in the
league um That helps. And it's hard to say whenever
you have a team that is good, and they get hot
at the end, it's hard to say, well, who do you
want to replace? I mean, even looking at the
roster right now, I don't know which in the attacking
band I want to yank off and put my unnamed superstar
that we conceptualize to be that piece that's
going to turn us into a top one, top two team.
I don't know who I would yank off. Yeah. I mean,
I think it's easier with injuries right now,
but this is why before the season I was calling
for, I mean, he's injured and also wasn't playing
as well this year as last year, but a Gabriel
Peck type player, a 10 to 12 million level DP
young player that could come in and develop into
a superstar. I mean, De La Vega may be that,
but... And I'm guessing it was Botafogo. Did
you see the reports that one of the teams in
the Club World Cup were interested? Yeah, I did
notice. I'll have to go back and rewatch it,
but I'm pretty sure Craig Weibel said that they
have shown interest in the past. And so I kind
of took it to mean like maybe they're not knocking
down the door for him right now, but they were
one of the teams in the past. And it could still
be because, you know, teams like to scout. players
long term and uh there's there's a term in the
scouting world if you've seen a player do it
once he's going to do it again yeah yeah and
and it could have been before his injury too
when he was on his way to being an argentinian
darling well uh before it kind of set him back
but uh my guess is it could have been botafogo
because otherwise i mean he could be on the radar
of psg and atletico madrid but that's a big step
yeah and uh You know, talk of, I know that there's
been reporting that we could move him sooner
rather than later and free up that DP spot. But
again, I think I would be a little bit sad to
see De La Vega go, even though he hasn't blossomed
into the game -changing player that we hope that
he can be. I would really like for him to do
that with us. But if we can get some of the money
back and then... turn that back into another
transfer fee. That's the important part. It's
one thing to sell a player. It's another thing
to go back and replace the player. I'd be curious
though, if he maybe is doing what he's expected
to do and there's just no one to score. I mean,
he's going to score some goals, but you see him
do some incredible things. And then we just have
no real presence in the box. In fact, the only
time we scored in that game was when we did a,
he had, a nice little ground cross to the back
of the box, which that's when we had Christian
on the wing. That's how he would score. He'd
come in in that late run and they'd know to pass
it to that point and he would score. And that's
something that historically the Sounders have
been great at, but we haven't been doing it all
this year. Yeah. And it's, again, we're playing
with Moose and Jesus Ferreira up top because
we're missing Jordan. You know, he's looked good,
and soccer's a team sport, and you need to have
somebody there on the other end of the pass.
So that's a fair statement with Pedro and maybe
what they want him to do is give me those crossings.
There were a lot of crosses coming in Sunday,
and just nobody was there in the box. A lot of
good crosses, and there just wasn't somebody
there on the other end ready to receive it and
put it in. Ryan Kent had an incredible one over
the top. Danny Mazovsky and he just couldn't
get on the end of it. But it was like perfectly
placed right in between the defenders, right
to Danny. And I was like, oh my God, this guy
is incredible. Yeah, he's still exciting. I know
some people have talked about him, you know,
not being as exciting playing whole games, you
know, as he was against St. Louis. But I think
there's a lot of potential there. Maybe that's
what's so frustrating too, is we look at this
roster and we just see potential all over the
place. And we can't break down a low block. Now,
a lot of people haven't been able to break down
Minnesota's low block. So they are a good team.
They are the second place team in the West. Now,
just behind Vancouver for first. And I don't
think they're unbeatable. I don't even think
they're unbeatable for a Sounders team that notoriously
is bad at breaking down a low block. Because
that's one of the things Brian's shown the ability
to do is look at film. and come back on a second
time and have a completely different game. Look
at how different the San Diego game was the second
time. Now, it was a hard game. It was my favorite
game of the year because it was a fight. But
he still did it. The same thing with L .A. in
the playoffs. What was it? Was that last year,
right? Where we beat LA in the playoffs, sent
them home after they ate our lunch four or five
times during the season. And so I do have, where
I have faith in this organization is with Brian
and his ability to figure stuff out. And that's
probably a testament to why we do tend at the
end of the year to get things back together.
So the rational part of me is not worried all
that much about this Minnesota game. My heart,
though, is like, man, I wish we had something
that could just turn us into an elite team. Because
I feel like we're close. Yeah. So before we get
out of here, real quick, we got Sunday night
football. Again, 3 p .m. start in Vancouver this
Sunday against a... Vancouver team that is licking
their wounds after getting absolutely demolished
by Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final.
I can't get over CCC instead of CCL. What rumor
has it that they aren't going to be full roster
-wise because they've got players away on international
duty. What is your thinking coming out of this
Minnesota game going into a clearly not a must
-win game, but... against one of your rivals,
a chance to bounce back? You know, season -wise,
standing -wise, the game is, you know, it's always
helpful to win the game, but I don't think it's
a make or break for the season. Vibe -wise and
where we're at just in our psyche and probably
the team psyche, I think it's a really important
game. Confidence -wise to go out there and beat
a team that is good, but is missing all their
good players. You know, I've heard that it could
be up to nine of their starters missing out.
That would be incredible. Yeah, you're playing
Vancouver 2 at that point, right? You know, that's
not really. They have backups, and obviously
they're still good enough in soccer to be backups,
which is saying a lot. So they're going to be
going up against the athletes. They're going
to be going up against some players that are
probably younger and hungry. But I think it's
very important for the Sounders to come out and,
you know, getting three points isn't going to
fix everything, but it's going to go a long way
and having some good feelings and probably helping
with the chemistry too, with the team, especially
going into the world cup. I'm sure we'll talk
about it next week or one of the weeks coming
up, but yeah, I'm not. I'm not super excited
for the World Cup. I know a lot of people are,
and it's okay for... I will admit that sometimes
I have opinions that are way outside the norm,
and that's probably one of them. So I think it's
really important. I mean, I don't think Sounders
fans are excited for Sounders matches necessarily,
but I do think... Like I'm excited for it, just
not necessarily for the sound. That's the way
to say it. I'm not excited to see the sounders,
but now I'm excited that like, how cool is it?
The Roth rocks is going to be on the field versus
PSG, right? Like that is, yeah, I'm excited for
Roth rock. I'm excited for the players. I'm not
excited to turn the TV on and watch us get smashed.
Yeah, I think it's going to be scary. So, but
that just goes back into, I think that this Vancouver
game, especially with the club world coming up,
and even though we know that the outcomes are
not going to be good from the club world cup,
it still does not feel good to lose. It still
does not feel good to sit there and watch your
team lose. And so I think it's important to go
into this on a high. If we come up and we lay
an egg against Vancouver and then go get smashed
for three games in the Club World Cup, I believe
we start playback at home versus Austin. And,
you know, that's another team that likes to come
into Lumen and bunker. And, you know, we famously
take, you know, 15 shots on target and still
don't score. Yep. Absolutely. So I think vibe
wise, this is a very important game and I expect
them to, I expect for a mature Sounders team
to come out there and win the game. Yeah. I'd
love to see it. Well, thank you, Dan. They can
find you on the discord, Dan, the bastard. Yeah.
Come check me out on the discord. Yeah. You have
some, some great takes and, and. Even when we're
bantering back and forth, don't think I'm necessarily
disagreeing with you. I'm just offering information.
I'm glad we get to close on this. This is a great
thing to close on. If you're listening to this
and you're not on the Discord, you need to get
on the Discord because the information that we
get on the Discord from the Alliance Council,
I mean, it's not super secret sauce, but it's
insight that you won't get anywhere else. And
it will help you have a better informed view
of what's going on with the Sounders. So I really
appreciate that. Yeah, it's it's been so much
fun to create the great little community there
and have you all involved. I mean, this lately,
based on results, this has been my favorite part
of the show is getting to record with you right
here in the ultra segment. Awesome. Glad to hear
it. So cool. All right. Well, we'll talk to you
soon. See you later. We are back with Alex Diaz
here on Scuttlebutt Ultras, the segment of Sounders
Scuttlebutt. I'm one of your hosts, Cameron Collins.
Alex, what is up today? Hey, Cameron. How's it
going? Not too bad. Got a chance to hang out
a bit with you at the match this past Sunday.
That was fun until my dad showed up and I had
to run away. Did you win anything? No, we didn't
win anything, but there was this lady that won
like twice or three times. Whoa. That's a complete
random raffle, too. Yeah, I was going to say,
she already won one. Let someone else win. Well,
hopefully she had a kid with her. Yeah, I think
she had three tickets in total. Okay, good. Then
at least she can spread love around. How are
you feeling about that match against Minnesota?
I mean, yeah, Minnesota, that's who we played.
I forgot Mariners played Minnesota too, so it's
all very confusing. I guess 2 -1 for my prediction,
but I guess we called the baseball game. Yeah.
But in the first half, I got a lot of deja vu
from Houston when we played them at home, that
0 -0 draw, where we had possession. We just couldn't
find a way to break down their low block. And
then in the second half, everything just, you
know, like, broke down. Counterattacks. And then,
well, we were able to score, but we were already
down. Like, it took us to go down 2 -0 to claw
back into the game. Like, wake us up. Do you
think there was anything that you saw there that
shows us that the Sounders could come back in
a game like that? I think so. It's just hard
once you go down 3 -1 in the second half. And
there was, to me, there was a lack of urgency.
Like when the ball went out on a goal kick, our
players, instead of running to get the ball to
the goalie, On the sixth, they just slowly walked
away, and their goalie was able to milk at least
20 to 30 seconds every time he had a goal kick.
Yeah, I was counting, and one time he took 12
seconds from the time he laid the ball down until
he kicked it, which is clearly against the rules,
but the ref didn't seem to want to enforce that.
Yeah, we see that. That's very common. In all
the leagues where the refs don't really want
to enforce how much time the goalie takes when
he's either, you know, he has to play it out
when it's in play or like a goal kick. They don't
really want to enforce that, but they're going
to enforce the eight -second rule in Club World
Cup where if the goalie holds it, the ball long
for eight seconds, then it's going to be a corner
kick for the opposite team. But we'll see if
it actually gets enforced. It's a much less penalizing
play in that instance, so hopefully it will.
Yeah. But that's what I took away, was just a
lack of urgency. And then once we went down,
there was some urgency. But there still felt
like we could have done more. Do you think that
lethargy had anything to do with... kind of the
dispute over the Club World Cup pay, or do you
think it's just a lot of games and a lot of days?
I think it's a little bit of both because our
lineup wasn't too rotated. We had some rotation,
but Kalani started, he scored, and then we brought
Georgie off the bench and he scored the own goal.
But later in the interview that... was put on
the discord you could see that christian and
fry and everyone there was saying that like the
whole protest it is a distraction and it's it's
in the back of their minds as they're trying
to concentrate on the match but in the back of
their mind they're thinking like i have this
there's this tournament coming up that i don't
get no benefit of the prize money yeah i'm the
reason why we're even in the competition But
we can reap the rewards. And if we have a season
-ending injury and we're on a contract year,
the club can just say, you know what, we've got
to part ways with you. Yeah. Absolutely. And,
you know, I honestly don't think it's distracting
in that it's going to make them play less hard
during the match. But, you know, There may be
a little bit of disgruntledness there. I think
where we'll really see it is in the Club World
Cup if there's not something done about this
before then. And, I mean, we're two weeks away,
right? Yeah, less than two weeks away. And the
thing is that the club and the league has known
that we were going to participate in this tournament
for over two years. The prize money got announced,
I want to say, six months ago maybe. So we knew
that it was coming. And the player's voice that
they wanted... Yeah, Fry's been talking about
it. Yeah, and he said that he's been trying to
have discussions behind closed doors. So there's
not this kind of noise and buzz that the media
will pick up. But they made it seem like when
they want to have those conversations, they're
just being brushed off. Like they're saying,
oh, we'll get to it later. And then later they
keep pushing it back. And then now it's like,
well, it's going to be in two weeks. And we have
no idea what's going to happen. Exactly. Exactly.
I mean, it's a chance for players to shine on
an international stage. So for some of them,
it can be good. That's the same idea as hiring
an intern and not paying them, right? Interns
need to get paid too because labor is labor.
Yeah, or it's almost as if you let go of someone
that has been in the company for 15 years to
hire a new hire that you can pay less to do the
exact same job. Yeah, exactly. So do you think
there'll be any hangover from that as we head
into Sunday against Vancouver? a depleted Vancouver
who also got absolutely smacked in the CONCACAF
Champions Cup final, but probably looking to
rebound before the tournament that we're playing
in coming up. I think that both teams will have
some sort of hangover, but I think Seattle is
going to come with like... They smelled blood
in the water because they were really frustrated
with how the game played out on Sunday. And then,
well, Vancouver's obviously frustrated because,
you know, they were really looking forward to
this final against Cruz Azul. And to lose out
the way that they did, it's just shocking. Like,
I didn't expect it to be that bad. Who's the
dog making a cameo right now? That was Apollo
making another appearance. What up, Apollo? Gotta
let him out. Yeah. It's okay. We love the animals
making guest appearances on the podcast. It's
always fun. Do you think this is a crucial three
points for the Sounders going into the Club World
Cup? Oh, yeah. And it's even bigger now with
all the media attention they got with the protest.
Like now if they don't get results going their
way, then they're going to say, why should we
pay you when you're not winning games in the
league? Like I know it sucks to say that, but
that's going to be the other side of the argument.
It's like you guys are too distracted with this
prize money that you guys aren't able to focus
on getting results. Like, I'll take a draw at
Vancouver. But they're going to be missing, what's
their, Berhalter's going to be gone on international
duty. They're going to have some hangover from
the Global Cup run and the final. Like, I think
this is a good opportunity for the Sounders to
pounce and, like, almost kick them when they're
down. Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things
that I feel like the Sounders haven't done this
season. Like Dallas, missing players, and we
did end up winning 1 -0, but it took a penalty
to do that. We weren't able to pounce on the
team. And so this feels like another opportunity
to do so, and they need to figure out a way to
take advantage of it. Yeah. especially because
if we're able to take points from Vancouver,
it gives us a better chance to move up the table.
And we had an opportunity to beat, I think, either
in third or second if we got a result on Sunday's
game, but obviously the game didn't go our way.
So hopefully we're able to stop, get some points
against Vancouver, and that just closes the gap.
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, three points would
be ideal, but at this point, you take any points.
Just trying to stay on task or on pace with them
as they're in first place. Before we get out
of here, is there anything else you want to hit
on Sounders topics? You know, it's kind of funny
that when I look at it, that Seattle... to be
in Club World Cup. Yeah, we got the hardest group
out of the MLS teams. Yeah, it's rough. LAFC
got the easiest and they only made it on arguably
a technicality. Yeah, and then the boys over
in Miami got an easy group too. And then... Well,
theirs is pretty hard. if you think about the
Brazilian teams being good, but it's not as hard
as ours, I think. Oh, yeah. We got to play against
the European champions that demolished one of
the best Italian sides we've seen in a while,
5 -0. We got to play against arguably one of
the most hardworking and defensive teams in Spain.
And then we got to play against a Brazil team
that just won. Was there Copa Libertadores? Was
it last year? Yeah. So we got to play. Yeah.
Early beginning of our season. Yeah. Cause I
do remember cause we were looking at their number
nine to try to sign them. Yeah. But we got D
row. Exactly. I mean, he, he had some good play
out there, but he's not, you know, 10 million.
No, he's a. A diamond in the rough. We got to
polish him up. But I think if we give him time,
he'll be a good player. Yeah, absolutely. Well,
we'll talk Club World Cup more when that comes
around. Where can people find you on the Discord
and the internet? They can find me at the Discord,
AlexDS. And then on Instagram at Alex underscore
DS 519. Awesome. Always exciting to have you
here and we'll see you again next week. Yes.
You have a good rest of your day. Thank you for
your time. What is up, Cedar? How you doing?
I am personally doing all right. How are you
doing? Doing good. I even have my headphone on
my ear. I probably shouldn't do that with my
ruptured eardrum. There we go. There we go. Congratulations
to your club, PSG, for winning Champions League.
That's a pretty big deal. That was a massacre.
Yeah. it was it was insane almost uh maybe worse
no vancouver losing to uh cruz azul was worse
for them because it was so much faster yeah that
i mean they had zero shots at all so i was yeah
i would say that's probably worse yeah uh yeah
yeah it's super exciting uh and and now we will
be getting them in seattle come uh Two weeks
from now, three weeks from now, something like
that. Oh, yeah. Wait, isn't it next week? It
starts in Botafogo's next Sunday. Oh, oh, wow.
All right. Yeah. OK, cool. Yeah. And then and
then or not next Sunday, Sunday after, I should
say. So it's a week and a half. And then I think
it's Atletico Madrid, then PSG. Plus, we're also
getting the Champions League losers in Seattle.
uh i'm going to urala red diamonds versus inter
milan oh nice that should be a fun match yeah
so it'll be it'll be cool to see some uh world
-class teams here when they probably won't start
their starters but uh you know even i was uh
talking to craig weibel the gm at an event this
past match day and uh he said even there even
psg's backups could destroy us oh yeah yeah it's
a economies of scale right yeah exactly no totally
totally um well that'll be cool to see i love
that i love that uh everybody up in seattle is
going to have these opportunities to see not
just us playing the world cup but all these other
teams yeah it's pretty cool it's pretty cool
but yeah this minnesota game um yeah it was It
was frustrating in ways that the other two games
weren't frustrating because it was like, okay,
well, the only game that we've come back from
to win this year was the St. Louis match. And
that had a completely different tenor because
they had a PK early and then we scored a PK right
after that. This game felt like... It felt like
we could have built some momentum. They scored
two quick and then we scored one. But then, you
know, they scored their third in short order.
So it was kind of a classic Minnesota, you know,
seeding possession for most of the game. They
only had like 35 % possession. And we couldn't
break them down really like we wanted to. absolutely
i uh i think it was well three goals for them
and one goal for us at over eight minutes yeah
yeah and pretty wild it was pretty wild and we
um we had point axg uh to their 2 .5 xg although
ashay he accounted for 1 .4 of that he was having
a great game um you know we did have uh I was
talking about this in the Discord with some other
people. We had an interesting tactical wrinkle,
which I thought made sense, where we knew Minnesota
was going to sit in a little bit. And we had
Jackson come up on the right -hand side, almost
like a wingback. And it seemed like it let Pedro
play a little bit more centrally. And Jackson
didn't have a ton of... he had a few moments
it wasn't like he was the main focal point of
our attack in those situations but he did have
a really nice cross in that rothrock unfortunately
you know leaned back a little bit he wasn't able
to get a good strike on it but it was it was
very very close to uh being um a goal so yeah
i saw that i saw that and i was like oh okay
that's i like that because we know how good Jackson
is with the ball at his feet in terms of distributing
and passing. So I liked that. Unfortunately,
it didn't pan out, but I did like seeing them
introduce that. Yeah, I mean, it's good to see
them trying something different when obviously
the inability to score is an issue. Yes. Yeah.
And then Minnesota got their first goal. We had
numbers back, too. It wasn't like it was a breakaway
and the guy was 1v1. We had numbers back. Lode
just laid it off to Oloche, a little cutback,
and I thought Reagan could have done a little
bit better on that one. I mean, we had numbers
in the box. Nobody picked him up, and he had
just enough time to smash it in. And then on
their second goal, Christian, it was so weird
getting him seat. Seeing him beat out by Pereira
down the wing, you know, they're fighting, they're
hand fighting, all this stuff. And usually Christian
wins those battles. But Pereira was a little
bit stronger. And then Bell was, he was a little
bit late and that was just a bad step. Completely
crashes into, I think it was Olashay again. I
think Christian did his job though on that, where
he kept him occupied and pushed him off to the
side. Bell. I mean, Bell needs to do better there.
He needs to not take him down. He needs to stop
short and just be a body in front of him. Oh,
totally. I agree. I mean, yeah, Christian, you'll
take that from Christian. I mean, what else is
he going to do, right? He's keeping the attacker
mostly at bay. Yeah, that was just an unfortunate
decision from Bell. So, yeah, then they get the
penalty. They're up to one or two, nothing. And
then we score right away, which was nice. It
really felt like, okay, all right, let's get
some, we got one back. Let's keep the momentum
going. And, you know, I love, I really like Kalani
Kosarianzi and the hustle that he puts in and
the energy, you know, he has kind of a. he has
a kind of a Pedro sort of energy to him, you
know, and, uh, he was in the right place, right
time in the box, cut back from Pedro to him.
And, and that was, that was nice to see. Um,
and then that third goal, uh, uh, again, Tony,
he, he kind of, uh, he kind of bodied a new who
a little bit and, and smashed it in. He had a
great game. He, he really had a great game. So
yeah. It was disappointing because we got outplayed.
Yeah, we ended up getting the own goal, but it
was too little too late. Yeah, a lot of pressure
at the end. Looked like maybe, but just not enough
time. Do you think there's anything the Sounders
can take out of that game heading into another
quote -unquote Sunday night match that starts
at 3 p .m. against Vancouver up in Canada this
coming Sunday? I mean, I, I, I, I think, I mean,
Vancouver plays somewhat similarly to Minnesota.
Yeah. Where they like to, they don't necessarily
want the ball all the time. Yeah. But not, not
to the degree that anyone plays that very extreme.
Yeah. It's very extreme. They definitely have
more of a, a midfield that likes to, you know,
carry the ball up through but i i i mean vancouver's
a really good team yes they just lost to uh cruz
azul in the champions league final but you know
they're gonna want to bounce back um yeah i think
they might be missing some players to the international
break so that might be the one oh yeah that works
for uh the sounders here i hadn't thought about
that but that's a great point i think nicholas
mentioned it on the last episode But still, it
doesn't it. I mean, it doesn't matter. It was
funny on the broadcast. I was watching and I
heard the commentators say, you know, oh, especially
because like, you know, we've had injuries at
center back and all this stuff. And they talked
about like, oh, yeah, Seattle's got that next
man up mentality. And I'm like, at this point,
what what team doesn't like literally every professional
sports team? Like, yeah, you're going to have
to have that. But, I mean, it's going to be tough.
I don't know if there's going to be any kind
of hangover from Vancouver because they, you
know, that was a tough game for them at altitude
down in Mexico and super demoralizing. But I
think it's going to be just as difficult as Minnesota.
I don't see it being any easier like, oh, they're
depleted or, oh, you know, they're missing guys
to international break. I know that everybody
that they put out on the field is really going
to want to get three points against us. So if
we played like we did for stretches in the second
half for the whole game against them, then I'll
feel better about our chances. But I think it's
the little individual mistakes that are biting
us. That's what it is. It's not our tactical
setup. It's not our total team play. It's just
a little lapse of judgment here and there. Yeah,
and I was disappointed in Bell. I like him. I
think he's a great player. But when you make
mistakes like that, it's like, all right, don't
do that again, please. Yeah, yeah. But I would
say overall, he's been pretty solid for us considering
the position he's been put in. Definitely, definitely.
um but yeah i mean we'll we'll see um and then
i guess the other thing uh we could talk about
is the um is the protest that the players had
with the shirts yeah players were the which uh
what are your thoughts on that i mean Yeah. And
those were nice too. It wasn't just like words
on a t -shirt. They had the Mr. Monopoly on there.
Those were well done. I am surprised the MLS
has not engaged with the players on this. And
maybe they thought they could get away with it
because Seattle, at least outwardly, is the only
one grumbling. It doesn't seem Miami is. And
that could be because, well now LAFC, but this
all largely happened before they were going to
the Club World Cup. miami's players are a lot
richer as a total based on the amount of money
i mean it's like when uh the adjunct professors
at seattle university were unionizing they didn't
include the law adjuncts because they were like
oh they're rich lawyers they don't need it i'm
like hey you can include me but not all of us
yeah but no totally i think that's a that these
are really fair points yeah What they want is
clear communication, right? And they want a fair
shake. I mean, I saw some people bringing up
the fact that because of MLS's collective bargaining
rules and like, you know, all of the financial
restrictions to roster building that, you know,
when LA Galaxy brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic
and in the first year they couldn't sign him
as a DP. Because they already had those slots
filled. They still had to pay him what he's worth.
Right. So they bought him a hockey team in Europe
to, you know, circumnavigating the rules. Right.
I mean, messy with the Apple TV deal, all, you
know, Adidas getting in on that. Right. They,
the league finds ways or turns a blind eye. Right.
To, to bringing in players and making. players
that they feel like oh these are assets to our
league and say what you will about that but when
you have a team like the sanders who actually
earned their way into the club world cup um and
then they get zero response from not just the
league but it also sounds like i was watching
uh just before we hopped on here um a youtube
video that pulso sports posted uh uh an interview
with uh Christian and Steph and a few of the
players in the locker room after the Minnesota
match and they were asked like oh has have you
guys talked to Adrian Hanauer about this and
they had basically said they alluded to like
they've been trying to have discussions with
the ownership and you know the league and so
far they've gotten almost nothing and it's you
know it's however many days out from the club
world cup starting so they felt like you know
they have to bring it up and they said they're
like yeah this is a distraction you know like
obviously we wanted to win but this is on our
minds this is this has been a distraction for
a while now and we're not getting any um clarity
and for those who don't know i guess we should
say that they uh the issue is that mls caps what
players can get paid and it's one million dollars
and that's not per player that's total for all
the players And they've already met that cap
for all competitions. I mean, because of League's
Cup. So they're basically playing in this tournament
for free. Yeah. And they said, they're like,
look, we get that it's tiered. Steph was like,
yeah, PSG is a bigger club. We all understand
that. They're going to get paid more money. We're
fine with that. We just want to get paid. Something
fair. Yeah, exactly. And I think that's super
fair. Nobody wants to work for free or for less
than they're worth. And this tournament did not
exist in this format when the CBA was signed.
And so it was not a forward -looking CBA that
could have determined that this would happen
or maybe even League's Cup in its current format
could happen. Right. And what that tells me is
because there wasn't anything specific about
this, it tells me that the league so far has
not been acting in good faith towards the players,
right? Because MLS can do what it wants in terms
of all the money stuff. We've seen it time and
time again, right? And yeah, it's just really
unfortunate. And I think you made a great point
that, again, Like a lot of the players on inner
Miami. Yeah. They're probably not speaking up
because they're, you know, they're, they're doing
all right. They're doing all right financially.
Whereas we've got a lot of players who are, you
know, they're earning great wages, but they don't
want to play for free and they shouldn't have
to play for free. Great wages compared to other
professional athletes. Yeah, no, totally. And
they, they earned this spot, you know, that's
the other thing too. They actually earned this
birth. I think it's it's great that they're speaking
up about it and causing a stink because that's
how things get changed. If they stayed silent,
we wouldn't even be talking about this. So I'm
glad that they're speaking up and yeah, hopefully
the league finds it in themselves to do the right
thing and figure out how to make this right.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So where can they find
you a cedar on the discords? Yes, I will be on
the discords. So come join, come join us. Good
conversations, especially during matches. It's
harder when I'm at the match to get involved,
but I'm there with my dad. So I'm usually engaging
with him, but it's still, it's nice. It's good
times to be there. Yeah. It's my dad's 84. So
I love to be able to go to all the games with
him. That's awesome. That's the best. Yeah. I
know you, you watch them with your dad too. So,
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's the best. It's the
best. Cool. Well, we'll talk to you next week,
and people have been raving about your appearances
on the show so far, so keep up the good work.
Really? Yeah. Wow. All right. Cool. I'll try
not to let it go to my head. All right. We'll
talk to you soon. Good stuff. Thanks, Cameron.
See you. You can follow the Sounders Scuttlebutt
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at BritVoxus. That's BritVoxUS. We'll see you
at Lumen, and go Sounders! Alexa, who's the best
MLS team of all time? The Seattle Sounders are
both unequivocally and incredibly the best MLS
team of all time.