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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, they email compelling offers. Two, you request bottles that sound appealing. Three, your wine arrives at their Soto 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 85 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillian Wall and Noah, we have a bit of a tilting draw pod to lay down tonight. How are you feeling? I feel fine, Ari. You know, I think this game, it broke a lot of people, but I was not one of them. I'm chilling. Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Yeah. It's a 2-2 draw versus Charlotte FC.
Should have been a 2-1 win, but it's a 2-2 draw. We're going to break that down. Every single goal that got scored in that match and the broader takeaways that we have from it. We're going to hit our agenda check. We're going to talk about the rest of the match day one slate in MLS. I think we're probably going to talk a little bit of Antigua Lake 2 coming up on Wednesday.
We got a jam-packed show. It's exciting to have the season off and running. I know I'm enjoying having the games back. Are you enjoying having the games back? It's nice. I hated preseason, man. Talking about nothing got so boring. I enjoyed preseason because the team was... looking good, but I'm certainly, uh, glad to be, to have the real games going. Having CCC going is great. And, uh, I'm not going to let the ending of that game harsh my vibe too much of.
Being, you know, hype on the early season here and excited to get going. Before we get into all that, though, 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? That's sounderathart.com slash LS. Scroll down to subscribe and support to get 30 days complete.
free every sign up through our links help support and grow this show do we have any new subs to thank this boy already do we we got five we got five new supporters we really looking so surprised and we are on the push to 100 Sounder at Heart members. That's right. So this is the best time you could ever possibly want. Start of the season.
Let's get to 100. Sounderatheart.com. And also, we've been doing live shows. We're now putting those live shows, the audio from those, on the subscriber-only feed. That's the only place they are for the audio. Just another added bonus, but let's read these supporters. We're getting that audio and supporting Seattle soccer coverage. Here they are. Matthew Montgomery, Phillip Hayhart, Spencer Waller, Alex Kumert, and Lucas...
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Like the video sub to the YouTube. Uh, we passed 1500 YouTube subs today, which I was happy to see that. Uh, and, uh, Lobbing Scorchers kickoff this morning with Nico Moreno was also well attended. We had a lot of people in the stream really enjoying the. live shows. I feel like we've got a good little routine going. I've gotten in the groove of it, the rhythm of it, and it's going to be a great season.
Alright, let's do the draw pod. Should we just do the draw pod? Rip the bandaid off. I mean, as annoying of the ending, as annoying an ending as this game had. I do think there was a lot of positives to take from this game. So we're going to talk about. both the positives and the negatives, as we usually do on our game reviews. Let's do our lineup reaction to start. It was a little less rotated than I might have expected, I would say. Yeah, I agree. It was just basically the only change.
was just Rothrock and Georgie. So two starters, basically. Yeah, yeah, no, exactly. You know what I mean? But... With the short turnaround coming back from that long a road trip, I might have thought that it would be even more rotated, but I mean, it was notable that Jesus Ferreira and De La Vega didn't start or play.
very many minutes in this game. They both came on near the end, but it was only for brief cameos. And I do think that is with an eye towards leg two against Antigua. I think you'll see both of those players back in the starting 11. I'll be interested to see. with the aggregate lead that they do have if they mix and match and rotate a little bit more than they did for this Charlotte game. But for this game, it was...
it was pretty much the same 11 except for Paul Rothrock and Georgie. So, uh, I was, uh, I was not totally sure on how that would function on such short rest coming off that longer road trip, but I think we got our answer pretty early. Let's do our goal breakdowns and key moments. First goal of this game. Jordan Morris, 19th minute.
Designated player Jordan Morris. Designated player Jordan Morris with his first goal of the season. There was another secondary assist for Obed on this play. I believe that's his third across these two first two competitive matches. I think he's been involved in... some way in every single one of the goals. Yeah. And I'm a, I'm a secondary assist truther. Uh, I'm, I believe that secondary, I believe in secondary assists. I think they're valid assists. So, uh, give Obed the hat trick of assists.
through these first two games and a Georgie primary, a Georgie primary assist. This was really a nice goal. It was pretty unstoppable, honestly. I mean, once Obed found Georgie out on the, on the right flank there and he put the delivery in, uh, and. Jordan just got the redirect to it. That was nice. That was clean. And I think as far as Georgie goes, he is showing end product over these first two games. He's got two assists himself, primary assists. No joke.
in the first two games. So, uh, the Georgia hype train is not. slowing down i think the thing with him was he was very exciting and fun to watch but maybe not necessarily we were waiting for that end product we were waiting for that end product uh so he could beat the leo chu allegations i think he has to do it
over a longer sample size than this, obviously. For sure. But showing consistent end product, he would beat the Leo Chu allegations if he can do that. And he's just looked great these first... these first two games. And it was great to see him and Jordan link up. And really at that point, I think we were all feeling, we were all feeling pretty good.
I thought there might be a drop-off coming off the short turnaround and the trip back from Guatemala. But to me, those first 20 minutes looked pretty damn good, and they got rewarded for their goal inside the first 20 minutes. Which I feel like is such a big change from last season where they, I don't know, it's all a big change from last season. Let's be frank, anything in the attack is, but man, it just felt...
relenting an attack in that first 20 minutes. And they, they were controlling the hell out of that game. Uh, they were, but Charlotte FC credit to Charlotte FC. They fought back. They equalized in this game twice actually, but the first time in the 35th minute, this was Adelson Melanda on the, on the header off the corner kick.
I think that was, was that Pep Biel or Bata? Yeah, it was Pep Biel, I believe. Pep Biel, who I did not know much about before this game. I knew he existed. That dude is a... That dude's good. Yeah, he's pretty good. That dude's pretty damn good. Yeah. You know, I watched, you know, we watched all the replays of every goal, but we scored and conceded. I watched this one a few times.
i think charlotte fc might have cooked here yeah this was an insanely good it was a good goal that was that was a good set piece like i can't even lie no like the whole setup was awesome like and the delivery delivery was nice he put it right where like fry like He got caught for sure. Some people were saying he could have punched it. I don't know. I, at the very least, that is a very, they did a really good job of putting the keeper in.
pretty impossible situation. I don't know. I racked my brain for all the ways that that could have been prevented. And I struggled to find many, if any. And that is actually the polar opposites. of the equalizer which we're going to talk about as uh highly preventable so they're two kind of uh different goals in in that sense but no i mean uh
I think this was an example of a goal, a set piece goal that came against the run of play. And that's, I mean, that's the value of set pieces right there. They showed it. They can get you back in a game that you're kind of struggling to find yourself in. They schemed that one up well, and I think that's like a GG's though. That was just a good goal by them. A tip your cap for the people who are getting annoyed with the lobbing scorchers lingo.
Seattle, to their credit, got the lead back on the other side of halftime. Jordan Morris again. D.P. Strikers goal. This time off an assist from D.P. Albert Rusnak. Great, great play by the two DPs here. Rustak, this was a DP dime, I would say. That was the vision and the weight on that pass.
Look, that looked like the roost snack that we saw down the stretch last year. And obviously, you know, you never like to see that for the for the brigade. But right. For everyone else, that was great to see. And at that point, my mind was that it's not full on cruise control. You got to go try and get this third. But.
Seeing as how Charlotte's only goal came on a set piece, and they really were not, to my eye, generating all that much outside of that, I was like, okay, you just got to go get this third goal, dust this game. get a three, one win. And that'll be that. Like I wasn't really, uh,
until the very last possible second of this game, I was not really there. The last two minutes, I was not really thinking that Charlotte was going to tie it. How are you feeling after Jordan scored the go ahead? After Jordan scored the go ahead, I was like, ah, this is, this is, this is dusted. We might get it. another one we might not but I was like there there's no shot like this they'll close this game out like it felt it felt destined yeah um
I mean, Jordan's golden count because it got deflected, right? I'm sorry. I forgot. I forgot to mention we're working on a spreadsheet of goals that count versus goals that don't count. We're going to get some good, good content out of this. Uh, there there's, there's been a lot of like the,
Goals not counting stuff so far this season. I think it's because Seattle has scored a lot of goals so far, and that's undermining agendas out there. So I would imagine that's probably where that came from. But anyway, yeah. 2-1 lead, a lot of time left to go, but they controlled the game for the most part. They were looking good on offense. They scored multiple goals. They actually, I felt like they kept firing for the most part, really until... the last like 10 or so minutes.
10 or so minutes. And then I feel like that's where some people pointed out they might have gotten a little risk averse. The play that comes to mind that a lot of people pointed out was the counterattack where Rusnak had it. And it looked like he had a couple.
of runners yeah and then pulled it back people were getting on him for that and uh i think you know with hindsight now that we know how the game ended maybe you like to see him be a little more aggressive there I can see what he's thinking, which is that when you're controlling a game to that degree, even if you're only up one goal, sometimes it's arguably not worth
playing overly aggressive and exposing yourself to a potential counterattack. I'm sure he, that was kind of, I'm sure he meant well, I think that was what was going through his head. But I definitely can see with the one goal lead, how some people get a thought. that he should have played that more aggressively I mean they definitely felt like they were trying to change the game state in that final 20 minutes I don't think that that's a bad thing though what are you supposed to do I mean
You know you're looking forward towards another game. You know that if you can retain a little bit more gas in that tank, that's what you're going to do. That's probably what they practiced, as if, hey, if we're up at... the the 75th 80th minute like let's just close out this game so i mean i don't know what yeah people i did see people complaining about albert not being it's that's that's silly it's silly to me um
All right, let's talk about this equalizer now. Let's do this. This is going to be a fun one. Can we even call this an equalizer? Can we just call this like a gift? I said this this morning on... on Lobbing Scorchers kickoff with Nico. And, uh, I fully acknowledge that this might be recency bias, but I think it's the worst. It's it's.
The worst goal the club's ever conceded. And if it's not the worst goal the club's ever conceded, it's in the top two to three. Not in terms of stakes of the moment. The ones they gave up in the MLS Cup they lost or whatever. Yes, those are worst goals to concede. But in terms...
of just like the raw, like what happened on the sequence. It was very MLS sequel. Like it was something some like hater, MLS hater would post on Twitter and be like, look at this bot league, bro. Yeah, exactly. Or it reminded me of what Maxime Cheneau. did last year a little bit, but it was, it was, it was all, it was, this goal was incredible. It was incredible. It was bad. It was, it was good content for neutral, but for Seattle, it was.
It was quite bad. There were audible groans in the press box. Let's just, uh, well, I think we kind of all, I couldn't believe what I just saw. Like it felt like it came. Out of nowhere. But I will say... And coming off that, you had that Jordan absolute banger goal with that amazing pass from Albert where everyone was just like...
Oh my God. Like this, that that's beautiful soccer. Uh, so like to like spike and hit that high and then crash back down to earth and be like, Oh shit. Yeah. Uh, I will say as soon as that guy. Took the ball off Jackson Reagan. I felt that. I think we were all like, oh, no. There it is. This was a doozy. from the CBs. And, you know, I feel like we, uh, we can say that, uh, without it, like taking jabs or anything, because these are two of the best CBs in the, in the league right now. And, uh,
I think it was easily the worst play of Jackson Reagan's career. I have a hard time imagining he will ever have a play like this again in his career, just because of like the statistical anomaly of it. And then, uh, yeah, I'm art. Bless his heart. He was trying to clear it, but he ended up smashing it directly into his own net. Jackson Reagan whiffed the header and the back pass. Yeah.
that you rarely if ever see that happen to him, uh, once on a given play, uh, one of those things, let alone both of those things. Uh, and that's really, I think that to me, when I look back on it, no, that's where it really. all fell apart with the header and the back pass back to back. Uh, yeah, more like, uh, Schmetz mentioned that, uh, it was partially on him too, for not getting back to his spot, uh, in time to be able to. better deal with that ball. I mean, I think
It's at the point where that giveaway happens, it's a fire drill. It's just you're in chaos management mode and you're trying to do whatever you can to get that ball out of there. The most frustrating thing about the highlight, though, is that... if you watch where the ball was going to go, if Yamar hadn't taken his leg out, the Charlotte runner was not going to get there. In fact, Alex Roldan had that completely...
covered if it had either missed Yamar's leg or if he had just not stuck his leg out at all. But he doesn't know. He doesn't know that. He doesn't know that, so I get why he did it, but it still just made it all the more tilting to watch it back when you're like, this dude.
not need to happen all right did not need to happen and i think that's what broke a lot of people online was like they were freaking out about jackson and yamar and like what oh yamars had two awful games i'm like outside of this Basically, last ditch effort defending where nine times out of 10, you're clearing that ball.
And it's not going in the back of the net. Not even nine times out of ten. How many times have you seen Yamar make a tackle like that or a latch stitch ever to clear the ball and it goes wide or it goes above the net or whatever?
Right. Like, and somehow this one just happened to be an absolute banger in the back of our own net. Like, what are you going to do? That shit happens sometimes. What are you going to do? That's soccer, baby. And you know, it's funny. I saw, uh, I was watching the, uh, top in 90. post-game reaction show, and a lot of Charlotte FC fans were talking about how their own goal equalizer doesn't count. Yeah, I saw that too.
This is what the LAFC fans and some Sounders fans were trying to do in the playoffs last year. They were saying the Chanel own goal doesn't count. I don't understand. I mean, I don't understand a lot about the deciding which goals do and don't count thing.
people do and have been doing a lot so far this season. Did you deserve the win or not? First of all, when they were trying to do it with the Cheneau thing, and this applies to Yaimar too, how the hell are you going to have your center back bam your...
bam the ball into their own goal. And you're going to make that someone else's problem. Like, Oh, well that's you. You got lucky. All right. All right. I mean, you shouldn't have damn right. You shouldn't have bam that into your own net. But the other thing is like, uh, because these are, those are actually pretty similar play.
is you make your own luck by putting the ball in dangerous situations and putting the CB under pressure. That's soccer. That's how you can get goals like that. I can tell you for a fact, they literally are. the scoreboard they do count they don't like they don't as much as we both would have liked that goal to not count they it counted it counted they took a point home yeah they they had one goal before they had a good goal and then
When the own goal happened, it increased to two. Yeah. So if you're arguing that the own goals don't count, which a lot of people are arguing. That is not accurate. That's just not true. It doesn't work that way. Guys, I think what you're thinking about is XGRE. Goals that aren't real versus... RG, real goals. This goal counted. This was an RG. This was an RG. And that's a...
That is a 2-2 draw. Seattle settles for a point in a game where this was, you know, every draw, it's either going to feel like a draw that feels like a win or a draw that feels like a loss. This is a draw that feels like a loss because, I mean, you have to dust that game.
have to dust that game other key moments uh the big one that comes uh comes to mind to me noah is was this sequence in the 72nd uh this was when seattle was still looking they were looking sharp i think going for this third goal and man this goal would have been, this would have been, imagine if they had scored this one. I mean, the, uh, the one touching the ping in the ball, uh, interplay, it was Georgie to Albert to Obed for just a great look on goal.
Obed gets it on target a little too close to Kalina, but it actually deflected off Kalina. It was rolling. I thought it was going in. It was a good save. But he... He didn't have to reach that far. It was a good save, but it wasn't like he had to go full extension. And it almost rolled in, but it didn't. If that goes in...
I mean, then the, then the last own goal doesn't matter. And that's sort of, that's why you push for the third goal and you never, you're playing with fire with the one goal lead, stuff like that can happen, but. the other best chance that Seattle had in this game that didn't go in was this 27th minute set piece where, uh, I think, uh, it was like a short quarter to Rusnak. You remember the, or from Rusnak to Georgie back to.
Rusnak. Rusnak with a really nice dime to Yamar at the far post. He was offside. Yeah, he was off. He was off on the play, but it was a really well designed and well executed set piece besides him being offside. But I like to see that because this was one of the best set piece teams in the league, if not the best set piece team in the league last year. And I would like to see that continue into this year.
And Albert Rusnak was a big part of that last year, obviously. And his delivery on that play was clean. Like, uh, I really, uh, I was happy to see that because I felt like the, uh, the set pieces against Antigua were not razor sharp yet, which first game wouldn't necessarily expect them to be. So I was happy to see them scheme one up like that. That was a really good look. Yeah, it was. And also knew who...
He got a yellow card literally 58 seconds. That was so funny, dude. I was like, oh, God. What are we doing? I mean, yeah. Like, Rustak was, like, arguing with the ref. He's like, it's his first foul. Like, you could read his lips. He's like, it's the first foul. But it's like, all right. If you put yourself in a situation where the ref is even considering the first minute... I've never seen the first minute yellow. First minute yellow is rare, dude. That's super rare. That's a good milestone.
I don't know if I've ever seen a first minute yellow. All right. Let's do Lobbing Scorchers, Man of the Match, now that we've gotten through the recap. Do you want to go first? I'll go first. I wrote down mine. My man of the match is a little bit of a vindicating one because I hear so much shit on this player.
And I guess I get it, but also at the same time, I'm very confused. He's a very serviceable player. He works his ass off. And this game was nonetheless. Alex rolled on. He is my loving Scorchers man of the match. 90% completed passes. He had a shot on target. He was all over the field creating chances, closing people down. He created three chances. He won all of his tackles. He won all of his duels and won three of four aerial duels. I mean, that's as dominant of a game as you want.
From a wingback. And I'm sorry, man. I keep hearing this, Alex Rodon is ass. We need to switch him out for literally anyone. Put a college kid out there. I've heard the sentiments, man. You're wrong. This is a good player. This is a very good player. And I know that his shine is not going to get talked about because it's just, that's just like what you're, I don't even know if you're expected to do that. He had a lights out performance.
And I think Christian did as well. I was going to say, I think Christian was equally good. I think that's a good shout. You brought the stats with that. I brought the stats. You brought the stats. Big stats guy over here. I honestly, without those stats, I don't think I would have... realized that he had that good a game but which like i was noticing it the whole match but i was like i wonder like how i can convey this and they made these things are i had never heard of them before
but they're called statistics and they do actually bear out. I'm glad you discovered these. It's pretty sick. That's pretty cool. No, that's a good poll. Mine is Roost Snack. I know that... people are clinging to this one counter attack that he, that he pulled back or whatever. I thought this was arguably his best game since he took over as the, as the full-time 10. Wow. Like I really thought.
He was that on point, that effective, that dangerous. The assist was great. His delivery on that set piece I was talking about was great. I thought he just looked, I thought he just looked on it and really. He and Jordan both, I mean, they looked like designated players, Noah. They did actually both look like designated players. I think you could probably give a shout to Jordan too, but obviously everyone else is going to get the shine on that.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Jordan did have the two goals, so we should point that out. Really nice finish on the first one. And then the Kalina... Kalina is a bad dude for almost saving that. Jordan has gotten pretty... I feel like he's got this rep among some people as like he flubs a lot of breakaways. I feel like when I see him in that situation these days, dating back to last year, at least.
I feel pretty confident he's going to finish that. And also, did you notice, okay, did you notice how when he was running onto the ball from Rusnak, instead of... trying to take a touch to set himself up and then shooting he let it run and then just like first timed it yeah giving kalina less time to close down on him kalina is
insane. I think he is the best goalkeeper in the league right now. I think you saw that in this game. And he's still got a hand to it and almost saved it. But I liked... how Jordan took that shot as opposed to, I feel like, I don't know, I could be wrong, but I feel like in past years, the times where he has flubbed breakaways, it's because he's taken too extra of a touch. And that time he just let it rip and it went in. I think that, like...
Even more important to that, because this was something that I noticed as well with that play, was the ball from Rusnak. It was like perfectly weighted to the point where when it comes to Jordan, it has enough of a backspin to kind of just fall and roll at the same page. that he's running. And I think that that has a lot to do with it. It's like when you're playing a breakaway man like Jordan, playing that ball in, especially on wet, slick turf, like...
You kind of have to take a touch on it, and it just goes to show you how good Rusnak is to be able to anticipate that, be in sync with Jordan, and play legitimately the perfect ball. I noticed that too, but I think it has more to do with Albert than Jordan, but also Jordan acknowledging that like, whoa, this is a really fucking good ball.
Their chemistry has looked great so far. I mean, how many years did we watch Nico hit those through balls exactly like that for Jordan? I feel like Jordan and Albert got... like closer to that level last year. Their chemistry was a lot better, but, uh, it's looked great so far in preseason in these first couple, I guess the Antigua game wasn't Jordan's best game, but it didn't end up mattering. He was being like a serviceable. workhorse he was not being well actually uh
Yeah, because people were getting on him for ghosting that game or whatever. If you watch the Areola goal, the reason that space opened up is because Jordan carried the center back. Go watch it again if you haven't seen the highlight. That goal... That goal arguably doesn't happen unless he is carrying that CB with the decoy run. 100%. And I think this goes to prove what we were talking about last season with the reasons why you would re-sign Albert is...
How do you integrate someone in his position to get that chemistry ready and going from the jump, from February? You play games in February. What, do you think someone's going to get integrated in three weeks? No, it's not going to happen. And you have to think about that when you're arguing that, like, passionately that they should have moved off him or that he needs to be replaced. Which we even made arguments about that. But it was like...
we were also acknowledging there's a world in which keeping him makes the most sense. Yeah. Even if you can upgrade quote unquote. And I think I, at least speaking for myself, you know, my take on the whole roost neck debate has evolved. You're right. Like last year we did, uh,
We did echo a lot of the sentiments that he was good, not great, right? Like more of a team player than a DP. There were times where that was true. That's what it looked like the trajectory was for the first part of last year. but I'll happily take that out. He proved us wrong. He played like a DP, produced like a DP, got signed as a DP, and I love how he's looking so far.
Let's do positives and negatives. Did you like that from the last one? I did. I enjoyed it. Okay, we're going to try that. Dubs and L's? Maybe we should rename this Dubs and L's. We had a commenter who said that they can't listen to us anymore, guys, because they... Because we say dub pod too much, which, I mean, to that commenter.
I'm sorry that you don't like the Lobbing Scorchers language, but we are absolutely not under any circumstances that I could possibly fathom going to stop saying that. There's just no way. You need to not listen to our show. You give these commenters an inch and they take a mile, Ari. What are your dubs? Okay. Positives. Dubs. This is my biggest one, Noah. This is my biggest one. They're fun to watch.
that game was fun to watch. It was entertaining. Uh, like how many of those shows that I was talking about last year that, uh, when the off in this offense was really struggling, how many times did we say like, just like, Set the results aside. Just be entertaining. Yeah, just play fun soccer. Yeah, like that sequence I was talking about where Obed had that chance, where they were pinging it around. Yeah, do that. Yeah. That's what I want to see. Do that.
Kick it to the fast guys like Georgie and Jordan and let them run really fast and score goals and just be a fun, entertaining product to watch on the field. That's what I've been enjoying the most so far. this season i hope they sustain it you know it's only been two games but uh as tilting as the ending was like i really enjoyed watching that game i thought it was a fun game to watch i was locked in and they were
they were playing really well. So the crowd was into the game too. Yeah. Like I think that's, that's something that's genuinely like you can, you can use as a, as a little bit of a barometer of where they're at. The crowd was getting like,
When you hear people getting really loud and getting really excited off these chances, it tells you that people are excited to watch this game, and it was exciting to watch. I think also people are feeling... so like down about this as well because it was a fun game to watch because they had deserved the yeah because they felt like they deserved it and
I will, maybe we can talk about this. Fuck it. I'm just going to say it now. Jeremiah brought this up to me when we were walking back to the light rail. He said, I don't think that fans enjoy losing by multiple, like. three, two or tying three, three, then a one nil loss or a one. I've taken issue with that talking point as well. It's about winning. It's about winning. Like I, you don't want to be the Chicago fire.
A team, a team that can score goals and look like a good attacking team and play fun soccer sometimes. But then, uh, can't stop leaking goals and loses most of their games like four to two or four to three you don't want to be that and i realize there's less extreme like there's middle ground there right i think just in in principle like I take the 1-0 win over the 4-3 loss. I don't even know what we're debating with that. People would rather lose...
People generally say that they would rather lose a game and have their team score multiple goals versus their team lose by one goal and it's like or draw nil nil or something. I don't. I mean, Jeremiah said that he disagrees. He thinks that the, that it doesn't really matter either way. People are going to be tilted, which I tend to agree with. Uh, I don't know. It's just, I guess that's all to say, like, I think that's why people here.
you watch a really exciting game and somehow it actually makes it worse it somehow makes it worse because it made that result feel worse yeah for sure uh at least in the moment and then i think after sleeping on it I was able to kind of be like, all right, that...
That was a good game. I felt like I was taking crazy pills a little bit. I was like, this was not a bad result. This was a good game. It was a bad result, but it was not a bad performance. I didn't even think it was. I think it was. Yeah, I guess a home draw in your home opener when you were leading in the 93rd is a.
bad result. There's no way around that. But it's the XG theory. It sounds like you're coming around to it. Performance as it pertains to results. It's the same thing. Definitely not the same thing. is. We're going to do the XG debate. XG is fake. All it is is an interpretation of performance compared to results, which is exactly the same thing that you're talking about. Yeah, I don't know what you're saying. It's not true. My other...
Positive. So I think we both agree at least that this was a really good attacking performance. We were happy with what we saw on offense. This was the first game of the season, so there's no frame of reference for this right now. But this was one of the better defensive teams in the league last year that Seattle was playing.
There's not much of a reason to think that they're going to have a sustained drop off and be a super poor defensive team this year. They have the best goalkeeper in the league who I think had his skills on full display. And if you just look at the statistics. This box score is exactly the type of box score that you, that you want to see in a, in a game where you're outplaying your opponent by a lot. Seattle, almost 60, 40, the possession, the XG.
Shout out XG. The XG was 1.77, which is excellent. Total shots at 18 to 7. Shots on target, 7 to 1. Big chances, 2 to 1. This is a big one, I think. Accurate passes. Seattle had 514, 88% completion rate to 356 for Charlotte, 84%. When you see a... that big of a disparity in possession and like passing numbers. And then also an XG number that high, that pretty much.
that pretty much shows that one team was clearly dominating the other. I think that was absolutely bared out by the eye test in this game. Sometimes they don't match this time. I feel like, uh, they did. Um, so the fact that they, Seattle was able to put together numbers like that against a team that's as good on defense as...
This team, I don't think they're going to play very many teams this year that are better defensively than this team. The fact that they put up those numbers against this team, that has my attention. That has my attention. It was great to see. They got to sustain it. But that's, I mean, that's good. That's like, that's how you want to play in a game like that. And that opposition was no joke, man. That's the thing.
They have some big boy CBs. They have that one midfielder who's like six foot five. Kalina is a beast. I've liked seeing them do what they did against this type of competition. You can't do the, it was like the goals don't count. Cause it was against like so-and-so thing. Cause this team is good. They're great at defense. So.
That was good to see. Other positive, the DPs balled out. The Jordan Rusnak or the Morris Rusnak duo was cooking. Two goals for Jordan. Great assist for Albert. And Albert was my man of the match. So that was great to see. And then the last one I have is George. on the stat sheet Georgie end product from Georgie like we were talking about is that's great that's great he's looking really good so far negatives I mean obviously the
That last goal like just can't happen. Like when you're that close to the final whistle, you got to dust the game. You got to dust the game. I know that's easy to say from the press box, but I think the guys on the team and Schmetzer, I know Schmetzer because of his post-game presser, would tell you that they need to dust that game. And I think the... We haven't talked about this as much, but I think the reason that it kind of...
conjured up so many negative feelings. And I can understand this is that there were too many drop points at home last year. They had like what, like seven draws or something at home last year. They had a couple of zero zeros. Uh, so I think that, uh, I understand that it might've felt like kind of a continuation of the same thing that we saw last year. Well, okay. In the, in the results.
And insofar as the results was the same as some of those results. But I agree with what you were getting at, which that was what I was going to get at, which is that the people out there who are arguing like, oh, this was... uh, like deja vu of last year. I think, uh, Jeremiah's post game column said, don't call it deja vu. Uh, this was nothing like last year at all. Like even remotely, like last year.
The period of time we're talking about, they could not score multiple goals in a game. They looked awful. They looked terrible. Yeah, like they were not playing well, like in attack. They were playing good on defense, but like... in attack, they were not good in this game. They were quite good in attack. So like, I don't know. I just thought the, I thought the comparison, uh, that a lot of people were making that.
Like it's deja vu to last year. I thought that was insane that this game literally reminded me of last year. Not one iota. I think people just want to hate. I really do. I think that there's a contingent of people. who are just so tilted all the time. Or like, I don't know, there's just some contrarian sect of people. This goes along with the brigade, but I'm just like, man, what do you...
What do you see in this game that makes you so concerned that you're like... throwing a tantrum already one game into the season i can understand throwing a tantrum about the equalizer i can't about the overall performance i i don't even get that though it was a vibe it was a fluke goal but it was a vibe it was a vibe killer it was but like
If you look at that game and you say, okay, we gave away a corner, a beautiful played corner. I'm watching that. I'm like, I'm not mad at that. What the hell? That is actually beautiful. set piece design and play and you know how many times in a game is that going to happen it's not often that was beautiful and then you have this fluke goal with your two best defenders and you know like I just don't I don't
I don't get it. I don't get it. Things happen in sports. Results like this happen. And the fact that people are already like, okay, it's game one, and it's the same exact thing from last year, while also watching Jordan Morris score... Two of his better goals that I've ever seen him score. It's like, what are you talking about? Why are you so upset? Why do you watch this team?
It's a good question. It was bothering me so much, man. I'm like, this was not a bad result. This was not. I agree with most of what you're saying. I guess what I would say is I'm not... I'm not surprised, honestly, at how hot the emotions got because that was... That level, I mean, that sucks. The ending of that game sucked. It did. It sucks to draw, but like...
What is this game in the sphere of the 400 matches we're going to play this season? What is this in the sphere of like... what it actually tells you about the team which these first three games i'm sorry the first three games in mls are more about figuring out what the hell is going on than anything. If you look at the results around the league, there were 10 times worse results. There were games where you have
San Jose is first in the West right now, folks. Should we just end the season right now and take all of those results as an indictment on what the teams are? I'm going to have to look at the San Jose goals that they scored and make sure that they all count. There might have been some deflections in there or own goals. I'm not sure I'm buying that much. I haven't watched those highlights. End the season now. Let the San Jose Earthquakes play the Columbus Crew. They're both in first.
They're clearly the two best. I know I'm going on this rant, but it's like, if you are so mad about this game that you're ready to make a decision on what this team is or isn't, you're...
you're kind of just insane. You're dumb. Um, my last negative was just that, uh, I think you can ding them for not getting the third goal. They, uh, that's fair. They, if you get that third goal, the game's over game's over. So I don't know if it's about the fact that they let up or anything, but just generally speaking... In that situation, if you get the third, you don't put yourself in this situation where that concession drops you those points.
Do you want to do your own positives and negatives, or should we hit agenda check? I'll hit one more negative, I guess. I hate to say it, but I think there are a couple of players. Maybe just one who we love on this podcast who didn't shine the brightest in this match. I don't think Paul Rothrock had his best game, which just made me sad because, you know, it's our boy. But, uh...
Other than that, I'm not offended by this game. I thought it wasn't the best Rothrock or Georgie game, honestly. I know Georgie had the- Georgie tallied the assist. He had the assist. But other than that, I thought he had a couple other good moments, but Charlotte was much more equipped to deal with him than Antigua was. That's for sure. He wasn't bad, but it wasn't like the Antigua game was freaking electric.
It wasn't like that. And I was talking to Tim Foss, Standard Heart, contributor, about this, too, in the press box during this. I was like, the reason that this match feels like such a... dark light on Paul Rothrock is like the sample size of Paul Rothrock is like you put him out there he scores yeah but he's only played like what he plays played like 40 matches total 40 yeah 44 matches 11 goals
I mean, that's a crazy, that's a crazy amount for a guy who's basically a backup. Or was considered a backup. Or was considered a backup. MLS Next Pro like fringe player. Yeah. And then I guess my positive is I actually think this team is good. Yeah. Whoa. Whoa there. I don't think this is controversial. Sorry. Sorry to say it.
All right, let's hit our agenda check. Looks like we got through. Okay, you're working on it. People on Blue Sky in my mentions had the Georgie should start agenda, so let's talk about that. Let's do it. I mean, I feel like any agenda around a starting spot, there's so many games and so much rotation right now.
everyone's going to be getting chances to start, but I guess let's, we'll, I'll answer this in the spirit of the question, which is like, he's one of the best 11 on this team. And in a first choice 11, he should be in there. I'm assuming that's the agenda. Yeah. I mean, it's tough for me to say that in a front four that has the Morris Rusnak duo, Jesus Ferreira, De La Vega, like...
all looking pretty damn good so far. But I, I think what I would say is the fact that he's made this a discussion, like an actual credible discussion. Yeah. Two by two games into the year shows like what type of stuff he's on right now. Like he's, he looks. Uh, he's my favorite player on the team to watch right now from a like pure entertainment perspective. Yeah, he is. I think if you're looking at the agenda, it was like, uh,
I think it also took a little bit of a dive because De La Vega had an uptick. You know what I mean? Like that was when I was arguing with, I was arguing for this agenda last season when De La Vega was effectively doing nothing. I was like, Georgie should be starting over him. Georgie should be starting over him. And now it's like, I think that took a hit. I think that he's still performing well. And I think that it's nice to be able to give him some run on these, you know.
different games in different situations where, you know, Pedro is just not going to play every single game. I think the agenda is up, but I think it's, it's still like middle level. Like if you got the thermometer, it's like right in the middle, like we're hitting like 50 degrees, you know? Not shorts weather yet. I can agree with that. We have the Sounders defense is sus agenda.
A couple people were perpetuating that one. There have been some bad concessions so far, so I understand where the agenda comes from. The concession in Guatemala was not good. And then this own goal was just ridiculous. I'm not I don't think this agenda is going to have legs until it's two games. Right. So that is the pot on the stove. That is.
Too small a sample size to be declaring them sus yet. If we get five, six, seven games into the season and that stuff is still happening, then this agenda will be... will be a thing but i'm not gonna i'm not gonna call that off of two bad concessions early in the season when that's when concessions like that are most likely to happen yeah Yeah, I had rewritten what you had said to Sounders no longer have the best defense agenda, but...
I think, you know. I was quoting someone. Yeah, you were quoting someone. I had changed it for my own selfish reasons because I felt that was way more inflammatory. But I think the pot is on the stove, Ari, you know. The pasta's sitting out. It's up to them to figure out if we're going to turn the burner on or off. You know what I mean? I'm not ready to perpetuate it, that's for sure. I can see it. It's in the rear view mirror. I said this to Nico this morning, but that own goal was.
Just so ridiculous that I like I can't take it seriously as a source of outrage like that's how we got that's how crazy a sequence of events that was and more than like more than that like how confident i am that that's not going to recur consistently if that recurs consistently Honestly, this season will be entertaining in a not good way, but in a different way. Yeah. If they're doing stuff like that. I just really, I, yeah, like.
this team, if this team turns into like the 2019 to 2021 LA galaxy, like we're literally like, or the Chicago fire of the last like six years. It did remind me of a Chicago fire. It was a Chicago. fire moment. It really was. Guys, I'm telling you. I'm telling you. That is literally what Chicago Fire fans, that's what happens to them every single week. Every single week. And they lose the games. It's not to draw. They do it and lose. They'll go up three goals. So I just want you to picture.
the feeling that you had after Yamar put that in the back of his own net and imagine that feeling every single game, uh, except is to lose the game, not draw. And you live. That is what it's like being a Chicago fire fan. that that's worse than what you all experienced in this game. Learn some empathy. Yeah. Empathize with our friends, the Chicago fire. Uh, all right. No, you got your couple of agendas. What do you got?
My first agenda. Jordan Morris golden boot winner agenda? Question mark? Ari. Jordan Morris is leading the golden boot race right now with two goals. He may be tied with seven other people, but... You know what? It doesn't matter. I'm here to perpetuate this agenda because he is my number nine and has been for a while. As Tim pointed out, he has more goals than Kevin Denke, who...
FC Cincinnati paid $16 million for. So I think what we can definitively for a fact conclude is that Jordan Morris is better than Kevin Denke. Yeah. Will he win the golden boot? That's my agenda. Maybe. That would be cool. Oh, man, if you even made a run at it, that would be fun for us because of how hot the...
If he makes a run at Golden Boot, there's going to be a lot of people who had a lot to say about his contract. I don't expect anyone will have the humility and integrity to retract their takes, but... If he makes a run at the golden boot, they really should. He'll never win the golden boot because he doesn't take penalties, but I do appreciate... this agenda as just something that I will start purveying and when he's dropping off the face of the the list
then I will pretend like I never said anything like that. That's fair. My other agenda, Roldan is the best defensive mid in MLS agenda? Ooh. This was actually a Doyle agenda that you're appropriating, but expand. I think that Christian Roldan is a monster. I think that he is... As always, an underrated player making...
Not that much money in the grand scheme of things. Could be a DP. Compared to me he is, but compared to like. Well, I mean, compared to, yeah. But I'm saying like this could be, he could be a DP realistically on another team. Yeah. And I think that. This season, he's going to show more than ever that he might just be a best 11. candidate. He had so many great plays in this game. He had this one, so you know his patented move where he shields...
shield guys off the ball and wins possession. He had one of the best ones of those I've ever seen where the Charlotte FC guy was like trying to dribble and Christian just... beat him to the spot where the ball was and just got him way out of there and just won the ball so easily. It was so satisfying to watch. And he's just so good at that. And then also the amount of running. Even I would say even more so since Nico left the team, like he has to do.
if it was possible, like even more running than he did previously. And just when, when, when someone gets caught up the field and there's ground to be covered, he's just, hauling ass back to the other end of the field, like laying it all on the line for the team every single play. So I love this agenda. And I think if he keeps playing like this all year, this could be.
I think he looks like he's playing some of his best ball right now. It really does. It really does. And he's back into this defensive midfield position. He works so well with Obed. And that double pivot is so nice. It's so nice. It's just what a, what a, what a situation we're blessed with Ari. I love.
Both the Roldan brothers. Obviously, I'm looking forward to Obed getting sold from the standpoint of $35 million because that's going to be great for his career and it's going to be great for Craig Wives. But I am going to miss that double pivot. It's such a good double pivot. It's so good, man. All right. I'm going to move on to our next segment, which I've renamed. This is usually we call it just questions. I've renamed it. It's called Pulse of the Streets.
This is my crowdsourcing from Blue Sky. Wait, would you give us like a car horn sound effect? Oh man, I just did the Roadrunner. Alright, I'm going to leave it at that. That was beautiful. Pulls to the streets. where I collect all your questions, takes observations and agendas on blue sky. Then we pick a handful. If I miss your question, take observation or agenda. Don't stop submitting them. It's the reason I'm calling it pulse of the.
is because I like to just, it's a vibe check. I like to see how you all are feeling about the game that just took place, about the team in general. So follow me on Blue Sky because I quit Twitter. Jump in my mentions after every one of these games and then maybe yours will end up on here. At ari.lobbingscorchers.com on Blue Sky. This first pulse comes from Rory.
whose heartbeat is beaten. And we are taking a stethoscope right in there. And Rory says, frustrating. At least we're fun to watch again. Yeah. Simple and short comment, but I wanted to include it because that Rory was my exact. That was exactly what was going through my head at the end of the game when I was trying to, it was copium. It was copium. I was sitting there and I was like, God, that freaking leveler is really upsetting.
But God damn it. That game was that was fun. Yeah, that was like I enjoyed being at that sporting event. That's why I feel like I'm such a freak because I was not mad at the end of that game because I was like I was good soccer, man. Yeah, that was good. Outside of outside of a one minute span of time where I'm totally happy to men in black out of my brain and to, you know, not even that three touches. Yeah.
I think it took me until the next morning to get there. You've got more passion than I do. What I'm hoping is that... Like if this team is as good as we think and hope it can be this year and they end up as shield contenders, they're making runs of trophies and stuff and winning as many games as we think they can. We will be able to look back on this and it'll be funny.
Yeah, it will be funny. It will. I wouldn't describe it as funny right now because I do like the two points they dropped. It's unfortunate. It is. But if that turns out to like not matter, which I don't think it will, then I'm going to. I don't think I'm going to look back on that own goal positively, but I will. I mean, I already am kind of laughing at it. It's funny. It looked like if I was in neutral watching that.
I would think it was hilarious. I'd be like, what are we doing? I can't lie and say that I would not. I totally get that. This is Next Pulse. We're going into the operating room. I got to hook them up to the pulsometer. I don't, I'm not a doctor. I did my podcaster. Pass yes or says very unfortunate series of three mistakes at the end. Do you think Jackson and Yamar were too complacent in that situation, or were they just tired and made a physical mistake?
Also, Miami tied at home but equalized in the end and were super happy. Fans cheering, etc. Same result for Seattle but emotionally down rather than up. Which type is more concerning for a home team? Yeah, good questions here. Let's take the first one first. too complacent in that situation or were they just tired and made a physical mistake? I think it's the latter. Like, uh, I don't think it was complacency. I think, uh, those are the moments in the game where it's the hardest to be on it.
Like, yeah. And you, you, that's where it's like the most crucial to not let up, not have any lapses. And Jackson just had a, he, he had a bad moment. And I think it was. If I had to attribute it to something, it probably was fatigue. He was like, I don't want to bag on the guy too much. He was a defender of the year finalist last year and he played all 90 minutes of both of these games coming back on short rest. That was the literal like last sequence of the.
game. Like, uh, it doesn't make it any less tilting, but, uh, I don't know. I have a hard time, uh, lighting them up too badly. Um, retweet also post, uh, Miami, so yeah, it's a good point. Miami, they got a red card 20 minutes into their game and then had to get a last second.
goal to salvage a 2-2 draw versus NYC. Messi had the assist. It was some random kid that they signed who scored it. But yeah, it's just what it is, is the difference between a draw that feels like a loss and a draw that... feels like a win. Like Miami was down a man and we're about to lose at home. So they were, I think more than happy to take that point. But with Seattle, it's just, I don't think it's, I don't think either one is.
more or less concerning than the other. I think it's just, uh, it's just the, what were the two types of draw? I think that I would rather Dom. I don't know. I think they've, they're both their draws. They're both draw pods, you know? It's like, what are you going to do? One point. But not all draws are created equal. Yeah, that's true. At least in terms of vibes.
It's true. This next one comes from Trevor. Wait, hold on, Trevor. Give me your, give me your arm. I'm putting my fingers on the pulse of your, of your veins here. Trevor says, what was Rusnak thinking in the 80th? minute when he had Morris and I think Areola ahead of him on a breakaway against one defender, but decided to hold the ball and play it back. Yeah. So this was the one we were talking about earlier and several people brought up what Trevor.
brought up. I think what he was thinking is that being overly aggressive in this situation is arguably not as good an idea as chilling out. because they were busting forward in that situation. Uh, if Charlotte FC gets back on a counter right there, he, I think he was trying, probably trying to guard against that. That is probably what he was trying to do. And I think the reason why it kind of looms large in hindsight is because they gave up that goal at the end. But, uh,
I don't think he was... I don't think it's like he's being too conservative. I think he was trying to... I think he was just trying to be smart. Yeah, I think that's exactly it. He was just trying to... I don't know. Ask him. Yeah, I don't know. Ask him. But like, I mean, the reality is, I think either he didn't think he was going to be able to play the ball incorrectly or he thought, OK, we're we're spread too wide. We're way too open to the counterattack. I mean, he's a smart player.
He understands what the scoreline is. He clearly doesn't want to draw the game, you know, but you kind of have to figure that out. Also, 80th minute, do you want to slow down the game? Does that make more sense to slow down the game? Because if you're confident that you can score, it's okay to slow down the game a little bit. You know what I'm saying? But I'm not sure what he was thinking. Maybe we should get to training one of these days and really...
Put the, put some, do some real investigative journalism. And this last one, JT, I don't have another. Do you have a pulse pun for me? I don't. Yeah. We'll, we'll have to work. We'll have to workshop these, but JT. who I also took into the operating room, but he's dead now, unfortunately. I'm not a very good doctor. Did Obed Vargas's value increase or decrease this game? $20 million. $22 million. Are you been saying 20?
So it stayed the same? Is that what you're saying? Well, actually, secondary assist, yeah, $22 million. Yeah, $22 million. $22 million. There we go. All right, we're going to take a quick ad break. We'll be right back. Ari, as a dedicated fashion expert, how do you do it? Day in and day out, I see you rocking the best fits. I need your help. Noah, I'm glad you asked. People ask me that a lot, and I can tell you need an upgrade.
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If you skipped our ads, we know. I feel like they're so good that people don't skip them. I'm just saying, if you skipped them, you better rewind and go back and listen because we know and we're going to come for you. All right, Ari, we have a little bit of news to get to regarding, you know, everyone's favorite team to the south of us, the United States national team. As you know, we're up north because we are Canada fans.
The U.S. men's national team, they have released their CONCACAF Nations League shortlist. So this is like a 60 players who they might call up. I don't know. They're like, this is our vibes based picks. How many will they actually call in? You know, TBD. But I thought it was interesting. There were three players on this list, Ari. Jesus Ferreira. Jackson Reagan. And who would you think?
would be the third person. A man who is almost a villain to US Men's National Team fans, Ari. I mean, I know the answer, but go ahead and... Jordan Morris. Jordan Morris on the shortlist. Jordan Morris is on the shortlist for the national team. That rocks, honestly. Yeah, that's great. I love that. I love that because it brings the bots unhappiness in that.
That's a boon for us. So is the question here, could Jordan Morris be making it back into the rotation for the USMNT with the continuation of his current form?
I think so. Why not? I think we've both been arguing that he should be... at least in consideration like okay obviously like we're biased i say this like slightly tongue-in-cheek and i don't i honestly don't really care about this issue so you can flame us if you want for these takes and i don't i don't give a shit but Like, he's a better striker than, like, pretty much, you know, I mean, maybe, you know, Ray Baligan over him.
But like Pepe and who's even in the mix right now, like Haji Wright or whatever, like he's got more goals than those guys. He plays against Central American opponents. But that's like, I think that's.
like the biggest joke of all the jordan morris usmnt discourse over the years is that for however hot it's been like if you just look at how he's played like when he's gotten called in he's done like pretty well he's been pretty good he's been a pretty good international striker he has 11 goals and 55 caps which isn't like amazing but it's it's pretty good and he's got a few assists i know he at least has the one assist to jesus ferreira against mexico so like he's been
been uh i'm literally among the more productive attackers of this last era that we've been talking about literally saved the u.s men's national team in world cup qualifying as a college student as a college student i'm sorry What are we talking about, man? This is not only just silly. He is a top talent in Major League Soccer.
He is a really good striker, and he's someone who understands and plays in CONCACAF matches. If you're going to play in CONCACAF Nations League, which I don't even know what that is, to be honest with you, what is that? That's some, some tournament. He's just making this shit up. There's just a new thing every day, but it's like, if you want someone to play against Trinidad and Tobago, he's a better pick for that for a nation's league squad. Then.
Haji Wright. I mean, I'm out of the loop. I don't know who these guys are anymore. Yeah, well, it's like, yeah, do you want your Italian players? Basically, your dudes playing in Italy to come in? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I just think he deserves a shot because he's been in really good form. And not even just that, he's now playing with Jesus Ferreira, who is a day in and day out.
player for this national team. Maybe he's not a one, but he's a two. Oh, okay. Well, cause like I, uh, I'm honestly not sure what Ferreira is like USMNT stock is right now. Uh, I know that he... He was previously a staple, but I felt like part of the issue of maybe why he wanted to go to FC Dallas was he's like trying to get back into that mix. But yeah, I don't know. Like I said, I'm out of the loop. 23 games, 15 goals from Jesus Ferreira on the U.S. National team.
And everyone says that they don't count because they came against the Caribbean or whatever. But then it's like, well, then why didn't everyone else score that much? Why is he the only one who scored that much? If it's that easy. it's that easy to do why didn't other others do it i mean i don't know i'm just i don't know i and and i'll say this too you know if you're a u.s men's national team fan and you think oh
I hate myself and my life, and all I do is complain all the time. You saw, right? Greg Berhalter did not want to call Jordan Morrison. You hated Greg Berhalter. He did not want to call him in. And now you have your new guy. You have your guy. The guy who you wanted. If he calls in Jordan Morris. Yeah, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? You're going to say Poke doesn't know what he's doing? Yeah, you're going to say Pocatino doesn't know what he's talking about? Because...
I mean, I want to, I would like to be in that room. That's kind of the funny thing is like, like the bots, like aren't allowed, they aren't allowed to question poke. So it's like, did you see how he called in the, The dude from CF Montreal who joined a men's league.
punched a guy in the face, got kicked out of the men's league and got his contract terminated by MLS. And then played like dog. Yeah, so I didn't even, that's all I knew of this guy. I didn't know he had U.S. eligibility. I didn't know anything really at all about him.
as a player. All I heard was that he joined a men's, which this story was insane. We didn't talk about this enough at the time. He literally, you can look this up. You can look this up. I'm not embellishing this at all. He joined a men's league in Montreal or like a rec league. Got in a fight on the field, in the game, punched a guy in the face.
got kicked out of the rec league. They found out who he was, told CF Montreal, and then his contract got terminated by MLS. That's all I knew of him or had heard of him. I never heard of him again after that. The next time I see this guy, poke has called him. in for the USMNT and he's just out there running around. He did...
He did something that was like insanely bad. I think he just made some really bad passes. He just had one of the most horrible shifts I have ever seen to the point where I was like... I'm like, I don't really, I don't know about this poke thing. Like it's probably a good hire. I don't know. But then I'm like, is this, what is, what is this? Like you're, we're calling in the, uh.
the men's league face puncher guy, like who really has no pedigree. He's not rated well at all. As far as I can tell, like what is going on with this? And, uh, and then he, scored like a incredibly sick goal at the end of the game that I think people it's salvaged the optics of it a little bit.
It really shouldn't have. It makes no sense that that goal doesn't count. If Jordan Morris' goals don't count, that one sure as hell doesn't against the nobodies. But also, like, I don't know. Far be it for me to question these things, but... Are we really to believe that the men's league face puncher guy is also like an elite talent who's going to be a needle mover at the international level? If you're trying to sell that.
I just don't know if I'm buying it. I don't know if I'm buying that. I don't think I am. I don't think I'm buying that. Jordan Morris, better than the face puncher guy. Yes. Like, come on 2025. Come on. Even the bots can admit that you got to admit you like, there's just no way the face puncher guy should be in the fold. Yeah. What are we talking about? Uh, this brings me to my next question, uh, related to this.
There's been a little bit of a kerfuffle between MLS and mainly I will say the Sounders and the U.S. men's national team. Jordan Morris on that list, Jesus Ferrer on that list, Jackson Reagan on the list. All of this in the throes of what is essentially the busiest season of all time for the Sounders. Do we think the Sounders are going to let any of their players go to Nation League?
I mean, I think if your players really want to go, you should let them go. That is a big enough tournament where if they want to go play in it, I think you got to let them go play in it. Will they? I feel like Seattle over the years has, I mean, this Jackson Reagan situation, notwithstanding, like I feel like if a guy.
is really passionate about their aspirations at the international level. Maybe there's been individual situations where they haven't let a guy go when they feel like their schedule has dictated it, but I feel like they would let him go. Yeah, I mean, maybe. We'll see. We'll see. I'm not super high on that. They're going to let people go, but that's what that's. It would be sick if they didn't. I mean, I like the I think the only person that realistically you would.
be like okay fine is jackson reagan just to build some more goodwill because i think he wants to play on the national team and you kind of kind of held him out. He was not happy about that. Yeah, I mean, the Sounders kind of screwed him. I'm sorry. You were arguing that it was the USMNT, and I...
I mean, I don't really even think I had a take on it because I'm Canadian. Well, we were clowning on U.S. soccer, which I think was merited, but I do think... The Sounders need to hold some of the bag. They do hold some of the bag. Yeah. That's enough USMNT punditry. We're Canadian fans. We haven't gotten into USMNT punditry in a while. That was terrible. Let's not do that again. All right. Let's jump around the league. There is a lot of interesting results.
in match day one so i got my winners and losers all right so uh we're back baby we're back let's uh let's dive in to the rest of the results for match day one in mls for the winners i've got I decided to give a nod to Charlotte FC. Respect to Charlotte FC. It's a good team. I think they're going to be a good-ass team this year. They got a really good result, even if their fans think their own goal doesn't count or whatever.
They got a banger result in that game. I think they're going to be good this year. And that's a GG's. That's a GG's. That set piece was nice. Kalina is good. It was a good result. Next winner, the San Jose Earthquakes. 4-0 on RSL. Top of the West. Time will tell. Top of the shield race. Top of the shield race. Someone take a screenshot. Time will tell if this was...
uh, indicative of San Jose being good or army and RSL, they might be just that bad. They might just, we'll see you next week. They might be wooden spoon contending, but even like that doesn't, uh, Quakes fans should not, that should not take the shine.
off that result at all. They bammed. They looked phenomenal. Bruce Arena bump is back. Yeah, Bruce Arena is... back back and i think the most interesting thing about it was um they uh they put up a four spot and chicho and joseph didn't even score it was like uh it was like the whole gang outside of those two guys. Uh, and apparently Christian Espinoza was going off. So, uh, the quakes, uh,
After wooden spooning and giving up 80 goals, you can't really start it off much better than they did. And then Atlanta United. Atlanta United. They got a 3-2 win over CF Montreal. And they've been my pick to take a leap in the Eastern Conference. I think most people are pretty high on their offseason. But they got two goals from Latte Loth, which so he's. He's tied with Jordan Morris for the Golden Boot lead, and they only spent $22 million on him. So the...
Atlanta United Rehabilitation Project, off to a good start. Noah, you got anyone for winners that I didn't mention? No, I'm right there in agreement with you. I think it's so hard to pick winners on week one, but...
The Quakes, man, that's an interesting one because I was a doubter, I will say. I've been a little bit... confused as to why people were putting them up so high because it's like how do you go from that bad what the like the gap they gave up a hundred goals like what what are we talking about to now Yeah, I was kind of on the same page because people were like, oh, like what a great what great business they pulled by getting.
chicho arango and joseph martinez what a striker duo that could be and i'm like they literally gave up 80 goals i would not have even thought about a striker until i just
did everything I could. Seriously, man. When you give up 80, I don't know how you handle that. You have a lot of questions that you should be asking yourself that are... existential beyond major league soccer if you have a season where you give up 80 yeah but like your absolute number one priority has to be not giving up that not giving up 80 again yeah and i wasn't sure if they had done enough to
to remedy that. And we'll see if they did. It is also funny because the Quakes, none of their stars scored. That's what I was saying. It was a bunch of randos. Yeah, like it was all their randos. Yeah. Which is just tight. That's tight. Like some dude named Ricketts. Yeah. Not Tulsane or what's the other one? Donovan. Donovan. It's a new Ricketts. New Ricketts has entered the chat. Jamar. Jamar. All right.
Ready to do the losers? This is going to be fun. I love the losers. This one, off the top right here. I can see this document. The Portland Timbys. It takes... It gives me no joy to report, Ari. I don't even know what to say. Like, obviously there's so much clowning that could be done, but it's like, I feel like it's almost...
It's almost a bad taste. I don't even know if it's bad taste. It's just like you don't even need to because it speaks for itself to such a profound degree. Yeah. I think we all knew. that they were in a tough spot with their little Evander drama. They lost their best player and got the new guy in like two days before the season. So that was always probably going to be.
a shit show. They didn't make a lot of changes to a team last year that scored a lot of goals, but was pretty erratic. They enjoyed giving up a lot of goals too. Yeah. They conceded a lot of goals. They Lost to the Vancouver Whitecaps, like what was it, like 5-0 or 6-0? 6-0. 6-0. 6-0. at home when they should have been on the road in the playoffs. That's why Evander got fed up and forced his way out of the club. So things were bad is my point. They were already bad before this season opener.
which they were coincidentally enough playing at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps again, and it did not go well. No. It did not go well. 4-1, a red card in the 11th minute. And... Like they were trying, like Phil Neves was trying to blame the red card after, like he was basically saying like, Oh, well the red card chalked it. Like it was, it was whatever, you know, we'll get 11 back on the field next week and take it from there. Kind of sentiment.
It was deeper than that. It was. It was like in a season opener at home for that to be what you put out on the field. That's. Like I said, I mean, I don't know. I don't know what they do about that. Luckily, not my concern. The Whitecaps in their last two meetings with Portland have now scored nine goals on them. It's been nine to one. They let Jaden Nelson put up.
Three assists and a goal on them in this game. Jaden Nelson is not that... I mean, he could be good. He's not that good. No, he was player of the match week. They made him look like Messi. He looked like the... Yeah, yeah. His foot mob ranking was like best player in the entire league. Yeah. And like potentially in the world. Do we think that Jaden Nelson is the best player in the entire league?
Probably not. Could be. Apparently he might be. If they get to play the Portland Timbers every week, absolutely. I mean, we're going to get to it in the blazing hot presser, but Jesus Christ. That was incredible. The Chicago fire are back. They're so back. God, I love the Chicago fire. My favorite team in the league, uh, besides Seattle for different reasons. The most entertaining team.
Every year. They're the best. They rock. This game, this first game of the Greg Berhalter era, they have been... Another one of those popular pit where everyone's like, oh, Berhalter's there. They made this move, this there. I'm like, this is Chicago Fire. They're a meme until proven otherwise. They went to Columbus. Took the lead twice, Noah. They did it twice. 1-0 and 2-1. Patented, Ari. Brian Gutierrez, their star homegrown, getting both goals. He was looking awesome.
Gave up the lead both times, shockingly, and then ended up losing four to two. They couldn't be more back. Like when Seattle played Chicago last year, I famously predicted exactly what was going to happen. I said they were going to score the first goal and then concede the equalizer.
And people after, after it literally happened exactly like that, people were like, damn, that was pretty good. Like, how did you, it's because they do that. Like you don't need to predict anything. They, uh, they do that every game. I've never seen anything like it. I really haven't.
They did it all like last year, pretty much every week. And then the first game of this year, I presume after an entire off season of trying to like get out of that identity, they immediately do it again. Immediately. Immediately. It's incredible. They're so back. I just got to know, we, you know, we talked about the USMNT earlier and I mean, if you're a, if you're a Greg hater, this is about the perfect place for him to be the head coach of. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
We'll see how I think he can maybe make this better. I don't know. It seems like it's gotten to the point where that it's like in their DNA. Yeah. You know, and that's really hard to change. Like you need what Garth Lagerwey said they did in Atlanta. I think the term he used was like.
full-scale cultural overhaul yeah an exorcism perhaps you literally that's you need that have they thought about bringing in a priest like we joke but i i don't know at this point i don't know how else they solve this And then my last loser, Orlando City laid an egg. They got blown out by the Philly Union at home. It was like 4-2 or something. Have you heard anyone be...
Like talking about the union? Like they're any kind of contender? No. Like they were, if anything, probably picked. They fired Jim C. They hired Bradley C. Yep. I think, I don't know, I figure that's like a fine hire, but it wasn't like a knock it out of the park type of thing. So I didn't think they were going to be that good. And that's another one of those situations where I don't know if they're that good or if Orlando's that bad.
I got Orlando and the losers for this week because when you take a result like that at home to start your season, it's not what you want. Not a great look, folks. Not a great look. And that is a good segue into our first. blazing hot press blazing hot coach presser let's try that again Ari uh okay that is a good segue to our first blazing hot coach press conference of the week sponsored by hacks on ferments by
Hacks and ferments lobbing scorchers.com slash H a X a N. Exactly. Thank you, Noah. Um, this week's blazing hot coach press conference of the week goes to our friend, Phil Neville. Phil Neves had to get on the podium after this absolute debacle at Providence park and match day one. Honestly, um, like the whole presser itself wasn't. He wasn't throwing a tantrum or calling players out, screaming and yelling or anything like that or belittling the ref.
I think his overall tone and demeanor warrants his selection for this week. We'll play a little bit of it for you right here. You can soak in the Phil Neves presser. Phil, take it away. Can you just describe to me the emotion you're feeling right now about this game? Because it doesn't feel like fiery or angry, so I just want to know like... No, because I don't want to make excuses. I can come in here and I can say X, Y, Z about certain situations in the game. But like I say, the...
We'd worked really hard all season about being a really good defensive unit, about being compact shape, and one ball over the top cost us the game. And I say it cost us the game because they didn't score, but going down to 10 men cost us the game. So that's poor positioning, poor defending, it's not sticking to the game plan. So that for me is all I'm thinking at this moment in time is how we can improve that.
We can't do anything. We can't control anything about what the referee does. We can't control anything about what the opposition do. We can control our own emotions and feelings. And my emotions and feelings tonight is that fundamentally that piece of defending for that instant.
that cost us the game and the first goal, that's not on the referee. We can say what we want about Victor, the referee. We can be here all night talking about some of the decisions, but really, at the end of the day, Victor didn't make that decision. didn't stay with his run Victor didn't make the pass for the first goal so for me I say control the things that we can control and we can sit here and hide behind
The referee, which probably in a season, probably I will do. But that's not for today because, you know what, at the end of the day, even though I have real strong opinions on what I saw by the referee. We lost that game ourselves, not the referee. We'll wrap it up there. Thank you, Phil. There you have it from the man himself, Phil Neville. Friend of the pod. Great start to the season for the Portland Timbies. Love to see it.
All right, Noah. I think we can actually call it right there. I had a couple other things written down, but it was nothing important, and we've been at it for a while. So why don't we just... wrap her up right there for episode 85 thank you all as always for tuning in we really appreciate the support uh we've seen a lot of growth noah over the last just even two weeks i would say our uh our youtube has gotten a lot bigger download
numbers are doing great. So glad you all are enjoying the content and join the show. We're excited to keep making it like comment. subscribe uh write us reviews yeah we need some more reviews i think that's our new our new okay hot button issue is Go write us some reviews. Write us a poem. If you write us a poem in the reviews, we'll read it on pod. Sub to the YouTube. Follow the Instagram, please.
Instagram credibility has gone up, but now it's like plateau. We need more hype on IG. I think that's it. We're going to get out of here on that. I'll be back at it for Under the Lights. Live show Thursday, 7.30 p.m. Don't miss that. We'll also have another pod midweek. Let's do a pod midweek. Yeah, sure. I mean, yeah, yeah. Why not? Until then, we out. Peace.
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