Coming do you live from our Elliot Avenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly with your host Jackson Felds. Good evening, everybody, Welcome to Sounders Weekly. Jackson Felds here on this beautiful Wednesday evening for the next hour talking all things Seattle Sounders FC Soccer. Thank you for tuning us in big show tonight. I'm going to spend this opening segment talking about the Sounders last two matches because we had no Sounders Weekly show last
week. We were down in Los Angeles for the game against LAFC and then of course Saturday's match there against Orlando at Loumanfield. Will get into both of those. May have time for a player interview from out at Starfire over these last couple of days. Then coming up here in about fifteen minutes or so at seven fifteen, we're scheduled for Taylor Twelveman, lead broadcast analyst for Apple TV MLS Season Pass. He does calls alongside Jake Zivin. He was on
the call for the Sounders match last Winday at LAFC. He'll be joining me and we're gonna talk about the issues with the Sounders offensively. Right now, we'll get into Lionel Messi joining MLS, Bob Bradley was fired by Toronto on Monday, and Greg Burrohoalder back at as the United States men's national team head
coach. Want to talk to Taylor about all of that coming up in our next segment, and then, as always, we'll go around the league with Ari Lugnawall of MLS soccer dot Com and Andrew Harvey, our Puget Sound soccer expert. We'll take us around the Sound, tell us about the Rain win Defiance win and Ballard FC's most recent two results as they had games on both Friday and Sunday. It was great actually to be out there at Inner Bay on Friday. It was joined by Ari was there, Stephen Eagan and John
Marshall Radio Cascade. We had a great time at the Ballard FC match, so look forward to going back out there as they still are the top of their USL two division. So we'll talk all things ballad FC in Around the Sound with Andrew Harvey later on tonight. But we start tonight by quickly taking a look ahead at what the Sounders have coming up before we look back Sounders have a match coming up this Saturday, back at home against the Houston Dynamo.
You can listen to that match right here Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. It'll be a provident Swedish prematch radio show at seven o'clock, kickoff at seven thirty there at Loumanfield. You can get her tickets today by visiting Sounders fc dot com slash tickets to go to this Saturday's match, that's
July first. You can watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app or listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty and Saturday's match is presented by Regent's Blue Shield, the official health plan partner of Sounders FC. So that's what the Sounders have coming up, and the next match for the Sounders to try to fix their offensive woes and really quick, you know, we'll just start on the positive side. Tenth clean sheet of the year.
Tenth clean sheet for Stephan Fray. I believe the MLS record is something like sixteen or seventeen, so he is well on his way to reaching that record. Very impressive defense outstanding right now. Cody Baker continues to be great filling in for Alex Roldon at right back, and then you know, just top stuff from Reagan, Gomez Andrade and knew who they are continuing to be
just aces on that back end. And it's really hard for teams to you score on Seattle right now, So well done to accomplish the clean sheet from Seattle. Now let's start digging into this offensive end. And really the way we have to talk about this is both encompassing this last zero zero draw against Orlando on Saturday at Luman as well as the one nothing lost down in Los Angeles last Wednesday. Now should be mentioned that we have players gone right now,
Jordan Morris, Christian Roldon. They are both with the United States men's national team. Alex Roldon, you're attacking right back. He's with El Salvador, all of them for the Gold Cup. Also, this last Saturday, for the Orlando match, Rawl ruy Diez was missing the game. In case you did not hear, Rale lost his father last week. He actually played
on Wednesday knowing of his father's passing. Can't even begin to imagine what Rawl was going through last Wednesday, but he was back in Peru with family, traveled from La to Peru after the game on Wednesday, so I believes he is indeed now back with the Sounders. So Seattle will have him for this game coming up on Saturday against Houston, but they did not have Ral for
the Orlando match. That is what he was doing back with family in Peru after the passing of his father and obviously thoughts condolences with Raul and his family in very very difficult time. Of course, So on the field, we need to kind of break down what is going on with the Sounders right now, and we'll do that for just a few minutes before we have Taylor Twellman on the show. And one thing that the Sounders have tried to do in these last two games, and who knows if they try to continue to do
it in this Houston match. You know, I think that is a situation that Brian Spencer and his coaching staff is going to have to figure out if it's even possible to try to kind of keep at this, because what is happening is Brian and his staff is starting Nicholas Laedero out on the right wing, the right wing, a place that Nico hasn't started since he first got to the team back in twenty sixteen, and after that, of course,
in twenty seventeen, Nico moved centrally and we saw a different Sounders attack. But Nico was a right winger back in the day, and we now see him back out there. Albert Russnach has slid up a line from you know, the holding midfield he is now your number ten. Then Leo Chi off to the left and it has been role last Wednesday. And then a bear up top that is kind of the attacking look. And then I should mention oh Ed Vargas, Juel Polo are you're holding midfielders and they play into what
I'm about describe. I tweeted this all out yesterday because I did a rewatch of the game on Sunday morning and trying to kind of pinpoint what exactly was not working. I thought I saw some things while watching the match live on Saturday, and it turns out that, yeah, what is happening is not
good. So I tweeted this out at Jackson b Felts. You can fall my Twitter for all the information and when it comes to show information, broadcast information interviews out at training at Jackson b Felts on Twitter for all of it. But what I've been seeing is in these two games, Nico starts as the right winger, and for the first five to ten minutes of these halves, specifically this Orlando game, the Sounders attack was looking really good. You
have some good combination play. Cody Baker's getting way up on that right side. Not true alc'x rold on fashion, but he's getting forward and Nico can cut in. There's great combination play with Albert in the middle. Baker when he swings out why, it gives Nico a lot of options, And I think that's where you're seeing the Sounders at their best, when Nico is on the right, staying on the right and listen, this just fallows. I
should preface this. All of this discussion here falls with the precedent of the Sounders are working without Christian and without Jordan, without guys that can stretch the field from those wing spots. So let's just set that in right now. So in this system, when Nico's holding out on that right wing and staying there, things are going well for the Sounders. You're seeing good movement,
you're seeing good chances. I mean, heck, two balls off the woodwork in the first couple of minutes of that game against Orlando, things were working out really well as the half goes on, as both halves went on, as the games go on, and we saw it there in Los Angeles well.
Brian Schmetzer said it in the postgame press conference that we were trying to do too much, and specifically Nicholas Lederyl I think is trying to do too much because what you are seeing is as these minutes go forward, and as Nico is not getting as involved out there on the right wing naturally as a right wing or you don't get the ball as much as that you're number ten, Nico will drift from the right wing more centrally and sometimes even all the
way out to the left wing. And as Nico drifts, a couple things happen, A number of things happen. It's almost a chain reaction of events that cause the Sounders to kind of fall apart offensively. So he'll leave the right wing a that'll leave Cody Baker alone out on that right side, and he won't have any help out there, so he has to keep the width
of the field and stay way out on the right. And because he's out there, then obed Vargas has to come up a little bit and shift out to the right from his holding midfielder spot, so Obed is now a little bit out of position. Now, when Nico goes centrally, you'll see Albert Russneck then swing a little bit left because Nico needs his space right. So for Nico having that space to work, you don't want to guys right on
top of each other. Albert will drift left. When Albert drifts left, that then gets into Leo Choose space, and Leo Choo doesn't have as much space to cook. And with a guy like Leo chow in the speed he has, he needs space to make moves, make runs, And when Albert's basically right next to him, he doesn't have that much space. It pulls another defender. So that's kind of the chain reaction there. And then when Nico goes all the way out to the left, you can kind of see
the same thing. Albert's allowed to stay more centrally, he'll even go a little bit right, and Leo Choose left with very few options. So when Nico is looking to get involved more and more and more, I understand he's a key player. He's been a leader and a massive part of this team for the last seven years. But right now, if this is the system that they are going to play with, and I think it can work, we're seeing at work in the first parts of both of these halves. When
Nico stays out on the right, things look really good. Offensively. It's amazing that we didn't score, you know, a couple of goals there in the first couple of minutes of that Orlando match. But you know, it is what it is. The woodwork is what it is. So when that's happening, things are looking good. Things can and should work out there on the right. But when he drifts, it's a chain reaction and everything falls apart. Yes, he can swing a ball out to Leo chi on a
run, but at that point there is just spacing issues. There's man issues in terms of personnel where certain guys are, and when Leo Chiu can get into the Prima system and he can take on a man, he can make a run, some guys find themselves out of position, so it isn't exactly working out. So this is an issue I think that Brian Spencer and the coaching staff needs to determine can we keep Nico out on the right. Can we tell him that you need to stay out there and don't worry, you'll
get involved, You'll get the ball. You don't need to go centrally to get the ball more, you will get involved. Have the patients to stay out there or are we just understanding that Nico isn't going to do that so he can't play out there. That is an interest in question that the team
needs to figure out over the course of this week. If it's even possible for Nico to be a disciplined player on the right wing, or if he's just simply a central number ten and you can't mean you can't change the tiger stripes, right, Can we actually make Nicol a right winger or is he just destined to be there in the middle, you know, because what's right now, what we're seeing with him out on the right wing, it isn't
working and a lot of that is on Nicholas Ladero unfortunately. So that's what I diagnosed to be a major Sounders offensive issue right now, is how much Nicholas Ladero is running because I think it was about four billion miles this last Saturday, are going store Orlando. That needs to change for the Sounders to have success. I think while Christian and Jordan are out, when they're back,
it's a different system and I think everything is fine. But for right now, while those guys are gone, we need to figure out how to score goals. Because right now, three goals in this entire last month of June in four games. Something needs to be fixed. Something needs to change. The offense needs to work and score goals, which they are not right now. Good job keeping the clean sheet, but we need some goals out
of the attack. With that said, let's take a break. We'll come back and be joined by Taylor Twellman, broadcast analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Will get his take on the Sounders and also talk about Greg Berholder rejoining the US national team as head coach. So more next on Sounders Weekly Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Saunders FC, Seattle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back to Sounders Weekly. Everybody, Jackson Felts here, Good to have you with us on this beautiful Wednesday night. Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Four Sounders Weekly, talking all things Seattle Sounders Soccer. Well, in a moment, we're gonna be joined by Taylor Twellman, broadcast
analyst for Apple TV on MLS Season pass. Before he joins us, and before we bring him on the line on say that Sounders FC and Boeing are teaming up to support the Washington Youth Soccer Community Corner on matchdays this season. Join us in stadium as you welcome Washington youth soccer players and coaches to cheer in the Rave Green courtesy of Boeing. All right, there, he is joining us right now, is the man who knows everything about this league.
And we'll also dig into Greg Berhalter with the United States men's national team. Taylor Twellman joins us right now. Taylor, good to have you back on the show, my friend. How are you good? How are you? Jackson doing good? Taylor doing good? There's a lots to dig into. Let's start with the Seattle Sounders. You were on the call with Jake Zeven
last Wednesday down there in Los Angeles for Sounders LAFC. Let's just start with what you saw in that game and what Seattle was trying to do and not working offensively in what should be a very similar team coming up for Seattle this week against Houston. What do you see last Wednesday? Yeah, I mean, listen, I thought the first half was pretty good. I thought, as a neutral for both teams, you know, I thought LAFC with tired
legs, you know, the rest on Seattle. I thought we got ourselves a really good game, and quite honestly, Ruy Diaz was unlucky to not score two goals, hitting both you know, at McCarthy. So I thought the first half was good. I thought the second half was flat. It surprised me a little bit, knowing that they had a little bit more rest than LAFC. I was a little surprised that they came out flat footed and ultimately struggled. Now this weekend against Orlando City, still the same old,
same old for Seattle. Right now, it's anemic. They're lacking any kind of punch in the final third. But that's also difficult to fully describe them when you're missing you know, Morris rolled in Ruy Diaz and others. So
it's tough times right now for Seattle. But it's a veteran, veteran group, and I think that group is gonna know they're gonna have to turn it on fairly quickly here, Taylor, I think you hit on the kind of the big discussion point around Seattle right now, and that's you know, what's going on with the offense. They are indeed anemic right now. You know, three goals in four games across the entire month, and they all came
in one game. Is it as simple as getting Christian and Jordan back after you know they're back from international duty Alex Roldan and it rolls back this week or are there deeper things you're seeing in the tactics and structure of what Seattle is trying to do offensively that isn't working. It's the interesting question. I think some of it is the players, and then some of it is not the players, you know. I think some of it is just being a
little predictable. But I just listen, in fairness to any manager, you want your best eleven players, and you want to be assessed with your best eleven players on the field, and right now they don't totally have that. So I think there is a little bit of a crux, and it's a fair one to be had there. However, I think Seattle has struggled to score goals as of late, even when some of those players are available.
So I don't think it's necessarily a complete wash because they're missing players. I do think it's a little bit of an issue and a concern for Schmittzer in his supporting group. Yeah, and concern for all of us fans here, a major concern because I think we're we're seeing some deep issues right now about how this team is going to work offensively, especially coming up for this Houston game coming up this weekend. Back at luman Field, Taylor Twoman's our guest.
He's the MLS lead broadcast analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Taylor, we're just talking off the air and your call coming up this week Cincinnati New England. Hell of a game coming up this week. Why don't we talk about that for a minute, and that battle for the top of the Eastern Conference out there, and also the season that Cincinnati's having because it is spectacular. It is. It's one of the best seasons this league's ever
seen. I think tired Lake's caught up to him as they got absolutely hammered at DC this weekend. But when you look as a whole, what Pat Noonan and his staff have done from year one to year two. It's remarkable, and yet they really haven't had the best Brandon Vaska as he's gone away. You know. I think the Meskara Loan has been one of the best signings pickups in all of Major League Soccer. He has been great next to Miaska, they're missing players as well. I'm looking forward to the weekend.
I think this is one of the best games of the year. In New England's feeling themselves a little bit. They've got Carlos Heel. They bought out Josie out the door, so they're gonna have some freedom this summer. I think it's gonna be very interesting to see what we get in Cincinnati against New England. It's going to be one of the best games of the year.
You can't wait for it. It actually fits really well because that match for Pacific time kicks off at four thirty, so fans you can watch that and watch Taylor on the broadcast there for MLS Season Pass and Apple TV for thirty kickoff for Cincinnati New England they're in since and then Sounders start at seven thirty, so it's perfect one game to another make it a full Saturday of soccer. They're so Taylor excited for that game. That's a massive game out east.
Gotta get your thoughts really quick on the news about Bob Bradley, Toronto letting go of the legendary head coach, formerly of course with the US national team, made his way around LAFC, now with Toronto and no longer with Toronto. What do you think about that moved from Toronto here this morning. Well, it's the third time since twenty nineteen that Bill Manning's going to try
to completely redo the front office. And so I think one of the aspects of Major League Soccer that I found interesting is more often than not it's the presidents that are making these decisions and they're not getting them right, and yet they're not accountable or should I say held accountable from the ownership groups. I'm not saying Bob Bradley's teams were good and yet less when you look at what they did with Toronto. He had one game a total of seventy one minutes,
to be exact, where his best eleven players were available. And so if you're going to assess set manager and sporting director on his signings and his players, well one, they've got to be available to understand exactly what you have. I think the anonymous article was weak in the sense that you could tell that there are certain people within Toronto that were spinning their own story and trying to get their own story out. So it becomes interesting in how you
assess that. So listen, Bob Radley will be the first person, Taylor. The results weren't there yet. I did his last game against the Revolution with that roster to force Petrovitch, arguably the best goalie in the league in the nine saves a career high. I just don't know if any manager is going to go in there and actually get a lot out of that. Look at what Miami's turned into after they got rid of Neville. I'm not sure Bill. I think Bill Manning fired Bob Radley, if I'm honest with you,
to save his job. Not Bob's got it. You mentioned really quickly. You mentioned Miami there, and I can't have you all without asking you. The big news of MLS and once again, Taylor Twoman's our guest lead broadcast analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Collins Cincinnati, New England coming up this Saturday, at four thirty Pacific, Taylor. Since the last time we spoke Lionel Messi to MLS to Miami, there's so many questions I could ask. I think the first one, based on what we were just
talking about right there is is Messi and Buskets as well. Are they enough to save Miami season? Oh? I don't know about that one. I think you've got to ask You've got to have Gregory, You've got to have Multa. You know, I think it's unfair to enter Miami and their fans to assess them knowing that the restrictions they have due to their own penalties in self inflicted penalties, mind you. Yet that's where Neville pulled the rabbit out
of his hat. Lash. You're getting that team to be in the playoffs, So I listen, you can sign Messi, Busquets, and ultimately it looks like they're gonna sign Jordi Alba. You can bring those three players in into this team. Is it going to help them overcome the deficit that they're
creating right now and losing seven straight games? Jackson, that's a very tall task now saying that they just got to get into the playoffs and considering over fifty eight percent of the league gets into the playoffs, it's still a possibility. I just don't think people fully understand the magnitude of the task at hand for Messi and his group of players coming in, how difficult that's going to be because they are digging themselves a real hole. Absolutely, they are a
Taylor. You know. That's for the Miami side, on the messy side, and maybe kind of we just look at you twenty twenty four. What do you think that? I mean, I don't know. If we don't want to go to the number side of it, if we want to just go to the eye test, what do you think that Messi is going to be able to do in MLS as a player? That's a hard one, man. I don't know that. You know it. You gotta have a
right supporting cast. There's been many a big names have come here now, none of them to the caliber of Messi naturally being one one of, if not the greatest player ever, but Stephen Gerard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pierlove. You know, players have come here and struggled, and so I don't
know if it's I think Messi will be very successful. If Chris Henderson in that front office is allowed to sign players that suit Major League soccer versus suit Messi, and I think that's often going to be two different things, and so you've got to be very careful in order to have success in making sure that Messi is surrounded with a team that can put him in a spot to
succeed if you do that. Listen, this is still one of the three players in the world last calendar season that had twenty plus goals twenty assist and he's thirty five, so he's he may be at the end of his career, but he's not done. But you got to make sure you support him with the right supporting cast. And I think that's going to be the biggest challenge absolute job for Chris Henderson. We know him well and he's up to the task. So we'll see what job Chris Henderson does there in Miami.
Taylor twem and just a couple more quick ones for you, Taylor, Maybe not quick, but last time we spoke, we spoke about the situation for the United States men's national team head coach. We had a good discussion over what that program needed and after the law search, after the investigation, after everything it is back to Greg burr Halter. Let's just first get your reaction
of Greg Burhalter rejoining the United States men's national team. Yeah, it's it's not surprising when you name two INTERM coaches, because that tells you that's all
they wanted was Greg to come back. They can use the word process as many at times as they want, but the moment you keep naming an INTERM after an intern while you're just telling the world that Greg bur Halters at the front of that line, and so whether they really truly identify ten candidates and spoke to him at length and gave them the real process to see if they were going to be a good fit for the national team. It was very clear to me that the longer went on, Greg burr Halter was at the
forefront. I've been of the mindset, will always remain of the mindset doesn't matter the level of success. I don't think a coach should get the same cycle two cycles. Excuse me, especially back to back. If anything, you need a change of voice, you need a change of scenery. Now. The rebuttal to that, and I'm listening and I'm willing to listen to that, is that this was the youngest national team, you know, since the ninety World Cup. So I get that, and you're building on something
and yeah, but I just didn't think it was gonna be him. Um, excuse me, I didn't. I wouldn't have made him the coach. But I knew the moment they prolonged the process, the moment they named an intern to the intern, Uh, it was all over the wall. They
this is what they wanted to do all along. And yet they're gonna try to tell you that they did it differently now as a non for profit and publicly they're gonna say, you know, they're gonna show the amount of money that they pay a firm like Sportsology to then come out and do that Jackson. That's where this thing gets real convoluted, exactly, and in a very
pressing manner. If they just came out right away and said, listen, Greg Berlter has got his issues, we've got in things, we're going to go through the process, but he is still the favorite to take over the job. I don't think a lot of this argue. I don't think a lot of the conversation is what it is, but you try to masquerade it through this process. And all this and when the reality is you were just
lying to your constituents. That's exactly right. And that's one of the biggest issues I have with this entire situation is the six months and the millions of dollars to you know, go through this. I don't know if I want to call it a charade, but this process right in quotes as you said, that didn't seem like it existed. So, you know, the off field stuff is a massive you know, I don't want to call it a clown show, but it's not completely a clown show. But it's just it's
so frustrating that it was all the money and all the time. But on the field, Taylor is where I want to kind of wrap this up one more here for Taylor Tum and our guest here MLS broadcast analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. And the thing for me is Greg Burrowholter really the guy that's going to get the most out of this talented team. Yes they're years older, Yes they're going to improve naturally as players, But is Greg
the guy who's going to get the most out of these talented players? Like your reigna, like your polistic like all of the talented players we saw in this last World Cup that will be starring in twenty six as well. Yeah, I just find it interesting that everyone wants to tell me that the twenty twenty two World Cup was a huge success. Yes, exactly, And so everyone looks at analytics, which anyone should and anyone should use any number that
validates argument. And I'm open to listening to all of it, whether it's ball progression, defensive situations, high press moments, all of the high level thinking and analytics that all of us are looking at. I have no problem if you want to use that to defend it. I have an issue that you're going to tell me it look a lot different than any of the other World Cups. Dad, I'm struggle with because I watched the game against the Dutch, I called the game against the Belgians. I've seen it all.
It's so different. Tim Howard made a record stays in one and the other one was saying, so there is a real level of analysis here that I think there's a debate to be had. I think there's a debate to be had on whether or not Greg burrow Alter's going to take this team to the next level. I find it alarming that he hasn't talked to his goalkeeper at the club level from the longest time. Zach Stephen, I find it difficult
that he hasn't reached out to Ricardo Peppi. I'm not sure what he's gonna say, but there is a level of something where I get not reaching out to Garana. So there's some player management here that I think everyone should have a concern of and a question about. Now, they're all grown ups, they're all pros. Well we think they are right despite what happened this past
World Cup. So I just think the moment you have any kind of attention that was brought to yourself that was in a self serving manner, which everyone now knows. Greg Burholter, the manager, did not need to bring up the Grana stuff in next quote unquote off the record moment because the players have outspoken and said to me and everyone else in the world, we handled it.
So Jackson, that's where the concern has to be for anyone's sponsors, fans, anyone, is that after that happens, you're going back to that. That's where the level I think of real debate is and should be, because that's where it's really interesting. If you won the World Cup and you had that drama or you got to the semifinals, everyone can then say, well, look at the success we had. This is a byproduct of that.
But everyone trying to tell me that there was a huge success World Cup in twenty twenty two, I watched a different World Cup because the Whales game Jackson was a real struggle for the US the moment Wales tactically made a change and brought on key for More and played very direct. All of a sudden, the United States couldn't defend something like that. So there's debates to be
had in all of this. I just think it actually does Greg Burholter more of a disservice because now, no matter what he does and how successful he is, he's always going to be the target of this conversation because US Soccer did not properly handle the hiring process. And that is in defense of Greg Burwhalter, because in fairness to him, he's now going to be up against
it the entire time unless he gets to the semifinal. If he doesn't get there, no matter what, people are gonna say, he wasn't successful exactly exactly. I mean Taylor, I couldn't agree more with every word you said. I were on the same wavelength right there, and I agree if for folks saying it was a successful World Cup they met expectations, they just met expectations they didn't. And even then I mean to say that it was a successful it wasn't in my book. And so we are on the exact same
wavelength there that it was awesome stuff. Taylor. I look forward to talk to you again. We'll chat the next time that you make your way out to Seattle for a Sounders match. Have a great call for Cincinnati, New England coming up this Saturday. We'll be listening there before the Sounders game against Houston, so have a good call. Thanks so much again, such good information. We always love having me on. We really appreciate it. No
problem. I man be good, Taylor Twoman broadcast analyst MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Wow. What an answer there, and what comments about Greg Berhalter. I am on the exact same wavelength, thinking the exact same things. The US met expectations, and frankly, I don't think it was a success. I think you just you did a job and YEA, sure you get credit for meeting expectations, but you don't deserve over credit for going above
and beyond. I don't think Greig did that. And you know that question that I asked Taylor, you know, is Greg the guy that's going to get the most out of this talented team? In a roundabout way, I'm just reading between the lines. That sure sounds like Taylor's saying no, and I would agree with that, And that's what concerns me. And that's aside from the whole joke of a process. This was spending six months and millions
of dollars on this search just to get back to Greg. So yeah, ah, Taylor and I are on the exact same path thinking on all of that. Well, that was good stuff there. I'm not sure how a top that, but we will try to. Ari Lillian Wall of MLS Soccer dot Com will take us around the league. Andrew Harvey, our Puget sound soccer expert, will take us around the sound that I'll come up next. Hey, Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish, the official healthcare partner
of Sounders FC. More next on Sounders Weekly Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders Fctle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Welcome back to Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts. You're good to have you with us on this beautiful Wednesday night. Well, before we take a trip around the league and around the Sound, I'll tell you Sounder fans that bud Light was brewed 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. Before we go around the Sound with Andrew Harvey, let's take a trip around the league with Ari Lillian Wall of MLS soccer dot com and also host of the podcast Lobbing Scorchers and really enjoying Ari's episodes of Late Ari, welcome back to the show, my friend. How are you? I'm good, Jackson, thanks for having me back. Yeah, good to have you back. Ari.
Let's start, unfortunately with Seattle's offensive woes. No Jordan Morris, no Christian Rolldon, no Alex rolldon against Orlando, no role Ruy Diaz for you? Is it as simple as these guys being out? That's why things aren't working
or what's going wrong right now? The Sounders attack, Yeah, I think that's the biggest part of it. You've seen them try a new approach line up wise these last couple games with Albert Rusnak moved up a line and Nicol Ladero at mid and I think that's the most logical way to mind it up, to get all your best players on the field at the same time. But these last two games, they haven't gotten a goal out of it. You know, I thought it was a good game defensively against Orlando they kept
another clean sheet. It's a good sign that they managed to do that on that side of the ball. But as far as the attack goes, it certainly seems like it's going to be pulling teeth a little bit until they get these guys who are gone back, Yeah, exactly, and then hopefully they figure things out. You're coming up this week against Houston Area. Let's quickly start our sharp vision opponent out. There's a lot of things I want to talk to you about the rest of MLS, so let's breeze through this.
Houston coming to luman Field this week, and it's a team that you know, fourth place in the Western Conference, right low Seattle right now, but they dropped a big one three nothing on the road at Austin, who's now in eighth place, this last weekend. And I know Houston recently coming off back to back wins over LAFC. So who is this Houston team and do they come out with one of their you know, great performances like we saw against LA or a performance like they had against Auston. Yeah, I would
say Houston has performed pretty far above expectations so far this year. I don't think anyone was ticking them as much as a factor in the Western Conference during preseason, but they've they've played decently well this year. Ben Wilson, who is a long time GEC United coach, they brought him in over the offseason
as kind of a ship studying presence. I think, you know, they wanted someone who knows the league well and had experience within the league and knows how everything works and operates, and it seems like that's had a positive impact for them. They've made a couple of good signings. Hector Herrera, after
coming in last year, is the big one to watch. He had a little bit of an adjustment period coming into the league, but this season, he's starting to play like the players they thought they were getting when they brought him in. So I think that's probably one of the biggest factors in the fact that they've been able to overachieve a little bit. They lost that last game to Austin three zero, but overall, it's a team that has played
above expectations and they were in a good running form before that loss. So I certainly wouldn't expect it to be an easy game. I think it's gonna probably look pretty similar to the Orlando game. Well that's just encouraging that just that's a great way to salt it gets no But I mean, like listen at the end of the day, I mean, I think I might see a similar sort of thing where it's you know, yeah, this is a good Houston team and if you can pull a clean sheet, great, if
you can nick a goal even better. But right now the Sounder has got to figure out their offensive issues. But yeah, good thoughts. They're on Houston right now. Fourth place in the Western Conference. I had eight, eight and three and tonight's pon it Alec was presented by Sharp Vision, Modern Lasic and Lens, the official Lasic provider of Sounders FC. All right, all right, let's move on and let's talk about the other goings on here
around soccer in the United States and MLS news. On Monday morning, Bob Bradley fired by Toronto as Brian Spencer is no doubt feeling better than Bob today and this week. Hate to make that obvious joke, but you got to. All right, all right, we talked for a few weeks back about Bob Bradley if he would go, he does get fired there on Monday. Was it the right move by Toronto? Was it too early, too late?
And just overall thoughts on on the big firing, Well, I think it was probably coming if you look at how Toronto has performed this year compared to both their expectations and the amount of money that they've sunk into the roster dating back to last year. They needed to bounce back this year, and they needed to aren't performing in a way that reflected the investments that they've made, and they haven't been able to do that. I don't really know how
much I blame Bob Bradley for how much they've struggled this year. They've had players under performing and they've also had a very ridiculous injury and absence situation similar or worse than what Seattle has gone through arguably, So I don't know how much changing the coach solves their issues with that, but I mean it's a move they felt like it was time to make. I mean, we'll see how it pans out. Bob Bradley, you know, for however poorly his
tenure in Toronto went. He's one of the most accomplished US coaches ever. So the way I see it, I don't know how much this changes for them, but sometimes you do just need a vibe shift and you need a new voice, new ideas. So that's probably the way they're thinking of it. Yeah, we'll see if any coach makes a difference or not. I want to talk to you about another coaching situation in the on the national side,
but really quick. LAFC. They get the win over Seattle last Wednesday thanks to a first minute goal on a turnover and a really nice goal, but then they go and they lose to Vancouver. So it's been kind of an up and down thing for LAFC since losing the COCKERCALF Champions League final. I don't know if we can fall on call LAFC hungover, But what's going on with this team right now? I think they're hung over. I think they're hungover. I know they got the win over Seattle, but they lost
back to back to the Dynamo right before that. They tied at Lanta United zero zero at home before that, and then they lost to the white Caps at home. Who the white Caps are having a decently good year. They're a team that the underlying numbers say are better than their record, but it's also a team that I don't really expect LAFC to lose at home to them. Yeah, ever so Seattle Wind notwithstanding. I think if you look at their full body of results, then CCL they're feeling the sex of it.
And you know, us out here in Seattle we know how that goes as well as anybody. It's very, very difficult to do an entire coffee calf Champion Champions League run where you make it to the final and then maintain your level when you get back to league play. And they've had a lot of absences. They've had their fresh share of injuries too, so when you throw those things on top of just the emotional drain and the physical fatigue, that
comes with a tournament like that. We'll have to see how it hands out in the games coming up here. Maybe they bounce back and maybe they show that they're not hungover, But for now, I think it's safe to say that this stretch of games has been a hangover for them for sure. Yeah, all right, are Lean well ms soccer dot com our guest also a host of the podcast Lapping of Scorchers and Are. One of your recent episodes that I quite enjoyed is the return of Greg Burrowhalter as the United States Men's
national team head coach. I thought your episode there with Noah Lapping of Scorchers on Greg's return was fantastic for those who didn't check out the podcast. Why don't you give us your two cents on Greg returning as head coach of the USMNT after having even thought about it even more since I recorded that episode that you mentioned, I'm really not as up in arms about this as some people might be, like Taylor Tweman was about twenty minutes ago. Taylor Twelman had
some pointed comments, but it doesn't sound like you are as enraged. Yeah. No, I don't know what Taylor's take was, but I mean, I've been saying that I consider Burrhalter pretty much an average coach. I don't think he's the greatest coach of all time. I don't think he's tap, but I don't think he's nearly as bad or disastrous as some people do.
People have critiques of the hiring process, which I think are valid, but you know, I try to look at his body of work that he achieved in the last qualifying cycle and at the World Cup, and then you know how much upside is there to grow from that. I think his body would work in qualifying and the World Cup was pretty much fine in terms of results
and how we played on the field. There were some hiccups during qualifying and I wish we had been more competitive against the Netherlands, But on the whole, I thought the footy we played was good at the World Cup, and it seems like something that I think you have to give him credit for is the culture that seems to have developed within the team and the development of these young players. I was watching on the Caffe Nations League and it was fantastic.
It was the best I've seen that team look, and I think it'd being a little disingenuous if you look at how well those players played in those games and how well our young players seem to have developed, and not to give bur Halter any credit to that, you know that that was those games were all based on the foundation that he laid. I think bj Callahan did a good job, but he even said that he didn't really change anything at
all from how things worked under bur Halter. So I still think there's a lot of room for growth for both bur Halter and players, but I think it's reasonable to expect that they'll be able to attain that growth under him, And I really don't have that much of a problem with the hire. Okay, all right, well, everybody check out the podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Ari has a lot more takes on that with Noah. Good stuff there on Lobbing Scorchers, and also check out his work on MLS Soccer dot Com. Ari,
thank you as always, sir. We really appreciate the time here. Yeah, thanks Jackson anytime. Good stuff there from Arilinol of MLS Soccer dot Com and Lobbing Scorchers from around the league. It's time to go around the sound. Let's check in on what happened this week with Tacoma Defiance, ol Rain and Ballard FC. With our Puget Sound soccer expert Andrew Harvey. Busy week around the Sound this week Jackson Tacoma Defiance took down Austin FC two on
Sunday Night, one nil at Starfire Stadium. Thanks Sweet brought Delio Rodriguez penalty in the first half. Defiance is back in action this Sunday against Houston Dynamo two at Starfire Stadium for a seven pm kick. That matchual air on MLS next Pro dot Com. Ol Raine defeated San Diego WAVEFC on the road Saturday, winning two one on the back of a Bethany Balser Brace the Rain or in action right now down against the Portland Fornes in the nw Sled Challenge Cup.
They'll be back at home against Racing Louisville this Saturday at twelve thirty. That matchual air on Paramount Plus. The Rain also announced that they had signed five players to national team player replacement contracts as players departed the squad for the
Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. Among the players was University of Washington product McKenzie Weiner, who was also a non roster invitigue at the club's preseason Finally, Ballot FC lost for the first time this season last Friday, dropping a three two result to a ten man Ollietown FC side on a goal that was scored by Ollietown's reserve keeper Dante Perez in the second minute of second half stoppage time. Perez, who had subbed on as an outfield player,
notched his second goal of the season. That's twice now he's been brought on as an outfield player and scored for Ollietown. What a keeper. Ballot then battled its way to a road point against United PDX on Sunday, to spite team captain Lacia Tatsani being sent off in the thirteenth minute. Ballot is currently eight points clear at the top of the table in the Northwest Division. That'll host third place Capital FC Athletico at Interbace Stadium this Friday night at seven pm.
That match will air on YouTube and go ballotfc dot com. I'm Andrew Harvey and this has been around the Sound Andrew Harvey. There are Puget Sound soccer expert. Each week takes us around the sound. Great stuff there from Andrew and congrats again to Tacoma and ol Rain on their wins this last weekend and hopefully wins go back in the column for Ballard soon. All right, Well, back to the Seattle Sounders organization and back to what they have going
on as we wrapped the show tonight one more time. Here they have a match coming up this Saturday back at lumin Field when the Sounders will hopefully a score goals as we diagnose there in the first segment, and b get a win there over Houston. Details for that match seven thirty kickoff. Our Providence Swedish premat show will begin at seven o'clock and you can listen to that right
here on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM. You can also watch the match via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TVP and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty. It is a match at lumin Field this Saturday, July first against Houston, and you can get your tickets today by visiting Sounders fc dot com slash tickets and Saturday's match is presented by Regent's BlueShield, the official health plan partner of Sounders FC. So great stuff Today. If
you missed any of it, check out the podcast. Look up Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app and also nine three three KJR dot com this Sounders on Demand page. Thank you to Taylor, Twelman, Ari and Andrew. If you missed any of it, check out the podcast. We'll talk to you on Saturday for Sounders Houston seven o'clock pregame seven thirty kickoff, but for right now, Fox Sports Radio coming up next