Episode 210

Hey, what's up everyone? Welcome to the Sounders FC Pod-Cast presented by Toyota. And with deep, deep into the thick of the playoffs, lots of action flying around. We now know who the sounders have to go through to get to the promised line. And it's that team that's been a thorn in the sounders side all year long. And for a while, if actually been honest, and that is LAFC, I'm data care of business in their three game series against Vancouver Whitecaps at home. Yes,

last night, by the time of recording. And for the sounders, we will look back as well on how the sounders got here. I've got to see Win again out in Houston going through both games by penalties and had to be done. And a team that's not faced injury problems and things like that. We spoke for a long time this year, if the depth was there, and so far it's proven that it is there. And I'm

going to speak as well. I want to really see if Brad, King and I can really, if even us have been guilty of underestimating instruments, because I had a conversation with a good friend the other day who's not in Seattle, follows the sounders on a distance. And it's just like, you guys know how good of a job this guy's done. And we had a conversation around that. So we'll get there. But first initial reactions, it's LAFC. How we feel? We have a couple weeks, but still,

who knows them? Yeah, I mean, looking at previous performances, you know, it looks grim on paper. You lose at LAFC in the opening game. That's the only goal that you've scored against them. It's been a PK this year. You've got a three nothing loss at home. You've got a three nothing loss at home and a one nothing loss in the open cup. So that's Leagues Cup in that one as well, I think. And it's a team that has had your number. And we, you know, you look back teams like

Houston at home, right? They've never won in Seattle at home. And why is that? And it's impossible to figure out why, why things happen like that. And Keeley, do you have the overall record on Ann versus LAFC? That's actually amazing. I just looked it up our overall record. And this is regular season three wins nine losses four draws. There can't be another team that we match up like that against at all in the league. So it's a bugaboo. And it's going to be a really

difficult game. And I think one thing that we talked about in the past was how are they going to line up against this team in LA, right? We saw LA come in here at at Lumenfield or at Starfire and go with five in the back and they kind of switch up their tactics a little bit. This one's been bouncing around in my head for a couple weeks. I don't know if they're going to do that at home. Although they may be feeling comfortable enough against the sounders to be able to

sit with five and attack with just their front three. But I don't think that LAFC fans are going to be expecting that. I think they're going to be expected to play the way that they that they would in a home game. The stadium's going to be full. I think LAFC is thinking right now like, you know, we've kind of got this one in the bag. So now it's up to the sounders. And how are they going to be able to switch up tactically to finally put the ball on the back of the net or at least create,

you know, five or six good high quality chances. I don't know if I have an answer for you on this one. I'm willing to talk it out though, Steve. But that's what I've been thinking about, it's like we say switch tactics. Okay, if we so much goes into 90 minute game of football so much. But if we just look at the bird's eye view sort of like the obvious thing. Sounders like to possess the ball

for the most part, it makes up a little bit more. LAFC do not care about possession. They're happy with 35% 40%, which no modern team is really they're the only team that I know at that level who says you can have the ball the whole game. We don't want it. And their 35 40% is so effective, especially against team that the sounders. So the obvious question becomes, you know, the they're most dangerous when you have the ball, when you're in possession. And you got to be aware, not only where

the anger is, but the guys that get in the ball, where's Sanchez? Where's that twist on? Because once those, when they win the ball, they find those guys quickly one free ball and we've been killed by them on that. How much do you change if you're the sounders? Because, you know, we saw the game kind of like the one at starfight, the open cup game was a bit more just I mean, I think that pitch plays

a lot into it as well. But do you give up a bit of your identity and force LA to have maybe more of the ball than they want to have and see how they adjusted that because their players really is built to get you on a counter attack, especially against sounders. And it's been so obvious. The sounders seem to have fallen for it every time. I know it's really hard to stop. But one thing has been heard the sounders for a couple of years now. And they do the same play, same play

every time. And we've not been able to stop them. Well, I think how you counter that is you have to play to our strengths. And yes, that is a possession base. It's weird how we go from playing, you know, a team like Houston that had the highest percentage of possession in the entire league. And, you know, not creating that many chances against the possession-based oriented team. And then now you have to go against a team that's willing to sacrifice possession. But in the past,

the sounders still haven't been able to create chances against this LAFC squad. And the sounders kind of lie somewhere in the middle where a team likes to possess a little bit, but also are willing to stretch. And then the sounders can keep possession and put them under pressure, especially at home. So I think you fight fire with fire. And, you know, maybe this is a game where you start Manungu.

And you really put LAFC under the gun. And you kind of play a similar game, whether it's Yamar winning the ball, finding Christian, and then the first the first outlet is to Georgie. And you say Georgie, just stay high and wide and provide some with you have to have a guy like that in this game. Because we've seen too many times for the sounders in the past that they just haven't been able to break this LAFC team down. And you know, Pedro, does he provide

Paisen Power? Yes, he played his first 90 minutes down in Houston. That's great. But at some point, you have to have someone in the field that's going to break down this LAFC defense or at least disorganize them in any way. And the sounders haven't been able to do that for three or four games this season. I mean, what was the last time we won against LAFC must have been, you know, 2019 in the playoffs in that in that playoff run down at LAFC with a different squad, but a similar

style, but they didn't come out and play five in the back. They played four in the back. And it was a different sounder squad at the time to Jordan wasn't up top. He was out on the left flank. And it was a different squad. Raul was in his prime. And he was a killer, right? Nico, Nico was right there in his prime as well. And so I think the sounders have to get into a situation where they're

isolating Georgie on the wings. And you saw it against Houston at home. Georgie comes on the field and they have to sit with a red card, but his ability to get at defenders and really make a play. It just makes me wonder how long we're going to keep talking about that before he gets a, you know, a start in the game. Right. How long are we going to, and I know it's the playoffs. And I know you have to be tactically and positionally sound. But on the flip side, like, you have to go

for it. It's a one off game, right? You can't just sit back and absorb against L.A.F.C. Because that's going to be the longest night in your whole entire season, right? Yeah. I think, but I think the two things that's making me sort of get a bit of hope is this. I remember when I coach Bellevue High School, there before I got there, there was a team that used to kill Bellevue High School. This one team just won a school. She used to beat them every time. And that was my first game in

charge. And we managed to beat them in that opening night. And then we played them in the king, like the King County final. We beat them there. We played, we played twice, we're going to see some beat them twice, King County, whatever, play off beat them there. And then played them again at the W3A, WIA, free, and going to that one, I'm like, I don't know if you can beat a team four times. I know we're better than them, but anyone consistent is hard. And so I think LFC, this even alone,

is beat the sound as free times, right? Twice in the league, free time, not once in the league, once in the open cup. And that's giving me a bit of, and leaks cup four times, four times. Can you really beat a good team five times in a row? That's a little absurd. So my hope goes there. Number one, and number two, you did a game of Ben and Jackson up a couple weeks back. The sound was in Vancouver and the sound was for me, were heading shoulders about Ben and Vervue. And LFC had to battle to get

free. They lost free know of them in one of the games. So it's like, are they at their best round? Or did they peak too soon? So there's those kinds of things that I'm not, you have to hold on to hope a bit in the playoffs and you clutch that straws a bit. But there are, I think there are things that do make me feel like the sound is kind of get done. I think I wouldn't, it doesn't seem for me as daunting and as, I thought even those three nail games, they were closer than that when

you watch the games back. And I think this sound has seemed has to have learned from that. And you've got two weeks to prepare. Schmitz and he's got stuff I've got to be drumming into those guys. It's exactly what they have to do. And I just think no matter who you are, how good you are, it's hard to be anybody five times in a row. It's really difficult. It is, it is. But also it was, we keep saying that against Houston when they come into Seattle and it's like, oh, there's 13

games in a row beaten against Houston at, you know, Lumenfield. And can we do it again? You get nervous over those ones. It's going to take an all time sounders performance to get past this team. And if they do, you know, they've set themselves up to continue to make a deep run in the playoffs. You know, but you already saw a change in LAFC. I don't think they're as good with Jeroos starting up top. I think it takes away from their dynamic play. They become a more vertical team, which is

good for the sounders. And I don't expect him to start again. I think they're still trying to tinker with that one and figure out if that's the perfect fit for them and how they want to kind of close out the season. What made them so successful was the front three were absolutely flying at all times. And Jeroob is not a flyer, right? He's a real target forward that's going to flick the ball in and be a poacher in the box. And, you know, you saw it at Vancouver. It was their demise.

And they lost three nothing. And now, you know, you go down and they make a tough change, right? How do you tell Jeroob that he's going to be on the bench? He gets subbed at halftime, you know, coming in the game, but maybe that was an unplanned sub or it was planned, but they, I think they lose a little bit of something of their identity when he's up top. And they have to kind of figure out how he's going to be the main piece for them at, you know, his stature of a player.

So I think you're right. Is it difficult to be the team that many times? Yeah. But we've done it against teams here at home. Other teams have had great records for some reason against certain teams. And so it's all it's going to be, it's going to be a battle. There's no secret recipe. And the founders have to come to play and they've got to shake it off. I don't, I mean, what are your predictions for the front four for the founders? I mean, Roussnaq will be healthy. Jordan will get

healthy. He's got to, I mean, he'll have three weeks to rest up. Roussnaq two and a half weeks. So we expect them to start and it'll be a full-strength sounders lineup. Health being equal. I do think he goes with the kind of what has been his preferred ish and that is rough rock left. I think Pedro does get the start on the right. And I do think he puts Roussnaq back there with Jordan on top. I think he's comfortable with that with Christian and Albert together. And the reason I think that is,

we spoke about something on the last podcast as well. If I'm in an, it's a one-off game. It's a nil nil. 30 minutes to go. I'd rather, even though I think he, you can make an algorithm of him to start, I would rather bring George B, bring, bring in George E on than Pedro on. I think George E for the last 30 minutes is just that unpredictable. He just beats the guy every time and you might win your penalties and when you free kicks and when you fouls. A bit more. So I think for that reason,

he'll, because Pedro has to get some minutes. So I think he'll start Pedro and get run him to the ground, get everything you can from him. And then maybe 50, 50, maybe 50, if been it, maybe half time. Whenever the time is right, that left back is not going to want to see George, you can't be known. You just don't. They know they have that in their pocket. I don't think he'll start. Rough rock, I think just for the reasons he's been playing will play. I don't see any reasons to

change that at all. And yeah, Jordan and Albert are fit. You saw how different it is now with, you know, Raoul's not Raoul's from before me. You were down. You were around the team. It just isn't. It just happens to everybody who catches up to everybody at some point. I think you do need Jordan, Albert back. I think without either of those two and we don't know, we're just completely spec. We don't know. It's a couple weeks out. I don't feel as a way past LAFC about those two

playing and playing well. Yeah, you have to have them and at their best and at least get them a week, 10 days of full training to get back into that rhythm. Yeah, yeah. Although the sound, the sounders did the job, right? We were in Houston. It was hotter than hot. Yeah, how was it? We were on a team a little bit. How was that? Yeah, how was sort of like the mood among the team and before, I guess, an off-time in? Well, look close, but yeah. Yeah, it's difficult to go

to Houston, right? It's a long flight. It's a slog. You're at the end of the season and you've got to go to a place where teams playing desperate. They have to win. And we trained with the team. We went to training at Rice University and it's the end of the year. So guys are a little bit sluggish and then to add on top of that, your day before a game and you're in training and

Rusenak pulls out a warm-ups and it's like, I can't go. And you know that feeling. Anytime your best player goes down, you're kind of thinking who's going to step in here, how are we going to get this result? Right? It's really hard. It's almost easier if he would have stayed home and had the guys had two or three days to train without him and then go collectively. But the day before a game, your biggest player steps out of the lineup, that can be a mental block for most.

But the sounders created a good chance with Paul Rathrock in that through ball and he chips Steve Clark and it goes over the bar. I think if he has a bit more composure in that situation and puts that one in the back of the net, the sounders can build off of that. So it was hot. And talking with Michelle, she was down and yes, the rain came in and out, but she was like, it was so hot and humid even coming from one of our commentators in after the game. Christian was like, dude,

it was so humid and hot. I mean, I've never seen Yemar at the end of a play put his hands on his knees because they're just exhausted. And it was a tough environment and Houston, anytime you're at home against a possession-based team, you're going to chase and that can make things really difficult. So I think everyone on the team is echoed that Houston plays the best, right? They play soccer. They play the best brand that the sounders have probably faced overall. And you know,

it was a difficult one, but they came out of it with a victory. The guys were stoked in the locker room, they're playing cards on the flight home. And you know, now they get three weeks almost to rest up and reorganize. So I know that these guys are going to be watching a ton of video and motivating each other. And it's a sit and wait situation, which is tough. Yeah, the gap is very big. I think that you want to play or she just want to keep the moments going and keep playing. And I've

it's just a really strange format. No, they have to adjust to different things by the fee for calendar. But okay, the man who's got them here. So for MLS Cup final appearances, two wins, two losses, a Champions League. Have you been to Open Cup? No, no, no, no, Open Cup. So those and he's been, I think top two of three in the West pretty much, apart from the yeti Mr. Pinoz, pretty consistently, a top three team in the West. He's had to, you know, lose so many players during

that time, so many key players have left. I mean, the list goes on and you were there on Zee's there. Clen, Nicole, you know, likely now we're always going to go just big players and he's always readjusted the squad. I mean, even guys, we forget that would be in a key place. I like Victor Rodriguez, Kim Kiwi, guys who played a role who's top at one point. She met to somehow always reinvigorate the squad and kept them competing. We have seen really big teams in the league. At

Lanter came at the league with the biggest bars. Had Tata there. We're selling out every game. I'm around Martinez. One MLS Cup and it's been downhill ever since. They're not the same team that. That's a short time than the sounders. My point being, it's really hard to stay at the top. LA Galaxy, this is the first year really back since we were playing. They've had a nice decade break from being a super relevant team and Schmerz has somehow kept the sounders there.

How good of a job has he actually been? I look around MLS. I don't know any coach who's been in the league as long as he has when he was there who's done what he's done. I just don't see it. It's ridiculous consistency. I don't think we have the best roster in the league. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty incredible. For all the heat that he takes from pundits, you know, any and everywhere. He's not your prototypical soccer-looking coach.

That's the problem. All the other players around the league call him the professor. It looks like a teacher. But maybe that's a good manager at the end of the day because I think he's a big piece of it is that he's been so ingrained in Seattle Soccer for so long that he kind of demands that respect and trust from not just the ownership group but from the fans as well. And I think the players too. I mean, I got asked this question in Asana yesterday when I was doing some rock climbing.

And the guy next to me was like, hey, I'll never get to ask this question again. But what is it? He said, you've had Ziggy for a really long time. Columbus, you won a championship and then you won a couple open cups and then you make a change in Schmetz. How has he been able to get the team to four MLS cups and Ziggy wasn't able to? What does he have that Zig didn't have? He mentioned. 2009, that was a great roster, hard working team. You don't want to downplay the open cups. Those

are massive. But at the end of the day, it's about winning MLS cup and at least getting there to give yourself an opportunity. It's really hard to pinpoint. The only thing I can go back to is just the motivation factor and the trust in the players. And I think from day one, he hasn't tried to really reshape the wheel in any way that are the sounders. He's just added a bit of a different manager perspective where he's been able to have the tough conversations that I don't think Zig had.

I think you and I both know that Ziggy kind of avoided conflict with bigger players and was a little bit trepidacious to bring in a big name player and say, no, I need this from you. And if you don't give it, like we have to sit down and watch video and I got to ask you like why you're not doing this. And I talked to him last week. He did that in our production. He did that with Pedro after the last game when he subbed him early. He brought him and Freddie in the room and they sat down,

they watched video and they pinpointed. Why are you not running here? Why are you not tracking back here? If you want to play, you have to be in these positions. And that was missing, I think, from Ziggy. Ziggy didn't do that. It was more of a, hey, these big name players will kind of guide our team. And it did for a while, right? It did. We want to support or shield with Oba and Clint. But I can't remember a time where I had a conversation with Oba and Clint. And they both

went in Zig's office and broke down video and said, I need this from you. I need this from you. So I think he's not trying to change, you know, how the sounders, what the sounders identity is. He's really good at motivating and get the most out of guys. And I think that's just your trust. And, you know, I think it's the candid conversation of like, if you're playing well, like you're going to play, I don't care if you're an academy kid that's 15 or you're, you know, a veteran player. So

he's done incredibly well. I mean, the numbers don't lie, right? The numbers don't lie. And there's no surprise that he's gotten two more years. But of course, every coach has to face criticism. And the sounders start to this season. I mean, he was willing to shoulder that responsibility and take the hard questions. He's not going to shy away from those. But he always said, like, no, this is a good group of motivated players, every, every interview, right? And the proof is in the

pudding. Sounders find themselves once again with an opportunity to get to the Western conference finals. Yeah. I think what makes him really good too is you touched on it. And in tough times, you'll take the blame and show the players, never throws them under the bus in the media. He might, you might have a private conversation that's an obvious comment. Tell me the truth about this guy. He'll say, okay, you want to hear it and you talk. But he'll always protect his players in public.

And then when there's a lot of credit, he's very quick to point to his assistant coaches as well. So I think those two politicians work for that. It's a very, very good manager. A very good manager. I think he stood the test of time and Emma less. I think in some, he's a leaky understand well. He's on a team and a club. He understands well, understands him well. And now with this many years in, when he's had to take big decisions, he has. I think in the big,

and now he's way more quicker. For a long time, you know, when Clint was having some health issues and got over them, the name alone, Clint Demsie, the monster play. And they go to the point where, you know, what maybe coming up with branches, better option. And I would not want to have that conversation with Clint today. And Schmetz had that and started Harry Shipp over Clint. And I've

heard Clint's perspective and I've heard Schmetz perspective. And it's interesting here in the book talk about it, but it was not a nice conversation because you, you know, my, who your bench and Clint for, he's not going to like it. And that's what he had to do. You know, when he had to, we had a playoff game last year. I couldn't believe in looking at roster. I saw really years and I saw Lord Dere on the bench in a playoff game for the sounders. Never would I have

thought that for years ago, right? They just had to. So when the time has come, I think he's taken a big decisions. And I think guys know you have to perform to play and you fall in line or you don't play. And there's a long list of players now who've seen that side of Schmetz as well, which I think for me is actually a very good thing. I mean, I was one her, I always wonder, you know, the relationship between a coach and a GM, right? So first it was Adrian who was kind

of handling everything. And if Ziggy said I want this player, he went out and got him, right? Pretty much. And then came Garth and Garth had his own way of operating things and told Zig like, no, this is my team now. And that kind of started their headbutting. And then wives comes in. And Schmetz has now gone through what two, two and a half full cycles of, is he going to get the player that he wants? And I always wonder like, how do you keep it, you know, as a head coach,

you want to win, right? You're based on results. So how do you have that conversation with a GM and ownership that is like, guys, I need, I need better players. I want to win a championship. I don't want to do this. And as I had coach, you look around the league, all the assistants, they got to be scratching their head when they look at the Sounders budget now. And how far they've come down in the overall spend. Yes, you've done well, but that can't be the benchmark

for the Sounders. They have to find a way. And Schmetz does two of like keeping that relationship tight, but also going to Craig and being like, what the hell, I need X, Y and Z. Like I need it, you need to go out and find it. And at what point does that become like a interesting dynamic, right? It's got to be tough for Craig, because he's probably hearing from the higher ups. Well, you know, we might be, we can't spend this. We can only spend this. And then he's got to go to

Schmetz and say, well, this is my budget that I've been given. The Schmetz then go over Wybe's head and go to Adrian and the owners and have those conversations. It's not a position that I want to be in, but he's been able to manage that pretty well. And if you look at our results, he's been able to produce with a roster that if you look at the spend, right, isn't where it once was for this team. Exactly. And that's the point for me, Wybe. It's like, you're looking at,

and it's a good roster, but you're looking around the other teams are doing things like that. And you're like, the results for what he's got. I mean, Toronto went out a few years ago and got, you know, really big players and playing people. And it doesn't always translate. So I think Schmetz. Those players were a disaster in the locker room anyways, right? So, yeah.

And have we taken to making a bigger comfort in Schmetz before we go here? I don't know that in the sound of this history, we've really ever waited wrong from that, the character perspective. Like we haven't really had too many players in the locker room that we've signed. I'm talking about players that, you know, you bring them in to make a big difference, significant players, guys that you want to kind of believe on the team. And then like Raoul and the Lederals in general.

Of course, everyone will have their moments and their own ways, but no one is super disruptive in the sense where I've heard from other teams and other teammates, former teams, former teams, former teams and other teams. Where it's really bad. Like, it's just, we don't want this. And I think the sound is I have for the most part. There's a couple of samples in here and there, but for the most, I've got that part of it. Which is a part of it. Well, look, I think that's a credit to Adrien.

And your ownership has to have those conversations with the players in agents too. And I think the sounders have been smart in that sense. And with Chris Henderson first and then Sean Henderson, both of those guys are pretty good. They understand what it means to be a sounder. And that goes back to the point of why Schmetz has been here for so long too. They know what it means to be with this club and they know what this club needs. They don't need a diva, prima donna.

They just need a hard working high quality player. And you're going to get supported by this group in this city. So I know what the sounder scouting department does, right? They don't just talk to the player, but they go to his agent. They make sure that the family is good. They make sure that they talk to staff on the opposing teams. Like, hey, this player is good. And I know that you've been around for a long time. Tell me some stories that you've heard about him. And, you know,

other teams don't care if you sign a player. They'd be happy to for a good team in their lead to let go of a player. And so the sounders have always done their homework in that regard and gotten you know, pretty spot on for the last 15 years. Yeah, yeah. Now I agree. What I said, I agree completely. So yeah, definitely Schmetz and his coach are going to deserve their credit, deserve their flowers at this point of season. But it's a big one coming up for the sounders. And

I mean, we kind of detouching it. The last point will circle back to the the LFC one. If we went LFC shoe, or for the one who the sounders come, or do you? I don't know. I mean, I thought we had a great chance to put Houston away at home and they came out and put in a decent effort. And I think save for those two red cards, I think you might see a third a third game in this series. It's the playoffs. Do you want to see anybody really? It's just you know,

you know going into playoffs, you're going to have to play a good team at some point. You're not going to make it to MLS Cup and then be like, Oh, I'm glad we're playing that team in MLS Cup. Right. Of course, you'd like things to lay up so that the sounders could host MLS Cup or at least home playoff game, but it's not looking like it. And now the sounders just have to put their head down and whoever's up next is who's up next. And I think LFC is probably thinking the same

thing is all right, bringing on right. We're at home. I don't care who we play. Yeah. I think that's their attitude and that's what it's going to be. I know Aunt Rosov will be looking at his chops once again to get a result against the sounders and against Schmetz and prove that, you know, he thinks he's, you know, the best also and that coaching staff is the best. And so there's there's games within a game. And yeah, to your point, I think LFC is thinking it doesn't

matter who we play at this point. We know it's going to be a battle. And we've got it. If we do, we do well, we'll get on the right side of a result. And the sounders have to be thinking the same thing. I do have the last time that we be LFC. Yeah. Was 2021 May 16th and the goal scorers were Havi Ariata. All right. Well, there we have it. Sounders, Houston. I mean, we'll have another part in between, sorry, sounders, LFC coming up. We'll have another podcast in between before that.

But and we'll definitely know more at least in terms of how the team will perform a health perspective right now. We're just assuming everyone's going to be good to go. It's going to be full strength both sides. We just have it out. Have a real, real, old school battle on the pitch. But we've now gone from the three games here. It's been popular, unpopular, whatever. Now it's just a straight one

of them. Like you're going on the road. And this is where you start seeing why Stephen really does now because you'd rather have this game regardless of all things being equal in Seattle at human. But you have to get one of the greatest nights in club history that didn't involve a troll fee, a big troll fee was LFC a few years ago. And that performance still sits in the memory of order form and bring up that game. It comes up. So you have to go down and do it again.

You won't get all the broadcast stuff processed at the time. Yeah, I got nothing yet guys. But we will be covering on radio. We will be traveling and it will be great. So tune in. All right. And then I'll say today's the first step in the Cincinnati plays. We're going to try and support you. Orlando Orlando. Let's see plays there. Yeah. And these are all game free. So yeah, this is like maybe a good day to sit in front of the TV and good old MLS. Do you

do you have you have you said anything in MLS for either of you before we go in the playoffs? Anything been surprising so far. Start out anything. Just kind of run not really. For me, just the so I'm not surprised. No, I'm gonna say I want to say Atlanta. I'm not really. I think this is the playoffs. Yeah, I think this is the playoffs. I think Miami will beat them today. But maybe Vancouver being a LFC free now. Thank you. That was it. It's tough. We don't know too much

about the East Coast conference, right? It's tough. It's just the way that the schedule set up. It doesn't make it that interesting and we're just no one's familiar. No one's familiar with anything. So early was a surprise. Sol Lake. Sol Lake too. I mean, Sol Lake was a surprise for me, but Minnesota has proved to be a formidable, formidable defense at this point. So we'll see. It's all about LFC now. Yeah. All right. Well, there you have it. We'll be back next week with a

lot bigger preview. Hopefully we'll get an inside person from the sounders on for the pod of us as well for an interview and kind of pick their brains and of course have a slightly better idea of where, you know, Albert side Jordans at what our store's questions during the week and then we'll be able to sit here on preview. What's going to be a massive message again. We'll be

a great game. Go run for the new front of the world. So we'll see how that goes. But this is being the sounders FC podcast until next time.