He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say he's cheating. Hello, hello, hello.
Welcome to Sounders Scuttlebutt. I'm Aaron Lingley,
and as always, joined by your Alliance Council
Secretary, Cameron Collins. Hey. And Alliance
Council extraordinaire and Seattle soccer community
guru, Nicholas Biela. What's up, gentlemen? Why,
hello there. Good to hear your voice. Good to
see your face. Yeah, I missed the last one. Thank
you guys for doing that. Yeah, but here I am,
excited to talk. I basically haven't been able
to talk about Club World Cup with either of you
on or off mic. And yeah, I want to talk about
that. You guys were there. Obviously, I've been
watching down here from San Diego. And so, yeah,
let's get to it. But first, let's drink some
beverages. That sounds like a great idea. It's
really hot here. Yeah. I have to unzip my...
Cooler. Your pants? That was what the dramatic
pause was for. So I only have one beverage today.
Well, an alcoholic beverage. It's the last of
the White Claws. Because it's hot down here,
too. More than hot, it was humid today. Like,
85 is hot for Seattle, but the humidity made
it not fun. It's not the heat that gets you.
It's the humidity. Okay. It was actually pretty
humid for down here, which normally doesn't get
humid at all. It was roasting cotton suit right
on the coast. I guess it could be worse, but
anyway, so What do you want to get into first?
Should we talk Club World Cup? Yeah. Sounders
just won against Austin 2 -0. We'll obviously
get to that. It's been a minute since we've all
talked. Any other news out there? Well, why don't
we start with a little bit of, I mean, we got
a lot to kind of cover today. It might be more.
We do. We do. A lot of things have happened since
our last call. We've had two more Club World
Cup games. We've had a league game. we've watched
all that stuff. I want to talk about what's going
on in the club world cup outside of, uh, the
Sounders games. The Sounders games were actually
the worst part of the club world cup. And I wasn't
even present. So, yeah, I mean, I'm not gonna
lie. I had a great time. Oh no, it was great,
but I enjoyed the non Sounders games so much
more. Um, but man city went down today. So did
inter. Yep. To Flamengo, Man City went down to
Al -Hilal for three. Fluminense. What? Oh, Fluminense,
that's right. Flamengo, unfortunately, lost yesterday.
Yeah, they lost to Bayern. But there's this narrative
around the Club World Cup that I keep seeing
from people who have had a bad opinion from the
beginning of it, who are just saying, like, this
is a farce, this entire tournament. And I'm like...
You haven't watched the game. No one's taking
it seriously. I'm like, you don't think those
Inter Milan players were taking that seriously?
Did you watch how upset they were when they lost?
Did you see how excited, not just Fluminense,
but the woman they showed in the crowd who was
just bawling when they scored the second goal
to win? This has been an incredible tournament.
And we saw a fight that broke out. at lemon field
oh this was great yeah there's years in the making
yeah it started at the world cup yeah at the
world cup yeah so uh the real world cup so it's
been like wait wait the real world cup was that
with like puck and tech yes and uh yes and remember
they had to kick off david because he slapped
that lady Yeah, that's right. So it was like
Seattle versus Hawaii versus New York versus
San Francisco. God, you guys and you're just
obscure. That is not obscure to anyone who is
our age. The real world. What was it? The MTV
World. The real world. Real world New York. I
mean, those were some of the biggest shows on
TV. The Puck was in the Seattle one. The real
world. No, Puck was San Francisco. San Francisco.
He was on the second season. Who was the guy
that slapped the chick out? On the waterfront.
Oh, here? Yeah. I remember I used to listen.
I was home. The 90s. It was summer 99 when they
were here because I was home and I would listen
to their radio show without realizing that they
were from the real world. And then later when
they actually aired it, they would do that. That
was the one summer I came home. But yeah, Club
World Cup has been tremendous. I mean, people
are like, oh, no one's attending. It's like,
well, A. Every single game in Seattle but one
had 50 ,000. Ironically, the one game that didn't
was one of the top energized matches. Yeah. You
know, the Red Diamonds versus River Plate. Yep.
Yeah. Announced crowd of like 11 ,000, but it
sounded like 30 ,000 to 40 ,000. Yeah. And the
thing is, sure, it's a money. Like, we don't
like that the players aren't getting paid. The
whole problem with this tournament was they...
Update on that. Yeah, yeah. The whole problem
was that the prices were too much to begin with.
FIFA overshot it and didn't properly advertise
this tournament. And this is completely on FIFA.
If they had made it reasonably priced and hyped
it up like one would the World Cup, these games
would have all been filled. I mean, look at the
USA. Who did USA play in the last group stage
game of Gold Cup? Gold Cup. I mean, that game
was in Nashville or Austin. Either way. soccer
city and it was completely empty because tickets
were going for 150 to 200 bucks like of course
no one's paying 200 to go see the c team of the
usa when there's other stuff going on like uh
it's ridiculous um and yeah thankfully usa squeaked
by costa rica on penalties uh matt freeze is
has made himself the permanent starter moving
forward uh absolutely incredible on penalties
so uh but man this club world cup has been fantastic
yeah i mean i i went to all six games roma went
to five of the six um during the atletico match
there was a guy behind me from buenos aires and
i gave him one of my scarves and we just kind
of connected and Like you flew up from Buenos
Aires? Yeah. Okay, cool. So shout out to Gonzalo.
We became friends. We started going to all the
games together. And then we did a nice jersey
swap. So I've got some. I mean, you guys hooked
up? Oh, yeah. That's what jersey swap means.
I mean, I got some fun stuff here. That's pretty
cool. Magenta and maroon jersey with the matching
shorts. Oh, full kit. St. Louis shorts. Oh my
god, is that another? Warm up top maybe? No,
that's another one of their home jerseys and
then their classic jersey as well. How many jerseys
is... So he gave you three jerseys. Three jerseys
and a pair of shorts, yeah. And then red diamonds
I got. And a scarf. Yeah, a scarf. That's cool.
A scarf and red diamonds. And you gave him a
jersey. No, I gave him a scarf and then I basically
gave him a selection of, I brought a whole bunch
of stuff. And he chose, we started choosing one
-to -one, one -to -one. So he took like a pair
of training pants. Space Needle jersey from the
2014 season. You know, some other stuff, some
cool stuff. What's interesting is they do not
seem to wear scarves in those Argentinian teams.
So there was no, A, ability for us to exchange
scarves, switch scarves with them. But then B,
like when you asked him if he wanted scarves,
he was like, yeah, but do you have t -shirts?
Yeah. Like, yes, I do. Like, no, really, Gonzalo.
But no, it was a great time. As a matter of fact,
the River -Inter game was a little crazy because
River ended up losing 2 -0. There was the fight
between Hakuna and Dumfries at the end where
they basically raced each other to the locker
room to try and get... into a brawl into the
tunnel and like the rest of the team were like
chasing them to try and hold them back it was
it was crazy um there's a guy in my section who
got kicked out uh because well first when when
the dog so red card came in uh on river plate
for inter uh he threw his cup of beer all over
everyone in front of him like straight straight
up in the air and then later when they scored
their first goal he spit up in the air and spit
on everyone And then his girlfriend ended up
leaving because she was so annoyed with him.
And then eventually the people next to him complained.
And then when he was getting kicked out, someone
was so angry at him that they threw a beer at
his head and then they got kicked out too. But
it was interesting because my section was a bunch.
I mean, I was sitting above the Inter fans. They
were where the River Plate was sitting in the
previous match, but there was a ton of River
Plate fans, but they weren't down below where
all the actual River fans were. These were South
American fans rooting for River. So these were
like, we're going to root for the South American
team over the team from Europe. And so there
was people from, I mean, all over South America,
Central America. So I saw Honduras, I saw Guatemala,
I saw Colombia. I saw, I mean, and they were
all rooting for Inter. I mean, sorry, for River.
So it was very interesting and very dramatic,
and partially dramatic because there was a bunch
of Italians walking around being like, bippity
boppity, bippity boppity. Just because you have
a mustache, Peter, doesn't mean you can speak
Italian. Yeah, but that is how it sounds. By
the way, I might have an answer on the scarf
thing. Oh, yeah? Yeah, tell us. Bara brava culture.
Argentine fan culture, especially among the ultras
groups known as Baras Bravas, emphasizes raw
passion, singing, jumping, and waving flags over
aesthetic accessories like scarves. Instead of
scarves, fans show loyalty with shirts, flags,
tattoos, or massive banners, or trapos. In fact,
scarves might be seen as too tame or European
for certain sections of hardcore fans. I mean,
they definitely handed out thousands of flags.
Yeah. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, the games were
all super fun. I mean, I think the PSG game was
the most fun Sounders -wise because that game
was money in the bank, right? The other two,
we felt like we could have maybe tied or won.
And the PSG match was like, I'm just going to
enjoy it. Yeah, just watch them play. I mean,
it seemed like they played more freely in that
one. I mean, they played hard in the other ones,
and I was going to get to that later, I guess.
I wasn't disappointed overall with the performances.
We were definitely in over our hands. I agree,
although I think we knew who cost us the first
game. We could have got out of there with a point.
Yeah, but you guys talked about that one. Yeah,
but also, you know, I think the, I mean, let's
not kid ourselves. The PSG game was not. great.
The possession was bad. The PSG dominated as
they should have. That one graphic that we always
look at, how many times they enter, and the one
side was like 46. And ours was like 7. I just
think the different style of lineup in that one.
But look what they did against Miami. Oh, no.
I mean, the reality, and let's not kid ourselves,
PSG had to put out their first choice lineup
against us because they weren't guaranteed advancement
at that point. Yeah, they had to win. And so
overall, I think that the tournament was a big
success once the game started from the fan perspective.
And from the Sounders player perspective, fuck
FIFA. But yeah, it was definitely a good warm
-up for next year and much better than the Confederations
Cup ever could have been. Yeah. Although I do
like the Confederations Cup in general because
that was the one time the USA was ranked fourth
in the world. Yeah, right after the beating in
Brazil. So what do you think this all did for
the club? For Sounders? Experience -wise, yeah.
Well, one, I think that it gave the club validation
that they're on the right path with the talent
they have on the team. I think it gave them a
level of reward. for their success over the last
few years. But I think it also gave the club
evidence that this is not enough. And so the
real question is going to be what lessons will
be learned from this. and how will we go forward?
What do you think, Cameron? I mean, I think they
definitely, when the Scuttlebutt Ultras episode
comes out, this is something we talked about
at length on there, so I won't go too far into
it, but I think we saw them play much more intensely
because they had to. there's times where in MLS
play you can just turn off and it won't matter.
And you can't do that against these teams. And
I think we saw that translate into the Austin
match where they were much more intense than
they would be usually in MLS play. And so I think
they learned some lessons there. I think there
was players that had a chance to shine. I mean,
if you told me Christian Roldan was going to
shine, I wouldn't have been surprised. But, you
know, you would have wanted someone like Obed
to shine. And Obed played really well, but he
also... hadn't been playing well up to it, so
I don't think the hype was there going into it.
You saw Alex have a couple tremendous matches.
So I think you had a chance to get some of these
players more known throughout the world, and
that may not benefit them in terms of, like,
Christian's not going to go to Europe anymore,
right? He's of the age where that won't happen.
No, but he might play himself back into the national
team. Which would be nice, although I don't think
so because of his position. uh at center defensive
mid he is eighth or ninth in the uh depth chart
so the likelihood of that happening unless he
moves back to right mid is slim to none in my
opinion but uh he is he should be there based
on what we're seeing from the usa where they
need a leader like him he could never play a
minute and he would benefit the u .s national
team i mean that's exactly what his role in the
last world cup he didn't play a minute and he
benefited the national team in the world cup
he was one of the few players that didn't get
any time yeah but he doesn't need it because
of who he is and what he can do for the other
players he belongs there uh i do think uh it
upped the sounders brand even though we did not
advance the fact that we showed up and played
against these teams in a way that a lot that
you know the other mls teams did not i mean miami
had a couple but their group ended up not being
as difficult as expected based on porto just
kind of shitting the bed even though they i think
did they advance they might they might have no
but no they did yeah yeah so i mean the reality
the reality is uh um anyone who watches soccer
regularly who who truly is being honest with
themselves recognizes that the sounders losing
three games doesn't have much to do with how
they played given the group that they were in
yeah right totally and and i think our one chance
with points was in the first game i think if
we had played botafogo in the third game maybe
we get points out of that yeah especially the
way botafogo played down the stretch i mean they
They no longer looked like a champion. They looked
like the fourth place team in Brazil. And, I
mean, they didn't show up in their match versus
Palmeiras until 85th, 86th minute. Their defense
was fine, but they didn't even have a decent
shot on goal until the end of that match. And
this is a team that was so dangerous earlier
in the tournament. And maybe that's... They have
three players that are leaving. They're probably
going to drop further down the table in Brazil
because they just lost their three best players.
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see. I think
this tournament was a rousing success overall,
and it's not even done. I mean, Man City getting
knocked out, they were the odds -on favorite
to win. Vegas had them as the first. So the fact
that they're out now is huge. And I think it
makes PSG the favorites moving forward. I mean,
maybe Bayern, but they haven't been particularly,
you know. Didn't they lose to someone that third
game day? I'm not entirely sure at this point,
but I think the reality is that we may not find
an all -European final. We may get that. Who
knows? We rarely had an all -European final in
this. I mean, we never had an all -European final
because it was usually a Brazilian team. uh that
was in there but uh i mean brazil versus england
often but uh yeah i think it's been an exciting
tournament and while i'm not watching every match
i'm definitely following every match and watching
the highlights and keeping up on it yeah and
right now we're down to we've got six of the
final eight and so palmaris will be playing chelsea
Fluminense will be playing El Halal, so one non
-European team is guaranteed to go into the Final
Four. Then you have PSG and Bayern Munich. And
then what's to be determined will be tomorrow
where Real Madrid will play Juventus and Dortmund
will play Monterey. I usually root against Monterey,
but this might be an instance. But I like Dortmund.
I like Dortmund. They also have completely derailed
Gio Reyna's career. Or maybe he has. Maybe he's
a dick, and that's why he's not getting minutes.
The evidence can go either way. Yeah. But the
bottom line is that we're seeing some good diversity
within there. So I'm very, very pleased with
that. I'm very pleased with that. LAFC? They
didn't have a great tournament. First team out.
Yeah. But they did get a result in that final
game, which was a dead rubber game where the
result didn't matter. So they got some extra
money there. Obviously, Miami got some big money
for making the round of 16. It's hard not to
feel a little jealous. We ain't got shit. Nothing.
No, but, I mean, I'm okay. I'm okay with how
that's played out. I'm okay with how that's played
out. It's definitely clear that... The only teams
that advance got any, like, a little bit of a
buyout, a payout. No, so how it worked was everyone
got $9 .8 million or whatever it was to start,
or at least to... conca calf teams got nine i
think we got more than the other two mls teams
based on the money the money we were told we
got and then the totals because there was 25
million paid out to the mls or 20 was it 25 whatever
it was we and we had nine we had more they only
had eight each i think i don't think so based
on the numbers that we saw that was the case
maybe they reported wrong but the other side
of that is that you got X amount of million for
a draw, X amount of million for a win, X amount
of million for advancing to each stage of the
tournament. So the payouts get bigger and bigger
as you advance further. So Miami is going to
be clearing north of $20 million. I did see a
report today, I didn't see in depth, but I did
see a tweet or a yeet or whatever Blue Sky's
version is called, where it sounds like there's
been an agreement reached with players, with
the Sounders players, I presume the MLSPA and
MLS, where they have bumped. their payout. Okay.
So we got $10 million. No, no, that's incorrect.
Sounders got $9 million, meaning the payout to
the players would grow. Yeah, because the Sounders
players were capped. All MLS teams, their players
were capped at $1 million, no matter how much
money was earned. And I believe that has been...
that has been agreed to in principle, the adjustment
of that. Okay. Yeah. What else have we got? We
got any non -World Cup? Well, do you have any
final thoughts on the Club World Cup? I feel
like we're going to start moving away from that.
Yeah, no, it was fun. Glad to see PSG in person.
I haven't been in myself in person maybe six
years ago in Eugene. against Inter Milan of all
teams. So I've now seen them in person twice.
And I think the last match I attended for PSG
was probably December 2000. So good to be able
to see them. And that was probably an actual
competitive match. Oh, most definitely. And that's
the thing is these matches were competitive.
These were not treated like friendlies, even
by the Europeans. Yeah, I'm referring to your
Eugene match. But yeah, that was a friendly.
That was that preseason nice to see turn. I would
think so. Yeah. But yeah, if you missed out,
we said last episode, go. So if you missed out,
I'm sorry, because it was such an incredible
experience. Apology accepted. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,
we did what we could. We did what we could. And
yeah, had a great time. It'll be interesting
to see how, how the pricing will work for the
world cup next year, but hopefully they learn
some lessons. I'm doubtful, but let's hope so.
All right. We've got some Scott, a buddy there
from discord or just off the, off the press.
I mean, here's the thing is MLS is playing San
Diego. has won a couple games, including over
Vancouver, and have moved themselves solidly
into first place. They're playing during the
club. I mean, a lot of these teams are playing,
right? So a lot of the teams around us have stayed
relatively static, but the Sounders now have
some opportunities sitting in fifth place, point
behind, what, Portland maybe? I was actually
just talking about that with Nick before you
came on. They have 30 points. We have 29. Yep.
But if they lose their next match and we draw
our next match, depending on how they lose it,
we will be equal on points, points per game,
games played, win, loss, tie, goals for, goals
against, and goal differential. Yep, yep. I think
if they lose 2 -0 and we draw to like 0 -0 or
something similar. But we have two big matches
versus opponents from the East, Columbus and
Atlanta, and then we play Colorado. We play two
other teams. Atlanta's not doing well. No, but
they're always a threat. And they always squeak
into the playoffs. But it'll be interesting to
see because we play Colorado. We play, I don't
have it in front of me right now, but Austin
was one of them. We play teams around us in the
standings, teams we have to beat. So at the end
of this month when we're entering the League's
Cup and we have to see damn Cruz Azul chant blue
again. Don't make me mute you. Don't make me
mute you. It's going to be so frustrating. I
almost don't want to go watch that stupid team
again. But we either could be in a prime position
up in the top three, or we could have dropped
out of the playoffs. So we'll see. Depending
on how we perform against Columbus, I don't think
we need to win. But if we show up against Columbus,
I'm thinking that we probably will be successful
moving forward based on our experience in the
Club World Cup. We need a forward. It's tough
to not live and die over each individual game
and treat every game as a referendum on everything
going forward. And we do that all too often.
Actually, we do the opposite. We had this discussion
last time the three of us were here. We show
time and time and time again the Sounders shitting
the bed and you're living one by one but claiming
you're not. I don't think I follow. The Sounders
have shown that they cannot score in large groups
except for here and there. Like they're being
very consistent. And so we're talking about our
worries are about inconsistency. So you're saying
what Aaron and I have been complaining about
for months now. Hey, they scored two goals in
this last match. They did. They did. I was curious
if Jesus' goal was offsides. Because not when
it was passed, but when Jesus kicked it, Danny
was standing in the goal blocking the goalie.
And so there's no way the goalie could have reacted.
And so I don't know the rule on that, though.
That's an interesting thing. I don't know the
rule. Maybe we have to ask Paul Cox since he's
a ref. He knows that kind of stuff. but I was
a little surprised it was not called offsides.
He certainly interfered with the keeper by being
right in his sight line. I guess I'd have to
see it again from what I recall. What I recall
is he pretty much roofed that sucker. Sure. Like
before three yards out, five yards out. I don't
think anyone could react in that time unless
the goalkeeper. I mean, he may not, but does
that matter? I don't know the rules. I think
that would be taken into account. But yeah, maybe
you're right. Because they definitely have made
a call. I've seen calls like that before. But
let me tell you that Danny Mazovsky goal, incredible.
And definitely a product of him playing in the
Club World Cup against players of their higher
caliber. Yes. What was that breath, Nick? I was
re -watching the goal, and I was seeing what
Cameron was talking about. But, yeah, it brings
a really interesting point. Because Danny's run
is fine up until Jesus kicks it. Because, like
Cameron says, he's onside. Upon Paul's cross.
Yes. But that complete, it completely resets
once he, yeah, no. Cause actually the taking
another look at that. No, because Danny is literally
off the field of play and inside the net. He's
already in the net by then. I wasn't sure how
far off he was, but he, but in the seconds, he
definitely flashes through there. Right. So that
makes it hard to respond to. But I think to your
greater point, even if he's still in the field
of play, it's a bang -bang, and there's no...
He's not in the... I don't think anyone's going
to ever call that one offside. Yeah. Which I
think should be the case. I also think... It's
definitely the goal should be counted in the
spirit of what the rule is, and it definitely
was. Can you imagine poor dude gets that goal
and they call it back? Well, I'll tell you what.
Danny in the first half was making some really
good runs, was just putting himself in dangerous
spots, and you could see the frustration on his
face. I was talking about Jesus. Oh, I know,
but it would have been Danny's responsibility
for getting called back. I guess they both have
had a pretty big dry spell. Nice. Yeah, I mean,
Danny got his goal later, though. And Jesus,
I don't know, his dry spell, I feel like, to
me, people started complaining again, but it's
a little different because he's playing multiple
different positions, right? His dry spell came
when he was at a nine. And then they put him
either at center attacking mid and wing and he
starts scoring goals. And then they put him back
at nine and he doesn't score again. And then
people are upset. It's like, well, clearly, why
aren't we putting people in positions to succeed?
And I know the answer to that, but I'm just saying
the fans need to understand then if you're putting
someone in a position that, and I'm not saying
he can't play a number nine. He obviously can't.
He can't play it either A, in our system or B,
with our. either talent level or the way we pass
the ball to him. And I don't know which it is.
But at the same time, let's just focus a little
bit on the bigger picture, which is that he currently
has two goals and four assists in league play.
So, I mean, that's pretty good. And, I mean,
I'm going to toot my own horn one more time on
Danny Mussofsky. I said if he would get that
first goal before the third of the season mark,
he'd be good for five to ten. He's currently
at six. I was skeptical that he was going to
come back and play well because he hadn't been
playing well leading into the Club World Cup.
He played well in the Club World Cup, and it
lit a fire in him that it looks like he's going
to continue to just roll and succeed. And both
things can be true, is that he's lit a fire,
he's been looking good, but he should not be
counted on as our primary striker. Both things
can be true. I think I agree with that, yeah.
I agree with that, too. Although, I mean, the
composure on his goal, though, I fully expected
based on his recent form. Oh, but no, that goal
was incredible. I mean, the fact he, he created
space, but he did not create a lot of space and
then, and then just booted it in a way that like,
yeah, this is going in. I thought the ball was
going to get caught up under him when he was
kind of moving off. Yeah. No, it was a fantastic
goal. I mean, this is, this is what you want
out of your backup striker. You know, it's, it's,
um, Will Bruin, when he, the early, the first
few years, it's what we were hoping for when
we signed Hebert. You know, we were kind of hoping
for this. Obviously, it just didn't happen. But
it's good to see this coming through. It's good
to see this from Danny. And now that we got Jordan
looking healthier and healthier, hopefully we
can... parlay that to Danny being a super sub
and coming off the bench. And once again, like
this Austin game, looking at what we had coming
off the bench is just such a luxury when you're
able to bring on Ryan Kent, Jordan Morris, Pedro
de la Vega, Danny Leyva, Jao Paulo, all off the
bench. That's, again, it's easy to forget how
much depth we have as a team. And we have our
new star starting center back, Alex Roldan. Right.
That's actually, I wanted to get into that when
we were talking about the game and now we're
talking about the game. Well, let's take a break
first. You have your promo. Yeah. Listen to me.
I'm going to say cool stuff that you should listen
to and spend money on. Corporate overlords. Hey,
everybody. This is one of your hosts, Cameron
Collins. Now, I know we said this time's time
for a break. But really, it's a time for me to
talk to you about our corporate overlords. And
our corporate overlords are us. That's right.
We would love it if you would head on over to
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Podcast is dead. I like the analytics from them.
Yeah, we're nice. Yeah. So, speaking of... Analytics,
stats, numbers. How many positions has Alex Roldan
played in his career? Most recently, he was center
back. For the Sounders? Yeah. In his pro career?
Sure, let's just say Sounders. How many do you
think would be the number on that? One, two,
three, four, at least four. I would say probably
five. Okay, I think the fact that one of them
is keeper. yeah that kind of makes that more
impressive keeper right back center back right
mid and i mean if we're gonna count right wing
back that's i wasn't but technically you could
argue that's a different position uh and i wonder
if he played cdm at some point uh late in a match
or something when we were trying to load the
back of the box well yeah considering the that
he's played in the in the attacking band for
for El Salvador and also that we signed him to
be an attacking midfielder. Yeah, he's probably
played most of the position. Is that what he
was signed as? Uh -huh. I remember him being
more forward. Well, keep in mind, after the first
season, we didn't exercise his contract and he
was without a team. He busted his ass off in
the offseason. He showed up to training camp
without guaranteed of a spot, earned his way
back onto the team, and that was, what, 2019?
Feels about right. Just such a great story. I
mean, the Roldan family is just fantastic. It's
so good. I mean, he played well enough that we
let, I mean, money was another reason, but we
let Leardom go. Yeah. Yeah. We wanted Leardom
back. They just couldn't afford him. How do you
think he did at center back in that match, Austin?
I thought he did great. Yeah, he seemed solid.
He didn't take a ton of chances. I did see one
thing that was a really nice benefit to him being
a center back is the man can pass. So can Reagan.
That's what stood out to me is that we have two
center backs that can distribute the ball pretty
much anywhere. Yeah, exactly. And dribble the
ball. And so he was 91 % passing, 89 attempts.
He was 9 for 12 on accurate long balls. I think
that's... He had 11 passes into the final third.
Wasn't dispossessed at all. Yeah. 11 passes into
the final third as a center back. Does that seem
high? Not for the Sounders, because remember
those games where we were the most successful
early on in the season is when we had Reagan
and other center backs pushing up past the midline.
Maybe, but Reagan only had six passes into the
final third. Right, but I think Reagan probably
was. I didn't look at it through this lens while
they were playing, so I don't have the answer
to that. But he was probably the state at home.
Yeah, because he was more used to defending.
Yeah, that's probably true because I know there
were times I did see Alex up almost at the top
of the 18. And some of that might have been by
accident. He might have been like, oh shit, I
shouldn't be here. Sorry, Brian. That could be
true. But yeah, and you know what I got to say?
I'm just going to say this right now. It's funny
we're talking about Alex Roldan given what I'm
about to say. Cosa Rienzi is looking better and
better every time I see him play. I mean, I think
that was my biggest revelation about this, is
if Alice can slot in at center back, that gives
Kosa more time on the field. And that's what
I'd like to see. Yeah, I don't know. I mean,
he had a couple rookie moments, but I think...
I don't think it should be a one -off is what
I'm saying. Yamar, for the amount of money he's
making, I think... I think this may be his last
season, even though I think he has another year
on the contract. I was just going to say, I don't
know if he's too excited about Alex's performance
out there. Okay, you're talking about not later
this season. You're talking about at the end
of the season. But even now, if Yamar's not ready
to go and he's going to need more breaks just
based on his age. But keep in mind, John Bell
will be back because he was on red card suspension,
so it wasn't an injury. It was just red card
suspension. And John Bell's been great, so I'm
not mad at him. i don't want to take anything
away from him but i also do think that if chris
i mean alex can step in and play at a higher
level than bell then you you put the best player
there which gives you the best chance to win
true now with all that said i will say all of
this is to say that when we're saying oh they
looked great at least the way that i interpret
it when i say oh this person looks great john
bell alex rolled on i'm talking about for where
they are in the depth chart you know if if if
Yamar or Jackson Reagan had the exact same game.
I'm grading on a different scale. Interesting.
I grade them all the same. I mean, to me, watching
John Bell throughout this season, with the exception
of the red card, which he shouldn't have gotten,
it was not a red card. He's had maybe two rough
games, and the rest he's shown that he's MLS
quality starter. For some teams. I think he's
better than Yamar right now. Yamar's not healthy.
I'd rather have a full John Bell out there than
a three -quarters Yamar. But with all that said,
we're talking about someone who's fourth, maybe
even fifth on our center -back depth chart, and
we're happy with their performance. That's great.
I mean, that's great stuff. You know, because
you've got Reagan, you've got Yamar, you've got
Nuhu, depending on the formation, you've got
Kim Kihee. That would be the best. Just leave
them there. But ultimately, but this is great,
the fact that we have, we're talking about our...
fourth choice fifth choice center backs and we're
very pleased with their performance and talking
about how they could be starting well alex is
a starting defender so i mean it's not like he's
been sitting on the bench watching and here's
his shot and he played well he's been all in
the field all season at the same time i don't
i don't i don't particularly want to test the
limits and see how long he could be a center
back there I mean, I'd say practice should be
the one deciding that, though. Yeah, we don't
know what's going on back there. But it does
remind me of 2016 when Brad Evans started showing
up as a center back. and started getting some
time as center back. And then after that, Gustav
Svensson was dropping back into the center back
position. And so not the first foray we've had
into converting people into the center back position.
Hell, even earlier this year, we had Josh Atencio
starting in preseason as center back. I think
what stands out to me more about Alex, though,
is Brad Evans, as he aged, was built as a center
back, too. He's 6 '1", 6 '2". He's not that tall,
is he? Yeah, he's taller than me. Really? I was
eye -to -eye with him when I saw him. I thought
he was like my height. You're 6 '1", 6 '2". I'm
6 '0", but yeah. Okay, well, either way. 6 '1",
yeah, okay. But you don't think of Alex having
the stature of a typical center back, right?
No, that's true. It just looked. Yeah. But what's
really interesting, I'm very curious to see what
happens if El Salvador can get their shit together
because he left the national team because they
weren't getting paid and because of their fuckery.
They're still in it for World Cup qualifying.
So, you know, he may end up. He may end up being
the second Roldan to play in a world or to go
to the World Cup with his team. And will certainly
play. Well, yeah. Yeah, they may. Now, actually,
this brings me to a question since I did mention
Nuhu earlier. This goes back to the Club World
Cup. Do you think Nuhu starts against PSG if
it's not his birthday? I didn't know it was his
birthday. Yeah, I think that's the only reason
he started. Because he didn't start the second
game, and I don't know how you, in good confidence,
put him on the field. I would hope that that's
not the decision, unless it's like we aren't
going to be pushing three for nothing. Technically,
it wasn't. But yes, realistically, it was an
unreachable. I don't think so, and I'll tell
you why. He started because Brian thought he
was the best player. for that moment the reason
i know that for sure is the fact that we did
not see jp against botafogo yeah that's true
and and brian would have played if if that was
the case brian would have been to me way more
likely to play jp against botafogo even for a
token appearance You didn't even get a sub on
at the end. Well, that's exactly what I mean.
That's my evidence for no, that's not a thing.
Makes sense to me. With that said, the Botafogo
jerseys are so clean. Yeah, those are really
nice. I'm not going to lie. What is our new jersey
called? The Salish Sea Kit. Salish Sea Kit. I
hadn't seen it in a while, I feel, and it looked
good. too i'm liking that one i mean i think
we've only lost one game while wearing those
um we're yeah they're they're beautiful kids
they truly are they truly truly are so two nothing
win against austin um you know it's interesting
i heard someone say this is a team that we were
expected to beat i don't know why we should be
expected to beat them other than it being at
home because their record was only uh slightly
like one game off from us, right? Like they had
lost a game we had tied. And they had been on
good form, but I mean, they only scored 15 goals.
Sure. But still, it was a must, not a must win
because there's still early in the season, but
it was a, I think it was a morally must win for
the Sounders based on everything. I mean, they'd
lost five games in a row. Granted, three of them
were Club World Cup. But they had lost five games,
or they'd been winless in five games, I guess
I should say. I don't know if they lost that
first one or they tied it. Pride or Vancouver,
I can't remember. But it puts the Sounders back
on a winning note, now heading into hosting Columbus
on Sunday. What are you thinking about Columbus
coming to town? It's hat week. Only Columbus
cares about that. It's hat week. Look at that.
Tell the story. Wow. This goes way back. Over
a decade ago. Way back in the day. Now, keep
in mind, first off, Columbus wins MLS Cup. We
come into the league. We stole Brad Evans. We
stole Ziggy Schmidt. We had to pay Columbus.
There was some potential tampering going on in
order for us to get Ziggy Schmidt. I think it
was league tampering, though, and not us, ultimately.
So the same as Dempsey. Yeah. Yeah. Talking to
you, Mike, there, Nick. Yeah, in the end, we
took, well, Brad Evans at that time was just
an up -and -coming player, was a Kosarian -Z
type of player, you know, just up -and -coming,
some promise, we got him. In those early seasons,
Aces, any club except for Seattle, kind of came
out through Columbus. Oh, really? I always heard
it from L .A. people. People were mad that the
Sounders came in and were immediately successful.
In Chicago, people did that a lot too. Were immediately
successful, and people were angry that we figured
out how to win right away. Well, not only that,
but there was also kind of the messy effect where
in 2009, Nationwide, no one could stop talking
about Seattle's crowds, Seattle's crowds, because
we were pulling in passion that wasn't seen on
that level. I mean, double any other team in
the league. And so people were kind of getting
pissed off about it, understandably. I can understand
that. It really took a hold in 2013 after the
USA -Panama game here in Seattle. the game that
ultimately led to Clint Dempsey coming to Seattle.
What role did that play with him coming to Seattle?
Dempsey and Eddie Johnson were walking down the
streets and seeing every restaurant had soccer
games on. Yeah, I'd heard that before, but that
played a role? Yeah, I think it was the Seattle
-Mancouver game, I believe. So what ends up happening,
and then of course the crowd in that game, that
crowd for that Panama game was just such a great
crowd. And other U .S. soccer was trying to recreate
that in other cities for the World Cup qualifying
cycle. So when it was Seattle, Mexico, or sorry,
USA, Mexico in Columbus, the American outlaws
sent The Seattle outlaws president at that time.
Oh, this is interesting because to my knowledge,
the Columbus Seattle hate has nothing to do with
American outlaws. While this is a real thing
that you're talking about. I'm interested to
see why you're going this way, because I've never
heard this from Columbus fans. I know. Well,
I think all of this is the Seattle Columbus Columbus
hates us for, for multiple reasons. And I think
this is, this is part of that in my opinion.
So. 2013, the AO Seattle president, not me at
that time, it was a couple predecessors before
my term there. Were you going to say Reign? I
was going to say Reign, but that was not me.
Before my Reign. Came out to Columbus. Columbus
famously and their supporters group in the Nordec
for Columbus Crew Games doesn't... don't use
capos in the same way that we do. So it's very
controversial. And so Columbus fans were really
righteously pissed that Seattle was trying to
help organize support and basically AO through
Seattle under the bus. And instead of saying,
yeah, we invited him, we asked him to come, basically
just let... this turned into like a, you know,
a soccer sickos shit show, um, leading to the
AO president in Seattle, leaving AO completely
and basically nuking the AO Seattle. And made
a statement that could have been true for a lot
of other groups as well, which I thought was
kind of funny, but so somewhere in this frame
of mind, during a rivalry week where Seattle
was playing Columbus. Columbus supporters were
talking about how much they hate Seattle, but
they misspelled the tweet and left out the E.
So they hat Seattle. And so we ran with that
and basically... made a whole bunch of hats with
the Columbus Crew logo, but instead of saying
Cluru, it said Genocide Sucks, you know, because
Christopher Columbus is a homicidal, genocidal,
fascist asshole, et cetera. And basically just
yet another reason, you know, just to have, you
know, two supporter groups kind of at odds with
each other. Those of us who have been through
it a couple times will forever kind of call it
Hat Week. We're going to call this episode Hat
Week now. Well, and it was real ridiculous. The
things they would come up with are dumb, too.
It's uncreative nonsense. Yeah, and that's not
even to talk about the supporters lighting pyro
in the bathroom and taking selfies with it looking
completely ridiculous. Just a few cell phones
from Columbus supporters. It's just fun to pick
on them, but also made it that much more infuriating
when we lost to them in the 2020 MLS Cup. Oh,
see, I didn't care about that at all. What I
cared about was the coach. I did, because Caleb
Porter was... Yeah, the coach was the only thing
I cared about. Fuck that dude. Speaking of the
Sounders... We'd be remiss if we didn't mention
that the Rave Gala is being held on Sunday, July
20th. Cocktail hour begins at 5 p .m. with seated
dinner and live auction beginning at 6 .30. And
the one and only Elvis Costello is performing.
Oh, shit. I'm very excited to go. I can only
go because Alliance Council gets discounted tickets
because tickets are $1 ,000 each. This is, we
knew it last year. We talked about it last year.
This is a rich people auction for rich people.
And I get why, because it allows Rape Foundation
to do more good work in the community. Last year,
they raised over a million dollars. This year,
I expect it to be much higher. It's going to
be incredible. If you're a nonprofit, you want
rich people at your auctions. Right. If you have
money, I'm sure there's people out there that
listen that have money and can go. I highly recommend
checking out the Rave Auction. You've been quite
a few times there, Nicholas. Aaron, did you come
with us that one year? I went to the Champions.
right beforehand behind yeah with the houston
guys but that was that was that was 2020 right
like the week after the we won the cup yeah so
yeah so so that was uh in fremont that year yeah
and so this is it's it's a great experience um
you know we got to get our pictures taken with
uh schmatz and garth and all sorts of former
players and photo with me in the trophies in
the trophy Absolutely terrible. Well, that one's
great only because we were actually able to lift
the trophy, which you're usually not allowed
to do. Yes. So I've got a great photo of me just
trophy up in the air, just full, full ecstasy.
Speaking of which, this week at the game, Kellen
Rowe was doing meet and greets. Well, no, but
he was doing the meet and greets, and he brought
the jacket. So I put his jacket on. The Bogey
Boys? The Bogey Boys jacket. And so I'm like,
I'm only going to put this on for like 20 seconds
because it is hot. I can't imagine. Kellen's
a cool dude. He actually just befriended me on
LinkedIn. We're now business connected. Well,
Kellen's been a sponsor for Pub League in the
past. Yep. Sponsored a few teams. He's got his
wine thing going. So shout out to Vino FC. I
know Matt Look is a huge fan of his wine and
goes to all those events. Speaking of, I heard
a rumor, Nicholas. Okay, wait, wait, wait. First
off, I didn't know she was your sister. My sister
lives in Idaho. I heard a rumor. that nico and
roma were holding hands they were outside the
sounder stadium do we have to have a conversation
with her about boys now i don't think so i don't
think so but they were really cute together they're
really cute together they were they were he was
talking about it at public oh which this is our
first show since i for the second year in a row
my team has won the championship I do not know
what it's like to be a loser. I am a champion
through and through. And if I don't win this
next season, it's clearly rigged. Okay. So this
is why Cameron is up for most fun to play with.
Okay. Good to know. Good to know. No, it was
because I made weekly playlists since our theme
was not a phase, an emo theme. Every week I made
a different playlist to get our team through
the week and tell the games. Emos. I don't know
because if my team was not a phase and I was
going to do something weekly, it probably wasn't
going to be. Not a phase. It's not a phase. I
stopped as soon as the season was over. They
don't get any more. That's funny. That's a good
name. Not a phase. Not a phase FC. Yeah, it was.
AFC we went with. Athletic Football Association.
AFC is the email of the AFCs. So back to the
Austin game. Why don't we talk about that a little
bit? We moved on to Columbus. We moved on to
Columbus, yeah. We finished Austin. You lost
your damn mind? Yeah, I have. I have. We've been
jumping all over the place. It's like this is
the ADD podcast. It's hat week. You literally
just said it's hat week. It's hat week, Nicholas.
You're the only one wearing a hat. Yeah, you're
wearing a Weezer hat, which... It's incredible.
In fact, now move your thumb. Do that symbol
again. Now move your thumbs in a little bit.
Yep, okay. So I was at the Wu -Tang show instead
of at the Sounders match. Yeah, I did see that.
I did see the goals, though, as I had it up on
my phone at various times throughout the night.
So I did get to see the goals. And then, of course,
rewatched it later. Seattle Sounders ain't nothing
to fuck with. That's right. Columbus is coming
to town. Do you have standings in front of you?
I do. I do. So right now Columbus is sitting
in fourth in the Eastern Conference with 37 points.
They feel better than that, though. Well, it's
just that they're a very talented team. They're
a very talented team, but they are in a little
bit of transition. Gazdag is up top usually,
and, of course, they've got Diego Rossi. Still
in the prime of his career. Darlington Nagby
somehow still is kicking it. Still kicking it
there. They've got Evan Bush and Goal. They're
well coached. I think best coach in the MLS,
man. Yeah, I still can't believe Montreal is
so incompetent to let a gift horse like that
leave. So Columbus is three points out of the
Supporter Shield lead. They're sitting on 37
points. Philadelphia's got 40 right now. They're
both even on 20 games played. We're sitting on
19 points with 29 points, or 29 points and 19
games. So we're currently in fifth in the West.
You know, we've just got to start. making sure
that we keep getting results, keep getting results.
I'm not entirely sure that's going to help a
lot, but I'm not sure in this particular game,
two goals is going to win it. Might tie it though.
I think, I think if we score two goals, we're
probably going to get a point out of it. Maybe
not, but. Yeah, I don't see a 4 -2. That's kind
of an unusual result for Sunderland. Yeah. But
I do think that we're going to have to score
some goals here. You think Jordan sees some time?
Yeah, I don't know how much of a minutes restriction
he's going to be on, if at all. He'll have a
week off between... His last appearance? They
played on Saturday. This is on Sunday at 2. Yeah.
Yep. So they have 33 goals on the season, which
is six more than us. They've allowed in 23 goals,
which is two less than us. So their goal differential
is seven. And they sit three points behind first
place Philly. Yeah, they're good. They're good.
This is a great test. This is a great chance
for the Sounders to come out and show that the
Club World Cup was really helpful and got them
into a form where they can move forward. I'm
just annoyed that League's Cup is going to come
interrupt. It's really tricky because Columbus
has won their last three straight, but against
Philly, who, as we've said, is the top of the
league right now, Atlanta. And Vancouver. Now,
don't get too excited about that Vancouver one
because that was in the middle of the international
break when, you know, they were... That should
have been a really great litmus test. Although
San Diego destroyed... I guess they didn't destroy
them, but they made them look foolish at times.
Yeah, but I mean, the point is that we're playing
through international breaks and we're not seeing
Columbus versus Vancouver with both teams at
full strength. And that's just a shame. It's
just a shame. did give up five goals to Miami
back on May 31st. They did. They did. Which was
the Miami reawakening. Prior to that, Miami had
been really struggling, and that is kind of what
jump -started them into some success there. Well,
it's frustrating because this six -game run for
them should be one of their toughest stretches
of the year, and yet it just seems like they're...
They're passing the test. They had Nashville,
Miami, Vancouver, Atlanta, Philly, and then us.
But fuck Columbus. So let's just focus on our
stuff. But fuck Columbus. But fuck Columbus.
Get the butter. All right, explicit. Bring out
the gimp. God. Gimp's sleeping. Come on. guy
in mask permanently okay so we want to go over
predictions or anything like that yeah and do
you actually have our results there we go it's
okay i do not because i i have been i have been
running ragged yeah no i mean honestly Too busy
with those five matches, huh? Here's the thing
is six. Aaron, you were like, you were like,
I've been working so hard. I don't think you
understand what it is like to have to go to a
soccer game every other day at noon. It is a
lot of work, man. Let me tell you, I was tired.
I kept having to get up early. I was walking
10 ,000 to 20 ,000 steps every single time. Roma
has been beating the shit out of me at these
matches. She's turned really violent. I don't
know why. And seriously, she has. This has been
a hard life. You're like, oh, I got to go to
work. You get to go to work in San Diego, man.
It's beautiful there. Oh, yeah, technically.
Yeah, well. You can hang out at Thomas Jefferson
Law School. Well, I do. But we had a very difficult
time having to watch soccer every other day.
World -class soccer. World -class soccer. With
grass. I had to get a VPN and pay DAZN. Yeah,
that's so ridiculous. Because I couldn't watch
live. I will say. My allergies did bother me
when I sat behind the goal because of the grass
pollen floating around in the air from the grass.
Yet another reason turf is better than grass.
For all the bubble people out there. Yes, that's
right. So you're saying you don't have a rubber
allergy? I do not, thankfully, because I am single,
so I need them. Jesus. All right. No. I did set
him up. He took it. He ran with it. I can't be
held responsible. How do we get cameras? Can't
be held responsible. Her face. What song is it?
No. It won't be held responsible. Are you trying
to go freshman, Verpipe? Yes. Cameron's like,
it's got something about doing something on her
face. I won't be held responsible. I don't really
remember the lyrics. The look on her face. We
need to end this. Yeah, man. With the Freshman
by Verve Pipe or Verve? Which one's them? No,
Verve Pipe. Verve was Bittersweet Symphony and
the very underrated Simple Man. Other single
that no one's ever heard except for Nicholas.
Happiness, more or less. That's good stuff. Speaking
of which, Nicholas, or perhaps all of our listeners,
I just noticed that there are currently Groupons
available making the Billy Idol and Joan Jett
and the Blackheart show at Climate Pledge on
September 20th only $24. I don't know how you
pass up a chance to go see Billy Idol and Joan
Jett for $24. That's fucking amazing. One, I've
met Joan Jett. She is an absolute gem of a human
being. She's great. I have two, actually. Two,
I just would be remiss if I didn't say Simple
Man with Lynyrd Skynyrd. I meant Lucky Man. It
was going to drive me nuts. So, Lucky Man. Fantastic
song by The Verb that I think is actually better
than Bittersweet Symphony. Yeah, I met... Joan
Jett, she was staying at the hotel I was managing
back in the day, and her alias was Anita Joint.
First name Anita, last name Joint. What if she
still uses that and you just outed her? This
was 15 years ago, so you're the lawyer. I think
I'm good. I mean, you're good either way, and
you don't work at that job. I mean, security
ops, she should be changing that shit up. Yep,
that's true. With that said, she needs a joint.
So if you see Joan Jett, give that lady a joint.
Speaking of joints, what is your joint? What?
I didn't finish. What is your joint score total
for the upcoming Seattle versus Columbus match?
Joint score total? Five. I think it's going to
be five. Okay, how many goals do you think are
going to be scored? Four. Interesting. I've been
doing the over a lot lately, and I've been wrong,
so I'm going to go with three. I liked when you
said two, too. I think that's going to happen.
What are we? What are we? A ballet class? Mm
-hmm. Look at me plie. Don't be a unitard, man.
James, take it away. You can follow the Sounders
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see you at Lumen and go Sounders. Alexa, who's
the best MLS team of all time? Seattle Sounders
are both unequivocally and indiscriminately the
best MLS team of all time.