September 1, 2026 • 10 mins
Seattle Sounders FC Head Coach Brian Schmetzer joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the epic debut for new striker Dejan Joveljc, how he’s fitting into their team, the 2-2 draw against Chicago last weekend, getting Cristian Roldan and Jordan Morris back, Yeimar Gomez Andrade’s status, and the New York Red Bulls coming up.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
back to Softie and Dick. On Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
All right, we're.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Back on a busy Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Mike Florio coming up 607, 608, 610, 11. You know,
whenever we damn well want to get to Mike Florio
because we are in charge and not.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Him, by the way, on the radio show.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Stupid idiot.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
We'll talk some NFL with Mike, Terry, and Arnold, the
whole thing, what's going on with that, what's happening there.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Holy moly, look at that, man.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Jeez.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Anyway, joining us right now on the radio show, we're
just having this conversation on the air last segment. I
wonder if Brian Schmetzer of the Sounders coming off a
draw with Chicago. A couple goals from the new guy
was helpful, by the way. Brian, who's got a better
chance of making the postseason this year? You guys or
the Mariners? Answer that question for us.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, I'm going to tell you this, that I'm a
true believer. I believe in my team. and I'm going
to get to that in a second. All right. But
I'm also a Mariners believer. I mean, I just looked
it up on chat, GTP. Yep. Bad news is they're
10 games under. 500. But, you know, positive news is
they could do it. I mean, they've got the easiest
(01:18):
schedule out of the remaining teams. I heard your segment, and, yeah,
actually I'm a little fired up because, you know, we're
going to make the playoffs. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
We're going to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
He's got me believing. I love it. He's got me
believing in both teams. I was already believing in the
Sounders because of the coach of the Sounders.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
I wasn't really believing in the Mariners because of the
manager of the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I know we're going off script here a little bit, Brian,
but the schedule after they play Boston, the rest of
the way, they got 22 games left and 17 of
them are against teams that are currently 98 games under 500.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Does that stuff matter? Would it matter to you as
a coach, honestly?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
What do you mean? Would that matter to me?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Would that be something that would give you hope? Because
a lot of coaches would say, you know what? We
don't care who we play. The schedule doesn't matter. It's
all about us. Like cliches and crap like that. Would
that give you some hope if you were Dan Wilson?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Privately well internally as a coaching staff we probably talk
about well hey look we got new york red bull
coming into town and we've got to beat them and
then we got to go to the galaxy that sold
off a couple of our best players and then you
know we've got colorado who's making some changes we talk
about stuff internally but externally to the players we're going
(02:45):
to say hey put i don't give a i don't
give a crap who they put out in front of
us we're.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Going to try and win the game Well, you got
an unbelievable debut from your new star, Dejan Jovovich. Thoughts
on his two-goal debut, and was it the best in Sounders' history?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You've been around for a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Well, that certainly was a tremendous debut. I mean, we've
had guys come on and, you know, really make a difference,
but two goals right away, and, Dick, what I would,
where I'm going with this is, you know, maybe the
quality of the two goals, because fans that were at
the stadium got excited a taste of what Deion can do.
That first goal, if you watch his movement, we got
(03:24):
the play, we got a little overload on the right-hand side,
and his movement to, like, dip his shoulder to the
left and then sprint to the right to get to
that ball. He knew where the ball was going. And
then the second goal, I mean, Albert passes him a
pretty simple pass, top of the box, but his technique
that he hits the ball with that adds that little
(03:48):
extra juice that beats a goalkeeper for pace, and Brady's
a good goalkeeper. He was the third goalkeeper on the U.S.
national team. Yeah, those are, man, if he could do
that on a weekly basis, he'd be winning some games
and making the playoffs for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Hey, Brian, do me a quick favor. Brian Schmetzer with us.
Give me like two seconds of silence. Are you watching
TV back there?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
My wife is watching tennis.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, that's what I thought. I thought I heard something
going on over there.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Just so we're all on the same page, that you're
doing the radio show and you guys are watching TV
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You're multitasking. Well, how is he fitting?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I am not watching TV. I am on my computer
listening to your radio show like a good listener.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I love it. That's a drop, by the way.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
How was this guy fit into the locker room, honestly,
with the guys and kind of assimilated with the.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Team, you think?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
That's so good. Look, I said it before. I mean,
I'm really happy that Craig was on our side on
this one. He was listening to what we wanted, what
we needed. He was our number one choice, and he
was able to deliver. He was able to push it
across the line, humble kid, hardworking kid. You know, he's
(05:07):
got a wife and a new baby, just a family guy.
He goes home. He thinks about soccer. He thinks about
his wife and kids, thinks about chess as well. He's
a chess master, of course. I'm sure you guys heard that. But,
you know, just really humble guy, wants to put the
work in. I haven't told anybody this, but in the
(05:29):
locker room when I gave him the two game balls
for his first two goals as Seattle Sounders, He didn't
talk about the goals. He didn't talk about anything. He
just said, you know what? Thanks coach. And look guys,
I'm so happy to be here and I'm not going
to talk about the goals. I'm just going to talk
about the fact that we're going to do this. I
believe that we can make the playoffs. You want to
talk about hope? It's coming from that player's mouth. That's
(05:51):
a way bigger statement than I can make as a
coach because he's talking to his teammates.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That is cool. That is cool.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Brian Schmetzer joining us. Does he remind you of any
other striker you've coached before?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well, somebody asked me in the scrum today about Raul
Ruiz Diaz, about being just a clinical finisher. And, you know,
Dayon is different than Raul. Raul was a little more flashy.
You know, Raul scored some really highlight real goals. I
think Dayon is just going to be a good, consistent player.
He can help in the build-up, too. You saw some
of the plays where he was able to just make
(06:25):
things look so simple, Dick, just like the ball comes
to him and he can play it one touch or
he just connects passes. So Raul was probably a little
more flamboyant. But Deion, you know, very, very talented technical
soccer player.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, all right, this was the big move, right? The
big $ 6 million move. Do you feel like you've got
to make another move before the transfer window deadline? And
if so, what position would we think needs to be
addressed the most?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh, look, I know Craig's working hard. It is the
end of the window. Deals are coming across his desk
left and right. So, you know, I got faith in
him that if the right deal comes around and another
attacking piece, you know, we talk about stuff every day
about what we need. Can we get a short-term piece?
Can we get a long-term piece? Look, we got guys
(07:14):
coming back from injury. Jordan, that's going to help the attacking.
Jesus will be back. We've got some pretty good attackers today.
On the squad, obviously, Pedro was the one big injury,
and he's out for the year. But Craig's working hard,
and you never know. Deals at the last minute, they
could cross a line.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
So how do you value getting reps for a young
player that you've developed versus bringing in a slightly better player?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Well, if you're talking about Osase De Rosario and us
putting him on loan, that is kind of, again, it's
a tricky one because, look, Osase was a starter at
the beginning of the year, and him and Masovsky were
nose and nose about who was going to be the guy.
They were fighting for that center forward spot. But Masovsky's
30 years old. Osase's a little younger. We're going to
(08:06):
send him out on loan and hopefully find consistency. minutes
for him so he can become a better soccer player.
Then when he comes back to us, hopefully that'll pay
some dividends.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Alright, well, roll it on. Jordan Morris back from their injuries.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Give us the update on how they're doing and do
you think they're ready to go and maybe play a
full 90?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, I think Christian's a little closer than Jordan. Hint, hint. So,
you know, I think Christian's going to be there. Jordan
and Asani Dotson, they're a little bit behind as far
as what they're You know, training loads have been. So
we'll see. Tomorrow's a big training day. You know, we're
going to we're going to try out some different looks,
see what it looks like with Jordan in there. Jordan
(08:48):
not because, look, you know, he's going to come on
the field. We might have to still start a couple
of young guys in the beginning and see how the
game starts to unfold. And then we'll bring veteran guys
in there to try and close the deal.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
How about you?
Speaker 5 (08:59):
I'm our what's his status and timeline?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
He's, that's, Dick, that's not a good one. It's still,
you know, he's still three weeks out. I mean, it's not,
it hasn't been healing as well as we would have liked.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
All right, well, before you go, New York coming to
town Saturday, 5 o'clock pregame over on the AM side,
9.50 AM. And give us some thoughts on New York
and what you're going to see this weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Well, New York Red Bull play a very distinctive style, Softie.
They are a high-pressing team. They will just run and run.
They got good athletes. They press higher up the field,
try and turn the ball over. That's how they generate
a lot of their chances. And so we have to
be ready for that. And we'll be trying, again, some
(09:45):
different schemes and training for us to keep possession. Yep.
or if we need to, just bypass their pressure and
hit the ball a little bit more direct to guys
running behind. So good team, Forsberg, quality player. Cade Cowell
was a guy that sold to Mexico a couple years
ago for $ 6- 7 million. He came back in the league.
(10:08):
They've got a quality squad, so not going to be
an easy game at all. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
All right, go get them, and I appreciate you tuning
into the radio show. Apparently your wife couldn't give a
damn because she's watching tennis, but we appreciate your dedication
to our program every day, man. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And I will not make that mistake again. She's not
going to be clinking dishes, making me dinner, or– putting
up a bottle of wine or watching tennis while we
do the program.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
How dare she make you dinner? My God. All right, Brian,
you're the man. Go get them on Sunday, and we'll
talk in a week, all right?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
All right, take care, guys.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
All right, Brian Schmetzer with us. We're going to break.
This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
back to Softie and Dick. On Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
All right, we're.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Back on a busy Tuesday night.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Mike Florio coming up 607, 608, 610, 11. You know,
whenever we damn well want to get to Mike Florio
because we are in charge and not.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Him, by the way, on the radio show.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
Stupid idiot.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
We'll talk some NFL with Mike, Terry, and Arnold, the
whole thing, what's going on with that, what's happening there.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Holy moly, look at that, man.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Jeez.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Anyway, joining us right now on the radio show, we're
just having this conversation on the air last segment. I
wonder if Brian Schmetzer of the Sounders coming off a
draw with Chicago. A couple goals from the new guy
was helpful, by the way. Brian, who's got a better
chance of making the postseason this year? You guys or
the Mariners? Answer that question for us.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Well, I'm going to tell you this, that I'm a
true believer. I believe in my team. and I'm going
to get to that in a second. All right. But
I'm also a Mariners believer. I mean, I just looked
it up on chat, GTP. Yep. Bad news is they're
10 games under. 500. But, you know, positive news is
they could do it. I mean, they've got the easiest
(01:18):
schedule out of the remaining teams. I heard your segment, and, yeah,
actually I'm a little fired up because, you know, we're
going to make the playoffs. I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
We're going to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
He's got me believing. I love it. He's got me
believing in both teams. I was already believing in the
Sounders because of the coach of the Sounders.
Speaker 5 (01:40):
I wasn't really believing in the Mariners because of the
manager of the Mariners.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I know we're going off script here a little bit, Brian,
but the schedule after they play Boston, the rest of
the way, they got 22 games left and 17 of
them are against teams that are currently 98 games under 500.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Does that stuff matter? Would it matter to you as
a coach, honestly?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
What do you mean? Would that matter to me?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Would that be something that would give you hope? Because
a lot of coaches would say, you know what? We
don't care who we play. The schedule doesn't matter. It's
all about us. Like cliches and crap like that. Would
that give you some hope if you were Dan Wilson?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
Privately well internally as a coaching staff we probably talk
about well hey look we got new york red bull
coming into town and we've got to beat them and
then we got to go to the galaxy that sold
off a couple of our best players and then you
know we've got colorado who's making some changes we talk
about stuff internally but externally to the players we're going
(02:45):
to say hey put i don't give a i don't
give a crap who they put out in front of
us we're.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Going to try and win the game Well, you got
an unbelievable debut from your new star, Dejan Jovovich. Thoughts
on his two-goal debut, and was it the best in Sounders' history?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
You've been around for a lot of them.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Well, that certainly was a tremendous debut. I mean, we've
had guys come on and, you know, really make a difference,
but two goals right away, and, Dick, what I would,
where I'm going with this is, you know, maybe the
quality of the two goals, because fans that were at
the stadium got excited a taste of what Deion can do.
That first goal, if you watch his movement, we got
(03:24):
the play, we got a little overload on the right-hand side,
and his movement to, like, dip his shoulder to the
left and then sprint to the right to get to
that ball. He knew where the ball was going. And
then the second goal, I mean, Albert passes him a
pretty simple pass, top of the box, but his technique
that he hits the ball with that adds that little
(03:48):
extra juice that beats a goalkeeper for pace, and Brady's
a good goalkeeper. He was the third goalkeeper on the U.S.
national team. Yeah, those are, man, if he could do
that on a weekly basis, he'd be winning some games
and making the playoffs for sure.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Hey, Brian, do me a quick favor. Brian Schmetzer with us.
Give me like two seconds of silence. Are you watching
TV back there?
Speaker 2 (04:11):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
My wife is watching tennis.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Okay, that's what I thought. I thought I heard something
going on over there.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Just so we're all on the same page, that you're
doing the radio show and you guys are watching TV
at the same time.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You're multitasking. Well, how is he fitting?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
I am not watching TV. I am on my computer
listening to your radio show like a good listener.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I love it. That's a drop, by the way.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
How was this guy fit into the locker room, honestly,
with the guys and kind of assimilated with the.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Team, you think?
Speaker 4 (04:45):
That's so good. Look, I said it before. I mean,
I'm really happy that Craig was on our side on
this one. He was listening to what we wanted, what
we needed. He was our number one choice, and he
was able to deliver. He was able to push it
across the line, humble kid, hardworking kid. You know, he's
(05:07):
got a wife and a new baby, just a family guy.
He goes home. He thinks about soccer. He thinks about
his wife and kids, thinks about chess as well. He's
a chess master, of course. I'm sure you guys heard that. But,
you know, just really humble guy, wants to put the
work in. I haven't told anybody this, but in the
(05:29):
locker room when I gave him the two game balls
for his first two goals as Seattle Sounders, He didn't
talk about the goals. He didn't talk about anything. He
just said, you know what? Thanks coach. And look guys,
I'm so happy to be here and I'm not going
to talk about the goals. I'm just going to talk
about the fact that we're going to do this. I
believe that we can make the playoffs. You want to
talk about hope? It's coming from that player's mouth. That's
(05:51):
a way bigger statement than I can make as a
coach because he's talking to his teammates.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
That is cool. That is cool.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Brian Schmetzer joining us. Does he remind you of any
other striker you've coached before?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well, somebody asked me in the scrum today about Raul
Ruiz Diaz, about being just a clinical finisher. And, you know,
Dayon is different than Raul. Raul was a little more flashy.
You know, Raul scored some really highlight real goals. I
think Dayon is just going to be a good, consistent player.
He can help in the build-up, too. You saw some
of the plays where he was able to just make
(06:25):
things look so simple, Dick, just like the ball comes
to him and he can play it one touch or
he just connects passes. So Raul was probably a little
more flamboyant. But Deion, you know, very, very talented technical
soccer player.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, all right, this was the big move, right? The
big $ 6 million move. Do you feel like you've got
to make another move before the transfer window deadline? And
if so, what position would we think needs to be
addressed the most?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh, look, I know Craig's working hard. It is the
end of the window. Deals are coming across his desk
left and right. So, you know, I got faith in
him that if the right deal comes around and another
attacking piece, you know, we talk about stuff every day
about what we need. Can we get a short-term piece?
Can we get a long-term piece? Look, we got guys
(07:14):
coming back from injury. Jordan, that's going to help the attacking.
Jesus will be back. We've got some pretty good attackers today.
On the squad, obviously, Pedro was the one big injury,
and he's out for the year. But Craig's working hard,
and you never know. Deals at the last minute, they
could cross a line.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
So how do you value getting reps for a young
player that you've developed versus bringing in a slightly better player?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Well, if you're talking about Osase De Rosario and us
putting him on loan, that is kind of, again, it's
a tricky one because, look, Osase was a starter at
the beginning of the year, and him and Masovsky were
nose and nose about who was going to be the guy.
They were fighting for that center forward spot. But Masovsky's
30 years old. Osase's a little younger. We're going to
(08:06):
send him out on loan and hopefully find consistency. minutes
for him so he can become a better soccer player.
Then when he comes back to us, hopefully that'll pay
some dividends.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Alright, well, roll it on. Jordan Morris back from their injuries.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Give us the update on how they're doing and do
you think they're ready to go and maybe play a
full 90?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, I think Christian's a little closer than Jordan. Hint, hint. So,
you know, I think Christian's going to be there. Jordan
and Asani Dotson, they're a little bit behind as far
as what they're You know, training loads have been. So
we'll see. Tomorrow's a big training day. You know, we're
going to we're going to try out some different looks,
see what it looks like with Jordan in there. Jordan
(08:48):
not because, look, you know, he's going to come on
the field. We might have to still start a couple
of young guys in the beginning and see how the
game starts to unfold. And then we'll bring veteran guys
in there to try and close the deal.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
How about you?
Speaker 5 (08:59):
I'm our what's his status and timeline?
Speaker 4 (09:02):
He's, that's, Dick, that's not a good one. It's still,
you know, he's still three weeks out. I mean, it's not,
it hasn't been healing as well as we would have liked.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
All right, well, before you go, New York coming to
town Saturday, 5 o'clock pregame over on the AM side,
9.50 AM. And give us some thoughts on New York
and what you're going to see this weekend.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Well, New York Red Bull play a very distinctive style, Softie.
They are a high-pressing team. They will just run and run.
They got good athletes. They press higher up the field,
try and turn the ball over. That's how they generate
a lot of their chances. And so we have to
be ready for that. And we'll be trying, again, some
(09:45):
different schemes and training for us to keep possession. Yep.
or if we need to, just bypass their pressure and
hit the ball a little bit more direct to guys
running behind. So good team, Forsberg, quality player. Cade Cowell
was a guy that sold to Mexico a couple years
ago for $ 6- 7 million. He came back in the league.
(10:08):
They've got a quality squad, so not going to be
an easy game at all. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
All right, go get them, and I appreciate you tuning
into the radio show. Apparently your wife couldn't give a
damn because she's watching tennis, but we appreciate your dedication
to our program every day, man. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
And I will not make that mistake again. She's not
going to be clinking dishes, making me dinner, or– putting
up a bottle of wine or watching tennis while we
do the program.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
How dare she make you dinner? My God. All right, Brian,
you're the man. Go get them on Sunday, and we'll
talk in a week, all right?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
All right, take care, guys.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
All right, Brian Schmetzer with us. We're going to break.
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