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. another episode of Nos Adietes on the Sounder at Heart podcast network, sponsored by Full Pull Wines and our subscribers. We're recording on Wednesday, March 12th, 2025. I'm your host, Jeremiah Shan. Joining me today is my co-host, Aaron Campo, and our engineer, Lickett. Later in the show, we'll have an interview with MLS Season Pass commentator Ross Smith, who will help us preview the St. Louis City match on Saturday. Well...
Quite a week the Sounders have had. They started with an absolutely rollicking 5-2 win over LAFC, getting goals from five different players in all sorts of fun ways and putting vibes about as high as they've been this year. They then followed that up with an ultra defilating loss to Cruz Azul. It wasn't just how badly they were outplayed. It's that they lost Paul Areola to a potential season ending knee injury and then Jordan Morris to some sort of other muscle injury.
combined with Pedro De La Vega's injury in the LAFC game and suddenly fouling out of the CONCACAF Champions Cup might not be so bad. Now the Sounders need to pick up the pieces. Aaron, how confident are you that they can do that? And don't worry, we'll talk about this game as well. But let's look forward first. Yeah, I am. You know, I think I'm fairly confident in their ability to weather the storm for a little bit.
and to do what we've seen them do many times, which is just grid it out. I think I am hopeful. I am optimistic. I don't know whether it's COPE or just me choosing to be optimistic or what, but I am. reasonably optimistic jordan's not going to miss that much time um you know paul is i think probably done for the season i would be yeah that's hard to escape yeah um and and that's going to be difficult right like he
He's not what you would consider like a key player necessarily, but I think his presence is important to kind of making the whole system work. And so they're going to have to rejigger things a little bit, which... you know, it was a little scary after last season, right? When they had to spend half a season finding their sort of identity. And, you know, I think Pedro hopefully will be back sooner than later as well.
And hopefully this isn't another situation where things sort of drag on all year. But I think the Sounders are in a better place this year just holistically to weather a storm like this than they have been in the past. But I think it's going to be a difficult couple of months. It's a bummer because I think everybody has been so excited by what we've seen so far this season.
You know, they were frustrating earlier on, but they just looked a lot better. And then they finally put everything together against LAFC. They looked great for the first 20 minutes or so against Cruz Azul. And then everything just kind of falls apart. It's a bummer to feel like probably the best case scenario is we're going back to gritting out results and doing it in a less than exciting way.
But if they can actually manage to do that until they get healthy this year and get back to it once they're a little closer to full strength, that'll be a nice change of pace from last season. I'm maybe a little bit more optimistic that a, I don't think it's going to be a couple of months. I would think it might be more like a few weeks. And the good thing is that the schedule sort of opens up a lot over the next.
really the next three months. The Sounders only have two midweek games between now and the start of the Club World Cup, which is June 15th. And those are all league games. So that's, you know, that's... a lot of one week games. And as long as they can just sort of not have any, as long as their injury situation doesn't get worse, like I'm okay with them playing another couple of weeks without, without these guys.
I am intrigued to see how they handled Jordan Morris's injury in particular. He has been their most consistent player this year. He's been the player who's... played the most in the attack he has been i think one of the things that also gives me hope that he's this is not too serious of an injury is that really ever since he did his his second acl injury he's been remarkably healthy he only missed two games
from injury during that time. And so I would hope that he can get back without too, too much rehab and that, you know, who knows, maybe we'll find out it was really bad and this will seem hopelessly Pollyanna-ish.
But where we sit right now, I'm not freaking out. And the schedule does sort of set up okay. I mean, I'd be a lot more worried if they had somehow managed to get through a... past Cruz Azul, and they were going to be looking at Club America while trying to juggle the lineup with a short roster.
So in that sense, maybe it was for the best. I think you may even said this in the discord yesterday that maybe once these injuries happen, maybe it was for the best that they didn't advance. Yeah. I mean, well, I. I actually said a few days ago I'd rather go out in this round than the next one. Oh, yeah, that's right. Maybe I'm getting confused. I think during the game, I was especially after Moose scored.
I was of the, Hey, if we can come back in this situation with these guys, we can win the whole thing with this guys, which in hindsight was, you know, sort of feeling, but maybe, I mean, maybe, maybe we could do that. I don't want to think about what it would have done to the league.
form uh if we if we had continued playing in this competition with without the horses um but yeah i mean i think you make a good point that the fixture congestion has been unreal and i think we've kind of internalized it to some degree as a fan base that that's just the way it's going to be this year well it's not going to be that way for a while you know it's like
This was it. This was a period of time when things were bad and there were a ton of minutes to be eaten up. And, you know, so hopefully that does allow them to get Jordan back a little quicker. I'm really hopeful that. Now that Musabski finally has a goal that he's maybe going to play with a little more confidence. And so his, his minutes are not going to be as, you know, underwhelming or seeming as, as just.
uh totally incapable of amounting to any kind of production um so that that would be nice um and i do think that Jesus Ferreira needs to step it up a bit. I haven't been as down on his play as I think a lot of people have. I think he's looked good. I thought he had a couple of really, really good moments early on.
when the Sounders were really threatening early in the game last night. Yeah, he almost connected with Jordan on a cross, or he did connect with Jordan on a cross, and Jordan put it wide, if I remember correctly. And there were a couple of other just like really nice creative passes that he made to spring attacks. And, you know, and that's, I think that's really encouraging, but he's probably going to need to step up the actual production in front of goal.
Yeah, because I think he's he's got to be he's got to be the primary scoring threat now with Jordan out, I would think so. I do think that you are right to be.
reasonably optimistic or as optimistic as you can be. But I think that for the optimism to pay off or to come to fruition, some guys that have not been... producing in a bottom line sense are going to have to start doing that more regularly yeah i mean the reality is that so the sounders have i think 14 goals scored so far this year eight of those goals are now out with injury
Three each from Pedro and Jordan and, of course, two from Areola. So that's obviously not good. I don't want to make it sound like this is a good situation. But the presence of Jesus Ferreira... Helps me feel a little bit better. The, you know, I feel a lot better about Ariel is injury after Paul Rothrock had a good performance and he honestly, he looked okay against Cruz's little tool. He made a, a great move.
to get in and then set up Ferreira for a chance that was very badly missed, but was probably their best look of the game outside of the goal where he sets Ferreira up. right at the top of the penalty area, and he just skies his shot, which, you know, whatever. I guess that happens sometimes. But we definitely need Ferreira to sort of step up and become the player that, you know, they've given him some betting in time, and it's now...
time to sort of, you know, maybe take the control a little bit more. So I don't know. I'll be very interested to see if the Sounders play him or Masofsky at the nine on Saturday. Nico Moreno actually asked Schmetzer about Ferreira's situation and sort of implying that he hasn't been as productive as they wanted. And I'm sure to some degree that he hasn't been. I would imagine they were hoping that he would be scoring a bit more at this point.
But, you know, Schmetzer said that he's been OK with the way he's played. I don't think he is. He's a very different player than Jordan. I think that's one thing that we've seen is that he's someone who. Sort of wants to play in the half spaces a lot more. He's not going to go bang in the box with center backs as much as Jordan certainly was willing to. And so he's just fundamentally a different kind of player than Jordan is.
So the centers are going to have to play a little bit differently around him. Although I don't know, he might be able to get in behind just as well. So I don't know. We'll, we'll see, but I look at the possible lineups for the St. Louis game and I'm not.
freaking out you know i'm not saying i'm excited about this but i i feel a lot better about the talent they have on the roster right now than the talent they had on the roster at this time last year when they were still sorting through a lot of injuries. yeah i mean the guys that they have now are the guys that had to step up that were missing last year right and to a large extent like jordan obviously you know was was healthy but um last year
they didn't really turn to Paul Rothrock for help until things had gotten pretty bad. And, you know, Georgie was obviously a late season, later season addition. Was still hurt at this point last year, was still coming back from injury at this point last year.
Yep, and I think that Rusnak's presence is going to be critical because there are a lot of guys who are going to have to play a lot of minutes who... want to run it guys and want to create chaos and i think rusnak is is very good at picking out the moments to take advantage of those runs and settle things down like i think he's just a calming presence that
is going to be helpful without having some some key players that have been so good early this season uh and yeah i mean i think georgie every game convinces me more and more that nothing we've seen is an illusion i think that Some people are a little over their skis with his potential, but I think he's a real deal, extremely solid MLS player right now who is such an X factor, right? Like even if his production over the course of the season is...
good rotational guy, the chaos that he causes in games I think is really valuable with the rest of the players on this team. And Rothrock, you know, aside from the penalty against Cruz Azul, I thought was really good.
and that's the second game in a row he's looked like really bright really promising and you know the penalty was extremely annoying but i i just can't get super mad at an attacking player for giving up a penalty like that i guess like how how often is that going to be an issue uh and i think his attacking play is what's more important and i think that it's pretty clear that his struggles earlier in the year had a lot more to do with injury than any sort of regression or
last year being an illusion or anything like that uh yeah i would say i'm i'm at this point with you on that i think the struggles were more about injuries and form than they were about Just not being a very good player, which is, you know, you always start to get a little worried when that when that happens. But let's let's talk a little bit about this game as much as I, I guess, was trying to avoid it.
We talked about this after the first leg, and I think we all knew that there was a missed opportunity there, that that was a chance for them to get off to a good start and to... to put a number on the board. And they didn't. They played well. I think they played really well. But I think we saw really how costly it was for them to... not get those goals that they probably deserve. You know, if they go into this game up one zero, certainly up two zero.
I think that they very possibly could have weathered that storm. Uh, but cruises will came out. Uh, the sounders were okay for the first five, 10 minutes maybe, but for the first half, the sounders were just on the, their back heels. Uh, Cruz Azul dominated possession. Sounders could not really string passes together. Like Brian Schmetzer said, they'd get into a cycle where they'd defend, defend, defend, and then they'd give the ball away.
defend defend defend and then they'd send a clearance instead of trying to to build out and they just couldn't really build any sort of sustained pressure and then Areola goes down towards the end of the very close to the end of the first half. And and, you know, at that point, it's just becomes a real struggle. They were already down one zero in the first half. Right.
They were, yeah. And, you know, I would say, yeah, they were down 1-0. I would say I felt okay going into halftime. Like, okay, like, look, they can sort of get their heads back on straight. They can put this together. They can pull out the second half. And I thought they were better, but not much. And I will say, I'll give them credit for this. I thought they...
You know, all like they were getting into tackles. They weren't shying away from that stuff. I didn't think they were overwhelmed. They just couldn't connect passes and they couldn't build out. And they struggled with sort of like the stuff that they've been really good at this year.
And ironically, their first really good scoring or their first promising attack in the second half was the ball that got played into Morris in the channel. And then he pulls up out of it and you're like, oh, of course, this is. This is how this goes. But I don't know. I will say that after Mussofsky scored, which was a nice little free kick that Rothrock put back into the box.
And then I guess it came off maybe Yamar and Masofsky was just kind of in the right place, the right time to finish it. I, at that point was, okay, this can happen. That came in about the 73rd minute, 74th minute, somewhere around there. And if they get one more goal, they're through. And for the next 10 minutes, I thought they were okay. And then Rothrock commits that penalty and it's sort of like game over at that point. Yeah. I mean, I think that everybody kind of knew.
when that foul was called and it was couldn't have been more obvious it was obvious in the in the moment um i think everybody knew kind of knew that was that was game over uh yeah i love i love stuff and fry the The downsides are worth the upsides and then some, but he is not good at stopping penalties. And he did not come close to stopping that one.
he did not he did not and uh so you gotta hope a guy misses and i think i think the book is kind of out that hey if you put it on frame you're probably gonna score um and yeah it's you know it is what it is um I thought that the key takeaway for me from this game was that the central midfield was the reason the Sounders demolished LAFC.
and it was in turn the reason they got demolished in this game i i don't remember christian having this bad of a game certainly not since he switched to playing at the six um probably not since
The year that he had the concussion issues, I think, was the last time he had a game this bad. Obed was also pretty bad. I sort of had this realization during the game that I... i thought obed made a nice recovery and i said oh this is a nice play by obed and i said i feel like every time i've had that thought in this game it was them recovering from a mistake they just made like even their positives were a result of their negatives and
Sometimes it's just like that, you know, like, I don't think we are clearly better than LAFC. I don't think that the Sounders midfield is that much better than LAFCs, but they dominated on the day. I don't, you know, I'm not convinced Cruz Azul is that much better than the Sounders. I don't think that Cruz Azul's midfield is that much better than the Sounders because I thought they looked pretty good against them in Seattle. But on the day, they were much, much better.
I think that when you put yourself in a situation like the Sounders did by not scoring at home, where there's a ton of pressure on you to get a goal. against the team that you know probably has at least a slight talent edge and is playing at home at altitude who are in more of their mid-season form. It's going to be tough. It's going to be really, really tough to do. And I think once that penalty was called, I think the Sounders kind of knew that that was game over.
You know, it can't be easy, too, when you see two guys who have been so key to your season go out injured one. I think everybody knew immediately for the season. It's just a really, really tall hill to climb. Yeah. So I messed up. The penalty actually came before was the second goal, but it came almost right. It came right after Morris got hurt. And so that was, I think, also part of what.
led to the emotional downturn of that is they were they were they were sort of in it and then they weren't in it anymore. Masovsky did pull them back into it. So, I mean, there was a solid 10 minutes where the Sounders were back in this game where after Masovsky scored, it felt like they might actually, you know, put together something like a comeback, but. Again, either way, it was not meant to be. I think you can't really argue that the better team moved through.
And that doesn't feel good to say. The Sounders, they had some chances in this one, but they were not the better team. They just weren't. I do think it's very funny that... The only MLS team to beat a Liga Amheki's team in this round is the Vancouver Whitecaps, who managed to go to Monterey and... They tied 2-2, but they go through on away goals, and really it wasn't as even close as 2-2 would suggest because it was like a 97-minute penalty that equalized but was essentially for not for.
for Monterey. So, but right after the Sounders played, Tigris equally demolished Cincinnati sort of in a, like Cincinnati did jump out to a little bit of a, a lead in that one, but. I mean, they did get it. They were actually leading at halftime, and then Tigres just poured it on in the second half with three goals in the second half. I don't know.
Also, I will say that I take some small solace in looking. America ended up beating Chivas pretty roundly. They won 4-0. Chivas got just absolutely demolished. And I just don't think the Sounders were going to square up. I don't think so. I think that there are before the Sounders had. Before the Sounders won the Champions League and even before the Sounders had beaten a Mexican team in the Champions League.
a game like this felt so crushing because it just felt like it was insurmountable, which is never going to happen. And now that the Sounders, I mean, in, in their, you know, in their run to. the the ccl title uh a lot of people have tried to memory hold this and pretend like they didn't have a difficult run but they beat leon uh ligama keys team for one on aggregate and then they beat pumas 5-2 on aggregate um
There are, you know, ebbs and flows and peaks and valleys in terms of the relationship between the leagues and where the Sounders fit into that and everything. But we know that MLS teams can compete with Liga and Mackey's teams. We know that... the gap isn't that big anymore. And, you know, Chris Azul is a really, really good team and the Sounders weren't up to it.
And that's OK, because it doesn't feel like they can never get back there again. And now they can focus on the league, which I think, honestly, for me. is the more important thing this year. Like if you gave me the choice between another champions league title and an MLS copper supporter shield, I would take the league trophy this year. Because I think that that's just really important to the health of, of the club. And the sort of.
you know, just like the wellbeing of the fan base to have that title chase that goes on all year rather than a continental title. Yeah, I would agree with that. I would also say that you always want to win whatever tournament you're playing. And I think that's sort of a. But if you're going to not win it, going out early is probably the better choice.
If the Sounders were not going to win this thing, if they were going to lose to America, I'd just as well them lose in this round. Now, that's kind of a reductionist way of looking at it. But I will say, again, if I had to choose these things, I would rather the Sounders... compete for the supporter shield and play great entertaining league games than having to sort of slog through all of spring and just sort of hope to be making a run at the second half of the season. Now, of course.
The big step is actually going on that run and playing well. And we don't know, you know, like that's a unknown. Are they going to do that? I think they're capable of it. I think that this is a good team. I really, I genuinely like this team. but they need to now go out and do that. And I don't know if I have huge expectations for Saturday against St. Louis. I mean, there are reasons that they might not feel their best team. They might sort of just.
punt this game a little bit and lick their wounds and say, okay, we're going to come back and reset next week. But I don't think they should have to feel like they need to do that. They're going to have two days of training in Seattle.
we should get a decent you know we should get some decent run out then they have you know they don't have anyone getting called up into internet at least no one in the u.s or mexican teams are getting called into the international duty so they should have a full squad next week or something close to a full squad, a week from Saturday, that is. And then again, it's just one game a week from here on out, basically, until we get to the Club World Cup. And...
that's manageable. Like they, there's no reason, even if they're missing Paul Areola for the season, they, they should be able to figure out how to handle this thing. Reed Baker Whiting has come back. He can help fill in there. Kim Kihee is coming back pretty soon. This roster is going to still be reasonably deep with or without Paul Areola. Areola was a very nice piece to have. I don't want to diminish his loss. This is a better team with him on it than without him on it.
But I don't think he's the difference between them being able to make a supporter shield run and them not being able to. He might have been the difference between them being able to compete on multiple fronts. But yeah, that's right. Not an issue anymore. Yeah, it's not. It's not. I also it probably should be said, I don't know if.
if the ariel injury changes anything about their strategy but the sounders do have a decent amount of cap space a couple of roster mechanisms and about six weeks to add a player so if they had a guy that they were looking at you know
Maybe it makes sense to move that timeline up a couple of months. Right. I mean, not to be too cold and calculated about this, but the reality is that if areola did his acl he's out for the year there's not really any point in pretending like he's gonna come back in six months he's not gonna it's he's gonna be out 10 months yeah there's no reason
the first at least six months back it's not going to be he's not going to be the same player right i mean there's just no there's no reason for them not to put him on the season end during injury that's assuming he's actually done his acl and if he hasn't then who knows maybe he can come back but it let's just assume a worst case scenario, the Sounders need to put them on the siege and entering injury list and they need to recoup. They, and they'll.
be able to replace them with a comparably priced player. And he hit the cap, I think somewhere around 600,000, 650,000, something like that. You combine that with the 1.2 ish million that they had already. They have something like $1.8 million in cap space that they can go out and find good players with. That's real money. Those are real assets that they should be able to deploy.
and help bolster this roster. So I would hope that there should be no excuses. I'm not saying they need to go out and sign those players tomorrow, but there should be. new players coming to this team and, and they should be getting here before the, I would think the target should be before the club world cup.
and then that would give them time. If they get here before the Club World Cup, they would also be here for League's Cup, and they'd be here for the stretch run of the playoffs. I don't see any reason why that shouldn't be sort of their main goal at this point. Yeah, it is unfortunate if the timeline got moved up. It's unfortunate that it got moved up for the reasons that it did. But, you know, what's the old saying that...
psychopaths love to say every crisis is an opportunity, right? Like, I mean, you know, if there's a player that we think is interesting. Yeah. Good. Good. No, I was going to say, I agree. That's a great way of using this particular phrase that got used way too much over the last five years, sadly. Right, right. Yeah.
there is truth to it right there's absolutely truth to it and it's a it's a good opportunity to deploy it from the sounders uh and it's you know i don't know like i i think I definitely know there was an argument going around that I was not as keen to before, which was. The best way to like the Sounders should just be focused on improving league play and they shouldn't be too worried about the or the CONCACAF Champions Cup in part because the fan base just doesn't.
It doesn't impact the fan base as viscerally as the regular season. The regular season is longer. The regular season has more games. It is just the total impact of the regular season is more. than the the the CONCACAF Champions League and by that token winning MLS Cup I think we've seen has more of a sort of like
This was a successful season vibe to it. Then CONCACAF Champions League, which we lived through this. We basically had to explain it over and over again. No, this was a good season. We won the biggest trophy ever.
On some level, if you have to spend that much time explaining it, maybe it's not having the impact you need it to. Again, I will say this as someone who has championed the... regional championship uh for lack of a better term i'm not i'm not quite saying that i was wrong all this time but i do understand i think it's a valid point that uh This is not, there's no reason this should be a lost season. And I would hope that the same folks who were poo-pooing the...
the impact of the positive impact will also be like, okay, great. So this doesn't matter. And let's move on to the league play. Right. Yeah. I would say that the. So there's sort of two distinct errors of the Sounders. I mean, there's more than that. But in this context, there's the Sounders before they won the Champions League, which felt like a culmination, I think, for people who were like day one hardcores. Yes, absolutely.
And the day one hardcores, a lot of them have turned into less hardcores for one reason or another, myself very much included in that. I don't go to every game like I used to, right? I don't.
and and uh it my the sounders are not the center of my life in ways that they used to be and that's fine that's normal but now you got to get day i don't know how many days are in 15 years but you know you've got to get a new batch of hardcores in the door and ccl games are probably not going to be the way that happens ccl trophies are probably not going to be with it the way that happens it's going to be people
getting invested in the league games and hopefully buying season tickets and then becoming the kind of sicko who knows who the players on Antigua are five years from now. That's the path that you've got to start getting people on. Well, and the Sounders have been talking a lot this year. They just had a big press conference last Friday about some of this stuff, which is...
you know, a lot of the focus is on how do we get new people in the building and how do we turn casual fans into hardcore fans? And the way to do that, frankly, is by playing fun, exciting soccer, especially at home. And probably during the regular season when you can put a bunch of those results all together. Yeah. That's a great way to build goodwill with your fans is to play entertaining soccer at home.
for a long period of time. And that's not something the Sounders have done a lot of, frankly, since they won CONCACAF Champions Cup. Even when they've been good, they've only, you know, the last two seasons, the last three seasons, actually, they've... a bit of pretty middling home team. They haven't played a lot of exciting games. And that was part of what was so great about the LAFC match, which was unlike the Montreal game where you could sort of say, well, they were beating a dead horse.
LAFC came to, you know, that was a team that it was a real, a real game, you know, LAFC just advanced to the, the round or to the quarterfinals of CONCACAF champions cup. That was their first. loss in four games they hadn't given up a goal in four games so yeah uh that was a fun game and i don't i i i think there's still reason to be that this can be a good season. I guess I feel like maybe I'm talking myself into it, but I don't know. I am not as down on this as I feel like I was.
immediately after the game yeah i mean i i did not expect to win that game um and so the i think the the negative feelings about the game were almost entirely wrapped up in the injuries because I thought that the scoreline flattered Cruz Azul a little bit. I think that the Sounders spent a lot of time under pressure, but they really weren't giving away a lot of great chances. That's true.
and and then things just kind of fell apart at the end right the wheels totally came off and that's going to happen sometimes when you're chasing a result at altitude and it did it did and and but that's just you know that's that's game state right like you're chasing you're chasing a goal at altitude without your best
some of your best players uh three days after a game when you've played what like 21 games in seven days or seven days seven games in 21 days yeah 21 games in seven days would be a lot worse but uh Yeah, I mean, it just didn't feel bad in the way like the 6-2 to Santos Laguna did in 2011 or 2012 or whenever it was, right? Where it was just so clearly just from bell to bell.
being outclassed it felt like a team that just kind of fell apart at the end for understandable reasons um and you know when you look at the roster holistically like are the sounders going to be as much fun while jordan morrison and
Pedro de la Vega out? Probably not, but they can probably still string together some decent results. And I think it's optimistic, but reasonable to think that they're probably going to be back and healthy within a month. And there's still a lot of season left after that. Yeah. You know, still plenty of reason for optimism that this will be a successful and also exciting, entertaining season. Yeah. Yeah. I would agree with all of that.
Well, that's probably a good place to call this a segment. We're going to send it out to an interview I did with Ross Smith. You may know him as a former Timbers player. and even more frustratingly, a former Timbers announcer, but he was actually a good sport, believe it or not. And he's been working for MLS season pass for the last few years. So I'm not going to hold that against him, but he has some good insight into St. Louis city.
And then we'll come back, have a few parting words at the end there. And that's it. But yeah, you're listening to No Sonny at this. And stick around. Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes Nos Anietes, Lobbing Scorchers, and the Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support.
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unfortunately with the timbers. Uh, but now he's, he's working a more neutral job with the, with MLS season pass and he's going to be doing color on, on today's game or this weekend's game against St. Louis. Uh, welcome to the show, Ross. How many of your audience, Jeremiah, just tuned out right there when you gave me that introduction? Right. Well, I'll note that you only...
It looks like your time with the Timbers as a player, at least, never overlapped with the Sounders in league play. Although, I don't know, did you play in those Open Cup games? I did. I did. Casey Keller had the best save of his entire career on one of my penalty strikes in the U.S. Open Cup. I'm sure he's having a pint somewhere talking about how great a save that was. Oh, yeah, for sure.
And my first ever game for the Timbers in a friendly match when Freddie Youngberg was... was playing was uh what was called century link then was a pre-season for the community shields which oh yeah i remember that holding up the trophy and i remember at the time thinking i have no idea what this trophy is but you know gladly hold it up
Yeah, it was funny. They kind of tried to make that a thing for a little while, and it didn't really last too long. But that was a funny little... footnote the history of of sounders soccer was the the community shield that they i think they did like two or three of them maybe but uh anyway well uh It's good to have you on. We are getting ready for a game against St. Louis city.
This is a place the Sounders have actually had a fair amount of success. They've won the two games, the two times that they visited there. They closed out the 2023 season with a win. And then last year, they got a pretty good... 2-1 win that sort of helped turn around their season a little bit. But St. Louis has been an interesting team this year. They're undefeated, albeit with just one win.
but they haven't given up a goal yet this year. It seems like it's been a pretty solid start for St. Louis. Yeah, they've got a manager who knows what it means to keep clean sheets and all of... Melberg, you know, former Aston Villa player, Juventus, Swedish international. He was a center back. And I've been impressed, Jeremiah, just how he's been able to get the blueprint, get the backbone sorted.
And then what we saw away at LA Galaxy go in and be a little bit more brave going forward and they banged three goals in. You started to see what they have to offer going forward and opening things up. So I thought it's a brilliant start for him. Almost a perfect start. The fact that he just got his base. He got everybody set in the position. And once he got everybody on.
on the same page. And he said, right, we can go and break free a little bit more. And we saw what they did against the Galaxy 3-0. That's not easy to do away at LA. It is not easy, although LA does look like they're having some struggles. But still, winning away at LA is never an easy task. And for anyone to do it, frankly, is a good achievement. St. Louis has been, you know, they've looked as good defensively against everyone, really. They shut out.
Rapids. I'm currently blanking on who they played in their second game, but this is a team who has been known to be a very press heavy team, a team who. isn't really that interested in possessing the ball. And that seems to be kind of the, what they've been doing so far. I mean, how would you describe it? How has Milberg changed what they do?
yeah san diego with uh being their second their second game at san diego yes yes what what he's done a different to you would say bradley carnell before was um Bradley Carnell was all about the energy football 2.0, the Red Bulls. Everybody associated Bradley Carnell because of his time with Red Bulls. And it was against the ball. And that was the priority with it all.
And Melberg, what he's trying to do, while it's still very defensive, I think he's just wanting to get that sorted before he can then open up and then have more emphasis being on the ball. Whereas I think that was... Bradley Carnell, that transition, you would say that, was he able to make that step? He didn't get a load of time to be able to show that he could make that step from going against the ball to with the ball and showing him.
the different ideas that he has. You know, I think he would argue that he have, you know, the players in there that he was able to then take that next step. And did he have the time? I think he should. having something to say with his results at Philadelphia union. Now that Bradley Cornell's there, but so all of Melbourne's done it, you know, it's not a whole lot different to be offensively is, is what we're talking about the team and how good they've been.
The changeover in players has been remarkable. I mean, we're talking about just a whole new list of players, a couple that remain. And Luvin, Edward Luvin is still with the club. Joao Klaus, you know, their top two players that were the top two players when Bradley Carnell first came in. It's still them, but they've added a whole new cast of players.
around them. So it'll be interesting though. So Olaf Melberg, what difference is he going to bank? I think we're still waiting to see because it's been pretty much a similar brand of soccer. So some of those new players that have arrived, even since the Sounders last played St. Louis, Marcel Hartel, Simon Boettcher, Giannis Horn, Cedric Teutcher, sorry.
Uh, these are all, uh, different difference makers for them that are, that are likely to be starting in this game. Uh, what can you tell us about some of these guys? I guess we might as well start with, uh, with Hartle who's, who's sort of been there. expected to be their main offensive force. Yeah, it's interesting you bring him up, Jeremiah, because I think he's the real key. And what you've seen, a big difference from St. Louis when they've tried to expand a little bit more.
is his role because the the previous two games colorado certainly in san diego he was sitting a lot deeper in the midfield but then once san diego or once st louis i'm sorry started to to score their goals
he was starting to release more and join in and combine. And whether it's Klaus and Two Shirt or whether it's Simon Boettcher in there instead of Klaus, you know, the big difference was Hardell and being able to release and... and join in um you know he's a great talent he's he's good on the ball he's good with his his runs off the ball link up play my one hit on him was that he has to get involved more he has to do more and i think we really started to see that
against the Galaxy, what he's capable of. I would say, though, to jump to the other side, I think somebody who's gone under the radar is Kessler in the back, the center back. For me, and I think you guys, Sounders, have an argument to be made with this. He has been one of the best center backs across three games. And I, I put them in the category of Yamar. I think Yamar and, and of course, Jackson Reagan is they're superb, but I think Yamar is just another level.
Well, Kessler's been at that level as well. And I think a big reason as to why they've had success so far is Kessler coming in and he was traded with Tim Parker. Tim Parker went to... to new england's um you know last year and kessler was brought in and kessler didn't have the greatest of times at new england under caleb porter kessler has been sensational the last three games he hasn't put a foot wrong
Yeah, it's interesting how that sometimes works. I mean, here's a relatively young center back who has a lot of good years ahead of him and ended up being, and it looks like he ended up being a cornerstone piece for. St. Louis, and he wasn't really shaping up that way in New England, at least under Caleb Porter. It is always funny how a fresh start, what a fresh start can do for players. Yeah, absolutely.
What do you make of the attack, though, for more broadly beyond Hartle? They've been up and down in these first three games. They didn't score any goals in the first two. came out and scored three somewhat helped by set pieces against the galaxy. Is it, does it feel like it's flowing yet? I know when Melbourne came in, one of the things he said was that he wanted this to be. a better a team that can possess a little bit more but it doesn't seem like early on that's really come to pass yet
It hasn't. And I think we're all waiting to see with Joel Klaus. I mean, when he first came into the league, I forget what the string of games was of him scoring a goal, but. he was he was tearing the league up right at the start and everybody was saying where's this talent come in from and that was that was two years ago um his first ever game against austin i mean he's a big guy that's gone out to the wing
And he slashed inside 1v1 and scored such a delicate goal with the outside of his right foot to the far corner and thinking, wow, a big man with feet? That is tough to come by. But then injuries last year, it tailed off in 23 a bit. I think teams maybe start to figure him out a little bit. But then last year, injuries, you know, just didn't catch on. He had five goals last year.
You're waiting to see if he's still going to be the main man. And there was a quick little sign of the LA Galaxy second half. He hit the post left foot curler. I mean, that for me is still if this team is really going to take off going forward. he's got to get going. Simon Boettcher, I think is a real interesting one as well. If he is your top striker, if he's getting a run of games, 25 plus games, and you're really playing to his strength, I think he could be a 15 goal man in this league.
So you potentially have two guys at St. Louis here, number nines, big guys with good feet that could be 15-plus goal scorers. But I really think you have to play to their strength. And that will be the difference, you know, if they can. And who Melberg picks as his number one guy. I think right now it's open to who that will be. And what are you expecting?
Tactics-wise coming into this game, do you think this is a game where you would imagine that Melberg will press, that he will sort of like force the Sounders who might be on somewhat tired legs and a little shorthanded after picking up a few injuries in the last couple games? What would you imagine his approach to this game is? Yeah, I think exactly that. They have the same shape as what the Sounders...
I've been playing with the three at the back and they've found success with that. I think that's, they would have watched that game last night and, you know, so disappointed with the injuries. Jordan Morris, Paul Areola going out to Vega, going out against LAFC.
You know, St. Louis have solid results that are coming off the back of their great win at Galaxy. I expect them to press. I expect them to be high up the pitch, to get in the sound of their faces and remind them of... of their travel to cruise azul just uh you know midweek just last night um as we're chatting um so i imagine them to to really get the tempo going and I don't know how many Sounders fans have been at that stadium, but I put Portland, I put Seattle.
at the top five in terms of atmospheres, I put St. Louis in there as well. It is something else. And when that crowd gets going as an opposition, you feel as though they're right on top of you. So given their form, given the sounders, the tiredness of the... travel, depleted squad with the injuries. Given they're at home, I expect them first 15 minutes to really get after them. Yeah, so you brought up the atmosphere. That was one other thing I wanted to touch on is...
The Sounders haven't had to deal with it quite as much because they've been able to be in advantageous positions in the last two games there. But what is St. Louis like when it really gets going? I mean, I actually just watched the... on-site episode that focused on St. Louis, which I guess features some of the games that you were on the call for. But what is that place like? What makes it different, I guess, is another way of putting it.
Yeah, through and through, they support their team. And so even when things aren't going well, they're still full voice. It's all a similar atmosphere. And I can't speak to Seattle, but I know in Portland, it's like familiar faces that you see in the crowd and you're passing by. So it's really a family environment at the same time too.
when you're going around st louis and there's it's a game day you know it's a game day you know it's a match day you see the colors everybody you know are going to that game um
And so you have that. It's on everybody's mind. It's what matters the most about their day. And I think that carries into... that first whistle going everybody is desperate for the for the results um you know outside of that i think they really embrace their their culture there the history of it their uh the culinary experience in st louis you have to have fried ravioli from what i am
understand when you go there it's it's it's a must you know I say all this to your mind because I've had a lot of experience going there over the last two years and it just you really want to immerse yourself in what is different than any other soccer environment because they've embraced that you know from the food uh i haven't experienced the drinks yet or or although i have post game at a pub across the street which is It's phenomenal in the history of St. Louis soccer is there on the walls.
So it comes down to they just embrace it. They know what they are. And it's a nice, you would say, relationship between the players on the pitch who work their tails off to the fans and the stands who give everything as well. Awesome. Well, Ross, thank you so much for doing this. Obviously looking forward to a good game, looking forward to a good call from you all. But yeah, anywhere people can follow you other than, and then watching you on, on season pass.
Yeah, I'm on Instagram. I'm on Twitter, but I don't use it an awful lot. But Instagram Rossi underscore R-O-S-S-I underscore 20 is I'm on there. So would love that. That opens myself up though. I know it's a lot of Soundless fans coming hot at me. Oh, don't worry. No, we're, we're, we're nice. We're nice. Don't worry. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jeremiah. It's great to be on. Yeah, thank you for coming on. I'm Jeremiah Chan. This is Nosarietes, and we'll be right back.
Welcome back to Nos Adiates. Hopefully you enjoyed that interview with Ross Smith. I think we're just going to get out of here. We don't really have a whole lot else to do. Aaron and I have been kicking around. an idea of another segment that we're still workshopping a little bit. But we are going to do a mailbag episode for March, probably next week, I guess. And we'll have...
more good stuff throughout the week. Uh, but with all that said, uh, thank you to our sponsor, full pool wines, uh, hacks and ferments. And, uh, I'm Jeremiah Shan signing off for Aaron Campo and lick it. This is Nosa Adientes, part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. Remember, you'll never get alone.