It's time for Scuttlebutt Ultras. Quick takes
from our Patreon Ultras, sharing their soundest
thoughts straight from the heart. Your voice,
your moment. What is up, everyone? Welcome to
another episode of Sounders Scuttlebutt. I'm
your host, Cameron Collins, and I am here with
my other host for the day, the one and only Alex
Diaz. What is up, Alex? What's going on? You
ready to talk some Sounders and some other world
football and all sorts of others? It feels like
there's been not a lot to talk about. For a while.
Yeah, this international break, it just felt
like it was only a week long, but it felt like
it was a month long. I thought it was the offseason
again. Yeah, and I think it doesn't help that
the Sounders haven't been at home since February?
Was that the last time they were? Yeah, since
February. But what's so crazy about that is that
we went undefeated in the month of March. Yeah.
Was it four wins and a draw? Yeah, four wins
and a draw. And if you take a look at that, you're
like, oh, they must have had a lot of home games.
Nope, all away games. Even the home game that
was in Spokane, now it's an away game. Yeah,
totally. So that's a kind of crazy, crazy thing.
Maybe, I don't know, it's interesting because
you definitely see the play not as... hyped up
on the road, but we're coming away with points
this year, which is something we couldn't do
last year. This season is that we have done better
defensively in the final parts in the last half
an hour, last 20 -15 minutes where we're able
to absorb pressure and bend and not break. We're
not giving up goals on set pieces anymore. was
what felt like our kryptonite last season was
set pieces. Yeah, totally. And it does feel like
we're a little better, but we'll get into all
that. I'm trying to think if there's any non
-soccer scuttlebutt, anything in the world. Pukundukua
is in rehab. I wish him well. He's kind of a
fad. Oh. This is why you silence your phones.
The professional, the one that's been on radio
since 1999, didn't silence his phone. That was
real smart of me. That's the new soundboard.
Yeah, yeah. What's up next? Yeah, I mean, I'm
trying to think of just any news out there that
we've seen. That's non -soccer related. That's
worth talking about. Baseball started. Yeah,
baseball started. The Mariners, I think they're
probably 500. Yeah, I think they lost last night.
Yeah, I think they lost two or three to the Yankees
and split the first series. So one under. They
don't look terrible. They look fine. Not any
reason to freak out yet. And they just signed
Colt Emerson to a, what, 10 -year, 100 and...
$40 million deal or something like that. Yeah,
I've seen that. It's gnarly. You only see that
type of deal from Chelsea. Yeah, I mean, you
lock up those. I mean, Dodgers do it, but what's
the difference between Dodgers and Chelsea? Nothing,
really. One of them won championships. Chelsea's
won quite a few. Come on. Yeah, but it's been
a while. Yeah, it's been a few years. Not that
bad. That's because they're owned by Americans
now, and that's the problem. But, yeah, it's
just they locked up their, I think, number seven
overall prospect in baseball for the next decade.
You know, the thing, I think the Mariners have
done this in the past, and the guy never made
it to the pros with, what, Evan White? Wasn't
that big of a contract. So we'll see. I think
he actually is getting called up. very soon that
would be my guess if they made this contract
but uh even with jp crawford being brought off
the dl and brought or excuse me the il and uh
brought back to the team ahead of the angel series
coming up yeah i've seen a video of jp playing
with i think it's the rainiers oh yeah nice yeah
he that's cool it's kind of interesting how like
we were talking about this last year of how in
baseball they play with the minor league team
and then they get bumped up when they're rehabbing
an injury like why can't we do that with soccer
it's a good question i need i still need to grab
lunch with craig uh and so i'll i remind me to
ask him when i do that because um that when i
asked uh jackson felts the same question you
know who covers the sounders for kjr slash is
the pre and post game show host he was like you
know that's a good question for craig Yeah, no,
because it's an opportunity for them to get,
you know, it's game minutes. It's just like we
do with the younger players. Why can't we do
that to rehab an injury? Like, wouldn't it be
awesome to go see Pedro and Starfire drop four
goals against the Whitecaps 2 team? I saw Felix
Hernandez pitch in Everett. I didn't get to see
much because my nephew was like, eight or nine
at the time and kept wanting to go get food and
threw a fit if I didn't take him. So I did, I
did not get to see that. I mean, that's one of
those ones where I would just sat there and watch,
but I did, I did get to see him. Of course, I
think he pitched there the first time around
when he actually was coming up, but to see Felix
do that later was pretty fun. Yeah. Baseball's
back. What did we, Seahawks are in the off season.
The Torrent are coming down the stretch here.
The Kraken fell apart down the stretch. Looks
like they're not going to make the playoffs.
How's the rain? The rain, you know, it feels
like the rain are missing a few pieces still.
Like they haven't recovered from last season
where they couldn't make any signings. It might
be a Seattle soccer thing then. Well, they couldn't
make any signings because they were for sale
in... And so you just couldn't spend the money,
right, until the outgoing owners didn't want
to spend any. And until that was approved, you
know, it wasn't going to happen. So they lost
some big players. I don't know if they've replaced
those, but I think they're still a fun team.
I mean, we saw them beat Racing Louisville over
the weekend and defeat the KC Current. So they
currently sit in third with nine points out of
a possible 12, I believe. No, it's not. But the
losses to Portland, though, that's the... Yeah,
they're actually somehow ahead of Portland in
the standings. I don't know how standings work
sometimes. I'm assuming it's goal differential.
Yeah. Well, I did see that the goalie for the
rain guard called up for the U .S. WNT, the women's
national team. Awesome. So I'm like, that means
we're doing something good as far as the defense.
Yeah, goal differential plus three. So it probably
goes to goals four. Oh, we're plus four. Yeah.
So we're actually tied for first, but Angel City
has a game in hand. So I think it'll be a fun
season, but they've also been on the road. Yeah.
For the same reason that the Sounders have. And
they're going to play a lot more in Spokane than
we are. Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting. We didn't
talk about the big news. We alluded to the last
show that the Sonics may be coming back. The
NBA has to obviously approve it. They're putting
out bids for ownership groups to step up to the
plate. There already is an ownership group in
place. I was talking to Gary Payton last weekend,
and he thinks it's a done deal. everyone's like,
hold on, listen to the words of Nate. No, not
Nate Silver, David Silver, whatever the guy is,
the commissioner of the NBA. Now that's how much
I pay attention to the NBA because of it. But
he's like, hold on. Like you're saying this is
just a chance they have to go through. But to
me, it feels more like these are the steps legally
that you have to go through. And so while it's
not a done deal and lots of stuff can come up,
I'm confident that it's more likely than not
that it's going to happen. Yeah. Are they planning
to use Climate Pledge as the NBA arena? Yeah,
because the same ownership as the Kraken. And
we're already seeing ownership groups switch
around in the amount they own of certain stuff
because the stadium in Vegas or the team in Vegas
will be owned by the team that built the stadium
here. So the meaning, the team of owners. So
they were seeing some stuff already getting moved
around to make sure that it's it's falls under
the NBA guidelines for owner. You know, you can't
own two teams and and whatnot and have contradictions
too much. But yeah, I mean, I think I think they'll
play there. They'll be another team. And I'm
excited. You know, I don't I won't get tickets.
Because they're going to be too expensive because
everything's too expensive. But I think Seattle
becomes the city with the most pro teams of any
city in the country. Between the Reign, the Sounders,
the Kraken, the Torrent, the Mariners, the Sonics,
the Storm, the rugby team, the Seawolves. Don't
forget the Superhawks. Yeah, Superhawks. No,
but they're minor league. But, yeah, I mean,
they're pro basketball. You're right. And then
you don't even get all the USL teams we have.
Yep, yep. But, I mean, ultimately with the USL
teams, this is way, like, going off sideways.
But you know how London has, like, eight Premier
League teams? Yeah. I don't know if they actually
have that many, but they have eight major teams.
Well, they might have a championship team here
pretty soon. Yeah. Yeah, they already have one,
but they'll have more. I would love it if we
had that in the Seattle area, where there was
eight minor league teams around. You know, USL
2 is not going to be part of the pyramid, which
is a bummer. So they can't get promoted up to
USL 1. But they're also semi -pros, so I guess
it makes sense. Over the years, we could see
a USO1 team form. Yeah, I think so for sure.
I mean, I think any team, like Ballard could
move up now if they wanted to. It's just the
amount of investment I think you need in it is
tough. And I think there is a realistic concern
for some of the minor league teams with so many
pros. I mean, if the Sonics come back, that's
more money that has to be spent on them by fans.
And so that's less time and less money. for other
teams. Yeah. But I just, I think that with all
this, all these sports, different sports teams
in Seattle and let's, you want to see it. Let's
see. You want to watch the basketball, basketball
game on Tuesday. And then they're like, Oh, Ballard
plays on Friday. Go see Ballard. I think tickets
are, you know, they're, they're pretty cheap.
They're good. Maybe they're like 20 bucks. Maybe.
you can take a cheaper than that sometimes you
can take a family uh member you can take a family
there and it's what the mariners used to be right
yeah so you could take your family uh at least
during the playoffs not the play yeah during
the u .s open cup it i was a little bummed at
the the lack of amenities there but i think uh
that was off season right that wasn't actually
played during the ballard fc season they just
had to bring in the players they had locally
and Like Lamar Nagel and some other former Sounders
were on the team. Oh, yeah, because it was during
college. And, you know, a lot of other players
were over there winning a national championship.
Yeah. Yeah. No, but I think... Yeah, but I think
going back to the Sonics, I think the NBA has
seen, you know, the ratings and revenue drop
over the, you know, past couple seasons. If the
Sonics come back, revenue is going to... It's
going to skyrocket. You're going to see that
upward trajectory. Yeah, and they've been creating
revenue this entire time for the NBA since all
that merch gets sold. There's no team that they
have to share that revenue with. It just goes
straight to the NBA. I mean, they might need
to do revenue sharing with all the teams, but
it certainly does not come here. Word has it,
I read a reporter saying that Oklahoma City will
give up the history to Seattle. And that's the
kind of stuff that makes me think that there's
been enough done behind the scenes to make this
happen. Obviously not getting my hopes up completely
until it's done. But I mean, I remember where
I was when they announced the deal that let them
move. I mean, I was in my, I had the radio on
in the bathroom and my. which was right across
the hall from my bedroom at the time I was living
in Leschi and just sat down and started crying.
And my girlfriend was like, what's wrong? And
I had to like explain to her like, Oh, the team's
moving that I grew up with. And you know, this
was a basketball city. It still is a basketball
city. It is. It is. But I mean, the Mariners
were terrible. The Seahawks were terrible. There
were no Sounders. This was a city that thrived
on the supersonics. So losing them still to this
day makes no sense. Shout out to James Ward,
who watched Sonic Skate the other day, which
you can watch in its entirety. Get the director's
cut, the full -length version, not the TV version,
on YouTube for free. A movie I was an associate
producer on and did all the legal work for. Gonna
have to check that out. It's so good, but I can't
watch the second. I can only watch the beginning
when it's the history. When we were touring with
it in theaters, I had to walk out after the history
because it just upset me too much after I saw
it for the first time. Yeah. And I think seeing
all the talent that there is at the high school
level, you don't really see it with UW as much
because I think... A lot of the kids go to the
other schools, especially like on the East Coast
and, you know, the Big Ten. What's the other
one? The ACC. UW is not keeping – I mean, I think
college basketball doesn't keep local talent
anymore. Yeah. Not with NIL deals, everything.
The whole thing has changed now. Yeah. Yeah,
but looking at all these great high schools that
have these great basketball teams, you have teams
going back to back to back, and they're just
dominating at the state level. Speaking of which,
did you go to Yakima's own Yakima Heat versus
the Superhawks? Didn't they play there recently?
No, that's going to be next or in a few weeks.
I think it's in two weeks. Yeah. I forgot. Oh,
no, you're right. It was a Saturday game, so
they wouldn't play again until this week. Well,
they have a doubleheader coming up. Oh, nice.
Against Vancouver Bears. They play them on, I
think, Friday and Saturday. Yakima has a long
history of minor league basketballs and sending
players to the pros. Yeah, because I remember
a couple years ago we had the Sun Kings. Yep.
And the Sun Kings was the team that was there
throughout the 80s and 90s too. I mean, that's
the historical team that you had players like
the original Super Hawks coach, Eldon, who went
on to guard Michael Jordan. Like, how do you
go from Yakima to there? But dominated the league
and got picked up by the Hawks. There might have
been a little European stint in the middle there,
but, you know, like you see players go pro. So
good on the Yakima Heat. Malik, the assistant
coach, is a former Super Hawks player. So although
we squanched all over you guys this past weekend.
Yeah. If you guys don't win the championship
this year, then someone has to get fired. Yeah.
I mean, there are six coaches that we have now
that are all like. Former NBA, WNBA, and, I mean,
our other assistant coach, I mean, superstars,
and then our other assistant coach led Franklin
to a bunch of championships over 20 years. And
then you have, like, a former NBA player that's
in his prime. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, like, just
kidding. It's all injuries, right? And people
say healthy, but. You guys are the inner Miami
of the league. Oh, my God. It's true. No, because
we only have one. We're not bringing in other
people yet. Not yet. Well, let's talk some soccer
here. We had some interesting matchups this past
weekend where we saw Italy once again decide
to boycott the FIFA World Cup. You know, they
decided, you know. For humanitarian purposes,
we just don't want to go to Trump's America.
And lost in penalties to Bosnia with the Milwaukee
Messi hitting the game -winning penalty. It's
because they'd rather go to the Russia World
Cup. Yeah. Oh, my God. It's insane that Italy
has now missed the last three World Cups. I'm
not surprised. Because these past three World
Cup cycles, what I have noticed is that in the
big moments, Italy is crumbling. Yeah. And this
goes far deeper into, if you look at their league,
the Serie A, what players are dominating the
league? A lot of foreigners. Yeah. You had Scott
McTominay win player of the season the first
year he went in. Is he still there? I think he's
in Napoli still. Okay. And, you know, he was
average for Man United. Then he goes to Napoli
and he's all of a sudden this superstar. But
Italy, what's Italy known for? They're known
for producing world -class defenders and midfielders.
But when is the last time they've produced a
world -class attacker or a winger? Yeah, I guess
for me there's a bunch, but those are not recent.
Yeah, it's like when people talk about Brazil's
dominance back then. It's like when you hear
a 49er fan talking about their five rings. You
got to go get a VHS to go see that, just like
we got to go see the black and white Brazil dominating
the World Cup. I mean, no. The 94, 98 Brazil
teams were incredible. They were, but now? The
thing is, it's relative, right? Sure, are they
number one in the world? No, but they're top
five in the world. Brazil top five? I think so.
I can name five teams that are over Brazil. You
think so? Yeah. What are they actually ranked?
I wonder. That's a good question. Maybe top ten.
I'm looking at the best Italian strikers ever
just to see when the newest one was. This is
by 442, which is a major soccer magazine out
of England that's been around forever. But Robert
Baggio was on the 94 team. This guy was from
the 30s. This guy was in the 80s. This guy was
in the 30s. There's no one. Del Piero, who was
in the 90s and 2000s. Toti, same thing. I'll
give you Toti, but Toti was in... Toti's been
what? since i think the last time we played was
around 2010 2015 yeah i mean christian vieira
late 90s i mean they've done luca tony mid 2000s
that might be that might be the i mean like you're
right you're absolutely you can make a case for
balotelli Yeah. But he, I don't know if he did
anything for the international. He was good at
the club level. I just don't know if he did anything
for the Italian club. Yeah, he seemed to never,
never, yeah. He was always a frustrating player
to watch because of the amount of talent he had.
But since you mentioned Baggio, I've been seeing
that he wrote a 900 -page report on how to fix
Italian football. so they won't miss another
World Cup. And the Federation just said, nah,
let's just not worry about it. I mean, they got
to celebrate those heroes. Sadly, Gianluca Vialli
passed away, who was coaching for them before.
He's my favorite player of all time. Zola's getting
older. They got to, yeah. I mean, I feel bad
for my Italian friends, I love it when Italy
doesn't make it. I really wanted to make a video
of me being like, I'm going to eat a spaghetti
because I feel bad for my friends from Italy
who didn't get it. And then I was going to break
the spaghetti in half and throw it in the bowl.
And then get the ketchup and be like, here's
my sauce. And what's funny is that Adidas had
dropped their World Cup jersey. Oh, no. And it
was the one they wore against Bosnia. Okay, yeah.
So now that that Jersey is cursed and it's going
to bring a lot of Italian fans, you know, a lot
of pain. Yeah. But I mean, the funny thing is
they, who was it? They had a defender who was
born in New Jersey and I was always mad that
he never, like the Americans just never tried
to even get them into camp. And that seems like
something that we do a lot here where we miss
out on brilliant American players who have dual
nationality because they. Because of politics,
like soccer politics, not like... Well, I think
they're going to miss out on this. I can't remember
his first name, but he's in the Bundesliga. He's
half German. Banks is his last name. And it's
looking like he's more than likely going to play
for Germany. Which, I mean, he'll have more success
playing for Germany. I mean... Unless you want
to win a Gold Cup. But where will he get more
minutes? I mean, I think that's one of the reasons
why people choose other countries. Landon's been
really hard on him. And Landy Cakes, man, you
don't get to be hard on people. Yeah, he's like
the kid's 18. He wants him to make a decision
that's going to change his trajectory for the
next 10, 15 years. Right. Like he's 18. Like
when I was 18, I was I don't think the same way
I did three years ago, four years ago. When I
was 18, I was a senior in high school. Yeah.
When I was 18, COVID was still a thing. Oh, my
God. You're a baby. Yeah. But if you look at
Italian football again, what do coaches tend
to do? They tend to play the more experienced
players because if they don't get results, they
get fired. So they don't really get the chance
to play the youth because they don't have the
chance to, you know. to mess up because if if
you drop if you drop points here there and then
guess what you're gonna come in the next day
you're fired and i think that the top teams hoard
the youth versus like in germany you'll have
youth players on other local teams that come
up and then they will get bought later but uh
you know germany has consistently been able to
reboot their team with new players Yeah. But
even like, look at Juventus, they have some youth,
you know, they got some young players, but what
are the young players they have are from Turkey.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, France, you know, it's similar.
I mean, that's, that's the one beautiful thing
about some of these teams is that. When you live
in a country of immigrants, you get to bring
in people from all over the world to be on your
national team. And I like that about the U .S.
too, but let me tell you, the xenophobes get
real mad about it. Yeah, or if they're playing
MLS. Yeah, exactly. So let's talk about some
of these other games because we did say Italy
won one loss in penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Czechia beat Denmark 2 -2 in penalties to go
through. Turkey A beat Kosovo 1 -0 to go through,
and Sweden knocked out Poland 3 -2. Those are
the European qualifiers. Congo beat Jamaica to
make the World Cup. Jamaica had those Bob Marley
retro kits. Kind of a bummer that we're not going
to get to see those at the World Cup. But DR
Congo looks like fun. I saw on a video their
fans. They're going to be a party if they're
able to get visas. Absolutely. It'll be great.
I mean, I'm sure there's a large Congolese contingent
in the U .S. already who hopefully can travel
to – do you know where they're playing? I don't
know. I don't know, but I don't know if they're
even – just take your prices. It's a mess. Yeah,
no kidding. That's what we should have done.
Iraq, Libya, the other one. But, yeah, go ahead.
But FIFA apparently has taken down pictures of
the stadium maps because people are finding out
where they're sitting. Yeah. And they're horrible
seats. Yeah, mine are decent for the USA -Australia
match. I'm in the corner. 214. I haven't been
able to see my ticket. You had to go into ticket
sales and then look inside while you were in
the ticket sales trying to buy a ticket. So I
had those. And then I looked at my other ones.
300 -level row BB, so way up at the top for the
Qatar -Kosovo match. Yeah, it's Kosovo, right?
Bosnia. Could have been Italy. Yeah, I mean,
that's the thing. As much as I was rooting against
Italy, it did hurt me in case I wanted to resell
those tickets. Tickets are on sale to the public
now. I did not buy any because who knows what's
left. Maybe I'll pull it up right now and see.
But hopefully they start dropping prices. They
don't seem like they want to, though. Yeah, I
was talking to a friend of mine earlier in the
week before the Italy game. I'm like, Italy is
going to blow it. They always tend to. I'm like,
I have Bosnia going through. And, you know, that's
what happened. Yep. So pretty crazy, pretty crazy.
Why don't we take a break here and we'll come
back and we'll do some sounder scuttlebutt and
then we'll talk about the upcoming Houston match.
All right, here we go. Hey everybody, this is
one of your hosts, Cameron Collins. Now, I know
we said this time was time for a break, but really,
it's a time for me to talk to you about our corporate
overlords. And our corporate overlords are us.
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-T -R -E -O -N dot C -O -M. Now back to your
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Yeah, join the Patreon. With the off -season,
there wasn't much there, but I think Cedar wants
to do a FIFA battle against me that we'll put
up there. Maybe you and I can play some Fortnite
with some of the other Patreon members. Yeah.
I don't know. But, you know, originally I wanted...
to do interviews that were Patreon only. But
until we get enough members there, I think it
doesn't make sense because I don't want to take
an interview that's just so awesome and then
have it behind a paywall. I mean, we just got
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And so, you know, join the Patreon. You can get
it for $1 .74. Yeah, it's two bucks. Cheaper
than gas. Yeah, way cheaper than gas. But, yeah,
the Sounders coming back, playing this Saturday
at Houston. We got some bad news, though. You
were the one that broke the news to us. Yeah.
I mean, Nico. It wasn't you reporting. It was
Nico reporting, I presume. Yeah. But Brian Schmister
talked about it at the press conference. You
want to talk about that? Yeah. Nikolai Petrovic
is out for the year towards ACL. He's been looking
good, so it's a little frustrating, huh? Yeah,
it was too good to be true that we got in this
early in the year without an ECO. I mean, the
hope was we wouldn't have to deal with one, but
hopefully that's it. It was on practice on Saturday.
Yeah. And the thing that was so upsetting, and
Brian didn't know anything about it in the press
conference, he was like, oh, I don't know, but
they had interviewed him that week before. And
he talked about how excited he was for his parents
to come into town. And it just kind of breaks
my heart that his parents flew across the world
to, you know, be here while he was getting in
with this team and for him to get that injury.
But also, I'm glad they're actually going to
be here to take care of him now, to help him
mentally more than anything, because I'm sure
either Seattle or Carolina, whoever chooses to.
carolina chooses to do the surgery will take
care of him yeah physically yeah because that's
that's where um it makes me like wonder i'm like
since he's on loan who are we is he gonna rehab
in seattle is he gonna relet rehab in charlotte
i mean ultimately i think it's up to charlotte
um my guess is they will let him be here but
you know uh i because he doesn't really have
a spot there anymore it's one of the reasons
why he was they moved from the club. Right. Yeah.
And I mean, I liked the way that he was playing.
Yeah. He, well, Schmetzer said that he said,
you know, we can't, I can't say whether or not
we're going to resign him or not. Cause that's
all like, there's contract tractual stuff around
all of this and the loan, you know, who knows,
this is me saying this alone may automatically
end with the injury. You know, who, who knows
what's in that language, but I would love to
see him back. If. If there's a way to make that
happen. I don't know if that changes the value,
though, also, of what he offers. I think if we're
able to sign him back, but at a lower value,
then I think the fee was $2 million. Yeah. Around
that range. If we're able to get him for cheaper,
then I think it'll be a good deal. Yeah, like
$2 million seems like a lot for him right now
with that injury, right? He was going to have
to show up and show out really well for that.
Especially like we don't want to spend $2 million
on a player that's going to be on the bench,
a rotation player. I'd rather put that $2 million
towards a DP striker. Yeah, no kidding. I hopefully,
I mean, we talked about it in the Georgie episode.
Hopefully that's something that can happen anyway.
Yeah, it really looks like, you know, Craig is
gearing up to do something in the summer. Yeah,
that's what I feel like too. I know people are
skeptical, but I mean, the amount of, I don't
know the actual numbers, right? But the amount
of gam we have available, I could also see us
bringing in a U -22 striker. Yeah. a younger
guy who's going to cost a couple million that
can have an instant impact as well. But I don't
know if – I would want a player of Pedro's stature,
if I'm being honest. We need another X factor,
a player that can take over a game on his own.
Because if you look at the roster, the only player
that can really change a game on its own is Pedro.
Yeah, that's true. I mean, I feel like Jesus,
we're starting to see a little more of that,
but I wonder how much of that is because a, he's
more comfortable and B when you have areola out
there, it just gives them a little more freedom
because he knows where they know each other so
well. I see Jesus more as like a conductor, you
know, he's the, he's the one that's gonna, he
is like, he's like a painter, like a Bob Ross.
He's going to paint the picture and then to finish
it off, someone else is going to sign it. Yeah.
He has been getting those goals, though. I mean,
he's probably been our most successful player
this year. I mean, by the numbers, don't you
think? Yeah, he's been. You know, I think he's
our top assister. Yeah. And he's got goals. And,
like, this is the Jesus that I knew, you know,
that he was going to be. Like, he was going to
be, like. When they first announced the signing,
I thought it was a great signing. And I know
a lot of people were like, oh, he's going to
be our new number nine. And, you know, that didn't
necessarily work out because he's just not that
same player he was back at Dallas. Because even
in, you know, his last few years at Dallas, once
they brought in Musa, he was playing more as
a number 10, as a second striker. It would play
off Musa. Yeah, totally. I mean, this year we,
well, from the end of last year to this year,
we sold Atencio for $1 .3 million, Leyva for
$750 ,000, Obed for $2 .5 million, RBW for $1
.1 million, and Minugu for $2 million. So we
have, it feels like there should be some flexibility
there. to pay down some players in order to sign
an impact player. And then that also doesn't
take into account how much money we still have
from Club World Cup and Winning Leagues Cup.
Yeah, I'd heard that we had spent the Club World
Cup money already, but that season, that was
part of bringing Jesus in. But I think it goes
to the fact that we also were given GAM at the
beginning of the season, and I have no idea how
much GAM we have left. Yeah, well, that $2 million
that we got from Georgie is all GAM. But I think
it's like $1 million this year and $1 million
next year. Yeah, but you can use it to pay down
players and do all sorts of things. I think they're
going to use some of it to offer Kingston a contract,
even more so now with the injury to Pekovic.
Oh, yeah, I think King Sin will be on this team
for sure. I mean, I think that was already happening
before the injury, just from getting rid of Georgie.
Yeah, this would just push the envelope a little
bit faster. And I think getting rid of wasn't
the right phrasing there, I admit, from moving
on from Georgie. Like we talked about in the
last episode, I sadly did not get to put up the
clickbait. clip I made from what we were talking
about. But I think, like we said, it's a win
-win, and I think it's good for the club. It's
good for him. Man, Seattle, there's this thing,
and maybe this is true of all fandoms. I don't
know. But I think Seattle has a tendency to love
its players and devalue other players and overvalue
our players. I mean, Georgie's a great player
with potential, but our fans act like they know
more than, you know, the people who have been
coaching him for six years or whatever it's been,
five years. Yeah, I could see that. And I think
maybe because I see a lot more of the Seattle
fan base than I do other fan bases. And I feel
like also, you know, The Sounder fan base tends
to love their players so much where they don't
let him go when they should. Yeah, oh, definitely.
I mean, Ozzy ended up playing well in Minnesota,
but I think letting him go based on the amount
of injuries he had had leading up to when they
let him go was probably the right thing to do.
You know, it's better to let go of a player too
early than too late, like we did with Nico. And
Ro. Yeah, I mean, I think Ro, but he wasn't.
You know what I mean? His impact on the roster
was not a high -level player. You can have some
older players that aren't getting minutes on
your bench. Yeah, but at the beginning of the
year, he was starting, and then it just wasn't...
He wasn't producing. That's when we had that
slump that we couldn't score. Right, but he was
never meant to be in that position. It just ended
up that way. But, you know, I think we're seeing,
you know, they move on from Georgie, but then
they were getting a bunch of players back. Asani
Dotson traveling to Houston. Stu Hawkins was
out there for training, I believe, this week,
right? I think he was either partial or full
training. Yeah. You know, you still have... uh,
anchor and, uh, the other players off to the
side. Yes. Uh, sailor, Pedro, Yame or Alex all
off to the side. Yeah. I think Alex is going
to be, you know, okay to play. Cause it's, it's
the hit pointer. So I think it's like, it's more
bone than, or I'm not. Bone bruise. Yeah. I don't
know. I'm not a doctor. I just play one on television.
Yeah, I think injuries are biting us. And the
fact that we've made it through this stretch
with injuries and yet pretty successfully has
been impressive. For me, I think these next two
matches are very pivotal in our season, though,
because I think Houston is going to be a team
to reckon with. And so if we can go get at least
a point on the road at Houston, that'll say a
lot about this team. And then traveling to T
-Grace, you know, you've got to keep it close
so that you can come home and win it. Yeah, that
Tigris game I'm circling. I think Houston will
put a good performance against Houston. We saw
that they're a feisty team. They got a bit of
bite. Dallas really gave them a chance to get
back into the game. And the Texas Derby, I was
watching that game. It's a 5 .30 Seattle start,
which means 7 .30 Texas time. So, I mean, it
may be humid, but it's not going to be terribly
hot, I would imagine. I'm going to look right
now. Yeah, Houston striker Guillermo, he has
been, you know, off to a hot start. So, it's
interesting if we're going to see, you know,
Regan Tino or Regan Alex or Tino and Alex in
the back line. So, at game time, it will be...
71 degrees with rain. And a lot of humidity.
90 % humidity. It's about to be a muggy game.
It's going to be a slog. And that's something
that I think makes it hard. The Sounders have
always had a slog there because of the humidity.
But the fact that the game is at the time it
is, maybe that's good. You know, we've seen that
the Sounders have had success, you know, absorbing
pressure and playing off the counter. Yeah. Which
is interesting considering possession team, yet
our goals keep coming off of the counter. Transition
moments, yeah. But when you got guys like Rothrock
making runs in behind, and I think Jordan's going
to make another appearance this game, you know,
get some more minutes. Maybe he starts, I'm not
sure. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any
reason to rotate. Schmetzer said, you know, there's
four days between matches, and then they took
off that next match. The Salt Lake game has been
moved. So you have a full week before the one
after that. So you're not as worried about two
games in a week in that situation. Yeah, and
I think Schmetzer said they're going to stay
down in Texas, then go to travel to Montreal.
So they're not even going to travel back to Seattle.
That's huge. They're not going to have, you know,
all that jet lag. So it's shorter travel distance
from Houston to Monterey. Yeah. Because the one
thing about playing in that stadium, especially
in the altitude, is that those fans, you know,
they show up and they show out. And it's going
to be a hostile environment. But we've seen it
before that, you know, Seattle's been able to
come out of Mexico, you know. If we come out
with a 0 -0, that's a win in my book. Oh, yeah.
I mean, even a 1 -0 loss. I mean, I'd rather
lose 2 -1, to be honest. But even a one -goal
loss, I think, could be very good. It's only
an hour and a half flight. Yeah. I would like
to see us use some dark arts, win a penalty,
get us that away goal. Yeah. That'd be great.
And, I mean, we talked about it last. But tell
me again what you've seen out of that team and
why maybe we shouldn't be as scared as some of
us are feeling. About Tigres? Yeah. I think that
it's like what we see with a lot of League MX
teams is that they struggle to play in the U
.S. Because, you know, they're used to playing
in the altitude. They're used to playing, you
know, with the fans cheering them on. But when
they got to come play, you know, in the U .S.,
they don't have that same success. Which is why
you see a lot of, you know, Liga MX teams, like,
advance in Champions League is because they have
the second leg at home. Which is why I think
it's very critical and crucial that we have the
second leg be in Seattle because that gives us
the advantage. But what makes you as a Sounders
fan feel like we're not going to go down and
be Cincinnati? Oh, because we're more consistent
than Cincinnati. I watched that game, and I would
see there was no urgency for them to get another
goal. You know, Tigres did. They had their way
against Cincinnati the full 90 minutes. And then
you have Pat Newton subbing off their attacking
players to add another defender. And guess what?
They get scored on. And now when they need a
goal, they have no person to go out there and
get a goal. Yeah. And I think that, you know,
Brian is going to set up the team to be, you
know, very defensively locked in and strong,
but we're going to be able to get a goal off
the counter, which we've seen that we can do.
That's awesome. I hope so. I hope so. Maybe we'll
record before then. We'll see. It's midweek.
Maybe after. After that first leg. Give me predictions
for the Houston match followed by the Tigres
match. Oh, dang. I think against Houston, I think
we can get a result. I think we get a win. I
can see us getting a 2 -1 win or a 1 -0. I like
it. I trust Thomas' shot. shot stopping ability
and Houston tends to like, you know, they like
to shoot a lot, but that doesn't mean they're
necessarily, necessarily going to take, you know,
high XG shots. Yeah. And we seen Thomas, Thomas
athleticism has made, you know, he's made some
saves that were, you know, like, we're like,
Oh snap. And when a few times where. Maybe he
made himself big but made a mistake. We saw Tino
pick up the slack. Yeah. Well, I think we can
talk about the mistake in Minnesota when he came
out and he misread the trajectory of the ball.
Yeah, it bounced differently than I was expecting.
I do like that he fully committed to coming out
and he didn't get stuck in no man's land. Yeah,
because we see that a lot where you get stuck
in no man's land. then that's an easy goal as
opposed to putting the pressure on that allowed
Tino to be able to get back. Yeah, because the
thing is that he rushed out and he didn't get
the ball, but guess what? That forward felt his
pressure. You look up and you see, you know,
six foot, what, four, six foot three, Thomas
running at you with his mustache and his hair
flowing. You're just like, yeah, I'm going to
kick the ball before he takes me out. Yeah. And
it's like I seen I went to see, you know, a local
high school game the other last week where a
center back gave a back pass to the goalie, but
he didn't put enough pace on it. And the forward
just came and chipped it right over because the
goalie got stuck in no man's land. Yeah, exactly.
I mean, exactly. So what about Tigres? Give me
zero zero. Oh, all right. I like it. I love it.
I think. I think that's a good place to stop
for now. Let's go play some video games. Oh,
yeah. Definitely join the Patreon. It's fun there.
Where can they find you on the Discord and on
Instagram? I'm on the Discord and then on Instagram
at alex__ds509. And then also for... For all
the people that want to get into Legos, they
just announced some new Lego sets. They announced
a USA Lego set, two Messys, an Mbappe, a Vinnie
Jr., and a Cristiano Ronaldo. Nice. It's fun
times. I was at Costco today, and they had some
really crappy official World Cup gear, like very
poorly made. But it's Costco, so it's probably
like $10. Yeah, I mean, it was cheap, but the
hats were very, very bad. I am looking to get
a jersey for the World Cup match. I am attending.
I think I might just do a Mexico jersey because
I like that green. Round of 32? Round of 16.
Round of 16? Oh, yeah, you might have some big
clubs there. Probably Belgium. Yeah, I don't
know. We'll see. We will see. Let's not talk
about the USA this past weekend. Jesus Christ,
he got smacked down. All right. James Woolard,
take it away, please. 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? Seattle Sounders
are both unequivocally and intuitively the best
MLS team of all time.