September 4, 2024 • 45 mins
Tonight on Sounders Weekly, Jackson Felts talks about the Sounders losses to LAFC and Portland, plus facing Columbus this week and other MLS action, with both Sacha Kljestan of Apple TV and Ari Liljenwall of MLS Soccer, then diagnoses the United States hiring Mauricio Pochettino as their new Head Coach with Anders Hirst.
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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 (00:11):
Good evening, everybody, welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson felt here
for the next hour here on ninety three point three
KJRFM talking Sounders Soccer, and there is a lot to
talk about, not all pretty, but there is a lot
to go over here. Over the last week and the
week ahead with the Seattle Sounders, it's been back to
(00:32):
back one to nothing losses for Seattle. First it was
in the Open Cup semi final down at Starfire to LAFC.
Awesome atmosphere, really cool down there. I know a ton
of people what four thousand plus came out end up
being very electric. But then that's questionable penalty call. I've
looked at it a thousand ways from Sunday and I'm
(00:54):
still up in the air. I can see exactly how
they would say it is a penalty, and I can
also see the arguments for hey, it's tucked, you know,
in terms of the hands and the arms, and it
shouldn't be a penalty. The reality of the situation is,
and I said this on the postgame show. I'm just
sad that we all, as fans and everybody who watched
or listened or took in that match had to have
(01:15):
that game decided on such a close, questionable call. We
shouldn't have big games decided on calls that close, and
it's sad that we did. So That's kind of where
I'm at. And then that one nothing loss was followed
up by another one nothing loss at Portland on Saturday,
really frustrating. We had a good postgame show callan Row
(01:37):
Michelle Ludkin. I went back and forth on that loss
with good questions. I think over why jul Paolo didn't play.
We dug into the kind of those subs a little bit.
We also dug into just overall the strategy involved in
that game, why the Sounders aren't getting going offensively against
a Portland team that is frankly terrible defensively. And then
(01:59):
also the the question of Pedro dla Vega that callan
rowe posed at the end of the postgame show, and
I want to kind of bring that up with all
of our guests tonight over whether Pedro de la Vega
should be starting right now. I think he should. We're
gonna see what our guests think. In terms of those
guests tonight, we got a couple of really good ones.
First up, Sasa, question is going to be joining us
(02:20):
here in just I'm told about two minutes. Sasha, if
you don't know the name, long time player in Major
League Soccer many many years, also with the United States
men's national team. He's currently a broadcaster on MLS Season
Pass on Apple TV. I believe he's on their three
sixty show with a bunch of people. He does some
really good studio work. Sasha is great at what he does.
(02:42):
He knows the entire league. I want to get his
thoughts on the Sounders, his thoughts on Pedro Dla Vega,
and definitely his thoughts on two specific things, Columbus Ahead
and Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States men's national team,
because we have not talked about that yet since it
became breaking news last Sounders Weekly episode. We had a
(03:02):
few weeks ago before I was on vacation. The news
came out about an hour after the show ended, so
we didn't even get to react to it. We were
just talking about the possible news. So we had to
talk about that tonight, Sasha will have some thoughts on that.
I'm also gonna ask both of our following guests, arililioall
of mlsoccer dot com you all know, and then andrews Hurst,
(03:24):
our producer in there. He's gonna be joining me for
our final segments tonight to talk more about Potch taking
over the United States. So a lot to get to
from Sasha and of course Ari and Anders. Before I
get Sasha on the air there as I see him
calling in, I'll quickly let you know about that next
game for your Sounders is coming up this Saturday. The
(03:46):
match can be heard over on our sister station of
Sports Radio, nine to fifty kr AM. It will be
a four o'clock Providence, Swedish premat show and a four
to thirty kickoff there on nine p fifty as the
Sounders are in Columbus to face the ending champion Columbus
KUSSI also the defending Least Cup champions who just won
that a couple weeks ago, so that is a massive,
(04:08):
massive match. In addition to listening on nine to fifty,
you can also watch the match on the MLS Season
Pass on the Apple TV app and listen in Spanish
language on l Ray thirteen to sixty. Massive match coming
up this Saturday. We'll talk about that in a few
minutes with the man who's going to be joining us
right now here on Sounders Weekly four. I believe the
first time longtime MLS veteran, longtime soccer player here in
(04:33):
our country, Sasa question joins us right now here in
Sounders Weekly Sasha, great to have you on the show, man,
How are you?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I'm great, man, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, it's good to have you.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Let's first start with the Sounders since that's where we
opened the show on tonight. Obviously, last week was not good.
Back to back won nothing losses to rivals, back to
back shutouts in those losses. Obviously we're all a bit
frustrated up here and going into a massive game against
a great team. But overall, what have you seen from
(05:05):
the Sounders here over recent days.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Well, you know recent days the ability to be efficient
in the attacking third of the Open Cup game against LAFC,
then the game against Portland. It's really a game of inches,
you know, a couple of very close off side calls
that if the players were a little bit smarter and
we could stay on side, you know, you have different
(05:30):
results in those games, probably, But look, it's been an
up and down season. I think seattlest still has a
very good roster and is still trending in the right direction.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Based on the.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Second half of the season. They've shown an ability to
be able to beat anybody in the league except for
LAFC at this point. So I still think they're a
playoff team, and a pretty good playoff team at that
And we'll see what happens over these last few games.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
On that note, what is the ceiling for the Sounders
this year? Is it a final in a eventual lost
to LAFC. I mean, I'm kind of, you know, wondering
if we are going to be a really good playoff team.
Is there a maximum point with you know, notably the
transfer deadline now having passed and you know that being
in the rearview mirror and this team roster being kind
(06:17):
of closed as it is.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, the roster's close. I would have liked to Seattle
make a move or two during the summer transfer window
to add a little bit more to the team. But
I do think that a few young players like Roth
Rock and Obed Vargas are stepping up when they need
to be right now, which is important because the team
is going to grow that.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Way with these young guys.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And I do think we have to see a little
bit more out of Christian role Dumb. I love Christian Rodum.
I would put him in my team, in any MLS team,
he would be a starter. I would want him to
be on my team every day of the week. But
having said that, one goal and four assists on the
season is not enough for a player of his caliber.
So we've been asking about Jordan Morris having step up.
(07:00):
He's doing that now. He's putting the ball in the
back of the net ten goals in the league season.
I need a little bit more out of Christian role done.
I don't know what it means in the playoffs. Listen,
you lose four times to LFC in one season, it
almost feels like the fifth time they're bound to win
that game. But it just seems like LAFC is too
good for them right now. And Founders having specifically Brian Schmeetzer,
(07:23):
I don't think has figured out a way to beat LAFC.
But they've shown the ability to be able to beat
the Galaxy, which is, you know, the number one team
in the conference right now. So listen, we all know
an MLS playoffs, anything can happen.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah, they certainly can. We've seen that before.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I mean, you go looking at what number one seeds
have done in MLS playoffs since like twenty fourteen or so,
and I mean there's just there's not many cases of
number one seeds going all the way through. There was
a long stretch where number one seeds just didn't even
get to the MLS Cup final at all. Yeah, you know,
so it's been a while there, Sasha questions our guest
(07:59):
of course, longtime MLS player, as well as time with
the United States men's national team. I'm gonna have to
ask you about Mauricio Pochettino here in a little bit, Sasha,
But before we get there, you mentioned Christian roll Don
and I want to kind of loop you into discussion
we had on our Sounders postgame show here on KJAR
a few days ago after the Portland loss. You know
the name, and I'm sure you guys have talked and
(08:21):
cross past Kellen Rowe Callen being a Federalway native many
years with New England and of course the Sounders other
teams as well, and a few appearances with the United States.
He was kind of, you know, saying at the end
of the postgame show, you know, how much time do
we let Brian Schmetzer, you know, throw Pedro de la
Vega into the starting lineup and keep him there before
(08:43):
going back to what won a bunch of games in
the summer, which was having Pedro either not available or
on the bench. And I said, well, Pedro's got to start.
And he said, well, if Pedro's got to start and
Paul's gonna start, then where does Christian Roldango? And I said,
put him at right back? But I say, Pedro must
continue to be in this lineup. Where do you stand
(09:04):
on that? On the Pedro debate? And then also you know,
if he has to be in there, do you think
Christian at a right back spot is a is an
opportunity to keep him on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, A lot of questions and yeah, let's start long long,
long term, long term. Pedro de la Vega is the
is the man for the Seattle Founders right now. I
don't think he should start now. If this was back
in March April, whenever he arrived and he could have
stayed healthy, yes I would have said, Hey, first twelve
games of the season, he has to start every single game,
(09:38):
and he has to learn about his teammates, he has
to learn about MLS, he has to start figuring out
the ways that Schmitzer wants him to play. All that
type of stuff. Now, what eight games left in the season.
The team was winning without you on the bench. The
team was solidified. Rock Rock was playing well on the left,
Jordan Morris scoring goals up front. You're getting the best
(10:00):
of good players. Vargas is playing well. I don't think
you throw him in the team now to just let
him grow. Sorry, I think that time has passed. Now
it's going to have to go till next season where
he gets to start every single game. At the beginning
of the next season, if he can stay healthy for now,
I would use him off the bench as a change
of pace player to be a difference maker in the
last twenty thirty minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Wow, yeah, keep going, key going, Sorry, go ahead, No,
Christian rolled on.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You can put him at right back, but I don't
think that's his best position long term either or even
in the short term. I think he's best when he
plays anywhere in the midfield. He uses his ability to
cover ground to break up plays and then he's very
underrated in the final third. That's why I say I
expect more out of him in the goals and assist
categories right now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So I'm wondering the disconnect with Pedro de Levega in
the starting lineup. I mean, obviously you know nothing against
Portland and that's a team that ships so many goals
you can't even count, and obviously it.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Just didn't work.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Is is his I guess the lack of integration to
the level we need to see. Is that what went
wrong you think on Saturday in Portland? Or or was
it something else because obviously something wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, no, I'm not sure about this specific match against Portland,
but as a whole for Pedro de la Vega, yes, Listen,
he's only played what nine games in the league and
only started for so he has zero rhythm right now.
He did have one flash of brilliance in the ninetieth
minute against the LAFC where I thought he was going
to take on three guys and get a game time goal.
Unfortunately the shot cut blocked. But you see that there
(11:36):
are moments there. The problem is right now is now
is not the time to tinker when you're trying to
get a top four spot in the playoffs, to get
that little bit of home field advantage in the first
in the first round, you know. And the problem is,
there are so many teams battling for that fourth spot
in the West right now that I'm not sure Brian
Schmeitzer should be you know, experimenting a little bit. Okay,
(11:59):
it's tough to say experimenting with the guy who's a DP,
who they brought in to be a big name guy,
right but just with the way the season has gone
and how his injuries have gone, I just personally would
use him off the bench.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, okay, that's an interesting take. And I love kind
of these discussions, and Kellen was in agreement with you
as well about kind of how this team fits, you know,
with only you know, seven matches left in the regular season.
I mean we were discussing in the pregame show, like, okay,
we get three points out of this one, the conversation
really picks up for getting you know, a a top four,
(12:33):
maybe even three seed, and now here we are something
all the way to eighth. I mean, oh boy, how
quickly does it change quickly on the Western Conference. While
we're talking about that, obviously you have LA Galaxy, LAFC
the top two, Salt Lakes sitting right behind him there
in third. Do you think those three are pretty solidified?
There is as kind of the top three in this
(12:54):
conference to you know, fight for it at the end.
How do you break down the hierarchy of the Western
Conference right now?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I had included Salt Lake in the top three two
weeks ago, I said the top three I think is set.
I still do think LAFC will pass the Galaxy and
finish as the number one seed in the West. Galaxy
will finish second. But now after Salt Lake lost that
home to San Jose, and then you know with Chicho Aroango,
we don't know how long he's going to be out Now,
I think after LA Galaxy and LAFC, I think it's
(13:24):
up for grabs. Colorado has a shout. Vancouver has a
big shout, just because they have two games in hand
and a lot of home games coming up. Portland's attack
is very good. I don't know about their defense. Houston,
who sits in seventh, they can keep the ball really well.
They showed a dominant performance at LAFC. If Ezekiel Ponse
can start scoring goals and then Seattle. I still think
(13:46):
they're the favorite to finish fourth. I think they have
the best roster of all of those teams that I've
just named. Problem is they go to Columbus this week,
which is terrifying ask to get one point or even
three at this point in the season. But after that,
Seattle's got three home games in a row where they
can really take advantage. I would be an idiot to
(14:07):
try to predict who would finish three through eight right
now in the West, because I think it's gonna go
top seat turvy over the next five weeks.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
So do I.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think it's just gonna be absolute back and forth,
as we just discussed where Seattle we're in discussion for fourth,
and now we're in discussion for Okay, now we're in
the playing game. So it's just gonna change every single
week over these next seven games. You mentioned Columbus, so
obviously you're right. We're looking at Saturday, which will have
the game for here on KJR over on nine to
(14:37):
fifty k am for folks here in Seattle, four o'clock Providence,
Swedish prematch show four thirty kickoff and folks can also
watch it MLS Season pass on Apple TV. And Columbus
is just I mean, they're the behemoth, right, I mean
obviously from being the defending champs Least Cup winners Wilford Nancy,
the job that he's done is just spectacular. Let me
(14:59):
ask you this way, do they have a weakness? Do
they have some way the Sounders can get a foothold
and try to aim for getting a point this weekend.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Well, get a foothold, no, but get a point, yes
for sure, or even three. You never know in MLS.
But Columbus will control the game through possession. That is
one hundred percent fact. I have no doubt about that
that they will control the game, especially at home. However,
with Rothrock, if he starts on the left with Jordan
Morris up front, speed can kill Columbus for sure. I
(15:30):
think Steven Morera they're right center back, he's fast, he
can deal with fast players. But Ruby Camacho in the
middle and whoever plays as a less center back, whether
that be Zawadski or a month Sin or Shaburco, those
players can be exploited in the counter attack. And so
that means Rusnak has to be on you know, good passing,
Jordan Morris, good runs behind Rothrock being dangerous to put
(15:54):
them under pressure. I think when LAFC has gone to
play Columbus, they show them a little bit too much
respect and play a little bit scared. And so if
Seattle can go in with a good game plan to
play on the counter attack and try to establish set
pieces as well as a point of domination, I think
that that's the recipe for the Sounders to get points
(16:17):
in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Okay, I like what I'm hearing here because we've seen
Jordan make those runs in behind this year. I think
he needs to We've all agreed he needs to improve
and continue to recycle those runs, but we've seen him
do that, and rus Knack's been great on set pieces
here over the last you know, half season or so.
So all right, you've given me an ounce of hope
(16:37):
where I think I went into this interview kind of saying,
oh god, you know a point it best, But all right,
you've given me a little bit of hope.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I like this here.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Sawci questions our guest MLS season pass on Apple TV,
long time player in MLS, and of course the United
States as well. Before we move on to the United
States conversation, let me quickly stay on the Eastern Conference.
Get your two cents on this question. Is the supporter
shield wrapped up right now for Miami?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yes, I think so. Unfortunately, because about two weeks ago
we had six teams in the race and it was very,
very exciting. And obviously in the past two weeks, Miami
has won twice and Columbus has won twice, but Columbus
is still ten points back. But since then, Cincinnati lost
La Galaxy Loft, LAFC lost three a Salt Lake Loft,
(17:27):
and I think it's just becoming too big of an
ask for them to try to catch Miami. The bigger
question now is does Miami sent the points record that
was set by the New England Revolution in twenty twenty
one with seventy two or seventy three points I believe,
and Miami has a good shout to break that.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
This year, only fourteen off with the seven games to go,
so that is going to be kind of the interesting
race question. But yeah, they're sailing towards it right now. Sasha.
Let's wrap it up with the United States men's national team.
The hire of Mauricio Pochettino. I am personally a Tottenham fan,
so I am personally very very happy at this choice.
(18:05):
I was talking to some other friends of yours on
m last season Pass on Apple TV who were a
little bit more questionable of the higher Where do you
stand on Poschettino taking over the program.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I'm very excited for Pochettino. I think the fact that
he has coached some of the biggest names in the world,
you know, Harry Kane, Messi, Neymar and Bafe that carries
a lot of weight. And what I saw from the
US national team over the past six months was that
the uh I guess, the hunger or the fight that
(18:39):
I think they got very comfortable under Greg Berhalter. A
lot of the main players they knew they had a
place in the team, they knew I had a place
in the starting lineup, and they had no fear. And
so now I think Pochettino comes in, everything gets set anew.
They will have massive fear and massive respect for him
to really understand what it means play for the US
men's national team again, and I think going to bring
(19:00):
the best out of our young group. So I'm really,
really excited about it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think that's that's exactly what the guy like Paca
is going to be able to do and come in
and just change a culture reading vigorous, especially those young kids.
And I mean listen, hopefully we're talking again in two years,
you know, around before the World Cup, so just under
two years, and we're talking about a program that's ready
to roll here in twenty six. So love that thought, Sacha.
(19:25):
We really appreciate your time here on Sounders Weekly. Really
good insight. You've given me hope for Sounders Columbus this weekend,
and that's more than I could ask you for, so
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
All right, man, good luck this week and we'll be watching.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Thanks so much, all right, SASA question there MLS Season Pass.
You can watch him of course on that MLS three
sixty kind of their red Zone version of MLS. Very
very good program there that he has with just a
really strong crew. I've really enjoyed that studio show with
all of them, with Andrew Weebe and everybody else there
with MLS Season Pass. Really enjoyed it. I hope you
(20:01):
have as well. And yeah, I mean that the subject
of Mauricio Pochettino. We're gonna be hitting that a little
bit later on tonight because last time we did Sounders Weekly,
we've been off for a few weeks. I was on
vacation and the Sounders played, of course, in the Open Cup.
Last time we were actually talking about potential candidates. Marisa
do moadu was on Sounders Weekly and I asked him
(20:23):
like an hour before the breaking news came out that
Pachettino was actually gonna take the job.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I had asked moadu Abo about.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
It and he said, I like the hire, but here's
a couple of things, and he didn't like it because
he's an Arsenal fan. But listen, the reality of this
situation is we haven't really spent a lot of time
talking about what this could mean for the program. So
I'm bringing back in our producer Anders Hurst for our
final segment tonight. We're going to talk a little bit
more in depth about what it means for US Soccer
to have a person like Mauricio Pochettino being the new
(20:53):
head coach. We'll talk about that a little bit later
on tonight, but we got to get back to some
sounders that talk and obviously it's it's not entirely positive
coming off of back to back one nothing lost as
to rivals, but arilillianwallofmls sooccer dot com he's going to
be joining us and we're going to be spending a
bit more time here as we look ahead to not
(21:13):
only Sounders Columbus, but talk about where this team is at.
Right now, before we take a break, I'll quickly let
you know that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence,
Swedish official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Ari Lillianwall talks
more Sounders and Columbus ahead. Next on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFA.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders
fc CL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Welcome back to Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Jackson Feltz here, good to be with you in good
to have Sasha question on the show that previous segment
to check out the podcast in case you missed him,
and lots of good insight there into our Sounders as
well as Columbus Crewe sc coming up here this weekend.
We'll be talking about that with our guest coming up
right now, Ari Lillionwall from MLS Soccer dot Com and
(22:02):
the podcast Lobbing Scorchers ari back to back one nothing losses.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Man?
Speaker 6 (22:09):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
You know I've been better, Jackson, but excited to be
on here with you. Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I think we've both been better. It's frustrating, frustrating last week.
Let's just start with kind of your opening thoughts on
the last week for this team. Obviously, frustrating is a
good word for it. What other words are you and
Noah throwing out on the Lobbing Scorches podcast.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
You know, I think we're both a little just jaded
at this point. I think this last week taking those
two results back to back, getting eliminated from the Open
Cup by LAFC, who if you ever had a chance
to be LAFC was under them those circumstances with them
coming off getting eliminated from League's Cup on short rest,
playing at Starfire, where historically Seattle has arguably the best
(22:54):
home field advantage of that venue anywhere throughout the league.
They've only lost there I think twice before for that game,
So that was obviously a really frustrating one because you
had a great opportunity to get that Monkey off your
back and eliminate them from a tournament and really kind
of end the storyline of them dominating Seattle to the
extent that they have recently. And then obviously rivalry defeat
(23:16):
at Portland is always tough to swallow too. So you know,
those two results in isolation, it might not leave people
as frustrated, but taking them back to back, especially in
the context of how the rest of this season has
gone at times, Definitely, I think probably the toughest week
of the season is how I saw it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Obviously, there was a lot of offensive issues on Saturday.
I mean not scoring against Portland, a team who's given
up forty six goals in league games. I mean, they
ship goals like it's no tomorrow, and for the Sounders
not to score on them is.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
A pretty big rut. Row.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, it was interesting on the postgame show, and
I talked to Sasha about this as well, and he
and Callan Row on the postgame show said the exact
same thing. In terms of this question, should pay de
la Vega be in the starting lineup still or should
Brian Schmitzer go back to what was winning him games
in the late part of spring, early part of summer
(24:10):
where either Pedro wasn't available or he was coming off
the bench, and now he goes in the lineup and
there was clearly some offensive issues. Both Sasha and Callen
say that Pedro shouldn't be starting right now and Brian
should should take him off and you know, keep integrating
him in other ways. I feel very oppositely. Where do
(24:30):
you stand on should Pedro be in the starting lineup?
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I mean, whether he should be in the starting lineup
or not. I think there's no question in my mind
at all that he should be getting a lot of
minutes and playing a very big role for this team
down the stretch. Look, I mean, you can you could
definitely point to these last two games and point to
a lack of offensive output as the reason for the results.
I don't think you can blame that on Pedro de
(24:56):
la Vega. I actually thought in the Portland game, specifically,
he looked as good as he's looked and as dangerous
as he's looked since he's been on the team. But
I mean, I think the fact remains, no matter your
evaluation of his performances so far, this is a player
that there's a lot riding on him being a hit
of the signing. There's no way that you could keep
a player that you spent this much money on and
(25:18):
have this much invested in on the bench in a
bit part role going down to the season when your
hopes of contending for MLS Cup and making a run
on the playoffs are very much predicated on him breaking
out and being a big contributor down the stretch. For
that to happen, he has to be playing a lot.
So yeah, I would start him. And if you're not
going to start him, you have to give him a
lot of minutes down the stretch here, if for no
(25:40):
other reason than to see what you have in him
and be able to make an evaluation on the player
going into next season.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, I think that's your dead on. I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
He's your high priced he's your glorious acquisition of the offseason,
and frankly, for a team that hasn't made an acquisition
in three straight summer windows, Pedro is the guy for
this twenty twenty four Sea, going back to the previous
winter window when you brought him in. So there is
there's no he has to be in there. You know,
there's there's no debate to be had. I don't think.
(26:10):
But even then, you need to continue to integrate him.
And if it takes time, then you just got to
keep throwing him in there to integrate accurately. And you
know the way that Callen retorted, I think the way
that you said it, in the way that I said
in the postgame show was okay, Well, then we know
Paul Rothrock is going to be in there. Where does
Christian Rodand go? I said, Christian Rodond goes to right back? Sorry,
(26:33):
Alex rolled on, I think that Christian is better suited
right now to be playing from his right back spot
than be playing from an attacking role on the wing.
Do I have a leg to stand on there?
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I think that is one way to do it. But
I think, you know, regardless of what move has to
be made to get him in there, I think it's
pretty clear to me at least, that the biggest issue
that this team is having offensively is prection from out wide.
You know, as well as Paul Rothrock has played this season,
and as good of a story as as you know that,
(27:07):
I'm as much of a Paul Rothrock fan as anybody,
but he cannot be your number one a carrying the
offensive load. From out wide game in, game out, every
single week. And in fact, I think his skill set
is better suited as a super sub. And I think
your best hope for solving that issue of lack of
(27:27):
production from out wide is having Pedro de la Vega
in there to try and to try and give you
a boost there. Albert Rusmak and Jordan Morris have been
playing well for most of the season. All the production
that you have gotten offensively is basically down to those
two guys. You need more than that. You need to
be more multifaceted in attack. You need production from other
(27:48):
sources than just two guys. And right now, I just
I'm not seeing where you get that, at least for
this season, until you get Pedro de la Vega cooking.
That's what this team has to do.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, you bring up a good point about Jordan and Albert.
I think I mean Albert right now, if there was
any question about, you know, bringing him back in twenty five,
it's over. You have to. He's been playing like a
designated player this year. I mean, living up to every
dollar in that contract, the option that they took. Uh So,
I mean Albert Rusnak's been just phenomenal. This season especially,
you know, looking at this basically the last twenty games
(28:22):
or so total for the team, He's been just a
rock for this club. Ari let's talk about what's ahead
for the Sounders, and it really kind of begin our
sharp Vision opponent alec here, because there's a lot to
talk about with Columbus. They are coached by Wilfrid Nancy.
Before we talk about what Nancy has on the field,
we had talked about how Wilfrid Nancy was probably gonna be,
(28:42):
you know, the best name for the United States job
if they hadn't hired Mauricio Pochettino. But they did, and
now Wilfrid Nancy's staying with Columbus. That's great for them.
What makes him such a good coach?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
I mean, he's considered the best tactician in the world league.
He's very very good at getting his players to buy
into his tactics and getting them to execute them on
the field. And he strikes me as very much of
a player's coach that knows how to man manage, which
is something that Brian Schmetzer is very good at. So
he's kind of this type of coach that he gives
(29:18):
you a little bit of everything, and he gives you
this sort of tactical advantage going into every single game
that you play that just, frankly, not a lot of
coaches in any league really give you that. It's kind
of a select group that you can name. And then
so you combine those attributes with him as a coach,
with giving him one of the most loaded rosters in
the league, and you have what you have with Columbus,
(29:39):
which is a buzzsaw Jugger Knight team in MLS right
now that's coming off an MLS Cup title, run to
the concer CAF Champions League Final and a League's Cup title.
So they very much earned their status as the best
team in the league right now, and he's very much
earned his status as the best coach in the league
right now.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And those weapons that he has on the field, and
once again, Mary Luine was our guest MLS Season Pass
and the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Check it out wherever you
get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app. Those weapons that
Wilford Nancy has on Columbus that we're going to be
hearing and saying their names over and over on the
broadcast on Saturday. What are those names that people and
Sounder fans have to be worried about.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Well, the biggest ones are Kuco Hernandez and Diego Rossi,
but they actually are going to be dealing with a
lot of absences for this game. I know Kucho got
called up by Columbia, he's not going to be playing.
Diego Rossi should be out there though, but they're also
going to be missing Patrick Schulti, who is a really
good goalkeeper, and there's a couple of other guys that
(30:39):
are going to be gone. Steven Morea one of their
really good fullbacks, which is the strength of their team.
So they are going to be playing this game a
little shorthanded. But they have one of the deepest rosters
in the league, so you know, I guess it's tbd
how much of an impact that makes on the game,
But I will say, Kucho, you know, that's a big lost.
This is a perennial MVP candidate, one of the best
Number nine in the league, one of the most versatile
(31:01):
and well rounded number nines in the league. He does
everything well, so not having him in the lineup that
is pretty significant. But I mean you can go down
their roster, Diego Rossi, who has been a great MLS
player for a long time, dating back to his days
with LAFC, is always a very dangerous player. Darlington Nagby
is one of the best defensive midfielders that's ever played
(31:22):
in MLS. He's won trophies everywhere he's gone. So, I
mean this team is loaded, make no mistake about it,
even with the absences that they're going to be dealing
with for this game.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I think Diego is the guy who scored lafc's first
ever goal in Seattle in that opener back in was
that twenty eighteen do you remember or was it twenty seventeen?
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yeah, at eighteen.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
So Rossi's the one from distance I want to say,
like about twenty yards out or so. He beat Stephen
Frye and I was the lafc's first ever goal and
he came at lumin Field against the Sounders.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
He's been so quality. But missing Kusho is huge.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I mean that that's an entirely dynamic changing And I
was just on the phone with SASA question who was
talking about how listen they're susceptible to speed. If Jordan
Morris can get in behind, if rus Nat can get
good set pieces, you got a hope in this game.
And yeah, my hope over the last forty five minutes
has just been going up and up and up. From
knowing we can get behind them, knowing they're susceptible to
(32:16):
speed where the Sounders have some good pace, knowing that
they're susceptible on set pieces, now knowing that there are
gonna be some guys down, including the Star and Kucho.
I don't know, man, Like, my hope going into this
show tonight, just forty five minutes ago, was you know, okay,
if we can get a point. Now my thought is, God,
could the Sounders actually you know, get three in Columbus?
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean getting three still feels like a pretty
tall order for me, but getting one definitely deals within
the realm of out realm of outcomes. I mean, Sasha's
dead on the One thing about this team where you
can get them is that they are very very aggressive
on offense and going forward. They'd love to push their
fullbacks really really high, and they can be susceptible on
the break and they do can see goals at times.
(33:04):
So it's definitely not out of the question that Seattle
get the goal or two in this game. And yeah,
like you said, I mean without Kucho, that is, that's
not just their number one offensive threat, that's arguably the
number one offensive threat in the entire league, you know,
barring Messi and the Barca boys in Miami right now.
So I would say, with where Columbus is at with
their personnel, do you have a better chance of getting
(33:26):
a result in this game at lower dot com field
than you would otherwise with them at full strength. It's
still going to be hard, but I think it can
be done.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I love it well opponent Alix.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Tonight was presented by Sharp Vision Modern Leask and Lens,
the official Lasik provider of Sounder z FC. Really looking
forward to that game on Saturday once again Providence Swedish
prematch show four o'clock kick off at four thirty. You
can listen to that over on our sister station of
Sports Radio nine to fifty KJR AM. People can also
watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and
listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty for
(33:57):
Sounders and Columbus Ari. Before we let you go, give
us a little taste of your winners and losers this
week on Loving Scorchers who had good weeks and please
don't say the Portland Timbers and who had bad weeks,
and please don't say the Seattle Sounders.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
Well, I mean the Portland Timbers did have a really
good league. You can't you can't really take that away
from them. But yeah, just pulling up the scores right now,
I mean, you've got FC Cincinnati was a big win
over c F Montreal. They're looking at like a resurgent
team interer Miami looks dominant again still with no messy
(34:32):
for one at Chicago. But I think the biggest result
that kind of turned heads around the league was Houston
taking all three points off l AFC at LAFC. Now,
I know LAFC was very depleted energy wise and exhausted
from the gauntlet of a schedule that they've had between
playing in League's Cup and playing Seattle in the Open Cup,
but that's still a great result for the Houston Dynamo
(34:55):
and they've made a couple of moves where they're suddenly
looking a little bit stronger down the stretch here. And
then obviously, Orlando City SC had another big win at
home against Nashville SC. They beat them three zero and
they're looking pretty resurgent as well, so I think those
are the results.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
That caught my eye.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Okay, well, we'll all listen for more of the content
with you and Noah. They're on Lobbing Scorcheres. Thank you
for that, and I'll be fast forwarding through everywhere you
say Portland, Ari, good stuff is always my friend. Thanks
for joining us. We'll talk to you next week after
hopefully a result on the road against Columbus sounds good.
Thanks Jackson, it's our good friend Ari Lilienwallo of MLS
(35:32):
Soccer dot com and check out his podcast, Lobbing Scorchers.
Before we take a break, want to quickly tell you
that twenty twenty five season membership deposits for your Seattle
Sounders are on sale now. Place a one hundred dollars
deposit and gain access to benefits you can use this season,
including Lumenfield concert pre sales and mlsstore dot com discounts.
Learn more at soundersfc dot com. Backslash membership. We'll get
(35:55):
a break here in Sounders Weekly and chat with our
producer Andershearst about some big breaks king United States men's
national team news. That's next on Sports Radio ninety three
point three.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
kJ Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders.
Fcle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feldt's good to be with
you here on this Wednesday evening. Thanks to our guests
so far this evening, Sasha Question and Ari Lillianwall.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Great to have both of them on the show.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Check out the podcast Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts,
including the iHeartRadio app in case you miss either of them.
Great thoughts on our Sounders coming off of what happened
this last week to one nothing losses and Columbus ahead
Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States program, We're going
to be touching on that in just a moment. Again,
(36:46):
before we get to our producer anders Hurst, talk more
about Potch quickly, I'll take you around the sound because
we want to still do that. Obviously, the USL two
season is over, but there is still a lot going
on here around the PNWT.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Last time we had a Sounders Weekly, which was I
mentioned this before. It's been a few weeks since I
was on vacation, and then we had the Open Cup
game last week. It's been a few weeks, but last
time I said, listen, the Rain a kind of getting points.
Here's draws here and there, but we need to start
getting the wins to rise up the table. They've finally
been getting the wins this last Saturday on August thirty. First,
(37:22):
it was a little bit of a comeback win over
Louisville three two final where you get two second half goals,
one of the eighty first minute, actually I think it
was an own goal in the eighty first minute I saw.
But a big three to two win for Seattle Rain
over Louisville. That followed up on the previous weekend where
they were able to beat North Carolina won nothing, So
there was that big win. Was that the Megan Rapinal
(37:45):
retirement game where there was a big there might have
been either way. What we've seen so far for the
Rain in these last couple weeks has been good results.
Now in terms of what that means in the NWSL,
it hasn't changed too much in terms of standings, but
points wise, it has changed quite a bit. They're still
in eleventh place with seventeen points, but now they are
(38:05):
only four points back of BAYFC with twenty one points,
so only four points out of a playoff spot with
still a bunch of matches still to play. So a
long time for Seattle Rain to get those four points
and get in the playoff picture. I know they've been
making a bunch of moves and a bunch of transactions,
so hopefully these moves by Galimore and company have done
(38:26):
enough to get this team into the playoff picture. But
clearly these last two weeks much better there for Seattle
Rain FC.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
In terms of takomaa fiance.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You know, we haven't really spent much time at all
this season talking about Tacoma defiance and I'll raise my
hand and say that's been a big mistake, but they
deserve some time because they were able to pull off
of a win over LAFC to this last Friday night
at LA. It should be mentioned, so finally a Seattle
team beats an LA team. It just happened to come
(38:56):
with Tacoma over FC two, but it came nonetheless and
for to coma defiance there. In MLS Next Pro, it
should be mentioned that they are looking at fourth place
right now. They're in the second group there of MLS
Next Pro, right behind LA Galaxy two. By just about
one point. Still a lot of matches left in the
MLS next pro season. They have a match coming up
(39:18):
this coming Sunday as they're going to be hosting Portland
Timbers to so hopefully they can get a result there
where the Sounders didn't this last weekend. We'll shifting gears
here on Sounders Weekly from around the sound I guess
we'll call around the globe back to kind of our
correspondent who talked with us for a bunch of summer tournaments.
(39:39):
He's been talking to us about the United States coaching
situation almost every show going for the last two months
or so, and we're doing it again here because there
is actual, real breaking news, anders As. We bring in
our producer anders Hurst, who of course produces the Ian
Furness Show from twelve to three pm here on ninety
three point three KGERFM, and we got actual news even yesterday.
(40:03):
Obviously the news came out a few weeks ago, but
this is actual news that is tangible that we can
celebrate because after the rumors and after the reports of
Marisio Pachettino being the guy for the United States men's
national team, we got the news from from Brezio Romano,
your guy, just earlier that he is prepared to sign
(40:24):
this week as the new United States head coach. The
vermal agreement has already been made, but now it will
be in writing and all the legal stuff will be
ironed out. Everything is done. He will officially be the
coach later this week. And obviously he's you know, I've
told you he's been my number one guy for months.
We were just kind of waiting to see if it
(40:45):
was even a possibility. But the United States, and you know,
credit to everybody with the Federation in terms of locking
this down and getting a big name. They got the
big name in Poch and obviously a's a Tottenham fan.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
But you know, from somebody who doesn't have a vested
interest in a place that he used to work, what
is your perspective on the hiring of Maricio Pochettino.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
It's my number one choice.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
I believe you had me on earlier this year about
you know who I would want to replace Greg Buralter,
and I mentioned a couple other names, and I had
Pochettino kind of as a like a throw in, like, oh,
if we get Mauricio Pochettino maybe that too, but jokingly
because I didn't think it was a realistic possibility. But
Crocker's made it happen and I'm happy for it. I
think he's probably was the best best coach available to
(41:32):
get the job done for this next year.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Well, I think the question to follow up is is
why is he the best coach? Because obviously he has
the pedigree and obviously he has the credentials, but what
about his system? You know, and and I can touch
on this too, but but from your perspective, what about
what he does as a coach is going to work
so well with the United States program?
Speaker 6 (41:51):
Yeah, well, I definitely want to hear what you think
about him, because I know you're a fan of his
and obviously I have watched him, probably a little bit
closer than I have. But just from my kind of
outsider perspective, if he's really good number one at cup runs,
which is something that the World Cup is It's not
like a long season like a Premier League season or
an MLS season or anything like that. It's a cup run,
which is what he is most famous for. In the
(42:12):
twenty nineteen taking the Spurs to the Champions League final,
a squad that probably wasn't all that in terms of
going into that season, but he got the most out
of them, and as a talented group. With this US
men's national team set up, I think it's really really
good and like a good core, but it needs to
be taken to the next level in terms of someone
(42:32):
who can deliver a message to the group, right. And
it's not just a Carlo Ancelotti type of manager who's like, oh,
you have all the superstars, you just need them to
get along. It's not like that they need the direction
to go. And I think Pochettino's kind of a good
happy medium for that. Plus he speaks English. But it's
someone who maybe, as I was asking for, doesn't necessarily
(42:53):
isn't familiar with the US system, which I think is
a good thing because it's like, no, we're not doing
what we've done the last twenty five years. We're doing
something totally different. What's worked for the rest of the world,
and this is what we're doing now and I'm going
to take you into the new age of SOCT.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
You mentioned the twenty nineteen final, and it's a shame
that they just canceled that final and it never actually happened.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
Haha, ha. I mean, listen.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I think that one thing that Potch does really well
is he uses attacking soccer guy and with the United
States crew right now, I think that we have midfielders
and I would even say up top as well with
Bolligan to get an offensive team. He's is also very
heavy on the wings. And when you have a guy
like Desk and I think, you know, Robinson on the
left side, I think is a good attacking left back
(43:36):
and you have attacking midfielders who can play outside, you
slide Christian Polistic on the left and you let him
kind of tuck in as a you know, human Sun
type player. Where Sun slid in, Polisic can slide in
and kind of be a second number.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
Ten, and you just run those wings.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
And I think the thing that stands out to me
the most, and let me know if you agree with this,
is the fact that this is a younger United States squad.
Speaker 4 (43:59):
It's on a veteran squad.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
These are kids who can run, run and run some more.
And it's a system that Potch runs where it relies
on athleticism and running and running and running. And this
is a group that is going to be highly demanded
to be, you know, in terms of stamina and fitness,
to be able to run their butts off. But it's
a group that I think he can ask.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
To do that.
Speaker 6 (44:22):
Yeah, and you know, stereotypically, I don't want to generalize
as much, but usually what happens is the younger kind
of players are more You're a bit You're able to
mold them into what you want them to do more
because they have learned less, right, and they're kind of
more just like a sponge soaking in all the information.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Right.
Speaker 6 (44:42):
Veteran players are kind of stuck in their ways. They
want to play a certain way, and the US doesn't
really have any of those. They're they're kind of they
need a direction to be given. And it's, like I said,
it's something totally different than what we've had in the past,
where it's like, Okay, we're just trying to get everyone
to play and go along and then we'll figure it
all out because we have a bunch of superstars. No,
I think this team needs a direction. And what you
were mentioning with outside backs totally makes sense because I
(45:04):
think it's one of the strengths of this team. Sergenio
Destin Anthony Robinson are two the best players.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Eighteen games, nine international windows before the World Cup. There's
a shorter time than should be for him to ramp
up to this. But yeah, listen, I mean, I think
let's hope everything clicks in these you know, next eighteen
games and nine windows before the World Cup, you know,
less than two years run up. So thanks for this,
appreciate it. Yep, great job tonight. That'll do it here
(45:29):
for Sounders Weekly. Want to thank all of our guests,
Anders right there, Sasha Question and Ari Lulin Wal. Check
out Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts, including the
iHeartRadio app, and we will talk to you on Saturday,
Sounders Columbus Crew. It'll be over on nine to fifty
KJR AM four o'clock pre match show four thirty kickoff
over on nine to fifty am. We'll talk to you
(45:50):
then have a good rest of your week and coming
up next as Fox Sports Radio
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 (00:11):
Good evening, everybody, welcome into Sounders Weekly. Jackson felt here
for the next hour here on ninety three point three
KJRFM talking Sounders Soccer, and there is a lot to
talk about, not all pretty, but there is a lot
to go over here. Over the last week and the
week ahead with the Seattle Sounders, it's been back to
(00:32):
back one to nothing losses for Seattle. First it was
in the Open Cup semi final down at Starfire to LAFC.
Awesome atmosphere, really cool down there. I know a ton
of people what four thousand plus came out end up
being very electric. But then that's questionable penalty call. I've
looked at it a thousand ways from Sunday and I'm
(00:54):
still up in the air. I can see exactly how
they would say it is a penalty, and I can
also see the arguments for hey, it's tucked, you know,
in terms of the hands and the arms, and it
shouldn't be a penalty. The reality of the situation is,
and I said this on the postgame show. I'm just
sad that we all, as fans and everybody who watched
or listened or took in that match had to have
(01:15):
that game decided on such a close, questionable call. We
shouldn't have big games decided on calls that close, and
it's sad that we did. So That's kind of where
I'm at. And then that one nothing loss was followed
up by another one nothing loss at Portland on Saturday,
really frustrating. We had a good postgame show callan Row
(01:37):
Michelle Ludkin. I went back and forth on that loss
with good questions. I think over why jul Paolo didn't play.
We dug into the kind of those subs a little bit.
We also dug into just overall the strategy involved in
that game, why the Sounders aren't getting going offensively against
a Portland team that is frankly terrible defensively. And then
(01:59):
also the the question of Pedro dla Vega that callan
rowe posed at the end of the postgame show, and
I want to kind of bring that up with all
of our guests tonight over whether Pedro de la Vega
should be starting right now. I think he should. We're
gonna see what our guests think. In terms of those
guests tonight, we got a couple of really good ones.
First up, Sasa, question is going to be joining us
(02:20):
here in just I'm told about two minutes. Sasha, if
you don't know the name, long time player in Major
League Soccer many many years, also with the United States
men's national team. He's currently a broadcaster on MLS Season
Pass on Apple TV. I believe he's on their three
sixty show with a bunch of people. He does some
really good studio work. Sasha is great at what he does.
(02:42):
He knows the entire league. I want to get his
thoughts on the Sounders, his thoughts on Pedro Dla Vega,
and definitely his thoughts on two specific things, Columbus Ahead
and Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States men's national team,
because we have not talked about that yet since it
became breaking news last Sounders Weekly episode. We had a
(03:02):
few weeks ago before I was on vacation. The news
came out about an hour after the show ended, so
we didn't even get to react to it. We were
just talking about the possible news. So we had to
talk about that tonight, Sasha will have some thoughts on that.
I'm also gonna ask both of our following guests, arililioall
of mlsoccer dot com you all know, and then andrews Hurst,
(03:24):
our producer in there. He's gonna be joining me for
our final segments tonight to talk more about Potch taking
over the United States. So a lot to get to
from Sasha and of course Ari and Anders. Before I
get Sasha on the air there as I see him
calling in, I'll quickly let you know about that next
game for your Sounders is coming up this Saturday. The
(03:46):
match can be heard over on our sister station of
Sports Radio, nine to fifty kr AM. It will be
a four o'clock Providence, Swedish premat show and a four
to thirty kickoff there on nine p fifty as the
Sounders are in Columbus to face the ending champion Columbus
KUSSI also the defending Least Cup champions who just won
that a couple weeks ago, so that is a massive,
(04:08):
massive match. In addition to listening on nine to fifty,
you can also watch the match on the MLS Season
Pass on the Apple TV app and listen in Spanish
language on l Ray thirteen to sixty. Massive match coming
up this Saturday. We'll talk about that in a few
minutes with the man who's going to be joining us
right now here on Sounders Weekly four. I believe the
first time longtime MLS veteran, longtime soccer player here in
(04:33):
our country, Sasa question joins us right now here in
Sounders Weekly Sasha, great to have you on the show, man,
How are you?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I'm great, man, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Yeah, it's good to have you.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Let's first start with the Sounders since that's where we
opened the show on tonight. Obviously, last week was not good.
Back to back won nothing losses to rivals, back to
back shutouts in those losses. Obviously we're all a bit
frustrated up here and going into a massive game against
a great team. But overall, what have you seen from
(05:05):
the Sounders here over recent days.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Well, you know recent days the ability to be efficient
in the attacking third of the Open Cup game against LAFC,
then the game against Portland. It's really a game of inches,
you know, a couple of very close off side calls
that if the players were a little bit smarter and
we could stay on side, you know, you have different
(05:30):
results in those games, probably, But look, it's been an
up and down season. I think seattlest still has a
very good roster and is still trending in the right direction.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Based on the.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Second half of the season. They've shown an ability to
be able to beat anybody in the league except for
LAFC at this point. So I still think they're a
playoff team, and a pretty good playoff team at that
And we'll see what happens over these last few games.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
On that note, what is the ceiling for the Sounders
this year? Is it a final in a eventual lost
to LAFC. I mean, I'm kind of, you know, wondering
if we are going to be a really good playoff team.
Is there a maximum point with you know, notably the
transfer deadline now having passed and you know that being
in the rearview mirror and this team roster being kind
(06:17):
of closed as it is.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yeah, the roster's close. I would have liked to Seattle
make a move or two during the summer transfer window
to add a little bit more to the team. But
I do think that a few young players like Roth
Rock and Obed Vargas are stepping up when they need
to be right now, which is important because the team
is going to grow that.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
Way with these young guys.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
And I do think we have to see a little
bit more out of Christian role Dumb. I love Christian Rodum.
I would put him in my team, in any MLS team,
he would be a starter. I would want him to
be on my team every day of the week. But
having said that, one goal and four assists on the
season is not enough for a player of his caliber.
So we've been asking about Jordan Morris having step up.
(07:00):
He's doing that now. He's putting the ball in the
back of the net ten goals in the league season.
I need a little bit more out of Christian role done.
I don't know what it means in the playoffs. Listen,
you lose four times to LFC in one season, it
almost feels like the fifth time they're bound to win
that game. But it just seems like LAFC is too
good for them right now. And Founders having specifically Brian Schmeetzer,
(07:23):
I don't think has figured out a way to beat LAFC.
But they've shown the ability to be able to beat
the Galaxy, which is, you know, the number one team
in the conference right now. So listen, we all know
an MLS playoffs, anything can happen.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Yeah, they certainly can. We've seen that before.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I mean, you go looking at what number one seeds
have done in MLS playoffs since like twenty fourteen or so,
and I mean there's just there's not many cases of
number one seeds going all the way through. There was
a long stretch where number one seeds just didn't even
get to the MLS Cup final at all. Yeah, you know,
so it's been a while there, Sasha questions our guest
(07:59):
of course, longtime MLS player, as well as time with
the United States men's national team. I'm gonna have to
ask you about Mauricio Pochettino here in a little bit, Sasha,
But before we get there, you mentioned Christian roll Don
and I want to kind of loop you into discussion
we had on our Sounders postgame show here on KJAR
a few days ago after the Portland loss. You know
the name, and I'm sure you guys have talked and
(08:21):
cross past Kellen Rowe Callen being a Federalway native many
years with New England and of course the Sounders other
teams as well, and a few appearances with the United States.
He was kind of, you know, saying at the end
of the postgame show, you know, how much time do
we let Brian Schmetzer, you know, throw Pedro de la
Vega into the starting lineup and keep him there before
(08:43):
going back to what won a bunch of games in
the summer, which was having Pedro either not available or
on the bench. And I said, well, Pedro's got to start.
And he said, well, if Pedro's got to start and
Paul's gonna start, then where does Christian Roldango? And I said,
put him at right back? But I say, Pedro must
continue to be in this lineup. Where do you stand
(09:04):
on that? On the Pedro debate? And then also you know,
if he has to be in there, do you think
Christian at a right back spot is a is an
opportunity to keep him on the field.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Okay, A lot of questions and yeah, let's start long long,
long term, long term. Pedro de la Vega is the
is the man for the Seattle Founders right now. I
don't think he should start now. If this was back
in March April, whenever he arrived and he could have
stayed healthy, yes I would have said, Hey, first twelve
games of the season, he has to start every single game,
(09:38):
and he has to learn about his teammates, he has
to learn about MLS, he has to start figuring out
the ways that Schmitzer wants him to play. All that
type of stuff. Now, what eight games left in the season.
The team was winning without you on the bench. The
team was solidified. Rock Rock was playing well on the left,
Jordan Morris scoring goals up front. You're getting the best
(10:00):
of good players. Vargas is playing well. I don't think
you throw him in the team now to just let
him grow. Sorry, I think that time has passed. Now
it's going to have to go till next season where
he gets to start every single game. At the beginning
of the next season, if he can stay healthy for now,
I would use him off the bench as a change
of pace player to be a difference maker in the
last twenty thirty minutes of the game.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Wow, yeah, keep going, key going, Sorry, go ahead, No,
Christian rolled on.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
You can put him at right back, but I don't
think that's his best position long term either or even
in the short term. I think he's best when he
plays anywhere in the midfield. He uses his ability to
cover ground to break up plays and then he's very
underrated in the final third. That's why I say I
expect more out of him in the goals and assist
categories right now.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So I'm wondering the disconnect with Pedro de Levega in
the starting lineup. I mean, obviously you know nothing against
Portland and that's a team that ships so many goals
you can't even count, and obviously it.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Just didn't work.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Is is his I guess the lack of integration to
the level we need to see. Is that what went
wrong you think on Saturday in Portland? Or or was
it something else because obviously something wasn't working.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, no, I'm not sure about this specific match against Portland,
but as a whole for Pedro de la Vega, yes, Listen,
he's only played what nine games in the league and
only started for so he has zero rhythm right now.
He did have one flash of brilliance in the ninetieth
minute against the LAFC where I thought he was going
to take on three guys and get a game time goal.
Unfortunately the shot cut blocked. But you see that there
(11:36):
are moments there. The problem is right now is now
is not the time to tinker when you're trying to
get a top four spot in the playoffs, to get
that little bit of home field advantage in the first
in the first round, you know. And the problem is,
there are so many teams battling for that fourth spot
in the West right now that I'm not sure Brian
Schmeitzer should be you know, experimenting a little bit. Okay,
(11:59):
it's tough to say experimenting with the guy who's a DP,
who they brought in to be a big name guy,
right but just with the way the season has gone
and how his injuries have gone, I just personally would
use him off the bench.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, okay, that's an interesting take. And I love kind
of these discussions, and Kellen was in agreement with you
as well about kind of how this team fits, you know,
with only you know, seven matches left in the regular season.
I mean we were discussing in the pregame show, like, okay,
we get three points out of this one, the conversation
really picks up for getting you know, a a top four,
(12:33):
maybe even three seed, and now here we are something
all the way to eighth. I mean, oh boy, how
quickly does it change quickly on the Western Conference. While
we're talking about that, obviously you have LA Galaxy, LAFC
the top two, Salt Lakes sitting right behind him there
in third. Do you think those three are pretty solidified?
There is as kind of the top three in this
(12:54):
conference to you know, fight for it at the end.
How do you break down the hierarchy of the Western
Conference right now?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I had included Salt Lake in the top three two
weeks ago, I said the top three I think is set.
I still do think LAFC will pass the Galaxy and
finish as the number one seed in the West. Galaxy
will finish second. But now after Salt Lake lost that
home to San Jose, and then you know with Chicho Aroango,
we don't know how long he's going to be out Now,
I think after LA Galaxy and LAFC, I think it's
(13:24):
up for grabs. Colorado has a shout. Vancouver has a
big shout, just because they have two games in hand
and a lot of home games coming up. Portland's attack
is very good. I don't know about their defense. Houston,
who sits in seventh, they can keep the ball really well.
They showed a dominant performance at LAFC. If Ezekiel Ponse
can start scoring goals and then Seattle. I still think
(13:46):
they're the favorite to finish fourth. I think they have
the best roster of all of those teams that I've
just named. Problem is they go to Columbus this week,
which is terrifying ask to get one point or even
three at this point in the season. But after that,
Seattle's got three home games in a row where they
can really take advantage. I would be an idiot to
(14:07):
try to predict who would finish three through eight right
now in the West, because I think it's gonna go
top seat turvy over the next five weeks.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
So do I.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think it's just gonna be absolute back and forth,
as we just discussed where Seattle we're in discussion for fourth,
and now we're in discussion for Okay, now we're in
the playing game. So it's just gonna change every single
week over these next seven games. You mentioned Columbus, so
obviously you're right. We're looking at Saturday, which will have
the game for here on KJR over on nine to
(14:37):
fifty k am for folks here in Seattle, four o'clock Providence,
Swedish prematch show four thirty kickoff and folks can also
watch it MLS Season pass on Apple TV. And Columbus
is just I mean, they're the behemoth, right, I mean
obviously from being the defending champs Least Cup winners Wilford Nancy,
the job that he's done is just spectacular. Let me
(14:59):
ask you this way, do they have a weakness? Do
they have some way the Sounders can get a foothold
and try to aim for getting a point this weekend.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Well, get a foothold, no, but get a point, yes
for sure, or even three. You never know in MLS.
But Columbus will control the game through possession. That is
one hundred percent fact. I have no doubt about that
that they will control the game, especially at home. However,
with Rothrock, if he starts on the left with Jordan
Morris up front, speed can kill Columbus for sure. I
(15:30):
think Steven Morera they're right center back, he's fast, he
can deal with fast players. But Ruby Camacho in the
middle and whoever plays as a less center back, whether
that be Zawadski or a month Sin or Shaburco, those
players can be exploited in the counter attack. And so
that means Rusnak has to be on you know, good passing,
Jordan Morris, good runs behind Rothrock being dangerous to put
(15:54):
them under pressure. I think when LAFC has gone to
play Columbus, they show them a little bit too much
respect and play a little bit scared. And so if
Seattle can go in with a good game plan to
play on the counter attack and try to establish set
pieces as well as a point of domination, I think
that that's the recipe for the Sounders to get points
(16:17):
in Columbus.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Okay, I like what I'm hearing here because we've seen
Jordan make those runs in behind this year. I think
he needs to We've all agreed he needs to improve
and continue to recycle those runs, but we've seen him
do that, and rus Knack's been great on set pieces
here over the last you know, half season or so.
So all right, you've given me an ounce of hope
(16:37):
where I think I went into this interview kind of saying,
oh god, you know a point it best, But all right,
you've given me a little bit of hope.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
I like this here.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Sawci questions our guest MLS season pass on Apple TV,
long time player in MLS, and of course the United
States as well. Before we move on to the United
States conversation, let me quickly stay on the Eastern Conference.
Get your two cents on this question. Is the supporter
shield wrapped up right now for Miami?
Speaker 3 (17:04):
Yes, I think so. Unfortunately, because about two weeks ago
we had six teams in the race and it was very,
very exciting. And obviously in the past two weeks, Miami
has won twice and Columbus has won twice, but Columbus
is still ten points back. But since then, Cincinnati lost
La Galaxy Loft, LAFC lost three a Salt Lake Loft,
(17:27):
and I think it's just becoming too big of an
ask for them to try to catch Miami. The bigger
question now is does Miami sent the points record that
was set by the New England Revolution in twenty twenty
one with seventy two or seventy three points I believe,
and Miami has a good shout to break that.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
This year, only fourteen off with the seven games to go,
so that is going to be kind of the interesting
race question. But yeah, they're sailing towards it right now. Sasha.
Let's wrap it up with the United States men's national team.
The hire of Mauricio Pochettino. I am personally a Tottenham fan,
so I am personally very very happy at this choice.
(18:05):
I was talking to some other friends of yours on
m last season Pass on Apple TV who were a
little bit more questionable of the higher Where do you
stand on Poschettino taking over the program.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
I'm very excited for Pochettino. I think the fact that
he has coached some of the biggest names in the world,
you know, Harry Kane, Messi, Neymar and Bafe that carries
a lot of weight. And what I saw from the
US national team over the past six months was that
the uh I guess, the hunger or the fight that
(18:39):
I think they got very comfortable under Greg Berhalter. A
lot of the main players they knew they had a
place in the team, they knew I had a place
in the starting lineup, and they had no fear. And
so now I think Pochettino comes in, everything gets set anew.
They will have massive fear and massive respect for him
to really understand what it means play for the US
men's national team again, and I think going to bring
(19:00):
the best out of our young group. So I'm really,
really excited about it.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I think that's that's exactly what the guy like Paca
is going to be able to do and come in
and just change a culture reading vigorous, especially those young kids.
And I mean listen, hopefully we're talking again in two years,
you know, around before the World Cup, so just under
two years, and we're talking about a program that's ready
to roll here in twenty six. So love that thought, Sacha.
(19:25):
We really appreciate your time here on Sounders Weekly. Really
good insight. You've given me hope for Sounders Columbus this weekend,
and that's more than I could ask you for, so
appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
All right, man, good luck this week and we'll be watching.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Thanks so much, all right, SASA question there MLS Season Pass.
You can watch him of course on that MLS three
sixty kind of their red Zone version of MLS. Very
very good program there that he has with just a
really strong crew. I've really enjoyed that studio show with
all of them, with Andrew Weebe and everybody else there
with MLS Season Pass. Really enjoyed it. I hope you
(20:01):
have as well. And yeah, I mean that the subject
of Mauricio Pochettino. We're gonna be hitting that a little
bit later on tonight because last time we did Sounders Weekly,
we've been off for a few weeks. I was on
vacation and the Sounders played, of course, in the Open Cup.
Last time we were actually talking about potential candidates. Marisa
do moadu was on Sounders Weekly and I asked him
(20:23):
like an hour before the breaking news came out that
Pachettino was actually gonna take the job.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
I had asked moadu Abo about.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
It and he said, I like the hire, but here's
a couple of things, and he didn't like it because
he's an Arsenal fan. But listen, the reality of this
situation is we haven't really spent a lot of time
talking about what this could mean for the program. So
I'm bringing back in our producer Anders Hurst for our
final segment tonight. We're going to talk a little bit
more in depth about what it means for US Soccer
to have a person like Mauricio Pochettino being the new
(20:53):
head coach. We'll talk about that a little bit later
on tonight, but we got to get back to some
sounders that talk and obviously it's it's not entirely positive
coming off of back to back one nothing lost as
to rivals, but arilillianwallofmls sooccer dot com he's going to
be joining us and we're going to be spending a
bit more time here as we look ahead to not
(21:13):
only Sounders Columbus, but talk about where this team is at.
Right now, before we take a break, I'll quickly let
you know that Sounders FC Soccer is presented by Providence,
Swedish official healthcare partner of Sounders FC. Ari Lillianwall talks
more Sounders and Columbus ahead. Next on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFA.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders
fc CL's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Welcome back to Sounders Weekly.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Jackson Feltz here, good to be with you in good
to have Sasha question on the show that previous segment
to check out the podcast in case you missed him,
and lots of good insight there into our Sounders as
well as Columbus Crewe sc coming up here this weekend.
We'll be talking about that with our guest coming up
right now, Ari Lillionwall from MLS Soccer dot Com and
(22:02):
the podcast Lobbing Scorchers ari back to back one nothing losses.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
How you doing?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Man?
Speaker 6 (22:09):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (22:09):
You know I've been better, Jackson, but excited to be
on here with you. Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
I think we've both been better. It's frustrating, frustrating last week.
Let's just start with kind of your opening thoughts on
the last week for this team. Obviously, frustrating is a
good word for it. What other words are you and
Noah throwing out on the Lobbing Scorches podcast.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
You know, I think we're both a little just jaded
at this point. I think this last week taking those
two results back to back, getting eliminated from the Open
Cup by LAFC, who if you ever had a chance
to be LAFC was under them those circumstances with them
coming off getting eliminated from League's Cup on short rest,
playing at Starfire, where historically Seattle has arguably the best
(22:54):
home field advantage of that venue anywhere throughout the league.
They've only lost there I think twice before for that game,
So that was obviously a really frustrating one because you
had a great opportunity to get that Monkey off your
back and eliminate them from a tournament and really kind
of end the storyline of them dominating Seattle to the
extent that they have recently. And then obviously rivalry defeat
(23:16):
at Portland is always tough to swallow too. So you know,
those two results in isolation, it might not leave people
as frustrated, but taking them back to back, especially in
the context of how the rest of this season has
gone at times, Definitely, I think probably the toughest week
of the season is how I saw it.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Obviously, there was a lot of offensive issues on Saturday.
I mean not scoring against Portland, a team who's given
up forty six goals in league games. I mean, they
ship goals like it's no tomorrow, and for the Sounders
not to score on them is.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
A pretty big rut. Row.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, it was interesting on the postgame show, and
I talked to Sasha about this as well, and he
and Callan Row on the postgame show said the exact
same thing. In terms of this question, should pay de
la Vega be in the starting lineup still or should
Brian Schmitzer go back to what was winning him games
in the late part of spring, early part of summer
(24:10):
where either Pedro wasn't available or he was coming off
the bench, and now he goes in the lineup and
there was clearly some offensive issues. Both Sasha and Callen
say that Pedro shouldn't be starting right now and Brian
should should take him off and you know, keep integrating
him in other ways. I feel very oppositely. Where do
(24:30):
you stand on should Pedro be in the starting lineup?
Speaker 5 (24:34):
I mean, whether he should be in the starting lineup
or not. I think there's no question in my mind
at all that he should be getting a lot of
minutes and playing a very big role for this team
down the stretch. Look, I mean, you can you could
definitely point to these last two games and point to
a lack of offensive output as the reason for the results.
I don't think you can blame that on Pedro de
(24:56):
la Vega. I actually thought in the Portland game, specifically,
he looked as good as he's looked and as dangerous
as he's looked since he's been on the team. But
I mean, I think the fact remains, no matter your
evaluation of his performances so far, this is a player
that there's a lot riding on him being a hit
of the signing. There's no way that you could keep
a player that you spent this much money on and
(25:18):
have this much invested in on the bench in a
bit part role going down to the season when your
hopes of contending for MLS Cup and making a run
on the playoffs are very much predicated on him breaking
out and being a big contributor down the stretch. For
that to happen, he has to be playing a lot.
So yeah, I would start him. And if you're not
going to start him, you have to give him a
lot of minutes down the stretch here, if for no
(25:40):
other reason than to see what you have in him
and be able to make an evaluation on the player
going into next season.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, I think that's your dead on. I completely agree.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
He's your high priced he's your glorious acquisition of the offseason,
and frankly, for a team that hasn't made an acquisition
in three straight summer windows, Pedro is the guy for
this twenty twenty four Sea, going back to the previous
winter window when you brought him in. So there is
there's no he has to be in there. You know,
there's there's no debate to be had. I don't think.
(26:10):
But even then, you need to continue to integrate him.
And if it takes time, then you just got to
keep throwing him in there to integrate accurately. And you
know the way that Callen retorted, I think the way
that you said it, in the way that I said
in the postgame show was okay, Well, then we know
Paul Rothrock is going to be in there. Where does
Christian Rodand go? I said, Christian Rodond goes to right back? Sorry,
(26:33):
Alex rolled on, I think that Christian is better suited
right now to be playing from his right back spot
than be playing from an attacking role on the wing.
Do I have a leg to stand on there?
Speaker 5 (26:46):
I think that is one way to do it. But
I think, you know, regardless of what move has to
be made to get him in there, I think it's
pretty clear to me at least, that the biggest issue
that this team is having offensively is prection from out wide.
You know, as well as Paul Rothrock has played this season,
and as good of a story as as you know that,
(27:07):
I'm as much of a Paul Rothrock fan as anybody,
but he cannot be your number one a carrying the
offensive load. From out wide game in, game out, every
single week. And in fact, I think his skill set
is better suited as a super sub. And I think
your best hope for solving that issue of lack of
(27:27):
production from out wide is having Pedro de la Vega
in there to try and to try and give you
a boost there. Albert Rusmak and Jordan Morris have been
playing well for most of the season. All the production
that you have gotten offensively is basically down to those
two guys. You need more than that. You need to
be more multifaceted in attack. You need production from other
(27:48):
sources than just two guys. And right now, I just
I'm not seeing where you get that, at least for
this season, until you get Pedro de la Vega cooking.
That's what this team has to do.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
Yeah, you bring up a good point about Jordan and Albert.
I think I mean Albert right now, if there was
any question about, you know, bringing him back in twenty five,
it's over. You have to. He's been playing like a
designated player this year. I mean, living up to every
dollar in that contract, the option that they took. Uh So,
I mean Albert Rusnak's been just phenomenal. This season especially,
you know, looking at this basically the last twenty games
(28:22):
or so total for the team, He's been just a
rock for this club. Ari let's talk about what's ahead
for the Sounders, and it really kind of begin our
sharp Vision opponent alec here, because there's a lot to
talk about with Columbus. They are coached by Wilfrid Nancy.
Before we talk about what Nancy has on the field,
we had talked about how Wilfrid Nancy was probably gonna be,
(28:42):
you know, the best name for the United States job
if they hadn't hired Mauricio Pochettino. But they did, and
now Wilfrid Nancy's staying with Columbus. That's great for them.
What makes him such a good coach?
Speaker 5 (28:57):
I mean, he's considered the best tactician in the world league.
He's very very good at getting his players to buy
into his tactics and getting them to execute them on
the field. And he strikes me as very much of
a player's coach that knows how to man manage, which
is something that Brian Schmetzer is very good at. So
he's kind of this type of coach that he gives
(29:18):
you a little bit of everything, and he gives you
this sort of tactical advantage going into every single game
that you play that just, frankly, not a lot of
coaches in any league really give you that. It's kind
of a select group that you can name. And then
so you combine those attributes with him as a coach,
with giving him one of the most loaded rosters in
the league, and you have what you have with Columbus,
(29:39):
which is a buzzsaw Jugger Knight team in MLS right
now that's coming off an MLS Cup title, run to
the concer CAF Champions League Final and a League's Cup title.
So they very much earned their status as the best
team in the league right now, and he's very much
earned his status as the best coach in the league
right now.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
And those weapons that he has on the field, and
once again, Mary Luine was our guest MLS Season Pass
and the podcast Lobbing Scorches. Check it out wherever you
get your podcasts, including the iHeartRadio app. Those weapons that
Wilford Nancy has on Columbus that we're going to be
hearing and saying their names over and over on the
broadcast on Saturday. What are those names that people and
Sounder fans have to be worried about.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
Well, the biggest ones are Kuco Hernandez and Diego Rossi,
but they actually are going to be dealing with a
lot of absences for this game. I know Kucho got
called up by Columbia, he's not going to be playing.
Diego Rossi should be out there though, but they're also
going to be missing Patrick Schulti, who is a really
good goalkeeper, and there's a couple of other guys that
(30:39):
are going to be gone. Steven Morea one of their
really good fullbacks, which is the strength of their team.
So they are going to be playing this game a
little shorthanded. But they have one of the deepest rosters
in the league, so you know, I guess it's tbd
how much of an impact that makes on the game,
But I will say, Kucho, you know, that's a big lost.
This is a perennial MVP candidate, one of the best
Number nine in the league, one of the most versatile
(31:01):
and well rounded number nines in the league. He does
everything well, so not having him in the lineup that
is pretty significant. But I mean you can go down
their roster, Diego Rossi, who has been a great MLS
player for a long time, dating back to his days
with LAFC, is always a very dangerous player. Darlington Nagby
is one of the best defensive midfielders that's ever played
(31:22):
in MLS. He's won trophies everywhere he's gone. So, I
mean this team is loaded, make no mistake about it,
even with the absences that they're going to be dealing
with for this game.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
I think Diego is the guy who scored lafc's first
ever goal in Seattle in that opener back in was
that twenty eighteen do you remember or was it twenty seventeen?
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yeah, at eighteen.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
So Rossi's the one from distance I want to say,
like about twenty yards out or so. He beat Stephen
Frye and I was the lafc's first ever goal and
he came at lumin Field against the Sounders.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
He's been so quality. But missing Kusho is huge.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I mean that that's an entirely dynamic changing And I
was just on the phone with SASA question who was
talking about how listen they're susceptible to speed. If Jordan
Morris can get in behind, if rus Nat can get
good set pieces, you got a hope in this game.
And yeah, my hope over the last forty five minutes
has just been going up and up and up. From
knowing we can get behind them, knowing they're susceptible to
(32:16):
speed where the Sounders have some good pace, knowing that
they're susceptible on set pieces, now knowing that there are
gonna be some guys down, including the Star and Kucho.
I don't know, man, Like, my hope going into this
show tonight, just forty five minutes ago, was you know, okay,
if we can get a point. Now my thought is, God,
could the Sounders actually you know, get three in Columbus?
Speaker 5 (32:40):
Yeah, I mean getting three still feels like a pretty
tall order for me, but getting one definitely deals within
the realm of out realm of outcomes. I mean, Sasha's
dead on the One thing about this team where you
can get them is that they are very very aggressive
on offense and going forward. They'd love to push their
fullbacks really really high, and they can be susceptible on
the break and they do can see goals at times.
(33:04):
So it's definitely not out of the question that Seattle
get the goal or two in this game. And yeah,
like you said, I mean without Kucho, that is, that's
not just their number one offensive threat, that's arguably the
number one offensive threat in the entire league, you know,
barring Messi and the Barca boys in Miami right now.
So I would say, with where Columbus is at with
their personnel, do you have a better chance of getting
(33:26):
a result in this game at lower dot com field
than you would otherwise with them at full strength. It's
still going to be hard, but I think it can
be done.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I love it well opponent Alix.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Tonight was presented by Sharp Vision Modern Leask and Lens,
the official Lasik provider of Sounder z FC. Really looking
forward to that game on Saturday once again Providence Swedish
prematch show four o'clock kick off at four thirty. You
can listen to that over on our sister station of
Sports Radio nine to fifty KJR AM. People can also
watch it on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and
listen in Spanish language on l Ray thirteen sixty for
(33:57):
Sounders and Columbus Ari. Before we let you go, give
us a little taste of your winners and losers this
week on Loving Scorchers who had good weeks and please
don't say the Portland Timbers and who had bad weeks,
and please don't say the Seattle Sounders.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
Well, I mean the Portland Timbers did have a really
good league. You can't you can't really take that away
from them. But yeah, just pulling up the scores right now,
I mean, you've got FC Cincinnati was a big win
over c F Montreal. They're looking at like a resurgent
team interer Miami looks dominant again still with no messy
(34:32):
for one at Chicago. But I think the biggest result
that kind of turned heads around the league was Houston
taking all three points off l AFC at LAFC. Now,
I know LAFC was very depleted energy wise and exhausted
from the gauntlet of a schedule that they've had between
playing in League's Cup and playing Seattle in the Open Cup,
but that's still a great result for the Houston Dynamo
(34:55):
and they've made a couple of moves where they're suddenly
looking a little bit stronger down the stretch here. And
then obviously, Orlando City SC had another big win at
home against Nashville SC. They beat them three zero and
they're looking pretty resurgent as well, so I think those
are the results.
Speaker 4 (35:11):
That caught my eye.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Okay, well, we'll all listen for more of the content
with you and Noah. They're on Lobbing Scorcheres. Thank you
for that, and I'll be fast forwarding through everywhere you
say Portland, Ari, good stuff is always my friend. Thanks
for joining us. We'll talk to you next week after
hopefully a result on the road against Columbus sounds good.
Thanks Jackson, it's our good friend Ari Lilienwallo of MLS
(35:32):
Soccer dot com and check out his podcast, Lobbing Scorchers.
Before we take a break, want to quickly tell you
that twenty twenty five season membership deposits for your Seattle
Sounders are on sale now. Place a one hundred dollars
deposit and gain access to benefits you can use this season,
including Lumenfield concert pre sales and mlsstore dot com discounts.
Learn more at soundersfc dot com. Backslash membership. We'll get
(35:55):
a break here in Sounders Weekly and chat with our
producer Andershearst about some big breaks king United States men's
national team news. That's next on Sports Radio ninety three
point three.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
kJ Now back to Sounders Weekly on your home for Sounders.
Fcle's Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Welcome back Sounders Weekly, Jackson Feldt's good to be with
you here on this Wednesday evening. Thanks to our guests
so far this evening, Sasha Question and Ari Lillianwall.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
Great to have both of them on the show.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Check out the podcast Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts,
including the iHeartRadio app in case you miss either of them.
Great thoughts on our Sounders coming off of what happened
this last week to one nothing losses and Columbus ahead
Mauricio Pochettino taking over the United States program, We're going
to be touching on that in just a moment. Again,
(36:46):
before we get to our producer anders Hurst, talk more
about Potch quickly, I'll take you around the sound because
we want to still do that. Obviously, the USL two
season is over, but there is still a lot going
on here around the PNWT.
Speaker 4 (37:00):
Listen.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Last time we had a Sounders Weekly, which was I
mentioned this before. It's been a few weeks since I
was on vacation, and then we had the Open Cup
game last week. It's been a few weeks, but last
time I said, listen, the Rain a kind of getting points.
Here's draws here and there, but we need to start
getting the wins to rise up the table. They've finally
been getting the wins this last Saturday on August thirty. First,
(37:22):
it was a little bit of a comeback win over
Louisville three two final where you get two second half goals,
one of the eighty first minute, actually I think it
was an own goal in the eighty first minute I saw.
But a big three to two win for Seattle Rain
over Louisville. That followed up on the previous weekend where
they were able to beat North Carolina won nothing, So
there was that big win. Was that the Megan Rapinal
(37:45):
retirement game where there was a big there might have
been either way. What we've seen so far for the
Rain in these last couple weeks has been good results.
Now in terms of what that means in the NWSL,
it hasn't changed too much in terms of standings, but
points wise, it has changed quite a bit. They're still
in eleventh place with seventeen points, but now they are
(38:05):
only four points back of BAYFC with twenty one points,
so only four points out of a playoff spot with
still a bunch of matches still to play. So a
long time for Seattle Rain to get those four points
and get in the playoff picture. I know they've been
making a bunch of moves and a bunch of transactions,
so hopefully these moves by Galimore and company have done
(38:26):
enough to get this team into the playoff picture. But
clearly these last two weeks much better there for Seattle
Rain FC.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
In terms of takomaa fiance.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
You know, we haven't really spent much time at all
this season talking about Tacoma defiance and I'll raise my
hand and say that's been a big mistake, but they
deserve some time because they were able to pull off
of a win over LAFC to this last Friday night
at LA. It should be mentioned, so finally a Seattle
team beats an LA team. It just happened to come
(38:56):
with Tacoma over FC two, but it came nonetheless and
for to coma defiance there. In MLS Next Pro, it
should be mentioned that they are looking at fourth place
right now. They're in the second group there of MLS
Next Pro, right behind LA Galaxy two. By just about
one point. Still a lot of matches left in the
MLS next pro season. They have a match coming up
(39:18):
this coming Sunday as they're going to be hosting Portland
Timbers to so hopefully they can get a result there
where the Sounders didn't this last weekend. We'll shifting gears
here on Sounders Weekly from around the sound I guess
we'll call around the globe back to kind of our
correspondent who talked with us for a bunch of summer tournaments.
(39:39):
He's been talking to us about the United States coaching
situation almost every show going for the last two months
or so, and we're doing it again here because there
is actual, real breaking news, anders As. We bring in
our producer anders Hurst, who of course produces the Ian
Furness Show from twelve to three pm here on ninety
three point three KGERFM, and we got actual news even yesterday.
(40:03):
Obviously the news came out a few weeks ago, but
this is actual news that is tangible that we can
celebrate because after the rumors and after the reports of
Marisio Pachettino being the guy for the United States men's
national team, we got the news from from Brezio Romano,
your guy, just earlier that he is prepared to sign
(40:24):
this week as the new United States head coach. The
vermal agreement has already been made, but now it will
be in writing and all the legal stuff will be
ironed out. Everything is done. He will officially be the
coach later this week. And obviously he's you know, I've
told you he's been my number one guy for months.
We were just kind of waiting to see if it
(40:45):
was even a possibility. But the United States, and you know,
credit to everybody with the Federation in terms of locking
this down and getting a big name. They got the
big name in Poch and obviously a's a Tottenham fan.
Speaker 4 (40:58):
I'm very happy.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
But you know, from somebody who doesn't have a vested
interest in a place that he used to work, what
is your perspective on the hiring of Maricio Pochettino.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
It's my number one choice.
Speaker 6 (41:09):
I believe you had me on earlier this year about
you know who I would want to replace Greg Buralter,
and I mentioned a couple other names, and I had
Pochettino kind of as a like a throw in, like, oh,
if we get Mauricio Pochettino maybe that too, but jokingly
because I didn't think it was a realistic possibility. But
Crocker's made it happen and I'm happy for it. I
think he's probably was the best best coach available to
(41:32):
get the job done for this next year.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Well, I think the question to follow up is is
why is he the best coach? Because obviously he has
the pedigree and obviously he has the credentials, but what
about his system? You know, and and I can touch
on this too, but but from your perspective, what about
what he does as a coach is going to work
so well with the United States program?
Speaker 6 (41:51):
Yeah, well, I definitely want to hear what you think
about him, because I know you're a fan of his
and obviously I have watched him, probably a little bit
closer than I have. But just from my kind of
outsider perspective, if he's really good number one at cup runs,
which is something that the World Cup is It's not
like a long season like a Premier League season or
an MLS season or anything like that. It's a cup run,
which is what he is most famous for. In the
(42:12):
twenty nineteen taking the Spurs to the Champions League final,
a squad that probably wasn't all that in terms of
going into that season, but he got the most out
of them, and as a talented group. With this US
men's national team set up, I think it's really really
good and like a good core, but it needs to
be taken to the next level in terms of someone
(42:32):
who can deliver a message to the group, right. And
it's not just a Carlo Ancelotti type of manager who's like, oh,
you have all the superstars, you just need them to
get along. It's not like that they need the direction
to go. And I think Pochettino's kind of a good
happy medium for that. Plus he speaks English. But it's
someone who maybe, as I was asking for, doesn't necessarily
(42:53):
isn't familiar with the US system, which I think is
a good thing because it's like, no, we're not doing
what we've done the last twenty five years. We're doing
something totally different. What's worked for the rest of the world,
and this is what we're doing now and I'm going
to take you into the new age of SOCT.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
You mentioned the twenty nineteen final, and it's a shame
that they just canceled that final and it never actually happened.
Speaker 4 (43:12):
Haha, ha. I mean, listen.
Speaker 2 (43:14):
I think that one thing that Potch does really well
is he uses attacking soccer guy and with the United
States crew right now, I think that we have midfielders
and I would even say up top as well with
Bolligan to get an offensive team. He's is also very
heavy on the wings. And when you have a guy
like Desk and I think, you know, Robinson on the
left side, I think is a good attacking left back
(43:36):
and you have attacking midfielders who can play outside, you
slide Christian Polistic on the left and you let him
kind of tuck in as a you know, human Sun
type player. Where Sun slid in, Polisic can slide in
and kind of be a second number.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
Ten, and you just run those wings.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
And I think the thing that stands out to me
the most, and let me know if you agree with this,
is the fact that this is a younger United States squad.
Speaker 4 (43:59):
It's on a veteran squad.
Speaker 3 (44:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
These are kids who can run, run and run some more.
And it's a system that Potch runs where it relies
on athleticism and running and running and running. And this
is a group that is going to be highly demanded
to be, you know, in terms of stamina and fitness,
to be able to run their butts off. But it's
a group that I think he can ask.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
To do that.
Speaker 6 (44:22):
Yeah, and you know, stereotypically, I don't want to generalize
as much, but usually what happens is the younger kind
of players are more You're a bit You're able to
mold them into what you want them to do more
because they have learned less, right, and they're kind of
more just like a sponge soaking in all the information.
Speaker 3 (44:41):
Right.
Speaker 6 (44:42):
Veteran players are kind of stuck in their ways. They
want to play a certain way, and the US doesn't
really have any of those. They're they're kind of they
need a direction to be given. And it's, like I said,
it's something totally different than what we've had in the past,
where it's like, Okay, we're just trying to get everyone
to play and go along and then we'll figure it
all out because we have a bunch of superstars. No,
I think this team needs a direction. And what you
were mentioning with outside backs totally makes sense because I
(45:04):
think it's one of the strengths of this team. Sergenio
Destin Anthony Robinson are two the best players.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Eighteen games, nine international windows before the World Cup. There's
a shorter time than should be for him to ramp
up to this. But yeah, listen, I mean, I think
let's hope everything clicks in these you know, next eighteen
games and nine windows before the World Cup, you know,
less than two years run up. So thanks for this,
appreciate it. Yep, great job tonight. That'll do it here
(45:29):
for Sounders Weekly. Want to thank all of our guests,
Anders right there, Sasha Question and Ari Lulin Wal. Check
out Sounders Weekly wherever you get your podcasts, including the
iHeartRadio app, and we will talk to you on Saturday,
Sounders Columbus Crew. It'll be over on nine to fifty
KJR AM four o'clock pre match show four thirty kickoff
over on nine to fifty am. We'll talk to you
(45:50):
then have a good rest of your week and coming
up next as Fox Sports Radio
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