He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say he's cheating. monkey spank spank your
monkey before i said that man i gotta tell you
i made the mistake we do not want to know about
it no you do made the mistake at public today
to talk about how how nicely brandon's balls
were dropping that's about time you went from
brandon to brandon let's go brandon we're not
gonna talk about trump inciting an insurrection.
Oh, I forgot about that. I hated that because
when Brandon and Tanev got hurt, we couldn't
chant let's go Brandon because of that. So we've
time shifted to just before the 20th minute.
It's 20 flat and Aaron Lely is here with a beer
that I cracked while we were on break because
I showed up late. Wasn't paying attention to
traffic laws in California. I mean, I thought
there were not. That feels like Steph Park for
the course. Just drive 80 like everyone else.
And that's the slow lane. It's beautiful. So
the question was, what should the players do?
I mean, I think it depends on the player. Because
if there's a player that wants to ever play in
a FIFA tournament again, they likely can't do
much. I'm curious if it would affect them in
this FIFA tournament. Also, would they be fined
or would they be banned? What would happen? FIFA
is not going to look kindly in protests. I think
you could put messages on your shirts and pull
up your shirt after you score a goal, stuff like
that. But once you're in it, you also don't want
to hurt the relationship with the Players Association
too. So I think they've got to all come up with
a plan and do it in solidarity together. And
if someone wants to take it into their own hands,
it has to be someone who is not worried about
a future in a FIFA, like going to the World Cup.
Well, I mean, Steph Fry is obviously a leader
in such, would fall into that camp. However,
if we look at some of the private protests, such
as during the Black Players for Change. a group
that was formed, seeing teams take knees, seeing
different types of protests. I would like to
just see this get resolved. I mean, I think it's
too late at this point. I don't know how, I don't
know what, if the MLS's offer is that bad, I
don't understand what could be made better because
they didn't even play ball. It was the most insulting
offer they could have given. Yeah. They would
have been better off saying nothing. We're going
to find out more in the next week. And I think
sweeper, keeper, seeing what kind of pushback
that the league gets, we'll find out. I mean,
the unfortunate thing is there's no games. I
mean, next week there is some other games going
on, but there's no games by the teams that are
affected. So there's no chance for fans to protest.
That's true, but we can certainly find all three
teams making a joint statement or the MLSPA making
a joint statement. Obviously, media scrums leading
into this, they have chances to make statements.
So we'll see what happens over the coming days.
i just don't trust fifa here like what you were
talking about before were protests against the
mls and fifa this is a fifa tournament so they
could completely screw it up for everyone well
again this is i want to focus less on fifa because
fifa frankly i'm gonna shock myself when i say
this fifa's done no wrong in this situation they
created the prize money with the intent that
it goes to players to get player involvement
mls so let's sure but the problem is that it's
a fifa tournament that's what i'm saying so any
protest done against the mls in the tournament
would be seen in a poor make fifa in a poor light
so that's why i'm saying that anything that's
done in it could hurt someone's fifa career but
there are things you can uh there are things
you can do that don't involve during the actual
90 of the game being played but also that may
not be i mean i i want to caution against again
against using uh interviews if they're part of
your involvement in the tournament now if they're
going on kjr and just talking that's completely
different but if it's during your media time
when you're supposed to be available to the those
reporters that are covering the tournament that
again could be something that could be punished
why couldn't they be on our show cameron why
would they just why would KJR be their option?
I mean, if you want to call up Alex Caulfield
and make it happen, I'm all for it. We got credit
to see how that conversation goes. Love to see
how that conversation goes. We, this is, we have,
I mean, it's true. We have an open invitation
to any player that wants to come on and talk
labor rights and stuff like that too, for with
you, we'll do it. Or if you just want to talk
about your paintings. or your house that you
designed in one of those islands over in the
water, come on. We'll talk to you. I wonder how
many times he's gone to Isla Bonita. La Casa
Bonita. Or San Carlos. San Carlos was the whitewashed
kind of Mexican place that was on the island.
Actually, Southwest is what they classify themselves
as. Southwest food. But really good. I will say,
we're here in the starting 26th minute. The Sounders'
defense has been relatively solid in the back
today. Anytime Vancouver has pushed forward,
their chances have largely been... There's a
guy in the Vancouver section wearing a Yankees
hat. What the heck is this garbage? Anyway, the
Sounders' defense has largely been organized
and clearing the ball out. very well, which is
something that we love to see. And maybe something
that's harmed us this season is that we haven't
been doing that as clearly. Yeah, and their offense
has been possessive. They look better today than
they did in some previous games, though. I am
liking these kits. I'm liking that blue. Yeah,
it's beautiful. And if it's, I mean... I think...
I believe we're still unbeaten in these blues.
Beautiful. I don't want to jinx that, but...
The one thing that's key on these types of episodes,
and I know you're both intently watching, is
we can't watch and not talk. So you need to make
sure to feel sound and only slow down if something
very exciting is happening. You need to have
one mind on the game and one mind in the talking,
because otherwise it won't be as fun. Where are
we at on the table? Which brings, where are we
at on the table? Something like that. We are
not winning the other day hurt a lot, I think,
because we had a chance to jump to second. But
here is a chance to get three points against
a team. What did you all think about the fact
that they tried to wriggle their way out of this
game, though, by saying, we're sick and we have
players away? What was the story behind that?
I caught on to that, but I was just a little
out of the loop. They tried to get it postponed.
Multiple players. They had to cancel training
sessions because something like 15 players got
sick. By the way, we are in fifth place in the
standings with 27 points. Going into the game.
Is Portland ahead of us now with their last second
win today? I don't know if the standings have
been updated, but they are at 29 points. I believe
that does include today. Yeah, that should, because
we were ahead of them initially. Yeah, take a
look at the live standings. We're fifth, Portland's
fourth. Yeah, because they get their, at least
after the 89th minute, with that seven minutes
of injury time they scored in that match, unfortunately,
against St. Louis. Another failed corner for
the Sounders. I struggle with the fact that we
have the most corners in the league, and yet
we have, what, one goal based off of corners?
It was a problem last season as well, where we
had so many corners. I feel like, and this isn't
just a Rusnak thing, but sometimes we have trouble
getting the ball over the first defender. on
corners and even if we do no one gets their head
to it and so maybe we need to start doing short
corners or you know brian looked into different
ways to do it i've seen a number of short corners
a few i mean we have the most in the league still
right yeah when you stepped away that's you're
saying we have the most in the league but we
have the worst scoring percentage off of it because
we don't score yeah i agree jesus ferreira is
down it looks like he got stepped on maybe Yeah,
but he seems to be okay. Knew who was trying
to get the ball back in quickly, not caring about
his teammate. No one's moving. Why is he trying
to throw that in early? Maybe Brian told him.
He's right behind there. It's funny seeing from
this angle. I feel like I'm just so used to home
games where Brian's on the other side of the
field. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The camera wells
on that. That's a good point. uh it does also
show up really really much in in these these
broadcasts but it's largely considered to be
some of the worst pitch in the league is the
bc place and it doesn't look too great on tv
that's for sure yeah it looks pretty beat up
it's the bc lions play here is there any other
teams well i mean they're uh they're large concerts
probably i know rogers arena is right there but
i'm sure they get i mean no nick and i saw um
Beyonce here. No, no. Wait, was it here? It was
here. That's right. It wasn't at GM Place. Yeah,
we saw Beyonce here. I had to think about that.
That was Roma's first concert. Was that Christian
with the shot in there? Yeah. So now we do have
a corner kick coming up with Rosnack. So let's
see. Is it over under the first player? I mean,
he's been getting him over largely, but... When
they do, they go really far. But that's interesting
that Ryan Kent came out to get the short corner,
and that usually pulls the defender out, but
it hadn't there. So if that keeps happening,
you're going to see that pass come to him later
in this game. So that'll be a really interesting
takeaway from that. Yeah, that was a pretty good
one. Oh, that was a really good ball from Christian
to Pedro for a shot that just went wide. I don't
even think it was meant for Pedro, though. I
think it was meant for Jesus. And Pedro, it was
running the opposite direction and got it and
then almost put it in the corner of the net.
Yeah. So other scuttlebutt going on right now
in MLS. What do you guys got? What time are you
at? In your game, Cameron. 30 -59. Okay. I had
a hiccup while the corner was being taken. Oh,
that's interesting. That's why you were behind
us. I was like, what shot? I mean, I feel like,
did we talk about it last episode? I don't think
we did. Messi, his agents have been given the
go -ahead to talk with Saudi Arabia officials
about going to play there. I did not see that,
actually. That doesn't mean he's going to. In
fact, it's probably just a leverage move in order
to get more money. And with Cristiano Ronaldo
leaving and potentially going to LAFC, That's
an interesting scuttlebutt going on. I don't
think Messi would leave, but they would definitely
play against each other. You know the league
would put that together if they were both in
the MLS. I don't... This is a good question.
By the way, I'm at 31 -40 right now. 41. Try
and refresh. They're in a water bottle. I'm in
a water bottle, but I can't skip one. Then back
out and reload. Yeah. What... Would you think,
I mean, what would you think about Ronaldo coming
to the Sounders now? And I, I agree with you.
I'm not asking from a, we have to pay all that
money perspective. I'm asking from a soccer.
Yes, please. No. Yes, please. No. You say yes.
Okay. Let me, let me, let me have a little bit
more nuance to this. Yes, please. If we're spending
that kind of money for a player, whatever that
dollar amount is, we can absolutely get someone
that will be a better fit for the Sounders Club.
I agree with you. And the type of player we're
looking for. I mean, we could get four of those
somethings. Well, maybe not because you only
get three DP slots, but I get what you're saying.
Bring in one as a TAM player. You know, there's
ways to figure it out, right? But no, so that's
the thing is, and this is someone who... My old
housemate was from Portugal, so I have watched
a lot of Ronaldo games. And I like Ronaldo. Ronaldo,
as a player, Ronaldo shares the exact same birth
date as my wife. So it's kind of funny to think,
wow, so Bernie, you could be playing soccer at
this professional level. I mean, there's still
time. Get that MLS to you. Right? No, but on
the other side... With that 32 -year -old who
practiced really, really hard and he tried out
for the LA Galaxy. I mean... I could play for
the LA Galaxy right now with how bad they are.
Finland just accidentally called up a 51 -year
-old with the wrong name instead of a... Well,
the right name, but just the same name. No, it
was a different first name, though. It was the
same last name. So I think the coach was probably
like, oh, yeah, because the other one was the
famous player, right? I miss that. I thought
they shared the same name. Yeah, that's what
I thought originally. But sadly, no, it was a
bigger mess up than that. But yeah, I mean, I
think I agree with you. We could bring in a lot
more talent across a roster instead of relying
on one player. Well, the other thing is, let's
just say for the sake of this argument that we're
only going to spend this money on one player.
Would you want Ronaldo? We're going to spend
whatever that dollar amount it is that he costs
to get. That's how much we're going to spend.
Do you want Ronaldo or do you want to spend that
same amount of money on another player who would
theoretically not have? the same pedigree or
the same talent level as ronaldo but someone
a couple years younger uh well definitely everyone's
younger than ronaldo but yeah i mean yeah i mean
there's players out there that i think we could
get that would be a better fit than him based
on his um ego yep that's my biggest concern outside
of uh for this purpose i'm not talking about
the rape allegations at all yeah which is why
i don't think he'll ever come to mls anyways
but that I mean, I think they've clearly been
dealt with. If that's all the rumors are him
now coming to MLS, there's five teams, but the
odds are currently set at two to one. He comes
to LAFC. I don't know. Okay. So clearly something's
been straightened out with that. I don't know.
Obviously I'm not a fan of him. So I, I, I mean,
I, I think he is one of, he's the Dwight Trout
of soccer. He is, he's great. but he's extremely
overrated, and I don't understand why people
love him so much. He's no Zinedine Zidane. Who
knew who running into the box and trying to make
something happen? To me, he's not a top 10 all
-time player, so how is he even in the GOAT conversation?
I like the old Ronaldo. I think the real Ronaldo
is a better Ronaldo than him. Okay, I am going
to push back on the top 10. Yeah, he's definitely
top 10 in my book. He's a top 10. Even if you
don't like him. 18 to 28 is pretty incredible.
Yeah. I just think there's too many good players
in the past that, I mean, I'd rather have Zidane.
I'd rather have Franz Beckenbauer. I mean, if
we're only talking forwards and wingers and stuff,
yeah, maybe. Iniesta, you know, there's a bunch
of those Spanish players that I think I would
put above him for sure. Keep in mind, Ronaldo
is the top goal scorer of all time in all of
soccer. He's scored more goals than any other
player in soccer history. Yeah, when you go to
Saudi Arabia and they're scoring 80 goals a season
because you're playing against crappy... I mean,
this is like saying Tom Brady's the greatest
of all time when Tom Brady got to play against
the Dolphins and the Jets all the time. Like,
if Tom Brady played in any other division, he
would be considered, like, a good quarterback,
but he would not be considered the greatest of
all time. Two years ago was mean. Okay, wait.
I'm going to push back on that because one, how
many goals has he scored in Saudi Arabia? But
two, more importantly, he's at 938 goals. Second
place is Messi with 865. Third place is Pele
with 762. So unless he's scored 200 goals in
the last few years that I'm not aware of. I'll
call BS on that. Again, it's okay to not like
him as a person. I hate Tom Brady. I can recognize
that he's one of the best players of all time
because he's done it for so long. I'm not saying
neither of them isn't one of the best players
of all time. You're saying he's not one of the
top 10 in your list. He would be number probably
11 on the list. If I'm being completely honest,
I would probably put the percentile of people
who do not have him in their top 10. under seven
percent i think it's a recency bias though and
that i think i think that he's alive he's alive
we've identified the problem yeah we've identified
the problem yeah okay let's make that happen
oh my god this got dark you're wearing a brazil
yeah he's not brazilian he's portuguese that's
what i'm saying the real one i was just gonna
say that you just don't want him to be above
pele i would put I would put Roberto Carlos ahead
of him. Cameron's like, he's not even the best
Portuguese player of all time. That's his Subio.
I mean, it might be Figo, if we're being honest
here. Jesus Christ. Has nothing to do with this.
He was already dead. I got to just say that so
far, we're 38 minutes in. Uh, knew who is having
a game. He is making plays literally on both
end lines of the field. He's, he's, he's, he's
having a game. Uh, so a lot of, a lot of, a lot
of credit. He's putting in a lot of effort and
he's playing good defense. And he almost had
a tap on that, that they just showed the net
cam of Pedro shot that went wide and knew who
was the one making the back post run. It's crazy.
That's because we have possession for so long
in their end of the field that everyone gets
an opportunity. We just don't do anything with
it. Good to see public ethos coming to MLS. Yeah,
it's about time. I actually had to sub on today
and I was like, oh, typical Sounders after solidly
defending the entire time. I heard, oh God, it
skipped to just catch up because I think, I'm
just, I think the buff. Now, in all fairness,
that was really well. The dummy was really nice.
Yeah, but I'm not sure if it was intentional.
I'd like to see the replay because we had three
players standing right there and none of them
made a move for the ball. And they seem to be
showing Jonathan Bell. So they think it's his
fault perhaps, but Fry's even like, what happened?
He's going to go look at that replay. We'll see.
We'll see. As we see the replay come in, beautiful
pass to the right side of the box, back to the
top. It gets crossed over to the left. He's in
the box with two men on him. Yeah, 26 dummies
it goes through his legs, and no one is coming.
Whoever was meant to be on him just let him go,
and I can't tell from that. position but might
have been new christian's in a weird spot he's
not normally in that position but he's the next
closest guy in the middle it also could have
been obed obed was just kind of standing back
there um i don't know if but i i can't tell it
looks like we got passed and passed so they were
the passing was so good our communication just
stopped we can yeah our defenders keep up with
where they were passing we just our defenders
were covering the guys who overran the ball and
they just had a guy standing there ready to be
a trailer. And so the Sounders are down 1 -0
on the road in a game where they largely have
been the better team, but just can't seem to
get it. This would be... Let's talk about this.
If the Sounders lose this match, a game where
they have all their starters, minus John Bell
and Jordan Morris, Against a team that is missing.
You said John Bell. Oh, yeah. Because John Bell.
I mean, John Bell started. Even Kim Key, I think.
He's hurting. I know. Even not having Kim Key.
Yeah, he would be ahead of them, too. You're
right. But basically, our center back and our
forward are the two positions that don't have
our starters in there. We lose a game to a team
that is already missing players because they
are. International duty. on international duty
plus sick players i mean they said they didn't
want to play yeah i mean to me this is this is
this is a game and this is far from over you
know what i mean like and they're still a good
team but this is a game where we should be you
can't make mistakes like that and we should be
winning and we haven't been able to put up the
goals to show that we we can here so hopefully
this is the game where that changes but to me
this would this is a no fry demoralizing loss
heading into a tournament where if I'm a player,
I don't want to play. I don't want to potentially
get hurt at the Club World Cup against some of
these teams and ruin the rest of my career. I
just saw a clip of Michael Balak's career. He
got injured and was the last game before the
World Cup when he played for, I think it was
Chelsea. And... Messed out on... and missed out
on the whole world cup and and it was like the
one in germany uh it might either that or the
one before one after um i'm not sure south africa
it had to be the one after because boateng was
the one who hurt him um so it was a uh you know
if you can get hurt in a game that's meaningless
it it is rough although i hope we see obed shine
i just i mean what do you do at this point when
you can't i mean Vancouver's amazing. We're not
disputing that, but they just don't have their
players right now. I guess it shows how good
their system is. I guess. Well, with that said,
I did watch the replay of the goal a couple times
while you were having that conversation. Unfortunately,
that was New Who's Man. Christian was kind of
covering the area between the shot and Steph
Fry. It's just credit Vancouver for putting a
very dangerous ball in. John Bell can't really
make a play on that ball in that position because
he's almost in a dangerous own goal position.
And so it's just well done. I think the goal
started three passes before the actual shot,
and I think that's where it just broke down and
they just made the right next two passes. But,
yeah, credit to them. But I think, I mean, they
didn't want to play. They wanted to postpone
this match. And we're on the road, but we're
two hours north of home. And still, this is a
chance for players to step up who aren't given
a chance to start regularly, though, and shine.
And so this is a great opportunity for them.
With that said, we have some housekeeping to
note. We are at the 44 -44 moment of the match.
At halftime, we're going to do a commercial break.
We're not going to talk during the halftime break.
And then we'll start up again at the start of
the second half because we want this to be about
a 90 -minute episode and not like a four -hour
episode. But I'm bad at math. So just be aware
of that. So those of you listening and want to
play around, there are three minutes of added
time. And, yeah, so how are you feeling about
this first half? Not good. I mean, I was feeling
positive until that goal scored. I mean, it again
feels like missed opportunities, but we're the
better team, and yet here we are again trailing.
And I don't know. We don't have a super sub off
the bench right now, do we? I think everyone
who's... Georgie, Paul, and Danny. I mean, those
aren't super subs to me. Those are just subs.
No, I get it. You can't sub in a Jesus Ferreira
or a Jordan Morris or a Ryan Kent off the bench.
Yeah. I mean, it would be nice, but it's just
there's... Perhaps our bench is deeper than their
bench because of the sickness, because of the
people that are gone. So that will keep us better.
I was going to say, let's get down with the sickness.
Okay. Yeah, you must be a little behind again
because... What's your time shot? 46 .17. Oh,
yeah, yeah. I'm 46 .27 now. What? Now you're
ahead. We'll get it together at halftime. I just
fast forward. We have new who with a chance here
to kind of oof. And then he just went flying
out. So he didn't get the ball where he wanted
it. That's probably, well, we have another minute
and a half, but I mean, before we go on our break
here. And again, look at this new, who is getting
himself in deep. Is that what he should be doing,
though? I mean, I don't know if those are the
coach's orders, but I do know. He's creating
opportunity. I can't complain. But then we're
vulnerable at defense. I do know that our GM
said that his main job these days is to watch
the above camera and just make sure that our
left back stays back and doesn't get out of position.
And so to me, unless he's been told to do that,
as of a week ago. He's out of position this entire
game. So that is worrisome to me. We'll see what
happens though. I will say he's had two great
runs that have led to mediocre crosses that if
they were on target would have scored goals.
That's not his fault. He's a back. He's not a
winger. Well, I mean, he did just hit them, but
he hit them with a lot of pace. Too much pace.
Too much pace and then hit the wrong play. I
mean, Russ Snack said, I want it here. Currently,
Sounders' possession is 68 % possession, which
about tracks with what I'm seeing on the field.
Does it got XG on there? This one does, and currently
the XG is .53 to .5 in favor of Vancouver. I
think that's fair since they did score the goal.
If they hadn't, I would have thought that would
be a little over the top. But, yeah, they scored
at the time they needed to, and we're not seeing
that yet from the Sounders. But we've got 45
more minutes to do this. So, Aaron, you have
any words on the first half before we take a
break? Balls to the wall. Let's just go balls
to the wall. I'm just tired of seeing the same
stuff. I mean, that's an awkward thing, but I'm
not going to kink shame you. Time to be succinct.
Is that like Blair Witch style? Should I be facing
the wall? Yes. Let me go get another beer and
check on my baby who's crying. And I'll see you
in a moment. All right. We'll see everybody in
a soon. Listen to this ad about Patreon. Hey
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-N dot C -O -M. Now back to your regularly scheduled
programming. So I feel a lot better at halftime.
I feel a lot better now. Nicholas and I, while
Aaron was away and is now covered in liquid?
What's going on? That would be baby spit. Oh,
cool. That would be baby spit. It's liquid. As
we're about to kick off here in the second half.
Speaking of liquid. We did a Portland sucks chant,
and now we just feel way better. Oh, man. I miss
that. Kickoff for me was right there. I'm a few
seconds ahead of you. What's your timestamp?
45 .07. Okay, I'm going to pause for five seconds.
45 .14. Halftime, they talked about the Sounders
were ball -watching on that goal, and that was
only the second assist from the player who got
that assist, and the goal scorer is a young 19
-year -old who has come up. uh, through their
system since he was 13. So, you know, from that
perspective, if you're not a Sounders fan, it's
a, it's a pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, as long
as this doesn't turn into their version of the
Austin game a few years ago. Yeah. Which right
now that's the best analogy I can come up with.
Yeah. This is their, their Austin game. Okay.
Now with that in mind, I do want to acknowledge,
um, round the town scoreboards. Chicago scored
seven against D .C. United. Now that's impressive
in its own. I mean, that's impressive enough.
But earlier in the season, they got beat seven
to two to Nashville. My question is. And both
of those games were in Chicago. So if you're
a Chicago Fire fan, you've got to be like, what
am I going to see? Oh, wait, I'm sorry. Both
those games were on the road. But my bigger point
is, has that ever happened in a season where
a team has given up and scored a seven spot in
the same season? I mean, we scored seven on San
Jose. Did we give up seven? I think our biggest
loss is five goals. I don't know if anyone's
ever scored six on us. Yeah, I can't recall that.
I don't recall that either. But then again, if
that happened, we probably wouldn't be able to
recall it. Yeah, what's the difference between
five or seven at that point, I feel like? Ask
the Germans. That was a very, very painful match.
You're wearing – oh, yeah, never mind. I'm like,
wait, you're wearing – The Germans won. I know.
I realize. Oh, man. Oh, that should be a red
card. That definitely – So 47 -17 for me. Yep,
you're right with us. It's ahead of us, yeah.
Obed just got taken down. No card is shown. Absolutely
crushed. No yellow card. It might have just looked
worse, especially from our angle from behind.
Oh, Pedro fighting through. Oh, man. You can
see Ryan was ready to just volley that. Here's
the thing. Between De La Vega, Ryan Kent, knew
who this match. This is still the same shit we
always see. In what way? Possession, crosses,
bounces around, gets kicked back out, but nothing
actually. We'll have one or two. Obed just drilling.
De La Vega with a deflected shot. So here's the
thing. Here's the way I see it. I see it the
same way we look at Danny Masovsky in the first
part of the season, where I'm like, he keeps
putting himself in good positions. Things will
happen. So, I mean, we're a full season. We're
a half season done, and things are not happening.
I think, yeah, that's more my sentiment. It comes
in spurts. We're doing the right thing. It's
just there's no actual production from it. It
seems to be always falling the wrong way when
the cross comes in or the shot is taken. So...
I mean... And we're getting some results. I mean,
obviously, we just lost our last match, but we
had a May the Points Be With Us episode, right?
It's just not as exciting as I'd like it to see.
We've talked about that. We were not dominating
those games. We were winning some of them on
flukes. We were... And you have to. There's those
games throughout the season. I think the problem
is that it's consistently... It's a lockup of
identity. Well, in the Western Conference, we
are right around the middle as far as goals scored
with 25. San Jose's leading with 34. Austin's
down with 13. We've got one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, seven teams below us. So we're
kind of right middle of the pack with that. Same
thing in the East. You know, we'd be right in
that middle of the pack. So we're a middle table
goal scoring team. That's just where we are right
now. But with our mediocre defense, we have to
be top of table. Goal scoring team. Well, it's
funny you bring that up because as far as goals
allowed, we're actually towards the top. We've
only allowed 22 goals. There are only four teams
in the Western Conference. Sorry, I got hiccups
suddenly. Four teams in the Western Conference
who have allowed less goals than us. So it's
just our confirmation bias here. It looks like
Ryan Kent took a ball to the face or got sun.
I think that's just his. Yeah, he just gave up
the ball. That's just his ready English running.
The ruby cheeks. Yeah. Or he's just embarrassed
because he keeps giving the ball up. I think
that's other than his little four match. I mean,
only 22 % of our wins are at home. I mean, excuse
me, on the road. A third of our draws on the
road, 44 % of our losses. Our XG on the road
is 1 .56. It's 1 .99 at home. Our XG against
is 1 .37 away and it's 1 .2 at home. So the deal
here is on the road, there's a huge discrepancy
and still our XG is higher. Oh, geez. Yeah, you
have to do that there. But as long as it's not
dog, so. No, it's a yellow card, but there was
mother men back. Oh, they just gave him the dog.
It's a red card. I don't agree with that. I don't
agree with that either. When you're way over
on the right side, that seems surprising. But,
you know, you've got to try and stop him without
pulling him down if it is dog. So that's a huge,
huge mistake. Let's see here. So Nuhu is beat
wide. He's running after the ball. Oh, that's
Dogso for sure. That is a terrible from Nuhu.
He's got to know what's going on around him.
Even though there are other players over on the
left side. They're way back, though. They're
10, 15 yards back. He's going to have a one -on
-one with the keeper right there. That's a clear
Dogso. That's some of the most poor play we've
seen from Nuhu in his career. He's had a game
today. Well, this is the second time, and I wasn't
involved in the first time we did a record while
we watch. That one didn't go terribly well either,
did it? They haven't yet. But the odds are against
us anyways because road games inherently are
tougher to win. I don't know. I mean, when you
have players that are as bad as New Who. I mean,
he's provided us nothing offensively, dangerous
chances, terrible. I mean, his one job is to
play defense. What are we going to do? We're
screwed. Now we're going to have to go all in.
Actually, I kind of like that idea. You know,
of all the games, this is the kind of game where
we can get a result down a man because we've
got to commit to attacking. I agree. putting
your team in this position is just absolutely
poor. Oh, it's poor, poor decision -making altogether.
Like the way. Yeah. How we got here is how we
got here is not. Yeah. That's a foul. And that's
a goal. Nope. It's a foul. He called the foul.
We call it. He called the foul. Okay, good. I
don't like that foul. I think the, um, I will
have to see the replay. I think they give it
to goalies too often, but I'm glad in this. I'm
pretty sure he got hit in the chest with his
arms raised, getting the, going for the ball,
but he's going towards the. player and he's so
he's going through the player in my yeah let's
see arms up yeah no i mean that what the the
player there for vancouver is every right to
play that ball i they're going to call that every
time but it's because they're over protective
of goalies and they need to reset that because
i think it's a very poor um oh my god that was
bad uh giveaway by de la vega they're immediately
giving vancouver a chance to shoot on goal um
I just hate that they protect goalies in a way
where that, that, that offensive player had every
right to play for that ball. And that's clearly
what they're looking back, looking at here. Like,
no, that's a foul on that's a foul on fry. Yeah.
Yeah. That should have play on. I'm agreeing
with you after I see the replay, but if a keeper
has his arms rates hand in contact with ball
and then gets hit in the chest, if, which I thought
I saw, I would think that's not. like being overly
protective of the keeper. That's the only way
he can do his job. They can do their job, right?
It's just they're reaching up to get the ball
and to get hit underneath. Oh my God. Are we
going to get another dog? So you kidding me?
Got another dog. So is it ready card honeymoon?
Another dog. So on us, Jonathan Bell, I was too
busy being angry that. He looked like he cut
behind the player that got in front of him and
their feet got tangled up. Although... You gotta
know where your feet are, I guess, right? I'm
sorry. At some point, this just comes down on
the coaching staff. This is a half season of
this bullshit. Onside. And you got Christian
right there. Yeah, Christian's there. That's
not Dogso. That's not. He touched his arm. He
didn't pull it. His, their feet got tangled.
Their feet got tangled. Oh, their feet got tangled.
And he, I mean, okay. I was looking at the other
part. Yeah. I mean, that's a foul. It's a yellow.
That's not a dog. So they need to go to VAR on
that. I don't even know if it's a yellow. I mean,
I mean, I mean, it is because of the position
behind. Yeah. But like it's, that was clearly
incidental. That was definitely a foul. It doesn't
matter. You can't do that when a guy's running
in front of you. I agree. You're going to reach
for the back pocket. I mean, I'm going to say
it. To me, this is, as much as I don't want the
Sounders to perform in the Club World Cup because
I don't want anyone to get hurt, if we perform
as poorly in the Club World Cup, I do not want
Brian Schmetzer back as the coach when we are
on the other side of this because this is fucking
ridiculous. This is a half season. of some of
the worst Sounders performances we've seen versus
the quality of player on the field. I'm sorry.
I'm not going to go that hyperbolic. That's not
hyperbolic. Hyperbole would be firing right the
fuck now. That was on the field right now. That's
me having a rational opinion being like, this
is unacceptable. This is happening time and time
again, not all red cards. We're finding ways
to lose games. It's like we're watching the Seattle
Mariners. It's just disgusting. The Sounders
are better than this. Yeah. We're really only
down when you think about it. We've had the same
injuries everyone gets. Paul Areola has been
the biggest gut punch. But then you bring in
Ryan Kent and we've had him for a month and a
half. I mean, that's the problem is he hasn't
played for so long. They're saying that like,
he's going to have his ups and downs because
for sure. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm still happy
with the signing, but I'm just, I'm just not
giving the injury bug anymore. It's half a season.
Like that's just not even an excuse anymore.
Yeah. Do we get a different result? Well, Jordan
Morris, I don't think is his goals. He hasn't.
Well, he was frustrating to begin with, not producing.
And sure, maybe not having the pairing we have
in the back there helps a little bit, but it
doesn't help that much. Nuhu gave up the goal
here. A Bell -Reagan pairing is not terrible.
Bell, though, yeah. Bell has been exposed the
last two matches, unfortunately. He had a really
great season overall, but I think you've seen
him. And I don't know if he's trying to make
up for what's happening elsewhere, but you've
seen him do things a few times that were surprising.
And I don't know how that didn't go to the AR.
Yeah, that should have gotten, I agree. Because
you had Christian right there. That shouldn't
have been Doxo, unless it wasn't a red for Doxo.
Maybe it was a red, straight red for tackling
from behind. With the feet that, yeah. I mean,
it was tangled though. It wasn't like he swung
at it. So I'd be surprised, but. It just seems
I don't understand that call. Bit harsh. Bit
harsh. But I kind of would rather see some chaos
right now. Here we go. He's going to pull the
ball back. Wait for everybody. Oh, my God. He's
not fast enough. He passes it all the way back
to the other side of the field. I understand.
It's just so frustrating to watch. But why don't
we have any players forward? Because we have
nine players. Who cares if we lose 20 -0? At
least try to score a goal at this point. To be
fair, it is actually one goal. When it's a one
-goal game, you've got to pick your spots. I
agree with that. You can get a free kick or a
corner. I don't have a problem with them not
following Jesus up there. Why didn't any players
come once Jesus stopped the ball? Like two players
came up and the rest of them were on the back
half of the field. When Ryan Kent is playing
poorly, I'm going to play a game with Ryan Kent's
last name. We shouldn't give him a different
last name based on a city of the King or Pierce
County region for based on the performance he's
having. So what would Ryan Federal Way be? Would
that be he's playing... I guess it's technically
King County. I said Pierce and King. Oh. We're
not talking about that. Is Kenton King or Pierce?
Kenton King. Yeah. I mean, yeah. He's definitely
Bothell. Ryan Bothell. Why? Because Bothell sucks.
No. I'm just wanting to make fun of cities. It
seems over... I don't know. I don't think it
sucks, but you're not worth anything. You're
a suburban kid, though. For me, growing up in
the city... I'm a suburban kid? Yeah, you grew
up on some island. I spent three years on an
island, and then I lived in downtown Seattle
my entire life. Yeah, suburban kid. I grew up
in the city. First in university is not suburban.
Outside of Renton's okay. Outside of Renton,
I think everything else is pretty much garbage.
I like Bellevue Square now. Not now, when I was
a kid. I was going to say, not now. Not now,
but they had a good old Orange Julius there.
Why don't we get some mailbag questions here?
It's turning into one of those. Yeah, we can
always do it early. I think the questions that
we have were related to this match. Did someone
ask how many red cards we'd get in this match?
Is that on the prediction sheet? No, but recently
Tim Hamilton did post most ridiculous red cards
in MLS. Yeah. Well, I don't think either of these
would be an argument for maybe a wrong call.
I mean, it was close for number two. Yeah. Well,
I think that I would say that second call was
terrible. That was one of the worst calls I've
seen on the season. How do you give a red card?
I mean, Christian is literally standing right
next to them. That's not Dogso. He could just
step over and block the ball. It was a horrible
mistake by Bell. But unless you're giving a red
card for taking someone down from behind, which
that was not what happened. i don't know how
you don't go to var we didn't see a lot of replays
of it did we i definitely they showed two yeah
it's so dan the bastard says it's pretty clear
vancouver watch some tape drop players low give
sounders possession and then counter This happens
a lot. Why do we struggle so much against this?
Players or tactics? For one, I would like to
see an attacking movement that isn't across from
the prime assist zone to the box with five white
cap shirts and one sounder shirt. Yes, Dan. At
the same time, I don't know who on this roster
can do anything else. And to me, therein lies
the problem. Schmetzer likes a specific type
of player. And our players don't always fit what
they're being asked to do. The things that, like,
what Dan asked there for, Rusnak can do, I think.
But we don't see that because they play it through
the wings. Yeah, if we had a Clint Dempsey and
an Oba in front of Rusnak, can you imagine if
Albert was playing with Clint and an Oba? Yeah.
That would be fun. It would be incredible. I
mean, what about you, Nick? What's your thoughts
on that? Like, is this personnel? Is it coaching?
Is it both? Is this another disconnect between
GM and coach like we had in the past with Garth
and the players we're bringing in are being forced
into positions they don't fit? What's going on?
Is it dementia? I don't know. I think that it's
not as easy to just make the simple answer right
there. It's just a simple, Jesus, Obed really
staying on things. Basically, you should be getting
a yellow. Yeah, you definitely need a card there.
But again, it's easy in the heat of the moment
to get frustrated about this particular situation.
I mean, I don't think Dan's in the heat of the
moment there. This is something he's been consistently
saying and Aaron and I have been consistently
saying that what we're doing isn't working. So
he's saying, why can't we try something else?
is it that it won't our players can't do that
is that our coaches refuse to do that that's
the question why are we sticking with something
that clearly burns us every time and we have
no answer for on offense and defense i feel like
that's a little hyperbolic to say because because
it's it's not a you know it's not happening all
the time you know but when it does happen the
results are quite ugly. This one is different
because it's 1 -0, and the one goal came before
the two red cards. I think there's an explanation,
and I'm not attacking you specifically, but I
think if you look at every single match, there's
an explanation for why the result was that way.
And it's not quite as it seems. When really you
step back 30 ,000 feet, we're halfway through
the season, and... It does seem exactly that
way. There are defensive gaffes that give up
the goals, but generally the defense plays pretty
well. We lead the league in crosses, but we have
the worst conversion. And we cannot seem to pass
through the middle of the field into the goal.
We just pass around the middle of the field.
And then you sub in Minugu, and then that just
blows up any game plan. the field tilts to, to
Manugu. And Jordan doesn't play like Jordan is
fast enough that he should be running at, at
defenders. I don't think he's fast enough anymore.
I mean, he's even injured. He's still faster.
No, I just mean in general, I think he's, I think
he's faster. I think he's got bursts, but I don't
think he can consistently, I think he, he, his,
he went from a hard tire to a soft tire. He can,
you know what I mean? Like he could be fast for
longer. younger how's that not too newton i mean
he grabbed ross i mean the ball maybe being on
the other side prevented it but he grabbed rothrock
as rothrock was running towards the goal took
him down from behind that was way more egregious
than the john bell than the john bell one the
difference being the ball was on the other side
so john bells wasn't you could question whether
or not that he could have recovered it yeah Well,
anyway, I don't think Jordan's got the stamina
or the gas to be a sprinter. He's also never
done that, though. When he was 19, 20, 21, he
was. He wasn't a forward then. He was doing it
on the wing. He's never done it as a forward
where he has run at the defense from the center
in a way that can create through balls through
the center. That's just never been his game.
And I don't, with his skillset, I don't understand
why it has. Yeah. And I'm just, I'm concerned.
It's the same coach the whole time. So maybe
that's why I don't know. That's what I think.
That's the question. Is this by design or is
this something that. Cause we, we play from the
wings. This is what we do, but what we're seeing
this year is it's not working the same. We play
from the wings, but our best wingers have been.
This is really crazy watching the buildup from
the Sounders right now with nine players is they
are, the gaps between players is much more pronounced
than usual. And it's really interesting that
they're still holding possession. It might be
a good thing. I mean, it actually looks, they
look better. Yeah. We're moving the ball in a
way they were unable to do before they were down
two men. And usually you do see that with one
man. How's that not a foul? That actually did
look like a foul. I know we're going to ask for
it right there, but that would be 67 -50 on the
time. Is that Rothrock? I mean, he's still down.
And then, of course, he calls it the other way
on a ball that I don't think was a foul. We'll
see the replay right here as he goes to check
on him. But there's no reason to check on him,
really. Oh, Jesus. That's not good from Rothrock.
I mean, I think he just got stepped on. Yeah,
he's fine. Look at the XG. MLS now has Vancouver
at 0 .98 and us at 0 .75, despite them leading
1 -0. I think that's fair. We're going to win
this game. We definitely can tie it. It's a fucking
bonkers game. What I think is too often in the
Sounders, results cover up our poor performances.
I think... If you actually looked, I mean, look
how far we made it last year. I think what we
saw was clear problems, and we didn't fix the
problems like we hoped they would. I think we
tried to, but then injuries prevented it. And
so maybe it's not fair for this season, but we
still have some other problems. I mean, Areola,
I don't think Areola fixes what's going on here,
despite having the best cross in the league from
what we've seen. I don't know. I think that...
One, it's easy for us to look at it just from
a myopic Sounders -only point of view where every
team's going to have rough patches, they're going
to have rough games. I feel like there's a contingency
of us that want to immediately jump to the idea
that things are doom and gloom when I don't think
that's exactly the case. We're in fifth place
and about to drop further. And we're not better
than that. The stats bear out. That's where we
belong. That's the thing. The stats bear out
that we're fifth in the Western Conference and
that's where we should be. Fourth or fifth on
every single category. So that's the problem
here is that we are who we are and we just gave
up another goal. Not surprising based on... By
the way, we gave up a goal on a shot that I wish
we would take. Why don't we shoot from outside?
Why don't we like 22 yards out? I never see a
shot. Funny you say that because that is a Sanders
mailbag question from Alex Diaz. Why are we scared
to take shots from outside the box? I don't know.
That's a good question for Brian Schmetzer. But
I think we forget that it wasn't that long ago
that we were taking and scoring goals from outside
the box. So again, no earlier in the season.
I don't know. Maybe you've got a couple of lucky
ones, but nah, we don't, we don't purposely take
shots when like, right. Boom. Let's your hips
are square. Just take a shot. We don't, we don't
have that mentality. We don't have your hips.
Rush snack would have a couple more goals. It
seems to be pass around that. That is, it just
got through the trees. Didn't it? Watching the
replay. God damn. Well, now it's going to get
weird. Two red cards. Nine against 11. I mean,
what do you do here? Do you just put on the other
kids, right? And just say, go after it? Well,
we kind of did that. We put in Kalani Kosaranzi.
We obviously got Danny Masovsky out there. Well,
he's not a kid, but we've also got Rothrock out
there. So is that four subs in? Do we have one
left? I think we have one window left. We have
one window left. One window left. Do we have
any players left? Oh, no, I'm sorry. I missed
on that sub window. We subbed four people off
on that one window. So we have one sub. Yep.
One sub, one window. Yeah. Well, two windows,
but it's irrelevant. We have one sub available.
And we have four windows? No, we subbed four
people off on that last one. Yeah, so we have
two more windows, but we only have one sub. We
make a sub of nobody in the final window. Rough.
Rough stuff. Well, big gulp, huh? All right.
See you later. Slurping. No, you don't get the
reference? Nope. Dumb and Dumber. Big gulp, huh?
All right. See you later. Oh, nice save. What
is that from? Dumb and Dumber. When he's leaving
the gas station. Long time ago. He just says
it to... I think it's a funny movie, but I think
it's overrated. Not in your top 10? Is it an
11 in your comments? It's more of the... It's
got the most laughs of all time. Even if you
take the last two years of streaming out, it's
got the most laughs of all time. No way. Something
about Mary is way funnier than that movie. I
quote... Dumb and Dumber far more often than
I've ever quoted something about Mary. I think
that's true, but that's a different equation,
I think. I think that's the best relation to
it. Yeah, there are probably four or five different
quotes from Dumb and Dumber that I still use
within a month. it's okay i'm a limo driver is
like i'm just gonna do it just leave me alone
samsonite i was way off you know how many times
i do that in a hotel i get a bag it's a sam's
night it's a cardigan but thanks for noticing
killer boots man see i don't know i saw it i
saw them both in the theater but to me dumb and
dumber it doesn't hold up as well it is funny
but There's a lot of movies like that that I
think are in their place in time. Luckily, and
I don't know this because I haven't watched it
in the last decade, but I wonder if it seems
like it would be less problematic than some of
the other movies we loved when we were younger.
Upon review. Dumb and Dumber over Ace Ventura
is pretty much probably right up there as I can't.
Really? I mean, I don't think Ace Ventura is
that funny. That's Jim Carrey too over the top.
I loved it then, but. No, I would say that's
probably more of a movie you cannot introduce
to the public now. Which one? Yeah. But I'm wondering
why. What is it that made it? The reaction to
Kissing. Well, I mean, I'm thinking like Revenge
of the Nerds. I mean, that's got a straight up
rape scene. I know. And there's so much racism.
I mean, you look at all the John Hughes films.
Those are classic films. I forget that you guys
are grandpas compared to me. Oh, okay. That explains
a lot. Jesus. Oh, that was a beautiful save from
Fry. It should be 3 -0 Vancouver right now. Was
that a save? Yeah. Yep. Beautiful save from Fry.
Shout out. I don't think I've seen Revenge of
the Nerds. I think you're probably okay. It's
part of the boobs comedies of the late 70s, early
80s. Porky's, the beginning of the National Lampoon.
Yeah, it's right in that vein. Not Vacation,
but the other animal house. I mean, it's after
all those, but... I know of it because I watched
a lot of Comedy Central in the late 90s. If you're
not watching on HBO, you don't get the edited
version. 90 % of that movie is nudity and racism.
That's where I know of it. It is really interesting
though because as a kid, we all rooted for Lewis
when those things happened. Not so much anymore.
There's a lot of things that don't hold up, like
Rothrock getting fouled there and then they don't
call it. He's kind of a player that doesn't get
a lot of calls, his style of play. What do you
think about that? I don't know if that's true.
I mean, you're a Kobe fan. I think it's way more
true in NBA than it is in MLS, but there's some
players that don't get the calls while others
do. What do you think of that when players haven't
put in their time to earn a call when other players
are on the same call? You nailed it right there
with you got to put in the time. It feels like
there's this reluctance for the young players
to make that move. Who was it? Who did we end
up trading to Nashville? The dinner on? No, we
got Madronda back on the other side of it. But
nothing, not Wingo. But yes, we traded him. One
of the few players that would take players on
1v1 at that time of the 2017 -18 -19 Sounders.
And that's exactly what would happen is he would
earn the foul. It wouldn't get called because,
yeah, just that was the vibe that I got. It's
like, oh, you haven't earned it. Yeah. Whereas
we see Georgie do get that, but I think it's
because of his moves. The fouls are so egregious.
I think I've had Walla Buona. Yeah. That's the
only signature I have on my scarves, actually.
From the 90. You did a little signing there.
Yeah, no, that's the earning. I think it's more
just like they're all human, right? So the referees
are around. They understand how you play. You're
not trying to pull one on me. I have more trust
in your style of play and know that if you're
going to fall down like that, that's probably
a foul. They're not able to see everything. We
do know this sport cannot be appropriately and
most proficiently reffed with one person running
around the middle of 22. Yeah. Right. And then
two little flaggers, right? The flaggers clearly
don't do their job. the time no i mean they're
they're these are they're better athletes running
that you're trying to catch up with that's your
job catch up with the athletes running and we'll
give you half the field still but they're not
gonna get it right all the time then you have
to stop and that's why the cameras are involved
but uh anyway dietrub but it always bugs me that
people say lebron flops because it's it's like
they've never heard of manu ginobili who flops
like neymar He flopped the Sonics out of a playoff
series one time on the most BS foul call I've
ever seen. Yeah, and also every player has flopped.
It's just the consistency. It's like, what pattern
do they flop? Are they a flopper or do they flop
right there? Well, let me tell you, it's floppy.
You know what? You can have your floppy disk.
My disk is hard. Thank you very much. I got a
hard disk. No, unfortunately, it's a 3 .5. There's
a bunch of younger listeners right now, including
maybe one of our outros that are like, what's
that mean? Hey guys, you ever wonder why the
save icon looks like the save icon? That is Nick's
dick. Your save icon. Right there. We used to
have to slide that thing open too to check on
it. What? Oh man. What a ball through all...
Oh, he couldn't get to it. Vancouver, I mean,
understandably, they have two extra players,
but they're looking good right now. I mean, here's
the thing is I don't hate Vancouver. I'm frustrated
that we shat the bed against a shorthanded Vancouver
team. With that said, I had to take my headphones
out on the two of you because I had a mouthful
of beer, and I was this close to just spewing
it across my keyboard. You're going to spew into
this. Oh. Stu Hawkins? Oh, no, Cody Baker. Cody
Baker! Oh, my God! This is his first appearance
of the year? I think it is. I love it. Man, remember
how good he was last year? I like Cody Baker.
Wasn't it the year before? Wasn't it 2023 that
we saw Cody Baker? No, no, no. He was last year.
Yeah, but he had picked up an injury and then
just couldn't get back on. I thought 2023 was
a Cody Baker rewriting. No, it was last year.
Cody Baker rewriting. The same year that we went
to Vancouver and watched. I will say, he always
impressed me because I thought he was just a
dude, and then it turned out, no, he's not just
a dude. He actually is solid. There's a Rothrock
similarity to both of them. Looking around the
league right now, LAFC is up 2 -1 on SKC in the
second half. Of course, Portland, no, they won
that in injury time. Colorado lost last night
at home against Atlanta, or not Atlanta, Austin,
2 -0. And we already talked about Chicago, D
.C., 7 -1. Not a lot of games this weekend. I
think only certain teams are getting punished
for having players in the leave. I guess that
adds a little bit more to their argument to not
play tonight. Now, do you think... We didn't
want this game to be canceled because... I wish
it was now. Do you think it should have been?
It doesn't really seem fair to us or to Vancouver,
but especially Vancouver, that this game happened.
Not because of their sicknesses, but just coming
off of that game on Saturday and with everything
considered, it seems like poor planning from
MLS's part. Well, MLS fucked up by not giving
Vancouver... a break before their Champions League
final, so they fucked up. That's step one. Whereas
we got that, right? We got our main move. Yeah,
I remember that was like a bubble surrounding
the final. We were just able to completely focus
on that match. Now, with that said, this game...
Oh, he just kicked the corner. What a loser.
They should lose the game. This game does remind
me a lot of the Sounders -Austin game. What's
happening? Where we started five teenagers. Where
we started five teenagers. And where I'm going
with this is that we won 1 -0. And that's why
it's like, oh, we won a game with five teenagers.
If you recall, how we scored that one goal was
Ruiz scoring like a 45 -yarder. Right, but the
difference is those are the games we used to
win. They're showing the replay of that. He just
forgot the flag was there. What an idiot. How
do you do that? I've never seen that happen before.
I haven't either. Even in public, which we don't
have flags. We do. That's why. We have flags.
Yeah. Yeah, I bought the flags last year. Yeah,
you played with them for a full season. Yeah,
we got the pride flags on top of them. I did
a corner today with one. Anyways, ultimately...
I was too focused on the ball. This game, you
know, I don't know. Look, is this emblematic
of our whole season? No, but... These results
are happening too often. These mistakes are happening
too often. And there needs to be some sort of
reckoning within the locker room. I don't think
they are, though. I guess that's the difference.
I don't think. But what games are you watching
where we're not giving up stupid goals? The second
goal. We're not talking about the second goal
here. It's been a third one right there. We're
talking about the first goal. Yeah, they did
almost. Pick any team. And look at all the goals
scored against them this season. Take the best
team in the league. Take the best team in the
league and look at all the goals that they allowed
in the year. But you know what else they're doing?
They're scoring goals. And they're scoring goals
they're meant to score. I think my problem is
if you look at our XG, we should be scoring more
goals. That's a beautiful play from Moose. Come
on. Great defense. Beautiful defense. They gave
us that penalty? Nope. Nope. I hate that the
ref call for goal kick and penalty are so similar.
It depends on where you're pointing. Yeah, I
know. But the way he ran in pointing, it was
like, what? This is a brilliant defense. Oh,
actually, actually. If you're giving a red for
the incidental leg, that's a penalty. He didn't
touch the ball. If you're giving a red to John
Bell, and they played it, so they're not even
VAR. You should give us the opportunity of a
review right there. That is some serious fuckery.
No, it's as if they've turned the game off. It's
the only thing that's happening right now is
the clock. The refs aren't watching that. I mean,
what you can say is Danny went down a little
easy. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. His legs
got. Yeah. No, he didn't. Actually, I don't think
his legs got tangled. I think he. No, I don't
think they actually. The guy. Yeah, he lunged
for the ball and missed it. And then bodied him
shoulder to shoulder. He had his right hand on
his left shoulder. Oh, my goodness. Look at that.
And then, of course, the next defender fixed
it. But I like Rienzi. Yeah. He's ripped, by
the way. Have you seen him with his shirt off?
No. Why would I see him with his shirt off? I
mean. There are many opportunities. Where? What
are you talking about? He's calling a penalty.
Are you fucking kidding me? It looked like he
slipped. Joe Palo down. I'm in contact. Okay.
This ref can fuck himself. Let's see the replay.
This could still be the right call. Oh, right
call has nothing to do with it. I'm still on
about the Mussofsky. Did he touch him? He didn't
touch him. He did the trailing leg. Oh, at the
end he did when he slid out. But, yeah, you've
got to call that because it's in the box. But,
gosh, that's so unlucky because it wasn't when
he was running. It was when he stopped and then
was down like in a plank formation. You know
what? If this was. the second goal, I wouldn't
be as upset as I was as that decision. What are
you talking about? Fry's going to make the save
and then it's going to go to VAR. Then it's going
to go to VAR. Does he even have, he has one PK
save in his career, right? Just one. No, he did
against Houston in the playoffs. He's got one
right here. Yeah. Or not. No. I mean, he has
more than one, but he's just not. No, an actual
save. Not like... Oh, where people haven't missed?
Yeah. Yeah, I guess he is lower on that. It's
usually missing. Of course that's what I'm referencing.
Not including people skyrocketing it. I think
he is more in US Open Cup, though. I've said
it before and I'll say it again. Until they change
the stutter step rule, they cannot have the rule
where... Goalies, yeah, he got them. Goalies
come off the line. Bottom line is my rule is
the moment the player makes a motion, goalies
can come off their line. Agreed. Stutter all
you want, but the moment you move, then it's
all on. Or if you want to use the line, no stuttering.
You must run straight forward and kick the ball
straight forward. Yeah, that's right. I think
it's harder to actually. One or the other. You
can't have both. I think it's once the player,
the kicker. It's just, or the whistle blows.
Okay. So whistle blows go. Now you can, now it's
penalty kick with a goalkeeper can rush out.
Let's just do that. Pushing forward again for
another goal. But luckily the Sounders defense.
That's rude of them to do that. Yeah. Just give
it up guys. I mean, that's not very Canadian
of them. Also, did you really want to write like.
We could end up playing them in the playoffs.
Do you really want to rub it in here and give
us a chance to come back later and do it back
to you in a playoff match? Don't think you want
to, even if it is your rivals. Are you talking
dirty to me? Yeah. Yeah, because we're going
to get that seventh spot, yet we're going to
do what we always do. We're going to make it
to the Western Conference Final. Why would you
expect anything else? We're going to finish number
two. Yeah, we just... I think the difference
is expectations. I expect us to be playing for
championships every year. Do I expect the Seahawks
to do that? No, because they're terrible now.
Do I expect the Mariners to do that? No, but
I expect the Storm, even though they're kind
of stuck right now, I expect the Reign and I
expect the Sounders to be playing for championships
every year. Well, I mean, I get that, but I think
that's actually kind of part of my concern is
sometimes the standard... I feel like sometimes
people have expectations that... what they expect
from the Sounders is what isn't really possible
in MLS play. I don't think I've ever seen this
before. They said it's plus five, but he just
blew it anyway. Yeah, because he didn't want
to. It's the right call in this situation. I
mean, I'm fine with it. They're all fine with
it. So what you're saying then. Is you're okay
with the Sounders not trying to win the championship
every year? No, I'm saying that fans have an
unrealistic expectation. They expect to win every
game for nothing. And I think, I think that's
not. I would, I would be fine with a one nothing
win where it's not a fluke handball that gets
us the win. See that. That's, that's exactly
my point is that there are, you win in multitude
of ways. I agree across the season, but the problem
that we're seeing is that we're seeing certain
things over and over again. And we need the ball
to bounce our way at times. Today could have
been that before all the red cards, right? We
had one bad defensive mistake that they exploited,
but we were never able to recover from that.
And granted, they didn't have a whole ton of
time. I think if we had only had one red card,
perhaps this is a different result. Yep. I mean,
we haven't won a championship since 2019. An
MLS Cup. MLS Cup. Yeah. Sorry. So that's six
years. Yeah. And there seems to be this feeling,
like we grew this sense of, plus obviously winning
CONCACAF for that. It feels like we're slipping
and we're losing grips on that expectation of
silverware every year. We were 2020 away from
a dynasty. If we had won in 2020, we would have
been considered a great MLS dynasty. And I think
the difference is the league has changed. Which
shouldn't be a surprise because the league has
had eight generations since 1996. Right. But
the money has outpaced the Sounders, and so they
have to spend smarter, and they're not – I mean,
I titled that episode Weibel's a Genius, Craig
is a Genius. I think he did the best with what
he can do, but I do think we are hamstrung by
the fact that we can't spend money the way some
of these other teams do. And so we shouldn't
be expecting championships every year. We should
be expecting – I think we should expect to be
second or third in the West because I think we
should always play above where I think we are.
But I have a problem with us finishing fourth
or fifth. It's keeping us from getting some ownership
that has deeper pockets. Can we have what you
wish for? A, they're not for sale. B, who local
– I mean – unless you're going to convince like
Steve Ballmer to come back up and do it or someone
who, what local, what local ownership who, you
know, look at what happened with the, the rain.
Not that they weren't good, but when they became
the oil rain, they no longer, they were just
part of a cog in the system, right? Like they
didn't win a championship. They got close. So
you're saying we need local money. We need to
keep the, or Adrian needs to convince some of
these rich people that are owners to. I was going
to say, I think our ownership is pretty fucking
wealthy. Our minority owners are, but why would
they put money into a team where they don't make
the profit? Where if it gets sold, they only
make a small percentage. Adrian would have to
sell off some of his ownership stake, I think,
to make this happen. Because he doesn't have
the money. He's not a self -made millionaire.
He has family money, which is why. His mom and
him have a, he talked about it, a company that
they started that is the owner of the team. Well,
owners, we are talking about it. Obviously, the
league owns the team. But this path was started
when Joe Roth had to get divorced. And then luckily,
he let us sell the team locally instead of to
a trust fund, but to a hedge fund. So, I mean,
I think. The problem here is our ownership as
it is, does not see signing higher quality players
as a way to win. And that's why I root for Miami
generally is because until Miami and those teams
win championships regularly, he'll never think
otherwise. Because why we got, we got, we're
the second best team in the West last year, arguably
the second best team in the MLS. just barely
getting by and we did it without spending tons
of money i i mean i'm gonna say that i still
think that this is this is when healthy one of
the top three rosters in the league so i think
this is all colored from oh we just have to be
one or the other though why can't you just be
a well -constructed team that has a one or two
players that are incredibly talented that it
costs a lot of money why can't you why can't
why can't you have christian rolled on and Messi
on the same team. I do think we're one of the
most talented teams. I think they're underperforming,
though, even with the injuries. And the question
is, and it goes back to that question, is it
coaching? Is it players? I don't know which it
is. I don't have the answer to that. But I know
the one consistency over the years has been that
we have the same coach. I do think, and this
is a conversation I had on one of the Ultra Talks,
I think, the other day, is... This is a very
un -Seattle conversation. Maybe it is time to
move on from some of our older players that have
been with us. I love Christian to death, but
if his contract is hamstringing us in any way,
pun intended, I don't think it is, maybe it's
time to move on. You obviously know what my opinion
is on... Unless he comes back and lights up.
Christian's a horrible example to use your starting
argument on that. Now, Jordan might be a better
argument. I think Jordan is, but, but Christian,
I don't know. I don't know. I would have to see
Christian's performance. That's what I'm saying.
I don't know what his contract is. He's not a
TAM player. I don't think, but, but some players,
if, and I think he would work with us, Jordan
being a DP right now is rough on us because.
he's been hurt if he's been healthy is it is
it something different possibly but we're not
we haven't seen that and uh i said before the
season you know i want to see him come out and
prove that he's a dp and so far he hasn't he
totally can in the second half there's plenty
of time left oh they just showed that new who
replay again that is so frustrating but but to
me you have one of the most talented rosters
in the league maybe the most talented in the
west and they're underperforming So I think the
question is why? And I don't know the answer
to that. I agree, Kitty. I agree. Wow. This is
just terrible. Just wow. I mean, I don't fault
John Bell for his red card there. I don't think
it was a red card. And, you know, he wouldn't
be starting if we didn't have injuries. I think
Jao Paulo's penalty there is kind of a freak
play. You know. I'm not worried about those in
general. It's the head -scratching mistakes that
bother me, that new -who play there, the new
-who not covering on the goal. Why is everyone
standing around ball -watching? We're halfway
through the season. Why are we making these same
mistakes? Last year, they figured it out, though,
right? Last year, we were making horrible mistakes
in the beginning, and everything changed. Second
half of the season, we were one of the best teams
in the league. I think the Club World Cup is
going to be a good shake -up. It's completely
different. situation. You're literally taken
out of that. We're also going to be playing five
at the back because we're going to get run by
these teams otherwise. It's also really frustrating
that right now we should be getting excited.
Everything's happening all at once to make us
be like, what the fuck? It's just really fucking
frustrating that we should be really excited
right now and right now we're just angry. After
that LAFC game versus, was it America? I was
excited. And now I honestly, I'm only, I mean,
I'm going to go to the Sounders games because
I want to go to the Sounders games. I'm only
going to the other games because I want my World
Cup tickets for next year. And that was the deal,
right? You got to show up and go to the games.
I'm not excited about this tournament anymore.
I don't even want the Sounders to put in their
starters. Unless it's someone like Obed who might
wow somebody, but he hasn't been playing his
best, unfortunately, right now. Shout out to
this kid, this 19 -year -old for Vancouver, though.
He's got a 19 -year -old's mustache and hair
combination. He does. Jeevan Badwal. What a cool
moment for him in this game. I've got to give
him props. But, yeah, I'm not excited about this
anymore, and it's a bummer because of caring
about workers' rights and caring about our team.
This is not where we want the Sounders to be
right now. But when today or when the last two
matches you go into this in second place, finishing
the first half on a high and all of a sudden
everything just seals. F'd up, you know? We don't
have, we don't know. I don't know who this team
is. Like, it's like, we're just, we've been having
to, it's like, we aren't at the bottom of the
table. We're not at the top. We're just, we can't
figure out who we are and how to score goals.
And that's, I think the most frustrating thing.
I think this is who we are. And that's what the
numbers bear out. You don't want to say this
to someone. You're trying to get better than
this. You're trying to get better than this.
No one wants to be this. You want your identity
as we, like in NFL, we run the ball, we're brute
force, we're physical, or we're flashy, we like
to pass. We put four wide receivers out there
every play. We just do the same thing and nothing
seems to change, but we're deep and we still
have quality. The stats say we're good, but the
goals say we're not quite there. I mean, the
possession stats, but the stats, I mean, on one
of our fellow Sounders podcasts, they broke it
down. And no matter how much the Sounders fan
host tried to argue that it wasn't the case,
the stats bear out that we are the fourth or
fifth team in the West. The analytics, they all
bear out that we're the fourth or fifth team
in the West. That's how we've been playing. Now,
do we think we can play better? Maybe. I think
I think that we've been playing poorly, but this
guy didn't. And so when you think about it, it's
I think this is our identity right now. And this
is frustrating, but that's the case. That doesn't
mean you can't make a run. You get hot at the
right time. But this to me feels more like a
we just need to win 54 percent of the games to
make the. playoffs and then maybe we can make
a world series run because we have we're built
for it i mean then we're gonna win the shield
and and be a dominant team hey if the sounders
make a world series run i am going to be like
the first to say best team ever like here's the
thing is you know the sounders are going to win
the world series before the mariners that's that's
100 true 100 true And on that note, I think that's
a good time to call it a day. It is. It is. Where
can they find you guys on the interwebs? Hey,
come find me while you still can at Instagram.
Where are you going? He's leaving them all. I
don't think he'll leave Instagram. No, no, no.
What I mean by that, I was getting a little dark
because we're about to have martial law declared
on this country and it's some real serious fuckery
happening. But hey, let's just not love that
grenade. This is the beginning of West Coast
Cascadia. Let's do it. Speaking of which, that's
my Instagram, Cascades2C. Cascades2C on Instagram.
Number two. No. I was like, maybe I should. Oh,
T -O. Maybe I should get an Instagram and change
it from R2, San Diego to Seattle. From R2 to
D2? It could be SD2SEA. All right. What about
you, Aaron? Where can they find you? Generally,
just our Discord is TheScuttlebutt. Yeah, that's
it. I'm just not going to promote me on social
media when I don't go on there. That's true.
That's good. Legal -minded punk. That's what
I am everywhere. I hope you saw the beautiful
ad at halftime where I appeared in it for Rave
Foundation. Oh, you did? Apparently. I didn't
see it. I was looking down at my phone, but Nick
saw it. I heard like a on his end, and then he
said, there's you. I'm assuming that's what he
was talking about. I was masturbating to images
of you. Oh, good. I was right here. You didn't
need to do anything. Editor, can you... Well,
Aaron stepped away at halftime, so I couldn't
masturbate to him. So I needed something. Oh,
and my birthday's coming up, and I don't know
if you still have it on. Do you have that on,
Aaron? Is that what you're looking at, the beautiful
image on your screen right now? I'm staring at
Brad Pitt's ass. F1 the movie. I cannot wait.
Oh, it's filmed for IMAX. I know what I want
to do. This episode turned real quick. Yeah.
Why is some dude that looks like if you ask me
to draw Caleb Porter from memory on the screen
right now? He's like the Canadian Caleb Porter.
Yeah, I'm LegalMightyPunk everywhere. Join the
Discord. We have a great group of people in there.
It's less like a bunch of Sounders fans and more
like a family. You know, we hang out in the stadium
sometimes now. There's been tailgates. It's good
times. So get over on the Discord. You can see
that in the show notes here. And, you know, he
may not be calling the Club World Cup, but he's
going to be there as a fan. James Willard, take
it away. Take it away. You can follow the Sounders
Scuttlebutt Podcast on Twitter at SSFCScuttlebutt.
And for all inquiries, including questions for
the gents or sponsorship opportunities, please
email contact at scuttlebuttproductions .com.
Be sure to subscribe to the show for new episodes
following every Sounders FC match. And don't
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And you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and
Facebook at BritVoxus. That's Brit Vox US. We'll
see you at Lumen and go Sounders. Alexa, who's
the best MLS team of all time? The Seattle Sounders
are both unequivocally and interchangeably the
best MLS team of all time.