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This episode of Lobbing Scorchers is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based cellar. Not only are they a local company, but they've been supporting independent Seattle soccer media since 2011 and are run by Sounders fans. They offer the best boutique wines in the world to members of their main... mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple.
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What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 90 of Lobbing Scorchers. We are recording on a sunny Sunday afternoon here in Seattle. And Noah, we're about to lay down a draw pod. How are you feeling? You know what, Ari? It's a beautiful day outside. I'm ready to talk some soccer. I'm ready to talk some sounders. and I'm even more ready to shill.
Yeah, we got some good shilling on this show. But we also do have a draw pod as the Seattle Sounders went down to PayPal Park to play the San Jose Earthquakes. And they came back with a point after a 1-1 result on a second half equalizer.
Albert Rusnak. We're going to break that down in our game review. We're going to hit our agenda check. We're going to react to some of the other results from around MLS and match day six. We're going to check the pulse of the streets. It's going to, it's a jam packed show. I don't even know if I got everything. there. But it's going to be a good show and we have a goal to talk about.
So that's nice. The previous two games, we didn't have that. So it's basically a dub pod for that. You said multiple goals and you would be happy. I said one goal. Maybe two goals. They did get one goal. But before we get into all that, I do have to let you all know, as always.
Lobbing Scorchers is a part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. If you want to get the best independent Seattle soccer coverage, consider supporting us by going to sounderatheart.com slash ls. Noah, what's that link? Sounder at heart.com slash ls. Scroll down to subscribe and support. to get 30 days completely free. Every sign up through our link helps support and grow this show. The road to 100 sounder hard subs is still...
fully operational. And now more than ever, it is a great time to become a member with the season in full swing. Subscribers also now get access to the audio only versions of our live shows, which are a lot of fun. If you haven't been tuning into those, Lobbing Scorchers kick off every Monday.
at 8 a.m. Lobbing Scorchers under the lights every Thursday at 7.30 p.m. And live reaction post-match shows when we have the time. I have been putting the audio up as well. We did a post-match live last night. That was a lot of fun. We've been taking calls on those. So if you ever want to jump on the feed with us and lay down your own takes, anyone is welcome to as long as you're not crashing out fully. You can crash out a little bit. You can crash out respectfully. Yeah, respectfully crash out.
Anyone's free and welcome to come lay down takes with us. Shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Menswear, and Full Pull Wines. As well as our new sponsor, My Data Removal. My Data Removal. You'll hear about it, obviously, in the thing. New sponsor. That's good. We've got another announcement.
Coming at you guys later. And also we're going to be doing, we're going to start doing members only content. That's the other thing to show. We've got 20 YouTube members, but we're trying, we're going to try and incentivize growing that number. So what we're going to do is we're going to lay down bonus. content that's going to be available exclusively to our YouTube members. And I don't know if we fully fleshed out if we're going to like unlock it or if it's just always going to be.
youtube members only we'll figure all that out but that is something we are going to start doing so if you want some bonus content from us become a youtube member it is a phenomenal way to support the show. Noah, did we have any new Sounder Heart? No new Sounder Heart subs, but we're getting there. We're still at 85, so please, sounderathart.com.
They literally broke news on there the other day. The Ryan Kent news was broke by the one and only Nico Moreno. Who was streaming with me at the time. But I'm just saying, if you want to support... more of those kind of stories, all of that sounder at heart.com slash LS feeds us feeds everyone else in the sounders journalism community. So we, we, we move. I think that's enough shilling. Um,
Sub to the channel, like the video, all that. All right. People have to listen to the shilling beforehand. They're probably skipping, but you know what? It's fine. It's fine. All right. Let's get into this draw pod, Noah. I think... Kind of, you know, for one, one draw, there's a lot to talk about with this game.
given how it played out compared to the last couple weeks. Seattle Sounders won, San Jose Earthquakes won. Let's hit our lineup reaction to start. You had Ferreira at the nine again. It was round two of that experiment with Jordan Morris out injured. And it was Christian at right mid again with Albert listed on the left. I don't think he's exactly playing like a pure winger in that setup, but that's how they listed that band of three. Obed and JP. double pivot and your standard back line.
My first reaction when I saw this lineup was, you know, it's basically what we're all tracking right now is Ferreira at the nine, how that's looking. So I guess on one hand, I was okay with them running that again, but I don't know, just... Just from looking at a graphic where you got Christian at right mid and Albert on the left, I guess skeptical is the word that...
I would use no. What was your first thought when you saw the lineup released? Well, it's classic Brian Schmetzer to just troll and put a random formation for the Sounders graph. I'm not actually sure how. they determine what the graphic is going to look like. If Brian actually draws something out or they just kind of like vibe it, but.
A 3-4-3 with Ferreira at the 9, I was like, okay, maybe this makes more sense. He can drop back more. He can get some overlaps with Obed. Obed's going to get to go forward. You got Paul Rothrock who will be able to come in. You've got Christian Roldan who can drop back to swap with Obed. And then, of course, it didn't play like that at all because it really wasn't a 3-4-3. But...
Lineup-wise specifically, I don't know. I was like, all right. I think I tweeted something like, Rusnak and Roldan flanking Jesus Ferreira at the nine. That's something. It's something, I guess. Yeah, I mean, you know, if they're admittedly in a bit of a bind with the personnel, and I don't mind the experimentation, but it just... I don't know. Like, I feel like with how the first two games of Ferreira at the nine went.
I wasn't, I didn't see that and think, all right, this is where they bam three to five goals on the quakes, but I'll, I'll be open-minded and give it a chance. So let's get into the key moments from this game. And the first thing I wanted to talk about was just how it started, because I don't know about you, but I felt like in terms of... things like game state and tempo and even chance generation. I thought the first 15 to 20 minutes were playing.
pretty well. I thought they were really good, really sharp in possession. I thought they were good at... It felt like possession with purpose in the sense that they weren't just knocking the ball around. They were knocking the ball around effectively, but also... Also getting out and running a little bit. And they had a couple of, I feel like they had the better of the run of play in that first 15 to 20 minutes, which if you're the road team, that's always a positive, I think, to start a game.
like that so i was actually pretty pleased with how it was going in that respect but what i will say is uh with that said specifically ferrera at the nine i didn't think looked uh that different from how it looked the previous two weeks i thought the team as a whole uh looked a lot better in a lot sharper in possession and uh the offense looked better in that opening 15 to 20 minutes with the caveat that, uh,
The number nine positions, it just still felt like a little disjointed in that the chemistry wasn't all there yet. Did you see that any differently? No, I agree with you completely. Like, I think that the Ferreira at the nine experiment is just that still like.
I think that it's not done yet. Like I think that you, you signed this player to play this position. It would be not only, it would be not only like, silly to count him out after three or four matches but it would not be doing right by the player who like I don't know if that's where Ferreira wants to play if he wants to play there then you should
trust that he's going to settle in there and do what he needs to do to feel comfortable. And I thought with the, speaking about the lineup, you know, I thought putting guys around him where he could put in service to. probably will work better you know when like Pedro's back and Morris is back like I could see him and Morris playing a dual striker where
Frera can also get on the outside and play like a winger most of the time because, you know, and we'll talk about that second half of his play. But the first half, it wasn't like great, but I wasn't. I wasn't sitting there like, oh my God, we're cooked. Yeah. Like the first 20 minutes was good. It was fine soccer. It was good soccer. It was good soccer. And yeah, they didn't, they didn't get a goal. So that's only worth so much. But, uh, I did, I did like, I did like what I,
was seeing up until, uh, the San Jose earthquakes got the first goal of this game in the, in the 32nd minute, uh, Bo LaBrew or some rookie from San Jose state. I don't know. Uh, this goal was, uh, unfortunate to say the least, uh, is, uh, not good. You know, you never want to give the ball away, but especially like right there, that's not a good place. There's never a good place to give away the ball, but that was an especially not good.
place to give away the ball uh alex rolled on kicks it basically he never saw the guy i think like he thought that he was kind of like in the corner of his eye yeah i think he didn't see him in his peripheral and thought jp was flat-footed he thought that he had an easy pass to jp but the guy turned out to be right there to pick it off and then uh yeah like you said credit to
that kid for making his own luck. He takes the shot from outside the box. Jackson Reagan's trying to block it. It deflects off him. Bad goalkeeping by Fry, too. Really bad goalkeeping by Fry. Do you think that was bad goalkeeping by Fry? Oh, yeah, I think so. I mean, that floated like, like you think you should have not been that far off his line?
Yeah. I mean, if you see if you see a ball get picked off like that, he was kind of caught in no man's land, I thought. But maybe I saw it wrong. I mean, I'm happy. I don't know. I didn't even I didn't even think about the goalkeeping on that play. I thought it was a pretty unlucky deflection.
And for me, more than the Jackson Reagan deflecting it or where Fry was positioned, that goal was about the giveaway. Yeah, for sure. And people were getting on Alex Roldan for that because he had the giveaway that led to the Galaxy goal in the playoffs. year and i think there's a narrative out there that he's been uh like either declining or just not playing that well really like the last year or two for me in these situations uh if you give up one goal
In a given game, especially on the road, like you, you are going to give up goals. Sometimes it would be sick to. give up zero goals and get a clean sheet every game over 34 games, but you're going to get punched in the mouth sometimes. And you have, you have to be able to score yourself. Like how many times did we have this discussion last year about the margin for error for the.
defense is practically nothing because the team's not scoring. So you can play well on defense and have one moment where you give up a bad goal. And really, if you don't get a result. in those games, to me, it's a lot more down to, uh, the offense than it, I thought the defense was good in this game. Like that was, that was a bad giveaway, bad moment, bad goal to concede. Definitely a little unlucky, but, uh,
If you want to get a result in these games, you have to score yourself too, regardless of what happens on defense. And I thought the defense was pretty good. Yeah. And I agree completely with the fact that in your first half, Jesus Ferrer gets zero shots. Like, I was seeing that and I was not super upset about the Roldan giveaway because earlier he literally had a header that was on target and saved off of a Rothrock ball, which...
Holy shit, Rothrock was good in this match. We'll talk about that. But your defense was solid. Yamar, fine. Jackson, okay. He does what he can. It's a last-ditch effort save. But... I'm sorry, man. Like it's just a kid who's been hot lately. He's been getting a run and he decides to rip a ball off of a, off of a good takeaway. And like,
You score. That's soccer, man. Stuff like that is going to happen throughout a season. It's about how you respond to it. It's how you work back from that. When you get punched in the mouth. How do you respond? And I think honestly, that was the first thought that went through my head when I saw that ball go in. I wasn't like, okay, good. But I was like, all right, let's see what, like, let's see what you got. Like punched in the mouth.
go score one go score one on the road scored on the road that haven't scored in two games like go get one back like it's not that uh it's not that complicated at the end of the day uh but it did it was zero zero uh going into the half. There was the Rothrock to Alex Roldan. I thought that was a really good chance. I really liked what Rothrock did on that play, how he kind of let the ball keep going. That was actually...
That's a classic Rusnak move that he did to free himself the space to get that cross off. And I mean... I was going to talk about it for Lobbing Scorcher's Man of the Match. We'll save it. We'll save it. I'll save it. But that was one of what I thought were a few good sequences and good chances. in the uh in the first half yeah i mean i i have to say too like it really showed that
Paul Rothbard was trying to make something of nothing, right? But he had some kind of feel for his position. I think this just goes to say about Ferreira specifically, he was not comfortable in that position still. In that first half... He looked lost. He would be way too far down the field, on the break, on the counter, which was something that happened last week and the week before that.
It was like bad. It was bad. I think that we can both agree that Jesus had a really bad first half. Like what was going through my head wasn't like that was really bad or a disaster. It was just. not different than what we had seen, which was not great. Yeah. Like it just, it looked, it still looked like disjointed and like the, uh, the chemistry wasn't there yet, which I've been saying like,
That's not the craziest thing in the in the world to me, but like you do want to see incremental improvements. And I would agree that. I didn't really see that in the first half. And that was as much as I liked some of the stuff that we saw in the first half, that was sort of the thing where it's like, all right, but you know, you didn't get that part of it going, which is really the most important thing right now. So I think that's a good segue.
into the halftime adjustments that Brian Schmetzer made. He didn't wait till 55 or 60 to make these changes, and he talked about that after the game. And I guess that's the first thing I want to give Schmetz credit because we have both, I think, critiqued. him at times for waiting too long to make those changes, particularly in like games where it's really not going well. And you see the first half is just kind of.
a disaster. Like the Cruz, a Cruz Azul game, like the first half was a pretty big disaster. And, uh, the changes I think we both felt could have come sooner. So credit to Schmetz in this case for being like, all right, I'm just going to do it at half. That's actually exactly what I've... said that I would have liked to see him do in a couple of those situations is, yeah, just do it at half. There's no reason to let this go to 60 or 65 when it looked a certain way for the first 45.
So what he did was he brought Moose on and started him at a center forward and then moved Ferreira out to the right. And I thought that just immediately... Looked way better. Oh yeah. Way better. Like Ferreira, it still wasn't. amazing, but it was a lot better. He was able to play so much freer. He looked comfortable. For me, and you said this, you completely have shaped my world already in more than one way but with this ferrera thing he's
got this ability to pick out these passes that look impossible. He's got such good field vision. The one to Alex was so sick. He's got that thing where he's got eyes in the back of his head. He's 360'd. He's 360'd up. He is so much more effective when he has some space to play people in or he can facilitate. His game is just not that lethal striker anymore, it seems like. And I saw that with this, where like...
He did take two shots. He was able to work in on attack and like be an option in attack more when he was out on the wing than when he was playing the nine. You could really see that he is a very talented facilitator. Some of the dimes that he hit, I thought were great. The one I was talking about, the diagonal one that put Alex Roldan in, that was a great pass. We're going to talk about the role that he played on the goal.
battle scored. But I think the I think the most important takeaway from this game, which we're going to talk about an agenda check is just like how how much better it looked in the second half with that tactical tweak and uh i think to me it's worth writing that moving forward as opposed to continuing to play him like centrally like that as like the pure nine yeah i just thought this uh this second half
It felt like, okay, this is how they need to be playing. 100%. It unlocked so much more of that field centrally. And I even thought you saw... players like Rothrock able to cut inside centrally more and feel comfortable doing that because effectively they were like, yeah, I'm just not going to pass to Danny Musovsky. He's just kind of there.
And I and I liked that. I liked that, you know, Paul cut inside and Alex cut inside and you had Obed making runs forward, too. And I don't know. It's just it looked. So much more effective. And credit to Brian for understanding and feeling like, hey, this isn't working. We're going to give it a run. We're going to let you get more comfortable, give you minutes there. But we also need to win the game.
And it's not about tanking so that one player can figure it out. And he made that adjustment very quickly. I mean, props to the whole coaching staff, but that was good. It was great. It was good coaching. Not to glaze. Actually, to glaze, to glaze, to glaze. I'm happy. We liked that. We liked that move and it worked. Yeah.
other key moments in the second half knew who actually had a couple of pretty good shots back to back. Every time he shoots, I think most people are like, Oh God. But, uh, he forced the goalkeeper into a good diving save on that first one. So I didn't mind him lining that up. And he actually, he tried to volley one right after that, right? And that was also like a...
pretty good looking shot, not even for anybody. And then he, I think he had one more that he missed by a larger margin than those first two. But like, I didn't mind any of those, any of those shots. And I thought in general, He looked pretty good. That was more of like a two-way New Who game than we're used to seeing. Yeah, it was interesting the way that he was playing. I mean, this is my take. This is my agenda that's always...
It seems to come true, but he always plays so juiced coming back from national team duty. I think he's just able to play so much more freely on that team, and I think that it translates back into the game here. He just was a man possessed, and I love it. I love that he's able to come back. It's also sick that he clearly loves representing Cameroon. And he's a key player for them. Yeah, he is. He's big, and they're a good team.
Um, but yeah, dude, dude had two shots on goal. You know how many Jesus Ferreira had? Zero. He had double the shots of Jesus Ferrer. And yeah. And like the new shots were pretty like low percentage to be fair, but he, he hit him nice. You make your own. I don't mind him doing that. If he's, if he's actually going to put it on target, I don't mind that as.
much people a lot of people were like really annoyed i guess at how many shots from distance seattle took in this game because knew who had a couple uh georgie had one rusnak had one so may i guess maybe a little more uh shots from just than you would like, but I didn't think any of them were horrible decision-making. Georgie's substitute appearance in the second half was very, very good. It's just...
He's a lot to handle, like, especially when he's got guys one on one. It's very rare that they are able to keep him in front of them. Like, it's almost I'm not I'm not doing a player comp. uh here by the way but like when you watch denny bawanga play and he's got someone on an island and you're like that's already chalked like you already know that he's gonna just blow by the guy georgie's got like a little bit of that quality in his game where when he's taking these guys on one-on-one.
It's like it's like almost over before it starts, man. And like his final product is obviously a work in progress and nowhere near a player yet of Denny Buonga's stature and quality. But I think what's exciting, like every time he's on the ball. It's exciting. And it's exciting to think about a world where he does develop that final product more and becomes a player who can really turn those good looking.
chances that he creates into into more goals that's the next step in his game but he's just he's fun and exciting to watch which god knows this team could use more of that the last couple years and he's providing it right now so shout out shout out to georgie
And yeah, Georgie and Rothrock. I think that he is such a good... deploy in the 70th minute, deploy in the 65th minute because he's so explosive and you've already got defenders who have been run on and run on and run on and run on by Rothrock and Rusnak and Ferreira. you just get this extra little bit of like technical ability where he can just kind of like do you. Oh my God. Like it's going to, when he dials that in, it's going to be a nightmare. He's like the perfect super sub player.
Yeah, I agree with that. Like his skill set lends itself very well. to that role, like when he brings on the fresh legs at like 60 or 70 and you got the opposing defenders and midfielders trying to stop him, they can't really do it very well. Houston, I think Houston actually had the... the tactic when they swarmed him with three or four guys and then football tackled him.
that that might be the only way to defend him because what the quakes were doing he was kind of feasting man he was feasting and they looked like good opportunities like he was able to and i think this is again The Sounders finding a way to play more centrally has been so interesting to me. I don't know if you've noticed this, but they're kind of famously a team that likes to blast the ball in from the wing.
Sure. That's great. But I don't know. It seems like there's been a new wrinkle where they've been able to kind of like have those wingers cut in more centrally and take their chances when they can, which I mean, I don't know. I like it. Yeah, no, I think you did see that in the second half. I think that's a good shout. All right, let's break this goal down, Noah, because this was an awesome goal. This was a Lobbing Scorchers certified goal. And it was when the Seattle Sounders are...
playing to their potential and their level, these are the type of goals that they can score. This was an excellent team goal. It all starts with a corner from Rusnak, which... That is, again, like I thought his set pieces, Schmidt said in his postgame that he thought that Rusnak set pieces at the very end there when they were pushing for a winner that he wanted more. from him on those yeah they weren't good yeah those weren't good but like i thought uh for most of the game before that
They were, they were pretty good. Like they had some good looks off them, even though they didn't get a goal. And then like, I think this is an example of why it's, uh, it can pay sometimes to have a guy who's really nails on these set pieces because that wasn't a play. where someone got their head to it and scored primary assist style like Rusnak has done a lot for this team. But it was good delivery that allowed Ferreira to...
get the ball and then ultimately create the opportunity that became the goal. So I thought that was worth mentioning. But then this play really, it does not happen without. Ferreira. This was an example of the type of stuff I was talking about when they traded for him and why I liked the trade. Soccer IQ, man. He goes out there and gets that ball. And everyone who was watching, I think, thought that he was going to recycle that.
We're just going to end up knocking it around, probably a little bit of possession without purpose. That's what I thought he was going to do. No, he picks his head up. He sees that Christian's got some space at the top of the box, and he hits a really nice ball that kickstarts. the whole sequence. So I want to make sure he gets his credit for that because if he doesn't make that kind of heady little, it's a small thing.
But it's one of those things where if he doesn't have the soccer IQ to recognize that and hit that right away, this goal might not happen. So good play by Ferreira. to, uh, to set this whole thing up. He picks out Christian and then, uh, Christian cycles it around to Rusnak on the, on the right side. And then Rusnak absolutely skinned Chicho Rongo on this play. That was so Chicho.
His haircut is not like, because it's like, you know, just skin on the sides. It's literally not. That's from Albert Rusnak. totally isolated with Rusnak, which also all Albert had to do was get around him and he was going to have space to either put in some nice service or take the shot, but it was pretty, uh, it was a really bad defensive play by Chicho. If you watch it back, like it felt like he.
He way over pursued it. Albert got around him pretty easily. And then he wasn't busting it back. Like I was, I, when I was watching it back, I was like, I'm going to be curious to see if Bruce. arena doesn't Bruce arena hates that stuff. Cannot stand it. Like any, uh, like defensive laps like that, or kind of, it felt a little bit like a lack of effort or just kind of like losing, uh,
Losing focus for just that second. And then Roosanac's got... a ton of space um but then what a shot man like perfect placement the pace that he put on that it's not an easy angle to hit that shot that was a dp Finish is what that was. Yeah. And just a great team goal and a great finish. I loved everything about it. I mean, talk about how we were literally sitting here the other day saying, you know, Rusnak may not be the.
put the team on your back kind of guy, but like he has the qualities of a DP and every other possible way. Well, he's also got that too, because when you're in the thick of it away, At San Jose, a team where you haven't been able to get the best of them in a while. You're pretty undermanned. You're undermanned. You haven't scored a goal in multiple games. You haven't scored an away goal, period.
Your vibes are looking down. And guess what? Guess who pulls you out of the rubble? He's like, you're Superman, Ari. With this just... Beautiful strike. That's a DP quality strike. That is a DP quality play for a DP quality player. And you know what's even better? What can the haters say about it? I literally got a response to my tweet that said, I am a part of the Rusnak Brigade.
We've lost. Oh, wow. We've lost. That's a big development. In the postgame live, I wasn't even dunking on the brigade. I was trying to take the high road. But I mean, regardless of what you think of his DP status, I think we can all agree that that was an excellently taken goal. And really, just from a psychological vibes and morale standpoint. They needed to have that. Obviously, a 1-1 against the Quakes is not the most phenomenal result of all time. It was a winnable game.
that, uh, that they ended up settling for a draw. So all that is true. But I just think if you were going into this next game in San Diego, having gotten shut out again, having lost another game, uh, and. having it be like just that type of situation, the vibes would have been very, very bad. And I don't think it's a, I don't want to, uh, you know, victory lap or read too much into one goal in one game in a one, one draw, but.
What I was saying after the game is it's like, I at least can look at that and be like, all right, that was a just goal based on how they were playing in the second half. It was well worked. I loved everything about that sequence. Like I said, that is something that.
you can take uh as a positive going into the next game and build on something to build on yeah i agree completely like it's i don't know there's just this this game doesn't this one game doesn't mean that much in the grand scheme of things but it provides you that basis of like okay we got it done away this is in our this is in our the dna of this season's roster yeah um
Lobbing Scorcher is man of the match. I'll do mine first, Noah. I got Paul Rothrock. I thought Rothrock was excellent in this game. Really, like, in the first half, he was... Basically, all the danger that Seattle had was running through him. He looked dangerous. from him out wide. His service was really good. He almost had the assist on that Alex rolled on header. He was bringing energy and intensity. He was winning his one V ones. I mean, I could go on. Like, I thought this was just a...
He was nails. He was nails in this game. I wish they would have found him more too. I mean, he was calling for it. He was getting frustrated and I was like, yeah, exactly. You should be like run this through him right now. That's what's working. Yeah. I mean, I, I literally, you know, I normally try and pick another one just for content, but I literally cannot pick another Logming Scorchers man in the match because...
Paul Rothrock, so deserved. If he gets more service in this game, he scores, man. I'm sorry. Like, that's my take. Okay, there was the one knock was when he got out and running. And he took the shot that missed to the far post, barely. He almost had that goal. But I thought he... I don't know. I'll have to watch it again. I'm not sure about this take. But my first reaction was, oh, he probably should have laid that off. Sure. But honestly, I'm not even going to have that detract.
from his all around performance because he was, he was the best player on the field for either team. I think pretty comfortably. Yeah. Yeah. Other than Russ snack, maybe. Bruce Knack would have a case and Georgie would have a case for after he came on. Georgie's sample size, how effective he was in that short period of time was quite incredible. Yeah.
Like, I didn't result in anything. If anyone wanted to give Georgie man of the match or Rusnak man of the match, you got a few candidates from this game. What about Paulie primetime? Welcome back, kid. Welcome to Lobby Scorchers man of the match. All right, let's do positives and negatives. I'll lay down mine. You can lay down yours. Positives. They scored a goal. Yeah. That's a positive. And it was a good goal. It wasn't like a trash, lucky type. It was like a well-worked.
high level execution, great team goal, great finish by your, by your DP number 10. The halftime adjustment really seemed to work again. Like we talked about it, but that's good work by Schmitz and the coaching staff to see what wasn't working, make the tweak at halftime, not wait for it, make the tweak at halftime. And then it worked. The whole second half looked a lot.
lot better. So I thought that was a positive, uh, again, Rothrock and Georgie looked really good. And I want, I want to just, uh, make sure they get their full credit, full due for that. Because I remember after the RSL game, we got, we were on them a little bit. Like I thought that was not a great game for either one of them. Georgie cost the team a goal with that offside play Roth rock.
You know, at that point, he was still coming back from injury, but he didn't look in that game, I think, like the Rothrock of last year yet. And in this game, I thought both of them provided what... what this team needs right now with the injury situation, they're going to be counted on and leaned on a lot. And if they play like that, I feel pretty good about that. Like I thought they were both dangerous. I thought they were both looked really effective from.
wide. And, uh, it was, uh, it was good to see that after, uh, after like what happened in that Salt Lake game earlier in the season. Yeah. Completely agree. Okay. Well, I had a couple more positives. Sorry. I'm like, just like, I'm here to Georgie Roth, Georgie Roth. Give me that. That's good. Uh, we snacking for Rara.
Stepped up. We talked before this game about how this was the type of situation where both those guys need to step up. And, you know, I think Ferreira is still, people are still negative on it because probably because of how the first half went and he didn't get a goal, but I, uh, I give him credit. He played a lot better in the second half. He created a lot more. He looked like he was combining with everyone a lot more effectively. And then he again, played an integral role on.
that equalizer. And I thought that that play in particular was a good illustration of the type of stuff that he can bring to the table. Stuff like that is what he did for most of his FC Dallas career and what we hoped he would bring to this team. So it was good to see him do that. And then my last positive, like just the morale. Yeah. It feels better for me. Like. It would have been rancid if they had gotten shut out. And it's, again, not the most...
amazing result of all time, but it was a good way to end the game and something that I think the squad can build on moving forward. Negatives. They were XG Merchanting in this game. It felt like a situation where... All the chance creation in the shots they were taking wasn't leading to goals until they got one. So they were a few minutes away from that talking point being very prevalent again. And I guess if there's something that you want to see moving forward, it's.
them continuing to play like that, but get the goals that it feels like, uh, they deserve for it, which in this game, uh, I think getting only getting the one goal in this game, it's fair to say, based on how they played, you want that. Could have and should have been a multiple game goal game. The goal that they did concede felt needless. It was a game. It was a situation where they had possession. They had it under control. The giveaway didn't need to happen. It was unlucky, but.
I like it's been a lot of preventable shoot yourself in the foot type concessions early in the season. Too many, I think I would say. And that was another one. So. That was another negative. Ferrer at the nine in the first half didn't look much better. We already talked about that. I think that turned into a positive with how the second half looked.
I don't think I came out of this feeling like any different about how that experiment has been going, which I would have, in an ideal world, you would have seen like... meaningful, tangible progress with that. And then last negative, you did draw a game that was winnable. The San Jose team didn't play all that great. I don't know how great they are under Bruce, frankly.
Uh, so this was a game where based on, based on how it played out. And if you just look at the, uh, the stats and everything, like they could have and probably should have won this game.
Yeah, I'm literally in alignment with all of your positives and negatives here. I think this was a very one-dimensional game in terms of punditry. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of black and white. I don't know. You can argue here or there a little bit about... jesus ferreira i think my take is there was probably more good than there was bad i think it's just you we have to come to a point of acceptance
Is he a nine? Is he going to be a Jordan Morris replacement or a backup? Is he going to be someone who can start in front of Musovsky? I don't think so. And I think that's a negative. I think that the fact that he was... just not comfortable there and has not been comfortable there. It's too much of a risk going forward with dropping points to keep him there.
I don't know who else you put there. I don't know if you try something else out like a Paul Rothrock at the nine or a Georgie at the nine or whatever it is. But that's my negative is like what we thought coming into the season was going to be this. awesome, super versatile player. Maybe it just isn't. And that's okay. He's still a great player. Or at least not in the way that we... Yeah, exactly. But on his positive side...
His facilitation is incredible and he looked so good when he was comfortable. Positives is like the Rusnak Brigade can't say shit. The Rusnak Brigade cannot say shit after this match, and that made me feel good. I was not enjoying watching the first half of this game, and I was... I wasn't tuned out in the second half, but I was just like, Oh my God, come on. Like I can't take another loss. I can't take another shitty draw. But the fact that.
The fact that Albert was able to just... That's a goal of the week quality, man. I don't want to make it like a victory lap thing, but I did feel a little validated watching that because we had a whole segment again defending him the other day, and then we even had... outside the brigade being like okay guys like calm down or whatever we took a lot of that and like watching that goal I was like no see that like that proved the exact point yeah
that we were making with that. So yeah, I was happy to see it from that standpoint too. Well, let's take the pulse of the streets, Ari. Let's see what the people are feeling and how you... the viewer thought. We've been kind of going back and forth because we do the post-game lives with taking questions, but we thought we would bring it back for... I still like sourcing these in my mentions. Yeah, exactly. It's like tradition.
Always hop in Ari's mentions on Blue Sky, ari.lobbingscorchers.com on there. Jake asks, I asked this question a few weeks ago. And it was before we found out about Jesus's minutes restriction and before he had 180 at the nine. Now we've seen him progress towards fitness and seen him against Houston slash San Jose. I'll ask again. Is Jesus our backup nine or is Moose still our third string striker with no backup? It's a good question that I think we do have more data on which to assess.
at this point and i was i'm also going to hit on that in agenda check uh but what i what i what i was what i would say to that noah is that uh my take on it is that what they did in the second half is They should run that again against San Diego and see if they can do so to the same effect that they did in the second half of this game and just see how it works and then assess from there how you want to play that position.
But I think I saw enough in that second half where I want to see more of that. Yeah, no, I think that for me, it's obvious that... Moose is the third string striker with no backup. It goes Jordan Morris, fuck, I don't know what to do, and then Musovsky. I don't mind letting Jesus play there more and get comfortable, but...
you're getting to the point where he's becoming a detriment to your attack. And that's also not good for the player. Like if he's not playing well in that position and also not feeling confident and kind of just like getting upset. What is that doing for the player? That's just not great. So, I mean, I think that's where I land on it, is there is kind of no backup striker right now, which...
that might need to be addressed in the summer window. I'm going to talk, I'm going to talk about that in the agenda. Yeah. Phil asks, I asked this question a few weeks ago. We got a lot of people asking follow-ups here. So clearly you're not calling into the live show. Wait a minute. I pasted in the wrong question. It's the exact same one.
Next, rerun, Bill asks, not Phil, but Bill asks, as someone who didn't watch the game, tell me at any point the last 10 years we got a point in San Jose and I'd be happy. Yeah, I think that was a good point because this Quakes team, no matter what quality of team they have, it's like a bogey team. It's a bogey team.
you can't, you can't look at it and be like, Oh, the quakes might not be good. Like this is going to be an easy game. That's just never for whatever reason. I don't know why I don't know why, but like Sounders quakes games, that's just how it is for, it's just the soccer gods. I don't know.
I will continue with the point that I have made a million times and will continue to make. This is Major League Soccer. A tie on the road is usually pretty good, especially when you can score. If you can score on the road, that's a pretty good result. That's just to be honest. I think, yeah, under normal circumstances, that is an actively good result. I think the only thing you could say is that like with how the season has started and the points that you've already dropped.
Uh, I think, I think it's fair to look at that and be like, eh, you know, the performance was encouraging. The result was not super great, but I mean, I tend to agree that, uh, especially this early in the season, you're basically. these road games, you're just trying to rack as many points as you possibly can, as many results as you possibly can. And, uh, if you, if you play well on the road in this league, you're usually gonna, uh,
You're easily going to make the playoffs and you're usually going to be a pretty high seed if your road form is good. So I think it was a good result from that standpoint. Phil asks, Phil actually asked this, even if the gods have deemed that Moose can't finish.
Isn't it better to have him on as the nine with Jesus Ferreira on the wing and Christian Roldan further back instead of Jesus Ferreira, instead of this Jesus Ferreira, Christian Roldan thing we keep trying? Yeah, so that is actually a perfect segue. into agenda check because what you said phil is pretty much uh one of my exact takeaways from this game as well uh but before we do so oh you baited them we're gonna hit an ad break we'll be right back
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If you skipped our ads, I don't know. That's one of the words the kids use. Don't skip the ads. If you do, we know and all of that. It's funny, every time we do that, we get comments that are like, I actually do skip the ad. Okay. It's like, all right, big guy. Okay. All right, big guy. All right. All right. Let's get into this agenda check. Like I said, going off Phil's last comment there.
And my first agenda coming out of this game is, is that is the, the moose should start agenda. Now that might sound funny in a game where this was moose was taking more heat after this game. than pretty much any other Moose game, which is kind of saying a lot. He missed a lot of... I don't know if they were all sitters, but they were chances that you would expect and want him to put on target as an MLS striker.
He didn't do that. So it's not that I'm shocked that the anti-moose stuff was flying around after this game. But I will say in his defense. After the change that Schmetz made at halftime, the offense ran exponentially better, like just the way everyone was combining and how fluid it was and a lot of the chances that they were generating.
And I don't think I think it's clear that that's not a coincidence. Schmetz mentioned it in his postgame press conference that he felt like Moose really gave the team a boost in the second half. I agree. And I think to Phil's point. Bye. Even if he's going to be missing sitters and not scoring the goals himself, if it's function, if there's that much of a difference in how well it's functioning compared to when he's not playing, then I literally, people might think it's crazy, but I think that.
I think that you should start him and at least see if you can replicate how that looked rather than trying stuff that we've seen didn't work. And I think... I think Moose showed that in this game. To the moon, skyrocketed. Moose stalked to the moon by low, you know? It's whatever. I think that the Sounders are going to be good in spite of... It's not because of Moose that... The, I think, let me, let me, my brain just fell out of my head there, but like, I think.
The Sounders are good not because of Moose in that position, but because Jesus Ferreira is not in that position. He doesn't... See, I don't know. He doesn't step on Albert's space, and Albert gets to... be in a better position for him. Jesus Ferreira is able to play balls in and work in better. I don't think that it's because of Moose. I think, okay, maybe, but... He's not going to score the opportunities that he gets, so what's the point?
The point is that like... It can look better, but it doesn't mean that it functions better. And I think that it does function better with him. When it looks better, isn't it functioning better? I guess so. But like, I think the... I understand what you're saying. If you can't count on him to convert his goals, how well the offense is functioning might fundamentally matter less. But I think you're much more likely to get goals from other sources if the offense...
is functioning that much better. And I really, I think you're underselling there the role that he played and why it looked better. I think he actually... But it wasn't because of him, I don't think. How do you explain how different it looked then? There's no way that it was just Ferrara out wide. I'm just saying if you put a core, if you rolled the corpse of...
I don't know who's a like, like, I don't know anyone. If you just put them out there and like put them generally like in the penalty spot. I think the offense sort of functions. I know you've got to do the anti-moose stuff, but I think you're underselling. I don't like, what was he doing? He, the way that he like,
Uh, he's a good holdup player. He, uh, he, uh, can find guys as outlets. He's better at combining with other guys. He was good in possession. Like, I don't think it's a coincidence that like all the, like all those things that you want a nine to do in addition to score goals. I thought he was doing. like all that stuff pretty well which I understand isn't worth as much as it would be if he was actually scoring the sitters but like
I think there's a very clear delineation between how it looked before he subbed on and how it did after. I think Schmetz was right when he credited Schmoose. I think Schmetz was right when he credited Moose for... providing that type of lift. And I would much rather see the team looking and playing like that.
than I would running back what we saw in the first half. I wouldn't expect you to agree. It's not to hate on Moose. Like I said, I agree with you. I do think he should start, but I'm not going to sit here and say like... I'm excited about it or like the reason that the offense, like he's not the turnkey. He's just there. I thought he kind of was, man. He put anyone else there. I thought he was.
If you put Paul Rothrock there or you put Georgie Manungu there, I think they do the same thing. And probably convert. I disagree. I disagree. All right. I think, like, there is... obviously scoring goals is the most important thing for number nine, but there is a lot allergic to, there is a lot more to the being effective at that position than purely just that. Sure. I agree with that. And like,
I think the fact that he was doing those things well is it's at least there's no way you can say that it had nothing to do with how much the team, even if you say you can say it didn't matter as much as I'm saying. And that's right. I think, you know. teach their own, but there's no way that you like anybody that you put in there is doing the exact same thing and you get the exact same outcome. That I think that's, I think that's underselling the role that he played in, uh,
And now the team looked better. Here's what I'll say. Here's what I'll say. He was better than Jesus. Yeah. But like, I think it also. allowed Jesus to go into a position that made him better. And like you were saying, that Rosenak goal doesn't happen without Jesus. If Jesus is in his position,
I mean, Moose is nowhere to be found on that goal. That goal happens in spite of Moose even being on the field. It's just the fact that he is there. He's a warm body in that position. That's all I'm saying. What do you want him to do differently on the goal?
sequence there was guys in the box exactly that's that is his that is what he's good at is being a warm body that's all i'm saying i'm not i'm not saying that he is not effective at being a warm body he does all of the things that that Jesus Ferreira is not doing he's just not finishing so he's not like
He's serviceable as a nine. He should start over Jesus Pereira with no other option, but I'm not. I understand the frustration with the sitters he missed, and I'm not begrudging anybody that, but I'm, I... I'm going to give him credit for what I think is a pretty clear role that he played in elevating the attack in the second half. If you got takes on the Moose agenda, that was a good discussion. If you got takes on the Moose agenda, drop them in the comments. Interested to hear if I'm all...
alone on an island with that because i mean i'm a hater i'll admit it and a lot of people are you know a lot of people are so i'm not probably not but i think if you're looking at it objectively i think uh it's pretty obvious to me that uh In spite of the four sitters that he missed, he did things well that helped lead to the goal.
that they did get um looking better maybe not on that exact i guess at least he's getting shots all right my next agenda uh it's the new who has actually low-key kind of improved in attack agenda We talked about the good looking shots that he had, but even there's been a couple other times this year where he sends in a cross and I'm like, that wasn't. Bad. That was an okay cross. There's been a couple times where I was like, oh, that was even like a little bit of a good...
So, uh, I'm not, uh, you know, we have such a large sample size of new who contributing pretty much nothing in attack that I'm not going to get, I'm not going to get fired up on this one yet. But I think he might have actually added a little bit of facet to his game. It's possible. We're going to see. He's got to get on the stat sheet a couple times.
this year for me to feel passionately about this agenda, but I liked the shots he took and it feels like his service, while still not great, has been better than it used to be, which is a low bar. But anyway, it's not, it's you asked him, I think everyone asked him to improve on that. Like that's been the one thing where he's been lacking. So the fact that he's been able to improve and improve in a noticeable way, like.
Hell yeah, man. Hell yeah. I don't think you need to diminish it at all. I think that's real and up to New Who. Put him at the nine. He'd probably score more than Moose. All right. No, you had a couple of agendas. What do you got? Agenda number one. Jesus Ferreira is not a nine agenda. Should I lay it out? I feel like it's self-explanatory. I mean, I feel like we've talked about that a lot on this episode. But I think from what I am seeing so far, it seems like him playing...
Him playing the position like Jordan does and the team trying to make that kind of just a like for like and play how they did with him there the same way that they did with Jordan there. That seems like, I mean, it's clear that that's not working. I mean, I don't mind, I guess, the fact that they tried it, given the injuries to Jordan and De La Vega and all that. And the fact that he has played there.
with FC Dallas and Ben, there's, there is a track record of being effective in his career at that position. But I just think as it stands with this team, right now, especially with how, uh, how much better it looked after he switched off that position in this game. Uh, I think that they should again, like I'm advocating for them to, uh, to run the same lineup.
that they ran in the second half, which is him not at the nine. I just, for me, you know, if you look at how SC Dallas used him in his last few years, especially after the injury, it wasn't like that. He hasn't played like that in a while. He hasn't played like a false nine second striker, even a number 10. Yeah. He's way more of a 10. And I think that, you know,
He's going to step on Rusnak's toes if he's on the 10. Well, I mean, he's literally going to take Rusnak's position. And I'm sorry, I'm not taking Albert Rusnak off the field for Jesus Ferreira right now. And so then he's like, okay, well, where do you put him? You put him on the wing. I thought he looked fine there, but...
you know, how many wingers do we have? We have too many wingers, Ari. Everyone's a winger on this team. And then it's just like, well, how do you use Jesus Ferreira? He is, like, the more I watch him play... He's a unique player. He needs so much space and freedom. His skill set I think has turned out to be trickier to accommodate.
than certainly that I expected or was hoping. I thought that his soccer IQ and his ability as a facilitator and experience in MLS were reasons why the transition might be... if not seamless, at least like pretty smooth. And that just hasn't been the case. So I don't know. I still think just in general with this discussion, we are only like three games into seeing.
how they're trying to use him with Jordan out. And honestly, like, I think when Jordan is back healthy and playing, I, to me, it seems like the best way for him to be deployed is more of as a second striker. playing off Jordan as a pure nine. And then that way, like, yeah, he can. He can do stuff like drop a little deeper and play as a facilitator, but then also, you know, try and play higher and be goal dangerous and kind of be a hybrid type player. You know, that's sort of.
If it works out how I think they're hoping it will ultimately work out, that will be what his role is more than playing as a striker like. jordan does or like raul did yeah and i think it just sucks because like they were trying to fill that nine role with a backup with someone who's actually serviceable gold dangerous and it didn't work and so now you're stuck in this place where
You overwork your starting nine in Jordan, and he gets an injury because of that. And then you're like, well, what do we do? The whole team is in shambles because... I mean, yeah, sweet. Three starters. Losing three starters to anyone, any roster, any time is going to be devastating in Major League Soccer. I don't care how deep your roster is. That's just the reality of Major League Soccer, right? Now it's...
I just don't know, man. It just sucks that he's not a nine, and it's something they need to figure out who's going to be the backup there. I mean, you know. If we're talking purely about the roster and the depth chart, it is Moose. Right, but I'm saying you have to, I mean, you would even agree that you've got to find a piece to upgrade there.
Honestly, if anyone's saying that they want to see them use the U22 spot on a striker, this is why I think what they did with waiting to fill that is actually prudent because... because of a scenario like this popping up where the need might be different than what you thought it would be going into the season. I think.
I definitely was looking at it like, OK, if Jordan gets injured or has to rotate out, you just move Ferreira there and then you're probably good to go. He's a 50 plus goal scorer in the league. He's played there before and produced for FC Dallas. You know, this shouldn't even be an issue now with how it's actually played out in the games. We know that it is an issue and they can inform their approach to whatever additions that they make on that. And, you know, we haven't even seen.
what this Ryan Kent's character could contribute to all this. Another winger. Right. I think we need more. I think we should sign more wingers, to be honest. Yeah, put Jesus out there. Sign Ryan Kent. De La Vega coming back. Move Jordan back out there. Just don't play with no nine. No nine agenda. There we go. Jesus is not a nine agenda, but also no one at the nine agenda. Here's my last agenda.
Obed Vargas is the best player in the entire world agenda. I like this agenda. I love him. And I think that this roster plays ridiculously well with him and like mediocre without him. I thought his return was... We didn't even talk about that at all, but that was a nice boost. Like, crazy nice. I think he is one of the most underrated players on this roster. I don't think he's underrated, but I think that... Not by Seattle fans, but... Sure, but I think that it's like...
one of those where it's so noticeable when he's not on the field. It's like crazy. I don't know how they're going to replace him. Do you think they try and keep him? I think someone asked you this. I just don't think that that's what... he wants i think he wants to test himself and i think that's uh that's fine like that's uh
That's kind of what he should want is to just see how far he can push himself and push his career. So I think even if they wanted to keep him and make him the U-22 and throw a huge bag at him. If you're doing right by your players and they have dreams and aspirations to try and push themselves in Europe or any different league, you should let them do that. And they're going to get a huge bag for them.
That's another reason to do it, even though he is one of the most important players on the team. I just think, you know, we have that Club World Cup bag now. Maybe you think, maybe you think, hey. Obed, listen, I know you want to go test yourself, but listen, there are people who have tested themselves before. One by the name of Jordan Morris. He exploded his knee immediately and never played another minute in Europe. And guess what?
He's happy. He's a DP here. He is beloved in the city. You're already beloved in the city. What if we just give you some fat stacks? You can take care of your family. You can take care of your life. You'll be good forever, bro. It's an interesting notion. Yeah. I mean, I would love to see him play somewhere else, but selfishly, I'm going to very much miss. Selfishly, I'm kind of curious what he could do in like the Bundesliga or La Liga or the Prem.
Yeah. You know, like I'm just, I just don't care about those leagues personally. Well, but I, I, uh, I care about, uh, Obed. Sure, sure, sure. We're invested in Obed stock, guys. This is actually why. Ari has money on it. That's a good agenda. Looks like we got one news item here and then we can hit winners and losers from... from match day six. Absolutely. All right, here we go. Breaking news, Ari. Can you believe it? Club Lyon kicked out of the Club World Cup because...
They're owned by some other. They own multiple clubs. It's not allowed. And there was a lawsuit brought by Aluense, which I don't even know where they're from. but they're a club. I just tried to Google it and I couldn't even spell it. So you just watched me do that. That was really embarrassing. But anyway, FIFA has drawn up plans to hold a one game playoff between club or club.
and LAFC to determine the replacement for club Leon in the 2025 FIFA club world cup. This report comes courtesy of ESPN, Jeff Carlisle and Lizzie Buccinaro. Shout out Jeff and Lizzie. Wow. So kick to the curb and now you get... a charity spot match between Club America and LAFC. LAFC, who famously didn't win anything last year other than the Open Cup. Are we just, so does that mean the Open Cup is the most important trophy in North American soccer, Ari?
I don't know about that, but I will say I actually kind of like this idea. Let him fight for it. It's like, you know, I challenge you to a duel. The winner goes to the Club World Cup. I would actually find some entertainment and watching them scrap for the charity spot. If there's an entertaining way to fill this spot, I think having... Having two teams duel for it is pretty funny from our perspective. And I would watch that.
yeah i think it's kind of the whole thing yeah i think it's just funny the teams that they picked right like la galaxy fans have to feel hard done right like you win you win the the trophy and then now it's like uh you We're going to pick the other guys. State of the Galaxy right now. You probably don't want to showcase them in this event. But you could say the same thing, arguably, for LAFC. They just lost to San Diego 3-2 and have really not looked like...
the big, bad, mighty LAFC of old all season. Like they've had a couple of good games, but I mean, Seattle scored five goals on them. They've taken a couple of other tough results. Even the game, the games they've won, a couple of them have been one zeros that.
They didn't play particularly well. So I don't know how much hotter showcasing LAFC in this tournament would be than the galaxy who arguably deserve it more on merit based on what they won last year. Yeah. I think it's just super funny because you have. Two clubs who... LAFC didn't comment on this story, which is very classic, but the Club America coach did say he thinks that Lyon should have kept the spot and that...
They should just be readmitted, and the reality is that if they are going to be in this tournament, they should earn it. He doesn't want the charity spot because they have more pride in their club. LAFC? I don't think they have pride in their club like that. I think they want that. They're that Los Angeles, like...
Just gimme, gimme, gimme. You know, we deserve it because we're cool and we've got cool kits and a cool logo. How much do you think Will Ferrell is paying FIFA right now? That's what I really want to know. I mean... We were looking at the prize money, and it's a lot. Yeah. So I can understand why. I would have no EO, honestly, about the charity spot thing if I got the opportunity just because.
If you do go to it and perform well, you get a huge bag and that can actually like meaningfully help your team and your roster if you play it right. So like, yeah, it's a charity spot, but I would not expect.
LAFC or frankly anyone else to pass it out just because of the money involved like that's yeah no absolutely I you know I'm looking up here because I want to see the groups of where Leon is right now versus where like who they were where lafc would be yeah okay it looks like group d yeah okay so you'd be playing chelsea some Turkish team, and Flamengo. So that's... Dude, give us that spot. I want to be in that group. What the hell? Dude, that's ridiculous. You got Chelsea, which is...
a prem team and Flamingo, which is like one of the biggest clubs in Brazil. I think Seattle's group is harder, but that's not like a... cakewalk group yeah but that's like you understand you get a million dollars for a draw you get two million dollars for a win and all three of seattle's opponents are really really hard and this turkish team probably an mls club might be able to get a result there i don't know
about that team but i mean not not to say that the turkish league is is better or worse but i mean i'm sorry like botafogo is probably better than without knowing anything about it i say if i had to guess Botafogo is probably better than that. So you get a charity spot. You get a charity spot and you have, I would say, not a terrible chance of getting a result. Yeah. Who do you want to be in that spot? Do you want Club America?
Or LAFC? Duel for it and let the best man go to the thing. Duel for it. Duel for it. What if neither of them get to play? Who would you want? If you could pick any team in the entire world, any club in the entire world, who are you putting in there? Sporting Kansas City. God, that'd be such a good bit, dude. That'd be such a good bit. Yeah, I think... New Mexico United, actually. New Mexico United? Yo! Because if New Mexico United got a $9.5 million bag...
I wouldn't really... They're winning the USL forever. I wouldn't really care how they perform at it. They might be able to beat Chelsea. Chelsea's not doing so hot these days. You never know. Yeah, so Club World Cup is in shambles. We'll keep an eye on this. gotta love it uh they it starts on june 14th it's april basically and um
LAFC. We're on charity spot. Watch charity spot. You will get clowned. If you lose this one off game though, we are bringing shit. Yeah, absolutely. Like this, it is a, it is a good opportunity to clown on LAFC. Because I don't think they're going to beat Club America in a one-off. No shot. Not right now. I don't think so. You never know what can happen in one game. But what I think the most likely outcome is is that they play this one-off against Club America and get kind of boat-raised.
and then that would be funny for us. Yeah, it's great content for the gang. It's kind of a W for lobbing scorchers no matter what. Exactly. Well, that's all the news that I had. Okay, yeah. I'm excited for... Charity spot watch. Winners and losers for match day six in MLS. No, there's some notable results from the other clubs in the league. Winners, San Diego FC. Mentioned it already, but they beat LAFC.
three to two and they scored all three of their goals in the first like 30 minutes of the game. LAFC, like this is kind of like looking at the charity spot and it's like, man. This team just gave up three goals in like 32 minutes to San Diego FC, like a expansion side, which San Diego looked good. Seattle's are going to play them next week. So we're going to get a good look at them. But.
Uh, it was kind of a shocker from LAFC and to be fair, uh, they went down a man and then, uh, we're actually the better team in the second half, even down a man and really could have. Tied the game. One of the goals they gave up was an absolute howler from Hugo Lloris, which that was really funny. Has he lost it, Ari?
I mean, I don't know. That was bad. That was bad. I mean, that was just a ball in the box that he could have caught easily and he fumbled and the San Diego guy got what turned out to be like a game winning goal. So that wasn't, that wasn't great. And they just don't look good right now. They don't look good right now, which is, again, a W for us.
The Colorado Rapids got a bounce back after getting destroyed by the Timbs. They beat Charlotte FC, who looked pretty good this year. We've been rating them. We've been rating Charlotte FC. And the Rapids got a big bounce back result. So they're my second winner. And then I thought the best game of the season. slate this weekend was atlanta united versus nycfc nycfc went up 3-1 atlanta united came back and won it four to three which they really needed that yeah uh i'm still
I don't know. I'm pretty skeptical of their team still. Every year I'm like, all right, Atlanta United is going to be back back. I don't know if this game indicates that they're back back. They haven't looked back back so far this year. But they did get, that was like a fun game to watch combined seven goals, big comeback. And they got a very much needed dub. And Lotte Loth with an assist and a goal. I mean, he's been looking.
He looks good. Pretty hot. He's no Albert Rusnak, but he's a pretty good DP. Also, Muranchuk's been good, too. They're 10. Funny enough, I love... He has not been good up to these last couple weeks, but he got a goal in this game and he's looking better. I love that his number is 59. It's just so random for a number 10 to be number 59.
That's so sick. It's not as sick as the League of Mechies teams that do the triple digits for their academy kids. Now checking in, number 325. You're like, damn, bro. I didn't know we could do that. Bring that to MLS. Losers got a good one here to start it off. Noah. Oh yeah. Unfortunately, uh, sporting Kansas city, the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts have still not, I, what are they at? Like 14 games dating back to last year. One draw in all of the rest.
losses 13 losses one draw they uh oh my god that i mean that's one of the worst runs i've ever seen from an mls club like it's incredible stop like that is really bad uh but this is the development No, this is our...
This is going to be our blazing hot press conference of the week. Brought to you by Hacks and Ferments. Brought to you by Hacks and Ferments. And it's not exactly a press conference this week, but it's going to qualify because... I can read this. I've got it pulled up. Okay, you've got it pulled up. So this is...
after another loss for the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, the cauldron, which is their biggest supporters group put out a scathing statement regarding, uh, Peter Vermees and just the future of the club. Uh, this was, Red hot, hotter than a bottle of Hacks and Ferments hot sauce. Noah, read this statement from the cauldron after the latest Sporting Kansas City loss. To Peter Vermees and Sporting Kansas City ownership.
As the official supporters group of Sporting Kansas City, the KC Cauldron and South Stand supporters write you today with urgency and frustration. We are at a breaking point. One of the demands decisive action. to protect the legacy, culture, and future of our beloved club. For over two decades, Peter Vermees has been a defining figure in...
Kansas City soccer from his time as a player with the Wizards to his transformation of sporting Kansas City to an MLS powerhouse lol this champ the championship victory is the commitment to strong defensive identity and the winning culture he once cultivated will always be respected. However, history and loyalty cannot be shields against accountability. The trajectory of this club on the field
has become unacceptable and we can no longer stand while mediocrity overshadows our once proud legacy. That was a bar by the way. Year after year, we have watched this team stagnate. Its ambitions dwindled, Ambition Watch, and its results declined. Fans have been expected to tolerate repeated disappointment with no meaningful change to its approach. The lack of urgency, lack of adaptation, and lack of a... accountability have been glaring.
glaring Ari this is not about going it's there we're only halfway through this is not about a single bad season it is about a pattern of failure that has been allowed to persist without consequence we as supporters are the backbone of this club we show up we sing we travel we pour our time money and our hearts into this team because we believe in what it should stand for
But belief alone does not win matches and unwavering support does not excuse repeated underperformance. The sporting Kansas City standard has been abandoned. And while we do not sit idly by, while this club fades into irrelevance. We got four more graphs here. We got to finish it off. I already started it. We cannot accept this level of mediocrity. The hard truth is for Sporting Kansas City to reclaim its rightful place as a dominant force in MLS, LOL.
Change in leadership is necessary. Peter Vermees must resign as manager. This is not a request. It is a demand from the fan base that refuses to watch its club wither under the outdated tactics and unchallenged authority.
His tenure has run its course and a fresh vision is required to lead Sporting Kansas City into the future. If you think it's going to stop, it doesn't. No. To the ownership group, the responsibility to act falls on you. You must decide whether Sporting Kansas City... remains content with being a relic of past success or whether it fights to become a dominant force once again the time for loyalty-based decisions has passed we demand accountability we demand ambition we demand
change. Peter, we acknowledge your contributions to the club and Sporting Kansas City community, but you know, whatever. Sporting Kansas City is bigger than any one person. The club's future must take precedent. over past achievements, a fresh vision is required to carry this team forward. It is time to make the decision that serves the club's best interests rather than personal ones. We stand behind Sporting Kansas City, not just in words, but in actions, and we will continue
to support this team, but we will not remain silent when legacy we love is at risk. Sincerely, the KC Cauldron and South Stand supporters. Also, folks, I'm sorry. You said the same thing about 12 times. Invest in an editor. That's all I got to say. It was wordy. It was too long. It was too long. There was no hashtag Peter out too, which is like. That was about as hot as it gets.
If you wanted an illustration of how things are going for our friends at the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts, they're not happy, as you just heard. And I got to say, Noah, you know, we joke about the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts a lot. And, you know, it's all in good fun. But I'm not going to lie. Like the extent of their downfall has both been like even greater than I could have ever imagined. And just also.
I would be lying to say I don't take satisfaction in it because I know this is petty and people have asked me and told me that I should let it go. But that's why you don't suplex people. On the soccer field, man. At the time that that happened, Sporting KC was still considered like a... upper tier Western conference team. They had Johnny Russell at the peak of his powers. Shall we? It was like a borderline MVP candidate that year. I think, uh, they were, uh,
There was no question, I think, as to their kind of status as one of the better teams and organizations in the league. Literally since that play, Tim Foss did a bit about this for years. Literally since that play, that The Rock... tweeted about it. They have become one of the worst teams in the league. And the reason I still reference that play is because the way that their fans and the players on their team.
reacted to that whole situation was ridiculous. People called me like a crash out Chris at the time for calling out how ridiculous. the behavior from the fan base and for the players was when they like scored a goal in their next game and they were doing like fake miming suplexes on the, that's why you don't do that shit, man. Because the soccer gods.
They don't take too kindly that it's called karma. It's what you get. It's what you get is this. So zero sympathy for the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts get slammed like Tim Melia slammed. Christian rolled on win a game. It's been like what? 13, 13 matches. Oh, 13 and one. And, uh, we're going to, we're going to laugh at them because this is what you get.
It's awesome. It's awesome. It's like literally the real life example of that meme where it's like me watching someone who I preyed on their downfall have that downfall. This is it. This is it. They... gutted their roster, did a whole rebuild, sold their best player, he did nothing, all this kind of stuff. And to top it all off, Ari, you know who might get this man fired? Leo Chu. Leo Chu scored a game winner for FC Dallas. Leo Chu is a villain to Sporting Kansas City. Famously has...
Four assists game. I forgot about that. Four assists in one goal against Sporting Kansas City. Might have more. Might have more. I have not dove into this, but... The rejected, the unloved Leo Chu goes to Dallas. He's been playing well in his, in his two matches this year than Jesus. Yeah. But goes there and may get Peter Vermees fired. So just know sporting fans that even when. The Sounders are not beating you or when they're not in your head. We're there.
We're there in heart and in love, and we're going to find a way to needle you, beat you, and ruin you, and ruin your life and your coach and his legacy. You shouldn't have gleefully celebrated... You're suplex to that degree. Because I will never let it go. People say like...
You got to let it go. I'm not going to let it go. I will never let that go. I will call them the club of professional wrestling enthusiasts until the day I die. Yeah. That is what they are called to me forever. Like we're going to be recording this show in 2058 and I will still be calling him that. I promise you. It's deserved. I got to cook on this just a little bit more. I'm sorry. I have to. This is just too good.
Have you read the full statement yet? That was my first time. I was like, oh my God, this is incredible. I think it's so funny because some of our first shows, Peter Vermees was on the hot seat. Like this was like years ago and we were like, there is no way they bring him back. There's no way. This dude must have dirt on somebody.
in the ownership i really because they came out and they were like at the beginning of the season they're like we have full trust in peter we don't want to hear it he's gonna run it back we're not doing it he's gonna have this whole season to cook yeah Yeah. And it's like it's it even dates back further than when we were talking about it.
at the beginning of our show. Like this has been, he's the longest tenured manager in the league by a not insignificant margin. Like Schmetz has been the coach since 2016 and he's one of the longest tenured managers in the league. Peter Vermees has been their manager since 2009. That's crazy. 2009. And I don't even think it's like he has dirt situation. Like I think for whatever reason, this owner, he and this owner are like really tight and the guy just has ultimate.
trust in him for whatever reason. But I guess, so this is where it becomes the question. Like, do you think they're going to fire him? No. I kind of think they won't. I don't think they will because I think what's going to happen, this comes out... Bulletin board material. Players like him. Players do like him. I know that they may not be winning. He may not be able to get the best out of his players. I think a player like Shalloy needs to move on because he's just kind of stagnated.
He scored in the FC Dallas match, but I don't know. There's no way he gets fired, right? It would be too perfect for him to not be fired. I just... I don't think they, I don't think they will either because I think what's going to happen is like as, as statistically improbable as this winless run that they're on is, I, it rarely happens that your form is one way.
like good or bad for an entire season. So I think they'll probably string just enough results together and have at least one or two good enough runs of form where the owner is able to justify in his own mind. That just seems to be what the cycle has been for the last few years for them. And honestly, my opinion on it is that they should sign him to an extension. It's a rebuild. He needs time. He does. He needs time to make his imprint on the new.
roster and implement his identity and tactics. So really, I think if they're being prudent about it, they will give him a five to eight year extension and let him cook. I mean... If he can make the playoffs, which again, you have to be terrible in major league soccer to not make the playoffs, which this team is.
If he can make the playoffs, dude, there's no way they get rid of him. If they make the playoffs, yeah, but I don't think they're going to do that. That's true. They are spooning right now. They have one point and a minus six goal differential. Oh, five and one. After the season they had last year, 0.17 points per game. That's so bad. That's awful. That's awful. What was his total last year? It was 0.9 last year.
The year before that was 1.3. Year before that, 1.2. So he's not even like, he's not even a 1.5 points per game coach. Hasn't been for a while. Hasn't been since 2021 or 2020. He was a 1.9, but again, 2020 doesn't count. Not a real season. He's bad. He's awful. Sign him to an extension.
Yeah, sign him to extension. Before we get to the next one, I did want to read a quote that I put in from his post-game press conference that I thought was a good quote. You know, he's getting grilled after the game about why the team hasn't won in 14 games. And one of the things he said was... I think it comes down to goals. The goals we gave up, there's so much more we could have done in those situations.
So that was some good hard-hitting analysis on what ails the squad. Dude, I love him. I love him. Extend him. I extend him. I love him. There's not a... a club in the league that I'm happier to see it happen to. Oh, my God. You can call it petty. It is petty. I don't care. Like, that's how I feel. All right. That was incredible. Thank you for indulging us. That statement was...
That was fire. 2k words of absolute fire. Like you said, repeated the same point like seven times. But there were some actual bars in there. Overshadows our once proud legacy. Yeah. persist without consequence fades into irrelevance i mean this is like hemingway yeah on the quill they were cooking how much chad gpt do you think they used on that
It looked like, I don't know. Yeah, actually probably a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Now that I think about it. And then my last loser of the week was just Nashville SC for losing at home to Cincy. I didn't really have much analysis on that. I figured the sporting case. statement would carry this segment um all right i mean that was all i had that's all we got uh unless you got anything else you want to hit i think we can call it a wrap for episode 90 uh
Thank you all so much as always for tuning in. Did you have anything to show? Yeah, I was going to say we've got members only content for this episode. Become a member. Think it's like a post show. We're going to be doing some tasting of something. We're not going to leak it on this podcast. You have to become a member. Go watch. Or if you follow us on Instagram, you'll get a sneak peek. There you go. And we're also going to talk about...
Could Pogba be coming to the Durs? I don't know. That's good, yeah. Anyway, that's a member-only content. Become a YouTube member. Bunch of different levels and help support the show. So, yeah, I don't know. Leave a like. Like, comment, subscribe, sub to the channel. Rate five stars. Please share this with Peter Burmese. I need him to listen to this episode. Share this with the entire Sporting Kansas City fan base. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, whatever.
All of them. Just everything. Just Google Lobbing Scorchers and follow on every platform and then write reviews. All right. I think that's it. We're going to be back. I'm going to be back at it on... uh tomorrow morning while the scorchers kick off 8 a.m with my guy nico moreno uh we're gonna be talking a lot more sounders in mls uh and uh yeah oh yeah until next time we out Peace.
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