Can I cheek?
All right?
It's game day on the station.
Game five of the NBA Finals tonight, Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Indiana Pacers series of deadlock to two games apiece. We're gonna say good night at six o'clock and then we're gonna send you to coverage of that game, and we'll have the Stanley Cup Finals resuming tomorrow. We got Tom Haberstrow for some NBA SMIDI Live and studio voice the Youth's Bill Riley.
But we'll start things off in a Monday afternoon talking a little soccer as RSL gets a much needed win over the weekend to nil over DC United, and Kurt Schmidt, chief roster constructor on the program on a Monday.
Kurt, Happy Monday, sir, How are you?
I'm good?
How are you good? Bud?
Thanks for the time. So, I don't know what adjective you would like to use. Relieved, excited?
I don't know.
You tell me what sort of emotion or whatever did that win on Saturday give you? Guys after going seven matches without a dub?
How about hungry?
There we go.
It's one of those where it's like, hey, that was you know, that was necessary and now we got to focus on the next one.
For sure, and one of the one of the players you acquired during the primary transfer window, Johnny Russell h opened his bank account soccer terms kid, no big deal. So how pleased were you in his I believe that was his first start to see Johnny find the back of the net.
No, it's fantastic. And obviously when when players score goals, you know, gives them confidence and and helps them repeat that performance and and and even improve. So you know, for Johnny to get that goal in his first start is huge for the team because obviously it helps us win the game, but it's huge for him as well.
Tell me about the process, Kurt of bringing him along. So for our listeners, Johnny is a long time not just MLS VET, but he's played UH all over the world.
And the goal he.
Scored on Saturday was his sixty first goal UH in Major League soccer.
So he's had a long career.
UH.
He was a sporting case.
UH A lot of people thought he was going to retire, did not have a preseason. So you sign him, and I would imagine it took a minute for him to get in in form and fit. So tell us about this process and what can what sort of like can you shed on it?
Yeah, I mean, look, he's still still rolling into it. I mean he was he's a discipline professional, and he was certainly keeps himself ready and fit and working out while he was looking for his next club. But that's you know, that's different than obviously playing at a high level every day training day and day out and having that match fitness and that mass sharpness. So he's definitely starting to get his legs under him in that in that respect, I mean the match fitness still still isn't
isn't quite there. Obviously he came out at the half and you know building him up is going to help us a lot. But he his sharpness is getting back to where it needs to be and you know saw that with the quality when I finished.
Tell me about because it was interesting to listen to Johnny post game where he talked about how grateful he was for this opportunity and even kind of pontificated on the possibility of walking away, wasn't sure if he was going to get another team, said he's here to score goals, create goals and also help some of these younger players.
So throughout the course of your conversations with Johnny during the primary transfer window, what sort of kind of details did you guys share back and forth and what essentially was your ask of him before bringing him into the club.
That's a great question. Yeah, I mean the conversations with him were about, yeah, definitely extending his career, but also what he could bring to our group. And we have a very very young team, you know, before Johnny came in, Rafa was the only player we had over thirty essentially
on the roster. So one of the things that we talked to him about was just coming in and being a bit of a leader and a mentor and an experienced guy within the group, you know, just to help group through some things, some things that he'd seen before and some of the younger guys, despite their talents or
their quality in that moment, just haven't seen. So I think that that's something that manifested right away from day one, is how he integrated with the group and his ability to you know, just to talk to players on the field. You know, Pablo says this all the time, but to have you know, your teammate kind of make a point
to you. It's sometimes a little bit different than the coach, right, especially when the veteran player puts his arm around you and is like, hey, next time, you know, do it like this, not like that, or next time playing me here and not there. You know, it brings a little more true for those guys, and so that little bit of experience in the group has been very helpful. And then obviously you know, just about setting expectations for him and his performance. And he's a high level player. He
wants to, you know, play all the time. He wants to score goals every game, he wants to do all those things. He's very hungry, and it's just about setting his dissertations of how you've been out for a bit, like let's let's get you fit, let's get you into it, and when you're ready, you know, you'll go.
You know, I had a chance when I was with the club on the road in San Diego, I had a chance to meet him and talk to him, and his intensity really just shines through. And that's always interesting, and it is player by player. I can remember the first time I met Will Johnson, I thought he was going to shank me with a knife.
I'm like, chill out, dude, It's okay.
And Johnny kind of has that same intensity just as a person when you just.
Kind of meet him and talk to him.
I wonder what sort of expectation you guys have moving forward now that he is fit and he has started and he has scored a goal. I mean, it's safe to say that he's a piece, But do you think we're going to see him in starting elevens and what sort of expectations do you have for him now that we've seen what he can do when he's fit and Pablo gives him the start.
Honestly, I mean, I don't want to be in the business right now saying this guy will play every game that way. You know it's going to be sub or any of that stuff, because the reality is where we're at, you know, and we're not you know, we're not clueless. We know where we're at in the season, and there there's no consideration other than form and performance on the day. And you know, for probably he's just got to make
those decisions on the day. If it's Johnny, it's Johnny, if it's done, if it's go though, if it's Aiden Hether, Konni or whoever it could be in that white midfield spot. You know, it's got to be who's going to put in the best performance on the day. So when that's Johnny, you know, he obviously brings something different than some of the other guys, you know, being left footed, having a little more experience in quality in the box. You know, he's a little more of a goal scorer than kind
of the rest of the options out there. So he has a little bit different, which you know is a fantastic change of pace, whether it's from the start or it's off the bench later in the game.
Okay, so I want to pan back here and talk about the club from kind of a thirty thousand foot view as we're sitting here, you know, more or less past midway. And you know, it seems like every time I have Pablo On and it's been more or less
weekly unless the other are travel issues. He often talks about how there have been moments in every game that he's very pleased with, and ultimately this can be a really really cruel sport where you get cold with a counter or there's a deflection and somebody scores a dumb goal or you get a red card or a PK or whatever. So eighteen games played, five ten and three eighteen points. As you said, you guys know where you're
aut in the standings. PO kind of laid the math on us last week of what you need to do to make the postseason. But what I wanted to get from you is, as you're watching your club, what do you feel like you can say that you're very good at and what you feel like you can say that you very much need to improve on with this club. I'm not talking about additions. I'm talking about what you see with the group.
You have another good question, Spence. I think I think we've been pretty good in our in our ball progression, our build up most games this year, with maybe a few exceptions, and so some of that that piece of our identity that that we established last year has carried through. And you know, I think Rafa has been a huge help. You know, obviously he's the goalkeeper, so defense first, but he's added a lot of calmness and composure to our
buildout process. So I think we've seen good, good build out and ball progression from back to middle and and I think from middle to to front middle to final third. I think it's been a little more hit or missed. I think it's been good, but I think we need to be a little more consistent where I think last year we needed fewer chances of score goals to be quite honest, and this year we need we need some more.
We need you know, we're volume finishers, you know, Like again you saw in this game this weekend, Goes was a young guy. He's working, he's getting chances and you know he needs two or three good chances and he got his goal. But we need to keep giving them those chances to make sure he gets those goals. And you know, Will he's the same, are He's going to be the same. You know, all those guys up top that we put in there, they need chances to score.
So I think we've been creating those chances. We've been getting the ball in the good spots. Our movement in the box sometimes is an ideal. Our finishing obviously needs to improve with this group, but yeah, I think those those things are still there for us to improve upon. But I think we've put together some really good games. You know, back to middle and then you know, middle to to final third is where you know, I think he just needs to improve a bit, and I think
we've focused on that in the last few weeks. And there's been some games. You know, when we started the Vancouver game, I thought it was you know, it was obviously really good early in the game, and then the defense wasn't able to sustain it and against a really good team that was playing with a lot of confidence. So yeah, but I think I think those aspects on the ball are where we're looking right now.
Eight games played, six starts, two subs, one goal for Willy so far. Williagatta your other addition during the primary transfer window? I'm gonna ask the same thing about Willy that I asked you about your club, because you reference movement off the ball in the box and you can see I mean, obviously, he is a striker that has played significant time in MLS and he has goals in him that we've seen and it's probably more experience as if you juxtapose him to Ari, but his movement stands out to me.
But we have not seen a ton of goals so far.
So what have you liked from Willy in his eight games played and what are you hoping to see moving forward?
Yeah? I think Willy is sometimes it's hard to catch, but he is an incredibly strong player, and so his hold to play can be a strength of his I don't I don't think it. You know, it's not always there right, which which is something consistency can Even though he's a little more experienced in Ari, he's still relatively on the younger side, so but he's someone who can hold the ball up for us, and when he plays simple and gets back on the highest line, that can
be very effective. I think this last week he got away from that a little bit and it was a little too many touches getting caught in possession in those moments. But when he does play one in two touch, he can hold the defender off and he can keep possession for us and get back on the highest line, which just gives us more time to get our team forward and get our numbers into the final third and hopefully
into the box when the chance does come. And I think he's also someone that you know, he gets his chances, and I think there are specific moments when you know, again his movement, any any player's movement can improve in the box, but he finds a way, whether it's instinct or you know, whatever it might be. He finds a way to get chances in front of goal each game.
But again, he's you know, I think like Gozo. Like I mentioned with Gozo, I think he's going to be a volume finisher, and you know, he's not a guy that can stand around for the whole game and we'll give him a chance and we'll score a goal. I think he's got to be engaged in the entire game. We got to keep feeding him chances, getting them the ball in the final third, and he'll get his goals.
So you reference Gozo, and maybe I buried the lead, but I wanted to start with Johnny because it was his first goal. But you do have a second leading score now officially with Gozo Italian his second. And I don't know, Kurt, maybe it was three weeks ago, a month ago when you hopped on the show, when I said to you, Okay, I feel like you've got something with this young kid. And we'll get to Diego and
his experience with a goal cup in a minute. But just for our listener's sake, what sort of insight can you shed about his growth and the process, what you're seeing so far that you like and what he needs to do to keep it going.
So gozo like you know, like I think any successful young player, the real differentiator is is in his head and his mentality, his work rate, his work ethic, his his ability to you know, refocus is maybe a word that I would use where you know, it's like, hey, something happens to distract him or take him out of his game, and he's he's able to refocus back in on the game and and get get back to it is really really good. And his adaptability from level to
level has been really really good. And so what's gotten him these opportunities is that aspect his mentality, continuing to
come back, continuing to try the next one. You know, he's like I said, he you know, he had a couple of chances early, didn't score them, made it, you know, had another chance, put it away, right, And so his ability to kind of you know, set those those prior instances aside and just take the next one as it is and and do his best with that opportunity is is really you know, elite from that standpoint, and his ability to do that is what's gonna do him serve
him the most well as he and progress the suaker, because as long as he has those things in his head, you know, he's going to do the extra work. The
coaches will work with him. He's going to get the rets and the experience, and he sees these situations more and he's going to learn from those situations and you know, all of that will will come along with it, and his ability to just continue to work and go and try the next one and the next one and the next one is with you know, relentless, I guess is a word he could use. Is what's going to keep him developing and becoming a better and better player for us.
Help me understand, because he's not I don't think he's a nine, right, but he can clearly finish with a couple of goals when it's fully baked.
When Gozo is completely developed.
What sort of position slash role do you think will allow him to magnify his talents the best?
Yeah, he's played both, you know, I obviously when he was you know, wins with the youth fifteens, which is kind of crazy to say or think about, but was with you fifteens. He was all right when you replayed up top as well, and he's sort of served his time in both roles as he's moved his way through the pipeline, so he's he's certainly done both for us,
and he can do it. I mean, he's playing probably more of like a nine and a half or a second striker role right now, where you know he's looking to stretch the defense and get in behind from a little bit of a deeper starting position. But if you look at us when we build right now, it's almost, you know, a two strikers set up with an attacking midfielder coming underneath. You know that was maybe Luna before he left, and you know the other night it was
Diogo coming in underneath and getting on the ball. So I think he's he makes give us a bit of a different look than we had last year or even earlier this year, where we in possession and we were sort of two attacking Mitchell he gined one striker. Now it's almost one one attacking Mitchiellder behind two strikers when we're trying to attack.
So your reference Diego.
He's credited with the assist on Johnny's goal. That was kind of an individual effort from Johnny, but nonetheless he gets the credit. And as I talked, to you about prior to Diego Lee, it felt like this could be an opportunity for Diogo maybe to shut some people up and fill up or live up to expectations. We all know he's the only designated player on the roster. Technically, you guys were pretty dominant on Saturday, and he was intertwined in most of the you know, attacking plays that
led to anything substantial. Give me an update on how he's doing and his progress and what you're hoping to see from him as Diego's with the US men's national team.
Yeah. I mean, look, I think he's putting his head down and he's working hard, and he knows there's there's responsibility that he needs to take with Diego out and I think he did a good job of taking that on Saturday. And you know, the ball he played to Johnny for his goal with a phenomenal through ball. But even more than that, it's his ability to maintain possession under pressure in the middle of the field and then and then spin out with some good technique and find
that ball. And I think he finds those balls maybe more than we realize, just because we have had some trouble finishing them. You know, but when you look at some of the more advanced metrics, you know, I think he shows that he had a pretty good game on the day, So you know, I think if he comes at it with that mentality and brings that level of work and quality to the game, because he has quality, I think he's going to be real, real interesting as we get in these next couple of games.
We've talked about the depth you have centrally with the midfield, and of course, you know, I have a two part question here because a Mecca is unavailable for now, so I'm wondering what the update is for Mecca and then how nice is it? And certainly Nelson is part of
this equation too, but I don't know. Man like for me, a couple of years ago, before Ruiz hurt both knees, he was one of the better players on the entire team on a number of different levels, not just centrally, but he would take corners, he would take free kicks, and it's hard to expect him to look the same
after two devastating injuries. So update on a Mecca and then tell me what you're seeing when Pablo Ruiz steps in and what you like and maybe what you're hoping he can it continue to try and find after those devastating injuries.
Yeah, it's a little bit different, you know, Pablo and Nelson is a much different look than than the Mecca and Ojeta. You know, I think I'm not going to I hate to do a phenomenal job of chewing up ground and recovering, recovering balls, recovering second balls, and then keeping the game, taking over and playing the next path. I think. You know, Pablo, his game is a little bit different, right because he can close guys down defensively and recover balls, but that's not really the main part
of his game. You know. What he really brings to the team is is quality in our build up and our progression, and especially in our ability to open the game and change the point of attack. He does a great job with that. And Nelson is you know, even though he's a younger player, but he's a good balance of the two. His physical gifts are are fantastic. He covers so much ground so quickly, he's so athletic. But you know he also has the ability to hit that bag,
you know, you know, as Pablo does. So those types of balls really open open the game for us and allow us to get behind the defense a little bit quicker maybe than otherwise when we're not able to hit that ball.
So are we getting close with a mecca or is it a situation where he's going to need some time?
Look, he he needs time because it's certainly something that you know, I think if it's if if we worse than it, the prognosis becomes much worse. So you know, we want to make sure we take take care with it and and make sure we get him back when he's ready to get back.
Ten for all.
Right, before I set you loose, I thought Diego was the best player on the pitch yesterday. You know, he has the assist after a brilliant steel where he just was able to read the play and then probably should have had the goal. But yes, it deflects off his teammates, so technically, Diego ends with two assists and a five zero win for the US men's national team over Trinidad
and Tobago. Tobago excuse me after losing five straight matches, of course, a lot of noise because we're one year away from the World Cup.
So give me your.
Thoughts as you watched Diego perform with US men's national team. What you hope he's able to learn and do with them and bring back to you when the Gold Cup is finished.
Yeah, he's. I mean, he's been playing really well for him. I think every time he's gotten the chance, and credit to him, you know, grabbing those opportunities is massive, and I think he what he's brought to that group is more than his individual quality as a team first mentality, and I think he's you know, he obviously has those moments, you know, reading that back pass, picking it up. You know, I know they gave him an assist for that, but I really think that probably should have been his goal.
But you know that that play was fantastic, even the I think it was the first goal. You know, his activity and movement, I think is what creates a little bit of space in the defense for the goalscorer Tillman to to finish his chance and to find a little more space when he when he receives the ball. So again, I think he's he's making that team take a little bit right now, which is great for him, and you know,
I hope it keeps happening. And I'm sure, but I also hope the coaching staff sees it as well as I do, or certainly seems like the majority of the fans do.
All right, my guy, I appreciate the time today. Congrats on the three over the weekend. Let's keep it rolling, Okay, all right, we'll do all right. Kurt Schmid, chief roster constructor for Alsa Lake RSOL hits the road coming up on the twenty eighth. Geez, another week off, only two matches all month. They're going to be at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City on the twenty eighth to take on Sporting k C, who was the team that had
both Williagatta and Johnny Russell, so that'll be interesting. And then they're back home for two straight games against Saint Louis and Houston before hitting the road at Providence Park to take on Portland. As we talked about with Pablo last week, this is a team badly in need of getting all three points pretty much every time they're at home, hoping it's still some on the road, and then keep that ship afloat while Diego Lune is with the US
men's national team. RSL dot com for single game tickets support our local soccer club