Our next guest joins us on a consistent basis. He is the chief roster constructor over at RSL. It's always great to have Kurt Schmidt, even though I'm laboring a little bit, playing injured with the voice. But Kurt Schmidt stops buying a Monday Afternoon Kurt, Happy Monday, sir.
How are you good?
I'm good? Sorry, sorry about your laboring.
Well, hang it in. You know, we all have challenges, Kurt. Problems are inevitable, but they're also solvable.
Yes, yes, agreed.
Okay, Well I'm glad you agree, because right now there are some problems with the roster. See what I did there, a little bit of transition. Look, man, you know what I'm gonna ask you. Everybody's wondering if there's help on the way up top at number nine, and you're the guy that's making the phone calls talking ownership. I know these things are complex and nuanced and oftentimes take time. But when we last spoke, you kind of implied that you felt like you were getting close. I would imagine
that you're still kind of there. But where are we at with this fan base who was anxious to see if we're gonna get some help with some playmakers either up top or on the wings surrounding the forwards.
Yeah, obviously, you know, and we talked about this before, but certainly there's there's help on the way. Like you know, we see it as well as as everyone else can, and we we know we need strengthen things a bit, and we're close with two or three options that we think will come in and improve the group and hopefully tie it all together.
So two or three options, and I would imagine those options are all on the attacking portion of the pitches.
They say, is that fair to say?
Say?
Then again, the two or three options.
The two or three options are either strikers, they're attacking players, right.
Yeah, yeah, attackers, And not that we're going to sign three guys. But you know, obviously when we're working on deals, we need to have a couple couple avenues to work on, and you know, not everything goes according to plan all the time. So it's just about about having options and being able to pivot if necessary, from from one to two.
Is there an amount of players that you would like to sign prior to that April window closing.
I think we need one guy for sure, and if we can if we can add a second we will look into that, but certainly are our situation with international spots is a little tight at the moment, so it would have to be a domestic player. And you know, I think if we can free up a spot and start to integrate, you know, a young player from the draft that we think has done well in training as well in Hasus Bray, we might might do something like that also.
So looks like MLS announced Friday the cash from players sales kind of spilling in and r SL if I'm reading this correctly as the fifth most gam in all of the MLS card, is that correct?
I believe you are spot on. Probably hasn't changed since then, but it will probably change soon.
But yes, so for our listeners, and this probably includes most of them.
Uh what is and why is it good that you have a lot of it?
Yeah? I mean, gam is essentially a roster of flexibility. But it kind of comes into play in a couple of different ways. And one is it's the internal currency within MLS. So if we want to trade for a player, we have to you know, before the cash trade rule which just came into effect, there was just league assets, and so league assets are like draft picks players. But then GAM was an asset that you could put into
trades and add on top of trades. And I think when you're using it in that way, it has a little bit of a It has an inflated value over over and above what its sort of face value is relative to real money. But then you also use it to extend your roster. So you know, when we spend on salaries an amount that exceeds what the the cap is, we can use GAM to buy players down so that we fit back into the cap. So when we sign new players right now, we're at the cap or cap neutral.
When we sign a new player, basically do for dollar his cap charge comes from GAM.
There you go.
The education session on Game Today on the show on a Monday afternoon, courtesy of the guy that could break it down, Kurt Schmidt joining the program today. All right, upon rewatch, do you feel any better about San Diego rolling in here and winning three to one after you went back and watched the game?
No, I don't feel better about it. You know, I think any any result like that is going to be frustrating, you know, for me, for the for the staff or the players. You know, I think there was that that's a game where we feel like we can get a result, that we can win that game, and and so coming out with not even a draw but a loss is certainly setting, especially when it comes as late as it does or it did in that game. So from that standpoint, no,
I don't feel better looking back on it. I'm going to be frustrated until we win the next game, and that how I've always been and it won't change. But from the standpoint of how we play, I do think that there's there's certainly positives to pick out of how we're playing, how we're creating chances, the chances we are creating that you can pick out of sort of the mucket negativity of a negative result.
And ultimately that's why I ask the question, because you know, while in the moment, it is frustrating for obviously all of you with the club and fans that care about the club, to have an expansion franchise roll in and essentially dictate play. I mean, it felt like at the start, you guys were a little bit fortunate not to be down,
you know, three zero. After fifteen or twenty minutes, you know, you do hear a lot from Pablo after some of these losses, Like I like the flow, I like the way we're playing, we.
Just can't finish. We're just not finishing.
So that's why I ask the question, like it is it as simple, Kurt as the guys up top not putting the ball in the back of the net, or are there more proper problems with the way you're playing right now?
Well, at the moment, the two guys up up are actually the two that have scored so far, So I don't know if it's quite that simple. You know, our force are both both picking up goals. I think maybe they both could have picked up a few more goals, But you know, I don't want to take anything away from from the way they've played and the goals they have scored. I think it's it's the other attacking group that I think we can get a little more out
of in moments. You know, obviously, we had especially two, maybe three really good chances, and I'm the goalkeeper that I think any other day of the week we do a lot better with each one, and you know, to miss both is certainly you know, unexpected, probably doesn't do it justice, but just just out of the ordinary enough that I know that that I feel confident that if we continue to create champions of that caliber, you know, the result is not going to continue to be the same.
You know, these are all very very good players, and they can play and finish at a high level. That said, they're human, and you know humans aren't perfect. But I know that if we continue to create chances like that, for whether it's Diego or Dom or Force or Ari or Diego Luna or Diego like they they're going to score those goals.
And to your point, and I didn't mean to highlight only the Nines, because you know there were a lot of uh, you know, Diego had some chances.
Diego had chances, Dom had some chances.
You know. So I guess what I'll say is when you if you just don't you don't take away the Nines. But if you include all of the pieces of your attack, your your central midfielders they're in the attacking portion, your wingers, and your forwards, are you satisfied at least with the chances that are being created.
I'm I I like the chances that we're creating. I'm not satisfied in that work that we're not going to stop, but we we like the chances that we're creating. I think if we continue to create chances of the caliber wheels, score roles, will win games. So the key is how we're playing and how we're getting into the final third and also even you know, generating shots in the final third. So I think that we can improve those aspects of
our game. But I think we are also doing doing a good enough job right now to you know, to get a better result this past weekend for instance. But it's something that we're always working on, we're always improving on. But it's enough encouraging signs. It's you know, you know, you don't come into work and feel like where do we start? You know, I think we have some clear
ideas about how to improve the group. And but again me sitting in my seat, I have confidence that at the coaches and the players continue to do what they're doing, we're going to score those goals.
What is your response, Kurt to fans that are frustrated that the money the club was able to garner as a result of a number of transactions including Sealdandres, which was proof of concept and we all understand why you did it, but what's your reaction to fans that were hoping that the bulk of the money that was made on those transactions would be reinvested into the roster by now.
So it's an interesting question. You know, when you sell a ten, ten or eleven million dollar player, you know, it doesn't mean that you you take all of that and you buy a ten or eleven million dollar player. That's not always the way things work, especially not I guess with with clubs like ours. It's easy to forget since we did sell him for eleven million or so that that, you know, Andreas wasn't eleven million player when
we signed him. We signed him for three million, right, And so I think we're always going to be a club that's looking for those guys. Dominic Marzouk is a good player. We didn't spend ten million on him. We spend just under two. You know, he's a guy that is going to come in and you know, we hope to develop him and he'll show us, you know, what he has and we'll be able to potentially do the
same thing with him. And you know, I do think there's some players where we can we can buy at that level, you know, show their quality and their value and make them worth more money. But I think when we look at, you know, the sales that we've made, you know, it's it's We're a club that is not going to just go ten million, ten million, ten million every single year. It's not something that is in how
we can operate within this ecosystem. But I do think we can operate in a way where we pick up players that are either undervalued or overlooked or developing in certain ways at the right price points, and they can add a lot of value to our club for a number of years and then and then make that right transaction at the right time.
Tell me, Kert, from your vantage point, what you've seen with Diogo, who is the loan DP on your roster, who at times, you know, you definitely see the quality. You definitely see moments and spurts here or there. But if we're honest, I'm not sure that the DP production has necessarily been there so far. So what have you seen up to this point about his growth and what are you hoping to see moving forward.
I think he's he's a good player that shows his quality, as you said, and in a lot of a lot of good moments. You know, the ball he played, the forcer for his goal the other week was a very very good pass. You know, his technical quality is very high, and you know usually usually his finishing quality is very high. His production. It's fair to criticize at this moment, but it's another one where I have confidence in the quality and quantity of chances he's creating that that the goals
will come. And so you know, he it's easy to forget he hasn't played quite that many games with us yet when you look at the grand scheme of things. But I think, I think that he will come good in terms of you know, getting in the right spots, and if he keeps getting in the right spots, he'll get the assists, he'll get the goals. You know, sometimes the assists are a little bit elusive because you can,
you can put a guy in a good spot. You know, you can pass the ball, but you can't always you know, can't have the ball and take the shot and score the goal. You have to pass the two teammate and then the teammate has to do his thing. So assists are a little bit mercurial that way. And I think when he gets in those champions like the other night, that was in my opinion, on characteristic and I think he's going to finish those chances to.
Your earlier point.
Forrester and Piola found the back of the net, and for our listeners that are just tuning in Skurt Schmidt from RSL, who's indicated that he believes help is on the way. I know a lot of fans hoping to see a big time number nine sign or at least a number nine that can provide a little more quality up top. But we should give them credit for at least finding the back of the net. How do you
envision their role once these reinforcements are brought in. Have they shown enough that okay, maybe neither of them are I'll just use a chi Cho you know, for about three months last year type prime striker, but they do have a place on the team, like Pablo can utilize them in spurts. Have you seen enough from the two nines that we've seen for the most part to indicate that they do have a place on the team.
Yeah. Absolutely, and you know that's why we brought them both in. You know, both are in terms of per ninety goals per ninety rates are on incredible rates, you know, and scoring as early as they did in the season is great for their confidence and their sense of belonging in their development. They're both young players, they're both in experience, so they do need to gain, you know, experience, They need to continue to play and get those minutes which
are going to help them develop. But again, you know they're they're young, young players that aren't the finished products. So there's plenty of confidence in them playing a role going forward, irrespective of additions. But I'm happy to see them excelling at this stage.
I always remind people, whether it's a good start or a bad start, that this season, more so than maybe any other, is such a slog it's such a marathon that there will be ebbs, there will be flows, there will be highs, there will be I didn't mean that to rhyme. Maybe I should write children's books when I'm not on air.
I don't know.
But at what point in the calendar do you start to feel a little bit of urgency for a year like this when the start hasn't been very brighter? What point do you kind of get that pressure mounting on you just a little bit hurt?
I mean, honestly, like, this isn't the methodical or well thought how to answer it, like now, like I feel that pressure now, I feel that pressure all the time. I want us to be good. I want us to get better. I want to add quality in the team. I want them to to play at a high level, you know, all the time. So I guess you know, if you're asking what, you know the pressure that I put on myself, that we put on ourselves here, it's yeah, it's there. Now we want to pick up those wins now.
It's you know, certainly it's how you finished, not as much how you start in this league, and the summer can be a slog, but you know, points in March count the same as points in September October, and you know, we want to pick up points and we want to improve, you know, not just match, but improve upon what we were able to do last year.
I don't want this just to have the negative context or kind of tone. So I will ask you from your vantage point as you watch the games in real time and then have gone back to kind of look at tape, where are the bright spots so far, kurve that you're seeing.
In terms of individuals, or just play either whatever.
I don't want this to be all negative So is there a couple of players, is there a way you're playing? Are there things that are and maybe there's nothing. I mean, if we're honest, it has not been a very good start, man. I just wanted to give some space for maybe things that are actually bright that maybe we're not seeing.
Yeah. Look, I think the play of our pivots, you know, a Mecca and Oheta have a great partnership and really like to see a Mecca building on a strong twenty twenty four and Ojeita has been really good this year. The level of depth of competition, especially along the back line, is really high, and some of the new guys that have come in there and pushed pushed the starters for for minutes and for time, and I think that's just
only going to serve us well along the way. You know, I think there have been a lot of really good moments from our attacking group, you know. I think Dom has been really well in moments, Diego Diogo, you know, and the two young strikers. So there, Look, there are
a lot of bright spots. Now, not everyone is always a bright spot all the time, but I think there's been a lot to be encouraged by, like I said with the young strikers, I think with you know, Don coming out of Champions Cup, I think he's, you know, put on some really good performances. So there's a lot there to be happy with and proud of going forward. But now it's time to put the results away.
The options for the nine or a couple of options you're looking at. Are these players that currently are in MLS or are they potentially international transfers to come in.
Both? All right, yeah, OK, not a lot of context around that.
Okay, fair enough Before I say you lose, tell me about Houston.
That's the opponent coming up.
And I mean luckily you're at Houston in March and not July, because that's impossible. But tell me about this team you're playing coming up this weekend.
Yeah, I mean, Houston's always a fun, fun road trip, but like you said, the weather is a little bit a little bit cooler now than it is in the summer. You know, they're a team that's lost a few key pieces from last year and is trying to figure out what they look like in twenty twenty five as well. And you know, I think that's what makes them a little bit tough to maybe game plan for or to to really expect a lot out of or know what
to expect out of. You know, they lost their left centerback, who's a really, really good, good young player that they picked up in Brazil. They sold them back to Brazil. They lost Hector Herrera, was like a real metronome in the for them in the middle, and so they're trying to fill those gaps now with some guys who haven't maybe tell you as many minutes in the past couple of years. So it's about, you know, making sure that
we basically don't let them figure it out against us. Right, Like, there's Trulls trying to do some of the same things they did last year, and they're not quite doing it as as high level as they did last year, and so it's just about us imposing our game on them, all.
Right, Kurt, Well, I appreciate the time man, been a rough star, but like I said, it's a long, long season. So best of luck as you're trying to get these things across the line. I'm innately aware that it's not as easy as a lot of people think. And appreciate your time man, have a good week and good luck against Houston.
Okay, so good. Thanks man, all right, Kurt Schmidt.
RSL got smoked over the weekend, and it looks it's unacceptable. San Diego is an expansion franchise. They rolled into America First Field, and they could have been up three to nil after like fifteen minutes. RSL did get a really nice goal by Pole to tie it up one. San Diego got two in the second half, came on the heels against a really good winning their MLS opener home opener against Seattle, I should say their MLS opener, they
got smoked by San Jose. So I would imagine if you're an RSL fan, you're not too pleased with a state of well, quite frankly, everything.
Cocka CAF Champions Cup.
First time you qualify in like a decade, you get smoked by a club that isn't very good. The reinforcements that I've been rumored have not been able to get across the line.
As I referenced, San Jose smokesha.
Then you get Seattle at home and an expansion franchise rolls in and dictates everything. Houston is not one yet, so RSL hopefully you can get one on the road. They're back home against Dallas on the twenty second, so appreciate Kurt's time