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 Adietes. I am Jeremiah Shan, joined as always on Fridays by Nico Moreno with what we learned this week with Nico, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. We are here at Long Acres. We just had a very long day at Long Acres. It is two o'clock. We're usually done two hours ago here, but they had a little special joint.
press conference-y thing with the rain to sort of mark the beginning of their season. And we didn't just get... both rain players we got a rain player we got jesus ferreira and jordan jordan haidema from the rain we got lauren uh laura harvey and brian schmetzer and then we also had uh the sounders sort of like front office or not front office but ownership with Adrian Hanauer, Hugh Weber, and Maya Mendoza-Extrum. But Nico, I've talked a lot without you saying anything. I should have...
I'm giving you a chance to say something. How are you? Hey, man. You are the guy who starts it off, man. You know, I'm just playing out for your vibe, man. You know, I'm like the point guard. You know, you're the shooting guard. That's the way we run it, man. But no, I'm excited to be here as always. It was a long day. It was a long day. That might be part of this start. We're just trying to kind of get it together. A lot of information all...
that I don't know if we'll be able to necessarily reflect upon in today's episode because it is so much. And I think we're going to all go back and listen to some video, get some questions. But I feel like we all got... At least I feel like I asked the question that I wanted to ask. So did I, yeah. And so did you. And that provides good content for our audience. And plus, we got LAFC coming to town. Oh, man. And a second leg.
At Cruz Azul, that's do or die. So, man, there's plenty to talk about. There's no shortage of things to talk about. But I think broad strokes, let's just open with this joint presser. And I think, for me, the broad strokes of this was sort of just... Opening the season in a way that said we are one organization. We want to find more ways to shed light and... and sort of bring people into the Seattle rain, that they do want to really put forward a image that this is a different...
That this is a one unified era. And I must say the symbolism of doing this right now when so much of our world right now is divided and sort of like diminishing this. type of joint effort where we're elevating women's sports to be on an even playing field as men's sports. It is kind of like, I don't know. They were not.
They were trying to steer clear, I think, of political stuff, but that wasn't lost on me. I think it's kind of neat that, you know, I like to see this. It was kind of a, there was some imagery there that I thought was relevant and useful. I don't know. I thought it was a... I don't know how much news came out of this, but it was a neat gesture and an interesting sort of, like, introduction. Yeah, and look, people might say that, you know...
At times, people always say the right things when they're on stage and when it's prepared and when there's an event. But to me, I feel like there was a lot of genuine sentiment in terms of... community, developing soccer within the region, both in the women soccer and the guys soccer. I thought it was cool that.
Adrian shared with us that there's potential to start sharing some of the facilities, training together with the range. So there's definitely a big intent to unite both of the franchises. It seems like... The reign for the long term, at least the way Adrian put it, was a multi-year contract at Starfire. They'll continue to be there. But there is some sort of, I don't know if a plan, but maybe a possibility that in the future.
everybody's here in uh they definitely left open that possibility they don't like no means were they going out of their way to say that's not going to happen he also brought up the possibility of the rain having being in a cold different community uh not part of the greater Seattle area, but as a sort of putting their footprint somewhere else, which I thought was interesting. It was the first time I'd ever heard that possibility as well. But the thing that struck me was this idea that...
Laura Harvey was at the game, I guess, on... Was it on Wednesday? It wasn't clear exactly what game she went to, but she was at a game...
There was some photos of her actually on the bench, which I guess was pregame. But then during the game, she sat in the booth with Henry Browner, I believe, and Freddy Juarez and sort of did the... in-game and was like giving her opinions on what was happening and that's a level of intimacy I guess that she also did that for the Montreal game last year that the Sounders won 5-0 but that's a level of intimacy that
I don't think you're seeing in most of these joint efforts. No, absolutely not. And you could tell that she was very careful about saying, hey, you know what? If somebody asks my opinion, sometimes I'll say something, but I won't, right? I mean, I don't think she wants to step over anybody. And it is so intimate. That's exactly why she was so careful with what she said. But it's...
It's an interesting approach. And if anything, it does show that Adrian Hanauer, and the question was asked about whether there was a possibility of the rain leaving if another owner came on. It really does seem like he's doing a...
his best effort to keep both clubs very united, very entwined. And I thought it was interesting that Brian seems to, like, embrace the, like, he seems to really like Laura from a personal, yeah, he seemed very, like... thrilled to be on a the the stage with her and sort of to be sharing to be able to bounce ideas off her and him and he's you know even saying like there's things i think i can learn from them which again
It's all words, I suppose, on some level, but they're not words that they have to say. No one's making them say these things. We might need to bring her along for bad post-game press conference. Exactly. She'll keep him happy, right? This is the best movie he's been in a press conference with us for a while. I don't know. I just thought it was interesting. I don't think I have a lot more to say about it right now, but it was...
I thought it was symbolically useful and interesting. And I don't know. I will be curious to see how this evolves over time. I don't know that we'll do this a lot. I don't know if there's a lot of usefulness in doing this all the time, but. Again, that was part of what I thought was interesting about it is that it wasn't really a, there was no reason to do it other than to make the public gesture. Yeah, yeah. And I think they want to engage.
more media, more coverage that was brought up in the past and I've never really done it. consistently, but I had asked in the past and it seemed like it was a little bit more difficult to talk to players than I initially thought maybe a couple of years ago. I don't know if that's changed any. I think for sure it was true for a long time. Okay, well, that's exactly what I think today. That's kind of cool that they were able to bring us on. I think they want to provide this.
with openness so more people come to cover and i think that's all valuable i don't understand why a team would close those doors or make it difficult right i mean it's just it's odd one thing that did catch my attention and
I don't know how much you want to talk about it, because you asked the question. But Adrian talked a whole lot about having a soccer... only stadium and and how the you know the smell of the field and the the feel of the stadium when it's you know he's gone to all these places around the world where soccer specific stadiums are so important and i think we all agree with it But I don't know like how much
And obviously he talked about how difficult it is, but I don't know how much urgency there is to get that done. That always wasn't talked about today necessarily, but here's your take on that. I mean, I think it is interesting because... They have a lease at Lewin Field, I believe, until 2032. So that's seven years away from now. That's a long way away. So even if they...
decided that they were going to build this facility, chances are it's not going to be open until 2033 at the earliest. And that... And sort of the question I asked was about bridging the gap between, let's even assume best case scenario that they have decided that's what they're going to, or not best case scenario, but let's just say they decided what to do.
there's a lot of time between now and then, and they can't afford to just punt on making things better at Lumen Field. And that's sort of what my question was about is like, how do you, you know, Let's assume for a second that you have made that decision. You're going to have to find a way to continue to build your fan base and to keep people happy. Because people aren't going to just buy season tickets in 2025.
because they want season tickets in 2033. That's not how it works. People don't think that way, nor should they. And so there's a lot of work, I think, to be done. And they did talk a lot about improving the environment and the sort of concourse experience at Lumen Field in the meantime. I noticed they didn't have a lot of details in that way. They did not.
And I think that's one of the things that concerns me. They talk about wanting to do it. And like Adrian said, well, it's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of grinding. Okay. But what does that actually look like? We don't know because I don't, I don't know. I don't get the sense that that's been dramatically improved since last year. So I think they do have a lot of work. It's good to hear them acknowledge that they have work to do, but I think...
there's a big question as to what that work actually looks like. And that's kind of what I was getting into. I can hear Adrian trying to be... very mindful about indicating his desire to do it, but there was not really a plan or an idea or anything like that. I was even going to, during my question, kind of...
put them in the category of Cruz Azul, where they were like, man, we're just done. Let's just cut it here. We'll go figure it out. But we just need to move on from here. And they kind of pushed themselves out of that comfort zone of being there. But it wasn't the stage for it, so I didn't go. there but that's kind of what i i want to see like how much you
Is the Seattle Sounders and Adrian Hanauer be willing to be uncomfortable or make a push to do something before that timeline? Or, you know, I'm sure that if they talk to Lumen, I mean, we're talking about scheduling.
Conflicts that might be coming up, they might not be coming up. So if you, as an owner, have that desire, sometimes it's just pushing yourself. That should be priority number one. Let's sit down, let's talk the numbers, let's figure out how to get that done. And that's what I don't see. I don't either, and it'll be interesting, you know, right now coming up, if the Sounders advance, all you have to do is look at the schedule of Lumenfield, and the dates of the...
first leg of the quarterfinal, assuming they get there, are filled. There is no way at all that the Sounders can host the first leg. of the ccc quarterfinals because there is a monster truck rally and a dirt bike race that is out of the question that's not something that you would have happened presumably if you controlled your own facility And so we don't know what's going to happen if they end up hosting that. The Sounders have not announced anything. They have not actually even acknowledged.
publicly that they can't play. Why would they, right? Because they're not there. There's no reason. But it is an interesting situation, and it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. But this is all stuff that's going on, and...
You know, for all their talk, I don't know that their relationship with First and Goal, who controls Lumen, has gotten any better. It seems like it's gotten worse every year. Even though, between the Sunners and Reign, they are by far the most... uh the most they they play the most of they hold the most events there of anyone without even question i mean they between the two of them they host twice as many events they're more than twice as many events than the uh
than the hawks yeah i mean that's exactly why i thought it was an interesting point i think that is something that a lot of the fan base is consistently harping on so you know i thought it was good In a lesser scale, there wasn't really much clarity and I don't want to get too much into it, but I do want to mention it. I just asked about Club World Cup. It sounds like there isn't really a lot of clarity in terms of like how much sales they've been done. It didn't seem like you was.
you know, trying to talk about it. I just, I had a real curiosity about what... It looked like early, and maybe not even that early. I mean, we're not that early. We're a few months away. You know, I did see today, I think, that the club seats finally went on sale. for the Sounders games, and I think I saw that they were $600 a piece. Ouch. $600 a piece. I mean, that's a pretty penny. Yeah. That's a pretty penny. So it'll be interesting.
I have heard rumors that more inventory is supposed to come online that's in the lower bowl. We'll see what happens there. That might be why Adrian was very... about saying, prices are not on me. Prices are not on me. Prices are not on me. And I think it was you who asked about you know, the reports of the payday, the participation payday, the latest reports were that the European teams at least are expecting to be guaranteed between 12 and 16 million.
I don't know that the Sounders would reasonably expect that much, but there's going to be millions of dollars, which would presumably pay for at least a transfer fee or two if they wanted to do that. These are all things that are going to be interesting. We didn't get a lot of clarity on any of it today. No, not at all. That was literally quoted. There's not a lot of clarity. There's not a lot of clarity. Yeah, exactly.
Also, in terms of where the money was going to be used, as I think most people should know and understand. There's probably not all of it is going to go into a player. Not all of it is going to go into a transfer fee. Adrian talked about, you know, the developing of youth players. There are all kinds of things. All kinds of things that you need to kind of come about. But again, these are just things that I hear.
you guys talk about comment uh question and that's why i brought it up yeah and i think it was a good question and it was good for him to at least go on the record and i mean he did imply that some of it would be used on transfer fees he and he definitely said they would all be reinvested back into the club
So we'll see what form that actually takes. But talking about, we got a lot of stuff going on the field. We should probably talk about that as well. You know, we had the game against Cruz Azul. I think... I felt like the Sounders were the better team. They created the better chances, admittedly against a shorthanded Cruz Azul, who still, I thought, looked...
pretty good, which weirdly gives me more confidence because it wasn't like they came in and just were parking the bus and said, oh, hit us with your best shot. And the Sounders couldn't land the punch. It was more that the Sounders took their chances. and it didn't quite go out, but Cruz Azul came to play. I actually was pretty impressed with Cruz Azul's play. I don't know what... And I do think that going into the second leg...
Knowing that all you need is a road goal to get the tiebreaker is helpful. not exactly the result the Sounders would want, but I was not as discouraged by how they played than it felt like maybe some of the discourse around it was. And that's kind of it, right? I mean, look, there are no two ways to look at it.
This was a missed opportunity because of the end result. Did they play well? Absolutely. And that might even be more frustrating for the coaching staff, for the fan base. The players themselves have to be frustrated that... They had every chance to win this game. They did all the right things. The intensity was there. The physicality was there. The movement was there. The chances. Look, Jordan, he does so much work. He gets himself in such good positions.
In this one, he did. But he has to finish those two chances. At least. There's one in the first half, and then there's one in the second where he hits the post. I actually thought that one was a better... More difficult. More difficult finish. He had a header. and a breakaway in the first half that I thought were from a just pure chance quality perspective, maybe a little bit better. I actually was very, it would have been a huge goal for him to get that one.
But he actually hit that from a pretty tight angle with his left foot. He beats the goalkeeper and gets a little unlucky that it hits off the inside of the post and stays out. But he was not on the ball a lot, but this was sort of a classic Jordan game where he did a lot of work. He did. But it wasn't showing up in a lot of touches. And that's exactly why that position is so difficult and why sometimes the criticism...
It is valid in a certain way because you expect your guy to finish those moments when he doesn't touch it that many times because that's what he's there for. That's what the role is, right? That's what the role is. So there's the... gold that was taken back because of the offside that was...
very thin line it sucks because pedro was so excited oh man he was like a kid i feel so bad when i see him because i see the flag go up and then i see him running off in the other direction and i'm just like oh that sucks That sucks. And it was a good finish. It was a good finish. He hits it between three defenders. He's kind of shrugging off the goalkeeper who is literally pulling on him.
I would like to think he continues his confidence. He has looked much more confident this year, but it was a shame that it didn't count because it was a good goal, and the replays were at best... inconclusive that it was offside. I think if it had been called onside, there's no way it would have, there's no way at all that it would have been overturned.
I thought he played very well. I thought that he was... I thought he was good, too. I thought he was good on the ball, his half turns. He was a special guy on the ball. I was surprised that Brian took him off. I thought that maybe Jordan was going to be that guy that was going to come off just because...
He's played so many minutes, started every single game. He looked a little bit exhausted. Maybe Paul would have been someone that you could take off and see if all these four pieces combined together. What I will say is that... Pedro coming off the field, although upset, clearly he wanted to stay on, which is normal. There's nothing crazy about it. But I've been encouraged by how much he wants to just...
Be there. And make a difference. And play. And all of those things. I was speaking to somebody off the record, off, you know, Mike's from Cruises Soul. And he's like, man, we were just excited that he came off. It was an interesting thing because... It's we've been talking about this a lot. We talked about it today with Brian. We talked about it with Jesus as well about there is essentially what we what Brian definitely he said in as many words.
We have four players, Jordan, Jesus, Pedro, and Albert, who are essentially, we see, filling three spots. And that was a that sub was a pretty clear illustration of that mentality where he comes off where Jesus replaces Pedro. Now, in hindsight, maybe not even in hindsight, I think you probably said this in real time.
that it would have maybe been nice to see him replace Areola because Areola ended up coming off about 10 minutes later. And it would be one thing if you're like, look, we feel like it's very important for Areola to be out there to bring cohesion to this whole formation. That's a valid... point but if you're gonna pull them off in 10 minutes why not just let them see how the four of them look together because we have not seen them all four on the field i don't think even in preseason
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Use the code Sounder at Heart at checkout for a free hot sauce with your order. Accent Ferments is a proud sponsor of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. Not all four. Not with Albert. Right. We've seen various combinations of the three of them, both with Jesus up top. We've seen combinations with them. But I would have really liked to have seen what that looked like.
because I don't think Pedro needed, Pedro clearly wasn't ready to come off. He, I'm sure had a few more, like you could have gone, even if it was only 10 minutes, just to see him on the field, play a little bit more. It would have been, I would have liked to have seen it.
And it's a little bit of a missed opportunity in that sense. And I don't know when we're going to see the four of them. Brian sort of talked about, well, once, you know, maybe after this, after the Cruises School game, we get into a month or so of more regular. game patterns no i mean i thought that he is very clear that this is the design i mean he was very clear he said you cracked the code i gotta give you credit because me i had been scratching my head about this since
the game against Cruz Azul. And then me and you talked this morning, you kind of put it perfectly. That's the way I asked it. And that's kind of the way he said, yes, that's what I'm planning on. Right. And I get it because... of the rotations right now and how things are working out. But I would like to see how it works at some point. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I think it's fair for Brian to take the position.
We're not in a rush to make this happen. Correct. But why not see what... I understand you don't want to play 90 minutes like that. I can understand why you don't want to play 70 minutes. But 10, 15 minutes, just to sort of get a sense of what that might look like, especially in a game like that where you were...
chasing a goal they they felt like they needed to score and they weren't as effective after pedro came off they were not they were missing his his spark they were missing his ability to beat lines with the ball and just take guys on. And again, like I said, they were worried about it. You could see them shift on that side where Pedro was playing.
The depth's still there. I feel like a lot of it goes, well, you know, more depth and more things. But you still got Paul Arriola coming off the bench, essentially, or Georgie, or, you know, Paul Rothrock. They've got depth either way. Yeah, so those are the things. And or the other thing. that I asked you or I mentioned to you was that maybe you could have seen how Ferreira would have done up top because I don't know how much more you can play Jordan consistently and...
Danny Misowski, you know, bless his heart and the effort he puts in. It's just difficult to see him as a guy that you can trust. I mean, he's not giving us a lot of reason to trust him right now. Although, who knows? Maybe we'll see. think he's gonna have to play some against lafc just because the thing that's so tough about the second leg is that it's
Two days is one less day of rest. The game's on Tuesday. They got to fly to Mexico City. Luckily, the game is early enough on Saturday where maybe they get to rest a little bit. But my assumption is I guess they're going to train. Will they get Sunday off? I don't know. But they're probably going to travel on Monday and then be in...
Cruz Azul and probably train that evening. I thought they were flying out on Sunday. Oh, are they? That would make more sense. I had heard that they were going to fly out on Sunday. That makes more sense. Okay, so that makes more sense. So they'll fly out on Sunday. They probably won't train on Sunday, but they'll fly on Sunday.
And then they'll have all day Monday. That makes sense. But that's a tough, it's not an easy trip. It's a four or five hour flight. It's like flying across the country. It is. The good things are this, right? You said it. Not conceding an away goal is huge. I could argue, and I don't think anybody could argue otherwise, that out of all the MLS teams in this competition, they gave themselves the best chance. Why? Because of that away goal. Cincinnati couldn't do it.
Galaxy definitely didn't do it. They lost, you know, with Eridiano, at Eridiano. Vancouver couldn't do it. They gave up a goal. So because of that, ironically, you know, we're upset. And we'll talk about ironic because I want to give you guys the other side of it.
why not being happy with this result seems maybe even outrageous to some people. But yes, Seattle gave themselves the best chance. Now... I just want to add, I think it is kind of... The funny thing about that is that I would imagine most fans... would feel better about a 1-1 tie. But from a practical perspective, 0-0 is absolutely, undeniably the better result. Absolutely. I mean, it's spot on. Because any...
goal draw puts you through. 1-1, 2-2, you go through, right? In 0-0, obviously, you go to PKs, but you're giving yourself a better chance. Scoring, if the Sounders score first, it is effectively a... A two goal. It's essentially two goals. Yep. puts you in a good position. Now, I've heard a lot of people, and I've heard fans, and I've heard some of our friends with Hunter Hart say, well, you know, Cruz Su, they're probably happy with this result, as anybody would, right? But you'd be wrong.
I mean, you would be absolutely wrong. From the moment that me and Jeremiah were sitting at the press conference and Vicente Sanchez, interim head coach for Cruz Azul, was getting... drilled out about how he could possibly have drawn... on the road without six players was insane. Yeah, he was getting lit up by... To give you a little insight, so the way that the press conference worked is they had a Zoom press conference where...
All of us media were in person, but there was all this Mexican media that was Zooming in. And the first four questions all came from Zoom, which is the first time I've ever had that experience. But all of them were lighting them up. How could you not get a result? here they didn't want to hear any excuses they didn't want to hear anything about and and because i thought sanchez would come in sort of like
Yeah, we got it. This is exactly. Let's put it this way. If Brian Schmetzer goes 0-0 at Cruz Azul in the first leg, his attitude is, nope, we got it. Exactly what we wanted. All we have to do is go home and win. You remember his grin in the 2-2? Oh, my God. Against Pumas at Estudio Limpico? He was grinning. Him and Nico were just like... We won the series. We won the series. And that's the crazy part. So I did want to put that out there because...
The talking point in Mexican media right now is, how do we get rid of Vicente Sanchez, who's lost one game out of nine, who is the internet coach that took the job in week two? I mean, it's insanity, but that's just the way it's kind of built out. So I wanted to put that out there. like people were talking about that consistently and they have a big game coming up on that's part of it right they have a big game against Monterey coming up this weekend and that is
a much bigger game in their mind than this game was. Or the next leg is. I think the way that, you know...
Siggy Smid once talked about this, and then he didn't really allow, he didn't coach this way necessarily, but he was very clear, I am never going to get fired for... going out in the open cup or not doing well in champions league i will get fired if i don't do well in league play and i think that's very much the attitude that vicente chance sanchez probably has which is look we might We might beat Sounders, we might lose to Sounders.
But that's not going to cost me my job. What will cost me my job if the league season falls apart. Because if I go get blown out by Monterrey, it's going to be outrageous. I mean, if he gets blown out, he might not be the coach on Tuesday. Exactly, because it's that serious. I think Monterrey was a main reason why, now that we have all the context, obviously there were six players that they felt like they were fitness.
They had fitness and risk where they could overload a muscle, where they could have an injury. And the best way to handle it, especially if they were going to play against Monterrey, which I'm curious to see. what team he puts out against Monterrey, and if he's just going to rotate for that...
CONCACAF game at home or or if he just people just double down which I think that's what's gonna happen. He might double down I mean it is for them to a two-day turnaround isn't even though you're at home It's not an I mean is the Monterey a game at home or is that on the road?
Well, I don't know. That's a good question. But either way... Either way, it's better than having to travel internationally for that one. And you're talking about no rest, necessarily. When do you practice? I mean, there's a Tuesday game. There's not going to be... Right. They're not going to...
be training uh versus or real training but it's uh you know and and the thing was that monterey was or that uh crucis was missing mostly offensive players they were missing their four leading scorers over the this 24 25 season But defensively, they were stout. I mean, they had two center backs who were great. They saved two or three goals.
Man, I talked about Willard Dita, and maybe I did not do him justice. I mean, he was my guy to watch in that defense, and he was a boss on his side. Yeah, he was. Not just defensively and physically, but on the ball. So sharp.
Able to just take pressure off them. There were times where Seattle got some pressure, and the way they passed the ball, and we talked about this in the pregame show, they were very good at just passing through some of the pressure points, and those center backs had a lot to do with it. What'd I say about Kevin Muir? Dude is bananas, right? He's as excited as he gets with the goalkeeper. Most of you guys maybe do not know who Rene Higuita is. If you don't...
hit it up on YouTube, Rene, R-N-E, Iguita, and you'll just be amazed with the highlights. But that's the sort of... crazy, just on the field. I'm going to take you on. The whole goal that Pedro got was half his fault. He should have just cleared it, but he's trying to shake you. Right, exactly.
And that was a part of what killed me about the goal not counting is that we finally beat, because he was doing that all the time where he was coming. I mean, he came way off his line to pull, to head a ball out, or I guess he kind of rainbowed Jordan one time. And it was just all kinds of crazy stuff. He was constantly, you know, it's funny because he would come up almost like a third center back.
and be ready for and be part of the procession exactly he was it was it was an interesting display we don't see it a lot in mls almost never and it was kind of neat to see It would have been nice if the Sounders could have taken a little bit more advantage of it. I don't know. Maybe they can actually take more advantage of it. Because I would imagine he's going to be even more aggressive at Cruz Azul. So it will be... I don't know. I'm interested. I'm intrigued by this.
But before we get that second leg, we have LAFC on Saturday. Fox is going to be broadcasting this game. It's not quite the national. TV broadcast that they do where Weeby and everyone else is here, but Jake Zivin and Taylor Twelman will be calling the game. This is a big game for the Sounders, and it comes at a time when LAFC...
seems to have, once again, remade their roster with no real drop-off. They are, I think, 5-0 in all competitions right now. And they look very... They haven't been scoring a ton, but they just scored three against... Columbus. Columbus. And before that, they had been struggling to score, but I don't think they've given up a goal yet this year. Not that I can think of, no. Oh, against... Oh, no, they didn't. No, they have not.
Yeah, so this is, I mean, they're, again, they're a tough team. I think. Minnesota got closed. They should have been ahead in the score, but they didn't. Exactly. But look, this franchise, it's, you know, I don't know. all on its own. In Spanish, we have this thing about not reinventing the wheel when it comes to soccer, your team, your franchise. And it seems like they just... Sorry, I should correct myself. They are 4-1. I forgot they lost.
the first Champions Cup game to Colorado. Oh, that was the one. They're on a four-game winning streak. There you go. That was the one. And they've not given up a goal in the last four. Yeah, well, there you go. But this team, not as star-studded as in the past. They kind of have more... MLS veterans of some sort, if you will. I think Ybobosi has been really good. I feel like he gives them the best attributes of what...
Chirundula likes in terms of pressure and trigger points and effort and running off the ball. He's been, you know, he already got a goal. Marky Delgado was another player. Marky Delgado has been really good. He's been really good. He's the guy from LA Galaxy that they let go. They're missing him now. And he's been a guy that really controlled that midfield recently. Tillman gives you a little bit more...
He gives you a little bit of guy that can get forward, hit you with some mid-range shots. So this is a good team. I'm very curious of what the lineup will look for the Seattle Sounders, but not an easy game. Not an easy game at all. It will be interesting to see. I mean, LAFC comes in able to rest. Their rotation situation is a little different. They played a day earlier, and they have...
Although they do play also on Tuesday, but they have one more day of rest coming into this one, so they might not have to rotate quite as much. We'll see. And Cerundolo not known for rotating. No, he is not. I mean, I've seen him go with a full lineup. add Las Vegas lights and then play the team all over again. So this is, I will say this is their first road game since the Rapids, uh, championship game. So I don't know. Maybe that's good for the Sounders. I don't know if that, that.
The Sounders have not beaten LAFC at home in a very long time. I'm trying to remember. I think it was the 2020 playoffs, the last time they beat LAFC at home. Yep. It's been a bit. I called the draw on our Thursday show. I hit it off on the Charlotte maybe in an unusual way when I said it was going to be a draw. I feel like this one is similar. I feel like a draw. you know, might be a decent scoreline. I saw your players to watch, and I did not see La Joya Martinez.
I will tell you that that guy is a handful. People have been very excited about him ever since they picked him up, and he didn't play a lot last year, but he has been given a much bigger role this year. He's been very good. He's cut inside. He's very much of the game. I'm not saying he's buonga. I'm just saying that he likes to do a lot of buonga-ish things, right? That cut inside, that curl to the far corner.
of the goal. He's shifty, good on the ball. An opposite inverted winger. Absolutely. That's exactly what it is. And he's very creative on the ball. He's going to give you a little back heel. He's going to, you know, rainbow you the way maybe Brian or something like it. This kid. This kid is a handful, and that's a guy I'm going to be really looking for. Delgado's another guy that I thought. And, of course, any time that L.A. saves here, know where Hollister's at?
Let's put a bell on him or something that you know where he's at at all times because he tends to disappear and appear in front of the goal. He sure does. He sure does. Of course, Denny Buonga is... A terror. An absolute terror. Coming off of a two-goal game in Champions Cup on Tuesday. He has been very good again. So the Sounders have their hands full. I am not at the point where I am panicking at all sort of about their league form.
I guess we could talk a little bit about it. I didn't think they looked awful against RSL. Obviously, they weren't good. I feel like the reactions to that loss were maybe a little over the top. It would be nice to get a good result here because I think there is a growing frustration about their inability to beat. You know, Brian said it. The reality is that they've only beaten.
Antigua so far. And not to take anything away from the Guatemalan league, but it is not MLS. And I think that's good to sort of understand that, to appreciate that this is a chance to, you know, if you're going to be competitive in MLS. These are the kind of games you need to be competitive in. You need to be able to win these games. And yes, it's going to be a rotated lineup, but there's going to, should be enough talent. The Sounders should have enough talent where they can, they can hang.
You know, I wouldn't say I am super confident, but I'm not pessimistic either about this one. For what it's worth, yes, they're coming from a very good game against Columbus. But before that, it was very uninspiring. They obviously play against the ball. They don't necessarily need to possess.
They're just looking for that direct play. They had won three straight 1-0 games. Their defense looks very good. Their offense up until Columbus was not looking particularly good. They'd only scored four goals through their first four games. So, I don't know. This is not a juggernaut team. It is a team that knows how to get results.
That has gotten results. That's gotten results. Knows and has gotten results. Yes, absolutely. I feel like this is an opportunity for that depth that we've been praising to actually come out of play. If they get a win... I think would be huge. Huge. If they get a draw, I feel like it'd be a decent result. That rotation is something that we're all going to be looking for because there's no doubt in my mind that...
your best team has to come out against Cruz Azul. I'm very curious if Ferreira starts tomorrow or if he starts Tuesday. I think he'll start this game. I'm more curious what position he starts in.
Because he's been used almost exclusively as a sort of... He actually was playing more of a winger on Wednesday than he had... really been before but he's really he's been playing underneath the striker one way or the other and it'll be interesting to see how that how that plays out i would like i mean he's i there's been a lot it's funny he's been an interesting player because i think there's a lot of frustration around him and it's from two different camps who i think folks like you
or more frustrated with how he's being used, which I think is fair. And I've also been surprised how many people were frustrated with his play. I thought he looked good. I thought he looked good. He's very, much, much... much more creative of a passer than I think I anticipated. You know, I'd like to see him score some goals, but, you know, where he's played a handful of games. I'm not, like, stressing that. No, I think he's poisonable. I think he's...
IQ and vision are excellent. I don't think people realize how good it is because, honestly, minutes have been limited. He's also a good counterpressor. Very good counterpressor. We talked about the repress and the way he does that well. not the fastest guy that you might see, but his explosiveness to get from point A to point B is pretty good. I think he has a great understanding of spacing, and that's been evident. So I like that.
My guess is that if he's playing those inside channels, then Areola is going to be on that left side because they consistently be playing with Pedro on the other side. So if Pedro does start, I mean, it's going to be a game where a lot of...
Things that we've been wanting to see from Ferreira need to come out. This LAFC team, as much as they haven't been scored on, I look at the... backline and i mean i'm not you know it's not like when they had murillo and cheneau yeah and long i mean this is different it's not those three monsters back there no no disrespect to marlon good player but he's not a guy that i'm like man you gotta watch out for that guy so
There's opportunities there. Seattle at home need to come out swinging. If there's something that's been a common denominator... An early goal would be a very nice... I feel like Sierra's always had, and people told me online that, you know, that's just their MO. The second half is always the better half. But I mean, in this one, I feel like they should come out soon. They should come out and really dictate the tempo right off the bat.
Yeah, I would agree with you there. All right. Well, Nico, thank you for doing this. I think we both have things we need to get to today. It's already getting late in the day. But Nico Moreno, you can. See him on Blue Sky, El Rolo, NW. You can find him on Pulso Sports' YouTube page. And, of course, you can read them on Sounder at Heart and hear them on Lobbing Scorchers as well as this podcast. So thank you, Nico, for doing this. No, thank you, man. Thank you to everybody. TL.
2015. Love your comment. I really appreciate it. your thoughts on Brian's critique and then the fact that, and I'm going to have a shameless plug here, thank you for watching our Thursday show on Soccer Down. She says she likes it, or he says he likes it. I really appreciate it. And yeah, keep coming. On lobbing scorches, you mean.
No. This one's for soccer down here. I think this one's for Thursdays, yeah. Oh, okay, okay. Oh, that's right, you're doing Mondays on Lobbing Scorchers. Yeah, that's right. That's right, I got confused. So now you're still doing soccer down here. Yep. So we're trying to get out there. So I really appreciate everybody commenting and helping us out. Glad you guys enjoyed it. So in this one, comment more. Let us know what you guys like.
Thank you for having me, Matt. Yeah, thank you. All right. Well, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is Nos Adietes, part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. And we will catch you next time.