Year of the upset in MLS Cup Playoffs? Crew post-mortem + series-by-series analysis

Extra time is exactly how I find out what's going on in the MLS Cup Off. Maybe this podcast has influenced me a bit as well. Everybody up here, every single day goes into the office, into the laboratory to try to cook up some great stuff for you guys. That's why he's here! Wow, from New York, New York, you are listening to Extra Time. What's up, Doyle? MLS Cup Playoffs in full swing.

Some round one series are over 50% of them, done and dusted, onto the conference semifinals in a few weeks, and four of them are still ongoing. We've got some game, threes coming up. So let's start with the topic that matters most today. Is a penalty shoot out, quote unquote, win really a win and our Charlotte fans basking in their own insecurities right now? Oh, jeez. So you're trying to become the number one enemy of the state of North Carolina. No, how are you doing? I love Charlotte.

I truly do. I had such a great time going there, meeting their fans, meeting their players, meeting their coaches. It's a wonderful story. I just don't understand why they care so much about what counts as a win when it felt like a win and they're going to game three anyway. It just feels like semantics, which on extra time we would never, ever argue. We would never belabor. We have no interest in that. You know, defining words is not an MLS thing. Terms are terms. Just, you know, chill out.

Be free, man. You got something. A win is a win and a draw is a draw. And in this case, they got to get very good draw and a very good PK shoot out win, which is different from an actual win. We would never, we would never delve into semantics. No, come on. What I will say, the record book, what it says, not our business, not our business. Very clearly Charlotte were the better team. So they have that, they have that going for them.

And I think they should be happy about that going into game three against the Orlando side that have not been great at home this year. Okay. So if you need us to sum up what's going on in the in Lusca playoffs right now, we did our round one game one show, this is all of the game twos that we will wrap up and we'll look at just a little bit to game three, but we'll save most of that for later in the week when we believe Kaelin Car will be with us to talk through all of that.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, it should be nice. Should be nice. So Charlotte and Orlando scoreless, but penalties. So Charlotte got their penalty win. They've moved on. We're going to game three. LA Galaxy, Wamp, Wamp, smacked up the rapids at home for one Ricky Poo show. They are moving on. They were the first team to book their spot in the conference, semi finals. And Minnesota joined them.

That'll be the matchup in the conference, semi finals, Lunes, Galaxy, because Minnesota for the second straight game, Drew Salt Lake, but one on penalties, Dan St. Clair out here with the epic Vince Carter. It's over celebration. Like a little bit before it was over, but still very cool. But also did it while Vince's number was being retired by the Raptors and the first day. Dan St. Clair is a Toronto kids. So he probably grew up watching at least watching Vince Carter highlights.

I think he would have been like an infant when Vince was there, but pretty awesome, I thought. I mean, it's great. It's great. I hope that that was all planned out and intentional by Dan St. Clair. And I am going to assume and let's hold otherwise that it in fact was intentional. New York City handle business in city field. So they'll go to game three with Cincinnati. Cincinnati did not show the fight that they showed in the second half at home that got them there.

Win Atlanta, which will be our game of the round in just a little bit. We'll dig into that one. And they silver laid on in front of what 68,000 at the bins, Dax McCarty, he who is not alive may not die. We're not getting rid of Dax just yet. Miami or they got squeaky bum time. As Dean Smith might say coming up in game three. And then of course on Sunday, we had three games, which were all pretty awesome. Started out with New York Columbus and the crew that defending champs are gone. That's it.

And we'll have to dig into that and really do some self evaluation as well as some evaluation of the crew season because defending champs, but they will not be winning another trophy that's just one trophy this year, league scup and some disappointment and a lot of other competitions.

And then Houston Seattle was yet again to draw Seattle one on penalties yet again in Vancouver, which we will dig into in just a little bit at a big time win at home against L.A.F.C. and Vanny Sartini got to talk his talk about who has no playoff wins now. So coming up Friday, L.A.F.C. Vancouver at BMO Stadium 11 PM Eastern on Friday and less season pass. We'll have the pregame show 30 minutes before and wrap up afterwards for you.

And on Saturday, November 9th, you have a triple header since the 19 year old city starts the day at 4 PM from TQL Orlando Charlotte just after that when an entering co-stadium then Miami and Atlanta finished the day at Chase Stadium at 8 PM Eastern same deal. Countdown wrap up all on the molest season pass on Apple TV now. J Mo hit us up.

Doyle and said, it's really been the tournament of the underdog, which is interesting because before the tournament and I mean repeatedly I've said, like good teams don't win a molest cup. Great teams do and that may still be true. But right now we've got some if he situations for some of the great teams and more than that for the crew. He says many of the Red Bulls defied the odds.

New York City and Charlotte are pushing on while White Caps in Atlanta respectfully push the first seeds to a third game. What's the chance we see another upset and if so, which team will come out on top in the game threes? I'm going to say it's a toss up between New York City and Charlotte. New York City. I don't trust on the road. Charlotte, I don't trust to score goals. Number four, it's a toss up. So Atlanta, I didn't mention you put it on your bulletin board.

I just think that Miami will get the job done. Who's the best candidate for an upset in your opinion? I mean, based upon the way they've played, isn't it Vancouver? Right? Have it. The Caps been really, really good over the course of 180 minutes against this L.A.F.C. team that I had in my top tier. And not just not just until IFC, I mean, like sweet slanted Portland as they deserve to be after that wild card game, but like they were, they did it to themselves.

Sure, sure, but they, but Vancouver still had to do the things that sometimes we call into question with them in that game and repeatedly so. Yeah. And it's been kind of shocking because of how they ended their season. What they were four straight losses to enter the playoffs and then they go and they dropped that five-nil in Portland, which was wild because it should have been a home game at BC place that made this one this weekend. Their first home game of the playoffs.

And I put it out after the game was what finished three nil. I put it out that is this a top three performance all time for the Caps and in their MLS existence. And I honestly think it is. It's up there with the five nil over Portland and the five nil over San Jose. I mean, I would stack it on top of both of those. No doubt. I agree. I agree with that. I agree with that. Yeah. I agree with that. Yeah. I agree with that. I agree with that. I agree with that. I agree with that.

Exactly that, right? Like they, I have, I cannot remember. I cannot remember the white Caps handling a team as good as this L.A.F.C. side are in a big moment in their MLS existence. And this wasn't like, I mean, yeah, they got two own goals in that. That's a bit of good fortune. And Vanny talked about that in the post game. But they were the better team. They were like, they were the ones commanding the game. It's not to say LFC had nothing. They had their moments as well.

Certainly, Boanga was dangerous. And you know, Bogush had a few as well. But like, it was Vancouver who were in charge of that game. And it was just a 180 degree reversal from what we've seen from these two teams in previous playoff matches and in Conkingham Champions League play over the past couple of years. That was the test, right?

And we'll get to this in a second about what we've said about Vancouver, what they haven't lived up to, the expectations that they just haven't gone over the line on. Like, San Jose and Portland were in many ways like a peer, right? Like this mid-level team that are trying to take a step up. Like, can they join, not even join? Can they just challenge the elites? Except it'd be more than a speed bump in these situations. And this was that test.

And honestly, in game one, I thought they passed the test as well. But like, they bang the joint of the crossbar, Ryan Gaul, Brian White hits the post. There are these moments, especially against LFC, where if you get up on them, that's where the game is to be won. More than I think any other good, such great team in the league. Like, LFC need the first goal. It sets up everything they do. It makes them so difficult to play against. And when Vancouver got it, they handled business.

Now, I also have to say just, and honestly, we are into the best thing you saw here. No, like, this has got to be the best thing. For you. Yeah. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay. So a little bit of a segment shift for those you're trying to track this at home. I'm going to add to that, just Ryan Gaul in general. Like the signing for Vancouver, the performances he's putting in not just now, but consistently really since he arrived.

Sometimes I get a little bit, like, a little bit grumpy about like, hey, this guy's underrated. Hey, you guys don't give this guy enough love. Like, here's your working class MVP trucker hat, even though that was awesome. I still have it. It's in my closet. I don't wear it, but I look at it often. It could be annoying, but I can never. It seems like a good fishing hat, though. It does. That's true. I shouldn't have him brought it out in that way. It's a little cold for that now.

But next summer, you'll see me somewhere in New Jersey in that hat. It just, Ryan Gaul is the guy where I am yelled at from the mountaintop forever, Caps fans. This guy is the best player in a series that has Denny Bawonga, Olivier Jiroux. Who has been bad? Kike O'Levere, you know, all these guys that have big price tags, big pedigrees, big places both within Major League Soccer, but also within big national teams.

And Ryan Gaul, that guy, like, he's the guy that when he gets on the ball, you perk up and say, what's he going to do now? That first goal that he scores, the way that he sets it up, the way that he arrives, the just like the nonchalant aspect of some of the things he does technically. He doesn't, he's Scottish. He wouldn't believe it. Scottish messy. This is both a good platform for understanding how good he is, but it's also a downstream effect of actually going out and getting that third DP.

Because the difference between the, and we have to, you know, we have to put our hands up because of going into decision, decision day, we were like, what is the point of the Stewart Armstrong signing? He had played 120 minutes. He hadn't looked good when he got on the field and he is reborn in the playoffs and being able to stick him in that three man midfield with Ali Ahmed and Andreas Kubas. It has unburdened Ryan Gaul from any positional responsibilities, right?

And hand in hand with that has been Vanny switching to a four three two one, the Christmas tree. And when you have Brian White making the right run every time and being the type of sort of physical number nine that he is and then Fafa Peco sort of orienting his movement towards white and Gaul. And when I say towards, I don't mean like physically towards, but like basing what he's doing, Rothball at attack. Being a complimentary mover, right? Like a space creator.

Yeah. And making those hard runs through the lines to soften up the opposing defense and occupy them. All of that has worked in concert with putting Ryan Gaul in a position to win games. And that's good coaching because you want your best player in position to win games. And this is, look, this is the best I've ever seen the Vancouver White Caps play. This is it. We've been waiting since 2011 for them to look like this team for any sustained amount of time.

I thought, you know, I thought they looked like it last week to Saturday, Vanysartini. He said, after this game, he said the performance was really good, but it was kind of the same level as we did in LA last week, just that we had all the luck of half centimeters go against us last week. And today it was all for us. And he's right. You said it. Like Gaul hit the crossbar on a free kick at the end of the first half.

Ryan White hit the post on a really nice sequence of play with five minutes into that game. They had other attacking sequences that were just centimeters off. And I said that with the European spelling to respect Vanny and our Canadian friends up there. And in this game, two own goals, you know, everything sort of aligning, but that's like that's those are the kinds of breaks that you get when you're allowing your best players to decide the game. And they've hit on that now.

And their best players look at this point every bit as good as L.A.F.C.'s best players. And then there's folks that is as bad breaks in the first game, right? The handle. Yep. Like just an arm a little bit extended. And now instead of from the run of play, you're behind the L.A.F.C. You've handed them the opportunity to kick it from X yards away. And that usually goes against you.

So look, the way we'll do all these series and try to dig in because we have Thursdays, we'll give a little nugget on each of the games and we'll try to go big picture. So in this case, we've sort of explored it. But is this happening for Vancouver? Like are the quake or the caps almost said quakes? I'm still throwing a pack to that previous playoff one. Are they this good? Is do I'm strong? The Scottish and Iesta? Can we stop talking about Vanny Sartini and playoff games?

And Vanny said this quote, you're always bustin' my balls because I've never won a playoff game. Now I have one, two. Bam. I can't wait. Like, imaginary heard that mic drop after he did that. Rubarb Friend hit us up on Twitter and said, now that the White Caps have jumped through all the constantly moving goalposts you guys keep setting for them. Quote one more time. They're not constantly moving. They have not been constantly moving. They've not been constantly moving. They've been in.

They've been in movable acts. We have been, we have been very consistent with what we've wanted to see from the Vancouver White Caps. And they continue. And they jump through them, right? The one more piece, Stuart Armstrong was a question mark, but now that he's on the field, he's clearly changing the way they play in a great fit. To play off wind, okay, we've got two of those. And, you know, I would count Portland, but I count the LAFC one much more.

And then a win against a big team in a big moment. This is your season on the line at home. It's a big moment. We are taking them seriously. And we should be taking them seriously. What I love about Stuart Armstrong, Doyle is the complimentary part and you talk about it with Fafa, but within that midfield, like Oli Ahmed is going to carry the ball. He's going to put incredible defensive pressure on teams. Kubas is just like, doesn't get it up. He was awesome for the radar in this game.

He has in terms of, oh, danger is coming here. I'm going to be perfectly positioned and then I win physical battles and I'm super clean with the ball. I'm not giving it away in bad positions, but I need people in front of to give that ball who can then make the pass to advance the ball. And that is, that's Stuart Armstrong. And again, we can raise our hand. The profile, the salary number, the age, it didn't seem like it was a home run. And it may still not be.

It's a small sample size, but for the time being, like Vancouver around in the bases and they're like, why not us in game three? Why not? Yeah. And the pattern of play, the sort of where the game is going to be contested. Right now, it feels like it favors the caps because they're winning the midfield battle. They're punishing L.A.F.C. for playing two in central midfield. And they're, the caps are playing with three. And sometimes it's four because they have the stability to let gold drop in.

And that is putting L.A.F.C. up against it, right? It's forcing them to scramble. It's asking too much of that two men central midfield to actually contain things. And because of that, the caps are getting into positions in the half spaces. If sometimes even with the right back, by the way, September Halter at right back was really really good. No. Getting these guys into positions where they can create wide overloads.

And then when you have Fafa and Brian White and then Gold crashing in as a third man, you're getting really good runs in the box. And that is like, it's a Vancouver who feel like they're in charge of this series. L.A.F.C. might win anyway. L.A.F.C. have a lot of good defenders and they are terrifying on the break. And it didn't work out for them in this game. But I don't think Steve Trandell is going to care that much that his team is losing the midfield battle.

I think he happily trades that for space to attack into. And that's the terms of the engagement in game three. I love the fact that Rattie said space to attack into a massive horn sounded in the background as if to emphasize that point. It should be really interesting. Friday night, 11 PM Eastern time L.A.F.C. hosting Vancouver with a spot in the conference semi is on the line. And unless season pass, you know where to get it. Best thing I saw in around one game two.

It's going to be Ricky Pooge, the entertainer. There's just something about watching Ricky that I don't think that you get from any other player in this league. Perhaps even messy. Ricky's just insatiable desire and demand to be on the ball, basically all the time. And the way that he changes speeds and changes angles and like re-orients the field based on how he's moving what touches he takes in the movement around him is just it's so fun to watch.

And sometimes it bites them that like insistence because there's space behind him. And we've seen that this year. But when he's on and teams can't get pressure to him, the way that he runs through the lines, the way that he like makes himself available, the way that he does that little tin yard burst and then stop his ability to play and be technical at high speeds, his

composure in front of net and then add to all that this personality that he has, which is just like, you know, perfect hair, perfect smile, white teeth, you know, blank eating grin, grinning at you after he begs the goalkeeper, you know, hitting like coming up with celebrations where he looks, he looks, he's never thrown a baseball in his life. And just he and everything.

I mean, did you see that he the way he threw that I'm like, Ricky, you've never thrown a like you've never thrown a ball before, dude. But it's so funny. He's like, I wanted to honor the Dodgers and all this. But he just, I feel like he gets it in terms of being an entertainer and not just that he gets it, he wants it. He needs it. Like it makes sense to me that he ended up in LA and was like, I am going to resign long in term with the galaxy.

And then I want to be in a place where things revolve around me. That makes sense to me and it works. Now the flip side is the galaxy weren't tested at all oil by the rapids, which we can get to in a little bit. But Ricky being Ricky got me super excited for the conference semis. He's been the best player in these playoffs. The galaxy have been the best team in these playoffs. It is hard to read a ton into that given how depleted and out of their depth, the rapids looked.

And the rapids had a great season. I think they check most of the boxes they wanted to check heading into this year in terms of who's are going to be as a club. But they gave up 60 goals. And every time they looked, they played the galaxy in the regular season, they looked like a team that was about to lose 5-0. And what was it, 9-1 over the two games? Well, and just expand that too. If you spend the regular season, the last five halves they played against them. It was I think 12-1.

Yes. They were down one nothing. The previous game of the regular season, 1-3 nothing in the second half, 5-0, 4-1. I mean, you just knew from the jump. And this is unlucky for Zach Steffen, but it's also a mistake, obviously. When you play the galaxy and you give up in two games, one, a soft set piece goal on a looping ball to the back post to start game one, and then two, bang a ball off-gab real peck into the corner somehow. And you just didn't have a chance.

Yeah. You just don't have a chance. We'll get to more on the rapids in their path forward in just a little bit. Gabor Opeck, by the way, is your MLS newcomer of the year. He beat Luis Suarez. He won all three voting categories. Media, players, and MLS front offices. So it deserved for me. He got your vote, right? He did. Yeah. Yeah, same. And look, I can honestly say that had Luis Suarez won it, I would not feel any sort of way. I would not be writing.

It would be, it would be deserved for Suarez too, but I'm happy for Gabor Opeck to have won it. And he's the first Brazilian sense who do I'll to win the newcomer of the year? A golden boot winner. Camila? No. Good guess so. Oh, Luciano Amilia. Yes, that is correct. Those who know, no. Luciano Amilia, legend. All right, game of the round. Atlantic United versus Inter Miami. Edgar Hernandez hit us up and said, FIA, that's all I got looking forward to the episode. Why not?

That's like the theme of the playoffs so far. Why not? Why not scrape your way in and then take the quote unquote, best regular season team of all time to the brink? Two one win, Shanday Silva with a gold and stoppage time to send the bins into raptures. There were 68,000 people there and it was fun. It was super fun. What did you take away from this one? I mean, all the weak points we've talked about with Miami all year long, they were on display.

And then without Busquets to set the tempo, the overwhelming attacking talent advantage that they have, it just was never able to shine through. They didn't control this game. And that's what that's the knock on Miami is that in situations like this, they are just, they don't put games away in a way that you would expect them to. And it's why I've kind of hesitated calling them the best team in the league even though they have, you know, set a new points record and are favorites to win MLS Cup.

But they like, they've done it by winning the moments, right? They've done it by having two or three guys who can get into the final third and create a goal basically whatever they want. It sometimes seems. But that's dried up. And I haven't like Suarez Messy and Alba haven't been those guys over two games against Atlanta. And that left the door open for Atlanta to take advantage of the mistakes that Miami make every single game, every single game.

They give you chances the way that Atlanta were able to get chances in this one. And credit to Atlanta for taking advantage. Like it was, it was unexpected, but it was also like, yeah, this is the script. We've seen it 34 times this year. Set pieces. And then a transition moment where the back line is forced to make decisions quickly or act as a unit and don't make the right decisions. Like it's really as simple as that.

And I agree with you that they just looked out of sorts in terms of, you know, creating those moments for Messi and for Suarez and others to just have a little bit of space on the ball to get out in an open field where it's impossible to deal with them where they say we're going to make better decisions in you. We're just way better, technically than you. And at the end of this, you're probably picking the ball up at the back of your net.

And at the end, to me, it came down to a weak link game and like, why got all year has been a weak link? If you're going with a 352 and you're going to play why got at wingback and you're not going to use Julian Gressel. Like what is Tata even doing there that makes zero sense on any level? Like in theory, you could say, all right, well, I got is he's the better defender.

That's why he's out there because we want, you know, Messi not to have to worry at all about what's, but why got his terrible defender and showed it on the goal? And that statute defending is, it was like, it's like his brain froze in the moment. John De Silva's running out and he's like, do I step? Like, dude, you're the last defender in second half stoppage time of a one one game. You have to step. I mean, you can't just stand there. That's the last thing that you can do.

Wasn't like there was a runner on the outside. It's like, and even if there is, make Sean De Silva make that decision and execute on it. Don't just let him run straight at goal and smoke the ball like that. That's the easiest scenario for Sean De Silva and credit the silver coming off the bench. He did it. But also credit to Maranchauck. I know that that's not like a, oh my God. How does he make that pass? What is going on here moment?

But those are the moments they need from Alexi Maranchauck, which is he gets on the ball in a high leverage spot facing forward and there are multiple runners in front of him. It doesn't have to be a line breaking pass every time. Sometimes it's just a matter of this guy understands how to pick the right option. He plays to the right foot at the right pace and he makes a simple play and you win the game because of it.

The thing that the common thread that we're seeing from the good moments between Maranchauck and Stu Armstrong and Emil Forzberg, which we'll get to in more detail in a bit here, is when they do not waste time, when they understand that the opposing backline is out of sorts is vulnerable. They do not waste time playing the ball into an advantageous position. It is a very simple thing, but you should never, ever, ever let a scrambled backline go to waste. That's exactly what Miami give you.

Again, 15 times a game, their backline shape makes zero sense. For the most part, they have enough attacking talent where they can win anyway, but not every time. That was a story in this one. Would you think of the Bragg who's on play before we go a little bit deeper here? I think it's one of those really bizarre moments that people are split on and I can give you my lost side of it, but I think it's more interesting just to ask you straight up, your gut, how do you feel about it?

I mean, Rodondo definitely sort of makes a move towards him where if Guzaland punched that, he's kicking Rodondo as well. I know the consensus on social media and I think in this studio was like, then you kick it, then you do what you have to do to make it clear that Rodondo interfered with you, but also it's like, haven't we tried to legislate that out of the game? Haven't we tried to make it where it's like, well, we know what would have happened if Guzaland had punched.

So I didn't like the ruling, the decision on the field. I thought it was pretty clear that what Rodondo was doing, but I didn't lose any sleep over it. Yeah, I hear you. I think I feel all those things too and there's a lot of little moments that could have flipped this one to Guzal stands to, hey, that's clearly a foul. I think one of those is, if he kicks it, there is a decent chance, but like, there is at least a chance that he injures himself or he injures Dondo.

Look, I think we're having, sure, I think if to go back and say, there's a chance that he doesn't hit Rodondo. I don't think Rodondo is, it's not like Rodondo's next to him, like up on him. There's still space based on the angles that we have for the ball to potentially be kicked. Rodondo takes one step in. Now, if Rodondo even appears to act like he is trying to kick the ball as it's being dropped, this is a foul 10 out of 10 times. But Rodondo took a step.

To me, it was more distract rather than impede or foul and the laws are pretty clear. It is explicit in there. It's, quote, prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball. He didn't do that. Now, the flip side is, did he try to attempt to kick the ball while the goalkeeper is in the process of releasing? He didn't do that either. So, it's a weird one. There's gray area. In the opinion of the referee always does a lot of work. It's like, you know, that's what everything is based on essentially.

The referee could have said to me, yes, but he had a great angle. He said, no, and it turns out to be a weird one. I'm just thankful it didn't decide this game. Like, I'm just thankful that that moment, that call, that little vigarity of the law book didn't make the decision. And look, Greg was on as I'm guessing mad about that. I can understand that he would be. But that's not two games in a row where he's had a little bit of a blip and they figured it out. No, two games in a row.

You go back to wild card. So two games, two or three. Two or three. Yeah. So, hey, you live to fight another day, Fee, baby. Nobody cares what that call is now. Can I ask you this on big picture? Should we use the upset forecast here? I don't know if you remember that model? 65% that there's a 40% chance of 3% upset. Right. Are Miami really in serious danger of getting bounced here? Are they just are they just coasting and distracted? I think the I think Miami is going to win.

I would be utterly shocked if they didn't. But anytime it comes down to one game, they could trace a hot pissed off goalkeeper on the other side. And tree calendar could do the thing that he did. What was it? Where he lets the ball roll through his legs. Yep. You know, the mistakes go both ways, right? Yep. And look, so far, Emma Lasca play us has proven to be too big a stage for Suarez and Messi. It's just it's clearly getting to them the amount of pressure.

So. I mean, you don't you don't know how you'll perform until you get there. Right. You know, it's sort of the unknown. Put a number on it, we've put a percentage. In Miami. Yeah, I'm very curious. Busquets. His status for this guy. They missed him in this one. Did I read Sush here correctly that he was dealing with potentially like early signs of pneumonia? Oh, I missed that. I believe that's what Tata Martino said. And if I'm if I'm wrong here, I hand up.

But yeah, this is going to be a really interesting week in terms of his his status. I would put the odds of an upset at. I'm going to say, I'm going to say 30%. You're given you're given Atlanta a one in three chance of winning this game. I do. I think. Yeah, I think Miami Miami. I was thinking I was thinking like 5%. Miami consistently making up mistakes that it's believable to me. This is the model, dude. There's nothing exact. It's all it's models. So the model is so good.

It's me like clearing my mind and then just seeing what number pops up. And if I'm right, I'm right. And if I'm wrong, it's the models fault. All right. It's the models fault. All right. Let's talk Red Bulls and Columbus crew because we will have a new champion this year in major league soccer. This is one of the, I mean, it's one of the all time upsets the New York Red Bulls knocking the crew out in round one and not only knocking them out two wins in three games. Yes. Charlotte, I understand.

We're calling that penalty shoot out win a win. But also it would have been a win on aggregate. Doyle, if this was the old two leg series on aggregate, this is still in New York Red Bulls win. Is this the biggest upset in MLS history? My gut says I can't think of a bigger one. Yeah, the only ones that come to mind NYCFC over the revs in 2021. Now, that's just because of the point differential between the two teams. The revs were 22 points there. Yeah. NYCFC.

For me, no, because that New York City team agree. If you go look at the bones and you look at their history and what they'd accomplished as a group leading up to that moment, no. Yeah, I agree with that. And then the other ones that came up are Galaxy over San Jose in 2005. San Jose in 2005 were the supporters shield champions. They would go on the next two years to win back to back MLS cups as Houston Dynamo.

Of course, that 2005 Galaxy team had the best player in the league in line in Donovan and would do the open cup MLS Cup double. So that one doesn't feel right. And then the only other one is another Red Bull upset over Houston in 2008 that Houston team coming off to straight MLS Cup wins, lost three-nil at home to a Red Bull's team that had been very, very, very up and down that season under one Carlos Asorio, but they settled into a 4-4-2 for the playoffs and became a much better team.

I mean, they were fifth in the East that year if you remember. But I personally think that Houston team was kind of cooked by that point. Like they were not the same team that they had been the previous three years. Whereas look, man, this Columbus Crew team has looked like one of the two best teams on the continent over the past 18 months. I think, yeah, I think this is probably it, especially considering the fact that in the 90 days before this series, the near grubbles won two games.

Two. This was not a team that had some bonafide record of success slash momentum slash, oh, they might just go ahead and do it sort of vibes coming into this one. We had, Ema Forsberg was getting healthy and that was the big positive, but like Lewis Morgan hadn't scored in from the run-up play in months. Yep. Vince Er hasn't been that dude all year long. It's been a team that has had a good defense, but questions at goalkeeper as well.

There were just all these sinews that came together in the right time from tactical to individual performances to, you know, we can talk about the crew, but I think on the cruise level, like an element of sort of exhaustion and, you know, bad performances at the wrong time. And in the Miami point, also just, there's some flaws that have been there all season long that got exploited.

To me, when we're talking about the crew and this upset and then also in our Miami at the same time and are they the greatest team, like they were sort of on different ends of the spectrum, like in our Miami, the argument was not about aesthetics. It was about just pure results. It was results based results and overwhelming talent. The crew was more about aesthetics combined with results, but then a question mark in the big moment this year because they have had a lot of big moments.

They've been in a lot of big moments and it's just the league's cup for them so far. What did you make of the game plan in game two, like compared to game one, the way the games went? I mean, I thought the crew were the better team, right? I think I sent to the group chat when Rosie hits the post and then Kucho hits the post right after her is like, oh, guys, I think Columbus are cursed.

Like this just feels like one where it's a game of inches and every little thing is going against them and then they get that breakthrough goal and it's like, oh, okay. All right, they figured it out. They're going to start doing crew things and then they just didn't have the legs to do it.

You got to give a ton of credit to the Red Bulls because they knew immediately every single time where the next pass was to get in behind or to get into the channels or even to just get into the half spaces and make the crew play reactive soccer. And when you talk about, you know, they have their flaws as well, that's the one. When the crew have to play reactive soccer, they have not been particularly great this year. And that's built into the game model.

That's the trade off that Wilford Nounsey is willing to make and it's why I love them as a head coach. And why I love this crew team because they went to Tigress and Monterey and they played front foot proactive soccer. But also when both those games took, took punches early. That were arguably preventable. Like, and in this case, I think the biggest preventable here is the, the play on the sideline with Marrera that starts the counter attack that leaves the first goal for the Red Bulls.

I mean, that was eerily reminiscent of a moment of MLS Cup. Like a very similar location, maybe not a completely similar goal in terms of the way it was scored, but it was like, oh, I feel like I've seen that before. And it's those little moments. Like you just can't turn off there. You can't allow Rudy to be isolated. You have to just run through the guy, get the ball to play, keep playing regardless.

As Jonathan Nagby said afterwards, you have to play to the whistle and credit to the Red Bulls. It seemed like in leg one, when they got those moments, they didn't finish him. But you only need to do it once. Like you just need to do it once and Dante van Zier for all the stuff we spilled about, you know, is this, is he at a DP level? He did it once and he did it in the biggest moment of the season for the New York Red Bulls. And then they did it in the penalty shootout.

And that is not a place that the New York Red Bulls historically love to be. I was in the stadium last year when they lost that penalty shootout to Cincinnati. And it just felt like in that moment, like, yeah, they're going to lose this. Yeah. This was their first ever PK shootout win in the playoffs. So hell, this was, this was, this was a groundbreaking moment for the Red Bulls who, you know, they had the right game plan.

They were, and, you know, Danny Higgins-Batham said it after the first game, like, they were better without the ball than the crew were with the ball. And I think that tilted a little bit in this game. I thought the crew were just, they were a better team. But like, sometimes the better team doesn't win. Sometimes it is a game of inches and a game of luck and the Red Bulls had their luck and they had their game breakers.

And, um, Forsberg in particular, yeah, like his ability to, um, create downhill momentum in an attack out of almost nothing is special. It's why he's been a guy who's played at or near the top of the game for the past decade. And it's, he's, you know, a lot of ways the exact type of DP that Red Bulls fans have been asking for for the past decade since Terry on re retired. And, and he was a different smaker.

Even, you know, even if he's not out there scoring, you know, two goals and getting to assist, I mean, like, he makes a difference in how functional that Red Bull attack is. And then on the flip side, like, they did just enough defensively. Like they held up just enough guys like Dylan Nealis and Sean Nealis and, you know, Tolkien and Reyes, like they, they were able, they were able to get it done, man. And they deserve all the credit.

I mean, I vividly recall the moment where Mo Farsi seems to be in and I think it was Dylan Nealis. It comes out of nowhere to block the shot. Yep. You know, and they had to have a bunch of those moments in game one as well. And on Forsberg, I completely agree with you in the sense of like, oh, flip the switch here is verticality, but it's also he understands the exact moment to do that.

It's almost like when the ball gets to him and that little spot outside the 18 or in that area where he's got two guys starting to run off of him and it's like, is he going to win that individual battle, whether it's a little duel or it's like, can you turn this defensive midfielder? It's almost like he slows down to speed up if that makes sense.

It's like that moment for him is like, oh, I know, I know how to like create the right momentum, the right pace, the right timing here to get the space that I need. And then once I get it, I not only make the right decision in terms of like where to go with the ball, which you can't say for everybody on that team when they're in that position. And I play the right ball with the right spin, with the right direction and the right place at the right time.

And like that is that is the difference maker we've been waiting for. Now, what I still argue that this club should be more ambitious and have more than just that one. Sure. Yeah. But like, they got very fortunate that the timing all worked out because for a lot of the season, Emil was not around to do these things. This was not possible. And at the very right moment that they needed him to be the guy that they signed to be, he was that guy.

I also want to shout out Daniel Edelman because, you know, in all of this praise, you know, Forrestburg is going to get the lion's share of the glory. And, you know, Cornel has got it as well for his heroics and, you know, Van Zier gets the goal, etc, etc. But, you know, Daniel Edelman, who I am hand up, I've not always been like, I'm not I'm not so sure. Like, I'm not completely sold like is done.

Like, could don't go start Edelman was a monster like in ground coverage in the tone setting in this game. He didn't make mistakes with the ball and the crew can make you do that. They liked to counter press and are very effective in that way. He was efficient. He was tough. And when it came down to it, a 20-world kid from war in New Jersey is standing at the penalty spot and has to make the penalty after a bunch of saves and a bunch of drama right before him where both teams felt they had it.

And they didn't. He has to be the one that does it. I thought that was, I mean, that was like what you write up if you're the New York Red Bulls and you've invested all this money in the Academy and you brought all these guys through and you're looking for the results of that labor. Not just the praise for doing it, but the results for your fan base of that labor. And, I mean, the fruits were there, man. It's a huge upset. It's incredible. Let's dive into the crew.

We'll have more on the Red Bulls, of course, because they've got a conference semifinal to play. Taylor Twelman on Twitter. This is why it was way too soon. All caps to call this crew team the greatest and the most history in a season of quote, what could have been they end it with only a league cup trophy. Interesting off season coming and one that is starting about a month earlier than many thought. The Rev Coach Gow, sorry, FC Sincetac, tack, tack.

Looking forward to hearing how Doyle and Weebie and Tom Bogart try to spin this crew bottle job into an argument for how they're actually the greatest team in the history of MLS, but their greatness made it harder for them to win in the playoffs. He's a he's a Cincinnati guy. So you can feel some of that from the sensey folks. Our Trumble, PhD, not, you know, like PhDs on, maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Kind of takes the shine off the Nancy as a genius vibes, LOL.

They couldn't muster one win in a three game series. Sean Rooney, Columbus bouncing two in the first round. Question mark. Well, for Nancy coach of the year, question mark, LOL, MLS quote, experts like Weebie and Doyle. You feel about your nonstop gushing over Nancy now, LOL. Doyle, I at least have some respect for it. I wasn't going to read that last line now that I remember reading the street the first time, but you know, once you get going, reading out loud, just can't stop.

It was, I would get a little theatrical there. And then this is from an anonymous MLS insider that texted me quote, let's get a little bigger sample size before crowning your new king. If you want to crown them, then crown their ****, but they are who we thought they were. And we let them out the hook. I don't know who that's in reference to that might be in reference to us. It might be in reference to the crew, either way, Anders with the impeccably timed drop right there.

And what do you say to all this, Doyle, because we have, we have gushed. We have gone overboard, maybe at times on the crew. We have, you know, we put Wilford on a pedestal. We put this team on a pedestal, but when you look back at it, sort of a mid table team last year, one and less cup. And at the end of the season, the way they played in the playoffs, they weren't mid table looking.

And then this season, they've been brilliant, but they lost in the concav champions cup final stomach issues included. They were, you know, they lost compionist cup. They did win the least cup, but I don't believe they had to beat an illegal mechie. Did they lose? Did they lose compionist cup or did they draw? We'll let Charlotte fans litigate that one.

And then, you know, they got knocked out here and I put in the group chat, you know, hey, like we have bagged on LAFC for arguably better because at least LAFC got the endless cup final and lost. That mean LAFC didn't win a trophy last year. So I don't think there's any comparison. I think that if you want to compare it to an LAFC team, it's 2019, who also won, won trophy and ended up being disappointing in the playoffs. Of course, that LAFC team was also disappointing in the US Open Cup.

They didn't make the other finals. They didn't have landmark wins. And the crew didn't have an opportunity in the Open Cup this year, right? So like, correct. They had leagues cup, though. And they had like they made the finals of two separate continental championships. And as you pointed out, they they lost one of them in large part because of some bad rice and beans or something. Yeah. And look, can we just, are we, are we making an excuse on that one? Is that an excuse?

I'm just asking the question. I don't know. I'm just thinking about how we might judge other teams, but we love the crew. And I say that without abandon because of the aesthetics, because of the project, because of, of really what they represent and what Wilfred has done.

Given what they, given what they did at Tigress and at Monterey, I'm like, I'm willing to give them the mulligan and the benefit of the doubt that it was stomach issues that caused them to utterly fall on their faces at Pachuca. Now, Pachuca is a, Pachuca are a worse team. They just do not have as much talent as either of the Monterey sides, but they do play at 8,000 feet. So maybe Columbus would have lost in the final half hour anyway. We've seen plenty of that from MLS teams over the year.

But I still think the Columbus crew, this era, and I hope this era is not over, but there is a good chance that it is. This is the best MLS team I've ever seen. I don't, I think Taylor's wrong. I don't think it's too soon to say that. I think the one trophy this season is ultimately disappointing in the same way that one trophy for the 2014 galaxy or 2019 L.A.F.C. was ultimately disappointing. Can you really put the galaxy in that same category? Can you really put an in-loss cup winner there?

Yeah. It's just one trophy. They had a big league scup guy, not MLS cup. That was their third MLS cup in four years. I understand what you're saying. I understand what you're saying. I get that they were disappointed, but if you are putting those two trophies next to each other, I respectfully would say they're not equivalent. I understand what you're saying, but given that the crew won MLS cup last year, I think their main aim this year was to win a continental title. And they did that.

The other argument for the crew being the best team of all time across 2023 leagues cup, US Open Cup and playoffs and then 2024, ConquerCalf Champions Cup and leagues cup as well as the Compionase Cup. All the knockout tournament play heading into these playoffs. It was had played 25 games and over those 25 games, they were 16 wins, three losses and six draws with a plus 24 goal differential. If you pro-rate that throughout an entire MLS season, 34 games, it's not just a shield-winning pace.

It is a record-setting points pace. It is equal to what Miami did this year in just the regular season. And the crew have done that over the past year and a half in knockout tournament play. And because we're talking about knockout tournament play, these are better opponents, right? That is a record that they've posted. It includes an unbeaten mark against LAFC and Miami in tournament play.

Six games against Club America, Tigris and Monoray, unbeaten in six games against those teams who are effectively the three biggest teams in North America. And the underlying numbers align with the box score numbers and the record. Per opt that they were plus 0.67 expected goal differential per game. If you just plop that down into an MLS regular season, that would be the sixth best underlying numbers of the past dozen years.

So doing that while finishing second in the supporter's shield race on almost two points per game and oh, by the way, they sold one of their best players mid season. I think this is the best team I've ever seen in MLS. I do. And sometimes the best team doesn't win. It happens, man.

But when I think back to what this season was, the first thing I'll think of is probably still going to be messy, but like one B is going to be the crew just because of the way they played and the way they were able to do it across multiple competitions, man. You think about that great sounders team that won CCL two years ago? They then went into the toilet in their regular season. I mean, exactly with Toronto, like Toronto, which is like being the greatest team of all time discussion.

I mean, like, look, Toronto is the greatest team of all time. They're the only team to do a treble and then they followed it up by going to the con cap champions league final and coming closer to winning it than the crew did. And then they went into the toilet and they missed the playoffs, right? You're not supposed to be able to juggle multiple competitions and compete at a high level in multiple competitions in the way they crew did. Miami couldn't do it this year.

Miami got killed by Monterey. Miami law, the crew spotted Miami a two goal lead in a league scop and the crew came back and beat them. This is the best team I've ever seen in MLS. I hear you. I think they're when you say the best team I've ever seen, I think that's where we have to, that's where you have to get, it's about words matter in the way you describe things, right? When I hear you say that, it's not, because people will do this on results, right?

You'll go back and say, well, what did they win? What games did they win? Who did they beat? But ultimately, it's what did they win? Like this is, this isn't aesthetics conversation in a lot of ways. It's a project conversation.

It's not just about, hey, in those 90 minutes or 180 minutes against New York Red Bulls, it's in the totality of that year on the level of soccer played on the chances they took on the players that they improved on the, you know, the tactical identity that they implemented. How does that compare to teams of the past? Not necessarily just in the spreadsheet of time. How many trophies did you win?

But I think when you look at that spreadsheet and I feel you and I hear you on all the things you're saying, there is going to be immense disappointment for the Columbus crew, Wilford Nancy and these players over the fact that they didn't get a couple more of these over the line. And not just not over the line. I think you can excuse the concaf champions, cup one because of the path that they took to get there and because of the extenuating circumstances.

This one is harder because it's the first round. It's a seven-seated team that had done very, very little in the lead up to make you believe that they could challenge you. And then beat you straight up over two games. So you don't even have the chance to go beat Miami. You don't even have the chance to go to the concaf champions, cup run where you're like, well, we beat Cincinnati and we beat Miami and the New York Red Bulls were a speed bump.

And then we got to the final and it bump went at the wrong way and you know what this time LFC or the Galaxy or fill in the blank got the best of us. That's disappointing. It's disappointing for the crew. It's disappointing for me because yeah, because I love the way they play. I love the way they've done things and I wanted to see it play out in, you know, against Miami.

And then this story book that we've been sort of writing all season long of like, well, Miami were the team with the stars who, you know, were able to get it done by the, you know, skin of their teeth through the regular season and sometimes by brute force, but then they went up against the shining white night. And it's like the white night fell down. He fell off his horse. He didn't get there. Red Bulls are like, we're the black night now, baby. Bulls on parade, all right?

Here comes Rage Against the Machine. That's the beauty of the playoffs, but you know, sometimes beauty doesn't always shine through in the biggest moments, I guess. We be what's the best Emma List team you've ever seen. And we're defining this on like I turn on a game and I'm watching them. Not I'm looking at a spreadsheet for. To find out how everyone. I think on the aesthetic sides, it's 19 or it's this team.

It's LFC in 19. So let's take every every MLS team fully fit, drop them into a tournament. Who are you picking? 98 DC United. Another another team that didn't win the sport of shield didn't win MLS Cup. Didn't win the US open. I know, I know, but they had more in their tank from the two years prior than I think the crew do, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. They have more of those things already in their bag.

So to speak, if you were going to do this is a one cup, cup, cup, let's set a, let's set a final four. Let's set a final four just for fun here. Would it be would it be 17 Toronto 19 LAFC and and 2024 crew? And then I mean, maybe 98 DC maybe something else. Who would be the final four teams in there for you? I mean, you probably got to look at those galaxy teams in the early 2010s. It would be 2014 galaxy. It would be 17 Toronto. It would be this crew team.

And then it's a coin flip for me between 98 DC United and 2019 LAFC. I'll take the I will put DC United in there. Well, you know, sorry, I have see we'll put DC in there. Yeah, it's interesting. But the spreadsheet, the spreadsheet, Jackie's think that still think that 2019 LFC is the best MLS team of all time because by the underlying metrics, I mean, I expected goal differential. They are by a mile.

But also if you sort that into playoff teams versus non-playoff teams, especially in the second half of that year, LAFC were not good against playoffs. In fact, I think coming into that series against the sounders, they had been winless in their last six against playoff teams. So what they were really, really good at was running up the numbers against bad teams. And that's where this crew, like this crew team was just kind of average.

What made them outstanding, I think the best team that I've ever seen is what they were able to do against the Monoray's and Tegresses and Clube Americas and Cincinnati in last years. Playoffs and Miami. And of course, the way they absolutely dismantled an LFC team that is also one of the best teams I've ever seen in two finals. We'll have a lot to talk about in terms of the crew going forward.

Tommy Bugger will get on here and then do some scoopage and there'll be some news obviously from this team. We had a bunch of people hit us up. Many Cincinnati fans who's happiness levels, I think have gone up a little bit in the last 24 hours asking, did Joe Burrow have a good name or something like that? McCullough, Colton or Joe, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. How will Columbus deal with Lutti and Nantien Kutcho in this offseason is what they're all asking?

Well, we don't have the answer to that because we don't know that that's going to happen though. I frankly would be surprised if they were both back next year. Look, man, I think if Bill Fridnazzi has come on, this era is over. I think he's one of one in terms of head coaches that we've had in this league. Here's the last one we'll move on. Henry Higgitt says, right Columbus is season on a scale of one to 10. I just want to hear your number.

I think in eight, I think, if they had gotten anything from Hiddlestroza, I think one more match winner to save Roses legs. Things would have been different. I really do think that. But as it is, 66 points, Atrofi, two other finals, not a club record, but developing a player like Aiden Morris into a significant transfer out. I think Columbus fans are still pretty happy this morning and I think they should be. I agree with that.

But I think disappointment is going to be one of the overriding emotions undercurrents of this season as well. All right. More on the Red Bulls here. Do we think there's a flash in the pan or is this like sustainable? Because they haven't. That was man cooking in this pan at all, really. Maybe early in the season when Forsberg was healthy. Maybe when they have Forsberg, Morgan and Vanzier starting together across all competitions, there are five wins, two losses, four draws. Pretty good.

Pretty good, not like two of the greatest thing ever. Yeah, yeah. And we don't know who their next game is against. Could be either Cincinnati, could be NYCFC, could be any number of stadiums. Like those feel like teams that they can beat. Yes. Is this the magically, we'll save that for a later date. Sorry, I don't want to jinx you out there. Red Bulls fans. All right. Sounders, Dynamo. If you have any thoughts on the crew or the Red Bulls, we'll get to them on Thursday. Hit us up.

You know how you get at me at Andrew underscore we be on Twitter. Sounders go through. They PK slapped their way past the bone headed Dynamo. That's the headline I wrote for myself here. Couple observations from the game. I think the big obvious one Hunter Brookbauer hit us up and he basically sums it up. Houston's back to back mental collapses from the two guys that absolutely cannot have them. And the center's inability to create open play have been the top of the list for this series.

Ache, Ache. What are you doing? Coco Karskia. What are you doing? How can this, I mean, this has to drive Ben Olsen. Absolutely mad. Clearly he was frustrated about the about refereeing and calls and generally feeling on the sideline. But when you go back and watch it, I don't know how many, you don't have any, there's no like, oh yeah, but extenuating circumstances that you can really give for kicking somebody on the field in a scrum.

And then even more so, much more so, spitting at the feet of the referee. This is a real sour moment for the Dynamo and for Ache, Ache. And he has an option next year and we don't know how that'll all work out. But that's inexcusable and it's disgusting. And there's nothing else to say that then that's an epic failure in the biggest moment from your highest paid player and the guy who's defined on the field, the shift at the club over the last two and a half years. Super disappointing.

Just a crushing moment for the Dynamo and still give them credit for fighting in the last half hour and after going down one nil, coming back and generating that equalizer. So the team spirit is still there and Ben Olson has earned his stripes over the past couple years as a top level head coach in this league. I really do think that. But they have some big decisions to make this off season because like Ache Ache didn't look like the same guy that number on his salary is really, really big.

And this kind of disaster in a home playoff game where we're playing a week into Pwnit. And the team need like. I'm sure they're having meetings all week in Houston. I they've been thinking about this option for a long time. There's no doubt about that. And this is going to add a little bit of a little interesting wrinkle to those decisions as well. The other thing for Houston is they've gone out on pks in the last three competitions. Steve Clark has been oh and 17 in that time. That's rough.

That's rough. Over 17 and in the last three. Yeah. It's an over that stuff. That's really tough. That's really tough. Maybe make a call for Elliott Pantico right about now. But anyway, on your side, give me the sounders take on this game. I mean, it was serious. I'm in the series. Yeah, pure sounders. They minimize mistakes and they grind out playoff results in a way that they've been able to basically since Brian Schmetzer took over.

It was impressive for them to do it on the road without Rusnack and Jordan Morris. They've gotten such great contributions from their homegrowns. You know, Obed Bargis back in. Danny Leva was a game changer coming in as a number 10, which I never expected. And then Georgie Manungo, you know, he he looks the part of a different smaker on that wing. But they're still. Pedro De La Vega is not it.

And the rest of the attack, it doesn't feel like can hit the level that you need to hit in order to win MLS Cup. This is not the 2019 sounders. Yeah, I don't have much mouse on this this particular series here. We'll see a lot of time now for Jordan Morris and Rusnack to get healthy. That's a good thing. That's a good thing for the sounders. Is honors is talking a lot of trash in the chat. What does he say? He doesn't believe.

I don't think he believes what he really wants is L.A.F.C. to advance pass van Coover to get a little Ravancha in the conference semifinals. But be careful what you wish for is what I would say. Honors. All right. Let's go. Minnesota United. They spiked the football early, but they spiked it hard right on your the bridge of your nose, Doyle. RSL flopped, but hey penalties. Dantzane, Claire, baby, how did you feel being the, being the brunt of the celebratory trash talk?

Was that a good feeling, middleing feeling, bad feeling? Did you revel in it? I reveled in it. I thought it was, I thought it was great that the admin there was, was keeping receipts. Maybe using them a little bit out of context, but you know, that's what social media is for. And how to context. Like this day and age and this time of society. What imagine that?

But it like it like you win a playoff series when you're the underdog, you get to talk trash at and about anybody who doubted you at any point all season long. And they did it. They were the better team in this series, not by a ton, but they were the better team in this series. And then they were, you know, in Dantzane, Claire, they have the not well of, of, of MLS ability to get inside his heads. He's so much fun. Yeah. I, we need that.

I didn't feel, I didn't feel, I didn't feel like the wrong team went through. I agree. I agree. And look, for Minnesota United, I get it. This should be celebrated for them, especially in year one under Eric Ramsey and all the changes they made in the summer and, and everything else. Like a lot of the experts also like we both picked them. Like I thought they were like the most obvious up, quote unquote, upset pick of the entire round one. And it wasn't perfect.

You know, there are still some flaws here, but I got to give a ton of credit to the organization in a couple different ways. I think it was an open question like how Clidelimod would adapt and what he would do in MLS. You know, we just, we didn't have the track record here. And sometimes when you do that, you just don't know. And I got to give him a ton of credit for his summer moves. They to a man like kind of generally worked brilliantly.

Like we're still waiting to see it from walking prairie, but he has his moments. The one that I think would under the rated is not Kelvin Jebau. I like that one has, has gone really well for them. You have tangible, you know, box score contributions. It's Diaz on the back line, man. That one was quiet, but that was a great signing.

In the first, like the first impression we all got it of him was against the founders where he had that awful game, like hitting suicide passes across field, leading to breakaways and all that. And it like the initial, like it was not good, but that was not the player that he is. And he has been, well, I'll let you continue because that was perfect. You were talking about this terrible moment of like a bad first impression is sirens blared in the background.

And he's like, we just get fortunate with these things, you know, right? There's the clanking radiator, the background noise of the city. It all just seems to work. It's the symphony. So his ability to break lines with his passing combined with Carlos Harvey's ability to break lines carrying the ball off the back line adds a level of dynamism to this back three that is a little bit crueish in terms of their ball progression.

Not a lot else about their game model is too crueish, but that certainly is. And credit to Khalid Al-Ahmad for going out and finding guys who could do that. And then credit to Eric Ramsey for putting them in positions to sort of tilt the game the way that Minnesota have done. Yeah, the right team went through in this one. How do we judge RSL season? Let's go a big picture on this one because we've got time to talk. Minnesota United, I mean, like Ezra Kippuge would tell you a lot of time.

It's time to talk about that. Three weeks, yeah, particular match up here. How do you judge RSL's season? To do the same sort of like crew retrospective on it because they in the first, I don't know how long it was. When it first, let's say February, March, April, May, probably the first four months of season are like these story, perhaps, of him last. And in the end, they still set a club record for points. They made the playoffs again. They sold Andre Scomas for a big O fat number.

Diego Luna took another step forward. And Fidel Barajas. Fidel Barajas, sure, took a, do you want to take a big step forward? The bunch of young players got much better. I mean, like, and Nelly among them, certainly, and, uh, hey, I think had his moments, but wasn't as consistent at the end as you wanted him to be. And Brian Vera was spitting at the wrong times. And that was awful, but like had a, going around, a decent season overall.

And also, which we haven't talked about enough, perhaps, but the club knows and are planning for. They've made the concav champions cup for 2025. That feels universally like a massive success, Doyle. Like if you put those things on the spreadsheet and didn't add all the, you know, the context of the season and the claps and Chicho not scoring goals, you'd be like, bang on, man. That is, that is one of the best seasons in your history, you know, playoffs, notwithstanding.

And yet, it still feels, it feels, it feels kind of like, ah, in the end. Like if Chicho hadn't completely disappeared, I don't think we would, like if they had lost in the playoffs anyway, but Chicho had played well, I don't think we would be feeling this way. But now there's this, like, oh God, do we actually have a high level center forward or is that done? Um, so that, you know, kind of colors. Do they? I think so.

I assume that Chicho is going to go back to being like the last half of the season is the outlier from Chicho in terms of what we've seen of him in MLS. So I think they do. Um, and I like what we've seen from the Polish kid, Marchok, on that right side as well. Consolvus is a little bit more of a worry to me.

But like they end up with a lot of questions, but the questions came because the number of answers that they had for the first half of the season was staggering and put them in a position where they got a godfather offer for the most exciting young player in the league and taking that pillar away and oh, by the way, they lost Pablo Riz within like two games and that's not an easy replacement. I, I don't think it would be fair to be unhappy with the season.

If you were an RSL fan, disappointing as the final two months. I'm happy with the ending of the season. I think it is extremely fair, unhappy with the overall course of the season. I think there's an understandable nature and all that. And I saw you tweet something about people hitting you up and saying what is Pablo under pressure? Should he lose his job? I'm just, I'm befuddled at the reaction of some folks out there. It should not be a discussion. What?

You just like before the start of the season, they took his, they said, Hey, your staff, not your staff. We are going to bring in staff. Then he helped usher in an incredible tactical change. And it was, I mean, the way they did it was smart. Like, get guys around Pablo that are going to do the things that he is, that are not his forte and let him be Pablo. And I thought this season throughout the season, he was that guy.

And at the end, he had to revert back to X dog because his dog was an X on the score. She's sleepy. I know. Did that one just for you? Just for you. And they didn't lose either of these games, right? I think it's not like they, they went out and they got blown out in these games. They, you know, they did not play particularly well, but they were still there fighting. And I think that the pieces are there for RSL to be a good team, center back team again. Got it. One center backs.

That's been, I mean, this has been an underrated story the whole second half of the season, coinciding with their slide is that they haven't any center back health. They've been playing outside backs at center back, like basically throughout this thing, have finished shuffling their lineup. Now, and now he also had a little bit of an issue down the stretch of just keeping his level where it was.

But are you right to point out when Ruiz comes back, that's probably another candidate for 10 or at least ball progression player in the midfield who can do something special. They proved they'll spend. Let's see what they do this off season. Let's see what they do. Anything to add from this one before we keep it moving? Where are you on Minnesota as like a threat to advance deep into the playoffs here? Because that was one of the things that the Minnesota admin ding me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think Minnesota is like a low key kind of a tough matchup for LA because LA want to have space behind you to attack. They would actually kind of like you to come out a little bit more so that they can hit those one or two passes or draw you forward to get back and paint still in behind and to get poosion open space to attack at speed and build momentum and attacks. And Minnesota have sort of proved, especially a way that they're like, yeah, there's not going to be any space for you to do that.

Like our number one principle here is that we're going to be Uber organized in that 541. We're going to take away the central areas and we're going to dare you to go out, out wide and just sort of recycle the ball indiscreet because you can't find a way through us. Like Ramsey has them extremely well drilled in that sense. It just feels like that sort of identity is like the opposite of what LA would envision being a good thing. And Minnesota are a good way.

They'll have believed over the course of this entire season. But why can't we do this? Like we've done it. We've got a way in one. Like we've got players that can threaten those center backs with pace in behind like you both can get there Robin Lode can have a special moment. We have game changers off the bench. I think it's actually a really fascinating matchup and you know the forecast model hasn't started churning on this one. But well, you know, we'll get there. We'll get there.

How about how about Galaxy Rapids just to keep it on this front? What's your what's your quick take on the overall tenor of this series and what it means going forward? The galaxy looked like we said in hour and a half ago the galaxy look awesome. They have so much talent. The killer piece is all living up to it.

I really like what Jove Litch is doing against a team that is a little bit better structured in central midfield and arrayed to take advantage of when the galaxy come unbalanced and lose possession, which still happens. It feels like there would be some vulnerability there. But in this series Colorado just didn't have the horses to take care of that. It didn't work able to inflict any of that on the galaxy and that was pretty much that.

Yeah. I mean, my take on it is just like the talent gap is gapping. So I should notice a little. So I should very, very clear when you bring a Marko Royce off the bench and the flip side for the rapids. They are hoping guys that have never done it in the league basically are who have but extremely inconsistently are going to be that type of difference maker. And so this has been a wonderful season in Colorado.

This is a huge step forward organizationally, the higher end Chris Armas changing the culture, believing that in big games they can do something special, which we saw in Rocky Mountain Cup games, we saw in Leagues Cup and we saw it at times otherwise. Signing Georgie and Hafenavahu and making those permanent getting the best out of coal bass and having another homegrown come through an all you arise that really thrived.

But they got us they can't sit on their laurels that they want to you know, they still finish seven. Yeah. You know, they did sell Moise Womitto and they developed him, which is a huge success story. But is the money from that the money that paid for Georgie and Hafenavahu or is the money from that going to help them take the next step up a level because nobody else around them and certainly in front of them are hitting the brakes. So it's a great season.

It's a season to hang your hat on and to me it's like, okay, but that's just the start. You need a winger. You need a center back. You probably need a true like defensive midfielder presence. To really take the next step, we'll see if they go do those things. How about Charlotte? They got their playoff moment, man. I mean, Pat Ajayman effect. Hey, yo. And I'm honestly not even kidding.

If you look at the amount of attention he requires from the opposing back line, it like it puts Orlando on their back foot. And that I think was a big part of why Oheida and Fakutora's weren't able to get as involved and conduct the game in the way that they were able to conduct that first game of the series when there was really only one team on the field for a good chunk of it.

And then you got to give credit to Tickrish and Kalina who was the best goalkeeper in the league this year and has continued to basically be at that level through two games of the playoffs so far. It was a huge moment for the city. It was a huge moment for the club. And it ended up being a fun game, even though it wasn't a high scoring one.

I just, I think it was a memory for Charlotte FC fans and probably just the city of Charlotte because they hadn't had a first level pro home playoff game since 16 and the Hornets.

I mean, it's one of those sort of pantheon moments in the building of a club, you know, 40,000 people, all the accoutrements that go into a game like that, who you experience it with, how you experience it, what you did before the march to the stadium, you know, I love marches, like just a moment when you quote unquote win because it felt like a win. Who cares about the semantics? And the idea of like, we could still do this.

Like that's the magic of the playoffs and we've seen that from the Red Bulls and from Minnesota United and others is like Vancouver, why not us? Why not now? And I think Charlotte are sort of basking in that moment and I'm extremely happy for them. I just, I just still have huge question marks about this team, like taking advantage of the moments that they give themselves defensively. They were so good defensively against Orlando.

They basically just erased Faku and Oheida and whoever it was playing center forward and put themselves in positions to be really effective on the counter and actually Westwood improved his distribution to get those counter-text started and then the decision making the execution at speed and transition and then into the final third, it's still the thing that holds them back. Still the thing. They had their moments.

They just didn't take advantage of them, whether that's a save or whether that's a, hey, this is going to be a good attack and it broke down. Yeah. They've got to figure that out, especially on the road and remember the last two games in Orlando, they've lost two nothing. So anyway, New York City, balling out at home. New York City Field is where the heart is, Yankee Stadium or Red Bull Rift, wherever they are on that day, they're a different team at home, Doyle.

It just, it doesn't really matter where it is at home, much different on the road, much more reactive and then since he remained inconsistent, just so inconsistent, what did you see from the blue side of New York? Nick Cushion getting another attacker into the 11.

It allowed since, and why see FC to get on the ball much more through central midfield and then because of that, they were able to get their full backs forward to decent effect and doing that got them a huge moment from a Lennitch who had lost his job to Tevon, justifiably lost his job to Tevon Gray mid season, but the door opened for playing time once Tevon got that red at the end of game one and he made a huge play to create that opening goal.

And then they also got a huge performance from Matt Freese in goal, which is something that they have come to rely on. Freese has been awesome. So tip of the cap to Cushion for pulling all the right strings in this one and for the guys on that team for executing. Like they, you said it, like they're a completely different team at home, at any of their three home stadium, then they are on the road. And the question is, no, heading into game three, is that going to continue to be the case?

Because if it is, then it doesn't matter what they did in this game. It's over. And then the question for Sensei is like, which sensei is going to show up? Like is that 45 minutes in game one in the second half where they were back to sort of bullying teams and then once bullied, like going directly to goal? Is that the team that's going to show up?

Or is it the team that makes like defensive errors that are super uncharacteristic and isn't focused in the biggest moments and pays the price for that and can't quite get Lucho and Oroshano involved in the ways to let them shine? I don't know. I don't think Pat Noonan has known for basically the second half of this season. Like I think it all comes back to like collective intensity with this team and winning that midfield battle and just parrying teams and speeding them up.

But if they can't do that, I'm not so sure that they can defensively be the team that made them so special over the last year, which is that they just seemed like they were never the one to make mistakes. And now it seems like they consistently are making a single game and very characteristic mistakes. Like the second goal is just like, wait, what?

Like, you know, whether it's an individual error by Miles Robinson or just he gets unsided and blind or whatever it is, it just feels like, you know, the debt gets shuffled and the Joker pops up on him and they're like, well, we're down to nothing. So I don't know. We'll see. I hope this isn't for Maxi, by the way. Not it for Maxi, I should say. Yeah. I mean, he doesn't look like a guy who's at the very end, right?

Even though obviously he's not going to have much more time, but like he clearly has more minutes left in those legs. He's such a fun player to watch. He's one of the smartest players that we've ever had in this league just in terms of his movement and how he orchestrates a game from central midfield. You know what I want for him? I want him to be Chinte and Sinte Chant Sunches. You remember him? I mean, you remember that for a while? Yeah, but like, it's kind of player.

But, yeah, but I'm saying, you know, I'm just saying, keep him around because he's a magic man. This guy should still be starting for you every game. Yeah. But, you know what? Let's just keep Maxi around. Don't ever let him go. Don't ever let him go. Speaking of that and willing on this point, CL Merlot is reporting that Luke or Ashano and is going to be in Cincinnati long term. He's reporting that it's a $3 million transfer fee, the obligation to pay that based on the loan.

I would be like the deal of the century if they indeed negotiated that and have got that done. So we hope that's true because Ashano might have finished third and newcomer of the year, but he is one of the best players to come into this league this year and in a while, I would say. Yeah, I mean, it's a no-brainer and then the job when loser draw in game three.

And I'm sure the front office is already on it, but like they have to figure out how to get a new number nine into this team for next season. But, or Ashano certainly indication that the scouting network still has some hits in it for Cincinnati. And three coming up Friday, LAFC Vancouver, LNPM Eastern time, countdown and wrap up on NMLS season pass on Apple TV since in the New York gets us started on Saturday at 4pm, then Orlando Charlotte followed by Miami Atlanta.

That is six straight hours of Audi in Lusca playoff soccer for you on Saturday as we set the conference semifinals all the coverage in less soccer.com. We will see you later on this week to preview those game fours and to talk about whatever you want us to talk about. So hit us up in the mail or on Twitter or wherever. Adios, everybody. See you next week.