Hey, it's Noah Chestnut from The Athletic. If you're into games and sports, pay attention. I'm going to give you four sports terms. You tell me the common thread. Ready? Game. Match. Point. Set. This one's kind of a gimme. The answer is how tennis is scored. Do you want more of a challenge? Check out Connections Sports Edition. It's a new daily game for sports fans. To play now, go to theathletic.com slash connections.
And welcome to the Total Soccer Show. My name is Taylor Rockwell, and I'm here to tell you that much like Mom Jeans, Corduroy, and Brad Guzan, MLS is back. And what an opening weekend it was. An expansion team stunned the reigning champions. The Chicago Fire are enjoyable to watch. San Jose won a game 4-0. Cats and dogs are living together. It's an exciting time to be alive. Joe Lowry, we had 13 games on match day one, I believe. Did we have more or fewer than 35 goals scored?
Wow. We had more than 35 goals scored. I believe there were more goals scored this weekend than in any other opening weekend in MLS history. And I'm sticking with it. There were also, I believe... more four plus goal scoring teams over the weekend where there were 15 games because there are 30 teams now and everybody played. There were more teams that scored four plus goals than in any of the last like 12 years since American soccer analysis started tracking that stuff.
from Jamin Moore on Blue Sky. It was a goal-filled weekend, Taylor. Also, thank you for noticing my corduroy jacket. What sort of percentage of those goals, Joe, came from teams playing out of the back really poorly? Yeah, like 80%, it really felt like. There were a lot of goals that were direct results of brutal turnovers inside of teams.
own box or defensive thirds. We'll talk about some of those goals on today's show. I put out the super cut on social media. Yeah, you did. You chose violence. Predictably. that was the opportunity for all of the anti-MLS people to say, oh, this league sucks, which is exactly what happens when any league in the world outside of the Premier League makes a mistake and it gets put on social media. I knew it was going to happen, but I just couldn't help myself, guys. It was too good.
A couple of things. First of all, did not notice you have a corduroy jacket on. That makes me incredibly happy. Thank you for that, Joe, for being on brand. Second of all, I feel like... Maybe my quick counting up of goals scored from the Google Fixtures doc, not quite as comprehensive as Joe's research into the number of goals scored this weekend based on his answer there and the backup behind it. But Joe is correct. There were 39 goals. Let's go.
Well done, Joe. Graham, a bit of trivia for you up top. DC United and Toronto scored four goals between them. Is this an example of what happens when a stoppable force on a budget meets a fractured and movable object?
Yes, this was for science. That was the reason we had that matchup. Some leagues like to have their biggest marquee matches to open the weekend. MLS went in the other direction and said, yes, let's have DC United versus Toronto FC on opening weekend. Counterpoint, Grim? Let's get to it.
those teams playing each other every week and let's all just sort of pretend like they don't we'll we'll talk about those teams throughout the year we're probably not going to talk about those teams today let's have them play a 34 game series and see who comes out on top follow-up question for you both I'm asking this genuinely, though it is a joke. Does Lorenzo Insigne know this game happened? No, not at all. He got a notification on his phone and he just did the thing of like turning it.
Oh, that game started. He just turned it on his face. Where's my check again? How many zeros was on that check? I'll count those instead of watching. I know... I agree with Graham. I don't think Lorenzo Insigne knew that that 2-2 draw happened on Saturday. I'm also not 100% sure Federico Bernadeschi knew that it happened. Just kidding. I'm sure that he did. But I did see him doing a...
blind ranking of his top 10 pasta shapes on like a social media collaboration video between TFC and like CBS Galazzo or whatever the handle is over there. So I think he does have other things going on, which as an athlete, do it, make your money. I got no issue with that.
And also, I didn't watch the whole thing, but I would kind of like to know Federico Bernadeschi's top pasta shit. I'm a little bit annoyed that you don't know it. In fact, Joe, I was going to ask what number one was. That's on me. That's on me. That's on me. I'm going to see what I can find. I might be on it already. Too silly?
Fussellini? Is Fussellini a combination of a dictator and imposter? I think, yeah, he had a period after the big man burrito. Fussellini. I should have just went with Penny. That would have been easier. It's a very stern and about-its-business pasta that demands the trains run on time, I think, is the background there on Fussellini. Joe, do you have any fascist pastas that you're a big fan of? No, but I do have – so I guess it was more pasta dishes.
rather than pasta shapes. So number one for Fede was calcio e pepe, which is a great choice. I had no issue with that. Lasagna is number two on his list. Frankly, I think that's far too high. But I think he comes back around with carbonara in the three. So, you know.
Wait, was it pasta shape or was it pasta dish? I thought it was pasta shape. You can tell a little this video I watched. It was pasta dish ultimately. So that's why Cacio e Pepe was number one. And that's also why Fussellini didn't make the cut. If it had been pasta shapes, that would have been. Bernadesi's number one as it should be no doubt I don't know what this says about me I loved
MLS is opening weekend. I was so into it. I loved every single game I watched. I watched way too many games. I watched a ton of highlights as well. I thought it was really good soccer across the board. I find this conversation still quite fascinating because now I do want to know what his favorite shapes are and also his.
favorite pasta dishes. But maybe that's a show for another time. Right now, we're going to take a look at a few games in a bit more detail. Joe was not with us for the weekend review yesterday. Joe, I was concerned that maybe you had Clockwork Orange style, which I know is a reference you might not get, been forced to watch all the games with your eyes taped open and you just sort of watch them like lean back in a chair, unable to move. Were you able to recover from a weekend watching?
between one and 6,000 games. I have recovered. It took me about a 24 hour period. I got back to my lying on the ground while watching games on TV roots, which I haven't done in quite some time. I thought this is MLS opening weekend. Let's pull out the blanket because our hardwood floors are very, very hard.
Let's toss a blanket down on the ground. Let's get a couple of pillows. Let's prop ourselves up and let's settle in. I finally have emerged from that. There was no eye tape involved, thankfully, but finally have emerged and am stoked because I also really enjoyed this weekend. I thought there was a ton of really, really good stuff. I think my. My early season theory that there are...
More interesting teams than there have been maybe ever. There's also more teams, right? So I guess the ratio is more important than the quantity. But there are more teams doing interesting things than coaches doing interesting things. There also seems to be more talent in the league than there's ever been before.
I felt like all of that stuff was on display in this weekend, even though there was plenty of mediocre stuff, right? There were the errors playing out of the back. San Diego benefited from that very much, and we'll get to them shortly. LAFC opened the season after that Miami game had to get pushed back because of the snowstorm.
Kansas City, and that game was rough, and we might hit that very briefly at the end. So there wasn't, you know, it wasn't like every team played their best game ever. It's week one. We don't need to overreact. We don't need to go overboard on any one topic. But man, I think there was a lot of really enjoyable and fun stuff. weekend.
We shouldn't overreact, but Joe, opening question for you. San Diego FC, best expansion team of all time. I'm going to duck while Atlanta fans hurl things at me. Joe, go ahead. Yeah, I will say watching that performance against the LA Galaxy on Sunday night.
had me feeling better for picking them as a playoff team. And I did. Frankly, I didn't see many other people out there that did. That's not to say that I think San Diego are going to be the best team in the league this year to sort of combat that entry that you gave me there, Taylor. But they played a pretty solid game against the Galaxy.
They created nothing in the first half, but they also didn't let the Galaxy create anything in the first half. And this is a classic things can be two things game where I think San Diego pleasantly surprised a lot of people, myself included, to an extent. And the Galaxy unpleasantly surprised. a lot of people and it very much looked like they were missing two of their three DPs for this game and that they had a new number nine and a couple of new midfielders.
They looked like a team that was trying to find themselves, but credit to San Diego. They controlled so much of that game on Sunday defensively in that 2-0 win. And they put together some nice buildup sequences, some nice ball progression moments to get to the final third. It was in the final third where things lagged. But hey, when you're going to get the ball, excuse me, pass right to you inside the 18, and you can put in the back of the net.
You don't need to create much in the final third as it turns out. Yeah, it was far from a perfect performance, Joe, as you say, in the attacking third. I have questions about how they're going to convert their possession into reliable chance creation going forward when they don't have Garces and the LA Galaxy gifting them the ball inside the box. That happened a couple of times. this game as well not just I blame by the way I blame I blame Novak Mitrovic for that yeah
Why is he playing that ball in the air? Yeah, it's a bad ball. Greg Vanney, also a new goalkeeper for this game. Graham, continue. I'm just going to speculate that maybe he didn't mean to play that in the air. Maybe that's more about a technical precision sort of thing. It's a good point, Taylor. He just wanted to show off so he gets an invite to the skills challenge where they have to do that one into the bucket. That will make the skills challenge.
As watchable as it already is. Graham, what were you saying? Yeah, so anyway, San Diego, very impressive. And obviously, Tyler Heaps and Mike Avaris had spent all offseason talking about how they were going to have a clear identity. We spoke about that in our previews last week. Honestly... I expected that would be a mission statement for the first cycle of this team that maybe we would see over the course of the season.
But to get it, to get a vision of it, a version of it in game one, I found very, very impressive. And for them to be able to go to the defending MLS Cup champs, yes, they're missing a whole bunch of players. This was a rough performance by the Galaxy. I'm not overly worried because they do have Joseph Paintsill to come in, Ricky Puig to come back in. You would presume they're maybe going to build out that attack as the season goes on as well.
Not very worried about them. But nonetheless, you have to go to Carson. You have to play the Galaxy. That's quite a baptism of fire for an expansion team. And for them to play like this off the bat, where they have that clear identity, I think it speaks to... a clear coaching vision, but also a clear roster construction vision. Because I don't care how good a coach Mike Juarez is, and he probably is a very good coach.
You can't pull that off without an alignment with the front office, and that's what San Diego looked to have. And once you have that foundation, maybe in the summer they go and add another attacking piece that elevates that front line. So, yeah, very exciting stuff for them.
So concerns about how they turn possession into goals, but some enthusiasm for the way they built their roster, for the way they're kind of playing in a unified style. Joe, what else do you feel like we learned about San Diego in this game? Yeah, there's a few things that sort of stood out to me. So the first is...
When you look at a couple of their players that were very early signings for the San Diego team, I'm thinking about Jeppe Tverskov at the base of midfield and also Ingvartsen up at that number nine spot. They don't make it easy. Those were both not...
entirely unknown quantities because they played plenty of minutes throughout their careers at decent levels in Europe. Frank Vartsen, I think he had a double-digit goal-scoring season in the Bundesliga, but they hadn't exactly been lighting the world on fire playing in Denmark. They both looked...
better than I thought they were going to look. Or they looked like something close to the best or one of the better case scenarios with their play. Tverascova, the base of midfield, doesn't look especially fleet of foot.
But that's mostly fine when you're always within 12 yards of the ball. And it feels like with how compact San Diego's structure is, both defensively, when that really tight 4-3-3 press or 4-3-3 mid block, or when they're controlling possession in that... uh scratch off the free space three two five shape that san diego are using just like everybody else in the world right now
Tverskov is always around the ball and they're always controlling possession or trying to control the space right around the opposition's possession. I really liked his play. Physically impressive. Like I said, he doesn't have that top end speed.
but is comfortable on the ball, can drive forward on the dribble, and can distribute a little bit at the base of midfield. And I also thought Ingvartsen was really clean with his holdup play, where he could drop into midfield to add an extra number and combine and then release San Diego down into the... the half spaces or into the final third. I thought he looked sharp and he didn't have much to show in terms of actual shots and production inside the 18.
Because again, San Diego just didn't do that stuff in this game. They didn't do a good job of creating. Anders Dreyer looks fantastic. He looked like the only player in this team capable of hitting that final ball. And that is a concern. It's possible that Varys gets around that by allowing the fullbacks a little bit more freedom to get forward and to actually make some backline breaking runs. But Franco Negri at left back and Jasper Lofesson to right back are not.
These high octane attacking players. So I honestly don't know if this lineup that we saw on Sunday against the Galaxy. has that sort of tool in its bag to create a lot more against a lower defensive block, which is what the Galaxy tossed out for a chunk of this game. But I thought some of the question marks in this team basically answered questions about themselves very, very early on in this game on Sunday.
I thought San Diego as a whole embodied the vision, as Graham said, that they've been talking about all offseason long that we talked about on this show. And they did it faster and they did it more clean than I think basically anybody thought they would. I'm glad you highlighted Ingvartsen, Joe, because I found myself watching him probably more than any other player.
on the pitch I have to say he's been in the Bundesliga he's played at a high level I can't really recall I mean maybe I have just by accident I've caught him earlier in his career but what I'm trying to say is he's not a player that I've got any sort of familiarity with so I'm coming I'm coming fresh to him off the back of one match which is not ideal
But I thought he did a lot of things really well. He was keen to get involved in the possession play. He was linking up with the midfielders. We saw a couple of times, I saw you highlighted this in your backfield winners and losers column, Joe. He gets the ball in a central area. He does that Ryan Gravenberch thing of...
turning and getting San Diego moving forward. And there was a couple moments like that where he was really impressive at doing that. Also in the pressing structure, he was preventing the Galaxy from finding their midfielders, in particular Cirillo in that midfield. I think the Galaxy have some midfield balance.
issues they have to work out, especially with Ricky Puj out for an extended period of time. My initial concern, and look, this is based off one game, and Taylor Twellman during the broadcast was saying, this guy's a proper number nine and he wants service and he didn't really line up with what I was actually watching during the game. So maybe that is linked to what has happened previously in his career. My initial concern based off one match with him is...
what's his penalty box presence going to be? Because it felt like San Diego, with the exception of the two goals, weren't making many entries into the opposition penalty area. So does he give San Diego that presence in the final third? Yeah, it's a great question, Graham. And I also had that same reaction when Taylor said that on the broadcast. Their Taylor, not our Taylor. And... It got me thinking, sort of, maybe I'm...
watching a different game where I'm thinking about this in a different way than Twellman is. And my suspicion on what he meant is that he's not a guy that once the ball is in the final third and once the ball is in the box, is going to drop a shoulder, beat three guys on the dribble, and fire off a shot on his own, right? My impression is...
that Ingvartsen is going to be a guy who gets inside the 18 once San Diego are actually there and does his best work off the ball when the space is that small, but when the spaces are bigger and when San Diego are in that progression phase and that controlled possession trying to move forward. into the final third, he is comfortable enough to drop a line, take a touch and help San Diego advance.
At that point, my suspicion is that he's going to let the players around him do more to create for him rather than he's going to be the guy dropping and roaming to go and get touches in the half spaces or to progress the ball into the box himself.
I think Twelman's probably right about that, but we haven't seen it yet because we didn't see San Diego do, to your point, Graham, basically anything in the final third in this game, which is okay. I don't think this was necessarily a bad decision from Mikey Varas if this was an intentional coaching choice.
to be more timid with the positioning of his players once they got to the final third. There weren't a lot of runners in the box. There weren't a lot of players stretching the back line. It was, we're going to move forward as a group so that when we lose the ball in the final third, because most often you do lose the ball in the final.
or when you get there in the first place, then we're going to have this pressing net to go and win the ball right back. And that's one other thing that I feel like we learned in this game, Taylor, to go all the way back to what you asked me earlier. The defensive intensity.
not just from the literal defenders in this team, from Negri and Lafelsund, sort of more journeymen guys in this league and in their careers, compared to someone like Luca De La Torre or Chucky Lozano or Anders Dreyer. The big-name players were defending in this game.
Chucky Lozano was tracking back. I think I've got it down like three or four times in my notes, and I probably didn't even catch them all, where Lozano's either hunting to win the ball back in the counterpress, or he's tracking back to give his fullback, Franco Negri,
Hope on that left side. Anders Dreyer was active in the counterpress. Luka de la Torre was super active defensively, and I thought really effective against the ball. And then there's Anibal Godoy and Iepi Tverskov at the base of midfield. You expect those guys to be doing those things. That's a big part of why they're here.
But man, to get the buy-in from the dudes that are making the money, like practically speaking, the guys that are making the most money that are there first and foremost to create chances on the ball. to get those players doing the defensive work. Again, that was more that San Diego talked about coming into the year of, hey, they're willing to do it. Chucky Lozano, Tyler Heaps told me.
Like he's got more defensive actions in preseason than any DP and MLS so far. That is what he told me. There's no way that he would have known that. But his point was that Chucky Lozano was doing the defensive work. And that's sort of something that I heard and thought, okay, it's a nice thing to say about your highest paid player. He was doing the work man. He was doing the work.
Joe, is there a balance to be struck there, though, with Chucky Lozano, where he is someone who, quite clearly, we've watched him throughout his career, can be a difference maker for this team in the final third. So, obviously, it's admirable. It shows that there's buy-in to what Mike Avaris is doing. for this game it worked for them to have him helping back Negri and tracking back and he was pressing high as well do you want Lozano to maybe
be a little bit more static so that when San Diego have the ball, they do have that option to go from back to front a little bit quicker and open up space. I was trying to think, like, what are the things that the San Diego team could do to be a little bit more goal dangerous in the attacking third? One of them was... a little bit more kind of third man movement from midfield. The other one was...
having a bit more of a static quality from Chico Lozano. So it's positive that he's playing this way, but I wonder if there's a tweak that they can make to find the right balance there. It kind of makes you think about the Mbappe thing with France, right? Where Didier Deschamps, everybody's favourite coach. had Mbappe sort of like on that left wing defending, right? Where he wasn't...
really defending. He was more just sort of standing and hanging out and waiting for the ball to turn over so that then he would have an eight-yard head start on everybody else, which becomes a 30-yard head start in the blink of an eye because he's that fast. Mbappe didn't really always have to come back and join the defense. structure in the same way that his teammates did or do with France.
Maybe we see something similar with Chucky Lozano where he starts a couple yards higher in that defensive structure to give himself that little bit of an extra edge on the break. It's a fine line, though, because with this 4-3-3, there's not a ton of defensive help out wide. It's all going to...
take time. It's all going to take some more reps to actually iron out how to make this team more dangerous in the attack. My concern, honestly, is that the personnel is just not there yet. I think that is a possible outcome where San Diego do well. They're a very, very good defensive team.
you know, June or July, where they are controlling games or not letting you have many chances to have the ball, which means you can't create a lot of chances. They're finding a few looks on the break. They're finding a few looks in possession, but they're still fairly stagnant in the final third because Lozano is not that guy.
There's a lot of Chucky Lozano, Carlos Vela comparisons here between LAFC when they entered the league and Lozano when San Diego's entering the league. They're super different players. Lozano is not the on-ball playmaker type that Vela is. That's drier in this team.
But Luka de la Torre and Anibal Godoy and Tvershkov in midfield are not the guys that are going to play the final ball. So I really only see one player, and that's Anders Dreyer, I said it earlier, who can actually hit that sort of pass. I don't... anticipate that changing until the roster changes and there will be more changes to this roster maybe even in this window certainly in the summer but that is if there is a concern about San Diego it's that
It's not just coaching and reps that can help this team improve in the final third. It's that they're going to have to pay somebody a bunch of money to come in and help them actually fix their final third play.
Joe, you mentioned just in passing there Luca De La Torre. I want to make sure we give him his flowers because I thought he was outstanding in this game. There was a period in the first half where it just felt like he was picking up every ball in the middle, and I really like that midfield unit of Godoy and the numbers.
I'll go with that, Joe. The new guy in midfield. Everyone's a new guy. I noticed how San Diego had, they kind of made a mockery of that thing MLS do with the debut badge. You know, I don't know if you... noticed that but um if you if it's your debut in mls on your on your jersey you've got a little debut badge and obviously there's an expansion team
Everyone had one of those. But anyway, the new guy at the base of the midfield, I really like that midfield unit with the combinations. I thought Luca del Torre was excellent. And while I'm handing flowers out... Paddy McNair. I know we sort of scoffed at the idea of Paddy McNair in 2025. We did not. You and Ryan specifically did. We was excited about Paddy McNair. Thank you very much. I scoffed at the idea of Paddy McNair in 2025. I honestly thought he was good in this game. He was strong.
in the ball there was a couple times where he came around the back to sweep up a Galaxy ball into the channel as well so yeah I tentatively liked what I saw from him as well That's just not liking the Irish from Graham. That's what I'm hearing there. Let's do this. Let's take a break. We'll come back with any final thoughts on San Diego. We'll talk Galaxy. We'll talk a few more teams. Back soon.
Welcome back to the Total Soccer Show. When you were not with us, Joe was once again establishing his ages and bona fides. Joe, I do have one more question for you regarding San Diego. Sure. Talking about sort of the roster construction thus far, talking about pieces that still need to be added. I think the end of this question is going to be, am I buying into the hype too much? I'm not sure if that's a fair question, but essentially there are...
Teams and organizations that I have faith are going to figure it out and have a plan and know what they need or don't need or don't have. And so with somebody like Ingvartson, when there is, they're like, well, he's this type of striker. Like if Taylor Twelman is saying he wants to do this, but he needs this.
or whatever. I think San Diego is an organization right now with a reliance on analytics and youth development and their academy and everything else that makes me think they're very forward thinking. They are very good at talent identification.
They know whether or not this player is going to fit and they know what they need to augment that player or help them work out more. And so I think I am inclined to give them a good amount of credit, even if they are an expansion franchise, even if they've only played the one game. Am I buying into the hype too much? No, I don't think so. I think there's a lot of evidence that suggests that San Diego are making smart decisions. Like, you look at this squad.
And the reason why I think I had them eighth. So it's not like I predicted them to finish the home playoff game. And they might end up getting there for all I know, especially because the West didn't look awesome this past weekend. The East looked a bit better, I think. But when you look at the San Diego team.
There's a lot of talent in this team. And the question was, is this talent going to fit together? Are they going to be as cohesive as they say they're going to be? There's just a lot of unknowns, which makes it hard to take the risk to really back an expansion team when you haven't seen them before.
But Anders Dreyer was awesome for Anderlecht in Belgium, which is one of the better teams there. They weren't like top of the table all the time when he was there, which means he had to work for some of that production. Lozano is...
Probably going to be a quite good player in this league. They go out and snag a guy who's got 10 goals in the Bundesliga. A guy with a bunch of minutes in Denmark. Luka de la Torre, we know, is a good player. You kind of run down the list. And yeah, there are still question marks in this team.
I think they've made a lot of really smart calls. And I do believe that Tyler Heaps to Charlie Boehm, who does a great job covering MLS for MLS Soccer. I think he talked to Charlie about how they're going to use the first period of the season. whether that's until the primary transfer window closes in just about two months. Maybe it's a little later. I don't know. They're going to use the opening stages of 2025.
to evaluate what they need. And they'll look at the game on Sunday and say, we need more in the final third. And they'll try to pull the right levers to actually go and make that stuff happen. It doesn't take a genius to see that. We all saw it and none of us are soccer geniuses on this show. Otherwise we'd be making a lot more money doing something else.
Like this team has some clear strengths and some clear weaknesses. And San Diego seem very savvy at going out there and figuring out what those things are. And it seems like making the moves they need to go and make their weaknesses into strengths.
All right. I continue to dodge thrown objects from Atlanta United supporters, but I'm glad that we're on the same page there, Joe. So it's thumbs up for San Diego. I'm going to say thumbs up to Charlie Boehm. Great reporter. Good human. Great human. Charlie's great. Good hair. Yes, dude. Yes. Very, very good at the football as well in the five of sides. He's he's like.
Technical, but also a hard man who will put in a challenge. And I love Charlie for that. Thumbs down to the LA Galaxy? Is that where we are, Joe? Because I had some concerns about them in our weekend review. I was excited to share this take with you. Please. And then you were still recovering from your Clockwork Orange treatment.
Basically, I'm still struggling with a way to explain this, but we had lowered expectations with the Pooj injury, with the Paintsill injury, with Jovalich being sold, with Brugman gone and with Delgado gone. It felt like there were... lots of pieces that needed to be replaced so there was maybe a lowering of expectations and i feel still feel like they didn't even meet the lowered bar of expectation which has me slightly concerned if i were a galaxy supporter
Yep, I would be a little concerned right now for the Galaxy. I still think the talent level in this team is quite high. I think they're going to be fine. I think they're going to be more than fine, honestly, when all is said and done this year, even if Ricky Puj doesn't come back. I backed Greg Vanney and I backed these players to find the right solutions. They didn't find those solutions on Sunday, though. The midfield looked...
like a group that had never played together before. And ultimately, that's what it was, right? When you think about Edwin Cerio, who became a really key player for this team last year, but also with Sanabria, who's come in as a U22 player.
It's foolish to bet on U22 players to change games from the start or to be super impactful players from the start. Not to say that you can't give them minutes, but Sanabria clearly has work to do. And Marco Reus, who only got 32 touches of the ball in his 70-something minutes in this game. He was basically a non-factor. Now, a couple of the Galaxy's best moves I do think involved Marco Reus in this game.
But the midfield could not progress the ball. The back line was sloppy. Michovic in goal absolutely hung Garces out to dry on that first one that we talked about. If that play doesn't happen, this might end nil-nil. And we're probably all still impressed with San Diego. but we're probably not as freaked out about the Galaxy. So I am not, it is not a fire alarm situation for this team, but there are moments in the first half of this game where you can see the Galaxy's midfield.
trying to organize itself. Like they looked completely off the pace of understanding where to be and how to position themselves. That's going to take time. It might take a personnel change too. I wouldn't be shocked if it was a couple of different kind of double pivot.
partners throughout the early stages of the season. I liked Elijah Winder when he came off the bench in this game. I think Sanabria is though, is still a talented player. So I think there's quality in this team, but the midfield positioning and timing and the really slow speed of play.
through the midfield in possession for the Galaxy, I thought just made life really difficult for them. Yeah, and just to recap, they were missing five players that started MLS Cup, and it's six if you include Ricky Pierce, who was obviously injured for that game. So... It was bad. It was a rough performance by the Galaxy. I thought their midfield was all over the place. Joe's already kind of outlined that. But I think you add Puj and Pencil back into that team immediately that...
makes a difference because you've got that deep-lying playmaking ability from Piers and then you've got the outlet from Joseph Paintso. Not only are you getting Paintso back in the team, but you're probably getting a bit more space for Gabriel Peck. There was a point in this first half where I actually kind of forgot Gabriel.
Beck was playing and they showed him up close to the camera I was like oh yeah that guy he had a very quiet game as the Galaxy did it as a whole even if this squad and this roster does have like some fundamental issues. Taylor, you were talking about having faith in San Diego's front office. I have faith in Wilkins to fix that.
as the season goes on and even if this year is maybe not quite as successful as last year when they win the Cup obviously heading into 2026 I just feel I have faith in that front office that the Galaxy have that they will ultimately get things right Sorry, I know we're going long in this game. Just the last thing and I'm trying to find out my notes and I'm struggling. There's a moment. Here it is. It's in the 25th minute game. We're talking about Gabrielle Peck.
where the Galaxy are about to get out on the break, which is hugely valuable against San Diego because I think their defenders are probably fairly vulnerable in space and they don't give you a lot of space in the first place. They're about to get out on the break, the Galaxy, and it's Christian Ramirez, new number nine up top, and Gabriel Peck.
elite winger on the right side and they're trying to get out on the break and they just completely botch this chance like they're just not on the same page I think it might be Peck who tries to play the ball to Ramirez or it could be the other way around and it's just not at all to where that person is running and it looks like Two dudes that have barely played any soccer together before. I talked about it in the midfield. It was there on the front line too.
Some of those things are just going to fade with time because we know that Christian Ramirez is a capable, if not more than that, MLS player. We know Peck is a best 11 level player in this league. They're going to fix. Some of these things are just going to fix themselves. It's just going to take another. two, three, four games for that to happen. And the good news is it's major league soccer and you can afford to give yourself some of that time.
We just need someone to constantly remind Christian Ramirez he doesn't play for Aberdeen anymore, and then he'll remember that he's good. I think also, Joe, to your point, I think things will get worked out, wrinkles will be ironed out. There were moments in this game when San Diego were pressing really effectively, and that's...
Stood out to me because the Galaxy still were able to pass their way through it a number of times. They weren't able to create much from that, but I was struck by how fluid the possession was and how quickly they would move the ball. And so even with a sort of...
not particularly like unified set of players at present. You could still see how good they can be and how capable they are of playing really pretty soccer. So I think they've got to find the pieces to blend in. They've got to get pencil back. I think they will be just fine, though, the Galaxy. But it will be fascinating if we see the West finish as it is right now with what, like San Jose, San Diego.
Dallas, and who's the other team that shouldn't be? Vancouver on top. That's how the West needs to finish this season. We all saw that coming. Let's move to another team that we all saw coming, the Chicago Fire, who are fun now. Graham, Joe, how are we feeling about the Fire, who have... exciting players and an exciting manager. Where are we on that one?
Yeah, so this was the match I was most looking forward to from opening weekend. Because I just couldn't envisage a scenario where we didn't have something to talk about out of this match. And we've got plenty to talk about out of this game. Four goals in the first 37 minutes.
It was Nancy Ball versus Berhalter Ball. There's real overlap between the way the two teams play or the way that both managers want their team to play. It's possession play. It's done its speed. It's taking risks. Maybe a risk too many from the five.
point of view certainly for the goal they coughed up well actually I was going to highlight the first goal there's three goals in this game where they cough up possession which as we've already covered was a theme across the league on opening weekend but
For a lot of this game, Chicago looked really good. They were brave on the ball, which isn't easy against the crew, obviously, and their press, and look, the crew still forced them into some situations that cost them in this match, but they progressed the ball out from the back well.
and out of possession they were proactive, they had a good structure, there was a coherence to their play that certainly wasn't their last season for this team. So they lose this game, they drop off, they weren't able to sustain it over the course of the full 90 minutes. maybe saw Nancy, the greater understanding he has of his squad compared to Berhalter, where he was able to make a few tweaks to change the game. But broadly speaking...
I thought this was a good opening weekend for the Fire, and I can't wait to see how they play in their next game. Yeah, I completely agree, Graham. One beat on Columbus before I move to Chicago, because Chicago are the new thing, right? We don't know. We didn't know what this team was going to look like in full. We didn't have a great sense. of exactly how Beralta was going to go about things. But for Columbus, it's actually...
absurd how good at his job Wilfer Nance is. Cucho Hernandez is gone. They lose him to La Liga on the Spanish deadline day, and they put up four goals. Now, granted, the fire shot themselves in the foot a couple of times, no doubt about that. But Columbus... After the first 30 minutes or so, where they were fortunate-ish to get that goal from Jason Russell Rowe to level it in the 19th minute, and then Chicago go back ahead again.
Columbus just did their thing, man. They settled down. Will Fernandez, Graham, you mentioned those tweaks. I think Steven Marrera pushed higher from right center back and Chicago just didn't have an answer for those right-sided overloads that Columbus are throwing their way.
And the crew played their ball. They built from the back. They controlled the ball in midfield. They weren't flawless in this game. I don't think Nance is going to be especially happy with how they played in this game. But man. This looks like the Columbus crew of last year, and it looks like the Columbus crew of the year before. Even as the squad changes, this team still basically looks the same. And that is just...
Unreal. And they are. It certainly sounds like, Graham, I think you mentioned him in your crew preview, Flacco Lopez. It seems like they're going to add a DP in this window. That's going to make them even scarier. Yeah. For as long as Nance is there, the crew are going to be the crew. So that's my Columbus note.
Just very quickly on that, Joe, just even from a reductive point of view, just to have Jason Russell-Rowe and Diego Rossi both score an opening weekend when that's the big talking point about this team is where are those numbers going to come from? And I'm not saying that they're both going to be...
put up Cucho numbers or anything like that. But just for that to happen is like, it's nuts that this team manages to self-renew so effectively. It's, yeah, it's unreal. Like, it truly is unbelievable to me. Go ahead.
And I was struck as well, in addition to the attacking play and the goal scoring and how they continue to look just as effective as they did last year, just how locked on they are when they sent blood in the water. They are sharks with blood in the water. They are dogs with a bone. As soon as there is a moment of like, oh, that guy. a heavy touch or ooh that wasn't where they were supposed to go or he played right into our pressing trap
They are on it, and that first goal is, I think it's Zawadzki, like, stepping and winning. The fourth goal, I think it is, it's Amundsen. Really, you can see him, and I forget who the other defender is with the crew, both just being like, you're not supposed to be dribbling towards your own goal. You are in trouble.
like a defensive figure he's in like the final 25 yards of the pitch is nuts he gets the assist for the fourth goal with that tackle like it's just how locked on they are with that press it creates so many opportunities for them I think The crew will be pretty OK. We shall see. But I was I come away from that one thinking the crew pretty good. But the Chicago Fire also pretty good. Yes, I think that is the perfect takeaway from this game, Taylor. The Fire.
started this game playing on the road in Columbus, which is a great narrative for Greg Baraltar coming back to MLS, by the way. I love that. The intensity was there, playing away from home against the team with the most clearly defined style in MLS. Maybe the most clearly defined style we've ever seen. outside of the Red Bulls teams in the Jesse Marsh era. This is a team that knows exactly how they wanna play. They're not gonna change for anybody.
And Chicago said, great, we're not going to change for you either. They played short passes from the back, which did come back to bite, but I think will improve as the year goes on. They did a lot of really, really good stuff on the ball in this game. And it was balanced as well. It wasn't them.
Just playing short passes for the sake of playing short passes. No, when Jonathan Bamba, who looked awesome on the left, by the way. It was short passes to then play in Jonathan Bamba. Yes, 100%. Like, against Columbus, you know there's going to be space in behind. You know there's going to be space between that outside center back and the...
wingback nine times out of ten and they were looking for that space and Bamba looked awesome and Brian Gutierrez looked way better than I've ever seen him look I've never been impressed by Brian Gutierrez he looks bigger he looks more decisive he looks stronger he looks like a guy that's really going to benefit from having actual talented soccer players around him. There was so much to like with how the fire presented themselves on the ball in this game.
A lot not to like. We talked about it. Defensively, I was impressed as well with a lot of what they did in the opening 30, 40 minutes. Then Columbus made those changes, especially on that right side that I mentioned. And I think it fell apart. Andrew Goodman's not a very good defensive left back. And there were issues in this game.
But early on, they were pressing high in a tight 4-3-3 that looked exactly like the one that Mikey Varas was running out for San Diego, more or less. And they were really compact in their mid-block as well. And they had the quickness to go get to those bouncing balls in the same way that the crew did, Taylor, that you talked about earlier. They flustered Columbus in the first 30 minutes of this game. I know it's only 30 minutes and there's still 60 plus minutes left to be played.
That is still a genuine accomplishment in this league. To be able to get Columbus out of their rhythm a little bit is so... incredibly difficult. And Chicago did that in the very first game under Greg Baralter. Lots of work to do still. I don't know that this team is going to be great. I'm legitimately worried about some of the defensive stuff. I think that's more of a personnel thing. I also...
Compared to Nance, I don't think Beralter is the best in-game adjuster, but that's also maybe not a fair comparison because Nance is on a different level in this league. But man, the fire, Hugo Kuyper's bomba, and I thought Zinkernagel was pretty quiet, but Gutierrez looked really good.
There's just so much to like, and they're probably still missing two, if not three starters from Berhalter's preferred 11 in this game. Yeah, I think they're going to be, if not way better, some better and certainly far more interesting in 2025.
Yeah, a few notes on that one. It was mentioned right before kickoff. Hugo Kuyper's number nine did not have any preseason minutes, I think. So he's been in training, but this was his first game in a while. So you could see maybe some of the rust there. And he's super good, by the way. Super good. I think Sergio Oregel will be good. He was one of my specific predictions for the season. He had...
A rough start to the season. He, I think, coughs up the ball for that first goal slash gets aggressively tackled. I would still argue it's a bit of a hospital ball to play to a 19-year-old running towards their own goal with not a ton of options. But he had... Some rough stats, but I think we'll continue to partner Kellen Acosta in that midfield, and I think the more reps, the better for him. And then, bomb out wide.
is a difference maker on his own. And I knew he was good going into this season. I didn't know how strong his left foot was. I've seen him be the kind of left-sided winger who cuts in with his right foot. How quickly he can deliver a kind of like fizzed cross or like low cross across the box with that left, but then also still cut back and play with his right makes him incredibly dangerous and I think can be a difference maker on his own. And that's something that I feel like the fire.
have thought they've had at various points in recent memory, but now it feels like they actually do. So this does feel like a team that as they kind of get some more chemistry and consistency, will start to get more consistency in results.
I'm sure it was the second goal, but the second goal is the one right where he plays the little pass in behind for Gutierrez, who makes the run across and centrally nutmegs the keeper, right? That's the second goal. I'm sure that move starts with the fire playing out of... possession, out of pressure, excuse me, in their own defensive third, and then Gutmann plays the ball direct. It's a goal they go from back to front in like six seconds.
I'm like, am I watching the Chicago Fire here? Like, this is ridiculously different from this team that played last year. So credit to Berhalter. He's got his claws into this team and they're getting results, if not the win on opening weekend. And then, Joe, I know you and I... I were really hyped about Brian Gutierrez. Graham, I know you were really down on him. Do you want to walk that back now? Do you want to just admit that maybe you were wrong about him?
Oh, this is slander. This is slander. I'll regret that athletic piece not being published in time forever. I don't know what you're talking about. That feels made up to me. I, in the preview, I think was... concerned about Gutierrez being that kind of number 10, that central playmaker. I thought that maybe we would see him start there in the season until they found...
an eventual replacement. That may still be the case, but pretty heartened by what we saw in this game, even if maybe he should have gotten a red card later on in it. They go to VAR. I think he ends up getting a yellow for... Like an elbow that was extended, but maybe not maliciously so. But I'm going to say that's an indiscretion of youth. He's still only 21, so he's got some time to develop. I don't know, Joe, does he? Is 21 when you're more or less retired in your mind?
Yeah, no, he's done for. Actually, it's 16. If you're not there by 16, it's all over for you. There's a joke to be made in there somewhere, but I'm just going to take us to break. Instead, we'll come back and talk about a few more teams before we call MLS Week 1 Reviewed.
At Betfair, we're about finding different ways to play, like with our 90-minute guarantee. We've all been there. The clock ticks over into 90 minutes, and then a speculative cross into the box ricochets off a knee and goes in, ruining your bet. But with Betfair's 90-minute guarantee, if your bet is winning at 90 minutes or full-time, we pay out. Betfair. Play different. A place to match odds 90 market or markets with the 90 icon. Sportsbook exclusive. Terms and conditions apply.
Welcome back to the Total Soccer Show. Now that they are done throwing things at my head, let's talk about Atlanta United. Graham, first, I want to talk about something that doesn't really have anything to do with the tactics or the gameplay itself. Sure. Were the colors off in this game or was that just my television? Can we talk about this for a moment? Why did it seem like they were playing in sepia or they were playing in like blue toned? What was happening?
Taylor, I'm not kidding. In my notes to bring up in this section, I've got why do games at the Benz look so rubbish on TV? I thought it looked particularly rubbish on opening weekend, but it's something I've noticed before. I don't know. I don't think the pitch helps. The pitch is quite like grey tone. Or something about the floodlights as well. I'm like, turn the light up. I can barely see anything. I have been there in person multiple times. The field is...
to my memory, pretty vibrant. It's a turf field, but like you've got vibrant colors. There's good lighting. I think it must just be the way the lights and field appear on camera is off. I, cause I, unless both of us have our TVs tuned to the wrong setting. I'm in this group too. Okay, thank you, Joe. So that genuinely took me a few minutes of getting used to it. Like, wait, why is it blue-toned? What's happening here?
So I was double screening. I had 360 watching all the games on Saturday evening. And they switched, at one point, they switched from the Benz to Cincinnati. And it was like... getting a color tv in the 60s it's like boom my retina's exploded there's that clip of the of like in norway i think it was where they transitioned from black and white to color in the same show where they had them like
All wearing black and white. And then they all put on colored clothing at once. And that's what Joe or Graham got to experience with the transition and transition back. So, OK, we've gotten out of the way that we would like, I guess, the lights to be better or the field to be prettier. But at Lane United, Joe looked.
Plenty pretty themselves. Yeah, there was a lot to like for Atlanta in this game. This was, again, it's week one. This was, I thought, a pretty incomplete performance from Atlanta United. They had to claw their way out of some holes in this game. Can I interject to ask you, did anybody have...
A not incomplete performance. It's a good question, Taylor. It is a very, very good question. I think the Union played a pretty darn good game away from home. Looking through the rest of the list of games. In Vancouver, I guess, played a pretty...
pretty complete game against Portland, but they also had the benefit of playing up a man for 80 minutes. So no, not, not really Taylor. And that's a great point to provide context for week one takeaways that we should generally ease our way into these things.
The things that stood out for Atlanta in this game, though, aren't the fact that they were kind of running out of gas in the second half. It wasn't the fact that I think they struggled. They gave up a goal on a set piece. It's not really those things. It's mostly that the attack looks really, really good. Like really, really good. Emmanuel Latte Laugh looks...
Like he might've actually been worth $22 million, which it's Arthur Blank's money, not mine. So you can go spend as much as you want on DPs. I talked about that with Brandon Vasquez and Austin earlier this off season, go spend your money how you want to MLS owners, but.
Man, he looked awesome. He looked like a player that was worth breaking the MLS record transfer fee on. The first goal he scores is an absurdly high leaping header in the box on a corner kick. He doesn't look like a tall dude. Latte Loth. He got up for that Joseph Martinez style. The second goal he scores is just a predatory classic number nine, waiting for the rebound in the box, tapping home kind of goal. And there were other moments in this game.
where the real reason I think that Atlanta United signed him in the first place was his speed. And that speed... showed itself, where he is stretching the line and pushing CF Montreal's back line back so far that then there's so much space between the lines for Alexi Maranchuk, who they spent a bunch of money on in the summer, and for Miguel Almiron.
There was so much quickness and decisiveness to how Atlanta attacked between Latte Latte, between Savalob Genizzi on that left side, who is a vertical, not quite straight line player, but is quick and likes to run in behind. And then Amaron, who...
He's still got it, guys. I don't know that CF Montreal is the best test for him, but man, the way he drives the ball down the field, the way that it seems like any opportunity, he has to turn and face forward and take even a step or two steps forward to progress the ball.
He's doing it and he's accelerating still so quickly. He was playing on the right side of Ronnie Dallas 4-2-3-1 in this game, which is to say he was going wherever he wanted to go because he's Miguel Almiron and he played on the right, but he also played a bunch of number 10 in this game and would drift and swap with Moranchuk. It's not a surprise when you add 30 million dollars of attacking talent back into this team.
But man, Atlanta United looked like a team that added 30 plus million dollars of attacking talent back into this team. When they get that front four of Latty Lath, Almiron, Saba, Morancic, when they get them moving towards goal...
Good luck to any team that faces them. And Almiron, I mean, it's just great to see him back in MLS. You know, right, Joe, he is back. He looks to be at a very high level. I feel like his role in this team might be slightly different. And this might be where my memory of him...
from the first spell at Atlanta is a little bit hazy. But I seem to remember him as more of the finisher in that team. I know he was playing alongside Martinez as well, who was very much the finisher too. I think he's going to be the creative force in this Atlanta team where Lattie Lath and... And he was so impressive. I expected him to be a speed merchant. I didn't expect him to be leaping high to get on the end of corner kicks. And also, he just seemed to be taking up really good.
goal-scoring positions inside the box. There's a couple of opportunities where he forces a save, where it just falls to him inside the box, which is, of course, it's a cliche, but always a sign of a good striker. But watching Almiron in this team, I think he's going to be the creator.
in this side in the final third, which is no bad thing because it looks like he's going to be very good and effective in that role. Yeah, the thing I'm fascinated about, Graham, is how Almiron and Maranchuk sort of feel each other out in the early stages here because Maranchuk is... He sort of is that through ball threader. And I think Ronnie Dyla talked about also to Charlie Bohm, shout out Charlie Bohm. I think he talked to Charlie early this off season about
how he wanted Marenchuk to sort of be the quarterback of this team and to add these speedy wide receivers. Sorry, this is probably doing nothing for Graham. Hopefully it's doing something for you, listener. They wanted to add these speedy wide receivers around Marenchuk to go and create extra space for him and to give him...
options downfield defined in transition, but also in possession. And I still think that Maranchuk in a perfect world would be the primary creator for this team. And Almiron would sort of end up in this hybrid role where he's drifting centrally and he can do some of the playmaking because he's got that level of vision.
distribution but he also can go and do some of that finishing stuff and actually I think there's a world in which that was kind of his role with Atlanta the first time around where he played much more centrally more often he defended more centrally back under Tata Martino the first time around with the five stripes
But he did a nice mixture of playing balls to Joseph for Joseph to score and also crashing the box to get goals himself. I think his goals and assists were fairly even in his two seasons in Atlanta. I think in a perfect world. That's exactly what happens this year, where he is putting up 12 and 12 or something along those lines. And I think we're seeing some of the bones of that being exactly how Ronnie Dalla envisions this team playing. The concerns for Atlanta are that they're so...
tilted towards the attack that the defense is no good. And the defense was no good in this game. Let's talk about that. The caveat though is they only had one starter along their back line. That's John Gregerson. They were missing both fullbacks in this game and they're going to be without Brooks Lennon for a little bit longer. And they were missing Pedro Amador on the left and Derek Williams didn't start in the middle of the back line. And Luis Abram has defended.
Before, correct? At some point in his career? Rumor has it that he did. I've never seen any evidence of it. Yeah, Louis Abram is a well below average center back in this league. Also, Brad Guzan looked...
Old. On that goal that Montreal scored? If Atlanta had a goalkeeper who isn't 100 years old, they would have got to the Owusu cross for the first Montreal goal where it looks like he's running through quicksand. Counterpoint. Counterpoint. Have either of you ever seen a... goalkeeper sprint in open field because i've seen it happen twice in my life while playing and both times it is hilarious to watch i think they are so used to doing like the cat like dive that the full-on sprint
The body, it's like a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man. It doesn't really all kind of flow. So I can't fault Brad Guzan that much, but I can fault him a little bit at the same time. Yeah, there are worries about what the back five goalkeeper and back line. And it also will toss a double pivot in there. It was Bartosz Slees and Mateusz Klick starting together, and Klick is not the fleetest afoot. So I'm worried about all that stuff. But as a neutral...
I love it, man. I think Atlanta United's games are going to have a ton of goals in them this year. They're going to score a bunch of goals. They're going to give up a lot of goals, probably fewer when they have that full complement of players back in this team. But they were a lot of fun, if not comprehensively excellent in this game. Joe, you have successfully preempted the question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Based on this result, last year, Inter-Miami...
Goals for goals conceded combined 128. I was going to ask you, will Atlanta have more than 150 goals scored and conceded combined based on this performance? Okay, let's do the math. So 150 goals for and against across 34 games is four and a half basically goals per game.
I'm going to take the under, but I think we're on the same page. It's going to be Atlanta United doing their offseason. In my mind was just them doing a galaxy. It was we're too slow. We need to get faster. We're going to try to be at least competent defensively. The question.
for Atlanta in a lot of respects is can they find their Amiro Garces who I know ended up with that that blooper but wasn't really his fault wasn't entirely his fault over the weekend against San Diego but Garces is he's got moist Bombito speed back there he is an incredible athlete and Atlanta
as far as I'm concerned, don't have that player. But yeah, their games are going to be basically must-watch for neutral MLS fans. I'll give you a goals-related hot take. I know we're trying to stay away from these on opening weekend, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm not sure we are. I feel like I've leaned heavily into them, but go ahead.
Latty Lath is going to score over 20 goals easily this season. I just think on the basis of what we saw here, he's got so many strings to his bow. He's getting on the end of corners. He's fast. He takes up good positions. Yeah, I think he'll score between 20 and 25 goals. Okay, so here we go. This is the game that I was going to ask you to play, Graham. So 20 goals, yes. 23 goals, would you say? 23 or more. Okay.
25. I know you said 25. Wait, what was Benteke last season? I'm trying to figure out where the line is. Low 20s, I think. I think he was 23. Maybe 25. 23, I think. Latty Lath will score more than Benteke. Like, yeah. Because he can score it on his own. Like, Benteke needs someone to create for him. So I'll say 25 or 26. Okay. And is that as high as you'll go? That's what I was looking at. I think so. Okay, so 26. You won't go higher than 26. That feels good. No. All right. 35.
Nice. I'll take it. Basically already to 150 by that point. Perfect. All right. I'm glad we're all on the same page. Just got to give up 115 along the way and you're good to go. And I do think Benteke had 23 goals last season. top scorer I do think also if you're an Atlanta supporter who like Atlanta's never really been through like lean lean times I feel like they've always been fine to good however I think you'd rather have them maybe winning
4-3 and 3-2 and drawing some games 3-3 than you would winning games 1-0 in the 70th minute or something like that. They're going to be a fun team. They're going to be a good team to watch for a neutral.
Chris Henderson must be feeling pretty good about what he saw in opening weekend because coming into the season, it was all about adding speed to the attack and building out the attack. And what was good about this match? The attack. So other things can fall into place later. Speaking of things falling into place, let's do some quick hits now.
Joe, the Quakes falling into place. Yeah. Looking quite good. Bruce Arena proving once again that Bruce Arena can get people to play soccer really effectively, even if it doesn't seem like that should be possible. San Jose Earthquakes, top of the Supporter Shield standings right now. Let's end the season. Let's give it to them. This thing is done. Wrap it up. They were not, and Bruce said this after the game, they were not four goals better than RSL. They won that game 4-0.
This felt a lot more like a game that was destined to be a narrow win or maybe even a draw than an actual four goal win. Soccer's a weird game sometimes. Credit to the Quakes, though. They did some really good stuff. Bruce Arena had this team in a 3-4-1-2 shape in possession with Hernan Lopez.
in behind Joseph Martinez and Chicho Arango. Christian Espinoza was playing as a wingback in this game. He grabs a couple of assists. Jamar Ricketts, who was a player that I frankly wasn't very familiar with, got his first ever MLS start in this game at left wingback. 23-year-old was a rookie last year, drafted in the Super Draft.
He was awesome in this game. So fast. Brought so much energy to this team's attack. And they needed it. Last year, they needed that sort of energy in the attack. I really liked what Ricketts brought. They were a little more defensively solid than they were at times last year. Still some cracks.
love the midfield. There are concerns here, but man, to put up four goals in an opening game, granted it was a heavily rotated RSL team because they've got CONCACAF Champions Cup games that they're worried about too right now. It just feels good. Like it just feels good. The crowd, Jeff Carlisle was at this game.
He was saying that the crowd was chanting Bruce Arena, I think, after the third goal. This all feels familiar. And if you're San Jose fans, it doesn't feel familiar in the way that life has felt familiar to you for the last decade plus, which is that you've been one of the worst teams in MLS. So it feels familiar. In the Bruce Arena, we're going to play some reasonable soccer. We're going to be at least competent kind of way. And that is a huge, huge step up from where they've been.
So San Jose fans can feel a little bit better about their life at present. Graham, Ryan Galt, does he have you feeling a little bit better about your life at present? The confusing question. I'm not even entirely sure Ryan Gold knows I exist. If he does, then great stuff. Joe, if you get to interact with him this season, can that be your first question, please? Are you aware that Graham Rutherford exists? Right, right. I said I'm pretty...
sure he doesn't know I exist I am sure he doesn't know I exist first of all I'm pretty sure Portland don't want to play Vancouver at Providence Park again anytime soon that's an aggregate score of 9-1 between this match and the game in the playoffs last year. I didn't know that when Graham went high voice, he goes into Borat range, but that was really close to like 9-1. And I enjoyed it. There you go.
Joe mentioned this earlier on, the thing that warps this match so early as the red card to Kamal Miller. And then from then on, the Timbers are rolling downhill. But you got to it, Taylor. The main reason I watched this game was to make sure that my boy Ryan Gold is...
still good because this is a Vancouver team with a new manager Stuart Armstrong he's lost his buddy Gold over the offseason Stuart Armstrong's gone back to England there's been a fair amount of change over the offseason in that team so I was a bit concerned that maybe the landscape had shifted beneath Ryan Gold
I'm less concerned now having watched this match because he was one of the best players on the pitch and what I love about Ryan Gold in this Vancouver team is he's sort of positionless in this team where he just he just kind of pops up everywhere and affects the game wherever he can, scores the opening goal in this match. But the player who was most eye-catching in this match was Jadon Nelson, a very different sort of attacking threat to Stuart Armstrong, where he wants to, well, to my eye,
He was at Toronto last season, but didn't really make much of an impact. I think scored one goal in 43 games for TFC. So I'm not overly familiar with them, to be honest, but he seemed to be driving forward, was a real threat. So if they have plugged that talent gap with...
this underappreciated player from Toronto, then that's great work by the Caps. But they won't play 80 minutes against 10 men in every single game they play this season. Yeah, you mentioned Jaden Nelson there, Graham. I was shocked at how good he looked in this game. Grain of salt, week one, Portland probably still horrible defensively, even with 11 players on the field. Grain of salt aside now.
Jaden Nelson was a beast on that right side. He looked incisive and direct and quick in the open field, had some decent distribution on his assists. They were, a lot of them were quite... you know, bit Joe skeptical of you assists in this game, but to contribute to all four goals and to look as dangerous as he did on that right side, you're right. He was with Toronto and he made basically no impact for them. I was not a fan of his game. He was slighter at that point as a...
even younger player, was not a dangerous winger despite his minutes at that spot. I thought he was going to profile as more of a number eight, basically, when all was said and done. Goes over and plays in Norway, plays like 100 minutes in the second Bundesliga, is now back in MLS.
And he looked really good. I didn't expect it. Didn't see that coming. That's maybe the most surprising thing, even more surprising than San Jose getting that 4-0 win. I was shocked to see Jaden Nelson look as dominant as he did. Very curious to see more of him.
Do we think at a certain point Ryan Gould is going to look across at the vacant Stuart Armstrong locker and have a whisper to the GM? No one signed Johnny Russell yet. We could get we could get another Scott in here just to really fulfill that quota.
Genuinely, that might happen. Yes, I think there's a chance that happens. Do we think of Johnny Russell as having good hair? Because like Stuart Armstrong, once you've had someone with nice hair, he's got the best hair in football. He's got a great beard. Can we... yeah maybe that's it maybe that's how you compensate
I'm sold, Joel. Let's get Johnny Russell to the caps. Let's go. I like that Stuart Armstrong's Wikipedia photo is him just looking dissatisfied, which I think is just what's taken of him right before he left Vancouver. I was going to say it's just resting Scottish face, but sure. I'll take yours instead, Joe.
Stuart Armstrong, I'm not having this. I'll take it for most other Scottish players. Stuart Armstrong is all we've got. He is a handsome man with good hair. So I'm not standing for this. All I said was that he didn't look happy. And Graham was apparently triggering. He is beautiful. He is Scotland's rose. How dare you? Scotland's thistle? Would he be a rose? I don't know how that works. Let's talk about, let's move swiftly away from that one to talk about Thomas Aviles, Joe. Concerns?
Yeah, I'm real concerned. Miami, if there were hopes. And I may or may not have hoped this and may or may not have said it and written it coming into the year. There were hopes that they were going to be a little more normal this year. They signed two center backs in the transfer window. They got a full year of David Martinez in the back. Tomas Abiles is a year older. Same with Noah Allen.
If they were thoughts that they were going to be more normal this year, that person was a fool. Whoever thought that. And that person was me. I'm the fool. Miami just imploded in this game. They end up with a 2-2 drop against Lionel Messi plays for this team, and Tulasko-Segovia looks quite good in central midfield, and they get an absurdly late second-half stoppage time equalizer. I think it was in the 100th minute of this game.
But man, at the start, Tomas Avile scores a goal in the fifth minute, puts Miami ahead, and then he concedes a red card that leads to a free kick, and NYCFC end up putting the ball in the back of the net a few minutes later. Aviles just is not a good defender. He's not a good player in MLS at this point, which is such a shame because he is so fun to watch on the ball.
But the guy is pure chaos incarnate as a center back. And when it's him and Noah Allen starting next to each other, it's just not good. You toss in Jordy Alba, just giving the ball to NYCFC for a goal in this game. It's... It's bad. It was bad. It was hard to watch for Miami at times. They played with 10 men for most of this game. I still think they're going to be really good this year, but they have to figure out how to play normal ball for 90 minutes at a time.
And I genuinely don't think you can do that when Tomas Aviles is in this team. I don't see how he's around in the summer. I honestly don't see it at this point. Why do so many teams... I guess I know the answer to this, Joe, but it feels like a lot of MLS teams have skipped leg day in this offseason. We've got a lot of attacking firepower for a few different teams. Less defensive firepower. Who do you think of as being the best defensive team?
Seattle, probably, yeah. Seattle, Red Bulls, Charlotte. I saw the Charlotte equalizer. Yeah, not the greatest moment from Seattle's center backs to end that game against Charlotte. But yeah, Seattle, very solid defensively, will be very good this year.
So we know Joe watched all of the games lying down, eyes not taped open. We've talked about a lot of the games that Joe watched. Graham, are there any other teams that you would like to discuss? And how did you watch your 400 different games that you watched this weekend? I also watched the LAFC-Minnesota match with my eyes taped open because if they hadn't been, they might have closed. Yeah, this was not the match that I wanted as the curtain raiser for the season. Obviously, it was not meant.
to be the curtain raiser. It was meant to be in Miami NYCFC until their game was pushed back. I have to imagine MLS and Apple weren't too happy about it either. It was the same old... LAFC, where for the majority of their matches I want to claw up my own eyes, and then they produce one moment of quality. And that's the game. And it was a real moment of quality from Jeremy Obobese with a curler from the edge of the box into the top corner. I thought Minnesota in the first half...
posed quite a threat with the front two that they had. It was a rough start by LAFC who were having trouble defending open space. Then they sort of addressed the midfield balance as the match went on. I spotted that myself in game. I then went and looked at Matt. Doyle's column to see if he kind of spotlighted what they did. So he highlighted that Tillman came to the left, Delgado came to the right. They dropped Jesus deeper to progress the ball forward.
That made a difference, and they started to have more control. Still not very exciting to watch, but you can see the foundations this team still has, even if they have changed their roster quite a bit over the offseason. Joe, any additional thoughts on LAFC? Are they who we know them to be? They are who we know them to be. The quote that Doyle had in his piece about them wanting to become a better possession team, this year I thought was potentially encouraging for an LAFC fan because...
They've been just dire in possession and they're two games into 2025 because they had a CCC game against Colorado that they lost. It's been dire in the early stages of 25. So we'll see if that changes or not. I don't know if Toronto has that in his bag. They were. brutal for 77 minutes, and then they score a goal on the break, which is the LAFC way. Minnesota, I thought were fun in this game.
They still need to give Calvin Yeboah more help in the attack. He just doesn't have it. Robin Lode needs to start games. I think he's been dealing with a little bit of an illness. So I think that's probably why he didn't end up starting. But it's also not clear that between him and Asani Dotson and Joaquin Pereira, there's only...
There's only two spots for those three guys and Eric Ramsey's 3-5-2 that he's running out because Will Trapp is that deep line midfielder. That's a concern because I don't know that Pereira is a very good player and Dotson doesn't bring you a lot of chance creation.
And Taniolo O'Shea alongside Yeboah doesn't bring you a lot of chance creation. So questions from Minnesota, but they looked super competent in this game and I think are going to be one of the better teams in the West. And final question, Graham Kitschek, what do we have on today?
So this is... This is maybe the most left-field one I've... I mean, I've worn a Thailand shirt on this. Grim, you wore a kit for an 8th Division Scottish team like a week ago. That's true. Yeah, that's true. Erisky FC. This is the 2013... Oh, yes, it is. Kind of say. What is the sleeve badge on that? It's the old MLS. That's what I thought it was. I kept seeing flashes of the old MLS logo. Which is the origin of this question because I was trying to figure out who it was. For like...
20% of this episode. So I'm glad we got there in the end. Graham Ruffin, thank you for sharing all of your MLS knowledge and thoughts and esoteric kits with us today. Thank you, Taylor Rockwell. I think this is my first appearance proper on the new MLS Update show, so I actually thought I would have the little debut badge on this 2013 All-Star shirt, but alas. I'm not! I'm still not fully convinced that that wasn't just the San Diego badge and you assumed it was a debutante badge, but...
We'll see. Taylor, a foolish move to doubt Graham's kit knowledge. You are very, very valid in that point. Joe, what do we need for Graham's debut? Is it like a mic? Is it different levels? No, it's just a pie. Initiation. It's just a little pie sticker, I think. A pie sticker. It's a meat pie. Graham, are you allowed to eat pies these days?
No, post-Christmas. Maybe summertime again. Oh, Grant with his healthy eating and gym habits. Joe, I enjoyed your corduroy and your baseball cap and all of your MLS knowledge today. Thank you. Taylor, I can eat pies. Can you eat pies? I do, and I can, and I will. Listeners, hope you all do the same, and we'll talk to you all again very soon.