You know, it just works on so many levels. When you start listening to the lyrics, you know it just I don't know, man, it's one of the bits I can't quit.
And you know the deal. When we play Limp Biscuit on.
This radio show, it's signed to welcome in club legend future Hall of Famer Trey Fitzgerald.
Who's the Hall of Fame? By the time you got the intro, right, who's the hall of Fame named after? Again?
That you're going to be inducted to some NWSL like you told us this weekend. I better be there when you're inducted into the whatever hall of fame.
Oh, there is a Colin Jose Media Award, okay at the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and Colin Jose was a NWSC. Now the archive is for the NASL, the league that form the foundation for the sport in this country over the last fifty years.
How do how do we get you on the list for that award or do you actually have to work for it?
Good question, just out of curiosity. Hello, Trey, how are you? I'm great? How are you great? To see you live in studio.
If you've ever wondered what Trey looks like and why the Olympus get music works so well, Uh, don't do that. Don't throw deuces up log on our YouTube channel. Trey is in studio. I always appreciate your time coming down.
All right, let's just start.
With some big picture stuff with the club, because it's been it's been a rough start and it's been a little chaotic behind the scenes with the ownership transition. The primary transfer window comes and goes with a couple of additions, but no additions that I think a lot of people were either hoping or expecting when it came to a DP. The Bosanique deal with the Portuguese club falls apart at last minute. So what's the past you know, a month, month and a half been like for you guys.
Yeah, it's been I think energetic, it's been dynamic. I think in all ways it's been positive. Even the Bosenig deal falling apart, it was you know, that happened as a result of I think Kurt and company drawing a line in the sand and saying you're not gonna to change from euros or dollars to euros at the last minute and ask for a bunch more money. That was the deal and move the goalposts and change the terms.
And you know, I think Kurt got to a point where he felt like if we met their demands, it would set a bad precedent and it would also kind of hamstring us a little bit in the summer. So the Agata trade was made with with Sporting Kansas City. We haven't really seen him much yet. He did play forty five at Vancouver, played what twenty two to twenty three at San Diego. Clearly he's a talented player. He scored two goals against US last year. You know, I guess in my mind maybe he ends up being over
the longer term, more of the Anderson Julio replacement. And you know, Chicho was really good for San Jose the other night, and I think that'll be Kurt's focus in the summer. Is is a killer nine and you reference the ownership change. Every experiences I've had with anybody on the Miller side in the months leading up to the official public announcement has been nothing but amazingly positive. And you know, look, Spence, I never once thought that RSL
would leave Utah or move from Utah. But you know, Commissioner Garber and others. They said, with the Miller family being the majority locally engaged owner, there's never a doubt. And you know, the Blitzer group is still very much involved, especially on the sporting side. We've got some young academy products that are over in Denmark with Bronby right now, and they're going to get some cups of coffee around some of the different teams in the continent there. That's
exciting stuff for the development of a kid. It's not probably super exciting for our fans that are worried about first team performance over the first third of the season. But I guess the saving grace right now as I try to look at things glass half full, is we've got twenty five games left across all competitions, so there's plenty of time to kind of turn the ship around. Four wins, seven losses in MLS, we're only I think six points out of second place, which is amazing. Seven points.
Maybe go to Dallas this weekend at the end of a three game road trip. Dallas just got smashed, so if we can get the three points there, take six out of nine. The Vancouver loss is disappointing, but they're the best team in the league. So for us to have kind of maybe not embarrassed ourselves against them is a moral victory, which obviously don't count for anything.
Seven points out of second in fairness, two points out of fourteenth.
Okay, yeah, tightly packed.
But look, I bring it up for context because over the course of the twenty years now, which is still wild for me to think about, in the existence of the club, some of our best teams had horrible starts and some of our worst teams had awesome stus. This season, almost unlike any other, is an absolute marathon. It is
not a sprint. So I'm not ready to anoint or dismiss, but I do think there is a faction of this fan base that looks at and I want you to walk us through this because you've been around the league forever and it is a single entity policy continuously. So you cannot draw a straight line by doing all of the math of every player you let go and saying, why don't we spend every one of those dollars on a player transfer.
That's not how the business model works.
However, it is I think understandable for a fan base it saw potentially fifteen to eighteen of the most exciting games that we've ever seen here last year with that group of attacking players be broken down brick by brick without adequate replacements.
I think that's fair. True, Yeah, yeah, I think it is fair. The whiplash from a year ago to now is certainly I think exacerbating the situation because you do go fifteen games in the league unbeaten for the better part of March, April and May. You're in first place, You're in the supporter shield race. Chicho's got seventeen goals in seventeen games. I think at that point you sell Andres, Chicho scores one goal in his final what twenty games, let's say maybe a little less over the second half
of the season, it was. It was a stumble to the finish after you sell Andres. Now it's not I think people forget that. Okay, you sell Andres for eleven million, it goes to thirteen with some bonuses. All that money isn't paid up front. You take five million of what you get from him and you buy Diogo, you buy Dominic MARCHUK, you buy Lachlan Brook, you sign Javane Brown off of waivers from Vancouver. So it's not like no resources were used and everything was pocketed. That's just not
how it works. Because some of these dollars are real cash dollars, as you've heard Kurt explain. Some the gam is not real cash. It's fictional. Kind of capology, if you will. I think you know, the chi Cho move was calculated. The Matt Crooks move was maybe a little late, and it was right by him. He's doing very well in the in the championship over in England. But I think now through the first ten eleven games, we've realized how much work he did for everybody else and you're
missing that. Now. What it's done is you're allowing Diego Luna to become the man. As Pablo said a couple of weeks ago, he's not on the assent anymore. This is his team. He's he's the man. Maybe that's a lot to put on a twenty one year old shoulders, you know. Maybe Dominic has not. He's been I think positive, but he hasn't been as consistent as he was in the final seven games last year. Arip Ol clearly learning on the job. Agata and Russell we've hardly seen box
to box. I think everybody feels really good about the core of the team and Annelli and Ojeita and Glad and Vera and Junka and Katranas and you know, maybe right back, we've had a rotating cast of characters. Rafael Cabral has been phenomenal, but we don't have those difference makers the Chico and Andres that we had a year ago. Nobody other than Diego's really stepped up in that category.
Well, and we I think it might be time and maybe pastime to have a salient, honest conversation about Diogo, who has the same amount of goals as Sam Junka right now, right he has a goal and he has two assists in eleven games. And you know, last year he rolled into town with a lot of fanfare and was not productive.
And the walking line was we need a preseason with him.
Yeah, he's your only DP, and from my vantage point, he hasn't been good enough. So maybe you guys are seeing things in training or moments where you know he is providing the quality.
That you want from that position.
But at what point do we look at that and say, I don't know, man, it's not a It hasn't worked right so far.
Yeah, and I think there's a couple of ways to look at it, And you know, talking to Pablo and Kurt Daily as I do, I think Pablo looks at Diogo and says, Okay, this is a guy who played thirty one Champions League games. Clearly there's quality and pedigree, different league, different style of play. He was not the man in any of those situations at Copenhagen or Benfica. He was the man behind the man, or the man
behind the man behind the man. And the other thing that Pablo has said consistently in his Apple production calls is Diogo is a very smart technical player. He's an incredible finisher. When he's on the field, he's seeing the game in Pablo's estimation two three, four steps ahead, but nobody around him is seeing the game at the same cadence as he is, So there's a disconnect there. Right,
He's surrounded by an awful lot of youth. And again these are all just making excuses for him, because if he didn't have those two DP initials next to his name, I think the perception of his contribution as performance would probably be very different. So I would expect in the summer you add a DP, maybe maybe that DP that presence of that other DP would hold him accountable in such a way. Maybe he leaves. I don't know. It
could be one situation or another. His wife just announced on Instagram a week ago that they are expecting their first child graduate So you never know how some of these off field things are happening. Like you know, you've heard the guys talk about. You know, Dominic's kind of choppy start to the beginning of the season can be attributed as fact his dad has been very unhealthy and he's been five thousand miles away from that situation, and
you know, Dunny's been talking about this for years. You just never know how guys. Some guys are very good at compartmenting the ninety minutes on the field and everything else off and the other guys it bleeds through and it affects them. So the good news is things haven't frayed, right, Like, guys haven't turned on each other, and all you can hope for is improvement day by day, hour by hour, and game by game.
So the explanation for Diego is that he's too good, he's too smart, and it's too of all, it's just not on the same page. Okay, Well, he's got a kid next to him who clearly is seeing the game the way he supposedly is. But at least Diego is producing six goals, two assists, another goal over the weekend, a PK finish against Vancouver. You've had a front row seat to watch this kid develop. And I know that
some RSL fans don't love that. I wax poetic and talk about some of our great superstars back in the day. But for me, Trey he has the ability to be better in all of them. Yeah, and I hope most of those years are here. I get the deal that that probably isn't the case. But what's it been like for you to watch this kid blow up and evolve in it's really a rising star in the ranks of soccer across the entire country.
Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, Diego clearly came here as a as a as an older teen, and he's a man now, he's got a kid. He's very serious about his craft. He is. I think the biggest area of growth for him is maybe holding teammates accountable, whether it's in training sessions, it's in film sessions, it's in the middle of the game. Oh yeah, And though he will grab a guy by the collar like Jason Christ used to do, and say wake up, let's go what is
wrong with you? Matt Banky. It was Luke krammel Meyer as the vivid one in my maybe Tino Nuniez as well, shout out, I can keep going, you know, I can play this game all Diego like Apple is asking him to be an ambassador. MLS wants to use him in everything. Landon Donovan and Tim Howard want them on their on their podcast. He's done. You know. He did the and or thing with the actor Diego Luna, Travis Scott had
him out to Coachella. These are things that don't typically happen to a real Salt lakey no matter how many goals you have. And and the thing is is like Diego's matured, but he hasn't really changed. Like he's still a good guy that you can walk up to and and dap up and just have a good conversation with his. If I was twenty one and suddenly the world was acting like I was important, I would expect my ego
to probably outgrow its efficiency, you know. And look, part of what's great about Diego is his belief in himself and you know that quiet confidence. But he really has put this team on his shoulders. He's got what two two goal games, He's made Team of the Week three times, So I think he's again. I don't know what's gonna happen.
I expect him to be here for a year. I think that gives him the best chance to go to the Gold Cup here in a couple months under poach a team know then and then really give himself a chance to make that World Cup team a year from now. And the US soccer assistants that have been around clearly Pochattino loves him. They love his grit, his grind, his attitude on both sides of the ball, and he's not
afraid to try stuff. And we saw it in the Nations League whatever semi final and final or third place game I should say, where the US lost to Panama in Canada. He was the lone bright spot. He was the only guy trying things. He was the only guy making things happen for himself and for others. So sky's a limit still for a twenty one year old Diego Luna.
A bit of a non sequitur, but you're referenced Aarsaul players at Coachella, and so I've got to ask you about Nick Rimando being inducted in the Hall of Fame. Nick is a known music festival guy, absolutely, but you know,
little history lesson. I can remember one of my wake up calls to Okay, professional soccer in America is much different than professional professional basketball, professional football, the sports I was raised around, when I found out that our starting keeper in two thousand and seven, Scott Garlic, had elected to retire because he had an opportunity in real estate. Good for Scott, apparently it's worked out for him, just fine,
it seems like it. But ultimately I can remember thinking, like, wait, a athlete in his maybe later prime is retiring when he has a contract to keep playing to work in real estate. So we were scrambling to get a keeper and ultimately went and reacquired Nick Romando from d C New York where Bruce Arena correct. Okay, So we were able to acquire Romando in the deal that also brought us Freddy Freddy You Do, which did not work out
as well as we were expecting. We did not know that the better piece of that deal was actually the keeper that we were receiving, who turned out to be one of the main conduits to lifting trophies and by most accounts, the greatest keeper this league has ever seen. So your thoughts on on NICKI getting inducted into the National Hall of Fame, the only RSL player to have this. I would imagine Kyle gets there at some point. I would hope Kyle can get in the next year or two.
Yeah. Nick Romando inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas this weekend. We will celebrate Nick on June fourteenth against DC United at America First Field in Sandy, and Nick will get his name put up in the Ring of Honor next to Jason christ and Javier Morales and clearly the three of them were teammates together on that MLS Cup two thousand and nine championship team. Nick Rimando was named the MasterCard Most Valuable Player.
Uh.
They were then up in Seattle against Galaxy and Nicky's just been for a guy that never won the Goalkeeper of the award, which is insane. He should have wanted the following year in twenty ten, when RSL only allowed, I want to say, in thirty four games and the reason Nick didn't win that year. I was told was because Borcher's and Lave were ahead of him and they both made Best eleven, but Nick didn't. Whatever. It was very silly, but anyway, you know Nick. Nick's second act
of his career was here, right. He won a Cup in DC, but he had suffered a knee injury and he was considered damage goods. And to your point, we traded for Freddy Adu from d C in like November. Nick Romondo was a throw in in that deal. I think we sent j Nalli and a draft pick the other way, and then Nick ended up moving to We traded him to New York because he wanted to play for Arena again and we wanted Garlic, and then well
we had Garlic from the first couple of years. And then Garlic retires two weeks before the season, and Bruce Arene told John Ellinger and I don't know, March of seven, who do you want. You can have Nick back, or you can have John Conway, who was a decent keeper at the time. And Ellinger goes, I guess we'll take Nick. And then Nick plays for us for another fourteen seasons.
Leeds MLS all time in minutes played, games played, games started, saves, wins, all the important goalkeeping categories, and some of these record spans are most likely untouchable because Kyle Nick others were kind of a rare breed Pablo that played their entire fourteen fifteen years professionally in MLS, and some of them have played the majority of those years for one team. We're seeing it now, Diego Sharra up in Portland has
played his entire career with the Timbers. So there's a few examples here and there, but we're so glad that Nick made a home here. He operates businesses here, he's the goalkeeper coach for the Monarch, spends a lot of time with our academy kids as well, and you know, I think Gavin Beaver's and every other young keeper that's come through our club would would credit Nick with some of their development.
So moving back over to here and now, because there are some bright spots other than Diego, and I talked to Pablo about this last week because, as you know, I was on the road with the club in San Diego. You're like, good, look, I mean, folks are saying that. I'm not saying that, but folks are saying that you elected to ditch me on the trip, which is fine.
The trip worked out just fine for your boy. We'll leave that off there.
But watching the win against San Diego and a mecha has been good for a while.
Dude.
He controlled the entire flow of the game. And I talked to Pablo about this. And you remember this funny anecdote that I always share about Kyle, about Kyle Beckerman because I can remember. This was two thousands seven. Jay took the head coaching job in Okay, so he had Kyle at holding mid, which is Kyle's, you know, the position that he became a legend of the club. And of course me still learning the game of soccer, Kyle
scores one of his Becker bombs. We used to call him this thirty yard blast, and we were having trouble scoring.
So on the.
Postgame show, I say to Jason, Hey, dude, I've got a great idea for you, buddy, Kyle needs to be playing up top. He needs to be playing striker or central attacking mid. And Jason gave him this look like I will strangle you right now. But I'll never forget what he said to me because it turned out to be prophetic. He said, if Kyle embraces this position and what I'm asking him to do in this diamond formation, he will play in a World Cup, which he did.
And so after that conversation with Jason, I watched Kyle in a different way than I had prior to, because you know, let people focus on the ball. They focus on the touchdown, pass, the dunk, unless it's Jokic, it's a layup because you can't dunk, or in soccer it's the goals. You focus on the moments, right, So, after watching Kyle just dominate the way that he did at that position, it gives me a different set of eyes to watch a mecca evolve the way he's And there's
a little Kyle in a mecca, I thought. So as far as bright spots that we're going to go there, I think a mecca continues to evolve.
Yeah, And what Pablo consistently praises a mecca for is his brain, his intelligence, his ability to process information. And you know, a mecca has the fortune of playing the same position that Pablo and Kyle played for fifteen years at a very very high level in this league and
in this country. And a mecca is constantly taking what Pablo is teaching him, whether it's in film sessions, training sessions, or just grabbing him during the game and say, hey, when you're in this situation, check over your left shoulder because that's where they're going to try and whatever. And know, a Mecca twenty five years old in the national team mix, I think he's played the second most minutes for the
field players for US this year. Clearly, our leader, Johnny Russell's presence now is going to I think help a Mecca accelerate his leadership side of his game and his captaincy. But you know, we wouldn't We wouldn't even be in the middle of the pack in the West without a Mecca Ojeda, which I think are one of the better midfield tandems in the league.
And finally, another bright spot I do think has been cabral I. Do you know the keeper that Kurt decided to bring in. It was It was just difficult last year watching Zach, who at times I think stepped in here as a veteran and played some really really good soccer, looked like it was orange slices and juice boxes. Like these mistakes that he was making were just wild and I think most people believe gav is going to be great once it's fully cooked and he's fully developed. I
was glad you guys addressed because you needed too. So tell us a little bit about this new keeper and we'll finish it.
Yeah, I mean, Raphael Cabral is a little older before we got Johnny Russell. I think he's our only player over the age of thirty. With Zach on the shelf rehabbing his shoulder. Cabral won a Copa Bertadores when he was young, very prestigious South American competition, won titles with Napoli in Italy, played in England at a high level, and then played in his home country in Brazil the last couple of years at a very high level. He
is a consummate leader. He is not a perfectionist, because when he is trying to teach people how to learn from their mistakes, he's very cognizant about acknowledging his own or that he will make some that he's not perfect. He loves his family, he loves his faith, and he's really been extremely solid. We saw this weekend he's now saved two of the four penalty kicks he's faced this year, which is big when it seems like there's a game changing penalty or vaar call almost every week now, and
I think we're lucky to have him. So if we get Brian Vera back, you have justin glad healthy. You know, that's a very good spine. When you can go cabral Vera, glad Oheita and Nellie and then Diego Luna at the central ten up top, you've got to build around it. We need guys to step up around it. Xaviergozo, eighteen year old homegrown from Eagle Mountain, is clearly rising to the occasion. Hopefully that lights a fire under dom he can get back out there. There's a lot of soccer left.
I think everybody's together, everybody's optimistic. But we will see what moves Kurt and company make this summer port.
Are you gonna be tuning in to the playoffs tonight, because here's where I'm at. I have so much respect for Jokic that I'll say, gentlemen, sweep, But do you think okay sweeps Denver.
Do you think it's in five? I think this. I actually think this series or five games? It's five games? Okay? Five games? Hey, it's great, doesn't dunk it because he shares the ball with a g because it's as you know, assists makes two people happy. It's great to see you Nuggets and six stop it. See, this is why we can't You're going to get a split in Oklahoma City. They're going to win the two at home, they lose one and then they win game.
This is why we think. This is why we can't talk to NBA.
Let's bet a Black Desert round on this. Seriously, Yeah, let's bet. Let's bet seventy seventy Let's bet one hundred. You're going to pay for all my golf for the rest of my life. Let's bet five million dollars right now. Okay, don't have access to that kind of fun.
Don't either, But that's why I'm happy to go ahead and and lay it down. Look, I'm pulling for your guys because I know it makes you happy to see Denver win.
Have you watched okay, so you get all this show. Yeah, they are impossible, impossible to watch with a shameless grifter Alexander shooting twenty five free throws a game or you see this, that's all gonna dry up in the playoffs. This is why we can't talk NBA when Trace here. He he has a small point about the the fact that the translation is harder in the playoffs to get to the free throw line that much to rely on it scratch. But is that gonna play into an account
against this Denver team? Who do you who do you anxiety watch more than any other team? Anxiety watch? Yeah? Like when you're what is it RSL? Is it Denver? Like I'm actually I don't have a ton of anxiety because I know that Murray or Gordon are gonna you know why I done? Never mind, it's probably RSL okay still to this day and maybe the you know, there were a lot of rough Bronco watches over the last eight years. Yeah, yeah, I mean they finally got a quarterback.
At least you have some Bob all right. So it's Dallas coming up this weekend. RSL has been on the road, but they will be back home for a Wednesday, Yeah.
Wednesday the fourteenth, at home against Portland, and then we head off to Colorado, where I will be at baller, you know, for Game six as Denver clinches the series two nights before RSL.
You turn, I'm trying to give you guys a little love here. Okay, you get back for four or five at home in June. Okay, I just feel like the club has been on the Road'll.
Get back for actually, I think it's nine out of eleven at home after this long road stretch. Good to see you, Thanks for the time, Thanks for having me.