Should you root for the Columbus Crew? - Ep. 32

What's going on everybody? Welcome in to episode 32 of Lobbing Scorchers. This is Ari Lillianwall. I'm joined virtually here by producer Noah. Noah, say what's up to the people. It's always a good day when it's not an L-Pod, Ari. You know, some people don't want to hear it, but it's not an L -Pod. I like that positive outlook. We got another doozy of a show for you today, folks. The Seattle Sounders drew the LA Galaxy zero zero at Lumen Field last night in an absolutely riveting display of attacking soccer from both clubs. Exactly as I predicted on the preview show. I mean, it was it was wild out there. Just great chances flying back and forth. Dynamic attacking play. There is one point, though, where I thought I was watching Real Madrid play against Barcelona. the apex of both of their powers. So truly incredible stuff. Can't wait to break that down. And then we're going to talk about some other stuff too. The Columbus crew have made it to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final. Should you root for them? We're going to talk about that. Leon O'Meesey smashed a couple more MLS records and it undermined my content creating venture. I've got a funny little story for you guys about that one. So it wasn't the most exciting Sounders game of all time, but... we're still going to have a fun show here. Before we get into all that, I want to do the standard housekeeping at the top of the show. The first thing I wanted to do was thank our surprisingly lengthy list of new paid subs. We've got a lot of people here. Once again, can't emphasize enough how much we appreciate everyone who's signed up for that. I'm going to just go down the list here. We've got Owen Mason. Thank you, Owen. David. We got Christopher Mailey coming in with a$10 sub. Noah, I think you said you knew Christopher somehow. You're the gopher. You're our very first $10 sub, so that's much appreciated. We've got Bill Breitenbach. We've got Mike Lentini. Sorry if I'm mispronouncing any of these names. We've got Aaron B. And we've got Derek Richards. Thank all you guys so much for subscribing. And then I think that was all the ones for the new ones. But we've also got Sounder Naves. We've got Dan Piveto. We've got my guy Mike Standish, Ryan Shane, Eric Stanley, my nephews, CJ Miles Maranakis, Andy Hill, Ian Mitchell, and Greg Hoker. I want to thank you all for watching. to give a special shout out to Greg because he was the one who, the first one to sub and he kind of kick started the momentum on this. So shout out to you, Greg. But we're up to 16 active subscribers now. We really appreciate it, guys. And I was going to set a goal. We're up to 16. I'm setting a goal of 50 right now. Help us on the drive to 50 subs. yes. And it really, the more we get, the more it motivates us to continue churning out this content. And the more we get, I would say, we might start churning these out even more regularly if we're incentivized as such. So thank you guys so much. It's honestly, I mean, no, we were talking about it off air a couple of days ago, but it's kind of just mind blowing how. the response we've gotten both in terms of listenership and then when we plug the paid subs every time we get a couple more. So thank you so much to our listeners and subscribers. I also want to, yeah, go ahead. was just going to say we are so like every single time we get a sub, we are giddy. We're like children on Christmas or or Hanukkah. Yeah, literally, exactly. So yeah, thank you guys for that. And I also, I wanted to plug our new YouTube page again. We're trying to grow our presence on there. And the Lobbings Quarters YouTube is at 33 subscribers right now. That's not enough. I'm setting that goal at 100 subs. I want triple digits on that. It's frankly, you know, it's 33 subs, man. Like that's tough for me to see. I need that up above triple digits. So if you could, if you're to this right now and you haven't yet sub to the Lobby Scorcher's YouTube we gotta we gotta grow those numbers and thank you to everyone who already has sub to that we honestly like you know I joke but we've we've got a little bit of solid momentum on there right now and we're racking views we're getting more subs every day so thank you to everyone who has subscribed to that as well Before we get into this riveting Sounders game, though, I do have, unfortunately, something sad to report, which is that I don't know the rules of the sport that I cover. I'm going to have to, unfortunately, run a little correction from the last episode on the Stephen Fry Dog So Red card getting overturned. We were talking about it on the last show. And I was saying that if that play at DC United was called. was called a foul, it would have to be a dog so red. And so they were essentially, like, I didn't understand, like, how it could be a foul and a penalty, but not a red card. That didn't make sense to me. But it turns out that the rule is that if you're making a play on the ball, but you... end up fouling the guy, which is what happened. The correct call in that scenario actually should have been a foul and a penalty, but just a yellow card and not a red. I didn't know that. I thought anytime you have a dog -sauce scenario, it was just like an auto red. So I had a few people, there was a couple people in the YouTube comments who I think pointed that out. I got a couple of tweets about that. Fair play, you know, if I ever make a mistake like that on the show. You know, it's called laughing scorchers for a reason. Like sometimes I just get on the mic here and I pop off even when I don't know exactly what I'm talking about. So this is an example of. that happening and I'll always put my hand up and admit it if I get something wrong. So yeah, the stuff and fry play should have been a foul penalty and a yellow, which, you know, it frankly doesn't make that sequence any less frustrating because they would have had the penalty kick, but Seattle would have at least still had 11 guys. So definitely all around unfortunate. between Steph and Frye getting sent off, retroactively overturned, and then me incorrectly relaying the rules on the show. Noah, you were trying to victory lap me both in the YouTube comments and on the group chat. I award you no points for that because you didn't know this double jeopardy rule either. If you had pointed that out in real time, I would give you that one. But. I don't like, I feel like I don't actually feel that bad for not knowing that rule because it's a pretty, it's a pretty weird play. It's a bit of a like freak situation. And I've, I've literally, I've never seen that. I never, I've never seen that exact play on a ball over the top where you have the goalkeeper who commit a penalty kick foul, which to me looked like dog. So, but like there's this weird kind of wrinkle there where if he's, if it can be reasonably perceived that he's making a play on the ball, which I think if you, that replay, there is that reasonable perception there. It's a penalty, but a yellow card, and you don't get sent off. So anyway, it makes sense. of us knew how to do it or knew what it knew what it was, like I think it was a, it's, it's the right call. It's the right call. Well, yeah, but they didn't make the right call on the field. not make the right call. They retroactively made the right call. made the right call and I have no grievances about that having actually learned the rules of the sport that I cover. Okay. It gets so convoluted with this stuff. I really, I don't feel bad. Let's get into this Sounders game, Noah. Just get it out of the way. I think I said on Twitter when I was collecting your guys' questions that I don't plan on spending all that much time on this game. But we'll probably get on a big old tangent about it. But I would say out of all the frustrating matches that we've watched this season, this one against the LA Galaxy at Lumenfield last night might have been the most frustrating just in terms of. of how it played out for Seattle. But let's talk about the lineup reaction first. To be fair, I think this was exactly how I would run it. I was excited to see Obid Vargas playing right mid in this game, and I thought it went pretty well again. After he dominated in Philly starting the game, he started the game in the deeper line midfield spot in that game. But he was moved up a line in this game where he had played a little bit previously this season. And I think that's an example of something. We've been asking quite a bit on this show for different wrinkles, maybe moving a guy like that. Obitz spent most of his career as a defensive midfielder. And I've liked what I've seen from him playing up a line. I thought that... I thought that he was dominant in the Philly game. I mean, the title of the last episode was, I think, aptly Obed Vargas is the greatest player alive, which, you know, we're being slightly facetious, but he had a dominant game in that. So I like to move from Schmitz to move him up a line there. You had right back Christian rolled on out of necessity with with his brother Alex rolled on suspended for this game for his red card against the Whitecaps. And then with the front four, you have Albert Rusnak at the 10 flanked by Jordan Morris and Obed with Raul. top. So you know I had I had really no grievances with the lineup. I like the JP Atencio double pivot. The back line is how I would run it. So I really, me personally, I don't think there's all that different of a way I would align that up. You know there's the anti -Rusnack brigade who probably would have put Christian at the 10, started Cody Baker, all that stuff. I mean I don't subscribe to that so in this scenario I thought they lined it up correctly. The Galaxy were shorthanded for this game, which that was another thing I kind of... bungled on the preview show, although one of the injuries to Ricky Puj happened after we recorded, to be fair. But Dejan Jovalic, who I was talking about when we were previewing it as if we were going to play, he's actually been hurt for, he was like hurt for a week before that. So he was never going to play in this game. But I thought the big news was that Ricky Puj didn't end up playing in this game because I mean, that guy, he's really like the, the undisputed engine for everything that the LA galaxy do. And, I think you saw that in this game, like without him, as much love as I give to Joey Paints and as much as I enjoy watching him play and think that he's one of the best DPs in MLS right now, without Ricky Puj pulling the strings, they didn't really have all that much in attack and Joey Paints and Gabriel Peck were pretty much neutralized. And then without Jovaldic too, they didn't really, they didn't have anyone who. could finish whatever chances that they did create. So the galaxy were down pretty bad, but like it honestly makes it more frustrating because they were kind of ripe for the taking. They did not really get especially close to getting their offense running like they're normally able to run it when that front four is all healthy. So really like all you need to do is score one goal and you probably win this game. So I think that's kind of what makes it. very tilting that Seattle couldn't get that done. But the defense, Seattle's defense did keep a clean sheet pretty easily. Joey Paints didn't do all that much, but Seattle's. Execution offensively, particularly in transition was just way off all game. I thought they actually did a decently good job at getting a lot of transition opportunities, which when you're playing a Galaxy team that is shorthanded and likely okay with scraping out a 0 -0, getting out in transition and trying to hurt them on the break is what you should be doing. So they did a good job winning the ball. They did a good job of getting out and running. But they just and yeah, they they possess decently well, but I thought really I thought really the biggest chances that they had to to score in this game were in Transition and they just they were not especially close to finishing off any of those those buildups They had some good buildups, which is that's why it was so frustrating because there was a decent once again It was kind of classic sounders like there's a decent amount of good ball that was actually played but then but like I thought the execution and transition was worse than it usually is. They would just get to the end of it, and they would either flub the chance or... It's just too conservative, Noah. It's not aggressive enough. When they're getting into those final actions in the final third in or near the penalty box, there's too much slowing it up and then recycling possession and then digging it around. And by that time, LA's defense is reset. And you haven't capitalized on the opportunity that you had in transition in a way that actually got you a good look. I thought Leo Chu had the best of the game on one of those transition opportunities where a ball kind of snuck through the area and he had he was wide open and he scoured the shot and it's just one of those ones where like you know if you if you haven't saved that's one thing but like can you at least get it on target my guy like I don't know it's but the whole stadium was like they saw that play in slow motion and everyone was like getting up out of their seats around me. And then he just absolutely bricks it into the stands and everyone was just laid back in their seat, hands on their face like, my God, is this not the perfect personification of the Seattle Sounders in the last two seasons? it was, I think that was the moment I realized that they are not scoring in this game. I mean. To be fair to Leo Chu, I didn't think anyone in the front four really covered themselves in glory in this game. I thought Jordan had a bit of a rough one. As much as I don't really subscribe to the anti -Rustak brigade, I didn't think he had a particularly good game. I didn't think Raul had a particularly good game. So it was just another tough go on offense. And I don't really know what to say about that at this point, other than that it's just something that we've seen too much this season. and it manifested itself in this game. But I think the unfortunate thing is like you're coming off a game against Philly where you actually did, you scored three goals and you had a pretty good performance again, DC United despite the red card that got rescinded and all that. So it just, there's an opportunity here to build on those things and. establish some momentum on offense that has been so sorely lacking this year. And I mean, a 0 -0 against a short -handed Galaxy team who couldn't get particularly close to scoring themselves. You know, I thought New Who pretty much pocketed Joey Paints again. That's two games in a row against the Galaxy where New Who's pocketed Joey Paints. And I guess it was encouraging to see the defense. play well, but like, I don't really know how much to read into that with this Galaxy team, with the personnel that they put out there. It did kind of underscore to me like how much the Galaxy really do rely on Ricky Pooj. Like they really didn't seem like they had anything going without him. So. Which is interesting because I think like how to not to translate that directly to the sounders, but how much of that is kind of reflected on how the sounders have been playing without De La Vega. Yeah, I mean, we haven't seen De La Vega play enough yet to know if he has the same type of impact that Ricky Puj does. But I mean, like I knew that Ricky Puj was one of the best players in the league. But like I've been watching a lot of Galaxy this year with that front four all healthy. And it's really like, you know, it's like an unstoppable freight train when they get running. And. They just, it was a very, very stark contrast. They were not able to replicate that at all. There was one kind of cool and fun thing for Seattle in this game, which was we had an MLS debut. Georgie Menungu of Tacoma Defiance, he got on the field in this game. And I can't say I've watched him play all that much. I haven't watched that much TAC -D this year, but. I was into it, Noah. He was out there. I liked that he seemed fearless. He didn't seem overwhelmed by the moment. There was a couple of sequences where he got off and running, and he was making stuff happen. I'm down to see more of him at this point. That's the kind of thing that... Yeah, I mean, it's the kind of thing where... you might as well start throwing stuff at the wall and see if it sticks. So I was glad that Schmitz got him out there. I thought that, you know, it was kind of a fun little storyline, a fun respite from an entire game of watching the team struggle to generate offense. And I thought he acquitted himself well, but needless to say, the squad is now two, three, and five, 11th in the West. 13 goals on the season, which... I mean, I'll just say it's not enough goals in terms of the amount of goals that. From the Montreal game. and two games in Philly. They're yeah, they're yeah. So if you add up the Montreal game in the Philly game, that's eight of their 13 goals and they have five goals in the rest of their games. You know, I don't think it's any secret to anyone who's been watching this team or frankly, anyone who plays for or coaches this team that the offensive output has not been high enough. We've talked about it on the show ad nauseam. So that's why I didn't really want to spend all that great deal amount of time in this game. I don't feel like there's. all that much different to take away from it from a lot of the other games that we watched this year. Okay, hold on real quick. No, I ordered food. I gotta go grab it, but I'll be back next, so mark that. Sorry. You're good. So yeah, I mean, unless you have any other broader takeaways from what we saw at Lubin Field yesterday, I figure we can just jump into the open cup preview and take people's questions. But. I just had a couple of things that I thought that I personally noticed is I thought that the Sounders defended really well in transition on the counter attack. I understand that Ricky Pooj wasn't there and that honestly, probably if Ricky Pooj was there, it would be a three nil game. But still, I thought that on the counter attack, which the galaxy absolutely loved to spam, they they did well to defend that. I thought knew who you know, I'm a new who. Hater apparently, you know, maybe maybe I'm just a realist here, but I thought knew who played well He literally like Joey Paints. did nothing this entire game. We I know Ari Yeah, Ari is ignoring it because he doesn't want to admit that his goat is is falling apart, but knew who pocketed his goat I needed it to be brought up even more. No, I'm joking. But yeah, I don't know it did I think also like let's talk about Obed again. Obed absolutely had an incredible performance and I think we found that. Yeah. He it's not his fault that we're losing. He's putting in balls that should be scored every single time and it's like no one can finish that. like a few of the good chances that Seattle did have in this game, Obed was central to and it's kind of a small thing. But one thing that I really like about him and this is even dating back to like last year, but he's like, he's really good at drawing fouls. So he's got like the the Nico Ladero in him where you met like, I think out of all of Nico Ladero's great qualities. He's probably the best foul drawer I've like ever watched. He's so good at that. And Obed like learned that quality, I think, from him. But so he like, you saw it on the play where he won the penalty in the Philly game and then he won another free kick from a really great spot in this game. So that's more kind of like an offhand thing that I've noticed about Obed's game. But like, I really think, I really think they might be onto something with. playing him higher up the field as an attacking player. I feel like, I don't know, it's kind of, it's very stark to me how much more of an impact he's been making on games while playing more aggressively and just with a more attacking mindset than he does like when he's playing back in the midfield, which I know in the... in the Philly game, he was playing in the double pivot, I believe, to start, but it just felt like he was playing more aggressive. And I think he's able to manifest that a little more when he's playing at right mid there. So I don't know, I just think, I think that's one, that's honestly one takeaway that I have from the last couple of weeks that could be get some positive momentum. moving forward is just that like, just how well Obe is playing right now and how they seem to have kind of a revelation with like moving where he's been playing. Yeah, I agree. And the last one, boost put up a stinker, but it happens. So. Yeah, well, and you know what was unfortunate is that he actually got subbed in pretty early. You know how you're talking about how subbing him in at like 87 doesn't really do anything? Because he was on with enough time to make an impact in this game. And I don't really know who to blame for it. But I mean, the finishing in this game was just, whew. No, not at all. We can move on to greener pastures, the United States Open Cup. Yeah, so the Sounders start their US Open Cup venture on Wednesday against USL Championship side, Louisville City FC, who I believe, I mean, no, you were saying they're one of the best teams in the USL, I believe. a superpower. how they're doing this year. I think that's like, I've watched New Mexico United in the USL. I don't really follow anyone else. So I don't really know how good Louisville is this year. Okay, so yeah, they're good again. Like you said, they're perennially one of the better teams in the second division. And I guess... the amount of goals as the Seattle Sounders. Yeah. So I guess like the takeaway from that is, you know, Seattle is probably going to be doing like fielding a bit of a rotated lineup in this game with the fixture congestion that's going on. And so I mean, like, remember a couple of years ago when they lost to Sac Republic? These games are not a given when you're playing them at a congested part of your schedule. And. you're playing a rotated lineup and these, these, these USL teams are hungry. Like they want to win this game bad. Like especially anytime they go up against an MLS team, they're going to be going for it. So like my prediction for this game, I know like I'm coming off a prediction week where I said this would like, I was hyping this galaxy game up is super exciting. And I said, I specifically said that it wouldn't be a zero zero and then it was zero zero. So I don't know how much weight my predictions hold. right now, but my prediction for this game would be that it's, I can almost guarantee you that it's not gonna be a situation where Seattle blows out and overwhelms Louisville City. Seattle's gonna be fielding a rotated lineup, so I think you're gonna have some younger guys in there. And Louisville City, they're a really good USL team, and they're gonna be, they're gonna be, bust in their ass for this game. These games are kind of like their Super Bowl. They really are. Yeah, and also, I think there's a lot of stock that they put in proving themselves against a team that's a league above them. You do see the MLS team blow out the USL team in this scenario sometimes, but. Just with how Seattle is playing right now, struggling to score goals anyway, and the fact that it's going to be a rotated lineup with the fixture congestion. I mean, I think this is probably going to be a really close game. And I think it's probably going to piss a lot of people off because a lot of people go into a game against a USL team and think that Seattle should automatically blow them out, like blow them off the field. because they're an MLS team and I'm cautioning you right now, like I don't think that that's what's gonna happen. I could be wrong and maybe Seattle search their dominance here, but having seen how these kind of go in the past, I don't know. I think it's gonna be like a grinded out game decided by one goal. What do you think Noah? I think that it's going to be way more interesting than any Sanders games that we've been watching just simply because we're actually going to see a bunch of young players on the field. Like, does that mean it's going to be a better end product? Probably not. I mean, you know, I think that a lot of the, I don't know, a lot of the upside of these young players is shown when they're playing with complimentary players, you know, like not to say that Obed's not. talented if you put him in another squad. But he also has really talented players around him that elevate his his level in his game. But that said, I think I think it could be interesting. I think this could be the best. The Sounders have looked all season when you put in this, you know, scrappy rotated lineup of people who have most of them are probably having to sit on the bench and watch this team lose game after game. I'd be pissed off. I'd be pissed off and I would. think that this is my chance to go out and prove that I deserve a spot. I mean, people after 10 minutes of Georgie playing are like, sign this guy as a contract and replace Morris immediately. So I mean, if I'm Georgie, I'm going out there and I'm playing my ass off. So I think I think the Sounders will win this one. And I think it could get out of hand. I'm going to go opposite of Ari. I'm on the positive train today. I would be down to watch that if for no other reason. Like I think it would be cathartic to just watch them take it to a team, sort of like they were to the Union before they let them back in the game. Like that first half against the Union was, like, I was very surprised to, I couldn't believe what I was watching. So if they could do that to Louisville City in this game, that would be nice. I mean, one thing, One thing about these open cup games is they can often get a little hectic and crazy. So I think I'm hoping it'll be fun to watch even even if it's not like just Seattle running all over them. I'm hoping it's at least like entertaining and we get some goals. I don't even really care who scores them. I just want to see I just want to see some goals. Paul Rothrock is our only hope Ari, okay? We're bringing it back because Paul Rothrock should be starting. Put him at the nine and he will win you the US Open Cup. That's my take. He'll probably like if he actually gets his run in this game, he will probably score a goal or two like not as it like It's going to be the Obed connection too, I think. I think Obed 2 assists, you know. So yeah, that game is coming up on on Wednesday Let's dive into questions Noah and then we can add one other section and then winners and losers and then we can we can call it a wrap but Let's go ahead and do some quick hitters here from the ones that I collected last night for me with the people Heck yeah, from Greg he asks, do you think that Rusnak is a DP number 10? I don't think so. Tam at best, but not starting in the spot. The Rusnak slander has continued already. What do you think? Yeah, the Rusnack, the anti -Rusnack brigade has been out in full force these last couple of weeks. I mean, I just personally don't subscribe to it that much. I think it's, you know, when the team is struggling on offense, I get why, I get why he would become a target of ire. But like I always, I've always rated Rusnack as a pretty good MLS player dating back to his days with Rial Salt Lake. Like when him and Demir Krylak played together, they always made Rial Salt Lake a really tough team. And the other thing that I think does, this is what doesn't get acknowledged in this whole debate Noah. Okay, and this is important and I want the anti -Rusnack brigade to listen to this. Like you have to, when it comes to Albert Rusnack and like why he's on the team, you have to remember why he got signed to begin with, which was to make a play for CONCACAF Champions League. All right, they signed him. because they thought they were in a spot where they could actually compete for it and they thought he could help them get over the top. And that turned out to be correct. They won CCL with Albert Rusnak, not only on this team, but playing an important role in that tournament. Guys, they don't win CCL without Rusnak. Like, do you understand that? Like, you have to like come at this debate from acknowledging that off the top, in my opinion, because that fact, and it's a fact, That validates the signing when they made it, like right there. Like if you grant that they probably don't win CCL without him, which I don't think they do. Remember he scored a really big goal in the series against New York City. He was pretty selfless in how he changed positions. And a lot of the criticism of Albert Rusnak centers on how he hasn't really stuffed the stat sheet. with Seattle as much as he did with RSO. But most of the time that he's played for this team, he was playing deeper. Like, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills sometimes where people harp so much on his goals and assists, but he's been playing like further back where you don't get those numbers. That's just like not how it works. So he's only really gotten a chance to consistently play as a 10 this season. Like has it worked super well so far? I mean, no, like the offense isn't playing super well, but A, you can't only blame that on one guy and B, I still don't think there's really enough of a sample of him playing that position to really say how effective it is or isn't. Like it hasn't really looked that good so far this year, but like, I don't know how much just to blame that on one guy. Like blaming it all on one guy is, in my opinion, a little ridiculous. And also just the anti -Rusnack brigade, like why don't you guys ever acknowledge the fact that he was a key part of why this team won Champions League? I mean, if you're going to bring up the flip side of it, I think you have to acknowledge that as well. And that's just my take on it. But I've always thought he's a pretty damn good MLS player. I was a big fan of the signing because I watched him in Krylak for years on RSL. And I thought they were like one of the best kind of one, two punches in the league. And I was excited to see what, what Resonat could do with the Sounders. And I would say if you look at how this season has gone, it's underwhelmed compared to what I hoped it would be, but like he also helped them win CCL. So I'm not really going to complain that much about it. Sorry, that was a rant, but. it. I think the biggest argument for not even haters but just general people looking at this roster is is Rusnak a DP or is he a Tam player? That's the I also want to know what your take is on that Ori. And that's okay. So that's where I would acknowledge that the brigade might have a little bit of a point. Like I really, if I'm honestly assessing it and as much as I feel compelled to defend him sometimes, cause I think he, he, he gets a little unfairly targeted. Like when you think of him compared to the super elite dynamic tens that we've seen in the league the last couple of years, like I don't think he's been performing at that level. And I think. It is, I mean, it's fair. It's fair to point out that that's an issue with this roster right now. Like I don't mean to downplay that. I just, I just do think that he's been taking like a lot of slander and I think it's like over the top compared to how much of the problems can actually be attributed just to him. Like if you ever find yourself just targeting and slandering one guy, which I think is an issue with New Who 2 frankly, like. It's just like, you gotta look at everyone, man. I think when you're talking about why this team is struggling in attack, there are names that people aren't gonna wanna name that you probably should, man. I think you gotta look at the whole starting front four from this last game underperformed, including Russnack, so. Yeah, I don't think Rusnack's the problem, but I do think he is a Tam player. And I do think he still has a lot to bring to this team. And I don't think he's the reason we're losing games. And I don't think he's the reason he's he's he generates a lot of chances and he looks really great on the ball. And there's a lot of times where he gets you out of a jam because he's going to dribble past a defender or two defenders or turn his back, rotate the play and recycle it out and, you know, continue the attacking play. The fact that we can't put that ball on the net is not his fault. Like, are his shots that good? No, but you know, he's a 10. He's not a pure goalscorer and that's fine. But regardless, down with the Rusnak slander. Up next to Samour slander. It's tough to be so critical of a player when I know there's a lack of options, but Leo Chu is so wildly overrated. Easy money coming in with the heat here. The rate at which he loses possession is outstanding. I like he's attacking minded, but God, his decision making is awful and doesn't pass the cost benefit analysis. So Ari is Leo Chu fraudulent. That's the question. my god, I've been defending Leo Chu too. Just because, I mean, okay, I understand and share people's frustration with his decision making. It's comical sometimes, honestly, like watching him try and take guys on and just not make the correct decision with the play that he's making. The only capacity in which I'll defend him is that I do feel like he's one of the only guys on this team that makes plays. Like... At least he's trying. He doesn't, it's a small percentage of the time that what he's trying succeeds, but he at least is making runs. He at least gets on the stat sheet sometimes, you know? So for me personally, I put Leo Chu like lower down on my blame list as well. But like there was, a couple instances in this game where like the decision making when he's taking guys on and then also just the not being able to get that wide open shot on target where it's just like, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a yeah, it's a tough one. He shows flashes of brilliance and then, you know, he fizzles out. It happens. It's kind of, you know, but what are you going to do when when he is your starter? That's tough. That is tough. Nate here has a scorcher for us. What can Brian do to give these older players a spark? The young and new guys are playing with desire, but it feels like the vets don't play with desire or creativity. Is this a Pedro de la Vega waiting room? Question mark. We chatted about this a little bit earlier in the season about how maybe there is a continued CCL hangover and, you know, people like Jordan and Christian, they realize they have reached their ceiling. So what do you think, Ari? What if you take over the clipboard of Brian Schmitzer? Are you bashing in the heads of these old players with it? You know, it's funny because I thought during the during the Philly game, you kind of you kind of finally start started to see a team that was sort of playing like they had nothing to lose. And Schmetz even said in his postgame press conference, he was like, you know, I feel like these players feel like it's them against everybody right now. And I was like, OK, that's cool to hear at the same time. I mean, they kind of put themselves against everybody by not being able to score goals and picking up a bunch of red cards. But like, you know, yeah, that's if that's what if that's what you need to foster some motivation and some fire and get them and get them playing with more energy then yeah, sure like go ahead and lean on that and I thought that that was that's sort of like that's not a bad mentality to try and To try and lean on in a situation like this where you know We come on this podcast every week every time that they get shut out or get red cards We have our fun with it. The discourse on social media around the team is largely negative. And when you're in a situation like that, I think it does kind of give you nothing to lose. And it makes you, I thought in the Philly game that might have been a reason why they started playing well and started scoring goals, because they were kind of just like, you know, fuck it. Everyone's bagging on us. Everyone's making fun of us. We're picking up. We're picking up dumb red cards. We're not scoring goals. Let's just go out there and throw down as hard as we can. And sometimes when you're playing like that, it actually works. They're channeling a bit of the underdog mentality. And I thought that everyone who was starting in that Philly game in the first half, they were playing with some of that fire and effort and energy that you're talking about. They just, it just didn't carry over to the galaxy game. So I don't really know how you channel that consistently. It was nice. It's been nice to see it in spurts. And I really, I don't, I don't personally think that effort is really what I would boil this team's struggles down to. Like I know it's easy to point to that when thing, when results aren't going your way on the field. I see a team that's definitely like, it's not like they're not trying or that they've quit on the coach. I definitely don't get that sense at all. It's just they're not producing consistently enough right now. So I don't know. I don't know if that was a good answer, but. I think that's solid. It's it's you can only do so much as a coach. You can only do so much as a coach to motivate players. You can only do so much as a coach to, you know, fix mental things. That's like I think people put a lot of weight on coaching. And we've talked about it a lot. Like what is Brian Schmetter supposed to literally do everything? Is he supposed to magically heal every ACL that gets like torn? Like, I don't know. I don't know what Brian could do to like. completely fix this. Is he without blame? No, but if guys are quitting on you, like it's your decision to bench them. But it's hard to get him to like it's not I don't know. I have a hard time knowing or figuring out or blaming Brian for a ton of stuff like that. But you know what I will applaud Brian for is the next question that we're going into. which is Georgie flashed more danger in attack than Jordan Morris has all season. Is he our best left wing playing in Tacoma? Question mark. What I will add Ari is this sample size versus reality? Because he only played 10 minutes. What do you think? Georgie. I mean, he only played 10 minutes. So I don't really know if I'm on the train of like he should be an unquestioned first choice starter based off that 10 minute cameo. It was fun though. Like I'm down to see him play more. I think you're in a situation where you may as well start giving guys cameo opportunities like that. Why not? Yeah, I like that a lot. And let's finish it off here with three games this week. A point is a point, but it gets harder the next two matches. Is it bad? Was this draw really that bad in the long term of things? Ari. I mean, it was a pretty bad result. Yeah, because if you take it in the context of all the other results that they've had this season and the fact that I think the thing that bugs me about it is the galaxy, the galaxy were there for the taking. They didn't have their best player, Ricky Puj. They didn't have one of the best number nines in the league down over which like all you need to do is score one goal and you win this game and you couldn't do it despite having a lot of pretty good, pretty good chances. So. It's definitely, this was two points dropped much, much more than it was a point gained. Yeah, I agree. And just to add, our boy Mike here, he had a funny little comment and says, name the zebra Jordan Morris because he's lost. For those of you who get the zebra reference that were loose in North Bend. But thank you all for your questions. We love it when you lob your scorchers. Thank you for actually dropping some, even though we didn't lose. So. Yeah, no, agreed. I always appreciate getting the discourse flowing in my mentions after these games. Even if we don't get to your question or you don't even have a question, you just have a take. I think it's a good way to check the pulse of the streets and how everyone is feeling about the squad, even in these difficult times. OK, Noah, for the next segment, I had a question to pose for debate that I was going to have us talk about, OK? And what I wanted to talk about is the question of should you be rooting for the Columbus crew? The Columbus crew are in the CONCACAF Champions Cup as it's now known final and have an opportunity to join the Seattle Sounders as the only MLS clubs who have ever won the modern incarnation of the tournament. And so I think the question comes down to, you know, is it better to be the exclusive holders of that accomplishment? Which, you know, Seattle, as we all know, famously won in 2022. Or do you want them to win? Like, are you okay with them joining that rarefied air and pushing MLS forward as a whole and all that stuff? But I think, you know, before we get into that, I wanted to talk a little bit about the crew, because I feel like I've sold them a little bit short on this show this season. When I talk about the best teams in the league, or at least my favorite teams to watch, I've talked about Inter Miami a lot, obviously. I've talked about the Galaxy a lot. But the crew are arguably the best team in the league right now. They're reigning MLS Cup champions. They have a really good, really dominant roster with DPs that hit. Cucho Hernandez, Diego Rossi, Darlington Nagby. That's as good of a trio as you could hope for in MLS. Patrick Schulte is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. And their run in Champions Cup this year has been really impressive. But I think what truly... What truly honestly separates the crew aside from, you know, Cucho and all the great players that they have, Wilfred Nancy is the best coach in MLS. I don't think it's particularly close. You know, there's a couple of names that you could put up there, but, you know, I've talked a couple of times on this show about how I'm kind of agnostic on the effect of coaching and I don't really think who's technically the coach always makes as much of a difference as people think it does compared to the roster. that you have, which I think is the primary thing that drives winning. But like every once in a while, like there are a select group of coaches that actually give you a tangible advantage in every game you go into just because of how well they're able to impart and have their players execute their tactics and how their tactics, their tactical understanding of the game is kind of just like a step above everyone else that they're going against. So there's like, there's a few coaches on the global stage that I think are considered that tier of coach. Like, you know, Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool comes to mind. I think Pep comes to mind. Like Alex Ferguson is a guy I think who people considered like that in his day. Just guys who understand the game so well that every team that they're coaching has an actual... Advantage over the other team because of who the coach is that's pretty rare and I I think it's pretty clear that Wilford Nancy is in that category I think probably more probably more than any coach in MLS right now and there's been a lot of speculation that he's Probably not long for MLS that he might go overseas at some point. I could see it happening Just because I mean if you look at his background before he got to the crew He had CF Montreal plant punching way above their weight And that's why he ended up getting the Columbus job. And now he's right on the cusp of, of winning champions cup. So I'll tell you my perspective on it first, Noah. I actually, I kind of am rooting for the crew. I, it's sort of a win -win because if they choke and lose, then that's fine with me. And Seattle remains the only ones to win champions league as it was called when they won it. So like, I would be totally fine if the crew lose. But for me, it comes down to a couple of things. Number one, just their whole team, their organization, the brand of ball that they play, it's worthy of respect to me. I respect Wilford Nancy. I respect Cucho. I respect Diego Rossi. Darlington Nagby. I know he's a former Timber, but you can't not respect that guy and what he's accomplished in the league. And. about Morris. Yeah, that's good shout. Aiden Morris is one of the best young homegrown players in the league. Aiden Morris kind of owns Seattle. I hate to say it, like during the COVID MLS Cup, like he probably put in as good a shift against Nico Ladero as any player I've ever seen. So when it's a team that I respect their players, I respect their coach, I respect their organization and how they do things, I don't mind seeing them succeed in this situation. But like honestly, more than that, Noah, I also wouldn't mind seeing the pundits get a little bit of their comeuppance for the big victory lap that they took about Seattle having an easy path and it being like indisputable proof that the gap between MLS and League MX has not actually closed and all that. If they published a big column, about that with that victory lap and then the crew actually end up winning Champions Cup. That would be a pretty funny way for that take to age. So that's another reason that I'm okay. I would be okay with the crew winning this thing. What do you think? Yeah, I I've never been offended by the Columbus crew. One, because their original logo was kind of the most fire logo and all of MLS right behind the crayon flag of the revolution. Damn, I'm choking because of how much I love the crew, apparently. But I'm not offended by the crew winning. We already won it. Like, let's spread the wealth. Let's you know, I honestly. If I'm if I'm being honest, I want to see the Columbus crew and the Club World Cup because I kind of want to just see how hard they ball out. Like it's it's a good thing for the league, which like I know that a lot of people don't give a shit about what's good for the league, but it is good for the league and it's cool. It's like this team is incredibly fun to watch. I love Wilfred Nancy. I would honestly pay any amount of money to have him be the coach in Seattle. And frankly, I think. The biggest signing this year was not a player, but it was the fact that the Columbus crew were able to resign Wilfred Nancy to another year. So, yeah, I'm so for it. Who cares? I think also it bodes well for the Sounders. If the Sounders were the ones to have broken the glass ceiling to say, like, hey, this can be done. This can be done. Here is a model for how you do it. Here's a model for going into Mexico and not losing. And then, you know, you have the crew absolutely bawling out. It's like it doesn't boat. It doesn't change anything about the Sounders. I don't care for the only ones to ever do it. it doesn't take it. It doesn't take the shine. What was so cool about Seattle's is that like even if another team wins it, like Seattle is still first, you know, and that doesn't the crew winning it doesn't change that. So I feel I feel no type of way about another team joining those ranks. And it's like, like, you know, Seattle people can still pull the card of like they were they were chasing Seattle to begin with, like Seattle. Seattle walked so Columbus could run. And especially, I don't mind this Columbus team being potentially the one to join those ranks. They're deservedly in the final. And you have to give it to them at a certain point. They deserve the accolades and their status as arguably the top team in the league right now. I still think. I still think if you gave a one game final, Inter Miami versus Columbus, like I'm taking Inter Miami all day. See, that's a bad take. Like, I'm sorry. There's no way though. There's just no way. Like, I know that it's fun to think of a team, any team in this league beating Inter Miami in a one -off, but like, I've seen enough at this point now. The New York Red Bulls just lost to them six to two, brother. but they beat them for nothing at their place. So, I mean, it was an equal margin. they weren't healthy, when they weren't healthy. But like, I mean, OK, so if you if you do that hypothetical with Inter Miami as like injured with no messy, then yeah, I'm taking the crew. But like if you if all things are equal and both teams are of relative health, like I'm taking Miami and wouldn't even be close. I but that's actually a good segue. I'm glad I'm glad we talked about that. you okay, here's another one just quickly been covering CCC enough on this show. I kind of let it fall by the wayside, so. okay. You know, neither is the MLS dots the soccer .com. So, you know, that's how it goes. Too much Lees Cup coverage. Anyway, just being a hater here. No, I'm kidding. The the one thing I was going to say, if you hate Inter Miami, absolutely root for the Columbus crew. If you love the Sounders, absolutely root for the Columbus crew. That's all I'm going to say. I'm done with that. good shot. Okay, let's get into winners and losers from the latest slate of matches in MLS, match day 12, I believe. And we just, I have a funny story for this one. We just talked about it, but Inter Miami smashed the New York Red Bulls 6 -2 and Lionel Messi broke two MLS records. He had one goal, five assists. The five assists were a single game assist record for MLS. The six goal contributions were a single game record for MLS. And I just had a fun time with this game because I was covering the whole slate on the MLSsoccer .com editorial desk. And so I was watching this Miami game. And when Messi got to one goal, two assists, we were doing a little post, like a running post during the game about it because I think he now had, he gave him multiple goal contributions in like six straight games. It was some kind of, it was kind of. some kind of historical milestone or, or I think it would mainly the post was just like Messi's doing it again. He's going off against the Red Bulls, whatever. But like he, he got three more assists between the 69th and the 81st minute while I was trying to write this post. And every time he gets another assist, it kind of changes the angle. I have to change how many assists are in the post. It changes the like historical implications of it. It changes his numbers for the season and. He this guy was just I was just like stop getting assists. Like I need you to stop right now. Like I'm trying to do this content and I can't do it because every time I look up you have another assist by the time it's all said and done. He has five of them six goal contributions and broke two different MLS records. I mean that's that's that's why I just think there's like a game like that is just why there's there's no. There's no team that's even close to this team right now when they're at their apex, not even the crew. It is a different level of ball than any MLS team has ever played. And six goal contributions in one game, you don't see that. That's as good as Cucho is, as good as Diego Rossi is, as good as some of the other players are in this league. I don't know if we'll ever see six goal contributions in a game. again, like in any league. That's just a crazy crooked number. I still like, Luis Suarez had a hat trick. I don't know. It's just, it's ridiculous to watch. And like, I just, I hate to spoil how this season is going to go for everyone, but like, if this, if this Miami team is healthy, they're winning MLS cup. And it's not even like, There's no one who can stop it. I'm sorry. I hate to be that guy, but... love they did the bit as well, which is, you know, they love to concede the most embarrassing goal possible and then bang in the three most disgusting or six most disgusting goals you've ever seen. I'm glad that you brought that up because what the other thing I was going to say is that like we need to stop falling for that. Every time they concede the first goal, everyone's like, this team does this team have the defense to really, really contend in MLS? I mean, their defense is pretty bad. They keep giving up these early goals. How long can they really last? Guys, like it does when you can score four to six goals a game without even trying, it doesn't matter. Like you can give up two to three goals and you're probably, you're still going to win. Like, so I just, let's learn our lesson this time. As soon as they gave up that goal to the Red Bulls, I was nipping it in the bud. Like in my head, I was like, that, I mean, it does like that. That's meaningless. Like the Red Bulls may as well have not even scored that. Like it does, that gives them zero advantage. It gives them zero leg up. It doesn't, it doesn't mean anything. Miami is still going to win this game by multiple goals and sure enough, they scored six. So, that Messi put this up directly after Obed put up a Messia messianic performance, I think. And I'm just, you know, I'm I'm just, you know, this is just me putting this out here. But I think he saw Obed's performance and he locked in and was like, you know what? I can't let this kid outshine me, frankly. it's a good point. We did talk about on the last show how Obed's performance compared to Messi, which I think was a well thought out and well reasoned take. And then Messi has six goal contributions in a game the game after. So I don't think that could be a coincidence. Minnesota United. Yeah, exactly. Minnesota United beat Atlanta United 2 -1 on the road. And. They deserve to be highlighted as a winner this week, I think, because they've been one of the best teams in the league this year up there with Inter Miami on points per game, close to two points per game, which is typically like the pace you need to win the shield. And they've done it without Emmanuel Reynoso, who is missing in Argentina, and Timu Puki, who was their big DP forward last year. I don't know if he's been hurt or like just not as much in the rotation right now, but he hasn't really been contributing the way that you would. You would think that a DP forwarded it have to for especially for this team to succeed So I guess the reason I bring that up is because like it shows that it can be done like like They don't have their DP 10 and they're still like One of the better they're they're still pulling results and they are one of they have one of the better points per games in the league so Like I don't know what Seattle has to do to like pull a similar feat But Minnesota United is kind of showing that it's possible to overcome personnel challenges in this league. We kind of talk about it in absolutes sometimes where like, OK, you're missing your number 10. It's all over. Like, not always. Eric Ramsey, their new coach, he's doing a good job there. And then I have Nashville SC 4 -1 over CF Montreal. They got Walker Zimmerman back. They looked more like themselves defensively, which they hadn't without him. And then Sam Surge scored a hat trick who he's kind of been an underperforming DP nine for them. And it's kind of resulted in Nashville SC not really achieving the heights that a lot of people thought they might after a strong first couple of years in MLS. So seeing Walker Zimmerman come back and seeing Sam Surge score a hat trick, that's big news for Nashville SC. For the losers, Atlanta United, Noah, Gonzo Pineda. I mean, I think he's on the hot seat. A lot of Atlanta United fans have been talking about this for a while. And after this loss at home to Minnesota United, which was their second home loss in a row, the Gonzo out crowd was in full force. I'm kind of partial to Gonzo Pineda. Like, I think he was a pretty sick coach for Seattle. And I tend to blame Carlos Bocanegra more for what's gone on with Atlanta United than I blame the coach. Again, I typically tend to think like. with Atlanta's United roster, Atlanta United's roster of the last couple years, like it, yeah, you could fire Gonzo Pineda, that's fine, go for it. Anyone that you put in with that kind of, with how that roster has been built, they're probably gonna struggle with the exact same stuff. Like, I don't know, I don't know how much of a difference it really makes, but Atlanta United underachieving again so far this year, their coach is on the hot seat, the fan base is not happy. I think that's pretty funny, but I do feel bad for them. Yeah, that's a good bit. Bring them home. You bring them home, it might come to it at some point. The Portland Timbers are doing just as badly as the Seattle Sounders. I think they have the exact same record now. I know they both have 10 points. They lost 2 -0 at Charlotte FC, and I think it's noteworthy just because the Phil Neville era is kind of reeling. I hadn't really been paying that much attention to the Timbies this year. I just kind of assumed that they were doing OK or doing pretty good because they got off to a good start in the first couple of weeks. And Phil Neville was getting positive press for the job he was doing there early. It is torpedoed on them. They have the same record as Seattle. And it's kind of, yeah, so that's what I was going to say. They've gotten to that record in a different way. They score a lot more goals, but they've also conceded 10 more goals than Seattle. So their defense is just really bad, but neither, the Vancouver Whitecaps are the best Cascadia team and it's like not even remotely close. Which I think is kind of sick, honestly. I like Scottish Metsy and Sartini and like the Whitecaps have kind of been the Cascadia punching bag over the years. So, you know, them getting their due and getting to kind of lord it over. over us and Lord it over Portland. It's fair enough, I guess, is what I'm saying. Like they've earned it. And then one more loser and then we'll get out of here. L .A .F .C. absolutely bammed on by the San Jose earthquakes. No, no, no respectable MLS club would ever lose to San Jose earthquakes. I can't fathom it. It definitely it would it would just it would never happen to a club that that had any sort of dignity or self -respect. I can't even think of the last time that a club in Major League Soccer lost to the San Jose earthquake. I mean, just incredibly embarrassing. That is their only win of the season. any any club that that happened to should be absolutely embarrassed of events, relegated him. And of course, we say that because the San Jose earthquakes have two wins now this year, the other of which from this L .A. of C. game was against the Seattle Sounders. I think I might be making that up. OK, yeah, yeah, we'll have to check that one. Yeah. Anyway. Let's call it a wrap right there for episode 32, Noah. Thank you to everyone, as always, for tuning in. As I say every week, the listenership on this show is just so far beyond what we hoped for or thought it would be when we started this thing. So we love and appreciate each and every one of you who tune in every week. We have a lot of fun doing it. We're going to keep grinding this content. Thank you so much once again to all our paid subs you guys are the real MVPs. It's so sick that we We have more and more people signing up for that every week If you'd like to keep if you'd like to support the show and you haven't yet Just go to podcast outlawing scorchers comm you'll see a little heart button where you can You can choose how much to support three dollars five dollars ten dollars, whatever it may be it really any any amount of money at all means a lot to us and We just we really appreciate all you guys. Like, comment. can, there's a link in the podcast show description that says support the show. exactly. Like, comment, subscribe. Write us a review on Apple. Do all that stuff. Tell your friends, tell your family, all the standards. Tell everyone. But thanks for tuning in to episode 32. Until next time, we out.