It's time for Scuttlebutt Ultras. Quick takes
from our Patreon Ultras, sharing their soundest
thoughts straight from the heart. Your voice,
your moment. Hello and welcome to another episode
of Sounders Scuttlebutt. I am one of your hosts
Cameron Collins and I am here today with the
Ultras. And Alex and Cedar, what is up, gentlemen?
The season's over. How are you feeling? Yeah,
I just want to fast forward and get to preseason
so we can get us started again. I was putting
up Christmas lights today, just wishing that
Christmas was over and we were ready to play
soccer again. It does feel weird having no soccer,
but I guess there was probably some Premier League
today, wasn't there? Yes. Yeah, there was. Mo
Salah complaining about not playing or something.
Yeah, man. God. I was telling somebody the other
day, I was like, you know, I'm really glad I'm
a pretty casual Liverpool supporter because it,
like, sucks right now. It, like, sucks so bad.
It's one thing to, like, perform so terribly.
And then it's a whole other thing to just, like,
have, you know, a club legend. purportedly be
you know super unhappy i mean it's just i would
i would be very sad to see him move on uh unless
he comes to the sounders that would be great
i think actually if adrian opens up his uh wallet
a little bit more let's go get mo why not because
he'd get shut down in practice every day by new
who New Who can be a starter forever. Yeah. Rumor
has it, though, was it Sounder at Heart reporting
that they're trying to shop New Who or maybe
Nico? I mean... That might have been Nico. I
don't know. I can't speak on that. I didn't see
that. Yeah. It's interesting. Very, very interesting.
Yeah. You know, if you're looking at shopping
him, it is kind of interesting because... You
know, do y 'all hear that screaming in the background?
All right. My kids are screaming next door, and
I want to make sure that y 'all didn't hear my
12 -year -old dropping F -bombs at the 9 -year
-old. So, you know, the last thing Craig said
to us was like, hey. We want to keep this team
as much as possible, and then they trade Leyva,
and they're talking about trading Nuhu, too.
And Rothrock's walking. That's not keeping the
team as super together. I mean, we don't know
if Rothrock is walking yet. We just know that
he's going out and trying to get offers. They
could easily come back and be like, this is what
I'm being offered, and they'll go, okay, I guess
that's what you're worth. That's possible. Looks
like we have lost Alex. He's struggling. So let's
do a little talk about the Seahawks real quick
there. Since, Cedar, you're wearing, is that
a T .J. Hujpinsada jersey? No, he was 84. Is
that a Golden Tate jersey? Golden Tate, yes,
sir. You're going to disrespect Russell Wilson
like that? Hey, no comment on all the off -field
stuff. But, boy, on the field, yeah, he was so
much fun to watch. And he loved doing this. Yeah,
little boy. And, boy, this Seahawks team was
super fun to watch, too. How were we feeling?
Yeah, it was a good win today. Probably got me
into the final of my... fantasy championship
game with jsn deciding to show up in the second
half yes absolutely yeah they turned it on um
it's nice to see even though you know obviously
you want everything firing on all cylinders including
the offense and they've been they've had you
know a lot of clunky moments in the past couple
of games but it's nice to see us be able to win
in you know through multiple kind of ways And
again, having that defense is really, I mean,
it's cliched, but it's true. Defense wins championships.
That's how we won our Super Bowl. So I like the
formula. I think the real test, though, is going
to be can we beat the Rams and can we beat the
Niners? I think if we don't beat both those teams,
then... I don't think we're going to get – we
don't deserve to get far in the playoffs. You
know, we got to beat both of those teams headed
into the postseason. How'd the Cowboys do? Terrible.
Probably how you would expect. No, they got pretty
bad by the Lions, and I think that pretty much
ends their playoff hunt. So they can – they're
being realistic. They're done for the year. All
the Seahawks, that defense token, y 'all, I would
like to say you're welcome. I haven't had any
thank yous or anything for giving y 'all Lawrence
or nothing. Enjoy that. Thanks, Dan. I wonder
why our defense isn't very good anymore. Alex,
what about you? You watch any football today?
No, I saw the scores. I saw that Seattle gave
Atlanta the business. Waited until the second
half to do it, but yeah. I didn't see, yeah.
And then I seen Detroit gave Dallas the business.
And then, yeah. I mean, I do like pick umps with
some of my buddies, but I don't really watch
the games. I just pick a team who I think is
going to win, and I lose. And donate them five
bucks every week. Gotta stop picking the Cowboys.
No, here's the thing. When I pick the Cowboys
to win, they lose. And when I pick them to lose,
they win. You should pick them to lose every
week. Dan will be happy. All I'm doing I've watched
all year is Thanksgiving. So I'm doing pretty
good with breaking my addiction to the Cowboys.
That's pretty nice. Well, this is a soccer podcast,
so maybe we should talk about soccer. And I think
we did a lost episode on the end of the season,
but we have an MLS Cup to talk about, and maybe
that's where we should start. Who wants to lead
off talking about the MLS Cup? Yeah, I thought
it was a fun game to watch for somebody that
I really didn't care who. who won. It was, it
was as a neutral. I had a lot of fun watching
it. Yeah. Cedar, what'd you think? I got to watch,
uh, most of the first half and then I, I had
to go to work, but, um, yeah, it was, it was
definitely, it was, it was pretty exciting, um,
from what I saw and I was paying attention to
it while I was at work and I saw, you know, Vancouver
had some life and then It went away. But it seemed
like from the first half when I watched it, Vancouver,
they were up for it. And obviously they had a
little bit of bad luck. And again, to win big
games, you not only have to be good, you also
have to be lucky. So it just wasn't their day.
And I'm sure, you know. Messy fans everywhere,
the league, Don Garber, David Beckham, they're
all elated right now, you know, because this
is the proof of their whole thing coming to fruition.
And, I mean, it's a different conversation, but,
you know, potentially, as much as I don't necessarily
want to see Miami win, I think Vancouver would
have been... I mean, it's already a really cool
story, but just for them to cap it all off with
the win would be incredible for them. As much
as I didn't want Miami to win, I do think that
potentially, on the whole, this could help propel
the league forward in terms of its... global
standing especially with changing the calendar
you know to match the to the european calendar
and you know potentially opening up the the spending
rules and genuinely a concerted effort from the
entire league all the owners to to elevate the
league into you know a higher stratosphere which
i i do think is possible and maybe this is this
is part of that so if that ends up happening
great but uh yeah i definitely feel for vancouver
our little brothers what about you alex they
got to be pretty disappointed no i think that
overall it was a good game it was you know fun
fun to watch as a neutral i was You know, kind
of hoping that Vancouver would maybe score another
one. But I think, yeah, I felt like if you watch
the game, you could see that Vancouver controlled
most of the game. And the reason why they lost
was that Miami had three moments in transition.
And that's when I ended up winning the game.
They didn't have overall the best team, but what
they had was the best players in moments. And
that's the difference between winning a trophy
or not winning a trophy. We're going to come
down to those high -pressure moments. Yeah, I
mean, probably unlucky. You know, the first goal,
a few mistakes from Vancouver. But for the ball
to hit off both posts and then hit off the outside
of the post, they go up 2 -1 in that moment.
That changes the game entirely. Everything's
different from then on. So I do feel bad for
Vancouver, but I was excited when Miami won because
we know how I feel. We've got to prove that only
spending money wins if we're ever going to see
money spent on the Sounders. No, yeah, and it's
like they say, goals change games. And if you
really think about it, two goals that Miami scored
were off Vancouver's mistakes. One in the midfield.
where they picked his pocket, and then another
one was an own goal, which was unlucky. Yeah,
but he kept the guy onside, and then when he
went on his run, he ran right in the lane where
the cross was going to go. Yeah, it was unlucky,
but at that point, there was a few other mistakes
that he had made on defense leading up to that
own goal. Same guy. If it had been one of our
players, we would have been killing him. Yeah.
No, but I think I'm not upset with the result.
I agree with you. In order to compete in the
world now, you have to pay the top players to
come to your team. This game is pay -to -play.
Or you just have to have a really good... You
have to have a GM that can hit on the low -level
guys to be impactful. You got to hit on the high
-level guys, and that's what we're not doing.
Well, we're not signing high -level guys. Yeah,
our DPs are good players, but they're not the
same level DPs as teams that are winning. Jeremiah
O'Shan tried to come after me like, look at Vancouver's
payroll. Yeah, we don't have a DP. Yeah, sure,
he's not a DP this year, but his contract goes
into a DP. It's back -loaded. We don't have a
DP on our team that's going to make as much money
as Mueller. Like, we don't have a player of that
caliber. And Mulder's a much better player than
all of our DPs. Yeah. Which, you know, and I
think those of us that want money spent aren't
even saying spend that amount of money. We're
saying just sign two more Pedro's instead. You
know what I mean? Like, spend enough money that
you're signing higher. I mean, I want, you know
me, I've always said I want a Gabriel Peck. Give
me some more players like that out of South America.
Yeah, I don't think that the people asking for
spinning are asking for us to keep up with LAFC
or Miami. But, you know, keep up with Vancouver.
That's the false dichotomy. It's something that
Nicholas likes to say on this podcast a lot.
And I'm like, why are you so intent on not spending
money, man? This isn't your money. Well, I don't
think it's anybody's money because I don't think
it exists at all. Yeah, that could be true. And
I will say, to Adrian Hanauer's credit, he's
never taken a dime out of this club. Every dollar
he's put in has stayed in the club. So this isn't
– sure, his value has gone way up, and one day
it'll be a huge money -making, like generational
wealth that he already has, but even more. But
that is not what he's – He's losing money on
this club every year because he doesn't take
anything out. So maybe this call that the Sounders
have made isn't just about a stadium. Maybe it's
about signing good players too. I don't know.
We will see. The front office has to have an
idea of how they stacked up. They have to be
able to see the trend too, right? Like you have
Miami coming, Miami brings in Messi, then you
bring in, you know, Son at LAFC. So the trend
is the, what, 8 million we spent on Ryle is not
going to be able to keep up if that's our only
transfer ends. Yeah, it's interesting. I forgot
to do it the other day, but I was going to look
at what that was in today's dollars. to figure
that out. But yeah, I mean, what, what do you
think the Sounders need to do here to, to be
able to compete with these teams? If we're not
going to change scores, then keep producing Obed
Vargas' from Selma Defiance. That's probably
the other way that it's going to happen. You
know, and maybe Snyder Brunel, maybe he's that
guy. Maybe he can come in after this year and
pick up where Obed left off. It's not that much
different, actually, because I think he was between
six and seven million and we'll say seven. And
that is nine point five million in today's money.
So that's I mean, I think that's. If we're not
signing a DP of that level when we have an open
spot, we're not serious about competing for championships.
We're serious about the Pete Carroll type of
game that the Seahawks played for years where,
sure, you just want to make the playoffs and
then maybe you'll get lucky. Yeah, we can get
a star, but we're not going to be a perennial
contender for the MLS Cup, like playing in the
game. One thing I think, though, is as long as
we have Brian, I think we always have a chance
to punch up. You know what I mean? I think that
does give us a unique ability that, hey, any
day we can beat Miami. We beat Miami this year,
right? And so it's really a testament to what
Frank has been able to do with what he has brought
in and Brian's coaching. Agreed. yeah i think
i think uh teca what you guys are saying we do
we do need to spend more money and you know get
a get a son of our own get um even even like
uh you know getting a a player the level of a
peck or a buonga you know because yeah brian
can do a lot and we've got the northwest grit
and all this kind of stuff but If the league
really is moving into this upward trajectory
and they really want to be a destination place
for some top -end talent that is considering
going to Europe or coming from Europe with the
transfer windows aligning, with those schedules
aligning, if we don't catch up to that, I mean,
I can see us being, I don't know. I mean, I can
see us like this being in the worst case scenario.
This is the, like the last season that we win
a trophy for like a very long time, unless it's
like a flash in the pan leagues cup run. Right.
Which is, it's nice to win a trophy. That was
super fun when we did it this year. I mean, that
was an incredible game and incredible run, but.
what we really want is MLS Cup. We want another
Champions League victory. The way it's going
now, I just, you know, unless there's a big step
up in financial investment, it doesn't feel like
we're going to be a legit contender for those
competitions moving forward. And, you know, like
we'll still, like you said, we'll still be competitive,
right? you have that pete carroll kind of effect
uh in the seahawks for for the last part of his
tenure and it was like oh yeah we're always competitive
but we're not gonna actually win the whole shebang
and i think i think for a club like like us that's
what we're that's what we're used to we we want
to be as good as anybody else and have a legitimate
shot at winning the biggest trophies. I'm looking
at the contracts of the highest paid players
in the league. This is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, the
top 20 paid players in the leagues. How many
Sounders do you think are in that list? Maybe
one. You can use your words, Alex. This is a
podcast. It's not visual. Zero. Yeah, zero. There's
no Sounders on that list. Are we surprised? I'm
a little surprised we don't have at least one.
But, you know, I don't expect to pay $20 million
for a player like Messi or $11 million for Son.
Almost $9 million for Sergio Buckets. And Almiron
for almost $8 million is kind of like a bust,
I think. Lozano is $7 .6 million. He was kind
of a bust, though, based on production. Yeah,
but he clearly meant something to the team. But
then you go down and look at players. He was
more like a signing to get the Hispanic community.
fan base into the stadium. That's the way I saw
that transfer. But Ryan Gall, Dennis Buonga,
you know, Joseph Paintsill, we should be buying
players that are similar to those players, in
my opinion. I just say that we go sign the best
player on Curaçao or Caraco for my Canadian friends.
Or sign the top player from North, Macadamia.
Oh, my God. We don't have to sign the players
from Brazil, from Spain, England, Germany. Go
after some players in some of the smaller nations.
The smaller nations produce talent. I mean, look
at Danny Buonga. I think the point is, okay,
yeah, you go down that list. Some of those guys
are busts. Some of those guys, it's like, okay,
yeah, we're not spending $20 million on a single
player. That's not our business model. But let's
take our, you know, because clearly I do think
that Weibel has, so far, I think he's done a
positive job. with the resources that he's been
given as a fan who doesn't know all the contract
details and the ins and outs of who's making
what. And like, you know, the, the nitty gritty,
I do have a generally positive feeling about
Weibel. I just think that, you know, we have
to just bump it up a little bit. I mean, I mean,
we, we are the 15th ranked team in spending.
And we spend less than $20 million, so Messi
makes more than our entire team combined. It's
kind of like that weird, you know, kind of like
the Mariners thing for so many years. It was
like you can see them kind of build a good core.
And then it would it's just like, oh, just a
little bit bump up in financial investment. And
this team really could be a contender. And then
look at what happened last year. Right. I think,
you know, and not that we weren't contenders
this year, but we just did not we just didn't
have it to, like, get past Minnesota. You know,
I mean, we should we should be. We got to get
past the first round at least especially a team
against a team like Minnesota no matter what
the format is or I think for this team is really
really good as it is, but we Just think about
what you know Five million more dollars would
do is it that missing piece? Right ten think
about ten million dollars What would that get
us? Would that be the difference between us losing
in the first round and making it all the way
to MLS Cup and having a rematch against Inter
-Miami? Which I would have loved. I mean, that
would have been great. Can you imagine that?
And let's be clear. We're not talking about spending
more under the salary cap because we max out
the salary cap. It's about spending more. On
DP players or, I mean, I think we do a pretty
good job with our TAM players considering we
have Jesus Ferreira as a TAM. But it's, you know,
instead of paying Jordan Morris $2 million, you're
paying someone $7 million. Well, Jesus Ferreira
is a TAM right now because we promised him next
year he'll be the DP. Only if he performs. It's
not automatic. And so far, he has not performed.
Yeah, I get it's not automatic, but it's, yeah,
I mean, that's, you know, he bet on himself.
We gave him the opportunity to bet on himself,
and, you know, if he's going the way he is, it'll
work out for him. But, you know, that was part
of the deal of getting him at that town. Which
I think is why our payroll is sort of low, is
because we've been able to work these contracts
in an interesting way. But at the end of the
day, Jesus has to go out and earn it. He didn't
have a whole bunch of goals or assists this past
season. So unless he goes on a tear, I don't
know what his escalators are. I don't know the
numbers. But if he doesn't hit the numbers, then
he's not going to be a DP. And then we can use
that money elsewhere and he'll still beat Tam.
He had four goals and seven assists, so not a
bad year by any stretch, but I don't think that
those are probably not a DP escalator. And Jordan
Morris, he became a DP when he scored 14, was
it 13? Even though 11 of them were from the wing.
So yeah, I think obviously it'll depend on what
those numbers are, but the Sounders have a good
quality team. It's just... They're missing the
X factor. They're missing a Dempsey, an Obafemi
Martins, a Raul Ruiz Diaz, a Nico Lodero type
player. And maybe that's because Pedro isn't
on the field. But that's, I mean, even with him
out there, you still need a number nine. That
to me is the missing. If they had a starting
level number nine, just starting level, or even
a slightly better, then I think you... Arthur,
you go much further. Yeah, I mean, look at how
well, you know, Musoski did in this team, right?
And as great as he is, imagine somebody who's
like starting for, you know, starting for their
country, right? And maybe it's not... a top eight
country or anything like that but they're good
enough to be in international quality starting
number nine i just i guess overall i'm just kind
of concerned that you know we used to be really
good when garth was here in maximizing all the
little rules and all the mechanisms that the
league had to offer within this you know the
super strict salary cap and just you know selling
international roster spots and i'm not saying
that we have to stop being smart and stop you
know using those weird rules to our advantage
uh financially and and in building our team but
i just feel like we're on the doorstep of this
league changing uh into into um just there being
a new landscape where you you do really truly
have to spend to win. And yes, you got to be
smart about it too. And I'm not saying let's
spend money willy -nilly. We can't do that. But
we do have to spend more money. I just feel like
that's coming like super soon. And I could see
a world in which we maybe don't keep up and we
don't change our ways. And we keep trying the
same kind of things and it's not working. It's
like, oh, why aren't we winning anything when
Jordan Morris is a DP? It's like, well, that
might be your answer. Yeah, it does. You do.
It's a dread that the league is just moving a
little bit faster than we can keep up in the
future. And so we got this team, right? Like
how much longer? Two years? this year and next
year. And then we're probably going to be done
with the core of this team. And I think that's
really going to be the best of if we're able
to keep up when we see some of those core pieces
change out. So even though I want stuff now,
delayed gratification may be worth it. Yeah,
I think that after this summer leading into 2027
is going to be a big... a big change in the league
following the world cup. And I think we're really
going to see the change of a league in 2028.
Once you know, you have that first year under
the new calendar under your belt, you're like,
okay, this is what we can do. This is how it's
going to be from now on. So we have to start
planning now to be prepared for when that time
comes. I mean, they're already way. I mean, you're
scouting players constantly. They, they have,
who they want to sign for the, probably the next
three or four years already picked. And obviously
it is fluid and changes, but they, you know,
they don't get one, they go to the next, they
go to the next, they go to the next. So they,
they're always scouting, but yeah, I mean, it's,
it'll be interesting to see because at that age,
it's like, what do you do with a, you know, two
years from now, you know, Russ next gone, his
contract for one more year. You. Potentially,
you have an older Jordan Morris, you have an
older Christian Roldan. I can't see Yamar still
being around. The players that we've seen be
stars in the past won't be here, and you have
to build around new players. Obed will be gone
one way or another, unless he's a bust, and then
he will still be here. But the hope is he'll
be gone after the World Cup. And then you have
some other bodies that you have to figure out
what you're going to do with, which makes me
want to bring up all the offseason moves. I want
to know what you all think about the fact that
they declined contracts and Leo Burney, Jacob
Castro, Ryan Kent, Travion Souza, and then Bell,
Frye, Giampaolo, and Rothrock are out of contract.
So those are all the players we know for sure
aren't. coming back. And then they picked up
options on some of those other ones that are
now under contract. So what have you thought
about this offseason so far and the fact that
it looks like we're moving on from Fry? Jonathan
Bell was a pretty good value for what he was
getting paid. JP obviously barely played. And
then Rothrock going out to try and sign with
another team. I think it's all pretty predictable
until you get to the lay of the trade. We're
not quite there yet, so everything else was predictable.
I don't know. I still got excited whenever I
saw him play, so I think I'm different a little
bit from some of the fan base there. Maybe Fry
comes back, but I think it's pretty clear that
Thomas is now the starter. Yeah, all stuff that's
pretty much on par. Talking to Steph when they
did his last contract, he was pretty open about
it. He talked to us all about it, just hanging
out with them. They were so far apart, and then
they figured it out. I'd be interested to see
how far apart they are right now, whether he
still thinks he deserves starter money or if
he's willing to come back for less. I have no
idea what his mindset is. He built his house
there. He designed it. So I got to imagine he's
going to end up living here. Coming back into
his own. On the Sounders. I mean, what a. What
a glorious idea that is in my mind. I guess that
dream is dead. I hope for his sake that we were
a good, like, it was a good, like, I know he
got injured and all that, but he really had some
good flashes and, you know, he had to get acclimated
to the league and get his fitness back up. I
hope for his sake that he's able to find the
club that works for him and get the training
grounds because I need an extra two hours to
get all the massages and everything. I'm a really
exciting player, so I hope that this will have
been a good stop for him along his career. Everything
else makes sense. I think it's tough with Fry
because that's the kind of guy you build a statue
of outside the stadium. I don't know what's going
on in terms of their communication, what he wants
to do. I guess I could see him If he feels like
he can still play, but the Sounders are like,
no, we can't spend the money on what you're worth,
what you think you're worth. It's just not in
our budget, with all due respect in the world.
I guess I could see him potentially do a one
-year deal with another team somewhere. And I
highly doubt that he's going to... pack up and
move his whole life to somewhere else so it'd
probably be a just a kind of mercenary you know
get again get he he deserves to make as much
money as he can from his career i mean he's he's
one of the you know top two or three goalkeepers
in mos history i and i don't think that's very
controversial to say so you know he should monetize
um his value as much as he can but is it with
us or is it with another team i don't know um
and then yet i i i saw that we traded leva can
you guys remind me like what we got from what
did we get oh is it true oh cash for oh okay
okay Oh, right, right, right, right, right. Well,
they have to. Yeah. No, I like this. I think
they're moving on from players that they should
be moving on. Either there's not enough there
or they're... they're you know their best days
are behind them like we have to move forward
you know It was a transfer. It was a transfer,
so we got some sort of money. It hasn't been
discussed yet. No, because it's out of the league.
To Mexico. It frees up an amazing amount of money.
In fact, there is a lot of money to spend on
players available out there. It's not like they're
not going to sign other players, but especially
since they now have one goalie right jacob pastor
has one too and we've seen exactly what you said
kelvin leardom uh they moved they couldn't pay
him what he was worth so they they let him move
on to another team i mean i think brad evans
That was probably the case, too. He went to Kansas
City for one year and then got sent down to the
Kansas City minor team and then retired and then
came back and became a part of the club. So I
think that we've seen the Sounders do that before.
They moved on from Ozzie probably earlier than
the fans wanted, especially considering what
he did in Minnesota. But considering how much
he was getting paid and they brought in Gustav
Svensson, it ended up working out. So the hope
is. that they can make some moves to shore up
you know you got to get a number nine and and
someone in the midfield now we went from a position
at cdm that was very very strong to suddenly
losing two of our cdms with danny leva and uh
well and natencio got traded at the beginning
of the year right and then now with jp retiring
uh that was our deepest position and now We have,
what, three? Snyder Brunel, Christian, and Obed.
Then probably more than likely they're going
to sign Peter Kingston, and he's a CDM from Defiance.
I'm pretty sure they have about two or three
guys from Tacoma that they're going to give a
first -team contract to, see how they look in
preseason. I mean, was I talking to you about
this, Alex? I think I want to see us do a little
more. top heavy roster. I want to see us spend
some more money on starters and bring in some
youth players that just bottom, you know, like
guys that may not see the field, but pay them
league minimum. We don't need to pay as much
money all that far down the roster because clearly
we need an injection of some talent at some level.
No. Yeah. And, and given that we're not gonna,
I don't know if we're doing leagues cup this,
this season coming up, but I think it's no open
cup for either teams. due to world cup but i
mean if we're not doing league cup you don't
have to build the roster this year to be as complete
from top to bottom you know just you cannot go
top heavy let the young guys play during the
week at the end of the day it's harder to miss
the playoff than to make it that's true that's
true in most american sports at this point except
for baseball I think baseball is the only one
where it's hard to make the playoffs. But let's
take a break right there. Let's go listen to
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Playoffs? Yeah, as much as we talk down and talk
shit about our playoffs, it could be worse. Look
at Liga MX, where both their semifinals end in
ties, and the teams that moved on were the ones
that were placed higher during the table. Was
that Tigres' match the other day that was 1 -1?
Was that a playoff match? Yeah, they call it
the Ligia. They tied 1 -1, and both games tied
1 -1, so they were 2 -2 on aggregate. But Tigres
moved on because they ended up in second place,
and Cruz Azul was in third place. And then you
look at the other semifinal game, which was Toluca
versus Monterrey, where that game ended in an
aggregate score of 3 -3. And I checked the score
on Google. Google said Monterrey advances on
away goals, but that's not the case. Toluca moved
on because they finished first place. What a
year for Toluca. They just totally came out of
nowhere, it feels like. And that was without
their star winger. He's been hurt for quite some
time with the hamstring. But they signed a high
-level striker. That's I mean, that's a weird
setup, but is it any different than sovereign
via coin flip like we do with penalty kicks?
I mean, that's what penalty kicks are. It's basically
a point flip, right? And so you can look at us
and we had Minnesota, you know, we had them on
the aggregate, but we didn't go through because
we decided to flip a point at the end of each
game. I mean, it's better than ending on the
table because then we would have lost either
way. At least they gave us a chance. Well, I
mean, but at least you can make the argument
that made the rest of the season even more important
for the other teams because, you know, if this
isn't a tie, you're going to go ahead by your
standing. So it makes it a little bit more important.
That way, if, you know, you have a system where
a bunch of teams get in the playoffs, there's
actually incentives to finish. Yeah, I guess
you're not playing for a tie at that point and
go to penalties. You've got to score a goal.
I think it would definitely change the strategy.
You know what? I like it. I think we ought to
adopt it. At the end of the year, we're going
to hear you saying the opposite. Usually it would
benefit us because usually we're the higher seeds.
But can you imagine if we didn't make it through
the Western Conference final because we tied
LA Galaxy? Yeah, I mean, I feel like you should
tweak it, you know, for like, if it's like a
Western Conference final, it should, okay, like
that'll go to penalties. But like earlier rounds,
it really incentivizes your place in the table.
It's so un -American. That's what it makes me.
It's just like people, like people who are Euro
snobs that hate playoffs. And I'm like, there's
nothing better than playoffs. Nothing. Think
about like, even, even in the championship, when
you have the playoffs in order to get into the,
get promoted. If the season's over, I mean, we
would have not, the season would have been over
like a month left in the season. Then who cares
about the rest of the games? Yeah. No, playoffs
are great. Playoffs are great. I like playoffs.
And look at the World Cup, right? Knockouts.
Alex apparently has a counterpoint. No, I was
going to say, the same people that are talking
shit about our playoff system, they love the
Champions League. And what is it? It's a playoff.
You have a bracket, and then you go do playoffs.
In a way, it's like March Madness. Yeah. And
that's their pride and joy. Oh, the Champions
League. Oh, the Europa League. Oh, the Conference
League. I think that's because it has the best
teams in the world. Well, we got the best teams
in America. Oh, that's the U .S. Open. Oh, wait,
no. They killed that. Oh, we got the best teams
in Major League Soccer. There you go. Yeah. I
mean, I guess Canada starts. It's the United
States of Canada. What do we call that country?
This part of America, yeah? North America? Oh,
that's... The 51st state. Yeah. They can take
us with them. That final, y 'all see that, the
bicycle kick goal in the Canadian Premier League
final in the two feet of snow? Oh, I think I
see that clip. Oh, I think I did. It's incredible.
Who won that? Ottawa? No. The other team. Ford?
Calvary? Calvary, yeah. Cavalry FC. Canadian
team won. Yeah. Vancouver FC is already selling
tickets to if you buy season ticket, you get
a guaranteed ticket to the Champions League.
Because they made it because of getting to the
Canada Cup final. Oh, yeah. Having a minor league
team in there. I mean, that's why as much as
I hate that the US Open Cup is fucked up by all
that stuff. I think they still need a spot in
the U S open cup that goes to like champions
league. So just have USL teams and a USL team
could get into champions league. I thought there
was a spot for the winner of the U S open cup.
There might be, but we keep the MLS keeps winning
it because they put them in. They still put what
eight teams in or whatever. Yeah. I think though,
if there's a, you know, some owner that wants
to invest now with the pro rail coming to USL,
that there's a chance for USL team can, can win
the open cup. Yeah, I think so. I think it'd
be interesting if that, I think ultimately USL
is going to be the second division and MLS will
be the first division. But I think 20 years from
now, if you already have pro rail set up, that's
when the MLS can buy into that. But. You got
to have no expansion teams for 15 or 20 years
first because you're not going to tell a guy,
pay us a billion dollars and then you're getting
demoted down to the next league. Yeah. What's
it? That'd be funny. No, I think that I lost
my train of thought. As much as I'm a fan of
pro -rel, there's nothing worse than the pro
-rel psychos on the internet. Yeah, I don't –
yeah, it's like, you know – oh, sorry. Yeah,
it's – that coupled with the general, you know,
Euro snobbery, it makes it a – there are a lot
of places on the internet that just suck to be
an MLS fan. Also, just to be – US soccer fans
are awful on the internet too. Yeah. Oh, God.
I – I think the gist of why we're all talking
about this is because, like, again, we don't
have a perfect system right now for soccer in
America, right? It's imperfect. And I don't know.
There's so much potential for it to be really,
you know, for it to get better and for just more
people to get involved. I think a big thing that's
going to hinder that is, even though we've got
the World Cup, ticket prices are insane. I mean,
it's just, it's just absolutely prohibitive.
And you're seeing this across, you know, lots
of professional sports where they're really making
it feels like it used to be like, you know, like
I feel like baseball should be a relatively inexpensive
sport to go and watch, especially because there
are so many games, you know, it's got more of
a blue collar feel to it. And even baseball is
super expensive. Now they're really, they're
really pushing up, the you know the barrier of
entry to professional sports in this country
for the you know the the richer and richer you
know folk i think minor league sports can get
more popular for that exact reason totally yeah
absolutely because you can actually you know
take your family right for professional sports
it's i couldn't even imagine you know if i had
a family i was taking everybody and like you
know buying a hot dog and soda and all the tickets
and parking and all this and that. I mean, that's
just thousands of dollars that I probably wouldn't
just have to burn on one game, right? I mean,
that's crazy. I mean, my hockey tickets, which
is probably the last year I have them, I've sold
most of them, are the same price as NFL tickets,
but there's 41 home games instead of 10. Wow.
Yeah. That's a lot of money. And granted, I mean,
I guess I have to pay taxes on it because it
counts as income. So I'm losing money ultimately.
But granted, I'm not losing money on selling
tickets because I'm mostly selling them for face
value. And then I go to some games. So I'm getting
the value for them, which most people don't though.
And for me, the big benefit is I get every show
at Climate Pledge, every event at Climate Pledge,
I get pre -sale. oh nice that's pretty cool but
that's probably the only reason i kept it this
year i mean because i ended up getting to go
to wu -tang clan guaranteed and i have this i
sit in the same seat every time i buy the same
seat because there's it's like above a walkway
so people might walk by you but you have all
the leg room you want it's just it's in the back
in the club so it's at the way back but still
like It's some good perks. We get some great
perks with the Sounders, but we don't have anything
like that with the Sounders. We'll get free Apple
TV and a discount at the concessions and the
pro shop. I will say, I do want to commend the
Sounders organization on season tickets in the
supporters section for a 1974 game. That's awesome.
We need more of that. Yeah. It's good value.
Yeah, I was able to take advantage of that. But
I'm not going to be going to all the games because
the commute, especially during the week, is tough
for me. So be on the lookout on the Discord because
I'll be putting up a ticket for sale sometimes.
I mean, Nicholas wants those 90 % of the time,
so he always needs an extra. Just talk to him.
Although week 19 will be different. Oh yeah,
for hosts of the show, they get those for free,
Alex. Sorry. No, I have to get my 20 bucks back
for the month. Which just goes to hosting in
the end. Nobody's making a huge profit off of
this little economy here. No, even though we're
the third most popular Sounders podcast in all
the land. Number one in... Oh, what's up, dogs?
Yeah, I mean, I think the Sounders are an interesting
story, but we should probably talk about the
very big story beyond Wayne Gretzky having really
bad CTE. And that is the World Cup draw happening,
which we now know all the games that are happening
in Seattle. Well, we know who's playing in all
the group stage games. And then... if the USA
wins the group and then wins against most likely
Belgium, they would then play at the game. Alex
is actually going to in the, it'd be USA versus
somebody. So it's, it's pretty crazy that it's
here now, right? Like it felt so far away. And
now here we are. Here we are. You watch the draw.
I did not know. I watched you texting about the
draw. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of crazy that
they made us sit through an hour and a half or
two hours of bullshit and Trump getting awards.
And at the end, he was dancing to YMCA live.
But just for like the president, the president
of Canada. Or president of Canada. The prime
minister of Canada sounded so regal and smart
and presidential as compared to our president
when he talked that it's embarrassing. And I'm
sure the president of Mexico, she did too, but
I don't speak Spanish and they didn't provide
subtitles. So it was interesting for Trump to
be somewhere where like a bunch of people were
just talking in Spanish and there was no translation.
but they got around to it and uh the usa got
a pretty decent group yeah it's a trap australia
it makes it a little bit more exciting for me
because uh you know i i like i i enjoy winning
i i you know i'm gonna be the guy that's gonna
play a five -year -old at a game just destroy
them in your face so uh the idea that there's
a chance we could get out of this uh group that's
I mean, that's exciting. Makes me more likely
to watch it. So, yeah, it's Monday, June 15th
at noon, Belgium versus Egypt. That's the first
game in Seattle, which, wow, that should be a
fun game. Yeah. And Belgium isn't the power that
they used to be. Their golden generation is aging
out. I mean, they're still amazing, right? But
they're not the Belgium we've known in the past
few World Cups. Friday, June 19th, the game that
I'm going to, USA versus Australia. My dad and
I are going to go. Wednesday, June 24th at noon,
Qatar versus one of the, I forget which, but
one of the European teams. They have to make
it to the playoff. Then June 26th, the day before
my birthday, is Egypt versus Iran, which is a
really interesting match. Then we have the round
of 32 match at 1 p .m. on July 1st. And then
at 5 p .m. on July 6th, the match that Alex has
a ticket to, the round of 16, which will hopefully
be the USA versus somebody. We don't know who.
But Landon Donovan said, yep, we get the USA
winning in the round of 16 in Seattle. Then they
go down to L .A. and win in the elite whatever.
And then they can go to the final four. And then
they can go beat Argentina in the championship.
Yeah, I think whatever. Spain and then France
and then Argentina. Yeah, I think whatever he
has, the glue that they use for his hairpiece,
it's seeping into his brain. Nah, he went to
Turkey. We're in a trap group. He went to Turkey.
It's a trap group. That's real hair. They probably
took it off his ass, but it's real hair. They
grafted that shit in there. Or his beard hairs,
because they say facial hair is basically pubic
hair. It looks like real hair. It doesn't look
like pubic hair. No, but I think that we are
looking at this group, and we're overlooking
our opponents, and that's never a good thing.
I was listening to Pochettino talk after. The
team isn't. You heard Poch after when Alexi Lawless
tried to be like, aren't you happy with the shitty
group? He was like, shut up, Alexi. These are
real teams. Yeah, Alexi's the same guy that said
that the only person better than Pulisic was
Ronaldo. Yeah. I mean, he's a moron. And he is
in charge of our USMNT fan base. He's like our
spokesperson. It's funny. I don't know. A lot
of people hate him, though. There's not a big
block behind him. I've never met anybody that
liked him. Well, he's just rage bait. You might
find some in that Discord you're a part of. I
liked him a little bit back in the day when he
first was kind of being a troll but wasn't over
the top with it because people would boo him
and he would blow kisses to them and stuff like
that. And partially it was because he ended up
having... It was when he would be paired with
Taylor Twelman on ESP... No, on Fox or wherever
they were. And then... they were sick so he had
to do it by himself and he was telling stories
about when he was the first american player to
move to italy and he would spoke no italian and
he was all alone and he would go back after every
game and cry himself to sleep in his hotel room
and it was like wow dude he was getting real
deep with it and made me kind of feel bad for
him and like him and uh but then you know he
got political uh pro trump stuff and i was just
like shut up alexi That's always such a turnoff.
Here's the games in Canada. June 13th, we got
Australia versus a European playoff team. June
18th, Canada versus Qatar. June 21st, New Zealand
versus Egypt. June 24th, Canada, Switzerland.
June 26th, Belgium, New Zealand. Then they have
a round of 32 and a round of 16 match. So a lot
of the same teams. I don't know if I want to
see... I'd go see New Zealand, I suppose. But
I don't know if I... Like a Canada... Qatar match
does not sound too exciting. I don't know. I
don't know. Some of these teams that like the
Qataris, the New Zealand's, Australia's, they
did. Australia did pretty good last World Cup.
Yeah. And I will say that at least we're going
to have Moe's going to be in Seattle for a few
days. So you guys got your wish. They better
put Egypt, they better put their camp at Longacre.
No, he's being rumored to San Diego. For real?
They need to break the news. Damn it. I don't
think it's possible. Or maybe, because they might
have an open DP slot. Oh, Iran's first two matches
are in LA, and then they play up here, which
they have a travel van, but you're supposed to
be allowed in for competitions like this. But
they didn't allow them in for the draw, which
is interesting. boycotted it because they weren't
going to be able to fly into the country anyways.
And they wouldn't let Haiti in either. So it's
kind of crazy. Oh my God. Do we hate them that
too? Gang violence. Yeah, it's complicated, but
basically Haiti, they said some Venezuelans helped
murder, like some Venezuelans who were living
in America helped murder the president and then
the vice president took over and only has the
capital. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But really,
from the news on the ground there, you know,
running a nonprofit that's there, everyone there
is pretty much like, no, the vice president had
the president killed. And then the CIA blamed
it on Venezuelans. So they just won't let Haitians
in. I mean, I think they're afraid of people
defecting, too. Right. You know, so it's interesting,
but yeah, it's, it'll, it'll be an interesting
thing to see what happens, especially because,
you know, ice is going to be very active during
this time. And my hope, even though I am against
them in general, but I hope they kick all the
crocodile Dundees out of Seattle. That's, that's
all I'm asking. Leave everyone else alone. Just
give it to all these crocodile Dundees. I shouldn't
even joke about ice. Fuck ice. It's good for
keeping your drinks cold. That's it. Nice one.
No, it's good for swelling. I have that on my
ankle. Oh, that's the craziest. I got hurt coaching.
Can you believe that? Yeah, soccer is dangerous
even when you're a coach. Yeah, I was like talking
to my other coach. And then next thing you know,
I see a kid kick a ball towards me, and I lift
my foot up, and I put it down, and it was like
I caught the end of the ball. And all you hear
is go, timber. Yeah. Did you get your results
back from your MRI? I got an x -ray, but I'm
pretty sure I didn't break nothing. That's good.
That's good. Still, get used to that, young man.
The older you get, you'll get that injury just
by sleeping the wrong way. Oh, physically, I
feel like I'm in my forties. I'm already there.
Yeah. I mean, I know Nicholas was talking about
going to Mexico for some matches and Vancouver.
I definitely, I was hoping that Vancouver would
have a little more variety. It makes sense that
we're seeing the same teams play near each other,
but it just would have been cool to have an elite
team on the, like in the Northwest. I don't think
we do. Still looks like a pretty interesting
slate, all things considered. I'm looking at
Santa Clara, Levi's Stadium, and the lineup is
honestly pretty underwhelming. Qatar versus Switzerland,
Austria versus Jordan, likely Turkey versus Paraguay,
Jordan versus Algeria, Paraguay versus Australia.
And then a round of 32 match. They don't get
around to 16. Wow. Yeah. So it's like, wow, this
is, I'm glad I didn't like pay, you know, hundreds
of dollars for a ticket. Same. The whole West
coast got screwed other than getting the USA,
USA, Iran, New Zealand, Switzerland, uh, playoff
winner, a Belgium, Iran, and USA, uh, UEFA playoff
C winner. Where are Mexico's great games? All
in Mexico. Yeah, Mexico City probably. Right.
So they opened Mexico City against South Africa,
which was who they opened up in 2010. Yep. And
then Mexico will go to... They'll stay in Mexico
City, but they should also play in Guadalajara.
But they don't have a game in Monterrey. No,
but out of all that, yeah, San Francisco got
done the worst. I'd like to see Ireland get into
that group and then South Korea and Ireland are
going through. That would be cool. Yeah, Mexico's
going to get three draws. I mean, the way they're
playing right now, they'll be lucky to draw.
Well, I think one of their center backs, starting
center backs, just dislocated his ankle yesterday.
He blocked the shot, and the shot was hit so
hard that when he planted his ankle, he dislocated
it. Yeah. No thanks. Group of death. Everyone
says it's the French group. Just based on how
good the top two teams are, I'd say because...
Brazil, Morocco, those two teams are just unbelievably
good. Haiti and Scotland are screwed. But truly,
I think it's that – what is it? France, Senegal,
Norway, and then – It could be Iraq. It could
be Iraq. Bolivia or Suriname, yeah. I don't know.
Group F looks interesting because the Netherlands
and Japan. I want to sleep on Japan. Definitely
sleep on Japan. And then Tunisia could be interesting
too. I've never seen them play, but they are
very consistent as far as making World Cups.
Yeah. I mean, here's the fun thing is there's
going to be a month of just watching soccer.
And it's one of my favorite things. And it'll
be at decent times because the games will be
in between noon and 8 p .m. Like there's no waking
up at 5 a .m. to go to a bar and watch a match
or waking up to try and watch a match and falling
asleep on the couch because it's fucking 5 a
.m. Like I'm really excited that that we're going
to be able to watch all these matches. It takes
me back to 1994 when I was at fat camp in San
Diego and I would sneak off and I would go watch
the 94 World Cup. It was a good time. Yeah, I
think they're going to follow the same scheduling
as, like, Global Cup. Yeah, a lot of noon games.
But on weekends, you have some evening games.
Yeah, the European snobs are upset. But we were
like, we had to deal with it when we watched
Qatar and Russia. So I'm like, deal with it.
If you're a fan of your team, you're going to
stay up and watch it. If you're a fan of your
team, you're going to come to the States. Wait,
aren't all the Euro snobs in the United States?
He means snobs from Europe. Oh, you're literally
a snob. The ones that like to eat an English
breakfast. I used to do that. 2006 World Cup,
I'd go down to Fido's and eat an Irish breakfast
while watching World Cup. See, I would like to
see Northern Ireland in the World Cup. Just Ireland,
not Northern. Yeah, they still got a chance.
They got to get through Chechya. Probably Denmark.
Denmark, yeah. But I think if they win, they
host. Like if they win the semis, they host.
Because the team that is not as good hosts for
some reason. So if Italy wins their first match,
they go on the road for the match to get through.
It makes zero fucking sense. But you're rewarding
the team that is not the higher rated team. But
you know what? It's helping Ireland. So I want
to see Ireland get in. The last time they did.
What, 94? They beat Italy. So I'd love to see
that again. Yeah, and then that could be interesting
because they'll be in Group B with Canada, Qatar,
and the Swiss if Italy were to go through. Yeah,
yeah. But I don't know. I wouldn't sleep on Nigeria.
Was it Nigeria? No. And Wales? Nigeria did not
make it. They were knocked out. They got knocked
out. Cameroon got knocked out. What's that? NIR.
Oh, Northern Ireland. What's IRL? They're in
a playoff. IRL is the Republic of Ireland. NIR,
yeah, that's Northern Ireland. They're in the
playoff, though. They have to make it through.
But I think they play Turkey, so they're not.
I don't think anyone's beaten Turkey. Turkey.
No, Turkey is the group. They're with Slovakia,
Kosovo, and I don't know who the other one is.
Oh, so yeah, that's right. The USA is getting
Turkey. Oof. Oof. That's tough. Especially when
they kicked our ass not too long ago. I mean,
we're a different team now, but it'll be a good
game. It'll be fun to see Christian in the World
Cup. Maybe on my birthday I need to head out
to Texas and go watch Jordan play against Argentina.
No. If Messi probably was not even going to...
We don't even know if he's going to play. He
doesn't know yet. It's like 70 -30 % he plays.
Yeah, I think he plays. I think this is his swan
song for international tournaments. The game
that I'm excited to see is Colombia versus Portugal.
I mean, Colombia is a good team. Colombia is
a good offense, especially Luis Diaz, the way
that he's been playing this season. Yeah. And
unfortunately, Portugal should be without Ronaldo
for the first one to two matches. But FIFA decided
to go for money instead of following the rules.
And he got his red card rescinded, even though
it was clearly a red card. And so he will not.
Ireland once again saves the world by getting
Ronaldo kicked out of the World Cup. And then
FIFA's like, nope. Such a bummer. Such a bummer.
And then I'm also excited to see Brazil -Morocco.
Yeah, that might be the best game of the entire
group stages. I don't know. Maybe Germany and
Morocco. But that's the World Cup. Netherlands
-Japan could be interesting. My guess is that
we can all go to one of those lesser matches
and tickets will be relatively reasonably priced
because they're going to be on the aftermarket
and people are going to be wanting to move on
from them. I think people that went in, and I
don't know what they were thinking, they went
in and bought group stage matches not knowing
who was going to play, and it was like... Should
have only bought the USA match. And the bad thing
is FIFA is profiting off of the resellers. There's
no longer a cap on tickets. They get money from
both the seller and the buyer. They get a percentage.
And so they want the price to go as high as possible.
So they don't care about how much people are
charging. They don't want to put a max on it
because they make more money if tickets go for
more. So that's why. Even with dynamic pricing,
they're allowing the secondary market to be so
high because they also control the secondary
market. Good job. Awesome. Good job, FIFA. You
rule. But most importantly, we have the peace
president right now. Yeah. The FIFA. We did it,
guys. They gave him that so he wouldn't steal
the World Cup trophy or medal from Portugal when
they won the World Cup. Portugal ain't winning
shit. They're going to rig it for Ronaldo. It's
already been... Just like how they said they
rigged it for Argentina, they're doing it for
Portugal. The only people who say that are Netherlands
fans and Netherlands didn't even deserve to be
in that game the way they cheat. They're just
sore losers. And their players are sore losers
too. Their star center back runs away and shows
his butt to deflect the ball and then goes in.
Well, we've been rambling for a while about the
World Cup. Any other thoughts before we get out
of here? It looks like Dan's ready for bed. No,
it is bedtime. Almost 8 o 'clock. Who's everybody's
pick for winning the World Cup? Oh, it's too
early. Let me see who else is in the group. I
know it's too early. I'll give you the final.
I'll give you the final. It'll be Argentina and
Spain. USA is beating Spain. Yeah, I mean, your
mom's going to dance on it. He's 17 years old.
He's going to be like, where's my mommy? They
probably won't even play for them. I think France
is the deepest team. They have to show up and
actually score goals, but they, based on their
depth, probably I would put them at the highest
odds to win. And I wouldn't count out England.
I don't obviously want them to win. And if they
do, we've got to start another revolutionary
war against them. But as Alexi Lalas said, but
he was like, never on the 250th or whatever 25th
anniversary. We can't let the British win. They'll
beat themselves. I mean, he's right. They'll
lose in penalties. They'll find a way to choke.
Gary Kane's going to sky the ball like he did
that last World Cup. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I think
they'll still make it far. I think it's going
to be the – we might have a surprise in the round
of like with eight teams left. I don't think
– is that the quarterfinals? I don't think we
see any surprises in the semifinals. I think
it's going to be France. You know, there'll be
six to eight teams that could probably make it
there. France, Argentina, Spain, Germany. Just
kind of depends on Portugal. Depends on the brackets
and how it works out. Well, they kind of set
up the brackets in a way where they wouldn't
play, like the top teams aren't going to play
each other until the final. That is kind of a
bummer, right? It would have been much more fun
if you had to have like the round of 32 is France,
Spain. knock one of them out early, which guarantees
a lower -seeded team to make it up there. But,
I mean, at the end of the day, the game isn't
played on paper. It's played on the field. And
you could have the best team on paper, but if
you don't show up, you know, we've seen that
happen before. You could be like Columbia, and
your families could have been kidnapped, and
you were told you had to lose. Otherwise, you
are going to have your family murdered. Oh, that's
what they're going to do with the... With Caraco.
Poor Curacao. I know. I'm picking the United
States. Because why not? Because if they do end
up winning, I'm going to look like a fucking
badass. They should have some extra oomph that
I think they could get past the round of 16 into
the round of 8. I mean, I think that's a possibility.
I think it depends on who gets called up. Yeah,
it depends on who gets called up. It depends
on the path they have to go through to play.
But I think with the home crowd, I think they
can draw some stuff off of that. It'll be a home
crowd at that point. The only team that would
outdraw the USA would be Mexico, and I don't
think there's any path for them to meet that
early. They got to make it out their group first.
Yeah, Mexico does. They got to win. They can't
just draw. No, I just think... I mean, if Christian
gets called up, then the USA will go far. Yeah,
I think he will. Poach loves him. Yeah. He doesn't
even need to play a minute. He's there for the
locker room. No, but he can play some time. Get
off the bench. He's been in the high -pressure
moments. He didn't play last time. Last World
Cup? Yeah. That was under Greg, no? Yeah. Yeah,
and then they got knocked out by England. No.
I thought they tied it. Yeah, they got knocked
out by... Yeah. 2 -0, I think it was. By cheating
-ass Haaland. Haaland versus Mbappe is going
to feed generations for this World Cup. What
about you, Dan? Any last words? No, I'm interested
to see what the offseason brings. Yeah, I'm sure
we'll have a lot more offseason Sounders talk.
We got stuff coming. There's just nothing happening
right now. I think we're letting everything focus.
Well, I think free agency opens in three days.
Yeah, that's true. Free agency opens up. on the
either 10th or 11th so uh that's going to be
the big we'll start seeing if people are moving
around and if the sounders i mean you've got
to figure most of the free agents aren't a good
fit but there might be money uh did they they
didn't is he actually a free agent he would he
did they not pick up his option he had an option
i believe i'm not sure but that's just to name
that I've been hearing it's Dodson. I mean, he's
local, which is probably why they're saying that.
He was born in Seattle and went to Oregon State.
But let's see. It ended, and yeah, he's a free
agency. He's in free agency, so he is available.
Oh, he earned $682 ,000 last year. Yeah, I think
there's a quote from somebody in the organization
that he's outside of the price that they're looking
for. Yeah, although if they're moving on from
Fry, that's how much money they're going to have
available just from Fry leaving. Or with how
much Leva was making. $300K. Leva was making...
No, but like Leva combined with JP? Yeah, oh
yeah. They have like one point something million
available, but do you want to spend that all
on one player? My guess is they say no, even
though I think they should. Yeah, because look,
you sign Yusuke Nomi, he can play in the middle
and then on the wings. Who's that? The guy from
Tacoma that was like 20 or more goal contributions.
Oh yeah, the guy that they thought. they were
going to sign at the end of last season when
we had no strikers. Yeah, but he's not a striker.
He's like a Dempsey. Yes. He's like a nine and
a half. Yeah. He's a, he's a false nine, but
we don't, what we need is a poacher. We don't
need a false nine. We need someone that's a Fox
in the box. Someone that plays like moose. I
mean, Danny's a poacher. We need, we need, we
need either someone who can run fast. And be
a poacher, like you said, with Raul. Or we need
someone big that can be actually Osaze, but starting
quality. Yeah, because we don't need our striker
to be in the build -up. Because we have wingers
that can do that. Pedro can be in the build -up,
and Jesus can be in the build -up. And Pedro's
very direct. In fact, our entire... Everyone
but Nuhu could be in the build -up. I mean, both
of our center -backs are right back. Maybe not
Thomas. You haven't seen enough of Thomas. Yeah,
we don't know about Thomas. You're right. But
everyone else we've seen have assists. I think
Thomas could be the coach, Joe. Yeah. Poor Andy.
It's so sad that he was put in that position
to be the one that missed the final goal. Nah,
we had two chances to win. I don't put that on
him. I don't either, but he had to feel that,
especially the dumbest rule ever where we were
not allowed to. have 11 players kick because
they only had 10. It punished us for them getting
a red card. Christian probably would have scored.
I mean... There was a 33 % chance that he would
have scored. I would have said yes prior to this
playoffs, but... Don't let him shoot for the
USA, though. Yeah. No, but he was probably in
pain too. So he was in pain the whole shootout.
So he wasn't fully concentrated. That's true.
All right, boys, let's get out of here. Where
can they find you on the, on the discord? Discord
is a little, I mean, it was, it picked up for
the world cup, but it's a little quiet. So get
in, sign up, get in there, talk, talk soccer,
just cause the season's over. There's always
stuff to talk about. I went to the, we didn't
even talk about this. I went to the Ballard FC
US open cup match. They lost. That was super
fun. They lost 1 -0 on an 81st -minute goal from
a team out of Fresno, the armpit of America.
But they had Quincy Ameriquel on that team. And
the star players for Ballard were Lamar Nagel
and... Oh, he got hurt. What's his name? McCrary.
What was his first name? He used to be a sounder.
Was his killer role playing? No, not this game.
He did last year, and he may have played earlier.
Unfortunately, Ballard. Now there's zero Seattle
representation with Defiance and Sounders out
and Ballard knocked out. God damn it. Just root
for Spokane. Yeah. I can't root for Spokane.
Why not? What happened? What happened, Cameron?
They're the ones that hacked his Twitter. That's
like rooting for Gonzaga. Why would I root for
them? That's the fucking worst team ever. I also
don't root for the Spokane Chiefs because I'm
a Thunderbirds fan. It's Seattle Thunderbirds.
Don't bring up our case, people. You said Thunder,
I said Birds. Yeah. I will. All right, guys.
It's been fun. We need to do this more often
so that we're in regular season form. Yeah. Let's
do it. We can get our Spotify numbers up. Yep.
Sounds good. See you. You can follow the Sounders
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see you at Lumen, and go Sounders! Alexa, who's
the best MLS team of all time? The Seattle Sounders
are both unequivocally and incredibly the best
MLS team of all time.