S6E15: Cornered (Special Guest: Rene Ortiz)

Episode Transcript
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(00:34):
Well, good evening everybody, andwelcome to Soccers over time. You're weekly
looking side the San Diego soccers andthe major Arena Soccer League coming to you
live on Twitch on a Monday night. What well, we got a game
tomorrow, so we gotta be readyto go alongside very sharp looking Tony Sanchez

(00:57):
creig Els. Didn't hear with you? Oh yeah, and the slick the
slick haircut today, didn't chat heaitextra for it? Looks good, looks
good on you, looking sharp.We are here together with you to talk
about the San Diego sockers and theworld in general. Well, the soccer

(01:17):
world in general. Tony has lefttreating you brother. It's it's been pretty
good. It's been a good coupleof days, ramping up for a great
lovely week Valentine's and a lot ofsoccers actually to talk about. Indeed,
indeed, on tonight's show, twomatches against Chihuala now two losses. It

(01:38):
leaves us with one question, what'sup? Well, look, after Friday
night's road loss, try to figureout how the soccers can better match up
with the savage going forward. Ourspecial guest should have some words on that
as well. It's assistant coach Reneeor Teas. He will join us to
give us the coaching staffs point ofview as the Soccers head into a week

(02:00):
that will certainly define the rest oftheir chase for the Western Division and of
course the Ron Newman Cup. We'vegot Tacoma rising, We've got Texas falling,
has Casey bottomed out. We're gonnaexamine the standings. We'll take a
look at it in MASL News ina busy week ahead. Three matches between

(02:23):
here and our next show, we'lllook at them all coming up in Soccer's
News. Thanks to everybody for joiningus. This is season six, episode
fifteen of Soccers Overtime. We're callingthis one cornered. This we've got locked
in at corner Sport Arena, kindof boxed into a corner. Now.
The Mexican teams seem to have theupper hand in the MAASL, and it's

(02:49):
a fun question to ask Tony.Obviously was a regular season match, and
obviously it doesn't matter. Last yearthe Soccers went three to zero against Juaba
and then Chihuaba beat them in theplayoffs, and all we know is Chula
one in San Diego didn't so onthat level and before we even get into
videos and introspection and everything else forthe eleven and two soccers. You know,

(03:13):
it does bear repeating on a Soccersshow. Yeah, they lost to
They're gonna lose the season series toChiuaba. It's over. It's one two
with one to play. So they'regonna lose a season series. But the
world does not end with this loss. Yeah, it's not the end of
the world, but I mean,it would have been good to get one
a couple points down south of theborder and maybe the next opportunity comes via

(03:36):
Monterey the next Soccers win in Mexico. Wow, so we're gonna we're gonna
lose to Chiuaha in the semifinals andhave to win twice at home. Is
that what you're saying. Uh,that's a scenario. That is the scenario,
and you know what, if that'swhat it ends up being, I
think people would be happy with that. Just don't quote me on that right
now, right now? Very fair, very fair. Well, Yeah,

(03:59):
as Kay Ribberts says in the chat, to win tomorrow will clinch a playoff.
Berth at Soccers, we don't careabout these things. We consider the
playoff Berth clinched kind of on openingday, you know. And if that
sounds braggadocious or overly severe to otherclubs in the league, understand that there
are levels to this and for theSan Diego soccers, making the playoffs is

(04:23):
never a celebration. Making the playoffsis the baseline of expectations. It's like
expecting the lights to go on inthe house. You know. It's not
something that you are like considering anachievement. When the lights come on,
you go, well, yeah,the lights came on. I'm at home,
living in the first world. Thisis what we expect. That's where

(04:44):
the soccers are making the playoffs.It's winning the playoffs. That's what it's
about. And right now, there'sa team that's got the soccer's number.
There's a team that has beaten SanDiego four out of five times in the
Chuawa Savage and that is something toowho look at It's something to examine and
figure out. Let's take a lookat Friday Nights highlights. These highlights coming

(05:09):
courtesy of MASL Soccer to certainly notcourtesy of San Diego Soccers. Will maybe
explain that momentarily, but there's Leoreally getting things rolling. I tell you
what, just about an ideal startto this match, Tony first twenty minutes
of this match put it in thelouver, in the back, still in
the louver. Yeah, it's reallya masterclass by Leonardo coming back from injury.

(05:33):
He's still kind of getting the feelof rehab and everything and really coming
into it. But with little toucheslike this, who needs a power shot?
Who needs to be a super magnificentdribbler? If you can just pass
it into the box, into thenet, that you're going to be a
a okay, and look at that? Who's that again? There he is?

(05:54):
Layo for two one after layo forone to nothing, and the soccers
come back here to avoid just alittle touch to get the ball out to
Luis tortin Perez. He squirts itoff the savage defender. Three to one.
You and I at this point,I don't think we had been kicked
off the soccer's English language feed yet. We were pretty happy right here,

(06:15):
feeling a two goal lead, feelinglike, look, soccer's on a place,
on a floor that they have controlledin the past, feels like they
know how to win here. Yeah, and it certainly looked that way,
and you were talking about just howgood of a start this was Leoe coming
in getting a couple in Tortin,who we heard Craig Child speak about and

(06:36):
has been touted as perhaps the nextbig thing, really coming into his own
and showing what he can do hereagainst Schwa early on. But then then
Craig, yeah, little things startto happen, and if this play,
and you know, we always appreciateEddie cutting the highlights, but as I
remember, this play started with aball that Xavier almost could have grabbed at

(07:00):
the end of his crease but couldn'tcontrol, and that put the ball back
in the corner. Then Soccer's gota power play called against them blue card.
Well, if you give Papa Hernandezthis much space and then let the
ball between your legs, what areyou gonna do? Tough one for Pino
here, because honestly, one seasonposition for this, you're expecting the block

(07:21):
out of Guerrero. Instead it goesright between the wickets. It's three to
three, and again, like wesaid, the first twenty minutes of this
match were pretty dang good for SanDiego. We're getting into the next ten
and this is really where things startedto fall apart. This was a nice
play sent right into the middle forthe one timer by Messias, but again

(07:44):
looking at the ball there, Rugglesis watching the ball. Torten is watching
the ball, not watching where thedefender is going to be or the attacker
is going to be four to threethe score right there, Flacco, Messius
the captain, kind of a sparkplug. Whenever thirty three is on the
on the board, I feel likethat's bad news for the opponent. Well

(08:07):
we saw it again, man,This goal has been scored on us five
times. Now. Soccer's on apower play here, this right here.
If you want to know where thegame is lost, it's right here.
Soccers have a power play. There'sa yellow card on Felipe. Power play
is coming up here. Momentarily itwas with what about a minute and a
half, a minute and change.There we are, bad touch comes out,

(08:31):
great hustle, Diaz Serda not inposition right there, gets hoodwinked,
horn swaggled. Which funny word wouldyou like me to use? Gets eaten
up on that play, and thenit's Diaz in alone to beat Xavier off
the wall and turn a potential fourto four time into five three, losing

(08:54):
by two. This is the goalof the match, Tony. Absolutely,
it's a darn kerfuffle all. Ifucking may add my silly word into that
serious as a face. Look,Setla had the option to really look back
and give it to Xavier. SoI don't know if that's not having that
trust in Xavier's legs in that situationor just not assessing correctly, but by
turning around and trying to play outof that box, he really opens himself

(09:18):
to get dispossessed. That's exactly whathappens after that. It's a great effort
by uh, it's a great effortby Exavier, but there's nothing he can
do in that situation, just bangbang off the wall. And look,
it was a great goal, butobviously coming off of a very very not
usual mistake from Setla. And thisis a power play goal for San Diego

(09:43):
five minutes left in the third forfive to four and you're thinking things are
good, and then off of aset piece a score right away just twenty
seconds later for six four, splittingthe wall right in between the two defenders
of the wall. So no creditthere, unfortunately for Christian as well as
Pee Wee and it goes in fornet. Nothing that could be done there

(10:07):
in terms of Xavier for six tofour man down, card out, And
this was a reviewed play. I'mtrying to remember where this one came from.
Tough elbow into tavoi. Yeah,and you know, at this point
the temperatures were pretty high here interms of what was going on. The

(10:30):
frustration was boiling over for the sockers. There was just no answer and gie
Wawa kept pressing, pressing, pressing, playing their game in their small field.
And again those small little bounces andit's a game of inches at the
end of the day. It reallyis too this ball just traveling in between
the five hole for Xavier. Imean it was tough. This was a
painful one. Nunez with the shotright in between the wickets, a choice

(10:54):
made obviously by Xavier here although inthe split second right you're you're hoping,
but if he puts his hands infront of him, he blocks the ball.
Tried to get it with the legs. That was seven to four.
Here's eight to four on the run. This was a counter the other way
and at this point that's match.I mean, four down late in the

(11:15):
fourth, you're gonna hope for acomeback and the Sockers will narrow this score
line and pull it to eight six. But eight four is where the match
is decided at this point, andit's Chewalba just with control. I think
the calmer team and the thing abouttheir little field is that you get behind
and you look to start pressing.There's tourists to make it eight five.

(11:37):
You start to press, you startto take more chances, and it just
opens the counter. And a placelike this, a counter is three dribbles
in a shot. You know,there's no real time for recovery. And
I think it's something the Savage ofjust perfected over time. Absolutely and again
talking about Churras right, taking allthe contexts into this, Turas right there

(12:00):
absolutely tired, almost very you know, exhausted. He was exhausted even trying
to do his celebration. And Iguess it's one of those matches where it
really wasn't set up for success atthe end of the day for the San
Diego Sockers against the team who shouldnot be given any less credit than they
deserve. It's a fantastic team.They've made an amazing comeback. They have

(12:22):
the players, they are the reigningdefending champs, and we talk about,
you know, fighting champions. Thisis a fighting champion, Shihuaha Savage and
that's what I hope this San DiegoSoccers team is. At the end of
the day when they left the RonNewman Cup this season is hey, they
had some losses, but they werefighting champions at the end. One hundred
percent. You got to give Chiwabathe credit. This is a club that

(12:46):
had a roster, a championship rosterthat got dismantled in the offseason. Monterey
came back several of the key players. I think we looked at one point
six or seven of the key playersfrom Chihuahua made the move over to Monterrey.
Of course, in addition to that, the Soccers loaned players who they

(13:09):
continue to control. The Soccers continueto have control of Poyo's contract, of
Big row Hos contract, of IrvinMohika's contract, but they loaned them to
Monterrey because of the visa situations andto keep those players playing careers alive.
Well, you look at the rosternow in Monterey, they're fifteen to oh.

(13:31):
They are running the show in theMajor Arena Soccer League and the Savage
came out, started off pretty decent, lost for in a row to Monterey,
and you were really wondering, youknow, is this team a shadow
of what they were? Are theyhollowed out champions? Well, Ginoni Martinez

(13:52):
takes over, Diego Renoso comes intonet. These Brazilian footsal players that we
had heard about in our interview withthose car Sanchez, guys like Nunez who
we had seen for the first timein this match on Friday and had two
goals in an assist like the numberseventy we just saw that scored the eighth
goal. He's a young player wehadn't seen before. Cleverson didn't even suit

(14:15):
up in this game. He wasa player we hadn't seen before. So
the Savage of found players. They'vegot the leader, they've got the Hefe
de hefes to run things in.JANNONI and I think you really have to
give Chuuella credit. Right now,they're the number two selection in the major
arena soccer league and the soccers aregoing to have to figure out how to

(14:35):
win the title. Is third choiceAnd I would give in a little bit
more to that narrative of like,well, you know they're away corner Sport
Arena is a small field. It'sbumpy, bluckie bounces, you know,
eye tests and magic spray sinan againstit. But no, they had done
it here in San Diego. Theydid it here in San Diego. They

(14:56):
came into the Tango Arena, theytook business, and then they went back
home to do their part over inMexico. So I don't think it's a
fluke by any stretch of the imaginationthat this team is firing on all cylinders.
And again, to the credit ofGenoni Martinez and everything he's been able
to just revolutionize with Savage in sucha short amount of time. I don't

(15:18):
know if it's a Mike's Magic Stuffsituation like in Space Jam and it's Gennoni's
Magic Google and this is just turningyou know, some ordinary uh Chihuahua Tu
players, these Brazilian monsters. Isaw Adriano and I was like, oh,
okay, they carry the name Adriano. That's a big name in in
Brazil overall, just just kind oflike Gabby Goil is one of those names

(15:41):
in soccer, just like puts likean extra humm, okay, you went
with that, And and they're reallyputting themselves out there and on the map.
So again, I really hope toecho a sentiment that I saw here
by Susan earlier, and I thinkI mentioned that during the broadcast, is
when is San Diego gonna peak?If they're gonna peak, I don't think
we've seen the best of San Diego. But if they're gonna peak into the

(16:03):
playoffs, going into that big pushwhere it really matters, there's eliminations,
there's games that you there's no tomorrow, and that's when they play their best.
I cannot fault the soccers for that, and I think we have yet
to see the best of this team. Hopefully they get it together sooner rather
than later. Some some injuries,some uh, you know, some players

(16:25):
that need to be coming back andbe u and playing a little bit better.
But overall, like, look,they're the they're the better team.
They are the better team, andand it's no shame to say that,
you know. Uh. And againEddie makes a point, Charlie Gonzalez was
not there. That's great, right, absolutely true. Boris Pardo was not

(16:48):
there, absolutely true. Gotby Goldnot there. You know you mentioned that,
Tony, So like you can lookat the roster and say, you
know, we're not one hundred percentdown there. It's a result that you
have to consider. In that sense, It's gonna be that way. Every
game that the soccers play south ofthe border, there's always gonna be a

(17:11):
player roster restriction of one sort oranother, whether it's a Brazilian that can't
travel to Mexico, whether it's aplayer that's working on their permanent green card
and can't travel back and forth whilethe chases the case is being adjudicated,
whether it's a player who is legalbut still can't travel south of the border
for this reason and that reason.I mean, I'm telling you it's always

(17:34):
gonna be that way. It isa structural advantage within the Major Arena Soccer
League for Mexican teams. Is itgood? Is it right? Is it
proper? Of course not? Ofcourse not? And who is that on?
It's on the Major Arena Soccer Leagueperiod, end of story. We

(17:57):
have talked about it many times inyears past. Tony teams owners within this
league unwilling to commit fully to thefinancial disclosures, to the information gathering that
is needed for this league to berecognized by our country, by our government,

(18:22):
as a major proper you know,properly run international sporting league. Trust
me when I tell you the Padreshave signed international players who then get their
visa in a day. You know, today I was reading Luis Patino down

(18:42):
in Venezuela. Boop, God isGod is P one. He's on the
way. Wandy Peralta was waiting forhis P one visa. Poop, like
two days, it's on the way. The NWSL San Diego WAVEFC signs a
player from Australia, they sign them. It's conditional on the P one visa.
The P one visa is resolved ina matter of a week or two

(19:03):
and the players are in place.And here in our league, P one
visas are so many times straight rejected, just rejected. Not a major league
doesn't fulfill the requirements. League ismessed up in past circumstances, in past
cases, and it has been afailure. So you know when you see

(19:25):
this issue, does it literally benefitthe Mexican teams. Why yes, it
does because they can travel their fullteam north of the border. They can
skirt the visa issue because they're notpaying them to be there or whatever they
pay them. When they're down inMexico, they don't pay them. When
they're up there, they figure itout. It's not a two way street,

(19:47):
it's a one way street. It'splayers who don't have the ability to
go south, while the players whoare south have the ability to come north.
And it used to not even bethat way. It used to be
that the Mexican teams had Mexican playersthat had to play in Mexico. And
now you see a guy like aNismail Rojo who has no P one visa,
Torres Gonzalez, who has no Pone visa coming across and playing all

(20:08):
the time, you know, onthe United States side of the borders.
So these disparities, these inequalities,the soccers have to punch over them,
so to speak. They are notgoing to see them resolved. And the
league is the one that would needto take the steps, and that means
all thirteen owners to take the stepsto make this more permanently resolved. I

(20:32):
mean, if the league really wantsto consider itself to be in growth,
in that state of wanting to expand, and you know, you have the
the great ambassador in Michael Fabian andcompany up over an empire, you know,
bringing this futsal into Gualla da jada, which I've seen on a couple
of Facebook Mexican Facebook Guada jaa soccercommunities where it's being talked about and it's

(20:59):
like, wow, Machka Michael Fabionplay. Yeah, you're probably not going
to see him win, but youmight see him score. You know,
he does all right, But atthe end of the day, these are
the things that need to really changein order to be considered a big time,
big time league. And look righthere, the Mexican Department considered me
ASLF professional league. Having grown upin Mexico. You got to pay somebody

(21:22):
enough, or you're just gonna justkind of do whatever you got to do
over there to make yourself seen orand it's a it's an unfortunate, unfortunate
reality and a lot of aspects inliving in Mexico. But look, I
think it's it's a situation where Ithink they should be focusing a little bit
more on that and a little bitless focus on making sure that you know,
twitch comments get read during a broadcast. Then it really kind of balances

(21:48):
things out as far as like whereare you really getting the attention giving the
attention? Right? Are we reallyhere talking to uh, you know Wisconsin
man one two three over on Twitch, or Hey, let's get some people
together, let's have a real adultmeeting, and let's go ahead and figure
this out for the better of theleague. It's going to eventually lead to
more that well, you know,uh Caro Allen ho for with the money,

(22:15):
the flying cash signs. I mean, that's a huge part of it.
I don't want to get too toodeep in the weeds or get myself
or get you or get anyone introuble. I just I will restate you
need thirteen committed owners in order tomake structural improvement. Many of the changes
that are necessary in the league arechanges of commitment. It's you know some

(22:40):
In order for this league to grow, it needs full time staff. It
needs people whose only job when theywake up in the morning is to look
after the success and benefit and growthof the major Arena soccer league. If
everybody who is working for the NASLis also working for somebody else, it's

(23:00):
a difficult situation to grow. Thebest you can do is to maintain.
The best you can do is incrementalimprovement. It's working on one little thing
every year because everyone's got other dutiesand other goals and other responsibilities, and
then you know, on your sidetime you work on trying to improve something
in major arena soccer. So havinga full time staff, having a league

(23:25):
office that was a physical place thatexisted, that people showed up to every
day with concerns, these would allbe incredible things for this league. I
guarantee you every person who works onthe league right now would agree with me
in saying that these would all bebeneficial, positive steps for the major arena
soccer league. You know what ittakes, takes owners committing and putting money

(23:48):
behind it and saying, in additionto what we need to do to fund
my staff in my market for myteam, maybe we all need to lay
away a little money to fund astaff for the whole league that is above
and beyond that, and that allowsus to create platforms for growth. I
mean, I hear owners talking aboutsix year plans to get more notoriety than

(24:11):
the NHL. Hire a full timestaffer. Yeah, that might be step
one on the sixth step plan.So yeah, and it's not as simple.
I'm just again, I'm speaking outof a desire for this league to
be the best thing that it possiblycan be, and I don't think it

(24:33):
is right now. I think it'sas good as it can be under the
circumstances, which is different than sayingit's the best that it can be and
stuff like, oh sorry, youcan't travel three of your players to the
Grand Final, you know, likethose are the kind of things that are

(24:59):
just part of this league right now. It's part of this league. It's
part of the story, it's partof the game. It's part of the
game that people don't particularly love.But you know what, soccers, Tony,
I know you'll agree with this beforewe get to Renee. Like,
the soccers are never going to useany of this as an excuse. We

(25:21):
have the talent on this club.The backup keeper was in, Charlie wasn't
there, you know, play Gobbygoal wasn't there, two of the top
midfielders. The soccers still had plentyof talent on the floor to beat Shihuahua
on Friday night. There's no quibblingbehind rules and regulations. Yeah, absolutely

(25:41):
no. That's part of the tapestryof what happened. But at the end
of the day, this team isincredibly talented and they should be set up
for success. However, which way, whichever formation, whichever players they have,
there is enough firepower on this teamright now currently as it stands to
be able to take it to anybodyin the league. So that's all we
can help and hopefully again hopefully theypeak at that right time. Is our

(26:07):
special guest standing by us lists.Okay, let's welcome him in then.
He is a former soccers player whohas gone on to become a great coach,
multiple time head coach of the WMFWorld Cup team for Mexico, number
one assistant on the staff to PhillSalvaggio. He is a multiple time guest

(26:30):
here on soccers overtime and especially comingoff a loss and heading into a big
set of matches, we wanted toget the coach's perspective. So let's bring
on Renee or Tis Yes Soccers Overtimeto nice to be here. Thank you
for the invitation. Oh is thepleasure is ours? You got looking great,

(26:53):
that's all, don't lie. Ithink of the league by far.
Now you're talking. Now you're talking. Please send that straight to Philly and
the doctor. We'll put that upon the scoreboard. Well, hey,
Renee, you know obviously we're goingto talk about Friday. Friday was a
bummer of a result, but itwas a four match road trip for San

(27:15):
Diego some very interesting and important matchesin there, pulling the game out of
the fire and Tacoma going down toTexas shorthanded and winning. When you look
back at three and one over thatfour match road trip, what are your
thoughts? I mean, I willlisten to you earlier and said the soccer
We'll never have any excuse when thingsdon't go our way, when things don't
go well. However, something thatwe just couldn't control is the fact that

(27:40):
we have missing three of our startingplayers, not making the trip to Chihuaha,
which is a very tough, toughenvironment to play for a player at
any level. So I think itwas a difficult, very difficult game for
us, even though I think thefirst half we did pretty well. Started
with a high pressure kind of likea strategy, and it was working until

(28:04):
we start making individual mistakes that eventuallycost us, like I think for unanswered
goals and uh and then uh wejust second half we started better with better
energy, but I just we couldn'trecover miss a couple of chances we don't
take advantage of the power plays andI mean dealing with as a coach,

(28:25):
you want to always try to worryabout the thing you can't control, right,
you can control how your team plays, the formation, the player personnel,
but you cannot control you know,frustration from the from the coaches,
from the players about referees or notgetting the calls, or cannot control things
like making individual mistakes that usually didnever happen. So I think that that's

(28:48):
a great learning trends from us.And for example, we could have controlled
not having Charlie last minute. Wehad a plan B. But always planning
is better than plan being. Andwe're happy with and seeing Flavy on the
field. I reously he's coming froman injury. He's not as his footballtential
yet. So we just have tolearn from all this weekend in Shihuahua and

(29:14):
move forward. But we'll were veryoptimistic, like you guys mentioned earlier about
the quality and talent of the players. We're don say one hundred percent behind
our staff and our players are youknow, our style of play, and
uh, we're gonna do everything inour hands and the power to as to
bring another championship in San Diego.No, absolutely and I mean I'm pretty

(29:37):
sure the whole staff and and hadbeen monitoring this Shihuahua Savage team going prior
to Henoni to now having Canoni Martinez. What do you see from the auto
profit from coach to coach. Thedifference is with the Savage team under Henoni
Martinez. I think defensively the moreI think, more discipline. I think

(30:00):
they they we can tell they puta line, emphasise on the defensive structure
right, they stay behind the ball. They go high intensity, low pressure.
The lineup pressure is right halfway line. They very rarely go to the
goalkeeper for pressure. They pick andchoose when to goal pressure. And offensively,
they take advantage of the opportunity theyhave. They score. I believe

(30:23):
in set pieces, they take advantageof the counter attacks. They like to
iscolate. They shot on the outsidego of our post. And compared to
the other Savage team, I thinkthe other type under previous coaches it was
more dynamic. It was more movementsof the ball, a lot of rotations,
and this is more less rotations,but are very very discipline and hard

(30:48):
to break them down. Without lookingat the stats, I can tell you
they probably and on his team sincehe took over as pab a lot less
goals than previous coaches. So thatcan tell that the emphasis is already stay
behind the ball and play Hardnold's defenseand him being a defender, I think
that's like his you know, extinguishhis style of play that he likes to

(31:11):
or he likes to perform, orhe prefers better to stay discipline and then
go from there, you know,and your your instinct is exactly correct.
In the first five games under Jenoni, the Savage only allowed ten goals total,
so to a game and you guysactually put the season high on a
gennone team with six but of courseallowing eight to lose. Now, many

(31:36):
of the players in Chihuahua in Montereyare players that you have had the opportunity
to know, coach, become friendswith, be close with. With the
WMF World Cup teams. Monterey isfifteen and oh they are undefeated on the
season. Chihuahua is undefeated except forplaying Monterey, where they have lost to

(31:57):
Monterey all five times, but theyhave beaten every other team that they have
played throughout the season. So myquestion to you is you know these guys,
you know them intimately what sets theMexican teams in the m A S
l apart, what makes them sogood. Obviously, the Mexican player has

(32:22):
a very special set of skills.The Mexicans successful indoor soccer players right or
many football or small sided game players. One thing that I believe, and
I was talking to the two fromDallas Mesquite, uh, Mexican teams have
a huge advantage of the American teams. They have the ability of selecting pretty

(32:45):
much any player from Mexico the theshoes from the universe of selection of players
is greater, much greater than anyof the US based teams. Okay,
in the culture of Mexican itself,they have seven side leagues pretty much in

(33:07):
every city in the country. Theyhave football raupio leagues pretty much in every
sea in the country. They haveprofessional football rapio leagues, they have semi
pro seven side leagues. They competeinternationally at the amateur level. They have
former players who play First division seconddivisional divisions who are playing in or soccer,

(33:28):
so they have a very strong baseof how the game is should play
in discipline. So it's just justjust by that they have advantage over our
selection process. Right. Number two, they and I include myself because when
I'm in the Mexican side, Ido the same thing. But they take

(33:51):
very pride of representing any Mexican teamover American teams. So whenever they they
play Monterey versus San Diego, Monterreyover entire Montreal over that, it's not
only Monterey, it's also they're presentingthe country, the Mexican country, So
they they take very pride and they'revery committed to make sure they represent the

(34:15):
Mexican size as best as possible.Anytime the plays a US team. You
can see that when MLS team playsagainst League Americans teams, now it's like
a rivalry they created million years ago. So that aspect, that extra you
know, pride they want to callit makes them more difficult to defeat because

(34:37):
now you're not only a percent yourclub, but your present a country.
And that's kind of like a perspectivethat I don't see much from the US
players when they go to Mexico,right, And I'm not talking that's a
negative way, but it's just different. Right, American play have different probably
growing different culture, and they don'tsee Mexico as maybe like a rival as

(34:59):
much as the Mexican cited the USas a more rival on a personal basis,
for personal level, if trying tocall it, I don't know,
Oh yeah, look looking for example, like every time we could be less
Friday, right that we're celebrating,the owner was celebrating for them. It's

(35:20):
a huge, huge win. It'sa big win, it's a huge event.
Being in a team like San Diegois major, has exclamation marks,
exclamation points anywhere you want to lookat it, right, So it is
for any team every time you goto Mexico a huge challenge to get a

(35:43):
good result. Yeah, I meanyou're pretty much going against the entire culture
of soccer in Mexico whenever you're playing. And I mean it's it's honestly simple,
if you want to do the mathright, It takes less people to
play football rapido. It takes lesspeople to play takes less regulations to play
in between two cars and a kayewith a with a soccer bomb made out

(36:05):
of casatinas and socks like that's literallythe reality of that. So that's that's
really good insight that you're giving us. But bringing it back here for the
soccers and talking about the special teams, higher plays, pks, set pieces.
What are some things that the soccerscan do a little bit better and
in these areas just tighten some thingsup to make them better. So,
talking to coach Field, one thingthat I mentioned like, well, the

(36:27):
last time you had like a sameplayer for set pieces, right, we've
been struggling or being we were havinga challenge to have the same guys on
the field on those special situations.Right. If you look at prop play
from from from Texas the week beforeand you look at the pro play that
we had in Chihuahua, you cansee two players not they're totally different,

(36:51):
right, And having two players makesa huge difference out of five you look
almost thirty percent, right, Imean it's a high percentage of a difference.
Characteris is a player that we usedto playing it with. So I
think one of the challenge we're goingto have is having consistency having the player
that we want the field and obviouslyadjust to the circumstances that the properer you're

(37:14):
playing against. Some like chi WaWa like to play like a little uh
square top of power play and we'restarting to be a little bit different than
for example, we play on tario. They like to be like maybe a
diamond right or they switch around,and so the things that need to be
practiced obviously, and you can neverprepare a team for the real deal,

(37:37):
Like you never prepare a team forthe real situation. You can only do
bad. You can You cannot preparemy team to play in Chihuaha because we
cannot create that environment that you willonly creates when you're playing them. And
even then then, we used tohaving kindness. For example, Kindness is
a big guy on top, longlegs. He still walls when he plays

(37:57):
per play defensively. But then youhave you have two five guys. Now
we had to readjust to what weplanned originally. So there's a lot of
variables that are out of our control. So we can only I can only
tell you honestly, that's one thingthat we need to put more time and
effort in it to get better atset pieces and power plays. Because I'm

(38:20):
not a staff guy, but Ican tell you the factors getting a lot
of power plays because teams cannot keepup with with the ability of our offensive
players. Like when you guys areplaying and they're starting to knock the ball
round, we get a lot offiles, we get a lot of freaking,
we get a lot of power playsand when you take a vational situations,
right, So those are things thatcoach Phil, Miguel Chiki's and I

(38:44):
continue talking about. For example,this weekend, we have no Charlie and
no Gaby, right, so wehad to plan being and it was just
it was very challenging for us tojust to that. Well, just to
back you up, because you know, I do have the stats CEFE the

(39:06):
soccers have the most power play attemptsin the Major Arena Soccer League, but
do not have the most goals inthe Major Arena Soccer League. They are
eleventh out of thirteen clubs in percentageof conversion. So the chances are there,
and it's one of those things andI know, even talking to you
know, our mutual boss Sean Bauers, that if you can convert those chances,

(39:28):
if you can be a fifty percentpower play team, you're almost unbeatable
as a club because you're always goingto have those two, three, four
opportunities to put it in. Butif you're a thirty percent power play team,
it lets teams be physical against youand know that they can try and
get under your skin, take ahard foul, take a really questionable call
that could be a blue. Becauseif they take that blue and then they

(39:52):
defeat it and diffuse it, well, it seems like they sent a message
and they didn't pay a penalty forit. And then and I think they
might. It's important to bring upthe more time we have offensive players on
the field, like on power plays, the longer experiments field, plus you
add the playing actual playing time.Uh, you might look at losing some

(40:12):
of the obviouls the ability to competephysically towards the end of the game because
they've been doing three power plays offensively, right in addition to the normal rotations
that they have. So he hashe has another you know consequence when you
don't perform well on power plays becausenow we have to score on a five

(40:35):
or five basis or five or fivesituation. But you're not as as a
fresh as I college before because youjust did three power plays in three quarters.
So that that that point became veryimportant for us to emphasize. And
like like you said earlier, weneed to pick up the right time.
I mean, we are not happywith the performance this weekend. We just

(41:00):
not very comfortable with with what we'veseen, but the soccer culture made us
feel that way because we only losttwo games. It's not like we're at
the bottom or in the middle ofthe of the standings and we're talking about
this stuff like we we talked aboutall this stuff that we're talking about,
like we are really struggling, butif you look at it, we only

(41:22):
have last two games right was tothe first place. We have hopeful advantage
in our division. So that's kindof like the one of the things that
when you are soccer, you alwayssee for perfection and you want to do
you want to be top of everylittle thing. However, just to finish,
we had undefeated seasons and didn't endup with the championship right like I

(41:46):
think last year was one of themoments undefeated. So we were very comfortable
they were in the right track andwe were comfortable we're going to pick at
the right time when bigger players,saying like Charlie and Costa hopefully will be
healthy and get these guys on thesame page and this is part of the
process to get there. So that'swhat we're doing. Greg and fans and

(42:06):
we were listening. We're doing everythingwe can using or experience and resources to
get you guys ready for what's inthe next two months. Hey, I
don't mind winning a title is athird choice in a league. You know,
you don't always have to be thenumber one seed. All you got
to do is lift the cup atthe end and along those lines to transition
to some slightly more positive notes hereand we're thrilled to have you tonight to

(42:32):
voy. Morgan has said a careerhigh and assists already this season with fourteen.
He's almost got as many assists asgoals. He has sixteen goals,
fourteen assists. A young man whoobviously loves to find the net, loves
to score, loves to dance.You know it finds value in his offensive
scoring and his ability to put theball in the net. But but what

(42:53):
have you seen from an improvement synthdon point in terms of ta Void growing
and maturing as an number nine inyour offense. I think he had learned
to play when when on double teamsI was in the past, we felt
that he could have done better.When when he gets double team kind of
read earlier for the support guy withthe second forward coming in, I think

(43:15):
it's done a better job in doingthat. I think we're feeling to work
in a couple of things like beingable to control his emotion when he doesn't
get the call. And I thinkthe boy has grown with us and a
culture in a way that we're veryhappy with him. Respect big things from
him being a target and being aforward that he is. But with him

(43:37):
and Craig, I think offensively asa as a target player that we have,
we are very happy, very luckyto have him. But again I
think just learning how to you know, let the ball go fit out the
second when you get double team lookingfor that splay. I think he score
a couple of goals this year sofar when the double team player comes in

(43:59):
and he splits them right uh,and then finish out the chances. Uh.
He's always a constant threat to thetwo defenders, like he's always a
player that defenders are worry about.So he brings a lot of tension and
that creates distraction from their defenders.It give us another portunity for us to

(44:19):
other people to shine. Gabby Charlie, then Leo Felippe, you know all
the branding Escotto. So he doesalso a lot a lot of work for
others, but bringing that extra attentionwhen he was on the field, and
obviously Taboid did really well. Iwas really happy to see how he developed

(44:40):
and did incredibly spectacular at times forthe season for his play. And now
boris part of slated to come backfor this crucial set of matches this week.
Relatively local too, at home ona Ontariostan Leho's not that far,
but now you can get your alittle bit of breathing room here in the
west. Do you kind of takeus through what the preparation is looking like

(45:01):
and what the team is getting gearedup for. Yes, it was very
challenging for us as coach. Wejust came really late last night from fun
Chihuahua Sunday. Obviously it was aday off. Today we're back in the
field. We went add it andwe just gotta be smart, knowing the
history that we had when people gettinghurt with to go back to back or

(45:23):
we have three games in four orfive days, which gonna be very much.
How do we handle the training andthe fatigue. And so we're glad
to have Charlie back. Pino trainwith us today, So it's now positive.
Note having Pino without this week,what is obviously coming back is a
big one. We're still gonna matchGabby, but having of the players that

(45:49):
we planning having since they won,I would see that's very a very positive
thing for this week. Playing athome also has a little extra motivation for
our players and for ourselves and Ontario. Obviously we know that they're trying to
put for that for extra slot forplayoffs, so I know it's going to
be not a CECO maybe the firststrut few games, but we're start worry

(46:13):
about making sure the guys are healthyand we go back at it tomorrow with
most of the guys that I've beentrained with this week and go from there.
Bonus question here, Renee, whatare your thoughts on how Marco Fabian
has adjusted with Empire into the mA s L. He's got a goal
in every match that he's played inthe league. Obviously the wins haven't been

(46:36):
there, but what are your thoughtson how Fabian has performed. I was
talking to Paul Riot and he wasvery impressed about his professionalism and he's committed
to the to the team. Yousee another former internationals coming and playing indoor.
I had the opportunity to coach.When I coach Mexico, guys who
play World Cups like Lisandez, guyswho play high le world soccer, right,

(47:00):
and it was not easy for themto adjust to the indoor game,
even though there were it was betterin their career. I mean, who
doesn't like a player that can scoregoals? You can guarantee you one or
two goals again, right, hehad that ability. He has a gift
that very few players anyone will have. His commitment to to obviously to the

(47:22):
club, the ex plain for andthe indoor game has really impressed me,
and I'm just really impressed by whatI've seen. I mean the other day
I saw him like Slade tackle andfor a ball. Right, people who
don't really love the sport or lovewhat they do or love what their job
is, you won't see the topof behaviors from the field. And I

(47:43):
think if I bringing that professionalism likeI said earlier, and his leadership and
commitment to to, I would sayhis teammate and the game. So now
we're talking about okay, populating Laziin the ball because he has a shot.
You can score goals. You scorealready two on us, So he
had to make an impact. Hehad made a great impact on the territory.

(48:07):
I really hope and that he stayedlonger. And guy that came in
from any level show the top ofcommitment and professionalist and like Legrand and doing
great stuff for ne. Before Ilet you go, I just got to
ask. Last time the soccers wereat home, it was a very special
night. It was alumni night.It was the last chance to have the

(48:30):
alumni game on the field that whenyou were just a teenager coming up from
Tijuana, you had that opportunity tobe out there on the sports arena floor
and run. You got to seeso many of your former teammates as well
as guys who came along the roadafter you. How special was it to
have that last run on the midway? It was obviously very special. My

(48:54):
first coach that I had soccers wasGuy Newman with with the reserves, seeing
him it's always so it's great.And then player that I play with that
I learned a lot from, likeQueenie Karen Crow. I had a chance
to say out of Ranco Sagoda,which at that time it was obviously the
superstar of the team. And thenobviously others that played with me later on

(49:17):
in my career. So step onthe field when in the Savage uniform and
playing for your family and my kids, my wife, friends is something that
you never vial is going to happen, and when it happens actually hits you
a little bit on the emotional sidebecause they see that, they see you

(49:38):
stuff that you love doing, andthey kind of like put together all the
stories that you heard in the pastor they're heard in the past. When
no you have a visual obviously yoube on the field when the Savage uniform
and playing. So it was veryvery special for me, And obviously every
time I have a chance to bean alumni invite, I will treasure it

(49:59):
because you never know when it's gonnabe your last one. So very blessed,
very blessed. Well, Renee,I feel the same way about every
time you agree to come on theshow. It's special and we don't know
if it's the last one, sowe feel very lucky, but we hope
it's never the last one. I'msure we'll have you on again very many,
many many times and again very soon. But thank you so much.

(50:19):
Incredible insight tonight, really really goodstuff. I can see it in the
chat as well, if you can. A lot of the fans really appreciate
it. With your insight on whatmakes Mexican indoor soccer so strong, all
of the comments that you have had, so I really appreciate the time.
Best of luck to you, myfriend, and we will see you tomorrow
night at the Grand Old Arena.Thank you, guys, thank you,
and again I want to thank allthe fans. With other fans, obviously

(50:42):
they will not be possible. Youtalk about ownership, but part of the
puzzles also the fans, the peoplesupport us, the people that follow up,
that people watch their games, thepeople that criticize us or share us
sign and without them I received,that would be puzzles. Well I'm not
thank them from the bottom of myheart. And let's go rush, let's
go, let's go get for anotherone. Let's go soccker. Thank you.

(51:04):
I have a great night. Thankyou guys, Thank you. I
appreciate you. You bet there hegoes Rene Ortiz. That was that was
really good. Halfway halfway through,I just had to write it down somewhere.
It's just he's an absolute just geniusand in the terms of like being

(51:28):
able to explain such complex situations,just the nuances of the game in a
in a very simple manner that anybodycan really just it's a very palatable thing.
And I mean even got me alittle bit emotional. I'm not gonna
lie just talking about like, yeah, no, like playing in Mexico,
Like it's such a second nature thing. You play five on five, three

(51:52):
on three, whatever you have,you don't have five friends, guess what,
like you just cut it down halfways. And just the reality of these
players who are I think is howcommon that there are are the All Stars
of Mexico in a team in Monterey, in in Chihuahua, And I just
think of just all those players thatI've just seen in the past that who
are so much better than a lotof the players that eventually make it to

(52:14):
the big leagues but for whatever reason, monetary injuries, situations beyond their control,
it's just that it doesn't happen.But it's really, you know,
amazing to hear that great insight fromand I mean, I send you a
message half way. I'm like,I can be here all night just listening
to Yeah all night, really goodstuff. I guess we're hoping then for

(52:38):
significant Mexican expansion six eighteams out ofthe border. Can we dilute the all
Star aspect down there? You reallyincredible stuff, Very appreciated from Renee Ortiz.
We'll be playing a piece of thaton tomorrow's halftime show, to be
sure, for the Soccers and andthe out Laws. All Right, it's

(53:02):
almost an hour in. It's timefor the commissioner and everyone else in the
front office to put the earbuds in. It's time for all the other podcasters
to check in and get nervous orget excited. You don't have to get
nervous. It's fine. It's timefor MAASL news. It's time to take

(53:22):
a look at what else is happeningaround the league, my friend. Interesting
weekend in terms of Western teams onthe prowl, cruising on the road,
and in particular a couple of ourclubs heading to the East, and for
Paul Wright's Empire Strikers, well almostalmost to come back in Baltimore after falling

(53:46):
behind six to nothing, just gettingabsolutely boat raced at the start on the
Baby Baby Field at Tustin Arena,the basketball court where college basketball players play,
and yet they can say to ridean indoor court Blast win that one
nine to seven. Then the Strikerswent to Kansas City, and hey,

(54:08):
if you need to figure out away to snap an eight game losing streak,
welcome Empire into town. That onewas seven to two. Didn't work
out great for the Strikers, sohey, Fabian scored. You know,
Fabion did well. Empire is outof it. Empire is out of it.

(54:29):
They've pretty much been out of itsince the start, so we don't
have to take much time on this. Just a couple of you know,
Strikers had gone east before, theyhad beaten Saint Louis, they'd gone out
in the road, they had wona couple of times. I was a
little bit hopeful that they would putsomething up in one of these matches,
particularly the first one, let's behonest, but oh well, yeah,

(54:52):
I mean, it's really interesting andit's cool to see just the development of
an individual player, but overall,when the victories are being handed to the
teams that are on a steep,steep, steep decline in such a way,
I mean, looking at that atthat score line with Baltimore and Strikers,
that's an incredibly deceiving score. AsI mentioned, six zero that game

(55:13):
was well said and done very earlyon. So I think that again just
kind of speaks to the levels andjust everybody is going in a in a
certain tier. I haven't fired up, by the way, Craig, I
didn't see it, but we canmove it down. But the tiers are
pretty much being cemented. Yeah,I mean you can pull out the tier
maker. If you want to pullout the teer maker. That's fine.

(55:34):
Let's let's go through the let's gothrough the games. We can pull out
the tier maker. You know,I don't. I don't mind. It
feels a little early, but it'sfine. It's fine because hey, Tacoma
can't lose unless it's San Diego.Stars. Go out and extend Kansas City's

(55:55):
losing streak to eight with the comefrom behind not just overtime, but shootout
victory over the comments Stars victorious sixto five. Next day, go to
Saint Louis. Look, I mean, it's Saint Louis, but thumb them,
thumb them twelve to six. Tacoma'sgot a legitimate chance Tony to stay

(56:22):
out of the soccer's bracket in thefirst round. And while I still think
they would absolutely lose to Chuaua inthe first round. They've got a chance
to not have their season ended bySan Diego this year. I'm honestly,
I'm impressed. I am impressed thatTacoma has not lost a single game to

(56:46):
non soccers opponents this season. Theyare undefeated against non soccer's opponents. It
won't last the whole year, butthey have done it. Wait a second,
they lost to the I lied toMonterey, Monterey went up there and
beat him. But every right,so it's everyone but Butt. So they've

(57:08):
lost to everyone butt, the soccersand the undefeated team, the team that
no one has beaten. So Ijust I don't like to speak out of
turn, but so Tacoma does haveanother team they've lost to you, but
it's the number one team in theEast. But otherwise they've beaten everybody else.
Eventually, they're gonna play Chihuahua,and I don't think they're going to
go undefeated against Chihuahua. But I'mreally impressed with what the Stars have done

(57:30):
this year. I think it's thatlittle bit of help that we were talking
about Nick Perera getting, if hejust gets a little bit of help either
having somebody at the end of hispasses, just having somebody be able to
capture those rebounds and use those wallsin order to put him in position to
take the pressure away from other individualsand then they can go ahead and finish.

(57:52):
That's what we're seeing with the TacomaStars team, and again, it's
gonna be interesting if they keep gettingbetter at this point, if they can
potentially contend against the San Diego soccers, because look, the reality is,
soccers have gone by and see,how do I say this in English?
They by the hair of a baldtoad is a saying. In Spanish,

(58:16):
it's been where do you guys comeup with these kookie? These kookie saying
that's is amazing. Now one thing, and it's brought up in the chat,
But it's true. Nick Perera gothurt in the Comments game and didn't
play in the Saint Louis game.Now, of course, Eddie, yeah,
of course the team looked faster.Nick's yeah, probably the slowest player

(58:39):
in the entire league. I rememberbeing in a in an elevator Tony in
twenty ten when Nick was a muchyounger player and he and Chris were teammates,
and I offhand in the run ofplay and commentary. When it got
to Nick said that that then hewas maybe the slowest player in the league

(59:02):
thirteen years ago, and like hegave me crap, like the slowest player,
I'm not those you are. Youmight be. You might actually be
the slowest player in the league,Nick, But I mean, obviously he's
one of the spectacular offensive forces ofall time. If Nick Carrera missed a
significant time, Tacoma's streak of successwill will and beating Saint Louis is not

(59:28):
an accomplishment in this league, soit will end. But I do really
want to just, you know,offer flowers to the stars. I think
I think they've had a really reallygood season, way better than I expected
it to be. Quite frankly,you know, they could have beat us
the last time I got you,Andrew Harvey got you. Anyway, that's

(59:52):
a next next home broadcast. Let's, you know, just give him flowers
before and just a very serious morosestone of how well they're doing. A
prepared statement. Should we do aprepared statement at the start of the next
No, I don't think we haveto. Okay, I'm done. We

(01:00:15):
keed, we keed, we keed, goofing around okay, so great,
great work for Tacoma. Chihuama beatTexas seven to four. Three straight losses
for the Outlaws. The Outlaws atone eight of nine. Now they've lost
three in a row, and aswe'll talk about more, moving into soccer's
news, Everton Morrera has assembled histeam in Buenos Aires, the US national

(01:00:39):
footbal team. He has called theentire mom line South. Now I've got
the rooming list for Texas for tomorrow, which has David Ortiz on the list.
So maybe Ortiz didn't go to thefootsal camp in Buenos Aires, but

(01:01:00):
Louis Morales did, and so didSebastian Mendez. They weren't in the lineup
for the Chihuahua Texas match either.But at this point, Texas's dreams of
winning the division are Let's be honest, they're dashed. They're five down,
three matches out of hand, andthey're going to play shorthanded in San Diego
the next two matches. And atnine and seven, I mean, come

(01:01:22):
on, the Soccers have lost sevenmatches once in Philosovaggio's history, when they
went thirteen and seven in twenty fifteensixteen. So history's against you when you
have seven losses to dream of winninga division over San Diego. Yeah,
and again they'll have two opportunities totry to do something about it right now,
and I don't think they're necessarily poisedto be that contender. And give

(01:01:46):
the soccers l lar la quontanzion say. Sometimes it happens to just the spension.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Whenyou dream, do you dream in
Spanish or you dream in English?In languages I don't speak, it's so
weird. We're all wait till there'sa part of you it's like fluent in

(01:02:07):
German, but only in your subconsciouspretty much. And I wake up.
It's like that dream where you canfly, and you wake up and you're
like, can I fly? Andyou can't, and it's like, oh
I was speaking perfect Mandarin, wakeup, No I cannot. Oh,
oh my god, I absolutely loveit. I love it. Okay,

(01:02:28):
So Kansas City, let's let's let'sdig it out. I guess because Kansas
City was seven and Zerho at onepoint or seven and one. Then they
lost eight in a row, gotpoints in a couple three of those games.
Baltimore's not a roll. Is Baltimoregonna beat Kansas City for number four.

(01:02:54):
That is absolutely a possibility. Andlook, stranger things have happened,
and it's really a I don't evenknow who to give kudos to here?
Did anybody deserve kudos? Somebody hasto be fourth? Somebody does. And
I think it's a it's a race, and teams are tripping over each other

(01:03:14):
and it's a just a cumbersome wayto the finish line here, and it's
not a pretty site. And sowhoever's going to finish in fourth? Right?
You may playoffs? You get acool graphic out of it, but
are they You can do an Instagramvideo, you can do the whole thing.
You know, you counted us outplay off time? Baby, Well,

(01:03:37):
here's the remaining schedule for the Blast. Baltimore will take on Utica this
weekend at home. Then they've gotat Harrisburg, they host Milwaukee, at
Utica, at Chihuahua, at Monterey. That looks like three straight losses for
the Blast right there. If theypull any result out of that, it'd

(01:04:00):
be incredible. They host Harrisburg,they go to Texas, they host Dallas,
they go to Harrisburg, they hostUtica. I see one, two,
three, four, I see fourwins and maybe five for Baltimore down

(01:04:21):
the stretch. If they can pullmaybe a home match out against Utica along
the way, let's go, let'sgo maximum joy. That's five wins for
the Blast the rest of the way. That gets them to twelve wins,
which would put if you added youknow, if they're all quality, eighteen

(01:04:45):
gets you to thirty six points.It would mean that Kansas City would need
to get ten points the rest ofthe year. They need to get ten
points out of their last seven matchesin order to hold off Baltimore. I
think I like their chances to getten points out of their last seven matches.
But let's do the same exercise.Let's look at the Comets schedule.

(01:05:09):
They host chihuaba that's probably a loss. They go to US, that's a
loss. They go to Empire,that should be a win. They host
Saint Louis. That should be awin, so that's six points. They
host Utica City that's a toss up. They lost last time. They go
to Saint Louis, that should bea win. That's nine points. They
host US their last match of theyear on March twenty third. Brutal Buddy,

(01:05:35):
I think Kansas City has to beatUtica and get all three points on
Sunday, March tenth, in orderto make the playoffs. If they don't
win that game, if they don'ttake care of the games, they have
to right. Empire three points,Saint Louis three points. Utica get at
least a point Saint Louis three points, that would be the ten they get

(01:05:57):
ten points. Doesn't probably matter whatBaltimore does. They'll be okay unless Baltimore
goes Gaga and starts winning in Chihuahuaand winning in Monterey and the like.
If that happens, I'm just gonnaI don't know, I'll call up GEO
to buy a blast jersey, geta stance to make of its jersey,
and I'll wear it on soccer's overtimeif if nonsense like that happens. Bottom

(01:06:24):
line, Kansas City has gotten tonine losses, so they have fallen a
bot and they're at the point now, but that they actually we are here.
We're counting points and counting wins justto get Kansas City, formerly the
number one team in the East,into the playoffs. Yeah, and look,
the fall from Grace has been nothingshort of spectacular. I'd say just

(01:06:47):
what's going on in Kansas City toeven give a chance here for Baltimore to
go over and really do anything.The Riggi's magic has run out in Utica,
I feel. I think that's kindof just setting done at this point,
and it's going to be a battleof who takes care of business when
for that slot and any it's anybody'sgame right now, especially going into the

(01:07:11):
last quarter of this schedule, andI think just for the chaos, I
think I want Baltimore just for thechaos of it, just absolute mayhem.
Just why not. I can't disagree. I would love Baltimore to be in
it right till the last weekend becauseI picked them to miss the playoffs for
the first time in m ASL history. I did that before Game one of

(01:07:35):
the season, and I of coursewould love to be right because I mean,
you know, I just I don'tlike to lose arguments ever, So
it's the talk show host in mefor that. But I'd love to see
it come down to the end.And you know we've got either g or

(01:07:56):
Brad in the chat saying Blast gotsome help signing Riccardo Diegas. Absolutely.
Diegas was a sharp player for Tropicsthe last couple of years in between Pereiras
and Diegas. You know, they'vesigned away some of the key tropics over
the course of this season that canhelp them going forward. I got to
give Baltimore credit. After starting horriblyand looking like one of the worst teams

(01:08:20):
in the league. They have comeback. They have beaten the teams they've
supposed to beat. You know,I don't think they've had a truly remarkable
win yet this year, but Ithink they've beaten the teams they're supposed to
beat. And more importantly, KansasCity has fallen like a rock off the
top of the Empire State Building,just straight down, downward trajectory, maximum

(01:08:42):
terminal velocity, the whole thing.They've just been going straight down. So
it is point counting time for Baltimoreand Kansas City. And if the blast
sneak in, I'm gonna have tocall Brad or Geo. I'm gonna have
to buy a stands to make ofits jersey and I'm gonna have to wear
it. And I hope whichever oneof you is in the chat will help

(01:09:03):
me to get that stance to makeof its jersey because I want authenticity.
I wanted to look like the pizzaman. I'll eat some extra pizza to
just you know, puff up whenI wear it. But I need your
guys help on that one. First, you have to make the playoffs.
Otherwise I ain't wearing shit from Baltimore. So so we'll see what can be

(01:09:27):
honest. Yeah, yeah, allright, pull up the tear maker.
Let's see what happens. Let's seeright, all right, well up the
tear maker. Boo boop. Allright, let's do this for the third
time this year. We've got Contenderfringe the rest we can switch us up

(01:09:47):
c D. I like. Ilike sticking to the number, to the
letters at the end. I likeI like that. I actually like that.
Well contender. It's just interesting becauselike can like the best contender.
The red is the elite tier.This is the S level tier. Please
put Monterey first. Boom, Pleaseput Chihuahua second. Oh wow, I

(01:10:17):
don't think you can argue with this. If you're a soccers fan, I'm
sorry, I don't think you canargue with this. I think the MASL
is headed toward an all Mexico RonNewman Cup final, and I think it's
up to the third team and thecontender fringe, let's put San Diego up
in that top tier behind Chiuaua.Those are your top three contenders for this

(01:10:44):
league, and I think in thatorder, I don't really think there's a
lot to be said about this.The key for San Diego do they have
the ability beat to beat Chihuahua?Of course? Do they have the ability
to beat of course they do?They do. Any one of those three

(01:11:04):
teams can win the championship. Forany other team to win the championship,
something has to happen. So let'sset out the fringe. Please put Utica
next. Utica I don't think canbeat Monterey in a playoff series, but

(01:11:30):
I think they can beat any otherteam in the East in a playoff series.
Right now, if there was ateam in the East that could beat
them, it would be please selectMilwaukee, it would be the Wave.
The Wave a a good but notgreat team this year. They have not
shown greatness at any point this season. But I think if you happen to

(01:11:54):
specifically suit up Utica against Milwaukee thatthere's a pretty good chance that series would
go three games and then we getto the knockout game. So I'll put
those two right next to each otherin the second tier for contention, and
I will add to that tier noone else. Let's move on. Okay,

(01:12:17):
let's move on. I don't thinkthere's anyone else in that tier,
Tony, because next up I'm goingto put Texas. I'll put Texas next
up, sixth choice when the momline is one hundred percent, when Cortes

(01:12:42):
is on his game, when Uzzi'sblocking shots. The Outlaws on their home
floor are a very very tough team. However, they are playing without Morales
and Mendez this week. I thinkthey're gonna lose twice to San Diego.
That is going to put them hopelesslyout of the range to have home field
advantage in a series. You knowwhat, please put Kansas City ahead of

(01:13:12):
Texas, because now that I've talkedmyself into this, I just don't see
the Outlaws beating Chihuahua or San Diegoin a series. I just don't see
it. And they're gonna have toplay one of those two teams unless something
completely cuckoo happens for Tacoma and Texasto find themselves into the two three.

(01:13:34):
I mean, how Chua is goingto go on a late losing bender.
I can't imagine. So I thinkKansas City still has the chance, the
chance to turn things around where theycould potentially beat one of Milwaukee or Utica
in a series. I still thinkthat's possible. I don't honestly think Texas

(01:14:00):
beating Chihuahua or San Diego is realisticpossible, I guess realistic not enough for
me to put them ahead of Texas. My question to you just to comb
up along in the third slot inthe rest, I think maybe just based

(01:14:20):
on what they've done and how they'vedone it and the results and who they've
lost to, I think that theystand to be in this tier, and
I think they're on their way topotentially show why they deserve to be here
instead of being relegated a little bitmore to the bottom. Again, if

(01:14:40):
we're considering the mom offense really takingcare of business with Texas at their best,
we have to also consider Nick Pereiraand company at their best when everybody's
healthy. So I think we cango ahead and slide them on there.
Yeah, I think you're being veryfair. I think that's fair, and

(01:15:00):
I think that's proper. Uh.I want to just look at something.
I saw something in the chat.Wow, Wow, yeah, we got
we gotta have to. You couldalmost put to Como over Texas. Uh,
I have to actually adjust our broadcastnotes Tony Vinnie Dantas is not on

(01:15:21):
this trip for Texas, so yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead.
I Texas is in trouble. No, no Mendez, no Morales,
no Dantas, maybe David Ortiz.Only Texas is gonna. Texas is in
trouble. They're in trouble. They'rethey're gonna, they're gonna get buried deep

(01:15:45):
enough where they're either playing Chihuaba orSan Diego on the road in the first
round. Either way, is it'sbig time trouble for the Texas Outlaws.
Okay, let's let's finish out therest. Blast is the top of this
remaining group, and see they couldsneak in put everyone else in d yeah,

(01:16:06):
just yeah, yeah, yeah,I guess and but yeah, yeah,
pick one. It is just like, yeah, that is fine.
All of that is fine. Iguess he's heat. I think Dallas is
the worst of that group. Let'sput them at the back. I think
that's perfect right there. Striker's heat, ambush sidekicks are all in the D

(01:16:30):
tier. None of these teams haveany chance. None of them are making
the playoffs. None of them haveany hope of making the playoffs, and
they are all going to lose toevery team better than them the rest of
the year, which is the nineteams above them. So I like this.
I like this very much. Thecontender list is where it matters.
I think those are the three teamsthat could win the title this year.

(01:16:50):
I don't think any other team canwin the title this year. If it
happens, it's a gigantic It involvesMonterey losing, just period. It involves
Monterey losing, because that then oneof those two fringe teams would jump up
to the top, but they wouldbe an underdog against either Chiuabo or San
Diego. And there's just no questionabout that. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm

(01:17:13):
happy with this. And look,there has been movement where we previously never
didn't really think that there would be. Blast made it out of the last
bracket, so all right, yeah, can we just put them last?
Just for fun? Just for Funzi, you're the best Last. You can't
spell last without Blast. They're notgoing to finish last. I had a

(01:17:36):
dream. I had a dream.It was a furtive dream, that they
would finish last. It will nothappen all right, onto Soccers news.
This is a wild week, soyou know the Outlaws are in town.
It's a piece of the Outlaws,it's not the whole team, and the
Soccers need to win all six points. There's just no getting around it.

(01:17:57):
If anything else happens, even ifthe matches are you really have to question
what's going on with the San DiegoSoccers. You know, my understanding of
this club right now, Tony isit's an eleven and two club that is
hungry. It's an eleven and twoclub that wants to be a lot better
than they are. So if yousee them stumble their way to wins this

(01:18:20):
week, then you'll understand this clubis not in form. They're not ready,
they're not ready to win it all. This team needs to quite honestly
win three commanding games this week,and if they do that and pull all
nine points, the West is over. It's over. Yeah, it's not

(01:18:40):
a moment to really lick your woundsat this point. If you really want
to be that team that becomes champion, that has been hardened, that's gone
through it this season, I thinkthey've already have with those two losses already.
There's no need to really find anymore inspiration than any losses in that
I think you already know what you'regoing to be facing down the line in
the playoffs, so might as wellprepare and really cert You know, diamonds

(01:19:04):
cut diamonds, but sometimes diamonds alsocut butter. So let's make sure that
we also take care of that rightnow. And three games that are incredibly
important, not a lot of travel. This is set up to really just
have the opposing teams for the soccersin a bad mood, like boots should
be shaking at this point, andif they're not, then again it's a
really telling of what the soccers needto do in order to make sure that

(01:19:28):
they are ready. And you know, I like battle tested teams, but
in the scope of what the soccersare, I think they've been tested in
battle already and they are hurt.Now it's time to go ahead and just
take care of business. Couldn't agreemore. It's time to make statements.
Look, these aren't going to bethe two best crowds of the year.

(01:19:48):
They're going to be the two worstcrowds of the year. Because this game
tomorrow night is a reschedule. Itwas supposed to be Sunday, January seventh.
They got recent schedule because the watermain broke. And I have heard
from plenty of soccer fans already Tonywho just can't make a weeknight game and

(01:20:10):
express their regrets. And I haveheard from others who can't make two weeknight
games, like I might be ableto make one of these two. I
might be able to make the onethat I had already planned for on Thursday
night, to get that third kitand to get out there. But it
is tough to ask people to cometo the arena at seven thirty at night

(01:20:32):
Tuesday and Thursday. So I'm justsaying this preemptively, even though I know
the Twitch chat will be people whoare not listening to this show and watching
this show right now, and they'llbe jumping in in the first quarter going
what happened to the attendance? What'sgoing on? I thought soccers were a
good team, and now they arethey about the fold, like, give

(01:20:59):
me a give me a break,Just give me a break. It's a
tough situation. Very I'm very happyMarlicia's chatting about this that sandygo Riptides is
coming out strong for tomorrow night.They're gonna be tailgating, They're gonna be
fired up, they're gonna be revvedup. So we love it. We
love support a culture. We loveto see this happening. You know,

(01:21:19):
very exciting for us to see thatlevel of involvement from Riptides. Go out,
go hang out with those guys,go tailgate with them in the parking
lot starting at six o'clock. IfI could tailgate with y'all, I'd be
tailgating with y'all. I gotta stayprofessional because otherwise, you know, as
Jalen Ro says, just don't getfired, right like it's it's part of

(01:21:42):
our goal every single time we puton the suit and we come out,
just don't get fired. So Iwill not be tailgating with Riptides. I
wish I could be, But youknow, they'll be two really good matches.
We'll have them both for you onm ASL Soccer on twitch Tony and
I'll be there for you. Butstraight up, these shouldn't be competitive matches.
These should be good, solid winsfollowed by a Sunday right the score

(01:22:10):
game in Empire where you dominate likethat. That's the that's the roadmap.
For this week, it's win windominate nine points. I like what Cave
Everett's saying. It better be freecookies from Cravery Cookies Tuesday and Thursday,
absolute post Valentine's Day cookies. It'staken care of guys. Guys and goals.

(01:22:35):
Come on, gals, can buromanticdo it? Yeah? Red velvet
for the for the love, getthe red velvet. So that's that's Tuesday
Thursday. Just remember if you don'tif you don't know, you should know.
Free parking Tuesday, free parking Thursday. That's a fifteen dollars value,
ten dollars GA tickets Tuesday, tendollars GA tickets Thursday, and three dollars

(01:23:00):
bud lights Tuesday, three dollar budlights on Thursday. And those beautiful,
beautiful third kits are on sale exclusivelyin the arena on Thursday night, February
fifteenth. They will not be availableon the online store until Monday, February
nineteenth. So if you want oneof these gorgeous reverse city connect er gaslamp

(01:23:23):
er third kits, then please getthem at the merchandise stand on Thursday evening.
I'm hoping they'll have mine and yourstomorrow, Tony. I want to
I want to be wearing it onon Annie and Elston on Thursday to get
people hyped up to come out tothe match. You know, I've never

(01:23:43):
had a sandy with soccer's kid.Really. Yeah, you've got a media
game, kid, Yeah, Ihave plenty of those, and I'm waiting
for my next one to you know, be victorious. And I'm actually probably
gonna warm some some of the oldengines up at the chrome, but hopefully
I'll be healthy enough for I don'tknow. Yeah, just make sure you

(01:24:05):
can get up the steps for ourbroadcasts. If nothing else, make sure
you can get up there. Idon't want to see Desiree carrying you up
in a sling to the top.She can do it. If anybody can,
she can do it. Oh ohoh, Susan. Susan Barber.
So if only Susan. We area four hour YouTube show every day,

(01:24:28):
Susan, I have to pick whatI wear every day for ninety seven three
the fan. We are live onvideo every single day. It is radio
and everyone can see me. Soreal facts I like to wear. I
like to wear soccer's kits on Fridayson Annie and Elson. I like to.
I call it fresh Kit Friday onAnnie and Nelson, and I wear

(01:24:51):
one of my boutique T shirts theother four days a week. Today it
was a Mal Hall laugh, greatcomedian, Malhall comedy. Check it out.
But yeah, Susan, when Iwas coming up in radio, one
of the things we used to alwayssay was, no one can see you
in radio, So you can bewearing a tuxedo every day as far as

(01:25:13):
they're concerned. If you want tothink like you're dressed to the nines,
then you are, and you cando that while you're wearing a T shirt
and sweatpants. Instead, when Iwear a T shirt and sweatpants to the
radio like I did today, youcan see my T shirt at least,
if not my sweatpants. So yougot a face for radio and the internet,
Craig, it works out. Itworked out way, I know,

(01:25:35):
right, that old joke you gotto face for radio. I'm like,
well, I guess that's messed upfor the YouTube feed then, because they
have to see me. So that'swhy we got into the YouTube. That's
why we're there exactly exactly. Okay. Our next home match after this weekend
is the twenty fifth, when KansasCity comes to town and maybe we deal

(01:25:57):
them another fatal blow in their playoffrun and get Brad and Geo fired up
for a b last push into theplayoffs. But it is country night,
there will be a giveaway Soccers cowboyhat that you see that is a pretty
accurate rendition of the cowboy hat.It's got the little upturned corners on the
side. It's kind of I don'tknow, MESHI doesn't have the the beatles

(01:26:23):
that the Soccer that the Padres hatsdid a couple of years ago. But
those Soccers cowboy hats are free toeveryone and a tennis while Supplies last on
Sunday, February twenty fifth, andwith a special ticket sd soccers dot Com
slash Ticket Specials, you can beboot Scootin with a special line dancing Country

(01:26:46):
line Dancing clinic at two forty fivepm down on the floor at Pachanga Arena,
San Diego. Mister boot Scootin isdoing the It's not his legal name,
but there's like a very famous guythat I tagged in social media today
on this so you can go lookthat up on the Soccers Instagram. I'm

(01:27:08):
not going to look it up rightnow, I'm a video show. I
gotta look at the screen. Yeah. But with a special ticket you can
come in early and do some countryline dancing down on the floor with all
your friends and with professional guidance.On Sunday, February twenty fifth, Country

(01:27:30):
Night boot scootin Line Dance Clinic attwo forty five pm. Get your ticket,
special ticket needed to go to theboot scootin clinic sdsoccers dot com slash
ticket specials. That's different from bootknocking. If you want to knock boots,
that's up to you. That's afterwardsand no special ticket needed, just

(01:27:53):
a special friend. That's what Wednesdayis all about. That's what this week's
all about. Ticket exactly. Ifind your special prend at Valentine's Day and
then get ready for boot scooting andboot knocking afterwards. Oh my, this
is what happens on a Monday SanDiego Soccers overtime, so exactly exactly.

(01:28:15):
I having a Monday mood. Lastthing? Sorry care Sorry about that,
George k oh My Sunday. Theweek concludes Sunday afternoon at Empire. That

(01:28:41):
is a four o'clock game up inOntario Arena. I know some of our
soccers. Fans will be up therefor the soccers and the Empire strikers.
I do intend to be there onSunday, I Sean Bowers, John Green,
I think myself are all planning tobe there if something happens between now
and Sunday, and I don't haveto make it, but I think we
have Monday off for President's Day onthe show, so I think we should

(01:29:04):
be all good on that. SoYeah, Sunday at Empire again, Tuesday
night at home, Thursday night athome, Sunday on the road. It's
a very busy week. It isa tough week for these guys and for
their legs. It is a weekthat you hope to get out with nine
points and zero injuries. And Ithink, honestly that's just the bottom line,
Tony. Yeah. No, it'sa really decent, you know,

(01:29:28):
outlook and goal to have for theweek, but it's not undoable to really
just go through the West and justtake care of everything that you need to
do. Tighten things up, workon those power plays, work on those
set pieces, work on those penaltykills, work on everything you need to
do in order to be prepared forthe last couple of weeks of the season
leading into the playoffs, get allof that, you know, ugh,

(01:29:55):
ugh, I can't find a wordin Spanish for that. It's the same
word actually now to think of it. But no, it's definitely a time
for the Soccers to tighten things upand take care of business and let's get
some cravery cookies for the people.Yeah, I'm with Kay Vibberd. There
nine points, around thirty goals forthe week, Around ten conceited for the

(01:30:18):
week would be a great week.It would be a week that would show
that the Soccers are informed, thatthe Soccers are ready to roll. Anything
less than that, and we're gonnacome back here on this show next Tuesday
and say they're not quite informed yet, and there's still time, but they're
not informed. So that'll be thereport that we'll have back for you on
this show next week. That doesit for this week's edition of Soccers Overtime,

(01:30:42):
Season six, Cornered, I wantto say special thanks to our guest
for an Aart's incredible stuff today.Thanks to all you great Soccers fans who
make this a destination for you,even when we have to scoot it up
twenty four hours like we did thisweek. We thank you for your patronage.
Shout out Gate. I'm going toget this up by the morning,
I promise, I promise, Ipromise, I promise. I'm gonna get

(01:31:04):
this up by the morning because weneed it for the broadcast tomorrow night anyway,
so I really have to but Iwill get this up for you right
away. And Tony on the wayout, let everyone know where they can
find you. Absolutely. Thank youfor everybody who's been supporting us. You
can go ahead and find me atUnderscore Tony Sanchez and everything that we do
to cover soccer in San Diego atSan Diego Punto a Monday, so we

(01:31:28):
go live at eight. That's almosttime. So I got Padrey's hotub next,
and You've got Two Balls in aBike next, So I guess we
got to get rid of this showbefore we get onto the next show.
I'm on every day, creating twentyhours of content a week. Annie and
Elston on ninety seven three the Fans, san Diego's number one sports station ten
am to two pm. Join usthere, make sure you find us.

(01:31:50):
We're on YouTube every day as well. We're on the Odyssey app as well.
Padre's hotab You can check that out. We don't have a finger for
that. You can followow me onTwitter at six to one nine Sports.
You can follow me on Instagram atsix one nine Sports and Life. Former
an arts for Tony Sanchez. I'mCraig Elston. Thanks to all of you

(01:32:11):
for tuning in. Hope to seeyou Tuesday and Thursday at the Grand Old
Arena. Until then, have agreat week, enjoy all of the soccer.
We'll see you next Tuesday and gosoccers.

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