Sounders - LAFC POST MATCH SHOW

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to the Sounders FC postmat show. Sounders FC Sucker is brought to you
by Providence, Swedish official healthcare partnerof Seattle Sounders FC. The Sounders F
scene postmat show starts now. Welcomeinto the Sounders FC postmatch show here at
Lumenfield. As the Sounders fall threezero to the LAFC, Well fellas.

(00:25):
Not often do we see the Soundersget outclassed in every aspect of the game
on their home field, but wesaw that tonight with LAFC just fully dominating
first half, kind of things wenttheir way. Sounders tried to make adjustments
in the second half, ended upplaying right into their hands. They just
hit us on the counter. Withone more goal from Bowonga, who was
once again the difference maker tonight withtwo goals. Lamar break down what you

(00:47):
saw from the second half. Sounderswith a little bit of sustained pressure to
open the half, but nothing toshow for it. Yeah, it was
what you expected leading into the secondhalf. They're up, lafc's up to
zero. They were able to sitback even more and just play on the
counter and hopefully get some possession uptop. First fifteen minutes they didn't get
out of their half. I thoughtthe Sounders, you know, it's very

(01:08):
hard for a team to sit withsustained pressure on them for forty five minutes
and not give up a goal.So the first fifteen minutes, I thought,
we got to get something. Therehas to be some break. We
got to get a lucky bounce orsomething like that. It didn't happen.
They're able to, you know,counter a little bit, get a little
bit of possession further up the fieldas time went on past that fifteen minutes,

(01:33):
and then they bring on Kai,who you know is obviously going to
be able to hold the ball upreally well, and they get that break.
Pretty frustrating, I think not beingable to score when a team sits
back and parks the bus. That'sbeen pretty difficult for the Sounders for a
while now. Having somebody that youknow, maybe on the outside, goes
at somebody one on one or getsthe ball and keeps going at him.

(01:55):
That's what I would like to see, is because I'm a winger, right,
I want to see wingers go atone on one, beat somebody and
then make pull out defenders take shotsfrom distance, that sort of thing,
Brad you talked about the tactical changesthat you wanted to see in the second
half or your evaluations for how thatlooked well. I think he made some
subs also and that changed the gamejust a little bit, added a little

(02:15):
bit of life. You know,Reid moves back to left back. I
think it was a bit more impactfulfrom a deeper position, something that Schwetz
will have to think about, youknow, as the season kind of unfolds,
and how he wants to play.I mean, any time you play
against a team here and you're upto nothing, like Lamar said, they're
happy to absorb pressure, and ifthey can withstand that for fifteen to twenty
minutes, then you know that they'regonna have to keep pushing. They're gonna

(02:37):
get tired, and that's when youcatch them on the brink. I mean,
everything worked out in Lafc's hands tonight. It caught him on the break
with Bouwonga with a fantastic finish,and as soon as Kai picked it up,
you could see there's one thing onhis mind. He knew exactly where
boow Woga was without even having tolook up, and Jackson's caught no man's
land and read not quick enough tocatch up to Bowanga. No one is
so tech. But you know,a couple half chances in the sect and

(03:00):
half yes, but not enough tosay that the Sounders really put La f
C under any real danger. Imean at the end there, like we
were talking about, was you knowa stoppage time save from from last and
you know, but that's never gonnahappen when you're down three to nothing.
Yeah, he played Superman there inthe last five minutes, made some crazy
saves, but wasn't really tested untilat a time was put on the clock.

(03:21):
So Brad I got a question,Yeah, what do you think the
solution is for when a team parksthe bus? What do the Sounders need
to do differently? I think yougo two up top for sure. I
think you go two up, yougo straight, three five two, and
you get the ball into wide areasand you just swing in balls. Because
at every single practice when we playedoffense versus defense, the last that's the
worst practice of the year is whenall four of us are sitting back there

(03:43):
and we're just getting peppered with crossesand the attackers are coming at us NonStop.
And it's the same in a gamelike if if If LAFC is gonna
sit back there with five and theSounders aren't gonna wit balls in, I'm
happy If I'm LAFC. Everything's infront of me. I don't have to
turn around and face my own goal. Against Saint Louis, we scored the
first goal from getting down at theend line. It's whipping a ball in,
and in the first half there wasa couple where the ball came in

(04:05):
and we won the knockdown. Andsometimes it's not about the first ball,
it's about the second ball. It'sabout the third ball. It's about the
sustained pressure that happens when you doswing in the ball. And tonight the
service just wasn't good enough. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean
something has to change, right.You can't have one guy sitting up top
and then just have possession to bepassing it around the outside of the box.

(04:26):
Yeah, one v three with threecenter backs on him too, you're
not gonna favorite job as a centerback. I also think taking shots from
distance, and that's the first thingwhere all did. Yeah, as soon
as he got in he touched theball, you knew he wanted to shoot.
He was about thirty out. Butat least that might start to draw
players out if there is some dangerfrom outside and then there might be the
space to pass through. And nowit was the first shot on goal for
Sounders against Hugo Lories today, whowas good, especially in the last couple

(04:47):
of minutes. But Delta Airlines isproud to donate one soccer ball for every
mile ram by Sounders FC players thisseason through the Rave Foundations One Mile one
Ball program. Fellows, I wantto see if you guys think if this
is a one off in a goodrun of form and you just came up
against a good team tonight that wasready to play against you, or if
there's something deeper where a good teamyou know, you've paid against some probably

(05:10):
lesser teams for sure in the lastten or so games, I would say,
and Brian needs to make some adjustmentsgoing up against the stronger side.
Yeah, well it's always difficult.I mean the Sounders, yes, have
been in a very good run ofform, but I like I said in
pregame, we haven't seen the bestof the Sounders yet. And for LAFC
it's kind of the obverse. It'sthey've had a very very good season.
They sit in first place in theWest once again. And so if we

(05:33):
thought that we were just going tocome in here, yes we're in a
good run of form and really putit on an LAFC team, then we've
got the season wrong already. AndI think that this is an eye opener
for the guys. It's an eyeopener for the coaches to say, yes,
have we made progress? Absolutely?Are we where we want to be?
No? And that is now.The measuring stick is LAFC and the

(05:54):
Galaxy as well. LA Galaxy.You're about to win against Portland. So
there are still teams in the upperechelon of this Western Conference, and there's
a lot of work for the Soundersteam to secure a top four spot.
Because spet said, supporter shields outof the question, right, we just
want to focus on trying to geta home game that requires a top four
finish. I think if you canfind a solution to you know, when
a team parks the bus and youcan find goals in that, then that's

(06:16):
going to make other teams have tochange. Right. If LAFC knows that
they can do that away at ourhome and still come out with a victory
like this, then they're all toohappy to do that. I think if
you find that, I don't thinkthis is like a dire thing that we
lost three zero. Honestly, aPK ball goes out great strike off of
a set piece, so then you'redown to zero and then it turns into

(06:39):
this type of game that they loveto play. So I think you find
a solution for teams parking the busand you score some goals that way,
then that brings them out and we'rein a fine space. It's not just
l AFC. They just provided ablueprint for other teams that can come in
and have success against the Sounders.So how do they make that adjustment run?
Well, I think it's different.I think early on in the season
you saw teams come in here andpark the bus and the Sounders had no
solution. But then you get halfwaythrough a season and the teams that the

(07:01):
Sounders played were all desperate for wins. Right. We didn't play top teams
throughout the course of the last twomonths. We played teams that if they
don't win, the coach is gettingfired. You can't just come into Seattle
then and park the buzz and hopeto get a tie. A tie does
no good for the teams that wehave already played. So yes, if
a winning team that wants to chasefor the Shield in September October, if

(07:23):
the Galaxy come here, yeah,they can sit back and say, okay,
we think we can get a pointhere, right, and we can
keep them off the board. SoI think there's a couple teams that the
blueprint works for, but all theother teams everyone needs points. It's too
tight. Yeah. Sounders FC SoccersBreneta presented by Provident, Swedish official healthcare
partner of Sounders FC. We'll comeback take a little bit of a bigger
picture moving forward for the Sounders.As the Sounders FC postmatch show continues on

(07:46):
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM, Sounders fans, sound trans It would
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Light rail trains are quiet and comein both directions, so stay aware
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(08:07):
visiting soundtransit dot org. Slash rydedash with dash us. Welcome back into
Luminfield. As the Sounders fall threezero to LAFC Fellas. With this result,
the Sounders could have today if theyhad come out with a win,
gone all the way up to fourthplace in the Western Conference, but they
sit at seventh place at this pointin time. Minnesota comes in next week

(08:28):
and they're in ninth, So there'sgonna be a little bit a bit of
a battle there for the end ofthe playoff spots as we move in towards
the kind of final third of theseason here. But I want to take
a deeper conversation into what Lamar andyou guys were talking about last segment about
teams that try and park the buson the Sounders, because it seems like
that's kind of a blueprint for howto frustrate this team, especially creating chances

(08:48):
and getting balls in behind to someonelike Jordan Morris, who that's kind of
what he thrives on. Yeah,well, if you remember, the Sounders
got their result when Carlos Bello wasat his peak in the playoffs in La
with by playing five in the backessentially, and so yes, it works.
It's very frustrating for any offensive opponent. Is there an easy way to
break teams down when it's five,three and two or however they're gonna set

(09:09):
up no but yes, it isa conscious decision for a team that's chasing
a supporter shield to come in hereand say, we can afford to play
with three center backs and then seewhat happens. Right, We'll see what
happens if we get out of there. We know that we can probably keep
them off the board, and thenif we're gonna score on the other end,
we trust our attackers, and sofor them, it was a tactical
adjustment to come in here and saywe're gonna try this and see if it

(09:31):
works, and sure enough, itdid tonight. So Lamar, my question
to you is is that an ingame adjustment that Brian needs to make or
is that something where he needs toprepare his team in a different way going
forward. Well, I think it'ssomething you gotta address and have everybody understand.
Okay, if they are parking thebus, if we do see this,
then that signals an in game change. But you're not gonna know.
You might have an idea that LAFC. Okay, they tend to do this,

(09:54):
but like a Minnesota coming in,you know, their first intention probably
isn't parking the bus. If ithappens in game, Okay, now we
switch to it. Now, weknow what the solutions are, we know
what the triggers are if we startto see that. Yeah, and I
just want to go one more thinghere. Let's take one positive at least
from this game. I want eachof you to get one for me.

(10:15):
What was your positive takeaway from thisgame there? Brad, Oh, jeez,
you are gonna put me on thespot. Okay, Well, guys
stayed healthy. Yeah, and thisis a team that's never gonna quit even
if it is two or three nothing. They know that the fans come out
for a reason. You know.It was good to see Pedro on the
field, and it's just unfortunate withthis. You know, when we played,
there was no oh you ran thismuch, so then you can only

(10:37):
you have to come off at halftime, like if a guy's feeling good,
let him play, I don't youknow, And you need to get these
guys minutes and get him going.And so I understand that the whole sports
scientist thing has changed the game quitea bit. So it was good to
see him back out there. Idon't see definitely haven't seen the best of
him just yet. And it's gonnatake some time. But hopefully the league's

(10:58):
couple see more of him, andhe'll get some more games under his belt
with some good competition and stay healthy. So you know, the guys stayed
healthy, showed fight, but nottoo many positives because you close out such
a great run with an unfortunate lossto a top tier contender, like you
said, could have been in fourthplace, and now you find yourself down
in seventh and the pack is justeven tighter and every point is so valuable.

(11:20):
Lamar, Yeah, I mean it'sit's hard to find a positive three
zero. You have a lot ofpossession, but they're giving you possession,
so you can't really count that,right, right, Yeah, guys getting
good minutes and staying healthy. Ithought the subs came on and did a
good job, even though you know, we didn't get a goal, but
I always love to see Rothrock runningaround and giving a good effort. Yeah,

(11:43):
it's good to see that they triedto make some tactical adjustments. It's
just when you start going down tozero, it's going to fall right into
lafc's hands. All right, Well, come back and take a look ahead
to Minnesota United on the Sounders FCpost match show on Sports Radio ninety three
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it All. Welcome back Sounders fansto the Sounders FC post match show here
at Lumenfield. As the Seattle Soundersdrop a match three zero to LAFC,

(13:16):
let's look ahead to Minnesota United,guys, and a busy schedule continues for
Sounders FC as two leaguees Cup matchescome before the next MLS match against Minnesota
United as well, so three matcheswith two of them coming against Minnesota United,
so kind of seeing the same opponentmultiple times. Does a result like
this I want to ask is doesit garner a little bit of open competition

(13:39):
for some spots in the team,especially with two Leagues Cup matches coming up?
Yeah, for sure. With Leagu'sCup coming up, I think you'll
see a mix because I think themain focus right now is Open Cup and
obviously you know the regular season,so I think Leake's Cup you'll see a
good mix, especially it gets aMinnesota side that's struggling. Yeah. I
don't think Minnesota has the luxury ofthrowing all their eggs into that basket in
Leak's Cuts because if they pick upone or two injuries, then their whole

(14:01):
season is a wash and they're onthe cusp right now, kind of like
the Sounders were about two months ago, where if they get four or five
results, they could be back inthe mix. So I think you'll see
a mixed line up here on FridayNight. And you know, but yeah,
that opens the door for guys whohaven't played too much. But there's
a lot of guys on this rosterI haven't played a lot that are very
good players. Right, You're gonnabe able to start a Roth Rock,

(14:22):
Ruy Diez, Jonathan Bell, AlexRodn, Mussovski, Leo Chio. All
these guys are high quality players thathave seen a lot of minutes. Good
thing more healthy going into this turnnow to mention guys that are fighting for
starting spots, right Lamar, Yeah, and it's an I think it's an
exciting opportunity. We talked about inthe pre match that Schmitzer doesn't know whose
top eleven is. This is anopportunity for those guys to really show in

(14:43):
a good competition. So this givesthem an opportunity to shine. Should be
an interesting one. We got sixthirty pre game with Jackson Phelps at seven
thirty announced kickoff here at Sports AreSorry at EQC Pitch at lumen Field.
That'll be an interesting one on Friday. I want to do you one more
quick one here with this result.It's tough to kind of know exactly what's

(15:05):
going on in that locker room downwith Brian Schmitzer and the guys. But
is this one of those situations whereyou want to analyze everything what went wrong?
Or is this a flush it behindyou kind of one off situation and
hopefully you come out and have akind of new slate going forward. I
think Schmitz will be in there andsay, look, we got out played
tonight and but we have to shakethis one off. And he'll say that

(15:26):
we have a lot of work todo, and we're gonna watch film and
we're gonna get back to work.He'll say that this is too good of
a group to suffer a three nothingloss at home. The fans deserve better,
but most importantly the players do becausethey have put in so much work
to even get to the position wherethey're having a chance to fight for fourth
place in the West. So yes, you kind of have to brush it
off. But this will be aweek where everyone's going to have to take
a step back and look at howthey kind of got to that point tonight.

(15:50):
Yeah, I bet it's like asomber mood right three zero at home
anytime is going to be pretty difficultto swallow. But honestly, like I
was saying, the the goals PKto start, then off the set piece
a rebound like it wasn't that badto where Okay, everything needs to be
looked at. They need to findsome solutions for scoring goals and that's kind

(16:11):
of it. I agree, allright. This season remembers Sounders fans.
When the Sounders win, you'll wina free McChicken the next day, exclusively
in the McDonald's app with any minimumtwo dollars purchase. Download the McDonald's app
today and check out the deals waitingfor you that will do it for us.
Here from the Sounders FC post matchshow, thank you so much to
Lamar Nagel, brad Evans absolute SoundersLegends. It's a pleasure to share the

(16:33):
stage with you guys. And ofcourse for Christopher Kidd back in the Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM studiosfor Ryan for our stats, He's the
Man and we'll talk to you guysnext time. Ands Fox Sports Radio is
Next Sports Radio ninety three point threeKJRFM