October 29, 2025 • 46 mins
Tonight on Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts recaps the game one loss in the first round of the playoffs, we hear from Albert Rusnak and Jackson Ragen after the game, plus visit with FS1 broadcaster Jamie Watson and Ari Liljenwall, who shares what else is happening around MLS.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming to you live from our Relliot Avenue studios of
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders
Weekly with your host Jackson Felts.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good Ding and everybody. Welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson Feltz
here good be with you on this Wednesday night. Here
for the next hour talking Sounders Soccer. Rain Weekly will
come up right after this at eight pm talking about
the Rain entering the NWSL playoffs with kee Lee Dunning.
But here for the next hour, we're talking about the
(00:32):
Sounders first playoff game, Game one of this best of
three first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. It was
a loss. It was a loss in heartbreaking fashion in
penalty kicks in a game in Minnesota at a Leons
field where we saw ninety minutes of pretty good soccer
and I thought we did well to keep Minnesota down
(00:54):
on their offensive end on our defensive end, but just
not enough on the offensive end for c We just
couldn't put together that final ball in the back of
the net. And we'll get into a lot of that
and listen, there's a number of things regarding the penalty
shootout problems with that, and now we look ahead to
(01:14):
a game two, where it is essentially and very very simply,
you either win or your season is over, because Minnesota
takes Game one in penalty kicks zero zero after ninety minutes,
and then they win in penalties three to two misses
of course in penalties by Al strolled on, I mean,
I guess we'll just get into it really quickly. I'll
(01:35):
promote what's coming up Jamie Watson, who called the match
for FS one. He's of course an MLS broadcaster, He's
been on with us many many times. Jamie will join
us in just a few minutes to break down what
we saw in the penalty kick shootout loss and look
ahead to game two. Ari Lillianwall will of course join us.
He will talk about this and lots of other MLS
(01:57):
playoff results that we saw here in this first game
of the first round series around the league. And then
I believe we are going to also we may have
a player call in for our final segment tonight. If
we don't end up getting that, we're just gonna play
some of the postgame press conference from Jackson Reagan and
Albert Rusnak. So that's the roadmap here for the next hour.
(02:20):
Jamie Watson coming up in a few minutes. Let's just
jump in because there's a lot of points to be
frustrated about. And we were on the postgame show, myself
and Chance Fry, and right after the final whistle. The
first place my mind, night Night, not final whistle, after
the final penalty did not go in from Danny Lava.
The first place my mind was Zad was not the
(02:44):
poor penalty shootout. It was Danny Mazowski because listen, there
were a lot of moments in that game, from a
ninth minute chance for herlong wan A for Minnesota who
breaks away one v one and you know, missus wide
left thanks to a little bit of a push from
Jackson Reagan. I think he got away with one right there.
(03:04):
If I'm being honest, I think that's a penalty. But
thank goodness, VR did not look at the push from
Jackson Reagan because it went wide left. No goal you
can lead to that, And there was more communication breakdown
there in the ten minutes after that, And really, Minnesota
had such great opportunities, but Seattle had their opportunities as well.
(03:25):
There was a great Paul Rothrock chance in the first
half that went that went too high. You really, really
good kind of interplay between the midfield. There. There was
a series in a fifty fourth minute where a corner
comes in Paul Rothrock is called for a foul for
pulling down Michael Boxall. He did not pull down Michael Boxhall.
Michael Boxall just fell down. What happened afterwards was a
(03:48):
handball cleared off the line from Minnesota. That should have
been a penalty for Seattle, but they called a foul
on Paul Rothrock that wasn't. So there's kind of things
you can look at from this game where I can
kind of point to a few things and say, probably,
you know, after ninety minutes a fair result could have
been one to one if it weren't for what happened
(04:11):
in the final five minutes. Because credit to Brian Schpenzer,
I did think he made some good subs, and one
of those subs he made was bringing on Danny Mazowski
for Haesus Freira. You shift Jordan Morris out to the right,
and for the final twenty minutes of that game where
Moose's up top and Jordan's on the right, stuff was working.
It was really working there with that connection from Jordan
(04:33):
on the right. They played Jordan down the right side.
What about four times at every single time Jamo got
behind their back line. It was working and they kept
doing it, and Jordan created a couple very very good chances.
And most notably so there was obviously the eightieth minute
as well, the tap in that was saved really well
(04:53):
saved by Dane Saint Clair. But the thing that coping
back to my comments where one one would have been
a fair result if weren't for Danny Mazovski's chance. The
ninety first minute, we are at the death in this match.
Jordan sends in a phenomenal cross to Mazovsky's head. It's
right in front of goal. Saint Clair is beat and
(05:14):
Mazosky heads it high above the bar. And if you
just head that ball down, it doesn't matter if you
head it down straight, if you head it down to
the right, if you head it down to the left,
that ball has a pretty darn high percentage chance of
going in the back of the net. But Mazoski heads
it up and it goes above the bar and it
(05:36):
ends zero zero after ninety forcing us to penalties. And man,
what a chance that was. So that was where my
head was at right after the game and right after
the penalty kicks shootout is my god, you just can't
miss that chance in the ninety first Moose, I mean,
my gosh, for sixteen goals this year and a guy
who's been so good in the Rave Green he that's
(05:58):
one moment that I'm just I was angry and I'm
still angry about that. But then I did take my
time in this morning. I went back and I watched
the penalty kick shootout and I really am frustrated by
the penalty kick shootout. And Dane Saint Clair, credit to him,
he did a very very good job. But Alex chuldan
really poor take right down the middle and it's not
(06:20):
even a well taken down the middle, and Saint Clair
just stands there and blocks it. That's really frustrating. And
then Leiva and Christian as well, those are frustrating too.
Not a good shootout from the Sounders. And you know
what's surprising about it was this is a team who
has been good shootouts recently. You think back to the
Houston series last year, right, So it's it's frustrating that
(06:44):
this does end up with a Sounder penalty kick shootout loss.
Because there were various moments in this match where you
could have I think gotten a better result. You could
have gone through after this first game with a win,
but it is a loss and now we're facing elimination.
Is either you win next Monday or the season is
over really quick, as I see Jamie Watson on hold,
(07:05):
let me quickly give you broadcast details. Next Monday, Loominfield
Game two, seven fifty five kickoff at Lumen's seven fifty
five kickoff, Providence, Swedish Premat show will start at seven thirty.
You can only hear that match on the Sounders FC
Radio stream channel on iHeartRadio. So whether you have the
(07:26):
iHeartRadio app or you listen via the internet on iHeartRadio
dot com, look up Sounders FC Radio and that will
pull up a stream channel and that stream channel is
where you'll be able to hear next Monday's match seven
thirty premat show. For that folks. You can also watch
the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app
(07:46):
and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty.
Game two win or the season is over for the
Seattle Sounders. We'll be talking about that a lot tonight
and how we think that Game two will go joining
us right now. Hauled the match for FS one. It
is our good friend Jamie Watson. Jamie, there's a lot
to talk about with this game, buddy. How are you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Jack? And I'm great man, always always love getting to
talk to you. You're one of the most elite minds.
You see the game very similarly to myself. Although somehow
in a back end of way, I just called myself
an elite mind. I didn't mean to do that when
I started a Senate. Basically, what I need to say,
I love talking chop with you because you know yourself
and it's always a great conversation with you. Brother.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I love you, buddy, Thank you so much. The check
is in the mail, all right. But I would love
to talk to you about a really fun soccer game
and a sounder win and all the great things and
YadA YadA. But we have to talk about that on
Monday night. Oh boy, that thing in the loss and
(08:51):
penalty kicks in Minnesota, the way they play, I imagine
it wasn't the most pleasant call for FS one. But
what were your thoughts on the game?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, Josh, Heatteron and I we had a pleasure to
getting called for Fox Sports one man. We did not
anticipate it being a match that was so played in
the middle of the park, so stop start so disjointed.
There was a big opportunity for Minnesota in the first
(09:21):
three minutes of the match, and I want to get
your thoughts on this as a Seattle fan, because I'm
very interested to hear your thoughts on it. We were
hoping that was going to be a sign of things
to come to action end to end, but it really
took Seattle about twenty to twenty two minutes to kind
of figure out how to really get a quality opportunity
(09:41):
on Minnesota. And that's exactly what Eric Ramsey in Minnesota
United wanted. They wanted to make life difficult, and they did,
and they made it as ugly as possible. And ultimately,
as we look at it today, who's up one zero
in the series, it's Minnesota United. And nobody asked how,
They just asked who.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well and also who didn't execute. And that was kind
of where I spent the first few minutes of the
show tonight in that exact topic. And you know, right
after the game ended, my first mindset Jamie was to
be very angry about Danny Mazowski not executing, and then
over the last number of hours, my brain has shifted
(10:22):
into being mad at the penalty kicks and you know,
the poor execution from Alc Trodan, Christian Roldan and Danny
Leva and additionally now even just in the last few minutes,
now I'm questioning was Danny Leva the right substitute when
he hasn't played at all and then he comes onto
the field, you know, having to just you know, be
in such a massive moment. And frankly, Minnesota did the
(10:43):
same thing. And I believe Gressel subbed on and Gresseel
missed his penalty too. So you know, your question of
who it's a great it's a great one because for me,
there's so many different guys I can point to right now,
and it's just leading to this mass frustration as a
Sounder fan.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, and I think when the head hit the pillow
for Brian Smetter and for air Cramsey, the respective head coaches,
I guarantee you neither one of them were happy with
how the game went. One coach is happiers then the other
because their team is up one zero, and that's Minnesota United.
Eric Ramsey but having said that, that was a match
in which it desperately needed a goal to change the
(11:24):
game one way or another, and we never got it.
And so it simply came down to two teams that
neither one of them executed, and you have to execute
in the playoffs to be able to change the game
with the timeliness of a goal. It never came you right,
great substitution to bring on Missofsky. He got into the position,
(11:45):
but he didn't score. And he's had a great season
fourteen goals in the regular season. I think it's probably
been an overestimation of what anybody expected from Missovski. So
you have to, on one hand say it's been great,
but this was not the time that you needed him
to miss those opportunities. You needed him to take those opportunities,
(12:07):
and ultimately time ran out and when it went to penalties. Look,
we know how good Danes think Claire is. But there
was also this element of last year Seattle did the
same exact thing that Minnesota did. They won two games
in the first beest of three series against Houston and
they were able to get through. So you felt like
there was an element of we've been here before. But
(12:27):
man again, it came down to execution, and shockingly I
would have never guessed both rodn brothers were gonna miss
and Danny Lava. I don't mind the substitution bringing in
because he's shown something in training that makes Schmetzer think
this guy can get it done from twelve yards out,
whether he's played ninety minutes or he didn't touch the
ball prior to kicking a penalty kick, because it's the
(12:50):
same thing Julian Pressel did, as you alluded to, But
don't have a problem with that. I did find it
interesting to see just how many Seattle Sounder fans online
were saying and have been Andrew Thomas in goal for
the penalty game.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I don't know, like you know, that's I.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Don't think so.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I don't don't.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I'll get out in front of, say first while while.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You're figuring out with you, but go ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, I don't think. I think it's very different for
a player. It's one kick, you're twelve yards out. You're
in a position where I think it's something statistical like
seven or eight times out of ten you should score
somewhere right in there from the penley spot for the
goalkeeper I feel like it's much harder to get in
and make the saves, especially if you're cold. And I
(13:37):
think you know, unless you've got Nick Romondo's sitting on
the bench, who's the greatest penalty shot sopper a Emilia
in Major League Soccer history. And no slide on Andrew Thomas.
I just think you trust the goalkeeper Stephan Bryor, who's
been there for over four hundred times in league play
and has one MLS Cup with you and stuff. He's
earned that right to be in there to trust him.
And I would have been so shocked if there would
(13:58):
have been a sub to bring up Stephan Fry. I
wasn't shocked for the subgarine on extra shooters. It just
came down to a night with to say, Sattle Thunders
had their opportunities to take the advantage on the road
and they didn't take the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So Jamie Watson's our guest, and Jamie, I fully agree
with you what you're saying there, and I just a
lot of people are saying Andrew Thomas, and I would
also remind people that Stephan Fry was the goalkeeper for
that penalty kicks shoot out win in both first and
second games in Houston and at home agames Houston last year.
So Fry did win those shootouts last year, just a
(14:32):
year ago. Andrew's good, But I don't think you make
a goalkeeper substitution at the death for all of the
reasons you just pointed out. You're absolutely right on that.
You know, Jamie, the one change as we kind of
look ahead to game two that I would absolutely considering.
You pointed out the same thing that I pointed out
a few minutes ago, And that's the success of what
happened when Danny Muzovski's on the field and Jordan's on
(14:54):
the right and for the last twenty minutes of that game.
After that, after that substitution, stuff is working well offensively
for Seattle on that right side. And if I'm Brian Schenzer,
I consider making that change for game two and starting
Jordan and Mazowski together and letting them try to find
that magic again.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, I don't have any any problems with that. So
let's piece thiss in together. If we're gonna put ourselves
in the mind of Brian Smetzer, let's do it together. Okay.
So they went out in a four to two three
one last night, the backboard has been picking itself. The
two in the middle rolled on Vargas that's picked itself
as well. And then across the three you had on
(15:36):
the right is this Fredeta. You had Albert rus Knock
at the number ten, ye old Paul Rothrock on the left,
and then you put Morris up top. So for the
sake of the argument, we're gonna bring in Danny Mssovski
from up upfront and we're gonna start him there. So
are we going with more of a four four to two?
And if that's the case, are you you know, are
you gonna go with or I guess you could say
(15:57):
a three five two, which you may be being to
go to a three five two and use some wingers
to be able to maybe combat the fact that Minnesota
United really only put one forward Soong Wani by himself
off top on an island, and you might think there's
even more of an island and even deeper of parking
(16:20):
the buck type situation that could be ahead on the road.
So you got to figure it out. Let's say, what
would you prefer? Would you prefer to see a three
five two or four four to two? If we're gonna
go to two up top.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
What I would prefer is the four four two, and
I think you put Christian rolled down out on the right.
You put Jordan and Danny together, and you can have
Christian tuck in for his brother when when when in
Alex advances you have o Bed. I mean, the question
is who goes out.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
On the on the left? Yeah? Right?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Because honestly, you know, after seeing I love Paul Rothrock,
and I hate to say any bad word about Paul Rothrock,
but if there's an odd man out, I want to
keep Albert on the field. I want to keep Obed
on the field. I want to keep Christian on the field,
and I want to keep Frera on the field. And
I think that that Rothrock is the odd man out.
And then at that point you just build that group
(17:11):
of Albert Hayesus and Christian and Obed and Jordan and Danny,
and you have that group and you make sure that
you fit them in the spots applicable and let them
have freedom to cook.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I mean, you just cooked on that answer. How am
I supposed to come in after that? Because everything you
said is exactly how I would feel about that situation.
I think that's exactly how you would roll that out.
I would make the same decision as you. I would
trust the fact that this is nothing against the season
that Paul Rothrock has had because he has been a
consistent threat. I do think you give Ferrera this start
(17:51):
because this simple fact Paul Rothrock off the bench would
be far more impactful in the game of the final
fifteen twenty twenty five minutes. Then I believe Hejes Furdeda
would be if you started Rothrock and brought on no
fault of Rothrock's own. I think that he has the
ability to change the game in a condensed period of time.
(18:13):
And I think you give Brera the consistency of the
start and the option to be able to hopefully impact,
and you play narrow. I think that in that hits
that system. That's easy for me to say, you get
those wingers in to be able to allow Newho to
overlap on one back because they're going to be able
to go Alex hold On on the right side, and
you over crowd the numbers because when Seattle we're able
(18:36):
to get into those half spaces either side of will
Trap or Triantis. There was some space the combination play
they had where there's a little vacual and Rothrock had
the curling effort about twenty five minutes into the first
half that was like, oh, this is how we do it.
Even think about the first five minutes when Jordan Morris
was able to go on a little slip pass from Preira.
(18:58):
You know, he just wasn't able to execut as in
near post. But there were glimpses to that. And you
need more players in the final third to get on
the end of the well worked crosses, and you need
to be able to give those freedom for a higher
starting position from the two in the midfield. I personally
love what you're saying. I'm picking up what you're putting down.
But again, neither you or I is the longest tenured
(19:20):
and the currently most successful coach in the major leagues
LC Gracy. I'll give brucerin and flowers out at dan Oda,
but we know what I'm talking about. With Roden Schmetzer,
He's figured out more often than not to have the
faith and I believe that Seattle at home. I do
think that they should be the heavy favorites and they
need to get the job done. They just have to
(19:41):
execute it. But I think that extra player up top
could cause Minnesota United more problems than what we saw
last night.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Game one. We'll see what Brian does in this chess
match against Eric Ramsey. Jamie, let's wrap it up with this,
and I have a very very simple question to wrap
this up. Considering that we're looking at showers and high forties,
Considering as you mentioned, and I agree, Minnesota is going
to park the bus like no team has ever parked
the bus before and play a defensive brand of soccer,
(20:07):
maybe even more defensive than they normally do. Considering all
of this, how ugly of a game are we in
store for on Monday.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Depends quick answer. It depends on the fact that if
Seattle get an early goal in Minnesota cannot Minnesota United
cannot sit in, then that changes everything. The longer the
game goes zero zero on Monday night, the better that
is for Minnesota United. The more pressure that is on Seattle,
more that plays into the visitors hands. The first goal,
just like any other game, but especially this game, is
(20:39):
so so, so so important. Sattle need to come out
flying from the get go and get that early goal. There.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It is the expertise of Jamie Watson. I love having
you on every single time you do Sounders matches. Man,
there's a pleasure to have you on the broadcast there
on FS one. Thank you for spending some time with
us today and hopefully we're talking about the game three
here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Always great to be on with you. A big fan
of the show, Big Kenny, you Jackson, and thank you
for having me on. Man.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Great stuff there from Jamie Watson. Love having him on
the show. All Right, we'll get a break and talk
to Ari Lillian Wall about Game one, Game two ahead,
and the rest of the MLS Cup playoffs around the
entire league. Ari Lillian Wall is next on Sounders Weekly
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders FC,
Seattle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts, good to be with
you here tonight on this Wednesday night. Thanks to Jamie
Watson for spending a few minutes there to kick off
tonight's show. Of course, it is not a happy show,
as the Sounders fell in Game one in the first
best of three round in penalty kicks at Minnesota Game
two ahead next Monday night at lumin Field. We'll continue
(21:59):
talking both of those games and we'll talk about the
rest of the MLS Cup playoffs with our good friend.
He is a writer and editor with MLS Soccer dot Com.
He also hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Get Lobbing Scorches
on the iHeartRadio app and wherever your podcast. You can
also watch Lobbing Scorches on the Lobbing Scorches YouTube. Subscribe
(22:20):
to it and you'll be notified when they go live
on Monday mornings and Thursday nights. The man in charge
of it all, Ari Lillianwalla joins us here again. Ari.
How you doing, buddy?
Speaker 4 (22:31):
I'm good, Jackson.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
How are you not great?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Ari?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Kind of pissed off. Let's just start with your impressions.
I'm of two minds, hating the shootout and hating the
miss chances, so I'm all bad news today, Buddy. What
do you think about the game?
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I mean it's frustrating obviously. You know you already lost
to Minnesota United twice this year, and you get the
queen sheet in this game on the road and losing
the shootout, So I mean, I don't know it's tough
because I feel like this is one of the trickier
teams in MLS to play against. With the tactics they employed.
They were playing full out Ramsey ball in this game
(23:09):
like you would expect. So it's a situation where you
feel like you kind of know what's coming, but it is.
It is tough to deal with, and it just feels
like I feel like Seattle is close to cracking the
code with this team, but they have not quite cracked it,
even with the chances they did have in this game.
So we'll see if they can in the in game two,
if they can get the result, they need to go
back and try it again. But that was not a
(23:31):
fun or enjoyable viewing the experience. I don't think well, Arion.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This is why a month ago when I asked you
of the four teams you know that were the top
four seeds in the West, who you want to face,
and you said Minnesota. Shane O'Neil said Minnesota. A couple
other people said Minnesota, and I pushed back on every
single one of you and I said, this is the
type of game we're gonna play, and a good defensive
team I don't want to face that, and I mean,
(23:54):
I hate to say I told everybody so, but like, man,
this is the annoyance of Minnesota. This is why I
was really afraid of facing this team.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah no, I mean I might not have lent enough
credence to how difficult it truly is to play against
this team with their novel tactics. I still think it's
a matchup that, in theory, should be a better one
than a team like LAFC or Vancouver. Who you know,
you saw what Vancouver did to f CE Dallas. You're
not playing Minnesota. You're gonna have to deal with a
(24:26):
team like that, and that could be even more of
a trickier proposition. I don't think you get a shutout
against a team like that like you did against Minnesota.
So I mean, you know, it's the playoffs. Any team
that you're gonna play is gonna be good, They're gonna
be tough. But this team, it just feels like they're
kind of Seattle's foil this year. And they have a
(24:47):
chance to change that narrative luckily, but that's it's hard
to come out of that game and not kind of
feel like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And as we kind of look to Game two next
Monday night at Lumen Field. I mean, I see right
now a forecast of rain and this should be it was.
It says cloudy early and showers late, and I just
view that as gonna be a Monday night game where
it's rainy, it's nasty, and probably already crack. You know,
(25:14):
you can you can maybe differ on this. A Minnesota
team that's gonna park the bus more than a bus
has ever gotten parked in soccer history.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
I mean absolutely, that's what they do pretty much every game,
regardless of they're home on the road, but on the
road they definitely are going to uh to do that.
It's it's interesting it is parking the bus, but it's
also uh it's it's like a more exaggerated version of
these anti possessions playing against the ball tactics. Then you
(25:43):
even see teams, teams, they are teams in MLS that
play like that, but they just have such an extreme
version of it. So, I mean it's in this situation,
the onus is on Seattle to get a goal that
brings them out of that a little bit. If you
can get an early goal, they cannot play like that
as much. Then they have to chase the game. The
problem in this game was that they were not able
(26:04):
to get that goal and that kind of played into
how Minnesota wanted the game to go and they and
how they wanted to play. I would argue, as the
home team in a playoff game, you should not play
like that, but that's what they do and it works.
So you can't really not get it if it works,
and they are going to try and have to do
it again. So Seattle is going to have to make
the requisite changes to score on this team, which they
(26:25):
hadn't been able to do the last two times they played.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, exactly. It's frustrating and Brian Spencer is going to
have to figure out something. And you know, I posited
it on the post game show. Do you start Danny
Mazowski and Jordan Morris both together and take Paul Rothrock
off the field and you know, figure out your midfield
from there and the group of Albert and Hayesus and
Christian and Obed and just figure out who goes where.
(26:49):
But absolutely need Jordan and Danny together because that was
the one thing that was really working for the final
twenty minutes was when when Jordan was on the right
and Danny was up top and Dan and he just
couldn't capitalize on his chances. We'll see what Brian does.
But yeah, it's it's it's definitely gonna be. I think
an ugly soccer game next Monday, and an early goal
(27:11):
would make it less ugly in forced Minnesota open up
a little bit. But that is an enormous task scoring
on a very very good defensive Minnesota team. Ariy Lellenwall
is our guest. He's a writer and editor for MLS
Soccer dot com. He hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Get
it on the iHeartRadio app and wherever you get your
podcasts and on the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. Are you mentioned
(27:32):
Vancouver FC Dallas. That was an ass kicking. You take
us into that series and just how much Vancouver is
is right now in prime position to move through.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Yeah, I mean FC Dallas just looked overmatched in that game,
which I think is pretty much what everyone expected going
into that series. But that is how it played out.
And I mean my takeaway is just that that Vancouver team,
they've been dubbed MLS Cup favorites or at least some
the front runners, but They're a team that hasn't really
had that status before, so they had to go out
(28:05):
and kind of validate that they should have that status.
And that's exactly what they did. They put it on
FC Dallas, and really, I think Thomas Mueller has really
you have to say, he's elevated that team quite substantially.
They were already one of the better teams in the league,
and it feels like he's vaulted them into They're in
that tier where when you're talking about the teams that
should be favored to make a run of this thing,
(28:27):
they are in that. Like, I think you can officially
say that after they came out and took care of
business against FC Dallas, that series feels pretty much over.
You know, you still have Game two, but even if
FC Dallas finds a way to get a penalty kick
victory or whatever it is in game two, it's hard
to see them going back to DC Place and getting
a win.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, it's really really hard to see that. And now
let's look at the other team here in Cascadi, the
Portland Timbers. They won their wild card game. We were joking,
you know, last week's show, which was ten minutes before that,
wild card game kicked off. That could easily crash out
in the wild card round. Again, they didn't. They did
get through, but then San Diego beats them two to one,
(29:07):
and Portland in that game suffers a red card. I
don't know the full details on that, but it's a
Porland team right now that you know, on the opposite
side of Vancouver. They're looking going into game two right now,
sort of like the Sounders win or else your season's over.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, it looked like their game against San Diego was
going to go fully off the rails. They went down
to zero in the first half, but to be fair,
they did bring it back and they got a goal
that made it to one, and then they get a
red card. That is just like you're actually in the
game at that point. It's not like the game was
out of hand. They had a chance to come back
and tie that game and send it to penalties or
(29:44):
maybe even win it, and they just get one of
the more ill advised red cards that you will ever see.
And playing with ten men, I actually I thought they
looked too better at times than they did when they
had all eleven they had. There's a couple moments where
they almost tied that game, even down a man, So
they did show a little bit of moxie in making
(30:04):
that a game even though they had to play that
long down a man. But like in reality, there's a
very big disparity between the firepower and I guess just
the overall quality between them and San Diego, who were
playing without Choky Bizano by the way. Yeah, so yeah, no,
it's not it's not looking good for the for the Timbers,
they are fully on the ropes right now, even though,
(30:25):
like I think, there was some good stuff for them
in that game, even though they lost it.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Ari I asked you last week what playoff series you
were most looking forward to, and you mentioned the Hell
is Real Derby between Columbus and Cincinnati, and you always
love rivalry series. In the first round of these playoffs
where it is a best of three and you got
Cincinnati with a late goal to beat Columbus one nothing,
you said you were looking forward to it, and boy,
(30:50):
that first game lived up to it, very very tight
until the end.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, it was a pretty exciting game. There wasn't as
end to end with as many chances as I was hoping,
but you know, it can.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Get kg like that. In the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
These close, competitive one zero type games do happen a lot,
so this was one of those. And it was a
derby matchup, like you said, so there's always those storylines.
And then Kevin Dinky gets the goal for Cincinnati. But
I was not really fully convinced that FC Cincinnati made
a statement that they're among the favorites in the same
way that Vancouver did. That Columbus team honestly has not
(31:26):
been good for a while. I know we are used
to thinking of them as a front runner, but they
really have struggled down the stretch of the season, and
I expected Cincinnati to maybe take care of business a
little bit more than they ended up doing. So that
was kind of my takeaway from that. It was an
exciting game, but I didn't think that FC Cincinnati necessarily
showed what I expected they might.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
What about Philadelphia, they only went through on penalties. Also,
same case, didn't show you the statement you wanted to see.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean I've been saying that I
felt like the Chicago Fire had a better chance in
that series, and people might think just because they actually
you know, they're playing in a tough Eastern Conference and
they're probably better than your typical wildcard team, at least
the form that they had been in at the end
of the season going into the playoffs. So I wasn't
necessarily surprised that they gave Philly a run for their money.
(32:16):
But I still think Chicago can win that series. They
showed to themselves and everyone else that they can play
with that Philly team. And I also think that Philly
team might not be as good as your typical supporter
Shield winner, like I think the teams that were used
to winning the Shield would would not. I don't think
be pushed to the limit as much by a Chicago
team that is good, but they're not a great team
(32:36):
that you would expect Philly to have that much trouble with.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, I think that's the exact analysis there is sort
of I also kind of read that as a question
mark for Philly. But Chicago, I mean, they just got
by Orlando in the wildcard game easy, and what an
upset that would be. Sort of alah, you know Miami
Atlanta last season in the first round of Miami who
did make a big statement three to one are before
we end tonight, speaking on my Lionel Messi did an
(33:02):
interview I believe it was on a news show, was
on NBC or something like that, I don't know anyway,
So Messi does this interview with an American news outlet,
which he rarely does, and they were asking him him
about how MLS can improve and how MLS can take
the next step. And I want to read you this
(33:23):
quote and we'll kind of in for everybody out there,
read the quote and we'll kind of talk about what
it could mean for the future this league. Seeing as
how much power Messi has. He says, well, for starters,
every team should have the opportunity to bring in players
and sign whoever each team wants without limitation or rules
for players to bring them in. I don't think that
today all the teams in the United States, all the clubs,
(33:45):
have the power to do that. And I think that
if they were given the freedom, many more important players
would come and help the growth of the United States.
And we know the power Messi has with Papa garber Ari,
and I'm wondering if he can get in Don's ear
and make actual change on the roster rules.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, I think if there's one person on the planet
Earth who they might actually give credence to saying that,
it would be Lionel Messi. A lot of what their
job has been has been to specifically keep him happy.
So if he's coming out there and he's saying it,
maybe we will see some movement on that front. I
think we all want to see the league get to
(34:25):
a place where teams have more freedom to spend the
money they want to bring in higher quality players and
move the league forward in that way. At the same time,
like I do, there is logic behind why they've put
an emphasis on parody in on like what's still a
relatively young league. It's only been around for the last
thirty years or so, so there are there are valid
(34:49):
reasons why ownership of these teams want there to be
a system that perpetuates parody.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
In the league.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
And I get that, But I do think that to
move the league forward ultimately in the way that we
all want, they're going to have to loosen the restrictions
like Messi is talking about, And I, you know, I
don't think it's the type of thing where they're going
to do it all at once. I think it's going
to be a more gradual shift, and hopefully they've already
been working working towards that, but maybe the sex, but
(35:17):
that would be that would be cool. I think it
is something that as fans of the league, we all
want to see because you know, I've never liked the
idea that unambitious owners who just don't want to spend
get rewarded for that and have a system that encourages that.
So whatever we can do to get away from that,
I'm I'm fully in favor of it. So I like
that Messi's talking about it.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Sure, the reality, for my opinion is that Montreal should
not have any chance to win if they don't spend
any money, which they haven't spent money in years, And
it's sort of like, all right, well, if you're not
going to invest and you're not going to spend money,
you don't deserve to have a chance. And you know,
I like the idea of of of exactly what you're
saying there. I guess I'm wondering as we wrap tonight,
(35:58):
you know what is the first step in that? Is
it getting rid of the dp GAM TAM model and
just going to one flat salary cap? Is that kind
of I mean to mimic the NFL in that sense,
is that the obvious first easy step, or is maybe
is it kind of smaller steps first to just maybe
eliminate DPS or eliminate one of those various weird mechanisms first,
(36:21):
or can you do it all at once?
Speaker 4 (36:24):
I don't think you can do it all at once,
and I don't think they would try and do it
all at once. Yeah, they've been taking steps in recent
years to try and address stuff like this. I mean,
the DP rules themselves and allocation money. All that stuff
is designed to let teams spend a little more money
on certain roster spots. The question is like, how do
(36:45):
you get it to a point where you're allowed to
do that more holistically with your full roster? And to me,
it just seems like, regardless of what we all want,
they're committed to making that a more gradual process then
probably you or I or most fans would like. But
if you're talking, if we're talking about it from a
perspective of what's actually gonna happen, I don't think it's
(37:06):
a rip the band aid off type situation. They have
their their reasons for not doing that, mainly to protect
the interests of these owners who they they a lot
of them want assist him, like I said that perpetuates parody,
and I don't really see that changing unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
No, I think you're right, and it's sad. And then
maybe Messi has the power to do something, but I mean,
that would be a hell of a lot of power
if he was to force some kind of move like that,
but I don't know. I guess we'll see good good
riffing on that though. And that was that was good.
Let's uh, let's let you go. We'll come back next
Wednesday and next Tuesday next to the next week's show
(37:45):
will be the day after the Sounders Game two. And
I will just say this, Ari, I hope that we
are not doing our annual season ending roundtable, so hopefully
we are talking over the phone again and not in
person with the whole group as this. Hopefully the season
is not coming to an end next Tuesday, next Monday
night at there at lumin So have a good rest
(38:06):
of your week and I'll see you at the stadium
next Monday. You got it, Thanks Jackson, It's good stuff
there from Ari Lillian Wall. Yeah, hopefully next week we
are not doing that annual roundtable with Ari and Nico
and Anders. I definitely want to stay away from that
next week, we just have to win, have to win
on Monday. I know it's gonna be an ugly game.
(38:26):
I know it's gonna be rainy, but we have to win.
Stack one more break here in Sounders WEEKLU we'll wrap
up the show next Remember we have rain Weekly coming
up at eight pm as well. Here on kjr more
coming up Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders fc
cvil's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Welcome back, Jackson Feltz here Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM, Sounders Weekly, talking all things Sounders Soccer. We
thank Ari Lillian Wall for joining us there. In that
previous segment, why don't we hear from a couple of
Sounder players. This was after the Game one loss and
the playoffs to Minnesota on Monday. It's now do or
(39:09):
die for the Sounders in Game two next Monday. But
after the game, Jackson Reagan and Albert Rusnak sat down
with the media and talked about the heartbreaking penalty kick
shootout loss in Game one.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, I think the game went exactly. Are we prepared
for it?
Speaker 6 (39:25):
And then what we expected all week, what we trained,
you know, this is playoffs, and I think away from home,
I think.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
We created enough chances to score at least a goal.
Speaker 6 (39:37):
And I feel like one goal could be enough and games,
uh like like tonight, one could be enough to win it.
So yeah, I mean we have we have a home
game coming up on Monday. We'll prepare for it, you know,
we'll watch film and uh, we'll try and improve on
tonight's performance and uh and when the next.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
Game with that, Albert, with you guys having the chances
and also being able to defend them a little bit
better on the set pieces, do you feel that there's
much too that you need to correct for game two
or is it just a matter of you know, getting
getting those getting that all in them.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
Yeah, I don't think there's there's much to be corrected, honestly.
You know, as I said, we'll watch sometimes how you
how you feel as a player in a game, and
how you think the game is going. It's not always
you know, one hundred percent right, But yeah, I thought
we created chances. You know, we they're going to defend
with eleven guys for ninety minutes and and it's not
(40:40):
easy it's not easy to break down eleven eleven men defending,
but that's what we spend doing all week, you know,
and trying to find solutions and uh and ways we
can create more chances than in previous games.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
And I think we did that. So you know, whether
it's the.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
The end product, show, the decision making, whatever that is,
we'll watch film, we'll correct that and then we'll be better.
Speaker 8 (41:06):
Next to Yeah, Jackson, what did you make of the
way that Minnesota attack? They obviously said the one breakaway,
but other than that, there wasn't a ton that gave
you guys trouble, Like, did they do anything different offensively
that you.
Speaker 9 (41:22):
Guys were surprised by or No, it was nothing surprising.
It's all just I mean, it's just set pieces and
they're just looking to get something scrappy. They're not building
out and trying to break the teams down. It's really
just when you see they have a free kick at
midfield in their own half and they just lump it
as far as they can. So there's no, it's nothing surprising.
(41:43):
I mean, we knew it was going to be like that.
I felt that the defense and the team as a
whole handled it.
Speaker 10 (41:49):
Well, so you guys are gonna have to play this
team twice and you're gonna have to win twice. So
what did you learn by playing against them that you
can use on the next two games too to beat them.
Speaker 9 (42:02):
I don't think we learned anything tonight that we didn't
already already know. I think it's just about execution now,
and I think it's hard. I mean, this is such
a results oriented business, especially in the playoffs, but sometimes
you have to be happy with I think how we
approach the game and the process and the tactics, and
I think we created chances and we just need to execute.
(42:28):
So I think we'll I mean, we'll make some changes
some slight tweeks, but I think overall, I'm happy with
the way that the team played and I thought we
deserved more than a loss. I think it's one of
those that if it goes to one hundred and twenty
minutes instead of straight to penalties, I think we have
a good chance of getting a win based on how
(42:49):
the game was going.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Well, there you go, Jackson Reagan Sounders defender Albert Rusnak
Sounders midfielder talking about the game one loss there in
Minnesota on Monday game to ahead it is do or
die for your Sounders, win or the season is over.
That will be a seven fifty five kickoff there at
Luminfield on next Monday night, November three. We're gonna have
(43:13):
the broadcast for you starting with a Providence Swedish premat
show of seven thirty. And that's not gonna be on
terrestrial radio. It's gonna be on the stream. So you'll
either need to go to the iHeartRadio app or iHeartRadio
dot com look up Sounders FC radio and the stream
channel for Sounders FC radio should pop up there and
(43:34):
that is where we will have the broadcast for you
starting at seven thirty next Monday. Folks, you can also
watch the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple TVP
and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty.
That is next Monday, do or die, win or the
year is done for the Sounders. Really quick, before we
(43:54):
end tonight's show, wanted to share something that I've been missing.
Stephen Fry was cell rated with the MLS Impact Award
just a little bit ago, and part of that is,
of course his amazing work with the Kick Childhood Cancer campaign.
As part of this out he donated fifty thousand dollars
(44:15):
the latest Scarves Fighting Cancer efforts as well leased another
fifty thousand dollars. So in this it's just an amazing
the funds going to the Kick Childhood Cancer campaign and
Seattle Children's Hospital and the efforts to end this. I mean,
I don't need to reiterate my connection to this. It's
(44:36):
everybody's connected to it in some way. And it's great.
The Celebrity Impact Award they're going to Steph Frye and
helping raise over a half million dollars for the life
saving research. Steph was honored with that, and it's just
it's awesome the efforts. We'll mention. The Scarves Fighting Cancer
annual auction with Zach Scott is coming up very soon,
(45:00):
I believe, so make sure to subscribe and check out
Scarvesfighting Cancer dot com Scarvesfighting Cancer dot com Christine's amazing
efforts there. The auction is going to be starting soon,
I believe, so make sure to be watching that website again,
Scarvesfightingcancer dot Com because amazing work being done to kick
(45:20):
childhood cancer on all fronts. And congratulations to Stephan fry
as well. A couple final notes before we end Tonight's show.
Senator's FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish, the official
healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Also michelob Ultra is ninety
five calories and two point six grams of carbs. It's
only worth it if you enjoy it. That'll do it.
Fortnight's Sounder's Weekly Show. Check out the podcast Sounder's Weekly
(45:43):
Wherever you Gear Podcasts. In case you missed our wonderful
guest tonight, Jamie Watson, Arilllinwall or those players speaking a
moment to go, we will talk to you next Monday
night at seven point thirty on the stream channel. Have
a very good rest of your evening. But Rainweekly is
gonna come up next here on Sports Radio ninety three
point three k j R f M
Coming to you live from our Relliot Avenue studios of
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders
Weekly with your host Jackson Felts.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good Ding and everybody. Welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson Feltz
here good be with you on this Wednesday night. Here
for the next hour talking Sounders Soccer. Rain Weekly will
come up right after this at eight pm talking about
the Rain entering the NWSL playoffs with kee Lee Dunning.
But here for the next hour, we're talking about the
(00:32):
Sounders first playoff game, Game one of this best of
three first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. It was
a loss. It was a loss in heartbreaking fashion in
penalty kicks in a game in Minnesota at a Leons
field where we saw ninety minutes of pretty good soccer
and I thought we did well to keep Minnesota down
(00:54):
on their offensive end on our defensive end, but just
not enough on the offensive end for c We just
couldn't put together that final ball in the back of
the net. And we'll get into a lot of that
and listen, there's a number of things regarding the penalty
shootout problems with that, and now we look ahead to
(01:14):
a game two, where it is essentially and very very simply,
you either win or your season is over, because Minnesota
takes Game one in penalty kicks zero zero after ninety minutes,
and then they win in penalties three to two misses
of course in penalties by Al strolled on, I mean,
I guess we'll just get into it really quickly. I'll
(01:35):
promote what's coming up Jamie Watson, who called the match
for FS one. He's of course an MLS broadcaster, He's
been on with us many many times. Jamie will join
us in just a few minutes to break down what
we saw in the penalty kick shootout loss and look
ahead to game two. Ari Lillianwall will of course join us.
He will talk about this and lots of other MLS
(01:57):
playoff results that we saw here in this first game
of the first round series around the league. And then
I believe we are going to also we may have
a player call in for our final segment tonight. If
we don't end up getting that, we're just gonna play
some of the postgame press conference from Jackson Reagan and
Albert Rusnak. So that's the roadmap here for the next hour.
(02:20):
Jamie Watson coming up in a few minutes. Let's just
jump in because there's a lot of points to be
frustrated about. And we were on the postgame show, myself
and Chance Fry, and right after the final whistle. The
first place my mind, night Night, not final whistle, after
the final penalty did not go in from Danny Lava.
The first place my mind was Zad was not the
(02:44):
poor penalty shootout. It was Danny Mazowski because listen, there
were a lot of moments in that game, from a
ninth minute chance for herlong wan A for Minnesota who
breaks away one v one and you know, missus wide
left thanks to a little bit of a push from
Jackson Reagan. I think he got away with one right there.
(03:04):
If I'm being honest, I think that's a penalty. But
thank goodness, VR did not look at the push from
Jackson Reagan because it went wide left. No goal you
can lead to that, And there was more communication breakdown
there in the ten minutes after that, And really, Minnesota
had such great opportunities, but Seattle had their opportunities as well.
(03:25):
There was a great Paul Rothrock chance in the first
half that went that went too high. You really, really
good kind of interplay between the midfield. There. There was
a series in a fifty fourth minute where a corner
comes in Paul Rothrock is called for a foul for
pulling down Michael Boxall. He did not pull down Michael Boxhall.
Michael Boxall just fell down. What happened afterwards was a
(03:48):
handball cleared off the line from Minnesota. That should have
been a penalty for Seattle, but they called a foul
on Paul Rothrock that wasn't. So there's kind of things
you can look at from this game where I can
kind of point to a few things and say, probably,
you know, after ninety minutes a fair result could have
been one to one if it weren't for what happened
(04:11):
in the final five minutes. Because credit to Brian Schpenzer,
I did think he made some good subs, and one
of those subs he made was bringing on Danny Mazowski
for Haesus Freira. You shift Jordan Morris out to the right,
and for the final twenty minutes of that game where
Moose's up top and Jordan's on the right, stuff was working.
It was really working there with that connection from Jordan
(04:33):
on the right. They played Jordan down the right side.
What about four times at every single time Jamo got
behind their back line. It was working and they kept
doing it, and Jordan created a couple very very good chances.
And most notably so there was obviously the eightieth minute
as well, the tap in that was saved really well
(04:53):
saved by Dane Saint Clair. But the thing that coping
back to my comments where one one would have been
a fair result if weren't for Danny Mazovski's chance. The
ninety first minute, we are at the death in this match.
Jordan sends in a phenomenal cross to Mazovsky's head. It's
right in front of goal. Saint Clair is beat and
(05:14):
Mazosky heads it high above the bar. And if you
just head that ball down, it doesn't matter if you
head it down straight, if you head it down to
the right, if you head it down to the left,
that ball has a pretty darn high percentage chance of
going in the back of the net. But Mazoski heads
it up and it goes above the bar and it
(05:36):
ends zero zero after ninety forcing us to penalties. And man,
what a chance that was. So that was where my
head was at right after the game and right after
the penalty kicks shootout is my god, you just can't
miss that chance in the ninety first Moose, I mean,
my gosh, for sixteen goals this year and a guy
who's been so good in the Rave Green he that's
(05:58):
one moment that I'm just I was angry and I'm
still angry about that. But then I did take my
time in this morning. I went back and I watched
the penalty kick shootout and I really am frustrated by
the penalty kick shootout. And Dane Saint Clair, credit to him,
he did a very very good job. But Alex chuldan
really poor take right down the middle and it's not
(06:20):
even a well taken down the middle, and Saint Clair
just stands there and blocks it. That's really frustrating. And
then Leiva and Christian as well, those are frustrating too.
Not a good shootout from the Sounders. And you know
what's surprising about it was this is a team who
has been good shootouts recently. You think back to the
Houston series last year, right, So it's it's frustrating that
(06:44):
this does end up with a Sounder penalty kick shootout loss.
Because there were various moments in this match where you
could have I think gotten a better result. You could
have gone through after this first game with a win,
but it is a loss and now we're facing elimination.
Is either you win next Monday or the season is
over really quick, as I see Jamie Watson on hold,
(07:05):
let me quickly give you broadcast details. Next Monday, Loominfield
Game two, seven fifty five kickoff at Lumen's seven fifty
five kickoff, Providence, Swedish Premat show will start at seven thirty.
You can only hear that match on the Sounders FC
Radio stream channel on iHeartRadio. So whether you have the
(07:26):
iHeartRadio app or you listen via the internet on iHeartRadio
dot com, look up Sounders FC Radio and that will
pull up a stream channel and that stream channel is
where you'll be able to hear next Monday's match seven
thirty premat show. For that folks. You can also watch
the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app
(07:46):
and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty.
Game two win or the season is over for the
Seattle Sounders. We'll be talking about that a lot tonight
and how we think that Game two will go joining
us right now. Hauled the match for FS one. It
is our good friend Jamie Watson. Jamie, there's a lot
to talk about with this game, buddy. How are you?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Jack? And I'm great man, always always love getting to
talk to you. You're one of the most elite minds.
You see the game very similarly to myself. Although somehow
in a back end of way, I just called myself
an elite mind. I didn't mean to do that when
I started a Senate. Basically, what I need to say,
I love talking chop with you because you know yourself
and it's always a great conversation with you. Brother.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I love you, buddy, Thank you so much. The check
is in the mail, all right. But I would love
to talk to you about a really fun soccer game
and a sounder win and all the great things and
YadA YadA. But we have to talk about that on
Monday night. Oh boy, that thing in the loss and
(08:51):
penalty kicks in Minnesota, the way they play, I imagine
it wasn't the most pleasant call for FS one. But
what were your thoughts on the game?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, Josh, Heatteron and I we had a pleasure to
getting called for Fox Sports one man. We did not
anticipate it being a match that was so played in
the middle of the park, so stop start so disjointed.
There was a big opportunity for Minnesota in the first
(09:21):
three minutes of the match, and I want to get
your thoughts on this as a Seattle fan, because I'm
very interested to hear your thoughts on it. We were
hoping that was going to be a sign of things
to come to action end to end, but it really
took Seattle about twenty to twenty two minutes to kind
of figure out how to really get a quality opportunity
(09:41):
on Minnesota. And that's exactly what Eric Ramsey in Minnesota
United wanted. They wanted to make life difficult, and they did,
and they made it as ugly as possible. And ultimately,
as we look at it today, who's up one zero
in the series, it's Minnesota United. And nobody asked how,
They just asked who.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well and also who didn't execute. And that was kind
of where I spent the first few minutes of the
show tonight in that exact topic. And you know, right
after the game ended, my first mindset Jamie was to
be very angry about Danny Mazowski not executing, and then
over the last number of hours, my brain has shifted
(10:22):
into being mad at the penalty kicks and you know,
the poor execution from Alc Trodan, Christian Roldan and Danny
Leva and additionally now even just in the last few minutes,
now I'm questioning was Danny Leva the right substitute when
he hasn't played at all and then he comes onto
the field, you know, having to just you know, be
in such a massive moment. And frankly, Minnesota did the
(10:43):
same thing. And I believe Gressel subbed on and Gresseel
missed his penalty too. So you know, your question of
who it's a great it's a great one because for me,
there's so many different guys I can point to right now,
and it's just leading to this mass frustration as a
Sounder fan.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Well, and I think when the head hit the pillow
for Brian Smetter and for air Cramsey, the respective head coaches,
I guarantee you neither one of them were happy with
how the game went. One coach is happiers then the other
because their team is up one zero, and that's Minnesota United.
Eric Ramsey but having said that, that was a match
in which it desperately needed a goal to change the
(11:24):
game one way or another, and we never got it.
And so it simply came down to two teams that
neither one of them executed, and you have to execute
in the playoffs to be able to change the game
with the timeliness of a goal. It never came you right,
great substitution to bring on Missofsky. He got into the position,
(11:45):
but he didn't score. And he's had a great season
fourteen goals in the regular season. I think it's probably
been an overestimation of what anybody expected from Missovski. So
you have to, on one hand say it's been great,
but this was not the time that you needed him
to miss those opportunities. You needed him to take those opportunities,
(12:07):
and ultimately time ran out and when it went to penalties. Look,
we know how good Danes think Claire is. But there
was also this element of last year Seattle did the
same exact thing that Minnesota did. They won two games
in the first beest of three series against Houston and
they were able to get through. So you felt like
there was an element of we've been here before. But
(12:27):
man again, it came down to execution, and shockingly I
would have never guessed both rodn brothers were gonna miss
and Danny Lava. I don't mind the substitution bringing in
because he's shown something in training that makes Schmetzer think
this guy can get it done from twelve yards out,
whether he's played ninety minutes or he didn't touch the
ball prior to kicking a penalty kick, because it's the
(12:50):
same thing Julian Pressel did, as you alluded to, But
don't have a problem with that. I did find it
interesting to see just how many Seattle Sounder fans online
were saying and have been Andrew Thomas in goal for
the penalty game.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I don't know, like you know, that's I.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Don't think so.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I don't don't.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I'll get out in front of, say first while while.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You're figuring out with you, but go ahead.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, I don't think. I think it's very different for
a player. It's one kick, you're twelve yards out. You're
in a position where I think it's something statistical like
seven or eight times out of ten you should score
somewhere right in there from the penley spot for the
goalkeeper I feel like it's much harder to get in
and make the saves, especially if you're cold. And I
(13:37):
think you know, unless you've got Nick Romondo's sitting on
the bench, who's the greatest penalty shot sopper a Emilia
in Major League Soccer history. And no slide on Andrew Thomas.
I just think you trust the goalkeeper Stephan Bryor, who's
been there for over four hundred times in league play
and has one MLS Cup with you and stuff. He's
earned that right to be in there to trust him.
And I would have been so shocked if there would
(13:58):
have been a sub to bring up Stephan Fry. I
wasn't shocked for the subgarine on extra shooters. It just
came down to a night with to say, Sattle Thunders
had their opportunities to take the advantage on the road
and they didn't take the opportunity.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
So Jamie Watson's our guest, and Jamie, I fully agree
with you what you're saying there, and I just a
lot of people are saying Andrew Thomas, and I would
also remind people that Stephan Fry was the goalkeeper for
that penalty kicks shoot out win in both first and
second games in Houston and at home agames Houston last year.
So Fry did win those shootouts last year, just a
(14:32):
year ago. Andrew's good, But I don't think you make
a goalkeeper substitution at the death for all of the
reasons you just pointed out. You're absolutely right on that.
You know, Jamie, the one change as we kind of
look ahead to game two that I would absolutely considering.
You pointed out the same thing that I pointed out
a few minutes ago, And that's the success of what
happened when Danny Muzovski's on the field and Jordan's on
(14:54):
the right and for the last twenty minutes of that game.
After that, after that substitution, stuff is working well offensively
for Seattle on that right side. And if I'm Brian Schenzer,
I consider making that change for game two and starting
Jordan and Mazowski together and letting them try to find
that magic again.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, I don't have any any problems with that. So
let's piece thiss in together. If we're gonna put ourselves
in the mind of Brian Smetzer, let's do it together. Okay.
So they went out in a four to two three
one last night, the backboard has been picking itself. The
two in the middle rolled on Vargas that's picked itself
as well. And then across the three you had on
(15:36):
the right is this Fredeta. You had Albert rus Knock
at the number ten, ye old Paul Rothrock on the left,
and then you put Morris up top. So for the
sake of the argument, we're gonna bring in Danny Mssovski
from up upfront and we're gonna start him there. So
are we going with more of a four four to two?
And if that's the case, are you you know, are
you gonna go with or I guess you could say
(15:57):
a three five two, which you may be being to
go to a three five two and use some wingers
to be able to maybe combat the fact that Minnesota
United really only put one forward Soong Wani by himself
off top on an island, and you might think there's
even more of an island and even deeper of parking
(16:20):
the buck type situation that could be ahead on the road.
So you got to figure it out. Let's say, what
would you prefer? Would you prefer to see a three
five two or four four to two? If we're gonna
go to two up top.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
What I would prefer is the four four two, and
I think you put Christian rolled down out on the right.
You put Jordan and Danny together, and you can have
Christian tuck in for his brother when when when in
Alex advances you have o Bed. I mean, the question
is who goes out.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
On the on the left? Yeah? Right?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Because honestly, you know, after seeing I love Paul Rothrock,
and I hate to say any bad word about Paul Rothrock,
but if there's an odd man out, I want to
keep Albert on the field. I want to keep Obed
on the field. I want to keep Christian on the field,
and I want to keep Frera on the field. And
I think that that Rothrock is the odd man out.
And then at that point you just build that group
(17:11):
of Albert Hayesus and Christian and Obed and Jordan and Danny,
and you have that group and you make sure that
you fit them in the spots applicable and let them
have freedom to cook.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I mean, you just cooked on that answer. How am
I supposed to come in after that? Because everything you
said is exactly how I would feel about that situation.
I think that's exactly how you would roll that out.
I would make the same decision as you. I would
trust the fact that this is nothing against the season
that Paul Rothrock has had because he has been a
consistent threat. I do think you give Ferrera this start
(17:51):
because this simple fact Paul Rothrock off the bench would
be far more impactful in the game of the final
fifteen twenty twenty five minutes. Then I believe Hejes Furdeda
would be if you started Rothrock and brought on no
fault of Rothrock's own. I think that he has the
ability to change the game in a condensed period of time.
(18:13):
And I think you give Brera the consistency of the
start and the option to be able to hopefully impact,
and you play narrow. I think that in that hits
that system. That's easy for me to say, you get
those wingers in to be able to allow Newho to
overlap on one back because they're going to be able
to go Alex hold On on the right side, and
you over crowd the numbers because when Seattle we're able
(18:36):
to get into those half spaces either side of will
Trap or Triantis. There was some space the combination play
they had where there's a little vacual and Rothrock had
the curling effort about twenty five minutes into the first
half that was like, oh, this is how we do it.
Even think about the first five minutes when Jordan Morris
was able to go on a little slip pass from Preira.
(18:58):
You know, he just wasn't able to execut as in
near post. But there were glimpses to that. And you
need more players in the final third to get on
the end of the well worked crosses, and you need
to be able to give those freedom for a higher
starting position from the two in the midfield. I personally
love what you're saying. I'm picking up what you're putting down.
But again, neither you or I is the longest tenured
(19:20):
and the currently most successful coach in the major leagues
LC Gracy. I'll give brucerin and flowers out at dan Oda,
but we know what I'm talking about. With Roden Schmetzer,
He's figured out more often than not to have the
faith and I believe that Seattle at home. I do
think that they should be the heavy favorites and they
need to get the job done. They just have to
(19:41):
execute it. But I think that extra player up top
could cause Minnesota United more problems than what we saw
last night.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Game one. We'll see what Brian does in this chess
match against Eric Ramsey. Jamie, let's wrap it up with this,
and I have a very very simple question to wrap
this up. Considering that we're looking at showers and high forties,
Considering as you mentioned, and I agree, Minnesota is going
to park the bus like no team has ever parked
the bus before and play a defensive brand of soccer,
(20:07):
maybe even more defensive than they normally do. Considering all
of this, how ugly of a game are we in
store for on Monday.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Depends quick answer. It depends on the fact that if
Seattle get an early goal in Minnesota cannot Minnesota United
cannot sit in, then that changes everything. The longer the
game goes zero zero on Monday night, the better that
is for Minnesota United. The more pressure that is on Seattle,
more that plays into the visitors hands. The first goal,
just like any other game, but especially this game, is
(20:39):
so so, so so important. Sattle need to come out
flying from the get go and get that early goal. There.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
It is the expertise of Jamie Watson. I love having
you on every single time you do Sounders matches. Man,
there's a pleasure to have you on the broadcast there
on FS one. Thank you for spending some time with
us today and hopefully we're talking about the game three
here in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Always great to be on with you. A big fan
of the show, Big Kenny, you Jackson, and thank you
for having me on. Man.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Great stuff there from Jamie Watson. Love having him on
the show. All Right, we'll get a break and talk
to Ari Lillian Wall about Game one, Game two ahead,
and the rest of the MLS Cup playoffs around the
entire league. Ari Lillian Wall is next on Sounders Weekly
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders FC,
Seattle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts, good to be with
you here tonight on this Wednesday night. Thanks to Jamie
Watson for spending a few minutes there to kick off
tonight's show. Of course, it is not a happy show,
as the Sounders fell in Game one in the first
best of three round in penalty kicks at Minnesota Game
two ahead next Monday night at lumin Field. We'll continue
(21:59):
talking both of those games and we'll talk about the
rest of the MLS Cup playoffs with our good friend.
He is a writer and editor with MLS Soccer dot Com.
He also hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Get Lobbing Scorches
on the iHeartRadio app and wherever your podcast. You can
also watch Lobbing Scorches on the Lobbing Scorches YouTube. Subscribe
(22:20):
to it and you'll be notified when they go live
on Monday mornings and Thursday nights. The man in charge
of it all, Ari Lillianwalla joins us here again. Ari.
How you doing, buddy?
Speaker 4 (22:31):
I'm good, Jackson.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
How are you not great?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Ari?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Kind of pissed off. Let's just start with your impressions.
I'm of two minds, hating the shootout and hating the
miss chances, so I'm all bad news today, Buddy. What
do you think about the game?
Speaker 4 (22:47):
I mean it's frustrating obviously. You know you already lost
to Minnesota United twice this year, and you get the
queen sheet in this game on the road and losing
the shootout, So I mean, I don't know it's tough
because I feel like this is one of the trickier
teams in MLS to play against. With the tactics they employed.
They were playing full out Ramsey ball in this game
(23:09):
like you would expect. So it's a situation where you
feel like you kind of know what's coming, but it is.
It is tough to deal with, and it just feels
like I feel like Seattle is close to cracking the
code with this team, but they have not quite cracked it,
even with the chances they did have in this game.
So we'll see if they can in the in game two,
if they can get the result, they need to go
back and try it again. But that was not a
(23:31):
fun or enjoyable viewing the experience. I don't think well, Arion.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This is why a month ago when I asked you
of the four teams you know that were the top
four seeds in the West, who you want to face,
and you said Minnesota. Shane O'Neil said Minnesota. A couple
other people said Minnesota, and I pushed back on every
single one of you and I said, this is the
type of game we're gonna play, and a good defensive
team I don't want to face that, and I mean,
(23:54):
I hate to say I told everybody so, but like, man,
this is the annoyance of Minnesota. This is why I
was really afraid of facing this team.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Yeah no, I mean I might not have lent enough
credence to how difficult it truly is to play against
this team with their novel tactics. I still think it's
a matchup that, in theory, should be a better one
than a team like LAFC or Vancouver. Who you know,
you saw what Vancouver did to f CE Dallas. You're
not playing Minnesota. You're gonna have to deal with a
(24:26):
team like that, and that could be even more of
a trickier proposition. I don't think you get a shutout
against a team like that like you did against Minnesota.
So I mean, you know, it's the playoffs. Any team
that you're gonna play is gonna be good, They're gonna
be tough. But this team, it just feels like they're
kind of Seattle's foil this year. And they have a
(24:47):
chance to change that narrative luckily, but that's it's hard
to come out of that game and not kind of
feel like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And as we kind of look to Game two next
Monday night at Lumen Field. I mean, I see right
now a forecast of rain and this should be it was.
It says cloudy early and showers late, and I just
view that as gonna be a Monday night game where
it's rainy, it's nasty, and probably already crack. You know,
(25:14):
you can you can maybe differ on this. A Minnesota
team that's gonna park the bus more than a bus
has ever gotten parked in soccer history.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
I mean absolutely, that's what they do pretty much every game,
regardless of they're home on the road, but on the
road they definitely are going to uh to do that.
It's it's interesting it is parking the bus, but it's
also uh it's it's like a more exaggerated version of
these anti possessions playing against the ball tactics. Then you
(25:43):
even see teams, teams, they are teams in MLS that
play like that, but they just have such an extreme
version of it. So, I mean it's in this situation,
the onus is on Seattle to get a goal that
brings them out of that a little bit. If you
can get an early goal, they cannot play like that
as much. Then they have to chase the game. The
problem in this game was that they were not able
(26:04):
to get that goal and that kind of played into
how Minnesota wanted the game to go and they and
how they wanted to play. I would argue, as the
home team in a playoff game, you should not play
like that, but that's what they do and it works.
So you can't really not get it if it works,
and they are going to try and have to do
it again. So Seattle is going to have to make
the requisite changes to score on this team, which they
(26:25):
hadn't been able to do the last two times they played.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Yeah, exactly. It's frustrating and Brian Spencer is going to
have to figure out something. And you know, I posited
it on the post game show. Do you start Danny
Mazowski and Jordan Morris both together and take Paul Rothrock
off the field and you know, figure out your midfield
from there and the group of Albert and Hayesus and
Christian and Obed and just figure out who goes where.
(26:49):
But absolutely need Jordan and Danny together because that was
the one thing that was really working for the final
twenty minutes was when when Jordan was on the right
and Danny was up top and Dan and he just
couldn't capitalize on his chances. We'll see what Brian does.
But yeah, it's it's it's definitely gonna be. I think
an ugly soccer game next Monday, and an early goal
(27:11):
would make it less ugly in forced Minnesota open up
a little bit. But that is an enormous task scoring
on a very very good defensive Minnesota team. Ariy Lellenwall
is our guest. He's a writer and editor for MLS
Soccer dot com. He hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Get
it on the iHeartRadio app and wherever you get your
podcasts and on the Lobbing Scorchers YouTube. Are you mentioned
(27:32):
Vancouver FC Dallas. That was an ass kicking. You take
us into that series and just how much Vancouver is
is right now in prime position to move through.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Yeah, I mean FC Dallas just looked overmatched in that game,
which I think is pretty much what everyone expected going
into that series. But that is how it played out.
And I mean my takeaway is just that that Vancouver team,
they've been dubbed MLS Cup favorites or at least some
the front runners, but They're a team that hasn't really
had that status before, so they had to go out
(28:05):
and kind of validate that they should have that status.
And that's exactly what they did. They put it on
FC Dallas, and really, I think Thomas Mueller has really
you have to say, he's elevated that team quite substantially.
They were already one of the better teams in the league,
and it feels like he's vaulted them into They're in
that tier where when you're talking about the teams that
should be favored to make a run of this thing,
(28:27):
they are in that. Like, I think you can officially
say that after they came out and took care of
business against FC Dallas, that series feels pretty much over.
You know, you still have Game two, but even if
FC Dallas finds a way to get a penalty kick
victory or whatever it is in game two, it's hard
to see them going back to DC Place and getting
a win.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Yeah, it's really really hard to see that. And now
let's look at the other team here in Cascadi, the
Portland Timbers. They won their wild card game. We were joking,
you know, last week's show, which was ten minutes before that,
wild card game kicked off. That could easily crash out
in the wild card round. Again, they didn't. They did
get through, but then San Diego beats them two to one,
(29:07):
and Portland in that game suffers a red card. I
don't know the full details on that, but it's a
Porland team right now that you know, on the opposite
side of Vancouver. They're looking going into game two right now,
sort of like the Sounders win or else your season's over.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
Yeah, it looked like their game against San Diego was
going to go fully off the rails. They went down
to zero in the first half, but to be fair,
they did bring it back and they got a goal
that made it to one, and then they get a
red card. That is just like you're actually in the
game at that point. It's not like the game was
out of hand. They had a chance to come back
and tie that game and send it to penalties or
(29:44):
maybe even win it, and they just get one of
the more ill advised red cards that you will ever see.
And playing with ten men, I actually I thought they
looked too better at times than they did when they
had all eleven they had. There's a couple moments where
they almost tied that game, even down a man, So
they did show a little bit of moxie in making
(30:04):
that a game even though they had to play that
long down a man. But like in reality, there's a
very big disparity between the firepower and I guess just
the overall quality between them and San Diego, who were
playing without Choky Bizano by the way. Yeah, so yeah, no,
it's not it's not looking good for the for the Timbers,
they are fully on the ropes right now, even though,
(30:25):
like I think, there was some good stuff for them
in that game, even though they lost it.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
Ari I asked you last week what playoff series you
were most looking forward to, and you mentioned the Hell
is Real Derby between Columbus and Cincinnati, and you always
love rivalry series. In the first round of these playoffs
where it is a best of three and you got
Cincinnati with a late goal to beat Columbus one nothing,
you said you were looking forward to it, and boy,
(30:50):
that first game lived up to it, very very tight
until the end.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
Yeah, it was a pretty exciting game. There wasn't as
end to end with as many chances as I was hoping,
but you know, it can.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Get kg like that. In the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
These close, competitive one zero type games do happen a lot,
so this was one of those. And it was a
derby matchup, like you said, so there's always those storylines.
And then Kevin Dinky gets the goal for Cincinnati. But
I was not really fully convinced that FC Cincinnati made
a statement that they're among the favorites in the same
way that Vancouver did. That Columbus team honestly has not
(31:26):
been good for a while. I know we are used
to thinking of them as a front runner, but they
really have struggled down the stretch of the season, and
I expected Cincinnati to maybe take care of business a
little bit more than they ended up doing. So that
was kind of my takeaway from that. It was an
exciting game, but I didn't think that FC Cincinnati necessarily
showed what I expected they might.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
What about Philadelphia, they only went through on penalties. Also,
same case, didn't show you the statement you wanted to see.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I mean I've been saying that I
felt like the Chicago Fire had a better chance in
that series, and people might think just because they actually
you know, they're playing in a tough Eastern Conference and
they're probably better than your typical wildcard team, at least
the form that they had been in at the end
of the season going into the playoffs. So I wasn't
necessarily surprised that they gave Philly a run for their money.
(32:16):
But I still think Chicago can win that series. They
showed to themselves and everyone else that they can play
with that Philly team. And I also think that Philly
team might not be as good as your typical supporter
Shield winner, like I think the teams that were used
to winning the Shield would would not. I don't think
be pushed to the limit as much by a Chicago
team that is good, but they're not a great team
(32:36):
that you would expect Philly to have that much trouble with.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, I think that's the exact analysis there is sort
of I also kind of read that as a question
mark for Philly. But Chicago, I mean, they just got
by Orlando in the wildcard game easy, and what an
upset that would be. Sort of alah, you know Miami
Atlanta last season in the first round of Miami who
did make a big statement three to one are before
we end tonight, speaking on my Lionel Messi did an
(33:02):
interview I believe it was on a news show, was
on NBC or something like that, I don't know anyway,
So Messi does this interview with an American news outlet,
which he rarely does, and they were asking him him
about how MLS can improve and how MLS can take
the next step. And I want to read you this
(33:23):
quote and we'll kind of in for everybody out there,
read the quote and we'll kind of talk about what
it could mean for the future this league. Seeing as
how much power Messi has. He says, well, for starters,
every team should have the opportunity to bring in players
and sign whoever each team wants without limitation or rules
for players to bring them in. I don't think that
today all the teams in the United States, all the clubs,
(33:45):
have the power to do that. And I think that
if they were given the freedom, many more important players
would come and help the growth of the United States.
And we know the power Messi has with Papa garber Ari,
and I'm wondering if he can get in Don's ear
and make actual change on the roster rules.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Yeah, I think if there's one person on the planet
Earth who they might actually give credence to saying that,
it would be Lionel Messi. A lot of what their
job has been has been to specifically keep him happy.
So if he's coming out there and he's saying it,
maybe we will see some movement on that front. I
think we all want to see the league get to
(34:25):
a place where teams have more freedom to spend the
money they want to bring in higher quality players and
move the league forward in that way. At the same time,
like I do, there is logic behind why they've put
an emphasis on parody in on like what's still a
relatively young league. It's only been around for the last
thirty years or so, so there are there are valid
(34:49):
reasons why ownership of these teams want there to be
a system that perpetuates parody.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
In the league.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
And I get that, But I do think that to
move the league forward ultimately in the way that we
all want, they're going to have to loosen the restrictions
like Messi is talking about, And I, you know, I
don't think it's the type of thing where they're going
to do it all at once. I think it's going
to be a more gradual shift, and hopefully they've already
been working working towards that, but maybe the sex, but
(35:17):
that would be that would be cool. I think it
is something that as fans of the league, we all
want to see because you know, I've never liked the
idea that unambitious owners who just don't want to spend
get rewarded for that and have a system that encourages that.
So whatever we can do to get away from that,
I'm I'm fully in favor of it. So I like
that Messi's talking about it.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Sure, the reality, for my opinion is that Montreal should
not have any chance to win if they don't spend
any money, which they haven't spent money in years, And
it's sort of like, all right, well, if you're not
going to invest and you're not going to spend money,
you don't deserve to have a chance. And you know,
I like the idea of of of exactly what you're
saying there. I guess I'm wondering as we wrap tonight,
(35:58):
you know what is the first step in that? Is
it getting rid of the dp GAM TAM model and
just going to one flat salary cap? Is that kind
of I mean to mimic the NFL in that sense,
is that the obvious first easy step, or is maybe
is it kind of smaller steps first to just maybe
eliminate DPS or eliminate one of those various weird mechanisms first,
(36:21):
or can you do it all at once?
Speaker 4 (36:24):
I don't think you can do it all at once,
and I don't think they would try and do it
all at once. Yeah, they've been taking steps in recent
years to try and address stuff like this. I mean,
the DP rules themselves and allocation money. All that stuff
is designed to let teams spend a little more money
on certain roster spots. The question is like, how do
(36:45):
you get it to a point where you're allowed to
do that more holistically with your full roster? And to me,
it just seems like, regardless of what we all want,
they're committed to making that a more gradual process then
probably you or I or most fans would like. But
if you're talking, if we're talking about it from a
perspective of what's actually gonna happen, I don't think it's
(37:06):
a rip the band aid off type situation. They have
their their reasons for not doing that, mainly to protect
the interests of these owners who they they a lot
of them want assist him, like I said that perpetuates parody,
and I don't really see that changing unfortunately.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
No, I think you're right, and it's sad. And then
maybe Messi has the power to do something, but I mean,
that would be a hell of a lot of power
if he was to force some kind of move like that,
but I don't know. I guess we'll see good good
riffing on that though. And that was that was good.
Let's uh, let's let you go. We'll come back next
Wednesday and next Tuesday next to the next week's show
(37:45):
will be the day after the Sounders Game two. And
I will just say this, Ari, I hope that we
are not doing our annual season ending roundtable, so hopefully
we are talking over the phone again and not in
person with the whole group as this. Hopefully the season
is not coming to an end next Tuesday, next Monday
night at there at lumin So have a good rest
(38:06):
of your week and I'll see you at the stadium
next Monday. You got it, Thanks Jackson, It's good stuff
there from Ari Lillian Wall. Yeah, hopefully next week we
are not doing that annual roundtable with Ari and Nico
and Anders. I definitely want to stay away from that
next week, we just have to win, have to win
on Monday. I know it's gonna be an ugly game.
(38:26):
I know it's gonna be rainy, but we have to win.
Stack one more break here in Sounders WEEKLU we'll wrap
up the show next Remember we have rain Weekly coming
up at eight pm as well. Here on kjr more
coming up Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders fc
cvil's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (38:48):
Welcome back, Jackson Feltz here Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM, Sounders Weekly, talking all things Sounders Soccer. We
thank Ari Lillian Wall for joining us there. In that
previous segment, why don't we hear from a couple of
Sounder players. This was after the Game one loss and
the playoffs to Minnesota on Monday. It's now do or
(39:09):
die for the Sounders in Game two next Monday. But
after the game, Jackson Reagan and Albert Rusnak sat down
with the media and talked about the heartbreaking penalty kick
shootout loss in Game one.
Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, I think the game went exactly. Are we prepared
for it?
Speaker 6 (39:25):
And then what we expected all week, what we trained,
you know, this is playoffs, and I think away from home,
I think.
Speaker 5 (39:32):
We created enough chances to score at least a goal.
Speaker 6 (39:37):
And I feel like one goal could be enough and games,
uh like like tonight, one could be enough to win it.
So yeah, I mean we have we have a home
game coming up on Monday. We'll prepare for it, you know,
we'll watch film and uh, we'll try and improve on
tonight's performance and uh and when the next.
Speaker 7 (39:58):
Game with that, Albert, with you guys having the chances
and also being able to defend them a little bit
better on the set pieces, do you feel that there's
much too that you need to correct for game two
or is it just a matter of you know, getting
getting those getting that all in them.
Speaker 6 (40:16):
Yeah, I don't think there's there's much to be corrected, honestly.
You know, as I said, we'll watch sometimes how you
how you feel as a player in a game, and
how you think the game is going. It's not always
you know, one hundred percent right, But yeah, I thought
we created chances. You know, we they're going to defend
with eleven guys for ninety minutes and and it's not
(40:40):
easy it's not easy to break down eleven eleven men defending,
but that's what we spend doing all week, you know,
and trying to find solutions and uh and ways we
can create more chances than in previous games.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
And I think we did that. So you know, whether
it's the.
Speaker 6 (40:58):
The end product, show, the decision making, whatever that is,
we'll watch film, we'll correct that and then we'll be better.
Speaker 8 (41:06):
Next to Yeah, Jackson, what did you make of the
way that Minnesota attack? They obviously said the one breakaway,
but other than that, there wasn't a ton that gave
you guys trouble, Like, did they do anything different offensively
that you.
Speaker 9 (41:22):
Guys were surprised by or No, it was nothing surprising.
It's all just I mean, it's just set pieces and
they're just looking to get something scrappy. They're not building
out and trying to break the teams down. It's really
just when you see they have a free kick at
midfield in their own half and they just lump it
as far as they can. So there's no, it's nothing surprising.
(41:43):
I mean, we knew it was going to be like that.
I felt that the defense and the team as a
whole handled it.
Speaker 10 (41:49):
Well, so you guys are gonna have to play this
team twice and you're gonna have to win twice. So
what did you learn by playing against them that you
can use on the next two games too to beat them.
Speaker 9 (42:02):
I don't think we learned anything tonight that we didn't
already already know. I think it's just about execution now,
and I think it's hard. I mean, this is such
a results oriented business, especially in the playoffs, but sometimes
you have to be happy with I think how we
approach the game and the process and the tactics, and
I think we created chances and we just need to execute.
(42:28):
So I think we'll I mean, we'll make some changes
some slight tweeks, but I think overall, I'm happy with
the way that the team played and I thought we
deserved more than a loss. I think it's one of
those that if it goes to one hundred and twenty
minutes instead of straight to penalties, I think we have
a good chance of getting a win based on how
(42:49):
the game was going.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Well, there you go, Jackson Reagan Sounders defender Albert Rusnak
Sounders midfielder talking about the game one loss there in
Minnesota on Monday game to ahead it is do or
die for your Sounders, win or the season is over.
That will be a seven fifty five kickoff there at
Luminfield on next Monday night, November three. We're gonna have
(43:13):
the broadcast for you starting with a Providence Swedish premat
show of seven thirty. And that's not gonna be on
terrestrial radio. It's gonna be on the stream. So you'll
either need to go to the iHeartRadio app or iHeartRadio
dot com look up Sounders FC radio and the stream
channel for Sounders FC radio should pop up there and
(43:34):
that is where we will have the broadcast for you
starting at seven thirty next Monday. Folks, you can also
watch the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple TVP
and listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty.
That is next Monday, do or die, win or the
year is done for the Sounders. Really quick, before we
(43:54):
end tonight's show, wanted to share something that I've been missing.
Stephen Fry was cell rated with the MLS Impact Award
just a little bit ago, and part of that is,
of course his amazing work with the Kick Childhood Cancer campaign.
As part of this out he donated fifty thousand dollars
(44:15):
the latest Scarves Fighting Cancer efforts as well leased another
fifty thousand dollars. So in this it's just an amazing
the funds going to the Kick Childhood Cancer campaign and
Seattle Children's Hospital and the efforts to end this. I mean,
I don't need to reiterate my connection to this. It's
(44:36):
everybody's connected to it in some way. And it's great.
The Celebrity Impact Award they're going to Steph Frye and
helping raise over a half million dollars for the life
saving research. Steph was honored with that, and it's just
it's awesome the efforts. We'll mention. The Scarves Fighting Cancer
annual auction with Zach Scott is coming up very soon,
(45:00):
I believe, so make sure to subscribe and check out
Scarvesfighting Cancer dot com Scarvesfighting Cancer dot com Christine's amazing
efforts there. The auction is going to be starting soon,
I believe, so make sure to be watching that website again,
Scarvesfightingcancer dot Com because amazing work being done to kick
(45:20):
childhood cancer on all fronts. And congratulations to Stephan fry
as well. A couple final notes before we end Tonight's show.
Senator's FC Soccer is presented by Providence Swedish, the official
healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Also michelob Ultra is ninety
five calories and two point six grams of carbs. It's
only worth it if you enjoy it. That'll do it.
Fortnight's Sounder's Weekly Show. Check out the podcast Sounder's Weekly
(45:43):
Wherever you Gear Podcasts. In case you missed our wonderful
guest tonight, Jamie Watson, Arilllinwall or those players speaking a
moment to go, we will talk to you next Monday
night at seven point thirty on the stream channel. Have
a very good rest of your evening. But Rainweekly is
gonna come up next here on Sports Radio ninety three
point three k j R f M
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