Uh so, uh we're gonna We're gonna double clutch it instead of talking about everything else going on News of the AM. Part of the news of the AM is actually north of the Border. And I and I have a massively important question for our guest, who is fighting the Wi Fi?
How you doing, partner? I think it's okay, wife, I will be okay. Trying to download things, trying to get things done. It's a very busy morning here in Montreal.
Yes, so it was a very busy evening in Montreal last night, and not really well, I was gonna say it was a very busy evening in Montreal last night because you got to go to you got to sample the poutine. Well, of course, I mean you come to Montreal, you have to get the poutine.
You go to you have some steak freets and you get some poutine and it's it's all good. It's a good day.
Yeah.
So, uh so, how was it? I'm somewhat jealous of it, so how well we should be? It was really good. Uh So, what has study hall been like for you? Getting ready for this one?
I've said it to people and maybe gotten some like tilts of the head sideway, I think this is the toughest possible matchup that Atlanta United could have gotten. I have a ton of respect for what Laurent Courtois and Montreal are doing. I think they're going to be a team to really watch next year, especially if they can upgrade their talent a little bit more. But he's a really top young manager and I like the way that they try to play.
They're still a work in progress. They were pretty good.
In the first half of the season, but probably not going to be at this stage. It would have been a nice first step. But then when you go out and you add Jaquille marshall Ready and you add Caden Clark, and look, they lost Matthew Schwanier, who was one of their top players previous to that. They moved who on away and they got marshall Ready as the upgrade. Caden Clark has been revitalized in the system. He's a perfect
fit for what Courtois wants to do. Four goals for assists since coming over, and this is a team that is five to one and one since September. This is a team that is one of the best in Major League Soccer at this stage. Now, look, the flip side is something that I asked Brad Gazan and asked Rob Valentino about yesterday. I had to double check it because
you know, you do hear the conversations at times. This team's gotten four straight results on the road, and for all of the old narrative of Atlanta United can't go do anything on the road, Well, you went to Charlotte, who is a playoff team. Last time I checked, beat them, Orlando playoff team, beat them. You got draws against Philadelphia and Red Bulls that could have gone your way. Red Bulls should have gone your way.
And that's four straight results on the road.
And if you do that tonight, you're either celebrating on the plane back to Atlanta or you're going into a penalty kickshootout. So this team has found something on the road that is a little different. I don't know if it's just the ability to tap into the US against the World vibe. I don't know if it's you know,
the FBA kind of vibe. I don't know if it's it just makes it easier to lean into that when you know, look, there's gonna be a handful of Atlanta United fans in the building tonight and I say handful, almost literally. I do know of two who decided to make the trip on last last minute and are going to be at Stad Suputa to night. I'm sure there's a few more as well. So exciting times. Playoff games are special. Yeah, I'm sure we'll get into all of
the aspects of this one. But this is a big deal tonight and I'm really looking forward to it, no doubt about it.
So Madison Cruz is as crashing the party for the first time in a while as we're getting ready for it as well, so it'll be Yeah, it's not like I've seen Mattie in a while, I know, really, so it's three way dance here. So Maddie, now that you've seen Jason for the first time in forever here on the morning show, what lingering questions do you have for him with him up there and that's down here.
Yeah, no, I mean it's been so long. I mean it's just God, it's you know, it's nice actually see you, you know.
Yeah, Yeah, we got a little bit of Wi fi going on here in Montreal, so I love it.
I mean, I know one of the biggest things that I know, me and you have talked about especially with how quick the turnaround is. Talked a little bit about it on Scars and Spikes last night as well, like how quick the turnaround is. And I honestly feel like Atlanta might have the advantage here, especially because of how many times they've had to do it this season and being able to have that quick turnaround where Montreal. I was looking at some of the games that they had.
Every time there was a double match week for Montreal and they won, the next game for that double match week was either a tie or a loss.
Wow, that's a good stat I'm going to use that tonight. I'm going to steal your research.
I like, I will send you which ones I'm looking at. But I found last night and I was like, this is crazy. But yeah, so I guess looking at that aspect of it, like, how do you think the best turnaround is going to affect both teams?
Yeah, it's a good question.
It's funny going back to the conversations that we had yesterday about Atlanta United going on the road and getting things done, there is an extra extra let me, there's a different kind of pressure playing at home, and I think knockout games maybe accentuate that. It's a different test mentally, you know, going on the road is harder. Obviously going on the road is more difficult. There are so many things that are disruptive to a routine. You know, travel can be a pain, travel jet lag can be a
pain adjusting to different climates. Luckily, here in Montreal the weather is about the same, little bit cooler though good bit cooler.
Than it wasn't Atlanta yesterday.
But I'm not going to be too cold, so you're not gonna have any issues with that. It's a pretty comfortable place to play. The atmosphere should be pretty good tonight. But at times when you have that atmosphere at home and you're a younger team, and I think Montreal falls into this, I think Atlanta's fallen into this as well this season.
If things don't.
Go your way very quickly at home, and the crowd gets roaring and they get behind you, and you feel that momentum wave, if what you're feeling is murmuring, if you're feeling just a buzz of either fear, frustration, it's mattering a booze. That kind of stuff that can can like double down on you with pressure. And look, maybe Atlanta's dealt with that at home, where they haven't been as strong consistently as they've been on the road since League's Cup.
Maybe Montreal has to deal with that tonight.
You know, like if Atlanta comes in and defends in the way that they did in Orlando and frustrates Montreal early on, or goes and gets a goal like they did in Orlando early, how does this Montreal side that hasn't really been in the situation before as a unit, how do they handle that?
Can they?
You'd love to put that pressure on them. I mean, I feel like for Atlanta in this game, like it's one of two scripts, and I don't know which one we're gonna see. It's either very similar to Orlando, you get an early goal or two and you're gonna.
Be under siege for a while.
You're gonna have to suffer and find a way to see that out, or you're not going to get that early goal and you're gonna suffer for a lot longer and you're gonna have to fight and scratch and claw and do everything possible to take this thing as deep as you can. I do feel like though, the longer that you are either leading or level, if it's scoreless. The longer that rolls, the harder it gets for Montreal.
I think the pressure goes to them. You know, we talk about in the penalty shootout all the time, how it's it's momentum and the pressure goes back and forth. You know, I want to go first in a shootout because it gives me the opportunity to put the pressure on the opponent.
But if you.
Miss, that pressure doubles back to you. That's kind of how this game can go tonight. You know, I don't think Atlanta has anything to lose. Montreal will feel some pressure early, and if Atlanta can frustrate them and keep them off the board and find ways to build momentum, that pressure is going to double back on Montreal and make it difficult for them.
I want to talk about it Lanta United's defense, specifically what we're seeing from from Brad Zane here in this stretch. Jonathan Siirua is nothing to sneeze at either. Eight clean sheets this season, if memory serves, and Brad is Brad has been a stalwart at the back of this season, and you mentioned things get tight and get tight and get tight. We've seen Brad come through in a lot of these moments and you could face the possibility after
ninety minutes of going into a shootout situation. And Brad has been stopping PK situations recently too, so I would think that that kind of momentum confidence could help there as well. Knowing, hey, Brad's at the back, I don't want to try, you don't want to just trust him by himself, but he's back there. He's that experience for us, and we have that extra added bit of him helping out and saving pks as well.
If you have to go past the ninety minutes.
Yeah, you'll have that side, and you'll have total belief in Brad Gazanne. The season that he's had has been outstanding. And as we say at times, I hope the apologies are as loud as the disrespect, because there's been a lot of disrespect to Brad Gazanne in recent years, which is just absolutely mind blowing for me, and that this is a guy who's a club legend, this is a guy who has defended that badge more than anyone, more times than anyone. This is a guy that's been here forever.
Dax McCarty told me, you know, you have a wall of honor, ring of honor, anything like that. He should be the first name up on it. I have no idea why we do this in this world. I mean we do it in every entertainment industry. But somebody does well and then people just wait for the opportunity to knock him down. And Brad Gazanne hasn't deserved any of it. And Brad Gazan has answered every single critic with a big glove to the face.
This season.
He's been outstanding and that's going to give you a ton of confidence in the run of play. You know, he's incredibly vocal. You'll be able to hear him all over Quidek tonight. He's a leader, and he leads by example, and he's a leader with his words, with his actions. He's everything to this group. So when you have somebody like that, that is a huge help. Now, penalties, I do think there's two sides to this. If you go there and you're not playing for it, you don't want to live this life.
But Brad in penalties has been really good this year.
Who takes the penalties is up for a lot of debate. One you never know who's going to be on the field at that point because it will be straight to penalties after ninety Keep that in mind. No extra time tonight, so who's on the field at the end is going to be part of it. Alexi Miranchuk has been good in penalties except for missing last time. Brooks Lennon has struggled in penalties in his shootout attempts. You know, this is a team that hasn't had a ton of shootout
success one player. We've talked about it, and it's kind of an interesting subplot to tonight when you start thinking about substitution patterns. Nick Formino probably has more experience in penalties than anybody in this group, coming from MLS and
ex pro. Does that factor in to how you have to think about substitutions in the last twenty minutes fifteen minutes You need to save us up for that kind of a possibility For me, No was clutch in penalty shootout in the US Open Cup this year, So you know, look, you have a lot of things to decide on that side of it. I don't think there's a lot of clear answers. I think Daniel Rios is one you can trust in penalties. We've seen him convert, we've seen him
be pretty consistent. I think he's got the kind of personality to handle it. With recent success in penalties, I think Maranchuk will take one, no question. You know, you shrug off the miss that Galles saved on Saturday, but you have some other questions in guys that will probably be on the field to take penalties, and it's not an easy list of five, so you don't want to
be there. If you're there, you're going to trust in your goalkeeper, but you're going to have to find some players to step up and convert in those moments too.
Maddy Cruz is a part of a three way dance with Jason Live from Montreal as we get ready for CF Montreal and Atlanta United the eight to nine in.
The Eastern Conference. Maddie, what else is on your mind this morning?
I think I want to look at the serious history between both of them. Obviously this season Montreal got the one nil win when Atlanta came to them earlier this year, and then obviously they came to Mercedes Benz won two to one. We also did see them in preseason as well, like so three different times we've seen this team. Do you think that it helps that we've seen Montreal so early, like especially being that two to one loss. Do you think it helps that Atlanta has already had that experience.
Yeah, it helps that you've seen them, I think often.
This is a team that it also helps that you've seen Columbus a lot lately as well, with last year and the playoff push and all the games against them. Because it's somewhat similar, it's not the same. I think a lot of people have tried to take Laurent Courtois and put him as a Wilfred Nanci disciple, and no, they're they're different. They have similarities in how they see the game, but it's not the exact same system because it's not really a rigid system. It's a structure that
both teams play three center backs. Both teams have no problem with their outside center back stepping up higher if they need to. Now, in Montreal's case, you don't have the thing that we've seen with Wilfred Nanci where you know he'll play Morera as a right sided center back and he's really a full back. So for Marera it's
comfortable to get forward and no real problems there. You know, it's George Campbell in that role here and George Campbell's comfortable getting forward, but he's not a full back getting forward from a center back position. He's a center back who can dribble. It's a different kind of skill set, you know. On the left side, you're looking at Fernando Alvarez. We've seen Gabrielli Corbo as well. Corbo's very comfortable going forward. He's played some as a full back. Alvarez can. He's
another He's another one like Campbell. He can get forward, but it's a center back who is comfortable getting forward versus a player who is very used to doing that and kind of lives in those spaces like Morera or Amensen. And we'd see him as a left sided center back with Columbus or Zawadski when he would play as an outside center back and get forward. So it's not that unorthodox in terms of what Kurtois does with the back. The wingbacks are going to go up and down. Nothing
crazy there. In terms of Marshall Ruddy on the right, when you're looking over at the left, it's Rahim Edwards, very experienced. Two guys that get up and down the wing can defend in a line of five, but can get forward and contribute into the attack. Now, one thing in the game here in Atlanta last time around, or the one in Atlanta actually was very typical for this kind of a shape. The one at Stad Suputo earlier in the year. Edwards tucked inside a lot in the
build up which haven't really seen before or since. It was very interesting as it was going on. I was talking about it throughout the broadcast, and I know Corbo at times was on the outside as the center back and he would then drive forward as a winger. This was also before Caden Clark, and I think at that point Courtois had to find different ways to maybe throw some curveballs at you and throw some unexpected moves and getting guys forward. This group, I mean, it's three center
backs you got. All three of them are good on the ball, All three of them can step forward into the midfield if they need to. You're talking about probably Nathan Saliba coming back into the team after missing Decision Day due to a yellow card accumulation. He'll be paired with Samuel Piet, who has taken that job back as Victor Juan Yama's days are winding down. Piet and Saliba. Piet will stay home a little bit more. Saliba can push higher. Saliba is one of the best box to
box midfielders you're going to find in the league. Doesn't get talked about enough because he plays in Montreal, but he's outstanding. Duke and Clark are two tens that can float. They can go wide, they can go deep, they can move side to side, they can switch sides, they can be up as a second forward. They're very free to go do what they need to do. So going back to seeing Montreal this season, it helps that you've seen
a couple of different iterations of them. It helps that you've got a pretty good feel for what Courtois believes in. But this Montreal group, the unpredictability doesn't come as much from a tactic. It comes from Bryce Duke and Caden Clark being very good players and very good fits for this team. Joseph Martinez as a nine, if it's Cocuro as a nine at times tonight, pretty traditional nines like they can both drop a little bit and they're gonna
pretty much stay central and look for service. Duke and Clark are the keys to the game in my opinion. Saliba as well, when he can be that third one and get forward. If you deal with Duke and Clark and you neutralize them, it's Saliba steps in and does it. But there's not there's not as much unknown here in this group now, and the fact that you just saw
this team. They'll play in this shape, they'll play in this manner I would expect, and they haven't had time to work up anything that would be a complete curveball change for you. You just don't have the time. With the quick turn, I think you know what you're gonna see. You just have to deal with it. And to me, it's dealing with Caden Clark and Bryce Duke, and if Saliba steps forward to try to beat you, okay, one of your guys has got to follow him and not
let him do that. And that might be Miranchuk who has to follow him. And you've got to win the outsides. You can't let Marshall Ready and Edwards beat you out wide. So it's a matchup that I think this team can handle. It's a matchup that is not easy, but it's a matchup that I think is one that Atlanta United can find ways to neutralize what Montreal does well and also find ways to hurt them when they go forward.
So then I know that you know physio's coming to play at this time of year also as well, and all the monitoring and everything. What are you looking at for the starting eleven? A lot of folks on the twitch pitchure asking about what you're seeing on the left hand side on the wing. How do you anticipate it looking tonight?
Yeah, I don't know, that's that's a question, because you know, Tyler Wolf has kind of won the job as of late. Shonda Silva is back into the team, but I just can't imagine that he's going to be ready to start at this point. He has been training, which is good. He might need him in a late game situation. You know, is it Wolf? Is it Luke Brennan? You know, Brennan playing in Orlando was a huge challenge because he had just come back from the U twenty national team, so
he hadn't had that time with the group. I think Wolf did enough to earn the start there. He was all right in Orlando. I don't think there was anything that blew you away. The one thing that he does really well is he defends from a high position. So if you're worried about out. You know their right side Jaquill Marshall, Ruddy going high. If Wolf has to track him,
you feel pretty comfortable with that. Remember, Saba can move side to side, so you can put you know, Brennan on the right if you wanted to do that, I don't know. I'll be very intrigued to see it now. One thing I do want to remind people that we saw in Orlando was I think it was the first set of substitutions. When Wolf came out, Ronald Hernandez came in, played in the back, Brooks Lennon pushed higher up as the right wing that moved Saba over to the left.
That would not surprise me at all in a game like this if you see that from the start. Ronald Ornandez has been as good as he can possibly be since Caleb Wiley was transferred battled back from an injury in that process as well. He's one of those grit guys that you need in a playoff game. You know he can do a job for you. And if Lenin is the right wing with Saba on the left, you
know that if you're under it one. If Lennon's the right wing, you know he's going to track Raheem Edwards because Lennon has the defensive tendencies haven't been a fullback, so you're gonna be able to handle that side pretty well. You can kind of not exactly man mark but kind of sort of man mark Edwards, make sure he doesn't hurt you. And Hernandez is a solid right back, and you know you can always go to a line of five.
He can slide inside and you can have him as a right sided center back, and Lennon can drop as a wing back and Amador can be the little wing back on the left, so you've got that possibility as well. I think those are your two variants. My guess would be its Wolf or Ernandez starting and then you make the corresponding moves.
Maddie, last round with Jason before Jason goes off, and you grab breakfast.
Yet I did, what'd you at? A muffin and iced coffee?
Ah?
Okay, So I didn't know if it was going to be not a breakfast either. I don't I don't eat big breakfast. I didn't go for a Montreal bagel or anything like that.
I was going to say, I know how exotic it was going to be Maddie, last round with Jason here before he gets to head to lunch and just study Hall well.
Shameless plug for both me and Jason. If you want to hear.
More about Ronald, there you go.
You can read the feature that me and him co wrote together earlier, this a couple months ago. Really good feature just about him and his and his love for the club. If you want a player that literally bleeds Atlanta United, it's him for sure, no doubt. But I think my question is, and we had the conversation, I think a little bit on scarves and spikes.
Excuse the beeping.
I don't know what's happening over there, if fire alarms going on going off.
It's actually hilarious. Our toaster over here, like it makes that sound whenever it's almost done, which is weird. It's it scares me. I'll be like asleep in my roommate will be putting something in there. It'll happen. I'm like, what's going on? But we had a conversation on scarfon's and I'm curious to get at least both of you guys thoughts on it with how quick the turnaround is, especially for the Eastern matchup. Both Atlanta and Montreal to
have to do this. You played, you played on Saturday, You're going in today, You're playing today, You maybe have not even one day to train because then you're immediately going to Fort Lauderdale on Friday to play Miami. Do we think there needs to be some sort of conversation about time management and about this scheduling, especially because it can start to affect players, not like very physically, especially when you're doing those matches like that without that quick turnaround.
No, the time management is you don't want to be in the wildcard game, like I mean, there's nothing you can do. And look, do you need to have nine teams in the postseason? I don't think so. I'm glad you do this year, but I don't think so. I'd like to see eight. Keep it simple. That would eliminate the midweek thing here. But look, guess it's the nature that's the the gift and the curse here of getting in.
You know you're gonna have to turn around quick and play today, and then you're gonna have to turn the winner's gonna have to turn around and play quick on Friday. And if that means you almost punt game one of the best of three because you're probably gonna have to rotate and you're probably gonna have to see who's healthy enough. Then you have a full week to play for game two, which is a knockout game, and then all marbles in game three if you.
Can do that.
So if that's just what it is, that's what it is like. You shouldn't get an advantage by being in a wild card game. And if if this is the way that you're you know, air quotes punished for it, then that is what it is. You want to get Miami and in this case playing first to kick off the playoffs.
I get it.
And I feel like we do this thing in American soccer where it's like there's one side of people's mouths yelling about Miami getting all of the attention and why are we doing this to have Miami start to playoffs?
So why why why?
And then there's the other side of the mouth that is yelling, well, why aren't we highlighting Miami enough? And Lionel Messi, why aren't we taking advantage of this?
I don't know.
American soccer just punches itself in either side of the face so often with the way we talk about the game, and it's it's absolutely frustrating because there are so many good things going on right now, and this is the kind of year, and this is the kind of season, this is the time of year that this is why American soccer, Canadian soccer as well, is special. What we saw on Saturday, Yeah, you can flip it and make decision day matter about not getting relegated, but you saw
the exact same kind of drama. Go tell Atlanta United, Go tell those players, Go tell that coaching staff that, oh, finishing ninth doesn't mean as much as finishing seventeenth to avoid getting relegated. Get out, shut up, stop like it meant everything to that group. And don't tell them they can't celebrate either, because then you'll get me tweeting.
You don't want that.
Look, there's a lot of emotion in this game. There's a lot of wonderful things in this game, in this league and all the things that we deal with, this is the time of year that makes it special. These are the kind of moments that make it special. This is a knockout game to continue your season. This is a game where players lives will change after it. Guys who season ends might be their last game for the club. It might be in this case last game for their
coaching staff with the club. Like there's a lot of different situations here. When tonight ends for either team, you start the next season immediately, and there's going to be a lot of turnover I think on both sides, probably a little bit more staring at you in the face on the Atlanta side, just because of the nature of where the roster is right now going into next season. So this is a meaningful game. This is an emotional game, This is a big game. This is a big deal.
And anyone who tries to tell you it's not or it doesn't matter because you just got in on the last day or any of those things like stop diminishing what makes it special.
Playoffs are special.
It's the thing about this league that is different and is unique, not truly unique, because Mexico has playoffs and they have special moments in playoffs. We've seen in playoff situations in Argentina as well, and they have it. They're going to kind of a playoff format in their league structure next year, which gonna upset a whole lot of people. You know, the defending world champions, How can they have playoffs. What are we talking about.
It's it's a really cool moment.
And yeah, it's hard because you got home at about midnight on Saturday and then had to reach in on Sunday, do a training session on Monday that you can't go too hard and then you have to travel and go play again and you're gonna have to do the exact same thing again if you win and go to Fort Lauderdale on Friday.
So it's hard.
It's also one of those things that you can kind of write yourself into history if you go on a moment like this in Atlanta, has that opportunity in front of them. You know, you're basically to the point where you keep winning, you keep getting results, you get to keep playing, you don't. It's time to go home, and this club's going to look a lot different next year. But this is an opportunity for guys to I think, make a name for themselves and write their names into history.
And it's something that I think we have to do a better job of embracing that history. Like I talked about with Brad Kazanne, there should not be any negativity about Brad Kazanne in this club and in this team and in this fan base because of who he is and what he's done. You when you have somebody who's played more games for your club than anybody else, that's a legend. That's an incredible legend, and he needs to
be treated as such. There's guys who are staring at their potential last game for the club tonight, and there's guys who are going to give you everything they can because they love that badge and they love that club and they've given everything for it. So that needs to be celebrated, and I think more importantly, that needs to
be respected. So hopefully all the viewing parties, all the folks watching, everybody doing that will be making noise and embracing the effort that these guys are going to give. They're gonna fight till the whistle blows, and hopefully when it blows, Atlanta's got a ticket headed to Fort Lauderdale on Friday. Broadcast plans on ninety two nine The game in the Odyssey app six point thirty for your five stretch countdown seven forty four kickoff nineteen nine The game
the Audissey App. You can sync it up to the TV very easily. We'll share your little photographic on how to do that. It's gonna be a fun one. These are the reasons why we do this. When you get into this kind of situation. It's the drama, it's the the back and forth.
It's all of the stuff that we're.
Going to get in this game tonight, the wild swings of emotion both ways. It's why we do this and talk about it and put all the effort that we put into it.
So I cannot wait for kickoff. One more thing before you get out of here. I mentioned it as a part of opening kickoff this you know that you know that website, right, you know I know that website. It is now a gold winner. It is a gold medal winner for the Davies. We've we've upgraded from silver and the Davies to the golds. That came out this morning, So wow, look at that. So yes, officially gold Davy
winners from our friends at the ai VA. So yeah, they hit us that with that about eight o'clock this morning. So I just thought you should know as you continue your day.
Very nice. Jarrett probably had a hand on that, I think, I think so, I think he did.
Maybe we'll see.
Well, it's it's not having a hand something doesn't always have to be productive or healthy.
When you're involved. Yeah, it's probably about right.
Yeah, Maddy had a hand in it too, but she ducked out, so she's she doesn't want to talk about it.
But Jared made the point.
He's like, so, let me guess you said the mixing of the MLS All Star Game is a part of the.
Gun or an old soccer over their episode, yes or both.
Yeah, that would have terrified people if they had no idea what that was all about.
Yeah, so that that would be, like you think, it terrifies people, and if they do know what it's.
All about, terrifies me on a regular basis. I'll tell you that much.
Yes, all right, So what's what's lunch?
I don't know yet. I'm not sure.
There's a lot of places around here we're close to kind.
Of too much poutine now, poutine's.
Too heavy for for lunch on the game day. That's too much. I don't know what I'm to end up doing.
All right, Well, take pictures and let us know when you get there.
Okay, yep, we'll do.
I know there's a gonna at least a couple Atlanta United fans in the building. I've seen heard from one, and i've seen on Instagram another one who is on her way. So I don't know if there's gonna be many more, but uh, maybe you'll hear us yelling around dot Suda.
No doubt about it. All right, Be safe, brother, and have a good call, all right, see it