July 24, 2024 • 46 mins
Tonight on Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts recaps the 3-0 loss to LAFC and looks ahead to Leagues Cup with midfielder Cristian Roldan, then goes Around the Sound, Around the League with Ari Liljenwall of MLS Soccer, and then Around the World with Anders Hirst talking Euro, Copa, and USMNT.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Coming to you live from our ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weeklywith your host Jackson Felts. Good evening,
everybody, Welcome into Sounders Weekly.Jackson Feltz here, good to be
with you on this beautiful Wednesday night. Here ninety three point three kjr FM,
(00:22):
your home for Seattle Sounders FC soccer. Well for the Sounders. An
eight game unbeaten run has come toan end. We're gonna talk about it
here tonight, the loss to LAFCthree nothing last Saturday. We'll talk about
a little bit more about the unbeatenrun itself, the fact that it continued
through Saint Louis a week ago,and then now what's ahead for your Sounders
(00:46):
League's Cup action starting on Friday.In a few minutes, we're gonna chat
with Christian roldan or Here a conversationwith Christian rolld On. He and I
were out at training yesterday talking aboutthat run, talk about the loss,
talking about what's ahead, and talkingabout his life right now, which has
gotten a hell of a lot busierbecause he just had a daughter, Mia
(01:10):
Valentina, born during the Austin game. As he will talk about, so
he'll talk about being a new father. So we'll have Christian rolled on here
in a little bit, and thenwe'll have Ari Lillienwall who will take us
around the league and we'll talk aboutthat League's Cup event starting for your Sounders
in the group stage. It quicklydetails on that we will not have a
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radio broadcast actually for Sounders Minnesota United, but that comes out yet this Friday
night. It will be a seveno'clock kickoff at Emerald Queen Casino Pitch at
Luminfield. You can get your ticketsSOUNDERSFC dot com slash tickets. Also,
I'll tell you that you can watchthe match via MLS Season Pass on the
Apple TVPP. So that is howyou can take in this match. You
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will not be able to listen toit here on KJAR, but that will
be what's going on this Friday forSounders and at Minnesota United. Ari,
we'll talk about that a little bitlater on tonight, but really we should
start by talking about that three nothingloss and the end of the unbeaten run.
And when you look back at thatrun, I mean you're facing teams
(02:15):
like Minnesota. That's where I believethe run actually began in a win over
Minnesota at home. You have thetwo two comeback draw over Houston. Then
you have a wins over a bunchof lower level teams, you know,
Chicago, Dallas, New England amongthem, and really Saint Louis. We
were seeing the Sounders do a goodjob of basically, you know, doing
(02:38):
what they're supposed to do, whichis, you know, beating up on
poor teams, getting a bunch ofpoints. And they just kept rising up
the Western Conference table with all thepoints that they were getting from all these
wins, I mean six unbeaten ina row, and in there obviously does
include the US Open Cup win overSacramento that should be noted. But still
(02:59):
they were doing what they were supposedto do and beating up on these worst
teams. So that's why LAFC inthat game on Saturday became such a massive
test, and really all the headlinessurrounding it were all, right, here's
the measuring stick for the Sounders.You know, can you get a result
against really, for my money,is the best team in the Western Conference.
(03:20):
You can say what you want aboutthe LA Galaxy. We've seen them
a couple times this year. Istill think that they have defensive issues on
that team, and I know thatthey're at the top of the Western Conference
right now. I will remind everybodythat LAFC, just two points back,
also has two games in hand.So for my money, LAFC is the
team to beat in the Western Conference. And oh, by the way,
(03:42):
they get Olivier j Rude, theall time leading scorer of the French national
team, and injured right now areChristian Olvera and Timothy Tillman, who they
didn't even have in that three tonothing win over Seattle. So LAFC tremendous,
tremendous team, and we kind ofsaw it. Let's just be honest
here, we saw that the Soundersare just not at lafc's level right now.
(04:06):
And that's not to say that theSounders aren't a much improved team from
two months ago. They certainly are, but I think we're seeing that.
I mean, listen, the transferwindow just opened up, and this Sounders
team needs to do something in orderto reach the level of LAFC. And
maybe it's not even possible to reachtheir level. It probably isn't, but
(04:29):
the reality of the situation is thatif the Sounders want to get to MLS
Cup, either they or somebody elseare going to need to kick LAFC out.
And you know, I just don'tsee LAFC loosing before the West Final,
which I mean, if we're justset it up again, Sounders LAFC,
we've seen in the playoffs so manytimes. We saw it. In
(04:49):
twenty nineteen Sounders got rid of them, twenty twenty, Sounders once again eliminated
them, and then this last yearLAFC eliminated us at Lumen. So these
two teams, I mean, itsort of feels like the early days of
the Sounders when they first joined MLS, where it was the Galaxy, and
it feels like LAFC Sounders have thissort of rivalry here. It does feel
(05:13):
like a big rivalry. And ifwe were to meet in the playoffs again,
and obviously we meet in the OpenCup here one month from now down
at Starfire, that'll be a veryinteresting game. I mean, even right
now just imagining, you know,Jerude and Hugo Laris of the ep L,
and you know, most starts fora goalkeeper in a World Cup over
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his career ever, thinking about thosetwo and Booga and everybody else getting dressed
in the locker room slash bathroom ofStarfire for road teams. I mean,
it's hilarious and amazing, but stillyou're gonna have to be a lot better
on those days. If it wereto be a West final, you know,
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going to be the US Open Cupsemi final, it's gonna have to
be a lot better than what happenedon Saturday in that three nothing loss.
So this transfer window is now open. What do the Sounders do? Obviously
there's the rumors about this Dario Spikich. I'm probably butchering that name, but
a player out of Croatia who's comingoff of I believe a season where he
(06:15):
had something like, well, wasit four goals three assists or something like
that. Maybe I'm off on thathe was seven goals, three assists.
Regardless, you know, a wingerwho can play on both sides. There
were rumors about this Dario guy,and then we saw them kind of get
squashed over the weekend where Tom Bogertand others stepped in and said the deal
is dead. So okay, ifthat's not going to happen, then where
(06:39):
are we at with adding to thisteam? Because I fully believe that if
the Sounders want to get to anMLS Cup, they need to improve this
roster. And yes, Peter dela Vega getting healthy having him in that's
great. He only played forty fiveminutes. I think he still needs to
get his for lack of a betterterm, see legs under him. But
I think that but that will comeon as he develops the camaraderie and the
(07:02):
chemistry with his teammates, he willlook better and he will show that he's
an impact player for the Sounders.I also, at the same time,
believe that just the improvement and inclusionof Pedro isn't gonna be enough to take
down LAFC. I mean sound Theyled the Sounders two nothing at halftime in
the forty five minutes that Pedro deLevego was on the field. So I
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think they need help if they wantto get to an MLS Cup and if
they want to get by an LFC. And listen, you can say in
twenty nineteen that LAFC had a betterroster. I mean they won the Shield,
they were hosting the West Final,they were better than the Sounders.
But that game plan that Gonzalo Pinadaand Brian Schmitzer and that crew, you
(07:46):
know, figured out to beat LAFC. You know, if the Sounders were
to face LFC in that final backin twenty nineteen, ten times, they
may only win a few of them, but they had the perfect plan to
win that one off game. Soit's possible to win a one off game
with a perfect game plan. Ijust think that this team needs something here
in this transfer window, and forCraig Wible and company, we'll see what
(08:09):
that is, you know. Soit's kind of a wait and see approach,
you know, throughout this transfer window. But I think we clearly saw
all this to say, we clearlysaw on Saturday that the Sounders are a
bit back from where they need tobe to challenge for a Western Conference title
and get past LAFC. Because youknow, credit where credit is due,
(08:30):
and a lot of it is due. That is a tremendous LAFC team.
Bo woga bogoosh. I mean Iwas doing play by play obviously you're on
kJ R for it, and youknow, at a certain point, Steve,
Zachkwani and I all that we couldsay was I hate saying this,
but we have to give them credit. We have to credit Laris and Sanchez
and everybody else. Because that isa fantastic soccer team and they for sure
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looked at and you know, forthe Sounders, all right, well how
do we get by him? Andwe'll have a share to get buy him
in the Open Cup. So we'llsee what happens next month. But for
your Sounders, attention right now turnsto League's Cup and it's Minnesota coming up
here in the group stage this Friday. As we look ahead to this tournament,
we'll talk more about it with AriLillienwat later on, but for the
(09:16):
Sounders, it's coming off of thatloss and looking ahead to a little bit
of a break in the MLS seasonfor a month. So yesterday at training
I was able to catch up withChristian rolled On. We talked about the
break in action and MLS Cup.We talked about his you know, the
the interest and the enthusiasm for League'sCup and the lost LAFC. We also
(09:37):
talked about him becoming a father andhaving a daughter, Mia Valentina, born
during the Austin game. He'll talkabout that, but we did start with
Christian by just kind of getting thevegetables, getting the tough part of the
conversation out of the way, andthat is the lost to LAFC. So
here is the Sounders midfielder Christian rolledon frustrating. Right. You want results
(09:58):
at home, especially in front ofour crowd, and unfortunately we weren't good
enough on the day. Credit toLAFC for coming coming to our stadium with
a game plan and executing. Uh. And for us, we weren't good
enough on the day, and wetake responsibility and we have to move on.
Christian talking about that eight game unbeatenrun, I'm wondering, you know,
(10:20):
how do you view it looking back? Is it more of this run
was going to come to an endat some point? Is it more of,
you know, the frustration you justmentioned because it did come with three
nothing. How how do you comeaway from from that eight game unbeaten run?
Uh? Yeah, I think frustrating, right. I think I said
that earlier just because we felt likewe were in a groove, we had
(10:43):
confidence going into this game. Uh. And and I didn't think that we
were that far off from from thefrom the actual result, which was three
zero. And so I think theway it happened obviously the most frustrating part,
you know, being at home beinguh, you know, trying to
catch up to two teams like LAFCGalaxy Salt Lake. Uh. And so
(11:07):
now we have to turn the page. You know, we got Least Cup
League's Cup coming up, and weare focus is now on Leagues Cup.
You're with Christian roll done And beforewe get to the all the stuff about
being a new dad, you mentionedLeagu's Cup there. What is the enthusiasm
level for you and the guys aboutkind of a mid season tournament in the
midst of a busy MLS schedule thathas seen you guys have successively. Yeah,
(11:30):
I think it's another challenge for us. I think it's a challenge accepted.
You know, it's a it's ait's a tournament that we feel like
we have the ability to go farin and it's again another another chance to
win a trophy. And so that'swhat this franchise is all about. And
and hopefully we can put ourselves ina in a good spot after our first
(11:50):
game on Friday, uh and setourselves up for success. How much of
that confidence that you guys can gofar is built on the fact that this
entire group stage she Leaks Cup,You're gonna have it at home? Yeah,
certainly, I think we we struggledat home at first, and and
we we got a groove and youknow, we've we've got some wins in
a row at home, and soyou know, it wasn't too long ago
(12:11):
that we beat Minnesota at home.So we got to use, uh,
what we did well in that gameand tried to avoid the things that we
did bad, uh, to getbetter. All right, Well, let's
move on here and talk about thebig headline, which is that you were
a new dad, uh mea Valentinacoming into this world. What's what's the
last couple of weeks been like foryou? Yeah, it's been a bit
hectic. You know. She cameon our due date or her due date,
(12:35):
and uh, you know, wewere debating whether to go to Austin
or stay back, and luckily wewe decided to stay back at a at
a precaution, you know, justin case she came. And she came
right at halftime, and uh thrilledhalf time literally halftime, you know,
of our game in Austin. Sothrilled, thrilled that it all worked out,
Thrilled that she and and mom ishealthy. Uh and and yeah,
(12:58):
it's such as your your whole lifechanges uh, in a blink of an
eye, and uh, you knowyour perspective on life is just a tad
bit different. Not to get toomuch into the story, but are you
are you holding the newborn baby asyou watch the team win in Austin?
Like set the seat a little bit? Yeah, there was a I put
the iPad on and I asked mywife it was okay to put the game
(13:20):
on during labor. But then weended up shutting it off for a bit
and then when I turned it backon, it was literally halftime. So,
uh, what a what a funnyuh, just story. I think
she knew that she needs to comeat that time and as she did.
How about that? And then youknow in this last stretch where you know
(13:41):
you're you're out here protessing with theteam you're obviously playing in the games Saint
Louis l e f C. Youknow, has it been difficult to divide
that focus or are you able tocompartmentalize? Yeah? This, uh come
into train is obviously a good uhdistraction I think from everything for you.
You have lack of sleep, youhave uh you know moments where you're not
(14:05):
sleeping, Uh, you know inyour bed, you're at the hospital.
You know, you didn't train fora couple of days, and so being
able to decompress back onto the fieldis really nice. Uh. And and
it serves as a as a nicedistraction to get out of the house and
kind of go on with your dailylife even though your life has changed so
much. Last thing here for yourChristian, would you give yourself from one
(14:30):
month ago any piece of advice basedon what the experiences you've had in the
last week. I mean, Itook advantage of sleep before she came,
and so I'm doing all right inthat category. I would have I would
have said, uh, you know, just be prepared to spend a lot
of money on diapers and wipes anddifferent outfits. But it is, it
(14:54):
is a huge blessing. And she'sso cute when uh, you know,
she's in these different outfits, andeven though she's crying at three in the
morning, you know you can't youcan't help but love her. I'm taking
notes, Christian. Congratulations and goodluck it's Minnesota. Thank you Jackson,
appreciate it. That's good stuff therefrom Christian. Rolled on your Seattle Sounders
midfielder. Whether he's on the rightwing at right back holding your Swiss Army
(15:16):
knife there. Good to chat withhim, and a big congratulations to him
and his wife Sianna for the birthof Mea Valentina. That's a fun story
there, you know. I imagineit's something like, you know, you
you wait for a good moment toask your wife if hey, can I
turn on the game after the birthof your daughter. I mean, I've
made it no secret I am lookingto be a dad somewhat in the near
(15:39):
future, and I can only imagineif it's me and my wife in the
delivery room and after the birth ofour kid, if I say to her,
hey can I turn on the Soundersgame? Or hey, can I
turn on KJR? I'm probably gettingslapped in the face. But well done
and a heck of a gutsy effort. Christian rolled on to actually ask the
(16:00):
question and pull that off. Butcongratulations to him and his wife. Joking
aside, Just awesome for the twoof them and fun to see. You
know. Instagram is a cool placetoo, and I'm sure Christian posting and
will post more. So congratulations tothem and good luck to Christian. As
we said, for the Minnesota gamecoming up, let's talk about Leagu's Cup
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ahead, let's take a break andchat with Ari Leenwall at MLS Soccer dot
com. I want to gauge hisinterest and enthusiasm in League's Cup and what
he has kind of heard around thenation about kind of how people feel about
this tournament between Major League Soccer andleah MX down in Mexico. Ari Lionwall
will come up next, but beforewe get there, I'll tell you that
twenty twenty five season membership deposits areon sale. Now place a one hundred
(16:45):
dollars deposit and gain access to benefitsyou can use this season, including Lumenfield
concert pre sales and mlsstore dot comdiscounts. Learn Moore at sounderzefc dot com
backslash membership. We'll get a breakand we'll chat with Ari Lillianwall next on
Sounders Weekly on Sports Radio ninety threepoint three KJRF. Now back to Sounders
Weekly on your home for Sounders fcCL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr
(17:11):
FM. Welcome back Sounders Weekly,Jackson Felt's good to have you here.
Sports Radio ninety three point three kjrFM. Just two days from right now,
Sounders will be facing Minnesota United firstgame of League's Cup in the group
stage. That'll be Friday at Luminfield. You also watch MLS Season Pass on
Apple TV. No radio broadcast,but look forward to seeing everybody out there
(17:33):
for Sounders Minnesota for League's Cup.We'll talk about Minnesota here coming up in
a moment with our now guest rightnow Ari lillianwallomlssoccer dot com, who's also
going to take us around the league. Ari. Good to have you back
on my friend. How are you? I'm good, Jackson. You know,
an unfortunate last Sounders game, butI'm doing well. How are you?
(17:56):
Yeah? Well, I had tocall play by play for the thing
here on KJR, and that wasthat was tough when Bwanga made it three
to nothing. At that point youkind of just start talking about Minnesota.
Had you start talking about other storylinesbecause it was it was not fun there
in the three nothing loss. Let'sstart there, Ari, And I think
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the question is coming off of eightunbeaten, this was really kind of the
test. This was the game thatwould show, you know, all right,
how good are the Sounders now youcompare to the top teams in the
Western Conference, And at least frommy money, I think we kind of
got to look at the gap betweenthe top teams your LA, laf CRSL
(18:41):
and Seattle. Is that what yousaw as well? Yeah, I think
you hit the nail on the headthere, Jackson. I mean, if
you look at what the national perspectivewas from those analysts going into this game,
they were talking about how, youknow, Seattle's been playing better,
and that's all well and good,but who have they really been And this
kind of became the measuring stick gameto sort of address that narrative. And
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so it was definitely a letdown performancein that respect, and I do think
it kind of showed the gap betweenSeattle and some of these elite teams in
the league right now, Like ifyou look at LAFC DPS and their difference
makers. In this game, youhad Bowanga scoring two goals, you had
Bogus scoring a goal. I mean, they have these guys that they they
(19:25):
step up in those moments under thebright lights in these big games. And
they've got the leading goal scorer inthe history of the French national team,
Olivi Olivier Jareu to add to it, and they're gonna get even better.
So I definitely think that it doesunderscore where that gap is. Like you
said, not to not have Dhrudyet to not have Christian Olvera, to
not have Timothy Tillman, and tostill win three nothing on the road at
(19:49):
a team who was unbeaten an eight. I mean that I think it just
clearly shows. I mean, onthat same tokenari Ario Lineal is our guest
MS soccer dot Com and the podcastLobbing Scorchers. On that note, we
look at this entire league right now, and obviously you have Miami right now
who's sitting at the top of thesupporter shield standings. Cincinnati has droppen off
(20:11):
quite a bit because of their centerback injuries. And I'm kind of wondering,
you know, I know the Galaxyright now are above LAFC, but
LAFC have two games in hand.Is LAFC the biggest team who would challenge
Miami for the shield right now?Is there anybody else in the league or
is it Miami LAFC, maybe theGalaxy two and then the rest? I
(20:34):
think I think that is how Isee it right now. I mean,
Miami is obviously the odds on favorite, and LAFC is right there. Like
you mentioned, FC, Cincinnati hasfallen off a little bit there. I
think you have to mention Columbus inthere with the form that they've been in
lately. And as far as theWestern Conference goes in terms of shield contenders
(20:56):
with RSL dealing with a little bitof a downturn right now too, I
think it is the two LA teamswho you would have to think are the
favorite. The debate between who's betterbetween l a f C and the Galaxy
is an interesting one. LAFC wonthe last l TRAFFICO and they certainly have
been in great form lately. Butthe Galaxy, you know, you know,
I'm a big Galaxy guy, likeI think that when their attack is
(21:18):
rolling, it's as good as anyone'sin the league, for whatever their defensive
deficiencies might be. But in termsof the shield race, I look at
it kind of as like Miami andeveryone else. But I do think that
LAFC, the Galaxy, and theCrew will I mean, they're gonna have
a say in it before it's allsaid and done, they certainly will.
(21:38):
Ari let's switch gears back to whatwe're looking at for Seattle, and you
know, this is a league's Cupstarting up and before we talk about Minnesota
coming out. I just love toget your tech and I know you right
for the league. You're editor writerfor MLS Soccer dot Com, but you
also give a lot of commentary thereon your podcast Lobbing Scorcher. So I
(21:59):
think you can and give me anobjective answer for this, for you and
for writers around the league and folksyou talk to around the league. How
much enthusiasm is there nationally for aLeague's Cup in this format in its second
year. You know, I thinkit's a little polarizing at least the fan
response that I've seen a lot ofpeople really don't like this tournament. They
(22:22):
kind of see it as a cynicalmoney grab, And I think when you
throw in the league's kind of attemptto get MLS clubs out of the Open
Cup this year, that sort ofadded to the polarization of it for me
personally. I mean, I coveredSeattle's entire run to the League's Cup final
a couple of years ago. Iwent to that final in Vegas. I
was at all those games that werein Seattle, and my feeling on it
(22:47):
is that I support anything that getsour MLS clubs as much run against these
League MX clubs as possible. Ithink playing that type of competition and getting
a lot of reps against them makesour clubs better. And I think I
said this on my podcast, butmy evidence to support that would be Seattle's
run and how that affected their runto the CONCA CAP Champions League Final,
(23:08):
which they won the following year.Brian Schmetzer has talked about this. The
League's Cup games that they played hadthem very prepared, had them very drilled
on how to play against these teams, and it ups their level. And
I really think that the more wecan get our clubs playing these games against
these high level opponents from League toMX, the more it's going to raise
(23:29):
their level, the better our teamsare going to be from getting those reps.
I think you bring up some goodpoints there, and you know,
it's funny. I do love thefact that they shut down the regular season
for a month in both leagues sothat you can play this tournament. So
it sort of isn't a thing whereyou're just jostling between the schedules and like
an Open Cup or you'll face MLS, Open Cup, MLS back and forth,
(23:52):
back and forth. So I appreciatethat because it allows time and energy
and dedication. And you know,for Brian Spencer, it's easy. You
just keep running out the starters becauseyou need them to stay fit, you
need them to you know, justkeep getting their runs in. For the
Sounders, facing Minnesota a team whereyou know, if you look at it
in MLS, they're still holding aplayoff space in the space there in ninth
(24:14):
spot, just four points back ofthe Sounders. Obviously, their whole situation
with the man that we had awatch going if he was actually gonna be
there, not Emmanuel Renoso, thathas ended as he is now finally in
the rearview mirror. But now thatMinnesota is past that, who is this
Minnesota United team who will be comingto town here in two days? Yeah,
(24:37):
I mean what I can tell youabout Minnesota is that, I mean
they're struggling right now about as muchas anyone in the league. You know,
the story with them earlier in theseason was kind of how well they
managed to stay afloat given the wholeEmmanuel Reinoso saga and then also their DP
striker Timo Pook has been either injuredor unproductive for a lot of the season,
so they were in a situation wheretwo of the main guys that they're
(25:00):
tach was going to be built aroundweren't there either we're missing or not producing,
and they had to work around that, and they did that to pretty
good effect. Earlier in the year, they built their whole offense around Robin
bad who's carried the load for them, and they did quite well and they
got some good results. But Ithink it's caught up to them over this
last stress of games here. Youcan kind of only survive like that for
(25:21):
so long, and they're starting tofeel the effects of kind of where their
roster is at, and it's resultedin a pretty big downturn and form.
And yeah, like you said,they have a playoff spot right now,
but they are definitely wimping going intothis tournament. I think they were winless
in ten recently, so Minnesota Unitedis definitely struggling right now. Well,
kickoff seven pm on Friday night.Watch the match MLS Season Pass on the
(25:45):
Apple TV app and get your ticketsSOUNDERSFC dot com slash tickets to get out
there to Friday's match their starting league'scup. Again. We will not have
a radio broadcast for that. Andalso they are good thoughts from Arion,
Minnesota. Tonight's ouponent ALEC was presentedby Sharpvision Modern lesa can Lens, the
official Lasik provider of Sounders FC ARI. Let's quickly turn to All Star Week.
(26:08):
And I know the All Star Gamehappening tonight. I really don't care
about it. I'm not watching itbecause it includes no Sounders. And you
know, it's a funny situation becausethe voting for the All Star Game,
and I don't know what I'm supposedto say or can say or shouldn't say
whatever? Is that the voting happensabout a month ago, right or a
(26:29):
month and a half, even twomonths ago. The voting is a little
bit earlier in the season, atthe start or before this eight game unbeaten
run that the Sounders had and thismassive run that Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris
had. Oh, the voting happensbefore they go on fire. And I'm
wondering if there's a flaw in thesystem here, because for what they've done
(26:52):
over their last ten games, itjust feels like Jordan and Albert deserve a
spot on that roster. Am Ioff base? Maybe they don't even deserve
a spot, but I kind offeel like they deserve a spot because of
this last stretch. Yeah, no, it's not a bad point. I
hadn't really thought about it like that, you know, I'm thinking back,
and I believe I cast my ballotabout a month ago, I believe,
and that is right around when Seattle'srecent hot streak just started. So I
(27:17):
think Jordan and Albert are a littlebit of just victims of timing in that
respect. Seattle ends up with norepresentatives. But like based on how the
first big stretch of games of theseason went, which is a pretty big
sample size, I don't really thinkthat there's all that much of an outrage
case to be made as far assnubs go. I do think if Jordan
(27:38):
and Albert's recent run of form wastaken into account, they would have a
good shout there, And if youlook at their numbers for the season now,
they're doing pretty well, especially Rusnak. But I think, like you
said, it was sort of basedon the run of games that directly before
that hot streak. So I thinkit's I mean, it's a little unlucky
as much as anything that, youknow, a run like that didn't come
(28:00):
at a time when the ballots weregetting cast. Well, so take this
idea to your boss. Is thereat Major League Soccer put in a new
mechanism next year where the voting forthe All Star Game is for like all
but maybe one or two spots,and then once all that voting is compiled,
you have your rosters, and thenbased on the few games leading up
(28:22):
to the All Star Game, youhave I mean, I don't know who's
who's the head coach for MLS.Is it the is it Steve Torontolo.
I don't know who's who's going tobe coaching this thing. Will for now
that makes sense the MLS Cup winnerfrom last year. So I give Wilfrid
Nancy, and give whoever's coaching theMLS All Stars and leg MX All Stars,
give them the ability to add asupplemental player based on the recent run
(28:45):
and say, God, he's noton the roster, but he's in great
form, Let's add him to theroster. Because I feel like a guy
like Will for Nancy. I mean, you know, obviously a stacked roster,
but if you have the ability togo add an Albert or add a
Jordan, you know in a gamewhere I mean I don't know. Again,
I'm not watching and I'm not followingit, but it is sort of
like we were saying about League's Cup. It's a measuring stick for our league
(29:07):
to their league, and you know, chance to have some experience against those
players. So I'll check the scoreat some point later tonight when my head
hits the bat and see what happened. But it frustrates me that no Sounders
are able to get in and there'sno mechanism to get the deserving players in
there. Anyway, All right,Ari, I'm off my soapbox. Good
(29:27):
stuff, man. We will talknext week ahead of the Sounders Second League's
Cup group match, talk about Minnesota, talk about what's happening around the league.
Hey, really quick before I letyou go. Obviously, Olivier Jerude
coming into LAFC. That's the bigone happening for MLS. Transfer window now
open for your money. You know, just watching the transfer window open up
(29:51):
here Seattle. We were just waitingto see what may happen. But around
the league, is Jerude the numberone move? Is there any other huge
things that are happening that you wereseeing around the league that are coming down
the pipe here at the start ofthe transfer window. I mean, I
can't think of any off the topof my head. I'm sure there are
some, but like what I willsay is that I don't I can't imagine
(30:12):
that there's anything more high profile thanJeru. Like, like I said,
this guy is the leading goal scorerin the history of the French national team,
one of the best strikers, mostproductive strikers of this generation, has
played for a lot of the biggestclubs in the world. So I mean,
this guy coming into the league evenat age thirty seven. You know,
they did something to a similar effectwith Gareth Bale a couple of years
(30:34):
ago. Like I most certainly expecthim to strengthen their team quite a bit
and be very productive in the league. Rich kid, Richard. It's frustrating,
but it is what it is,all right, aur Thanks for taking
us around the league. We appreciateit and we'll talk to you next week.
That good, Thanks Jackson. That'sari LEENWALLMLS soccer dot com and check
out his podcast, Lobbing Scorches whereveryou get your podcasts, including the Ihear
(30:57):
Radio app. Ari and No doa great job with that Lobbing Scorcheres podcast
and their agenda Watch and various playersincluding Albert Rusnak is one of my favorite
segments, so make sure to checkout. Lobbing scorchers from around the league.
Will now go around the sound somebad news here about what's going on
with my favorite Ballad FC club inUSL two is. The USL two season
(31:22):
is kind of ongoing and wrapping upa little bit. Ballard was able to
make the playoffs. They won theNorthwest Division. Actually they ended the season
very strong with a couple wins.They had the number one seed going in,
but they lost in their first gameof the playoffs at home, and
that was actually a game at InnerBay. Actually they switched it back to
Inner Bay after the work was beingdone down there. They're switching back full
(31:45):
time to InterBase starting next year,including by the way, their women's team
that they introduced a couple weeks ago. So Ballad was knocked out of the
playoffs by Project five ten down inCalifornia. The final score was two to
one, and it was frustrating becauseBallard led two to one and Project five
to ten scored two goals in thelast I want to say about fifteen minutes
(32:06):
of that game to storm back andget a two to one win, So
Ballard is out in terms of what'sgoing on. In terms of the rest
of that Northwest Division, Tacoma finishedin third place Middle Lakes and fourth place,
West Seattle in fifth place, onlyTown in seventh place. None of
them made the playoffs. United PDXwas the other team to get out.
(32:27):
They won their first playoff game,but they lost in the semi finals of
the USL two round, which waswhat Sunday I believe at Inner Bay.
They lost to Project five to tenfive to four. So Project five to
ten get out of that side ofthe bracket, So not good news for
our local USL two teams. Ballardis the only local team that made it
to the playoffs and they lost therein the first round. Let's take a
(32:51):
look quickly at what's going on withrain FC Seattle RAINFC in case you missed
it, they are once again nowunder the Sounders FC umbrella. They played
Utah Royals FC back on Friday atLumenfield and they beat Utah by a score
of two to one. That wasnot in the regular season. It should
(33:12):
be mentioned of what's going on inNWSL. That was in a special NWSL
versus Lega MX Summer Cup. Sothey got that done back on Friday night
and for them their next match whichis again in this Summer Cup against Lega
MX. They'll face Club Tijuana comingup this Sunday at Lumenfield at three pm,
(33:34):
so make sure to head out toLumen for that match. So there
you go for around the sound andfrom there we'll take a break here in
Sounders Weekly. A lot more toget to here on Sports Radio ninety three
point three KIDJRFM. I will tellyou that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by
Providence, Swedish official healthcare partner ofSounders FC. More up next on Sounders
Weekly. Now back to Sounders Weeklyon your home for Sounders FC cll's Sports
(33:58):
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Welcome back Sounders Weekly. Jackson felt
good to be with you here ninetythree point three kjr FM. Thanks to
our guests so far this evening,Christian role Don who I was able to
chat with out at training yesterday andAri Lillian raw all right there. Check
out the podcast Sounders Weekly wherever youget your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app.
(34:22):
In case you missed either of them. And in case you missed any
of the interviews out there at LongAcres for Sounders FC trainings, I should
say check out my Twitter account atJackson on Radio. I live stream every
single Sounders interview, press conference aftertraining is out there. So for example,
this morning, Jordan Morris spoke tomyself and Jeremiaoshan and Sounder Heart the
(34:45):
two of us were out there andwe talked to Jordan about Least Cup ahead
and all good things. So checkout the Twitter account Jackson on Radio for
all of those interviews and press conferences. Well, we were going to have
an interview here. We're trying tofit one in with the Apple broadcaster as
we usually do. Unfortunately, LloydSam the former player he was with the
(35:07):
Leeds United System for a while,played some years in Major League Soccer as
well. Lloyd will be on thecall for Sounders Minnesota this Friday on Mlsseason
Pass on Apple TV. He'll bedoing it alongside Neil Sika, and you'll
be able to actually take them inon MLS Season Pass on Apple TV because
we will not have a radio broadcastagain for Sounders Minnesota this coming Friday,
(35:31):
so tune to those two guys thereon Apple for the game if you cannot
make it out to Luminfield, buthopefully all of you can make it out
to Luminfield SOUNDERSFC dot Com slash ticketswill be good to see everybody out there
for the first game of League's Cup. Now, in the place of Lloyd
(35:51):
Sam, we're gonna bring in hereonce again our producer Anders Hurst, who's
been our summer tournament correspondent. Andyes, I know our tournament between COPA
and the Euros ended a couple weeksago now, but we haven't had the
chance Anders to talk since the endof those major tournaments. There's also some
more rumors, and I wouldn't callit news, but they are rumors about
(36:14):
the future of the United States men'snational team coaching position. So thank you
for coming back in here. Let'sfirst start on the United States side.
The latest rumor that we are hearingand seeing is Patrick Vieira, who is
the longtime player for Arsenal and overin the English Premier League, and of
(36:36):
course then he became a manager.He managed for New York CITYFC some years
back. Was that about seven eightyears ago Patrick Vieira was the manager over
there. He moved on from NewYork CITYFC, and he ended up kind
of taking up some other places aswell. He's forty eight years old.
Most recently he was the head coachat Strasbourg. He also coached Crystal Palace
(37:00):
for a few years, I know, before being fired there. So he's
a man who has a lot ofcoaching experience over across the seas as well
as here in the US playing atthe highest level. So Andrews, let's
just first get your gauge where areyou at If Patrick Vieira is the name
(37:21):
and is going to be the oneto take over the United States head coaching
job. I think overall, Ithink it's the right thought for a type
of manager to look for. Hewould not be my first choice, though
he has the experience kind of onoverseas in Europe coaching. Crystal Palace didn't
necessarily have the best tenure there.I wouldn't say it was a complete failure
(37:44):
though he's known to be good withyounger players, which I think, once
again, that's one of the kindof things we're looking for here for the
next US head coach. So Ithink it would be a good choice,
but not my first choice on thatsame token when we talk about a guy
who's had experience over there and experiencehere with New York. Is it important
(38:05):
for you at least? And I'msure a lot of people out there say
share your mindset, they share myThey sure everybody has their own thoughts,
right, But I'm wondering for you, is it important for somebody to be
in this job who understands MLS andalso understands the game at the highest level.
I can see where people would saythat that's important quality to have in
(38:27):
the next head coach. To me, it's not I and I wouldn't.
I wouldn't go so far to sayI'm looking for someone who doesn't. But
to me, it's just kind ofa non important factor. I almost want
someone who doesn't really have that likeinitial thought about what US men's soccer has
been up until now. They justwant to bring in their own system.
(38:49):
They want to make the best teamthey possibly can with the players that are
available, no preconceived thoughts about whatthis team used to be, how they
used to call it players, howthey used to develop players, do it
their way, and the way they'vekind of had success with in the previous
places they've been to bring it hereto the US, and I think that's
kind of the shakeup that this systemneeds here at US men's soccer. Yeah,
(39:14):
for sure. And you mentioned thatPatrick obviously isn't your first choice.
Not my first choice either, aswe talked about a couple episodes ago,
but your overall first choice that youmentioned a couple weeks ago. Jorgan Klopp
has reportedly told the United States no, I will not be taking that job.
So now that he is out,who is your number one man?
(39:35):
There's a couple options. I actuallyreally like your guy Yardo pick from the
last time that you and I talked. I think there's a good kind of
mixture of someone who maybe hasn't necessarilydone it at the top, top level.
He was kind of touted as thenext big thing in international soccer management,
(39:55):
went to Saudi Arabia, didn't reallylike it there. He is available
now, but again again someone whohas worked with younger players. I wouldn't
mind seeing him. I wouldn't mindseeing Thomas Touchell. He would be a
little bit more of a high profilemanager that would come and like do it
his way or the highway. Buthe's he's done it at the top level.
(40:19):
For many different clubs, So he'san option. I like Thomas frank
from the former Brentford manager. There'sa couple options out there that may not
be like big, big names,but I think one of those three is
probably the direction that I'm looking at. Yeah, I love Guyardo, and
you know, somebody responded back withlike, well, he was fired from
this club in Saudi Arabia. Fired, But at the same time, I
(40:44):
mean, clubs make statements about releasingpeople to save face in certain ways.
So as far as we know,he wanted out there, and his son
is part of the Atlanta United Academy, so there's connections for there. But
hey, let's switch gears. Let'stalk Argentina, because yes, bad news
lost in in the Olympics today ina shockert. But hey, listen,
(41:07):
one copa yeah, and that wasan exciting final against Colombia, one that
I think. Listen the craziness atthe start of the game and getting into
the stadium Miami, that's a wholeseparate situation. But the game itself was
back and forth, and for awhile there it looked like Columbia had a
shot to take it in the firstninety Completely agree and especially in the first
(41:28):
half. I think Columbia really cameout and did kind of what I expected
them to do. They were adangerous team all tournament, and to be
honest, even though I think Argentina'smore talented, they've proven it at the
top level for longer. Columbia Ithink had the better overall tournament in terms
of that we're showing that we're agood team now. Argentina never really kicked
into that next year, so Ithink that it's it's really huge that they
(41:52):
were able to kind of even doit against a really, really good team
like Argentina. Yeah, I thinkthat was about as compelling of a one
zero game as I've ever seen,to be honest, back and forth,
lots of chances, lots of drama. Messi's injury, of course, is
going to be a huge kind offactor in the second half of the MLS
season. We can talk about thatat a later time. But you saw
(42:14):
how emotional he was. But onceagain, I'm happy it didn't go into
penalties because that would have been alittle bit of a tough situation for me
to go through as an Argentina fan. Playing your boy won it. Yeah,
exactly, a lot of Tarow Martinez, my guy, he was Golden
boot of the tournament. Didn't evenstart the game, which is weird,
but that kind of just shows thedepth of Argentina. Yeah, what a
(42:35):
good game to watch, and itwas a good one to end it off.
Yeah, just tremendous for Oliver Is. It's so funny for Oliver Is.
They there was something on Twitter thatI saw that showing how his calendar
year of soccer was like all butsix days and then now Olympics. I
mean, we don't even need toget into what happened today or the Olympic
life. I just want to justyeah, I just want to mention that,
(42:57):
like for those oh my god,Argentina lost to Morocco. So yeah,
these are a lot of the topteams like second or third string guys.
Because of what you just mentioned.They've been playing all year round,
including extra with the Copa America andEuros. That just finished. This right
now is their only couple of weeksthey actually get to have off. And
there's even some clubs that are startingthe preseason now, so there's a lot
(43:21):
of mixtures in terms of like theirschedules and stuff. Soccer players do not
get a lot of time off,especially at the top level. So yeah
that I wouldn't say it's a hugestory, but what happened at the end
of the game was definitely a goodone. We got a minute here,
we got to talk Euros because youknow, there's a situation where England kept
finding ways, kept finding ways,got themselves into the final. It looked
(43:43):
like they had found a way againto extend the game. But Spain,
yes or no, best team clearlyall tournament. Yeah, one hundred percent.
Yes. I think the only teamthat actually has a chance to take
that away from them is Germany.But they played each other in the quarterfinals,
so that game, it was anawesome game. But Spain deserved winners.
They were they were the ones creatingmore chances, have a lot of
(44:06):
really good players on their team.Uh yeah, I I nothing more to
say other than the Spain was deservedwinners. Thank god England didn't win.
But thank god it's not coming home. I mean at this point, I
mean, they really fought like hell. And now Gareth Southgate's out, he's
resigned, and that don't bring himto the US. Do not bring him
(44:27):
to the US. So he's sohe would be on your not list.
No, absolutely not. I wouldjust say I think it's amazing how they
fought so hard, little this,little that, just finding every little which
way to get into the final andthen you go up against Spain. I
mean like at this point will itever come home? I'm not sure.
Yeah, and and really quick.I know we're short on time, but
(44:50):
if it's that hard with that goodof a squad, there's something wrong and
that's why I don't want Gareth Southgatewith the US. Well. Well,
more on that, we'll keep talkingabout that. Anders, great stuff.
Thanks. We appreciate you coming intoday. Yeah, appreciate you having me
well, good stuff. Anders.We appreciate your time as we were able
to fit in around the world followingour visits around the league with Ari and
(45:10):
around the sound as well, sowe covered it all here today as well
as Christian rolled on. If youmissed any of it, check out Sounders
Weekly wherever you get your podcasts.Thanks to all of our guests again,
but that will do it for theshow tonight. Want to thank the guests
and thank you all for listening,and we will talk to you maybe a
while for the Sounders Next time,we'll have a radio broadcast will be back
(45:32):
on here for Sounders Weekly next Wednesday. Of course here at seven pm on
ninety three point three KJRFM. Noradio broadcast for Sounders Minnesota coming up this
Friday, so tune to MLS SeasonPass on Apple TV to watch that,
or of course be out at Luminfield. Look forward to seeing a bunch of
people there for least Cup on Friday. So we'll talk to you next week
(45:52):
here for Sounders content on KJAR.We'll see at at Lumen. Have a
good rest of your week everybody,and Fox Sports video is coming up in that
Coming to you live from our ElliotAvenue studios of Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weeklywith your host Jackson Felts. Good evening,
everybody, Welcome into Sounders Weekly.Jackson Feltz here, good to be
with you on this beautiful Wednesday night. Here ninety three point three kjr FM,
(00:22):
your home for Seattle Sounders FC soccer. Well for the Sounders. An
eight game unbeaten run has come toan end. We're gonna talk about it
here tonight, the loss to LAFCthree nothing last Saturday. We'll talk about
a little bit more about the unbeatenrun itself, the fact that it continued
through Saint Louis a week ago,and then now what's ahead for your Sounders
(00:46):
League's Cup action starting on Friday.In a few minutes, we're gonna chat
with Christian roldan or Here a conversationwith Christian rolld On. He and I
were out at training yesterday talking aboutthat run, talk about the loss,
talking about what's ahead, and talkingabout his life right now, which has
gotten a hell of a lot busierbecause he just had a daughter, Mia
(01:10):
Valentina, born during the Austin game. As he will talk about, so
he'll talk about being a new father. So we'll have Christian rolled on here
in a little bit, and thenwe'll have Ari Lillienwall who will take us
around the league and we'll talk aboutthat League's Cup event starting for your Sounders
in the group stage. It quicklydetails on that we will not have a
(01:30):
radio broadcast actually for Sounders Minnesota United, but that comes out yet this Friday
night. It will be a seveno'clock kickoff at Emerald Queen Casino Pitch at
Luminfield. You can get your ticketsSOUNDERSFC dot com slash tickets. Also,
I'll tell you that you can watchthe match via MLS Season Pass on the
Apple TVPP. So that is howyou can take in this match. You
(01:52):
will not be able to listen toit here on KJAR, but that will
be what's going on this Friday forSounders and at Minnesota United. Ari,
we'll talk about that a little bitlater on tonight, but really we should
start by talking about that three nothingloss and the end of the unbeaten run.
And when you look back at thatrun, I mean you're facing teams
(02:15):
like Minnesota. That's where I believethe run actually began in a win over
Minnesota at home. You have thetwo two comeback draw over Houston. Then
you have a wins over a bunchof lower level teams, you know,
Chicago, Dallas, New England amongthem, and really Saint Louis. We
were seeing the Sounders do a goodjob of basically, you know, doing
(02:38):
what they're supposed to do, whichis, you know, beating up on
poor teams, getting a bunch ofpoints. And they just kept rising up
the Western Conference table with all thepoints that they were getting from all these
wins, I mean six unbeaten ina row, and in there obviously does
include the US Open Cup win overSacramento that should be noted. But still
(02:59):
they were doing what they were supposedto do and beating up on these worst
teams. So that's why LAFC inthat game on Saturday became such a massive
test, and really all the headlinessurrounding it were all, right, here's
the measuring stick for the Sounders.You know, can you get a result
against really, for my money,is the best team in the Western Conference.
(03:20):
You can say what you want aboutthe LA Galaxy. We've seen them
a couple times this year. Istill think that they have defensive issues on
that team, and I know thatthey're at the top of the Western Conference
right now. I will remind everybodythat LAFC, just two points back,
also has two games in hand.So for my money, LAFC is the
team to beat in the Western Conference. And oh, by the way,
(03:42):
they get Olivier j Rude, theall time leading scorer of the French national
team, and injured right now areChristian Olvera and Timothy Tillman, who they
didn't even have in that three tonothing win over Seattle. So LAFC tremendous,
tremendous team, and we kind ofsaw it. Let's just be honest
here, we saw that the Soundersare just not at lafc's level right now.
(04:06):
And that's not to say that theSounders aren't a much improved team from
two months ago. They certainly are, but I think we're seeing that.
I mean, listen, the transferwindow just opened up, and this Sounders
team needs to do something in orderto reach the level of LAFC. And
maybe it's not even possible to reachtheir level. It probably isn't, but
(04:29):
the reality of the situation is thatif the Sounders want to get to MLS
Cup, either they or somebody elseare going to need to kick LAFC out.
And you know, I just don'tsee LAFC loosing before the West Final,
which I mean, if we're justset it up again, Sounders LAFC,
we've seen in the playoffs so manytimes. We saw it. In
(04:49):
twenty nineteen Sounders got rid of them, twenty twenty, Sounders once again eliminated
them, and then this last yearLAFC eliminated us at Lumen. So these
two teams, I mean, itsort of feels like the early days of
the Sounders when they first joined MLS, where it was the Galaxy, and
it feels like LAFC Sounders have thissort of rivalry here. It does feel
(05:13):
like a big rivalry. And ifwe were to meet in the playoffs again,
and obviously we meet in the OpenCup here one month from now down
at Starfire, that'll be a veryinteresting game. I mean, even right
now just imagining, you know,Jerude and Hugo Laris of the ep L,
and you know, most starts fora goalkeeper in a World Cup over
(05:34):
his career ever, thinking about thosetwo and Booga and everybody else getting dressed
in the locker room slash bathroom ofStarfire for road teams. I mean,
it's hilarious and amazing, but stillyou're gonna have to be a lot better
on those days. If it wereto be a West final, you know,
(05:54):
going to be the US Open Cupsemi final, it's gonna have to
be a lot better than what happenedon Saturday in that three nothing loss.
So this transfer window is now open. What do the Sounders do? Obviously
there's the rumors about this Dario Spikich. I'm probably butchering that name, but
a player out of Croatia who's comingoff of I believe a season where he
(06:15):
had something like, well, wasit four goals three assists or something like
that. Maybe I'm off on thathe was seven goals, three assists.
Regardless, you know, a wingerwho can play on both sides. There
were rumors about this Dario guy,and then we saw them kind of get
squashed over the weekend where Tom Bogertand others stepped in and said the deal
is dead. So okay, ifthat's not going to happen, then where
(06:39):
are we at with adding to thisteam? Because I fully believe that if
the Sounders want to get to anMLS Cup, they need to improve this
roster. And yes, Peter dela Vega getting healthy having him in that's
great. He only played forty fiveminutes. I think he still needs to
get his for lack of a betterterm, see legs under him. But
I think that but that will comeon as he develops the camaraderie and the
(07:02):
chemistry with his teammates, he willlook better and he will show that he's
an impact player for the Sounders.I also, at the same time,
believe that just the improvement and inclusionof Pedro isn't gonna be enough to take
down LAFC. I mean sound Theyled the Sounders two nothing at halftime in
the forty five minutes that Pedro deLevego was on the field. So I
(07:25):
think they need help if they wantto get to an MLS Cup and if
they want to get by an LFC. And listen, you can say in
twenty nineteen that LAFC had a betterroster. I mean they won the Shield,
they were hosting the West Final,they were better than the Sounders.
But that game plan that Gonzalo Pinadaand Brian Schmitzer and that crew, you
(07:46):
know, figured out to beat LAFC. You know, if the Sounders were
to face LFC in that final backin twenty nineteen, ten times, they
may only win a few of them, but they had the perfect plan to
win that one off game. Soit's possible to win a one off game
with a perfect game plan. Ijust think that this team needs something here
in this transfer window, and forCraig Wible and company, we'll see what
(08:09):
that is, you know. Soit's kind of a wait and see approach,
you know, throughout this transfer window. But I think we clearly saw
all this to say, we clearlysaw on Saturday that the Sounders are a
bit back from where they need tobe to challenge for a Western Conference title
and get past LAFC. Because youknow, credit where credit is due,
(08:30):
and a lot of it is due. That is a tremendous LAFC team.
Bo woga bogoosh. I mean Iwas doing play by play obviously you're on
kJ R for it, and youknow, at a certain point, Steve,
Zachkwani and I all that we couldsay was I hate saying this,
but we have to give them credit. We have to credit Laris and Sanchez
and everybody else. Because that isa fantastic soccer team and they for sure
(08:54):
looked at and you know, forthe Sounders, all right, well how
do we get by him? Andwe'll have a share to get buy him
in the Open Cup. So we'llsee what happens next month. But for
your Sounders, attention right now turnsto League's Cup and it's Minnesota coming up
here in the group stage this Friday. As we look ahead to this tournament,
we'll talk more about it with AriLillienwat later on, but for the
(09:16):
Sounders, it's coming off of thatloss and looking ahead to a little bit
of a break in the MLS seasonfor a month. So yesterday at training
I was able to catch up withChristian rolled On. We talked about the
break in action and MLS Cup.We talked about his you know, the
the interest and the enthusiasm for League'sCup and the lost LAFC. We also
(09:37):
talked about him becoming a father andhaving a daughter, Mia Valentina, born
during the Austin game. He'll talkabout that, but we did start with
Christian by just kind of getting thevegetables, getting the tough part of the
conversation out of the way, andthat is the lost to LAFC. So
here is the Sounders midfielder Christian rolledon frustrating. Right. You want results
(09:58):
at home, especially in front ofour crowd, and unfortunately we weren't good
enough on the day. Credit toLAFC for coming coming to our stadium with
a game plan and executing. Uh. And for us, we weren't good
enough on the day, and wetake responsibility and we have to move on.
Christian talking about that eight game unbeatenrun, I'm wondering, you know,
(10:20):
how do you view it looking back? Is it more of this run
was going to come to an endat some point? Is it more of,
you know, the frustration you justmentioned because it did come with three
nothing. How how do you comeaway from from that eight game unbeaten run?
Uh? Yeah, I think frustrating, right. I think I said
that earlier just because we felt likewe were in a groove, we had
(10:43):
confidence going into this game. Uh. And and I didn't think that we
were that far off from from thefrom the actual result, which was three
zero. And so I think theway it happened obviously the most frustrating part,
you know, being at home beinguh, you know, trying to
catch up to two teams like LAFCGalaxy Salt Lake. Uh. And so
(11:07):
now we have to turn the page. You know, we got Least Cup
League's Cup coming up, and weare focus is now on Leagues Cup.
You're with Christian roll done And beforewe get to the all the stuff about
being a new dad, you mentionedLeagu's Cup there. What is the enthusiasm
level for you and the guys aboutkind of a mid season tournament in the
midst of a busy MLS schedule thathas seen you guys have successively. Yeah,
(11:30):
I think it's another challenge for us. I think it's a challenge accepted.
You know, it's a it's ait's a tournament that we feel like
we have the ability to go farin and it's again another another chance to
win a trophy. And so that'swhat this franchise is all about. And
and hopefully we can put ourselves ina in a good spot after our first
(11:50):
game on Friday, uh and setourselves up for success. How much of
that confidence that you guys can gofar is built on the fact that this
entire group stage she Leaks Cup,You're gonna have it at home? Yeah,
certainly, I think we we struggledat home at first, and and
we we got a groove and youknow, we've we've got some wins in
a row at home, and soyou know, it wasn't too long ago
(12:11):
that we beat Minnesota at home.So we got to use, uh,
what we did well in that gameand tried to avoid the things that we
did bad, uh, to getbetter. All right, Well, let's
move on here and talk about thebig headline, which is that you were
a new dad, uh mea Valentinacoming into this world. What's what's the
last couple of weeks been like foryou? Yeah, it's been a bit
hectic. You know. She cameon our due date or her due date,
(12:35):
and uh, you know, wewere debating whether to go to Austin
or stay back, and luckily wewe decided to stay back at a at
a precaution, you know, justin case she came. And she came
right at halftime, and uh thrilledhalf time literally halftime, you know,
of our game in Austin. Sothrilled, thrilled that it all worked out,
Thrilled that she and and mom ishealthy. Uh and and yeah,
(12:58):
it's such as your your whole lifechanges uh, in a blink of an
eye, and uh, you knowyour perspective on life is just a tad
bit different. Not to get toomuch into the story, but are you
are you holding the newborn baby asyou watch the team win in Austin?
Like set the seat a little bit? Yeah, there was a I put
the iPad on and I asked mywife it was okay to put the game
(13:20):
on during labor. But then weended up shutting it off for a bit
and then when I turned it backon, it was literally halftime. So,
uh, what a what a funnyuh, just story. I think
she knew that she needs to comeat that time and as she did.
How about that? And then youknow in this last stretch where you know
(13:41):
you're you're out here protessing with theteam you're obviously playing in the games Saint
Louis l e f C. Youknow, has it been difficult to divide
that focus or are you able tocompartmentalize? Yeah? This, uh come
into train is obviously a good uhdistraction I think from everything for you.
You have lack of sleep, youhave uh you know moments where you're not
(14:05):
sleeping, Uh, you know inyour bed, you're at the hospital.
You know, you didn't train fora couple of days, and so being
able to decompress back onto the fieldis really nice. Uh. And and
it serves as a as a nicedistraction to get out of the house and
kind of go on with your dailylife even though your life has changed so
much. Last thing here for yourChristian, would you give yourself from one
(14:30):
month ago any piece of advice basedon what the experiences you've had in the
last week. I mean, Itook advantage of sleep before she came,
and so I'm doing all right inthat category. I would have I would
have said, uh, you know, just be prepared to spend a lot
of money on diapers and wipes anddifferent outfits. But it is, it
(14:54):
is a huge blessing. And she'sso cute when uh, you know,
she's in these different outfits, andeven though she's crying at three in the
morning, you know you can't youcan't help but love her. I'm taking
notes, Christian. Congratulations and goodluck it's Minnesota. Thank you Jackson,
appreciate it. That's good stuff therefrom Christian. Rolled on your Seattle Sounders
midfielder. Whether he's on the rightwing at right back holding your Swiss Army
(15:16):
knife there. Good to chat withhim, and a big congratulations to him
and his wife Sianna for the birthof Mea Valentina. That's a fun story
there, you know. I imagineit's something like, you know, you
you wait for a good moment toask your wife if hey, can I
turn on the game after the birthof your daughter. I mean, I've
made it no secret I am lookingto be a dad somewhat in the near
(15:39):
future, and I can only imagineif it's me and my wife in the
delivery room and after the birth ofour kid, if I say to her,
hey can I turn on the Soundersgame? Or hey, can I
turn on KJR? I'm probably gettingslapped in the face. But well done
and a heck of a gutsy effort. Christian rolled on to actually ask the
(16:00):
question and pull that off. Butcongratulations to him and his wife. Joking
aside, Just awesome for the twoof them and fun to see. You
know. Instagram is a cool placetoo, and I'm sure Christian posting and
will post more. So congratulations tothem and good luck to Christian. As
we said, for the Minnesota gamecoming up, let's talk about Leagu's Cup
(16:21):
ahead, let's take a break andchat with Ari Leenwall at MLS Soccer dot
com. I want to gauge hisinterest and enthusiasm in League's Cup and what
he has kind of heard around thenation about kind of how people feel about
this tournament between Major League Soccer andleah MX down in Mexico. Ari Lionwall
will come up next, but beforewe get there, I'll tell you that
twenty twenty five season membership deposits areon sale. Now place a one hundred
(16:45):
dollars deposit and gain access to benefitsyou can use this season, including Lumenfield
concert pre sales and mlsstore dot comdiscounts. Learn Moore at sounderzefc dot com
backslash membership. We'll get a breakand we'll chat with Ari Lillianwall next on
Sounders Weekly on Sports Radio ninety threepoint three KJRF. Now back to Sounders
Weekly on your home for Sounders fcCL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr
(17:11):
FM. Welcome back Sounders Weekly,Jackson Felt's good to have you here.
Sports Radio ninety three point three kjrFM. Just two days from right now,
Sounders will be facing Minnesota United firstgame of League's Cup in the group
stage. That'll be Friday at Luminfield. You also watch MLS Season Pass on
Apple TV. No radio broadcast,but look forward to seeing everybody out there
(17:33):
for Sounders Minnesota for League's Cup.We'll talk about Minnesota here coming up in
a moment with our now guest rightnow Ari lillianwallomlssoccer dot com, who's also
going to take us around the league. Ari. Good to have you back
on my friend. How are you? I'm good, Jackson. You know,
an unfortunate last Sounders game, butI'm doing well. How are you?
(17:56):
Yeah? Well, I had tocall play by play for the thing
here on KJR, and that wasthat was tough when Bwanga made it three
to nothing. At that point youkind of just start talking about Minnesota.
Had you start talking about other storylinesbecause it was it was not fun there
in the three nothing loss. Let'sstart there, Ari, And I think
(18:18):
the question is coming off of eightunbeaten, this was really kind of the
test. This was the game thatwould show, you know, all right,
how good are the Sounders now youcompare to the top teams in the
Western Conference, And at least frommy money, I think we kind of
got to look at the gap betweenthe top teams your LA, laf CRSL
(18:41):
and Seattle. Is that what yousaw as well? Yeah, I think
you hit the nail on the headthere, Jackson. I mean, if
you look at what the national perspectivewas from those analysts going into this game,
they were talking about how, youknow, Seattle's been playing better,
and that's all well and good,but who have they really been And this
kind of became the measuring stick gameto sort of address that narrative. And
(19:04):
so it was definitely a letdown performancein that respect, and I do think
it kind of showed the gap betweenSeattle and some of these elite teams in
the league right now, Like ifyou look at LAFC DPS and their difference
makers. In this game, youhad Bowanga scoring two goals, you had
Bogus scoring a goal. I mean, they have these guys that they they
(19:25):
step up in those moments under thebright lights in these big games. And
they've got the leading goal scorer inthe history of the French national team,
Olivi Olivier Jareu to add to it, and they're gonna get even better.
So I definitely think that it doesunderscore where that gap is. Like you
said, not to not have Dhrudyet to not have Christian Olvera, to
not have Timothy Tillman, and tostill win three nothing on the road at
(19:49):
a team who was unbeaten an eight. I mean that I think it just
clearly shows. I mean, onthat same tokenari Ario Lineal is our guest
MS soccer dot Com and the podcastLobbing Scorchers. On that note, we
look at this entire league right now, and obviously you have Miami right now
who's sitting at the top of thesupporter shield standings. Cincinnati has droppen off
(20:11):
quite a bit because of their centerback injuries. And I'm kind of wondering,
you know, I know the Galaxyright now are above LAFC, but
LAFC have two games in hand.Is LAFC the biggest team who would challenge
Miami for the shield right now?Is there anybody else in the league or
is it Miami LAFC, maybe theGalaxy two and then the rest? I
(20:34):
think I think that is how Isee it right now. I mean,
Miami is obviously the odds on favorite, and LAFC is right there. Like
you mentioned, FC, Cincinnati hasfallen off a little bit there. I
think you have to mention Columbus inthere with the form that they've been in
lately. And as far as theWestern Conference goes in terms of shield contenders
(20:56):
with RSL dealing with a little bitof a downturn right now too, I
think it is the two LA teamswho you would have to think are the
favorite. The debate between who's betterbetween l a f C and the Galaxy
is an interesting one. LAFC wonthe last l TRAFFICO and they certainly have
been in great form lately. Butthe Galaxy, you know, you know,
I'm a big Galaxy guy, likeI think that when their attack is
(21:18):
rolling, it's as good as anyone'sin the league, for whatever their defensive
deficiencies might be. But in termsof the shield race, I look at
it kind of as like Miami andeveryone else. But I do think that
LAFC, the Galaxy, and theCrew will I mean, they're gonna have
a say in it before it's allsaid and done, they certainly will.
(21:38):
Ari let's switch gears back to whatwe're looking at for Seattle, and you
know, this is a league's Cupstarting up and before we talk about Minnesota
coming out. I just love toget your tech and I know you right
for the league. You're editor writerfor MLS Soccer dot Com, but you
also give a lot of commentary thereon your podcast Lobbing Scorcher. So I
(21:59):
think you can and give me anobjective answer for this, for you and
for writers around the league and folksyou talk to around the league. How
much enthusiasm is there nationally for aLeague's Cup in this format in its second
year. You know, I thinkit's a little polarizing at least the fan
response that I've seen a lot ofpeople really don't like this tournament. They
(22:22):
kind of see it as a cynicalmoney grab, And I think when you
throw in the league's kind of attemptto get MLS clubs out of the Open
Cup this year, that sort ofadded to the polarization of it for me
personally. I mean, I coveredSeattle's entire run to the League's Cup final
a couple of years ago. Iwent to that final in Vegas. I
was at all those games that werein Seattle, and my feeling on it
(22:47):
is that I support anything that getsour MLS clubs as much run against these
League MX clubs as possible. Ithink playing that type of competition and getting
a lot of reps against them makesour clubs better. And I think I
said this on my podcast, butmy evidence to support that would be Seattle's
run and how that affected their runto the CONCA CAP Champions League Final,
(23:08):
which they won the following year.Brian Schmetzer has talked about this. The
League's Cup games that they played hadthem very prepared, had them very drilled
on how to play against these teams, and it ups their level. And
I really think that the more wecan get our clubs playing these games against
these high level opponents from League toMX, the more it's going to raise
(23:29):
their level, the better our teamsare going to be from getting those reps.
I think you bring up some goodpoints there, and you know,
it's funny. I do love thefact that they shut down the regular season
for a month in both leagues sothat you can play this tournament. So
it sort of isn't a thing whereyou're just jostling between the schedules and like
an Open Cup or you'll face MLS, Open Cup, MLS back and forth,
(23:52):
back and forth. So I appreciatethat because it allows time and energy
and dedication. And you know,for Brian Spencer, it's easy. You
just keep running out the starters becauseyou need them to stay fit, you
need them to you know, justkeep getting their runs in. For the
Sounders, facing Minnesota a team whereyou know, if you look at it
in MLS, they're still holding aplayoff space in the space there in ninth
(24:14):
spot, just four points back ofthe Sounders. Obviously, their whole situation
with the man that we had awatch going if he was actually gonna be
there, not Emmanuel Renoso, thathas ended as he is now finally in
the rearview mirror. But now thatMinnesota is past that, who is this
Minnesota United team who will be comingto town here in two days? Yeah,
(24:37):
I mean what I can tell youabout Minnesota is that, I mean
they're struggling right now about as muchas anyone in the league. You know,
the story with them earlier in theseason was kind of how well they
managed to stay afloat given the wholeEmmanuel Reinoso saga and then also their DP
striker Timo Pook has been either injuredor unproductive for a lot of the season,
so they were in a situation wheretwo of the main guys that they're
(25:00):
tach was going to be built aroundweren't there either we're missing or not producing,
and they had to work around that, and they did that to pretty
good effect. Earlier in the year, they built their whole offense around Robin
bad who's carried the load for them, and they did quite well and they
got some good results. But Ithink it's caught up to them over this
last stress of games here. Youcan kind of only survive like that for
(25:21):
so long, and they're starting tofeel the effects of kind of where their
roster is at, and it's resultedin a pretty big downturn and form.
And yeah, like you said,they have a playoff spot right now,
but they are definitely wimping going intothis tournament. I think they were winless
in ten recently, so Minnesota Unitedis definitely struggling right now. Well,
kickoff seven pm on Friday night.Watch the match MLS Season Pass on the
(25:45):
Apple TV app and get your ticketsSOUNDERSFC dot com slash tickets to get out
there to Friday's match their starting league'scup. Again. We will not have
a radio broadcast for that. Andalso they are good thoughts from Arion,
Minnesota. Tonight's ouponent ALEC was presentedby Sharpvision Modern lesa can Lens, the
official Lasik provider of Sounders FC ARI. Let's quickly turn to All Star Week.
(26:08):
And I know the All Star Gamehappening tonight. I really don't care
about it. I'm not watching itbecause it includes no Sounders. And you
know, it's a funny situation becausethe voting for the All Star Game,
and I don't know what I'm supposedto say or can say or shouldn't say
whatever? Is that the voting happensabout a month ago, right or a
(26:29):
month and a half, even twomonths ago. The voting is a little
bit earlier in the season, atthe start or before this eight game unbeaten
run that the Sounders had and thismassive run that Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris
had. Oh, the voting happensbefore they go on fire. And I'm
wondering if there's a flaw in thesystem here, because for what they've done
(26:52):
over their last ten games, itjust feels like Jordan and Albert deserve a
spot on that roster. Am Ioff base? Maybe they don't even deserve
a spot, but I kind offeel like they deserve a spot because of
this last stretch. Yeah, no, it's not a bad point. I
hadn't really thought about it like that, you know, I'm thinking back,
and I believe I cast my ballotabout a month ago, I believe,
and that is right around when Seattle'srecent hot streak just started. So I
(27:17):
think Jordan and Albert are a littlebit of just victims of timing in that
respect. Seattle ends up with norepresentatives. But like based on how the
first big stretch of games of theseason went, which is a pretty big
sample size, I don't really thinkthat there's all that much of an outrage
case to be made as far assnubs go. I do think if Jordan
(27:38):
and Albert's recent run of form wastaken into account, they would have a
good shout there, And if youlook at their numbers for the season now,
they're doing pretty well, especially Rusnak. But I think, like you
said, it was sort of basedon the run of games that directly before
that hot streak. So I thinkit's I mean, it's a little unlucky
as much as anything that, youknow, a run like that didn't come
(28:00):
at a time when the ballots weregetting cast. Well, so take this
idea to your boss. Is thereat Major League Soccer put in a new
mechanism next year where the voting forthe All Star Game is for like all
but maybe one or two spots,and then once all that voting is compiled,
you have your rosters, and thenbased on the few games leading up
(28:22):
to the All Star Game, youhave I mean, I don't know who's
who's the head coach for MLS.Is it the is it Steve Torontolo.
I don't know who's who's going tobe coaching this thing. Will for now
that makes sense the MLS Cup winnerfrom last year. So I give Wilfrid
Nancy, and give whoever's coaching theMLS All Stars and leg MX All Stars,
give them the ability to add asupplemental player based on the recent run
(28:45):
and say, God, he's noton the roster, but he's in great
form, Let's add him to theroster. Because I feel like a guy
like Will for Nancy. I mean, you know, obviously a stacked roster,
but if you have the ability togo add an Albert or add a
Jordan, you know in a gamewhere I mean I don't know. Again,
I'm not watching and I'm not followingit, but it is sort of
like we were saying about League's Cup. It's a measuring stick for our league
(29:07):
to their league, and you know, chance to have some experience against those
players. So I'll check the scoreat some point later tonight when my head
hits the bat and see what happened. But it frustrates me that no Sounders
are able to get in and there'sno mechanism to get the deserving players in
there. Anyway, All right,Ari, I'm off my soapbox. Good
(29:27):
stuff, man. We will talknext week ahead of the Sounders Second League's
Cup group match, talk about Minnesota, talk about what's happening around the league.
Hey, really quick before I letyou go. Obviously, Olivier Jerude
coming into LAFC. That's the bigone happening for MLS. Transfer window now
open for your money. You know, just watching the transfer window open up
(29:51):
here Seattle. We were just waitingto see what may happen. But around
the league, is Jerude the numberone move? Is there any other huge
things that are happening that you wereseeing around the league that are coming down
the pipe here at the start ofthe transfer window. I mean, I
can't think of any off the topof my head. I'm sure there are
some, but like what I willsay is that I don't I can't imagine
(30:12):
that there's anything more high profile thanJeru. Like, like I said,
this guy is the leading goal scorerin the history of the French national team,
one of the best strikers, mostproductive strikers of this generation, has
played for a lot of the biggestclubs in the world. So I mean,
this guy coming into the league evenat age thirty seven. You know,
they did something to a similar effectwith Gareth Bale a couple of years
(30:34):
ago. Like I most certainly expecthim to strengthen their team quite a bit
and be very productive in the league. Rich kid, Richard. It's frustrating,
but it is what it is,all right, aur Thanks for taking
us around the league. We appreciateit and we'll talk to you next week.
That good, Thanks Jackson. That'sari LEENWALLMLS soccer dot com and check
out his podcast, Lobbing Scorches whereveryou get your podcasts, including the Ihear
(30:57):
Radio app. Ari and No doa great job with that Lobbing Scorcheres podcast
and their agenda Watch and various playersincluding Albert Rusnak is one of my favorite
segments, so make sure to checkout. Lobbing scorchers from around the league.
Will now go around the sound somebad news here about what's going on
with my favorite Ballad FC club inUSL two is. The USL two season
(31:22):
is kind of ongoing and wrapping upa little bit. Ballard was able to
make the playoffs. They won theNorthwest Division. Actually they ended the season
very strong with a couple wins.They had the number one seed going in,
but they lost in their first gameof the playoffs at home, and
that was actually a game at InnerBay. Actually they switched it back to
Inner Bay after the work was beingdone down there. They're switching back full
(31:45):
time to InterBase starting next year,including by the way, their women's team
that they introduced a couple weeks ago. So Ballad was knocked out of the
playoffs by Project five ten down inCalifornia. The final score was two to
one, and it was frustrating becauseBallard led two to one and Project five
to ten scored two goals in thelast I want to say about fifteen minutes
(32:06):
of that game to storm back andget a two to one win, So
Ballard is out in terms of what'sgoing on. In terms of the rest
of that Northwest Division, Tacoma finishedin third place Middle Lakes and fourth place,
West Seattle in fifth place, onlyTown in seventh place. None of
them made the playoffs. United PDXwas the other team to get out.
(32:27):
They won their first playoff game,but they lost in the semi finals of
the USL two round, which waswhat Sunday I believe at Inner Bay.
They lost to Project five to tenfive to four. So Project five to
ten get out of that side ofthe bracket, So not good news for
our local USL two teams. Ballardis the only local team that made it
to the playoffs and they lost therein the first round. Let's take a
(32:51):
look quickly at what's going on withrain FC Seattle RAINFC in case you missed
it, they are once again nowunder the Sounders FC umbrella. They played
Utah Royals FC back on Friday atLumenfield and they beat Utah by a score
of two to one. That wasnot in the regular season. It should
(33:12):
be mentioned of what's going on inNWSL. That was in a special NWSL
versus Lega MX Summer Cup. Sothey got that done back on Friday night
and for them their next match whichis again in this Summer Cup against Lega
MX. They'll face Club Tijuana comingup this Sunday at Lumenfield at three pm,
(33:34):
so make sure to head out toLumen for that match. So there
you go for around the sound andfrom there we'll take a break here in
Sounders Weekly. A lot more toget to here on Sports Radio ninety three
point three KIDJRFM. I will tellyou that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by
Providence, Swedish official healthcare partner ofSounders FC. More up next on Sounders
Weekly. Now back to Sounders Weeklyon your home for Sounders FC cll's Sports
(33:58):
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. Welcome back Sounders Weekly. Jackson felt
good to be with you here ninetythree point three kjr FM. Thanks to
our guests so far this evening,Christian role Don who I was able to
chat with out at training yesterday andAri Lillian raw all right there. Check
out the podcast Sounders Weekly wherever youget your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app.
(34:22):
In case you missed either of them. And in case you missed any
of the interviews out there at LongAcres for Sounders FC trainings, I should
say check out my Twitter account atJackson on Radio. I live stream every
single Sounders interview, press conference aftertraining is out there. So for example,
this morning, Jordan Morris spoke tomyself and Jeremiaoshan and Sounder Heart the
(34:45):
two of us were out there andwe talked to Jordan about Least Cup ahead
and all good things. So checkout the Twitter account Jackson on Radio for
all of those interviews and press conferences. Well, we were going to have
an interview here. We're trying tofit one in with the Apple broadcaster as
we usually do. Unfortunately, LloydSam the former player he was with the
(35:07):
Leeds United System for a while,played some years in Major League Soccer as
well. Lloyd will be on thecall for Sounders Minnesota this Friday on Mlsseason
Pass on Apple TV. He'll bedoing it alongside Neil Sika, and you'll
be able to actually take them inon MLS Season Pass on Apple TV because
we will not have a radio broadcastagain for Sounders Minnesota this coming Friday,
(35:31):
so tune to those two guys thereon Apple for the game if you cannot
make it out to Luminfield, buthopefully all of you can make it out
to Luminfield SOUNDERSFC dot Com slash ticketswill be good to see everybody out there
for the first game of League's Cup. Now, in the place of Lloyd
(35:51):
Sam, we're gonna bring in hereonce again our producer Anders Hurst, who's
been our summer tournament correspondent. Andyes, I know our tournament between COPA
and the Euros ended a couple weeksago now, but we haven't had the
chance Anders to talk since the endof those major tournaments. There's also some
more rumors, and I wouldn't callit news, but they are rumors about
(36:14):
the future of the United States men'snational team coaching position. So thank you
for coming back in here. Let'sfirst start on the United States side.
The latest rumor that we are hearingand seeing is Patrick Vieira, who is
the longtime player for Arsenal and overin the English Premier League, and of
(36:36):
course then he became a manager.He managed for New York CITYFC some years
back. Was that about seven eightyears ago Patrick Vieira was the manager over
there. He moved on from NewYork CITYFC, and he ended up kind
of taking up some other places aswell. He's forty eight years old.
Most recently he was the head coachat Strasbourg. He also coached Crystal Palace
(37:00):
for a few years, I know, before being fired there. So he's
a man who has a lot ofcoaching experience over across the seas as well
as here in the US playing atthe highest level. So Andrews, let's
just first get your gauge where areyou at If Patrick Vieira is the name
(37:21):
and is going to be the oneto take over the United States head coaching
job. I think overall, Ithink it's the right thought for a type
of manager to look for. Hewould not be my first choice, though
he has the experience kind of onoverseas in Europe coaching. Crystal Palace didn't
necessarily have the best tenure there.I wouldn't say it was a complete failure
(37:44):
though he's known to be good withyounger players, which I think, once
again, that's one of the kindof things we're looking for here for the
next US head coach. So Ithink it would be a good choice,
but not my first choice on thatsame token when we talk about a guy
who's had experience over there and experiencehere with New York. Is it important
(38:05):
for you at least? And I'msure a lot of people out there say
share your mindset, they share myThey sure everybody has their own thoughts,
right, But I'm wondering for you, is it important for somebody to be
in this job who understands MLS andalso understands the game at the highest level.
I can see where people would saythat that's important quality to have in
(38:27):
the next head coach. To me, it's not I and I wouldn't.
I wouldn't go so far to sayI'm looking for someone who doesn't. But
to me, it's just kind ofa non important factor. I almost want
someone who doesn't really have that likeinitial thought about what US men's soccer has
been up until now. They justwant to bring in their own system.
(38:49):
They want to make the best teamthey possibly can with the players that are
available, no preconceived thoughts about whatthis team used to be, how they
used to call it players, howthey used to develop players, do it
their way, and the way they'vekind of had success with in the previous
places they've been to bring it hereto the US, and I think that's
kind of the shakeup that this systemneeds here at US men's soccer. Yeah,
(39:14):
for sure. And you mentioned thatPatrick obviously isn't your first choice.
Not my first choice either, aswe talked about a couple episodes ago,
but your overall first choice that youmentioned a couple weeks ago. Jorgan Klopp
has reportedly told the United States no, I will not be taking that job.
So now that he is out,who is your number one man?
(39:35):
There's a couple options. I actuallyreally like your guy Yardo pick from the
last time that you and I talked. I think there's a good kind of
mixture of someone who maybe hasn't necessarilydone it at the top, top level.
He was kind of touted as thenext big thing in international soccer management,
(39:55):
went to Saudi Arabia, didn't reallylike it there. He is available
now, but again again someone whohas worked with younger players. I wouldn't
mind seeing him. I wouldn't mindseeing Thomas Touchell. He would be a
little bit more of a high profilemanager that would come and like do it
his way or the highway. Buthe's he's done it at the top level.
(40:19):
For many different clubs, So he'san option. I like Thomas frank
from the former Brentford manager. There'sa couple options out there that may not
be like big, big names,but I think one of those three is
probably the direction that I'm looking at. Yeah, I love Guyardo, and
you know, somebody responded back withlike, well, he was fired from
this club in Saudi Arabia. Fired, But at the same time, I
(40:44):
mean, clubs make statements about releasingpeople to save face in certain ways.
So as far as we know,he wanted out there, and his son
is part of the Atlanta United Academy, so there's connections for there. But
hey, let's switch gears. Let'stalk Argentina, because yes, bad news
lost in in the Olympics today ina shockert. But hey, listen,
(41:07):
one copa yeah, and that wasan exciting final against Colombia, one that
I think. Listen the craziness atthe start of the game and getting into
the stadium Miami, that's a wholeseparate situation. But the game itself was
back and forth, and for awhile there it looked like Columbia had a
shot to take it in the firstninety Completely agree and especially in the first
(41:28):
half. I think Columbia really cameout and did kind of what I expected
them to do. They were adangerous team all tournament, and to be
honest, even though I think Argentina'smore talented, they've proven it at the
top level for longer. Columbia Ithink had the better overall tournament in terms
of that we're showing that we're agood team now. Argentina never really kicked
into that next year, so Ithink that it's it's really huge that they
(41:52):
were able to kind of even doit against a really, really good team
like Argentina. Yeah, I thinkthat was about as compelling of a one
zero game as I've ever seen,to be honest, back and forth,
lots of chances, lots of drama. Messi's injury, of course, is
going to be a huge kind offactor in the second half of the MLS
season. We can talk about thatat a later time. But you saw
(42:14):
how emotional he was. But onceagain, I'm happy it didn't go into
penalties because that would have been alittle bit of a tough situation for me
to go through as an Argentina fan. Playing your boy won it. Yeah,
exactly, a lot of Tarow Martinez, my guy, he was Golden
boot of the tournament. Didn't evenstart the game, which is weird,
but that kind of just shows thedepth of Argentina. Yeah, what a
(42:35):
good game to watch, and itwas a good one to end it off.
Yeah, just tremendous for Oliver Is. It's so funny for Oliver Is.
They there was something on Twitter thatI saw that showing how his calendar
year of soccer was like all butsix days and then now Olympics. I
mean, we don't even need toget into what happened today or the Olympic
life. I just want to justyeah, I just want to mention that,
(42:57):
like for those oh my god,Argentina lost to Morocco. So yeah,
these are a lot of the topteams like second or third string guys.
Because of what you just mentioned.They've been playing all year round,
including extra with the Copa America andEuros. That just finished. This right
now is their only couple of weeksthey actually get to have off. And
there's even some clubs that are startingthe preseason now, so there's a lot
(43:21):
of mixtures in terms of like theirschedules and stuff. Soccer players do not
get a lot of time off,especially at the top level. So yeah
that I wouldn't say it's a hugestory, but what happened at the end
of the game was definitely a goodone. We got a minute here,
we got to talk Euros because youknow, there's a situation where England kept
finding ways, kept finding ways,got themselves into the final. It looked
(43:43):
like they had found a way againto extend the game. But Spain,
yes or no, best team clearlyall tournament. Yeah, one hundred percent.
Yes. I think the only teamthat actually has a chance to take
that away from them is Germany.But they played each other in the quarterfinals,
so that game, it was anawesome game. But Spain deserved winners.
They were they were the ones creatingmore chances, have a lot of
(44:06):
really good players on their team.Uh yeah, I I nothing more to
say other than the Spain was deservedwinners. Thank god England didn't win.
But thank god it's not coming home. I mean at this point, I
mean, they really fought like hell. And now Gareth Southgate's out, he's
resigned, and that don't bring himto the US. Do not bring him
(44:27):
to the US. So he's sohe would be on your not list.
No, absolutely not. I wouldjust say I think it's amazing how they
fought so hard, little this,little that, just finding every little which
way to get into the final andthen you go up against Spain. I
mean like at this point will itever come home? I'm not sure.
Yeah, and and really quick.I know we're short on time, but
(44:50):
if it's that hard with that goodof a squad, there's something wrong and
that's why I don't want Gareth Southgatewith the US. Well. Well,
more on that, we'll keep talkingabout that. Anders, great stuff.
Thanks. We appreciate you coming intoday. Yeah, appreciate you having me
well, good stuff. Anders.We appreciate your time as we were able
to fit in around the world followingour visits around the league with Ari and
(45:10):
around the sound as well, sowe covered it all here today as well
as Christian rolled on. If youmissed any of it, check out Sounders
Weekly wherever you get your podcasts.Thanks to all of our guests again,
but that will do it for theshow tonight. Want to thank the guests
and thank you all for listening,and we will talk to you maybe a
while for the Sounders Next time,we'll have a radio broadcast will be back
(45:32):
on here for Sounders Weekly next Wednesday. Of course here at seven pm on
ninety three point three KJRFM. Noradio broadcast for Sounders Minnesota coming up this
Friday, so tune to MLS SeasonPass on Apple TV to watch that,
or of course be out at Luminfield. Look forward to seeing a bunch of
people there for least Cup on Friday. So we'll talk to you next week
(45:52):
here for Sounders content on KJAR.We'll see at at Lumen. Have a
good rest of your week everybody,and Fox Sports video is coming up in that
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