October 28, 2025 • 9 mins
Seattle Sounders FC Head Coach joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about his team losing game one of the first round of the playoffs last night in penalty kicks in Minnesota, the shootout dynamics, game two ahead next Monday and what to expect.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Why don't you make it a Duke's night tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Reserve your table today at dukeseafood dot com.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Now back to Softy and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I got Radio ninety three point three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Sorry, oh god, no, no, no, I got good news for
Brian Schmetzer. Your your Duke's gift card is on the
way to the house, by the way, so you got
something to talk to, all right, but it's on the
way on the way.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well yeah, let's just jump right in. Let's go the
hell happened last night?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Well? Well, I can tell you what happened? Is we lost?
How about that? There's the there's a nuts and bolts
of it. But how we lost and why we lost?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That's the interview, right, Yeah, Well, are you more upset today?
And maybe you're not as upset as you were last night?
Maybe you were never upset. Maybe you're a positive guy
and we'll turn it around. We'll be fine. But more
I guess kind of bother by the mischances of the
ninety minutes or what happened in the penalty kicks, so.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
More bothered.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I would say that's a good word about the mischances
because you know we had we had a lot of
good not just the ones at the end of the
game that you know, Masowski came on and actually did
really well. We pushed Jordan up front and kind of
a right wing double center forward type of.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Role and he was good.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But in the first half they cleared a you know,
we had a set piece and Christian got his head
on it and the guy clears it off the line. Yaimar
on a on an Albert free kick, the combination play
in the middle of the field, rock rocks. All he
has to do is hit the target. I mean, he
was under pressure by a couple of guys, but.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
He hits the target, you know it's probably going to
go in.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I mean, we had two point four expected goals and
you know we didn't. We didn't get any, so you
know that on us. Uh, And then I was surprised.
So I was really surprised. And look, when Alex didn't
make his I kind of knew we were in trouble.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But to miss three in a PK shootout, that's not us.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Last year and against Houston, we.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Were dialed in. I mean, we didn't miss we didn't
miss any.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Last year, so I was I was really cut of
shocked at our penalties.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
How would you respond, coach to the folks that wanted
you to put Andrew Thomas in for Steph Fry on
the shootout?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, the same thing, I mean last year in the
second game in Houston, Steph actually made two saves and uh,
you know it's there's there's no there's no goalkeeper controversy.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Uh. If your shooters aren't making them, aren't making them.
So you know, it's just it's just it's plain and simple.
It's not a controversy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, Brian Schmeetzer again with US Saunders Minnesota, Leg two
of this series on Monday at Luhmann h seven fifty
five kickoff? Is that right? Not eight o'clock seven fifty
five And they're on time in this league pre match
show at seven thirty on the iHeart app. So let's
let's let's stay on the penalty kick front. Can you
(03:14):
just explain to us, like we're morons, which we are,
so it's easy. How do you decide who takes these kicks?
What's that process like? And does it happen the same
before every game?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it's similar to each game. Eat games a little
bit different.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But we were we were practicing for the last two weeks,
even before New York City.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
FC our last game, we were already practicing.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Penalty kicks, and so I got a pretty good idea
of who's good and who's maybe not so good.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
And then it's kind of the same.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You're going through the game and you're you know, you
have your list in your head, and you go out
there and you talk to guys individually and sometimes as
a collective. You say, hey, you good, you want one
who wants one raise your hand, and you kind of
get a feel for who's feeling confident in that moment.
(04:08):
And I had, like, I had like seven guys in
the huddle softy saying they wanted to take kicks. And so,
you know, Christian has been really good, Albert obviously there, Jackson,
Alex the penalty kick in the league's cup final, Danny
Lavas you know, usually one hundred percent. And then I
(04:31):
still had Jordan and Georgie, and you know, I mean
I had.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Zero problems with our lineup. We just didn't we just.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Didn't make the shots mentioned Danny Lava there, How about
the other Danny. Danny Muzovski's got sixteen goals for you
guys this year, and he had a chance at the end,
didn't get it. Buddy got himself into some dangerous spots.
Does that make him more or less likely to earn
himself a starting spot on Monday?
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yeah, Dick, that's the question we got to go through.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I mean, look, we created a bunch of chances even
just playing with Jordan's number nine.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But when Masaske came on it kind of changed the game.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So, you know, the coaches and I have been working
on the film already a little bit. Today we'll make
final determinations. And you know, look, if we stick to
a similar lineup the way we started and it's not
going good or we're not creating chances, Danny's in for sure,
but you know he might start as well.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, Brian Schmetzer game with US three two shootout lost
him Minnesota last night. Game two coming up on Monday, obviously,
and this is a Minnesota team that runs a let's
face it, gnarly disgusting, wretchet defensive system, right and you've
seen it. You've seen it three times this year, and
it seems like you kind of keep getting better and
(05:50):
better and better against it. I mean, what did you
kind of see last night that maybe makes you feel
like you can take an even bigger step coming up
on Monday.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Well, the frustrating part about the way they play, Softie,
and look they didn't they didn't they say it in
the press. I mean they want to deliberately slow the
tempo down. They want to take the sting out of
the game, even at home. I mean the goalkeeper was
taking thirty forty seconds every goal kick. You know, they
every free kick, they just push guys up the field
(06:21):
and tick it long and they're long throwings. Look, that's
who they are.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
We know who they are. So so the frustrate us.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yes, it make it difficult for the players, yes, but
the silver lining was again, you know, we created enough
chances to get at least one, and I think Softie,
if we get one at home, even if we get
one on the road, that might be enough because they
really didn't have too much. I mean, they had the
breakaway when when you know, Yaimar made a you know,
(06:51):
maybe a silly decision at midfield and the guy broke
in that was their only chance.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
How about Ryan Kent coach available on Monday you think.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah, for sure, that was a late minute scratch.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'd talked to him on Sunday's training actually the last
training day before we left, and he just felt a
little week in his injured hamstring, and I figured, you know,
we've got a three game series and if not, do
or die, So I was going to leave him home
and he got a good training session in. He'll have
(07:25):
one more full week of training with the team, but
he's definitely definitely going to be involved because it's a
do or die game for us.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And this is just to wrap it up, Brian, I mean,
obviously you know this, but this is where soccer in
the MLS is so much different than other sports that
have a three to five seven game series that typically
in a three or five seven game series, you'd play
a game and play the very next night, or maybe
a day off and play two days later. You get
to sit here now and think about this for a
(07:54):
week before in a potential elimination game on Monday night.
I mean, what is that like for you as a
head coach, because you're not going right back out there.
You got to think about this for seven days.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, everybody wants to get back up on the horse
after a tough loss. And it was, you know, it
was a gut punch, you know, because I think we
really outplayed.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Them, and you know, we deserved more out of the game.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But you know, again, like I said, they got us
in the penalty kicks. So what we're going to do
is we're going to work a little bit more on
our penalty kick taking. We're going to review all the
tactics of what worked in Minnesota, and then we're going
to use the home crowd.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think we're really good at home. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
The only loss actually at home was these guys back
right before the Club World Cup.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
But we've got a really strong home record all year.
We've only lost once. And we'll get them. We'll get
them on Monday.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Love it all right, Go get them, man, Appreciate this
and hopefully the next time we talk you'll be tied up.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Man. Go get them. Thanks coach, All right, take care, guys.
All right, you bet.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Brian Schmetzer with us on the radio show. Got a
big six pm hour. Larry's Stone's gonna hop on and
settle this. Tani Babe Ruth debate that we were having
today on the program Next on ninety three three kJ RFM.
This is Duke of Duke Seafood and this hour is
brought to you by Duke Seafood.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Why don't you make it a Duke's night tonight.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Reserve your table today at dukeseafood dot com.
Speaker 4 (00:09):
Now back to Softy and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I got Radio ninety three point three kJ R FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Sorry, oh god, no, no, no, I got good news for
Brian Schmetzer. Your your Duke's gift card is on the
way to the house, by the way, so you got
something to talk to, all right, but it's on the
way on the way.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Oh boy.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Well yeah, let's just jump right in. Let's go the
hell happened last night?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Well? Well, I can tell you what happened? Is we lost?
How about that? There's the there's a nuts and bolts
of it. But how we lost and why we lost?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
That's the interview, right, Yeah, Well, are you more upset today?
And maybe you're not as upset as you were last night?
Maybe you were never upset. Maybe you're a positive guy
and we'll turn it around. We'll be fine. But more
I guess kind of bother by the mischances of the
ninety minutes or what happened in the penalty kicks, so.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
More bothered.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I would say that's a good word about the mischances
because you know we had we had a lot of
good not just the ones at the end of the
game that you know, Masowski came on and actually did
really well. We pushed Jordan up front and kind of
a right wing double center forward type of.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Role and he was good.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
But in the first half they cleared a you know,
we had a set piece and Christian got his head
on it and the guy clears it off the line. Yaimar
on a on an Albert free kick, the combination play
in the middle of the field, rock rocks. All he
has to do is hit the target. I mean, he
was under pressure by a couple of guys, but.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
He hits the target, you know it's probably going to
go in.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
I mean, we had two point four expected goals and
you know we didn't. We didn't get any, so you
know that on us. Uh, And then I was surprised.
So I was really surprised. And look, when Alex didn't
make his I kind of knew we were in trouble.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
But to miss three in a PK shootout, that's not us.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Last year and against Houston, we.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Were dialed in. I mean, we didn't miss we didn't
miss any.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Last year, so I was I was really cut of
shocked at our penalties.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
How would you respond, coach to the folks that wanted
you to put Andrew Thomas in for Steph Fry on
the shootout?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Well, the same thing, I mean last year in the
second game in Houston, Steph actually made two saves and uh,
you know it's there's there's no there's no goalkeeper controversy.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Uh. If your shooters aren't making them, aren't making them.
So you know, it's just it's just it's plain and simple.
It's not a controversy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, Brian Schmeetzer again with US Saunders Minnesota, Leg two
of this series on Monday at Luhmann h seven fifty
five kickoff? Is that right? Not eight o'clock seven fifty
five And they're on time in this league pre match
show at seven thirty on the iHeart app. So let's
let's let's stay on the penalty kick front. Can you
(03:14):
just explain to us, like we're morons, which we are,
so it's easy. How do you decide who takes these kicks?
What's that process like? And does it happen the same
before every game?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it's similar to each game. Eat games a little
bit different.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
But we were we were practicing for the last two weeks,
even before New York City.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
FC our last game, we were already practicing.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Penalty kicks, and so I got a pretty good idea
of who's good and who's maybe not so good.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
And then it's kind of the same.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You're going through the game and you're you know, you
have your list in your head, and you go out
there and you talk to guys individually and sometimes as
a collective. You say, hey, you good, you want one
who wants one raise your hand, and you kind of
get a feel for who's feeling confident in that moment.
(04:08):
And I had, like, I had like seven guys in
the huddle softy saying they wanted to take kicks. And so,
you know, Christian has been really good, Albert obviously there, Jackson,
Alex the penalty kick in the league's cup final, Danny
Lavas you know, usually one hundred percent. And then I
(04:31):
still had Jordan and Georgie, and you know, I mean
I had.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Zero problems with our lineup. We just didn't we just.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Didn't make the shots mentioned Danny Lava there, How about
the other Danny. Danny Muzovski's got sixteen goals for you
guys this year, and he had a chance at the end,
didn't get it. Buddy got himself into some dangerous spots.
Does that make him more or less likely to earn
himself a starting spot on Monday?
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Yeah, Dick, that's the question we got to go through.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I mean, look, we created a bunch of chances even
just playing with Jordan's number nine.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But when Masaske came on it kind of changed the game.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So, you know, the coaches and I have been working
on the film already a little bit. Today we'll make
final determinations. And you know, look, if we stick to
a similar lineup the way we started and it's not
going good or we're not creating chances, Danny's in for sure,
but you know he might start as well.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Well, Brian Schmetzer game with US three two shootout lost
him Minnesota last night. Game two coming up on Monday, obviously,
and this is a Minnesota team that runs a let's
face it, gnarly disgusting, wretchet defensive system, right and you've
seen it. You've seen it three times this year, and
it seems like you kind of keep getting better and
(05:50):
better and better against it. I mean, what did you
kind of see last night that maybe makes you feel
like you can take an even bigger step coming up
on Monday.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Well, the frustrating part about the way they play, Softie,
and look they didn't they didn't they say it in
the press. I mean they want to deliberately slow the
tempo down. They want to take the sting out of
the game, even at home. I mean the goalkeeper was
taking thirty forty seconds every goal kick. You know, they
every free kick, they just push guys up the field
(06:21):
and tick it long and they're long throwings. Look, that's
who they are.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
We know who they are. So so the frustrate us.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yes, it make it difficult for the players, yes, but
the silver lining was again, you know, we created enough
chances to get at least one, and I think Softie,
if we get one at home, even if we get
one on the road, that might be enough because they
really didn't have too much. I mean, they had the
breakaway when when you know, Yaimar made a you know,
(06:51):
maybe a silly decision at midfield and the guy broke
in that was their only chance.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
How about Ryan Kent coach available on Monday you think.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Yeah, for sure, that was a late minute scratch.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I'd talked to him on Sunday's training actually the last
training day before we left, and he just felt a
little week in his injured hamstring, and I figured, you know,
we've got a three game series and if not, do
or die, So I was going to leave him home
and he got a good training session in. He'll have
(07:25):
one more full week of training with the team, but
he's definitely definitely going to be involved because it's a
do or die game for us.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And this is just to wrap it up, Brian, I mean,
obviously you know this, but this is where soccer in
the MLS is so much different than other sports that
have a three to five seven game series that typically
in a three or five seven game series, you'd play
a game and play the very next night, or maybe
a day off and play two days later. You get
to sit here now and think about this for a
(07:54):
week before in a potential elimination game on Monday night.
I mean, what is that like for you as a
head coach, because you're not going right back out there.
You got to think about this for seven days.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, everybody wants to get back up on the horse
after a tough loss. And it was, you know, it
was a gut punch, you know, because I think we
really outplayed.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Them, and you know, we deserved more out of the game.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
But you know, again, like I said, they got us
in the penalty kicks. So what we're going to do
is we're going to work a little bit more on
our penalty kick taking. We're going to review all the
tactics of what worked in Minnesota, and then we're going
to use the home crowd.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think we're really good at home. You know.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
The only loss actually at home was these guys back
right before the Club World Cup.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
But we've got a really strong home record all year.
We've only lost once. And we'll get them. We'll get
them on Monday.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Love it all right, Go get them, man, Appreciate this
and hopefully the next time we talk you'll be tied up.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Man. Go get them. Thanks coach, All right, take care, guys.
All right, you bet.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Brian Schmetzer with us on the radio show. Got a
big six pm hour. Larry's Stone's gonna hop on and
settle this. Tani Babe Ruth debate that we were having
today on the program Next on ninety three three kJ RFM.
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