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.
back to another episode of nos arietes i am jeremiah shan we are here at long acres i'm joined by nico morano and tim foss uh we're gonna try to start doing this as a somewhat regular thing maybe every week maybe every other week but we're gonna give several impressions after training this was obviously a big first week this is the first week of training ended with hey jesus rivera jesus ferrera interview we talked to brian smetra again but before we get to all that
How are you guys doing? How was your offseason? Doing good. Offseason was nice and short, restful, happy to be here. Yeah, me too. Just excited to be on, excited to do this more consistently. I did not come here for the Jesus Ferreira conference because I missed that email completely, but I am here.
Laid behind, did not watch today's training, but I knew that I had an appointment, a commitment to Sounder Heart and Mr. Jeremiah O'Shann, as well as the audience that I'm hoping really gets into this. I feel like this has been asked for by... quite a few people just they want a little bit more a little bit more weekly so hey man i'm just excited and honored that you allow me to share this with you and of course my man tim right here
yeah so tim you this is your first time out here this week uh nico and i had been you know nico missed the email today but he had been here three other days so i don't want to beat him up too much but uh What were your impressions of your first day out here? You know, I, I figured I'd let him get some fitness built up, get, get into a rhythm before I came out so I could.
come and see a little bit closer to the finished product. But I think the two big takeaways were, you know, after last season, JP's health and fitness. was a big question. Watching him on social media post videos of his workouts really focused on his hip strength and flexibility to get over the chronic issue he dealt with. still deals with it's a chronic issue but yeah being better able to deal with it now seeing him out there today he looks fully fit
Like he looks healthy. He was moving well. He had a couple nice plays, had a good finish at one point in the small sided drills. The other player I think that really stood out is. Georgie, I know you've talked about how he maybe is leading the scoring race in preseason camp so far, but he just looks more efficient.
You can tell he's been working on just making his touches cleaner, being a little bit more clinical in front of goal. He had some really nice finishes today. Yeah, I think those are the two that stood out most for me. Yeah, I would second all of that. Earlier this week, JP gave an interview where he said he was actually more, or that he was...
Feeling better physically than at any point since his ACL injury. And you, Nico, made a specific observation that you just thought he looked fitter. And he seemed to confirm that. Yeah, I put it on Twitter or X. I said that he was a lean, mean soccer machine. And he lied to me. He said it might be because I trimmed my beard. I'll tell you right now that it was not the beard. He said that he's lost some weight. He just looks.
He looks excellent. I mean, his vertical horizontal movement, the hip shifting, all of these components that... just did not look 100% last season. They look well. I've talked to him off the mics.
done a whole bunch of calisthenics and uh core work and all of this you know yoga a whole bunch of different things to get his body right and that's why i was so vested in letting people know that re-signing JP was such an underrated move because man if I need a guy To be on my team, I want the guy that has a chip on his shoulder, that is bleeding the badge, that's fighting for these colors, this jersey, this...
That's what I want on my team. And he just looks it. I feel like he has something to prove. That's what I see. That's what I hear in his voice. And, man, that is something that could be. crucial in 2025. Yeah, and today we asked Brian about, or I asked Brian about it, and he confirmed all that. He also sort of liked the idea that he might have a chip on his shoulder.
that he has a little something to prove, that he hasn't been. I think that he knows. I think everyone knows. JP, I remember last year, he is probably the most self-critical player we've had, maybe ever. He's the only player who I can remember who will sit in front of you and say, I'm not you know, I don't feel like I'm feeling like myself. I don't you know, he's just I feel like he's just so much more honest about his own.
body and his own abilities and when he and so it carries a little extra weight when he says i feel good i feel you know like because he's just not someone who he doesn't you uh and to and i i think that the sounders are seeing that it'll be interesting to see how that manifests because i don't think he is going into preseason as a starter
I think he knows that, but I don't think that's going to satisfy him. I think he's going to be pushing for starters minutes, and he'll make the coaches make some tough choices. We asked him directly, Tim, and I want to get your take on it because he – He said, look, I know that I talked to Brian. I wasn't a starter or someone that was consistently in last season. We had those conversations. And now I just feel like I've got to earn my spot.
When you have someone like that, whether he's going to play 15, 20, 30, 45, or beyond that, when you have a guy like that, I mean, that puts you in a level where someone who... in one way or another feels like he has a spot guaranteed he's going to give you 110 130 150 yeah i mean the you know the black boots are back literally and figuratively right like there's
If people don't know, there is a connotation to the all black boots. It is, you know, the all black air forces of the football world. Like he is. here to work those are working boots yeah he uh yeah to your point i think There has not been as much of a chip on the collective shoulders of the Sounders for a little while. They reached the upper echelons of the league and they had some... some setbacks, but there, you know, that there wasn't that fight to prove themselves, I think.
having the increased competition for spots throughout the team but especially when you've got a guy like JP who at his best was an MVP caliber player like he is One of the most talented guys who's ever put on a Sounders shirt before having him, you know, even if he at 33, 33 is not quite. At his peak of his abilities, having him fully healthy and feeling like he can contribute at a level he wasn't able to consistently last year, even if he's not.
an every game starter, whatever minutes you get him on the field at, he is going to be fighting for his life positively, not... struggling to keep up but like he is going to be out there defending that shield with every ounce of blood inside of his body yeah i asked him about
getting to play Botafogo, and it was funny because his face, you know, he's not a guy whose face lights up very often. It did sort of light up, I thought, when he got to Takalo getting to play Botafogo. Clearly, you know, he's... He doesn't know a lot. I don't think he knows any players that are on the team, but there are a lot of people in the organization. And I think probably his family gets a kick out of.
getting to see getting the prospect of getting to see him so you can rest assured he will be doing everything in his power to make sure that he's starting that game one way or the other that he's at least on the field and you know if that means that he puts in Six months of some of his best soccer, I think that would be a pretty good place to start. No, first of all, I love Tim's reference to the A1s maybe because as someone that at 36 still rocks his Air Force 1s in white, in black, in red.
That's the OG look. And that's what I feel like we're going to see from him this season is that original. and I've said this on X on several shows, you might see a little bit more of that South American soccer from him because I feel like he's going to revert back to that player that... played a Botafogo that played this
sort of tournaments. And when you have a guy like that going against the South American champions, Copa Libertadores champions, now, yes, they missed some pieces like Thiago Amara that's going to be going to France now and things like that. Sure. But those are the teams. you need a guy like that you need a guy with that grit with that fight and to me he's like going back to that like you said those black boots that is all a a metaphor of man i'm going back to the roots
I mean, I definitely like that. It was funny. I felt like I needed to go back and look at photos from last season. And I will say he did wear black boots. But what you find is he only wore them for big games.
And it seemed like it was the bigger games he would wear the black boots, but most of the time he was either in like these, you know, like more traditional white boots or like Dayglo type of boots that everyone wears these days. So I do think it does say something about his mentality. I don't I.
I tend to believe that it's a very purposeful. I mean, boots are personal to everybody, but it does feel like there's a statement being made by that he's wearing black boots every day out at training and that this is a thing that. He wants to, you know, put a stamp on things. Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sanietes, 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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To find out more, just visit sounderatheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening. You'll notice that the audio sounds a little different, and I'm just going to cop to this. We went through a bunch of batteries and our recorder is not up to snuff. So we are doing this old school style. We are sitting around an iPhone recording the rest of this thing because we're cooking.
And it needs to finish. Going back to our roots. Going just like JP. There you go. There you go.
The other player who I thought has really stood out was Georgie Manungu. Tim mentioned that earlier in the thing. One of the plays that stood out to me, and admittedly I was doing a lot of side talking today, so I didn't watch as much training today, but he did have... a really nice left-footed ball sort of crossed on the deck to coincidentally enough to JP that he scored a goal on and he has just been so much sharper in front of goal this whole
This whole week, it feels like a leaf has been turned over. He is not a player who has previously lacked confidence. I don't think that was ever the issue. I do think it was just a simple matter of it all sort of. clicking into place and who knows what comes of this but in terms of players who can provide an x-factor who can provide sort of an unknown potential upgrade
I would put Georgie at the very top of that list along with, you know, Pedro, frankly. I mean, if the Sounders get, you know, an eight goal, eight assist season, which is not necessarily gangbusters, but would be huge. If they could get something like that out of Pedro. That's going to be a huge upgrade. But I can't help but get excited about Georgie's potential because he has all the tools you need. Yeah, and look, we've talked about this. internally or you know off the mics but he just looks
DK Metcalf type of just swole, right? I mean, the dude just put in the work. You could tell that he's, you know, I don't know if he's been more defined in his workouts and you could just see it in his body. So that's number one. But number two.
adding on to something extra to what you guys have already touched on, which is his finishing skills. I feel like his dribbling is so much more deliberate. It's so much more sharp. You can tell that it is something that he's tried to work on. And a lot of the magic, a lot of the beauty.
what he did last season was his unorthodox way of dribbling and whether it didn't look beautiful. He was getting behind you. He was getting through you. He was getting past you. So this year, I've seen him go against...
Atencio in open space, Leo Burnley in open space, Alex Roldan in open space, and I think I have not seen him lost by maybe one of those one-on-ones, and one was against Alex Roldan, where he just kind of throws his whole body at him, but he has looked... very good so it's not just clinical infernal goal but gold dangers get it in those prime scoring positions to whether assist or finish but the guy's been lights out
It's interesting watching him over sort of the progression of his time with the organization as a whole, but the Sounders more specifically. And I think back to... Maybe it was like Sounders Media Day last season where they took training at Lumen and everybody else was pretty much done. Guys were doing a little bit of like...
Picking up the balls and stuff. And he and Precky and one of the other trainers were out there for 10, 15 minutes plus after everyone else was done. And Precky was just drilling him on like. cleaning up his step overs and making those moves more efficient and more effective so that you know you're not removing the unpredictability of Georgie's style and movement but you're making those moves a little bit
Yeah, a little bit tighter, a little bit more dangerous. So he's not... wasting additional touches he's making his moves faster so that he can set guys up faster or catch somebody off balance whatever and i you know with guys like thinking back to Obed Vargas when he first came into the team, and you could see from game to game, like, oh, he played really well, but there was this weakness, and that gets pointed out. In the next game, that weakness is addressed.
It was a little bit more granular. You could see the steps from game to game. It was kind of the superpower. Obed's superpower was sort of to identify weaknesses and immediately address them. And with Georgie, it's maybe over a longer arc, but still being able to see, like, okay, you...
you came in and you did well with defiance, but here's what you need to do to make the jump to the first team. And you take those steps and you make the jump and okay, you made the jump to the first team. Now there's more competition for spots. It's going to be tougher to get onto the field. Here's what you need. to do to get onto the field, to be ready for preseason. And he took those steps and he looks more dangerous and more ready to impact games. It's really exciting. It is really exciting.
the thing that is maybe the most satisfying part of that is that he has this spirit about him that is so positive yeah and is so infectious and i think i'm I've got to imagine everyone on this team. loves him and roots for him and wants the best for him and i think that that probably manifests i think we're going to see that manifesting a lot this year especially where he's someone where you almost can't keep him off the field because everyone sort of wants him
to do well. And don't worry, at some point in preseason, we'll start talking about the higher level players on this team. But the fun part about Preseason is these fringier guys, the guys whose role we don't know about and who have unlimited sort of potential because we haven't already seen what they can do. But of all the new faces that I've seen.
Leo Bernie is the one that I've been most surprised by. When the Sounders told me they were signing him, I literally did. I said, who? I did not remember this guy at all. And then I went and... researched him a little bit he's been balling out frankly at uh at penn he was really good for ballard fc i felt a little embarrassed frankly that i didn't realize that he was a sounders academy guy and now that i'm seeing him practice
He is a beast. Tim had some observations that I want you to I don't want to paraphrase your observations because you're coming in with fresh eyes. But what did you what were your impressions of Leo Bernie? I think first and foremost, just how big he is. Like he... You've referred to him as a Jackson Reagan clone, which I think is a very high compliment. But he's, you know, he might not be as tall as Jackson Reagan because very few people are. But yeah, he.
is the same thickness from top to bottom yeah i think he is a very big dude and i you know i think It's funny at this point to be able to reference a guy who came through the Sounders Academy as like having a particular pedigree, because I just don't think that's the way we think about. the Sounders development system yet. But, you know, looking back at he wasn't just a Sounders Academy player. He was in those.
early like 2017 to 2019 academy teams that became kind of legends yeah before the sounders became the first mls team to win cock a calf champions league The Sounders Academy were the first ones to win the elite level of the GA Cup. He was not on that team because he was an age, like a level above that age group. He was on a team that was the first Sounders team to win.
Didn't they win the lower... Before they won the elite level, didn't they win the lower level, right? He was on the first Sounders team to win at the lower level. They also won one of the other... prestigious prestigious yeah academy tournaments um he was in a group that you know all of the other guys just about have gone pro he just is
the latest um it is funny to go back and look at the team photos from some of those teams and it's like every guy became a pro yeah and he you know he opted to go to school and That seems like the right choice for him. He got to develop and grow in a different sort of environment. Yeah, I think he's a real potential. player if not necessarily for the first team immediately he's certainly one to watch yeah and i go to that because he has the frame he has um
the confidence, the thing that, because this team has gone to three in the back consistently, whether it's in scrimmages or short-sighted games. They're going to be playing some three in the back, for sure. or at least I have been looking at the center backs a lot more than I typically would. You know, Atencio and all these players. So what I've seen from Leo is that there is some rawness to his game. He definitely needs a little bit.
more polishing, specifically getting turned around, the way he positions it way on the ball and angles his body at times gets him turned around. One of them was against Georgie, again, a difficult guy to cover, but getting turned around like that is a little bit concerning.
is funny though cuz it he has the frame but the guy that I've been impressed with in that center back position has been Stu yeah Hawkins and it's on the opposite end of technically he's so point with the way he position his body the way he turns his hips the way he gets on the ball
Maybe this is something that you guys knew following him a lot closer than I have. But when he's on the ball, he is very good on the ball, getting it forward, breaking lines, getting the right passes. He's been an interesting guy for me. So that's kind of... of a positive to what the Sounders are doing with the build of their roster where you can see where there are guys that
Play off each other and then you have someone here that can maybe get a little bit better and be a guy get a little bit bigger and be a guy for you. So I honestly give a lot of props to that specific group of players. Center backs look good. Yeah, I... Seeing the center backs, it does sort of open your eyes to another reason why the Sounders might be looking at going three in the back, because they have two players who are naturally sort of left side center backs.
in new who and john bell they have you know a they have two guys who are really well suited to be sort of the more uh like Yeah, the equivalent on the right side, which is Yamar and Josh Atencio. And then they have Bernie, Hawkins and Reagan, who are all look pretty good as sort of center.
center like in the middle of three center backs and you can sort of see the the the work that it gets you because i think depth at center back is probably the most important position when you're talking about going at three in the back although you also need wingbacks and now all of a sudden they have some players who could play wingback they have paul ariel they have reed baker whiting they have uh trevyan susa they have alex roldon and then who knows maybe they start to try to work
in Pedro as a wingback. I know that there's some concern as to whether or not that's a waste of his skill set, and maybe it is. But in any case, they don't necessarily need to go full-time to that position. But you can see... sort of the work. You could maybe even see a Rothrock or even a Georgie potentially playing as a wingback. And we saw Georgie. We talked about this where they played him there, and you'd get that he had that physical component to it now.
Again, it's difficult to pick your triggers and pick your moments, read the offenses on a defensive side. But I think we might see of that. But I'd like to talk about Paula Riola, if I may, just real quickly, because we're talking about Wayne Bax, because to me, he passes the eye test. And look, this is coming from somebody who...
Didn't love the move. Didn't think that he was going to add a whole bunch because I felt like he wasn't a necessity necessarily for what he was coming at. But man, now that you see him on the ball, you understand why you brought him in because... He seems to be playing at a different speed than the other guys, even though you're starting the preseason. That's because his floor is so high. He's sharp. He's quick. Rarely do you see him take a bad touch, a bad pass.
And to me, that sort of play gives you less chances to lose the ball in vulnerable positions. Let's you know what you have in a player where you're not going to have to think, oh. He might have a high, he might have a low.
He's going to be very easy to plug in in certain situations. And he might give you the ability to just change in-game from wingback to winger. So, man, honestly... not just the fact that he's such a cool dude because he's like man i gotta tell you i feel like i have a pretty good sense on personalities and that dude man
I'd have a beer with that dude. I mean, he definitely seems like a really nice guy. He does seem like a nice guy. One of the things I thought that jumped out at me is like, the Sounders have a whole bunch of bilingual players, which I do think is important to a cohesive law.
because the thing that we see oftentimes in MLS is you have your English-speaking players and your Spanish-speaking players, and they sort of live almost parallel lives outside of the field. And I think when you have a bunch of these bilingual players...
It's just so much more of a natural bridge culturally. Now, I think the Sounders are unique in that they've had a lot of these guys around for a long time. So maybe that's... less of a problem but it's always important to refresh that dynamic and to have a group of guys who can you know talk to each other in their where they're not sort of like
working their way around it. They can talk directly to each other and they can have, you know, real and honest conversations in multiple languages and be able to do that. And Paul, I think, fits that mold very, very nicely. I know Yammer appreciates it, man. I bet. I love Yamar. You know, top defender without a doubt since he's been here. But man, his English is rough. He has a hard time with it. So if there's a guy that appreciates some Spanish coming into the locker room when...
Raul left when all these guys left is yeah, my man. Okay, I think to that point that'll it'll help so much with you know, if they are trying to incorporate more of a three or five back look, like, you know, the cliche is that You know, it might be tough in the locker room if there's different languages, but everyone speaks the language of football.
Yes, but also you do have to use literal language sometimes if you are communicating to someone that they need to pick up a runner or, you know, Schmetzer has made the case that, and I think this. goes unremarked a lot of times that even when the Sounders are playing a 4-2-3-1, it's a 4-2-3-1 sometimes. And he mentioned that today, even, about how he was sort of very...
I wouldn't say defensive, but he wanted to make clear that whether or not they're playing three at the back, that the principles of play are going to be the same. Right. You know, they do often... In the 4-2-3-1, Nuhu a lot of the time still sits and holds that spot in the back. So it is three at the back. Or at least it's supposed to. That is, in theory, how it's supposed to play.
being able to shift in and out of those things or trying to, it makes it a little bit easier if everyone can communicate. with words on some level. I think also if you are moving to more of a three center backs and using wing backs. I know I fall into this a lot that we still think of wingbacks as a defensive position. But, you know, you could look in MLS last season, Bernodeski.
played as a wingback a lot he certainly was not defending from that position we see wingbacks used a lot on like the international stage if you've watched any of uh Bayer Leverkusen since Xavi took over, or Xavi, sorry. They play with wingbacks, and they're wingbacks.
cover the whole sideline to be there as an option and to help provide cover, but they are much more attacking players than they are defenders. Jeremy Frimpong is not a defense-minded... left wing back i mean paul areola when he played wing back was not racking up defensive stats right so i i think just adding that into the conversation of the possibility of Pedro de la Vega being used as a wingback, using Georgie as a wingback.
Focus is that they are providing width and, you know, being available as an outlet deeper in the field. I think that actually could be a good use of. Pedro's abilities, as long as he's fit and healthy to run like that. Yeah. You saw it with Atlanta United. I mean, they make that run and they put in Saba time to play that right wingback position. And he was amazing at it, mainly because of his offensive efforts. And Amador on the left side, same.
thing he was a guy that just switched that position and they were able to get forward and they were able to catch a very soft defensive team like Miami you know out of balance so this gives again Brian a lot of options and I am not surprised that he was so defensive because last season
Sometimes as media members or sub-media members repeatedly ask the same questions about where they build out of and how did they build out of. And I don't know in how many different ways, Brian said, we build out with three. We consistently build out with three. play with three so yeah the concepts are the same the rules might change a little bit and and that's why to me i still think that the four two three one gives you the best possibility to get
the most talented players on the field. But having the ability to bring three in the back and close out games or I've always been a believer that there are certain teams that you're going to need to play. more on the counter, more defensively, then you have that option and it's gonna be a lot more prepared and designed than...
just coming out of nowhere. So that's where I see this being important for Seattle. One of the things that Brian mentioned, and I had never really put it together like this before, but he seems much more interested in having two... pivots and two sort of more deeper lying midfielders than he is about how many center backs or wing backs or whatever else like if you give him two uh you know an obed and a christian or
Obed and JP or however you put there, as long as you've got two guys who are capable of sitting and adding defensive numbers, he doesn't really care. He's not so worried about, you know, the coaches can be creative on the wings. Just give me my. you know, my central midfielders. And that was sort of another thing he alluded to today. The other thing that Brian was a little defensive about earlier this week and that we heard mentioned repeatedly, frankly, from various sounders.
was the idea of being predictable. And Brian felt like, well, we have a system and it's up to the players to add their own unpredictability. He felt like there was some dispute, I think, as to where the problem there lies. But we heard repeatedly this year – we've heard repeatedly this week that one of the things that – Jesus and Paul especially help give the Sounders is a little bit more unpredictability. You know, Georgie obviously is sort of a player like that.
But it is just two players. But it's two players who I think are going to get a lot of minutes. And it's two players who fundamentally play differently than other people who are on this roster. And I think that's really what... gives me hope that we're going to see something different this year. Yeah, and that also goes to Pedro de la Vega. He's a guy that is very unpredictable.
when he's on the ball with his spacing the way he does things that's why he's had some issues because at times i feel like seattle or at least last year uh freddie juarez and um
Brian Smetzer and the way they set this system up. Sometimes he keeps players very limited to a certain pocket. And I think you might see Pedro de la Vega be a lot more free this season. And that goes back to the... not so predictable way that Ferreira himself, whether he's playing out wide or whether he's playing at a false nine or if he's playing as a nine, he might give you a lot of that because you see it consistently whenever he plays those positions where he has no problem.
checking in tucking inside pushing a little bit wider so I like that per se and to add on to that I think that for me this season a lot of people got caught up and hung up on the whole jordan morris as a dp and i don't want to spend too much time on it but
If I really see this, if you are not comfortable with seeing Jordan as VP, then put it on Jesus. I mean, you got a guy that's a DP-level talent, and if you feel more comfortable or that makes your stomach hurt a little bit less, then go ahead and do that because that's what you have right now.
now you have dp talent in that final third and i'm excited to see jesus i am too i hope that he gets fit that he gets ready and you guys can add on this because i wasn't in in the press conference today but I think that when he's at 100%, he's going to provide this team some creativity and mainly some finishing because I... do believe in his finishing skills. I've seen it consistently and I know that last two years might not be the best.
But to me, he's going to be a guy that's going to be very good in front of him. Yeah, we asked him about the fact that he's here. I mean, he wasn't originally supposed to be here. He was supposed to be with the U.S. national team. We got an email from U.S. yesterday, I guess, saying Jesus got sent home and they sort of.
threw a little it felt like they were being thrown a little shade at him uh and basically say essentially saying like we didn't think he was fit and they were you know they explicitly did not call it an injury jesus added on that today he said it's not an injury that he sort of he's
Recovering from an injury and that so as a result of that he's on sort of a more limited plan and so he has not been training quite at the he hasn't been as involved in training as some of the other guys and he and essentially the way he put it is it was essentially a choice between playing 15, 20 minutes in some friendlies or getting to know his new teammates better. And he made it sound like it was sort of his choice to come join.
The Sanders early, you know, you can sort of like adjust that accordingly, but he I thought he he
Brian at least said maybe this ends up being a good thing. I don't think that's a stretch at all to say that, at least as far as the Sounders go, this is a good thing for him. And I guess if it's... you know and that's good ultimately it's he he's not going to win a spot on the 2026 world cup in january in january camp 25 exactly like i think that shade from u.s soccer about like insinuating that he failed a medical right when
They knew what the situation was with him coming into camp because they had this plan built. Exactly. It feels very much in line with, you know, them last year trying to get Jordan Morris into camp and the Sounders saying like, well, we need him for. this window so you can have him for
a week and then we need him for the second week and them saying, well, it's everything or nothing. So no. And then the same thing with Jackson Reagan, this window and them saying, well, it's everything or nothing. So no. And then him.
Jesus Ferreira saying he made the choice that he would rather come back to Seattle, get acclimated to the team, get ready for the season, then... gut his way through January camp so that he could play, yeah, 15 to 20 minutes in a game or in a game against, frankly, a team that won't even be the. It's probably like the C or D version of that team. Right. It feels a little bit like U.S. soccer being like, oh, another Sounders player choosing the Sounders over Camp Cupcake. It just is.
salty from U.S. soccer. I was a little surprised at how salty that email felt. And it does speak to sort of the silliness of this camp, which is we're willing to send guys home early if... We feel like it's fine. Like, we'll send John Tolkien home early for...
personal reasons or we're sending Jalen Neal home with his, you know, slight injury. But no, we need to make sure we have a commitment from everyone that they could be here for two weeks if we needed them for two weeks. Well, John Tolkien needed to get on a call so that he could discuss the statement he was going to make. devowing his previous social media activity ahead of his move to Holstein Kiel.
To me, it's the power struggle. And to me, it's the pettiness that is U.S. soccer. And I'm going to go ahead and say it's straightforward. I blame completely the situation that just happened to Jackson Reagan on U.S. soccer. It was very simple. It was very easy to bring in a center back who is clearly one of, if not the best American MLS center back that you have currently playing. Probably the best center back that you were going to bring in into this camp that, again, isn't.
It's not FIFA mandated, is optional, whatever you want to call it. And they could have had the player for a couple of weeks. And now let me talk to Jackson Reagan right here. If he ever hears this at all, probably not. But if Nico's words mean anything to you, man. keep balling. Just like this guy just said, January camp in this Pochettino January
Call up is not going to get you a real call up in March. What's going to get you a call up is be dominant in CONCACAF Cup. Be dominant there. Be lights out in MLS. And then when it comes to Club World Cup, show everybody. that you can defend and be as good as you are against the top players in the world, PSG, Atletico, whoever they put in front of you, you go out there and you take hats off. That's going to get you in a real market.
camp because that's what pochettino wants to see he doesn't care if he's gonna you're gonna be with a whole bunch of uh you know friendlies or what you do in this camp that's what's gonna get you there so although i understand the frustration and i understand a player that has been doing everything in his power to get to a certain spot get to a certain goal and achieve it
That goes still there, man. Just keep worrying about focusing on the Seattle Sounders, and you're going to get there. Yeah, I'll just use this analogy. I don't doubt that Jackson primarily blames the Sounders. the sounders were put in a position to be the bad guys so i don't take that away from them but i look at this as sort of like you get way more mad at your parents than at your friends right because you know your parents are going to be there no matter
what you know your family's gonna be there no matter what so you can treat them with a little bit you can be a little bit more free with your criticisms whereas you're worried that if you say something bad your friends are gonna stop hanging out with you or whatever and US soccer is those friends cool kids.
U.S. soccer is that group of friends who you don't quite know yet and you have to get in good with. So you are going to walk on eggshells when you are talking about them. You're going to talk. And I think emotionally, that's probably how it feels as well. And so, of course. We spent a fair amount of time parsing what Jackson Reagan said and whether or not he blames U.S. soccer or he blames the Sounders. And everyone says, oh, he's blaming the Sounders. I don't do that.
I think there's probably that's probably true. But he was actually really mature in the way that he stopped himself. And he just said, look, I'm going to make a statement. I'm going to actually say something with that statement. But I'm not going to sit here and debate you and I'm not going to have a conversation about this because I'm not ready to do that.
And good for him. Good for him. And so it's up to us to sort of like then unpack what he said and what it means. And I'm going to just assume that he is mad at the Sounders. Yeah. But I don't know that that's going to affect anything. Nope.
Jordan was mad at the Sounders for not letting him go to the Olympics last year. And what did he do? He went out and had the best. Yeah, exactly. He would have had the best four months of his career. Like that's what he. So that's if that's what we get out of out of. Jackson, good for you. Fine. I am not worried at all about the Sounders rejecting this move. I would love to see more MLS teams act like real clubs.
and reject unnecessary call-ups because the reality is that we are now in a real league. MLS does not exist. at the behest of u.s soccer the main point of mls is not to build up the u.s national team it's the u.s national team's job to build up the u.s national team and sure we want to help To the degree that it helps all the MLS teams to do that, they should absolutely do that. But they should not be prioritized. It's easy to write off these early days of preseason as...
Well, big deal. He's going to miss a few weeks of preseason. It is a big deal. It is. It is a big deal. It's a big deal for they're trying to – they have new players. They have – They're trying to, I'm sure, institute some new tech, new playing style. There's all kinds of reasons you're becoming. This trip to Marbella that they're going to take right now, that's a super important thing to be part of.
Like these are and, you know, like if you miss it, that's not that's not an insignificant thing, even if you're a starter, even if your role is here. So I don't know. I don't see I don't see any problem with what happened this week. And Tim Jackson should know this. he he did not have area out of this club in. So what is there that can guarantee you that? I don't know Jonathan Bell or Leo Burnley is gonna knock you off the horse. Yeah, I
You know, I take Schmetzer at his word when he says that he talked to Jackson about it. They're moving on. But like, yeah, Jackson absolutely knows that if he wants to sulk or throw a temper tantrum about it, his spot. is not guaranteed exactly nobody's is there are guys on this team who want those minutes who want that spot if he doesn't do what he needs to do to keep it it's going to get taken he knows that
If he wants to have a real look with the U.S. national team, he knows what he needs to do. Jordan was the first time in a while that we've had... a repeat of the Obafemi Martins one-man World Cup. Right. Jordan didn't get to go to the Olympics. He had his own Olympics. He did. Jackson Reagan doesn't get to go to January camp. Go on your own world tour. Right. Exactly. Start improving more than you have the last few years already that you have higher heights that you can reach. Dominate.
against Antigua. Dominate against whoever comes next. Don't let up when you get to MLS. Just keep building. Prove that you... are not just the best passing center back in mls show that you have the defensive chops to be an elite defender that you should not have been third in defender of the year voting right go out have a chad marshall defender of the year season Take that trophy home for yourself. Get yourself into the World Cup.
I think that's a well way to put it. I think that's probably a good place to end this. It was an active week in the first week of preseason. It was great being able to catch up with you guys. Like I said, I want to make this a little bit more of a staple. We get all together and we do like a post.
You know, at least during preseason, I think this is super useful. But anyway, thank you, Nico. Thank you, Tim. This is, I'm Jeremiah. This is Nos Arrietas, part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. And we will catch you next time.