Coming do you live from our Elliot Avenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Saunders Weekly with your host Jackson Felds. Good evening, everybody, Welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson Felds here for the next hour talking to all things Seattle, Sounders FC, Soccer and special episode as we are going to be celebrating and talking extensively about Lionel Messi, the greatest soccer player of all time, and my and many others opinions officially joining Major League
Soccer officially joining inter Miami. Last week we wanted to dedicate to didn't really get into it too much last week. Wanted to dedicate an entire episode to this massive move, probably the biggest moment in our league's history, getting the greatest player of all time who turned down a lot more money. He turned down and reported one point three billion over two years from a Saudi Arabian club JLLAL to join into Miami on a deal for much less money, but a
deal that changes the landscape of American soccer. We're gonna be celebrating and talking about that a lot today. You're gonna be hearing from Brian Schmitzer you're gonna be hearing from Craig Wible, Christian roll Don, lots of Sounders talking about the arrival of Lionel Messi to MLS. That's gonna come up towards the end of the show. We're gonna move Ari Lillianwall, who always takes us around
the league. He is a writer, of course for MLS Soccer dot Com, a host of podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Ari's gonna be joining us for our middle longer segment tonight because we are going to have an extended chat with Ari Lillianwall to talk about the arrival of Lionel Messi. Will also talk to him about the Sounder as a result. We'll get to that momentarily, and of course Andrew Harvey will take us around the sound after Ari, but we'll hear
from Brian, Craig and Christian later on tonight. We will spend this opening segment though, before we get to the messy portion of the program. Tonight, we will spend this opening segment talking about what happened for the Seattle Sounders, and that was an offensive explosion by which we haven't seen more than two months, but it was also a defensive letdown that we haven't seen in a while, a bad one. So there is a couple different ways to look
at this game against Charlotte. It ends with a final score of three to three, and it was a wild, exciting one out there at Bank of America Field in Charlotte, North Carolina, this last Saturday. Before anything else, I will quickly tell you what's coming up for the Sounders because they have no matches this weekend today, have a weekend off, but they'll have two games next week. So really quickly just mentioned that and then we'll move forward.
There will be no Sounders Weekly on next week's show because the Sounders are going to be playing on both Wednesday on the road and then Saturday at home. So Wednesday, next Wednesday, a week from tonight, right here, right at this time here on ninety three point three KJR FM, the Sounders are headed to Los Angeles to face LAFC in a road match. Kickoff for
that will be at seven thirty Providence, Swedish prematch show. We'll be at seven o'clock and next Wednesday for Sounders at LAFC, you know, so watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TVP So that's the Wednesday road match that will get in the way of Sounders weekly next Wednesday. Then the Sounders will be playing at home next Saturday, and again not this Saturday. This this is a week going to have from now. This is the next
home match. Sounders will be hosting Orlando City SC on June twenty fourth, just like the other one on Wednesday. It's going to be a seven thirty kickoff Providence, Swedish prematch show will begin at seven o'clock right here on Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM, and this one will be at Emerald
Queen Casino Pitch at Luminfield. Gear tickets to this June twenty fourth match against Orlando today by visiting Sounders FC dot com slash tickets Like LAFC, you can watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV listen in Spanish language on l A thirteen sixty. So two matches coming up next week, no matches this weekend, and that's why we're going to take it a lot of this show to dedicate it and look ahead and talk about Lionel Messi joining Miami
and joining MLS. But in terms of this Charlotte match, I mentioned three to three quickly to run through it. Sounders really started off on as about as good of a front foot as you could possibly imagine. First twelve minutes
were all Sounders and it kind of crescendoed with an eleventh minute goal. Long ball from Jackson Reagan on a free kick Christian rolled On taps, comes down through the top of the box, slides it passed Kaleena the goalkeeper there for Charlotte's gives the Sounders a one nothing lead, and then Charlotte kind of took command of this match. They really had good about twenty minutes where they were in possession and they looked like they could strike, and they did strike.
Seventeenth minute Jalen Lindsay really good goal after a really an exceptional assist by Swadersky. Carol Swaderski somehow, I don't know if we haven't confirmed or not, but the referee say he did somehow keep the ball in bounds with the outside of his left foot, keeps it in bounds, hits it a kind of a rainbow ball over the top of the goal to Jalen Lindsay who taps it
in for the one one equalizer. In the seventeenth minute Sounders finally took control again at about the thirty fifth minute, and then in the thirty sixth Raal Ruidiaz hit a legendary shot. I mean, something that we grown to know that rawl Ruidiaz can do over the years. We wanted to see it now that he was back from injury, and my god, what a hit. In the thirty sixth minute from about twenty five yards out. He kind of walks with the ball towards the middle of the box and then strikes it with
his foot into the right side of the nets. And what a phenomenal goal from Rawal Rudias. Of course, it was our play of the match and gave the Sounders a two to one lead. Then unfortunately, once again, Charlotte equalized fifty third minute from Westwood. It's a ball that's a little bit like Role. I wouldn't say as impressive, but a little bit like Role. He scores in the fifty third to make a two two. Then the
Sounders come right back again seventieth minute. It was a series of possessions from about I don't know about the sixty eight through seventieth minutes where you just have cross, cover after cross after cross coming in and the Sounders are on this huge attack and you're just waiting for a ball to go into the back of the net. It takes four crosses from Jual Paulo, but finally the fourth one reaches Rowle Rudiaz his foot. He pokes it into the goal and the
Sounders led three to two. On the seventieth minutes. Then they make all of their changes. You have a bear come in for Rudyaz. Goal from Rudyaz, by the way, was his last touch of the game, so well done to make his time worth it with those two goals. So a bear comes in for role call row comes in for Christian rolled On looked like he was just going through a little bit of cramping. And also Jordan Morris makes his return. He comes in for Leo Chu. So changes and Charlotte
kind of, I would say, kind of took advantage of that. And we also saw Ariaga com in. The Sounders built a back five Charlotte because of all these changes. Knowing they needed a goal, they were pressing really hard and they did get it eighty nine minutes and you know it's the equaliser goal. It's headed in past Stephen Fry. There's a couple of different ways of looking at it, and for me, the number one thing for me
is there was absolutely no pressure on the cross, absolutely none. The cross comes in for the header and there wasn't a guy within ten yards of the man on the assists, So that frustrated me greatly. You gotta have pressure if you know that Charlotte's just going to be, you know, lobbing balls in one after another after another. You gotta defend that better. You gotta have more pressure on everybody in the midfield who's throwing those balls in. You
can't just willy nilly let them send those in. You gotta make it difficult. And the Sounders didn't make it difficult. They get a ball credit. It's a nice placed header and it is three three the final. So you can look at it as always ties are. You can look at it as glass half full. The offense exploded finally, first time scoring two plus goals in more than two months, all the way going back to April eighth against Saint Louis where the Sounders won three nothing. Or you can look at it
as glass half empty. We gave up three goals. We had the chance to capture all three points on the road, We squandered it, we lost those two points, and it only ends in a draw. Two different ways of looking at it. I think both are very fair. I think it's very fair to be mad that this team did not capture all three points when
you give up an eighty ninth minute equalizer. But I think you can also be very happy that we got a massive offensive game that we haven't seen in a long time, and it just happened to coincide with the first start for
Christian rolled On since April eighth. Coincidence. As many of you pointed out on Twitter, I think not Christian rolled On is the engine, the motor that makes this car go at least offensively, and I think we absolutely saw that, as well as Ruy Diaz, both of those two guys making their first starts in a while and both of them scoring role twice. Just I mean offensively. It was a great game and it's everything we needed to see with the team preparing to go to LAFC a week from tonight. No further
injuries. It looked like there was some cramping, but no further injuries, so you would think this team is going to be at one hundred percent power to face what might be very well. I mean they made the Champions League Final, the best team in Major League Soccer in LAFC, so you would have an one hundred percent healthy team going into that game. That is a
very very good thing for your Sounders. So once again I'll quickly tell you the two matches coming up LAFC a week from tonight right here in ninety three point three KJRFM pre match show seven o'clock kickoff at seven thirty a week from tonight. And then again the home match coming up will be a week from SA our day, and that will be the next home match June twenty fourth against Orlando City SC also seven o'clock, Providence, Swedish prematch show seven thirty
kickoff from lumen Field. Listen to that match right here ninety three point three kjr FM. You can also watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple t VPP listen in Spanish language on LA thirteen sixty and gear tickets today by visiting Sounders fc dot com slash tickets for that next home match on the twenty fourth, No match this weekend. So there you go. Those are the next two matches we're coming out of this break, and we're going into
this break out of a three three draw. And you look it overall the three matches that the Sounders had at home New York Red Bulls win, San Jose loss, and then the Portland zero zero draw. Now it's another point. You know, now that this team is one hundred percent and healthy, we're going to see the offense get back. It's just about racking up these points. Still second place in the Western Conference. Yes, LAFC right below us, has what four games in hand, so it's very possible that they
jump Seattle at some point. They did lose for nothing, by the way, we'll talk about that with Ari coming up in a little bit as well when we go around the league. But it's possible ALFC still jump Seattle. But really, you know, after Dallas lost at Portland, Seattle has a very strong position there in the top three of the Western Conference, and top three of the Western Conference means at least one home playoff game, if not two. So Sounders are sitting in a very good spot right now. We
just you know, gotta start racking up those points. We've dropped a lot of points here over the last couple months. While Christian's been out. Now that he's back, now that role is healthy, it's time to get the points. The offense is on all cylinders, it's time to make sure the defense follows them. And listen, good offensive game by Jackson Reagan. Great job, congratulations, first ever assist. But defensively, we gotta make sure
we're tight. Gotta get back to getting those clean sheets. Nine on the year for Stephen Fry. Let's get back to that. Let's start racking up three points. As the Sounders are now in the second half of the campaign. Well, Sounders FC and Boeing are teaming up to support the Washington Youth Soccer Community Corner on match days this season. Join us in stadium as welcome Washington Youth soccer players and coaches to cheer on the Rave Green courtesy of Boeing.
All right, we'll take a break. We'll move on from the Sounders talk. We'll actually we'll probably talked him to Ari Lilian wall a little bit about the drag in Charlotte and LAFC coming up, but really right after that, it's all about Lionel Messi, the greatest of all time, the Goat of soccer, is coming to MLS, coming to Miami. It's official. We will talk about it a lot for the rest of Sounders Weekly. That
continues next on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Saunders fc CL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Welcome back to Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz here, good to have you with us on this Wednesday at night here for Sounders Weekly. No show next week is the Sounders are headed to the City of Angels to take on LAFC one week from right now. We'll be nearing kickoff there from BMO Stadium there
in Los Angeles. But right now we're shifting some things around. We spent that first segment talking about Sounders and Charlotte will of course continue that here in a moment with Ari Lunwall, who will take us around the league. And then we'll change gears and really kind of make this episode. The last half of this episode all about Messi and the arrival of the greatest soccer player of all time, Lionel Messi to MLS and enter Miami. Well, Sounder fans.
Bud Light was rude to be a delicious and easy to drink beer. Bud Light easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Pick up bud Light at your local retailer today. Please enjoy responsibly showing us right now from MLS Soccer dot com and the outstanding podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Ari lillianwall Ari, good evening, my friend. How are you. I'm good, Jackson. Thanks for having me back. Yeah, good to have you back. Ari. I was able to listen to one of your latest episodes, the Messy episode of
Lobbing Scorchers. You told a story in that about your connection with Messi in the time that he came to Seattle with Argentina and the Copa America back in twenty sixteen. I don't want you to tell that story. I want listeners to go check out your podcast they're Lobbing Scorchers wherever anybody gets their podcasts, and to hear that story. It was very entertaining. I remember you telling me that story about you know, five to sixty years ago, and it's
just it's a hilarious one. You retell it on the podcast, so everybody makes sure to go check that out. It's a great story. Are you. Before we get to MESSI, though, let's quickly jump and talk about the Seattle Sounders, and first what you saw in the three three draw there on the road against Charlotte on Saturday. Yeah, I mean I thought there was a good side of it and an unfortunate side of it. I think the good news is that the attack looked very good, very sharp. It
was good to see Christian rolled On back in the starting lineup. I mean, we've been talking about it, but you see what kind of impact he can make. He scores a goal ten minutes into the game, all right, so that was one positive. And then also Varidias being back all to see the type of impact he can make. We've also been talking about that a lot. He gets two goals. That first goal was a very good goal Glozzo from outside the box. He's one of the few guys in the
league that can that can hit that shot consistently. Having those two guys back, I mean, you see what type of difference that makes right away an attack. They hadn't had a multi goal game in their last eleven games. I think in the first game that they get those two guys back in the starting lineup, they put up one point four or so expected goals and score three goals. Most importantly on the road, So I think that's a good
thing for their outlooks moving forward. But the unfortunate thing was they didn't do a good enough job managing the game when they had to lead three times. Getting a win on the road is hard, But if you read the game three separate times in the same game, that should be a win. I think everyone on the team, all the coaches, would tell you that that
needs to be a win, and that came down to game management. To me, they were letting the game get too free flowing, two open and they had to lead instead of spoiling it down and just trying to calm it down out there. So it should have been a win. But I think if you're looking for a source of optimism, the fact that they got three goals and Christian and Raoul will look to be back sitting healthy. That can
only be a good thing going forward, for sure. One of those unique situations where the glass can be both half full and half empty, two different ways you can equally look at it, and both of them are very fair. But I agree with you there, and I had underlined in my notes no pressure on that final ball that resulted in the header for Charlotte's third goal. You gotta get more pressure on that. But listen, we're done dwelling.
It was a great offensive explosion. Nobody got any other serious injuries, so this team should be one hundred percent healthy for the next match. And let's move into our sharp vision upon an outlook for the match coming up a week from tonight at LAFC and Ari. This is an LAFC team. As we mentioned, we joked about and we had so much fun with it.
By the way, your podcast on loss FC was just so funny you and Noah, you know, just basically celebrating and just poking fun at how embarrassing that was for LAFC to lose the Conker Calf Champions League final in that In that regard at home, it was very good. So make sure folks to check out that for more laughs at at LAFC. But are you listen, this team, after losing the Conercalf Champions League loses against Houston for nothing. This is a LAFC team, are you? I come wondering from your eyes?
Is this a little bit like Seattle last year in the sense of it was a you know, twenty thousand pound guerrilla that's kind of shrunk, that the Sounders can actually have a really good chance of taking down next Wednesday.
So it's too early to call it a hangover just yet. Okay, when you played two games and CCL ended, first game was at home against Atlanta and they kind at zero zero, which if you look at that result, um, you might think that that's a sign of a hangover, But if you look at how that game played out, they were all over Atlanta throughout
all that game. They put up like two point seven expected goals, and the only reason that they didn't win was because Atlantic goalkeeper Brad Guzan had apparently the greatest game of his life, just making crazy saves and standing on his head to keep them off the score sheet. So I looked at that and I was like, all right, it was zero zero, but they pretty much looked like normal LAFC, and they don't look hungover at all. But you go to the next game, like you mentioned four zero at the Dynamo,
It doesn't surprise me that they didn't beat the Dynamo. But I see four zero, and that is a surprising result for LAFC. Under any circumstances. You don't expect them to get run over like that against Houston, no matter how difficult to place Houston is to play. So I saw that, and that looks like a sign that to hangover might be hitting. Yeah, just that result by itself, and then you also have to take into account
their fixture congestion hasn't really even gotten started yet. They have a ridiculous slate of games coming up. I think they're playing two more games in between the time that. Yeah, yeah, they actually just kicked off, like I want to say, or they're about to kick off, I should say, in a few minutes. So LAFC has a game coming up tonight and then they play over the weekend again before the Sounders next Wednesday, so their slate
is very full. Yeah. So my takeaway from that is that this is about as vulnerable as you could ever help to catch LAFC coming off the Champions League loss with this picture congestion that they have to deal with. Most times you're going away at LAFC, it's one of your hardest games and you basically are just praying to get any type of result. But given what they're dealing with right now, I think this is about as good a situation as you
could ever hope to catch them in. It doesn't mean there's any guarantee of a result, but I certainly think those factors make it more likely than it normally would be. Well, we'll certainly see what the lineup looks like for the LAFC or the next two games. As I mentioned, they kick off at home against hust And coming up in just about fifteen minutes, and then they are going to Sporting Kansas City, who are on a tear right now.
They're going to there this Saturday evening, so we'll look at what the lineup could look like. Well. Tonight's opponent outlook was presented by Sharp Vision, Modern Lasic and Lens, the official lasic provider of Sounders FC. All Right, ari lelin Wall was our guest MLS Soccer dot Com and podcast host Lobbing Scorcher's Great Podcasts There check it out. Ari, Let's talk about the
big news of the week. We didn't talk about it at all last week because there was too much to celebrate with LAFC losing, and I wanted to dedicate a long time too, the arrival of the great Lionel Messi joining MLS joining into Miami. It is now official, but I have a lot of in depth and specific questions. But let me just start with your first reaction when we woke up that morning last week I think it was last Wednesday, and you saw the news that Messi was joining Miami. It is official.
What was your initial reaction. I mean, I was excited, Jackson, I was really excited. I wasn't overly shocked, I would say only because these links between Messi and Inter Miami have been around for a while. There's
been an increasing amount of smoke around this. Basically, we were all just waiting to see who he was going to pick between three clubs, the Saudi Arabian Club Barcelona, which is his you know boyhood club that where he became a superstar, and Inter Miami. When I saw that it was Iner Miami, I was like, okay, okay, it's on. It's on, because this is I mean, this is the biggest signing in MLS history. Are none not even close, the best player to ever play the game.
You know, when you're talking about Messi, you're you're talking about something that is very much It's beyond even just soccer. This is a cultural icon beyond just a game. You know, he has that he has that iconic presence that only there's only a few names that you could put up there with him, and I think you could put Messi at the top of any of those
lists. You could at least argue it well. I think said it on your podcast that he's probably the most recognizable person on the entire Earth right now, and considering the population size, is the most recognizable person of all the time at any one point, I mean, is up there with Obama. Like you know, this is the largest human in the world, perhaps right now, and he's deciding to play in our league, right and so with
that comes a ton of eyeballs on MLS. People from all over the world who didn't previously are going to be watching the league and following the league just to watch him. So you really can't overstate how big that is, both for MLS but also the growth of the game in this country. And that's that's the main thing that I'm invested in, is growing the sport and getting getting the game as popular here as it is globally. At this point, I'm I just can't wait to see what it looks like on the field.
You know, he's the most fun player to watch there is if you if you haven't happen to have not watched a lot of Messy in your life, and you're going to be kind of tune it in for the first time. I mean, you'll see what I mean right away. With the stuff this guy can do on the field, It's unbelievable to watch and I can't wait to see what it looks like in MLS. Are The first follow up I have is on that point right there, because this is a Miami team in
last place, where they are in a lot of trouble. They do not have a lot going for them. Is Messi enough to save their season? Is it enough to get to the playoffs? And then what can he do because obviously this is a guy who who defensively he's not really all that much of a help, right So how much can Messi do to help Miami?
Is this a player who can change everything for them? Or is this just gonna kind of be you know, it's gonna be the Shoho Tani of Major League Soccer, putting up big numbers, doing amazing things, but not helping enough to get Miami the WS. Yeah, that's a really good question. I mean, you're right, they're very low on the table right now. And they have a lot of ground to make up. You know, it's
gonna help a lot. It's gonna help a lot because there's no player I've ever watched that elevates every other attacking player to the extreme degree that he does. He makes everyone around him so much better. So I certainly think whenever he's on the field there, his presence alone, more than any one player I could think of, should elevate them an attack to a team that's very dangerous and always a threat to score goals. I do think he's going to
have that type of impact. I think the only issue is as far as getting them back into the playoff Nicks is they have to start making a ground before he gets here. He might be getting here too late in the season for them to make up that ground. Even if he does help there, it just might be two people old, you know. So a lot of it I think might come down to how early they can get him on the
field. I'm not exactly sure when he's supposed to get here, So they just have to hope that they can stay afloat and stay within striking range until he gets here, and hope that they can short up their defense a little bit and then that when he gets on the field, he actually provides such a boost. But I certainly, I certainly expect it to have a very big on field impact as far as their ability an attack to generate chances and score goals. I mean, he's the best that's ever played the game at
creating chances and finding a fist and scoring goals. So you put that in there, that's going to help them a lot on the attacking end. But I just don't know if he's going to be here in time to make up for what kind of hole they might be dealing with, because they're last in the East right now, so that'll be interesting to see. But they definitely have a better chance with Messy on the field to make a comeback like that
than they did without him, that's for sure. Are Lillian Law was our guest to He's writer for MLS Soccer dot com, host of The Lotting Scorcher's podcast. Are My next follow up regarding Messi is the uniqueness of this deal. And we saw the reports who turned down one point three billion over two years from all all in Saudi Arabia to instead join MLS. We know about
the stake from Adidas and from you know, an Apple TV. It seemed like Don Garber and then everybody at MLS did a really unique and fantastic job to make this deal financially viable. And yes it is still like what a tenth of what he would make in Saudi Arabia. But at the end of the day, I mean, you look at the situation there. His wife did not want to go to Saudi Arabia, and then Barcelona financially just couldn't
put the deal together. So I guess at the end of the day it came down to, you know, happy wife, happy life, and can Miami make this and can MLS make this a viable financial option and or it's a very very unique deal, but it's sort of it's as good as the league could ever put together in a situation like this. Yeah, I mean it's a situation where if you have an opportunity to get Messi to the league, you kind of have to do whatever it takes to get that done,
pull every string imaginable um and cobble it together. And because there's just no comparison for the type of impact that he can have on the profile of the league and the growth of the sport, you know MLS with the roster rules, it's always convoluted, it's always hard to follow. They're been situations like this in the past with David Beckham, who was kind of original signing like this. Roster rules don't exist in situations like this. Yeah, and so
actually, uh, Bruce Arena, head coaches in New England. Revolution was asked about this at a press conference the other day and the reporters were essentially trying to bait him into saying that it was unfair that inter Miami was these strings repulse for them to get messy when they had had roster sanctions in the years prior, and Bruce Arena it basically essentially said what I was just saying, which is that, look, it's messy, like you got to do
what it takes to get it done. Having him in the league is great. It's a very important thing to get done if you have the opportunity. And he even said that they could have three dps and he would have been okay already, and he would have been okay with them bringing Messi in. That's how important it is to get Messi in the league if you have the
opportunity. All right, let's talk to wrap this up about how this changes soccer culture in America, And you mentioned it's gonna have a lot more eyes on both Miami, the squad as well as the league as a whole, people monitoring and figuring out, Okay, how is he on the table as Messi gonna you know, bring this team back from the brink. So, just in general, give me your two cents on how this move Messi to MLS will change the soccer culture of this country. Yeah, I mean it's
gonna change a lot. It's gonna change a lot. When you're talking about a player of this profile that draws eyeballs that wouldn't be there before, and it draws a lot of them. People are going to be watching inter Miami games that probably didn't even know what inter Miami was before this signing app Okay, And that's going to be the case not just in this country, but all over the world because his reach is so large and he has so many
people that are more fans. This became individually than even the teams that he's playing for. You know, I think that's definitely what you're gonna see here. You're gonna see people in this country who didn't follow him less previously. They're going to be tuning into those games to watch him and see how it goes. And he's got fans all over the world that are also going to
be tuning in. There's no precedent for the amount of eyeballs that are going to be on the league, and that's what the league needed, and that's that's what needed to happen for the game to grow. So, you know, there have been players of high profile before that have come to this league.
You know, it's blats on, Wayne Rooney, carry on, like you could go down the list, but there's just no one that compares to the level that this is on. It's entirely it's an entirely different thing than anything we've seen to date, and it's going to boost the profile in the reach of the league, massive league. All right, this is obviously something that will continue to monitor, will probably go have a messy watch on around the league when he first starts playing with Miami. Ari, we thank you
so much for your time, sir. All the best and we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks. Thanks Jackson, take care, good stuff there. From Ari Lellen Wall of mlsccer dot com. And the host of Lobbing Scorcher's great content both on the website and on his podcast. Well, before we continue the messy train and continue with that subject, we'll take a quick detour and it's time as always because we have to continue with it from around the league, we go around the Sound and good news this week for
all to Come a Defiance. Ol Rain Ballard FC. He has a busted knee, but he is toughing it out and here with us tonight anyway, let's get some updates on everything going on with local soccer. It's time to go around the Sound with Andrew Harvey. Lots to talk about Around the Sound, Jackson to Come a Defiance Settle for a one one draw against San Jose Earthquakes two last weekend. San Jose took the bonus point six to five and
the penalty shootout. Defiances on the road tomorrow night against SKC two for a five pm Pacific time kick at Rock Chalk Park. Dot match will air on Apple TV. To Comea then continues its road trip by stopping off in Colorado to play Rapids two on Sunday at five thirty pm. That match will also air on Apple TV. Ol Rain took care of business during its Pride match
against KC Current last weekend, winning two one at Luman Field. Match marked the two hundredth regular season appearance for teen talisman Lou Barnes, one of three members of the original twenty thirteen squads still on the roster. Congrats to Lou for becoming the first ever NWSL player to hit two hundred. The Rain play their next three on the road, starting with a trip to Houston to face the Dash this Saturday at five thirty pm Pacific. That match will air on
Paramount Plus. And Finally, Ballot FC continues it's immaculate run of form to start the USL League two season. They've taken a maximum fifteen points from their first five matches, last adding a five nail victory over Olytown FC that saw Alex Meheer record the second hat trick in the club's league play history. Despite some crediting the opening goal to Danny robe Blace, the Dubious Goal Commission has
some work to do on that one. Ballard's now five points clear of second place only Town with a game in hand ahead of this week's pair of road contests against Lane United on Friday and PDXFC on Sunday. Those matches will air on eleven Sports. I'm Andrew Harvey and this has been around the Sound. It's good stuff there from Andrew Harvey each week taking us around the Sound. Good stuff there for rain. Congratulations to Lou Barnes on number two hundred Ballard
FC there and the road point there for to come a defiance. Well, let's get back to the messy talk. Brian Schmitzer, Craig Wible, Christian rolled on all had thoughts on the arrival of Lionel Messi to MLS, the greatest to ever do it playing in our league. Will hear from the Sounders side of things? Brian Craig Christian. They're next on Sounders Weekly Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. 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 Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Jackson Felts here continuing tonight's episode. Where it's been and let's leae so far about half on the Sounders and half on the arrival of Lionel Messi, greatest of all time, joining inter Miami and joining MLS. If you missed any of the show so far, we did spend a good amount of time talking about the Sounders
three three Dragons, Charlotte and LAFC coming up. Check out the podcast ninety three three KJR dot com, the Sounders on demand page, or check out Sounders Weekly on the iHeartRadio app and Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts. Good to visit there. In that last segment with Ari, Lillian Wall who took us around the league and Andrew Harvey who took us around the sound But
let's continue and get back to the MESSI talk MESSI joining MLS. One of the fun things we've been able to do is get Sounders thoughts and Sounders front office thoughts on the arrival of MESSI and MS, what it means for the league, what it means for Miami, who are right now I believe in
last place, and what it means overall for soccer culture in America. So, you know, I think one of the fun things was getting Brian Schmittzer's thoughts last week after the news broke, and we even got into some fun back and forth about how he would defend Messy. Let's start off by hearing from the Sounders head coach Brian Schmitzer on the arrival of MESSI. I was surprised because, look, he was offered a lot of money, a lot of money, but I give credit to him for making it nun about the
money and about what he wants his legacy to be. What opportunities there were for him, obviously going back to his hometown club in Barcelona certainly must have been, must have been just a massive draw. But he's come an MLS and I'm excited. I mean, maybe I'm not excited for the people that are overpaying for tickets now, I mean I read that story, but just what can he do to drive the growth of our sport leading up into a World Cup and all of that. I mean, it's just an amazing It's
an amazing signing for our league. You know, the league. Look, the league was already standing on its own. I think this is just like the cherry on top. It's like this is like, Okay, we've been building and growing in full stadiums, you know, but this is this is exciting. So six months from now away, if the schedule makers put Seattle Miami on the schedule, you'll be excited to tell scheme against him. Kohia, let's stick Christian rolled in on him or maybe knew who? You know?
I'm not sure. If you go either knew Who or Christian rolled on on Messi, I would probably say you knew who is your best bet. And we saw Knew Who take down and control Mohammad Salah in the Afrikhan and the African tournaments of what was that last year? Right? So I think it's very possible that we do see next year a Messy versus Knew Who battle, And I don't know, like listen after he shut down sala I don't think there's anything the new Who can't do, but that'll be a fun battle
to watch. At the end of the day, he is the greatest of all times. So if anybody is going to take down Knew Who, it would be Lionel Messi for sure. All right? From Brian Schmitzer. Now let's shift over the player's side. Let's hear from Christian roll Don, who called Messi the greatest of all time in his eyes. Let's hear from Christian roll Don his thoughts on Messi joining MS and joining Miami. Well, I think it's exciting for the league. Obviously, it's great that Messi chose this
for himself or his family to live in a great place. It's obviously really excited for our league based on the ticket sales, based on you know, having the best for me, the best ever to play the sport in our league, and for us it's we're excited to compete against him, right. I know we don't play inter Miami this year if I'm not mistaken, so we'll have to wait. But this guy is definitely not retiring anytime soon. He has quality. When you saw that the World Cup, and I'm sure
you'll see it during qualifiers as well. Brian said, if if you guys face Miami next year, he'll throw you on Messi the one on one with me. What are you think of going up again? I don't know about that. Maybe if he's forty then then we can talk. But this is the best ever to do it. But I won't shy away from the moment if it comes. He's obviously an idol of mine, and you know I'll give it my best shot. It's great stuff there from Christian rolled on on
the arrival of Messi. And lastly, we'll finish it off with the Sounders general manager Craig Wible. Craig and I were able to chat yesterday afternoon for a few minutes and we talked about the arrival of Messi. We talked about how it changes American soccer culture, and we talked about a lot of different things involved with the process of bringing this massive star who is still I mean, yes, he's a little bit older in age, but he's still ridiculously
talented what he can do in this league. So here is my conversation with the Sounders general manager Craig Wible about the arrival of Messi to MLS. There's not much more we could we could have hoped for. You bring them the most popular player in the world to your league. It's it's pretty amazing.
And just the idea of how the league, you know, how those games get scheduled, and any idea that we could host him at Luman is pretty incredible considering the environments that the Sounds have put together for years and years and years on big games and big players. I mean, what an event that would be. And I'm not gonna lie our fingers across. I hope, I hope we host them. Well, I hope so too. I mean, here we host them in in an MLS Cup and then it would just
be extra special. But I'll take either. And on that exact point, you know, to see him in an MLS Cup would be would be quite a run that he would have to have to go on there with Miami as their current position in the table is not very high. But Craig, I mean, we'll start there in terms of we know his quality. We know he's you know, the greatest, and Christian Roldon said he's the greatest of all the time. So the question for me is what will his playing abilities
and what will his style do in this league? I mean, are we talking about a guy who can you know, come in midway through the season and still put up you know, a fifteen fifteen run or something like that. How do you think his skill is going to translate in this league? Well, I think his skill is undeniable, and I think Christian has spot
on. I mean, this is this is a player who you know, go ahead and doubt him, because that's happened in his life and so far he's never failed to you know, exceed well beyond reason, and so I think you know, there's there's some people in Seattle that remember a struggling team one season that that brought him one player in the middle of the year and all of a sudden, it made the difference for the environment as well as a performance. And you know, Nico had that effect on the Sounders.
So I think if if there's any club that can respect assigning um impacting performance and expect, it's certainly the Sounders. So it's not out of reach. It's not a reach, but they've got you know, they've got some other things going on there, a coaching change and that type of thing. So to come in and help stabilize that. And you know, he's a special player when he steps on the field. Every single player should have been ultra
professional already. But I bet dollars to donuts that the behavior in every single player down there is going to change. That's absolutely right. And you know, one of the things that you also mentioned they're a couple minutes ago, and once again talking with Craig Wible, Seattle Sounders general manager, is the fact that you know, you would love to see a Miami at Seattle game
in twenty twenty four. We'll see exactly what happens when the schedule makers put the schedule out for next season, but we are fingers crossed for that and even just this season, the second half of this season. You mean,
you're seeing the ticket prices go bonkers and stadium selling out. And I would love your two cents on how this is going to change not only you know, the talk and the people watching MLS, the amount of people going to games, but the soccer culture around America with everybody globally now knowing that the Great shows our league as opposed to you know, one point three billion in Saudi Arabia, he shows us. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty fascinating.
And look there we are in the business of entertainment and Messi is by definition and entertainer. He entertains a lot of people worldwide, and so exposure is everything, right, you know, I mean, what are we trying to do on a weekly basis. We're trying to please our fans. We're trying to entertain our fans, and we're trying to take care of our fans.
And when when you give not only the MLS but specifically, and I'm a little bit selfish, the Sounders the platform to entertain people around the world, We're gonna do it. I mean, we rise to the occasion. That's what our fans do, that's what our team does. And so you know, having Messi in the league is going to bring more attention to everyone. Having him in the league is going to be special for everyone. And we're
no exception. You know when when we get those opportunities, Center saying some fans around the world that weren't already watching, um, we need to be ready to grab it and take it and make sure we hang on to him
forever. Craig, I have to talk to you about the uniqueness of this deal and everything involved with it. Am I mentioned how much he turned down, but in this deal, there's the there's the unique element of Adidas an Apple, and the things that that Don Garber and everybody with Major League Soccer did to make this an attractive deal for him to come to Major League Soccer.
Just your reaction to seeing some of these new reported details as part of Messi's deal to come to Miami. You know, I don't know all the details. UM. I see a lot of the same thing you guys do. UM. I think in every one of our worlds, there's there are exceptions that could be made that should be made. This falls into the category of the exceptions that should be made. Um. He is the definition of global soccer, and he is the definition of a global player. Much much
like when David Beckham team to MLS. You know, you do what it takes to get guys like this interested and to stay and so you know, I'll be honest, I don't I don't need to even see the details of it, because whatever it is was really worth it. Craig, listen, man, we have to arrange another long sit down now. We had this great chat earlier in the year. There's a lot more to talk about. Is the second half of the season here is is rocking and rolling with the
LAFC a week from tonight. So listen, man, I appreciate you you jumping on and we will sit down again soon and talk about everything coming up for the second half of the year. You gotta thanks for Hammy Jackson.
Great stuff there from Craig Wible, Seattle Sounders general manager. Good to hear from all of these Sounders people and players and Brian Christian Craig there on what this means and this could be a big coup, and this is a big coup for MLS to be able to bring him to this league, as run I talked about earlier, the unique strategy involved and the payment structure to make sure this was a worthwhile deal as he turned down one point three billion over
two years from a Saudi Arabian club. So thank you, Messi. I mean, it is an interesting situation with everything that this league has done to get Messy to town. But here he is. He is now with Miami coming to a city near you. It'll probably join Miami and start playing later this summer, and Sounders are obviously not on the schedule for Messi to come here, but we will see what twenty twenty four holds. Sure would be fun if the Seattle Sounders could match up against Inner Miami, and Messi at
some point, you know, might be here. If there's the issue of that the Sounders have a turf field, so Messi might not want to play on turf. We'll see, you know, we other on. Many other greats who have been in MLS have not wanted to play in Seattle because of turf, so they might schedule Seattle at Miami. I don't know, we'll figure it out, but I would love to see a Sounders Miami matchup coming in twenty twenty four. We'll see how it shakes out in the months ahead,
or how about MLS Cup, maybe Miami mix a run? You never know, all right, Well that we'll do it for the show tonight. One quick note before we end, and that's the Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish, the official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Make sure you check out the podcast in case you missed any of the show tonight, thanking Ari Louianwell, Andrew Harvey, Craig Wible, Brian Schmenzer, Christian rolled on for their time and talking about what a fun, fun time it is to
be a soccer fan in America. Messy here, Sounders. We'll be playing a week from tonight. Once again, we'll talk to you one week from tonight. Sounders will be going to LAFC seven o'clock pre match seven thirty kickoff one week from tonight next Wednesday, as a head to the City of Angels to face LAFC. So we'll talk to you one week from tonight for Sounders. LAFC and Fox Sports Radio is coming up next