Same Old Seattle Sounders - Ep. 89 - podcast episode cover

Same Old Seattle Sounders - Ep. 89

Mar 26, 20251 hr 13 minSeason 3Ep. 89
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Summary

Ari and Noah dissect the Sounders' scoreless draw, highlighting missed opportunities and injury woes. They also dive into a heated debate about the USMNT's performance and potential new signings, including Ryan Kent. The hosts also cover winners and losers from around MLS, adding their signature scorching takes.

Episode description

The injury-ravaged Seattle Sounders couldn’t quite get on track in Matchday 5 as they played a snoozer in Saturday’s scoreless draw vs. Nico Lodeiro and the Houston Dynamo. Was this a case of falling back into the cycle of early-season 2024? We discuss that in our game review, then hit our Agenda Check, which included some less than positive coverage of the US men’s national Fraud Squad.

Later on, we discuss the reports linking the Sounders to English winger Ryan Kent (not of Ted Lasso fame) and hit winners and losers from around MLS

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Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.

Transcript

Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and the Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.

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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 mailing list with special focus on their home, the Pacific Northwest. Their model is simple.

One, the email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their soda warehouse and is ready for pickup or shipping. Their Soto Tasting Room is also open to the public. If you're interested in joining their mailing list or learning more about them, visit FullPullWines.com. Scorcher today. Why the scorcher today? Well, it's gonna be a scorcher.

What's going on, everybody? Welcome to episode 89 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari and Noah. We got a big show this morning, or we're recording this early Tuesday morning. How are you feeling? I'm loving it, man. We're in my own home today. We swapped out from the Lobbing Scorcher's mansion and we came to Noah's apartment. and uh i'm ready for a draw pod i don't really want to talk about this i keep saying this sorry i don't want to talk about this game

But we don't shy away from bad results. We got a draw pod, but we've got a lot of other topics to hit today, some of which are very interesting. So looking forward to getting into it. As you mentioned, the Seattle Sounders played the Houston Dynamo.

in match day five with a chance to salvage the vibes, which I think it's fair to say have taken a decided downturn in recent weeks. This was a chance, I think, to get a galvanizing result in front of 31,000 people with Nico Ladero back in the building. the season back on track. Instead, they took a 0-0 draw at Lumen Field. We're going to talk about that, unfortunately, in our game review. But we do have a red-hot Seattle Sounders transfer rumor, courtesy of Nico Moreno.

It seems like the Seattle Sounders are on track to get a new player, so that's pretty exciting. We're going to talk about that. We're going to hit our agenda check, and then we're going to dive into some reaction on the other results from around MLS. So it's going to be a good episode 89. But before... We get into all that.

I do have to let you all know that 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 sounderathart.com slash LS. Noah, what's that link? Sounderathart.com slash LS. Oh.

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 at Heart subs is on track now more than ever. It's 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 right to your podcast feed. Big perk. The live shows have been a lot of fun. We even broke news on our live show yesterday morning. So we're going to get to that. But if you're not tuning in to Lobbing the Scorch, just kick off every Monday at 8 a.m. and under the lights every Thursday at 7.30 p.m. Stop on by. It's a lot of fun. You get to...

interact with me live and ask questions and talk to other fans. It's a great time. So definitely stop by those. And shout out to our sponsors, Hacks and Ferments, Podium Men's Wear and Full Pull Wines. Please patronize all of our sponsors. That really helps them and us out. And if you use our code LS to order...

For your order on Hacks and Ferments, you get a free bottle of hot sauce with your order, and it's genuinely a very good product. Correct. Noah, is there any new subs? There is one new sub. One! Woo-hoo! Thank you to Devin Hanson for becoming. 82nd sub. 82. We take that. We're getting there. The road is steep. Let's set a goal before episode 90. Let's get to 83. Oh, yeah. If we can get to 83 subs, we will take that.

Anything else to show there now, or should we just get into this? No, I wanted to say that we did an interview with the GM of the West Seattle Junction. USL League 2. Yep, so this is their second season. to Ballard, and we had a lot of fun with him. He's genuinely one of the coolest guys. He's cool. He's got a good thing going with West Seattle Junction FC. It's the Ballard FC.

rival for anyone who might not know. And they're on the up. We had a good talk with Corey Hintthorn is his name, and he gave us the whole lowdown on what they're doing in USL League 2. And yeah, support local soccer. It's a really good scene. you know i didn't know the soccer scene in west seattle was as abundant as it appears to be but it is and i gotta say for for anyone who's interested in like

A guy who really loves West Seattle, loves where he's from. He said he was third generation from there. He literally has the team slogan tattooed on his arm. Like he is. He loves this. Like we talked even like an hour and a half after.

uh, we recorded the podcast, just me and him. And, uh, he's a guy who loves what he does. And, uh, I'm really excited to go and see them play this season and, uh, for you guys to see this interview. So that'll be out in the next few weeks. It'll be a standalone, exclusive. interview we got into some drama we got into promotion and relegation we we talked it all so look forward to that um and i'm just really excited to put that out so that's all my promo shilling over

All right. Noah, let's jump into our game review. Seattle Sounders, zero. Houston Dynamo, zero. Brain cells, zero. It was a riveting contest at Lumen Field. Back and forth, high octane, attacking end-to-end action. But unfortunately, neither team found the score sheet. Let's hit our lineup reaction to start it off because, you know, there was a lot going on with this lineup, obviously.

knew who in this game, no Obed in this game, both on international duty. You had Jesus Ferreira with another run at the nine with Jordan Morris still out. You had right mid rolled on in this game. It's inevitable. Every year we're like, all right, Christian's got a set position. This is going to be his role. He's doing really well with it. And every year he either ends up playing right mid or right back by the fifth game of the season. That's just how I think.

Whether if Christian is playing right mid, that's like symbolic of the state. of things yeah injury wise and absence wise and so this i think was a good example of that this was uh this was a motley crew out there for this game yeah you had a j bell start you had the jp danny layva double pivot and uh

No new who, no Obed. So, I mean, I think what the lineup looks like informs my expectations sometimes. If I see a... kind of like I said a motley crew like this my expectations generally become more just get uh just get a win by any means necessary I don't really care that much how it looks but I will say in this game You're playing at...

You're playing at home against a Houston Dynamo team that's also depleted and not very good. Even more depleted. Even more depleted, but also not very good, even if they're not depleted. A team you should be able to beat depleted when they're full strength. You should be able to score one goal against them. Yeah. With the lineup they had out there.

You should be able to score one goal against the depleted Houston Dynamo. Did Jimmy Maurer? Do you know about the lore of him? Jimmy Maurer didn't even finish the game. Yeah, he didn't even finish the game. They brought like a 22-year-old goalkeeper on his debut. out there so but i'm saying jimmy mauer fc dallas super sub string legend like i don't i've i didn't even know he was playing in mls anymore like he was on fc dallas until like

Last year, maybe. I don't know. I think he's just always going to be an MLS. Shout out Jimmy Mauer. Shout out Jimmy Mauer. Anyway, there's not that many key moments to go over in this game, frankly. I thought Seattle's chance generation was sufficient to... get a goal in theory but they they didn't right but it's not like there was zero chances uh jp had the one just over the bar i thought that was a pretty good look you had uh christian

And Paul Rothrock forcing the goalkeeper into some really nice saves. I feel like there was a couple of other solid looks, I guess. But... But they they couldn't score. And I guess that leads me to just sort of how I see this game in general, which is, you know, like I said, it was a chance for a galvanizing results. Chance to get a win that was badly needed and get things back on track. And it was a missed opportunity. But more than that, it was.

It was representative of a talking point that I was hoping that we would be able to avoid, which is that like Noah after member after the. Charlotte game where they blew the lead and it was 2-2 and everyone was feeling kind of sour about that result. You had people out there saying, oh, same old Sounders. And we took issue with that. We were like, no.

No, that was clearly not. That was clearly not like this. This offense has looked meaningfully better with Pedro de la Vega in the mix and Jordan Morris playing like this and Paul Areola. looking pretty good jesus ferreira had been doing some good work as a facilitator so it was not the same old sounders in that game and that talking point was incorrect this game that was

what the Seattle Sounders were doing last year. That was honestly a carbon copy. And unfortunately, anyone dishing that talking point of that looked like the team that we saw last year is correct. So that was my first unfortunate takeaway. Like, I don't think that's an overreaction. I think that is very, I don't really know how you could come to any other conclusion, frankly, after.

Watching that, which obviously the injury situation sucks and is brutal. And I'm even willing to accept that given the injuries and absences in the situation with the roster right now. I don't expect him to look like Real Madrid out there. I don't think they're going to be hanging three to five goals on even this Houston Dynamo team. But that being said...

They should have been able to score a goal in this game. I don't think that is an unreasonable expectation. And I think the consternation and criticism towards the offense in this game is merited. And, you know, Rusnak and Ferreira are a part of that. And that's basically what I came out of this thinking. Yeah, I this game was a stinker. This game like felt like two teams that were. kind of rotated, but like just depleted. You know what I mean?

And even that said, I think the Sounders did have some good opportunities. I thought Paul Rothrock brought it pretty good in this game. He scored a volley that was offside. I mean, I guess he didn't score it because it was offside, but he had a nice finish on that. He had a nice finish that went over the bar, I think.

Oh, no, it was a he had a there was a cross from Paul Rothrock that a defender try and cut out and like the 60th minute. And it was literally like an inch from going in on an own goal. Like it was literally like right there. And then that shot that Albert pulled back, like he was in the box squared up and he like pulled the shot back and made that pass to Alex Roldan and it was saved. I mean, that was like a great opportunity.

I understand that, you know, people don't like it when we say, well, there were opportunities there. They didn't look terrible. They didn't look awful. I saw people crashing out about this game more than I've seen about any other game this season. And I mean, I was sitting there watching it. I mean, yeah, that was not a fun game to watch, but I'm not.

super concerned. I think we can, we can get into the discourse about Jesus Ferreira, but you know, it was something that a coach had said in the postgame presser was like, I'm not going to get mad at him. This is essentially his second one and a half.

start at the nine it's his first full game playing at the nine like it's gonna take time for him to get settled in we've been saying that and I don't know that's just what it felt like was like a an unlucky game that you know Houston came there to grind out draw to grind out a defensive game they played their game correctly I'm not saying it's a good result and I'm not saying that anyone should be you know patting them on the back for it but it's like this felt like a March game against

against a Houston team during an international window. I don't know. Do you see it any differently than that? I mean, I just think that all those things that you said are correct and should be... taken into account but i do you know i do think if uh if if fans came out of that feeling like All those things taken into account, you should be able to score one goal against the Houston Dynamo at home. I think that's fair and merited. I don't know about the...

full on crashing out. But like, I think the, uh, the negative feelings that people have coming out of that result, like, uh, especially cause like what I was saying, man, it's like, yeah, we can sit here and say like, they had some good chances the xg was cooking but like uh how many times like during the first couple months of the season last year did we say that same thing like at a certain point uh that stops mattering. You've got to be able to score against the Houston Dynamo.

Yeah. At home. Well, we know I'm famously anti-XG, so you're right. Exactly. You were kind of advocating for it. We had to switch positions there. Yeah, exactly. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know. That's just how I... That's just how I came out of it feeling. I think, you know, for me, maybe I'm just because I've found Nirvana.

you know, with this team, uh, and accepted the reality of what it is right now. It's like, am I happy? I mean, whatever. No, not, not really. Like, yeah, you, I agree with you. You should be able to get a goal against this Houston team against a goal.

who has literally never played a single MLS minute against like I mean you know the goals wouldn't have counted but like yeah I would have hoped that we could have done that um another thing i i don't know if we if you want to get into positives and negatives or whatever but there was just some things that i had written down that i saw during the game because yeah actually do the positives and negatives i wrote for sounder at heart for the first time i did their gamer which

Folks, let me tell you what writing it's not my specialty. So that was, that was a tough one, but, uh, um, positives, um, there was, it was a clean sheet, I guess. You know, I don't know what's a positive from this. No one got hurt. Even me and Nico were talking about this. Even the clean sheet, it's like they weren't even trying to score. So how much credit? I will say they got spread really...

poorly like towards the end those five the same thing that happens in the final 10 minutes of every goddamn game where they're trying to push for another goal where they get spread so bad and you don't have like a player like Jordan who's going to come back and just sprint back and defend or

you know you just get people caught out wide whatever it is and it like they were able to kind of shift back but how much of that to your point was you're playing the houston dynamo and how much of that is like they actually were playing well defensively Yeah, I guess here's how I see this, which is that this game in isolation, if they're able to turn it around in the next set of games here.

start banging in some goals, figuring out how to play without their injured guys a little better. Ferreira gets gradually more integrated, and they start racking points. I'm willing to like forget and discount this game entirely given the circumstances. But what I think what they need to try and avoid, obviously at all costs is a situation where it becomes.

sustained run where it looks like Groundhog Day last year. If they go into these next few weeks and it becomes like... just one one or one one zero zeros grinding out really low scoring boring draws like this especially at home then uh again like the people who are saying that we're watching a repeat of last year. I can't say that.

they would be wrong in that situation. That game was 100% a replay of last year. Exactly. So we're going to see. I'm open-minded. I'm willing to give them a chance to prove that that is... We don't know that that's the outcome yet, but I definitely... I don't blame anyone for having kind of an ominous like, oh man, like, is this what we're in for for the next few weeks? But can I say something that may be controversial? Yeah, no, please. Like...

Yes, absolutely. The worst of the worst, like no one's integrated, no one has their best game, whatever. Your floor, your literal floor is last year. Hey, guess what last year got you? to a Western Conference final and 15 minutes away from MLS Cup. But not from playing like that. I'm just saying that's your floor. And I guess...

I guess I'll do my positives and negatives, but I guess I would accept that as a positive, which is that it does not appear that it's like a bottom is going to fall out type situation. It doesn't appear that they're going to be like... non-competitive or getting overrun by anybody but that's not the standard we should be holding them no no and i'm not i'm not trying to turn this as like a guys this isn't this isn't i'm just trying to say if if this is the world falling i'm

It could be worse. I've seen so much worse from this team. I've seen so much worse from this team. So if this is depleted with injuries, with a guy who has literally played... 95 minutes at the nine position who looked in. We can talk about this too. This was my positive. I thought he looked better at the nine. He was staying more forward. He was playing more of a center forward position instead of this roaming.

false 9, 10, getting in Rusnak's space. I don't think he was amazing. I don't think that he was clinical or lethal or even a threat. He literally had zero shots, which, like, how the f... how uh i'm not saying he looked good i'm just saying he looked better and like if you can consistently get better in your second like noticeably better in your second time out on the park like what i mean

I think two things can be true. His integration is turning out to be more of a gradual process than we would have hoped. And that's honestly to be... That's to be expected to a certain extent. Anytime you're integrating someone into a new team, that's probably going to be a part of it. So that is true. And then they also should have been able to score.

one goal against the Houston dynamo at home. Uh, even with that and taken into account, uh, I'll hit my positives and negatives, uh, positives, the Seattle rain, Noah. Yes. Big dub. Did you see this goal? I did. That goal was Bug on her first goal, professional goal. If you have not seen the Jordan Bug goal for Seattle Reign at North Carolina.

That might be the goal of the NWSL season. That was incredible. The way she teed that up. Oh, my God. I don't know if that made SportsCenter top 10, but that should have been number one. It made Lobbing Scorchers top 10. It's number one. It's the best goal. best Lobbing Scorchers goal of the year so far. And we should plug our besties at the Cooler Guild who broke that whole game down and talked about it. They have literally been Jordan Bug like.

evangelists. You know how we were Paul Rothrock evangelists? They've been doing it for Jordan Bug, so it's even more of a banger for them. Sub to the Cooler Guild right now. Go sub to the Cooler Guild. The Nico ceremony was nice. It was sick, yeah. So there's been a lot of kind of drama with that. You know, he feels...

Like he was talking to Nico Moreno about it after the game. And he was very upfront about how he felt pretty sad about how that went down this off season. And it seems like he feels a little disrespected, which is unfortunate, man. Like you never want a club legend, especially. club legend, like the build the statue guy to feel that way. But the ceremony...

I mean, they did it up for him. I thought it was awesome how they lined up all the trophies that he won with this team. Adrian even came out there. Adrian came out there. The crowd was going crazy. And I honestly think that's sort of... what made the game even more of a letdown is that the building was actually...

most buzz and it has been all season. I was going to say that was going to be one of my positives was just the attendance. Like I have not seen. There's a lot of people there. They were into it. Yeah. It seems like, and I think that was the first match where they did the free tickets to.

So, like, that rocks. I think people came out to come see Nico. I think people came out because there were free tickets. I think people came out because March Madness was in town and people just wanted more sports. Yeah, like, to be in front of that many... fans and to put on that performance.

That's a negative. The positive is the people showed up. The negative is like you couldn't give them a good show. Exactly. It just feels like that if they'd been able to put on a show and bang in a couple goals and take a win, it just would have helped the vibe so much.

They couldn't quite get it done, so that's why I think it felt like more of a letdown. But I think that was a great way to honor Nico and everything he's done for the club, the city, and the organization, build the statue. My other positive, I mean, it is still... March, you know, like it's week five dropping points at the rate that they're doing it right now. It definitely can.

sink you later in the season but we're at the point where it doesn't necessarily have to right it's a long ass season so uh really Until we get into the summer, and if it still looks like this and it's not improved by the summer. then I'll be a lot more tilted. But for now, it's early enough where there is a lot of time. And I'm going to keep saying that until...

Until the timeline starts to run out, you know, like as long as they've got time, there's still a chance. Uh, Jordan Morris will ostensibly be back eventually. He's been, he's been like taking. shots and training pretty hard. Which I think any evaluation of the attack right now should include the context that...

The two best attackers on the or two of the best attackers on the team are both out injured. And then Paul Areola, who's going to be a key player for this team. Yeah, he was playing amazing. Yeah, he was looking really good. So like I said. With all three of those guys out, the reality is it should be expected that the offense is going to suffer a little bit.

I mean, like I said, that doesn't mean that you that doesn't justify getting shut out by the Houston Dynamo at home. But it does mean that when those guys, when Jordan and De La Vega get back, I would be pretty surprised if that doesn't. improve things and that's kind of where i am well and then the other thing about that though is that uh i think we expected more of the depth sure to be able to withstand a situation like this even though it is admittedly like it's about as

like chalked an injury situation as you could possibly have. It's fair to point that out too. I just imagine another team losing ostensibly three DPs. Do you know what I'm saying? It's like if... I don't know. I'm just going to pick a random team. Like, if the Chicago Fire, who have been on a winning streak, if they lost their three... Hugo Kuiper, Jonathan Bamba, and Brian Gutierrez. Yeah, some high-tam player, right? Dude, they're...

They're done. They're done. They're losing all of those games. Most MLS teams would be. But again, we held this team to a higher standard. But I think that what I'm saying is it shows. that they're able to, I'm not saying that a draw is good. And I'm not saying that, uh, their last result was good either. I'm just saying that like,

What's the reality of the situation? Let's come back to when we get these other players back, can we realistically then we can judge if this is... the 2024 2023 i have xg merchants i still have no doubt that at something approaching relative full health this team can be a contender in the west i have no doubt that they can push for home games in the playoffs and make uh make a run in the playoffs i guess just i think the reason why people feel justifiably disappointed is that uh

This was built as a team that was deep enough to withstand a situation like this. And at least like literally, man, like one goal against the Houston Dynamo. I'm going to keep saying it. It's not like an unreasonable expectation for that lineup. I don't think Schmetz or any of the players would tell you that that's an unreasonable expectation. So that's...

I guess getting into the negatives, which I'll hit now. Oh, well, I guess my last positive was that Obed is also... Like, I think you felt Obed's absence in this game. Like, I thought that JP, Danny Leyva double pivot was...

AP looks good. I thought it was fine, but like Obed's level... is typically a lot better than the attack too like i don't think people under people do actually understand how good he is but he like he brings He cuts out passes and he turns the attack so fast and makes up so much ground that there's just not another player like him.

really in the I don't think in the league but just definitely not on this roster definitely not on the roster yeah uh negatives I mean I pretty much hit all of them already but I'll read what I wrote down anyway uh got shut out at home yep never good uh looked like last year's team talked about that ferreira integration like you said i think better but still i mean he didn't score and i don't think he looked like if you don't get a shot

Don't get a shot. I think there was a couple better moments, but that's kind of tough to hang your hat on with how things are going at the moment. I do think that...

It's like anything, man. The more you work on it and drill something, it's going to improve. And he's been a provenly good enough player in this league where I have no doubt that'll happen. It's just that until it does... this might be what we're looking at so that's uh unfortunate and then uh again talked about this already but i wrote depth isn't living up to It's billing. And that's where... I just don't agree. I don't know. Really? I just don't agree. You're missing five starters. Yeah.

You're missing five starters. What do you expect any team? The depth, this depth was never going to be able to operate missing five starters. It doesn't matter. You had, like, this is where, like, I'm not trying to sound like brigade, but I think this is a situation where it's fair to say if you have. If you have Rusnak out there, if you have Ferreira, your biggest off-season arrival out there,

Is it going to look amazing with the injury situation we're talking about? No. Like, are they going to be scoring three plus goals? Probably not. But when you've got like your highest paid attacker in your biggest offseason. trade arrival out there. I think it's plenty fair to say that, uh, getting shut out at home is like, not what should have happened. Like they, and, and like the, those guys, like the depth lineup, uh,

should have been able to step up in that situation, circumstances notwithstanding. I just think like you have- More than just five guys out, you have another guy who has not played the position that he's been in with this team. Him and Rusnak are already... like we saw it with with Rusnak and Jordan when when Rusnak was integrating back into that position they were getting in each other's space all the time and it was like this kind of mess of a of a figuring it out sequence it's like you know

you have two players who are the most important are not familiar with each other yet and that's like you have to take that that's basically another two starters out because it takes them from starter dp quality to like You know, I don't know if you ever played a pickup game like sometimes you.

click with people. Sometimes you don't like, I don't know. It's just random, you know? And I'm not saying that that's the standard that we should set for the sounders or anything. I'm just trying to say like the context of it all, like I'm just not, I'm not crashing out about this game. Like this was. So rotated. This was such a silly, like, I don't know. We're going to, I think, I think we just, we have to see what happens over this next set of games. Like I said, there were just people going.

insane right i mean which i don't i i mean you know i i wouldn't full on crash out over a soccer game, no matter how bad it got. But like, I get, I mean, I get the frustration is what I'm saying. Like, it's not like you can't get shut out at home against the, Houston dynamo in front of 31 K and then, uh, and then expect people to be like happy about that. I just, I just, it happens. Like it's, it's March. It happens, but it happened a lot last year. Sure.

But it's March and it happens like that's MLS. Like, I don't know. We play through international breaks. It's stupid. Like maybe we should be yelling at MLS. you know i mean yeah we can how does this game change if obed's involved how does it i mean i know the new who whatever you know i'm not a super big new defender but like

That's a piece. I mean, the defense was fine in this game. I think it's kind of hard to judge because again, like Ben Olsen literally admitted that they were playing for the zero zero. But like I said, I'm going to, uh, I'm going to let this. next set of games play out and if they uh if they improve start scoring goals what maybe maybe in this quakes game you know one goal

One goal. If they could get one goal. That's a good start. Little benchmark there. And maybe, maybe if they're feeling frisky, two goals. And if they do that in this game, I'll be like, okay, the Houston game, I can whatever that a little bit. That was, like you said, totally... ravaged lineup with ferrera not integrated yet like you know rusnak doesn't he doesn't have his boys right now morris and de la vega who uh i think he's shown to be a very good

force multiplier when he's, I think that's Max Aquino's term. Like, I think that might be the thing with Rusnak. It's like, he's an excellent force multiplier, but like, we're going to see if he can like actually put things on his, on his back. uh and if he's able to at least like i like i like i said man i don't need the squad bamming in four goals a game just get me one goal against the goddamn san jose earthquakes yeah i mean yeah like i mean i don't know

Rusnak, to me, I don't know if anyone's played Bellatro. I don't know if you've played Bellatro. It's a little game. He's like the multiplier, like you were saying. He's the X, two, you know, like the two times. But you got to have the number in front. To multiply it. If it's 1 times 2, it's 1. If it's 100 times 2, you know, it's 200. It's like you've got to have the pieces there for him to be successful. Argue in the comments whether he should be...

you know, I don't know, not be a DP because of that, but like, I don't even think he played poorly. Like I think he created multiple chances. He had that really nice pullback on the shot. Like I was talking about. and made a pass out to alex rolled on who That was a nice sequence. There was opportunities that he made. I'm not saying that he... I don't know. I don't want to talk about this game anymore. Let's go to our agenda check.

What do you got, Noah? Do you want to dish yours? All right. I got one agenda. It is about Jesus Ferreira, the Holy Ghost agenda. Explain. Do you get the bit? the father, the son, the Holy Spirit kind of thing. Yeah. So, uh, he, he went ghost. I'm sorry. If you want to say Albert Rosen, that goes ghost every game. Jesus Ferreira went ghost, dude. Zero shots on goal. That's despicable. That's despicable, bro. I mean, were you just saying, though, that like he it's. But not one.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. Even with the integration process, I don't even think it's just about him. I think everyone out there deserves... whatever criticism they get, you know, for not being able to score a goal in this game or not even, it's not even about deserving it. It's just like to be expected, you know? Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree with that. I think.

Listen, he was not good. I'm not trying to say he was good. I'm just saying, like, not one shot. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to argue with that. That's crazy. I just think that... I try to acknowledge when I miss the marker or get something wrong, so I'll hold my... hand up here like when they I was really high on this trade and I'm still actually high on what he can bring to the team once they get him more integrated but I was hopeful and perpetuating the notion that his

prior MLS experience and his prior experience playing with some of the guys on this team would theoretically expedite his integration.

more and he would be able to hit the ground running at the start of the season and for champions league maybe more than uh an average player or like a player coming in from outside the league i was i was hopeful about that and i thought that that was a decently likely outcome given what i've seen from him as a player throughout his career and the uh experience he had playing with guys from the national team and i'll just i mean all this that did not pan out like that he it's it's become

It's clearly a thing where it's more like integrating a player that came in from wherever than it is a guy who you think, oh, he can slide in right away and look like he's been on this team for a while. That just didn't. So, and he seems like he's a player who needs a little bit. He can't just like fit into any position either. Like he needs, he needs to kind of be a centerpiece is what it feels like. I'm, I'm staying open-minded. I'm going to give it time.

For him to integrate. This is a pro Jesus podcast. And for it to improve. It's just that doesn't really like do much for this exact moment. No, not at all. Like realistically. Jordan and De La Vega are going to be out for a few more weeks here. So it's not like it's not like there's a whole heck of a lot of time. So my other one here.

I wanted to jump back to the Pedro de la Vega is the savior agenda. Oh, this is a throwback. Listen, I mean, we've been tough on the kid, but seeing what this team was without him and over the last few weeks. I want to know from you at least, does it kind of like paint him in an even better light? I mean, as far as what he brings to the team and what we saw him bring to the team.

this year then yeah like i see what you're saying but i think that sort of illustrates what the problem is which is that he hasn't been able to stay on the field it's fine to say that the team would look better if he was playing, but if they can't keep him on the field, like what am I supposed to do with that information? Yeah.

okay yeah it would look better if he was playing but he's not and hasn't been a lot and like it's really like i really i hate when people uh propose the notion that it's like a player's fault for getting injured you know right it's not like i really i feel bad for him and like and especially because of how good i think that he's looked to start the year here but uh It's just tough, man. He hasn't been able to stay on the field. It's unfortunate. Well, I think that's really the key, right?

His talent is undeniable at this point, but he just, and this is why I was trying to slow, another reason why I was trying to slow expectations is like, it's kind of comical at this point. It seems like every time you see him being God tier, he like reaches a new level you thought previously impossible. And there it is, a muscle injury. a knee, a calf, a butt, a toe. I don't know. He's going to break his nose next. Who knows? Like, it's just, I don't understand how you can continue.

You talked with Joe Lowry about this, and he was kind of down on De La Vega a little bit. I think he's been down on it. I think a lot of the national people who haven't... watched him play like when he has played like we have are probably looking at the whole thing like it's a categorical bust which uh i think that is going to be what is determined

through the rest of this season. What I was talking to Joe and Nico about is like, if, uh, I feel like they're getting to a situation where it's like, all right, we give this one more, one more run. We ramp them up, get them healthy. and put him back out there and hope that he... can consistently be the player that elevates this team like we all hoped and expected that he could be. And if he does his hammy again, then things are going to have to be assessed regarding the future.

Yeah, you can't be a DP and not play. yeah like that's and that's heart might sound harsh but that's just like the reality that's just like it's not it's not uh it's nothing to do with like it's not a comment on his quality it's a comment on the reality of a league where you are constrained by you're heavily reliant on these roster spots. So, I mean, that's brutal. Okay, here's my last agenda. This is something I noted in my game recap, but the Georgie is found out agenda.

They slammed Georgie with three defenders in this match whenever he was on the ball. They were tackling him. They were literally throwing him to the ground. He pulled off two. They got... two different players got yellow cards for like literally throwing him down yeah like just just just not even it's like a tactical foul but like tactical rugby foul yeah um

I don't know about found out, but that definitely – that was the Houston Dynamo. That was one approach to defending him is if he's about to – like truck through you, you just grab them and tackle them. Yeah. Which, uh, I don't know. I don't think they were red card fouls, but it was like the definition of cynical. Yeah, it was, um,

I mean, it was very clearly a yellow car. Like all, both of them were, were yellow cards and like, I just like, I don't know. It just sucks to see people kind of like, all right, he's good. Fucking defend him harder. Like, that's... I mean, he's a handful. I don't know how I would defend him if I was trying to. I think that that's effective because his...

getting out of those situations, he's not necessarily going to make a really tight pass or, you know, kind of find an outlet. The one where they had literally three guys on him. That's what I'm saying. And Schmetzer even said this. Someone's going to be open if you have three on him. Yeah, but if you have three on you, too.

He's not good in tight passing windows, in my opinion. He can play a cross-in on a tight passing window, but they're not letting him get to the position where he's... dangerous on the cross so i thought they defended him well but i think like that's a blueprint for the way that people are going to take him and

It's not as hard to pull three defenders late in the game to just swarm a guy because you're already probably going to be playing a deeper line. When you deploy him, unless he's starting, he's usually just pressing, pressing, pressing, pressing, pressing. So you're already back in your half.

I don't know. It's going to be an interesting little wrinkle, but this is something that Schmetzer had noted in his postgame presser, which is kind of why I wanted to bring it out, is he's like, yeah, the league's finding out about Georgie. They're figuring it out a little bit on what he has to give. So I think if they... train him more on those tight passing windows. And if he can get his passing a little bit better, like...

He could be insane. He's basically DK Metcalf. You know what I'm saying? DK Metcalf would pull two, three defenders and then you would have... one of the other two passing options open if, you know, not to be a football podcast. It was a interesting little new wrinkle that the Dynamo...

deployed against him. I hadn't seen, I hadn't seen a team try that yet. Yeah. I mean, it kind of worked. Yeah, it worked. Um, all right. Uh, should I hit my agendas? Yeah, go for it. Mine or, uh, no, uh, you down to a clown on the U S men's national. squad a little bit yeah can we do it why don't we break we'll do an ad break okay we'll recap the game a little bit and then we'll bam on the bot squad okay and then do those as agendas we're gonna take a little ad break we'll be right back

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So yeah, my agendas are regarding that you might have skipped the ad. And if you did... Don't skip the ads. Okay, anyway, sorry. Regarding the U.S. Men's National Fraud Squad, no, I did about 30 minutes on stream the other night having a good little laugh at their CONCACAF Nations League campaign, which did not. go especially well. It went well for us. I was on the up after it. I thought it was funny. The...

So on the stream, I was calling him Pocatino. And then I shortened that to Poke, which is not the correct pronunciation. But I think I'm going to keep calling him that. Okay, but this is literally the mispronunciation podcast. That's like our whole thing. But also the nickname Poke.

kind of makes him sound like a goofball. And I think that's what he might be, which I guess that brings me to my first point, which is that, I mean, you can go watch this stream for my full takes on it, but like I'm... I think this guy might not know what he is doing. Well, he did coach Chelsea. That's what's so funny about it is that he is the man that the bots have been touting as what is needed.

to elevate this quote-unquote golden generation. Greg Berhalter isn't getting enough out of these players, but if we hire a real coach, that's going to get this team going. That's what we need. They've been saying that for years, have they not? They've been literally saying that for years. And there is, I can honestly not think of any way that this era could be going worse.

It is not only not going well, it's pretty much already a joke. Yeah. It's pretty much already a joke. And that brings me to my first agenda, which is that if you're one of the USMNT fans... who has spent the last five to seven years trashing on guys like Jossie's Artist, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan, Jesus Ferreira. You should just... If you're... I'm going to redo that. Was that Siri? I don't know. If you're one of the USMNT bots...

that has spent the last five to seven years trashing on guys like Jossie Zardes, Jordan Morris, Christian Roldan, Jesus Ferreira. You should just stop talking. Just shut up. All the points that you've been making for the last five to seven years look so unbelievably brain dead. You need to just give it.

a rest because this is this we want to talk about if the team was embarrassing under burr halter the team won nations league three times under burr halter i'm not saying that makes burr halter like an amazing coach But this is a joke. This is a joke. And this outcome happened after like those fans got what they wanted. And this is what happens. I mean.

I can't think of anything more embarrassing than what we saw in these Nations League games compared to the outcome we were supposed to get from this guy. He's got time, I guess, to salvage it. But I mean, I just feel like it's already just like laughably bad, laughably bad. And like. You want to talk trash about Jordan Morris on the U.S. men's national team? He's got 11 goals. How many does Josh Sargent have in his career in the last five years?

Zero. He has five for his career. He hasn't scored any since 2019. So until all the Euro boys actually play better than these guys that you've been trashing on, my agenda is that you should just... pipe it down just because you look absolutely ridiculous it's um it's quite funny to me you know the discourse that's been going on uh about

the euros the euro frauds as i call them um and continued to to have it and someone made a really good point on uh blue sky that i saw which was essentially why in the why why does A guy like Christian Pulisic, Tim Weah, Tyler Adams, who apparently is one of the best players in the world, according to himself, by the way. You're an idiot, Tyler Adams. You're dumb.

You're not good. An MLS lifer is better than you, and I will stand on that. Christian Roldan literally is more impactful in all of his games he's ever played in his life than you are. So that... is hot i don't give a he's bad he's not a good player i don't care these these usmnt fans want to say whatever they want to say about mls players i'm gonna say it about your euro fraud he's not good he is not good all of these players don't give a shit

Why would they care about the Nations League? That's what it looks like. Why would they care? Because you know what? Playing for the U.S. men's national team doesn't do anything for your career if you are a European player. People don't. care or rate the US or really even care at all about international.

If you're on a really high tier Serie A team or a Premier League team or a championship team, even like, why would they care? It's just another chance for you to get hurt. And guess what? You're already American. So you're already playing on this uphill battle of. you're not a real soccer player, right? I can acknowledge that. People don't respect Americans in soccer. Like, think about all the shit that Christian Pulisic went through.

I don't think he's that amazing of a player personally, which I'm going to get canceled after this whole rant. I don't think he's this insane superstar. I think he's a good soccer player. Like, I'm sorry. I think if Jordan Morris was healthier and had his run in the championship, I think he probably would have been playing in Europe for the rest of his career. uh regardless it's it's all to say like you need

You need a player like Diego Luna or... Diego Luna and Patrick Agimon, two MLS players, were the only ones who could score a goal for that team. That's what I'm saying. It's so... funny to me that like those are the guys who will consistently put you on their back they're the ones playing against this type of competition they're the ones who give a shit because guess what if you're playing you know what people want to say whatever they want to say about mls lifers there are people who love them

this league. There are people who rate this league. There are people who are happy to play for their hometown club or play for a team where they grew up watching. Okay. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And You have players like Diego Luna and all of that who have worked their ass off and this means something to them.

You think this means something to Christian Pulisic and Tyler Adams who like are just going to go back to their super multi-million dollar salaries? They don't care about Nations League. Why are you calling them up, poke? Why are you calling them up? You're telling me for real that, I mean, Jordan Moore is obviously not healthy. Jordan Moore scores against fucking Panama. He might. He might. Jesus Ferreira.

Yeah, this is blazing hot. I'm tired of it too, Ari. I love it though. I'm just going to read a tweet from Landon Donovan. Yeah, read that. People are going to cancel you for that. But this is a take.

From Landon Donovan. This isn't Noah. This is Landon Donovan. There you go. Landon Donovan says, I'm so sick of hearing how, quote, talented this group of players is and all the amazing clubs they play for. There you go. If you aren't going to show up and actually give a shit about playing for your national team, decline the invite.

talent is great pride is better exactly dude this is exactly and i don't think i think your take there was uh hotter than that but not by much it's just it's just i'm just being you know obviously dramatic about it for the for the clicks and the views but the reality is is like Why the hell is Christian Pulisic sitting there yelling back at his coach and saying, I'm not coming out? Did you see that? He literally said, I'm not subbing out. Hey, idiot, you were playing like shit. You're bad.

You're playing bad, okay? Get your ass off the field. You are nobody. You are nobody, bro. You are going to go down in history as nobody. Nobody. All right. I'm tired of it, Ari. The USMNT section got even hotter than I was expecting. I'm tired of it. No, that was sick. That was sick. I put down an agenda, too. I'm just going to keep ripping. Listen.

Pocatino, whatever. He's fine. He's fine. I don't think he is. He's fine. I'm just saying he's a fine coach. I'm sure he would be great somewhere. I'm sure whatever. He doesn't know how to get it done in CONCACAF. You need a proven winner against teams like this, against the shithousery of CONCACAF, against people who... who know in and out this league, have built rosters with big talent and small talent, and are able to gel a group not only on vibes, but...

are able to discipline players when they need to be sat the hell down, even when they're the best of the best. You know who would have done that, Ari? Oh, this is going to be hot. Brian Schmetzer would have been a 10 times better coach. that that poke okay and here's why i'll give you two examples here's my first one last season when his superstar was throwing a fit

having one of the worst seasons he's ever played, club legend, all of that. You know what he did? He benched him for an unproven bottom of the roster player. who put the team on his back and led them, literally led them, gave his own legs. His legs were ruined by the end of the season, okay? Gave his own legs. to bring them to a Western Conference final. The man by the name of Paul Rothrock, call him up. But that's the reality. You need a coach who respects and understands that...

The people who want to be there day in and day out, grind it out, give it their all. Not the people who play for the club with the big name. Brian Schmetzer would have been able to coach this team not only to a Nations League win. But I think to a competitive competition in Copa America, I'm going to say it. Okay. He is the type of player who knows how to win tournaments. He's the type of player who knows how to get.

gets get guys to gel he's a type of i'm saying player type of coach who is able to actually work within the confines of a really shitty roster management okay He will work with whatever he has and he will build a championship winning team with superstars and scrubs and whatever. Okay. Brian Schmetzer should have gotten the job. That's a hot agenda.

That's a hot agenda. The only thing I disagree with is that Polk is a fine coach. I think he might just not know what he's doing. He might just be bad. I think he might just be bad. I don't know. What do you think about Brian Spencer? Do you think Brian would have... Been a good for USMNT.

Yeah, no, I think that... I just don't know if he would have wanted or taken that job. Well, he said he wanted it. Oh, I guess he did. He literally went on the radio with our front of the pod, Jackson Feltz. He did say if that opportunity came, I would... They didn't even give him a call. Any coach would be interested. Yeah. The thing is, I feel like pretty much anything would be better than what we're seeing right now. And to add insult to injury.

You literally have Greg Berhalter turning around the worst club, the most cursed club in Major League Soccer. Dude took a team that literally needed an exorcism to a winning streak and beating... the best club in MLS right now. He literally beat the Vancouver Whitecaps, who had done something only like four clubs had ever done in the history.

of MLS, right? Like they had this insane winning streak and all of this stuff or to start the season at least. Guess who gets it done? Guess who gets it done, Ari? Greg Berhalter. Yeah. Greg would have won this game. That's another good agenda. Well, I think, you know, I don't know. We say the Berhalter stuff somewhat in jest, or at least I do. But I mean...

He at least won Nations League, man. He at least won Nations League three times. All right. Well, I think that's enough USMNT punditry. Let's keep it moving here. I'm going to get the bots in my mentions. No, are you down just for an interest of time just to go right to the transfer stuff? Yeah, let's do it. Okay, because this is actually an exciting story surrounding the Seattle Sounders. A new player.

A new player might be signed, as per report from Sounder at Heart and Pulso Sports, Nico Moreno, also my co-host on Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff, where we actually broke this. live on stream like well the report got published while we were streaming and then we got to talk about it like right as it came out so that was kind of cool that's why you should tune into our live shows there you go um ryan kent

Supposedly. Like the guy from Ted Lasso? Yes, that was the first exact reference that I made as well. They're signing the guy from Ted Lasso. If you look at his Wikipedia page, which I'm doing right now. The picture literally, it looks like one of the players from Ted Lasso. So everyone's going to be getting those jokes in, which is, I think is fine. He's going to, I think.

As soon as that show came out, that probably became the story of Ryan Kent's entire career. But basically, the situation with this player is that he has been playing in Turkey for Fenerbahce. I really hope I'm saying that correctly. I don't know how the... Turkish top flight clubs are pronounced. But that's the club that Jose Mourinho coaches right now. And apparently Ryan Kent and Jose Mourinho didn't see eye to eye on a few issues. And he got released from that team.

He's now a free agent. He's a Liverpool Academy product. He's played in the championship for Coventry City, Barnsley. He's done stints with Bristol City. But his main claim to fame was his time in the Scottish. Premiership with Rangers where he was a really good at times dominant player, honestly, in the Scottish league. From what I can tell, he was considered one of the like better attackers in.

that league. Uh, and he was at one time, according to transfer market valued at around $20 million. And that has declined based, I think on. The falling out he's had with coaches, maybe a little downturn in form. But it is kind of a classic distressed asset type situation. So people are going to be calling it money balling. I mean, it is. It is. He's literally free. it is money balling to an extent, but, uh, I guess let's just talk about what we think he,

could bring to the table because, I mean, it's effectively your Paul Areola replacement. I think skill set-wise, there are some similarities there. And I think mainly it's... The idea is to provide another threat and creativity from out wide, which I'm all for that. If he can bring that to the table, I think the issue here might be.

like motivation and buy-in and just general temperaments rather than talent but if they can harness all that and get him locked in i think it seems like it seems to me that there's a chance that he can be a plus contributor for this team. I mean, if anyone can do that, it's Brian Schmetzer. Yeah, sure. I mean, like, and we've seen the Sounders do stuff like this before. So...

I'm all for it from like a skill set perspective. I think it could be a positive. I just, so I've been looking up his career a little bit. And so like when I look, okay, when I look up his YouTube highlights, I like what I see in the sense that. But he's kind of a maniac out there. He plays with his hair on fire. He is running just full speed. a little like, not out of control, but just like, he's kind of...

He's kind of crazy. Yeah. There's a clip of him when they were playing Celtic in that famous Scottish Derby. He punched a guy. Yep. He's face punching a guy 2.0. So obviously, like... We don't condone that. No. And you can't do stuff like that because you'll get red carded. You know, you shouldn't punch people. Or banned from an indoor soccer league. Yeah, but what I will say is that I think...

a maniac, a guy who's just plays the game like a goddamn maniac, which Ryan Kent seems to, that could be, that could be something that this team could really, that could be a boost to this team. Just, uh,

a little more craziness out there. In a controlled and... productive way not in like a punching people way but like i like the fact that he plays high octane and uh high intensity style you know i think this is an interesting transfer For me, it's really funny because I see people online like...

Oh, let's go. This is a good transfer because he's a European player. He's English, so therefore this is a good transfer. When they apparently were, according to Nico, on the live stream, which you should go watch, they were also... looking at um bob t one of our favorite players seems a little similar to bob t yeah robert taylor is also

English? No, he's Finnish. He's Finnish? Okay, whatever. They're all European. He's European. He's also a Eurostar, but also in MLS, so it doesn't count as a good transfer. And who's the other one? former Atlanta player and then Inter-Miami player. Gressel? Yes. Julian Gressel. That was another one.

How do you rate, like, do you think this was, when you compare the three, I mean, obviously you haven't done a ton of research on this guy. You don't know a lot about him, but like, would you have rather had a known asset like a Robert Taylor or... This face puncher 2.0 guy. I think if it was Robert Taylor, I would view it...

Roughly the same. I feel like we would like that more. We have been advocating for them to sign Bob T as a joke. We're like longtime Bob T fans. So I think we would have been fired up about it from that. perspective but i don't think ultimately i would have viewed it like all that differently i feel like they're pretty comparable gressel is one where i would have been

If it was a couple years ago, I would have been over the moon if they were able to get Gressel. I think he has been one of the best... some of the best wide service in the league for years, but, uh, I just, don't really know what's going on with him at inter Miami. Like why he fell out of favor. If there's issues there, like, uh, where they either think that he's washed or something. That's why I get paused with Gressel. He probably just like,

farted next to Messi and Messi was like, get this motherfucker off my team. I mean, yeah, I don't know what the, like, why, because Gressel has been a very, very good player in the league for a long time. And he's a podcaster. So we have to respect him. Exactly. He's in our line of work. But I just...

I think if it had been Gressel, on one hand, I would have been like, all right, I've watched him play a ton, and I know what he can do, and I feel like he could be an asset to the team. But I would also be like, why is... He's so far out of favor at Miami to where he's like not even playing. So I would have questioned that. It is weird. The whole situation is weird, but.

We'll have to see if this Ryan Kent thing gets finalized. But I think realistically what he's going to bring or could bring to the table is similar to what Bob T could have. Bring back Dylan Tavis. That's a good agenda. We should put that in there. He also apparently owns alligators. He does. He's an alligator owner. I don't know if he's going to pet alligators. He can't. It's illegal in Washington. Really? Yeah.

so that was like a whole thing i was i was doing my research obviously on on roy kent and uh ryan kent and uh he yeah he owns pet alligators and he was allegedly trying to go to like Iran or something, the Iranian football league, because you're allowed to own alligators there. That was like his criteria. Yeah. Or maybe it was Saudi pro league or something. I don't know. I'm getting it wrong, but it's some Asian football.

Hopefully they can get him a waiver to bring his alligators. Yeah, you should be able to. Does he keep them just confined or can he, can he, are they domesticated? I feel like, yeah, I feel like he's like the type of guy who's just like, you know, you know, the type of guys who just like walk around in their underwear around their house, like don't no care in the world, like mansion. And he's just got his alligators chilling.

living room? I guess I'm very curious to learn about that. How long do alligators live? That's a good question. We got to do our alligator research if they're going to sign this guy. If they sign him. Sounders PR. Can we take him to the zoo and ask him about alligator facts? I think that'd be a good video. The alligator thing is going to be...

certainly going to be content. I don't think there's anyone else on the team who has alligators. Steph Fry has the wrinkly dogs. The wrinkly dogs are cute, but this is a player we've never seen before. A guy who is insanely eccentric. in a way. He's eccentric. He's like a very like...

It's funny we compare him to Roy Kent, but he is like a made-for-TV player. I kind of like that, though. That's sort of something about this signing that I'm... intrigued by is the eccentricity and the uh and just his style of of play like i think it'll be good for i think a high energy high octane like all out intensity type player which if you watch his youtube highlights that's what he seems to be uh i'm definitely

interested as to like what a player of that profile could bring to this team, alligators or no alligators. Yeah. Like, I mean, you know, maybe he'll become a Florida Gators fan. I don't know. He might have to. It is actually surprising that he didn't sign with Miami, though, because you are, I assume, allowed to have pet alligators down there because they kind of just roam around. They have a lot there, yeah. Okay, well, you know, Ryan...

If you're listening to the podcast, we would love to meet your alligators. I don't know if I... You don't want to meet them? You wouldn't... Say what's up. I don't really do alligators. You don't really do alligators? I'll be honest. Not much of an alligator guy myself. I'm nothing against an alligator guy. New agenda. I only want my attackers. to own alligators from now on. Anyway, we'll be keeping tabs on if this gets finalized. A new player is always exciting. Who's the guy who like...

The guy who's like, oh, I'm from down under. And he was like, didn't he die from an alligator? Steve Irwin? Yeah, Steve Irwin. We're signing Steve Irwin. Yeah, apparently. That's fire. All right, I think we covered his playing style, his earlier career, and the Alligators, so I think that... I think we can just hit some winners and losers and then get out of here. Do we have time to hit this other one or should we save it for next step? Oh, oh, let's hit that like one minute. Okay. Okay. Well.

We can save it for Next Step. All right, let's just save it. So this is what you get live on our podcast here, folks. Winners and losers for Match Day 5 and MLS. I'm just going to rapid fire my takes here. Winners, LAFC, I put them on Fraud Watch, but they slammed the Club of Professional Wrestling. That way it doesn't count. It doesn't count. They're on a 12-game losing streak, aren't they? No, they tied one. They haven't won one in like 12 or 13. So we'll see what happens with old Peter V.

Peter V is literally invincible. LAFC, I put him on Fraud Watch and they got a big dub. David Martinez, though, looks good. That goal he scored, I'm like, okay. He's breaking out, which like... Yeah, whatever. This is a Galaxy podcast. Actually, I feel like we've pretend that we're not a Galaxy podcast anymore for how bad they are. I never was into the Galaxy. We don't acknowledge the Galaxy, terrible team.

david martinez man i'm in love if you haven't seen that with that player i mean i don't go watch it you're not gonna you're not gonna be happy Chicago Fire, I got him in here again. They slammed the Whitecaps. Berhalter literally did a crime against his own son. This was the Berhalter Derby, which I forgot until I was watching the end of it. I was like, oh, wow, yeah, this is... That's kind of, must be mixed emotions. But yeah, like...

Someone who I think deserves to sit back and have a good laugh at the plate of the U.S. Men's National Fraud Squad is Greg Berhalter. I bet it's pretty difficult for him to not just sit back on his couch just like this and be like, yep. Wasn't so bad, was it? Wasn't so bad. It literally, you guys got the guy that you wanted and it got worse. And that's funny. It's so good. And like he, in all seriousness, he has the Chicago fire.

playing really good ball. That's three straight wins. And it looks like, looks like he might be a good coach after all. He actually excised the demons. I mean, I'm going to wait to like fully. Call that, but... They can always come back, Ari. They're looking good. They're looking good, and Berhalter deserves his credit. In my mind, they hired a priest to come into the locker room with holy water.

And that's just, you can't convince me otherwise. That's the only way I think that they could have... gotten out of that uh charlotte fc continue to look good they slammed the quakes who the sounders are playing we didn't preview that at all damn it oh well that's fine uh and then honorable mention to orlando city for their uh their 4-1 over DC United. Losers. This is a bit hearkening back to last year. Seattle Sounders shut out at home by the Houston Dynamo.

Are we going to have to do the thing where if they don't score, we don't talk about them? Yeah. Do you remember that? That was a whole bit. Or multiple goals. Multiple goals. Yeah. Or like don't lead the show. Yeah. Might have to bring that back. Hopefully not. My other loser, the Houston Dynamo, came to Seattle. It's fine to come to Seattle and play for 0-0, I guess. That's what a lot of teams do.

I'm going to put you in the loser section if you play negative soccer, which Ben Olson literally admitted post-game that they did. He does love to do that. And then RSL, I'm putting as a loser because they play at America First Field. I don't even remember what their result was. I think they lost. They're just a loser for perpetuating the American First agenda.

All right. That was all I had. Did you have anything else league-wide takeaways that you wanted to hit? Nothing league-wide. We'll save that other... I mean, unless you want to hit on the Ladera Disrespect discourse quickly. Well, Nico and I hit on that pretty extensively on the stream. Okay, we'll cut a video for that. So, yeah. If you want takes on the Nico Ladero potential disrespect, go watch the... The VOD of Lobby Scorcher's kickoff. We hit that with Nico Moreno. Sweet.

All right, let's just call it right there then for episode 89. Thank you as always so much everyone for tuning in. Appreciate all the support on our pods and our streams. Having a great time putting this content out even though... The results aren't super great right now, but we're going to keep covering the team, goddammit. Like, comment, subscribe.

Great five stars. Great five stars. Share with Roy Kent's alligators. Share with the alligators. Like this video. Go through all of our videos and like every single one. Am I missing anything? No. All right. I think that's it. I'll be back at it on Thursday for Thursday, 7.30 p.m. Lobbing Scorchers under the lights live on our YouTube. Until then, we out. Peace.

This transcript was generated by Metacast using AI and may contain inaccuracies. Learn more about transcripts.