Coming to you live from Orelliot Avenue Studios of Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly with your host Jackson Felts.
Good evening, everybody, welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson felt here for the next hour here on ninety three point three KJRFM talking Sounders Soccer, and there is a lot to talk about, not all pretty, but there is a lot to go over here. Over the last week and the week ahead with the Seattle Sounders, it's been back to back one to nothing losses for Seattle. First it was in the Open Cup semi final down at Starfire to LAFC.
Awesome atmosphere, really cool down there. I know a ton of people what four thousand plus came out end up being very electric. But then that's questionable penalty call. I've looked at it a thousand ways from Sunday and I'm still up in the air. I can see exactly how they would say it is a penalty, and I can also see the arguments for hey, it's tucked, you know, in terms of the hands and the arms, and it shouldn't be a penalty. The reality of the situation is,
and I said this on the postgame show. I'm just sad that we all, as fans and everybody who watched or listened or took in that match had to have that game decided on such a close, questionable call. We shouldn't have big games decided on calls that close, and it's sad that we did. So That's kind of where I'm at. And then that one nothing loss was followed up by another one nothing loss at Portland on Saturday, really frustrating. We had a good postgame show callan Row
Michelle Ludkin. I went back and forth on that loss with good questions. I think over why jul Paolo didn't play. We dug into the kind of those subs a little bit. We also dug into just overall the strategy involved in that game, why the Sounders aren't getting going offensively against
a Portland team that is frankly terrible defensively. And then also the the question of Pedro dla Vega that callan rowe posed at the end of the postgame show, and I want to kind of bring that up with all of our guests tonight over whether Pedro de la Vega should be starting right now. I think he should. We're gonna see what our guests think. In terms of those guests tonight, we got a couple of really good ones. First up, Sasa, question is going to be joining us
here in just I'm told about two minutes. Sasha, if you don't know the name, long time player in Major League Soccer many many years, also with the United States men's national team. He's currently a broadcaster on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. I believe he's on their three sixty show with a bunch of people. He does some really good studio work. Sasha is great at what he does.
He knows the entire league. I want to get his thoughts on the Sounders, his thoughts on Pedro Dla Vega, and definitely his thoughts on two specific things, Columbus Ahead and Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States men's national team, because we have not talked about that yet since it became breaking news last Sounders Weekly episode. We had a few weeks ago before I was on vacation. The news came out about an hour after the show ended, so we didn't even get to react to it. We were
just talking about the possible news. So we had to talk about that tonight, Sasha will have some thoughts on that. I'm also gonna ask both of our following guests, arililioall of mlsoccer dot com you all know, and then andrews Hurst, our producer in there. He's gonna be joining me for our final segments tonight to talk more about Potch taking over the United States. So a lot to get to
from Sasha and of course Ari and Anders. Before I get Sasha on the air there as I see him calling in, I'll quickly let you know about that next game for your Sounders is coming up this Saturday. The match can be heard over on our sister station of
Sports Radio, nine to fifty kr AM. It will be a four o'clock Providence, Swedish premat show and a four to thirty kickoff there on nine p fifty as the Sounders are in Columbus to face the ending champion Columbus KUSSI also the defending Least Cup champions who just won that a couple weeks ago, so that is a massive, massive match. In addition to listening on nine to fifty, you can also watch the match on the MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app and listen in Spanish
language on l Ray thirteen to sixty. Massive match coming up this Saturday. We'll talk about that in a few minutes with the man who's going to be joining us right now here on Sounders Weekly four. I believe the first time longtime MLS veteran, longtime soccer player here in our country, Sasa question joins us right now here in Sounders Weekly Sasha, great to have you on the show, man, How are you?
I'm great, man, Thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's good to have you.
Let's first start with the Sounders since that's where we opened the show on tonight. Obviously, last week was not good. Back to back won nothing losses to rivals, back to back shutouts in those losses. Obviously we're all a bit frustrated up here and going into a massive game against a great team. But overall, what have you seen from the Sounders here over recent days.
Well, you know recent days the ability to be efficient in the attacking third of the Open Cup game against LAFC, then the game against Portland. It's really a game of inches, you know, a couple of very close off side calls that if the players were a little bit smarter and we could stay on side, you know, you have different results in those games, probably, But look, it's been an up and down season. I think seattlest still has a very good roster and is still trending in the right direction.
Based on the.
Second half of the season. They've shown an ability to be able to beat anybody in the league except for LAFC at this point. So I still think they're a playoff team, and a pretty good playoff team at that And we'll see what happens over these last few games.
On that note, what is the ceiling for the Sounders this year? Is it a final in a eventual lost to LAFC. I mean, I'm kind of, you know, wondering if we are going to be a really good playoff team. Is there a maximum point with you know, notably the transfer deadline now having passed and you know that being in the rearview mirror and this team roster being kind of closed as it is.
Yeah, the roster's close. I would have liked to Seattle make a move or two during the summer transfer window to add a little bit more to the team. But I do think that a few young players like Roth Rock and Obed Vargas are stepping up when they need to be right now, which is important because the team is going to grow that.
Way with these young guys.
And I do think we have to see a little bit more out of Christian role Dumb. I love Christian Rodum. I would put him in my team, in any MLS team, he would be a starter. I would want him to be on my team every day of the week. But having said that, one goal and four assists on the season is not enough for a player of his caliber. So we've been asking about Jordan Morris having step up. He's doing that now. He's putting the ball in the back of the net ten goals in the league season.
I need a little bit more out of Christian role done. I don't know what it means in the playoffs. Listen, you lose four times to LFC in one season, it almost feels like the fifth time they're bound to win that game. But it just seems like LAFC is too good for them right now. And Founders having specifically Brian Schmeetzer, I don't think has figured out a way to beat LAFC. But they've shown the ability to be able to beat the Galaxy, which is, you know, the number one team
in the conference right now. So listen, we all know an MLS playoffs, anything can happen.
Yeah, they certainly can. We've seen that before.
I mean, you go looking at what number one seeds have done in MLS playoffs since like twenty fourteen or so, and I mean there's just there's not many cases of number one seeds going all the way through. There was a long stretch where number one seeds just didn't even get to the MLS Cup final at all. Yeah, you know, so it's been a while there, Sasha questions our guest of course, longtime MLS player, as well as time with
the United States men's national team. I'm gonna have to ask you about Mauricio Pochettino here in a little bit, Sasha, But before we get there, you mentioned Christian roll Don and I want to kind of loop you into discussion we had on our Sounders postgame show here on KJAR
a few days ago after the Portland loss. You know the name, and I'm sure you guys have talked and cross past Kellen Rowe Callen being a Federalway native many years with New England and of course the Sounders other teams as well, and a few appearances with the United States.
He was kind of, you know, saying at the end of the postgame show, you know, how much time do we let Brian Schmetzer, you know, throw Pedro de la Vega into the starting lineup and keep him there before going back to what won a bunch of games in the summer, which was having Pedro either not available or on the bench. And I said, well, Pedro's got to start. And he said, well, if Pedro's got to start and Paul's gonna start, then where does Christian Roldango? And I said,
put him at right back? But I say, Pedro must continue to be in this lineup. Where do you stand on that? On the Pedro debate? And then also you know, if he has to be in there, do you think Christian at a right back spot is a is an opportunity to keep him on the field.
Okay, A lot of questions and yeah, let's start long long, long term, long term. Pedro de la Vega is the is the man for the Seattle Founders right now. I don't think he should start now. If this was back in March April, whenever he arrived and he could have stayed healthy, yes I would have said, Hey, first twelve games of the season, he has to start every single game, and he has to learn about his teammates, he has to learn about MLS, he has to start figuring out
the ways that Schmitzer wants him to play. All that type of stuff. Now, what eight games left in the season. The team was winning without you on the bench. The team was solidified. Rock Rock was playing well on the left, Jordan Morris scoring goals up front. You're getting the best of good players. Vargas is playing well. I don't think you throw him in the team now to just let him grow. Sorry, I think that time has passed. Now it's going to have to go till next season where
he gets to start every single game. At the beginning of the next season, if he can stay healthy for now, I would use him off the bench as a change of pace player to be a difference maker in the last twenty thirty minutes of the game.
Wow, yeah, keep going, key going, Sorry, go ahead, No, Christian rolled on.
You can put him at right back, but I don't think that's his best position long term either or even in the short term. I think he's best when he plays anywhere in the midfield. He uses his ability to cover ground to break up plays and then he's very underrated in the final third. That's why I say I expect more out of him in the goals and assist categories right now.
So I'm wondering the disconnect with Pedro de Levega in the starting lineup. I mean, obviously you know nothing against Portland and that's a team that ships so many goals you can't even count, and obviously it.
Just didn't work.
Is is his I guess the lack of integration to the level we need to see. Is that what went wrong you think on Saturday in Portland? Or or was it something else because obviously something wasn't working.
Yeah, no, I'm not sure about this specific match against Portland, but as a whole for Pedro de la Vega, yes, Listen, he's only played what nine games in the league and only started for so he has zero rhythm right now. He did have one flash of brilliance in the ninetieth minute against the LAFC where I thought he was going to take on three guys and get a game time goal. Unfortunately the shot cut blocked. But you see that there
are moments there. The problem is right now is now is not the time to tinker when you're trying to get a top four spot in the playoffs, to get that little bit of home field advantage in the first in the first round, you know. And the problem is, there are so many teams battling for that fourth spot in the West right now that I'm not sure Brian
Schmeitzer should be you know, experimenting a little bit. Okay, it's tough to say experimenting with the guy who's a DP, who they brought in to be a big name guy, right but just with the way the season has gone and how his injuries have gone, I just personally would use him off the bench.
Yeah, okay, that's an interesting take. And I love kind of these discussions, and Kellen was in agreement with you as well about kind of how this team fits, you know, with only you know, seven matches left in the regular season. I mean we were discussing in the pregame show, like, okay, we get three points out of this one, the conversation really picks up for getting you know, a a top four, maybe even three seed, and now here we are something all the way to eighth. I mean, oh boy, how
quickly does it change quickly on the Western Conference. While we're talking about that, obviously you have LA Galaxy, LAFC the top two, Salt Lakes sitting right behind him there in third. Do you think those three are pretty solidified? There is as kind of the top three in this conference to you know, fight for it at the end. How do you break down the hierarchy of the Western Conference right now?
I had included Salt Lake in the top three two weeks ago, I said the top three I think is set. I still do think LAFC will pass the Galaxy and finish as the number one seed in the West. Galaxy will finish second. But now after Salt Lake lost that home to San Jose, and then you know with Chicho Aroango, we don't know how long he's going to be out Now, I think after LA Galaxy and LAFC, I think it's
up for grabs. Colorado has a shout. Vancouver has a big shout, just because they have two games in hand and a lot of home games coming up. Portland's attack is very good. I don't know about their defense. Houston, who sits in seventh, they can keep the ball really well. They showed a dominant performance at LAFC. If Ezekiel Ponse can start scoring goals and then Seattle. I still think they're the favorite to finish fourth. I think they have the best roster of all of those teams that I've
just named. Problem is they go to Columbus this week, which is terrifying ask to get one point or even three at this point in the season. But after that, Seattle's got three home games in a row where they can really take advantage. I would be an idiot to try to predict who would finish three through eight right now in the West, because I think it's gonna go top seat turvy over the next five weeks.
So do I.
I think it's just gonna be absolute back and forth, as we just discussed where Seattle we're in discussion for fourth, and now we're in discussion for Okay, now we're in the playing game. So it's just gonna change every single week over these next seven games. You mentioned Columbus, so
obviously you're right. We're looking at Saturday, which will have the game for here on KJR over on nine to fifty k am for folks here in Seattle, four o'clock Providence, Swedish prematch show four thirty kickoff and folks can also watch it MLS Season pass on Apple TV. And Columbus is just I mean, they're the behemoth, right, I mean obviously from being the defending champs Least Cup winners Wilford Nancy, the job that he's done is just spectacular. Let me
ask you this way, do they have a weakness? Do they have some way the Sounders can get a foothold and try to aim for getting a point this weekend.
Well, get a foothold, no, but get a point, yes for sure, or even three. You never know in MLS. But Columbus will control the game through possession. That is one hundred percent fact. I have no doubt about that that they will control the game, especially at home. However, with Rothrock, if he starts on the left with Jordan Morris up front, speed can kill Columbus for sure. I think Steven Morera they're right center back, he's fast, he
can deal with fast players. But Ruby Camacho in the middle and whoever plays as a less center back, whether that be Zawadski or a month Sin or Shaburco, those players can be exploited in the counter attack. And so that means Rusnak has to be on you know, good passing, Jordan Morris, good runs behind Rothrock being dangerous to put them under pressure. I think when LAFC has gone to play Columbus, they show them a little bit too much
respect and play a little bit scared. And so if Seattle can go in with a good game plan to play on the counter attack and try to establish set pieces as well as a point of domination, I think that that's the recipe for the Sounders to get points in Columbus.
Okay, I like what I'm hearing here because we've seen Jordan make those runs in behind this year. I think he needs to We've all agreed he needs to improve and continue to recycle those runs, but we've seen him do that, and rus Knack's been great on set pieces here over the last you know, half season or so. So all right, you've given me an ounce of hope where I think I went into this interview kind of saying, oh god, you know a point it best, But all right, you've given me a little bit of hope.
I like this here.
Sawci questions our guest MLS season pass on Apple TV, long time player in MLS, and of course the United States as well. Before we move on to the United States conversation, let me quickly stay on the Eastern Conference. Get your two cents on this question. Is the supporter shield wrapped up right now for Miami?
Yes, I think so. Unfortunately, because about two weeks ago we had six teams in the race and it was very, very exciting. And obviously in the past two weeks, Miami has won twice and Columbus has won twice, but Columbus is still ten points back. But since then, Cincinnati lost La Galaxy Loft, LAFC lost three a Salt Lake Loft, and I think it's just becoming too big of an
ask for them to try to catch Miami. The bigger question now is does Miami sent the points record that was set by the New England Revolution in twenty twenty one with seventy two or seventy three points I believe, and Miami has a good shout to break that.
This year, only fourteen off with the seven games to go, so that is going to be kind of the interesting race question. But yeah, they're sailing towards it right now. Sasha. Let's wrap it up with the United States men's national team. The hire of Mauricio Pochettino. I am personally a Tottenham fan, so I am personally very very happy at this choice.
I was talking to some other friends of yours on m last season Pass on Apple TV who were a little bit more questionable of the higher Where do you stand on Poschettino taking over the program.
I'm very excited for Pochettino. I think the fact that he has coached some of the biggest names in the world, you know, Harry Kane, Messi, Neymar and Bafe that carries a lot of weight. And what I saw from the US national team over the past six months was that the uh I guess, the hunger or the fight that I think they got very comfortable under Greg Berhalter. A lot of the main players they knew they had a place in the team, they knew I had a place
in the starting lineup, and they had no fear. And so now I think Pochettino comes in, everything gets set anew. They will have massive fear and massive respect for him to really understand what it means play for the US men's national team again, and I think going to bring the best out of our young group. So I'm really, really excited about it.
I couldn't agree more.
I think that's that's exactly what the guy like Paca is going to be able to do and come in and just change a culture reading vigorous, especially those young kids. And I mean listen, hopefully we're talking again in two years, you know, around before the World Cup, so just under two years, and we're talking about a program that's ready to roll here in twenty six. So love that thought, Sacha. We really appreciate your time here on Sounders Weekly. Really
good insight. You've given me hope for Sounders Columbus this weekend, and that's more than I could ask you for, so appreciate it.
All right, man, good luck this week and we'll be watching.
Thanks so much, all right, SASA question there MLS Season Pass. You can watch him of course on that MLS three sixty kind of their red Zone version of MLS. Very very good program there that he has with just a really strong crew. I've really enjoyed that studio show with all of them, with Andrew Weebe and everybody else there with MLS Season Pass. Really enjoyed it. I hope you have as well. And yeah, I mean that the subject
of Mauricio Pochettino. We're gonna be hitting that a little bit later on tonight because last time we did Sounders Weekly, we've been off for a few weeks. I was on vacation and the Sounders played, of course, in the Open Cup. Last time we were actually talking about potential candidates. Marisa do moadu was on Sounders Weekly and I asked him like an hour before the breaking news came out that Pachettino was actually gonna take the job.
I had asked moadu Abo about.
It and he said, I like the hire, but here's a couple of things, and he didn't like it because he's an Arsenal fan. But listen, the reality of this situation is we haven't really spent a lot of time talking about what this could mean for the program. So I'm bringing back in our producer Anders Hurst for our final segment tonight. We're going to talk a little bit more in depth about what it means for US Soccer to have a person like Mauricio Pochettino being the new
head coach. We'll talk about that a little bit later on tonight, but we got to get back to some sounders that talk and obviously it's it's not entirely positive coming off of back to back one nothing lost as to rivals, but arilillianwallofmls sooccer dot com he's going to be joining us and we're going to be spending a bit more time here as we look ahead to not only Sounders Columbus, but talk about where this team is at.
Right now, before we take a break, I'll quickly let you know that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence, Swedish official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Ari Lillianwall talks more Sounders and Columbus ahead. Next on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFA.
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders fc CL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back to Sounders Weekly.
Jackson Feltz here, good to be with you in good to have Sasha question on the show that previous segment to check out the podcast in case you missed him, and lots of good insight there into our Sounders as well as Columbus Crewe sc coming up here this weekend. We'll be talking about that with our guest coming up right now, Ari Lillionwall from MLS Soccer dot Com and the podcast Lobbing Scorchers ari back to back one nothing losses.
How you doing?
Man?
Uh?
You know I've been better, Jackson, but excited to be on here with you. Thanks for having me back.
I think we've both been better. It's frustrating, frustrating last week. Let's just start with kind of your opening thoughts on the last week for this team. Obviously, frustrating is a good word for it. What other words are you and Noah throwing out on the Lobbing Scorches podcast.
You know, I think we're both a little just jaded at this point. I think this last week taking those two results back to back, getting eliminated from the Open Cup by LAFC, who if you ever had a chance to be LAFC was under them those circumstances with them coming off getting eliminated from League's Cup on short rest, playing at Starfire, where historically Seattle has arguably the best home field advantage of that venue anywhere throughout the league.
They've only lost there I think twice before for that game, So that was obviously a really frustrating one because you had a great opportunity to get that Monkey off your back and eliminate them from a tournament and really kind of end the storyline of them dominating Seattle to the extent that they have recently. And then obviously rivalry defeat
at Portland is always tough to swallow too. So you know, those two results in isolation, it might not leave people as frustrated, but taking them back to back, especially in the context of how the rest of this season has gone at times, Definitely, I think probably the toughest week of the season is how I saw it.
Obviously, there was a lot of offensive issues on Saturday. I mean not scoring against Portland, a team who's given up forty six goals in league games. I mean, they ship goals like it's no tomorrow, and for the Sounders not to score on them is.
A pretty big rut. Row.
You know, it was interesting on the postgame show, and I talked to Sasha about this as well, and he and Callan Row on the postgame show said the exact same thing. In terms of this question, should pay de la Vega be in the starting lineup still or should Brian Schmitzer go back to what was winning him games in the late part of spring, early part of summer where either Pedro wasn't available or he was coming off the bench, and now he goes in the lineup and
there was clearly some offensive issues. Both Sasha and Callen say that Pedro shouldn't be starting right now and Brian should should take him off and you know, keep integrating him in other ways. I feel very oppositely. Where do you stand on should Pedro be in the starting lineup?
I mean, whether he should be in the starting lineup or not. I think there's no question in my mind at all that he should be getting a lot of minutes and playing a very big role for this team down the stretch. Look, I mean, you can you could definitely point to these last two games and point to a lack of offensive output as the reason for the results. I don't think you can blame that on Pedro de
la Vega. I actually thought in the Portland game, specifically, he looked as good as he's looked and as dangerous as he's looked since he's been on the team. But I mean, I think the fact remains, no matter your evaluation of his performances so far, this is a player that there's a lot riding on him being a hit
of the signing. There's no way that you could keep a player that you spent this much money on and have this much invested in on the bench in a bit part role going down to the season when your hopes of contending for MLS Cup and making a run on the playoffs are very much predicated on him breaking out and being a big contributor down the stretch. For that to happen, he has to be playing a lot.
So yeah, I would start him. And if you're not going to start him, you have to give him a lot of minutes down the stretch here, if for no other reason than to see what you have in him and be able to make an evaluation on the player going into next season.
Yeah, I think that's your dead on. I completely agree.
He's your high priced he's your glorious acquisition of the offseason, and frankly, for a team that hasn't made an acquisition in three straight summer windows, Pedro is the guy for this twenty twenty four Sea, going back to the previous winter window when you brought him in. So there is there's no he has to be in there. You know, there's there's no debate to be had. I don't think. But even then, you need to continue to integrate him. And if it takes time, then you just got to
keep throwing him in there to integrate accurately. And you know the way that Callen retorted, I think the way that you said it, in the way that I said in the postgame show was okay, Well, then we know Paul Rothrock is going to be in there. Where does Christian Rodand go? I said, Christian Rodond goes to right back? Sorry, Alex rolled on, I think that Christian is better suited right now to be playing from his right back spot than be playing from an attacking role on the wing.
Do I have a leg to stand on there?
I think that is one way to do it. But I think, you know, regardless of what move has to be made to get him in there, I think it's pretty clear to me at least, that the biggest issue that this team is having offensively is prection from out wide. You know, as well as Paul Rothrock has played this season, and as good of a story as as you know that, I'm as much of a Paul Rothrock fan as anybody, but he cannot be your number one a carrying the offensive load. From out wide game in, game out, every
single week. And in fact, I think his skill set is better suited as a super sub. And I think your best hope for solving that issue of lack of production from out wide is having Pedro de la Vega in there to try and to try and give you a boost there. Albert Rusmak and Jordan Morris have been playing well for most of the season. All the production that you have gotten offensively is basically down to those two guys. You need more than that. You need to
be more multifaceted in attack. You need production from other sources than just two guys. And right now, I just I'm not seeing where you get that, at least for this season, until you get Pedro de la Vega cooking. That's what this team has to do.
Yeah, you bring up a good point about Jordan and Albert. I think I mean Albert right now, if there was any question about, you know, bringing him back in twenty five, it's over. You have to. He's been playing like a designated player this year. I mean, living up to every dollar in that contract, the option that they took. Uh So, I mean Albert Rusnak's been just phenomenal. This season especially, you know, looking at this basically the last twenty games or so total for the team, He's been just a
rock for this club. Ari let's talk about what's ahead for the Sounders, and it really kind of begin our sharp Vision opponent alec here, because there's a lot to talk about with Columbus. They are coached by Wilfrid Nancy. Before we talk about what Nancy has on the field, we had talked about how Wilfrid Nancy was probably gonna be, you know, the best name for the United States job if they hadn't hired Mauricio Pochettino. But they did, and
now Wilfrid Nancy's staying with Columbus. That's great for them. What makes him such a good coach?
I mean, he's considered the best tactician in the world league. He's very very good at getting his players to buy into his tactics and getting them to execute them on the field. And he strikes me as very much of a player's coach that knows how to man manage, which
is something that Brian Schmetzer is very good at. So he's kind of this type of coach that he gives you a little bit of everything, and he gives you this sort of tactical advantage going into every single game that you play that just, frankly, not a lot of coaches in any league really give you that. It's kind
of a select group that you can name. And then so you combine those attributes with him as a coach, with giving him one of the most loaded rosters in the league, and you have what you have with Columbus, which is a buzzsaw Jugger Knight team in MLS right now that's coming off an MLS Cup title, run to the concer CAF Champions League Final and a League's Cup title.
So they very much earned their status as the best team in the league right now, and he's very much earned his status as the best coach in the league right now.
And those weapons that he has on the field, and once again, Mary Luine was our guest MLS Season Pass and the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app. Those weapons that Wilford Nancy has on Columbus that we're going to be hearing and saying their names over and over on the broadcast on Saturday. What are those names that people and Sounder fans have to be worried about.
Well, the biggest ones are Kuco Hernandez and Diego Rossi, but they actually are going to be dealing with a lot of absences for this game. I know Kucho got called up by Columbia, he's not going to be playing. Diego Rossi should be out there though, but they're also going to be missing Patrick Schulti, who is a really good goalkeeper, and there's a couple of other guys that are going to be gone. Steven Morea one of their really good fullbacks, which is the strength of their team.
So they are going to be playing this game a little shorthanded. But they have one of the deepest rosters in the league, so you know, I guess it's tbd how much of an impact that makes on the game, But I will say, Kucho, you know, that's a big lost. This is a perennial MVP candidate, one of the best Number nine in the league, one of the most versatile and well rounded number nines in the league. He does everything well, so not having him in the lineup that
is pretty significant. But I mean you can go down their roster, Diego Rossi, who has been a great MLS player for a long time, dating back to his days with LAFC, is always a very dangerous player. Darlington Nagby is one of the best defensive midfielders that's ever played in MLS. He's won trophies everywhere he's gone. So, I mean this team is loaded, make no mistake about it, even with the absences that they're going to be dealing with for this game.
I think Diego is the guy who scored lafc's first ever goal in Seattle in that opener back in was that twenty eighteen do you remember or was it twenty seventeen?
Yeah, at eighteen.
So Rossi's the one from distance I want to say, like about twenty yards out or so. He beat Stephen Frye and I was the lafc's first ever goal and he came at lumin Field against the Sounders.
He's been so quality. But missing Kusho is huge.
I mean that that's an entirely dynamic changing And I was just on the phone with SASA question who was talking about how listen they're susceptible to speed. If Jordan Morris can get in behind, if rus Nat can get good set pieces, you got a hope in this game. And yeah, my hope over the last forty five minutes
has just been going up and up and up. From knowing we can get behind them, knowing they're susceptible to speed where the Sounders have some good pace, knowing that they're susceptible on set pieces, now knowing that there are gonna be some guys down, including the Star and Kucho. I don't know, man, Like, my hope going into this show tonight, just forty five minutes ago, was you know, okay,
if we can get a point. Now my thought is, God, could the Sounders actually you know, get three in Columbus?
Yeah, I mean getting three still feels like a pretty tall order for me, but getting one definitely deals within the realm of out realm of outcomes. I mean, Sasha's dead on the One thing about this team where you can get them is that they are very very aggressive on offense and going forward. They'd love to push their fullbacks really really high, and they can be susceptible on the break and they do can see goals at times. So it's definitely not out of the question that Seattle
get the goal or two in this game. And yeah, like you said, I mean without Kucho, that is, that's not just their number one offensive threat, that's arguably the number one offensive threat in the entire league, you know, barring Messi and the Barca boys in Miami right now. So I would say, with where Columbus is at with their personnel, do you have a better chance of getting a result in this game at lower dot com field
than you would otherwise with them at full strength. It's still going to be hard, but I think it can be done.
I love it well opponent Alix.
Tonight was presented by Sharp Vision Modern Leask and Lens, the official Lasik provider of Sounder z FC. Really looking forward to that game on Saturday once again Providence Swedish prematch show four o'clock kick off at four thirty. You can listen to that over on our sister station of Sports Radio nine to fifty KJR AM. People can also watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty for
Sounders and Columbus Ari. Before we let you go, give us a little taste of your winners and losers this week on Loving Scorchers who had good weeks and please don't say the Portland Timbers and who had bad weeks, and please don't say the Seattle Sounders.
Well, I mean the Portland Timbers did have a really good league. You can't you can't really take that away from them. But yeah, just pulling up the scores right now, I mean, you've got FC Cincinnati was a big win over c F Montreal. They're looking at like a resurgent team interer Miami looks dominant again still with no messy for one at Chicago. But I think the biggest result that kind of turned heads around the league was Houston
taking all three points off l AFC at LAFC. Now, I know LAFC was very depleted energy wise and exhausted from the gauntlet of a schedule that they've had between playing in League's Cup and playing Seattle in the Open Cup, but that's still a great result for the Houston Dynamo and they've made a couple of moves where they're suddenly looking a little bit stronger down the stretch here. And then obviously, Orlando City SC had another big win at
home against Nashville SC. They beat them three zero and they're looking pretty resurgent as well, so I think those are the results.
That caught my eye.
Okay, well, we'll all listen for more of the content with you and Noah. They're on Lobbing Scorcheres. Thank you for that, and I'll be fast forwarding through everywhere you say Portland, Ari, good stuff is always my friend. Thanks for joining us. We'll talk to you next week after hopefully a result on the road against Columbus sounds good. Thanks Jackson, it's our good friend Ari Lilienwallo of MLS Soccer dot com and check out his podcast, Lobbing Scorchers.
Before we take a break, want to quickly tell you that twenty twenty five season membership deposits for your Seattle Sounders are on sale now. Place a one hundred dollars deposit and gain access to benefits you can use this season, including Lumenfield concert pre sales and mlsstore dot com discounts. Learn more at soundersfc dot com. Backslash membership. We'll get a break here in Sounders Weekly and chat with our producer Andershearst about some big breaks king United States men's
national team news. That's next on Sports Radio ninety three point three.
kJ Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders. Fcle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feldt's good to be with you here on this Wednesday evening. Thanks to our guests so far this evening, Sasha Question and Ari Lillianwall.
Great to have both of them on the show.
Check out the podcast Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app in case you miss either of them. Great thoughts on our Sounders coming off of what happened this last week to one nothing losses and Columbus ahead Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States program, We're going to be touching on that in just a moment. Again, before we get to our producer anders Hurst, talk more about Potch quickly, I'll take you around the sound because
we want to still do that. Obviously, the USL two season is over, but there is still a lot going on here around the PNWT.
Listen.
Last time we had a Sounders Weekly, which was I mentioned this before. It's been a few weeks since I was on vacation, and then we had the Open Cup game last week. It's been a few weeks, but last time I said, listen, the Rain a kind of getting points. Here's draws here and there, but we need to start getting the wins to rise up the table. They've finally
been getting the wins this last Saturday on August thirty. First, it was a little bit of a comeback win over Louisville three two final where you get two second half goals, one of the eighty first minute, actually I think it was an own goal in the eighty first minute I saw. But a big three to two win for Seattle Rain over Louisville. That followed up on the previous weekend where they were able to beat North Carolina won nothing, So
there was that big win. Was that the Megan Rapinal retirement game where there was a big there might have been either way. What we've seen so far for the Rain in these last couple weeks has been good results. Now in terms of what that means in the NWSL, it hasn't changed too much in terms of standings, but
points wise, it has changed quite a bit. They're still in eleventh place with seventeen points, but now they are only four points back of BAYFC with twenty one points, so only four points out of a playoff spot with still a bunch of matches still to play. So a long time for Seattle Rain to get those four points and get in the playoff picture. I know they've been making a bunch of moves and a bunch of transactions, so hopefully these moves by Galimore and company have done
enough to get this team into the playoff picture. But clearly these last two weeks much better there for Seattle Rain FC.
In terms of takomaa fiance.
You know, we haven't really spent much time at all this season talking about Tacoma defiance and I'll raise my hand and say that's been a big mistake, but they deserve some time because they were able to pull off of a win over LAFC to this last Friday night at LA. It should be mentioned, so finally a Seattle team beats an LA team. It just happened to come with Tacoma over FC two, but it came nonetheless and
for to coma defiance there. In MLS Next Pro, it should be mentioned that they are looking at fourth place right now. They're in the second group there of MLS Next Pro, right behind LA Galaxy two. By just about one point. Still a lot of matches left in the MLS next pro season. They have a match coming up this coming Sunday as they're going to be hosting Portland Timbers to so hopefully they can get a result there
where the Sounders didn't this last weekend. We'll shifting gears here on Sounders Weekly from around the sound I guess we'll call around the globe back to kind of our correspondent who talked with us for a bunch of summer tournaments. He's been talking to us about the United States coaching situation almost every show going for the last two months or so, and we're doing it again here because there
is actual, real breaking news, anders As. We bring in our producer anders Hurst, who of course produces the Ian Furness Show from twelve to three pm here on ninety three point three KGERFM, and we got actual news even yesterday.
Obviously the news came out a few weeks ago, but this is actual news that is tangible that we can celebrate because after the rumors and after the reports of Marisio Pachettino being the guy for the United States men's national team, we got the news from from Brezio Romano, your guy, just earlier that he is prepared to sign this week as the new United States head coach. The vermal agreement has already been made, but now it will be in writing and all the legal stuff will be
ironed out. Everything is done. He will officially be the coach later this week. And obviously he's you know, I've told you he's been my number one guy for months. We were just kind of waiting to see if it was even a possibility. But the United States, and you know, credit to everybody with the Federation in terms of locking this down and getting a big name. They got the big name in Poch and obviously a's a Tottenham fan.
I'm very happy.
But you know, from somebody who doesn't have a vested interest in a place that he used to work, what is your perspective on the hiring of Maricio Pochettino.
It's my number one choice.
I believe you had me on earlier this year about you know who I would want to replace Greg Buralter, and I mentioned a couple other names, and I had Pochettino kind of as a like a throw in, like, oh, if we get Mauricio Pochettino maybe that too, but jokingly because I didn't think it was a realistic possibility. But Crocker's made it happen and I'm happy for it. I think he's probably was the best best coach available to get the job done for this next year.
Well, I think the question to follow up is is why is he the best coach? Because obviously he has the pedigree and obviously he has the credentials, but what about his system? You know, and and I can touch on this too, but but from your perspective, what about what he does as a coach is going to work so well with the United States program?
Yeah, well, I definitely want to hear what you think about him, because I know you're a fan of his and obviously I have watched him, probably a little bit closer than I have. But just from my kind of outsider perspective, if he's really good number one at cup runs, which is something that the World Cup is It's not like a long season like a Premier League season or an MLS season or anything like that. It's a cup run,
which is what he is most famous for. In the twenty nineteen taking the Spurs to the Champions League final, a squad that probably wasn't all that in terms of going into that season, but he got the most out of them, and as a talented group. With this US men's national team set up, I think it's really really good and like a good core, but it needs to be taken to the next level in terms of someone
who can deliver a message to the group, right. And it's not just a Carlo Ancelotti type of manager who's like, oh, you have all the superstars, you just need them to get along. It's not like that they need the direction to go. And I think Pochettino's kind of a good happy medium for that. Plus he speaks English. But it's someone who maybe, as I was asking for, doesn't necessarily isn't familiar with the US system, which I think is a good thing because it's like, no, we're not doing
what we've done the last twenty five years. We're doing something totally different. What's worked for the rest of the world, and this is what we're doing now and I'm going to take you into the new age of SOCT.
You mentioned the twenty nineteen final, and it's a shame that they just canceled that final and it never actually happened.
Haha, ha. I mean, listen.
I think that one thing that Potch does really well is he uses attacking soccer guy and with the United States crew right now, I think that we have midfielders and I would even say up top as well with Bolligan to get an offensive team. He's is also very
heavy on the wings. And when you have a guy like Desk and I think, you know, Robinson on the left side, I think is a good attacking left back and you have attacking midfielders who can play outside, you slide Christian Polistic on the left and you let him kind of tuck in as a you know, human Sun type player. Where Sun slid in, Polisic can slide in and kind of be a second number.
Ten, and you just run those wings.
And I think the thing that stands out to me the most, and let me know if you agree with this, is the fact that this is a younger United States squad.
It's on a veteran squad.
Yeah.
These are kids who can run, run and run some more. And it's a system that Potch runs where it relies on athleticism and running and running and running. And this is a group that is going to be highly demanded to be, you know, in terms of stamina and fitness, to be able to run their butts off. But it's a group that I think he can ask.
To do that.
Yeah, and you know, stereotypically, I don't want to generalize as much, but usually what happens is the younger kind of players are more You're a bit You're able to mold them into what you want them to do more because they have learned less, right, and they're kind of more just like a sponge soaking in all the information.
Right.
Veteran players are kind of stuck in their ways. They want to play a certain way, and the US doesn't really have any of those. They're they're kind of they need a direction to be given. And it's, like I said, it's something totally different than what we've had in the past, where it's like, Okay, we're just trying to get everyone to play and go along and then we'll figure it all out because we have a bunch of superstars. No,
I think this team needs a direction. And what you were mentioning with outside backs totally makes sense because I think it's one of the strengths of this team. Sergenio Destin Anthony Robinson are two the best players.
Eighteen games, nine international windows before the World Cup. There's a shorter time than should be for him to ramp up to this. But yeah, listen, I mean, I think let's hope everything clicks in these you know, next eighteen games and nine windows before the World Cup, you know, less than two years run up. So thanks for this, appreciate it. Yep, great job tonight. That'll do it here for Sounders Weekly. Want to thank all of our guests,
Anders right there, Sasha Question and Ari Lulin Wal. Check out Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app, and we will talk to you on Saturday, Sounders Columbus Crew. It'll be over on nine to fifty KJR AM four o'clock pre match show four thirty kickoff over on nine to fifty am. We'll talk to you then have a good rest of your week and coming up next as Fox Sports Radio