He's a tough kid. All I gotta say is the public
can't say he's cheating! Sounders Scuttlebutt.
Episode 151 Malibu Rum. Just noticed that we
didn't get to do episode 50. The Ultras took
it. That's kind of a big deal but congratulations
guys. Started off with an expletive there. Explicit.
Explicit. Okay, well, this is a more positive
episode between you and me. Nicholas Cameron
is out on the IL nursing his knee injury. Or
I guess knee aggregation. He's fine. But we did
beat St. Louis. 1 -0. We're recording just two
days after on Monday the 9th. It's true. It's
true. So, yay. Positive episode. Let's go. Let's
do it. You know, I am going to have to take one
quick... glide two feet to the left and grab
a can. I will be getting us ready for our beverage.
Okay. You take a glide. I myself will grab mine.
Thank you for your patience. No patience needed.
I edited the gap. Oh, look at you. That's probably
a wise decision. Professional. Shall we? Go ahead.
You crack yours first. An ode to Cameron there
with your liquid death? Doing a liquid death
root beer wrap. It's the only carbonated beverage
in my fridge right there. I am recording from
work today. I'm recording from home, so here
we go. Whoa. Lovely. Someone came prepared. Yeah.
This is Mike Hess Brewing here locally in San
Diego. Hop Cloud Hazy IPA. How is it? It's okay.
Fair enough. Seven. Fair enough. Okay. Sorry,
Mike. Sorry, Mike. All right. Let's get to it.
Let's get some scuttlebutt. Do you have the Discord
pulled up? Does anyone know we're recording today?
Did we do any of that? Yeah, I did post up in
Discord, but it was fairly late, so I don't know
if anyone has a specific mailbag question. But,
you know, let's talk about some stuff that's
been going on around the league. First and foremost,
congratulations to Kalani Kosarienzi for being
one of the team of the match day. So congratulations
to him. And his first MLS goal, right? No, he
scored. He scored a few times. Really? Yeah,
I remember last year against LAFC coming off
the bench and Manning, you know, out -muscling
with LAFC or LA Galaxy, out -muscling the defender,
making him look like a child. It was pretty nice.
No, Kalani's had a few. My bad. But, yeah, so
Kalani's been a nice spot of offense from that
defensive position. So that's been great. But
holy cow, we got some interesting scuttlebutt.
First off, if you look on Major League Soccer's
homepage, you will find no news about this anywhere
on that page. Because they have it up, right?
But if you go to The Athletic, you're going to
see a pretty big headline. And it's a big deal,
big news, and shocking that it's not available
on the MLS website. Two MLS players banned for
life. for gambling on games including their own
oh so this came out the allegations came out
last year uh but it's gonna be derek jones who
was playing with the columbus crew and yahya
boa who was uh with lafc and previously with
columbus uh with jones so in the fall they were
placed on administrative leave And then I'm going
to read some highlights for you. Now, first off,
is any of this news to you? It's news to me,
but so is their names. Okay, fair enough, fair
enough. So MLS received some suspicious betting
alerts, and they found that they had done extensive
gambling on soccer, including their own teams
in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. In one instance,
both players bet on. derrick jones to receive
a yellow card during uh during a game and he
sure did in the 35th minute for a foul uh and
so they uh determined that players likely shared
confidential information with other betters about
their intent to draw yellow and so uh yeah big
deal um how do you feel about this i mean obviously
What a waste of your career. Yeah, I mean, I
think Jones was making $600K, and Yeboah was
making about $400K, and gone. And, I mean, yeah,
you're banned from MLS. But, I mean, no league
of any sport wants to have someone in their clubhouse
and on their team who does that, right? Especially
clearly, it's not like you're betting a different
sport, let alone your own team. I think that's
the worst part of it. I get if a baseball player
is betting on European soccer. Let's take Pete
Rose as an example. Betting on his own team,
but always to win. Do you draw the line there?
I mean, no. That's unethical. I don't think you
allow a gray area for the betting. There shouldn't
be a conversation. Just draw a line. You don't
bet. You've been given the privilege to play
a game for your career. Your profession is playing
a game. You get to have fun. This is your dream.
Live your dream and let the rest of us bet. It's
just stupid. Do I think it's the dirtiest thing?
No, it's greedy. Well, it opens the door to a
lot of issues, especially if you go into gambling
debt and then all of a sudden, oh, well, now
we need you to take a yellow to guarantee us
some money. So the integrity of the game is of
the utmost importance, and I do believe in that.
But I also think you... have to have that ingrained
into you are a professional athlete you cannot
gamble on sports you just you just can't and
i think i think gambling in general the issue
is not so much oh what's okay if he's gambling
on this or that it's not mls but the problem
becomes that they can open themselves up to being
susceptible to um to influence if they go into
gambling debt. I think that's the big concern
there. Yeah. It's weird to me that MLS doesn't
have this. I clicked more on their news page.
It's not next. There's nothing. No mention of
this. Why do you think that is? I mean, I feel
like this is something like lesson learned, right,
guys? Like, look at these guys. Don't be them.
Like, we're not fucking around. Exactly. Yeah.
I don't know. I don't know. It's a good question.
When did the news break on athletic? Oh, not
that. They would be the first people to know.
MLS clearly knows. Yeah. I mean, it broke today.
But then again, you know, MLS. is you know sponsored
with draft kings or bet 360 so those kind of
bets though like aren't those like what do you
call them i don't i don't gamble but those kind
of like not the normal parlay not the normal
over unders the ones that the weird ones a yellow
card before the 40th 45th minute yeah those poly
bets or something i think that kind of stuff
just is it's just really susceptible to corruption
But it sounds like because this is similar to
the NBA one that happened where they found suspicious
patterns. And yeah, if all of a sudden no one
ever gets... Are you talking about the refs from
like 20 years ago? No, no, no. Just this last
year, I think a Toronto Raptor player got banned
for life for betting on NBA games. But yeah,
so I mean... Though the point is that when you
have these prop bets, and all of a sudden, hey,
there's a lot of action on this really random
prop bet, you don't think that's suspicious?
I mean, you know. It's almost like politicians
and stocks, right? Oh, huh, yeah. I wonder how
that goes. Meanwhile, Cameron is somewhere. pulling
his hair out. All four of them. You're not here.
We can make fun of you. It's true. So what else
is there? Any good news? That's a big one. I
mean, I will say Jorge Mas came out and quoted
that he's paying Messi 70 to 80 million a year.
So that's pretty... That's pretty crazy. For
the layman. Who is Jorge Mas? The owner of Inter
Miami. Oh, okay. So, yeah. So, paying $70 million,
$80 million a year across everything. So, that's
definitely salary. Entire team salary. Understandable.
Understandable. You know, it's crazy, though.
But, yeah. And then I think a lot of World Cup
discourse is up in the news. Have you heard about
what's going on in New England and Foxborough?
It's really cute of you to keep asking me if
I've heard of what's going on. I use our own
scuttlebutt to find out what's going on in the
league. All right. Well, let me tell you. Kosarienzi
has never scored a goal before. He's scored three
goals and three assists before this year. Okay.
There we go. I should do a podcast. See. I knew
you were just riding our coattails. You know,
how dare you? How dare you? It's that the professional
editing skills, that's why I'm here. Well, fair
enough. And explicit? I don't know how explicit
that is. No, I just meant the voice. So basically,
so what's going on, the short version is with
the government shutdown, partial shutdown, and
Trump being Trump. They have not paid the funding
that was in the Big Beautiful Bill to provide
security for the World Cup. The town of Foxborough,
where Boston's games are being played, is like
a town of 3 ,000, something like that. The police
bill to secure the stadium during the funding
will cost about $8 million. not so much of a
headline not not a huge shock but you know you
got to secure it but they were promised that
that would be covered by by fifa or the big beautiful
bill and the money's not coming and they're at
the point where they need to actually put money
down so foxborough's like no we're not doing
it and the the board of the town board which
has maybe three members on it has basically said,
we are not issuing the necessary permits for
you to host an event until you give us the money
to pay for the security. And they had FIFA and
a member of Robert Kraft's company, the Kraft
Group, in a room in the most recent town meeting.
And they're both kind of playing dumb. And it
was great if you watched a video clip of it.
It's really great if you're anti... You should
find the video clip. Yeah, I will have to forward
it. And I'll put it in the show notes. But yeah,
so basically right now they said, here's the
deadline next week. If you don't have the money
for us, we are not issuing the permits. So...
It's going to be fun to watch them blink. It's
some good stuff right there. $7 .8 million gap.
I'll share with you the Athletic article in the
chat there. There's a great video clip from the
town. That's just fantastic. So a story to follow.
I did have it wrong. I said 3 ,000. Three months
away. It's an 18 ,000 town, so a little bigger.
I got to cover up. Still less than 20 ,000 people.
That's a tiny town. And then the other piece
of news is that the Seattle World Cup app has
launched the See and Win, S -E -A and Win app.
app and that is a way where you can get some
prizes learn about the seattle area it's uh an
interesting app it'll have uh some some interesting
pins if you earn enough points um and then the
top point getters can get you know in stadium
prizes uh not really looking forward that but
the pins are cute so something to keep an eye
on it's a free app Something to check out for
those that are so inclined. I'm sure there's
plenty of people listening that are. I'm bummed.
I mean, it's beautiful down here in San Diego.
Obviously, it was the right move for my career
and my family. And I've said it multiple times
that this podcast pretty much keeps me rooted
back in Seattle just to keep in touch, obviously,
with you guys. Like the Seahawks winning the
Super Bowl and walking out the door from the
place where I was watching the game at my boss's
house, who's from Seattle. And no one gave a
shit. Like just like people going about their
day, going about their evening. And I just knew
after, especially after witnessing the first
one, what was going on in town. And then the
World Cup being in Seattle. Like obviously LA
is, it's close, but it's not. It's not like you
just go to L .A. And I think the cultural differences
between San Diego and L .A. too. There is like
a we don't like L .A. Like a Portland, Seattle
vibe? Yeah, I guess. I think there's more like
we're more closely related. Portland and Seattle,
right? You know, we are. There's almost like
a sibling rivalry. Like definitely Pacific Northwest
is its own culture. And then within that is what
Portland is and what Seattle is. It's like, we're
the one that went to college. Right. Wow. And
then it's just the dumb brother. Yeah. Okay.
That's fair. I'll take it. Having, having a dumb
brother myself. Yeah. Yeah. Love you, John. LA
is just the city is totally different. The culture
is totally different. it's just it's just totally
different and there is quite a divide when you
like to drive there like you're going anyway
so it's that's close it's just it's my point
is it just kind of sucks it's the year i leave
is the year we win the super bowl and The Mariners
almost make it to the World Series. To be able
to watch those games, ALCS at bars in Seattle
would have been cool. Obviously, just to be around
the energy of the World Cup, which is not just
one day. It's going to be weeks. There's still
a chance maybe I can come up there, but it's
not like flights are going to be very cheap.
Do you think you might make it out for a little
bit of it? I mean, it's a pipe dream. There would
have to be a right scenario. Maybe if a thousand
people join our Patreon. Hello. We can do a show
up there. I can expense it. We are an LLC. I
could. There we go. What are your thoughts about
the LA Olympics? If you have not joined the ticket
lottery for that, it closes, I think, this week.
So I would recommend joining because there's
going to be Olympic soccer. And then, of course,
other events. So you should join just to see
if you get selected and can have the opportunity
to pick up tickets. That's a fair point. I generally
don't even put myself in the... It's the big
concerts where I'll chase down and get in line
for pre -sale stuff, but that kind of... Maybe
I should. Well, the ticket draw, you have to
sign up by March 18th. Sign up. Sign up. I will.
Because worst case scenario... I buy tickets,
I come down, and we have an excuse to hang out.
LA Olympics, I'll put it up. See, that's what
I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.
I'll follow you, Sensei. Yeah, that's what I'm
talking about. I know you've got to roll in about
20 or so minutes. Yeah, let's get this up. What
about our scores? Yeah, yeah. Let me go over
that, and we'll take a break. We had a much better
showing this time around. Previous game against
Salt Lake, no one had more than one point. This
time, though, we had someone with four out of
five points. No one got Kalani Kosarienzi as
the first goal scorer, understandably. I did.
Just kidding. But the winner this week is Bernadette
Biela. Okay. We were just talking about gambling.
last episode well last non -ultras episode who
was like the most the one who got the most right
uh per oh per per game an average yeah it was
roma it was roma who's your daughter six years
old and then your wife wins this last week yeah
okay i'm starting to see a trend yeah that we
should listen to our the women in our lives okay
that they're pretty smart i guess so from six
to whatever your wife's age is yeah they're all
smart smart enough that's for sure publicly but
no um yeah it was uh she did predict the one
nothing uh the one nothing game uh but she did
have osase de rosario as the goal scorer I'm
going to keep doing it because as soon as I don't,
he's going to spoil it. Maybe for him I should
probably not. Yeah, so why don't we go to break
and then come back and talk about the game and
look ahead to some Champions League this week.
It is Champions League. All right, let's do it.
All right. Hey, everybody. This is one of your
hosts, Cameron Collins. Now, I know we said this
time's time for a break. But really, it's a time
for me to talk to you about our corporate overlords.
And our corporate overlords are us. That's right.
We would love it if you would head on over to
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 guarantee you get at least one extra
episode per month. It'll be a cool interview
or something like that that otherwise you would
not hear. Now, we might put out promos or other
things that include that, but the whole episode
intact will only be available for you Patreons,
at least initially. Now, there will be other
stuff that we put in there, but this is where
we're starting at. Why, you ask? Well, we have
bills to pay. and we need to make sure that we
can keep this show going. You would not believe
the going rate for PA announcers. So head on
over to Patreon, go to Sounders Scuttlebutt Podcast,
and subscribe. You even get a cool little downloadable
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Scuttlebutt Podcast over at patreon .com, P -A
-T -R -E -O -N dot C -O -M. Now back to your
regularly scheduled programming. Do you watch
SNL? I do. Do you remember, it was probably like
15 years ago, Ben Affleck, as a radio host. It
was a sketch. Was this Ben Affleck? It was Ben
Affleck, and he was hosting, and he did it a
few other times, but I forget the, I get the
name of the sketch and really who's in it, but.
He did a really good job about being that kind
of shock jock radio host. And it was always like,
and we're back. Man in the box, get back in the
box. Like that. Some gadgety little thing. Anyway,
I'm stupid. Yeah. I hate that too. So yeah, it's
Champions Week. We did just play a game. And
then we'll have a game. Probably. We're not recording
until after the Vancouver Champions League game
and the San Jose game. So I can't imagine us
trying to fit that in. Ultras might be recording
in between then, but they normally record on
Thursday, I think. Which is 7 p .m. is the game
against Vancouver on Thursday. That may not happen.
I don't know if we could fit all of us in one.
We've never done that. Why not? But I don't know
if we'll have to figure it out. That would be
a chaos. Do you know the difference between jelly
and jam? Is this an explicit? Oh, it sure is.
If you know, you know. And I'm not hinting. I
am just asking. You need jelly to jam it in?
Getting there? Okay. We're going to move on.
So, lineup comes out. St. Louis. You're thinking,
okay, no Rothrock. Interesting. And why was that
again? Injury? The lineup against St. Louis.
Oh, he got his foot stepped on at the end of
the Salt Lake game. That's why he needs Lego
brick boots like me. Because no one wants to
step on Lego. He did have the baller shoes. That
is true. Does everyone still talk about him?
Just say yes. Oh, of course. People are unconsolable.
without you there. I bet. It's really tough.
I bet. It's really tough. I mean, come back.
Baby, please come home. Come back. Come back
to me. Depeche Mode. I miss you. I miss you so
much. Okay, this is getting weird. I promise.
I didn't know it was your sister. I didn't know.
I didn't know. Please forgive me. Okay. Speaking
of our sister, Vancouver. No, wait. We're talking
St. Louis. No, no, no. We're going to talk a
little St. Louis here. Do a little recap there,
and obviously a few minutes into the game, Yamar
comes out with an injury, which you never want
to see. But again, I mean, we've got good depth,
but can we please stop testing that theory and
testing that statement? Because we're currently
starting with Brunel up top on the right wing.
That's our, what, fourth choice, maybe? Right
back, or right wing? To start a game, yeah, right?
Because I don't think they start Georgie. Well,
yeah, because I think when Georgie is coming
off of injury, Areola is probably not a 90 -minute
fit. Rothrock's injured. De La Vega is injured.
Jordan, for that matter. I don't think we'd put
him on the right, but he's definitely played
there and he'd be an option there. Yeah, so already
we're... having these injury issues. So hopefully
this will not be a portent of what's going to
come this season. As long as you substitute correctly.
Well, I mean, I like the move taking Amar out
and putting in Kosirienzi. Well, that moves Alex
Roldan back over to center back, which, you know,
hasn't been an experiment since last season that
hasn't really gone wrong when we needed it to
happen. He's been very serviceable. I mean, I
think he even was center back against Paris Saint
-Germain at one point during the Club World Cup.
So that's great. But that first goal, the only
goal, talk me through, what did you see on the
goal? A lot of composure from a young player.
Patience on the ball and not just immediately?
That was not. An easy ball that came with some
mustard on it. Popped up on him. He's getting
closed in on and slots it right where it needed
to go. It was just clean, clear, and under control.
I was very impressed by it. That is something
you'd expect a starter to put away. And I honestly,
I mean, I don't know. I was thinking a blowout.
I put it in 4 -0. I thought we would definitely
get a shutout against St. Louis. They played
better than I thought. But that was a kind of
clean -up. If you got a shot, take it, put it
on frame, and we're going to get a goal. I thought
we would get multiple of them. So when that happened,
I was like, here we go. Yeah, so I want to talk
a little bit about the lead -up to that goal.
Okay. So leading into that goal, Rusnak... does
a really nice one -two situation, not even a
one -two. He gives this pass to Osase at the
top of the box, who just deflects it off his
foot towards Jesus into space, which was really
nice in itself, but it came in a little hot,
so Jesus had to run for it. He gets it. He keeps
it in, kind of like Rothrock last week. The difference
is St. Louis corrals it, and when he's got the
ball on his foot knew who's pressing up forcing
the st louis player into this freezing moment
he just kind of lays it off to his guy not even
realizing jesus is running behind him and just
picks the pocket beautifully so i just thought
it was a really good uh press by the sounders
there uh let's not kid ourselves it was really
bad play out of the back for st louis but you
got to put the pressure to make that happen and
so i think I think both Nuhu and Jesus did really
good work there to make that happen. And then,
like you said, once Jesus passes that ball with
Mustard to Kalani, I mean, it was one of those
passes that just before it came, it kind of skipped
off the turf, skipped off the grass, and came
up a little hotter than he expected. And he just
stayed with it. Just really well done. Just,
just, just. Nice goal from Kalani. Yeah, and
you have all the... Immediately, you're in the
middle of the box. Well, not in the middle. You
know what I mean, though. You're in the box.
Yeah. You have everyone around you closing in
on you to slide, get in front of you, like try
to block that shot. And just to just pretend
they're not there for the ball where it's supposed
to be. If it gets deflected, it gets deflected.
You're not going to have it knuckle from there
or move around anybody. Just focus. And I thought
that was just a lot of great composure. You know,
and for... I thought that more so than I do now,
considering he has three goals and three assists
in 1 ,400 minutes. But I was like, man, for a
kid who's only played 80 minutes. He's fearless.
He's fearless against grown men where last year,
re -watch his first goal that he ever scored
against LA and watch the way he muscles around
the guy. Because same thing here. where he doesn't
get phased. He basically does that little faint
thing where he just kind of does a little sidestep
to himself, making the St. Louis defender look
extremely silly. Yeah, nice. And then taking
the shot. So it's just really nice to see him
so composed in tight space. Just really great.
And then, of course, we get a return of the oba
flip. Gotta love that. yeah there's a lot of
times where they land kind of at a you know leaning
forward and almost like a 45 degree angle and
i'm like oh you're shaking he landed just perfect
good job 10 out of 10 so and he did the uh i
remember it was u .s open cup at starfire yes
yeah that was a very was that his first like
With the Sounders? Yeah, because he wasn't even
on the team. He was a defiance call -up for that
game. Yeah, I remember that. He was a hardship
call -up. So, yeah. So KKR is definitely embodying
that next man up attitude. Love to see it. Going
the rest of the way, though, what I think I'm
proud about with this game is this was... a game
where the Sounders didn't necessarily park the
bus, but I think they did a really good job of
committing to defending and being okay without
the ball. Yeah. If that makes sense, especially
in that second half once they got that lead.
Well, so the AMR was pretty early halfway through
the first half. I think a lot of that was, you
know, we have to focus on support on the defense
versus, oh, what are you showing me? It slid
over there on your phone. Oh, yeah. So just,
you know how I am about my facts. And then after
the goal here, it's just all red. All red. Just
all red. So we just said, we don't think you
can score tonight. Yeah. And we're not going
to let you. And I think Mazovsky for De Rosario.
Mazovsky's a more, not cerebral, no knock on
De Rosario, but he's been around. He knows how
to play his role. He, as an offensive player,
is going to be probably more defensive, at least
in support. Yeah. Yeah, it just, it clearly wasn't,
if we're going to get a goal, it's just going
to happen, but we're not going to be pushing
for it. We're going to make sure we don't give
up one. You mean a second goal? Yes, of course.
We're not going to push for a second goal. We're
going to prevent you from getting a goal. Yeah.
And to that point, we scored in the 47th minute.
So it's the beginning of the second half. And
I'm going to read the second half stats. The
second half stat line. Are you ready for this?
So basically, we've already established that
St. Louis was just given the ball and dared to
do something. Their XG was a .3. They had 71%.
percent possession but they only gathered four
shots two of them on target no big chances seven
fouls committed to our two fouls committed so
not only did we play great defensively we played
clean so we just were frustrating them left and
right we gave them seven corners but we're like
we got we got the numbers we're comfortable And
you're not going to get anything on us. We did
have three yellow cards. I don't remember them
all exactly, but, I mean, three's average for
any club, right? They only had one. Yeah, but
that's also a big part of what we talked about
last year after the Club World Cup was one of
the biggest lessons that we learned in the Club
World Cup. was seeing how the Atletico Madrid's,
the Paris Saint -Germain's of the world know
when to commit a foul. And the art of, and not
even in a cynical manner, just in a, we are going
to be tactical here and recognize this is a great
time for us to just shut down the opportunity
that's coming. Yeah, like any moment. Hey, you
mentioned their, as I reach for a beer, pardon
me, their shots. Yeah. Andrew Thomas. Yeah. They
had a really good game. I'm not surprised, but
I just, I think we, especially in the era of
post -Fry, that sounds bad, but, you know, he's
still on the team. but we know he's not started
Andrew Thomas I think we need to give I'm sure
some people out there that still think maybe
Fry should have had or still want to live in
the Fry era I am of the mindset that we have
we have we are spoiled I don't know how many
more points over the course of the season Andrew
Thomas might give us over Stephen Fry. But I
know that I don't know if it's enough to make
it obvious. Like, I think... And we'll never
know the answer to this, obviously. But I think
that the difference between putting Fry in goal
and putting Thomas in goal is maybe five points
either direction over the course of a season.
I think Andrew Thomas being good... and deserving
of a starting role is not the same as Stephen
Fry is deserving of being a second string. Those
are not the same statements. Like, Stephen Fry
could easily be starting for this team, but Andrew
Thomas is the future, and at some point you need
to decide, do you give him the reins? Because
if you don't, you risk potentially losing him
long term. I have to admit something. I had my
mic on a different setting. Did you hear me burp?
I plead the fifth. God damn it. Sorry, everybody.
I was like, strategically turn it down. It was
not bad. But, yeah, so I mean, what do you think
about that? Do you think that that makes sense?
It does. I mean, there was going to be this transition.
It had to happen. And I think giving him the
League's Cup last year and the performance that
he had and winning it, it's like, okay. Job is
won. And I think Schmetzer and co. did it the
right way. That was the interview. Let Steph
finish the regular season. And, you know, maybe
there's a conversation if he has a phenomenal
playoffs and we win the MLS Cup, right? It's
like, oh, well, shit. Now it's maybe, maybe.
But Steph's here. He knows, he knows, he knows.
He knows his role. Like I said, he knows the
assignment. And I expect to have him be the Andrew
Thomas of last year, getting League's Cup. Well,
they already said that, right? Yeah, no, I mean,
that's just the way the Sounders have always
operated, where the second string gets... And
now we have... Steph's still got it. It's just,
he's probably... He's not going to be as springy.
He's going to get up slower than... And I think
there's... You look at Andrew Thomas, you don't
want to run into the guy. That guy, he's stacked.
He's stacked. White Russian. Because he's Russian,
right? Yes. His family lived in Moscow. Yeah.
I just wanted to say white Russian. But anyway,
I think as the season goes on, he's going to
get even better. You'd expect that. And if he's
this good now, this is his base. then we're in
for, I think, another generation or fourth generation
of top five goalkeeper in the league for a while.
Yeah, I mean, it definitely gives me cause for
optimism and excitement. Speaking of excitement,
Champions, let's get into that game. Let's talk
a little bit about the game in Vancouver on Thursday.
CONCACAF Champions Cup you got Vancouver coming
out of the the previous round They Coming out
of the previous round against carton his So the
Costa Rican team So they get out of there. We're
going to play the first game Thursday in Vancouver
with the return leg coming next week in Spokane.
Sold out Spokane Stadium, so that'll be exciting
for the dry -siders for sure. I don't know what
to expect. It's going to be a tough draw. Like,
if you haven't looked at our... If you haven't
looked at our draw with the Champions League,
it's not easy. If we advance past Vancouver,
we play the winner of Cincinnati and Tigris.
The other four teams for the potential Final
Four, the four teams that we would potentially
play would be Miami, Nashville, Club America,
or Philly. That'll be interesting. But I think
it's also doable. I think this is a doable bracket,
but it is going to be tough. Vancouver is a talented
team. So what do you expect to see out of this
game? I guess to me it all depends on... I mean,
do you think we put our, and I'm sorry if I missed
it, do we think we put our, quote, finger bunnies,
air bunnies, air quotes, whatever you want to
call it, first team against Vancouver? I do.
I expect, well, keep in mind we have multiple
players at the wing position that could be first
team. We have multiple players at the wing position
we can't play. Yeah, I mean, that's true, but
I mean, I do think, I think you see... I think
you see a lot of the same people in this 18 as
this most recent game. Hopefully with the addition
of... Hopefully with the addition of Rothrock.
And maybe Kim Kihee instead of Yamar. Kim Kihee,
mind you, would not be the starter. I expect
to see the starter... Maybe. Maybe being Alex
as a center back starter. Possibly. Because I
don't think Kim Keehy is 90 minutes fit. What
about Hawkins? I think he's still injured right
now. It's a rivalry match. It's a Darby. It's
either I feel like no matter what lineup you
put out there, it's going to be a... It's going
to be a boxing match. It's two quality clubs,
subs, clubs, coming head -to -head. And, you
know, I think Mueller just got a brace, right?
So he's not off a cliff yet. Yeah, but it was
against Portland, so, I mean, what is that, Matt?
Yeah, well, hey, that's... That's a rivalry match
too, right? I think it almost doesn't matter
who you put out there. Everyone's going to be
up for it. And they're going to be exhausted
when the game is over. And I can't tell you that
I want us to win, obviously. I can't say who's
got an advantage in this one. Maybe I would actually
give it to Vancouver because they're definitely
hotter than us right now. They're the home team.
We do have one of the best center backs in the
league not available, more than likely, or 100%.
I don't know what the latest is, but it looked
pretty obvious that he's not going to be out
or available for a week plus. I think it's going
to have to take maybe a magical kind of match
to be a win, and I think you hope for a draw
here. Yeah, you don't have to win. You don't
have to win. So, you know, that's definitely
true. But we'll see. We'll see. They've only
given up one goal in league play. Yeah, yeah.
San Jose's going to have none. We'll see. I think
it'll be a good match. I think the San Jose match
will be an opportunity for someone like Cody
Baker to shine. Maybe get his first start in
a while. Maybe you can get to see Georgie get
a start. But then again, it all also depends
on what are we looking at numbers -wise. So we'll
kind of find out how that goes. A couple other
things I did want to bring up. They did announce
the League's Cup schedule. And interesting this
year that, and I'm really happy about this, because
as long as the games were always being played
in the U .S., it didn't feel legit. We will be
traveling to Mexico for one of the three stage
games. So we'll be playing Toluca, which is just
outside Mexico City. That'll be August 5th. Then
we'll play Carataro at home. And then Chivas
Guadalajara at home as well. So that'll be a
fun one, two, three punch. We'll see how that
goes. But, yeah, happy to see that we're going
to play in Mexico for a game. Yeah, that was
a long time coming. For a legitimate tournament,
that needed to happen. I will say this. I'm going
to promise you right now. If the Sounders end
up playing Tijuana in Tijuana, I'm coming down.
Yeah? I'm coming down, yeah. I'll walk the border
with you. We'll go Tijuana. I mean, you literally
can walk across. Yeah. But it's been a little
weird down here since that cartel shit. I know.
I know. I know. Which is part of the reason why
I ended up pivoting from my World Cup dream,
which was to go to one game in each country.
That was always my dream, my goal. Oh, Canada.
Obviously, U .S. and then Mexico. Yeah. I was
planning to fly to Mexico, drive to Vancouver,
and go to U .S. here in seattle um but now my
plans have pivoted i am doing u .s australia
here in seattle getting on a plane that night
flying a red eye overnight to toronto because
the next day after usa australia is germany ivory
coast and i have tickets for that yeah with uh
alex davis so so we'll be doing that it's going
to be a great father's day weekend That sounds
awesome. Yeah, but it does mean giving up on
the Mexico. It bums me out because I love going
to games in Mexico. It's really a blast. Hey,
you know what? I'm game. If they're playing in
TJ, come on down. I mean, even if they're not,
when I do eventually make it down to San Diego
to come see you, we're going to go to a Sheldon's
game while we're down there. Sounds good. All
right, let's wrap it. You got to get going. I
guess. I don't really want to work, but I guess
I should. So what are your thoughts? What do
you think about Thursday's matchup on the road
against Vancouver, CONCACAF, Champions Cup, round
of 16? What do you got for round one? I think
it's a draw. A hard -fought one. And I think
we'll be happy with that. Because I feel like
Spokane's going to be one of those matches that
we remember. I think it's such an interesting
reason to be with FIFA and the other side of
the state. It's going to have something to it.
So I think it's just like, let's get a draw.
Let's not get injured. It's going to be a heavyweight
fight. Okay. So you're predicting how many goals
on that draw? I think 1 -1. Okay, you're going
to say 1 -1. And by the way, after that game,
Vancouver stays at home against Minnesota. So
they have Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday. And then
our lineup is going to be a little bit different.
We're going to go on the road, then Sunday go
to San Jose, and then back in Seattle. So at
least San Jose is not too terribly far. As far
as two road games. It's like a 90 minute flight.
Yeah. I mean, as far as these two stretches go,
it could be much, much worse. Yeah. And Vancouver
is basically, you know, backyard. I mean, it's
going to be closer to get to Vancouver than it
is to Spokane. I was just going to say that.
I was like, actually Spokane is further away.
I mean, technically it won't be because we'll
actually drive the bus to Vancouver and they'll
fly to Spokane, but you get. Yeah. Yeah, I think
I want to say it's going to be a draw, but I
honestly think Vancouver is going to come ahead
on this one. I think Vancouver is probably going
to get a 2 -1 victory on this one. That sounds
about right. I think they're a good team. Jesper
Sorensen is fun. I'm genuinely happy for Vancouver.
They've been the littlest brother. in this Cascadia
trio for too long. So it's nice to see them helping
us kick the crap out of Portland. So, yeah. But
I do think we're coming out, at least my early
prediction is that we do come out of this round,
but that it may go to penalties. Well, we'll
see how this week goes. And do you want to talk
a little bit about, real quick, about a prediction
in San Jose? What do you expect to see? I mean,
that's what, I can't even give a, I can't. I
do think this game against Vancouver is going
to be a slog, not a slog fest, but like I said,
a heavyweight fight. And it's so hard to see
what the team might be afterwards. And San Jose's
playing very well. They haven't given up a goal.
So I think it's going to be tough to come out
with a draw or a win against Vancouver and then
expect a draw or a win out of San Jose. I think
if we get blown out in Vancouver, we win in San
Jose. Other than that, I'm hoping for a draw
and a draw. I think it's going to be tough. They're
two good teams. Or maybe San Jose's smoking mirrors
and they just have a... I don't know enough about
it. I'm just looking at the stats. They haven't
given up a goal. So that tells me good defense
and we're not blowing people out of the water
with our scoring right now. Yeah, but again,
Kansas City and Atlanta are not two teams that
you want to be puffing your chest out over. They
were two of the three worst teams. Okay, so that's
who they played. yeah okay so how about this
one one one draw one nothing win okay well fair
enough because just just for context uh kansas
city's uh still has no points or they have one
point this season they're oh one and two uh so
they're not exactly they're not exactly lighting
it up um Yeah, so just kind of as an FYI there.
That's fine. St. Louis is 14th in the table,
and we only got one goal on them. And then Atlanta
has their own set of problems. They've lost all
three of their games. They are just imploding.
And once again, I don't want to be a broken record
year after year, but... Things like this are
a perfect example of why just throwing money
at players does not guarantee success. You've
got to build correctly because you've got millions
of dollars tied up in Almarone and La Tella and
this team is bad. They are just so bad. I'm curious
what Cameron's thoughts are with Garth. Well,
keep in mind Garth had to step down because of
the cancer. What? Okay, wait, you don't remember
last year? Clearly not. How drunk are you? Okay.
Last summer, Garth was dealing with cancer and
had to step down. Oh shit, did not know that.
And they announced that he will not return to
Atlanta. Dude, okay. Yeah. so so unfortunately
um he took a leave of absence in october and
then um yeah so love garth he is and we've said
this multiple times both both cameron and i have
very positive relationships with garth um and
just want nothing for the best of him because
honestly i genuinely believe He is my go -to
pick for the Don Garber replacement to be the
next commissioner of the league. I genuinely
believe he not only has the mindset for that.
The business acumen. So, yeah. So I was showing
you a little video of Alex Roldan laughing as
Garth Lagoway slaps an egg on my head. And then
it looks like he's almost trying to sniff it
like it was something else. No, no. Okay, so
here's the thing. We were playing egg Russian
roulette. I pick an egg, and he slacks it over.
It's either hard -boiled and everything's fine,
or it's broken. the first time and the first
person to get hit twice is out so what he's saying
to me the first time it happened he leans over
he's like man i i thought that was a hard -boiled
egg i thought you were safe the second time when
the video that you saw he's leaning over goes
i knew you were done that time so um but no garth
is garth is a great guy um so i just can't believe
I don't know what they did wrong between Garth
and Chris Henderson. I don't know if they just
didn't get the timing right or if they just needed
more time. It's not a one -man show either. There's
a team in the front office as well. Yeah. So
anyways, yeah. So don't read too much into San
Jose starting off hot. other than it just gives
them a little bit of confidence. It'll be like
a St. Louis win then, with that little context.
I think we'll get the job done, and they'll try
hard, and we'll come out ahead. I hope so. I
hope so. I think that game, honestly, I do predict
that game to be a draw. And I'd like to see,
and it might be a 0 -0 draw, it might be a 1
-1 draw. I don't think it's going to be an exciting
game. I think that's going to be a bit of a slog
of a game. But I do think that with the earthquakes,
I think that they're one of those teams that
can give some people fits this year. So we'll
see how that goes. All right, well, why don't
we end there. Where can they find you? If you
want to drop something on social media, it's
at Aaron Lingley on Twitter, or really it's here.
Throw something on the Discord. I'm the Scuttlebutt.
And I look at that more. Where can they find
you? Yeah, you can find me on Discord at Nicholas.
You can also find me on Instagram at Cascades2C.
I definitely don't really use Twitter anymore.
I'm kind of on Blue Sky more just as a news collating
thing. I don't really post too much. But mostly
on Discord. Come find me. And obviously here
on the podcast. Oh, you know what? Let's just
also recap. We did give away all three of our
prizes from the end of the year last year. So
big congratulations to our winners. We had a
Sounders jersey for Dan the Bastard for getting
the most points for the end of the season. We
had a team sign that Sounders Jersey to Bryce,
Bryce to Hefe for that. And then the, what do
you get? Like how do you get it? Oh, he was random.
Well, oh yeah. Team sign was because of what?
Yeah. Yeah. Cause I, I wanted to. I really wanted
our biggest prizes to be able to be eligible
for everyone. This way, what I didn't want is
people to stop playing in the middle of the season
because they didn't think they had a chance at
the big prize. That's kind of the mindset that
I have. Trying, because I want buy -in. I want
people to be participating, and we already got
a great start to the season. A lot of people
participating makes me really happy to see. But
then JesusM509, I told you in the last episode
that we were going to get with him and see what
kind of things he's interested in so I can pick
an appropriate prize for my stash. And he ended
up with a Raul Ruiz Diaz training top. A training
top that he wore during his last season with
the Souders. Wait, so you've connected with him
since our last recording? And he's confirmed
his name is Jesus? Not Jesus? Oh, I'm... No,
I didn't confirm that. I did. I kind of want
it to be Jesus now. Jesus M. Jesus M. 509. Thank
you, Jesus. I'm going with that. I'm going with
that. We did not, because it was connecting over
text and not... Jesus married in 509. It could
be. It could be. Why not? Okay, so Cameron can
be found at Legal Minded Pump when he's not banned
from being... Legal Minded Pump. You know, pump
it up. And then, last but not least, why don't
we talk with our very own James. Are you going
to take it away? That was weak. We have to bring
it into port first. I don't want to bring it
into port. I just want to stay here and be safe,
secure. Ew, 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 to the show for new
episodes following every Sounders FC match. And
don't forget to share your feedback by rating
and reviewing. And you can follow me on Twitter,
Instagram, and Facebook at BritVoxus. That's
BritVoxUS. We'll see you at Lumen and go Sounders.
Alexa, who's the best MLS team of all time? The
Seattle Sounders are both unequivocally and incredibly
the best MLS team of all time.