Brian Schmetzer on Anniversary Season, LAFC Match, Pedro de la Vega

Brian Schmetzer, Head Coach of Seattle Sounders FC, joins Ian Furness, sitting in for Softy and Dick today, to talk about their anniversary season getting started on Saturday with a game against LAFC plus newcomer Pedro de la Vega and how he can help them.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now back to Suftie and Dick onSports Radio ninety three point three kJ RFN
Washington Huskies. I see you're homefor the Huskies, and all right,
welcome back in on a Friday afternoon. He in for that's with you,
sitting in for Softie and Fame.And big thanks to Mike Benton for doing
my show earlier today. And youknow, one of the fun things is

(00:21):
I don't get a chance to talkto my favorite coach in all of soccer
and maybe in all of Seattle,and that is Brian Schmittzer all that off
and why because Softy and Fame theyjust kind of thanks to Jackson, they
kind of they have some sort ofexclusivity with him. But he's with me
right now since I'm filling in fortheir show, and it is a monopoly,
and I'm not happy about it.I'm the one guy that played the

(00:42):
game for goodness sakes, and Idon't even get the I don't get the
coach on ever. But fiftieth anniversaryseason World Cup coming here. Season starts
tomorrow against LAFC. I can't wait. Let's get going into nationally televised game
on Fox thirteen one thirty. Let'sgo fiftieth year, Brian Schmitzer. How
are you. I'm doing, Grady, And thanks for that introduction. And

(01:03):
because we don't get a talk oftenenough, go ahead, shoot your best
shot. Give me the question,give me the hard hitting question. I'll
give you the answer. Why wasNathan Hale so good at soccer when I
was in high school? Why'd youguys knock us out when I was playing
for the number one ranked OD eightteam. It hasn't sat with me for

(01:25):
forty years or anything, but Idon't know. I'm just asking that one.
I guess right off the get go. Well, we had a couple
of good North End kids up there. I mean, you know, Late
City was a soccer hotbed. Itwas. It was, There's no doubt
about it. And everyone's favorite storeof the played was your dad's store as
well. To go in there andget some World Cup two Adida soccers fleet

(01:45):
so back in the day. Yeah, I bring that up. Listen.
I think the last time I talkedto you saw he was at the fifteenth
anniversary kind of kickoff celebration last falland I walked in there. I remember
telling you for all of us guysthat and first of all, to see
like a peppy Fernandez and stuff likethat. I was just I mean,
I was like starstruck and it wascool. And but for a lot of
us who grew up with that asour first team to see the color scheme,

(02:06):
I love the script. I knowyou do too, with the Sounders
and the soccer well with the Ohwhat does the fiftieth anniversary mean to you?
As a local guy here who's hadthe opportunity to coach his team to
championships more than one, multiple championships, different types of championships. But to
be a part of watching it backthen in the glory days starting in seventy
four, and now be part ofit in twenty twenty four. Yeah,

(02:29):
Ian, I'm truly blessed to have, you know, my career kind of
end up at home, you know, kind of you know, I had
a few stops along the way,but certainly ending up back in Seattle and
being able to coach a team.So I just feel blessed. I'm very
lucky. But if you ask meas a fan, you know, not
an employee of the of the Sounders, I would say this is just a

(02:53):
massive story about how soccer has grownin this country. Yeah, they took
off in seventy four. Even throughthe eighties when the Cluccios you know,
had had the team. We hadsome big names, big stars, big
big crowds in the in Memorial Stadium, big crowds in the Kingdome when it
was first built. So there wasa lot of people. There are a

(03:15):
lot of people that remember those daysand they remember them fondly. There was
always a you know, a teamthat you knew was going to work hard
and entertain the fans and try andwin games, and they had some success
and that just has built throughout theyears into you know what we see now
at Lumen. You know, theMLS history has been pretty good. You

(03:37):
know, a couple of MLS Cups, conquered, CAFF Open Cups with Zig
and you're topping it all off witha chance to see six World Cup Games
a couple of years from now.So how about that for a storyline about
being one of the you know,Soccer City USA down in Portland, PA.
We've got them. We passed themup by a long shot. Yeah,

(03:59):
I'm not going to see you upfor his thoughts on Portland right now.
I'll wait till the playoffs when they'resitting on the sideline again, I'll
wait until then. What did itmean? Do you think what was a
celebration like for you guys? Internally? I know what it is like for
Jackson and me and so many otherthan this town when we saw the team
USA is going to play a matchhere. Yeah, it was great,

(04:20):
love it obviously, Jordan Christian ifthey were still involved, who knows,
Josh Detencio, you know, gettingsome call ups Jackson Reagan. Wouldn't it
be great to cheer on a numberone in the US, our home country,
but then also have a Seattle sounderrepresenting the USA at a World Cup
chere in Seattle. That would justbe massive. I'd be unbelievable. Along

(04:44):
the way, I can't think ofa better way to start. Maybe,
I'm sure you could, maybe asofter landing. But when you take on
a team tomorrow in l AFC thatknocked you guys out last year, and
it just feels like it's it feelsalmost inevitable, like these teams are gonna
always meet in big matches, inbig games and postseason what have you.
But thoughts on tomorrow's match against LFC, how are they different? How are

(05:04):
you guys different. Well, they'vethey've become one of our best rivals.
I mean, look, you're alwaysgoing to say that Portland, you know
they're going to be there, theirnumber one Vancouver, but you know La
l AFC certainly has. You know, we've had some good spirited battles over
the years, starting with Bob Bradleyand now with Charundelo, and you know,

(05:29):
it was an opportunity that went byIt went, you know, went
by the wayside last last year.And the first thing I did in the
first preseason meeting was I reminded themof that result. You know, we
had a shot to host a conferencefinal at Lumen. Then we would have
had to you know, obviously beatHouston, but you know we had a

(05:51):
good shot at that and then maybeanother MLUS Cup appearance. So certainly that's
going to be added motivation. Ithink they're two we are two of the
biggest ambitious clubs in MLS. Soit should be a great match tomorrow.
Brian Schtzer joining me one pint thirtyis a match coming up tomorrow as well,
and it should be fine. Again. You can hear it here,

(06:14):
you can watch it on Fox thirteenand then get ready for a great season
of Sounder soccer. You added theclub's first e or a young designated player,
Pedro de la Vega. I'm notsure if he's available for tomorrow,
if he's going to play, butlet's just look bigger picture. You can
tell me if he's going to playor not, but let's look bigger.
I'll give you that scoop. Gotwhat you got for give you the scoop.

(06:34):
So he is actually on a plane. He was up in Vancouver to
get his passport stamped. They gotto go out of the country, get
your passport stamp, come back intothe country. So he's on a flight.
He should be down here in Laaround five o'clock and he will be
available for selection for tomorrow's match.I love that, all right, So

(06:58):
hey, big thanks to the Canadians. Thanks white Caps for helping us out
there and getting him down here.See who says we can't get along with
those folks up there? What doeshe do in terms of for everybody on
the roster. I mean, Iknow he's got some great one on one
skill set. I kind of lookat it like you got a couple guys
you can put up top. Jordanwho still feels like Jordan Moore still has

(07:19):
a lot of gas left in thetank and can be a prolific goal scorer.
It feels like this is a guythat can support him. I wonder
what he can do for a guylike Christian roll Dan take a little pressure
off of him as well. Butwhat do you see with Pedro, Well,
what we're trying to do is istrying to balance the team a little
bit. Like the right side wasa little more effective later in the year

(07:39):
when Christian came back earlier in theyear. Look earlier in the year,
Leo Chu had that good relationship withJordan down the left hand side, but
we weren't consistent. And so whatwe've done is we've added another quality piece
that can play either left wing.He can either even play as the number
ten. He could play where Christianplays, if we need to give Christian

(08:03):
a break, or just the waythe games manifest themselves. But he's a
very super talented attacking player who's goingto break people down, which in our
sport, you know, you getaround one defender, you make the next
defender have to do something. Makea decision. What are we going to
do? Create two v ones andI think that's what Pedro is going to

(08:24):
bring to the squad. I'll wrapit up with this, Brian. I
came into Jackson of the Day,I said, did you just see this?
To see the athletic the athletics projectionsfor MLS this season and basically across
the board, I think with oneexception, they're ten or fifteen writers all
had sounders up on top of theWestern Conference. Ye, realistic expectations.

(08:45):
You guys don't go into NYC.I always kind of equate you guys kind
of with the Seahawks. There's nosuch thing as a rebuild. That's not
in your vocabulary. Your expectations arethe same every year. I assume that
that's when you saw that, youprobably just nodded and said, yeah,
that's what we expect as well,well what we expect. I'll give credit
to Greg Wible, it's done agreat job of, you know, managing

(09:05):
the roster, taking over for Garth, and you know, he's got a
little different spin on some certain thingswhen we have conversations about what the roster
looks like now, what it's goingto look like in the future. But
no, we didn't feel that weneeded to, you know, blow up
the team. Obviously, the subtractionof Nicol Ladero was the storyline from last
year. But you know, theteam is a good team. I mean,

(09:28):
we're going to survive. We youknow, we survived when Oba left,
we survived when Clint left, wesurvived when Chad Marshall left. I
mean, we've had a ton ofgood players at this club, and you
know, the beauty of this isa team sport, and so we're going
to overcome the expectations. Yes,Ian, they are there, they're internal.

(09:50):
It's nice to have a little bitof external pressure, but most of
it comes from inside. I lovethat. I love that attitude. I
love that thought process. I thinkevery fan in this market can I can
appreciate that. I can't wait.Man, I'm gonna be settled in about
one thirty. I'm gonna have anice cold beverage adult size in my hands.
Yeah, I got that. Igot a Cougar basketball game right after.

(10:11):
I really appreciate the timing. It'sa perfect perfect for me. So
thank you for that. Tell theMLS, I appreciate it as well,
and all in all sincerit, Brian, love talking to you. You're one
of our favorite people. Thanks somuch, have a great season. I'm
gonna steal you again from Softy ifI can. All Right, all right,
anytime, inn I appreciate. That'sBrian Schwetzer, head coach Saunders FC
fiftieth anniversary season. We'll do.What do we do next? We do

(10:33):
txtimonials, all right, whole newshow for me. We'll do that coming
up next night, three point threeKTERFM