He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say it's cheating. Hello, hello, and welcome
to another edition of Sounders Scuttlebutt. I'm
your host, Nicholas Biela, and I'm joined here
today by the wonderful one and only Cameron Collins
Esquire. Is it Esquire? Yeah, it is Esquire.
That's correct. It's technically Reverend Dr.
Cameron J. Collins Esquire. I mean, I got the
reverend, but I have officiated some weddings.
yeah that's another story together uh so welcome
welcome how you doing i'm doing all right i got
some food in me so i'm not as bummed about the
sounders game we're about to talk about but uh
you know it's uh a point on the road so we'll
leave it at that until we get into the actual
discussion yeah and i mean we are for timeline
we are talking about 30 minutes after the end
of the game It is Saturday night, and it is,
yeah, just an interesting game. So we're trying
this. We're trying the post -game special for
some immediate effects. We're going to see how
that goes. Don't know if that's going to be a
regular thing for road games or not, but we'll
just kind of go. uh aaron unfortunately could
not join us today but we um we miss him nevertheless
oh oh wait but he missed last episode because
of his mother -in -law and he's missing this
episode because of his mother so uh too many
moms in his life i know i know and i mean so
i mean let's start with our our timely unfortunately
death watch Why do people keep dying? It's been
an interesting week. I mean, if you are a fan
of early 2000s reality TV celebrities, this was
not a good week for you. Or if deaths come in
threes, you had Ozzy Osbourne. Then you had Hulk
Hogan. Were there any other? prominent celebrities
that were there was having there was reality
shows in the early 2000s that reality shows i
don't think i don't think uh malcolm jamal warner
was ever on reality shows but uh i think i was
i think i was in that time too you know maybe
maybe hey that's that's two that's two we're
waiting we're waiting for a third uh yeah but
we did lose theo huxtable as well and we lost
uh was it chuck is it mangione is that how you
say his last name yes he's a syracuse syracuse
new york native feels so good i i believe so
that that feels right i could be wrong on that
my cousin got quite mad at me for criticizing
hulk hogan on the day he died but hulk hogan's
done a lot of real crappy stuff in his life uh
he was a hero to me as a kid i literally have
his autograph i wrote him a letter uh actually
to get an autograph for my cousin but uh Man,
he kind of sucks. Well, I mean, first off, Rochester,
not Syracuse, so just about 45 minutes west.
I think a lot of us of this generation feel the
same way, where we grew up on Hulkamania. I grew
up in those 80s WWF era. I touched the million
-dollar bill. My dad was always really cool.
Whoa, no way. Oh, yeah. My dad was always great.
He would try and get us good seats to things.
And as an eight -year -old, I had floor seats
for a WWF show in Buffalo. And I put my hand
out and touched the million -dollar bill as Ted
DiBiase walked by. And Virgil. was following
close behind him and smacked the out of my hand
whack like how is this a house show or was this
an actual uh i'm pretty sure it was a house show
i didn't know it wasn't on raw or whatever the
equivalent of rob yeah raw wasn't even yeah it
wasn't even a thing yeah but you know but but
i guess the the way you know i do remember that
night uh ultimate warrior was there jake the
snake roberts ravishing No Andre the Giant, but
yeah. George the Animal Steel. But yeah, so there
was a quote that I've seen passed around a couple
times this week that kind of sums up that I can
understand and respect. It says, I've never wished
a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with
great pleasure. Definitely a... Complicated figure.
He burned a lot of friendships in the WWF world.
I mean, Jesse Ventura tried to unionize the wrestlers
when they weren't getting their due. Hogan ratted
him out. And that's why Hogan was getting paid
more than all the other wrestlers combined for
WrestleMania. So he didn't want to upset the
status quo. I mean, he did do it. I mean, I will,
my cousin's credit. His point was my cousin is
a huge wrestling fans, been a wrestling promoter
before. He did so much to make wrestling mainstream,
which is absolutely true. 100 % that, that, that
Hulk and Andre. Absolutely. Absolutely. I was
very lucky. I actually had a friend who. was
a wrestling promoter, an independent wrestling
promoter out of Syracuse, New York, 2CW, Squared
Circle Wrestling. And it lasted for a little
over a decade. And so we would often have some
really cool conversations about the behind -the
-scenes business of WWF. And at that time, I
used to spend a lot of time on kind of an earlier
version of The Athletic called Deadspin. which
was a really good sports site, had a lot of really
good, interesting articles that weren't necessarily
news about who scored what, but more like independent
journalism about sports. And Hulk Hogan... Before
it sold out. Well, that's what happened was Hulk
Hogan sued the shit out of them because of the
sex tape or the phone calls. There's a really
good documentary on it. Yeah, and so they got
the name back, and then once they went back live,
they basically just tried to white glove it.
Yeah, and it just wasn't the same, and they had
to sell the brand and everything. And it wasn't
a scab. There's another guy that's involved in
that, and I can't remember his name, but he's
a real piece of work. Yeah. uh totally i mean
they made mistakes don't get me wrong they did
they had some questionable journalistic stuff
that did lead to their downfall but uh the entire
uh hogan thing was funded by someone else who
uh yeah uh peter peter thiel is that right yeah
that feel right yeah anyway so so the whole thing
is and and to be fair What made Deadspin great
was they were writing articles that other people
weren't, covering things that other people weren't.
What it meant was it was by people who weren't
necessarily journalists. It was Gawker Media
by then, but that's around it. Yeah, but they
were presenting stuff without some of the journalistic
practices that were needed. Anyways. Listen,
don't forget, Peter Thiel is one of the largest
J .D. Vance and Trump supporters and is behind
some of the most nefarious stuff in their campaigns.
Yeah, I mean, he's part of he's part. Anyways,
so so that's that's why once once I actually
haven't gone into dead spin until, frankly, earlier
this week was the first time in maybe five years
I've gone on just because I wanted to see if
they're reporting on him. Yeah, interesting.
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, Hulk Hogan died. We feel
many things about it, but I once recorded an
episode of my podcast, Punk Rock Pariah, talking
about how I wouldn't even celebrate Osama bin
Laden dying because I don't think it's appropriate
to celebrate anyone's death. That doesn't mean
I'm not happy that he can't hurt any more people,
but it's far more complicated than that. Yeah,
I think that's actually very fair. And to that
point, actually, because I used to work in media,
I got my degree in communications, radio, TV.
I pay very close attention on an academic way
on how news is presented. I'm just fascinated
by it. It's just something really popular to
me. The night Osama bin Laden died, I was watching.
alternating between how fox news and cnn and
the independent which is one of my favorite go
-to places the independent out of the uk uh independent
.co .uk npr but what i thought was the most comprehensive
coverage and was really really good was al jazeera
um and they were said they were a complete i
mean for a long time a really good news source
They were for a very long time, and then I think
politics got involved and all that. I mean, much
like any news source, funding is important, right?
Yeah, and just because they were the news source
that was often receiving tapes from Osama bin
Laden and Saddam Hussein and such doesn't mean
that they were the ones that were promoting it.
But no. Anyways, just... media will forever be
something very fascinating to me and i will never
fully extricate myself from from it i mean they're
owned by the qatari government right but uh yeah
bbc is owned by the british government and they
still do some decent uh coverage of things right
like yeah oh yeah get that beer yeah i i gotta
do that Anyways, I think that's enough scuttle,
but let's talk about the Sounders game. Or do
you want to talk about the All -Star game a little
bit? Yeah, I mean, I think I want to skip the
All -Star game. Did you happen to listen to the
last episode of the show with the Ultras? You
know what? I was not able to. It's okay, because
I want to get your reaction to this as well.
It was without Dan, who I did invite to join
us tonight. Sadly, he could not be with us. We're
going to bring him up from the minor leagues
to the big boy podcast for a night. But the Rave
Gala was last weekend. And as you know, I went
and it was super fun and happened to have the
Heritage Cup in my trunk. And so Dwayne, the
president of the Alliance Council, was like,
hey, bring it in. And so I did, and we got a
bunch of pictures with different players, which
gave us a chance to interact with players. And
Paul Rothrock was amazing, spent some time talking
to us, told Pedro de la Vega all about the Free
Pedro movement from our Discord. And when he
was leaving, he came back and said bye to us
and was so friendly and so nice, so awesome.
I hope his hand gets better. He broke his hand
earlier this week in training. uh but uh and
you know we had we had lots of players come over
and visit us schmetzer came over uh had something
a little little say about new who to us and uh
you know some other stuff but really uh the the
the event of the night for me just because it
it broke my heart was getting um russnack albert
to take a picture with the trophy and us and
we were just talking to him and he was like,
oh, I didn't get a chance to see it because he
had been subbed off. So he was actually excited
to see it and hold it up in the picture. And
Amanda from the Lions Council was like, oh, you're
my mom's favorite player. And he was like, oh,
that's awesome. I didn't realize Seattle fans
liked me. I thought they didn't like me. And
it just really hurt my heart that he said that
because, I mean, there's not a lot of chance
for him like there is for other players. And
I think he gets a lot of unfair criticism. You
and I both know that Aaron loves him and preaches
the work of Russ Knack constantly and his involvement
in plays. And we both, you know, are big fans
of him. I'm a pro Albert, yeah. I know. So it
made me feel really bad that he felt that way.
So I hope – I was like, no, man, you're my assistant
goal king. What are you talking about? So I hope
he has a little bit of – feeling better about
the fact that uh he has some support because
it just kind of broke my heart that he felt that
way because he is he is and continues to be such
a big part of this team and you can tell when
he's not on the field like it hurts the team
yeah i mean he's he's certainly putting up dp
numbers over the last two years that are just
absolutely fantastic um if you're looking at
you know just blind double blind situation you're
just looking at stats You'll take that kind of
production out of your DP any day. Some people
just have a hard time conflating salary or expectation.
And you know what? He's producing. End of story.
Yeah. And he would be producing even more if
we had a number nine DP that was on the field
consistently. That's not a knock on Jordan necessarily.
That's just a fact, right? Yeah. He'd have another
three to five goal contributions a season. I
think that's probably accurate. I don't want
to say too many more just because Danny's had
a good season, but they're different styles of
play. Yeah. So it's a bummer, man. I don't ever
want any player to feel like the fans don't support
them because even in times where we're critical
of players, they're still Sounders players, and
I'm still going to support them no matter what
they do. Yeah. I think that's fair. I think that's
very fair. I won't say no matter what they do.
I'm not a big Mark Burch guy, but you know what
I mean. I do. I do. But that's one of the strengths
of the Sounders is that largely we have historically
put together a roster of people that are easy
to root for. One more bit of scuttlebutt before
we get to Sounders. Your 2025 Western Conference
USL 2 champions. That's right. They're playing
in the national semifinal tomorrow. Oh, it's
Final Four for the Western Conference? Okay,
that makes sense. No, it's the Final Four. Correct,
but I thought they were on to the final. So that
makes more sense to me. I didn't understand how
they only had two. But Ballard is hosting them
on Sunday at 5 .30 p .m. So at Interbay Stadium.
Because I guess they played a Seattle U in the
round before, which I did not realize. But Flint
City knocked off – say that again? I was just
going to say I wonder if there was a scheduling
conflict. There must have been, yeah. Seattle
U is a great place to play, a championship field.
Not as many seats, but there has been multiple
national championships won there on that field
at different levels. And not only that, it is
where one of the teams is going to be training
during the World Cup next summer. They're not
just training down at the Sounders clubhouse.
There will also be another team. that their training
is at Seattle university, which since I have
access to that building, I might just go try
to hang out with some world cup players. Maybe
that's how I get in. That's going to be really,
really tough to do on a security ops situation,
but I get what you're saying. I still have access
to the gym. I can use my card to scan in. You'd
be surprised. Back in high school. And granted,
it's been a long time back in high school. It's
where the road players used to always come play.
uh so every once in a while at seattle prep we
went over to seattle u for jim and we would peek
in and i remember seeing shack there one time
when orlando was in town and some other people
uh and and yeah so manchester united trained
there a few years back i think it was when they
played celtic here maybe okay and also when they
played the sounders when that we lost five nothing
that game was that uh and who was the goalie
that got the that that ended his career in that
game it was our backup goalie He had been our
USL keeper, and he hit his head and got a concussion
on the goal post. Not Josh Ford? Or was it Ben
Dragovan? Yeah, I think it was Dragovan. Terry
Boss? Or Terry Boss. That's probably who it was,
Terry Boss. Now that I think about it. Because
Dragovan, I don't know if he actually made it
to the – did he ever make it to the Sounders
Pro Squad? I thought he did in the first year,
but I could be wrong. He might have. But, yeah,
that was unfortunate. But, yeah, Ballard FC.
playing uh but city bucks who beat minneapolis
city unfortunately who's a team i support because
uh my friend nate started their one supporter
group lives in minneapolis um and they have they've
always had awesome jerseys for a while they had
the best jerseys in the country so uh it'll be
cool to see if we can make it to another final
yeah i mean we we this is our third um western
conference title in in like four years The other
side, Vermont Green, Dothan United. Vermont Green
with some of the best jerseys in the country.
Wow, that would be really fun for Vermont versus
Ballard. I haven't seen those, to be honest.
Oh, yeah. You'll check them out. Vermont Green
historically has some of the coolest jerseys
around. Just super fun with what they've done.
And Bernie Sounders likes to shout them out.
Bernie Sounders. Wow. That's right. But they
did beat Lionsbridge, and that's who we beat
when we won our national title. Nice. So they
beat them. So much like Ballard FC, Lionsbridge
FC has been kind of a perennial powerhouse. I
threw that up. vermont green fc shop there in
the chat for you there nicholas so you can oh
cool get a chance to check it out i know i know
you probably don't uh want to have to spend money
on more jerseys right now but uh their wildflower
kit is pretty fun oh yeah yeah even the pre -match
top is nice and their home their home kit is
just their main one is good too so uh they've
done a pretty great job over there at making
a little soccer community. And so it's cool to
see. I like it. I like it. I mean, that was one
of the things I liked about the Saturday soccer
pop -up shop that came out last, last week was
just going into the store and seeing kits from
all over the world and just being expired. um
literally as earlier this morning earlier this
uh this afternoon i was creating our public jersey
for our public theme which i can't announce just
yet because it's not public but um so i just
i just love i love jersey design your inspiration
i'm excited i'm excited for that yeah it'll be
fun it'll be fun i love i love what you're doing
as well for yours so that'll be cool If you're
still on that page, scroll down. Oh, geez, there's
a giant spider in my wall. Go away. Scroll down
to the Electric Pine Goalkeeper Kit. That's pretty
cool, too, the way they've worked in a pine tree
into their goalkeeper kit. Pine trees. It's on
the first page at the bottom. Everyone else,
just go to the vermontgreenfc .com and hit click
shop, and it'll come up. yeah i see the training
tops but i do not see i do not see the goal oh
way down okay the maple goalkeeper kit two above
that oh gotcha i'm like i'm like are we going
full super troopers are we chugging that bad
boy okay yeah yeah okay yeah i like that spider
no now it's on the ground what am i doing he's
gonna get his revenge I'm taking my shoes off
the ground and putting them on this William Shakespeare
book over here so that the spider can't get them.
Yeah, so interesting week in MLS. We had the
all -star game. Messi no -showed, and so they
promptly suspended him for today's game, and
I'm impressed that they took that step. Yeah,
hey man, Jordi Alba. Yeah. And that game ended
in a 0 -0 draw against Cincinnati. Oh, that's
big because they would have made a difference.
Yeah. Was not a fan of the Minnesota -St. Louis
City game because Yeboah had a – by the way,
that 2 -1. So Minnesota -St. Louis City 2 -1,
three penalties. Yeah. Yeah. Just – and that
was Victor Rivas as a center ref. But no, I just
don't like... Yeboah did that really egregious
stop in the middle of his run -up. It just bugs
me. I wish they'd changed the laws of the game
on that. Yeah, I don't get it. If you're going
to make the goalie stay on the back line, you
can't let them do that too. I would propose that
the moment a player... begins their move, goalies
can come off their line. Yeah. There you go.
He moves, the whistle blows, the moment the player
moves, then everything's fair game. I like it.
Works for me. Did you see what happened in the
LAFC -LA Galaxy match with the red card at the
end? I saw the scoreline, but I did not see the
results. I did not see how we got to that point.
In the 91st minute, Eddie Segura grabbed LA Galaxy
player by the back of his neck and head. It wasn't
like he was choking him, but you can't touch
that. He just had a stupid moment, and he cost
his team three points. Yep, because LA Galaxy
got... a goal in the 97th minute to go through
after Gabriel Peck came back and had a penalty
and a 79th minute goal. So, man, if Gabriel Peck's
going to turn on the Galaxy, we know how they
can be, right? How bad they can be and then come
on at the late season. They're a team that you
have to watch out for if they get good. Like,
I'm not writing them off. I mean, even today's
game, this might be a good segue. Atlanta has
a good offensive. minded team. They just haven't
been able to get everything going this year.
I thought, well, are we, are we ready to start
talking about the game? Yeah, we can. Well, we
do have some mailbag. Let's see how much is related
to the game. It looks like most of it is game
related. So we'll, we'll hold off until later.
Why don't we, why don't we do this? We'll take
a break. We'll hear the Patreon promo and then
we'll come right back. Sounds good. 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
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-M. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
And we're back. Yeah, we played today, recording
on game day. I got some food in me, so I'm not
as grumpy as I was, like I was saying beforehand.
Let's start from the end and then go backwards,
just because we know the final score was 2 -2.
What an incredible goal, though, from the Atlanta
player. Yeah, Ron Chuck. Yeah. I mean, obviously
there was more the Sounders could have done to
prevent that, but you gave him the space and
he took it. And, oh my God, there was no way
Andy was stopping that ball. No, it was a really
well -taken shot for literally the last kick
of the game. When I look at the last, ever since
the Club World Cup, really, I look at the Sounders'
goals that they've allowed. And it's been penalties
and weird things. There haven't been a lot of
just, oh, the Sounders got beat. Even that, like
that was a really good individual effort. So
I kind of take that as an encouraging sign to
a degree. But at the same token. You have a lead
going deep into stoppage time. You've got to
hold on to that. I feel like between that six
points minimum we've lost this season between
Charlotte at the beginning of the year, Colorado
just recently, and then this game. But at the
same time, that's the 34 -game season. You're
going to win games late. You're going to lose
games late. You're going to drop. you know drop
results late six points i mean that pops us up
into second place tied with minnesota so i know
but then there are games where maybe we shouldn't
have won and we did you know so so it kind of
so so it's it's you got to take the good with
the bad sometimes with soccer um but so i don't
want to hurt on that too much i do want to say
as we're starting and going backwards one Congratulations
to Baby D -Row. Osase Rosario getting his first
MLS goal. He had a great look from a beautiful
cross, which would have been, I think, his first
touch of the game. Alex Roldan just gives him
a wonderful cross from the wing right to his
head, and he just puts it wide. But he redeemed
himself with that five minutes into stoppage
time goal. uh great play there between kent and
new who people two players that have been in
the doghouse um for various various ways i think
kent has just not been getting the playing time
he wants and i think he um is obviously going
to be frustrated about that but hopefully it's
both confidence boosts for both of them but i
thought i thought kent did really well in that
build up to the goal and i thought knew who uh
just put a really nice cross right over to, to
D row's head. So really well done by the, by
the sounders there. So great job. Yeah. And honestly,
I'm at that. It was before that point because
D row came on, but we were, we had moved Jesus
up to four and it just kind of felt like, all
right, we're just mailing this in and going for
the tie. And then, and then they're going to
know. And I mean, it, I know that's never Schmetzer's
plan. He just didn't want to give up a late goal,
but. It feels like showing up the defense or
midfield really is what it is. Showing up the
midfield never seems to help us late in matches
is my takeaway, just because at least last year
we saw, and it was different midfielders, it
was largely Atencio, but we saw several games
where late subs really hurt us. Well, for context,
in that 77th minute, we subbed off Danny Mussofsky.
And we subbed off Reed Baker -Whiting. But then
we put in Kalani Kosovianzi and Nuhu. But we
already had Alex and now Nuhu on the field. So
Kosovianzi was playing up a level. And with the
way he gets into the attack, so that was more
of an attacking sub for that. So that basically
pushed Jesus up to the forward position. And
that was only for 12 minutes. Uh, cause in the
80, in the 88th minute, that's when we brought
on, uh, D row. Yeah. On offense. And I felt like
we kind of, it felt like step back during that
time. Well, well, to your point there, uh, the,
the, you know, my favorite thing, the possession
graph or not the possession graph, but the momentum
graph, uh, when we subbed off, when we subbed
off, uh, Danny and read, uh, the next like 10
minutes we're all we're all atlanta so so you're
not entirely wrong there um but i thought uh
that's also at the same time we took off pedro
because we took off pedro three minutes later
um for ryan kent um Pedro, let's talk about that
first goal for the Sounders. So we're defending,
defending, defending, defending. At first, I
didn't know quite what happened because the cameraman
was focused on the clearance that they didn't
focus on the counterattack. But this is once
again, we talked about this like two episodes
ago, maybe three episodes ago, where we're lamenting
that we wish the Sounders would try and just
make quick possession. a little more often. And
this is like the third straight game where we've
had that happen. And so it's just really nice
to see that change up of attacking styles within
the game where it's not super predictable all
the time. And big credit to Yamar for booting
that ball up to, I believe it might have been,
albert who flicked it on to pedro i don't know
for sure i'd have to check the replay but but
pedro was off and running uh a three -on -one
and it was just really well done i thought he
blasted that ball uh short side on a on hey say
what you want about grazand he's a veteran goalkeeper
who knows better than to allow a goal short side
yeah um so pedro just Just outwitted him. And
again, it's a three -on -one, so he's got to
cheat a little bit to a degree. And so they just
took advantage of the numbers and just really
well executed. Guzan is a great MLS -level keeper.
I don't want him starting for the U .S. national
team, but he's consistently near the top. He's
had a long career. He's had a very, very good
career. I think it speaks volumes that a team
like Atlanta who have had ambitions ever since
they came into the league, he's been with them
ever since he came to the league. So, so for,
you know, I would say at the beginning of that
reign, he was probably on the higher end of the
goalkeepers in the league, and now he's kind
of more middle, but he's not a below average
keeper. I mean, you saw it last year against
Miami in the playoffs. He was befuddling them.
He's, yeah, I'll respect. I think what you said
is perfect. Very good MLS keeper who had some
time overseas, Don't want to really need to see
him in the U .S., and fortunately, we won't need
to. Speaking of keepers, though, I do want to
give a shout -out to Andy Thomas, who played
a fantastic game. Both goals, there really wasn't
anything he could have done on either of them.
No, and he made some good decisions coming off
the line. Didn't have to make a lot of saves,
but... he did have to really take control of
his box, and I thought he did that pretty effectively.
Yeah, so let's jump to that first half real quick
in general because, of course, they scored on
their own goal. Do we have to? Was it the seventh
minute, seventh or ninth minute early on? I blocked
it out. Yeah, it was seventh minute. But the
RBW mistake, recovery from Yamar, just kind of
bounces off his knee, doesn't totally get in
front of the ball, and goes into the goal at
an insane angle. And, you know, nothing Andy
could have done, kind of the opposite of when
we almost scored on our own goal in the second
half, but it didn't go in when it just hit the
far crossbar. But I felt like the first half
is kind of the typical Sounders road game we've
come to expect where we're just not showing up
and it's just boring and we seem tired. That
wasn't the second half, though, obviously. I
don't know how to analyze it because defenders
were slipping left and right. We were just getting
overwhelmed. But we just kept making those key
defensive plays, like a great run from Obed to
chase down Latela, who... was off to the races
with a lot of acres of space. And not only does
Obed chase him down, but he wins the ball at
the top of the box instead of fouling him or
giving up a free kick or a dog. So at that point,
you know, it just really, really well done. But
I unfortunately think that Miguel Almarone had
had his way with Reed Baker Whiting today. Rough
day for Reed. Yeah. You know, he didn't shine
great on that first goal. Kind of got himself
got burned at the top of the box and that created
scramble mode. But a lot of that first half just
felt like scramble mode. I think that's the best
way to describe it. It just felt like the Sounders
could not get comfortable. in that first half.
That's just, that's the way it looked to me.
Yeah. Even though they had possession. Yeah.
I think that's fair. It just, it felt like, it
felt like one of those games where a team has
figured out how to, how to create dangerous plays
against us, but also how to stop our crosses
from doing anything. And generally the answer
then is to figure out a different way to bring
the ball. That's when we see the over -the -top
balls that used to go to Jordan when he would
go on those runs when he was trying to get through
the wings, but we don't have that kind of speed
at the top anymore. So I don't know what the
answer is, but clearly whatever Freddy Juarez
saw, they were able to bring into the second
half and make some differences. I'm curious.
what you think about the fact that we have to
make those changes at halftime. I mean, I felt
the same way about the Seahawks with Pete Carroll
is the way I've talked about it, where sometimes
the Seahawks would be just down by too much by
then. This case, we were only down by one and
we came out in the second half and we looked
like a much better team and it paid almost immediate
dividends. How do we get that analysis from the
coaches coming in quicker? I mean, I guess you're
afraid to make changes in the first half, so
maybe it has to do with changes. Something changed
clearly. They didn't make subs at halftime. Well,
it's a good point. And I think that's a question
I'd love to really pick Brian's brain on the
next time we get a chance to meet with him. Because
it really is a great, great question. But, you
know, I think it's a little disingenuous to say
that it's just all a halftime adjustment because
you can hear and see. Coach giving instructions
to players during the run of play, during the
game. So this does happen. But you can really
adjust better. Historically, that's been kind
of a hallmark of Brian Schmetzer. That's what
Freddy Juarez's job. That's why often he's been,
earlier this season, he was up in the booth the
first half and came down after making the changes.
yeah so so we've seen that amazing ability to
do it so it's and it makes sense i think from
a psychological perspective when there is a break
and you can convince players to make different
changes in their game because you can show them
film you can show them different things uh i
didn't notice this i'm curious you saw this um
During the Club World Cup, they had all those
little TVs in front of the coaches, and I was
wondering if that was going to continue in the
MLS season, and they did. When they came back,
you would see Schmetzer having a little TV in
front of him for replays. Is that something they
showed? Did you happen to see that on TV? I'm
curious if that's something that's continued
as the league has gone on. So they're watching
a play from across the field but close up, and
they're seeing film immediately to see what changes
they can make on the fly. Well, I mean, other
sports have their version of that, the tablets
and the prompters. So I think it's just giving
the coaches technology to compete effectively.
I don't have any problem with that at all, as
long as both teams have an opportunity to utilize
it. I mean, it's no different than someone being
upstairs and coming down and telling you what
to do. It's just you can make changes right there.
you got to be careful though. Some of those players
like throwing those tablets in football. Well,
yeah. Yeah. I think today, one of the things
that was really interesting was recognize that
Atlanta have had a rough season. It's certainly
not going, you know, it's not going at all how
they expected this season to go. They, you know,
they spent, you know, what, 30, 30 plus million
on, on transfers in the off season. You know,
so they, they kind of expected, you know, a level
of, of competence with that. And, and to a degree,
we saw that with their offense today. I think,
I think that we really did see why they are,
you know, why they are dangerous. Yeah. But,
but, Did you happen to catch Guzan's interview
after the game? No, no. I turned it off when
they were, I think, right before they did that.
It was very clear that he's exasperated, that
he's thrown his own team under the bus a little
bit. Ronnie Dyla threw his team under the bus
this last week. uh they're getting in their own
heads they're they're frustrated so i mean they're
fighting they made that trade was it last week
where they sent uh ephraim morales over to montreal
which is a 21 year old bolivian international
uh for 450 000 gam and it could go up to another
350 000 gam added on top of that and and they
kept his buy uh sell on rights but um or you
know But their fans were attacking Anderson on
it. And it's funny because I went into one of
their comments and was like, look, I would give
anything to have Anderson back in Seattle because
he made so much out of nothing here. Obviously,
he wouldn't come back because the position he
would be in doesn't exist. There's not a level
that high here. Yeah, well, I think in this case,
and this makes a lot of sense to Montreal, because
if you're Montreal, you struggle to attract talent.
So when you can get someone with some strings
attached and take advantage of a situation like
that, Yeah, that's a big win for them, I think,
on that case. Kind of mutually beneficial. One
thing we've learned from having multiple talks
with Craig Weibel, from creating a relationship
with Garth Lagerwey, mainly those two, I would
say, is that sometimes you trade a player who
has talent because they're not going to be able
to start on your team and you do it for them.
Josh Atencio. Yeah. uh loaning out danny leva
i mean there's a sam at dinner on henry henry
wingo yeah uh i mean yeah i mean they're talented
and they just maybe don't have a path to starting
anytime soon and the reason you do that isn't
just for that player that's going to keep other
players wanting to come play for you because
then they go oh so if it doesn't work out for
me here they're going to do me a solid and help
me down the road somewhere else And so I'll give
a shot on it trying to play here, which is something
that may not occur otherwise. So I don't really
have a, sometimes you have to give up talent
in order to, you know, appease that talent or
the same reason we let Oba go, right? Like Oba
was going to be terrible in the locker room,
not because he's a bad guy, but because he didn't
want to be here. If, if that's just, that's his,
his career path was always, I'm a mercenary.
I'm going to go and I'm going to, you know, his.
tables and chairs of different teams that he
played for that that's just who he was right
at the same time i mean that's the same thing
as um you know reputation matters so you think
anyone's going to want to go to boa vista in
portugal uh there's no way in hell um the well
this is the team that keeps failing to pay the
transfer fees players that they they get so no
one's going to do business with them anymore
you know reggie cannon just won his lawsuit after
he wasn't paid um they were trying to use a transfer
fee from another player to pay another transfer
fee just just some really shady shady shit like
who's who's gonna wanna who's gonna want to do
that so who's gonna go to a team like that uh
just really interesting but so yeah reputation
matters and i think i think Honestly, that's
why we got Ryan Kent. He took a chance on us
with what we've proven. Now, I really am not
closing the book on Ryan Kent at this point.
I think today was a good step for him. I thought
today would hopefully give him some good momentum
going into League's Cup because I got a feeling
we're going to see him quite a bit during League's
Cup. I think we're probably going to see a little
bit of Danny Leyva, who hasn't been getting a
big shout, a big run out. So we'll see. I thought
it was interesting, though, that when Kent came
on the field, suddenly we were pushing far more
towards the right than the left. And he came
in for Pedro on the left, correct? He did come
on for... for Pedro, but I don't know. I'm curious.
I don't know how it was lined up at that point.
Yeah, if there were players, because ultimately
the goal came from the left, obviously. It was
Kentonuhu over the top. He was in his normal
spot, yeah. So I'm curious as to, and I notice
that during the games at home sometimes, because
they'll come my direction a lot more, which is
to the right if they're playing towards your
end, in the Brougham end. uh then other times
they're playing towards the left and it seems
like there's certain personnel in the field that
prefer to go one direction over the other uh
and i wonder how much that is on purpose or if
it's just like oh i feel more comfortable passing
it this way to this person and i'm never really
sure if it's like we're going to try this and
try that based on the defensive matchups based
on uh who we're seeing their patterns of play
yeah or or if it really is just in that moment
You're pushing to the right, especially after
Rusnak comes off, because he's really the quarterback
out there pointing which direction to go throughout
the game, even when he doesn't have the ball.
Well, you know, the other side of that, though,
is I do want to point out there was that moment
where I think it was maybe Obed who tried to
launch a cross slash through ball to Kent. streaking
up the middle and, and, uh, it just took a center
back making a good play to prevent that, uh,
shortly after he came on. Um, so he was kind
of not just staying to the wide side. Um, he
was getting involved into the play a little,
a little more than maybe, maybe usual. So, um,
hopefully that's a good thing. Yeah, I agree.
Let's hit some of these mailbag questions real
quick, uh, that we have. Yeah, let's kind of,
uh, first one. Why did we look scared to take
shots from outside the box? I feel like we haven't
been taking a lot of shots from outside the box
in general. We have scored some in the last few
games, but throughout the season, we're much
more likely to cross it because that's our game,
for better or worse. Well, you're right, but
you've got to remember, you've got to freeze
frame where are we at these times that people
are like, oh, take a shot, take a shot. One.
if you're going to if you're in a spot where
the passing lane or the shooting lane's not there
and that gets clogged up that is an immediate
turnaround transition the other way yeah and
so you have to be smart tired defenders on on
how you do it now there are times where yeah
you see the situation like shoot and unfortunately
just the the mindset it takes to recognize the
situation to set your feet up to take that you
know when you're stepping out you need like a
two -step run up you need that that chance to
get you know some power behind the shot sometimes
it's just not there the the mls level defenders
they close down faster than you think yeah i
will say at times seems to hesitate more than
i i thought he would have based on the way he
played a lot when he was younger. And I don't
know if that has to do with not being as familiar
with his teammates as being, you know, when Areola
was out there, they knew each other forwards
and backwards. They could play without looking
at each other. And so it very well could take
a while to learn your team, especially when we're
having players come in and out constantly. But
in general, I agree with you, especially late
in that match. That bounces off the defender
and deflects back the other way, and suddenly
they have a breakaway. well that that's when
dangerous things happen yeah and i mean i think
i think the other side is that i thought we saw
um over the last few weeks i think we've seen
jesus just looking a hell of a lot better i mean
he's always shown signs of good stuff but then
you're seeing measurable impacts as well on the
score sheet which which obviously a lot of people
are going to look to that first and foremost
um so i'm i'm pretty pleased with how Jesus has
been playing I'm still surprised and maybe this
is the the league's cup that will change us uh
that we haven't seen Ryan Kent get a run out
at that position because I think Ryan Kent has
the opportunity to really level up that position
compared to where Jesus has been now Jesus has
been playing better he's been scoring goals uh
but not in the last few games uh and I thought
there was some room there but um you know for
whatever reason we've seen players need to prove
it before they get that chance to be on the field
regularly and we saw Pedro prove it and now I
think I mean I think that's his position on the
left to lose which is tough for Paul because
Paul is an amazing player but you can't sit Pedro
in a in a meaningful game at this point like
a an actual league match yeah but at the same
time um This team hasn't been able to keep people
healthy all season long, so just give it a week.
And Paul's hand obviously being broken is a bummer,
but thankfully that's something that with surgery
and a club on his hand, he can make it through
pretty easily, I think. Yeah. Although he's going
to play with some fire and grit. I'm curious
to see how that changes when he's got a... you
know, a clubbed hand. He just might get a red
card. Like the old days with Carl Mecklenburg
for the Denver Broncos, their scary linebacker
dude who had a big club and he's swinging it
around at people. So another question. Does Andrew
look ready to take the mantle once Fry retires?
Yeah, I would have said yes last year. This year
I feel like he, you saw. It's going to be different.
a little bit of a struggle early on when he was
playing. But I think these have been some solid
games for him lately, especially these last two.
Even before that, I mean, he's not stopping the
penalties. That's okay. He's not the one caught.
Oh, yeah, he did cause a penalty. But Fry doesn't
really stop the penalties either until that playoff
win last year. It's house money. Yeah, he had
stopped. It's house money. He had stopped, like,
two or three in his whole career that were kicked
off the bar. I feel much more optimistic when
Andy's about to take a penalty versus Fry. With
Fry, it's just a matter of, I hold my breath
going, oh, even if he makes the save, he's going
to come off the line. And it's going to come
back. And that's not fair, but it's also not
unfair. But again, if this is a situation, penalties
we get maybe once every, what, three to five
games, we face a penalty against us over the
course of a season. So if we have one moment
every three to five games that is his weakest
point, I'll take it. I'll take it. And then even
taking that a step further on the statistics
side, take the best penalty shot stopper in MLS.
He's going to save that every 15 % to 20 % of
the time. Yeah, not that often. So if you're
taking 15 % to 20%, so that means theoretically
if you're getting a penalty every five games.
and 20%, then that really means that once a season,
Fry's missing out on a penalty save that another
goalkeeper is saving. So I don't want to harp
on him as this is his big weakness, because all
the other things he does day in, day out, game
in, game out, save a lot more goals than that
one goal that could have been saved this season.
It is his big weakness, but it's not... he makes
up for it in other ways right like no no player
is an all -around perfect goalie yeah i mean
if that's his big weakness that's these are the
there are much worse problems i have i would
rather have i would rather have a goalie that
is guaranteed never ever ever to save a penalty
but excels at but is going to lead the league
in shutouts every year or be top three in shutouts
every year. I would take that in a heartbeat.
17 % to 20 % by goalkeepers on penalty kicks,
which Fry is significantly lower than that. But
17 .5 % according to CEFR, ARQ. Okay. I would
take that trade off. 100%. Sure. No, here's the
thing. We were just lucky to see Nick Raimondo
play in our stadium quite a few times. It was
one of the greatest penalty savers ever. If not
one of the greatest. Yeah. Man, I like that guy.
Let's keep it moving. Let's keep it moving. I
think there's a double question here. New who
in or out or new who subbing on late as our new
closer? I guess. Do you want to start with this
one or do you want me to start? I'll start with
this one. We saw Reid have a tough day, and I
think New Who doesn't get run down like Reid
did during that game. But they bring different
things, right? So Reid is going to make us more
offensive generally. Yes, New Who had an assist
today. I think largely put in that position by
Ryan Kent. You saw another play when he came
up and... tried to run forward and everyone was
back and he's like, Oh, and he kind of went up
and ran backwards. But you know, it's a, I mean,
I think, I don't think you bench read because
of one game. I think if new, who has earned the
trust of the team back, which coach master said,
it isn't just about the coaches, it's about the
team. You give them that opportunity again. He
is one of the best defenders at defense in the
league. And so if he can keep his head on straight,
and the team can trust him on the field, then
I think everything's good. How do you start him?
Well, I think in this particular case, one, keep
in mind, yes, Reid had a bad game defensively.
But with his offensive... with his offensive
skills and the way that changes a team like atlanta
it's got to keep them somewhat honest so they
can't just pin their tails by their ears back
and just attack attack attack they have to be
aware of that so so that dynamic changes a little
bit when new who's on the field but i would rather
see A game like today where we just struggled
defensively, yes, Nuhu is a better option out
there. I would not be surprised to see him not
start the first League's Cup game against Cruz
Azul. Reed or Nuhu? Nuhu. But at the same time...
I don't know. With Cruz Azul's talent out there,
you might need... a quality player like new like
defensive quality player of new who's caliber
out there you know this is a really good question
and i'm actually thinking that so when we when
we played them in mexico city we had the back
three but that was obviously when paul ariola
was still on the team healthy um So we did have
Nuhu in the back three. When we tied them and
0 -0, we definitely were the better team and
we were unlucky to get out of there. Pedro de
la Vega was not offside as we won that game.
Yeah. But at the same time on that one, we had
the three in the back. So I'm very curious to
see how we line up i'm very curious to see how
we line up do you think you think we go with
with that um i would have said yes except for
we didn't in the club world cup which is when
i thought for sure including based on things
that our general manager said to me personally
that that's what we were going to do against
uh atletico madrid and psg right like that that's
yeah i would have said yeah we're going five
in the back and then we didn't and we saw i don't
know success is the right word we saw uh we played
well for our quality of player i'll say that
i mean we still saw 48 times to the middle 36
to the left you know what i mean like they were
still eating us yeah yeah but but we were still
we were not just defending, defending, defending,
and hoping for just a long ball. We were trying
to play our style of game. And I really respect
that during this Club World Cup, that we didn't
change what we do to go for the Hail Mary. And
I thought that was something that I could really
get behind. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mariners
scored two runs, now up 5 -2. That's your episodic
Mariners update. During the episode the other
night with the Ultras, it was when the Mariners
made their big trade, hopefully the first of
several to get Naylor. So that's our Mariners
update. So are you starting New Who then? If
we're playing Santos or Tijuana first, I would
say no, because we're playing Cruz Azul, and
that's going to dictate whether we get out of
League's Cup. I think we need to get a result
out of that game. We need a result. Obviously,
we won't know if we need one or not, but it sure
would help us a lot. Well, only four teams are
going to get out of it. you know so it's just
really interesting destroys mls across the board
and we get three draws we could potentially still
make it out but we would prefer not to have to
deal with that yeah and i mean it's gonna be
really interesting though because uh because
the the way that it the way that it's set up
it's gonna be it's gonna be really interesting
to see um i think league mx is Kind of come with
some fire. I think they've got something to prove.
And I think we're going to see... They're going
to win more games than they lose, I think. Yeah.
Yeah. So let's skip ahead. Two questions coming
from Tim Hamilton. Excited to get your takes
on these. He has taken over Dan the Bastard's
mantle as the curmudgeon. of the discord join
our discord uh hey wait first off first off uh
big shout out to tim for for uh tailgating with
the last game i had a great time yeah really
good time um he he he delivered he delivered
yeah that was super fun uh definitely will be
going again the next time he does a tailgate
uh usually that my daughter was wondering why
she couldn't have jello Yeah, well, that's what
happens when it has daddy juice in it. That doesn't
make it sound any better. Let's get these last
two questions, though. I'm going to put them
as they are because I think your response is
going to be interesting, especially based on
what we've already talked about. We'll go with
this one first. Does D -Row keep us from spending
that sweet couch cushion moolah on Ohio? I wish
this was a video podcast right now. The way you're
shaking your head. It's like I said it. Okay.
Nothing that D -Row could have done in this game
is going to have any impact on us signing Ohio.
Period. Exclamation point. Nothing was going
to make that change. We are not going to make
a change based off of our third string and fourth
choice forward and results they get. Let's give
D -Row credit. He got his first goal, but you
also saw him miss a very good chance earlier.
And he's been struggling a bit in Tacoma recently.
Tacoma just got rid of their head coach. So everyone's
been struggling in Tacoma recently. So let's
be careful on the hype train. And let's recognize
him for what he is. He is a project. He's, you
know, we are not making first team decisions
based on D -Row. No, no, definitely not. You
know, this is something that's in the works for
a while, so we'll see if it actually comes through.
There's obviously, it's got to be finalized.
It sounds like a fee has been agreed to, but
you still need to get that, get him into town,
get him a physical. And I'm sure they have a
physical guy somewhere in, or person, I should
say, excuse me, somewhere in Europe that can
do the physical without having Noah having to
come all the way here. I am a little annoyed
that if he comes, we're probably going to have
to hear that stupid Ohio State chant you love
that just shows how inbred they are in Ohio when
they're like, O -H -I -O, blue, blue. It's the
same bullshit mindset. I think you've just managed
to somehow piss off Ohio State. and michigan
fans and somehow cruz azul fans and anyone who
enjoys anyone who enjoys listening to our podcast
on headphones so i think you just somehow venn
diagram pissed up all four groups of people congratulations
again but you know what i've hated michigan uh
from for my entire life so i will uh the the
football team i don't uh have i been to the state
i don't believe i have so i have no comment on
the state itself but Let's get this last one
in before we get out of here and get our predictions
for the next match. Do we just give Georgie all
the minutes we're giving to Kent? I think Kent
had a good game today. Also, if you're going
to play Kent on the left, Georgie plays on the
right. I don't see that happening. Depends on
where you're playing. I think you're going to,
I wouldn't even be surprised if you see Danny
Leyva at the 10 with Georgie and Kent up there.
I don't hope to see that because the league's
cup shouldn't just be like us open company where
we just put people that haven't been playing.
There should be a thought behind it. And it's,
it's not right. And it's disingenuous to give
Ryan Kent minutes. But without first -choice
talent around him to help set him up to kind
of see, you've got to set him up for success
to a degree. Same thing with Georgie. Same thing
with any of those players. You've got to set
them up to succeed. So there is a balance. I
expect to see, like out of our first -choice
11 for these League Cups game, I expect to see
five, around five. first choice players each
game. The first choice. The first game I could
see us going main, main, main starters, maybe,
maybe, uh, uh, uh, I mean, not Fry because we
know, uh, already that the entire tournament's
going to Andy, no matter what. So we will not
see Fry in the, but, uh, I could, I could see
us putting, putting starters. Oh, bad. Oh, bad
Christian. What do you do there? What do you
do there? I mean, I'm giving them a break, I
think, but, uh, you know this maybe game's thursday
obed oh man already obed may want to play chance
to to you know it's playing teams for the national
from the country where he's on the national team
uh may you know get some minutes in there so
we'll see i mean i think i i think i probably
shift one of the players out maybe give christian
a break but i don't know if you want to shift
both i i especially with jp hurt i don't i don't
know i feel like we need unless you're gonna
move rust neck back I feel like we need, which
we've seen in the past, we need someone back
there with the younger players. It's too bad
we're playing Mexico teams because otherwise
we'd be shipping up to Boston. Dude. God, it's
already on Thursday, huh? All right. All right.
So Sounders 2, Atlanta 2, bummer of a point because
of the last second goal. But hey, point on the
road is all you need. We are hosting. Actually,
we are not. We are the road team. against Cruz
Azul. Wait, wait. I do want to also shout out
Tim Hamilton because Tim has made this argument
on many occasions. He's been like, I want exciting
games. I want offense. Well, you know what? You're
fucking getting it. The Sounders, since Club
World Cup, have scored two goals, three goals,
three goals, three goals. They're scoring goals.
They're getting their opportunities. So yay for
that. Would you rather stay the course and keep
getting results, another straight result? So
we're getting results. Would you rather get results
even if they are maddening at times where it's
draw, win, draw, win, draw, and two of the draws
should have been wins? Yeah, I guess so. Would
you rather have that? Or would you rather have
three draws and two wins, or three wins, a draw,
and a loss, but all of the wins are like 1 -0?
Yeah. I mean, you know me. I want the most points
possible. I don't really care how we win. We
give down every game on an own goal as long as
we win. And the difference between that is nine
points in my scenario with three wins a draw
and a loss, but those wins being 1 -0, versus
nine points this way with two wins and three
draws. So, you know, we're getting those points.
So, yay. Or one less point, but the games are
more exciting, even if it drives us nuts. I would
love to see. I love the excitement. I'd love
to see that we can score. I guess the ultimate
question is, has having a stronger offense stretched
our defense in a way that makes it so they will
score more goals? Because our defense isn't what
it used to be for whatever reason. Part of that's
injuries. Part of that, players just not playing
like they have in the past. I mean, Reagan was
so solid at the end of this match that I almost
feel bad that we didn't get the win, considering
how good he was at stepping up and clearing that
ball out of the box. Yeah, yeah. But we also
predicted this at the beginning of the year.
In our season preview, we were talking about
that the onus this year was to be scoring more
goals offensively, but it's going to come at
a cost of defensive... You know, it's going to
come at the cost of defensive shape. Yeah. Yeah.
So, yeah. I'm all about winning championships.
I don't care how we do it. You can't take away
the star. That's all I'm going to say. I don't
care if we win 8 -0 versus 1 -0. Just give me
that star. Well, it's funny the way you said
that. I was like, wait, who's the star in this
scenario? Are you saying don't take away Jordan?
Don't take away Paige? Don't take away that Jersey
star. It took me a second, okay? I'm tired. I've
been up since 1 in the morning, and I've got
to get up in a few hours. It's your bedtime.
So what we've got to ask you is Sounders are
on the road at Lumen Field this coming Thursday.
Yes, it's a road game. Yes, it is at our home
stadium. Wait, real quick before you do that.
Hey, if you are, you know, if you're a Sounders
fan, especially if you're bilingual or even if
you're not bilingual, but if you speak Spanish.
get involved with the Vamos Sounders Club. It's
a free club to sign up. You'll get newsletters
about the club in Spanish, but they'll give you
two free tickets to one of the League's Cup games.
Now, the Cruz Azul game, that ticket offer is
sold out for those games. They're all gone. But
you can get two free tickets to the Santos Laguna
or Club Tijuana game. Go to the, yeah, so Vamos
Sounders. I've got the QR code that I've been
sharing with people left and right. I've been
actually having wonderful conversations with
people about this. I've probably gotten at least
two dozen people signed up for these games. So
I'm pretty happy about that. Yes, that big green
box with the Bienvenidos to Sounders. You think
I should get tickets to Cholos on Wednesday?
Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I think you
should go check that out. Okay. You should go
check that out. It looks like you can get tickets
in the green zone, the 100 -level north corners,
or the 200 -level corner and upper south end
zone. So that is non -club seat. corners but
if you if you when you when you choosing where
are you choosing to sit when i go to games you
know i'm always in ecs you know but if i'm recommending
if i'm recommending to other people i'm recommending
them to sit as close to the brom end as possible
personally um you know take in that atmosphere
for sure you know i don't know if you get a choice
that specific or do you just have to say where
Because when you click on the zone, it'll tell
you which section and which row and yeah, it
dials you in even more. Yeah. So, okay, cool.
Yeah. I definitely will have to do that since
I have not gotten my use my Vamo Sounders tickets
yet. But, but yeah, so again, I challenge each
of you listening, even if you're not going to
leagues cup or you're not available, you know,
share that link. Share that with someone you
know that might be a Sounders fan. Share that
with someone who, frankly, doesn't get a chance
to go to many games. Maybe it's a financial consideration.
Just try and encourage them, hey, go to this
game. I believe you also, if you're willing to
stand in line, you get a free trucker's hat.
I think a Vamos trucker's hat. I haven't seen
the design on that yet. A little secondary, but
still, the important part, these things matter
to some people. I literally have been talking
with... Uh, right now my job puts me into, um,
many restaurants and back rooms. Uh, so I'm,
I'm, I'm getting to interact with a lot of people
who English is not their first language. And,
you know, we, we start talking about soccer and
I explain what this program is watching people's
faces light up, go, wait, wait, free, free, free.
And like, yeah, yeah. And, and walking them through
the process and. And seeing them just excited
to be able to go to a game. And especially, you
know, some of them, you know, grew up watching,
you know, League Amex, you know. And that was
their game. Become a fan of a second team, you
know. Yeah, exactly. And so it's a great, great
program. And obviously it's successful with the
Cruz Azul game being sold out. from that perspective.
Cameron, do you have anything else you'd like
to add? Yeah, I just got kicked out for a second.
You sure did. We'll say what you just said again
in case something was lost. I was expecting you
to come back in, so I was just kind of winding
down and wrapping up. No, what was the... I need
your score prediction for... Oh, that's right.
That's right, because I will be doing the score
predictions for these. Oh, you know what? If
we put our ideal starting 11... We get the 1
-0 win. We get the goal we should have gotten
and we take it because we're going to want some...
It's a revenge game. It's kind of the equivalent
of the LAFC. It's hard to beat the same team
three times in a year. Even though they did not
beat us in the first game. I know that. I recognize
that. But we also got our ass kicked in Mexico
City and I don't think that... I don't think
the players forgot that, and I think it left
a bad taste. So I expect us to treat this with
an intensity no matter who's in the starting
11. So I'm going to say 1 -0 in a tough match,
and I think Andy's going to make some key plays.
We're going to get some good moments there, but
it'll be a deserved 1 -0. Nice, nice. I'll go
1 -1. I think we get the draw we need out of
it and move forward. And that's fair. That's
fair. I mean, I try to be an optimist, and I
don't want to root for, yeah. And their season
is not starting yet, so they are. So they're
in a different – Oh, they haven't played yet?
Because I think the league itself is like two
games in. Yeah, Cruz Azul has not played yet.
Interesting. Cool. Oh, I'm sorry. I got that
backwards. Nope, nope. You're right. You're right.
They have played three. They've won one drawn
two. So I was looking at the wrong thing. And
we don't know their lineup anymore because I'm
sure they had some moves. So, you know. Stay
tuned to that. I'm sure there'll be a lot of
discussion around that. You're not wrong. All
right, well, Cameron, where can they find you?
You can find me at LegalMindedPunk on all these
social medias. How about you? You can find me
at Cascades2C on Instagram, and come find me
at Nicholas on Discord. Come join me into our
conversations, and let's have some fun. Yeah.
Absolutely. All right, everybody, we'll catch
you next time. Be sure to subscribe to the show
for new episodes following every Sounders FC
match. And don't forget to share your feedback
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on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at BritVoxus.
That's BritVoxUS. We'll see you at Lumen and
go Sounders! Alexa, who's the best MLS team of
all time? The Seattle Sounders are both unequipped
and they are arguably the best MLS team of all
time.