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It is a final from Colorado down in Commerce City. Your Sounders are coming home with another dub. And what a week it has been. Let's go over this. Eight days, three wins, three shutouts, two Paul Rothrock goals, two Albert Rusnat goals, one Georgie mcnoonog gole his first career. And by the way, because the Houston Dynamo lost tonight to
Saint Louis, thank you Saint Louis. The Seattle Sounders have officially clinched a top four seed in the West, which means they will be hosting at least that two of the first three games there in the first round of the playoffs. Boom, how about that one nothing win over the Rapids And just like Chance Frice, it was an Albert Rusnack goal that ended up going into the lower left corner? Is chance? You just left out the fact that it came off of a deflection, That's.
All, yeah, exactly, it didn't get it just right, but a.
Goal win a good win.
Nonetheless, in the history books, it's going to be a goal and it's going to be a one zero win.
And that's twenty five goal contributions, ten goals, fifteen as sits for Albert Rusnak this season and that comes in what is essentially twenty five hundred minutes. So he has one goal contribution for every hundred minutes in MLS this season. That is a designated freaking player. Is I keep saying, Let's just talk about this game overall. One nothing, another clean sheet, doesn't matter how the goal comes. The goal comes.
Chance will start with you, James, will you get in on twelve Andrews will bring in our producer Andrews first as well. Let's all go around the room and just start with our reactions to what is the Sounders' third shutout in eight days, nine points in this week. Chance great win.
The one thing that they did really were all the Sounders buckled down defensively just you know, did the work on both sides of the ball. It was a little bit of a lucky goal. Not lucky goal. It was a good shot, but it deflected. But I want to give a shout out to Jordan because Jordan was working hard up front. I made a great play to get in, did everything right and if you look at the replay, Stephan, that was a fantastic footsafe and a great job of
Albert to come and sweep it up. And the one thing that we were talking about earlier is, you know we I think Steve was saying, you know that Schmatz doesn't maybe get as much credit as he could, but the job that he's done with the team is just amazing. And I go back to this thing I wrote it down when Lexi Lallis asked is he a good coach or just a good coach in Seattle? And I just think that is so ridiculous and he is such a good coach and.
He takes said that by the way.
Lexi Lallis, I mean, I'm sorry, but Bryan's done a fantastic job of.
What he has sensational sensational result on the road to cap off a tremendous week. I think a total team performance that starting eleven was lights out from start to finish. It was even on the announce you know, during the game, it just said that they felt that the Sounders are in control since minute one, which which I agree with. My only criticism is you need to have a deep bench going into the playoffs and and for me, the subs need to come in and impact the game a
bit more. You talk about Georgie getting an opportunity, you know, for me, it needs to be a bit more polished, a bit more clinical. Mashofsky had an opportunity as well, bad giveaway after like, so those little things add up, you know, read you know, is it a corner?
Is it not?
Like so just those little micro plays. If you're called in to play five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, they just have to be sharp. And I just thought the substitutions.
I think it's gonna get very difficult to bring in JP in the sense where the decision's gonna be a bit unique because I thought just Obed and Christian have developed this fantastic relationship, and then you bring in JP, who we all know of his pedigree, but you also want to ride a hot hand, and I just think it a lot of I just thought they didn't finish the game as strong as they could, and that going into the playoffs could is something that you really want
to look at, especially when you have teams that they sub on top notch guys at the end, So I just think they could have finished the game better with the subs. But overall, total win, total performance, jingle bills in the locker room, they get on the flight, enjoy the flight home, and they get some time off.
Yeah.
I'm glad you mentioned that, James, because I kind of noticed the same thing too. When you know, those first kind of subs came out. Pedro came off, Paul Rothrock came off, Roosnock came off. The levels dropped a pretty significant amount. I wonder if that's by design, because you're trying to almost gear up for the playoffs. This is almost like a playoff practice game where you're like, all right, this is a team that we might be able to face at some point. We got to hold it down
away from home, one zero lead. And then the other thing is I'm really impressed with the defending. The Colorado had basically nothing the entire time. Steph really didn't have to make a key save. It was really really good, and that's kind of the away performance that you're looking for.
Well, I just want to add on to what James was saying about Georgie and Missovski. They came in and Steve pointed it out that you know, we not only need to focus on the defensive side of the field, but we need to focus when we have the ball. And there were two opportunities to take the ball to the corner totally run the clock out, and they didn't do it. Wild shot by Georgie. Yeah, if it goes in the top corner, we're happy, but in general, go
to the corner. Missovski should have gone to the corner as well and not try to play that ball back. It gets stripped and then it you know, they come down for Yeah.
Absolutely, And what I love is that there's all these little things that Brian can go and it isn't just you know, sunshine and rainbows and flowers and all that. There are still Hey, listen, guys, there is a lot that we can work on, you know, coming out of still a very We can all be happy on the flight home, but we can all be happy and realize that we could have ended that much better. This game
should have been to nothing. Jordan should have put away that cross in the seventy sixth minute that came from Paul Rothrock that was served up on a silver ladder, just waiting for Jordan to tuck it away, and that didn't go in. So this should have been a more comfortable complete win. But listen, we are nitpicking. What is an outstanding eight days where this team didn't give up a single goal against. By the way, three playoff teams.
Houston's gonna be in the playoffs, Vancouver's going to be in the playoffs, Colorado's going to be in the playoffs, and it may be Seattle v. Colorado in the first round. Three seed versus sixty. That's how it's looking right now. So if all that happens, we're looking at three playoff teams. The Sounders just shut out three times in a row. That is a pretty damn good week. And I'm sure Brian is happy with that with his boys singing jingle bells,
probably right around this exact moment. Well, Tonight's Toyota Man of the Match is going to be Albert Rusnak with that goal your logo. Toyota Dealers are proud to present tonight's man of the match. Also, Delta Airlines is proud to donate one soccer ball for every mile ran by Sounders. FC players this season through Ray Foundation's One Mile One Ball program. A guy who ran a bunch of I don't know how many miles he ran today, but I thought he ran a lot of good miles. Pedro de
la Vega. We saw him for sixty four minutes. We spent a lot of time talking about him in the pre match show. Let's round out that conversation and talk about Pedro's day, and we'll get to the play of the match. A lot to get to here on the postmatch show. Following a Sounders one nothing win. Right here on sports Radio nine to fifty KR am to the home of Sounders FC, Seattle's Sports Radio nine fifty KJI for the third time in eight days, we get to
hear taking care of business. The Sounders took care of business tonight on the road in Colorado. They get to sing jingle bells. We get to hear taking care of business because the Sounders beat Colorado Rapids one nothing tonight down in Commerce City. Let's talk about tonight's Emerald Queen Casino play of the match. It is, of course, the goal coming in the forty eighth minute, right at the start of the second half, exactly like Brian Schmitzer would have liked to draw it up where a big mistake
from Colorado leads to Jordan Morris picking it up. A shot is well saved by Zach Steffan, the United States goalkeeper who's also the goalkeeper for Colorado, comes right back out to Albert Rusnak, who did a great job keeping his set up. His shot is thankfully going through the legs of Andre Smoso, and Maxo hits it into his own net. It's not an own goal because it was already going to be on goal, So it is Albert Usnick's tenth goal of the year. But that's how the
Sounders got their one nothing lead. The play of the match is presented by Emerald Queen Casino, the betting capital of the Northwest. James, you know, I think it's Sounders capitalizing on a poor play by Colorado and Albert's tenth of the year.
Absolutely, I think, you know, being opportunistic. Jordan Morris does everything right on that play. Knicks the ball, goes around the defender, opens up his hips trying to go back post. Stephan makes a great say with the biggest plays. Albert following up the play, putting his shot on frame Lo and on frame anything can happen, and it was able
to get deflected in the goal. So all around, it's a very opportunistic profession play by those two, and those are your two big difference makers on the attacking side.
So I want to go back to our pregame conversation which is about Pedro de la Vega, and we talked about him getting to start again like he got to start a week ago, and needing to see the integration more, and we all kind of gave some great thoughts here. Once again, Jackson felt Chance, Frid James Riley, our producer Andrews first as well, and we had that conversation about the mentality thing and the confidence thing and what a good sixty minutes would mean for Pedro de la Vega.
I thought it was a good sixty minutes, but let's go around the ruin chance. What did you see from Pedro in his sixty four.
It was a good sixty four minutes, and he was disappointed to be taken off at that point. You could see in his face he could have gone longer. I felt like he could have. He looked physically like he could go longer. I mean, I know they've got the guys on the sidelines that watch that stuff. But from a mental standpoint there, he was upset, not upset, I should just say he disappointed. He wanted to go a few more minutes. I think he could have gone seventy minutes, no problem.
I thought it was exceptional performance by him, honestly, to have again this pressure to come in and perform again.
He's a young player.
There's a lot of expectations, but he's still relatively young, and so I just thought it was a polished, professional performance. I mean, he delivered some great balls into the box. His ability to retain possession in tight spaces, and he has an ability to be slippery through defenders, and just good decision making on the ball, worked both sides of the ball, right. I just thought it was a very professional, polished performance by him. Yeah, yeah, I was impressed for sure.
And Chance it's a great observation he said he was a little upset when he's coming off.
I actually like that.
I want someone who wants to put that stamp on the game a little bit more, especially from a guy you've invested so much in him. I don't think he's quite firing on all cylinders just yet, but I think that's it's coming because today he coin of he saw the best parts of him when he's creating chances, sliding by people, taking people one on one, had a couple of great crosses in that what no one is on the end of unfortunately. But I think we saw the kind of bright spots in his game where I think
it can definitely grow on this. So I'm excited to see what he can bring in the future and hopefully he can't build up to that point where he's just playing all the time.
Yeah, I think that we're getting It's sort of like I led a pregame talking about the buffering bar. It seems like we're just watching the loading bar for peder Dale Vega, and I do feel like we saw another step in the loading bar, you know. Yeah, Yeah, it's only four minutes, you know, in terms of timing on
top of what was a week ago. I'm with you, I you know, for me, what I would love is and Brian Spenser joins Dave Softy Maller and Dick Fane Tuesday's ninety three point three KJRFM at five forty five and in his interview coming up this week, I would love the question to be asked. I'll have them ask it. You know, do you feel like Pedro could have gone longer? And what held you back from allowing Pedro to give
you another ten minutes in this game? Because I agree with the and of yours, I think I think that it's good to see that fire, but I would have loved even more to see that added ten minutes from Pedro because maybe we would have scored that second goal in those ten minutes. So that's a question for, of course, our head coach later on, as we wrap up this game and start looking ahead to the big Decision Day match against Portland, which is where we are going to
be turning the conversation. First, I have some good news Sounder fans. The Sounders won today and you get to win tomorrow. So down to the McDonald's app and redeem your free Mikchicken tomorrow with any purchase of two dollars or more at your locally owned and operated McDonald's restaurant. Down to the McDonald's app today and check out the deals waiting for you. Let's talk about Decision Day. Thirty three games in the books, one more to go before
the playoffs. Let's preview Sounders Timbers. That's going to be next here on the post game show. Following is Sounders one nothing win on Sports Radio nine to fifty km.
You're listening to the home of Sounders fc cele's Sports Radio.
Nine fifty KJR. Welcome back to the postmatch show. Sounders winning tonight in Colorado by a score of one to nothing. It's their third shutout win of the week. They beat Houston one nothing. They beat Vancouver three to nothing on the road, and then tonight, once again on the road, they beat Colorado won nothing. Those are three playoff teams. The Sounders just beat. A great week for the Rave Green as they are right now in third place in
the Western Conference with fifty six points. They're two points back of LAFC right now, who have a game in hand, but as we've noted, LAFC have a rather easy schedule down the stretch. Currently behind the Sounders is Salt Lake. Right now, they are playing San Jose to a zero zero game. Assault Lake with that draw would get fifty four points. With a win, they would equal the Sounders
at fifty six. So that is of course one to watch Houston at fifty one and fifth Colorado, the team the Sounders just played, is in sixth with fifty points. That's relevant because if the playoffs were to start today, the Sounders would be facing Colorado in that first round series. The Sounders will be the three seed Colorado is the sixth seed. Two of the three games in that three game series would be in Seattle, so that is good news.
And with Houston losing tonight, by the way, the Sounders have clinched a top four playoff seed in the West, which means they will be hosting the two of the first three round games, two of the first game, two of the first three games in that first round excuse me at home. So whether it's Colorado, Houston, Minnesota, whoever, Sounders will be hosting that in that first round. So
that is outstanding. We'll call you that. Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Provident, Swedish official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. And it's time to take a look ahead at what's next because there is one game left in the regular season and it will be against the Portland Timbers at Lumenfield on Decision Day. This is about as big as you can get here when it comes to this game and By the way, the Sounders win, they win Cascadia Cup. Aw draw, it will go to Portland. So this game
will also decide Cascadia Cup. How about that Vancouver whit keep Sorry, you're out of the picture. Seattle, Portland and Portland. By the way, they are ninth place, They're gonna be in the playoffs for sure. They've locked themselves a playoffs spot. But they're worrying about seating right now. They may be even in the play in game. So it's a massive game for Seattle, seating wise, for Portland seeding wise, for Cascadia Cup. It's decision Day. Carnations are going to be
given after the fans after the final whistle. It's a six pm Providence or sorry, a six pm kickoff five thirty Providence. We just premat show. It will be right here Sports Radio nine to fifty kJ AM. Folks can also watch at MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV up and then Spanish language on l RA thirteen sixty. What a game we have on our hands, Sounders Timbers Decision Day with all of this at stake now, I mean we can talk about the stakes at the game where we can actually do some nice X's and o's.
I want to do some nice x's and o's because I want to have the conversation of we saw JP. Jul Paulo came back onto the field eighty second minute. We saw some good minutes out of him. JP has been an exceptional player for years. I'm gonna say something, and I want you guys to tell me if I'm absolutely crazy here, even if JP is one hundred percent, I want Christian Rodon and Obed Vargas in the holding midfield. I want those two starting together with Paul and with
you know, Pedro Dalevega on the wings. Sorry, Juel Paulo, I love you, but I think that because of how well this team is playing right now, Chance and James and Anders, I think I don't think you can put JP into the starting lineup right now with how well this team is playing. Am I crazy?
I agree? I think you have to ride the hot hand. I mean, I think the partnership that Christian Obed have have cultivated in some high caliber games and just the fluidity in which they play and cover for each other and balance and all that type of stuff. And coach Smetzer mentioned it today. He said, the biggest thing is that that pairing you can cover so much more ground. It just gives you that extra dynamic feel to the
to the game. And so just that alone. Obviously we know the pedigree of JP and the importance he's played at the club, but you just have to ride the hot hand, especially a hot hand that's producing results and playing that well and making others around them better.
So yeah, I would agree with that chance.
I'm not going to disagree with that. I think that though I'm a huge JP fan, we all are, yeah, And I think there are going to be teams or moments when we will need him. We will need him in certain situations, certain times of the game. And you know, Ovid's great young player, but he doesn't have the experience
as a JP. So I don't want to I agree with you one hundred percent, but I think that we do need him and we need to keep him involved enough so he's not feeling like he's left out and then he's just being thrown in for you know.
So sorry, So just so you're saying you have to slide him in for obit, are you saying that we just play the hot hand right now?
Now, we played the hot hand, but he needs to play a significant role going down the stretch for sure.
I think that's true.
Yeah, And there's multiple parts to this, because what's happening right now is I think Christian's playing in his best position. When he's in the middle of the park. He seems to get the ball more, start attacks from a deeper position. He isn't having to like fly pass guys, which isn't really his strength. He's kind of involved in the interplay
a lot. You could say, if you really wanted to get JP involved and you believe that that match experience is what is important in the playoffs, could move Christian out wide and then JP comes and plays with Obek because you cannot drop Obit. Right now, he's been playing some of the best soccer I've seen, like all year, and it's great to see from a nineteen year old. Gosh, he's nineteen.
That's so weird to me. That's crazy, man.
But I definitely think you have to keep Christian in the middle of the park, and then if you do move him out wide, that takes off Peter de la Vega, which is our last conversation as well. He's starting to really kind of get things going. You gotta go with what's working and the last the full last week of the Sounders win, win, win, all three clean sheets. I think that's really really important. You got to keep that momentum going into the playoffs.
I think I think we're in agreement right now. The only question is is Brian Schmitzer, Tommy Dutre, Preky you know, and Andy Rose, Freddy Warre. Is that entire staff in agreement. It's going to be very interesting because two weeks from right now we're going to be in the postgame show of a Decision Day game between the Sounders and the Portland Timbers. I am. I cannot wait to see what Brian Schenzer does with his lineup, and I cannot wait to see hopefully us raising a Cascadia Cup after beating
the Portland Timbers. That would be a dream. But we will talk to you coming up in two weeks. Once again, they have the international break here, so two weeks and then we have Decision Today Sounders Timbers five thirty pre game six o'clock kickoff in a couple weeks here on nine to fifty. KJR AM want to think everybody with tonight's broadcast, Great colle Tonight from Danny Jackson and Steve Zachwani.
Ryan Karnes is our producer here with the Anderhurst are Board op and thanks to him for jumping on here pre app post James Riley and our good friend Chance Fry, Thank you guys for a great show. Jackson Feltz here thanking you all for listening here tonight to a Sounders win once again. It has been eight days, three wins, three shutouts, two Rothbrought goals, two Roofsnat goals, Georgie's first goal, and the Sounders have clinched a top four seed in
the Western Conference. That is a good damn week. Have a good rest of your weekend, everybody. We'll talk to you in a couple weeks. We'll also talk to you on a Wednesday, by the way, for Sounders Weekly over on the FM ninety three point three. Have a good rest of your weekend. And for us, right here and right now, CBS Sports Radio is coming up next.
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