This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest. Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend.
Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Welcome back to another episode of Nos Adiates. This is This Week with Nico. I'm Jeremiah Chan. I'm here with Nico Moreno, as always. We are here at Long Acres. How you doing, Nico? Hey, man, episode three, I believe. Episode three. We're moving, baby. We are. We're moving here for you guys. Again, thanks for all your input, all your comments, supporting this new segment, new show, man. I'm excited. We are here.
Kim Ki-hee is in town, is in the building. We have some news to go over. We've got to win. We've got a game to talk about, Jeremiah. We don't have to just come off the dome. We can actually talk about a game. We learned real things. The biggest is that the Sounders take a 3-1 lead into the second leg against Antigua in CONCACAF Champions Cup. It was not a... We may as well start there. Yeah. You know...
It was not a perfect performance by any stretch. I think the first half had a lot of sloppiness. The goal they gave up was especially, you know, one of those things you'd like to think you'd get cleaned up. But... I think my big takeaway from this is historically playing in Central America, playing on the road anywhere in CONCACAF is not easy. You know, the Sounders hadn't won a road game in CONCACAF.
I'm going to assume you didn't read my story. Do you know when the last time they won a road game in CONCACAF was? 2014? 2012. That was a pretty good guess. Oh, okay. 2012. They've played in four, I think, four Champions CONCACAF competitions in the meantime, at least four. Maybe this was the fifth. They had played in four up until this year. And they had never won a road game. There were a lot of ties. You know, they went undefeated on the road in 2022 when they won Champions League.
They didn't win any road games. They tied Matagua 0-0. They tied Leone 1-1. They tied New York City FC 1-1. And then they tied Pumas 2-2. And that just sort of illustrates going on the road, especially preseason. I mean, that's another thing. The Sounders had not played a competitive match before that one. Antigua had played eight league games already.
They were coming in flying. And at times in the first half, they looked like the much sharper team, I thought. Antigua acquitted themselves quite well, I thought. Yeah, man, look, let's start with the good things, because I feel like overall, if I had to put everything in a nutshell and give Seattle its due credit, they show character. Anytime that you go into a game where you have a bad first half, I think that they had a good 10 minutes in and after that.
They lost possession. They were sloppy. Yes. Pedro De La Vega did not look good on the right side. Gave up a lot. Gave up a lot. Dribbled into trouble a lot. Dribbled into trouble. The first touch and his second touch were a little bit...
too forward. Yamar had issues defensively, talking to Alex. Alex way too high. I can go on and on about things that were not working in the first half, but Seattle had the character. Even after... that equalizer which was a punch in the face on the road one that it's a combination of errors of a whole bunch of people and you're still able to get back in the game
I got to give credit to Brian for shifting and switching Pedro Lavega to the other side. I felt like his substitutions were timely. I felt like they were effective. And Seattle was able to... get back into the game. get the momentum back, which wasn't easy because you go into the halftime 1-1, and Seattle is able to really get it back. This is something that is one of Brian's fortes. That halftime talk, we all know that he has that ability to just motivate the team.
I feel like the tactics were a little bit more fluid. The team was a lot more direct at times, and they were able to create some opportunities. Pedro de la Vega himself, I think is also someone that I want to highlight because although he wasn't stellar and he wasn't as sharp as we thought or I thought he was going to be going into this game. Uh.
When I'm here, and this is something that I like to do, I like to hear from local media in Guatemala or wherever the centers are playing because I feel like they have an unbiased idea. They don't know anybody necessarily. And the guy that everybody kind of talked about was...
Pedro. They said he's the most talented player on that team. He was the one that was pushing the ball, trying to make things happen. So that alone was pretty good. Now, my man of the match has to be Ovid Vargas because he was so consistent. He was so good. Not perfect either. Had some mistakes, had some issues. But he was a key part of all three goals. Absolutely. That pass before the pass, he's always there. And that third goal is all him. I mean, well-placed.
He intercepts that ball, knows where to go. The pass is the perfect pace. Perfect pace into a Georgie Georgie. First touch into Albert. Albert back at the net. I thought Albert was really good as well. I thought it was encouraging. Albert is a guy that my own. The only concern going into this season was his health. I advocate the fact that he was brought back. I thought that he was going to bring continuity, experience, and he let you have it. And you know what I love?
about what he said today is how candid he is. He's so honest. You know, you gotta love that. I love him in interviews. You know, when I asked him, I was like, hey, man, you don't lack confidence, but, you know, it had to feel good. It's like, yeah, you know, this is the third goal of the game.
and we didn't really know. You know, maybe it was important because of the second leg. I love that, man. I like the fact that he's just an honest dude. So, all in all, I think Seattle's able to get the result and gives us something to... be encouraged for this opener against Charlotte and moving forward. And I think one of the big things about this result is that it allows Brian a lot more flexibility with what he wants to do against Charlotte. Because the reality is that...
I think part of why they won this game, as resoundingly as the scoreline suggested, is because they just had a big talent advantage. They were sort of able to brute force their way to a win, which I think is itself a pretty big accomplishment. but they don't need to do that again. They can play a much more even, they can afford to...
They're going to have a talent advantage no matter what in the second leg, but they don't need to overwhelmingly do it the way they did in this game. They can play some... I think what we're going to end up seeing is we're going to see more rotation between the Charlotte game and the...
next antigua game than the antigua game and the charlotte game yeah i think we're gonna see closer to a first choice lineup than maybe they had originally maybe that was always the plan but i think it allows them to do it uh where they can they can
maybe reuse some guys that they weren't necessarily planning on reusing because they might be able to bring them off the bench the next game. Yeah, and especially because you travel to RSL after that midweek game as well. So that has to be in consideration. What I will say is that... I think I would, I would sit Obed. Obed got hit.
Smack, push, stepped on. He took some tackles. He took some hits, man. And look, I love the all-woman referee and crew. I have my daughter, and it was probably one of the best moments I've ever had with my daughter watching. a CCC game. And as soon as she saw the all-woman crew, she's like, yes, Queen, you know, let's go. You know, she was so excited. And they did a good job, but they did let a lot of things go. They did a good job. I think that there's some things...
They let them play. Yes. They let them play a lot. I don't think there was any... Okay, so it was funny because Brian Schmetzer gave a presser today, and he thought they were very good. He said, except for that five-minute stretch in the first half where it seemed like five big tackles all got thrown in a row, and it was one of those situations.
where let them play is a great idea but as soon as it starts to ramp up you can see why referees don't always want to let them play because one tackle but gets another tackle but gets another tackle and each one comes in a little harder and each one is a little tougher to not blow your whistle and then eventually you just You just have to blow your whistle. And that was a situation where it looked like it might get at it.
control, and I think Obed was the one who ended up taking the worst of all those types. Yeah, because it's the inertia of the game, man. Exactly. It's the inertia of the game, and that is something that is very present for anybody who's followed the game, is that the game starts heating up.
One tackle pushes the other, and it's just an inertia where all of a sudden it's going to be a big hit. And there's a little bit of a scuffle, and Alex is in somebody's face, but thankfully nothing else happened. But going back to my main point, because of that... I would Sid Obin. And you have JP. So why not Christian and JP if you want to go more to having a first lineup for Charlotte? So I could see where that could be a rotational thing. But before we move into Charlotte, I did want to...
continue to praise the team because this Antigua team had eight games going into this game. Mm-hmm. They... They probably didn't surprise Brian, and I forgot to ask that today, but they had not played with a 4-3-3 in their last, I don't know, four or five games that I looked into. It was always a 5-4-1. It was always a 4-1-4.
one. I mean, this was surprising to me. Romario Da Silva was a menace on the left side. I think that... He had the assist. He had the assist, of course, to Oscar Santis, one of the Santis brothers, the guy that... We at In-Logers Coaches pointed as the man that should be looked upon. And Ramire was very good. So Seattle was going against a team that...
was more prepared, that had more competitive games going into this one. And because of that, I think that is something that you want to applaud. Mauricio Tapia, the coach of Antigua. You know, he was emotional about it. He said that it was an unjust scoreline, that his team did better. And yeah, you know, the 3-1 doesn't tell you the whole story. So I definitely get why he would say that. I mean, I would say that he's right. And also...
It doesn't really, I mean, that was their shot, really. Sure. They're going to have to win essentially 3-0 at Lumen Field. I don't want to say that's impossible, but that's not. Very likely to happen. Because you've got to expose yourself. And if I want to play devil's advocate on behalf of the sounders in that one, is saying that, look, I think he should have been...
4-1, if not 5-1. There's a play in the 55th minute where Pedro already shifted to the left side, gets a pass from Obed. He gets through a defender, gets to the end line, and sets up Ferreira perfectly. where Ferrer needs to do better. As the DP, I expect him to put that ball away. And I mean DP talent. I'm not saying DP slot. I'm just saying that you're big signing. And especially a guy that I believe at this moment in time is the best finisher in the team. He should have finished it.
Yeah, and then there was another one where right after both Georgie and Albert came in, Albert found Georgie alone on wing with a free kick. Georgie breaks down his defender. feeds Christian for a chance, almost a similar, almost opposite side chance. and it gets blocked. But another very good chance. Sounders could have scored a couple more goals, like you said. And it was, I think all that is very encouraging for a team who has struggled to score, who looked like they had...
fixed that in the preseason, and we saw a continuation. They created chances, and it's such a big difference.
When you can bring an Albert Rusnak, when you can bring a Georgie Manungu, when you can bring Paul Rothrock off the bench, as opposed to those all being starters, they just have so many more options. You know, today Brian was talking about how they were able... able to change their they were able to make subs and not drop their level and that is such a big advantage and i think that's probably going to be as long as the sounders can stay healthy that's going to be
a huge advantage for them, I think, because they can go 14, 15 deep without really any drop in quality. So I think that was all very encouraging. What were your thoughts on Jordan? I hear a lot of people criticizing him. I think it's a little bit unfair. simply because he just didn't get enough services. And when he did get it, he was out wide or he was just out of position or he was having to get back way too far back. And that's just difficult for him. Yeah, he wasn't super involved.
think he only had something like 19 or 20 touches in the game but also this is I don't think it was his fault. I think he was asked to do a lot of dirty work. As always, he was asked to make a lot of runs that aren't necessarily going to be rewarded. He was useful in terms of stretching Antigua. You know, he'll get in position. He'll get goals. I wasn't discouraged by his performance. I think people get a little wound up in the perception that he can disappear because he is...
not getting on the ball. But that's not necessarily... You don't want Jordan touching the ball 40, 50 times. No, of course not. Just like when Raul was at his best, he might only touch the ball 15 times in a game, but three of them were... you know, in front of goal. Yep, exactly. And that's what Jordan didn't get. And you make a good point about he was doing the dirty work. He was...
making sure that he pulled markers. He was making sure that he opened up spaces. He was doing some of that pressing that Seattle was trying to work on, right? And then they generated a couple goals out of it. Yeah, and opportunities. Goals and opportunities. that I wanted to highlight before we moved on. I thought that he was poised. Both goals was all for deflections. I'm not going to take that away. But Paul Arriola, I felt like, was very good at not losing the ball in...
vulnerable positions. Mm-hmm. Alex didn't do that so much and that worried me. But Paul, he was very good at just knowing when to turn, knowing when to drop that ball, knowing how to move. So that was encouraging for me. When I think the other thing I liked in general was that this is a team. that understands the assignment.
They know they don't need to put on a show, especially on the road against Antigua. They are there to grind, and they have plenty of players that understand the... physicality and they understand the challenges of playing in CONCACAF, not necessarily in Champions Cup, but they have played in CONCACAF for World Cup qualifying or whatever, and they aren't going to be...
overwhelmed by the challenges that are inherent in that. And I think this is a team that I feel like is well set up to make a potential run in this thing. I think we can probably... look ahead a little bit from where we are and that's huge right now to be able to like this is a big result because i think it sets up this you know you just look at the schedule and it's game after game after game right off the bat and you and this game allows them to plan
It allows them to take a breath to say, okay, this is how we want to set up. Whereas if you have a result that's a little tighter, you can't... quite do that because you have to be so worried about getting the next game. But that takes us into Charlotte a little bit. This is the season opener. Charlotte is...
They were kind of the Eastern Conference version of the Sounders in a lot of ways last year. They were a defense-first team. They didn't score a ton of goals. They had the goalkeeper of the year. But they also made some big additions this offseason. Anything you can tell us about some of those changes that they made? Yeah, look, obviously the big one was Wilfred Saha. He's the guy that is supposed to be the big time signing for that.
I've talked to a couple of Spanish media members there in Charlotte, and they at first didn't even believe that Sahar was going to go in. So that tells you enough about a guy that's played at the premier level, that's going to be very good. I'm more concerned about the tower, the LeBron James-esque...
center forward that they have in Patrick Adjimin, that's the guy that I'm concerned about. That's the guy that's going to be pushing, that's going to be finishing, that's going to be giving you absolutely everything that you want out of a center forward, and he might give you some problems.
That is the setup. I also think that Dean Smith's a very smart coach, and he's going to have a very good game plan. He just saw this team play in Antigua, in Guatemala. It does give them some extra film. Give them some extra film. And I think that you've got to give the edge to... Dan Smith of just being able to really put together a good plan against Seattle. And I'll just remind people, Ajermang only recently sort of like got into the national spotlight because he had a great year.
And then he folded up with a goal for the national team. But if you go back to the last time the Sounders played Charlotte back in 2023. Patrick Ajman is the guy who scored that late equalizer late in the game. That's a 3-3, right? Yeah, it was a 3-3 game. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And he was sort of an unknown at the time. He was sort of like just this guy that they had...
drafted. And anyway, he is a handful. He is a big problem. They have a very good defense. Tim Ream is there. Tim Ream is there. Quality pedigree defender. You know, they got rid of some dead weight that I feel like wasn't really helping this team in its cohesiveness. So I think that this group is going to be a lot tighter, a lot more fluid. The midfield, I feel like it's good enough to provide and get guys out wide. Pepe is his name. I forget the name of the...
the winger, but they just have some quality guys. They really do. So this Charlotte team is not going to be easy. Honestly, I'm leaning on to the... thought process that just a draw result would be a good result for Seattle? I know people want the goals. I know that they want that win. I mean, it depends. If you draw 2-2, I think people could get... Behind that? Get behind that. If you have a 0-0 game, I think you'll have a lot of frustration. But, I mean, the Sanders, I think they...
I think they're going to approach this game as a game they should win, and they should. Charlotte's traveling across the country. It's not an easy place for them to come. They are not a team that has a lot of experience in MLS. So these are all things the Sounders can use. Obviously, the Sounders are going to be on a short rest. I was surprised today. They had a real training session today. I kind of thought they might be doing a regen, but no, they are clearly approaching this game like...
They did not take the day off. I'll put it that way. A positive note is that there were no injuries. Everybody seemed to be out there. I believe they came on late last night. I mean, it was... mid-afternoon, basically, when they got here. Oh, really? So they got little to no time to rest, and now they're obviously training here today. What I will say, Charlotte's never beat Seattle.
which, I mean, it's only two games that they've really played. But funny anecdote about the last time that they were here, I remember being all over that locker room trying to find... Miguel Angel's number, which was the coach of the opening season for Charlotte. They lose here in Seattle, and he's fired the very next day. All of that I did, trying to get this man's number, and then he was gone. Never answered the phone after that.
You know, it's interesting how, you know, this Charlotte team was an expansion team. Maybe just... and have the reflectors that the LAFCs do and Austin maybe even. But it's a team with a very good base, a very good fan base. And I'm just excited to see them here in Seattle. I am too, and I think this will be a good test for the Sounders. I think it's a, you know, it's fun to kind of start with someone that you don't see all the time. So that'll be fun.
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But yeah, this will be a good test, I think, for the Sounders. And as far as training today goes, we ended up talking to Albert Rusnak. We've talked to Kim Kihi. We talked to Craig Weibel as well. I don't know. Where do you want to start with all that? I do love Albert is just openly anti-training. Yeah. He does not even hide it. Marshawn Lynch of the Sounders. Yeah, he does not. I should have asked him this. I meant to ask him.
But you get a sense that he didn't mind missing the last couple weeks of training too much. No, and I think he takes that... and works with it and excels at the fact that his quick turnaround, I'm going to play. He's in the briar patch. Yeah, and I expect him to start. I expect him to be good against Charlotte. Yeah, I think he probably starts. He's a guy that...
is always motivated to just prove it on the field. And that's all fine by me, you know? And not everybody has to be a vocal leader and a physical leader. He... He's a leader on the field, and he plays at his best, and he makes this team better. I think that in terms of distribution in the final third, he's going to amplify that. I feel like he sues...
had moments, but he did not look as connected, in sync, as I wanted him to. Yeah, he had moments, but you're right. I would agree with that. He had the pass to Areola that set up the first goal. He had that good look off of the pass from Pedro. But he wasn't super involved. And, I mean, that'll come. I'm not super worried about him.
But yeah, I'm excited to see Albert. I'm excited. We might get to see an extended look at Georgie. That would be kind of exciting. I would hope so. I think he earned that. He definitely earned it. He was a problem. He was a problem. It was funny. We asked Albert. And he said, you know, our goal is always to get him out in isolation. And I just knew after 70 minutes that.
that Antigua defender wasn't going to know what was coming. No, that guy has a problem right off the bat. Tasmanian devil on that side just all over. He almost gets an assist. His first touch of getting in. And then, of course, the movement, the ability to just break down a defense. And you could tell that that fullback...
completely gave him a lot of cushion. Once he saw the speed, he's like, man, I'm not getting forward that much. It's 2-1. Let's just keep it that way. But he's always going to be able to get behind you. So that's good. I did want to mention the fact that you talked about players. and Pebl was the guy that I wanted to remember. They do retain him. But one that I'm interested to see is former Portland, Eric Williamson. That's going to be a guy that I feel like is going to be an impact player.
I'm guessing he'll start in this one. I'm not really sure. Yeah. But he's a guy that I'm interested to look at in terms of this team. Last scene in Seattle. sarcastically clapping in Obed Vargas's face after he was red carded. I remember that.
which i would hope i would hope i'm sure sounders fans will remember that they'll probably give him a good greeting he'll get a nice little welcome exactly for some reason that bugged me so bad because he had just come into the he didn't do anything to draw the red card he's just being a punk And Obed really didn't do anything wrong to deserve the red card. People remember he got red carded for basically throwing his hands up 50 feet away from the referee.
And the referee just decided he didn't want to have any, even though he had let a ton of dissent go. We don't need to get into all this. But it was one of those things that drove me crazy. But, yeah, we talked to Kim Keehee today. He was all smiles. He seemed to be in a great mood. He made it very clear that...
The reason he came back here is he just loved Seattle. His family liked it. He wanted to be part of this. He talked a lot about bringing trophies. This is a guy who wins everywhere he goes. You can tell he, I mean, we were told that he's probably two or three weeks away from being able to get on the field for the Sounders. But he's going to be, he's not going to be a distraction in the locker room. Players seem to really like him.
And it sounds like his English has gotten a lot better. That was like one of the running jokes when he was here last time, how he didn't really speak English. But it sounds like he's picked up a fair amount of English in the meantime. And... I think that's another valuable depth piece that just speaks to the culture that the Sounders have built, that a player like that wants to come back here and is willing to basically come here and play for free.
Yeah, and very self-aware. I mean, he was very open. He said, look, I haven't played in two months between the offseason and figuring out my visa and everything that has to do with moving to the United States for the meantime.
So I like that. He's not providing any false expectations. He knows what he's going to do. And in terms of his role, his translator, I think he got the whole gist because he smiled when we smiled. But he's like, look, if I've got to sit on the bench and watch the games, that's what I'm going to do. But I'm going to go in. I'm going to try.
to do what I can to bring trophies. And I really believe that. I think he's going to be a guy that's going to be a positive influence, that's going to do whatever you want him to do, and that his experience... Even in Korea that you know, maybe we don't know a lot of that league
But when you're playing for a top team of that category where he was a main component, I could trust him to come in, be experienced, be aware. Also playing in Asian Champions League. They were one of the top teams. They might be the top team in all of Asia, which is something. These are some big clubs in Asia. Yeah, 100%. So I think he's a really good piece. And Brian did mention that he has some...
Conditioning to do, you know, fitness stuff. So, you know, don't expect him anytime soon. But that was a positive note. Love to see him. Love to hear that he's back. Seems to say all the right things. And I think we expected that from him. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think it's very much a C. which is what you get situation with Kim Kihee. Sort of on a similar note, you know, you had a story. We've talked about it a couple times now on this podcast. And you were able to sort of...
pull the curtain back a little bit. With your Nico Ladero reporting, the story came out on Wednesday morning. Maybe not the best timing, but hey, the stories come when the stories come. You can't really control that. And essentially, you gave... a version of the story that was maybe, that it felt, fair to say, felt like it was coming from a player who felt Spurn's perspective, or his camp's perspective. And I think both Brian and...
Craig effectively confirmed the main elements of your story, which is he did talk to the Sounders. Brian said he actually talked to them twice. And, you know... The perspective on why the deal didn't get done, I think it's fair to say, is different from both sides. But what did you make of what Brian and Craig said? Yeah, look, mainly Brian. I mean... I want to make it very clear, and I hear this online all the time, and I have absolutely no reason to shy away from anything.
assume that I have these super close relationships with lots of players, including Nicolás Tadero. I don't shy away from it. I'm a likable dude. But that's not my only networking in terms of resources. I've been doing this for, I think, 12, for 13 years. I've met a lot of people. I've made a lot of connections. So this was well-resourced. It wasn't just one, just to put that out there. When I think, and I should say...
And I don't think it needs defending. No one is challenging the facts of your story. No. I think the only dispute might be in, from Brian's perspective, the characterization of the Sounders position. Exactly. And that is all that I wanted to kind of touch on when it comes to Brian. He was pretty straightforward. I asked the question because I needed to ask it.
Me and Brian have a relationship in which I don't know if he thinks I don't like him. I will be very straightforward with him. I like him. I've always been. I think you have a very healthy. sometimes adversarial relationship. Absolutely, man. Like a big brother or like a cousin that lives somewhere else and then you just banter. But I'm always going to be straightforward. And this story needed to be told.
needed to be said. People thought about it, right? When you're thinking about Nico moving to Houston, the first thing people were saying was like, why not here? Exactly. So that story had to be said. I totally agree. And if we aren't reporting that, I don't know who else is. And it just becomes a, what are the, what does everyone do? How is this not, how does this not come?
If Nico is on the market, how is he not in Seattle? And this is the explanation. And I think from the Sounders' perspective is that they just didn't really see a role for him. They feel like their roster is maybe not totally set. But the degree that it's not set, they're not looking for another veteran presence. They're looking for someone who is a younger player who is going to compete for minutes from the other side of the roster. They don't necessarily need another, you know.
I think you could have figured out a way to get Nico Ladero into this roster, but I can also appreciate how the Sounders are saying, we don't need more competition for Pedro, Jesus, and Albert. We need competition. for other spots and we need it to be players who are going to be around for a long time and for whatever reason i think they just didn't feel like nico from a plant from a roster building perspective fit
There's another version of that story, though. But to your point, and do not let this get past you, Brian, and this is just me, again, this is my opinion in terms of me and his relationship. He did not say the name Vernell. Oh, right. Yeah, he just, out of the blue, they said, what's your breakout player? That's a good catch. I actually didn't pick that connection, but you're right. Someone asked him. who's your breakout candidate? And he didn't say anyone who's on the roster.
Who do you say? It's Snyder Brunel. Snyder Brunel. Who's not even on the roster. Who's a midfielder. Who's the guy that maybe Nico would have occupied the spot for. Brian is a very intelligent person when he throws stuff out. But man, I catch it all, baby. That's a good... Jerry Rice out here, man. So what I will say is this. Seahawks legend Jerry Rice. That's right. That's right. That's where I got his autograph. Exactly. What I will say is this. In my opinion...
a guy that just played 1,700-plus minutes that had 13 assists last season in all competitions for Orlando could absolutely help you in one regard. If Ferreira... Jordan and Danny Masotsky are only three strikers. I don't want Ferrer playing a whole lot of 10. I would much rather have a guy like Nico take that spot instead of Albert or vice versa, whoever you want playing that position. And I feel very comfortable putting him there. Not to mention that he played holding mid for Oscar Perejano.
season and he could definitely do it for brian too so he could definitely do that job so in my opinion and that's anything but that i think he would have fit in the story all i portrayed was a hypothesis of why maybe that wouldn't have happened. It is no secret. And everybody in the Sounders universe knows that Nicolás Odero's departure was not...
as glorious as he could have been, or maybe some people expected it to be. Or as amicable. Amicable. That's another one. I mean, I think it's pretty obvious from all the reporting that... Nico would have preferred to stay here and to keep doing his thing. And the Sounders said, no, thank you. And I think that. You can paint it however you want. And I think Brian made it sound like this was not the issue, but I think it's hard to escape the reality.
that the last two seasons they have had club legends who were not totally on board with the decision-making process. And the Sounders managed that, I think you can argue, pretty well. destroy the locker room, that they were able to sort of work their way through it. And I think there has to be some consideration that Brian gave to no matter what Nico is saying. I don't want to go for this again if I don't have to. And I think that's a justifiable position.
Sure. Even if I would have liked to see... I think Nico could play a role here. I think that he could have... They could have figured it out. I think that the Sounders roster looks better with him on it than without him on it. But I can't really blame Brian if... Even though he... claims this wasn't the reasoning, I am sure that played some part in it. No, and look, as a journalist, if I may delude the definition of journalist, I feel like my job...
is to, at times, shed some light on things like that. We saw what happened with Raul Reyes, and it was visible what happened and knew who and all that stuff. We at Sounder Heart covered that story. Same thing the way we covered the Nicolás Odero story. Those are things that I feel like it's important to provide that transparency of the player. Also, let's be real. This is what drives interest. If it's all sunshine and rainbows.
It gets boring. And I mean, I can understand why you don't want to invite that stuff. But the coverage of this is, I think, a really important part of the... whole ecosystem that we're in and this is maybe getting a little inside baseball but as long as we're being truthful and honest and transparent about
what's going on here. I don't have any, I don't think any, I don't think there's any harm or anything. I understand that some people may not always like what we're reporting, but it's, I do think it's genuinely important and it's genuinely good for the whole. endeavor that we're...
going through here. And hopefully people appreciate it. And that's kind of why the only thing I would disagree with Brian is I felt like he called it unfairly or something. He seemed like he wasn't happy with the wording. And I'm going to tell you that I characterized the story exactly.
how I wanted to portray it and we were just as a hypothesis he was able to provide a statement to you know say and provide context to it and that's it so If, you know, Brian or this team and the players want to look at me like this, the shortest Ivan Drago you've ever seen that you could put on your...
you know, mirror and you can just, you know, try to prove me wrong or I'm the bad guy, I'm the villain. That's fine, man, but I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing. And this is a story that I felt like a lot of people wanted to hear. So I'm excited that we took it on. And I'm excited we took it on.
I am, too. I am, too. And I think we got, you know, and frankly, it's fine that there's another follow-up to it that Brian seemed to want to put on the record. Like, he, you know, he could have just said... Yeah, we talked and that he could have left it at that. And it probably wouldn't have been worth writing up. But he gave us a whole explanation of where he felt like where his mindset was. And hey, good for him.
And I believed him. There was, I don't know if it was just hatred towards me, but I saw sentiment in his eyes when he was saying, I thought about it. I literally... contemplated bringing him back. And I believe him. I absolutely believe him because I felt it. Yeah, and we knew that they had at least two conversations, and I think it says something about the consideration that they gave it that it wasn't...
you know, that they had two conversations, that it wasn't no thanks. Yeah, and if he feels like Burnell's going to be a guy that he wants to provide more playtime, and he sees this, you know... prospecting. That's fantastic. I applaud it. That's good. And I will note, Snyder looked really good today. It's notable that we are now...
on game day minus one for the regular season opener, and both Snyder and Kalani Kosarianzi are both still training with the first team. I don't see any... Everything I've heard is that they are not going to sign them... right away because they don't have to that's literally the only reason is that they don't have the mls rules allow them to play this out longer if they want and it sounds like the sounders are happy to
let it play out a little longer and not tie their hands unnecessarily. But I really, I mean... Him talking about Snyder unprompted today is the clearest sign yet that they are eventually going to sign him probably sooner than later. And like I said, that Kalani is still training with the first team tells me that he's probably going to get a first team contract as well.
But I guess that they haven't speaks to their depth. And that sort of brings us back to where this all started, which is this team looks like it can handle multiple competitions. And man, they are going to get tested these first. two weeks of the season, we go at Antigua, home to Charlotte, home Antigua, at RSL, on the road, no, I guess home against Cruz de Sewell, and then who do they play?
And then they go at Cruz Azul, then whoever they play in week three, and then at Cruz Azul. Is it LAFC? It might be LAFC. Oh, my God. No, it's a... It's a tough road ahead. And Cruz Azul is a top team. They just put five on, I think, Real Hope in CCC. They are...
Very talented. They got a lot of firepower up top. So that's a difficult game. So Seattle will be tested. But I will say that I'm confident that they can come up with a... game plan, that the collective play of this team can match the individual talent that these other teams have and... Going back to your point on how important that 3-1 was here at Antigua, now you're able to maybe rotate and give some guys some time to rest for that game.
here at home against Antigua, and then you go to RSL, a place where you've never won. Well, not since 2012. Imagine that. So... That is a long time. I feel like that's a rivalry that maybe lost some heat and stuff like that. And now I feel like, I hope that Seattle's going to go in there trying to win. You know what's crazy about Rio?
Whenever they play Real Salt Lake, I feel like it's always these short rest games. It really is. It's crazy. It really is. They never play them when it's just like a normal week. It is very funny how that works out. But yeah, this first couple weeks of the first month of... the season is just an absolute gauntlet uh i wish you know the you and i went to mexico city together for the champions league final that was quite an adventure i would love to
promise to do that again with you. But I don't know if I'm going to be able to swing it. That's going to be tough. But I would love to get back to Mexico City. They might get another shot at playing in Mexico City if they advance. It might be Cruz Azul. I mean, if we go through, I think... No, if we 100% play Cruz Azul in the next round, but then after that, I think we might play America as one of the teams that they could potentially play. So...
This is going to be... We might hold off for America, maybe. Yeah, yeah. Because I might try to swing it for America because Estadio Azteca, I mean... It's either America or Achivas, right? Right. Yeah, both ones are good. I got family in Guadalajara, man. Do you? Oh, all right. We may be cooking up something here. Yeah, I'm away from down there. So we get down to a huge house. We have our own room. I mean, it's...
she yeah her aunt got a villa that thing's amazing so yeah all right well now we're really cooking all right well uh nico i think that's what we i think that's it i think we we emptied the notebook was there anything else that you had that you wanted to make sure to get into today
No, I don't think so. I think we hit the agenda of everything that we felt like it was important to, you know, bring out here what we saw, what we noticed, you know, Kim Ki-hee, everything. Anything else that stood out from what... Craig Weibel said maybe that in terms of the, I don't know. It sounded like he was saying that there might be another player.
with the u22 yeah they they they seem to be i mean he was very non-committal about what they i mean yeah i will say brian brian seemed to almost be hinting at maybe a signing coming sooner than later like he You made a statement about, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say, but which, you know, you always hope. You always hope. You know, we did see that the Sounders were compensated for...
Manuel Nassimiento, who LA Galaxy signed, they got $50,000 in allocation for his discovery rights that will turn into an additional $150,000 allocation if they exercise his loan option. So that's kind of neat. And apparently... The thing that kept the Sounders from signing Nascimento is, according to Weibel, is that Botafogo was really focused on getting a player back from the Sounders. I don't know who that player was. He did not say who that player was.
It seems like the logical conclusion would be maybe someone like Pedro. Yeah, I have heard that Botafogo was interested in... And you can see why the Sounders aren't... that interested in that kind of situation. Of course not. I mean, you would just pay $7 million for the kid. He's just starting to come through. You're hoping that he breaks out for you. So, yeah, it makes no sense. And you look, Nassibet is a fantastic player, extremely...
Talented, typical for what Greg Van is doing down there. Don't know how he would. He's 20 years. He's not going to come in and be a starter. No, no, no, no, no. He's definitely a prospect that you're going to have to work through. He's not your 21, 22. ready to go, that's not the player. There's potential there, but I don't think he's a sure bet. So all in all, I think the Galaxy can manage that player more than Seattle. I take this team very...
Everybody's hitting the road running. We're running a very well-oiled machine, and I don't know if a prospect that young would necessarily fit well here. Yeah. But it was interesting that they had the rights. Yeah, it was interesting. I thought it was very interesting that they had the rights. Talks to the scouting, talks to everything that people at times tend to... Question. Question, criticize when it, you know, is literally...
Sean Anderson's been running the show for a very long time, since all that gets signed is Nico, Raul. He's the same guy.
He's the guy running the show back then. The soccer side of this organization is pretty competent, I think. Yes, absolutely, 100%. Absolutely. Well, Nico, thank you again. Of course, people should be following you on... on blue sky on twitter el rollo nw uh you are of course putting out videos on pulso as well you can most of the days you you post the the video from training uh for interviews and stuff so if the sounders are
slow to put it out, or sometimes they don't even shoot it. That's right. You can, of course, continue to read him in Sounder at Heart as well. He's on Lobbing Scorchers. on Mondays. How's the live show going on Mondays? It's going great, man. I feel like we're getting a lot more interactions than I thought at that particular time. I've heard people say, it's too dang early, but people still showing up. So I appreciate that.
from everyone. I feel like it is a good time to talk soccer and right after the weekend. I think it's going to be even better. So the slot makes sense. Ari's fantastic. He's well knowledgeable. We also hit a little bit of the overall league content. So I like that. We have Noah in the background doing his magic. So, you know, it's all...
another well-run show. So I'm excited, man. I think that people are liking it and we're going to continue to do it. Both things through, of course, the Sandra Hard podcast network. And I will add that the...
This week, Noah and I have reached an agreement to actually put the live shows in the private RSS feed for Sounder at Heart. So if you are a paid subscriber to Sounder at Heart, you can access... the audio-only versions of the Lobbing Scorcher live shows in our private RSS feed, I would encourage you to subscribe to that.
You don't need to, you'll get everything you get through the Nosarietes feed, plus everything on Lobbing Scorches, plus everything on the Cooler Guild. It's an easy way to sort of get all... your pieces without with just one feed so uh anyway do that man i mean hey a couple of coffees or a couple of lunches you don't go out you could put into sounder of heart help this project help independent journalism
Yeah, man. So go ahead and do it. Put some money in Nico's pocket. Nah, man. Come on, man. But thank you so much for doing this, Nico. Thank you to the listeners for doing this. Give a plug to Full Pull Wines and Hacks and Ferments. who are sponsoring this podcast as well. I am Jeremiah Shan. This is Nosarieta signing off for the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. That was good stuff. We will catch you next time.