It's time for Scuttlebutt Ultras. Quick takes
from our Patreon Ultras, sharing their soundest
thoughts straight from the heart. Your voice,
your moment. That's right, you are listening
to Scuttlebutt Ultras, the special edition of
Sounders Scuttlebutt. I am your co -host, Cameron
Collins. I'm here today with my co -hosts, Cedar
Banks and Alex Diaz. We are here to tell you
why the low block is the best thing to ever exist
in soccer. Yes. Oh, gosh. Or we are here today
to tell you that. Vancouver Whitecaps got a German
defender. Real Salt Lake got DeAndre Yedlin.
Minnesota United got an Austrian midfielder.
Colorado Rapids got U .S. National Team midfielder
Paxton Aronson. LAFC got Brighton midfielder
Andrew Moran. Who did the Sounders get? Jordan
Moran. Yeah. That's right. I mean, we could probably
call up Cody Baker, right? Yeah, no, I mean,
he's technically on the first team roster already.
We don't need to call him up. We'll get to that
and more. But first, let's talk about the fact
that four, count them, four MLS teams are in
the final quarter, I guess the semifinals for
the League's Cup. What are we thinking about
all MLS final here? I mean, I don't know. It's
a little, I'm, I'm a little disappointed just
cause like, it'd be fun if, you know, for the
league's cup, there's actually a couple of Liga
Mekis teams in there, but Hey, I mean, it just
shows that, you know, we're, we're, we're a competitive
league. Yeah. We've, we've talked before about
how the league's cup is. It's a little bit tilted
just based on where they are in their season
in Liga Mekis versus we're already. you know
midway through our season but uh i don't know
i i think uh it would be cool to have uh some
some mexican mexican teams in there at the final
but they have to you gotta earn it i guess it'd
be fun to but it would be it would be fun to
see more teams we haven't seen before alex what
are you thinking i kind of i had this conversation
with a few of my buddies earlier today he uh
He sent a message in the group chat. He said,
so are we going to talk about MLS going 4 -4
-4 in the League's Cup against League MX? And
we were like, if we're being honest, they're
not really trying. It's their preseason tour,
per se. I mean, they showed up. You could tell
those games meant something to them. But I think
the preseason is the big part, though. Yeah,
it's kind of like, one, all the games are played
in the U .S. So they have to do most of the traveling.
And then you have to take into consideration
that they're in the beginning of their season,
whereas we're in the middle, getting ready to
gear up towards the playoffs. Yeah. And that
plays a big part because you can clearly see
it when we do Champions League. You can see that
we're struggling to compete and they're firing
on all cylinders. Yep. So it's kind of the inverse
of that, which... uh makes it seem fair to me
because we have to deal with that in the more
important tournament but does it does this does
it hurt the credibility of this tournament that
is all mls teams i mean i mean it's just that
it's i think you should expect to dominate a
tournament that you created i mean they created
it with league of mekis so it's not a mls made
tournament this this is both of them coming together
because for them, it's a chance to get seen by
all your fans in the U S who don't get to see
you regularly. I mean, it's a huge money opportunity
for these teams and to expand their markets in
ways that they wouldn't be able to otherwise.
Oh yeah. I agree completely. It's a good opportunity
for the, for the fans in the States to be able
to watch the teams that they might've grew up
watching. that their family supports and stuff
like that. And sometimes they even go to the
old -timers games between America and who did
you go see? Chivas. Yeah, that's right. I mean,
I went because I got free tickets. If not, I
went. Was it fun, though? I mean, was there some
past stars there? Like, did they have good players
out? They had Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Oh, nice. I
guess he was good in his prime. I don't know
who that is. Oh, man. Yeah, he was good. Chivas
took Bofo. I guess he was a good forward back
in his day, I guess. But he was just there walking.
He scored a good PK right in the top corner.
He scored a better PK than Christian did. That's
funny. Blanco is in the Chamber of Deputies.
He used to be the governor of Morales, and he's
now in the Chamber of Deputies since then. So
he is a, which is the bicameral, part of the
bicameral parliament of Mexico. That's very interesting.
But he played for a long time, started his career
with America, 308 appearances, 108 goals, played
all over, including Chicago Fire. Santos Laguna,
Veracruz, Real Valladolid, and Nicasa, and came
back to America to play one final game in 2016.
But from 1995 to 2014, 119 appearances for Mexico,
38 goals. So he was the man as a forward for
a while there. No, and I mean, in that game,
they're all over 40. But you could tell that
their touch is still there to an extent, like
the way they were passing the ball around. Yeah,
I don't think you lose that. I think you lose
the fitness, not the touch, right? Yeah, you
use all the physical abilities, but the technical
skills stay there. Yeah. Alex, do you feel like
you could have hopped in there and played with
them? Oh, for sure. I would have saved the BK.
Nice. Hell yeah. Let's go. Yeah, you would have
turned... To the fans, right? And be like, hey,
I got you. Oh, yeah. Me and Thomas are very similar.
He saved a PK. He won a PK shootout, and I won
a PK shootout in the finals not too long ago.
Let's go. Plus the mustaches. Mine's coming in.
At least you didn't grow one, unlike your brothers.
Yeah, I mean, definitely we want to hear more
about that. Let's go back to this League's Cup
where because LA won, even though we are the
number one seed, they have an exception based
on winning the MLS Cup last year where we have
to go to LA now, play next Wednesday. But win
or lose, we have a home game the following Wednesday.
The question is, will it be for the championship
against Miami or Orlando? or will it be the third
-place game against Miami or Orlando? So we don't
know which it'll be, but we have a good – I mean,
we have to win one of the next two games to make
Champions Cup because top three make it. So this
is a huge opportunity for the Sounders. I don't
– I'm not – I mean, I want to win it, but I'm
more concerned about that Champions Cup spot.
Yeah. I think it would be a true failure if we
didn't just – if we lost. both the next two games,
right? Because that's the main thing, getting
back into Champions Cup. Yeah, for sure. We also
got the transfer window closing any minute here.
I think it closes on... It might have already
closed, actually, now that I'm looking at it,
because it closes today, but... 1 a .m. Eastern.
I think they have one more hour. Now we're like
15 minutes. Yeah, 15 minutes left. So maybe during
this episode, we'll get Sounders news about a
Sounders signing breaking through. Oh, boy. We'll
find out. Wait, you didn't hear the news? Oh,
what's that? Jordan is off the sling. Oh. That's
big news. Good, good, good. I mean. Adding Jordan
is kind of like adding a designated player. Funny
how that works, huh? I mean, we joke, we kid,
we cry. But, I mean, getting the players back
that we have back, I think will, if they can
continue, the rest of the team can continue to
play the same way, will be pretty great. I just
don't know what we do moving forward in the...
tournament that we're still in, the League's
Cup, because Danny Mazovsky had the red card.
But let's get to that. Let's get to that. Sounders
played against a team from Mexico. It's late,
guys. It's been a long day. I've been staring
at a computer all day. We played against Puebla,
who they had some fans there. It was pretty fun
to see their fans. Very vocal. Not a lot of them,
but... Once they, especially once we got the
red card, they were very loud. But the team that
frankly surprised me in the game because they
are one of the worst teams. They won their first
game and then have been so bad in the league
that their coach was fired. So this is the first
game with the new coach. And usually we've seen
Sounders kind of run a little bit on these teams.
And we did not see that until the end of this
game where the Sounders kind of. I mean, we had
possession, but it felt like they were stepping
in and their style of play just totally disrupted
what the Sounders wanted to do. Alex, you were
commenting during the game on it didn't seem
like the Sounders were going on the right runs
and weren't making one -two passes and just weren't
moving the ball like we'd seen them move in the
past. Do you think that was tiredness? Do you
think that was just the Sounders not... playing
right or was Pueblo just really good at stopping
our game? I don't know. I kind of saw like we
do this horseshoe of death. You know, you get
the ball, you rotate it from one side and you
rotate to the other. And especially that we have
Pedro isolated on the wing, he would receive
the ball and immediately be double teamed. But
I would see no one, maybe then again, it's the
way that I was viewing it on the broadcast. I
wasn't at the game. but I wasn't able to see
no one checking in. So he would lose the ball
or try to do something, and then he would try
to do too much, and then we would get caught
out of possession, and then we had to retain
possession again. So we were just using energy
just to keep the ball. And there was just like
no off -ball movement. It was just very static.
What would you think, Cedar? Yeah, I would agree
with that. It felt like... They came out guns
blazing, and I felt like the ball movement was
really, really crisp. I mean, they're really
good at orchestrating little passing sequences
within tight spaces. And the amount of times
that Pedro would flick the ball up to win it
and try to get it, there was a lot of hacky sack
going on. It was really fun to watch, honestly.
But yeah, it did end up being that kind of horseshoe
of despair where Pueblo, they were really dug
in and everybody was defending really well on
their side. They made our lives super difficult.
We had 80 % possession, but nothing came from
that in the open run of play. in part because
their defense was so good. And yeah, to Alex's
point, it did feel like there were a lot of moments
during the game where we would have the ball
out wide on the wings and in the middle, it was
like there was just this empty space and there
were no blue shirts there. And it's like, somebody
go occupy that space. Give our guy out wide an
option. Yeah, it was frustrating for pretty much
most of the game. Yeah. I mean, my big takeaway
in the stadium watching was I just kept watching
how they were playing Danny Masovsky. And every
move he made, there was three defenders that
followed him and would move in sync with him.
And then if one had to step away, a fourth. from
the other side would come over and become part
of that three. And so they were shifting back
and really making sure that he could not go on
any runs that did anything. The one run he did
get through was because Christian was wide open
a few paces behind him and he went on a run and
Christian just got, he shot it. He didn't have
time to do this, but if somehow he could have
just chipped it over them at that moment. And
knowing they were going to do that, Danny would
have been wide open to the ball. Although we
saw that Ferreira do that later and didn't help.
But yeah, I mean, the defense was pretty incredible,
I thought, from a team that had really struggled
lately. Gave up seven goals in their first league
match back after the first round of League's
Cup. How much do you think this was? you know,
coach boot, but like firing the coach, you get
a little boost. I mean, we, you spoke a little
bit to this, but I want to be more specific.
Do you think it was that, do you think it was
them playing well, or was it the low block? How
much of this is the low block and the Sounders
inability to seem to figure out any way to break
it? Um, I want to say that it's, 20 % the coach
boost, and then 80 % the inability to beat a
low block. Because they came in with a game plan
to keep us frustrated, maybe get a red card against
us, which they did, and then either they sneak
a goal, or we go to penalties and end up there
as a coin toss. And they executed their plan
perfectly. and we're just lucky that Thomas is
an absolute beast at PKs, and he was clip farming,
and he won us that game. Like, he saved our ass
last night. Yeah. Cedar? Yeah, I mean, Puebla
really, they knew what they were doing, and they
did it well. They were trying to get in our heads
and they successfully got into Danny Masovsky's
head. And, you know, I, you know, I felt like
the ref was, he was, he was definitely pretty
lenient and that was frustrating, but you can't
control the ref, right? You can control your
own emotions. And I mean, you know, I don't know
what it's like to be in Danny's shoes or anything,
but. You know, potentially, I mean, from the
broadcast watching the game, you could see him
get visibly more frustrated when they cut to
him in close -up shots. And maybe that's a situation
where, you know, Brian needs to be aware of and
sub him out before he gets to the point where
he, you know, physically touches the ref, right?
And that's obviously a red card, right? You can't
do that. do not do that. Yeah. And we'll get,
we'll get back to that because it's definitely
something we need to discuss, but, but yeah,
keep going. Yeah. I mean, look, Puebla, they,
they did with, with the resources that they have,
the state of where they're at, you know, in having
their coach just getting fired. their assistant
coach stepping up and uh from what i could tell
from the broadcast he was a former player of
theirs too so um yeah i mean they were they were
i mean they were annoying me like i wasn't even
playing and they were frustrating me so you know
they did they did a good job at that right and
we have to we have to expect that um playing
any team in conca calf um because that's that's
the That's kind of the bread and butter of CONCACAF.
So, yeah, but I do think, you know, just the
general, aside from that, the general game plan
of the low block against us, we've seen it work
time and time again against us this season. So,
yeah, I think when teams play more open, it's
just so much. you know, it's, it's more fun for
us and we're able to kind of play in so many
different ways. And, but if a team is just bunkering
down, it's, it really, it really gets frustrating.
So post game, they, they asked Brian, someone,
maybe Jada asked Brian about it on the, in the
press conference. And I don't want to say he
was dismissive, but maybe he was being realistic,
but he said, look, we play LA galaxy nest. they're
not going to switch to a low block. Unless suddenly
they're going to completely change their style,
we don't need to worry about it against them,
and we're not going to have to worry about it
against Kansas City. So we don't even need to
have this conversation. But for me, if I'm any
team playing the Sounders right now, I'm going
to the low block because the Sounders seem unable
to do anything about it. What would you do, Cedar,
if you were the Sounders? How do you beat the
low block? Well, back to Brian's comments about
the next couple of games that we're going to
be playing against these teams. Like, okay, great.
Yeah, you're not expecting them to play the low
block. Awesome. But there are a few teams ahead
of us on the table, like Minnesota, who do really
well with not, you know, they don't need to possess
the ball. be super efficient and super dangerous
right they did it against us twice this season
uh vancouver not as extreme but they're they're
a little bit similar in that way of of the they
don't necessarily need to put up possess the
ball and they're comfortable letting you have
it and then hitting you on the counter so i yeah
i think that's a little i don't know i mean yeah
great the next two games sure they're not gonna
be in a low block we're expecting but You still
have to, I don't know, you still have to have
a way to be that. And what do you do? I don't
know. I mean, I honestly don't know. It seems
like part of it, too, is we've gotten incredibly
unlucky because we do generate some opportunities,
some good opportunities, right? I mean, even
last night, Jesus, he had a golden opportunity.
he didn't take it right so that's gonna that's
going to further add to this kind of snowball
effect of it's it's really a i mean it feels
like a mental thing it feels like we're we're
we're still generating all of these chances right
you look at the xg we're still generating you
know one and a half two two expected goals a
game against these teams it's just we're just
not converting We're not, maybe it's luck. Maybe
it's finishing. I don't know. But I think the
fact that it hasn't happened to where we've had
a win in the run of play against a low block
team, at least in recent memory, right? It feels
like they're all losses. And obviously we win
this one in PKs. But the fact that we haven't,
like it feels like we haven't done that yet.
We haven't got the monkey off our back in that
manner. And that just adds to that kind of like,
oh, they're in a low block again. And we're like,
you know, we're so good at possessing the ball
and keeping it and blah, blah, blah. But then
we just can't do it. It's it's incredibly frustrating.
And I don't I'd I'd be the last person to know
what the solution to that is. Alex, what are
you doing? I mean, I've heard you have ideas,
but. Obviously, Brian. isn't sitting back going
like, yeah, we're just not going to try and attack
it. What do you do if you're in his position,
though? I tell my guys, guys, just take a shot
from outside the box. Just put it in the box.
Things happen when you put the ball in the box.
We've seen it. We've seen what Minnesota did.
They put the ball in the box and it went in.
Yeah. I mean, just you miss all the shots you
don't take. Yeah. Minnesota is also really good
at set pieces, though. Like, insanely good. And
in the League's Cup, we were three goals off
three corners. Yeah. And we had a lot of corners
last night. Yeah, quite a few. And I will say,
Jesus' corner, like, I was kind of, I know everyone
wants to see Georgie, and before the break, usually
we wouldn't go straight to the match, but I know
everyone wants to see Georgie do his little runs,
and in general, like, I like that, but to me...
It felt like, oh, because Georgie can beat him,
we're going to keep doing this to try and get
the ball in the box. But it wasn't happening.
They were clearing it off the line. In fact,
I think we had like three corners in a row at
one point. But they kept passing it short to
him. And then you saw Jesus actually take two
long corners. And they were incredible. No one
got on the end of them, but they were high. And
the way they came down was what we've needed
for years from the Sounders. And so for me, I'm
just... I wonder between that and then at the
end of the game, I don't know if it was coaching
that said to do this or the players. They felt
like they could have had another shot or two
at the end, and they kept passing it all the
way back to Andy and just pulling their feet
off the gas and resetting at a time when you
really needed to push it forward. Yeah, what
I kind of saw was like, Yamar didn't want to
pass the ball to Georgie. Yeah, that's what it
kind of felt like. But then I think on the broadcast
they were pointing out Brian was giving him an
earful. Yamar? Yeah, that he was giving Yamar
an earful for not passing it to Georgie. Interesting.
So that's good to know because we couldn't see
that from the stands where I am. No, but... Because
it was. That was the end. We were like, what
just happened here? Why did Yamar just give up
in that moment when he was obviously trying to
push it forward? Yeah. But back to... Jesus,
I actually really like the way that he takes
set pieces, apart from the free kick that he
had. Yeah, he kind of launched that one. That
one, I kind of felt like you should let Pedro
take it. Because I think he can just curl the
ball in the corner. But you know that I'm very
biased. Yeah, free Pedro, everybody. I was back
in the free Pedro movement yesterday because
he got taken out early. But let's take a break
and then come back so that we can... Get more
into the game. Does that sound good? Yes. All
right. Do that right now. Hey everybody, this
is one of your hosts, Cameron Collins. Now, I
know we said this time was 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 patreon .com
and look for Sounders Scuttlebutt Podcast. We
will put the link here in the show. And subscribe.
You can subscribe for as little as $1 .74. Now,
what will that get you? Well, I guarantee you
get at least one extra episode per month. It'll
be a cool interview or something like that that
otherwise you would not hear. Now, we might put
out promos or other things that include that,
but the whole episode intact will only be available
for you Patreons, at least initially. Now, there
will be other stuff that we put in there, but
this is where we're starting at. Why, you ask?
Well, we have bills to pay. And we need to make
sure that we can keep this show going. You would
not believe the going rate for PA announcers.
So head on over to Patreon, go to Sounders Scuttlebutt
Podcast, and subscribe. You even get a cool little
downloadable membership that has our logo on
it. That's Sounders Scuttlebutt Podcast over
at patreon .com, P -A -T -R -E -O -N dot C -O
-M. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
And we are back. So yes, the Sounders defeat
Puebla 4 -3 on penalties after a 0 -0 draw in
regular time. Straight to penalties. Do we like
straight to penalties? Yeah. Yeah, I like that.
I like that. I think additional extra time, especially
against this team, would have gone horribly wrong.
And down a man. Yeah, it felt like a goal was
coming even before we went down a man. It felt
like the Minnesota match to me. They almost got
one. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, if they score this,
I'm going nuts. Yeah, if we had lost that game,
that would have been the worst loss of the season
for me. For my money. That would have been a
disappointment. At that point. The 7 -0. Does
not even matter. It doesn't matter. No of course
not. Because it's such a. It's such a. I mean
yeah. They're always highs and lows. But it's
like. An outlier. Yeah exactly. It's an outlier.
Nobody's. Nobody's going to take that really
seriously if you don't, you know, keep your positive
momentum going. And, boy, we did, but just by
the slimmest of margins. I mean, we really. By
the hair of Thomas. Yeah, seriously. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah. That was wild. This, like, saying that,
it raises the question for me. Like, as a coach.
You clearly see that Thomas is in one of the
best forms of his life. And do you continue to
stardom? I continue to stardom. But what do you
guys do? Cedar, what are you thinking? Oh, I
would definitely continue to stardom for League's
Cup for sure. Oh yeah, he is definitely for League's
Cup. Yeah, he earned that. I mean, part of it
too is like... I think against MLS teams, I think
I'd still be okay with Steph Fry in goal just
because, look, he's still the number one. I do
think that Andy is clearly on the rise and probably
in better form right now. And I honestly don't
think we win that game in penalties if Fry is
in goal. You know, that's his big weak spot.
Yeah, and people say, well, he did win against
Houston, but those were off the bar, if I recall
correctly. Those were not... Yeah, I mean, yeah.
Okay, he beat, yeah, Houston in a playoff series,
right? Before that, Fry had saved two penalties
in his entire career. Yeah, that's his weak spot.
I think, you know, Andy is clearly... Clearly
coming into his own in big knockout tournament
games, right? You love to see it because that's
the future. I think for the time being in MLS
regular season, it's still Fry's job until he
plays poorly enough to lose it, which could happen,
but I could also see him doing a fine job, especially
because you're not going to penalties. those
games. So I'm not worried about that. Hopefully
not. You could in the playoffs. Well, playoffs.
No, well, totally. I'm saying regular season.
Yeah, great. I mean, I think Fry's earned it,
right? I don't think you can say he got hurt.
He's come back. It was interesting talking to
Nicholas as a goalie about the goal that he gave
up against Minnesota where it wasn't what he
did is what any rational person would have done
as a goalie in that position. because you expect
a different thing to happen. So I think Fry's
earned the benefit of the doubt here, but I do
think it raises major questions for me for next
year because of the amount of money Fry makes.
I love Steph. He's been so kind to me when I've
spent time with him. Always goes out of his way
to make you feel welcome. Talks openly about
stuff. Like when he was going through his contract
stuff, just, just such a good dude. And this
week had a really interesting interview when
he was talking about what it's like to play at
his age and how hard it is. Cause he has to get
up because he lives far away at five 45 in the
morning, catch the ferry over just so he can
get the proper treatment so that he can actually
practice. And, and eventually that's going to
stop. He's, he's not saying he's retiring now,
but he says, you know, something I think about
because it's getting harder. So. There's at some
point where the love of the game will be outweighed
by the suffering that one must go through to
continue to play the game. I mean, that's why
Steve Zaccowani had to retire in the end. His
injuries were so much that the pain it caused,
he couldn't do what he wanted to do. And he would
have to get treatment like for hours before and
after every match. And it just, it's got to be
super frustrating as a professional athlete.
So obviously Fry's thinking about it, but I don't
think he's obviously ready. Brian, I will say,
before was very much, this is Steph's team. And
now he's not as adamant about it. So I'm wondering
if there is talk behind the scenes on if they're
going to bring him back. Are they going to move
on? Is there a way to keep him on the roster?
I'd be really interesting to see what talk they're
having. No, I think that the best thing, you're
never ready to retire, right? as an athlete,
you're never ready to leave the game that you've
done all your life. But I do think that it's
better to leave the game at the right moment.
Leave at the top of your game instead of leaving
at your lowest points. But if you could make
$600 ,000 again next year and just not be quite
as good as you were... i think maybe because
we're not talking about millionaires right i
mean he might have he might be a millionaire
technically but we're not talking about like
a pro football player pro baseball player like
he he has a chance to earn enough money to set
him up for the rest of his continue to set himself
up for the rest of his life and his dog because
i don't think he has kids right for the rest
of his dog's life so uh it's all the money gonna
go to his dog like those people that in their
will give all their money to their pets yeah
The thing is, if he comes back next year, is
he going to start just because he's Steph? That's
the question. You know, Fryan tends to have his
favorites. Yeah. And we know that we have a great
defensive back line, depending on what they do
in the offseason. Yeah. And I think that Steph
has been very lucky to have a back line that
he has. Yeah. Definitely. But a backline also
that he is, you know, he is captaining and orchestrating
on the field too. And it feels like Thomas is
getting more comfortable with orchestrating his
guys. At least it seems like that from me watching
from afar. Yeah. You can, you can hear him on
the, you could hear him on the broadcast. Oh
yeah. Definitely can hear it. Yeah. Yeah, which
is great. I think for me personally, I'm a big
softie. I'm like, look, of course, like Stephen
Fry is amazing. He's the guy who you build the
statue of outside the stadium, 100%. And for
me, I feel like, all right, well, we know his
career is, it's close to an end, right? That's
why we got to win MLS Cup this year. Right. Let's
go out on a high note. And if he does come back
next year, I would say, I mean, I would venture
to guess that he might be fine with being the
backup option, especially if he's getting paid,
you know, the money that he probably deserves
for being such an important part of this club
for so long. And I think that. i'm guessing i
mean i don't know him i've never met him um but
he seems like a reasonable guy like if he's if
he's willing to come back next season not be
the starter but to be that guy who's playing
in open cup games or you know champions league
or you know like rotating right right yeah i
mean then you know you have thomas is your number
one i would love that setup if if that's you
know if that's a cool with, with Fry, I mean,
that could be a total win. I mean, what Fry said
the other day in the interview was that he, it
doesn't care who, I mean, he obviously cares,
but it doesn't matter who is the starting goalie
in the game. He's going to support, whether it's
himself or another player, them as best as he
can throughout it. And they're going to work
together to try and have the best outcome. So,
I mean, those are things that I, I mean, it didn't
sound like he was just saying the right thing.
It sounded sincere. And so. I think there's a
possibility that my, my one worry, and this isn't
always the case. I mean, in Seattle, we do tend
to hold onto players too long in every sport.
We tend to let them go too late. And I think
that's one of the reasons why we let Ozzy Alonzo
go. And then he turned out to have another good
three or four years left. Maybe it was two, but
he played longer than that, obviously, but Ozzy.
could have been brought back. He had been injured
for a few years. He wasn't getting the minutes
that we needed from a player that was making
as much money as he did, especially in that MLS
era when the roster rules were a little different
in terms of number of TAM players and DPs and
all that kind of stuff. But I just don't want
to give up on someone who could be our best option.
But there is part of me that goes, Andy Thomas
proves time and time again that he's the man.
It's a good thing that we're not the coach or
the GM making those decisions. It would be weird
to have Andy Thomas be the starting goalie for
this reason alone. Maybe, maybe this is unfair
because Steph Fry wasn't this when he came in,
but you think about it, we had Casey Keller and
then we had Spurning who, while not a name in
the U S was an established goalkeeper. And you
had Fry who, you know, was young, had lost his
job in Toronto because of injury. And then, but
did come up to the US soccer system, which I
believe is why Siggy was familiar with him because
Siggy had coached the U18s or something like
that at one point. But he was a name in the MLS
that we've heard of, whereas Andy Thomas just
came up through our own system. So it's what
we do now is bring up players, but it's not bringing
in an established name, even if you're taking
a chance on them nonetheless, like they did with
Fry. We've had such a huge personality in that
position. And I think Andy can fill it, but it's
kind of like, how do you fill the hole one day
when Christian retires? Yeah. Snyder. I mean,
that's how you fill it as a player, but he's
not filling it as a man, as a leader, as, you
know, things like that. You can mold the player.
There are facial prosthetics, you know, facial
surgeries to kind of make somebody look like
another person. I'm sure he has a cousin somewhere.
I mean, look, we haven't been able to replace
one -for -one Niko Ladero, right? Or an Ozzy
Alonso or Raul Ruiz Diaz, right? Ruiz Diaz, especially.
But Niko, you had Rust navigating in the wings.
He was already an established superstar. Oh,
totally. Albert has a completely different game.
I mean, it's a different vibe. It's not worse
or better necessarily. It's just different. And
I feel like that's what has to happen. The club
just has to evolve for the important pieces that
they have. I mean, they let people be who they
are to a certain extent. It really feels like
that. There is room for these guys to play the
way that they want to play and to their personalities.
sometimes to the detriment of the club, but often
I think it's a, it's a net positive because you
have people who are comfortable being themselves
doing, you know, playing the game that they love
the most in, in high stakes situations. I think
that's, that's a really good thing. And I don't
think that that's a given in, you know, every
club everywhere. So I, I think, I think, yeah,
that's, that's, That's a very important question,
though, right? I mean, what do you do when Roldan
moves on? And other people who are super important
to the club. But I think you just do what they
seem to have been doing, is bring people in who
fit within the club's ethos and add to that chemistry
in their own way. I mean, this team is like...
It has a completely different feel of the team
just even a couple of seasons ago. Even though
we have so many returning players as the team
that won Champions League. You still have a ton
of players who were there for that. And yet this
team feels like its own thing. It's its own iteration.
And I like that. You have to evolve. I don't
know. I, I, I'm not, I'm not too worried about
like that, like replacing people as long as they're,
they keep bringing in people who are all about
what the club is, is stands for. Right. Yeah.
Yeah. And you know, another thought about Fry
that I had been thinking about, and I think I
might've mentioned to you, Alex, but I actually
asked Jackson Feltz and he said, you know, this
is a great question. You should ask Brian or,
or Craig. And so I think I'm going to ask Craig
this, is how come we don't do baseball and send
players to Tacoma for rehab stints? I feel like
getting Fry a couple games in goal with a little
less pressure on him to get him back to full
game speed, in my brain, just makes sense. Maybe
it doesn't for a soccer player. Maybe there's
other good reasons not to do it. But I'd love
to know. why is the game played so differently
than, than say baseball? I mean, obviously a
different game, but if you have a club team in
Tacoma that you can send a player to, why not
just loan them down for a game? Maybe, maybe
it's contract. Like his contract would be too
much. Maybe the rules are don't allow it, but
it just seems logical to me. Yeah. That way.
Cause I think the only way, especially after
an injury, like, like his, The only way he'll
get back to full fitness is to get games. I do
think that he was brought a week early. I expected
him to start against Kansas City, not against
Minnesota. To me, he looked a little bit slow
as far as his reactions. On that dive that he
talked about, the knuckleball, he kind of got
up a little slow. I was a little concerned about
that. the decision he made that led to the goal
he was kind of stuck in no man's land and it's
just about like have you you're stuck in two
decisions and you just don't know what you're
gonna do so you're just kind of stuck and that's
what you see when he talks about the starfish
and it's just like that's gonna come with games
and they're gonna play yeah but i do agree that
we should like That should be a conversation
to be had is like, why can't we send them down
to Tacoma for practices or a game or have Tacoma
do a friendly against the reserve from the first
team or something like that? Yeah. Looks like,
I mean, I guess since I'm suspended on Twitter,
found out it's because someone tried to log into
my account from multiple locations, I think.
That's the only thing I can think of. Because
my passwords were compromised yesterday. And
so I had to go. Someone broke into my Spotify,
into my Netflix, changed the emails on Netflix,
changed the email on. And so luckily they send
you a notification so I can immediately change
it back. Reddit, I lost. I mean, I don't use
Reddit a lot, but I get some Sonics news there.
And I use it to learn how to build my Synology
NAS, my server. I don't see anything on Twitter
right now about the Sounders making any signings
in that last 15 minutes that we talked about.
So I'm assuming we're moving forward as we are.
But after that first half, Sounders, I felt pretty
frustrated. A lot of shots, nothing really dangerous.
How are you all feeling once you get through
the first half? 0 -0. Felt like more of the same,
kind of. Yeah, the first half we had, what, like
43 %? I don't know how much the possession was,
but we had zero shots on target. Yeah. Wevla
had a shot on target. Yeah. And I was just like,
that's frustrating. I'm like, we have possession
with no intent to deliver. You gotta have intent
to deliver. Otherwise, you can't be charged.
That's not true. You can be charged for just
possession, but it's higher when it's intent
to deliver. No, it was really frustrating to
watch. It was just like... I felt like we're
going to find a way to lose this game. I really
felt that way. And I really want to win League's
Cup because that's a trophy that we don't have
and so we can qualify to Champions League. And
I'm like, we're at home. You can't ask for anything
else. Just win the game. I thought it was going
to be where we turned it around like we have
in other games at home. I mean, I truly thought
– I also didn't think they were going to play
the low block because the way they've been playing.
But, yeah, it didn't happen. Well, and it's really
interesting, like, comparing soccer to other
sports where you have – you can have such a gap
in talent, right, between one team and another
team. And yet, even a much weaker team overall,
right? I mean, Club Puebla has a smaller budget
than we do, right? They're not playing well.
They just fired their coach. They are, on paper,
the worst team, right? And you see this happen
a lot. Even though the gap is there, there's
still that ability in this sport for teams to...
to close that gap in ways that are super frustrating
by sitting in a low block. You have to, you have
to kind of expect that, you know, especially
when you're playing in international tournaments.
I mean, we had to, we had to do, I think we were
a little bit braver, but we essentially did our
own version of that. against like atletico madrid
and psg you know we were trying to possess the
ball we ended up not being able to possess it
all that much um and you know we were also defending
our asses off against those teams right and it
was it was close you know it was it was relatively
close for what you would expect you know, between
a team that has a half a billion dollar budget
or over a billion dollar budget and the team
that, what are we sitting at? It's like 60 million
is our, is our, you know, is our payroll, whatever
it is, or our valuation. So, you know, if it,
I mean, soccer, it feels like it's really the
only sport where that can happen. Whereas in
other sports. any gap in talent and all of that,
you're getting decimated. The whole argument
about the best college football team against
an NFL team. Even the worst NFL team is going
to win every single time. All those horrible
Miami Dolphins teams or Browns teams are destroyed.
They would be up on Alabama or Ohio State, Michigan.
Yeah, it's it's this is the sport. This is a
sport. And so it has the propensity to be extremely
frustrating in moments. I will say we've detailed.
Yeah, we were talking earlier about how this
is their preseason. So obviously the MLS should
be better. That wasn't always the case, though.
So the fact that the MLS is. winning and playing
better than the Mexican teams is actually a huge
deal I think I mean obviously in a perfect world
it would be a more fair setup for this but uh
I think four or five years ago you're not getting
two teams through to the final four let alone
all four well and in the whole you know I think
I think for the Alex, you were talking about,
talking with your buddies, the argument about
like, oh, well, you know, they didn't really
try like the Liga Mequis teams. It looks like
Puebla was, they were, I think they put in max
effort, you know? It looked like that to me,
right? And maybe it's obviously it's because
they're not, you know, one of the big teams and
they're not, you know, they have to. I mean,
the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Yeah. Absolutely.
They're not making it through any other means
the way they're playing this year. They're not
winning no titles in Mexico. This is their shot
at a trophy at Champions League. They play their
asses off. In a way, that's the toughest team
to make. And guess what? Now we have to play
LA Galaxy team that is not going to make the
playoffs. So they're also going to play their
asses off. So it's not going to be a cakewalk.
when we beat them last week 4 -0. No, and they
have way more talent too. I mean, Michael Royce,
Gabrielle Peck, Payne Sill. I mean, they've got
some legitimate soccer players on their team.
It is so wild. That's going to be a tough game.
Why are they so bad in the league? Because you
see the talent they have. I mean, even against
us, they were doing some of the same stuff against
us that they do. that we saw them do against
these Mexican teams. And they would absolutely
shut them down when we were playing them down
in Carson. But Paintsville would just run right
by and score a goal. And so it's fascinating.
There's something about this tournament that
has them playing on another level that they can't
get on a game -to -game basis. It's the championship
hangover. The championship hangover isn't usually
this bad, though. Like this is, I mean, they,
they lost her forward. They lost Dejana. Yeah.
And they don't have Pooj. So they, they lost
their two best players probably, but still like
they brought in. Well, is that just an over -reliance
on, on one player? I think so. I mean, yeah,
I mean, maybe, maybe that's, that's just their,
you know, that was a fatal weakness. And now
obviously they're playing a lot better than they
did to start the season and they're. super juiced
up for this tournament obviously because they're
in it so they're gonna be playing really well
they're gonna be hyped for this game obviously
but for the season as a whole yeah maybe maybe
the whole setup was really fragile you know to
be so reliant on one player because he really
was like they're you know he was He was everywhere,
right? He would have the ball and shuttle it
around and pass and blah, blah, blah, do his
Ricky Pooch thing, and it worked. Yeah, and I
don't remember how many touches he would have,
but he was having over 200 touches. He would
have the ball. He would pick up the ball from
the goalie, and then he would just take it all
the way to the other side, and they'll score.
That's what I do on FIFA when I'm with him all
the time, actually. Yeah. Well, why not? You
know, he's good at it, right? I mean, I brought
him into Wrexham. We're in the championship now.
I've gone up two leagues from when I started
my team. And, hey, he's playing well. Just wait
until I start my career mode team. Yeah, it's
unfortunate for them, but yeah. Oh, man, I feel
really bad for them. I don't. No, I know. I mean,
I mean, it's interesting to think about, though.
I mean, like, is there the way that the Sounders
are built? And it's funny asking this question
because we've had so many injuries to important
players. And yet and yet it seems like the way
that we're built, we're not over reliant on one
player. I will say. probably the biggest effect
we would see of, you know, a player going out
being injured and not being there for us would
probably be Christian, right? Yeah. Yeah. Christian
or old bed. I mean, now, I mean, I think we're
seeing it with Jordan potentially. Well, yes,
yes. But also strikers, it's not just him, but
now we're extra thin, right? That was the entire
reason we're built this way though, is because
when Garth came in, he saw that you have one
injury and it derails your entire season. And
you can't have it that way. Obviously, there's
going to be a drop -off to that next man down,
but you've got to have the ability to move on
and play, have someone come in that can play
similar -ish style. Obviously, no one's exactly
the same. Or a style that's complementary to
the other players around them and succeed. So
I think that has been the mentality the Sounders
have had ever since under first Garth and now
Craig. And because Craig was at RSL too. So they
both came from the same system essentially. Yeah.
And I think we don't give Craig enough credit
for building the roster this year. There's so
much depth. I mean, it's not, Craig doesn't pay
the bills. Craig doesn't sign the players. He
can only do what he, you know, he does his best.
He can only, and I think there's, it's maybe
time to have a conversation around. why we're
having difficulty getting players to come now.
We've had three straight European players say
no to us because of Europe. Not money. Terms
agreed on. They just don't want to leave Europe.
I mean, I don't blame them. No, I was on a Twitter
space earlier that Nico hosted, and he talked
about some of the transfer things, and he said
that the one with the guy from Chelsea, It came
down to money. Well, that wasn't the player's
decision, though. That was nixed by the higher
ups. But what it was is what it came down to
was the budget. Sure. But there is a budget in
the MLS and you can't pay. I mean, the fee was
agreed to on one level, obviously by the loaning
team. But because of the way the MLS is structured,
that fee gets split out over the numbers of the
years of the contract. And so just with the cap,
you can't do it. There's certain ways you can't
do it. You only have a limited amount of money
you can spend. So it's not like he was being
cheap. It was like, that's what we have. Right.
I was talking to Jackson Feltz about it and he
felt that it shows that the Sounders also are
going for a higher caliber player that you have
to go and you're trying to get it. a more quality
player than they would have gone after in the
past so it makes because they're a better player
they have to think about where their opportunities
land I do wish we were still going to South America
more than Europe though because I feel like we
set up that notion of pulling players from South
America other teams had done it but not to the
success that we've had and now every other team
emulates what we've done is trying to do the
same thing And so we shouldn't move on from that.
There's plenty of players in South America we
can bring up that no one's ever heard of that
will come up here and be Nico Lodeiro. You can
go to Brazil and get a kid off the street and
he'll... Maybe not Nico, but... No, he'll be
able to dribble around players. He could play
like Georgie. Leo Chu. No, no, please. I mean,
he was a kid from Brazil. But, yeah. Yeah. No,
I think, like, given the budget that we had,
I think we should have been looking at South
America because I feel like Europeans, they feel
like, oh, we're from Europe, we're the best,
we're the best at soccer, even though Argentina's
the World Cup champions. And there's this, like,
there's, like, this pedigree to them. They have
this little ego. And so you're going to have
to pay a premium to make them come to America.
I think that's true. Unless there's something
you can say that can convince them that it's
worth it to them to come. You can't use the Club
World Cup no more. Yeah. And I mean, I think
other teams are largely overpaying with the exception
of LA. I mean, Atlanta obviously overpaid. LA,
I don't know. They don't need to overpay because
of the star power. I don't think Miami needs
to overpay. But we're not those teams, and we're
never going to be. We're never going to be Atlanta.
We're never going to spend that much money. Not
unless we get a new group of investors. Yeah,
but I don't know if we won't. Yeah, which oil
state is going to take us over, guys? Alaska.
uh canada the 51st state yeah the will be their
51st state um so we come out of the half we go
into a second half gets really chippy um you
know brian schmetzer said the players were complaining
about the refs rightfully so um but i also saw
quite a few times like danny muzovsky i'm pretty
sure it was him both times uh committed a foul
that should have been a yellow card on like a
you know, a professional foul, basically a breakaway
where he hacks someone and knocks them down.
We had five or six of those throughout the games
game where it was not called. So he was letting
the players play both ways. Now that maybe that
doesn't benefit our style. I also do think potentially
Danny Mussofsky was fouled on the play where
he gets the red card, but I think he fouled the
other guy first. I think he throws the elbow
and that's what the ref gives him the yellow
for. Right. Which isn't, I mean, in the MLS,
that used to be a red. What happened? Why aren't
we giving reds for that anymore? Maybe it was
too harsh because people kept getting reds for
accidental elbows. Well, I mean, you saw, I think
RSO had a red. Yeah, where Diego Luna got headlocked
and he got a second yellow. And then the other
guy got a red once he went to the yard. You can't
push someone or go after their head on purpose.
I mean, but if it's accidental. They used to
give out reds for that. I'm glad they're not
anymore, I guess. No, but back to Moose. We've
seen him lose his – like the same thing that
he did last night, he did against Cruz Azul to
the center back. Oh, really? I think it was Cruz
Azul or it was the Santos game where he got up
to – I think it was Cruz Azul where he got in
the defender's face after he felt like he got
fouled in the box. Yeah. The penalty shots. I
think it was Cruz Azul. But still, he's done
it before. Yeah, and it was interesting because
some people mentioned that, but I hadn't known
that before. But, you know, Danny gets up, mad
at the call. Some Sounders fans are trying to
justify it by saying, well, the ref put his arm
out. Number one. No. Yeah, like he went to chest
butt him, like bump his chest. Yeah. Number one.
Number two. But technically under the rules,
only the captain is allowed to talk – or one
person, I guess, not the captain. In some leagues,
it's just the captain. They're enforcing it this
year in the Premier League. Only one person is
allowed to talk to the ref. They don't enforce
that rule a lot, but they can at any given time.
So you come at him violently, you're going to
get a card every single time. And he did. He
did. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, when I see him get
up, I was like, oh, shit. Like, he's gone. Right
away, I was like, he's gone. I mean, he could
have got it for descent without even getting,
bumping him if he really wanted to. But, I mean,
that's part of the thing, too. I mean, if the
referee is letting them play, right, to the extent
where he's letting what should be a yellow card
slide here and there and there and here. And
then he decides to call one. Yeah. I would be
mad. Not to defend Danny bumping him or anything,
but like, that would be very aggravating where
it's like, you let all this other stuff slide.
And now, now you're bringing the hammer down.
I can understand his frustration for sure. Like,
especially because all game long they had, you
know, their antics, they were wasting time in
the first half. Oh yeah. Fake injuries. Oh my
God. oh man the one oh man there's so many god
i just like god they're they're so annoying like
so many of those players like their faces are
like still fresh in my mind like oh god that
guy's face like it's just so annoying the one
where um i don't know who followed him but he
like he touches his face and then he checks his
elbow he sees that it's fine so he's like okay
i'm gonna fake it that i got hit in the face
Yeah, that was right in front of me, but it's
far enough away that we couldn't tell. So I thought
in the way Danny reacted, he didn't even look
back and be like, what is wrong with you? He
just kind of like played it off. So I thought
he was worried. I thought he was actually going
to get a red card there, but he didn't touch
him. No, and then when Reagan laid out that,
I was like. They're like, oh, he might have broke
his wrist. I was like, well, fuck around and
find out. Did they show on TV when Rothrock basically
forearm shivered a dude off the ball, like just
put his arm on him and just shoved him away?
And the guy got mad. The ref did give Rothrock
a talking to, but I was like, the way those two
had been going at it in the first half, I thought
they were going to end up getting cards, both
of them, because they were chippy as hell. It
was so chippy. If I'm the trainer, I'm putting
extra tape in Rothrock's club so he could...
Carl Mecklenburg, who played for the Denver Broncos
back in the day, had a big thing like that, and
I swear he would swing around and hit people
when he's tackling them. I think I've seen a
video. I think it was the Raiders back in the
day that had the athletic trainer. He was a specialized
in pads, and he would make the pads weaponized.
I can see that for sure. That sounds like the
Raiders. So I was like, I'll do that for Rothrock.
Body them off the ball with a nice little club.
Can I just say, I love Jackson Reagan. I love
how he always just has this super neutral look
on his face. And he plays so well. His passing
is insanely good. And he just looks like nothing
bothers him at all. And he does his job. And
even the penalty kick he took, he did his job,
you know, and then he looked, it was, yeah, it
was good. And what I liked about it was he had
a little like stutter step or whatever, but it
was with like, it was within the rules as it
should be. So many other players. do a bullshit
stop, start stutter. I hate that shit. Especially
if you're not, I mean, if you're going to allow
that, you have to let the goalie come off the
line. Exactly. It should be like a situation
where it's like, okay, the minute you start and
you're going to do all the stuff that this goalie
should be able to come up and just like, you
know, close you down or something. Absolutely.
But, but Jackson did it in a way where he never
stopped his motion. He just kind of slowed it
a little bit and moved his body in a way that
made it, you couldn't tell where he was going
to go with it. Brilliant. And then he hits it
in the most perfect spot to low side netting.
No keeper saving that unless they're standing
right there. And then after he just looks back
at him. Yeah. Oh, that was beautiful on the broadcast.
Yeah. Oh my God. I'll say, I don't know if you
remember during when Ferreira stepped up, I was
like, Oh, I don't like his body language. But
what I didn't realize was he wasn't nervous.
He just didn't care. Like he knew he was going
to make it. And so he just kind of like walked
up, kicked it in and walked away. You know what
I mean? Like I, I was like, Oh no, he, he, he,
that was, that was his confidence. It just showed.
I'd never seen him step up in that kind of situation.
So I didn't know enough about his character.
Like, no, that was what's up right there. I wish
he did that when he had the shot inside the six.
Yeah. We didn't, we didn't talk about that. Ball,
ball slips through to him unexpectedly. Did not
think that ball was going to come through with
it, with him on his run. And he's got so many
players barreling down on him from behind that
just kicks it wide. You put that anywhere. You
have to get that on frame. Yeah. It's like I'd
seen Happy Gilmore the other day. And I was like,
just tap it in. Just tap it in. You just have
to pass it into the net. Yeah. Yeah. You just
pass it. We're waiting. One time. I went to Universal
Studios in Hollywood, like the actual studios,
not the park. And they were filming the Marky
Mark, Mark Wahlberg, Planet of the Apes film.
And so I saw Helena Bonham Carter in like full
makeup. But I was walking past a side stage where
there's some movie that Shooter McGavin was in.
Ted something, I forget his last name. And I
saw him. And I just go shooter. And he did not
get impressed. Now I think he realizes now that
he's older, like what an iconic role that is.
Cause he, he like does cameos as shooter now
and talks like him in them. Like he does the
character and goes to conventions and stuff.
Like he gets it now, but I think he was a little
upset that I did that to him, but that's how
iconic that character was to me. You were just
ahead of the – That's normal for me. You were
the trendsetter. Yeah, you were just – I'm a
real hipster. I'm always liking things before
they're cool. Way before any of this zombie craze
happened, my license plate was zombie. I lost
it because I have a car. Big Cranberries fan?
Yeah. Really into talking about the troubles
in Northern Ireland. I did read four books about
it. well yeah um but yeah well that's a whole
other that's a whole other podcast yeah that's
a after hour my my my relative did found the
irish republican army back in the uh 1910s or
whatever um good old michael collins that's true
but uh yeah let's uh let's get back to soccer
uh i mean i think i think fans are frustrated
with ferreira but for me yeah you got to put
that in but Since the Club World Cup, he's been
one of our best players. Yeah, he's played well.
And he's filling in for Rusnak. And he's been
great at it. They play it differently, but he's
been great, in my opinion. I feel like since
our DP Rusnak went down, I was not worried. Yeah.
And that's a credit to our Dev. Yeah. I mean,
that's why I can't say it enough how much I respect
what Craig has done with this team. I just, I
think I said this in the last episode with Nick,
like, I just wish we would give him a little
more money to play with. We don't need a lot.
We don't need messy money. We don't need, we
don't need some, you know, just a little more
money to play with. But it's not going to happen
because we're locked into our DPs now through
like 2027. Well, I mean, with Messi, we're also
not able to offer him, you know, a cut of all
the Apple TV revenue. And now he's got his sports
drink and everything. But we're not spending
$12 million on a player, I mean, salary -wise
regardless. I mean, our highest paid player is
Resnack at, what, $2 .5 million? Something like
that. Maybe he's $4 .5, but Jordan's $2 .2 million.
uh and pedro is i think in the one one something
yeah like one seven yeah so it's the same thing
with um it's the same thing with jerry depoto
yeah i do i feel like at this point the mariners
and the and the sounders are very similar um
traditionally i think the mariners i mean the
sounders didn't want it didn't want to be that
way so they would spend a little extra but i
think now that they've seen so much success The
question is why spend the money is what's being
asked. If we're going to consistently make a
run and have a chance to win, why spend the money?
Because even if we spend the money, I don't think
we're necessarily going to, we might win the
MLS Cup more than we have recently, but I don't
think if we spent all the money in the world,
we're suddenly going to go to four out of five
straight MLS Cup finals. I don't think we ever
do that again. That's insane. That was an incredible
run. I mean, that is actually insane. And then
the other team from the Western Conference that
did it was Portland, right? I mean, how long
was that stretch where it was either us or Portland
in the MLS Cup Final? It was them, us, us, them,
us, us. And then against NYCFC. And then them
again. Yeah. Okay. Oh, thank God. Thank you,
NYCFC. But we got two stars, baby. Yeah. Well,
hey, they have the COVID is back tournament star.
Don't worry. Right next to the star, they've
got one of the little COVID molecules. Yeah,
absolutely. Well, next. Maybe when Hantavirus
really takes off, they'll win that tournament
too. No, you know what's funny? When Evander
gave it to him when he went back. Oh. Really?
Yeah. We would never. We would never. I don't
think that is about the fans though. Because
he said how much he loves those fans. But they
started chanting. That's the thing. Yeah, I mean,
that's wild. To me, he's made clear that it's
about the way he was treated by the organization.
But Timbers fans are illiterate. They can't read.
Yeah, Timbers Army. I have a lot of friends that
are in the Timbers Army and or in leadership
or been involved in some fashion. And I will
say they are smart, passionate people who fight
for just causes. They just, uh, they don't read.
They're not Australian. Um, but, uh, yeah, they,
they just, they, uh, they root for the wrong
team. I, I mean, I can't blame. It's like Randy
Johnson. When Randy Johnson talks shit about
the Mariners, I don't care. He's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, totally. Ownership
sucks. They do. They pull some bullshit down
there. We, If we had that kind of ownership here,
I don't know what we would do. We certainly probably
wouldn't do this podcast, right? I don't know.
Oh, we would. It would just be more negative.
Yeah, that's true. This would be Dan's favorite
place. Yeah, I'm sad that Dan's not here because
I wanted to know whether or not it was going
to be happy Dan or normal Dan. Normal Dan. And
I think he made a great point earlier today in
the Discord when he was saying that. Tony Romo
fumbled against the Seahawks? No, no, no, not
that. I'm talking about... I know. Dan texted.
Remember he texted that last night? I was like,
I was there. The Dan base? Yeah, the Dan base.
The Dan base. No, he said that Moose's frustration
is from the lack of him not having... The ball.
Yeah. Opportunities to score. And he alluded
to Rusnick taking off his shirt and throwing
it into the crowd when he scored the penalty
again. Yeah. Who was it against? I'm trying to
remember. I was at that game. Yeah. But, but
yeah, I mean, he, and that was the goal that
he set the record becoming the first player ever
to do what? 25 goals and 25 assists on two different
teams or something. It must've been 50, 50 years,
50, 25 or something. I don't know. Yeah. Let
me. Was that against San Diego? No. It was a
home game, though. But yeah, I mean, yeah, he
threw it in the crowd. Alex had to go get it
because he was going to get a card. On the TV,
they just showed him throw it in the crowd, and
then they showed Alex retrieving it. So it was
like a quick blip. But at the game, it was very
clear what would happen. And people at the game
actually didn't notice that Alex went and got
it. I just happened to... Oh, it was against
Dallas, no? Dallas, yeah, could be. They tend
to blend together. No, because Danny scored that
game. Well, I mean, but the point's taken. There's
clearly frustration that's underneath what's
going on, and because I think we were on an awesome
tear, and then suddenly it drops back to why
is this happening again? I think that's... it's
got to feel kind of frustrating, especially when
you feel like the ref is holding you back, but
you can't do anything about it. Yeah. No. Yeah.
It was against Dallas on May 24th. Yeah. Yeah.
PK. Yeah. It was that game, but yeah, I think
it's just frustrating and it people lose their
heads because they're frustrated. And we seen
that with moose. Yeah. We saw it with new who.
Yeah. I mean, it happens. You would see it with
me if I were on that team, I'm sure. I mean,
you should have seen how I was at home. When,
when, gosh, I shouldn't say this, but in the
U .S. Open Cup final when Ricardo Salazar robbed
us and called back our made penalty from Eddie
Johnson, I grabbed like a, this like. ikea pasta
plate bowl that was in my hand i just smashed
it on the kitchen floor i was so mad uh so i
get it i get it that's not that bad that's like
um when people say oh right on a plate and then
smash it yeah i just i was i was i was i hate
when my team has a perceived injustice against
them by a ref that and you got to remember i
lived through the 2005 super bowl where the ref
cheated the seahawks out of winning the super
bowl Oh, yeah, I remember that. So having to
live through it again was very, very difficult.
But anyway, yeah, I understand the frustration.
And I'm not mad at Danny for what was clearly
a dumbass move because he doesn't have a history
of them. I've seen that they were comparing what
he did to Dempsey's red card wedding. That's
really different, though, I feel like. Yeah,
I don't see the comparison. I mean, both of them,
you're going after the ref. Both of them are
red cards. Obviously, Dempsey, A, got more of
a suspension than he should have. B, I don't
think should have got suspended from the MLS.
He should have been suspended from the U .S.
Open Cup because it is a different governing
body that runs the two. It's not like the FA
that runs the FA Cup and the league where you
get a card in one and you can go to the other.
So I thought there was a little bit of anti -Seattle
collusion there, but I could see the comparison.
When is there not? The difference is if Danny
punches the ref, then I put it up there with
Dempsey. He didn't go far enough. He just got
in his face. On the broadcast, it looked like
he smacked Ferreira. Oh, really? Yeah, there
was. I saw some sounder on sounder. I mean, Ferreira
did step in to stop it because he was like, fuck.
We need a New Who to step in because when New
Who's the voice of reason, you fuck up. Like
with Georgie. So I was like, New Who, this is
your moment to shine. Yeah. That's too funny.
I mean, with Dempsey ripping up. the ref's notebook
daniel radford may i remind everybody i always
what's harry potter's name i always think it's
harry potter dan daniel radcliffe yeah but i
i feel like ripping up the ref's notebook is
like that is just so i mean it's beautiful it's
another level of disrespect i mean it's like
absolutely and it's just it's just so cathartic
to to what everybody was and still feels about
and it's not It's not a violent act like what
knew who did, attacking a fan. I mean, not hard,
but still. Having been kicked in the head with
a soccer ball, got a concussion, it can do damage.
And I wouldn't say that Danny was necessarily
violent, but he didn't intend violence, I'll
say. But it was an act that clearly is going
to come off in an aggressive way. that that needs
oh totally there's not a good look on danny no
and he knows that i mean there's no way he went
out there like i was right afterward you know
what i mean like that's one of those moments
where afterwards i mean i've done it you you
feel like he snapped yeah i'm pretty sure he
snapped and he snapped and it's not like he threw
a punch at the ref or something really egregious
you know he he would he he snapped and he made
a poor decision but it wasn't it wasn't a A completely
terrible decision in terms of like, oh, he didn't
do the worst thing possible. And it was in response
to something the ref directly did that was involved
in the game. It wasn't like he threw a ball at
the head of a fan that flicked you off when all
the fans have been doing that all game. Maybe
he wanted to play catch. And then he just has
terrible hand coordination. Yeah. I got to train
that guy. All right, your hands go up here. If
not, you get in the face. And if you get in the
face, now you know to put your hands up. Yeah.
Absolutely. It's pretty simple. So how are you
feeling as we go into penalties and Christian
steps up and misses the first one off the bar?
Did you say, here we go? Were you done at that
point? Is this, fuck this team, I'm turning it
off? I didn't turn it off, but I was like, fuck
this. At some point, you did say... Or was that
Dan? One of you said, would you think it's wrong
if I just walk away right now and stop watching?
I think it might have been Dan. Yeah. Yeah. I
mean, I get it. I was in the stadium, so I couldn't.
Go back to the bathroom. I mean, if I didn't
have to take down the Gorillap Sea banner, maybe
I would have left at halftime with my dad. I
don't know. But we'll never know. But yeah. My
dad's in his 80s. The game wasn't going to end
until after 10. That is fair. I will say that
I already got my ticket for the final. Let's
go. No, we're going to manifest that it's the
final. But just so the listeners know, it will
either be the final, you said it before, or the
third and fourth place game. But yes, we will
be playing two weeks from yesterday. So Alex,
I mean, excuse me, not Alex Roldan, Christian
Roldan misses it. And then Thomas steps up and
saves it. Off the bar. Yeah, off the bar. Not
even like a save. Off the bar. For me, I was
like, it wasn't even like he skies it. It was
more like, oh man, that would have been really
great if it didn't hit off the bar. It would
have been great if it was just... Two inches
to the left. What I like is he felt terrible,
obviously. And then the team immediately stepped
back and there was a save immediately after and
brought us back level. Exactly. Yeah. That was
huge. That was absolutely huge. And that's what
a team should do. You pick your guys up when
a mistake happens, when something goes wrong,
when there's bad luck, right? You step up. And
that's what Thomas did. And then everybody after
that made their kick. Huge. So when Christian
took his, what I looked at was the goalie's feet.
Because it was very close, but it looked like
he might have been off his line. But then again,
he didn't do anything to save the ball. Yeah,
since it hit the bar, I don't think they call
that. No, which is why I was like, wait. It should
be a retake, but then I'm like, I thought about
it today. I'm like, he didn't really do anything
to the ball. Christian missed just because he
missed. Yeah. So I think it's just a situation
that's the ref's discretion. Yeah. So we fast
forward to the fifth kick. Let's talk about Obed's
kick. Oh, you want to talk about Obed's? Okay.
I did not know that Obed had that in his bag.
Yeah. I was like, oh, Oba's going to take a kick?
I was like, I don't know. He was fourth, I think?
Yeah, fourth. Yeah, he was third. Yeah, I was
like, I don't know. No, he was fifth. Oh, yeah,
he was fifth. He was the fifth kick, yeah. Which
is all pressure, right? That's all the pressure.
He didn't look like there was pressure. You know,
it was interesting, though. He turned back and
looked at their bench afterwards. I feel like
the same way against some of those other teams,
some of their players are in the youth Mexican
system. I think he probably is friends with some
of those guys and was immediately like, shh,
I got you. He should have cupped his ears. Yeah.
But yeah, no, it was impressive from Ovid. And
then right afterwards, Andy says, turns to the
fans and says, I got this. He said, it's my time.
It's my time. He points to the floor. He said,
I got this. Makes the save. Again, not a great
kick. But still, knew where it was going. In
fact, I think he... Did he... At least four of
the five he dove the correct way. I think he
may have dove the correct way in all five. He
just... There was one that went down. No, wait.
There was one that he dove to the left and it
went right. There was one that went down the
middle and he dove right. But the other ones
he dove the right way. Yeah. So he was three
out of five. Three out of five. But he knew...
Here's the thing. We've mentioned it before in
the podcast. Me and a few other Alliance Council
members had a full conversation with him about
being a goalie and gamesmanship and what do you
do in that situation. That's why I knew he was
going to know which way to go and he wasn't worried
about it. It was because if he knows what he's
going to do, he sticks with it. He's not going
to change because the player does something when
he steps up. He's confident in what his practice
has told him, what his homework has told him
in advance. It's like you don't go into a test
and then throw away your notes. You just go,
oh, I know what to do. And you do it. And then
in the second most iconic moment in his history,
he turns to the crowd and says, I told you. After
the same thing. Because the Louisville City US
Open Cup match where he takes it and kicks the
game winning. Penalty himself. That is truly
the epic moment in his career. He is so inspirational
that the goalie from Orlando did it. Yeah. Yeah.
Seattle did it first. Inspirational. But I mean,
Brian said after the game, he was in line to
take a penalty if it went that far. I think he
would have taken the sixth one. Yeah, he may
have. Like he was, he would have taken one for
sure. So, which is pretty awesome. That's what
you want out of your goalie, a guy who's super
confident, who is aura farming, right? To borrow
some lingo from the kids. From mouth. And he's
been doing it, and he really put a stamp on his
stake in the future. with this game i mean really
truly because we we all saw we all have seen
his progression so far and just the potential
there and i feel like that's a moment especially
against especially in a game where he had what
one save right because he only had there was
only one shot on target against him right he
stayed locked in during the whole game and he
almost single -handedly you know making that
first save after christian misses it right he
he he just reset everything he let it lets all
the guys know hey i got you it was funny too
because puebla like they kept making kicks after
us in like they kept like copying where we went
like which i thought was interesting i was like
that's actually like kind of a uh That's a pretty
good tactic. It felt like for the next three
kicks, they were putting it in the same exact
spot we were. And he did it. He beat them. We
needed that. We needed a hero to step up, and
he did. And the excitement from our players.
It clearly means something to them, especially
after the frustrating game they had. Because
he knew who was going nuts. Andy walked out there
and spread his arms and just hugged a whole bunch
of players at once. It wasn't like he hugged
one and everyone jumped on. He grabbed all of
them with his long -ass arms and hugged them
in. He said, bring it in, boys. I got you guys.
He said, this one's on me. You guys can win the
next one. So where do we go from here? What's
your takeaway from that? How do you... Do you
look at this game and go, what can we do better
against LA, or does it not even matter? The only
thing you need to think about from this game
is we don't have Moose next game, and so we're
going to have to do something else up top. We
play D -Row. Yeah. Well, we'll have to. Unless
you put his suit up. What else do we have? Yeah.
Tsukunomi. He hasn't been signed, so yeah. Interesting.
What about, what about, hear me out, hear me
out. What about Jackson Reagan up top? How would
he fare? If you needed to, like, let's say Osaza
gets injured, he won't, but, you know, how would,
how would Jackson Reagan fare? He's, he's big,
he's tall, he can head the ball. I don't think
he's fast. He could pass it into the back of
the net. Yeah. I still remember what he did against,
was it PSG? Or the Club World, no, but the Fogo
against the Club World Cup. Tell us what he did.
I don't remember that long ago. I think he was,
like, in front of the goal, and he went to, like,
pass it. Yeah, he went to hit the ball, but he,
like, hit it sideways. It was like a scramble
on the goal line, and I was just like, oh, my
goodness. But to be fair, he was playing much
better now than he did in the beginning of the
year. Yeah. For sure. Like, in the beginning
of the year, I was like, Reagan, Reagan, this
is why you wanted to be in January camp for this?
But I think now, if he gets called up, he earned
it, for sure. Oh, I would love that. I really
feel like the U .S. men could use a guy like
that in their back line. Yeah, I think so. I
think he probably has a little more to go in
terms of getting there. Oh, sure, sure, sure.
But you can see the potential. Yeah. I mean,
who knows? Who knows what's going to happen by
the time the World Cup rolls around. That's true.
That would be really cool. I would love to see
that. You never know. I mean, his passing is
elite. And he's physically, he's a physical presence.
Yeah, when he was out injured, we really missed
his passing out the back. Yeah. It's just not
the same. The way that he breaks lines with his
passing. Especially when he comes across the
field into the other half. I feel like we were
not getting him at his full potential before
the Houston match. And that was the first match
where he really held the ball on the opponent's
half of the field and used his passing to make
a strong effect in the match. And he grew up,
I forget where I heard this, but he grew up playing
midfield. Oh, interesting. And, I mean, you know,
now it's like, oh, yeah, that makes sense because
he's such a good – he's so comfortable picking
out the right pass and passing it super well.
It's like, oh, yeah, that makes sense. When he
took that pass out of the air one touch and just
– Yeah. I was just like, wow. I was impressed.
Yeah. Well. At least in the end, Danny's only
going to have like a two -game suspension maybe.
He didn't go full Victor Robles and throw a bat
at the pitcher. I see that. Yeah, it's such a
bummer. I think 10 is a little much because it's
not like he didn't throw the bat at the pitcher.
He threw it towards the pitcher. It was never
going to hit the pitcher. Yeah. Sometimes they
deserve it too. Oh, he did deserve it. Keeps
him honest. Yeah, but you knew it was going to
be bad. The game's gone. Because the Mariners
could sure use him right now. They could use
him and they have to basically burn a roster.
Yeah, which is even dumber, but this isn't...
For those 10 games to get him back, right? Which
is like... Especially when you're already losing
one to Dylan Moore. I will defend him. I mean,
I obviously don't throw a bat at another human
being, but... I think given his history of like,
he doesn't do stuff like that. He got, he got,
he got hit five times in. And he just missed
in a, he got thrown out more times than that.
And his mom just died. Exactly. It's like, if
a person snaps after all of that, I'm like, you
know what? I get it. It's the first snapping.
Like, I'm like, okay. Yeah. Valid crash out.
Valid. Yeah. It's like there's no like, oh, well,
he's morally bankrupt or something like that.
He's clearly going through it. So, yeah, that
would be incredibly frustrating. Yeah. Well,
where do we go from here? Coming out, LA Galaxy,
you think this has an effect other than Danny
missing? Are we going to go in there and do what
we did to them before? It's going to be a tough
game. What's happening? I don't even know. Last
time I predicted a game, I got zero points. I
think I got zero from this last match, for sure.
I just hope we find a way to win. And that way
we can host some team from Florida. And we know
that we're in the cup no matter whether we win
or lose. Yeah, but it would be damn nice to win
that cup. Yeah, it's true. And we know it's at
home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I mean,
LA, they're clearly, they're feeling themselves
right now. And they were, but they were before
us too. And then we took them out and then they
lost another game and now they're coming back.
So it's weird. But that was an MLS regular season
game, a competition in which they have, zero
chance of right i mean i don't know what the
math says but i mean they're they're pretty much
eliminated yeah i mean i don't think they're
actually eliminated it's not gonna have all the
teams above them lose a lot of games exactly
which yeah that's not gonna happen in the league's
cup they're in the summer i find right that's
that's huge and this is their path to the champions
cup absolutely absolutely so this is this is
uh you know this is their super bowl right they're
they're gonna be so difficult to play against
um i feel like uh just because they're they're
their energy they're gonna be up for it and we
are we're really short -handed you know we're
missing two of our designated players right and
they're missing ricky pooch yeah sure we know
we know where even if pedro starts he's gonna
be subbed off too early and not get enough minutes
It seems to be the case. But I feel like, I don't
know, I feel like there's something in there.
I feel like we really need Jesus to have a really
good game. And if he gets an opportunity like
he got on Wednesday night, then he's got to capitalize
on that. I think he's going to be really important
for that for us. Yeah, against Galaxy. Galaxy
are favored by sportsbooks, despite the fact
that we beat them 4 -0 there in the previous
match. Well, they just want to drive bets, right?
They just want to get suckers like us to put
some money down on the Sounders. But usually,
you know, a draw is plus 185 to plus 230. Sounders
win is plus 210 to plus 320. Obviously, it depends
on the book. LA Galaxy win, plus 130 to plus
175. The few places that do it by spread, LA
Galaxy is favored by a half goal. So over -under
looks to be... They're expecting the under, which
is 2 .5. Oh, because it's a 10 .5. Interesting.
They're expecting, what, a 1 -0? Yeah, 1 -0 or
2 -1, essentially. 2 -0. That's my fear, is a
1 -0. I mean, I feel like that's realistic. Yeah,
that feels like a pretty realistic outcome. I
mean, the last big knockout semifinal game we
played against them last year to get to MLS Cup
was a 1 -0 victory for LA Galaxy on one mistake,
right? One mistake, that's all it took. Now,
obviously, completely different teams. different
tournament but yeah i mean they're gonna be at
home they're they're gonna be really really i
mean they need this they really truly do need
this so it's gonna be incredibly difficult but
i i feel like we're we have the capability to
find a way it's just like okay who's gonna step
up and do it yeah i don't know if their fans
will show up though it's midweek just a late
kickoff Their stadium is so weird. The vibes
are so weird there. Unless they're giving out
free tickets, I don't see them filling it up.
Really? This is their big thing. This is the
one thing that they have that they could win.
Yeah. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see.
People showed up a little bit. There, but also
you got to remember that they had double headers.
So there, I don't know if they cleared the stadium
or not, but there's already people there. Cause
they've had, it must've, it must've been a two
for one special, which is cool. Well, let's,
let's get out of here. So we've been going for
a while. What are your final thoughts on the
Sounders performance against Puebla? At the end
of the day, we're going to see that we won. We
can look at all the underlining stats later,
but what matters is that we're moving on to the
next round. You don't got to win pretty. You
just got to win. Yeah. Yeah, just got to win.
I mean, you know, we won our first MLS Cup by
defending our asses off we didn't have a single
shot on goal right or i forget i didn't we didn't
even have a single shot right like we didn't
even get to that point and we won in pks um and
in a weird way in this game we're on the we're
it's like a weird inverse where we were the team
the aggressor right and we weren't able to score
and but we we won on pks i will take that That's
a little bit lucky. There's some magic. There's
some Andy Thomas just being an absolute baller,
just owning this tournament. I feel like we just
got to carry that momentum forward. I know all
the guys are going to be super juiced up after
he saved our bacon, and they're going to want
to continue forward. and beat LA. You know, this
is important. This is super important for us
to keep winning in this tournament and to get
a birth and a champions cup next year. So that's
what I'm banking on. Well, you can find me at
legal minded punk on all the different social
medias, although a bunch are suspended right
now. So I'm sure I'll be back eventually. I don't,
that's I have no, I can't get any news cause
I get all my news from Twitter. So I have no
idea. What's going on in the world? Maybe that's
a good thing. What was it? Impersonation? You
can find Cedar and Alex on Discord, right? Yeah.
Join the Discord. Remember a few episodes ago
we talked about Sounders fans selling a boat.
Form that Sounders Yacht Club. I'm sure he'll
make you a deal if you want to get in and just
help out on the mortgage costs. and make you
a hell of a deal. So hit up the notes we have
here. We want more Sounders fans with boats so
we can go watch games on boats and stuff. That
would be fun. DanBase. Yeah, the DanBase will
love it. We'll see everybody next time. You can
follow the Sounders Scuttlebutt Podcast on Twitter
at SSFCScuttlebutt. And for all inquiries, including
questions for the gents or sponsorship opportunities,
please email contact at scuttlebuttproductions
.com. Be sure to subscribe to the show for new
episodes following every Sounders FC match. And
don't forget to share your feedback by rating
and reviewing. And you can follow me 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 unequivocally and intuitively
the best MRS team of all time.