He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say it's genius. It's scintillating. It's
sensational. It's Seattle Sounders FC soccer.
Welcome to Sounders FC. Mother effing scuttlebutt.
I'm not going to put the explicit button down
quite yet, but we are the greatest club in the
land, everyone. We have every trophy. We just
beat Inter -Miami. All the trophies. All the
trophies. I'm Aaron Lingley. You're Cameron Collins.
You're Nicholas Biella. Let's go. Some of us
are minutes away from coming from the stadium.
Yep. some of us yeah several of us man i didn't
i think you were pretty much home nicholas by
the time i was able to take down the girl fc
banner roma had a little bit of a meltdown after
about the 25th minute of post -game celebration
did she spit on anyone she did not she's not
a miami player no no um so one first off let
me just say So good to see so many Scuttlebutt
members. So just shout out to that. Second up,
Cameron is starting to swirl some stuff around.
So let's do a little bit of that. Let's get some
celebratory. Cameron is going to drink alcohol.
Must be a good night, everyone. Oh, yeah. Oh,
I spilled a little bit on the keyboard, but that's
all right. I got some dark hedges, finished in
rum cask, Irish whiskey that I got on St. Patrick's
Day and saving for a special occasion. The Irish
in me is very excited for this. So I am drinking
whiskey tonight. That's right. This one goes
out to Eric 13. All right, buddy. He was right
next to me all day today. So great. Huge shout
out to Eric 13. Eric was a legend today. Eric
was an absolute legend today. um i am drinking
ron zacapa centenario xo which is a solera rum
it's a very very good rum one of my favorite
rums but i'm only drinking a very very tiny bit
because i can't be i can't i can't have more
than just a little bit today so let me see if
i can do that you can do it Good thing we're
not doing video today. You were on video the
other day, though. Shout out to the folks at
Battered US, Battered Miami. Yeah, they are fantastic,
and they actually sent me a post -game message
congratulating us. They're really good people,
and we had a really good conversation on them.
They have some really fun things going on over
there. And what about you, Aaron? What are you
going to drink? Well, the sentimental drinks
have already happened. My kickoff was Elysian
Space Dust. The second was Full Contact, also
by Elysian. The only other beers I had were Lagunitas,
and so I'm having that. That sounded beautiful.
Really? You know, not as good as yours. Well,
I'll tell you what. Let's raise a glass. Let's
raise a glass to... You know, to a club that
five for five, we, we are just so lucky and it's
not luck. It's skill, man. It's no, we are lucky
as fans to be able to also have. Yeah. Tonight,
tonight was my seventh final that I've attended
in person. We've won six of those trophies. uh
2017 is that the one seven 2017 is the one that
i did not yeah uh no uh second toronto 2017 20
20 was columbus yeah oh yeah so cheers columbus
cheers cheers that's good stuff oh i think there's
only like a handful of times i've had drinks
with you in person yeah That's because I don't
drink very much. And this isn't even in person.
This is a special occasion, though. The Sounders
have been victorious against Messi. And it was
in front of 69 ,000 plus people, almost 70 ,000.
69 ,314 is the official. Yeah, and it was, I
mean. It was that. Yeah, there were not, it wasn't
like that's tickets. uh that it would send out
i didn't i didn't see a blue seat no the seats
were i'm watching on tv i didn't see a blue seat
i listened to the highlights and you can hear
the crowd like i've never heard the crowd like
that on a highlight i was a little worried how
much people were cheering for messy but but i
think 90 of the messy fans are were also sounders
fans who were just there to see me for sure i
mean i i clap for messy man there's a third time
i've gotten to see him messy in my opinion is
the greatest soccer player of all time uh I think
I agree with that I I uh but you know me I put
Cristiano Ronaldo at like number nine or eight
so uh because he's not even the best person named
Ronaldo I love their hot takes because that's
the other Ronaldo from Brazil I mean just to
like we won't we'll get to everything that's
happened from the kickoff to post post whistle
right but um messi was standing there basically
leading his team to watch us get the trophy and
i think that says a lot well you have to but
he he looked back at at his team and there was
a shot where he looked back and like you're watching
right yeah like i just with everything that had
just occurred i thought you know we'll use it
as feed feed it to feed your anger yeah i mean
there was some cool stuff in the game where he
the way he interacted with some of our players,
uh, especially of all ages, especially Pedro.
Um, that I did see that was pretty cool. Um,
I don't know how much they showed on TV, but
yeah. And you know, uh, we'll get it. There seemed
to be, there just seemed to be a lot of respect
from messy to our club and our players, uh, both
after the match and during the match and the
conference, it seemed like, wow, he, we beat
you. He, he got beat three, nothing. And I think
he, respected that um oh god i'm just so happy
so here's what we're going to talk about we we've
won every trophy we can yeah first club to do
that we had over 69 000 people was and and this
no one's even close to that by the way no one's
even no one's even close they had 12 000 in la
for the third place game i think it was oh what
was the final score of that one i didn't two
to one la pulled it out at the end you know what
i'm i'm Almost happy for them. They've had a
really rough year, and Orlando is probably going
to get in anyways. So Asase De Rosario scores
the game winner, right? Alex Rodon gets two assists
and a goal. Who saw him getting the penalty?
Christian did. I think as much as we, and I have
jumped. To support Cameron and his complaints
with Brian Schmetzer, I think this might have
been one of the better tactical games from Brian.
Absolutely great job. And the subs at the time,
Georgie was critical. Once Sergio became a center
back, put Georgie in there. right look what happens
well well even before that rothrock went 1v1
got him behind them uh a good save by the goal
wait we're getting ahead of ourselves yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah i'm just saying overall a
little bit a minute to get into his into the
game but once he did like that yeah this especially
the first half felt i would say 18 or 19 minutes
in the sounders had a little lull they were a
little tired But overall, the first half felt
like that was a Sounders team that could beat
any team in the MLS. Yeah. And the second wind
of the Sounders, I think, just because of our
depth, I want to get to that as we talk about
this match. And I think we've seen it every single
match since I think things started clicking about
a month and a half ago. Obviously, we're going
to talk about post -match shit. Suarez, spitting,
headlocks, all the bullshit. And also, what's
next? We're in Club World Cup again. We got work
to do. We still got some work to do. One of the
things that I don't want you to miss out on is
not just that we qualify for Champions League.
Which, by the way, we already had. We'll say
that. No, no, no. I mean in this tournament.
It's not just that we qualify for Champions League.
But because we won this, we get the bye to the
round of 16. oh so we don't have to play rubbing
the nipples i mean i took the camera down so
you can see that oh oh oh but you're wearing
my favorite ecs shirt that's like the 2014 kit
jersey shirt that is my favorite ecs membership
shirt yep i don't think i have any rips in the
armpits yet that that heather gray and i actually
bought a second version of it in one of their
honestly most of them are black right so it's
they're not fun to wear when it's 90 degrees
in the But that one just really well designed
is a beautiful kit. Okay. Well, we talked about
my shirt before you got here, Nicholas, which
is from the program show we attended. Oh, yeah.
And also, I did not realize this since I was
in person like you, but Eddie Vedder was in the
suite with Adrian Hanauer. Watching the left
of Adrian for the whole match. Good, good. Even
post -90. Hey, David Beckham waved at me before
the game. Okay, wait. Okay. You made a comment
in the stands because we were hanging out pregame.
But what you missed out on was when David Beckham
walked by, Bernie was next to me and I pointed
out and go, look, and I've never seen my wife
swoon like this. This year will be this year
will be 10. This month will be 10 years. We're
20 days away from our 10 year anniversary. I've
never seen her switch like her. She got googly
eyed. like like a anime character dude beckham
don't crack he looks good yeah you know don garber
don garber looked like he he spent a thousand
dollars on his haircut and beard trimming and
you know he spent like ten thousand dollars on
hair plugs yeah it all failed yeah yeah there's
like eight of them oh donnie so Leading up to
this week, obviously, we're not going to have
a huge scuttlebutt episode. We're going to focus
mainly on this game tonight. That's kind of the
postgame. We certainly have mailbag. I did get
a call for it, but most of that was postmatch.
I was a little concerned leading up to the game
when I saw that the ref was going to be the same
ref who frustrated Danny Mussofsky. Oh, interesting.
But upon watching the game, what I think I took
away from it is I think he still had the same
kind of shit performance as he did in Puebla.
I could not disagree more, but we'll discuss
that. Yeah, I was going to say that might have
been one of the best. I think there was a lot.
He let a lot of things go like he did in Puebla.
And I think the two teams. were playing this
game differently. Like Miami and Seattle both
came to play versus Pueblo, who was being cynical,
but he was letting it. So, so that's what I mean.
He was letting a lot. I think he knew his assignment.
Yeah. Now I've got to say something. He was,
he was consistent. He was consistent. Although
he did the second half, he did start calling
some stuff and giving some cards in different
situations, which is what happens when you lose
control of a match. But I will say. Miami didn't
like him enough because they were – he was not
calling their flops over and over again. They
flopped so many times. And they went and Messi
first and then like three or four other players
at halftime all went over to talk to them and
be like, you've got to start giving us the calls.
And to his credit, he didn't because I've seen
referees. Like usually in basketball, but I've
seen referees fall pressure to that, like Paul
pray to that pressure and be like, okay. Or just,
it's just, it just opens something. Right. Right.
Like, okay, now I see, you know, something that
looks like that and I have to call it because
it looks like that. But I think, I think what
really benefited us is the fact that we had just
had him and we know the type of game he plays.
Yeah. And, and so we kind of had a better idea
of what the line was. And vice versa. Yeah. Right?
Yeah. There's a lot to say about we've gone through
a match with a ref. They get to know our players,
especially our veteran players that have more
context to maybe what's happening during a match,
especially post -match when they have their few
moments together. He didn't have that with them.
And we're historically not a club that had douchebaggery.
We're not a douchebag. No, no. And neither is
Miami. Exactly. As far as it often is, though.
but what i'm getting at is is going into this
game neither team was going to play cynical they
were going to try to play their style of game
to win this game and now our team will be your
team yeah and i was looking forward to that because
oftentimes when two teams come out trying to
play and dictate their style of play that bodes
well for us So how should we start this? We need
to formally start the episode. Should we talk
about the lead up to the match? We're going to
start out by shouting my cousin Lillian out,
who performed with the Mexican pop star that
opened the match. Oh, really? Yeah. Your cousin
was one of those four dancers? Yeah, she's Seahawks
dancer. And they invited her, I think, yesterday.
And then she had to learn the dance yesterday
and then do it today. So she was out there pregame
while I was setting up practicing, and it was
just super cool to see Lillian out there. Wait,
she had to learn to dance? Learn the dance. Oh,
the dance. I was like, wow, how did she get –
She is a professional dancer. The dad jokes are
strong. She is a great dancer and a teacher.
But, yeah, super cool to see Lillian out there.
doing her thing and uh stadium cut off the singer
when he tried to do like a last minute shout
at the very end what i learned is what's called
the whale call before the boom boom clap oh yeah
yeah it has a yeah yeah is that officially called
the whale call because the announcer on the tv
said it's the whale sounders whale call yeah
yep it is i'll take it it's literally a whale
sound like that's the sound they make It's not.
Yeah, it is. It is. Then it's been played with
a little bit. I can't mimic it, but I know what
you're talking about. It's kind of like a but
it's like your musical note. Okay, well, I'll
accept it. And if it is actually a recorded whale
call that's been kind of edited to reverb, then
fantastic. Very, very, very sounders. Yeah. All
right. So. So that happened. We had Head in the
Heart doing National Anthem again. Okay, wait.
That was not on TV. We go from really high energy.
Everyone's excited. And then just like the folkiest.
Simon and Garfunkel. Really? I will say. It sounded
nice. Head in the Heart is high energy. He once
choked the sound guy. I thought it was at Sunset.
I do know that story. Someone else told me that
it was at the tractor, but they're on the same
block. Yeah. So, but they're very talented. Yeah,
in Ballard. They're an old school. Eddie Vedder's
there. Mike can't just take over. He's done a
lot. There's never enough. Yeah, that's true.
There's never enough Mike McCready. I mean, it
wasn't really a Sounders. They probably helped
bring them in, but this was an MLS event. This
was not a Sounders event. So the Sounders, they
were there. But when you bring it head in the
heart, it's just like, okay, well, Brandi Carlile
would have been there. I mean, to be honest,
they did a really great job. It just didn't fit
with the atmosphere. It didn't fit the vibe,
yeah. Yeah, you're hyping. You just had fireworks
going and everyone going crazy. Bring in that
12 -year -old who sang last week who's been out
four or five times. She is awesome. It's a shame
because the version was good. It just was not
the right time. Let's talk about the starting
lineup then. I didn't even hear who we were starting
because I was so nervous going into that. It
kind of felt like 2016 MLS Cup where everything
just kept happening so fast. Suddenly we're in
the match and I was just feeling nervous. Yeah,
so you have Thomas and Goal, which we knew was
going to be the case. You have Alex Roldan, Yamar,
Jackson, Reagan. And then the big question was
who was going to replace Nuhu, and we went with
Reed Baker Whiting. Now, keep in mind, Reed Baker
Whiting was who we replaced Nuhu with during
the Club World Cup with Atletico Madrid. So that
shouldn't have been a big surprise, although
depending on the matchups, John Bell could have
been a candidate there. So we went with Reed
Baker Whiting. Then we kind of went with what
you've been seeing. Obed Vargas, Christian Roldan,
Paul Rothrock, Jesus Ferreira, Pedro de la Vega
with Osase de Rosario up top. Now Miami has Ustari.
They have Alba, Falcone, Lujan Frey in the back
four. DePaul, Busquets. By the way, DePaul, I
don't remember seeing him play today. Yeah, he
did not make a market as far as I'm... Honestly,
no one really did, but yeah, definitely not him.
Busquets and Bright with Allende, Suarez, and
Messi up top. Now, by the way, just as a heads
up, I usually like going to Foot Mob. I think
Foot Mob does a really good job with their stuff.
Foot Mob's ratings for the 11 starters for Miami?
4 .7, 5 .2. Well, no, so you got 11 starters.
I just want to ask you, In those 11, where do
you think Messi ranks in the, you know, like
the highest Miami player to the lowest? In today's
match? Yeah, today's match. Probably five or
six. Okay. I look him higher than that. I would
say like third. He was the 10th best player for
Miami on the stats. He was rated a 6 .1. Was
Suarez the best? There's nine other players over
6 .1 in that match. Bullshit. Suarez had two
amazing passes. I was going to say Suarez is
probably the best player. Busquets probably had
to do a lot of stuff. Only the right back Ian
Frey was rated lower. according to Foot Mob,
which I found very, very fun. He was messy. We'll
get to it. He was shut down a lot by Christian.
He was shut down by RBW a few times. Obed shut
him down a few times. Obed was getting run. They
each had a massive moment that they will remember
for the rest of their career. Obed in the box.
Reed Baker whiting on the sideline. Oh, when
he ran like 40 yards and got behind him without
following him and getting in front. Oh, so beautiful.
So beautiful. Absolutely perfect. On TV, it's
even better because there's a camera right to
the left of the goal just looking straight. No,
one thing we need to make sure to talk about
is this week, because it was after. I recorded
with the ultras cause we recorded with them right
after the last match. Uh, this week, Brian said,
yeah, they have messy and they have these other
players, blah, blah, blah. They have messy, but
we have Paul Rothrock. And then he, and then
he named all the other young guys. And it's like,
yeah. And then the sellers ran with that. the
sounders had a promotion where if you traded
in your yeah if you traded in your leonel messi
jersey at the stadium the first hundred people
you'd get a paul rothrock was about to say that
when they blew the final whistle too he didn't
get to talk about that no they talked about it
earlier it was it was mentioned at the start
of the match and then that's cool yeah i mean
yeah and here's the thing is the interviews paul
rothrock did this week were amazing talking about
being from here talking about In 2009, being
with his dad up on the 300 level to watch Messi
play for Barcelona against the Sounders. And
just, it was so cool. I mean, you saw when he,
you know, we already know what happened, scores
the goal where he goes nuts and then suddenly
he starts kissing his badge. He was about to
take his shirt off. That's actually what he was
going to do. He did one of those. And then he
kisses his badge. And then I don't know if they
showed it in the broadcast. at the game as he's
running up the sideline back to get on the other
side he's hyping the crowd up oh right in front
of me and like right in front of me all the way
up to the but forever and is like going and like
you could tell and even um after georgie after
georgie after he drew the penalty he was hyping
i mean these players this wasn't just oh it's
another this is a manufactured tournament this
cup doesn't matter like 65 ,000 or 69 ,000 fans
that were like, and each of the chants were loud.
ECS was on form today. Which is great because
Miami brought it too. They brought a bunch of
people. There was a great, so right, you guys
were there. I could only see it from TV. I think
we all can agree in the few years that Apple
has taken over all broadcasting, right? They've
done a great job. I like the quality of the cameras.
After the first season and some digital bullshit,
the actual experience from the stadium is translated
very well to the viewer on TV. The audio is great.
Because they have mic'd up certain supporter
groups who their capos can't sing and are out
of tune. So we can do without some of those opposing
supporter groups at times. But you're right.
It creates a wonderful atmosphere that I think
mimics. what we feel in the stadium for those
of you at home. Well, I think I get to confirm
that because I don't get a lot of opportunity,
obviously, in the last year with my move to San
Diego and yada, yada, yada. But I haven't been
to a match in forever, right? But I get to speak
to you guys weekly. And you tell me what it's
like in the stadium. We do an episode about Sounders
matches together. And I can tell you that it's
well represented on TV. and it was clear that
there was pink there but it was it looked about
20 80. they were quiet they were relatively outside
of their but yeah outside of their supporters
section yeah there's pink sparkles i think there
was a lot of look though that were sounders fans
that just have the pink jersey because it's miami
because it was clearly i mean even when they
came out Well, I'd be annoyed if you were a Sounders
fan wearing a pink jersey at a Sounders home
game in a final. I mean, but you're talking,
I mean, lots of, on the big screen, parents in
Sounders jersey with their kids in messy jerseys.
I mean, you've got kids in Seattle wearing Oklahoma
City Thunder jerseys, for Christ's sake. Then
they're not my kids. Yeah, I understand. But
I think some people that have to choose what
they fight their kids on, right? They're doing
bad parenting. It's better. Let your child get
drunk before you let them wear an Oklahoma City
Thunder jersey. I will give my child heroin.
Why not? So, by the way, they did set a League's
Cup attendance record with 69 ,314. You know
the previous record? Giggity, giggity. I don't.
I don't. But... The lack of respect, at least
from the ECS section in the south end of the
stadium, just very loudly, who are you, and boos
when Miami kicks the field. The best was when
Messi was down that time, where I think he just
needed a nap because he's old. Younger than me,
but he's old. And then they started chanting,
let him die. The entire crowd started chanting,
let him die on our half the stadium. So good.
Our first echo chant was well -timed. I did make
a note of that. I think it was after the first
call. Well, shout out to head capo today, John
Beasley. Beasley saw his opportunity and took
it with the longest. Yeah. Free the bees. Yeah.
Yeah. 128. He used to be there before he was
started. leading shit and he was right in front
of me and tour um then we in his family yeah
that that's that's awesome so john john led the
longest seattle call and response i've been a
part of in years uh it just did not stop he it
must have been like 20 plus i think that's probably
when i took a note and i was like it's the, the
match is still going. Like we, we are beyond
five or six, the fist should be thrown, but then
obviously the energy is still there. And I think
that's important because we, we have shown that
we have given up a few goals when we just kind
of like check out when we're not, we're checked
out for a second. Right. That's been, I think
are only two goals. So the whole tournament,
I can't remember. specifically them, but I just
remember all our goals being just kind of like,
come on, we're better than that. And to go up
a goal against Miami at home in a final, okay,
you could almost just get overwhelmed with excitement
because of it. And I think the echo chant is
something that just kind of resets your psyche.
And it is such a buildup of everything and energy.
You get connected with the entire stadium with
the echo chant. yeah i think it was perfectly
timed and i think it's a shutout because we not
only did we scored but we reset and they could
not get through us it was just it's perfect yeah
let me ask you something about the broadcast
because obviously i haven't watched i'm going
to watch the whole thing again i've only watched
the highlights but i was at the game so i didn't
hear it live and i had multiple people including
one of our ultras and then uh my old roommate
mentioned how annoyed I would be because of how
pro Miami they were. But when I was watching
the highlights, they were very pro Seattle and
they were saying such great things about Seattle.
And Taylor does that all the time too. He always
talks about how great Seattle is. Yeah. I've
actually always been a more of a Twelman supporter
because I've, I've mostly watched matches, right?
I'm not usually there in stadium. I don't, Agree
with that. I think maybe Seattle lights being
one of them. We have, we're passive aggressive
and we look for like confirmation box, like anything
that can support our argument to, we are always
overlooked or anything like that. If you watch
the post match for this, it is effusive. How
Andrew was it? Weeby. Yeah. Weeby. um i love
that dude bradley ray phillips uh sasha question
oh my god they're like this we are so enamored
with this club how they built built everything
um i mean bought not built right that's that's
what we're gonna that's we're gonna title this
episode thanks to ecs bot not built like everyone
in post match was effusive of how how we've done
things especially when you saw how the match
ended right you have world -class players that
have seen it all That can't get it to fucking
gather. At the end of a match. You know. A bunch
of kids just beat you. Is basically what. Miami.
Acted like at the end of the match. When. The
rest of MLS. Petulant. Yeah. What would you call
them? The MLS couch. They were saying how strong
and how built this team is, how consistent we
are. When we talk about this, we just need it.
And that's why our expectations every season
are number two. What we're frustrated with is
why can't you figure out the recipe so we can
start clicking because we've got the right players.
We've never argued that we have the wrong players.
I like seeing something flashy every once in
a while, but it's like, just get it together.
We're almost there. We're almost clicking. And
we started clicking a month and a half ago, and
it is fearsome. And we're getting, I think, the
respect from announcers and post -match. So I
don't know what you were hearing, Cameron, but
I watched the entire match from an hour before
to an hour after, and it was fairly reported.
From both sides. They have good players, obviously.
So do we. We weren't thrown to the wolves. Yeah.
Someone talk. I was waiting for Cameron to respond.
You were mentioning Cameron. I was on mute. As
I'm trying to eat my dinner. I literally could
not leave my seat during the whole game. Because
I was... Once it started, I was – I mean, obviously,
I didn't want to leave during the match for a
big match like that, but also I was just too
nervous. So at halftime, I sat in my seat. I
didn't move. Once we went up 2 -0, I started
feeling okay, and it was once the third goal
happened, which was in the 90th minute, that
I was feeling like, okay, we won. But we've seen
too many times where – And Messi gets a goal,
and then suddenly Miami can come back and tie
it out of nowhere. They just did that. Teams
panic. Teams panic. They just did that. Yeah.
I mean, they had a red card help. Less than a
week ago. Yeah. It was on Wednesday. It was 1
-0 until basically the end of the match. Yeah.
Last 10 minutes, right? I mean, but game state
matters, and they had to push once they went
down. Yeah. So let's talk about, let's get into
the game. Let's get into the game. Game kicks
off. A little nervy at first, a little bit of
slipping around, a little bit of full contact.
Like, wait, what sport are we watching? Is that
a body check? What was that? got a little got
a little i didn't i felt like it was miami diving
every time they they barely a few times we had
two players run into each other but it there
wasn't a foul on either team miami is just so
used to being just touched and then falling over
and getting a call that it didn't happen this
they were like no no that that that was clear
to me i mean I haven't watched any Miami matches.
I can assume what you just said is true because
of the players they have on their roster, right?
But it was pretty clear to me that the ref had
a plan for the match and expected this, and everything
played out to expectation from them. The Sounders
don't placate anybody. Miami plays the exact
same way every single match. They just hit players
that don't fall down. And we fall down when we
physically have to fall down. But Christian Roldan
doesn't fall down to earn a foul if it means
we can actually move forward and score a goal.
And we have a number of players that do that.
And I think the ref helped us in that regard
because, yeah, they were diving. Agreed. But...
Mid nugget thumbs upping, but the collective,
the collective, the collective what am I looking
for? The, the collective team defense, the pressure
that we were putting them under was, was just
fantastic. And I think, I don't think they've
been bossed like that in the midfield. in in
a hot meta it just felt like i mean they said
kc had i think oh or sorry orlando city i was
like city orlando city had bossed them and we're
even better in the midfield than orlando is what
the broadcast basically said so they were gonna
have to watch out that's what they said pregame
and i think that proved to be true I think the
cohesion of our midfield is like Orlando is a
rival, right? Yeah. And a rivalry match, anything
can fucking happen. Yeah. Emotions, adrenaline,
all that. But Orlando, not the last match, but
the time before in the regular season. Yeah,
when they were like 4 -0. Yeah, they just dominated
them. Like I said, they're a good team too. Yeah.
But I do think there's something inherently.
The depth, the connection, the coaching, the
consistency of our squad. No club faces this
in the MLS. Even in Emeki's, right? This is what
makes us so consistently good all the time. When
we get blown out, it's an anomaly. I think we've
only been scoring multiple goals in the last
month and a half. Which is why my balls feel
so big right now. I was bitching up until this
point, right? Up until really this tournament.
I've been bitching about how many goals we score.
1 .75 a match. It felt like almost every, we
had the one four goal like explosion. It's like,
get it to fucking gather. Like, are you talking
like before club world cup? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Club world cup. Like, and it's been brought up.
Yeah. We were in the group of death and we, and
we. pooped out but everyone when anyone mentions
that including announcers in this game they mentioned
that we were in the club and the group of death
and that we showed up great and that we were
we were quality you know and and and it is it
you look back and you're like god damn we did
need to kind of lose those matches against the
best clubs in the world the best club in the
world right yeah and then look what's happened
the the The arm and arm, the red rover, red rover,
bring whoever the fuck right over is what our
locker room looks like right now. And I'm fucking
loving it. We're scoring two plus goals a match.
About 2 .6. Easily. Easily. My prediction was
4 -0 Pedro de la Vega. Them, nothing. It was
3 -0, not Pedro. It was basically bench players.
This is great. I'm in a hot tub of happiness
right now. As you should be. And in this League's
Cup, I believe in this League's Cup, we ended
up outscoring teams, what was it, 16 -2? 13 -2.
13 -2. Okay, thank you. Over the course of three,
four, five, six games? Seven games? Yeah, no,
just crazy. Three shutouts. Yeah. This is not
a game where I would have expected for shutouts
to get a shutout too. I mean, this is, this is
a one, I mean, where you would expect a goal
more than no goals. I mean, I predicted it only
because I was just throwing all positivity in
there, but I totally would expect it at a messy
moment, right? Whether it be a free kick. Now,
you know who else didn't you have predicted it?
We're, we're, we're, we're going to get around
to that, but yeah. So pregame. Go ahead, Cameron.
Oh, I mean, this is someone who keeps winning
over and over again. And there might be other
winners, so I'm not giving it all away. Like
you have the official stats, but Roma. Roma won
again. Won again, the little five -year -old.
Predicted 3 -0. Did she really? Yeah. She's done
this like three or four times this season where
she's predicted a score. She predicted knew who
to score against Cruz Azul. Wasn't there an otter
that predicted the Seahawks Super Bowl? They
predicted like the last three Super Bowls. Yeah,
maybe an otter. Up to that point a decade ago.
That sounds right. So, yeah, Roma's killing it.
I remember just killing it. Fix doesn't even
end. She's just keyed in on this. Well, she's
been to every Sounders match she possibly could
from the day she was born. She has been to quite
a few Sounders. Whether that's good or bad parenting,
we don't know. It's yet to be determined. I don't
know. I think it's quite okay. It's funny. All
right, so 1 -0. Let's talk about the goal. yeah
it's rolled on so so yeah so so how perfect is
that cross from wait so real quick explicit leading
up to that though leading up to that i thought
we were really no but osase had a few other times
where he almost had chances and it felt like
in like the third minute like like a third minute
yeah and then there was yeah But even just like
the passes that were going through to him, they
weren't because he's so new to the team. He would
run one way and the pass would go the other way.
So clearly, think about what he's going to be
able to do when they're on the same page. So
it was leading up to that. There was these few
moments. And then I was thinking in my head like,
oh, man. He's got like four or five goals. Does
he have four goals? Four goals in League's Cup.
Yeah. I was like, man, I kind of wish Moose was
here. And then all of that changed. All of that
changed. Well, a big part of this is with Osase.
When we talked about it with the team, when we
were talking about Danny Masovsky earlier in
the year, is that this team can pass. And this
team has that talent to pick out players in the
box. So they're going to get opportunities. And
Osase is certainly getting those opportunities.
And watching him play, he's playing with a lot
of confidence. And hearing him talk, it's really
fun. It is really fun. But yeah, so beautiful
cross from Alex Roldan. 100 % perfect. Yeah.
Absolutely perfect. There's nothing wrong with
it. No. And Osaze uses his body, gets up, and
puts it away. And by the way, I mean, I'm a public
veteran. I know it's been about 10 months since
I've played in it, but headers are not easy.
No. I mean, especially when it's to... take the
lead in a league's cup final against messy. You've
done that quite a bit. Well, he, he did it perfectly.
And I mean, the cross is absolutely perfect,
obviously, but it's like almost so perfect. I'm
going to fuck this up. I'm going to fuck it up.
Almost like messy fucked it up later in the match.
We're going to talk about that. Yeah. So first
half, I think, I think it's, Kind of a back -and
-forth game. Both teams are kind of feeling out
each other, feeling out the... You think it's
back -and -forth? I think time -wise, there's
a little bit, but overall, I think the Sounders
were the more dominant team. But there was a
lull in about the 18th minute for the next 5
to 10 minutes where Miami took control for a
while. Well, they were taking control, but they're
kind of holding... playing around the horseshoe
looking for you know cracks it seemed it seemed
honestly it seemed like their opportunities were
almost well one they had a few that were just
like clearly that's a messy Sergio Jordi situation
right Suarez they just boom boom boom boom boom
that's gonna happen you're gonna have five or
six of those match but from a full like their
full midfield you can't Like you said earlier,
did DePaul do anything? Yeah. Right? Yeah. Except
for the few magical moments from the global icons
of the sport because Messi sucked them in from
Barcelona, like from his Barcelona experience,
right? So cathartic. Except for them. They have
no identity. There's no – it was just almost
– oh shit, they just put something together and
we had to react to it. They used to. They used
to have young players that were really good and
up and coming and they kind of let them go to
bring in more of Messi's friends this season.
And I think last year they seemed like a stronger
team. One trophy, right? Isn't that League's
Cup two years ago? Yeah. Without Suarez. Because
they lost to Houston in the Open. Was it the
Open Cup that they lost to Houston? Houston,
yeah. I believe you're right. I believe you're
right. Yeah. I'm 87 .3%. That's about where I
am. I'm sure you're right. But Busquets wasn't
with Messi in 2023, right? It was last year.
Yeah. He was sober when Jordi Alba came and Busquets.
I don't remember when they all came. Regardless.
Yeah. So. They seemed like they were chasing
our ass. They never seemed like they were in
control of the match at any single point. Just
regarding their 65 -35 possession. Yeah, so like
in the 39th minute, 40th minute, we hit the post.
Who was it? It was Ferreira. Ferreira makes a
beautiful move. It just beats. It's a back. Yeah.
Back right knee of the keeper too. Yeah. If it
had been, if it had deflected a little bit more
towards his butt, it might've gone right off
him back into the goal, but it just missed it.
Well, the same thing you say about the post.
Yeah. An inch here, an inch there on his ass
or on the post. It goes back in the net. For
all the people saying, well, you know, Messi
could have had a goal. Allende could have had
a goal. I mean, Ferreira could have had a goal.
Man, Nick, I know you're tired, but you got to
stop the yawning. You're going to put us all
to sleep. I've been up since 1 in the morning.
Yeah. I'm sorry. So let's fast forward to the
42nd minute. Let's do it. Messi draws a foul.
Or I'm sorry, Messi doesn't draw the foul. Bright
draws the foul. Yannick. Yeah. Yeah. And so.
Actually, no, I guess it was Messi. Yeah, it
was Messi that drives the foul. So it's about
30 yards out. Messi's going to take a shot, a
free kick from the top of the box. So if you
watch this at 42 minutes and 30 seconds. That
was like 40 to 45 yards out. I remember because
you spoiled the opportunity, so I was really
focused on it. I'm like, oh, this can't be the
free kick that he's talking about. I was like,
oh. i was expecting a direct free kick that hits
your daughter in the face based on this based
on the because because all our listeners know
aaron doesn't watch anything live and but of
course we have our little tree tried you tried
to watch it live but i did try to watch it getting
called into work literally my hotel said someone
crazy is needs to be evicted and i had to help
them the moment a sauce i scored Literally text
said now, not a timestamp. It said, N O W. At
least you saw the text. I did. I saw it jumped
up, went to text you guys saw now there's a crazy
person and pause the whole game for about 30
minutes. So go ahead, Nick. So messy. It's going
to take a kick. He sends it from 45 yards out.
Yeah, it is. It is further back than I thought,
you know? And then, well, Well, the free kick
itself, because he gets like 10 yards of run
up because it's a quick one -two back to him.
And he puts it wide, and it comes right at me,
and I knock it away. I parry it away from the
woman standing next to me. So I just want it
to be on the record that I made a save on a messy
free kick. So I just want to make that very,
very clear. um you know because it's all about
me today and i tried to muddy the waters as much
as possible before you got any credit of doing
anything now apparently the guy but it's on camera
you did it the guy behind me was wearing those
um one of those ray -ban camera glasses yes oh
yeah yeah the meadows yeah so so there's a chance
i might i might have a video in the coming days
or two Or support science. Yeah. Yeah. These
are professional. Yeah, like I was the first
thing to touch it from his foot. So, I mean,
it's not like the power was absorbed and it was
deflected. It was so it's a straight on shot.
I mean, yeah, keep going. I'm not going there.
I'm drafting our show notes as you speak. What
did Nicholas do to Messi? Welcome to Seattle.
Nicholas was fondling Messi's balls. The hospitality.
Oh, man. There's going to be a bullet point.
The group discusses Messi's balls. Gargled him
in his mouth and spit it out. Okay. Halftime.
Okay. A break in the show. I have one question
for you. God damn it. We know there were shenanigans.
We know there were shenanigans. At the end of
the game, we know there was a fight. And in pieces
of flair. I... Office space joke. I know, I know.
You know, I think we're going to have to come
back to what I saw at halftime because it directly
correlates to what happened at the end of the
game. So, spoiler alert. Stick around, kiddos.
We'll get to that in the second half of this
show. So, Nicholas is going to start the second
half of the show on whatever the hell you're
talking about. Right? Maybe. Or if we want to
talk about it at the end of the game when the
fight actually happens. No, if you want to tie
it together, this is a perfect opportunity. Let's
listen to the second half of the show. Let's
do it. Oh no, I'm in Delaware. 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. a
month now what will that get you well i'll guarantee
you get at least one extra episode per month
that'll be a cool interview or something like
that that otherwise you would not hear now we
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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
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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
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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're back. Yeah, listen to me. Join the
Patreon. We love you guys. Before the break,
we had a little tease from Nicholas, who, based
on his position in the crowd, was able to see
something that maybe some of us could not see.
And so can you tell us what it was you were going
to tell us? Because this sounds like breaking
news to me. Yeah. So at the end of the first
half, I saw that the Sounders were winning 1
-0 and beating Miami. Breaking news. Yep. so
as as the as the teams were you know the whistle
blows and everyone's clearing the sidelines heading
towards the locker room i see um i see sounders
director security gene ramirez the same one who
later on gets spit on by by luis suarez there's
there's this shoving match that's going on and
and miami Miami officials are getting their fingers
in Sounders' faces, and everyone's kind of getting
a little heated. And then as people are going
to the locker room, Gene is kind of isolated
from everyone else, and the Miami people are
right in his grill and just very much just like...
berating him for for something in my head i kind
of laughed i'm like what did he go up to did
he try to go up to leonel messi and ask for a
jersey like what like what the fuck like because
whatever whatever happened there were immediate
and swift response from inner miami so really
interesting after the game to see these reports
of what actually caused the the fighting um and
to see that he was involved so yeah and and crazy
watching the video and seeing suarez spit uh
taylor twelman shared like an angle that was
not on tv that is so obvious what he did and
just in the whole time i think the video i showed
you from the broadcast like i i mean you can
see it i slowed it down and there was just it
just splattered on him right it couldn't be more
clear But, but he's blocked partially from the
other angle. You see him pull back and then like,
Oh, like the full hockey situation. Yeah. So
it was bad. And then, and then watching, you
know, on the post game show, they showed that
they break down the fight and just talk about
how it's all Miami doing it and throwing the
punches. And yeah, Reagan grabbed a guy and threw
him off one of her coaches. Yeah. Yeah, John
Bell did his best defending at the end of the
game when he didn't even get the feature in the
game. Yeah. He played sporting Kansas City's
goalie and body slammed somebody. No, no, I got
to say, though, that was in full defense. Like,
literally in defense. Like, the players were
getting... they were getting sounders like we're
not gonna start shit but we will finish it yeah
and they were they were trying to go to obed
they were getting in his face they were shoving
him and he was just laughing he was like oh that's
so humiliating getting literally like An elbow
up in his throat. It looked like Luis Suarez
tried to pull the whole, I'm going to grab you
by the scruff of your neck, like that thing.
And Obed kind of reaches around, grabs his hand,
pulls it away. He's like, old dog, I just beat
you. You can't carry me anywhere. It's like when
you see your dad get beat up by someone, then
it's just all done. There's no respect anymore.
I think that was some comedian did a bit about
that. I don't know. It's just, I think there
is going to be something though. Like think,
think about this. If you're, if this was our
club and they just performed like this after
a match, right. Wouldn't you want a respectful
departure? Right. We got to the final. Great.
Like, like there's only one other team that got
here and they won. I mean, like, like I have
yet, I have not seen a mad, like even Portland
matches. Like we don't see this kind of like.
There was clear punches thrown. Obviously, Suarez
is going to get the headlines with his spit.
There was multiple punches thrown by other players
that I have yet to name. The frustrations were
high. Which is weird, honestly. I think it's
really weird that it was that... I don't know.
They erupted that much. The halftime thing that
you mentioned, I think, is key. But it still
seems weird. There's no... We don't have a history
with this club. We literally have yet to see
Messi in Seattle, except for 2009. And 2016,
the Copa America Centenario. Okay. This was the
third time I've seen Messi, you know, in person.
So rich, Cameron. Yeah, I am. Me, the teacher.
Sorry, sorry. Had to do it, had to do it. God,
I wish. God, I wish I didn't have $100 ,000 of
student loans. That would be just amazing. Vote
for Biden. Nick wants to go to bed. All right.
Yeah, so we'll keep going. So it settled 1 -0
a lot longer than I was expecting, to be honest.
I thought someone, one of these teams was finally
going to put in a goal. And Miami had great chances.
Yeah, Messi shoots one over the top on a tremendous.
He ran around. Wait, Messi went full over the
top? Did he put the trucker's hat backwards and
go Lincoln Hawk? Did he have the armband thing?
Just kind of pumping iron. There was kind of
that essence from them, actually. It seemed like
there was three of them that could possibly score
a goal, and that was it. And they were trying
really, really, really hard to do it. And they
almost did. The ball almost knocked out Roma.
Breaking news. Aaron describes how to play soccer
for dummies. No, they were trying too hard. But,
I mean, Suarez, beautiful pass through to Messi.
Messi didn't take the first lesson of Pub League,
which is boobs over ball, and just kicks it over
the top, immediately sends it flying. There's
actually commentary from live, you watching it,
and they were... Actually, it was post -match.
I think it was post -match. I think it was a
Sasha question. Could be wrong. There's obviously
three other people. It was either Sasha or Bradley
Wright Phillips. But they were saying you could
see in that shot. Two people who look very similar.
Easy to mistake. I was listening. I was listening.
The video. So, wait, wait, wait. Anyway, anyway,
they were saying that. Two people who were listening.
What is British? What is happening? alcohol and
four hours later okay okay i'm sorry a fucking
break i i i'm in i'm in a loopy mood i'm on a
very great i don't hear or see color or culture
everyone is just the i've just shut shut the
fuck up basically they just said it was clear
that messy was it was almost a frustrated like
i and that's why i think it was bradley wright
phillips because it was like as a striker That's
an easy – you know you're redirecting the shot
in. You're not swinging through it. He swung
through it and it launched over the crossbar.
And that – as much connection he has with Jordy
and Sergio and Suarez. I believe that was Jordy
on the one -two. No, that was Suarez. It was
Suarez. It was Suarez. Jordy is usually who it
is. Yeah. It was like – you could see he's swinging
through the ball. instead of just redirecting
it, which there's one play in the world, you
know, 99 out of a hundred times in that moment,
he's, he's guiding it in. He decided to just
fucking launch it. Got it. Got to give credit
to Andy Thomas though, because he was in the
right position to make him have to think about
it in that moment there. He couldn't just tap
it in. He had, he had to direct it off center,
probably to the right. Can I say right now, because
we have not had a consistent episodes of three
of us, and this is pretty much the last two months.
I am so comfortable with Andy Thomas moving forward.
And I, and I think, I think it's Schmetzer's.
This is his tournament is just made it such an
easy decision moving forward. Yeah. Fry should
be our MLS keeper moving forward. And in case
there's any wobbles in any direction. Injury
-wise, performance -wise, we know we have a quality
backup, but this was his, and he was stuck to
his word for Andrew. This is a very comfortable
transition. We've had four goalkeepers. We've
had four goalkeepers. I think there is something
to be said for the fact, though, that Fry this
past week, and we talked about it in the Ultras
episode most recently, but he was talking about...
It's time to think about whether or not it's
time to retire and how much work it is. He's
not saying he's going to retire, but this is
a guy who, when Andy's out there, is still a
leader, still a captain, and still trying to
help us win. So I don't think it matters who's
in goal. You know who needs to retire? Tommy
Dutra. No. No, I don't mean in a bad way. I meant
Stephen Fry can just take his reins. Stephen
Fry is not going to move anywhere. The longer
Tommy Dutra is here, the longer we'll have a
great goalkeeper coaching history. No, stop.
A whole wine cellar and water for property. He's
never allowed to retire. He's never allowed to
retire. Earlier this year, he spent some time
in Germany upgrading his coaching license and
learning new stuff. So he's still adding his
repertoire. As any good drummer of... Rock and
roll does. They stick around forever. So let's
fast forward then to the Allende miss, which
Thomas was there and made him go wide, but that
is one of the easiest goals you will have as
a forward, especially a forward of his quality.
Yes and no. I mean, he's curling. He's trying
to wrap his... He's wrapping his foot around
it. Yeah, but all he has to do is tap it towards
the goal. It didn't have to curl that much. And
it didn't curl at all. It curled around the outside
of the post. It definitely curled. That's one
that goes in every time. No, I'm trying to give
him some... I'll fuck that shit up. Oh, sure.
I would too. Which, by the way, I scored my first
ever full... Like a real solid soccer goal? Yeah,
yeah. I scored my first ever goal today in public.
So I know what it feels like to be Paul Rothrock
today. Another local boy done good scoring goals
for his team. Yeah, no, that was a tough miss.
I mean, it was just a tough miss. That's what
it was. And then those two moments felt like
those were the breaking points for them. It was
like, it felt like the messy miss, he kind of
like cracked, his brain cracked. And then, and
then the Indian miss, it was just like, oh God,
this is not gonna, this isn't happening. And
that's where I feel like it's just be the better
person slash club. Just be the, everything will
work out for you in the long run. And that's
what we're doing. The assholes miss the point
blank shot because they're not supposed to win.
The good guys are. Nick's falling asleep. A little
bit. Then he must talk. I am trying to. He fell
asleep again. This is riveting. The riveting
stuff here. Riveting stuff. I have literally
been up since it's 11 o 'clock at night. I've
been up since one o 'clock in the morning. You've
been up 21 hours. And I, and you and I went to
the storm game last night. So I got like two
hours of sleep last night. Yeah. You should have
skipped that and gone. It sounds like a bunch
of my faults. Here's the biggest thing. Sure
is. I was given free tickets to Bumbershoot.
But then I almost called you, but I didn't want
to tempt you because I knew you would do it.
The way we walked out of the arena walked us
directly into Bumbershoot without having to scan
any tickets. So you could have walked into Bumbershoot
and just gone and watched concerts. But I was
like, I can't call Nick. He's going to do it
if I tell him. And then he's going to be absolutely
crushed tomorrow during the game. So you had
to get your sleep. I had to get something. Yeah.
So the Sounders then decide, okay, we're going
to put this game away. Fuck y 'all. By putting
Georgie in, who immediately is running all over
the place and draws a penalty that was at the
80th -ish minute. Do you remember the exact time
on that? 89 or shit. No, that was the Rothrock
goal. Yeah. I think it was 84. I'm totally pulling
from my brain. That is when the goal went in,
so it was probably slightly before that. Oh,
when Georgie comes into the game? Yeah. 78th
minute. 78 reasons for so immediate impact on
the game uh you could see them using him to run
up the wing um and connecting with paul rothrock
both of them just using full energy and it was
just crazy so that's what actually what before
the match i was like i i only think of either
one of them on the on the pitch not both yeah
i hadn't really thought of that before because
what i love about rothrock is the the the zach
scott which is just so fitting because he was
the funny you mentioned fraser right yeah yeah
yeah it's so fitting for the for it's just like
we need a workman's like performance we need
the heart of the sounders to be pumping through
this field and what a perfect player to kick
it off right and and rothrock is the epitome
of of zach scott and just not the same position
right This guy works his ass off, and I am fully
convinced he's a starter. He just is a starter
because you know what to expect from him. You
give him the ball. I don't expect him to dance
around anyone, but he makes the right passes,
the right runs. I think it's key, and that was
what led to this goal, right? Yeah. I mean, he...
Bright goes to ground, which you never want to
do as a defender. And at that point, Georgie
knows he's won. Yeah. And he stops. He slows
a little bit and allows himself to get taken
out. Draws the penalty. And at that point, you
know that it's – He got cooked. He got played.
Yeah. And what I found was interesting is Miami
was sitting there arguing with the ref. Christian
had the ball. He held it the entire time. You
caught that too. Yep. Christian had it. Uh, he
was the one who looked like he was going to take
the penalty. And then once Miami finally backs
off, hands the ball to his brother. I called
that. I called that, that Christian wasn't going
to take the penalty that he was running interference.
I did not have Alex on my bingo card. No. And
for him, five or five and the way, but the way
he took it. And then he just kind of. it was
like one of those presidential looks where you
look off into the distance here and you're like,
yes, of course. You know what I mean? Like, and
he ran down Paul Rothrock going nuts behind him.
Like that moment, the way he was running with
the other players going nuts behind him is going
to be one of the most iconic moments in Sounders
history. The way he looked in that moment was
so incredible. By the way, if you rewatch the
game. No, well, all of them, but, but Alex, Alex,
his celebration was just like, of course it went
in. And it's just like, looking up into the sky
like ah it's funny because if you watch the the
replay uh not the highlights but the replay you
see christian hand the ball to alex and astari
the goalie is walking towards christian to talk
some more shit and get in his head then he kind
of looks back because he doesn't have the ball
and he has like this quick moment of confusion
it's like got him i mean who else i was trying
to think though who else would have taken it
in that moment. Because I feel like you have
the captain. Who's on the field? Danny Leyva.
Danny Leyva. Probably not going to take it over
Christian or Alex. You know, Osazi had come off.
Jesus had come off at that point. Reagan. Reagan,
possibly, but I don't think you're going to give
it to a defender in that position. He scored
like four or five anyway. Yeah, but Alex is the
defender. Yeah, but he scores. I get what you
mean. But here's the other thing is this entire
tournament, when Christian's not on the field,
Alex has been the captain. Yeah. Alex is our
next captain. And Brian was fired up about that
penalty. Yeah. And even more fired up when a
few minutes later, Rothrock cuts across from
the top of the box to the right, gets the ball.
Gets it in between the defenders. Such a wonderful
read, by the way. It wasn't for him. I've never
seen Brian react like that. He just puts his
hand on his head and turns away from the field
in disbelief. I can't. The closest thing is,
I think, like a Minnesota when he does the. He
did the little kick. And then. Yeah, yeah. Was
it Will Bruin? The bear, yeah, Will Bruin. That
was, I loved that. The kick and the turn. It
was just like this moment where Schmetzer is
a local boy done good. I mean, they all, Rothroth
has to be the youth. They all talk about, here's
a guy who also was a local boy who played for
the Sounders, now coaches the Sounders, who worked
in construction and it shows. They said that
in an interview this week. They know that they're
following in his footsteps. And then we talked
about earlier, Rothrock's celebration. He knew
this moment, how incredible for a young man.
from Seattle, grew up watching the Sounders,
played on Seattle United, went to Lakeside to
come out there and score the game, the goal that
puts it away, in just an amazing fashion, and
then to celebrate and hype up just everything
in that moment. It's incredible. Well, I've been
almost critical. I didn't want a Paul Rothrock
on our starting 11. I didn't want one. Sorry.
I want a flashy guy. I want a guy that's scoring
a bunch of goals. And sure enough, he's fucking
doing it, and he's supporting that. And that's
what I'm trying to talk about Georgie five minutes
ago, and I immediately went to Paul Rothrock
because I'm like, you don't see them both on
the field at the same time because they do the
different thing. Georgie was in for like the
moment that he caused. After that, he didn't
do shit. It was not a Georgia game. He didn't
need to, but it wasn't a Georgia game. Every
time you see Georgie, it's a one after the other,
down the side, down the side, down the side,
down the side. You're pinning back. You may be
pinning back some of Miami a little bit, even
if he's not taking advantage of the fact that
he is one pass away from getting back. One, pillow.
Two, I don't think he was needed anymore. I think
once Georgie pulled the penalty and we scored
it, he's no longer necessary. I'm just so proud
of Rothrock. And so slap myself in the fucking
face for not seeing it earlier because it's been
the same. He's been the exact same all season.
It's just been so consistent. And then the level
increased. And this is the highest level we've
seen Rothrock perform. Yeah. I'm sorry. You're
playing in a final against Messi. Yeah, I was
in a packed home crowd. Seriously. Hearing the
crowds and the calls. This is where you break.
If you don't break, then I'm sold. Let's go.
And you know what this feels like to me in some
ways? Because of... because he went to UW, because
we saw him become a captain and become - Because
he's probably had a margarita at Linda's. No,
it reminds - Seriously, that's cool. But it kind
of reminds me of Christian's rise, except for
Paul's younger. And Paul's more neighborhood
versus not from here, went to school. I mean,
Christian didn't come here from college, right?
But yeah. Paul literally was like, God, it smells
like cigarettes on 12th and Pine. Yeah, you're
a 12 -year -old. Grow up, get used to it. This
is where Seattleites have fun until we're priced
out. Now we're in Greenwood. San Diego. Yeah.
You got priced all the way to San Diego. That's
horrible. Boeing, you better. But yeah, I mean,
this was a moment. Let's talk about a moment.
The ECS TIFO was so prescient. because if we
had lost that match, you could have maybe quibbled
with the idea, like, no, the team isn't built,
it's bought. That was a balls -in -one -basket,
Tifo. And hit it out of the fucking park. Right.
Simple, clean, built, not bought. Yeah, which
is what this team did. And all of us, I mean,
I will say shout -out to Craig. I saw him before
the match because, you know, I'm inside setting
up. He came over and shook my hand and talked
to me for a sec. Like, shout out to Craig again
for being so privileged, Cameron. I am. Because
for the last fucking 15 years, I have to be in
the game three hours early. I wish someone else
would do it. Please help me. I'm tired. But yeah,
it was really cool to see him. And shout out,
got to talk to or say hi to Stevie Zaccowani.
You know, the Sounders organization is such a
well -run organization from top to bottom inside
the front office in terms of the employees. And
I'm just I'm impressed what they can do and what
they can put together. And part of that is that
there are local people in there who it's not
just they're not just. coming in from other places
they are they have that seattle at this used
to be a blue collar city before the tech people
came and many of us still have that blue collar
ethic and that's how it's done this is a team
that has blue collar players who get it done
too and i love this team i i'm very curious how
long before nicholas just falls into his mind
it's getting very close You know, we're not going
to keep rolling on this, but listen. No, here's
what we should do. You, Nick, say your piece.
I am. I am. I was just about to say the same
thing. Because Cameron and I can talk for another
20 minutes. I think we should. But we want, everyone
wants to hear your piece. Yes. Because you are
the Nicholas Biela. Aw. Aw. And we all know you
work your ass off. And we're all listening. the
mailbag you're gonna you're gonna get to the
mailbag today yeah um you've had enough mailbags
in your your your history i mean first off i
i i took a really good victory lap this year
with with um with danny masovsky you know yeah
you know i took a really good victory lap with
that uh i want to take a little bit uh i want
to extend that a little bit i've been constantly
trying to be the voice of reason with just talking
about how deep this team is and when you take
on when you take on this miami team at full strength
their full strength when you have one dp and
not our full strength by the way that that no
that's what i mean we have one dp Our other two
DPs are injured. We have a left wing who's injured,
who's a former DP in Paul Areola. You have a...
Shout out to Paul for lifting the trophy with
the fans after the game. Yeah, so I'm on the
stage looking pretty good. Yeah, just seeing
this... roster do this just so effortlessly hearing
people on the train just talking about how how
good the team looked um it's it's very um comforting
not every game's gonna go our way but it's just
it's just nice to get a win it's just nice to
get a a final victory It's nice to remember we're
the Seattle freaking Sounders. We average a final
appearance every, you know, no, no, even less
than that. A win every three years. Yeah, yeah.
So just remember when I say there are pretty
much 27 of the 30 teams would trade places with
us in a heartbeat. You know, it's moments like
this, moments like this where we are just completely,
we deliver, we deliver. We don't always do it.
We don't always do it the way we fans may want.
We may want that flashy, flashy DP, but it doesn't
always work. Sure, it can give you better percentages
for some teams. But our proof of concept is there.
And it's just enjoy the fucking ride. Because
this has been a really good ride. Agree. Although,
again, I always say, why not both? But it's not
always that way. Because look at all the other
teams that do spend thinking that it's going
to get them there. But it doesn't. But they don't
have our mindset on building from the academy
up like we do. and we have had for a long time
i mean when you say why not both what do you
mean oh i mean rather than having a dp that makes
2 .2 million who's injured all the time have
one that makes six million that's even better
yeah but that's the thing about injuries where
are we where are we right now where are we right
now oh i'm saying we would be in first place
instead of fourth no this is not the conversation
do we have a dp that makes 2 .2 million that's
injured all the time Yeah, Jordan Morris. But
he's not injured all the time. He's injured this
year, last year. He played the most games in
his career last year. So it's tough. And then
he's not present when we win a final. It's like,
is it a problem or is it a problem? I mean, shout
out to Jordan for coming. He can only do it with
one arm. I felt so bad for raising the trophy,
though. He had to get help because he can't lift
stuff. It's almost like I went and saw Hart.
And nevermind. No, you did. You saw her. I saw
her two weeks ago. It was fantastic. What I loved,
what I loved about that. They're not the same.
I talked about this in the alters episode was
that you had mentioned them or you and I had
mentioned them on the previous episode that they're
coming in town. And then like a day later, it
manifested into you getting to go see them. I
mean, it was really cool. Audibly amazing. Yeah.
Speaking of audibly amazing Sounders. I mean,
it almost felt like. The game ended too soon.
They blew that whistle like right at 90 minutes.
It was 91. Yeah. It was so fast. That was super
weird. However, I can tell based on the rules
of the tournament, right? There's no, it would
go right to penalties. There's no chance of it
going to penalties. I was curious. Four or five
minutes. If that is true for the final, because
when they were doing the test clock beforehand,
they were running it up to 108, 109. Okay. I'm
just, I'm assuming it was because it was. At
2 -0, do you let it happen? I'm always of the
mind that you have to let the plate out because
you never know what's going to happen. No one
seemed to argue except for... No. No one argued
except for Suarez. Suarez. And then the fight
broke out. Yeah, there was some other shit. We
don't need to get into that. It seemed nothing
to do with the scoreline more of the... Once
it ends, though, they bring out the stage, and
Miami had to line up and walk through the Sounders
players to accept their medals. It's so weird.
They have this fight, and then they're kind of
right next to each other, and very weird layout.
It's perfect. I love it. But with that in mind,
I am going to have to bounce. I love you guys,
but I need to be able to be somewhat respectable
for the morning. For the next episode. Oh, yeah.
That's right. So in the end, how do you feel
about all of this, this entire tournament, the
Sounders as they are your piece? I hate the format
of the League's Cup in that it's a cash grab.
It's just straight up a cash grab. I don't like
that. I like that. It means that instead of having
four CONCACAF Champions Cup. uh positions we
now have an extra three potentially on the table
that's great because both of these last two seasons
we've taken advantage of leagues cup to get ourselves
in once direct directly today and last year because
la or colorado and other teams qualified enough
we got to back our way into the Champions League.
So I love that because I want to be in Champions
League. I want to go back to more Club World
Cups. I want to be the best teams. I want to
play the best teams in the world. To do that,
you got to get through CONCACAF. The format of
this has been my favorite of the three Leagues
Cups. I love the group stage playing against
nothing but Liga MX teams. Is this the fourth
Leagues Cup, though, real quick? Because didn't
we... This is the third one that's a full tournament.
Then we had the small tournament where we made
it to the final. I thought this was the second
full one. I thought this was the second full
one. Leon won. I'm pretty sure it's 23, 24, 25.
Okay. We can put that one on Dan Boniface. Or
anyone to correct us. I'm pretty sure Messi and...
Miami won 23. Or is it 2022? It's three or four
years. So it started in 2019, technically. I'm
looking at it right now. The second edition was
2021, 2022. So yeah, it's been around for long.
So I'm pretty sure, let's see. We were not in
that one. We were in the previous one. So yeah,
2021 was the one I think we must have made it
to the final. It was. Yeah, because we played
Leon and then that was kind of like we made the
final. We weren't in it in 2022. 2023, we lost.
We got knocked out in the group stage. 2024,
we advanced. Remember, we destroyed Los Angeles
and we advanced because I was at a Mariners game
that they won. Then I came and watched the end
of that game. And then this year we won it, of
course. Yeah. So, so with that in mind, Nick,
before you leave though, I want to, I want to
give you the stat because we talked about attendance.
Not only was this the, the highest in least cup
history, this was the highest attended soccer
match in state history, beating out the 2019
MLS cup by 40 people. And, and then a thousand,
let's see, one 800. I think that math's out,
7, 8, 9, 600, 580 or something different than
2022 Champions Cup final. Nice. And we are undefeated.
Earlier in the week, I had checked some things
out and checked my records, and we had an unbeaten
record of seven wins, no losses, and one draw,
one playing at Lumen in front of 60 ,000 fans
or more. Was the draw a regular season match?
uh i think it was a portland match when we we
expanded um uh it could have been casey keller's
final match against san jose but i thought we
won that i thought we won that we won that one
yeah we did yeah but um but yeah so so just everyone
showed up and it was great so yeah it's great
history having it you know it's also great sleep
so i do i do get about so um Thank you guys for
a good evening, and I'm looking forward to hearing
the mailbag answers from you guys. Oh, shit.
Let's massage that mailbag. Yeah. Bye, Nick.
Love you. Love you. Bye, Nick. Oof. I'm watching
the Taylor Twelman is basically showing all the
Miami. Oh, yeah. Sergio Buckets punched Obed
right in the face. Oh, yeah, he did. It's wild.
It's wild. So why don't we get to the mailbag
here? Now that Nick's gone, let's get into the
real stuff. Yeah, let's get to late night scuttlebutt.
Real quick, before we get to that, we did have
some scuttlebutt come from Chris Daniels, reporter.
No shit. Said, well, I wasn't directed totally
at it. We probably would. You got me all excited.
Are we professional now? Of course we are. Let
me get my badge. He asks, where does Brian Schmetzer
rank in Seattle coaching history? Seattle coaching
history. That's pretty general. 2016 MLS Cup
champs, 2017 MLS Cup finalists, 2019 MLS Cup
champs, 2020 MLS Cup finalists, 2022 CONCACAF
Champions League winner, 2025 Leagues Cup winner,
and playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in
charge. So he's number two for me. Number two.
Who are you putting him behind? Pete. Sorry.
Pete Carroll? He has won Super Bowl. Economically,
just historically, that's just. Interesting.
That's what you compete with, right? Yeah. I
mean, I think I put him past Pete. I think I
still might have Don James ahead of him. See,
all I'm going with is also what I've lived through.
That's true. You were real little when that happened.
Well, yeah, for Don James. But for Pete. But
I have been fully involved in both Pete Carroll
and both Ziggy's tenure and Schmetzer's. And
I'm sorry, being on the front of the ferry coming
across from Bainbridge on that night when we
won the Super Bowl and seeing the city move in
one direction down all the avenues and just...
accepting it and walking into it and everyone's
just happy i cannot beat that champion that was
there every single individual in the city was
all hugs no fight literally and i'm walking off
the boat it was the most it was the most ethereal
moment to be in the middle of puget sound and
watching the city celebrate as that's all he
has is that Yes. However, that did affect economically
how we view one team, the Seahawks. Let's not
be ignorant here. The Seahawks have more pull
than the Sounders, right? Yeah, but they don't
mean as much to me. I've been a season ticket
holder of the Seahawks in 1989. That's not the
question. And I still would rather. That's not
the question. I mean, that is for me. That's
for you. Okay. Okay. So I'm just saying. Based
on doing everything though, Pete hasn't done
it. He didn't, he, he won one Superbowl. Schmetzer's
won two MLS cups. He's also won coffee cup champion.
He's won more. So we're going to go under the
covers. Then it's Schmetzer, right? Cause he
was there from the beginning. And he also was
there in the inception, essentially. What about
George Carl? I guess he didn't ever win it. What
about Lenny Wilkins? The first championship?
Yeah. Give us some sort of foundation of a sports
city. Lupinella belongs up there, but I don't
think he can be. I think Lenny gives us the championship
credibility. I think Lupinella gives us the come
at me, I'll swing at you. We know how to beat
people. The Storm, well, but they're midstream.
They changed their coach, but yeah. So, yeah,
I mean, either way, we're putting him at one
or two. No, we're both putting him at two. No,
he's definitely – I'm sorry, I've got to put
one from a global standpoint. It's clear that
it's Pete Carroll. No one knows who Brian Schmitzer
is, and I hate to say that. That's a problem
with Americans not liking soccer. And that's
not my problem, but I do hate that. Everyone
knows who Pete Carroll is. He knows what he's
done for football. let alone Seattle football.
And what he's done for this community, this city,
this region, this state, it's pretty incredible.
And I was there. And it was nuts. Which is interesting
because to me, even though I love the Seahawks
winning the Super Bowl, that moment is the difference
between the 12th man and the 12s. And I can't
stand the fucking 12s. They are everything that's
wrong with football fans. Whereas the 12th man
was everything that was right. That was when
the bandwagon came around after that. Cause we
were finally winners, but maybe the same can
be said about the Sounders. I don't know, but
I haven't noticed that. I don't think so because
it's such, it is, we are, we are, we are a niche
sport podcast. Like Stephen A. Smith is not listening
to us. He should be. He should be. He should
be. He should be. Well, now that Nick's asleep,
I don't know. But let's get into this mailbag.
Yeah, let's get in it. Let's see here. Boom.
So all from tonight, it looks like. Favorite
goal. Which of the three goals was your favorite?
I'm going to have to go with Alex, too. I mean,
one, it's the game winner, right? Yeah. But it
is such a perfect pass. And I think Alex finally
has a highlight. Actually, I don't even know.
I can't say that definitively, but clearly I
can say that for tonight. A lot of people were
watching that goal. A lot of people were watching
that goal. And it was kind of a car to make the
path across. Yeah. Exactly. It was much harder
to make the pass than it was to score the goal.
And he is, with his backstory, with his national
team decision, and detracting from being on the
national team, you just assisted and scored in
a match that's a final against Messi. I mean...
That's just kind of what you write on your bingo
card. And later scored a goal, too. Yeah, and
later scored a goal. The reason why he was man
of the match, which we'll get to. Well, that's
what I mean. He scored a penalty. He had two
assists. Like, what a fucking match for you.
Did he have the assist on the Rothrock goal?
Yeah. Wow. Yeah, because it bypassed. That's
right. It didn't look like he was passing it
to Rothrock, but Rothrock cut through. Rothrock
put effort. Like that's the blue collar. Yeah.
That's why for me it's the Roth Rock Bowl. For
me, it's because that was the game that - Shoulder
down, dig in, get it. It was like, it was Percy
Harvin returning the - The cap on the match.
Yeah. It was, we're going to win. And the way
he celebrated and the way the team, I mean, to
me, that was Roth Rock. That was his moment where
he became the superstar. Somebody asked you this,
just to sidetrack, to go back to Seahawks for
a second. Yeah. You know that Percy's catch was
on the 12 -yard line and it took 12 seconds to
score, right? It did not. That's pretty crazy.
It bounced. He caught it on the 12 -yard line.
It took 12 seconds for him to score. 12th man.
And the day before, didn't he punch Golden Tate
and throw him in a garbage can? Definitely not
the day before. I don't think it was the day
before. I think it was. It was like the couple
days before the game. No, I think it was the
media week, but it doesn't matter. Oh, yeah.
He had a black eye. I think Golden Tate had a
black eye and didn't want to be present on media
week. Yeah, but Golden Tate, they've been talking
about it. Percy doesn't remember it the same
way Golden Tate does. Because Percy's drunk and
fun. It's fine. It doesn't matter. We won. Anyway.
Okay, man of the match. Man of the match. Dan
said, who do you have? Apple had Alex. Alex Diaz
had Seattle Sounders as a whole. Lame. Alex Diaz.
Come on. You can't be on Ultros and just say
the team. You got to call him out in the next
episode. I say Alex, too. Participation point.
Yeah. It was a team game today. Everyone did
their part. Locking down Messi, locking down
those other players. Rodrigo didn't even seem
like he was in the game because of it. But for
you, we'll put it this way. Who had the biggest
impact on the match for you? I think it's going
to be Christian for me because I think he specifically
made sure that Messi wasn't going to be a factor.
There was a few times where he made Messi look
old. Yeah. And that's not something you see from
messy very often. What I, what I noticed there
was specific times that he honed in when he was
not one -on -one on messy. You could tell that
that was not, he was just covering and he closed
it down. Like if I don't do this, I lose my job.
Hmm. Not that he would obviously. No, but like
hit like the mentality. It was like full. And
it was done with such pinpoint accuracy from
a support standpoint that it was clear that that
was a focus of his. And if your focus is shutting
down Messi and you do it, you're my man of the
match. Yeah. How could you not be? Yeah. Shut
down Messi. Okay, you do it. You're man of the
match. Best player in the fucking world. Second
lowest rating on Foot Mob. Yeah. So 11 is goalkeeper.
And Reed, Reed, Reed did a great job at times
too. I mean, there's a few times where Messi
got passed and he recovered, but he was on him
a lot. Obed was on him a lot. There's more players
on our team that actually stole the ball from
Messi than there are players on their team that
shot a goal, like a shot on goal. I do want to
give credit. There was a play where Pedro was
kind of lined up. and wasn't letting them take
their kick. And then Messi came over and kind
of got him to move away. And at first, Pedro
was like, who is this? And looked over and saw
it was Messi. And was like, oh. I noted that
on my phone. It was that oh my God moment. Yeah,
and then Messi gave him a thumbs up as they were
walking away. Like, no, you're good. Because
I'm sure Messi had heard people saying this week
that here's this guy that it's Pedro's. You know,
you grew up. It reminds me of when Steve Zaccowani
had a chance to meet David Beckham, who was like
his hero growing up, and then they played on
the same field. Yeah, kind of. And his daughter
gave him a Stevia jersey. Kind of, except that
Pedro was supposed to be 10X Messi. Yeah, if
he hadn't blown out his knee, he might be. So
can you imagine that? Yeah. Not even Steve Zaccowani.
No offense to Steve. Love Steve. Steve was going
to be the next Landon Donovan if he didn't blow
it. That's adorable compared to an Argentinian
growing up in that structure with Messi as your
talisman. Yeah. I'm supposed to be that guy?
Yeah. Or supersede that guy? I'm supposed to
get better than him? And then you blow out your
knee and then you get an opportunity with your
restructure. Your new moment in career. is still
at an age, and then win 3 -0. Yeah. Gosh, they
must feel incredible right now. Let's keep it
going, though. Let's keep it going. Does winning,
shout out Muffin Top Model, does winning minus
all the suspended and injured players double
down on not splashing on signings? Has Adrian
Hanauer been right this whole time? Unfortunately,
Nick is not here to defend this argument. I think
we're both going to defend it, though. I'm still
not. I still think that we could have the same
mindset and splash a little more money out on
a few bigger signings. I just think this goes
to show the depth that our academy and... Craig
Weibel have been able to create is incredible.
And then there's a reason why I titled an episode.
Craig Weibel is a genius because he has to do
more with less. Okay. So yes, everything you
said is right. And isn't it incredible that we
have, it, it seems, it seems like we have the
right coach. with the right ownership, with the
right management of general management, which
has been a change. We've had multiple, but that's
about it. And we're approaching shit. 20 years,
20 years of this club in the MLS. Yeah. Look
at everything that's grown since then. New clubs,
new management, how often they've changed. You're
coming at us with complaints about the lineup.
But we don't actually change as a club. We're
consistent in every aspect for almost 20 years.
We've had a couple of GMs. We've had four goalkeepers.
We have two managers, two coaches, and basically
it's one and a half. How fortunate are we? I
have to say we are the most fortunate. Yeah.
We've hit every trophy you can hit. Yeah. We
were the first club to do that. So I have to
just kind of fucking sit back and say, you know
what? I can't complain. So then why? Tell me
why. This is the other question from Tim. What
does Brian Schmetzer need to do to win coach
of the year? That is probably the hardest question.
2016, the Dallas coach gets it, who we beat in
the playoffs. 2017, Greg Manning gets it when
he wins. 2019, Bob Bradley gets it, despite the
fact that... All right, here's my answer. Okay.
He's won it right now. He's won it right now.
And there would have to be a full -on episode
of how he didn't get it. Because if he's been
ignored, not even ignored, but microcosmed into
each season, right? This season or this. That's
the only explanation he hasn't won it, right?
We're the most successful club in the last decade.
I don't know how he doesn't get in 2016, taking
us from right. Exactly. I mean, that's, that's,
that's how Pat Noonan got it in 2023. Pat Noonan,
a former sounder. Yeah. Yeah. And Nancy deserved
it last year. I'm not, I'm not critical of that
at all, but, but interestingly, it's the Ziggy
Schmidt award. That's what the coach of the year
award, but he never got it. He got it twice.
But Bob Bradley got it three times. Bruce Arena.
No, he got it in L .A. and he got it in Columbus.
He never got it. Not for the Sounders, but it's
named after it. And then no one from the Sounders.
Ugh, Caleb Porter got it in 2013. Ugh. He did
not get it the year that Portland won their solo
trophy, though. That was interesting. No, say
it loud. Say it loud and proud. One. No, come
on. They got the COVID tournament trophy. They
got COVID and a trophy. Yeah, yeah. No, I honestly
think it's literally, I think, watching the postgame
of this match, MLS, at least their bench, is
like, fuck. It's true. It's true. All of it's
true in that corner. They've figured it out.
They've figured out depth. They've figured out
coaching, camaraderie. They've figured it out.
It's not a one season after another. They've
figured out a consistency, a trend, everything.
They've figured it out. And I think that's going
to snap the voters in mind. If Brian Schmetzer
doesn't win manager of the year for less than
what he's done before. then he's never going
to get it. And that's, I guess, fine. Because
as Seattleites, where do we live? The upper left.
If you can't cross the pass, then fuck off. Fry's
never won goalie of the year, even though he's
been the best goalie multiple times. Right? You
know what we're going to do? Build a statue for
fucking Fry. He doesn't have to win a trophy.
We're going to build a statue for fucking Fry.
He'll get a trophy. And interestingly, Dax McCarty,
you know, former MLS player for FC Dallas, Chicago
Fire, New York Red Bulls, DC United, and Nashville.
uh now on apple tv tweeted uh after the game
congrats to sounders fc on the 2025 leagues cup
title another one in the bag it's not really
up for debate anymore that brian schmetzer is
a top three coach in mls history right and he
ain't three wow and he ain't three I mean, you
just can't. Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, Greg Vanney.
I put him above Greg Vanney because we beat them
twice. But Greg Vanney, Ziggy. Is it because
Ziggy was his guy? Yeah, no. You know what we
should do? Invite Dax on the show. Yeah. Let's
do it. Let's do it. You've got the cred, Capitan.
Let's do it. We can work on that. I mean, it's
an incredible thought. I mean, that means I think
he's number two behind Bruce Arena, if you're
putting it that way, because I don't know. And
he's number one because he has won every trophy.
Yeah. Bruce has won every one but this, if I'm
not mistaken. Wait, no. So, and the supporters.
No, I meant. Schmetzer has won every single trophy
except Supporter Shield. He was assistant coach.
Oh, he was assistant. You're right. He did not
win that one. But as a coach, he's won four of
the five he can win. Yeah. Open Cup, Leagues
Cup, Champions Cup, MLS Cup. And we don't – in
those years that we're going for like Champions
Cup, you're not – you can't win the Supporter
Shield because the roster rules are just set
that you can't do both. You're just kind of picking
your path. Yeah. Except for maybe Craig Weibel
has broken the model. Maybe he's figured out
how to create depth. Maybe, but even if you think
about it, we averaged second in the West. We
were competing for points. But the East Coast,
obviously, is the one that had probably 10 plus
points on us because of their schedule. Yeah.
And there's been many years. in the past where
the east coast sucks and then uh the west eats
each other alive but there's a lot of years more
recently where the east is really good and i
think this is another year where i think that's
the case uh so the fact that the sounders showed
up and played the way they like imagine how different
the season's going if early on the sounders were
playing like they are now they're running away
with the supporter shield one one loss since
club world cup that's nuts that's two months
ago yeah it is september yeah like yeah no it's
september by the time you're listening to this
yeah in seven minutes recording the the night
of the match yeah we're we're seven minutes away
from september seven that's another that's a
good like pop punk band seven minutes away from
september All right, so any mailbag? That's our
mailbag. That's our mailbag from the peanut gallery.
And so I'm going to say this. I'm proud of this
team. I'm proud of what they did. To a man, the
players that played, like if they were hurt,
like Fry, who didn't play in this tournament,
gave credit to the players on the field. But
those that did play, and even some that didn't,
said we're not done. MLS Cup is still coming.
So I have two questions for you to finish the
show. Where does this – because while I would
have said this is a money grab tournament in
the past, I think this year is proving that it's
not. I agree with that. Look at every – all the
teams who advanced took this seriously and it
obviously meant something if they're going to
fight us. There were shots of – I'm a little
surprised. Shots of Miami players crying. I'm
assuming they weren't on any chance of playing.
But there were people crying, wearing. Yeah.
So where does this win rank in Sounders history?
And what do you think the rest of the season
is going to bring us? In Sounders history? Yeah.
Because you know what? Going into this, I don't
know how I felt about it. But when you were in
there, I wish you had been there because it felt
like a cup final. This felt like being at the
MLS Cup. This felt like. Being at a U S open
cup final in a big city. No, I jumped out of
my shit when we scored. It was, it was, I literally
told my wife, I am, I need isolation for this.
Like I have the ability to pause and I will support,
but I am going to be amped. And I was, and I
was, this for me was up there. This was up there
with 2019, 2022, that vibe. Because why wouldn't
it be? It was the final. Yeah. It's clear as
day why this is important. For me, this is probably
top three. And I would say number three. Yeah,
I think I would put that too. I've been at all
of them, meaning I wasn't there. Yeah. Well,
I'm throwing the first MLS Cup out of that top
three. You're not putting that in the top. No,
it's not. MLS Cup, the second one. Interesting.
CONCACAF, Champions League Final against Pumas.
And this one. See, I put the first MLS Cup. I
think once we were officially the champions,
but I would not put that team ahead of this.
Oh, no, no, no, no. Definitely not. And that
was a... I would agree with that. We were victims
positively of circumstance in 2016. Let's not
beat around the bush. Didn't shoot a ball on
goal. But we won it, right? So I'll take it.
I'll take it. But my number one, two, and three
are 19, 22, and this team right now. Okay. I
mean, 19 was great. I was there. It was kind
of modern for me. Any of these three teams in
2016. I didn't get to celebrate that one. So
to me, that one is kind of, I just think about
the bummerness of it because I didn't get to
celebrate in 2019. So I get it. I was physically
there in the stadium enjoying every fucking moment
of it. And then we scored three goals. I'm just
flipping the MLS Cup wins because I was lucky
enough to get to go fly on the Sounders jet.
With them, with the families of the players.
So it was it was more than just the match. It
was like a whole special thing because they took
the executive committee of the Alliance Council.
Well, that that is super special for you because
I wouldn't get that. Yeah. And I also think that
this is just special because. Oh, I see. I see
the close up of the spit now where you were talking
about where it splashes off of him. Jesus. Oh,
yeah. Yeah. It's it's kish kish. Again, subsidiary.
Gosh, gosh, gosh. Yeah. But it also seems like
this particular match, obviously, compared to
nine years ago, but this is against Messi. Everyone
in the world is watching this. And the conversation,
hindsight, talking about we beat them. We didn't
just beat them by a goal. We beat them. Everyone
watches the highlights. No, they beat you. They
got you. They understood you. They understood
you. That's the worst. That's the worst. When
the other team has figured you out. They didn't
just get ghost goals, right? Something that just
popped in. We scored because we scored. Alex
do a sunset. That was fucking perfect, right?
The penalty was right. We got you. We called
your center back. which is your midfielder coming
back to center back. We got you. This is why
it's top three for me. It was manufactured. We
should win this game. Yeah. Yep. I mean, I'm
with you. I'm putting it third all time. What
is the say about this team moving forward? I
mean, it seems like it buoyed them. What are
the Sounders going to do the rest of the year?
It would be a disappointment if we don't win
the MLS Cup, to be honest. I'm with you. This
team is that good. Yep. Just got to prove it.
Clear as day. Osaze keeps playing like he's playing.
I mean, I think you can't not play him at forward.
You might need to play him and Jordan at the
top together. He just had a post -match interview
with his dad and mom against the world. You didn't
see that because you weren't there. that's dad
and mom his mom said this is the first post match
i get with my son without a baby in my arms like
she was stoked for him for her like yeah and
and and dwayne was there and they're both they're
both in garb of sounders talk about dwayne winning
dwayne won the 2011 mls uh mvp uh jesus's dad
won the 2010 mls mvp like He's his daddy. Come
show it up, by the way. Come hang out. Maybe
he was there. I don't know. Maybe. They may have
just not shown him. There was so much family
in the field. The entire field was filled with
players' family. And Papa and Mama Roldan even
came over and lifted the trophy with the fans.
Well, of course, they have to. They are part
of the... They are. And in 2016, since I got
to fly with them and be on the bus with them,
I got to get to know them a little bit. And they
are incredible people. it is so nice as everyone
says yeah they are so cool which is another thing
that again watching post match i think this is
the first time i've heard weeby and all them
like talk about how close it was like they're
you're finally like giving us some credit credibility
of being a foundational like beyond just the
stadium yeah and you know we provide now we have
a good place to train it's like we've only have
a good place to train like last year isn't that
nuts yeah we've had a pretty shitty place for
all our players to train it was nice for what
it was but it was not for what it was it was
not it was oh it was not even close for 15 years
what has kept the ethos the Sounders together
is is this essentially right the fan base the
real like honest to truth we're speaking and
the critically the Alliance Council if we didn't
have Alliance Council which no professional clubs
do except for us and XYZ there's a few Barcelona
right but the fact that we have this much control
and this much say it's like I'm so proud. This
is why you're proud. This is what happens. You
have a strong club that can defeat Messi and
co. In your house. You mentioned it, but just
to be clear, shout out to ECS. Shout out, of
course, to my girl FC family. Shout out to the
other supporter groups, past and present. This
fan base is incredible. It's insane. Sometimes
we're spoiled. But it's the players to a man
talk about how incredible it is to play in front
of these, these crowds because they, they played
some of these players played other places where
they don't get to experience that. It's not even
just these crowds. It's these crowds in this
league. Yeah. This league does not have what
we have. It really doesn't. It's part of Portland.
Because you don't have soccer -specific stadiums.
They have these little tiny things. And that's
why people, when they talk about we want a different
stadium, no. I want the 69 ,000 full every game.
It's going to take a while to get there. But
there's no one there connecting the community
to understanding to what they have available
to them. It's what they're doing now. They're
doing it. There's so much going on. And I love
it. And I love it. MLS has realized that. I mean,
it was Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver's metropolis.
Let's not be wrong. I mean, Vancouver's – I mean,
they're as big as San Francisco in terms of like
as an international city. Yeah, but it wasn't
until really like Portland and Seattle when they
– and Toronto even with the stadium in the city.
They were like, oh, we can create a non -suburban
push for a league. I love city. And it's like,
are you, are you, are you fucking kidding me?
No. Oh, that sucks. No, but like here, by the
way, living in San Diego, it's weird. It seems
like an effort to Soto drive. It'll take you
15 minutes. It's because everyone drives 80 miles
an hour. Shit about anyone else. I mean, everyone
in Washington drives 65 miles an hour. And then,
is pissed off about you not changing your lane
when you didn't give me a signal. Trust me. The
one thing I learned from driving, you know, I
drove in California for a long time was that
they're just as poor drivers here. They just
do it at half the speed. Well, no, they're shitty
drivers that show a signal. Yeah. They're shitty
drivers here. They don't show a signal. They
just do whatever they want. If you don't, if
you show the signal, you're going to get cut
off, man. I would rather have, at least they're
consistent. The inconsistency. I'm sorry. My
children in my car. I need to know where you're
going. That's it. I don't know where people are
going here. They can't even do a fucking four
-way stop. I'm literally going to start a nonprofit
that all we do is teach four -way stops and zipper
merges. I'm not kidding. That's how bad it is
here. It sucks. I hate it. I think it's just
human beings. Yeah, human beings. We all suck.
We're all just human beings, man. Yeah, this
team feels faded at this point, and we've got
players coming back. If they can continue to
figure it out, obviously they're not going to
finish. They'll probably finish fourth in the
West just based on there's not a lot of games
left. And it would take a meltdown from a team
or two ahead of us. I'm not even worried about
that, though. But you take care of business,
then you just got to go on the road and beat
those teams ahead of you. We could drop down
from LAFC as games in hand. But yeah, I think
this is a team that if they figure out how to
play up top with Osaze or continue to bring Jordan
in, play multiple people. And let's not forget,
we have Moose coming back now that this tournament
is done because he had a two -game suspension.
Which, by the way, I know they might have showed
a few clips, and Nick left after 25 minutes.
Every single player on the team pretty much came
up and lifted the trophy, including Jordan. including
Paul Areola made speeches like, uh, well, that
trophy looks like it's super light. Like they
were like real silver on that. Uh, I mean, throw
it over the stadium because they didn't do the
arm race thing at the end. They did it much later
with families and stuff, but knew who came over
and did it himself to the crowd with the trophy.
He brought players over. He started. chants,
crowd chants for other players. He was bringing
players up like knew who pretty much helped manufacture
the celebrations at the end with the fans. And
it was so fucking cool. Well, what an odd player
that guy is. I'm glad you were on the field when
you weren't allowed to be on the field to do
that. Yeah. But, I mean, I think he probably
felt like he had to because he didn't get to
play. And he didn't feel like he showed other,
like Brian said, he showed up like, look, this
exact same foul on me. They didn't get called,
yet they called that one. It's like, but we can't
change it. It is what it is, right? So, in the
end, yeah, it was just, it was a great night
that will go down. in Sounders history. And,
and, and that surprises me because if you had
told me at the beginning of the season that I
was going to care about a league's cup final,
I would have laughed at you. Honestly, if you
told me, actually, if you told me earlier in
the season, if you win the league's cup final,
you'll have all the trophies. Yeah. I never,
I didn't figure, I didn't, I would have been
like, Oh, okay, let's go. Yeah. And we fucking
did it without us telling him to do it. Yeah.
That was awesome. That was just, yeah. So. All
I can say is I'm happy tonight. I mean, obviously
I'm drinking whiskey. And Twelman, I want to
give him some credit a little bit. He did appropriately
and accurately call out who is the better man.
He said in 1994, if you had told the... Actually,
I'm not going to quote it exactly. He just dated
correctly 1994 better man, Seattle, them. With
Eddie Vedder there. And that was in Vitology
came out, which had Better Man in it. And he
called it. So he had his Seattle music history
on point before he made a comment. And I have
to give him credit because I know we're very
critical of all our people commenting on Seattle
music. And Taylor Twelman did it. He said we
were the Better Man. Yeah, I love it. I love
it. You're from here now, Eddie. You're not from
San Diego. We win the trophy this year. Oh, that's
been a lot of fun, by the way. Yeah, the trophy.
That's been a lot of fun. Now that the Better
Cup has become a thing. I tried to get you a
Better Cup hat, but I couldn't find an extra
one. Yeah. Couldn't find an extra one. But maybe
I'll look around and see, because now that it's
over. Because I was at the game where we won
and actually won the... It was super fun. By
the way, all listeners, I am practicing guitar,
learning it for the first time. I've been doing
it for about a month and a half now. By the end
of the season, our last episode, I'm going to
play something on guitar. Can you play the intro?
Can you play the intro song? I've never thought
about it, but I could try. I know about like
eight quarters right now. Everyone in MLS stole
it from us because they know how hyped everyone
gets at the beginning of the show. Gosh. No,
that was NBA. That was NBA that stole it? It
was the NBA. Oh, but then it also showed up.
The Colorado Rapids did it on theirs. That's
what it was because Dan was on and then they
heard it. Yeah. God, we were just so famous.
I know. I know. All right. What's your final
words? Let's get out of here. My final words.
Join our Discord. Yeah. Just do it. That's where
the life is. That's where the lifeblood is. Fun
times. Join our Patreon, like we said before.
Always good to have you. Only $1 .74. Rate us.
If you're going to give us five stars, rate us
on all of the places you can rate podcasts. I
think we're getting closer to just... this thing
blowing up is we've had this awesome little community
we've created. Every, every episode is better
than the last and there's only fun stuff coming.
That's the truth. I mean, we have been consistent
for half a decade about just really just, we
are just, we're just the voice of the community
and that's the point. Right. So. tell us wrong
tell us right join the show and uh let's keep
going this has been probably other than my daughters
and my and my and the marriage to my wife the
most fun thing i do in my life is just hanging
out with you and nick every single week as much
as we can and just talking about our seattle
sounders because yeah what we're doing every
week this is i wish you had been here man i wish
you had been here i you know what you know i
know I fucking know. The one thing that makes
it okay was that we got to watch the Mariner
playoff game together a couple years ago. You
mean we watched two Mariner playoff games in
one? Yeah, 19 innings. All 18 innings. Whatever
it was. No, it was 18 innings. I have been in
every fucking major final except for this one.
This was the first time it hit me. Start planning.
You're coming up for the MLS Cup final. when
we host that my birthday is in November and that
seems like a perfect time for this kind of shit
so anyway we love all of you listening to this
show um shit yeah yeah you know what now we're
gonna go to bed yeah take it away James take
it away James 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
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at BritVoxus. That's Brit Vox US. We'll see you
at Lumen and go Sounders. Alexa, who's the best
MLS team of all time? Seattle Sounders are both
unequivocally and irreparably the best MLS team
of all time.