August 14, 2024 • 46 mins
Tonight on Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts breaks down Seattle's dominant 4-0 win over Pumas, then discusses LAFC ahead on Saturday, Leagues Cup action, and the United States coaching situatio with former player turned broadcaster Maurice Edu plus Ari Liljenwall of MLS Soccer.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming to you live from Orelliot Avenue Studios of Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly
with your host Jackson Felts.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good avedan welcome into Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz here. Great
to be with you here on this Wednesday evening here
in Seattle ninety three point three KJRFM. As we are
going to be spending the entire night tonight looking ahead
to the League's Cup quarterfinal. Once again, it's Sounders LAFC
for the third time in like thirty five days. We
(00:34):
saw a few weeks ago LAFC come to Seattle and
pick up a three to nothing win. Now on Saturday
they play again here in Leagues Cup, and two weeks
from today actually they will be facing off at Starfire
in the Open Cup semifinal. So these two teams know
each other very well and it will be a battle
on Saturday at Luoman here in Leagu's Cup. Really quickly
(00:57):
broadcast details. We're gonna have a broadcast on am SO
nine to fifty am this Saturday for Sounders LAFC Providence,
Swedish premat show is going to be at four to
thirty because kickoff is at five o'clock. It's not like
the normal League's Cup seven to thirty kickoff. It's going
to be a five o'clock kickoff at Lumen. To make
(01:17):
sure you have that on your schedules again, we'll take
the air at four thirty on Saturday over on nine
to fifty AM. This entire show tonight, we usually like
reserve the the Sharp Vision upon at Alec for our
time with Ari. This entire night tonight is going to
be really our opponent, a look presented by Sharp Vision,
Modern Lasik and Lens, which by the way, is the
official Lasik provider of Sounders FC. As we kind of
(01:39):
dig deep into not only that win against Pumas, which
we'll spend some time on in a moment, but also
this massive game against LAFC. What we have coming up
tonight is for the first time Maurice Adu, who is
of course former Rangers player, form player with Toronto, I
believe Philadelphia as well United States men's national team player
(02:02):
for many years. He's gonna be joining us here in
a few minutes. He's a broadcast analyst on MLS Season
Pass on Apple TV. He's gonna be calling the game
on Saturday with our good old friend Keith Costigan some
Reseto's gonna join us here in a little bit. I
also want to talk to Maurice about the United States
coaching situation after Greg Burhalter is now out because as
(02:23):
a guy who played many many games, I mean I
don't know how many over fifty for sure games for
the United States. Love his two cents on the United
States situation. So we'll talk about Sounders LAFC with him.
Leagues Cup in general will of course also be joined
by our good friend Ari Lillianwall of MLS Soccer dot
com and the podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Before we get to
(02:45):
either of them, do want to spend some time on
the big just blowout dominating for nothing win over Pumas.
Before we spend some time with that, I'll quickly tell
you that for the Sounders twenty twenty five season, membership
deposits are on sale now. You can place a one
hundred dollars deposit and gain access to benefits you can
use this season, including Lumenfield concert pre sales and mlstore
(03:09):
dot com discounts. Learn more at soundersfc dot com. Backslash Membership. Okay,
let's spend some time and talk about that four to
nothering win, because there's a lot to celebrate and enjoy
and talk about. The first thing that stands out to
me is the physicality involved in that game, because I
think what we saw in the first twenty eight minutes
(03:30):
was pretty much what we expected. A very quality Pumas
team who right now is the second team in Lega
mcki's Apertura calendar their season. Four games in they have
a very good start three to Zho one, looking great
on the field, nine goals scored, three goals against in
four games. They've been tremendous. So we expected to see
(03:52):
a great club coming too Luminfield thus last Sunday, and
we did see that for the first half hour. Then
I want to say it was an about the twenty
ninth or thirtieth minute you have on the near side
of the field, on the west side, Christian Roldan got
tackled by going forward and it was a bad tackle
and Christian got up and respond to that foul by
getting in the face of I don't know who it was,
(04:15):
but he got in the face of a Pumas player
and basically embodied the sense of you're going to punch
us and think that that's okay, we're going to punch
you in the face right back, and then we're going
to score a goal two minutes later, which is exactly
what happened. A free kick that Albert Rusnak and JP
were standing over and I think both of them kind
of looked at each other in that moment and kind
(04:36):
of said, you're putting one guy on the two of us. Okay,
we'll take advantage of that. So they played a quick
little interchange. Albert went down running down the right side
with nobody within ten yards of him. Again, I would
ask pumas, if you're such a quality team, why the
hell didn't you have a guy closer to the guy
who's been just destroying MLS with assists over the last
(04:56):
two months. So nobody's even close to Albert Rusnak. Massive
error on pumis Park. Rusnak sends it in an incredible
header by Paul Rothrock. He sends it off the post
into the back of the net, and about it being
about a boom thirty two minutes in or up one nothing,
and that three minute stretch not only the physicality to
get up and punch him right back in the face,
(05:17):
but also to say we're gonna do that and then score.
That was the tone setter. That was the turning point
in this game where it just felt. We said this
on the postgame show, and credit to Pete Fewing, I
think he nailed this. Pumis didn't have an answer because
I think that they were expecting to come in here
play their brand of physical soccer. We talked about it
a couple of weeks ago with Obed Vargas or maybe
(05:39):
that was last week on Sounders Weekly, about the preparation
and the physicality of Mexican teams and you do have
to prepare a little bit differently, and Callen Rose said
that on the pregame show too, you do have to
mentally prepare differently for a team who plays like that.
So Pumas come in and expect they're gonna punch Seattle
on the face and play their normal game. I don't
(05:59):
think that they expected Seattle to punch back, and when
Seattle punched back, Plumas didn't have an answer. Pete Fewing
is right, they didn't because Seattle punched and they just
kept punching, and they punched four times, and at the
end of it, that final goal I'm sure we'll talk
about it throughout this show tonight, But Jordan Morris when
(06:19):
he has his ankle stepped on there in the end,
such a dirty, you know, completely inexcusable play by Plumas,
who are clearly frustrated that they're about to bow out
from this tournament and lose at what was three nothing
about to be four nothing. And the embarrassing nature of
how they behaved themselves when they just kept going down
(06:41):
another goal, another goal, another goal. You saw their physicality rise,
but every time you saw their physicality rise, the Sounders
would match it and punch them right back. I mean
that thing that happened at the end of the game
where Morris is fouled and there's a red card and
he steps up before he makes it for nothing on
that penalty kick, which by the way, was his first
penalty kick ever for the Sounders, which is a wild statistic.
(07:05):
But congratulations to Joran Morrison hitting his first ever PK
and Rave Green. So what happened before that kick was,
you know, it's a fight, it's a it's a brawl,
it's a boxing match. And that fight in itself embodied
the match where I think Pumas thought, hey, we're you know,
we're gonna do this and we're gonna play this sort
of way. But then the Sounders everybody John bell Yamar
(07:27):
Paul Rothrock, Who's then thrown to the ground. I mean,
everybody is up in their faces and I just don't
think like in that moment, like throughout the game, Pumas
were not ready for us to punch them in the face.
And boy did we and got It was just great
to see because it's a Sounders team that you know,
let's face it, Nacoxa came here, played that physical brand
(07:49):
of soccer. They played hard and they got a three
to one win. And I don't think that Seattle was
ready for that punch in the face that that Ncoxa brought,
But boy were they ready there this last week. I mean,
what a win over Pumas again, a quality side in
Lega MX, and we just took it to him and
ran them off the field, utter domination in the four
(08:11):
nothing win. Rusnak was deservingly the man of the match.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Defensively, yam Argomez Andrade was tremendous as well. Just really
everybody with a great performance, a great job with just
the mentality going into that game. I loved everything I
saw about it. We're gonna talk about that a lot
tonight with Ari Leanwall coming up later, but coming up
next Maurice Adu, Who's gonna be on the call for
Sounders LAFC This coming Saturday. We'll talk with the MLS
(08:39):
Season Pass on Apple TV broadcaster about the Pumas win,
about League's Cup, about LAFC. Coming up A lot to
get to here on a busy day on Sounders Weekly,
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders
fc SEL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Jackson Feldt is gonna be with you here on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. A reminder that's
Saturday's League's Cup quarter final match against LAFC will over
on nine to fifty kjr AM, so listen to it
over on nine fifty kjr AM.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
This Saturday.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
We'll have a four to thirty Providence, Swedish premach show
five o'clock there on the am. You know, also listen
in Spanish Linguis on l RA thirteen sixty and of
course watch the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple
TV app where our good old friend Keith Costigan will
be on the call and he'll be alongside our guest
(09:37):
coming up right here on Sounders Weekly, Maurice. Hey, dude,
joins us right now here on Sounders Weekly the Color
Analyst four this weekend's match between Sounders and LAFC in
League's Cup. Maurice, Great to have you on Sounders Weekly. Man,
how are you doing on Man?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Thanks for having me on to chat about.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yeah, so much to chat about.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Let's start really quick well by talking about your perspective
on this Sounders team, not only in Least Cup where
we've seeing them advance to the quarterfinals, but we're also
in a semi final and Open Cup. An MLS season
that you know has the Sounders playing much better here
in the last couple of months from AFAR, because we
haven't gotten your two cents yet in twenty twenty four,
(10:20):
what has been your perspective on our Sounders up here
in Seattle.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I would say that the club Seattle Sounders, they have
a manager that knows how to get the best out players.
Because you look at the start of the season and
there were a lot of question marks about this group
of players. Had had the club had on the certain
players for too long a period of time. Had there
not been enough change in introduction to new faces and
fresh blood to really amplify this team and take them
(10:47):
back to where this club has been for so long,
at the top of the West, competing for trophies, competing
for whether it's the Western Conference side or MLS Cups
and dan as you mentioned, there's been just a change
in form and coming into Leagu's Cup, I think they
were like eight or nine games unbeaten, and you just
(11:08):
started to see this freshness being introduced, a more complete team,
a team that's found ways to win, and then once
you throw them into a tournament, I feel like the
Sounders are always a team that know how to compete
in tournaments, and that starts with coaching. That starts with
having a coach that knows how to whether it's be
organized defensively, put players in the best positions to succeed,
(11:29):
and final way to give play this confidence. And we're
seeing that through this League's Cup run at the moment
well and.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
The comments there on Brian Schmitzer I think are interesting ones.
I want to kind of refer back to them in
a minute when we talk about the United States men's
national team situation. Marise, who is our guest. He's going
to be the color commentator for Saturday's match Sounders against
LAFC and League's Cup. And the Sounders have had that
kind of rejuvenation. I mean, a guy like Paul Rothrock
brings such energy to this team over the last couple
(11:56):
of months. And you know, looking up of what we're
again on Saturday, it's against a team where you know,
they don't have a Paul Rothrock, a kid you know
who's from Seattle, who's you know, worked his way up
and fought like hell and just gives that kind of,
you know, blue collar resurgence of a team. They have
the big stars, they have the bou Wonga, they have
(12:17):
now Olivia Sharut as we've seen him now make his debut.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's it's quite a far.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
These teams are built so differently, Mo and you know
it's going to be kind of a very interesting stylistic
bout here. Where we saw two weeks ago in LAFC
one three nothing, a game that I quickly want to forget.
But you have this and then you have open Cup
just in you know, a couple of weeks. Stylistically, in
how these teams are built, it is very different.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
It is, but I also I also appreciate the difference
in a way that the teams are built, the way
the teams approach games. But the similarities are that these
two teams have established themselves as teams that demand success,
teams that have expectations amongst the players, anyone who puts
on that kid, the fans that fill the stadiums. The
expectation for both of these clubs is success is to
(13:06):
be chasing and competing for trophies every single season, every
single competition they're in, the expectation is that they should
be getting to a final and trying to lift the trophies.
So those are the similarities. But I agree with you
the styles are different, and that's what makes for such
an intriguing match. And it'll be interesting to see if
there is any deviation from the approach because of the
(13:27):
last game that we saw with Seattle and LFC, the
last game actually before leagues cuts started. As you said,
you don't want to forget that one, but it was
a good kind of reference point that Seattle can take
going into this game. The other part of that is
even just looking at the way LAFC have gone about
their business throughout this competition so far, the one common
game that we've seen minus the last game is they're
(13:49):
okay not having a lot of the ball. They don't
mind that whatsoever, and in some ways it actually played
to their strengths of being a team that can just
absolutely kill you in transition. So what teams have to
do is when you get an opportunity, you have to
take them about. Vancouver did a really good job of
that when they came to Demo Stadiums, scored the two
early goals and you kind of felt like, okay, if
you can get that first goal, well, now it puts
(14:11):
more pressure in LAFC. Not that they have to go
throw cautions to the win, but they have to be
a little bit more aggressive. They're going to commit numbers
four where they played that way anyway, and now it's
about and final way to get that second goal. But
from a Seattle standpoint, they're informed. I mean, what they
did against Puma's to me was one of the games
of the tournament for NAIL. I saw that game a
(14:33):
pretty evenly matched game in terms of either two teams
where a win on either side when it surprised me,
but to not only win the game, but to win
in such a dominant fashion against one of League at
Mechi's elite teams, to me, that was a statement victory
for Seattle, a game where you put the rest of
the competition un noticed that we're a team that knows
(14:55):
how to score goals, We're a team that knows how
to defend in our own eight team or a team
that if you a fight and scrap, we're up with
that challenge. We're ready for any kind of game that
you throw at us. So that's what makes this match
up for me even more intriguing.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that you brought up kind of you know,
the physicality there, because that's one of the things that
we've talked about for the last few days since that
game and earlier on this show tonight as well. Is
that element where I said it earlier. I think that
Pumas kind of punched Seattle in the face in the first,
you know, third of that match, roughly the twenty eight
twenty ninth minutes with a foul on Christian rolled on,
(15:29):
and I don't think that Pumas were ready for Seattle
to punch back. It's almost like Pumas didn't have an
answer when Seattle punched back. They were kind of like, oh,
we weren't ready for you to actually get up and
fight in this game, which is an odd thing to
not be ready for. It just didn't feel like Pumas
was at all comfortable against a fighting, scrapping Seattle side.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And that level of uncomfort is is so valuable because
if if you want to just play peer football, okay,
I don't can compete with pretty much with most teams,
right they have players who can control games through the
likes of Joel Pollo. They have center backs that are
comfortable in possession. You know, they have pace in the
(16:12):
wide area at times. If it's if it's the likes
of Lao two playing Paul Rothbock brings a level of energy,
that controlled energy. And I like the word energy instead
of just saying like he brings pace or I like
the word energy because I think he knows how to
manage those moments of when to be a little bit
more daring when into being a little bit more poised
(16:33):
defensively as well. So to me, it's starting to look
like a much more balanced team than maybe it felt
like at the beginning of the season, right, But to
your point about the different elements that go into a game,
especially a knockout game, Yeah, if you're the away team,
you try to take elements. You try to take control
what you can control. You can't control how many fans
(16:53):
turn up in that seatum to cheer against you. But
what you can try to do is take some of
that out of the game by being physical, by being scrappy,
making a game that the home team doesn't want to
play in. But Seattle were ready for that, and Seattle
matched that. Seattle exceeded that, and then they exceeded that
by also going on to score goals in a convincing
way to create chances to be relentless in the way
that they try to pursue the next goal. And Pulmas
(17:16):
had absolutely no answer for that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, and that was the thing that kind of stood
out to me the most. Now, LAFC, not necessarily, I
don't know if I would expect the same physicality level
out of LAFC as we saw against Pumas. I think
this match will certainly look different than kind of the
the boxing match, you know, both literally and figuratively that
we ended up seeing in Sounders Pumas. You talk about
both the energy and you talk about you know, the
(17:40):
fans and the crowd there. And as somebody who has
seen Leagus Cup from a bunch of different stadiums, listen,
I think from the Sounders side, and just like reading
you know, fan blogs and reading you know, just posts
online and social media about how fans are feeling about
this tournament, there's been certainly an uptick in energy of
people here now that the Sounders have advanced to this
(18:01):
stage and League's Cup, more fans are in the seats.
We felt then we heard a renewed energy in the
building for that game against Pumas, and we expected, you know,
for the same being on Saturday against LAFC. Around the league,
how have you seen stadiums filled fans bringing the energy
you know, compared to a normal MS game. How have
you seen that from various fan bases about this tournament specifically?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Well, I would agree with you that, you know, at
times there's it's it's still a new tournament, right, so
fans are still figuring out, you know, how they go
ahead and include this into their regular repertoire games that
they that they attend and the way they support their teams.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
But nonetheless, you know, as soon.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
As you get to the knockout rounds, okay, everyone kind
of perks up a little bit, like, Okay, we're a
step closer to a trophy, and and you're seeing that.
You know, you talk about the what the fans look
like at the game against Pumas, and I think that's
going to only going to increase. And as you get
closer and closer to being to where you feel like
you could almost touch that trophy, that's gonna peak fans
(19:03):
interest even more, especially if you're a club that maybe
is on the outside looking in.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Or quote unquote an underdog.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
You know, a team like Colorado, for example, they've done well,
they've made they've done well over the course of the season,
but they've made some good signings in the off season,
starting with Chris Armis, and you know, putting themselves in
contention to not only be in the playoffs, but also
that maybe even be in top four, And they've carried
that form into League's Cup. So maybe it's not even
fair to consider them an underdog. But when you talk
(19:32):
about teams like Seattle, you talk about teams like LAFC,
your Club America's then they call it they kind of
fall into that category. But I can imagine, you know,
their fans from AFAR will be really tuned in and
intrigued by what this game and what this competition means
for this club. The Saints can be said for you know,
San Jose, they bowed out to l a f C
last night, but what a run they made. Throughout the
(19:53):
course of the tournament. You've seen so many upsets, NYC
SC taking down Tigres, one of the one of the
giants in this competition, or one of the teams that
we expected to be to be advancing to maybe a
semi final or even a final, we see them bow out.
But to me, it just feels like, look, this is
only going to get better and better. MLS teams are
(20:13):
putting their all into this competition, taking it very seriously.
They want to lift this trophy. The significance of not
just a trophy, but also you know, the spot in CCC,
like all these different variables are so important to these
clubs and it's just another mechanism to get yourself into
that position. Obviously, MLS Cup is the one that everyone's eyeing,
But at the moment, I love the fact that things
(20:35):
are paused and you can put all your attention and
all your efforts into competing in this tournament. The other part, too,
is we know how important a tournament run can be
for a team, how that can spur you on into
the second half of the season. You build momentum right now,
and you can try to carry that and lead that
to a strong finish to the second half of the
season and into the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, absolutely so, Marie lad who's our guest. He's going
to be the color commentator for Saturday's match Sounders LAFC
on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV five o'clock kickoff.
Wallso have the match for you over on nine to
fifty KJR AM here in local radio in Seattle. Well,
a couple more quick ones for you here. I want
to switch gears to the United States men's national team,
a team that you of course know very well from
(21:15):
many appearances with that squad, and it's a team that's
in quite a lot of flux right now. After another,
you know, shift with Greg Burhalter in the rearview mirror.
Let me first go to back to your comments about
Brian Schmizer and the job he does in the ability
to get the most out of his players, which I
think me and Sounder fans wholeheartedly agree with. He made
(21:37):
some comments on the air with myself last week on
KJR on this station about you know, the the the
cushy job that is the United States for any US
coach to you know, want the job because it is
coaching your own country in a home World Cup. How
first do you look at that job and is it
(22:00):
a job was set up with the players right now
that may be a fit for a guy like Brian Schmitzer.
Speaker 6 (22:08):
Well, I'm very biased, you know, because of everything you've
said leading into this question about the US men's national team.
But yeah, I look at this job as one that's
incredibly enticing, and it's the value attached to it.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
To me, is is really up there. Now.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Every coach isn't going to see it the same way
because certain coaches, you know, when you're talking about the
krem de la Creme of international coaches, they might either
as well, I could go to coach a team that
maybe is a favorite to win the tournament, So why
you know, But to me, yeah, of course I attach
value to it because it's the US men's national team.
We're hosting what's going to be the biggest World Cup,
(22:45):
new format, more teams added, being hosted in three different countries.
But there's to me, there's.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
The allure of that, there's the allure of.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
The potential that these players have individually. Now can we
get some and in place who knows how to who
could take them to that next level. But in fairness,
a great Burholter look I gave him as fowers on
their prior to this, already saying that you know, we
were in a dark, dark period as former players, as
fans of US soccer when he took over this team,
(23:17):
and he helped to restill, to restore a level of
at the base level expectation, a level of expectation of
what our team should be accomplishing and for sure and
conferate and competitions in this confederation. But now the challenge
is how can we extend that into bigger competitions, whether
that's Copa America, which we didn't do well in obviously,
(23:39):
but more importantly, we're only a couple of years out
from the World Cup, so we need a manager now
who can come in maybe even ruffle some feathers, get
these players uneasy initially, get them on their toes so
that they start to compete. They recognize that, listen, nobody
is safe until you prove that you deserve to be
on that pitch, right. I think sometimes change is good
(23:59):
in that regard. But the pedigree of manager that I'm
expecting and hoping for is someone that's shown that they
can win, preferably if they've done this at the international level.
That's that's obviously a bonus, but also a manager that
knows how to get the best out of their players,
because and I don't, I won't. I got to choose
my words widely here. I don't want to say that
(24:20):
it's easy to manage the best players in the world,
but it's very different managing the best players in the
world versus managing a team of players that are that
have potential.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Right, So having that level.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
And that ability to connect with these players, to galvan
at these players, to put them in the best position
to succeed, but then to have that belief amongst themselves
that they can go against France or an Argentina and
yet on paper they should lose that game. But when
they get on the pitch. They know they're going to
compete like basters, they're gonna fight like hell. And there
are certain I feel like fundamental starting points that we
(24:54):
need to have as a country where we know anything
that plays against us know there's going to be a war.
They're going to have to use which a scrap for
ninety plus minutes. They're gonna they know they're gonna be
in for a game. We're gonna be a team that's fit,
that's gonna run like hell for ninety plus minutes. But
then beyond that, we have individual players who can change
a game. We have players that that are playing at
top clubs and in top competitions that that won't be
(25:17):
would by the occasion, that now have World Cup experience,
that now have played in a knockout round game, get it,
succeed and hopefully we take lessons from that and now
are better prepared to succeed on home soil.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's just music to my ears. All of that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I mean, the coach in there to relate to the players,
players who are starring over in Europe and connect with them,
but also come in and ruffle the feathers, change the
culture of US soccer. I mean listen, I'm a Tottenham
guy and uh and Brian done something.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I know Brian Dunseth made great fun of me last week.
My guy, in all seriousness, my guy for this US
job has been Mauricio Pachettino because I believe that he
would be one of those guys who could come in,
ruffle the feathers, connect with players, get the most out
of his club. So yes, I realized the Tottenham joke aside,
He's the type of guy.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
That would do that. And I know Klopp said no,
and I know Pellegrino said no.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
But like you need a guy at that level to
get the most out of this current golden generation of
US players.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I don't mind that.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Name, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Actually, although Potatana coach taught the Mama Arsenal fan, I
know he's a manager that I that I respect, you know,
I have a lot of respect for a lot of
respect for and I do agree with you. I think
he is a top manager. Now this is where it
gets interesting, right because it's now being able to measure
an assess like this is where we start to realize
(26:44):
and get a little bit of a glimpse into into
how maybe the global landscape looks at how they view
US soccer. Because obviously klop had already said that he
was taking a break. So but you gotta ask a question,
and then any any other manager that's been a pros
that's already that turned it down. I don't want to
say it's because it's US soccer, but at times we
(27:05):
maybe are naive and we place more.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Value on this job than maybe others will.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
But this is I'd still think that it's a job
where we should be going for some some of the
most attractive names and biggest names, and at the very
least asking that question because I don't know when we're
gonna have this opportunity again. And the thing that I
don't want that I fear the most is coming out
of twenty twenty six and feeling like, damn, we could
have done more, or like, man, if we you know,
(27:33):
like we didn't put our best, we didn't. If we
come out of that tournament we lose because we were
beat by a team that was better on that day. Man,
it sucks, but you can hold your hand up and
you can hold your head up high and say, all right, well,
I know that we left it all on the pitch.
We squeezed every hour of effort of quality out of
this group of players. The manager that we had in
(27:55):
place had this country believe in and had us inspired,
and this group had us even in inspired. So that's
I just don't want to come out of this tournament
film like how I felt coming out of Copa America,
where it was like, there's no way we didn't get
have that group. There's no like that wasn't our best,
that wasn't the best version of this group of players.
And I hate that too because then it leaves the
finger pointing and all that is just cancerous. But yeah,
(28:19):
I I'm with you in that I think that this
is an attractive position. The pressure's on the count, the
clock is sicken, right, and I know US Soccer is
doing their best efforts now scouring and exhausting every option
that's that's out there and available and trying to figure
out who that person is and how quickly they can
get them into a seat to start leading this team
(28:41):
into and whipping this team into shape for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Twenty two months from the World Cup and you're hosting it.
I get the pressure of, you know, coaching for a
country that's hosting a World Cup. But it's a chance
for soccer in our country to grow like we've never
you know, seen it grow before, even bigger than when
the World Cup was here, you know, thirty years ago.
So I mean, it's it's one of those opportunities where
(29:04):
I would just speak to Matt Crocker in the Federation
and say, don't screw this up. I feel like we
could go on for twenty minutes talking about this situation.
Hopefully we have the chance to talk again at some point,
whether it's in the next few months with the MLS
season resuming, or whether it's you know, early next year
when hopefully by then we have a coach leading leading
the men's program. But this was awesome. I love talking
(29:28):
with you. Great, great to get you on Sounders weekly
for the first time. We will talk again soon, man,
have a great call on Saturday. I'll see you in
there for LAFC Seattle and safe travels up here to
the Northwest.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I appreciate it, man, thanks for having me on, and yeah,
looking forward to to what should be an incredible game
between two top teams in this league.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Just exceptional stuff there from Moadu Marisai, who is going
to be the color analyst alongside our good old friend
Keith Costigan for the MLS season pass on Apple TV.
Call of Sounders LAFC this Saturday at five o'clock. That's
kickoff our Providence, Swedish premach show. We'll start at four
thirty over on nine to fifty kJ AM this Saturday.
Tremendous comments on the United States. He and I are
(30:10):
in lockstep about how we feel about this job. I
would speak right now to Matt Crocker and the Federation.
Don't waste this opportunity. Don't screw this up to build
soccer into a you know, big three, big four sport
in this country. This is a massive opportunity. Do not
screwed up. Hire the right guy and also pay the
(30:32):
right guy for the job. We'll get a break here
in Sounders Weekly. We'll continue talking about Sounders LAFC and
look back at the physicality and the win over Pumas
for nothing on Saturday. Ari E Lullianwall MLS Soccer dot
Com will join us next here on Sounders Weekly Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Now back to.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders fc CL's Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Welcome Yuck Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Jackson Felt is going to be with you here ninety
three point three KJRFM. A reminder that you can listen
it to Saturday's match Least Cup quarterfinal against LAFC. That
will be a four to thirty Providence, Swedish prematch show
five o'clock kickoff over on nine fifty kr AM nine
to fifty am four to thirty pre game for Sounders LAFC.
(31:21):
You can also listen to the match in Spanish leg
Wage on LRAY thirteen sixty and watch the match MLS
Season Pass on the Apple TV app. We just had
the man who's going to be doing the color commentating
for that, Maurice Ado here on the show last segment.
Joining us right now is our good friend from MLS
Soccer dot Com and the podcast Lobbing scorcheres Ari, Lillian Waul.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
What's up are you? How you doing man?
Speaker 7 (31:44):
I'm good, Jackson, How are you good?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Just got off the phone with Moadu and he was
popping off about the situation with the United States. I'm
not sure if you heard that, but he even let
out a little bit of an F bomb, very very
intense emotions from him. I'm obviously a former u United
States men's national team player. About the situation before we
dig into Sounders Pumas, Sounders LFC, maybe touch on Lea's
(32:09):
Cup overall as we're in the quarterfinals before we get
there really quick, just to get your two cents, because
I'm not sure if we've touched on it. Not to
throw specific names, but do you think that the United
States needs to get like not even needs to go after,
needs to get a massive name like a Mauricio Pochettino
(32:29):
two chol you know, formerly a Chelsea Did they have
to get one of these massive names for it to
be a successful, higher and successful cycle.
Speaker 7 (32:38):
I don't know if they have to. I mean, I
think there are big names out there where if they
would take the job, I would be happy to see it,
and I think they could do a good job. But
I think the substance of it is more important than
the name value. You know, I will throw out a
name that I that I would like to see at
least being considerations for the job, which is Wilford Dancy,
who I think he's done great work and I know
(33:02):
a lot of people might not want an MLS coach,
but if you look at his track record in the
league where he got c F Montreal punching way above
their weight, and now with Columbus, he's got them performing
as one of the best teams in the league. And
there's he's gotten a lot of credit for this stuff
he's done with tactics and just the way he sees
the game and his man management. I think a name
(33:24):
like that I would be just as happy to see
that as I would be some of these bigger names
that we've seen floated about.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Well, we bring up Columbus here. I mean this is
our around the league segment where we take a look
around the league quickly before we talk to Seattle. I mean,
Columbus beating Miami. I don't know who would call that
an upset, but maybe it is. And Columbus now facing
New York City in the quarterfinals of their side in
the league's Cup. So I mean he kind of goes
to the picture of Wilford Nancy, no matter what tournament
(33:51):
it's in, obviously winning the Cup. That's a guy where
the more success he has, the more he's been a
driven name for one of the you know, top jobs,
not even even in this country.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
But he may start to get some calls from across
the pond.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, they won MLS Cup last year.
They made a run to the Conker CAF Champions Cup
final this year and they lost it. But the circumstances
of that, you know, I don't know how much I
honestly put into that final. I think they could have.
They could have won that on a different day under
different circumstances. So he's really done great work and more
than their more than their record and their point total
(34:27):
and everything. I think it's how they play, the system
that he's implemented, the buy in that he's got from
the players. These are all hallmarks of an elite coach.
And like you said, that's what's going to lead him
probably to getting a job overseas. And like I said,
what I would like to see in consideration for the
national team job at least at least give him a chance,
give him a look, is what I would like to see.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I think that's true, and he's for me. Like then,
the number one name coming out of the US, I
know that the other name you know, people had thrown
out would be Jim Curtin, who, by the way, also
in the last Arundelo as well.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
But no, just a big old no for me.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I mean, LAFC has always been guided, I think by
the players, the quality of them, more than the quality
of the coach, you know. But Curtain, I mean, Curtain's
always gotten the most out of his players in Philadelphia
and Philadelphia who's in the other side of They're that
side of the bracket facing Mozet Lawn. But it just
kind of feels like will for Nancy. If you're gonna
hire a coach who's currently coaching in the United States,
(35:25):
With all due respect to Brian Schmitzer, will Ford Nancy
is the guy you call if you're Matt Crocker. But
I just we'll see if if they end up having
to resort to that, or if they get one of
the big names from from Europe, like a Mauricio Pochettino
or somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Regard Ari Lillione was our.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Guest mlssucker dot Com and he hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorchers,
which I assume Ari was quite fun coming off of
before nothing win against Pumas. I mean, that match for
me was a total physical boxing match, and the Sounders
punched him, and the Pumas weren't ready for the Sounders
to punch back, and they punched back, and they punched
(36:02):
back hard in that kind of three minute stretch between
Christian Rodon getting fouled, getting up, getting in their face,
and then Rothrock scoring a few minutes later. By the way,
I imagine your boy Noah was pretty happy about that.
But listen, that was a match that for me just
emphasized total domination by the Rave Green. Let's start with
(36:24):
your overall takeaways from what was a very complete win.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Yeah, I mean, these have.
Speaker 7 (36:30):
Been two excellent performances back to back now coming off
the Galaxy game and then for zero over Pumas. It
was great to see Albert Rusnak continue his great form.
One goal to assist. You know, he's up to nineteen
goal contributions in twenty seven all competition appearances this year,
I believe, which is that's really good production, that's exactly
(36:51):
what you want. And then Jordan Morris, you know, he
keeps scoring goals, but also kind of along the lines
of what you were saying, I love seeing that fire
from him at the end, getting in guys' faces. That's
not really something that we necessarily associate with Jeorde Morris.
He's known as more of a laid back, lower key
kind of guy. He's not really like a getting your
face type of guy. I'd love to see that, uh
(37:13):
And I think it's kind of emblematic of sort of
like a sort of like a new leaf that Jordan
Morris is undertaking right now where he's kind of he's
becoming a leader on this team. He's becoming a central
personality on this team. And I think we might look
we might look back at this as kind of a
game where Jordan Morris sort of uh pis his persona
(37:35):
a little bit from the guy that we've come to
know over the years into uh into maybe a guy
who's wired a little bit differently. That's sort of the
feeling I got watching that whole sequence at the end.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
It definitely is because that level of intensity from Jordan,
I think you're dead on with that. And if he
can carry that over, I mean I get it. And
maries Ato and I talked about this. I don't expect
the game against LAFC to be nearly the level of
physicality that we saw against Pumas, where it's it's punched here,
punched there, being thrown back and forth, but maybe more
(38:05):
of an athleticism based game, knowing the you know, the
the style of LAFC, in the style of Chief Steve Tarundelo.
But before we move on to to Sounders la FC,
we talked about the ending there with Jordan Morris. Let
me just get your two cents from somebody who watches,
you know, a lot more soccer than I do. You
watch is just the entire league pretty much. Uh, The
(38:26):
physicality and the behavior from Pumas at the end there
is that something that you've seen from other clubs in
League's Cup or other cubs you know from LEGA MChS
so far in this tournament and going back in previous tournaments.
Or was it specifically Pumas playing honestly, for lack of
(38:46):
a better word, a bit dirty there at the end.
Speaker 7 (38:50):
Yeah, you know, I think in an elimination game there,
the level of intensity is inherently going to be a
little higher and you might see stuff like that a
little bit more in a situation like that. I mean
that being said, let's be clear here, they completely, almost
completely embarrassed themselves at the end of that game. The
red card that led to that whole dispute between between
(39:13):
the clubs. I mean, that is a dirty play, and
the reason that he steps on the back of Jordan
Morris's ankle like that is not I mean, there's nothing
really tactical about that other than the fact that he
was frustrated that they were losing, and it's a dangerous play.
Jordan could have been injured on that play. He was
had every right to be upset about that play and
(39:33):
reacts the way that he did, And I thought it
was pretty funny how he was he was scoreboarding them.
He was saying, it's three zero, it's three zero, Like,
what are you doing fouling me like that when it's
three zero? But you know, in a way, it was
it was pretty satisfying to watch, to be honest with you,
because the only reason the team reacts like that is
because they're upset at how bad they're getting their break
(39:53):
speat off them. So if you have a team in
that type of mindset where they're lashing out like that
and frustrate, it probably means that you've played pretty well
in the game and you're taking a very positive result.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
And that's exactly what happened, completely embarrassing by Pumas.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
And I think the thing that that just overall walking
out of the stadium on Sunday night, Uh, the Sounders
you know, social media club and I know there's a
lot of people involved in that. I know a good
friend Danny Siassio, Go Spu Falcons, you know, is part
of that crew. Just a tremendous job by that entire
(40:29):
team to throw up all the memes, you know, the
four nothing meme and the sad Pumas logo meme where
you know, this cat is sad cat. It just a
tremendous job and it just kind of pounded home the
fact that you all embarrassed yourselves and we're gonna embarrass
you not only on the field, but we're gonna embarrass
(40:49):
you on the internet. It was just wonderful. Ari Let's
move on and talk about what's coming up on Saturday,
because Saturday is going to be a different and intense game.
LAFC a couple weeks ago, three nothing at Luminfield over
the Sounders. They didn't even have Ola Vera for that game.
(41:10):
Who's now back and then now they get Olivia Sha rude.
This is an LAFC team ari that I honestly fear
they look tremendous. They looked very good in the four
and win over San Jose. I don't know what the
question is, but as I kind of look at this
match Saturday, I'm wondering where the Sounders can possibly get
(41:32):
them coming up in a few days.
Speaker 5 (41:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (41:35):
First of all, Jackson, I'm pretty annoyed about this matchup
and how it panned out, just from the standpoint of
I mean, Seattle's already played this team twice this year.
They're playing them in the Open Cup in a couple
weeks now, they have them in Weeks Cup.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
I'm tired of it.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
I never want to see Dennis Bwanga play soccer again.
He is in evil, demonic force of nature, and really
he's gotten the best of Seattle a lot the last
couple of times that they've played, and I just I
don't want to deal with them anymore. And it's really
unfortunate that Seattle has to play them twice more in
the next couple weeks. That being said, you know, with Seattle,
(42:15):
with Seattle having played them a couple of weeks ago
and LAFC getting the victory there, it is pretty difficult
to beat the same team three times in a row,
no matter how much of a quality differential there might be.
And Seattle has been in good form recently to the
point where I think the quality differential, I think it's
still there, but it night might not be as abundant
(42:35):
as it would have been at a different point in
the season earlier in the season when Seattle is struggling.
But I mean, make no mistake, this LAFC team is
one of, if not the best teams in the league.
Their supporters Shield contender, if not front runner. They just
added Olivier j Rue, the leading goal scorer in the
history of the French national team. Like you said, he
debuted in their last game, which they they played the Earthquakes,
(42:59):
and it wasn't even close. It was a joke of
a game, like a lot of their games tend to look.
So I don't know how fit Julu is gonna be.
But even if he's not fit, they still have Dennys Bwanga,
they still have Matthias Bogus and they also kind of
an underrated storyline with LAFC this year is how elite
their defense has been. They had a stretch of games
where they went like I don't know, ten plus games
(43:19):
but barely conceding any goals at all. Like, the stats
were incredible on that run.
Speaker 5 (43:23):
So it's just a very.
Speaker 7 (43:25):
Difficult team to beat.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
It's one of the most lethal.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
Offenses in the league, similar to the Galaxy. Frankly, like
when they get out in transition, it's very hard to stop.
So it's going to be a very difficult game. I think,
you know, the thing, the thing that you hope for
is just the fact that you've been playing these guys
so much that eventually you can probably get a result
against them. I would expect I would not expect LAFC
(43:48):
to eliminate Seattle from both Leagues Cup and Open Cup.
I think Seattle will get the better of one of
those games. I don't know which one it would be.
Could be wrong about that, but just that's just based
on trends that I've seen. When you have situations like
this where you're playing the same team over and over
and over again, uh, you tend to split those results
more than one team sweeps them. So that definitely doesn't
(44:10):
guarantee anything. But I mean, this is just gonna be
a really difficult game. You're going up against one of
the best teams in the league, if not the best
team in the league.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
We have to run in the show tonight, but I
would love to ask that. Maybe I'll throw a pull
up on Twitter where you can only have one and
you can't have both. You can only have one Open
Cup win or this least Cup win over LAFC. I
would love to know which fans would rather. I think
the answer is going to very clearly be Open Cup,
but still very interesting to see. You know, if you
(44:40):
can only have one, which fans would would go after? Yeah,
it's if you can guarantee me one of the two
games right now, I probably take it. But yeah, why
poor k Nolos dos As I always say, Ari, great stuff, man.
I'll pop my head into the press box there at
the start of the second half on Saturday, and hopefully
(45:00):
there's a smile on my face and not an oh
godface after the first forty five minutes. So I'll see
you up there at Luminfield on Saturday. Have a good
rest of your week, buddy.
Speaker 7 (45:12):
That was good, Thanks Jackson, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Ari Leienwall MLS soccer dot com and check out his podcast,
Lobbing Scorches wherever you get your podcasts. Lobbing Scorches on
the iHeartRadio app as well. Love his comments there on
Denny Bowoga, I too, just absolutely hate seeing him play soccer,
but we are all going to have to watch him
on Saturday, where we will talk to you over on
Sports Radio nine fifty kr AM four to thirty Providence, Swedish.
(45:37):
Pretty much so five o'clock kickoff there on Saturday for
Sounders LAFC in the league's Cup quarter final.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
One final note tonight and that's that.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence, Swedish, official healthcare
partner of Sounders FC. Check out the podcast in case
you missed any of tonight's show. Maurice Ado and Ari
Lillienwall great stuff from both of them, and we'll talk
to you on Saturday. Have a good rest of you week, everybody,
and Fox Sports Radio is coming
Coming to you live from Orelliot Avenue Studios of Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM. This is Sounders Weekly
with your host Jackson Felts.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Good avedan welcome into Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feltz here. Great
to be with you here on this Wednesday evening here
in Seattle ninety three point three KJRFM. As we are
going to be spending the entire night tonight looking ahead
to the League's Cup quarterfinal. Once again, it's Sounders LAFC
for the third time in like thirty five days. We
(00:34):
saw a few weeks ago LAFC come to Seattle and
pick up a three to nothing win. Now on Saturday
they play again here in Leagues Cup, and two weeks
from today actually they will be facing off at Starfire
in the Open Cup semifinal. So these two teams know
each other very well and it will be a battle
on Saturday at Luoman here in Leagu's Cup. Really quickly
(00:57):
broadcast details. We're gonna have a broadcast on am SO
nine to fifty am this Saturday for Sounders LAFC Providence,
Swedish premat show is going to be at four to
thirty because kickoff is at five o'clock. It's not like
the normal League's Cup seven to thirty kickoff. It's going
to be a five o'clock kickoff at Lumen. To make
(01:17):
sure you have that on your schedules again, we'll take
the air at four thirty on Saturday over on nine
to fifty AM. This entire show tonight, we usually like
reserve the the Sharp Vision upon at Alec for our
time with Ari. This entire night tonight is going to
be really our opponent, a look presented by Sharp Vision,
Modern Lasik and Lens, which by the way, is the
official Lasik provider of Sounders FC. As we kind of
(01:39):
dig deep into not only that win against Pumas, which
we'll spend some time on in a moment, but also
this massive game against LAFC. What we have coming up
tonight is for the first time Maurice Adu, who is
of course former Rangers player, form player with Toronto, I
believe Philadelphia as well United States men's national team player
(02:02):
for many years. He's gonna be joining us here in
a few minutes. He's a broadcast analyst on MLS Season
Pass on Apple TV. He's gonna be calling the game
on Saturday with our good old friend Keith Costigan some
Reseto's gonna join us here in a little bit. I
also want to talk to Maurice about the United States
coaching situation after Greg Burhalter is now out because as
(02:23):
a guy who played many many games, I mean I
don't know how many over fifty for sure games for
the United States. Love his two cents on the United
States situation. So we'll talk about Sounders LAFC with him.
Leagues Cup in general will of course also be joined
by our good friend Ari Lillianwall of MLS Soccer dot
com and the podcast Lobbing Scorchers. Before we get to
(02:45):
either of them, do want to spend some time on
the big just blowout dominating for nothing win over Pumas.
Before we spend some time with that, I'll quickly tell
you that for the Sounders twenty twenty five season, membership
deposits are on sale now. You can place a one
hundred dollars deposit and gain access to benefits you can
use this season, including Lumenfield concert pre sales and mlstore
(03:09):
dot com discounts. Learn more at soundersfc dot com. Backslash Membership. Okay,
let's spend some time and talk about that four to
nothering win, because there's a lot to celebrate and enjoy
and talk about. The first thing that stands out to
me is the physicality involved in that game, because I
think what we saw in the first twenty eight minutes
(03:30):
was pretty much what we expected. A very quality Pumas
team who right now is the second team in Lega
mcki's Apertura calendar their season. Four games in they have
a very good start three to Zho one, looking great
on the field, nine goals scored, three goals against in
four games. They've been tremendous. So we expected to see
(03:52):
a great club coming too Luminfield thus last Sunday, and
we did see that for the first half hour. Then
I want to say it was an about the twenty
ninth or thirtieth minute you have on the near side
of the field, on the west side, Christian Roldan got
tackled by going forward and it was a bad tackle
and Christian got up and respond to that foul by
getting in the face of I don't know who it was,
(04:15):
but he got in the face of a Pumas player
and basically embodied the sense of you're going to punch
us and think that that's okay, we're going to punch
you in the face right back, and then we're going
to score a goal two minutes later, which is exactly
what happened. A free kick that Albert Rusnak and JP
were standing over and I think both of them kind
of looked at each other in that moment and kind
(04:36):
of said, you're putting one guy on the two of us. Okay,
we'll take advantage of that. So they played a quick
little interchange. Albert went down running down the right side
with nobody within ten yards of him. Again, I would
ask pumas, if you're such a quality team, why the
hell didn't you have a guy closer to the guy
who's been just destroying MLS with assists over the last
(04:56):
two months. So nobody's even close to Albert Rusnak. Massive
error on pumis Park. Rusnak sends it in an incredible
header by Paul Rothrock. He sends it off the post
into the back of the net, and about it being
about a boom thirty two minutes in or up one nothing,
and that three minute stretch not only the physicality to
get up and punch him right back in the face,
(05:17):
but also to say we're gonna do that and then score.
That was the tone setter. That was the turning point
in this game where it just felt. We said this
on the postgame show, and credit to Pete Fewing, I
think he nailed this. Pumis didn't have an answer because
I think that they were expecting to come in here
play their brand of physical soccer. We talked about it
a couple of weeks ago with Obed Vargas or maybe
(05:39):
that was last week on Sounders Weekly, about the preparation
and the physicality of Mexican teams and you do have
to prepare a little bit differently, and Callen Rose said
that on the pregame show too, you do have to
mentally prepare differently for a team who plays like that.
So Pumas come in and expect they're gonna punch Seattle
on the face and play their normal game. I don't
(05:59):
think that they expected Seattle to punch back, and when
Seattle punched back, Plumas didn't have an answer. Pete Fewing
is right, they didn't because Seattle punched and they just
kept punching, and they punched four times, and at the
end of it, that final goal I'm sure we'll talk
about it throughout this show tonight, But Jordan Morris when
(06:19):
he has his ankle stepped on there in the end,
such a dirty, you know, completely inexcusable play by Plumas,
who are clearly frustrated that they're about to bow out
from this tournament and lose at what was three nothing
about to be four nothing. And the embarrassing nature of
how they behaved themselves when they just kept going down
(06:41):
another goal, another goal, another goal. You saw their physicality rise,
but every time you saw their physicality rise, the Sounders
would match it and punch them right back. I mean
that thing that happened at the end of the game
where Morris is fouled and there's a red card and
he steps up before he makes it for nothing on
that penalty kick, which by the way, was his first
penalty kick ever for the Sounders, which is a wild statistic.
(07:05):
But congratulations to Joran Morrison hitting his first ever PK
and Rave Green. So what happened before that kick was,
you know, it's a fight, it's a it's a brawl,
it's a boxing match. And that fight in itself embodied
the match where I think Pumas thought, hey, we're you know,
we're gonna do this and we're gonna play this sort
of way. But then the Sounders everybody John bell Yamar
(07:27):
Paul Rothrock, Who's then thrown to the ground. I mean,
everybody is up in their faces and I just don't
think like in that moment, like throughout the game, Pumas
were not ready for us to punch them in the face.
And boy did we and got It was just great
to see because it's a Sounders team that you know,
let's face it, Nacoxa came here, played that physical brand
(07:49):
of soccer. They played hard and they got a three
to one win. And I don't think that Seattle was
ready for that punch in the face that that Ncoxa brought,
But boy were they ready there this last week. I mean,
what a win over Pumas again, a quality side in
Lega MX, and we just took it to him and
ran them off the field, utter domination in the four
(08:11):
nothing win. Rusnak was deservingly the man of the match.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Defensively, yam Argomez Andrade was tremendous as well. Just really
everybody with a great performance, a great job with just
the mentality going into that game. I loved everything I
saw about it. We're gonna talk about that a lot
tonight with Ari Leanwall coming up later, but coming up
next Maurice Adu, Who's gonna be on the call for
Sounders LAFC This coming Saturday. We'll talk with the MLS
(08:39):
Season Pass on Apple TV broadcaster about the Pumas win,
about League's Cup, about LAFC. Coming up A lot to
get to here on a busy day on Sounders Weekly,
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for sunders
fc SEL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Jackson Feldt is gonna be with you here on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM. A reminder that's
Saturday's League's Cup quarter final match against LAFC will over
on nine to fifty kjr AM, so listen to it
over on nine fifty kjr AM.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
This Saturday.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
We'll have a four to thirty Providence, Swedish premach show
five o'clock there on the am. You know, also listen
in Spanish Linguis on l RA thirteen sixty and of
course watch the match MLS Season Pass on the Apple
TV app where our good old friend Keith Costigan will
be on the call and he'll be alongside our guest
(09:37):
coming up right here on Sounders Weekly, Maurice. Hey, dude,
joins us right now here on Sounders Weekly the Color
Analyst four this weekend's match between Sounders and LAFC in
League's Cup. Maurice, Great to have you on Sounders Weekly. Man,
how are you doing on Man?
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Thanks for having me on to chat about.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Yeah, so much to chat about.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Let's start really quick well by talking about your perspective
on this Sounders team, not only in Least Cup where
we've seeing them advance to the quarterfinals, but we're also
in a semi final and Open Cup. An MLS season
that you know has the Sounders playing much better here
in the last couple of months from AFAR, because we
haven't gotten your two cents yet in twenty twenty four,
(10:20):
what has been your perspective on our Sounders up here
in Seattle.
Speaker 4 (10:26):
I would say that the club Seattle Sounders, they have
a manager that knows how to get the best out players.
Because you look at the start of the season and
there were a lot of question marks about this group
of players. Had had the club had on the certain
players for too long a period of time. Had there
not been enough change in introduction to new faces and
fresh blood to really amplify this team and take them
(10:47):
back to where this club has been for so long,
at the top of the West, competing for trophies, competing
for whether it's the Western Conference side or MLS Cups
and dan as you mentioned, there's been just a change
in form and coming into Leagu's Cup, I think they
were like eight or nine games unbeaten, and you just
(11:08):
started to see this freshness being introduced, a more complete team,
a team that's found ways to win, and then once
you throw them into a tournament, I feel like the
Sounders are always a team that know how to compete
in tournaments, and that starts with coaching. That starts with
having a coach that knows how to whether it's be
organized defensively, put players in the best positions to succeed,
(11:29):
and final way to give play this confidence. And we're
seeing that through this League's Cup run at the moment
well and.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
The comments there on Brian Schmitzer I think are interesting ones.
I want to kind of refer back to them in
a minute when we talk about the United States men's
national team situation. Marise, who is our guest. He's going
to be the color commentator for Saturday's match Sounders against
LAFC and League's Cup. And the Sounders have had that
kind of rejuvenation. I mean, a guy like Paul Rothrock
brings such energy to this team over the last couple
(11:56):
of months. And you know, looking up of what we're
again on Saturday, it's against a team where you know,
they don't have a Paul Rothrock, a kid you know
who's from Seattle, who's you know, worked his way up
and fought like hell and just gives that kind of,
you know, blue collar resurgence of a team. They have
the big stars, they have the bou Wonga, they have
(12:17):
now Olivia Sharut as we've seen him now make his debut.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
It's it's quite a far.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
These teams are built so differently, Mo and you know
it's going to be kind of a very interesting stylistic
bout here. Where we saw two weeks ago in LAFC
one three nothing, a game that I quickly want to forget.
But you have this and then you have open Cup
just in you know, a couple of weeks. Stylistically, in
how these teams are built, it is very different.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
It is, but I also I also appreciate the difference
in a way that the teams are built, the way
the teams approach games. But the similarities are that these
two teams have established themselves as teams that demand success,
teams that have expectations amongst the players, anyone who puts
on that kid, the fans that fill the stadiums. The
expectation for both of these clubs is success is to
(13:06):
be chasing and competing for trophies every single season, every
single competition they're in, the expectation is that they should
be getting to a final and trying to lift the trophies.
So those are the similarities. But I agree with you
the styles are different, and that's what makes for such
an intriguing match. And it'll be interesting to see if
there is any deviation from the approach because of the
(13:27):
last game that we saw with Seattle and LFC, the
last game actually before leagues cuts started. As you said,
you don't want to forget that one, but it was
a good kind of reference point that Seattle can take
going into this game. The other part of that is
even just looking at the way LAFC have gone about
their business throughout this competition so far, the one common
game that we've seen minus the last game is they're
(13:49):
okay not having a lot of the ball. They don't
mind that whatsoever, and in some ways it actually played
to their strengths of being a team that can just
absolutely kill you in transition. So what teams have to
do is when you get an opportunity, you have to
take them about. Vancouver did a really good job of
that when they came to Demo Stadiums, scored the two
early goals and you kind of felt like, okay, if
you can get that first goal, well, now it puts
(14:11):
more pressure in LAFC. Not that they have to go
throw cautions to the win, but they have to be
a little bit more aggressive. They're going to commit numbers
four where they played that way anyway, and now it's
about and final way to get that second goal. But
from a Seattle standpoint, they're informed. I mean, what they
did against Puma's to me was one of the games
of the tournament for NAIL. I saw that game a
(14:33):
pretty evenly matched game in terms of either two teams
where a win on either side when it surprised me,
but to not only win the game, but to win
in such a dominant fashion against one of League at
Mechi's elite teams, to me, that was a statement victory
for Seattle, a game where you put the rest of
the competition un noticed that we're a team that knows
(14:55):
how to score goals, We're a team that knows how
to defend in our own eight team or a team
that if you a fight and scrap, we're up with
that challenge. We're ready for any kind of game that
you throw at us. So that's what makes this match
up for me even more intriguing.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I love that you brought up kind of you know,
the physicality there, because that's one of the things that
we've talked about for the last few days since that
game and earlier on this show tonight as well. Is
that element where I said it earlier. I think that
Pumas kind of punched Seattle in the face in the first,
you know, third of that match, roughly the twenty eight
twenty ninth minutes with a foul on Christian rolled on,
(15:29):
and I don't think that Pumas were ready for Seattle
to punch back. It's almost like Pumas didn't have an
answer when Seattle punched back. They were kind of like, oh,
we weren't ready for you to actually get up and
fight in this game, which is an odd thing to
not be ready for. It just didn't feel like Pumas
was at all comfortable against a fighting, scrapping Seattle side.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And that level of uncomfort is is so valuable because
if if you want to just play peer football, okay,
I don't can compete with pretty much with most teams,
right they have players who can control games through the
likes of Joel Pollo. They have center backs that are
comfortable in possession. You know, they have pace in the
(16:12):
wide area at times. If it's if it's the likes
of Lao two playing Paul Rothbock brings a level of energy,
that controlled energy. And I like the word energy instead
of just saying like he brings pace or I like
the word energy because I think he knows how to
manage those moments of when to be a little bit
more daring when into being a little bit more poised
(16:33):
defensively as well. So to me, it's starting to look
like a much more balanced team than maybe it felt
like at the beginning of the season, right, But to
your point about the different elements that go into a game,
especially a knockout game, Yeah, if you're the away team,
you try to take elements. You try to take control
what you can control. You can't control how many fans
(16:53):
turn up in that seatum to cheer against you. But
what you can try to do is take some of
that out of the game by being physical, by being scrappy,
making a game that the home team doesn't want to
play in. But Seattle were ready for that, and Seattle
matched that. Seattle exceeded that, and then they exceeded that
by also going on to score goals in a convincing
way to create chances to be relentless in the way
that they try to pursue the next goal. And Pulmas
(17:16):
had absolutely no answer for that.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Yeah, and that was the thing that kind of stood
out to me the most. Now, LAFC, not necessarily, I
don't know if I would expect the same physicality level
out of LAFC as we saw against Pumas. I think
this match will certainly look different than kind of the
the boxing match, you know, both literally and figuratively that
we ended up seeing in Sounders Pumas. You talk about
both the energy and you talk about you know, the
(17:40):
fans and the crowd there. And as somebody who has
seen Leagus Cup from a bunch of different stadiums, listen,
I think from the Sounders side, and just like reading
you know, fan blogs and reading you know, just posts
online and social media about how fans are feeling about
this tournament, there's been certainly an uptick in energy of
people here now that the Sounders have advanced to this
(18:01):
stage and League's Cup, more fans are in the seats.
We felt then we heard a renewed energy in the
building for that game against Pumas, and we expected, you know,
for the same being on Saturday against LAFC. Around the league,
how have you seen stadiums filled fans bringing the energy
you know, compared to a normal MS game. How have
you seen that from various fan bases about this tournament specifically?
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Well, I would agree with you that, you know, at
times there's it's it's still a new tournament, right, so
fans are still figuring out, you know, how they go
ahead and include this into their regular repertoire games that
they that they attend and the way they support their teams.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
But nonetheless, you know, as soon.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
As you get to the knockout rounds, okay, everyone kind
of perks up a little bit, like, Okay, we're a
step closer to a trophy, and and you're seeing that.
You know, you talk about the what the fans look
like at the game against Pumas, and I think that's
going to only going to increase. And as you get
closer and closer to being to where you feel like
you could almost touch that trophy, that's gonna peak fans
(19:03):
interest even more, especially if you're a club that maybe
is on the outside looking in.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
Or quote unquote an underdog.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
You know, a team like Colorado, for example, they've done well,
they've made they've done well over the course of the season,
but they've made some good signings in the off season,
starting with Chris Armis, and you know, putting themselves in
contention to not only be in the playoffs, but also
that maybe even be in top four, And they've carried
that form into League's Cup. So maybe it's not even
fair to consider them an underdog. But when you talk
(19:32):
about teams like Seattle, you talk about teams like LAFC,
your Club America's then they call it they kind of
fall into that category. But I can imagine, you know,
their fans from AFAR will be really tuned in and
intrigued by what this game and what this competition means
for this club. The Saints can be said for you know,
San Jose, they bowed out to l a f C
last night, but what a run they made. Throughout the
(19:53):
course of the tournament. You've seen so many upsets, NYC
SC taking down Tigres, one of the one of the
giants in this competition, or one of the teams that
we expected to be to be advancing to maybe a
semi final or even a final, we see them bow out.
But to me, it just feels like, look, this is
only going to get better and better. MLS teams are
(20:13):
putting their all into this competition, taking it very seriously.
They want to lift this trophy. The significance of not
just a trophy, but also you know, the spot in CCC,
like all these different variables are so important to these
clubs and it's just another mechanism to get yourself into
that position. Obviously, MLS Cup is the one that everyone's eyeing,
But at the moment, I love the fact that things
(20:35):
are paused and you can put all your attention and
all your efforts into competing in this tournament. The other part, too,
is we know how important a tournament run can be
for a team, how that can spur you on into
the second half of the season. You build momentum right now,
and you can try to carry that and lead that
to a strong finish to the second half of the
season and into the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Yeah, absolutely so, Marie lad who's our guest. He's going
to be the color commentator for Saturday's match Sounders LAFC
on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV five o'clock kickoff.
Wallso have the match for you over on nine to
fifty KJR AM here in local radio in Seattle. Well,
a couple more quick ones for you here. I want
to switch gears to the United States men's national team,
a team that you of course know very well from
(21:15):
many appearances with that squad, and it's a team that's
in quite a lot of flux right now. After another,
you know, shift with Greg Burhalter in the rearview mirror.
Let me first go to back to your comments about
Brian Schmizer and the job he does in the ability
to get the most out of his players, which I
think me and Sounder fans wholeheartedly agree with. He made
(21:37):
some comments on the air with myself last week on
KJR on this station about you know, the the the
cushy job that is the United States for any US
coach to you know, want the job because it is
coaching your own country in a home World Cup. How
first do you look at that job and is it
(22:00):
a job was set up with the players right now
that may be a fit for a guy like Brian Schmitzer.
Speaker 6 (22:08):
Well, I'm very biased, you know, because of everything you've
said leading into this question about the US men's national team.
But yeah, I look at this job as one that's
incredibly enticing, and it's the value attached to it.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
To me, is is really up there. Now.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Every coach isn't going to see it the same way
because certain coaches, you know, when you're talking about the
krem de la Creme of international coaches, they might either
as well, I could go to coach a team that
maybe is a favorite to win the tournament, So why
you know, But to me, yeah, of course I attach
value to it because it's the US men's national team.
We're hosting what's going to be the biggest World Cup,
(22:45):
new format, more teams added, being hosted in three different countries.
But there's to me, there's.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
The allure of that, there's the allure of.
Speaker 4 (22:55):
The potential that these players have individually. Now can we
get some and in place who knows how to who
could take them to that next level. But in fairness,
a great Burholter look I gave him as fowers on
their prior to this, already saying that you know, we
were in a dark, dark period as former players, as
fans of US soccer when he took over this team,
(23:17):
and he helped to restill, to restore a level of
at the base level expectation, a level of expectation of
what our team should be accomplishing and for sure and
conferate and competitions in this confederation. But now the challenge
is how can we extend that into bigger competitions, whether
that's Copa America, which we didn't do well in obviously,
(23:39):
but more importantly, we're only a couple of years out
from the World Cup, so we need a manager now
who can come in maybe even ruffle some feathers, get
these players uneasy initially, get them on their toes so
that they start to compete. They recognize that, listen, nobody
is safe until you prove that you deserve to be
on that pitch, right. I think sometimes change is good
(23:59):
in that regard. But the pedigree of manager that I'm
expecting and hoping for is someone that's shown that they
can win, preferably if they've done this at the international level.
That's that's obviously a bonus, but also a manager that
knows how to get the best out of their players,
because and I don't, I won't. I got to choose
my words widely here. I don't want to say that
(24:20):
it's easy to manage the best players in the world,
but it's very different managing the best players in the
world versus managing a team of players that are that
have potential.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Right, So having that level.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
And that ability to connect with these players, to galvan
at these players, to put them in the best position
to succeed, but then to have that belief amongst themselves
that they can go against France or an Argentina and
yet on paper they should lose that game. But when
they get on the pitch. They know they're going to
compete like basters, they're gonna fight like hell. And there
are certain I feel like fundamental starting points that we
(24:54):
need to have as a country where we know anything
that plays against us know there's going to be a war.
They're going to have to use which a scrap for
ninety plus minutes. They're gonna they know they're gonna be
in for a game. We're gonna be a team that's fit,
that's gonna run like hell for ninety plus minutes. But
then beyond that, we have individual players who can change
a game. We have players that that are playing at
top clubs and in top competitions that that won't be
(25:17):
would by the occasion, that now have World Cup experience,
that now have played in a knockout round game, get it,
succeed and hopefully we take lessons from that and now
are better prepared to succeed on home soil.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's just music to my ears. All of that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I mean, the coach in there to relate to the players,
players who are starring over in Europe and connect with them,
but also come in and ruffle the feathers, change the
culture of US soccer. I mean listen, I'm a Tottenham
guy and uh and Brian done something.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I know Brian Dunseth made great fun of me last week.
My guy, in all seriousness, my guy for this US
job has been Mauricio Pachettino because I believe that he
would be one of those guys who could come in,
ruffle the feathers, connect with players, get the most out
of his club. So yes, I realized the Tottenham joke aside,
He's the type of guy.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
That would do that. And I know Klopp said no,
and I know Pellegrino said no.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
But like you need a guy at that level to
get the most out of this current golden generation of
US players.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
I don't mind that.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
Name, you know.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Actually, although Potatana coach taught the Mama Arsenal fan, I
know he's a manager that I that I respect, you know,
I have a lot of respect for a lot of
respect for and I do agree with you. I think
he is a top manager. Now this is where it
gets interesting, right because it's now being able to measure
an assess like this is where we start to realize
(26:44):
and get a little bit of a glimpse into into
how maybe the global landscape looks at how they view
US soccer. Because obviously klop had already said that he
was taking a break. So but you gotta ask a question,
and then any any other manager that's been a pros
that's already that turned it down. I don't want to
say it's because it's US soccer, but at times we
(27:05):
maybe are naive and we place more.
Speaker 5 (27:07):
Value on this job than maybe others will.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
But this is I'd still think that it's a job
where we should be going for some some of the
most attractive names and biggest names, and at the very
least asking that question because I don't know when we're
gonna have this opportunity again. And the thing that I
don't want that I fear the most is coming out
of twenty twenty six and feeling like, damn, we could
have done more, or like, man, if we you know,
(27:33):
like we didn't put our best, we didn't. If we
come out of that tournament we lose because we were
beat by a team that was better on that day. Man,
it sucks, but you can hold your hand up and
you can hold your head up high and say, all right, well,
I know that we left it all on the pitch.
We squeezed every hour of effort of quality out of
this group of players. The manager that we had in
(27:55):
place had this country believe in and had us inspired,
and this group had us even in inspired. So that's
I just don't want to come out of this tournament
film like how I felt coming out of Copa America,
where it was like, there's no way we didn't get
have that group. There's no like that wasn't our best,
that wasn't the best version of this group of players.
And I hate that too because then it leaves the
finger pointing and all that is just cancerous. But yeah,
(28:19):
I I'm with you in that I think that this
is an attractive position. The pressure's on the count, the
clock is sicken, right, and I know US Soccer is
doing their best efforts now scouring and exhausting every option
that's that's out there and available and trying to figure
out who that person is and how quickly they can
get them into a seat to start leading this team
(28:41):
into and whipping this team into shape for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Twenty two months from the World Cup and you're hosting it.
I get the pressure of, you know, coaching for a
country that's hosting a World Cup. But it's a chance
for soccer in our country to grow like we've never
you know, seen it grow before, even bigger than when
the World Cup was here, you know, thirty years ago.
So I mean, it's it's one of those opportunities where
(29:04):
I would just speak to Matt Crocker in the Federation
and say, don't screw this up. I feel like we
could go on for twenty minutes talking about this situation.
Hopefully we have the chance to talk again at some point,
whether it's in the next few months with the MLS
season resuming, or whether it's you know, early next year
when hopefully by then we have a coach leading leading
the men's program. But this was awesome. I love talking
(29:28):
with you. Great, great to get you on Sounders weekly
for the first time. We will talk again soon, man,
have a great call on Saturday. I'll see you in
there for LAFC Seattle and safe travels up here to
the Northwest.
Speaker 4 (29:40):
I appreciate it, man, thanks for having me on, and yeah,
looking forward to to what should be an incredible game
between two top teams in this league.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Just exceptional stuff there from Moadu Marisai, who is going
to be the color analyst alongside our good old friend
Keith Costigan for the MLS season pass on Apple TV.
Call of Sounders LAFC this Saturday at five o'clock. That's
kickoff our Providence, Swedish premach show. We'll start at four
thirty over on nine to fifty kJ AM this Saturday.
Tremendous comments on the United States. He and I are
(30:10):
in lockstep about how we feel about this job. I
would speak right now to Matt Crocker and the Federation.
Don't waste this opportunity. Don't screw this up to build
soccer into a you know, big three, big four sport
in this country. This is a massive opportunity. Do not
screwed up. Hire the right guy and also pay the
(30:32):
right guy for the job. We'll get a break here
in Sounders Weekly. We'll continue talking about Sounders LAFC and
look back at the physicality and the win over Pumas
for nothing on Saturday. Ari E Lullianwall MLS Soccer dot
Com will join us next here on Sounders Weekly Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Now back to.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders fc CL's Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Welcome Yuck Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Jackson Felt is going to be with you here ninety
three point three KJRFM. A reminder that you can listen
it to Saturday's match Least Cup quarterfinal against LAFC. That
will be a four to thirty Providence, Swedish prematch show
five o'clock kickoff over on nine fifty kr AM nine
to fifty am four to thirty pre game for Sounders LAFC.
(31:21):
You can also listen to the match in Spanish leg
Wage on LRAY thirteen sixty and watch the match MLS
Season Pass on the Apple TV app. We just had
the man who's going to be doing the color commentating
for that, Maurice Ado here on the show last segment.
Joining us right now is our good friend from MLS
Soccer dot Com and the podcast Lobbing scorcheres Ari, Lillian Waul.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
What's up are you? How you doing man?
Speaker 7 (31:44):
I'm good, Jackson, How are you good?
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Just got off the phone with Moadu and he was
popping off about the situation with the United States. I'm
not sure if you heard that, but he even let
out a little bit of an F bomb, very very
intense emotions from him. I'm obviously a former u United
States men's national team player. About the situation before we
dig into Sounders Pumas, Sounders LFC, maybe touch on Lea's
(32:09):
Cup overall as we're in the quarterfinals before we get
there really quick, just to get your two cents, because
I'm not sure if we've touched on it. Not to
throw specific names, but do you think that the United
States needs to get like not even needs to go after,
needs to get a massive name like a Mauricio Pochettino
(32:29):
two chol you know, formerly a Chelsea Did they have
to get one of these massive names for it to
be a successful, higher and successful cycle.
Speaker 7 (32:38):
I don't know if they have to. I mean, I
think there are big names out there where if they
would take the job, I would be happy to see it,
and I think they could do a good job. But
I think the substance of it is more important than
the name value. You know, I will throw out a
name that I that I would like to see at
least being considerations for the job, which is Wilford Dancy,
who I think he's done great work and I know
(33:02):
a lot of people might not want an MLS coach,
but if you look at his track record in the
league where he got c F Montreal punching way above
their weight, and now with Columbus, he's got them performing
as one of the best teams in the league. And
there's he's gotten a lot of credit for this stuff
he's done with tactics and just the way he sees
the game and his man management. I think a name
(33:24):
like that I would be just as happy to see
that as I would be some of these bigger names
that we've seen floated about.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Well, we bring up Columbus here. I mean this is
our around the league segment where we take a look
around the league quickly before we talk to Seattle. I mean,
Columbus beating Miami. I don't know who would call that
an upset, but maybe it is. And Columbus now facing
New York City in the quarterfinals of their side in
the league's Cup. So I mean he kind of goes
to the picture of Wilford Nancy, no matter what tournament
(33:51):
it's in, obviously winning the Cup. That's a guy where
the more success he has, the more he's been a
driven name for one of the you know, top jobs,
not even even in this country.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
But he may start to get some calls from across
the pond.
Speaker 7 (34:07):
Yeah, exactly. I mean, they won MLS Cup last year.
They made a run to the Conker CAF Champions Cup
final this year and they lost it. But the circumstances
of that, you know, I don't know how much I
honestly put into that final. I think they could have.
They could have won that on a different day under
different circumstances. So he's really done great work and more
than their more than their record and their point total
(34:27):
and everything. I think it's how they play, the system
that he's implemented, the buy in that he's got from
the players. These are all hallmarks of an elite coach.
And like you said, that's what's going to lead him
probably to getting a job overseas. And like I said,
what I would like to see in consideration for the
national team job at least at least give him a chance,
give him a look, is what I would like to see.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I think that's true, and he's for me. Like then,
the number one name coming out of the US, I
know that the other name you know, people had thrown
out would be Jim Curtin, who, by the way, also
in the last Arundelo as well.
Speaker 3 (34:59):
But no, just a big old no for me.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
I mean, LAFC has always been guided, I think by
the players, the quality of them, more than the quality
of the coach, you know. But Curtain, I mean, Curtain's
always gotten the most out of his players in Philadelphia
and Philadelphia who's in the other side of They're that
side of the bracket facing Mozet Lawn. But it just
kind of feels like will for Nancy. If you're gonna
hire a coach who's currently coaching in the United States,
(35:25):
With all due respect to Brian Schmitzer, will Ford Nancy
is the guy you call if you're Matt Crocker. But
I just we'll see if if they end up having
to resort to that, or if they get one of
the big names from from Europe, like a Mauricio Pochettino
or somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Regard Ari Lillione was our.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Guest mlssucker dot Com and he hosts the podcast Lobbing Scorchers,
which I assume Ari was quite fun coming off of
before nothing win against Pumas. I mean, that match for
me was a total physical boxing match, and the Sounders
punched him, and the Pumas weren't ready for the Sounders
to punch back, and they punched back, and they punched
(36:02):
back hard in that kind of three minute stretch between
Christian Rodon getting fouled, getting up, getting in their face,
and then Rothrock scoring a few minutes later. By the way,
I imagine your boy Noah was pretty happy about that.
But listen, that was a match that for me just
emphasized total domination by the Rave Green. Let's start with
(36:24):
your overall takeaways from what was a very complete win.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Yeah, I mean, these have.
Speaker 7 (36:30):
Been two excellent performances back to back now coming off
the Galaxy game and then for zero over Pumas. It
was great to see Albert Rusnak continue his great form.
One goal to assist. You know, he's up to nineteen
goal contributions in twenty seven all competition appearances this year,
I believe, which is that's really good production, that's exactly
(36:51):
what you want. And then Jordan Morris, you know, he
keeps scoring goals, but also kind of along the lines
of what you were saying, I love seeing that fire
from him at the end, getting in guys' faces. That's
not really something that we necessarily associate with Jeorde Morris.
He's known as more of a laid back, lower key
kind of guy. He's not really like a getting your
face type of guy. I'd love to see that, uh
(37:13):
And I think it's kind of emblematic of sort of
like a sort of like a new leaf that Jordan
Morris is undertaking right now where he's kind of he's
becoming a leader on this team. He's becoming a central
personality on this team. And I think we might look
we might look back at this as kind of a
game where Jordan Morris sort of uh pis his persona
(37:35):
a little bit from the guy that we've come to
know over the years into uh into maybe a guy
who's wired a little bit differently. That's sort of the
feeling I got watching that whole sequence at the end.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
It definitely is because that level of intensity from Jordan,
I think you're dead on with that. And if he
can carry that over, I mean I get it. And
maries Ato and I talked about this. I don't expect
the game against LAFC to be nearly the level of
physicality that we saw against Pumas, where it's it's punched here,
punched there, being thrown back and forth, but maybe more
(38:05):
of an athleticism based game, knowing the you know, the
the style of LAFC, in the style of Chief Steve Tarundelo.
But before we move on to to Sounders la FC,
we talked about the ending there with Jordan Morris. Let
me just get your two cents from somebody who watches,
you know, a lot more soccer than I do. You
watch is just the entire league pretty much. Uh, The
(38:26):
physicality and the behavior from Pumas at the end there
is that something that you've seen from other clubs in
League's Cup or other cubs you know from LEGA MChS
so far in this tournament and going back in previous tournaments.
Or was it specifically Pumas playing honestly, for lack of
(38:46):
a better word, a bit dirty there at the end.
Speaker 7 (38:50):
Yeah, you know, I think in an elimination game there,
the level of intensity is inherently going to be a
little higher and you might see stuff like that a
little bit more in a situation like that. I mean
that being said, let's be clear here, they completely, almost
completely embarrassed themselves at the end of that game. The
red card that led to that whole dispute between between
(39:13):
the clubs. I mean, that is a dirty play, and
the reason that he steps on the back of Jordan
Morris's ankle like that is not I mean, there's nothing
really tactical about that other than the fact that he
was frustrated that they were losing, and it's a dangerous play.
Jordan could have been injured on that play. He was
had every right to be upset about that play and
(39:33):
reacts the way that he did, And I thought it
was pretty funny how he was he was scoreboarding them.
He was saying, it's three zero, it's three zero, Like,
what are you doing fouling me like that when it's
three zero? But you know, in a way, it was
it was pretty satisfying to watch, to be honest with you,
because the only reason the team reacts like that is
because they're upset at how bad they're getting their break
(39:53):
speat off them. So if you have a team in
that type of mindset where they're lashing out like that
and frustrate, it probably means that you've played pretty well
in the game and you're taking a very positive result.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
And that's exactly what happened, completely embarrassing by Pumas.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
And I think the thing that that just overall walking
out of the stadium on Sunday night, Uh, the Sounders
you know, social media club and I know there's a
lot of people involved in that. I know a good
friend Danny Siassio, Go Spu Falcons, you know, is part
of that crew. Just a tremendous job by that entire
(40:29):
team to throw up all the memes, you know, the
four nothing meme and the sad Pumas logo meme where
you know, this cat is sad cat. It just a
tremendous job and it just kind of pounded home the
fact that you all embarrassed yourselves and we're gonna embarrass
you not only on the field, but we're gonna embarrass
(40:49):
you on the internet. It was just wonderful. Ari Let's
move on and talk about what's coming up on Saturday,
because Saturday is going to be a different and intense game.
LAFC a couple weeks ago, three nothing at Luminfield over
the Sounders. They didn't even have Ola Vera for that game.
(41:10):
Who's now back and then now they get Olivia Sha rude.
This is an LAFC team ari that I honestly fear
they look tremendous. They looked very good in the four
and win over San Jose. I don't know what the
question is, but as I kind of look at this
match Saturday, I'm wondering where the Sounders can possibly get
(41:32):
them coming up in a few days.
Speaker 5 (41:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (41:35):
First of all, Jackson, I'm pretty annoyed about this matchup
and how it panned out, just from the standpoint of
I mean, Seattle's already played this team twice this year.
They're playing them in the Open Cup in a couple
weeks now, they have them in Weeks Cup.
Speaker 3 (41:50):
I'm tired of it.
Speaker 7 (41:51):
I never want to see Dennis Bwanga play soccer again.
He is in evil, demonic force of nature, and really
he's gotten the best of Seattle a lot the last
couple of times that they've played, and I just I
don't want to deal with them anymore. And it's really
unfortunate that Seattle has to play them twice more in
the next couple weeks. That being said, you know, with Seattle,
(42:15):
with Seattle having played them a couple of weeks ago
and LAFC getting the victory there, it is pretty difficult
to beat the same team three times in a row,
no matter how much of a quality differential there might be.
And Seattle has been in good form recently to the
point where I think the quality differential, I think it's
still there, but it night might not be as abundant
(42:35):
as it would have been at a different point in
the season earlier in the season when Seattle is struggling.
But I mean, make no mistake, this LAFC team is
one of, if not the best teams in the league.
Their supporters Shield contender, if not front runner. They just
added Olivier j Rue, the leading goal scorer in the
history of the French national team. Like you said, he
debuted in their last game, which they they played the Earthquakes,
(42:59):
and it wasn't even close. It was a joke of
a game, like a lot of their games tend to look.
So I don't know how fit Julu is gonna be.
But even if he's not fit, they still have Dennys Bwanga,
they still have Matthias Bogus and they also kind of
an underrated storyline with LAFC this year is how elite
their defense has been. They had a stretch of games
where they went like I don't know, ten plus games
(43:19):
but barely conceding any goals at all. Like, the stats
were incredible on that run.
Speaker 5 (43:23):
So it's just a very.
Speaker 7 (43:25):
Difficult team to beat.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
It's one of the most lethal.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
Offenses in the league, similar to the Galaxy. Frankly, like
when they get out in transition, it's very hard to stop.
So it's going to be a very difficult game. I think,
you know, the thing, the thing that you hope for
is just the fact that you've been playing these guys
so much that eventually you can probably get a result
against them. I would expect I would not expect LAFC
(43:48):
to eliminate Seattle from both Leagues Cup and Open Cup.
I think Seattle will get the better of one of
those games. I don't know which one it would be.
Could be wrong about that, but just that's just based
on trends that I've seen. When you have situations like
this where you're playing the same team over and over
and over again, uh, you tend to split those results
more than one team sweeps them. So that definitely doesn't
(44:10):
guarantee anything. But I mean, this is just gonna be
a really difficult game. You're going up against one of
the best teams in the league, if not the best
team in the league.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
We have to run in the show tonight, but I
would love to ask that. Maybe I'll throw a pull
up on Twitter where you can only have one and
you can't have both. You can only have one Open
Cup win or this least Cup win over LAFC. I
would love to know which fans would rather. I think
the answer is going to very clearly be Open Cup,
but still very interesting to see. You know, if you
(44:40):
can only have one, which fans would would go after? Yeah,
it's if you can guarantee me one of the two
games right now, I probably take it. But yeah, why
poor k Nolos dos As I always say, Ari, great stuff, man.
I'll pop my head into the press box there at
the start of the second half on Saturday, and hopefully
(45:00):
there's a smile on my face and not an oh
godface after the first forty five minutes. So I'll see
you up there at Luminfield on Saturday. Have a good
rest of your week, buddy.
Speaker 7 (45:12):
That was good, Thanks Jackson, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Ari Leienwall MLS soccer dot com and check out his podcast,
Lobbing Scorches wherever you get your podcasts. Lobbing Scorches on
the iHeartRadio app as well. Love his comments there on
Denny Bowoga, I too, just absolutely hate seeing him play soccer,
but we are all going to have to watch him
on Saturday, where we will talk to you over on
Sports Radio nine fifty kr AM four to thirty Providence, Swedish.
(45:37):
Pretty much so five o'clock kickoff there on Saturday for
Sounders LAFC in the league's Cup quarter final.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
One final note tonight and that's that.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence, Swedish, official healthcare
partner of Sounders FC. Check out the podcast in case
you missed any of tonight's show. Maurice Ado and Ari
Lillienwall great stuff from both of them, and we'll talk
to you on Saturday. Have a good rest of you week, everybody,
and Fox Sports Radio is coming
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