This was a life line with a opinion names Hey what's up everyone welcome to another episode of Side by Side this one coming to you the morning after the sounders getting a much needed victory away to Colorado the team beginning to pick up some decent form and it does
make the point in Dallas a bit more valuable now that felt a two point drop by feel picking up three now you know you're four games and two away games and you get a nice little break in then the third one on the bounce will be Nashville in about eight nine days but before we get ahead of that
let's go back to last night Leo tree coming back into the lineup getting back on the score sheet continues he's great season and then one of the big players stepping up naming Albert Risenaxle this I'm just picking up a much needed win at a struggling Colorado it must be said but went in then didn't
what it had to do Brad we obviously didn't talk between Saturday and that you can probably guess your thoughts just on the two games combined most specifically last night but also that is that the weekend was you know it felt like two point strokes to be honest to me but four points and two games
I'm really complaining that yeah I think things are shaping out as we thought they might and we're kind of seeing the true colors of every team at this point this season and Dallas just you know they're just not there quite yet although last night they get a massive victory at Salt Lake and that's the one thing about this league we continuously talk about it is you just never know on any night right and and that's credit to the sounders you know going into a
difficult place to play and in Dallas getting the result a good finish and man at the end you know Jordan is just kicking himself in the in the 90th minute I know you're not oh he's got to take his first touch right to go at an angle and then the defender slides across and then you make that pass but you have to commit one or the other and I think your tired legs you're you've been running your tail off for the whole game and you know he's he's trying to be a provider
there and you know you you credit him for trying to be a provider at the end of the day you're supposed to be the guy that puts a ball in the back of the net and absolutely smash that home and you can see how defeated he knows he made the wrong the wrong choice there so the sounders still have plenty of chances to win that game a fantastic goal from Alex that's a dream goal that one that comes across and bounces sits right in front of you and smash that home for the
volley so a decent point away from home one that I think they look back and say we probably should have picked up two more and if they would have picked up two more they're sitting at 47 only three points behind St. Louis who's in first place and then the fans will start talking like oh wait we can finish first first in our conference and that's kind of how the season has gone right we've been here saying man it's it's a good team they just aren't picking up the results
where they need to but if you look at their record it's you know a winning record at home and a winning record away from home I think they're the only there's only one other team in our conference that has a winning away record and that's Salt Lake at six five and three other than that no one else in the conference has more away victories than than the sounders do so when we talk about how this is going to all shake down if the sounders can pick up three
points in Nashville they're looking pretty good and then you make those two home games count but that Dallas game I think the boys were a little bit disappointed but then to go into Colorado which that I mean that game at the end of the day it Colorado's just so bad and and there's no other way to shake it out other than when I watch it I feel like I could still play on that team and make an impact and if that's saying something then we have a real big issue
with that team they just they just don't have anything in the form of and it's it's sad because it's in it's just confidence I think because some of those players are good players and there are only two years removed I think from finishing first place in the conference yeah and so a lot of those players are the same and so you start to ask questions of is it management is it confidence as you know what what are they doing that's just not working for them so there's
season a team that's thrown thrown the towel in already and that second half just pretty much put me to sleep I had trouble watching it but the sound is able to come out and get the victory and grind out three points which is good puts him at 45 points now and only LFC and Houston they've got one game in hand and then Vancouver with two games in hand so the sounders are sitting good right now in second place as we kind of move forward into this break like
you said yeah and you know sound is only four games left and most of those games in hand from teams will take place this weekend and then midweek the sound is obviously off on both there's a whole MLS slate under twenty-third and twenty-fourth and then a couple of games under twenty-seven before the sounders get back to work in Nashville under 30th and it doesn't look like anyone has been able to take advantage of any of the sounders mishaps or slips it really
it's played at work with Seattle and the four games to go I mean set new is now looks with in touch in distance you know a couple of results going this way I don't think that needs to be a goal but at this point we're looking you probably want to end no less than third I think if it sounded about top two I mean you're ahead of LFC at this point just by a point they might win the game in hand but the sounders sitting really really well I agree on Colorado it wasn't you
know but it's a game you still have to go out there and win over the past two games is that any is it just been a case of just doing enough to win or has there been like any high positives obviously seeing Christian or Don get back I think it's huge I mean this second DP level signing in time of in time for the playoffs and he's only going to get better with his time I think I thought the performance in Dallas particularly re-bake away and for obviously you got the
assist but even before that I mean when you don't miss Luhu I think that speaks volumes to whoever steps in you didn't really miss Luhu and I think that speaks volumes and of course then in Colorado you did without Raoul and Nicole plays
just a few minutes as well and you still get the win so I know some of the things that Schmetz can take just as massive positives that it's all hopefully coming together you know it's been stopped start this season always seem to be missing the player missing this guy and now everyone seems to be
rounding back into fitness first of all slowly into form and the team is finding ways to ground up results as well yeah I think there's two parts to that is Schmetz still hasn't had a 100% healthy lineup at one time I don't think where he's really had to make the hard decisions but the
founders look like they're coming together at the right time they look more solid defensively the past couple weeks I thought Reagan was fantastic last night me at a great game and I think yeah guys are just kind of clicking at the right time and like you said Christian is probably the biggest piece to that it's a guy who comes in who knows the league who fights for every ball and there's just something about his game where he has that extra step that he's
able to wiggle away from from defenders that not a lot of players have and that special creativity his willingness to get into the box and fight so that's just a massive mental boost for the guys on the team too saying okay everyone's back obviously Raoul is out but now we ask the question is Raoul going to be plugged back in or are we gonna ride this season out the last four games with Jordan as our number nine Leo Chuse been good and Christians back in the lineup
and Albert looked good last night as well so a lot of questions will have to be asked and I think it's gonna be difficult to keep Jordan out of the lineup as a number nine away from home because playing against Walker playing against you know the guys it's a big back line in Nashville and somebody has to stretch that defense otherwise Nashville is just gonna sit they're gonna be happy with the play in front of them and you know how key it is to stretch defenses yes Jordan
can do it from the wing but he likes to do it from up top he likes to stay central and make those little diagonal runs in behind that makes a centerbacks pull out a position and away from home I think that'll be vital so a lot of questions will have to be asked for for Schmetz as we kind of push push forward into this last phase of the season but last nice lineup was about as good as it gets now should the founders they didn't look inspired last night when they
were up to nothing it wasn't like hey let's go let's go we're gonna grind for every chance on goal was kind of like okay you know those games where you just know you're gonna win it's it's a guaranteed win and yeah they scrambled a bit at the end in Colorado I mean cool but he scores a great goal at the end there but you know nothing really was tested from Colorado they just looked disjointed so a big big test against Nashville to see really where this
founders team is at if you want that winning record to continue away from home and if you're in Schmetz issues and everyone's fit and the first round of playoffs is tomorrow you foresee a sonar where you would be comfortable looking at your coaching staff Precky and he rose Freddie Tom Dutron since then we're gonna start with Raoul and Nicole under bench and our best lineup actually includes Nifa of these is that are we really reached that point with the sound is look I
think it might depend on who we match up against to be honest I think there's better matchups for us that could include Raoul up top that would I don't think Nico's starting from here on out I think his role is going to be you know coming off the bench from now on because I do think that if we get it lead I think Nico's valuable to have on the field with 20 25 30 minutes left in a game who can keep a ball who can win free kicks who can play for corners who can
you know dictate the pace of the game but I just think we're at a point now where we got to push forward and we got to play good attacking soccer I think we're creating chances we're just not finishing so at the end of the day it's who's gonna put the ball in the back of the net and if you're gonna say it's Jordan then you got to stick with him up top and I think it's highly possible that we could go into a playoff situation where it's Jordan starting up top
and Albert as a 10 and keeping either Josh or Obed as a number six with JP because I think choose to if you're gonna play playoff soccer and you're gonna have two of those games at home in one away I think you have to start Leo to at NC out wide I think he's he almost created another chance last night with pure effort he was he was just inches off from intercepting a ball and those are the differences that can that can change a playoff game so I think you have
to play your most attacking brand of soccer and sounders sit forth in possession but at the end of the day in the playoffs you got to put the ball in the back of the net so waves and waves of pressure have to come and I think Leo Chu and Christian on the on the wings is gonna provide most of that for us right now I mean we're gonna sort of the ones in 10th place on 37 points so that's just above them is Dallas on 38 sound is that 45 before games to go we
have to think even if the sound is don't win out whether they're gonna be in the playoffs you're thinking at that point which takes me to another thought to have here is you most likely you know another win two wins you're for sure in the playoffs it's for sure in a good position maybe you guarantee yourself a home game at any point any point is it entering or should it enter the coaching the coaching starts thinking to rest players and make sure this guy's
fresh to the playoffs or because of the season we've had you just played the best guys and you you pretty much start that run away now and just say you're gonna see it through I mean it's between four games here X and L games in the playoffs potentially or someone at Christian or he's just come back do you think okay where can we find him a little break in his last four games Jordan you know he's had a headlong season two is a national team is all can we find
him a break here somewhere or is it just now we're in all in right to the worst fall off let's see what happens yeah I think the coaches will be playing the numbers game and JP so especially yeah yeah and so if the sounders find themselves in in that we're not gonna finish first we know we're gonna finish second or third everything is gonna play out how it needs to play out and it will be dictated not by what the what the sounders necessarily do but what
other teams do at the same time especially as games start to even out right the processes of the games if the sounders go to Nashville and you're up you know two nothing three nothing with 30 minutes left you take off Jordan if you can do if the guys can put in the work and get the result early in games then yeah you can put your hand up and say hey I want I want out I want to come I want to come sit on the sideline for the last 30 minutes and if you add those up that's a
game at the end of the day less that you're playing instead of having to sit them for an entire game so there's different ways tactically to kind of go about this and ultimately it's up to the sounders to dictate if they're gonna have to go full out for the last four games my thought is why don't you put the best effort into the next two two games and then see how the next two play out right and then see what other teams do as well can we rest players a
couple guys at home if we get results in the next two games so it's honestly it's just purely a numbers game at this point I have a question for you guys about the plan and I don't want to like say we haven't made the playoffs yet still four games play yada yada but assuming we make the playoffs are there any teams who you a really want to avoid or be really want to face like who in the Western Conference matches up well against us in the playoffs just let's get
the plan preview sort of started but also I think there's teams that's better than other teams for sure you're looking at and then just even some of the teams are a bit low I think match up well I think you Portland's an eighth place right now do you really want to face Portland in the playoffs I don't think so just because you just never know you can be playing well you can be on a 10 game winning streak they can win a 10 game losing streak that doesn't matter
that game for every reason takes on a life of its own we saw in the in the least cup how tough is to go to a place like Utah and play against so would you want to face real sort of like at some point in the playoffs they match up pretty was a very dangerous team so I think there's a cup with
there but I don't think you're thinking that I feel the sound I think the sound is the team that other teams want to avoid because the team that is as we said is rounding into form at the right time is still haven't really hit top
formal peak but getting results quite comfortably I think should have wounding Dallas both first half second half show sound is a strongly team than Dallas and then last night just getting the job done a professional job in an out of them up and get the win not many teams want to face a sound as
team that has a you know Christian or down coming back to full fitness and he called it there who's accepted he's role so he can give you 20 30 minutes of the bench you know Jordan and the old true stretch and so I think it's a team that not many are going to want to face but in terms of match up in
Portland's the big one you want to avoid and then listen having to go to an L.A.F.C.D. or send it it's going to be tough you're going to have to face tough games in the playoffs but I don't think there's anyone that if you get them you think okay our season's over I think more than capable of being anybody in the West yeah I think I start to look at you know those key matchups with your rivals I'd still take Vancouver because you're going to have what a best
of a best of three so two at home if you finished in the higher seed right and so you start to look at teams home records even and you look at even even a place like Salt Lake they've only won five games at home all season yeah and then you kind of go down Minnesota's only won three games if they sneak into the playoffs so you know is it a numbers game at that point but I don't fear Dallas I don't fear San Jose and I don't fear Vancouver but like Steve said Salt Lake
and Portland are those teams where we just kind of had that like Bugaboo you know against and tough places to play but at the end of the day it is up to the founders at this point and the founders have to be that team that says we want
to be the fear team we don't want to have to play two games at Lumen field to try and get a result because that's going to be really difficult for any team to come in here and and beat the founders you know handedly I mean so I'm sorry I need to figure out how to use Bugaboo in a sentence later
that sounds good the sound is set on 45 points it's possible if certain things shake out the way they might that that last game in St. Louis you could be playing for first place and you said Louis is on 50 is five points it might be
literally a game you've got to put everything into to try and claim at top sea depending on how important that number one seed is for you but we'll see that when we get to it the sound is running into form a big big win last night off this weekend the next time we see the team take the pitch will be
on the road at Nashville a team that is fighting I mean they five six points safe right now in the playoffs but they kind of fall to drop points to they've got a massive win in Kansas last night so it's a team that we've probably take messier side of course maybe the best attack and then but that's over the last 18 months in Muqta I mean he's the real deal he's fantastic and we've got to face him in just over a week so the sound is not under pitched this
weekend but there's a lot happening around the club he left in Gionneau more than I do but I know the club is very excited about going into the 50th year next year there's a brand relaunch coming up in general no game this weekend
back sat in time to be a sound as fun last one for you Brad for me just curious to pick your brain on this between if this is you take yourself to you let's go more towards the latter stages of your career so I'm thinking of a JP even a Jordan guys you played heavy minutes
let's training between now and Nashville you don't need to do much right kind of just this is a great time to sort of recover it's more treatment rehab basic maintenance on the pitch but I think I mean a young guy is the Dylan Tevers is the the Ruffa Rocks the cold these bake they can run around and play the next few days but I think the likes of JP I mean he should barely be on the pitch I'm assuming maybe some tactical things but I don't I'm curious how the sound is
then manage this little another absence you know quite a little breaks recently but just how do you manage this one because you still want to be sharp we saw after two weeks off since the Timbers that the first half against Dallas we suffered really struggled so you don't want to take too much time off how you gonna strike that balance as well yeah I think you just have to stay in in that game mode rhythm to be honest and you can still curtail training sessions and
take the load off but there will be days where guys have to work because you must train you've trained your body for so long you can't just take a giant break and take it off so I think maybe they get the next two days off and then you treat it like the normal seven days out from from a game so maybe an intense training on on Saturday and then have Sunday off and then come back in Monday ready to work the team travels on Thursday so they'll get there a day a
day early and then train in Nashville on Friday and so get back into that rhythm so you'll have to find a day during the week where you get I always liked you know at least two days of of a tough training throughout the week just to get my mind right and get a good sweat but there are also times at the end of the season where you know they would bring out a bike and I would just bike for you know half of the training instead of doing the workout so take the load and
and the pounding off the joints but you know get a sweat on the bike and make sure that I'm keeping my body in rhythm and my brain in rhythm also but yeah I think it's an opportunity for JP to take a breather for everyone right it's tough to play two games in in five days or four days whatever it was and to do them both away from home so it's a deserve break picking up four points but at the end of the day right you want to stay in rhythm I know you went to the spa
every day in massage and you know for five to do the thing but I wish I just put me to sleep I couldn't I didn't want my body to go into sleep mode yeah I wish I'm with you actually think yeah I think I actually like to train like I like training so I think you're right like I've felt like but even sometimes those did he would give us three days off and that first Monday back would always be terrible because you always your touch would be off you look a bit not
sure about yeah I think taking more than two days off was always tough for me so I think you do want to stay in rhythm still get your touches but the sound is I think they will find the right balance between if you have some of that Christian or done what a chance for him to get really fit you know he might be able to really get after and he's someone who is so fit anyway in training as well but hasn't had match practice but you know get a 10-day run away to
really give him some minutes and you're gonna need to go down the stretch I mean when when was his last start?
Kiwi you know I mean it was probably me yeah something like that yeah because yeah sort of that come back and then he had to take time off again and yeah he really means that I mean we haven't really seen him an important player that would not seem right so I think it was right around nail driven the last time we saw Christian really be Christian or done I think exciting to get him back so big yeah yeah that's a good signing that sounders nothing this weekend as
we said we'll be back in action in Nashville we're gonna be there actually on site Nashville's a great stadium and great great city to go to so look on forward to that one we'll see what the sounders look like in terms of fitness injuries but one thing that we know for sure already from now is that
it's gonna be three points up for grabs and three points you think sounders another six points and you're pretty much certain for a super high seed and that's what we've been playing for all season in this up and down season where he's been a bit hit in place in terms of the performances but if a team's been that below part quote unquote but is able to be in second place in the way so speaks volumes to the standards and level of this team so that's it from side by
side for us and Keely yes what's the answer July 15th at Dallas yes he started but I felt like he was out before that as well and then came back and yes he was yes yes that was the last one and then I have a final question for you guys in Nashville I'm just gonna force you to go to a karaoke bar so just get your songs prepared because I'm forcing you to do it as always they have big your Michael Jackson I'm there there we go perfect I'm there I'm there all right
all right this has been side by side we will be back next week previewing the sounders going to Nashville as always comment like subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and thanks for listening