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Welcome to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show with
Matt Entrekin and Jason Carey. Your home for
news, analysis, and everything Rhode Island FC.
Each week they take you inside the locker room,
inside the tactics, and inside the storyline
shaping R -I -F -C. Here's Matt and Jixit. Rhode
Island FC build upon momentum scoring their first
ever goal and earning their first ever win in
league play against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds
winning 1 -0. Was this their best performance
of the season despite an injury depleted roster
or will RFC have to do one of the things that
we can't even bear to think about in saying goodbye?
to one of the team's favorites as they depart
for MLS. We already know the truth behind that.
When I wrote that script, Jason, it was still
a, do we dare to dream the nightmares of nightmares?
We're going to talk about this historic win.
We're going to talk about Clay Holstead's departure
to FC Dallas. And it's just good to be back.
I'm sick. Florida did something to me. I'm not
sure what, but I'm here, buddy. And I'm just
glad to see you as well here in the raising anchor
soccer show studios. How you been my friend?
I'm doing great. Glad you survived Florida. I
know it's a dangerous place. Touch and go, especially
this summer. Anyone that's ever been to Florida,
why didn't you warn me? The summertime is just
not a place or a time to go there. I have thoughts
and opinions, but we are hashtag not a Florida
show unless we were going down. I went to all
of the markets that a USL team is in, by the
way. I was in Tampa. I was in Jacksonville. I
was in Miami. Or homestead to I was there. I
mean like just put a team in Key West I was everywhere
that needed to be places and then some so I almost
went to the Orlando game with Griezmann's debut,
but Hashtag nodded. I'm less hashtag not a little
soccer show But it started raining and I decided
not to go because I couldn't bear to go to yet
another soccer match in the rain So I missed
out on a 1 -0 win against Nashville, but nevertheless,
it was a good time Fun was had but I'm back here
where things matter and we got to get right into
this What do we want to talk about first, buddy?
We want to talk about CBS Records setting the
second highest audience in USL Championship history.
Do we want to talk Chicharito first? What's near
and dear to your heart today? I mean, let's just,
you started with the USL record. Let's just kind
of knock that out, especially it ties into a
team we just played here. USL Championship announced
today that it's July 18th national broadcast
on the CBS television network delivered the second
highest viewership in league history. As Pittsburgh
Riverhounds SC in Louisville City FC drew an
audience of 453 ,000 viewers. This got announced
just before the Thursday show. I kind of missed
it. Didn't get a chance to throw it in the news,
but honestly pretty impressive. I'm glad to see
that that CBS deal is working out so far for
USL. I mean, not only the CBS deal, we've talked
about what does the consolidation of USL as a
pyramid look like when we talk about selling
it as a broadcast. We know when ProRail comes
live in 28, that the big part that's going to
have to survive this is the financials of the
television deals, right? That's what's going
to help the parachute payments as teams go up
and down. It's what will help stabilize the league.
one of the things that has really kind of put
MLS in the green here with as what they've done.
But more importantly, do you think that's also
a part of that World Cup bump we've talked about?
You know, we're now post cycle. Is this consumers
wanting more and more from a soccer standpoint
in America? It's hard to say. I think when we
look at this World Cup bump, we're going to have
to take in account the next few months to kind
of see like, is it gradual? Is it like immediate
and it dies off right away? But it's good to
see, I mean, it's only the second best, but it's
still good numbers for basically a regular season
game. Agreed, agreed. Moving on, Chicharito now
signs with Atletico Dallas. It's funny, there
was too much Dallas news today between FC and
Atletico. Jason, make this make sense. You know,
people comparing it right now to the Didier Drogba
deal that when he went to Phoenix Rising as a
player slash owner. but he was coming off the
heels immediately of a CF montreal deal where
that had ended and was suddenly going now into
this usl side looking at the sort of chicharito
side the last time we saw him with anything to
do with soccer it was as a broadcaster for the
world cup this feels like it's a completely different
animal yeah draugma is also i mean i don't know
all of uh chicharitos like travels but like draugma
is a world cup winner he's a little bit more
of a legend nothing against Javier Hernandez,
but like he kind of tailed off towards the end
of the career. I mean, when he was at Galaxy,
it already kind of felt like he was kind of a
bit washed. And then he went and played for,
uh, Liga Mechis side for a little bit before
he kind of hung up his boots there. I remember
the video when he got the deal for the Galaxy
and he was crying because he thought he had one
year left in the tank in La Liga. and that was
coming to an end and he was like visibly frustrated
and upset. Meanwhile, LA Galaxy are trying to
parade this as the ultimate Mexican signing that
we could possibly ever given fans. I mean, he
was, I think he still is their all -time scoring
leader right now, for now, because those records
are always meant to be broken and then kind of
ends with Guadalajara down in Mexico. Do we think
we're going to see action out of a striker of
this age? Do we think that this is more of a
publicity and bringing fans into that Tex -Mex
side of things in Dallas, or do we actually think
we're going to see playing time out of Chicharito?
I think a little bit of column A, a little bit
of column B. At 38 years old, I don't think he's
going to be a starter. I think if he has been
able to maintain his fitness, I think that the,
like riding a bike, give him a little bit of
time. I think that kind of striker instinct will
come out and against the USL defenses. I think
that he'll be able to you know, maybe score a
few goals. But I don't see them being able to
rely on him for 90 minutes. I mean, he was having
knee problems at Galaxy. Well, then the counterpoint
to that is, is that going to hurt the league?
Because how many times have we heard an MLS signing
the aging Euro star comes in, dunks immediately
on, you know, what the best of the best that
MLS has to offer? Could we see some of that then
come as a byproduct where Chicharito hung up
the boots two seasons ago? gets back on the bike
so to speak and then scores a bike and it's like
look how easy it is for world -class athletes
this league is a joke well i i think in terms
of like you don't look at it this league is a
joke you get people into the seats right maybe
the sickos will be will look at it that way but
the reality is this is still a growing league
so if we can get aging stars to get butts in
seats to sell jerseys to bring more attention
to the league honestly i think it's worth it
i don't disagree well that's the fun thing to
talk that's the fun dallas story to talk about
there is A very unfortunate Dallas story that
we do have to talk about. I'm going to let you
take this because you didn't introduce the conversation
tonight with a death. Maybe this is kind of like
a death in the family, or maybe it isn't. I don't
know. But go ahead and disappoint listeners'
ears. Yeah. So me and Torrin mentioned last week,
Paul, that there was a potential move for one
of the RFC players to make the jump to MLS. And
well, unfortunately, they did get it announced
today around noon. Some of our fans who are stocking
every single player kind of found out earlier
when they updated their Instagram over the weekend
and quickly change that back. But it was announced
today that a Clayhole stat is going on loan to
FC Dallas. I think it's very interesting that
this is a loan. We thought that maybe this could
have been a sale, but it could be. It can be
a can be. So the particulars of the detail, right?
It's a loan with the option to buy. When these
types of deals happen, one of the things that
gets structured inside them at the moment of
loan is all of the... the sell -on not necessarily
beyond Rhode Island of Sea but like what would
that contract look like if they decide to like
it's not discussed at the end of the season because
then if he has a great season then Rhode Island
of Sea could come back and say see we told you
we want more so Dallas taking a risk on this
or like a waiver almost if you will they've locked
in what that would look like any incentives have
already been built into that possibility and
right now it's a risk -free loan for FC Dallas
to take a chance on, arguably, and I said this
on Twitter today when one of the FC Dallas fans
asked, you know, what kind of player is Clay
Olson? He's arguably probably one of the most
complete, you know, number eights in the league.
It's, you know, we've seen him in the pivot,
right? He can play central defense. He can be
the holding midfielder, but his range is just
box to box. He's so versatile in that way. Dallas
is getting a very good bargain here. I don't
know, you know, we know the minimum salary cap
charge for an MLS player now is like $130 ,000
or something like that. We've never gotten into
the financials. We usually only find out the
player length of contract in terms of the deal.
We know Clay Holstead's deal goes through 2027,
the end of the season 2027. So he has a year
and some change left. Dallas whatever they've
chosen to in setting this deal up if if Clay
Holstead just does what he does, which is be
great There's no reason to not think that he's
going to excel and even if it's as a rotational
supporting cast member off the bench There's
no reason to think Dallas won't pick this contract
up at the end of the season But for the fans
hoping that they get to see him, you know Clay
and in the in the Rhode Island of sea kid at
another time another place There is a chance.
He does come back to Rhode Island at the end
of the season. Yeah, there there is a chance
There's also a chance to where even if Dallas
doesn't pick him up If he puts on some good performances,
that's him basically advertising himself to the
rest of MLS and saying, Hey, we'll actually.
If you guys aren't gonna grab him like we'll
take him off your hands We've got the chat is
alive right now saying Freddy adieu I I don't
think he ever recovered after selling vacuums
or whatever that was So I don't think we can
do that. And also Sam Basanya will not be he's
probably filming Ted lasso for right now So I
don't see him making an appearance, you know
We talked about the financials and you know,
there's a couple questions in the mailbag. I
want to try to respect that time So decoupling
that, let's not talk about financial. Let's talk
about the impact of what Clay Holstead is on
the pitch, off the pitch, and also what that
means for the branding of Rhode Island FC. Everyone
else was tweeting things. I saw a really good
tweet from Tyler Hatch saying that Clay was just
four matches short of being the first Centurion
from Rhode Island FC, almost got to 100 matches.
Other players in the... in the club have made
100 matches in USL, but not many have made it
within Rhode Island. I see Kareefa Yow, Clay
Holstead, and Koke Vegas, all the ones that have
played the most games. It sucks to see him get
just short of that honor, especially considering
an injury a couple weeks ago is kind of what
has kept him out of what could have gotten to
those matches. But when you think about what
he leaves, Going now departing to FC Dallas.
There's a couple things the first and obvious
one to me is the long throw like rest in peace
I don't want to see JJ continue to try to do
that. We need him as a big body inside the box
inside the mixer So I don't know how Kano's set
piece strategies and throw ins will look like
but I imagine that tactic needs to start to shift
But then you also think about like the fun stuff,
like all of his engagement with the community.
He's in just about every single social post,
whether he's engaging with elementary schools,
giving speeches at high schools, taking honors
for like business society awards. I mean, he
was the second best golfer, I think, maybe third.
So, like, where does the stack order now? Grant,
JJ, now who in that order? You can even make
jokes about, like, who's going to start solving
all of the riddles for the social media posts.
It's always been him first. Then Noah kind of
gets, you know, a little flustered. He always
comes through. There's a lot. Like, Clay was
the glue of this team in a lot of ways. And I
wonder what those effects will look like long
term, both on the pitch and off. Yeah, I think
off the pitch like you said, I think he is absolutely
a fan favorite I think we've seen and like I
hate to say it but I think we've seen the last
few weeks with him being out that like While
we will miss him. I think he's not as big of
a miss as like if we lost JJ I don't think there's
certain players right now on our squad that I
don't think we could replace And i think jj's
one of them i think was there is one of them
with the we can't we can replace jj cuz we haven't
seen foil yet so and i would argue back a rack
is the only reason we can even say out loud that
clay holstead. We can live in a world we can
even think of a possibility yes we have a whole
set at home it's just a picture of back i mean
they're they're very similar in profile so i
think the fact that he's really come into his
own into this team as. Given us the ability to
allow him to leave and not feel like we're throwing
away our season Yeah, Matt Jean, uh, he's saying
they're retiring the banner So clay holstead's
personal banner to the rafters of 116 I always
thought that at one point those were going to
be given to the players as a farewell gift So
matt clear that up in the chat and let us know
and then there's some other questions about you
know Could we recall him? Could we be the the
the new england revolution or nashville and recall?
Historically, yes, but remember this is a loan
up a league. So even in like our darkest situation
I can't imagine coach Kano would go and do that
because again back to it. The more important
thing here. It's not the financials It's telling
the world that we are an institution that will
take talent build it make it better develop it
and then send it on whether that's the next level
league in our own domestic pyramid or it's to
you know seas and channels abroad. That's the
bigger message here. It's not the financials.
I mean, these clubs are like, Clay Holstead's
deal, whatever it was, is not putting Rhode Island
of Sea in the black on this year, right? Like,
that's not a real thing. However, now it's maybe
there's two fringe players who were like, I don't
know enough about USL. I don't want this to hurt
my chances or my career. What could that look
like for me? Well, now this captivates and potentially
catapults these players into something where
it's like, hey, Rhode Island of Sea could be
a destination. We heard this from Brett Johnson
and we heard this from Kano Smith himself, like
about a year ago when he started talking about
academies and like, what would that look like?
They wanted to mimic places like Louisville City,
Orange County, even Birmingham Legion, where
there's this tenacity to move players into bigger
and. better roles within the soccer world, and
I think this is that first step. You know, I
saw someone on Twitter also post, not a lot of
times do non -goalkeepers get loans. Clubs will
take chances and buy players outright. Very rarely
is this a loan. I think this is only the fifth
loan of the season. Ironically, FC Dallas, I
think this is their second USL loan out to FC
Dallas from the USL Championship, and maybe eighth
overall when you include goalkeepers. So this
is a rare occasion and it's going to put a spotlight
on what our FC does in the future. Absolutely.
I think it's going to be important, like you
said, to see like, how can this club build a
relationship in with the like soccer up like
larger soccer community as a team that like develops
and sells on talent. Yeah. And if he does come
back, it's because Clay said, hey, you know,
mom, dad, I want to come home. I'm not having
any fun enough. He does. And there's no way I
believe for a heartbeat that that will happen.
He messaged me earlier today and said, hey, thanks
for everything. I hope I honor Rhode Island with
this move and continue to live up live up to
all of the fans expectations of me. So good guy
all around. And I can't wait to follow. I may
we may need to go to Minneapolis if we can afford
it after World Cup. We may need to go to Minneapolis
and see a Morris Dugan Clay Holstead battle.
If Clay is starting to get into the starting,
he's cracking. the 18 or the 11. But we've got
to go to break and we have so much more to talk
about. We're going to talk about how this game
went against the Riverhounds and everything else,
including the mailbag. Don't go anywhere. It's
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990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett and Jason Carey.
After their win against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds,
RAFC have not only stayed in playoff contention,
they've jumped all the way to sixth place, seen
as both the Miami FC and Indy 11 both lost. Now
on 22 points with a six, four and five record
and a plus seven goal difference, and still an
average of two games on hand against most opponents
in the Eastern Conference. rfc have actually
really set themselves up to challenge for the
fourth spot here i think this is exactly where
coach kato smith wants this team to be right
now we talked about the importance of games in
hand being a elevator up and not something that
would drag them back down as an anchor into the
basement. And I think this is a perfect position.
It gives them some breathing room, especially
with all of the restructure they may have to
do to the squad in the secondary transfer window
now. And it lets them kind of be able to start
realizing and believing not just in themselves,
but that the results are coming with the effort
applied. You know, someone I think while I was
gone asked, where do we feel the schedule toughness
is? I still think the final five games of the
season are probably the hardest. left ahead but
you gotta be you gotta be feeling good going
into the snowing you've beaten Hartford now you've
beaten Pittsburgh you are what three wins one
draw and one loss in your last five league matches
like that's a good indicator of form and momentum
take that into some of these matches coming up
like colo spigs we talk about redemption this
year we talk about besting those there's a question
later on in the mailbag about it we talk about
beating the teams that have been Outliers for
us. Maybe this is that time to continue to stack
bodies on top of it. I don't feel worried at
all about Birmingham Legion. I think that was
a moment in time. Granted, it was at home. It
wasn't great. I don't feel at all uncomfortable
about that Colorado Springs switchbacks. I want
them. I've been wanting them for two seasons.
I want revenge. Let's do it. Tampa Bay, okay,
you go in there you get another one of these
cagey draws and then you get Monterey Bay as
a nice cherry on top. We get to see Sebastian
LeJet. This could be one of the best four weeks
of soccer summer that we've ever had for Rhode
Island FC. Speaking of wanting Colos Biggs, I
saw during the Pittsburgh game they're advertising
the rematch of the final when Tulsa was coming
to visit them and I was like, you know, USL kind
of dropped the ball. That should be a thing.
The next year schedule, make sure that there's
always some sort of final rematch. I mean, I
think that would always be something kind of
fun there to have. It's like the community shield
when like you stack those teams back up so they
get one last look at themselves. Why not? Right?
Yeah. You'd mentioned though about kind of coming
into the summer here, looking at about restructuring.
I mean, you know, before the, as we start to
kind of look into this Pittsburgh match before
they posted an injury update and basically like
everyone is out of action. No one is healthy.
I mean, You know, one of these players now we
know has, is, is, you know, moving on. Uh, but
they listed Leo Alfonso, Zach Harveau, Clay Holstead,
Kareefa Yao, Jamin Gogo -Peters and Omni -Jope
all out. RFC couldn't even field a full bench,
only six players, two of them being goalkeepers.
I mean, like, what are we? and one hand we're
doing great in a foreign but also like are we
going to be okay do we have more signings on
the way so one i mean we we do have more signings
on the way or at least options are being explored
i don't have all the details i took a week off
i'm trying to get closer back to it i think the
real test right now as you look at the schedule
Do we have midweek matches coming up, which would
test the endurance of this team? Luckily, we
do not for a while. Yeah, not until like late
September where we have to play some of these
catch up games like the sporting or the loud
and game that we missed for the open air of the
season. So the good news is we have enough pacing
or spacing to survive this. But we are very close.
We're danger close, if you will, to just another
injury, completely making this an unfieldable
squad the way Conno would want to set up tactically.
Weirdly enough, this isn't even the most injuries
we've ever had at one time. It feels rough because
especially with the departure now of Clay Holstead,
we've had nine injuries on this squad before
at one given time. And that's when we had to
go have a 25 day contract in Rio Hope gun. That's
why we ended up with, you know, eight centerbacks
by, you know, August of last season. So it'll
be really careful to see how. Connor retools
this team going into the second half the secondary
window now open We need to be we need to be really
following Where does he feel the biggest immediate
needs are and what are panic decisions now? Like,
you know people someone asked in reddit, you
know was was foyo coming in a product of knowing
Holstead was going out and no foyo was already
in the works if anything it was connected to
Dorsey Leaving the club on his loan recall and
finding that next striker Maybe they knew Peters
would already been injured because Peters was
out for several weeks before we saw that injury
report But it had nothing to do with clay. So
now it's like what's the next step now that being
said remember everyone This is not a team that
waits to react to these kinds of things They
have ghost squads built of players that they
think would fit a certain type of profile a certain
type of formation a certain athletic ability
shooting ability what have that be they already
have a list it's whether they can go out and
get those players and Does the World Cup cycle
throw any of that off because now certain players
are moving in other areas, maybe people are looking
in new places. They're like, where's Cabo Verde's
talent? Whether it's the players we saw or just
in general. So that might skew it a little bit.
But in no way was Clay Holstead and Foyo connected
in any kind of meaningful way. So do we have
a lot of retooling ahead of us? Absolutely. Do
we know the timelines? OmniJoke should already
be back. The only transparency we have are on
Peters and Harvo. And we knew that because we
went to the club and said, hey, we know these
things. What's the story? you know, we didn't
know the extent of it, but we knew there was
some critical issues going on. Leo Alfonso, not
sure about that. Kareefa, yeah, we saw him pick
up the knock in the Hartford match, so we need
to find out what that looks like, because that'll
dictate, like, where are we? What's the severity
of us needing to go out and get players? Do we
need 25 -day contracts? Do we need to go get
loans? There's a question about that. Our listeners
are very smart, Jason. Like, do we need to go
do those things? How are we going to look, and
what does that mean for this upcoming game this
weekend against Birmingham? Who knows what that
is, but... what we can talk about in the meantime.
And yes, Matthew Gene, Cal Jennings, fits many
profiles that the Jedi would never tell you.
But getting into this game itself, with this
injury stricken lineup, we had Koke Vegas in
that, the back four of Nick Scardina, Grant Stoneman,
Frank Nodarse filling in in that center back
role with Aldair Sanchez going back out on the
left. Amos Shapiro, Thompson and you go back,
wreck that double pivot in the back with Georgia,
Quasar pity Rodriguez and know if you saw a lot
of fluidity in that minute, that midfield attack
on the night, JJ Williams up front, going through
it, giving the damage, giving the business to
Pittsburgh here. Jason, you said it a second
ago, only six players on this bench, two of them
keepers. One, what was your reaction to this
lineup? And two, were you disappointed? Will
Myers did not come in as a substitute defender.
Oh, I would have loved to see that. But like
looking at this lineup, I'm glad to see that
Jose Quisaro got to keep his position out there
on the right. I think that he's been very strong
out there. We saw Noah Fisan and Petit like swap
a lot. So it was good to see them, even though
I think overall, it's hard to say if this was
like our just the defense, but It was pretty
it was pretty difficult on the night for our
our like attacking midfielders to really get
into the game, especially as Pittsburgh started
to like kind of wrestle their way into the match.
But overall, considering what was available,
I think it was a good lineup. But would you also
argue that's Pittsburgh's native like ability?
That's what they do. They they're very much a
low block, be scrappy, not doing a lot like a
lot of long balls. Or if they are moving the
ball up the field, it's it's usually not in numbers.
They're very, very reserved side like. This game
was always going to be difficult, no matter the
roster that we put out on the night. Absolutely.
But they've also slowly, as we've seen, kind
of started to be a bit more adventurous now that
Bob Lilly's gone. It's like they've taken away
some of the kind of the chain. They've got a
little bit more freedom to kind of go a little
riskier, a little bit riskier. So. I'm not convinced
by this Pittsburgh Riverhounds team. I think
that there's still a very good team in there,
but I don't think they're the same team they
were last year. Agreed. And you know, looking
at this roster and who came on. Talking about
game management for a second here, you knew that
some of these players were going to have to go
the distance because there wasn't really anything
behind them. Dwayne Atkinson comes on and about
the normal time we see a substitution of his
type coming into the game. But the other two,
surprisingly coming in very late in my opinion,
you see CJ Williams coming in, Danny Revere getting
his first career appearance against his former
team on the night. But you see both of those
players coming in kind of in garbage time. Is
that a sign of confidence that that Kano knew
the team could hold out on it, especially given
the fact that they were up the goal, or was this
just not a lot of options and do the best you
can? It's a bit of confidence there that he and
like, I kind of felt to a certain extent, they're
like watching that game. While Pittsburgh had
a few good opportunities, Koke was able to clean
them up and it never felt like they were super,
super threatening until like the last few minutes
and it was kind of a little bit too, too, a little
too late. Agreed, and we're going to talk about
both the offense and the defense on this match
as we get into the biggest storylines coming
out of the 1 -0 win for Rhode Island FC. Don't
go anywhere, it's the Raising Anchor Soccer Show.
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let's get back to the Raising Anchor Soccer Ship
on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett and Jason Cameron.
Welcome back to the Raising Anchor Soccer Show.
Speaking of the show itself, got a plug in the
game on the weekend. I was listening to Tom and
Nick because I was driving through Florida at
the time, so I was listening to their broadcast
and then suddenly got a bunch of text all at
about the same time like, you got a plug, congratulations.
You just got talked about on the broadcast. Went
back when I did the rewatch to watch the game
in person. Always great when USL Championship
broadcasters just talk about us and give us a
little bit of clout and it's always a fun. feeling
nevertheless yeah always good to uh it it kind
of catches me off guard too they're just all
of a sudden talking about the flexibility of
frank nodarse and like oh yeah i'm just listening
to that on the raising anchor podcast weirdly
it only comes when i'm not on the show it always
happens the immediate one after it was ryan davis
before so maybe it's just when i'm not on people
start listening to the show but getting into
this breaking down the goal the lone goal of
the night uh jj williams scoring in the 62nd
minute from a sardina, a sardina cross to the
back post. Jason, I rewatched this several times
because there was an important part in this play
that I wanted to break down specifically. It
was only nine passes starting from playing out
the back with Koke Vegas. It's an attack that
switches from left to right. Scardina patiently
takes on a defender. We're going to talk about
patience a lot here. Floats one to the back post.
JJ Williams has four extra feet of air and hang
time over any defender from the Riverhound side
and literally dunks one home with his head into
the Pittsburgh net. The goal, and I talk about
patience, the goal only took 41 seconds to build
up and score. It didn't look quick, but it looked
effortless. It looked like Rhode Island was playing
on easy mode for just a few seconds in that game.
What does that say for Rhode Island FC's attack?
And that's why I like to call this team a transition
team so much not as a counter -attack team where
like you say 41 seconds. We're not lightning
speed. We're not running down the table, right?
But when the team builds up in possession, they
move the ball, the nine passes instead of doting
on the ball and kind of go for it, we see good
results. And like talking about that link up
there between Skardina and William, Skardina
has now tallied his third career assist for Rhode
Island FC. All three of his assists have been
to J .J. Williams. It seems there's that they've
got that green connection there on FIFA. We're
building the ultimate team. Yeah, the combination
of these two is kind of reminding me of what
like Mero Ibarra and Odarse. They just it was
like they're just passing the ball back and forth
to each other. J .J. Williams scored his team
leading 10th goal of the season across all competitions,
officially reaching double figures for the second
time in three seasons. We talk about the importance
of a player like this getting there. you know
season one it came very late into the seasons
last year we knew about the goal production problems
and lack thereof uh but looking at this now 10th
goal he's only one goal behind his all -time
season record within Rhode Island FC and we still
have what 16 matches to play you know a player
like JJ He's not someone that needs service he
gets better with service But some of the times
he'll do some of the things on his own We've
seen some excellent goals where he kind of just
works some magic in there What do we think JJ
Williams real ceiling this season is? Barring
any type of injury or anything that would get
in the way of what's been produced so far from
a chance creation. I mean we're Just about what
halfway through the season here now. I mean 10
all comps We're not unfortunately in any other
competitions then maybe that's a blessing right
now with where our roster is I Mean at this point.
I I don't see why he can't get I'm not gonna
say 20, but I'm gonna say close Let's say maybe
like 17 18 somewhere around there Think he's
still got quite a few more goals in him, especially
the way that this team has been scoring this
season This is the longest period of time between
games that he has not scored last time. He scored
was in in Loudon on June 13th And then there
was the four games of Orange County Sacramento
Brooklyn and Hartford granted one of them being
a Prinks Tires Cup match, but we haven't seen
this kind of drought I was starting to get quietly
worried that what is going on there? How important
is it for a player to make sure they're consistently
getting goals into the goal mouth, if you will?
Oh, it's absolutely huge, especially as we go
into the second half of the season where we've
seen in the years past that this is where our
AFC start to turn it on. This is where they thrive,
where they're kind of, I don't want to say like
maybe underrated to a certain extent, but people
kind of they fly under the radar, right? We're
kind of cruising there somewhere in 10 people
don't know what to expect of us and now we're
jumping all the way to six within two games here.
I mean, he's in perfect position here to to pick
up quite a few more goals towards the end of
the year. Do we think he can still remain a contender
for Golden Boot or has that ship sailed? It's
tough to say. I mean, what what Darren Smith
had five in one game, right? I mean, so Darren
Smith did have five. But right now, JJ is only
four goals behind. Darren Smith said eleven.
JJ is at seven in league play. Of course, the
other goals coming from other comps. So where
do we feel he's at? There's probably I want to
say seven actual players between him and Darren
Smith. Do we think he can chase that down? I
don't see why he can't get top five, at least
the top three even if that's what JJ sells for
his top three. Have you ever heard his son? He
wants four goals a game, four goals every game.
But no, listen, huge honors for him. It's again
the first goal in league play that we've ever
scored. It's the second ever win if you want
to count all comps. But more importantly, it's
the first win and it was done at FNB Stadium
or whatever they're calling Highmark nowadays.
I forgot the new sponsor. It wants to be Highmark.
You know, whatever. Let's get into the game itself.
Beyond the goal, though, kind of felt, I don't
want to say, I don't want to say boring. It was
not boring. But like I said a second ago, patience
being the first word of the night. Rhode Island
never looked like they needed to do a lot in
this game and it was more game management maybe
it was the injuries that they had sustained maybe
it was the tactics themselves we didn't see a
higher possession from Rhode Island we didn't
see a higher passing rate they it looked like
they were more comfortable without the ball they
were choosing route one and going long a lot
of times to see if they could bypass the midfield
of Pittsburgh and it didn't look like Pittsburgh
was ready for this type of Rhode Island to show
up on the day Yeah. It was an interesting game
in the way that it was, and I don't mean this
in a bad way, kind of felt like a game of two
halves. You, if you watch the first half, the
first 30 so minutes, RFC control possession,
the ball Pittsburgh had a hard time kind of really
getting into the game. They were controlling
possession. And honestly, I was kind of impressed
with their ability to control the game. And it
felt better in a way that we're not always You
know, we've been critical of this team at times
for just kind of having possession for possession
sake They had possession they would move the
ball around and they create some sort of chance
But as the game started to go on Pittsburgh started
to kind of claw their way into the game They
started to take you know control possession and
late led into the second half and you saw a dominant
performance from them in regards to having the
possession and rfc kind of found themselves in
that kind of transition slash counter -attack
game where they had to take their chances and
honestly i personally think it suits rfc a lot
better but it was nice to be able to see them
for a decent sustained period of time control
the ball but also look threatening agreed getting
into the match itself you know we talk about
the success of jj But didn't see a lot from pittsburgh
side we were worried i when i was listening to
the show lots of concern that chico was gonna
do you know the great chico leo and he was more
like the great no show leo didn't see much from
him except for some flopping and some exaggeration.
Was that Rhode Island FC knowing where to put
the maximum, you know, silence on a player of
that type? And why wasn't Trevor Amann in this
after he had just scored the fastest hat trick
in USL history? How effective was Rhode Island
in shutting these players down? Because that's
where the real concerns were for them. It wasn't
Robbie Mertz. It wasn't Jackson. It wasn't anything
on the back line. Where did this actually happen
then? Why were these players so successful in
getting shut down? Well, JJ is going to get all
the credit for scoring the goal. But the real
star of this game was Gouke, the back line in
the midfield. And when I speak of the midfield,
I'm talking about Amos Shapiro, Thompson and
Hugo Bacharach. Hugo, I think, got player of
the match from a rating perspective on all the
things I was looking at. They were so organized,
they were able to shut down any sort of attack
that Pittsburgh was throwing at them. and they
were able to kind of force those players into
wide positions where they're uncomfortable, where
they're not in a good shooting range. And they're
just very, very organized. And it was something
really impressive to see. Koke came up with some
big, like Pataka J saying here, Koke came up
huge for us in this game, four saves from all
four shots on target. We kept Chico to only one
shot and Trevor Mon only got 16 touches the ball
before he was absent. Yeah, I think he didn't
get his first touch in the second half until
something like the 57th minute. It was a standout
win. And so by that reasoning, you know, it reminds
me of those low scoring affairs where we were
accelerating our defense. We were prioritizing
that shape composition. and then just getting
a goal out the way. I've told you multiple times
that when you're on the road, that's exactly
what you want to see. It doesn't need to be flashy.
It doesn't need to be beautiful soccer. It needs
to be just almost criminal in nature. You get
the job done. It can be scrappy at times, but
you get either one point or if you can, you smash
and grab for all three. What does that say about
a win like this? Is this a statement win? Is
this the most complete win of the season for
Rhode Island FC? I think to a certain extent,
this is a pretty big statement from RFC. Like
you'd mentioned, we're not going to count all
competitions. This is their first win in league
play at Highmark or whatever their corporate
sponsors are. So I think this is a big deal.
And this is an opponent in the Eastern Conference
who's kind of always there or about in the playoff
line. So this is a team that... we may have to
run through again and to be able to kind of best
them in their own home and kind of build that
confidence and, and get that momentum, especially
after, I don't want to say we've had some away
troubles. Me and torn kind of talked about our
away form last year. And I kind of posed the
question when I rent ran through our losses,
like were these losses that were expected? But
the thing that kind of trips me up is that Sacramento
match was so organized. Like it was like, is
that just a blip? like we look at this away match
and those are two completely different teams
well then you know away troubles aside from that
and if this is the catalyst just take us into
a new direction my one fear is one of the things
that looked very familiar though this is the
first game where we've had a very minimal shots
Column in that in terms of that stat we've seen
this be a Quantity not quality and we've seen
us I don't think the lowest before this match
was lower than like 14 shots on a match Just
six total shots the one on target to score and
to win What does that say are in that regard?
We see such again a defensive master class here
This reminds me of how great this defense was
last year too is one of the best but we had such
a poor offensive output is there any reason to
think that we may be uh you know going back or
falling back into some bad behaviors that since
it's hard it's hard to even say that out loud
because it was such a good win it was such an
important win the team should feel nothing but
inspired from it but that's a very big shift
from going from 14 on average down to six in
one game is there any concern we should have
there no i i think this really comes down to
pittsburgh right they still are a nasty, tough
team to play against. So the fact that we were
able to capitalize on such a small amount of
shots and be that efficient is I think is actually
huge because I think we're going to go back and
see this next game. We're going to see our FC
attempt double digit shots. I think this is very
much a kind of time and place. and not so much
a trend that's going to happen. Well, we shall
see as we take on Birmingham Legion later in
the week, but we've got to go to our final break.
And when we return, it's the mail bag. Don't
go anywhere. It's the Raising Anchor Soccer Show.
Now let's get back to the Raising Anchor Soccer
Show on 990 WBOB with Matt Entrickett and Jason
Carey. Mike M here. How does a player being bought
by another club come to pass? Is it RAFC making
the call to other clubs and chopping the player?
The buying clubs calling our FC and asking the
question the players agent trying to get the
player moved or just a combination of all three.
It is a combination of all three, but it also
does come from who is the first interested party.
Obviously, Clay and a lot of the players know,
they've all told us, Leo, just most recently
in the last interview we had with him, they all
have aspirations to either get to MLS or get
in back into MLS. So there's no surprise. And
when I listened to you guys last week, you know,
speculating about it, you know, I was thinking
privately, like, oh, it's probably going to be
this player. And I think you said JJ. I think
Torrin said Hugo. I was more worried it was Jojaya.
And so it's one of those things where you look
at it from that perspective. Now, what I do know
so far from asking is that Dallas were the ones
that initiated the interest here. So it wasn't
Clay saying, get me to an MLS team or I'm leaving.
It wasn't Kano saying, I have no use for you.
Or like, does any MLS team want to take these
players? So it was Dallas at least making the
inquiry. And then from there, it comes down to
how does this transaction make both us whole
as a club in Rhode Island of C? get the player
where they want to be, but then also protect
our value. So again, what I don't know yet, and
we'll find out in the days to come, the structure
of the deal, right? Was this a, did Dallas want
to buy him at a bargain basement price? And Kano
knowing his value say, hey, we're not going to
do that, but you can try, you can sample Clay
Holstead before you buy. Take him off our hands
for a bit and when you love him because we know
you're gonna love him Then we're gonna come back
with a better price tag because then really Dallas
is just paying there You know the the price of
the player for the rest of the loan I don't know
what the loan mechanics work if clay wasn't making
more than the MLS minimums So that's the part
we do need to figure out like does do they automatically
have to pay more for that who are like who's
you know, like so normally the parent club still
holds the payment of the loan because they're
getting the minutes somewhere but this is the
reverse of that there's no guarantee clay will
get minutes and so in this case also it's the
opposite right it's like chelsea a club who has
infinite money loaning to a lesser team is like
it's fine we'll just pay their wages we don't
right because we want them to develop and get
minutes that might not be the case here so for
all intent i will get this confirmed but if i
had to make an educated guess right now FC Dallas
is paying for the loan and the right to play
this player or there is a caveat to it in the
deal later that like Rhode Island will get all
of their sell -on money plus like a sell -on
clause if if clay gets sold even further and
They'll pay back the wages that they didn't have
to pay in that free trial You know set that free
trial 14 -week trial size. So that's how it works
for now But in these instances, yes now you can
have it a couple of different ways But in this
case, Dallas were the curious body. And we've
seen that already as they've already requested
loans and trials from other players around the
USL championship this season. Joe P writes in
great defensive team effort and goalkeeping by
Koke plus converting on their limited chances
on goal by JJ led to all three points. Let us
hope that Foyo can add additional strength to
the roster. Always great insight by Joe. Yeah,
I'm really excited to to see what he brings to
the team. Hopefully he gets some more minutes
than Dorsey did, especially now that we don't
have any other competitions. Talking to Torm
about him, he seems like he's a bit of a flexible
player, although he is primarily a striker. So
we could maybe see him potentially challenge
for one of those wing spots. Bob D says, congratulations
to Clay Holstad. Now that he's moved on, what
is the story behind his limited minutes in last
year's Eastern Conference game against Pittsburgh?
There's no scandal there, Bob. I know that there
was a lot of questions on why would you pull
one of your best players. If we've seen anything
from Kano, he's a tinkerer, and he just saw something
in Marky Barr as either knowledge of the Pittsburgh
system or there was something in his defensive
midfield, you know, his holding midfielder stats
that he thought would be better than Clay. He
couldn't plan for the red card. I'm sure we would
have seen Clay a lot sooner. Had we not had to
rotate some of the structure there? There's nothing
to it. Now was Clay Holstead pissed? Absolutely.
When I talked to him in the offseason, he was
like, I can't believe I didn't get to start the
most important game of the season and we didn't
win. But by no means was he, you know, you know,
going to say, oh, I'm leaving this team. I'm
sure he was thinking, like, where is my value?
Like, that's not the best way to go into the
offseason ahead of your next season of like going,
where does Coach Kano see me considering I didn't
get to start in this game? But there's no scandal
to it. There's no story. And even if there was,
Bob, remember, this is a loan, and there's a
chance that Clay Holstead could come back. So
I wouldn't tell the story until we knew for sure
he was gone, gone, boots retired, put it in the
memoirs. Matt Jay writes in, with the win, we
are closing in on the opportunity for a home
playoff game. Do you think as a team is constructed
now that we can finally make that happen or what
piece is still needed? Good question. I think
that we're going to need a midfielder as we are
losing one here. i also kind of look at this
team and you know we did bring in a striker but
i also kind of think that there's maybe some
value in some sort of versatility player maybe
someone else who can play in the back line but
also like maybe another ugo or something because
with all the injuries that we have and we you
know let's be honest we're going to have a few
more injuries this year it's just going to happen
I would hate to see us get into a position where
we think, oh, if we just had a healthy squad,
we could have won this one game that could have
got us into fourth. And then quickly answer your
question in the chat there, Matt Jean. I think
I'm not too concerned about folios, you know,
suspensions there, especially considering that,
you know, they were not match fixing. He was
just betting on other games. He even betting
on himself to win. So I kind of like impressed
with the confidence. He's a young man. This sport
is full of gambling sponsorships. We can have
futures market predictions. Now you can bet if
Jason has podcasts will go over an hour and like
there's a betting world out there for it. Yeah.
So I, I, I, I'm not too concerned about that.
Uh, Ben S says here with the departure of clay
to FC Dallas, as well as some injuries in the
midfield. Do you guys see us bringing in quality
mids during the transfer window? Yeah. And I
think this is where it's going to test. the team
there's another question here in a second so
i'm going to try to split this up the short answer
is yes the question now becomes what can they
work with in this time uh there there's a real
curiosity of you know kano has said in press
conferences kano has talked at training sessions
that he's never going to get a player just to
put a body on the roster he could go and get
half of like the pc graduates that come out and
like don't find homes than if you needed to do
that. This has to be a player that improves the
squad and is better than the player that's already
in the role in the position right now. So that
takes a little bit more time. That's a little
bit more nuance. The real question is, is what
is Cono's number right now? Like what was it
before Clay Holstead's departure? Was it one
midfielder, one defender and one striker? Because
that would put you in a pretty good place from
a central defense a central midfield perspective
and then we already I guess with Foyo that one
kind of already solved itself what is that new
number that he feels he needs to go and get and
how much time does he have to negotiate those
deals that's the real question I think there's
going to be at least the need for two additional
players but I wouldn't be surprised if we see
three players come in in this window just because
of the need and the the the diminishing strength
of our roster in terms of health that we have.
Next question here is Brad K. Sucks to see Clay
go, but I get it. Does this free us up to go
get a big name player or is Kano going to have
to extract talent from unconventional sources?
Jason, it sounds like Brad's asking, do we get
Cal Jennings or do we find another Dwayne Atkinson
out there? I think something a little bit more
of the latter, but it's hard to say, right? Does
Kano see AST? as a six or eight now like is that
his position because we've also seen him play
for the forward right he's played for us as an
attend and he's created quite a few chances for
us and he's he's looked good there so if connell
sees him as like a player to just kind of sit
there next to ugo well does he go out and sign
a player that's better than one of those two
to either force them to like do either at that
point then give AST the freedom to kind of move
a bit forward? Do we just throw another six there
next to Ugo? It really depends on how Kano sees
the depth in this team. Yeah, and we've seen
him experiment with big name marquee players
like Maxi Rodriguez, and that not work. So for
everyone that wants Cal Jennings, I'm not saying
it wouldn't work. Cal Jennings is an amazing
player. But at the same time, how would that
destabilize a two striker system? Like I heard
you, I was listening last week. If Folio came
in and actually started, What does that do to
the success we've seen in this 4 -2 -3 -1 variant
that we're in right now? Obviously the team needs
to be flexible in some capacity, but what does
that do to the dynamic? Do you actually want
similar player profiles? You know, to me right
now, I'd rather have Cal Jennings at Rhode Island
FC than at a place like Hartford Athletic. I
made that joke in the chat last week. That would
be the darker timeline, right? That would be
the thing I don't want. So if we can take talent
from one of these teams we're competing against
in the championship, all the more better. What
we can't do is let those players then go to our
Eastern Conference rivals or opponents. I just
don't know Kano. I mean, look at where he's gotten
team talent from it. A lot of it's the New England's
connections. And then he gets a player on loan
from South America. He gets a player out of the
Jamaican Premier League. He gets a player out
of, um, I'm running out of things to say right
now, but you get my point. Like he's versatile
enough that he can find sources or, or you, uh,
league what League two? Was that where he was
in in the English Premier League? Was it was
it League two or was it League one? I forget
for Wimbledon is where right now in the pyramid.
I the pyramid is so I don't know Bob. There it
is. What's the next question? Justin F says is
there a loan fee attached to this deal? How much
do we get in? Who do we go and get? So there's
probably no loan fee. We kind of said that earlier.
If anything, that fee is going to be built in
as a sell on component. If Clay gets acquired
at the end as like a rental cost for taking him
from us for the season and proving his worth.
The real thing is we get the cap space back on
Sal on Clay's salary for the season. That would
be that would be where I think this goes. I don't
see us. paying for it and building it on top.
I think any attachments from a financial perspective
come on the sell -on part of it. And if we're
smart, we have another sell -on addition too.
So like if he goes from Dallas to San Jose, we
get like another 10 % sell -on clause there as
well. Rachel H. Wach writes in, why did the deal
take so long to get announced? It felt like we
were sitting on this for a long time. Jason,
why do deals like this take so long? When we
knew about it, we couldn't talk about it. And
then it gets discovered because a fan sees an
Instagram account and we're just like, well,
cats out the back. Well, so the thing is there's
multiple parties here involved, right? You have
the player, you have their agent, you have the
selling club, you have the buying club, and it's
just a lot of back and forth communication here
of deals being proposed, different clauses, different
like, you know, do I get a, you know, 5 % incentive
if I do X amount of appearances and there's a
lot going on. It's almost like the judicial system
where there's so many parties involved. There's
so much back and forth. And it's very much like,
hey, let's sit down and talk for 30 minutes today.
We didn't come to an agreement, but we're going
to meet again tomorrow after we both think on
it overnight. So I would compare it to that kind
of situation where these things can take a while.
They generally don't happen, you know, just overnight.
Agreed. And the other part to it too, remember,
MLS They use funny Garber Bucks. So one of the
things that may need to have happened is they
needed to be either it was a roster spot on their
team or they needed a certain amount of game.
Right. Like the only thing we know, it wasn't
an international spot because he comes from Alabama.
So, you know, sometimes those mechanisms take
a minute to make sure all of their money is in
an order. I mean, look at the the deal between
Galaxy and Inter Miami for Casamero, Casamero
for the discovery rights. It went through and
then suddenly they started investigating how
the money Exchange hands because they think there
was some tomfoolery there So these things take
time and especially with an entity a single entity
like MLS Maybe there was a discovery right that
they had to go through maybe it was just they
needed ten extra Garber bucks And they had to
find it in the sofa somewhere, so it's those
kinds of things Yeah, Lewis R says do you think
Sean Kerry's interim role is taking away from
his assistant GM duties and slowing us down from
getting more players quicker I like this question.
Yeah, no But I don't think Sean Kerry sleeps.
So I think he does the interim job during the
day. And then I think he's talking with Kano
all night, watching footage, talking to player
agents. I think he can do both things at the
same time. We also know from our conversations
with him that he is planning so far ahead that
we wouldn't actually know this until next season.
Right. So when we talked to him last year, he's
like, I'm already planning the 2026 season. When
we talked to him this year, he's already already
thinking about players we can sign in 2027. So
in that regards, If next year our talent pool
is dried up and we're struggling, then okay,
maybe, maybe something happened. But right now
these are players and like acquisitions and like
he's thought about this like last year. A great
example is Matthew Ndongo, right? He went and
got him in August, September of last or two years
ago and then slowly waited, slowly waited, slowly
waited. And then he comes in and then we lose
him right away. We never got to see him at where
they wanted him to at one point have value to
this team. So Sean Kerry is playing 4D chess
while we're all over here playing tic -tac -toe.
These are not the same things. I want to quickly
interrupt Joe into house asks in the chat, is
there actually CAP in the USL? There is not CAP.
There are international slot requirements. But
what I mean by CAP is just getting the money
back off of the limited budget charge that a
USL roster has to operate. Brett Johnson, Dan
Kerber do not have infinite dollars, even though
we hope they do. So getting even something like
I'm just going to throw a number out there arbitrarily.
$100 ,000 back can do a lot for them to get the
next level of players that they need for the
remainder of the season. What's the next question
here? Katie B writes in, do you think we see
the return of 25 -day contract signings, or even
worse, loans from MLS? So we're loading a player
up. Are we going back to the Rebs well? I don't
see us doing a 25 day contract unless we get
another injury. That was very much like you brought
up earlier in the show when we had like eight,
nine injuries. That was the kind of desperation
thing where the idea is like, can we just get
through this month and have our players come
back and maybe we don't need this guy? Um, I'm
not like loans could potentially happen. Um,
that would probably be something though that
like we just talked about, like Sean Kerry would
probably already have some potentials. uh with
their summer window opening up if we see some
more mls teams making some moves abroad bringing
some players in there's a potential where some
of like the they're kind of lower end players
who are maybe not making the the the You know
the game day rosters could be available. We could
potentially see something like that Stacy L says
we've defeated a lot of our normal tough opponents
this year loud in Pittsburgh Hartford Who's our
remaining hurdle to get a singular result against
to test their medal or have we already accomplished
that? I mean we did beat Sacramento Okay, so
Sacramento, but that's West Coast too. So I think
for the matches that are left I think the big
test will be FC Tulsa You know, can we take on
what was the best in the West last season in
case we run into them again as a fixture going
into playoffs? Uh, and then I think we, I think
the road to redemption, if we need to put some
capstone on it, I think it's Louisville when
they come to us in September. Mike in the chat
also says Kola Spigs. I mean, I think, you know,
we've Kola Spigs is a feel good statement. It's
a good moment for us. They are third in the table
in the Western conference. So like, yes, I think
that that is probably the next team to your point
in the chat. I think you guys are spot on. But
I expect to blow through them because this is
building to, again, this is our revenge era right
now. I think Eastern wise, if we're really talking
about it, I think the only real hurdle left,
maybe Detroit. We floundered against Detroit
earlier and they remain at the top of the table.
So yeah, I would say Kolo Spigs, Louisville City
and Detroit City FC. Shadow Wolf writes in, I
guess I'm gonna answer my own question here.
Matt, you were quite mixed on Clay and Grant
the last couple of months. How are you feeling
about that now? For the record, I was never mixed
on Clay. Clay has been my favorite player of
all time. Sad to see him go. Well, Hugo's technically
my favorite now because he's just so funny. But
I have been all on Team Clay for the entirety
of the season and last season. I think that him
and I think him, Amos Shapiro -Thompson and Hugo
Bachreck were the perfect triangle, getting back
to kind of what those could look like with Amos
maybe being a little bit more farther forward
and then they could all kind of rotate around.
I think it's going to be a damaging loss to see
Clay gone. I think we don't realize yet. There's
going to be something, whether it's a locker
room vibe. We're going to need like a 36 yard
long shot goal. Yeah. Cause it's the only way
to score. Who is that now? Is that Hugo? I guess
it has to be. Uh, and then Grant, but Grant,
you're right about, I have been a little bit
sour on him lately. I think he's done a really
good job of stepping up at a moment of need.
And we've heard Conno say that like when a, when
a team gets tested, there's no guarantee. that
you're not going to play for the season. You
may get called up in a moment. Look at Daniel
Revere. David's only 10 minutes, but he's getting
called up now to be a part of this team in a
big way. And I think Grant Stoneman, you know,
is the biggest call up of that right now. And,
you know, he's rotating backline partners and
Kareefa, Frank, Ahmadi. So he's had a little
bit of a different flavor each time and he has
shown his leadership. He's shown his abilities.
I still think he's got older legs. I'm not going
to not say that. I think that he's probably the
slowest of our back line, but If you play in
a way that suits your strengths and you have
a partner in that defensive spine and that column,
I'm fine with it. Like, I don't hate it. We've
just seen some missteps and mispositionings when
Stoneman has been on the field in some prior
games. But I think he's getting over that now
with the repetition and the minutes. So I'd say,
you know, if I see Grant Stoneman and he's like,
hey, I heard the show and heard you weren't so
keen on my performance, I'll give him apologies.
I'll say, hey, here's your flowers, man. You've
been doing a really good job. Thanks for thanks
for repping the crest. Yeah, I. I'll have to
agree. I kind of felt the same way. I think part
of it came down to we felt that partnership with
Kareefa and Grant was just not enough speed.
And then, like you said, maybe he just hadn't
got enough reps. And I've honestly been impressed
with his last few performances. So shout out
to him. Alan P says thoughts on the Oakland Roots
debacle with their stadium lease. Huge embarrassment
for the league. Yeah, so I didn't know this when
Alan P went in again. I was on vacation. So for
those that don't know, Oakland Roots have gone
into strong -arm tactics in not paying their
lease agreement to the Coliseum property owners
in Oakland, I think they're called JFA, and now
are in a type of, I don't want to say receivership
because that's not how it works, but basically
they did not meet their deadlines to pay what
was owed to the stadium in terms of personnel
for concessions, parking, all that stuff, and
are now in a state of risk to finish their games
at the Coliseum. It's a bad look because they
were already planning on exiting the Coliseum
at the end of the season. I don't know the new
location of where they were going to go. I know
that their permanent site is something else that's
happening like down the road, like possibly 10
years. For me, this is bad because it looks like
we are in financial instability. This is supposed
to be a club that, you know, they did the player
shares to build their capital. They've had big
names attached to the project from like celebrities
and artists. To me, the bigger issue isn't not
paying their bills on time. It's the fact that
when the city goes to think how you are as a
sports franchise and a partner in our city and
you're screwing over what's already existing,
whether it's for good reasons or not, that can
get you in a jam later when you suddenly need
handouts or back scratches from the local city
ordinances and governance. So I'm a little concerned
on what that looks like. It's not great. I've
heard that they're going to raise the bar, like
they're going to pay $200 ,000 per game more
to pay that off in time. I don't know why USL
hasn't stepped in and like, let's not let these
optics damage the brand as we're really close
to putting this ProRail system. We need to look
stronger than we've ever looked. And I think
this is a little bit of egg on the face of both
Oakland and USL right now. And this should be
cleaned up by tomorrow if they were smart. I
told you about that whole Lego thing that I was
really into that documentary where like they
didn't pay some dude $100 ,000 of missing product.
And now they're saying it's going to cost this
company something like $400 million in bad press
and lost sales because they just didn't do the
right thing. Oakland roots management, us LHQ
do the right thing here. I don't know. What,
what do you think about that? Yeah, it's weird.
I think they asked that they started. The first
game in the call scene was like, oh, wow, this
is great. Tens of people. And then immediately
plummeted that they were all missing the A's.
And so it should have been it should have been
a situation where they really should be playing
somewhere else. It should have never been there
to begin with. They should have had one game
there as an exhibition, like not an exhibition
match, but an exhibition experience to say, hey,
you know, athletic fans, we're still here. Now
come check it. They should have never done like
that was the dumbest thing ever that that Shame
on them. As funny as it is to play in baseball
stadiums, I think USL, as they become trying
to become a serious league with a D1 tag attached
to it, they need to get away from those situations
as much as possible. Lots of talk as new fans
are coming in from the World Cup cycle about,
I heard Perot's coming, but like, how do we have
6 ,000 person stadiums even work? And like, there's
a lot of legwork that needs to happen. I wish
people would get less stuck on stadium. requirements
and more on like how does the actual infrastructure
of this league work because that's really where
this will all happen whether we get sanctioned
or not like we can build our own pyramid how
that looks i don't know coliseum bad idea oakland
roots be better do better jason uh fun show fun
to be back fun fun to get to catch up and learn
all these things fun to be a listener on the
show instead of just always talking and i think
torrance earned a place in being maybe a more
stable Co -host don't tell him that because he'll
have to figure that out when he hears it But
it's been just really good getting back and I
can't wait to talk all things What is it Birmingham
Legion this Thursday on our next show? It looks
like people like the nine o 'clock to like I've
never seen so many log in at a nine o 'clock
showing So maybe you may we mean you start thinking
about pushing our dates back a little bit Yeah,
well consider that I appreciate all of y 'all
writing in really good questions always. Thanks
for interacting with us Great show. Looking forward
to Thursdays. Uh, we'll catch you next time.
Anchors up anchors up. You've been listening
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