Coming to you live from our Elliot Avenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly with your host Jackson Felts.
Good evening, everybody, Welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson Feltz here for the next hour on a Wednesday edition this week of Sounders Weekly for the next hour covering all things Seattle, Sounders FC soccer. Jackson Feltz with you, and we thank you for tuning in tonight busy show ahead, we're gonna be hearing in a little bit from the player Kellen Rowe as opposed to the broadcaster Kelen row of course, who does our pregame, halftime postgame shows here on KJAR.
And he was also signed with Ballard FC recently last week Ballard. One week ago Ballard went out in the US Open Cup. We'll get into that in a little bit. Had the chance to catch up with Kellen, who made I guess a little bit of news in the interview. So if you've been on social media you heard that. If you have not, we will share that with you in the conversation with kell and Rowe come up in a little bit. After he played eighty minutes for Ballard FC,
there in last week's Open Cup loss to Spokane. We're also, of course going to go around the league with Ari Lillionwall of Major League Soccer and the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Ari will react to the Sounders zero zero draw against Houston. He'll also talk about what's going on around the rest of Major League Soccer, and as I heard on Monday's edition of Lobbing Scorches, they broke some news with Nico Moreno, so we'll ask him about that specific piece of news
that will be very interesting to Sounder fans. And then of course later on tonight we will preview the Sounders next match, and that will be against the San Jose Earthquakes. Let's quickly get you broadcast details on that. So this last week, if you listened to the Sounders Houston match, you have been listening on the Sounders FC radio stream channel on iHeartRadio. Whether it's the iHeartRadio app which is
free redesigned very cool. You can download the iHeart Radio app, or you can just go to iHeartRadio on whatever internet browser you use. You go up the Sounders FC radio stream channel and that is where you heard Sounders Houston. That is also where you will hear Sounders San Jose Earthquakes this coming Saturday night. We'll have actually Michelle Ludca be doing the pregame, halftime, postgame, I'm gonna be doing play by play alongside Brad Evans this coming Saturday night.
Of course, in addition to that, and by the way, the Providence, Swedish premat show will begin at seven o'clock kickoff right around seven point thirty. Once again, Sounders FC radio stream channel on the iHeartRadio app or iHeartRadio. You'd also watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and listen in Spanish language on LRA thirteen sixty. I will also mention that Saturday's match is
presented by the Western Washington Toyota Dealers. Ted Rainy, the play by play voice of the San Jose Earthquakes, will be joining us for our final segment tonight, as Ted and I will kind of in depth break down this earthquake squad, now coached by Bruce Arena, maybe the most decorated United States men's national team coach ever. Obviously so much time La Galaxy, New England Revolution.
He's now in.
San Jose, so we want to talk to Ted about how exactly the whole Bruce Arena show is going down in San Jose coming up later on tonight, But we will start the show really quickly by kind of reacting a little bit to that Houston zero zero draw.
And you know, it's funny. I think two things can be true.
I think you can a believe that the Sounders will be just fine. Offensively, I'm talking about here defensively, rock solid. We're never going to have any problems with the defense, even when new who is with Cameroon John Bell slides in defense is very very good. Still, that's never going to be a problem. But offensively, I think two things can be true. You can think that this team will be fine. Hayes'ssarira, he's only played two games at the
number nine, obviously still working in chemistry. I mean, Brian Schmitzer spoke at a press conference yesterday, and you know, one of the interesting things talking to him was about hayesus Ferreira, and and he said that, you know, he's putting himself in good positions, teammates aren't finding him well. That screams to be a chemistry issue. And chemistry issues get figured out over time. So overtime, and in the
long run, I think that'll be figured out. We'll obviously get Jordan Morris back in three or four weeks, Pedro de Levega back in two to three weeks. These guys are going to be coming back within a month, right. So the offense, I think it'll be fine. And I mean, look at last year, right, last year, this team was
horrendous to start twenty twenty four. And we can laugh about it now, but we can laugh about it because the team ended up being in the Western Conference Final, and you know, for my money, you don't make that mistake there late in that game. We're going to extra time, and we're very close to a chance to go play for an MLS Cup at home against New York Red Bulls, which I think we would have taken care of. So the margins and MLS are so slim, right, But the
start was so bad. Even this year, it hasn't been as bad as the start from last year. So all of this to say, I think we're going to be okay. But going back to it, I think two things can be true. You can say we're gonna be okay and point to all of those reasons why, but you can also be very frustrated by the product that was put
out there on the field on Saturday against Houston. You know, I wanted to start the show and I wanted to really talk about Christian Rodon's honor in Jordan Morris, Nicholas Ladero's return. But I think it is important to have a quick conversation and kind of be open and honest and real.
You know, I always try to be that on this show.
I know I'm a club broadcaster, but at the same time, I don't want to be a full on apologist and I don't want to talk down to people.
I mean, I'm a fan.
The only thing that makes me different from you all out there is the that I'm talking into a microphone. I'm just as big of a fan, right, So I never want to do that. I think it's important to be real and talk very honestly. And it was frustrating. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch a zero zero game, and for I know many of you guys
out there allumin field standing in the rain watching that. So, you know, I think that talking about those frustrations and kind of understanding why certain things happened, you know, kind of to the point of hees who's far right, still working into the squad, still trying to build chemistry. It's
a different system obviously. I mean one of the funny things in the pregame show that I had with Pete Fewing and Chance Fry was I asked, this lineup is listed as a three four to three and we've seen it for a few weeks now listed as a three four three, But how does it function any differently from a four two three one, or a three five two or a three four to two one, right, all these numbers, and you know, they kind of laughed it off and said, really,
they are just numbers, right, And I think that we are seeing a few specific things like Paul Rothrock last year was just a left winger, but this year he's more of a left wing back, so obviously few more defensive responsibilities for Paul Rothrock is probably the best word for it. So if last year it was attack, attack, attack defend, this year it is a little bit more attack, defend, attack defend, so that obviously takes away something on the
offensive end. You have the injuries, so you have Christian rolled On having to play up a line, you know, and that obviously is an entirely different chemistry building, you know, experience where Christian's playing alongside Albert and alongside heyesus in the three four to three or however numbers you want to play it. So there's reasons, I think for why
it didn't look good. They had chances. I think in between about I don't know about the thirty fifth minute to the fifty fifth minute, that twenty minute stretch, I feel like the Sounders put a lot of you know, interesting and exciting and fun play together that looked like it could have resulted in a goals. Even late in
the game. I think Georgie attacking off the right, he hits a shot or a cross that gets knocked away, the ball lands at Paul Rothrock's foot, but Albert Rusnak just you know, I think his momentums right in the
lane of Rothrock, and you know, shot goes wrong. So there's these little mistakes that are mounting, and that's another reason why we see just you know, I don't want to say it's not fun to watch, because again, there were a good twenty minutes in there, but so much of the stretches of that game before the thirty fifth minute and then you know, i'd say the last third of the match, you're kind of just wanting more from this attack. You're wanting more from these guys. You're wanting
that chemistry to be there. And for Georgie such an exciting player working down that right wing, but at a certain point Houston figured him out. And we have to give credit to the Houston Dynamo. They did an excellent job defensively of basically saying, you know, a Georgie, we know you're going to run at us, so we're gonna load you up with two maybe three defenders whenever it looks like you're going to, you know, run at a defender. They did a great job with him, but also they
just clogged the box. I mean, frankly, they kind of just came into this game. We talked last week with Hayesu's Oscevedo Junior on this show, and I asked him, do you think that because of how badly Houston has been do you just look to come to Seattle to get one point with a draw or do you go for it and try to make a statement with three points? And you know, instantly he was just like, no, it's
it's a draw, we're going we're going to Seattle. We're gonnamuck up the game, we're gonna make it ugly, and we're gonna want to get out of there with a point. Credit to Houston, they did that exact plan that Hazu's Osceivado Junior said they did. They came in, they mucked it up. They had what, I don't know how many fouls it was, It felt like twenty fouls. They only had six shots one on target to Seattle's sixteen and six. I mean, they were asking for it all game of
just come on, Seattle, you can attack us. We're gonna defend strong, we're gonna make this ugly and we're not going to allow you to score. And Houston did an excellent job of that. But when you're facing a team that does that, I mean, Jul Paulo and Brian Schmizer, one of them, maybe both of them said this yesterday, but when your Plan A isn't working on the offensive end, you.
Got to have a Plan B.
And that Plan B didn't show up in the game against Houston, and that's what kind of made it a very ugly game to watch and what's resulted in a zero zero draw where a lot of fans left the building. I mean, you look at what happened to Houston. It was actually that game at lumen Field was the first of eleven games this season as part of the First Match on US program. We talked about this a few shows back. In case you haven't heard about the First Match on US program. Very cool new thing that the
Sounders unveiled last month. So if you've never gone to a Sounders game, or if maybe if you've gone to a Sounder game with a friend, if you've never bought tickets through the Sounders website, you can go to a Sounder game for free this year. If you just a simple thing to do I can tell you is to google Sounder's First Match on Us and you'll bring up the web page for First Match on Us. You can register. You can go to one of eleven games this year
for free. You have a whole welcome package. I believe there's a complimentary scarf, a very cool one black and green that says let's rave on it.
There's a whole.
Program, you know, for being you know, a new fan essentially, And this was the first match of the eleven match program First Match on Us and we saw that in the crowd. I mean over thirty one thousand people. I felt it there. You know, even you know, a few thousand more than the normal crowd of you know, whether it's twenty nine whatever, thousand, Having a couple more thousand made a difference. I'll tell you what. In energy, it
was a great crowd. It was an engaged crowd, and I felt it, and I know a lot of other people up in the booth did, and that makes a difference. So, you know, to have those extra new fan you're trying to build a new fan base, you're trying to you know, grow the soccer and the Sounders in this city, and
to see a zero zero game, yeah, it's frustrating. And I feel the frustration not only from them who are seeing their first game, but also for long time Sounder fans who are going out there saying you know, I read Reddit comments, right and some Reddit comments were saying that was a boring game.
And you know, I would say that.
For large stretches the first third, the last third, I could see what you're kind of going for there. There's a lot of reasons why, and you know it goes to the reasons we just talked about, and it's up to the team to kind of find that Plan B and find that Plan C. So when a team like Houston says, no, we're gonna come in, we're just gonna defend. We're okay with a point, you gotta, obviously, you know, figure out what those other plans are in order to
a make it exciting and make it fun. And I think a lot of that is derived from scoring, right, so derived from the offensive movements that can get a
goal in the back of the net. And you know, I feel for those couple thousand fans, And if you're one of those couple thousand who were part of the first Match on US program that are listening right now and they're all you're also frustrated because of what you saw Saturday against Houston, I would say, A, I feel you, and that makes a lot of sense, and I understand the way you're feeling and also be that I would also say that normally sounder games aren't like that. We're
gonna get a couple of those every year. But also this team can be ridiculously fun. We're just a couple of weeks removed from the five to two win over LAFC where we knocked five goals in the back of their net. That was fun, that was exciting, and I think that's more of the norm than it is a zero zero game. Ultimately, I think this team will look better.
And if you're listening and you were part of the first Match on Us program, and you know, if you're listening and going to an upcoming Sounder game as part of the first Match on Us program, there will be many more exciting game to be had. But it is just frustrating because right Houston bottom of the table, a team that's rolling in here clearly just saying we just want a point and not able to score one.
Against a team like that.
Yeah, I get it, and I feel your frustration and I share it too. A Chance Frying the postgame show was talking about how you know, and I asked him, like, gosh, how do you get this confidence back? Because confidence will lead to scoring goals, which will lead to fun, which will lead to all of us having fun in the sands. And he said, you just got to get back to the simple things. You gotta run drills in training building towards confidence, and hopefully we're doing that in practice this week,
which will lead to scoring goals on Saturday. Now it is three straight road games, so we're probably not gonna see the Sounders at home again until they get perhaps Pedro and Jordan back. We have San Jose on the road this week, then we have San Diego on the road after that, then we have Dallas on the road after that before we finally return home. So this team
will be on the road for a few weeks. And I have no problem mucking up and making it an ugly game on the road, especially more of a defensive game when it's on the road. But when you're at home, when you have thirty one thousand, when you have people in for the first match on US program, yeah, I would love for it to be more of an exciting, fun, scoring goals type of atmosphere, and I do think we will get that in the very near future. I mentioned
what we have ahead San Jose. Ted Raimi, the play by play voice for the San Jose Earthquakes, will join us coming up to preview that. Let's switch gears though to Open Cup action, the US Open Cup Sounders are not in US Open Cup action, but to coma Defiance is in Open Cup action. Last week to coma Defiance one three to one over Washington Athletic Club. They have moved on to the second round of the US Open Cup.
The team they're gonna be facing is Spokane Velocity. And the way that Spokane Velocity got to the second round is including Ballard FC. Because Ballard FC hosted Spokane for the second straight year in twenty twenty four. This was at Memorial Stadium. Last year, Spokane scored in the ninety fourth minute to get a one nothing win over Ballard in the first round of the Open Cup. So what
happened this year? Same situation, Spokane at Ballard. This time was at the Ballard's home stadium, Inner Bay, and this game went past the ninety fourth. This game went all the way to the one twentieth and two seconds before the clock hit one twenty. We're at one hundred and nineteen minutes and fifty eight seconds on the clock. Spokane is attacking. Moments before we go to penalty kicks. Spokane's attacking into the west side of the stadium and they
take a shot. It hits a wicked deflection off of a Ballard defender's foot, ends up in the back of the net. The clock strikes one twenty and a few minutes afterwards, final whistle goes and just like last year, at the death, Spokane make it through one to nothing over Ballard to the next round of the US Open Cup. Absolute heartbreak for Ballard. F C Oh my goodness. I was there, you know, just a little bit like Houston.
It was in the rain, and it was frustration, you know, not being able to score offensively for Ballard, but it was you know, it was a fun atmosphere as it always is for Ballard FC games. Now, a player who played eighty minutes the first eighty minutes of that Ballard match is Kellan Row, obviously former Sounders midfielder and former Sounders defender. He decided to sign on with Ballard for the Open Cup run. After the game, I was able to catch up with Kellen and you're gonna hear that
conversation coming up in just a moment. But he said in this conversation that that's it, Kellan Row done playing. He said, it was one final night and here's what Kellen Rowe had to say. It was heartbreaking, but we were able to catch up after Ballard's won nothing defeat in the US Open Cup last week. First off, you played a lot of play a lot of games your career. Where is a one hundred and twenty eight minute heartbreaker rank up there for for that?
Man, this one sucks because those these kids, like just they work so hard. Yeah, like they they wanted it so much, and like, I'm glad that they let me play. But man, these these these guys are gonna be good players. It's just cool for me to see the talent that we have coming out of you know, the you do the Seattle, you guys around here, even guys that flew in like a Sean sent going to UCLA now, which
obviously album monitors, So it's kind of cool. But man, it's the heart that these guys put in is is something to me admirable because and it's I hope they put it into the pro level because a lot of times you don't see it all the way through the team and these guys they just want to go play.
Uh.
So it's a heartbreaker for these because I want them to play more and more. They deserve to play more and more. They've worked hard enough to do so. But you know, it's it's a positive team going into summertime. It's gonna be a fun tam to watch.
I feel like a lot of.
What you just said there is is kind of going to the next question, which is why you wanted to be.
A part of this.
Well, I wanted to be a part of it because I wanted to come back and have that last for Rah, and they were, you know, willing and able to give it to me, and these, like I said, these guys that have been putting in the work of you know, it's almost like a mentoring piece as well, where I can kind of coach on the field, because.
I don't want to be a coach, but I could do it. I could do a while playing.
So I didn't think I was gonna last eighty minutes. I thought it was maybe forty five. So I'll give myself a little bit for that. But how do you evaluate those lady?
Good enough? Good enough? I wish it was a little cleaner.
Obviously, I've been out of the game for a while because competitively, maybe almost two years since I've played a real game and get some real minutes.
So I'm probably not gonna be able to walk for the next two days. But it's it's all worth it.
I mean, overall, looking ahead, I mean, this is obviously open Cup. You got a USL two season ahead? How do you much do you kind of step in the locker room and say we got to kind of change gears and look ahead to a USL two season ahead.
They're gonna be looking forward. There is, Like I said, there's a lot of excitement coming in. The fans got to see the excitement. They got to see that these kids can put in all the effort and there's a lot of chances there. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I am going to be a fan now I had my time?
Was it?
This was it?
This is a one night and one night only show.
Really?
Oh yeah, so this is it? And I've been done for two years. I'm done.
Yeah.
Oh I'm a one hundred and twentieth minute goal. I'm okay with it. It was good with me.
So there it is from Kellan Row. That seems and sounds like the end for him. Uh, but very fun to see him play. Eighty minutes. Eighty good minutes by the way. He was good on the field there for Ballard FC, Spokane Velocity get the win. They are through to face Tacoma Defiance in the next round of the US Open Cup. But we'll turn our attention back to the Seattle Sounders and back to Major League Soccer. Ari Lillianohl from MLS Soccer dot Com and the podcast Lobbing Scorchers.
He will join us next here on Sounders Weekly on Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Now back to.
Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders FC, Seattle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz here on ninety three point three kjr F. Good to have you tonight on back to our normal night of Wednesdays again. We're switching to Tuesday next week. I'll quickly tell you that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish, the official healthcare
partner of Sounders FC. Thanks for spending that first twenty minutes with us, and that it's perfect time to kind of get our two cents from one of our experts from Major League Soccer dot com, where he is a writer and editor also host of the podcast Lobbing Scorchers.
Ari Lillian Wall Ari, how you doing tonight, man?
I'm good, Jackson? How are you?
I'm all right? Ari, I'm all right.
Let's start kind of just almost an extension of that previous segment where I kind of talked about how Saturday night against Houston wasn't fun, And I think two things can be true. You can say that this team will be all right and will be in contention at the end, but also for incontention, I think for an MLS Cup at the end, but also look at the realities. And what were your takeaways from Saturday's zero zero game against Houston.
Yeah, I take the issue. The way that I see is that.
Looks that looks too much like the team that we saw last year at the beginning of the season when they were really struggling on offense. You saw some decent chance generation but they couldn't finish. And you know, they obviously are injury.
Riddled right now.
But I think even with that taken into account, one goal against the Houston Dynamo at home is not an unreasonable ask or expectation with the lineup that they did put out on the field. So uh, I think you're still getting hastys Perira integrated. You are ravaged by injuries, so those things are You're gonna have to deal with them, but you need to figure out how to score some goals.
And take results in the meantime. And what you can't do is have this snowball into a thing where you're just doing the same thing that you did last year when you're in this situation, like they need to, they need to turn that around.
They do, and they certainly do. And you know, I think we'll see it soon with Pedro and Jordan returning. But before they return, I mean, we can't.
I will.
What I said the previous segment was we can't be missing one or two of our attackers and have the whole thing breakdown. Ari, Let's talk about some news that was made a couple of days ago on Lobbing Scorches. You have your Monday morning live show for Lobbing Scorches where Nico Moreno also joins, And I understand there was some news that came out of your Monday Morning Lobbing Scorches.
Yeah there was. Nico broke a report earlier in the day that the Sounders are linked to a potential transfer target, a free agent by the name of Ryan Kent, who similar name to the guy from ted lasvill but it's not the guy from ted Lasso. But my impression of it is, this is your de facto Paul Ariolo replacement with him obviously going down with the torn acl it
seems like there's similarities skill set wise there. He can be a threat from out wide and was a member of the Liverpool Academy when he played his youth soccer and has played in the English Championship. He's played in Scotland as in the Scottish Fight for Rangers, and he was just playing in Turkey for Jose Mourinho's team and had a falling out with him, So that that could be the coming edition that hopefully will boost the team's attack.
Ryan Kent with a bit of an injury history, but that would certainly boost it. You know, is it two on the nose for there to be a he's the He's here, he's there, He's every bleeping where Ryan Kent.
Ryan kN does that two on the nose?
You know, people have already been been making that reference. So I think when you're named Ryan Kent and you play professional soccer, that is probably just the reality of what's going to follow you no matter where you play.
All right, well, well exactly we'll see what comes of that. But good report there from Nico Moreno there who joins Lobbing Scorches every Monday morning. Are you where can people not only Monday but also Thursdays? Where can they tomorrow night coming up? Where can people catch your live lobbing Scorches.
Yeah, all you have to do is look up the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube, subscribe to the channel, turn on notifications, and you will know anytime that we go live every Monday at eight am and every Thursday at seven thirty pm. It's a lot of fun. Nico is my co host on the Monday show and then the Thursday show. I've been having a rotating cast of guests, so it's definitely worth stopping by.
Yeah, it was great joining you at the start of the season two and you do great work there on Lobbing of Scorches. Ario Luine was our guest. That's his podcast. He also is a writer and editor for MLS Soccer dot Com. All right, Ario, let's bounce around the league for a couple of minutes.
Here.
Let's start with Charlotte, because Charlotte, you know, in relation to what's coming with Seattle. With San Jose this week, they looked real good. For one, I think the Player of the Match day pet Beal is the overall with what a goal, a couple assists, great game for Charlotte, And you know, I kind of feel like I've asked this before, but I'll ask it again. You know, at the end of the season, are we gonna look at that draw and I get it, who was in, who
was out? Situation's late goal, But this is a Charlotte team that is sort of making head lines at the start of the season. Is a pretty good team out East.
Yeah, the whole story with them coming into the season was they were a team that had a solid foundation. They were good defensively, but just not dynamic or productive enough in attack to be a true contender. And I think a lot of people looked at their offseason and we're like, all right, maybe they can actually take that next step and become an actual contender in the East. And yeah, so far, it's definitely looking like they're.
Going to make good on that.
I think Dean Smith has proven to be a good higher for them. He just signed an extension, but it seems like he's built a really solid culture there and their roster just seems like it's in a much better place this year than it was last year. So I fully expect them to stay a contender in the Eastern Conference, and I do think looking at that Seattle game, I'll never call that a good result because of how they dropped those points. Yeah, but that that was a very
good team that they were playing in that game. I think we can safely say that.
Well, the team they be in that game San Jose Earthquakes, which is Seattle's next opponent. I guess all the question is, you know, who are the real San Jose Earthquakes. We saw such good soccer from them in the first two weeks of the season where they won both of their first couple, and then since then it's kind of not been very good. So who are these San Jose Earthquakes.
I think they're not as bad as they were last year, which is an admittedly extremely low bar because they got the Wooden spoon and gave up almost eighty goals. Last year they broke the record for goals conceded, so it'd be pretty hard to have a season that bad two years in a row. And I think Bruce Arena that's about as good to hire as they could have managed in terms of just a guy who knows the league and knows how to build a successful roster in this league.
So I think, to me, it seems like so full lot to see, but so far it seems like they're in a much better place, but it also seems like they still do have defensive issues. I think they're actually they look like they're probably going to be a pretty good team offensively, but I think they're still going to be susceptible to leaking goals, which obviously, with how goal star Seattle is right now, they need to capitalize on that.
We certainly do.
That sounds just like ripe for the picking to be able to score and kind of get off the Schneid, break the dam, all that good stuff. Ariy Lillian was our guest MLS Soccer dot Com in the podcast Lobbing scorcheres here on Sounders Weekly tonight. Are there's a lot of things we can talk about here with our last minute. I mean, I don't want to mention the fact that Portland got a big win over Colorado. I guess I just did LAFC right of the ship with a two
nothing win over Kansas City. Where I do want to go is Vancouver Chicago, because Vancouver finally losing. But it's the Chicago Fire and Greg Burhalter and maybe, yeah, we can talk about Vancouver. We've talked about them a lot. But for the Chicago Fire, I mean, that's right now, what three straight wins for them? You know, does Burrholter kind of have something going there in Chicago?
Yeah, no, I think he does. The story with the Chicago Fire for the last I don't even know how many years, is that they're a team that is I've never seen a team more incapable of holding a lead in my life than the Chicago Fire of the last five years. And that it turns out that that has been extremely hard for anyone who's coaching them to undo. Once that type of thing like gets in your DNA, it's pretty hard to get it out of your DNA.
And that was the task that Greg Burhalter had. And you know, it's still early, but these three straight wins, they're holding leads, they're scoring goals. They just beat a white Caps team, like you mentioned, that's been one of the big stories of the early season. So they have to sustain it. We've seen the Chicago Fire be hot
in spurts before and then it comes crashing down. But I think I think Burholter is doing a good job there, and frankly, if you watch the US men's national team play in CONGA Cap Nations League, maybe they should have kept him.
I don't know, maybe just to quickly follow up there, being that the Vancouver why Caps didn't have Ryan Gold or Brian White and they had internation duty and I know they're dealing with Conka.
CAF as well.
Yes it's their first loss, but not reading too much into that, I would imagine.
Uh yeah, not really. I mean, I think they'd been playing well with Ryan Gall without Ryan Gold, but eventually he's their most important player, so it doesn't surprise me to see a little downturn while he's still out.
Good stuff, my friend.
Uh, look forward to seeing you back in a few weeks before we get back to lumin Field together. But we'll enjoy your lobbing scorches live tomorrow night. Everybody subscribe to that and get notified when you Ari go is live there on Monday mornings and Thursday nights, and have a very good rest of the week, my.
Friend, Thanks, Jax, appreciate it.
That's good stuff there.
From Ari Lillienwall Again, writer and editor for MLS Soccer dot Com and host of the podcast Lobbing Scorches Well michelob Ultra ninety five calories and two point six grams of carbs. It's only worth it if you enjoy it. We talked for a minute there about the San Jose earthquakes, but let's go deep into San Jose because their play by play voice Ted Rainey, who does the radio play by play out there in San Jose. He will join us next to preview Saturday's match between the Sounders and Quakes.
That's next on Sounders Weekly Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders FC Cle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz. Good to have you with us here late tonight on a special Wednesday edition here at Sounders Weekly again. We'll have a Tuesday show next week at eight pm and we'll get back to our normal Wednesday seven pm shows when the Kraken season is over.
Well thanks to.
Our guest so far tonight, Kellen Rowe, the player for Ballard FC, also broadcaster of course after Ballard's loss, and ari E Lillion Wall that previous segment. But joining us right now here is the play by play voice of the San Jose Earthquakes here to preview this Saturday's match, and I need lots of information for the play by play call coming up on Saturday evening. Ted ray Amy, our good friend is back. Ted.
How you doing Man? Good to have you back on the show, Action.
Jackson Man, what's going on? Man? I am always excited to talk with you and you literally when you texted me, you beat me by minutes because I thought to myself, I was like, I need to contact the felts Man. Literally as I was having that thought, this is not a joke. I'm not putting on for your listeners. You texted me so you know they say that we broadcasters get a little institutionalized, and I think you and I were operating on the same wavelength WAVELEK, excuse me as it was.
Well, my wife's a therapist, and I think she would agree that I need to get institutionalized sometimes for my absolute crazy soccer mind. But listen, Ted, Ted Ramy's our guest. He's the voice of the Santa Seight earthquakes down there in northern California. Ted, it's good to have you back on the show Man and there's a lot I want to get into about these Earthquakes. Why don't you just kind of, you know, tell us as of you know, March twenty sixth, What is the story of San Jose
season so far? What are Seattle fans going in need to be kind of thinking as we are just a few days away from kicking this thing off.
Well, I think a lot of fans in San Jose kind of want to know the same answer to that question, because in the first two games, the Earthquakes.
Gave up one goal.
They had a four nil win over RSL, and then they had a two to one man down win over Sporting Kansas City in the Blue Hell, which is not easy to do with the Earthquakes first win in Sporting Kansas City since twenty fifteen. Now, since that point, the Earthquakes.
Have not had a good run of things.
They played really well against Minnesota United, but couldn't break down their defense. And I give a lot of credit to what's going on in Minnesota with their defense that night, because they were really really good and they lost one nothing. Then the next game they lost to one, falling to Colorado. The Quakes had the better XG. They had the better possession, they looked like the better team, but some defensive breakdowns allowed them to give up two goals out of you know,
you didn't see it coming. For lack of a better term, now, I will note the first three games, of which the Quakes only gave up nil, one and one, they played with three center backs in two wingbacks. Against Colorado, two center backs, two fullbacks, they gave up two goals. Now this most recent game, of which they're coming off of a pretty upsetting loss against Charlotte, they lost for to one and once again had two in the back and
there are two center backs and two fullbacks. They switched back to a three man back line with two wingbacks in the second half and only conceded one goal. So you know, Jackson, this is a team the Santols Earquakes that LA season ago gave up seventy eight goals, an MLS record. So defense has been a big question for the team entering the year, and so now they've seen themselves in consecutive games double the amount of goals that
they allowed the week before. So I'm not going to be surprised if the Earquakes are back with that three man back line with the two wingbacks and jamar Ricketts and Christian Espinosa. Heading into this week's.
Game, definitely feels like just kind of all the switching has not allowed San Jose to get in a full rhythm this season so far. How much of all these changes is personnel driven versus just what you know the coach dictates and needs to need to be.
Well. The broader answer to that question is since Ernan Lopez, their highly priced DP Argentinian ten that they acquired late April a year ago, since he drew the red card against Sporting Kansas City, he has not played, who was suspended against Minnesota and then it came out that he had to have shoulder surgery in is out three to
four months. So no one saw that coming. But the Earthquakes, in my opinion, have not been the same team since, even though they have been able to create possession and have some good looks in the last couple of games, they really just appeared more organized with their non Lopez in the middle. And that's not that surprising. This is a guy who is you know, it was expensive for a reason, I'll put it that way, and you know
Ten's in MLS. If you have a high priced Argentinian ten, you know, drawing things up on the field in real time. He usually leads the success. I think you guys in the Pacific Northwest know that story pretty well. But since he's gone down the earthquake, scored six goals in their first two games, then they've only scored two since, so
that is a bit concerning. And then you start to figure out what Bruce Arena wants to do in the with the back line, and starting off, he had the two wingbacks, Jamar Rickett's a second year player and missed a lot of time last year because he had a blown on hamstring, and the captain Christian Espinosa, who was once again off to a quality start this year. He's
getting assists, he's doing his thing. But but I think Bruce Arena, and I talked to him about it last week, is that he is still learning a lot about the players that are on this roster. Because he did bring in a Dave Romney and you know Mark Anthony k and you know and Ian Harks, but he's still getting to know everybody else, and I think that's part of it. Right now. He's still figuring out how to use all these guys, and he'll be the first one to tell you.
And he said it after they won their first game. You know, we could go one and thirty three from this point was his quote verbatim. So he's not overreacting or underreacting. I think he's just looking at this as trying to feel it all out.
Yeah, and that makes sense.
I mean the Sounders are doing with a little bit of a similar thing with Haysus Ferrera, where we're we're not only as Hayesu's figuring himself out with the players, but other players are figuring out how to you know, play with Haesus Ferrera as well at the nine while Jordan Morris is injured. So I totally hear you on that. Ted Ramy's our guest. He's the voice of the San Jose Earthquakes down there in San Jose where the Sounders will be this coming Saturday night for their game once again.
For folks, it'll be a seven o'clock Providence, Swedish premach shows seven to thirty kickoff. Myself and Brad Evans will have the play by play call on the Sounders FCAT radio stream channel on iHeart Radio.
Ted Bruce Arena.
I think that was one of the big things last year when we saw the kind of the headlines of San Jose going after you know name head coaches and the I remember the press release or the tweet that got sent out from San Jose saying we're looking at you know xyz, and they're all massive names for head coaches, but it ended up being Bruce Arena. A. What has the Bruce Arena era been like in San Jose far and b how have fans liked having Bruce Arena as a head coach?
You know, fans I think initially were a little bit shocked and directly associated him with the LA Galaxy, But once they got over the shock and recognized that he is the most decorated head coach in the history of American soccer, that this was a good hire. And immediately Bruce Arena set to upgrading the facilities and expanding the facilities and investing in the infrastructure at the club, and I think everybody responded very positively to that. They said, Okay,
this is not just a big name hiring. He's trying to change the culture in San Jose, of which you know, since the team came back to MLS in San Jose, there have not been enough playoff appearances and not enough success. And I think that in looking at a hire like Bruce Serena, you're expecting him to change all that. And in expecting him to change all that, his direct response is, if you want a change, this is what we need to do to change what's been going on here. So
I think there's a lot of excitement. It was very fun. At the end of the first game, the opener, which they won for nothing, the Ultras were doing the Bruce Arena Can't over and over, so that was fun to hear going throughout pay Paul Park. But Bruce is, you know, he is very just calm and relaxed. He's very even keeled. He's not overreacting to anything. He's just kind of taking
it all in stride. And you know, when I when I first met him, I was introducing myself and you know, saying, you know that I am you know, I'm work for the team. I know I'm technically media, but I promise i'm you know, I'm on the payroll. And I was asking if I could come out to the closed door scrimmage and he's like, yeah, he's like whatever, He's like, whatever you need to do. Man. No, he's just so he's so calm. It's it's it's nice just to see
how he takes everything in stride. He's not con earns about, you know, much at this point. Even during the loss last week when they lost four to one and went down, you know, early on, he just kind of he wasn't screaming,
he wasn't yelling. He was just looking at everything. And I think that having someone who is that not necessarily a flat affect, but not unbothered, I guess by it is pretty calming because that's you know, you remember the seven to one defeat the Sounders put on the earthquakes a few years ago, so that was that was a different type of reaction and a different type of blowout. To be fair, once you get over five, things start entering the historic conversation. But you know, I remember at
that point Matthias Aalmeta not being very happy. But Bruce he can go down the other day and was just kind of like, Okay, this is not going our way. We'll figure it out from here. And I think that his very flat, you know, not again I'm going.
Back to Yeah.
He's just He's just very chill in a very Californian West Coast way. He's kind of like, Okay, well we'll go from here, and I think players respond to that. And you know what's really fun. He's talking to guys like Dave Romney who have been around Major League soccer since twenty fifteen and this is their third time playing for Bruce. And you know, I asked him before the start of the season, what do you think right now? And he said, it's a work in progress, and you know,
Bruce is figuring everything out. And I think that when you get a veteran like that who's speaking about things, I think you guys would look at Jordan Morris this way to get his long term opinion about things. Is that you know, that rubs off on guys to where they don't get overly concerned with the highs and the lows because they've been through this before and they know they'll be through it again. And so right now, I think everything's just kind of feeling everything out. But yeah,
it is fun having Bruce around. He's a unique idiosyncratic personality and those are fun in sports. As you know, with your head coach.
In Seattle, yes, we do ted last thing for you before we let you go. Ted Ramy's our guest play by play voice of the San Jose Earthquakes. This could be a very very quick one, or you could kind
of take it into a number of directions. I'm just wondering, how in the world did you get Chicho Arongo for four point one point four million dollars and an international spot, because I mean, I just I literally, you know, I literally misspoke right there and said four point one And I feel like that's what Chicho almost deserves.
Well from what I was able to gather. Whatever happened in Salt Lake, they all still love him there, but they all agreed on both sides that it was time for a change. And I couldn't try any more information out of that front office. I tried, you know, I was saying, you know, trying to figure out what was going on.
Point four million. That's pennies, I know.
But they all agreed it was time for change. How well for s I knowse and I also people say, oh, well, his second half wasn't as good last year, but also coincided with the sale of Gomez, of which that season's trajectory really changed for Salt Lake, so that has to be taken into consideration as well. Chicho's already got three goals this year. He has got a rocket of a boot, He's got great instincts, He's been in really good experiences.
He's been here. I don't know exactly how it worked out that the earthquakes got him for such a great deal, but they did, and I think right now everybody's excited about it. And I think that there have been a few moments where you see the interplay between him and a Joseph Martinez to where you can really see what could potentially be with those guys going forward. He'll take
time for them to figure it out. And you know, it's not been quite the same since her Non Lopez went down with the shoulder injury, but he'll be back. So I think right now everyone's very much excited about what happens with the Chicho because he is an MVP caliber player at this point of his career, and I think that as he continues to find his former San Jose, they all expect him to continue to play like an
MVP caliber player. When you combine that with the guy like Christian Espinosa who has the potential to be an MVP caliber player in every single game that he plays. You're looking at a lot of firepower in the attack, and as the Earthquakes figure it out, I think they'll have more success. I don't think it's going to be two wins and three losses with that ratio for the
entirety of the year. But I think everyone has seen the moments of potential that are directly being played through Chiho and getting very very excited.
One point four million dollars, I just I'll just say congrats, happy for you. Nice, Yeah, awesome.
It's not my money specifically to sign the check.
Oh man, what a deal. All right, Well, it's gould be a fun game here on Saturday. Ted, appreciate the time here joining our show. Good to get you back on, and then thanks for taking the time with me tonight.
Anytime, man, anytime.
That's good stuff there from Ted Raimie. He's the play by play voice for the San Jose Earthquakes down there in northern California, where the Sounders will be this coming weekend. One more reminder about broadcast details. If you listened to the Sounders Houston game last week that was on the sounders FC Radio stream channel on iHeartRadio, the iHeartRadio app.
It's free, it's redesigned, it's very cool.
Download the iHeartRadio app or on iHeartRadio wherever you have your browser, Google, Crumme, Internet Explorer, whatever, look up the iHeart Radio and you lean to look up Sounders FC radio stream channel. Because Saturday for Sounders at Houston, we're gonna have a seven o'clock provident Swedish prematch show seven point thirty kickoff. I will be on the play by a play call alongside of Brad Evans this coming Saturday night, So listen for that on the Sounders FC radio stream
channel on iHeartRadio. You can also watch the match on MLS Season Pass and listen in Spanish language on LRA thirteen sixty. I'll also mention that Saturday's match is presented by the Western Washington Toyota Dealers. That'll do it for Sounders Weekly tonight. We'll talk to you on Saturday there on the Sounders FC radio stream channel. But for right here and right now, it's Men's Health Monthly coming up next on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.