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Glad Today, Dish Professionals Tuesday Afternoon.
Style eight oh one four two four Dish is the number.
Four eighty six West forty eight hundred South is location a little southwest. On the show today, we've got some sound from Utah football practice we're gonna bring to you coming up. We'll call it about thirty minutes from right now. Ben Solac from ESPN stops by to talk NFL. Max Brown later on for more college football, but starting at three o'clock hour today we'll do a little RSL. The club is back in action coming up this weekend on the road against Charlotte, a tough result after taking the
lead against New York over the weekend. A couple of new additions to talk about. The head coach of our local soccer club, Pablo Master. Johnnie hops on on Tuesday Afternoon, Pop's Happy Tuesday.
How we doing happy to do this well? Buds?
Are we really doing well? Are we really doing well.
I mean, look, frustrating series of events against New York after taking that one no lead is gozo tallied really early on? Uh, now that we're a couple of days away, where you at with what I perceived to be some And I'm not a blame the officials, guy.
I really am not.
But when it appears to be egregious and honestly what it appears to be like the same dude, it's hard to entirely ignore. So which target on a Tuesday afternoon, are you still most fired up about after a really really tough series of events that went against you guys against New York?
Yeah? You know again, I think the way I always look at these things in reflection is like, what could we have done differently from from our standpoint? Obviously in the in the short term, which is the game, which is the thing that matters the most, is about getting
the result. And obviously, when those calls are to your points, agree just as they were and left everyone really confused as to how you know, the processes work with within the league, you know, and those those decisions obviously affect results, and that's that's the hardest thing to swallow. And then obviously afterwards, I think through three days later, we're talking about different phases of the game that we can improve upon to have more control of the ball, to play
the game more on our terms. But the other part of that too that you didn't touch on was the field. And you know, I talked to their head coach before the game and he says, I don't think we should play this game based upon the field conditions. I mean, it was it was unplayable. And so you put all that together and it is one of those where you just had to find a way to get out. But again the two penalty calls. You know, here, here's here's my biggest disappointment with with the process of of how
the ar works. Right, the two operative words and how they're pitching this to all the clubs and all the coaches is clear and obvious, right, There's got to be a clear an obvious mistake by the official, not a technicality, not maybe not if right, And so what ends up happening, Spence is our stadiums are not staffed to have camera angles from every possible angle to make sure that it's clear and obvious. That's the first problem, and so on Var's bk it looks like he gets the piece of
the ball. You could argue maybe you did get it. Depending on the angle, it leads you to two different results. And so then it goes back to their statement about clear and obvious. And so my whole thing is, if there's an official standing underneath the monitor for more than thirty seconds, it is no longer clear and obvious, right.
And so each one of those instances and then the off side's called a whole different bag of chips, right because the line's been called it offside, and our cameras are from midfield, and so you know how the angle of the view to the ball is not going to be as clear as a professional who's beamed it off sides. And so when when when both of these plays affect exactly what they what they speak to us about is
we're not going to re referee the game. We're just going to make sure that the call wasn't an egregious non caller or an egregious call. And and so they're they're basically re refereeing the game using bar and and again. Again. When when it leads to uh drop points is the moment where everyone's shaking their heads and so tomorrow, I'm on a call with uh, you know, Kurt and and then the competition head at MLS along with the head of of pro referees to get down to the the
nitty gritty as to why these decisions were made. And again, they're not going to give us any points back, but if they can improve processes for for everyone moving forward, I think it. At least we didn't lose points in Vain.
So there's a small part of me that believe Diego needs a little time off. Okay, small part of me that believes he's just a little bit on fumes.
And we talked about that.
So I suppose, you know, not having him this weekend might be beneficial for the stretch run.
But you got to help me understand.
I mean, the Kyle Duncan kid pulled him down and it looked pretty obvious in real time.
The assistant ref had the correct.
Call, correct right, and and and so ultimately, you know, Diego sent off and then they send Kyle off upon review. I'm just confused, man, Like, help me understand that series of events. How did you digest that from your vantage point.
The same way you did Spence? The linesman had it right, He blew a foul against this guy, so and the way he grabbed him around his neck, Diego had no choice but the fall on the guy. There's no other there's no other place for him to go. He's dragging him on his hip. So and again like, this is what I want to know from from tomorrow's chat with these guys as as the how they're doing these things
and how these decisions like it. You know, because Diego got a yellow card for talking to the ref earlier on, so I don't know if it was personal between the ref and Diego and he wanted to, you know, and he wanted to make a point, but like it's just, you know, you lose one of the most you know, important players on our team and obviously and one of the guys in our league that's doing really well by not owning that moment as a center ref and saying, hey, listen,
is this is this you know, going to talk to the linesman. What happened to those days when you'd have dialogue with the lignsmen and say, hey, listen, what did you see? And he's like, well, I saw him put his arm around his next so we have nowhere to go, Okay, great. So it's a foul our way. So there's a lot of these instances that I think could be dealt with if their processes are improved and the communication is improved.
Because all of this led to and what was really disappointing is they went back and reviewed after they had a free kick up a man right because they sent Diego off but they didn't send Duncan off. And then they have free kick of a man, which if they would have done everything right and said, hey listen, he put them in the choke hold before the playton started,
none of this would have even happened. So, you know, and I we talk about all the time is we got to control the controllables, and unfortunately the uncontrollables for us impacted the way that game finished and the result.
One more thing on the officials, and then we'll move off of it because other things to get to for sure. And I don't know, maybe around two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine thereabouts when our team started to get a little bit better and the club started to play better, and you know, we would always have these conversations about how the sport and how the league is evolving.
Is the talent better, Is the coaching better, are the facilities better, more soccer specific stadiums, And it seemed like the one thing that wasn't improving was the officials.
And I don't know how you would articulate that, but.
For a league that is adding uh, you know Sunny, Thomas Mueller, Lionel Messi, I mean some real international powerhouses and you know owners that are coming in with deeper pockets and valuations for teams that are through the roof, and soccer specific stadiums being built all across the country, does it feel like the officiating from a macro viewpoint is keeping up with the progress that every other facet of this sport in this league seems to be kind of manifesting right now.
Yeah, I think that's a good question, and I would say I would say it's it's it's pretty inconsistent, you know. I think a well reffed game is a game where you don't even realize who the center f is, you know, and it's and everything's calm. Everything is like the fouls er fouls and not no fouls or no fouls, and there's consistency in the way the game is. The game is refed, and sometimes you need to blow to us a little bit more because the games chip yer, but
it's understandable from both sides. I think what what the straining part is is is the lack of consistency and within the one game. Right within the one game, it just feels like it's really one sided. And so I think a big thing that would help this and more, you know, is the var and the implementation of how we're going to utilize that and how it's used. I think it you know, we're given the ref so much to do by going over to the video and spending
four or five minutes underneath this camera the game. Meanwhile, the players and the fans come to see the players, not the referee underneath the video. So if we can improve that, and then as far as the off sides is, if we want to be a top league, I think we have to invest in getting these lines that other leagues in the world have so where it's not it's
not subjective. It's not like looking down a bad camera angle and guessing if these off sides and it's a red line and a blue line, and if the blue lines over the red line, then it's off. And it's really really clear and I think, because what you don't want is the conversation to be about the inconsistency and refereeing. If you're gonna, you know, if you're gonna bring in talent from abroad, you want that to be the last thing these guys are considering. So I think there there's
got to be some some some improvements and and it's not. Again, it's not like they're not working hard every day because I know, I've seen the protocols to be a ref and it's daunting the amount of physical work, the amount of reviews they do. But it comes down to the presence in the game, you know, you know, having this presence where it's going to be. If it's a little bit hectic, I'm gonna bring it down a little bit, but I'm going to keep it both ways so that
the game is intact. At times, I feel like the game is actually compromised at times by some of the decisions that are being called.
All right, moving off that topic, and let's just talk about the game. I don't let's start with the goal. It's one of my favorite goals. You guys have scored all year. I don't know how many passes, maybe eleven twelve thirteen Diego's left footed ball. It's just like, that's so wild that he was able to find Willie who
laid it off and Gozo finishes. So give me your thoughts on the start, the build up that led to a one to lead, and then a tenant to the question is do you guys think you were Do you think you guys were dangerous enough after that sands all the officiating stuff that we've talked about.
Yeah, no, that's a great point.
No.
I think again, going into this field, I think there's two different two different ways of operating. One we can play to the field or we can play true to who we are right and so we're a team that
again we want to pull teams. We want to build from the back, not just to be arrogant in the way we play, but there's actually a tactical application where if you bring a team forward right to pressure goalkeeper, that means you're you're The whole thought process in playing short close to goal is to exploit the space behind the back line because then it becomes dangerous. So we call those fasts attacks and that play I think it
was like a twelve thirteen past combination. It goes out left, it comes inside of Mecca, Mecha finds our ten, and Luna finds our forward, and William finds our second forward and Gozo and so I think that that is like textbook training ground application, and the guys did it really well. I think after the goal a couple things started happening. One, we couldn't get enough pressure on the ball from our
guys up front, and that was the first part. And when we didn't, when we did win the ball back closer to our goal, we weren't dynamic enough in our transition to attack to be able to beat their repress. In other words, there's a rule that most pressing teams use was six seconds after you lose the ball, you got to get pressure on the ball, right. So the opposite of that is we need six seconds of extra movement and angles to be able to beat that press.
And what happened was we found ourselves defending quite ait it and that six seconds has to be a switched on and we were late to every one of those transition to attack moments, which then compounded we're now deep
defending again, right. And I think a lot of that had to do with the field and those little short passes, the balls hoping everywhere it's going, and so we weren't really clean and then you start losing a bit of confidence in your ability to play out and so I would say not until the second half, and probably fifteen minutes in the second half we regain our footing and a big part of that was Pablo Luis coming into the game and calming the game and being that outlet
pass that found the next pass that allowed the team to move forward and breathe, and then from there we were able to create two or three really good attacks on goal and if not for the crossbar, found the second goal to win it. So you know, today's session was really focusing on our transition to attack and making sure that we're moving six seconds after we win the ball in order to make sure that we're able to keep it and not get stuck in this tidal wave. But defending close to our goal.
Help me understand how in a professional setting a field, because it was interesting. I didn't know you felt the way you felt until postgame, but I'm watching the match, I'm like, that looks like a local muni field in like you know, West Valley that hasn't been watered in five, six, seven weeks or whatever.
How is that allowed?
How are conditions like that allowed when it comes to a professional league in the biggest major metropolitan area in our country by the way, you know, like it is New York, like bef, Like, how is this allowed? And what sort of benchmarks or you know, guardrails are in place to kind of keep this from happening again?
Yeah, you know, I think, Well, here's the thing is, obviously every every club is trying to maximize the revenue. They had a concert on that field a few days before the game, and you know, I talked to the coach, like I said, before the game, and he actually commented after the game and said that game shouldn't have been played. The field was not in any kind of standard to
be played. At one point, Spence, I had the fourth official step onto the field because I'm not a lot of step on the field, but there was a one and a half foot by one and a half foot plot of sod that just lifted up and there was like probably an eight inch pivot. And so again, like this is the one sport where you're using your feet and the most important part of any stadium is the actual turf. That you're playing on right, So it's not
like it's American football and you're running routes. The ball needs to roll on something. And and if we're going to be a team that that prides himself on playing with the ball on the ground and combination play, well,
this is obviously not conducive to any of that. And and to be fair to Red Bull that they're a team that wants to play too and in a lot of different facets, but they're aware that the field isn't that way, and you know that they're they're a more direct team where they're where they're playing balls for it and knocking it down and so you know, but to be fair that their own coach said the same thing
I did. It's not safe, especially when you have these million million plus players, you know, dollar players on the field. Our biggest asset as a league are the players themselves, and we're putting them in harms way by by playing on you know, fields that are that are in that type of condition.
Let me go back to Diego for a moment.
Is there a part of you that does kind of feel like he might need a weekend off to kind of decompress and rest and get his legs on it. I mean, look, you he's probably your best player, so of course you want him in the lineup, and you're a better team with him. I'm not saying you're not, But is there a part of you that's like, all right, I could take the weekend off and let's get you back ready, you know, with fresh legs.
Yeah, and yes, yes, one hundred percent agree with that. I think the toughest thing to do with, especially a young player, you know, in in Diego Luna, because we oftentimes forget that he's only twenty one years old and is rise to where he is now almost seems like it's you know, it's in the last eight months, what's been it's been brewing, but like the last you know, four months, really he's shot up in the you know,
the stratosphere. As far as recognition, we don't go to one stadium where he doesn't have fifty to one hundred people waiting for him after games, you know, people waiting for him at the hotels, and the amount of media that he does. Right, so all these things are parlane into like performance, you know, because you went from not having it to all of a sudden, how do you deal with this kind of stuff. And so that's one thing that we're talking about internally, is how do we
take some of the weight off of them? And that's one area that we can definitely do it. The other areas on the field, and you know, for a young player, he's not he doesn't have enough experience in his career to be like, yeah, I need a break here, and like he's open and honest about needing a break, right, he wants to keep proving because what got him to this point wasn't taking a break. It was put is put your foot on the on the gas and pressed
as hard as you can, right. And so I think this moment is is a is a great, a great way that the universe has has allowed for us to give him a break in a way that he can't resist because it's it's already happened, right, And so I think it's critical. I think he needs a bit of a reset. He's been going hard since the beginning of June without a break. And you know, I think I'm giving him a break by not starting him against Sam Luis and what he Okay, so he didn't play fifty minutes,
but he's still doing all those other things. So I think, you know, maybe giving him after tomorrow, giving them the weekend, a good four or five day break where he can kind of reset, be with his his his son in Texas and get away from it all so that he charges his batteries back and and when he's when he's recharged and he's you know, dialed in, there's no doubt that Diaga Luna makes us a great team.
All right.
So we've seen Rowan Cruz a couple of different i'ms and you know, de truncated moments. In League's Cup Player final match, we saw him for a minute and then he came on in the second half against New York. Things like this take time, and this is a process.
So let's start with Rwan. What have you made of the performances as you put him in as a sub over the past couple of games, And probably more importantly, Pablo, what are you seeing in training that indicates when this thing kind of gets rolling, he could be a good addition.
Yeah. I would say he's got a really really good understanding of the game, and I think that soccer i Q in that part of the field is really really important. You know. I think he's he saw in the New York game where he did really well receiving the ball with his back to goal, so his hold up play was solid. Decisions from that were really solid. And then there's also a moment or two where he made runs behind the back line and was able to stretch it.
And so I think when you have a player with a high soccer intelligence that's comfortable with the ball at his feet, with his back to goal, and then also running into space, it really allows us to be more diverse than the way we attack. And so he's he's been awesome, you know, looking towards this week, I think it's a great opportunity to start him. You know, physically, we still don't know exactly where he's at. He's had a start, stop and preseason with the team that he
came from in Brazil. But I think this is as good as opportunities ever to kind of get him in there, gain some minutes, gain some confidence, and to continue sharpening those those those actions that I think will be really really good for us down the stretch.
I asked Kurt this last week, I'm curious to get your take. As a player.
One of the things I've always had a difficult time really grasping as somebody who tries to analyze the game and analyze the league is how players that come from other parts of the world are prepared to play in MLS juxtaposed to the league they were just in. Okay, So help me understand Rwan's level prior to landing with you and whether or not you think that's the right type of prepper to acclimate to MLS quickly, because let's be honest, you need him tacklimate quickly.
Yeah, you know, I think the only the best metric we can use is the fact that he's played abroad before and so his acclamation to a new environment won't be shocking to him. And that's about where it ends suspense because every league plays different. The weather is different, Like there's not too many leagues in Europe that are playing in the summertime, and so like the heat thing is real. You know, the distance and travel right, so that for four and a half hour flight to New York,
that's not common in any league in the world. So there's a lot of things that you just don't know how they're going to assimilate, and that's why it takes a lot longer. And then here we have you know, we have it. We have it. We have a nice stadium here at AFF. Then we go to New York and we're playing on a sand lot with a little bit of grass, and then this weekend we're going to
Charlotte and playing on turf. So there's so many variables that you can't prepare for and you won't know, and that's why I think it takes time to acclimate, not to mention the tactics for our team are going to be different than the tactics at his club. The asks for the forward positions and in Brazil where he was just currently at will be different than what we're asking given our group. And then it's also understanding your teammates.
And you know, what's the difference between when Brian o'heeda's on the ball versus Pablo Reluis on the ball, Well, Pablo reice is always going to find passes between the lines and find passes beyond. Oheita's going to be a guy that just you know, dribbles and breaks lines with the dribble. And so there's that there's that acclamation phase where you're starting trying to understand the team tactics. But within that understand the different abilities of the different players
who will be feeding you the ball. So I think that's the toughest thing. And and and some some players assimilate real quickly, some take a little bit of time. But but I think, given his soccer intelligence and acumen, I think Ron will adapt to our league rather quickly.
All right, before segul loose, let's get an update on the Olatunji kid. I know we're working on his work visa, so where are we at in that process? And just kind of same question, what have you learned about him in a few days and weeks he's been on the ground.
Now, Yeah, so again what I've what I've noticed is a real propensity to score goals. Uh you know, his his left foot, his power, his right foot, his power and placement great in the air. He's been finishing some unbelievable crosses and we haven't really had that presence, uh in front of goal as far as just fall in and he makes it happen. So and again, he's a he's a player that more threatens the back line. He's a willing runner to where you know, I think Ron
likes to come defeat. Uh, you know, vigor like a stretch, and so having that balance would be really really important for our group. And you know what I've seen in you know, in the five or six training sessions we've had with him, is he's a real threat in front of goal, which is awesome. And then again, what does that do to our opposing defenses. They might have to man mark, they might have to double team, which then opens up space for the guys underneath to do their thing.
And so when you have guys like you know, run on the field, you have a victor on the field. Diego, diego. I mean it feels like, you know, they're gonna have to pick and choose where they want to double up and where they want to go man to man. And and if teams do go man to man, I'll put I'll put my money on on on the guys that we have on the field to be able to break
them down and make plays. So I think we've improved our frontline drastically in this window, and we're just still awaiting the clearance for as far as VISA is concerned.
All right, buddy, Well, now, as you know, you can't exist in the past, So go get three at Charlotte and pulling for you as always.
Thanks for the time.
Let's go all right, I appreciate it.
But Pablo Masnuenti, RSL head coach, the club is back in action this weekend on the road against Charlotte. They'll be back home against Minnesota on the twenty third before we're going to go up to Lumanfield to take on Seattle below the playoff line after the loss over the weekend, so we'll see. Pablo just said wrong, cruising gonna get a start coming up, so a new piece for Rail Salt Lake. All right, we'll bring you some sound from
Utah practice coming up. Eighteen days away from college football, pro football essentially is here. You might be lining up for fantasy football drafts, but are you ready to watch all the programming you need? I can promise you, as somebody who once upon a time was on a different platform, that if you're a sports fan, Dish is the only option to pretty much watch everything. Ryan from the Dish Professional stops by.
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