Speaker 1: RSL finish their preseason action earn a three to three
Speaker 1: draw against the New York Red Bulls. Now, it's not
Speaker 1: a the Conker CAF champions Cup. Let's bring in Kurt Schmidt,
Speaker 1: the guy in charge of all the decisions. Nobody else
Speaker 1: makes any choices. It's only Kurt, so he is the
Speaker 1: chief roster constructor. Hello Kurt, Happy Thursday, sir.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 3: I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: How you doing I'm well, appreciate the time. So just
Speaker 1: let's get some big picture thoughts from you. Now that
Speaker 1: the preseason is behind us. What'd you like about the group?
Speaker 1: What are you hoping to learn? And now the preseason
Speaker 1: is behind us, what are some of the things that you,
Speaker 1: as the guy in charge of putting this thing together
Speaker 1: like the most.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think one of the things that jumps out of
Speaker 4: me the most is the depth of the squad. I
Speaker 4: think is shown to be really good in preseason. You know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of competition in every position on the field,
Speaker 4: and I think that's something that's going to bode well
Speaker 4: as we go through the season. If guys are pushing
Speaker 4: each other every day in training, it's gonna make them
Speaker 4: that much Scharper on game days. It was really positive
Speaker 4: to see that. And then I think a close second
Speaker 4: or a one to eight of that is seeing the
Speaker 4: way the new guys that joined us last summer vetted
Speaker 4: in with the full preseason and looked to settle a
Speaker 4: bit more.
Speaker 1: So early returns as far as the abilities to find
Speaker 1: the back of the net. You know, we had Pablo
Speaker 1: on a couple of weeks ago now and Jay stopped
Speaker 1: by last week, and they both kind of echoed the
Speaker 1: sentiment that the goals would be by committee. You know,
Speaker 1: you had a dominant individual goal scorer for a number
Speaker 1: of matches last year in Cheat Show, and you know,
Speaker 1: Jason actually brought up you'll get a kick out of
Speaker 1: this because we're going to talk a little Jeff Cunningham
Speaker 1: on the show today. Kurt, Yep, you didn't think we
Speaker 1: were going there, you know when Jay, Yeah, when Jay
Speaker 1: took over as coach, and you know, Jeff had scored
Speaker 1: I don't know, like sixteen goals, had twelve assists the
Speaker 1: year before. No love lost between those two. Jeff knew
Speaker 1: he was gone. It took like twenty four hours and
Speaker 1: the question was, well, who's going to score the goals?
Speaker 1: And ultimately, you know, obviously that led to a situation
Speaker 1: where you know, euromopsising was good, Sabo was good, but
Speaker 1: it was more of like a group effort. So early
Speaker 1: returns of the roster you put together and the ability
Speaker 1: to find the back of the net, give me your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't think we struggled to find the
Speaker 4: back of the net in in preseason. You know, three goals,
Speaker 4: well three three goals in each of the games we
Speaker 4: played yesterday with with both groups, you know, three goals
Speaker 4: on the weekend, I believe, and a couple of goals
Speaker 4: against New York City, and so I think we've we've
Speaker 4: been able to find it. You know, guys like you
Speaker 4: know Forsters hit the back of the net, Alreadys hit
Speaker 4: the back of the net, Dominic Diogo, Lockey, you know,
Speaker 4: the guys that play those positions that you expected a goals,
Speaker 4: they all have all picked up goals in preseason. So
Speaker 4: obviously it's a you know, it's preseason, so it's always
Speaker 4: taken with a grain of salt. But seeing those guys
Speaker 4: find the score sheet, you know, even in preseason, is
Speaker 4: a huge positive heading into the year.
Speaker 1: So the window closed is April twenty third, so it's
Speaker 1: not like you tomorrow. You do have some time, and
Speaker 1: obviously RSL fans and people that follow the club curious
Speaker 1: as to what potential additions could could come their way,
Speaker 1: and namely maybe a designated player since you do have
Speaker 1: that option, and namely a number nine.
Speaker 2: I'm just asking the question, Kurt, what do you think?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the guys that we've got right now,
Speaker 4: you know, Rane Forster has been the two that have
Speaker 4: gotten the line, share those minutes, and they're gonna they're
Speaker 4: gonna play early games and settle in and we'll see
Speaker 4: how they do. But yeah, we're looking for someone that
Speaker 4: can come in. And you know, I think those guys
Speaker 4: have done really well in terms of what they give us,
Speaker 4: how they execute the game model, the attributes they bring
Speaker 4: to that, and they fit in.
Speaker 3: Really really well. And I think the only.
Speaker 4: Thing that we would be looking to upgrade over them
Speaker 4: is is just that experience and track record of finding
Speaker 4: the back of.
Speaker 3: The net on a regular basis at a high level.
Speaker 4: And obviously those those guys don't have that, not through
Speaker 4: any real fault of their own. They're just young players.
Speaker 1: Any other areas, because you reference the depth of the team,
Speaker 1: And of course number nine is the obvious question that
Speaker 1: people have on their minds as a result of what
Speaker 1: happened with not just Chico but a number of other
Speaker 1: attacking players. But away from that area, as you analyze
Speaker 1: other additions to the roster prior to this window closing
Speaker 1: in April, what are some of your thoughts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, look, obviously Diego's out right now. You know,
Speaker 4: Lachlan brook has gotten a lot of minutes in his place,
Speaker 4: and you picked up a good goal and covers this
Speaker 4: hunt of ground, and I think he's done really well.
Speaker 4: I think we've got good depth in the middle of
Speaker 4: midfield with Ojeita and America and Nelson and Pablo Luiz
Speaker 4: and even you know, obviously Noelklifkin, who's played a few
Speaker 4: different positions, even you know behind them, and then and
Speaker 4: then we've added definitely the back line guys like Kobe Henry.
Speaker 4: You know, Phil Quintin's injured right now, but he should
Speaker 4: be back soon, Sam Junkua, all those guys are just
Speaker 4: adding an extra element of competition at both center back
Speaker 4: on both sides and both sides at fullback. Javane Brown,
Speaker 4: Body Hidalgo, those guys that we didn't have as much
Speaker 4: last year, and so just gives us the extra little
Speaker 4: bit of accountability and kind of, like I said earlier,
Speaker 4: when you've got to perform every day in training, it
Speaker 4: makes you that much sharper for the game. So if
Speaker 4: guys want to want to get their spot in the
Speaker 4: squad for Saturday, they've got to bring it every day
Speaker 4: of the week.
Speaker 1: And that obviously is something that is such a healthy
Speaker 1: approach when it comes to the old cliche of iron
Speaker 1: sharpening iron, and you know, you want to make sure
Speaker 1: guys are working for their food and working for their spot.
Speaker 1: I did want to ask you about Diego though your reference.
Speaker 1: Diego's out obviously, situation with a national team and that
Speaker 1: broken nose or whatever else came down. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was amazing that he went back in and hopefully that
Speaker 1: kind of solidified his spot with that staff and they'll
Speaker 1: continue to look to bring him in for collups and such.
Speaker 1: And I know it's kind of like a running joke
Speaker 1: behind the scenes of who found Diego? I give you
Speaker 1: the credit, you know, but it's just fun banter, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's funny.
Speaker 2: What's that old saying?
Speaker 1: I can't remember the saying is something about success sons
Speaker 1: have several fathers and failures, you know, have none or whatever.
Speaker 1: Of course, everybody wants to take credit because the kid's
Speaker 1: so good, but what stands out most of you about
Speaker 1: his growth and what are you expecting from him this year?
Speaker 1: Because it does feel like I hate to, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of do the media cliche thing, but in a way, Kurt,
Speaker 1: it feels like this is kind of Diego's team.
Speaker 5: Now, Yeah, I mean, I look, I'm always reluctant to
Speaker 5: maybe say that kind of and put that stuff on anybody,
Speaker 5: but I think he's a guy that has shown to
Speaker 5: be a reliable key performer and that's what we need.
Speaker 3: And so like for him, his work rate is defending.
Speaker 4: Those are all things he's had to add to his
Speaker 4: game since coming here, and those are now big strength
Speaker 4: of his The thing that he needed to add in
Speaker 4: last year that we were counting on him for was
Speaker 4: the production, the goals and the assists, and he was.
Speaker 3: Able to do that.
Speaker 4: And so the reality is like we think, I think
Speaker 4: Diego can take another step and contribute even more on
Speaker 4: that side of things, and you know, while still maintaining
Speaker 4: all the other elements that he's doing as he continues
Speaker 4: to settle in and grow and develop and become more
Speaker 4: comfortable in his own skin and in this environment.
Speaker 3: So that stuff with the national team is huge. I
Speaker 3: agree with you. I think that should give him enough.
Speaker 4: Credibility with that staff that they should look at him
Speaker 4: again and give him a shot with with uh maybe
Speaker 4: maybe the more you know, first choice group and then
Speaker 4: rather than just the January camp, and we'll see how
Speaker 4: he debts, because that's another level up, you know, for him,
Speaker 4: and a mecca where the speed of plays higher, mistakes
Speaker 4: get punished faster and more, you know, more heavily, and
Speaker 4: so you've got to raise your game to make sure
Speaker 4: you compete at that level. And then when a player
Speaker 4: does that and then comes back to us, brings that
Speaker 4: to our environment and maintains that standard with us, holds
Speaker 4: holds his teammate, heer to that standard, that's going to
Speaker 4: make us that much better as well.
Speaker 2: What about you know, what are you asking?
Speaker 1: And this is always a difficult thing because it does
Speaker 1: feel like at times, maybe there are young players that
Speaker 1: have innate leadership and look, all of these guys are pros,
Speaker 1: and so they came up through the ranks where they
Speaker 1: were the best player for their their club team, or
Speaker 1: their high school team, or their college team or whatever.
Speaker 1: And so at times throughout the course of all their
Speaker 1: journeys they've probably been asked to lead. But have you,
Speaker 1: you know, as a staff or maybe this is a
Speaker 1: Pablo question, have you asked more from Diego as a personality,
Speaker 1: as an outspoken leader, not just a great player.
Speaker 3: I think part of what we want to.
Speaker 4: Do this year is ask more from everybody, So not
Speaker 4: to just make it Diego specific, but I think asking
Speaker 4: asking everyone to hold themselves to a high standard, but
Speaker 4: then also hold their teammates accountable.
Speaker 3: And I think when we do.
Speaker 4: That, then everyone's doing their job, everyone's working for the team,
Speaker 4: and we're going to get the results that we want.
Speaker 4: So it's it's I mean, the answer to question I
Speaker 4: guess this is yes, But it's not.
Speaker 3: Just Diego, it's the whole team.
Speaker 4: We want everyone to hold themselves to have a center,
Speaker 4: but hold their teamates accountable. Because you know, even though
Speaker 4: you might be the most professional, the most consistent guy,
Speaker 4: even the most consistent guys have bad days and and
Speaker 4: someone needs to, you know, bring you up when that happened.
Speaker 3: So we need everyone to bring.
Speaker 1: That, so I wanted to kind of kick the tires
Speaker 1: with you. Also about a Mecca. Oh, who do we
Speaker 1: give credit for finding a mecca?
Speaker 2: Is that also you?
Speaker 3: It's a group effort. All of them are group efforts,
Speaker 3: Ben Sweet. We have an amazing scouting.
Speaker 4: Department, you know, Mulholland, John Spencer, Joe Thomas, you know
Speaker 4: these guys are doing a great job.
Speaker 2: All right, I'll give you credit. Nice work finding a Mecca.
Speaker 1: And Elly he is He's just another player that I
Speaker 1: think then this is just me.
Speaker 2: Talking out loud.
Speaker 1: Obviously I'm not speaking for anybody over there, but it
Speaker 1: feels like potentially some of the decisions you made to
Speaker 1: pivot and recalibrate and let some players go in part
Speaker 1: was due to the evolution of some of the other pieces,
Speaker 1: namely Diego, who've already talked about, but also a Mecca
Speaker 1: who at every stop seems like he continues to outperform
Speaker 1: everybody's expectations. I mean, I've always kind of had this
Speaker 1: thing with the MLS draft and like, why do we
Speaker 1: do this? It doesn't feel like the ever any players
Speaker 1: that we drafted play well outside of a handful like
Speaker 1: Tony Beltran, and you know, I know Gasper gave you
Speaker 1: some good minutes or whatever, but he may already be
Speaker 1: the best player that RSL has ever had via the draft.
Speaker 1: All due respect to Tony Beltran, who probably still deserves
Speaker 1: that Moniker, But what stands out most to you about
Speaker 1: a Mecca's growth and what are you asking from him
Speaker 1: this year? Not just as a player, but same question
Speaker 1: as Diego also as a leader.
Speaker 4: Well, I won't, I won't stand for any Tony Bell translander.
Speaker 4: We'll have to back away from that.
Speaker 3: But no, I think, look, we.
Speaker 4: Have to look at every player acquisition method and you know,
Speaker 4: like he had Jasper, we moved.
Speaker 3: Him on and we traded him.
Speaker 4: But like he's the guy that we drafted I think
Speaker 4: eighty something in the draft and he's still like he's
Speaker 4: playing a MLS and you know, three four years later,
Speaker 4: he's still giving good minutes. He's gotten on a second contract,
Speaker 4: Like those are wins for us even though he's no
Speaker 4: longer play for us.
Speaker 3: Still so but yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4: A Mecca's a Mecca is just a guy. And I
Speaker 4: think what I tell people when I get it questions
Speaker 4: like this, like kind of what is it about him?
Speaker 3: Is?
Speaker 4: You know it's it's about his learning curve and his adaptability,
Speaker 4: and he's just he's just a really good learner. And
Speaker 4: those are the guys that I think make the best
Speaker 4: leap from college to to MLS because there's a lot
Speaker 4: to adapt to physically but mentally mostly. And the quicker
Speaker 4: you can take on new information and incorporate it into
Speaker 4: your game, the quicker you can adapt, the better you're
Speaker 4: gonna you know, the better career you're gonna have. So
Speaker 4: obviously he's a smart, smart guy, a smart kid. He
Speaker 4: leads by example. I think this year the challenge to
Speaker 4: him a little bit is, you know, coming coming out
Speaker 4: of now his first you know, last year was his
Speaker 4: first year as a guy who plays all the time,
Speaker 4: you know, so this year he's he's a guy that
Speaker 4: the expectations to him are known, and so can he
Speaker 4: not just lead by example but also lead vocally at
Speaker 4: times and help the team that way. So I think
Speaker 4: he's got that in him. That's the kind of person
Speaker 4: character he is, and now it's just about feeling comfortable
Speaker 4: in his own skin to bring that to this group
Speaker 4: in the.
Speaker 1: Pros as we were talking about so far, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting so Ari and Forrester are kind
Speaker 1: of getting the bulk of the looks at nine.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if this is an.
Speaker 1: Exact parallel where we can be analogous entirely, but the
Speaker 1: world of pro basketball now, they've kind of eliminated positions
Speaker 1: depending on which coach you play for. Like Will Hardy
Speaker 1: talks about, I don't care if he's a point guard.
Speaker 1: I don't care if he's a two guard. I just
Speaker 1: want playmakers. I want guys that can make plays for
Speaker 1: themselves and make plays for others. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if there's anything there there as far as what Pablo
Speaker 1: wants to do. But when you have the potential, and
Speaker 1: I really mean this, I'm not just blowing smoke. I
Speaker 1: just think the potential of Diego, Diego and Mark Zuke,
Speaker 1: the three of those specifically, those players specifically seem to
Speaker 1: have such bright, creative flare and potential to provide opportunities.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it doesn't matter who's at nine. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that at all. But when you look at
Speaker 1: the creative potential of those three specifically, how much easier
Speaker 1: will that make it for the team if and I'm
Speaker 1: talking about Diego Diego and Mark Zuke specifically, those are
Speaker 1: the three players that have stood out to me is
Speaker 1: the most creative. And I'm sure I'm missing others because
Speaker 1: I have to get to know these new guys.
Speaker 2: I don't know them very very much.
Speaker 1: But what do you hope that I guess I'll say
Speaker 1: Triumviant in the midfield looks like when it's fully baked.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I'm glad you brought up Dominic because
Speaker 4: because I don't think he gets enough credit, and he's
Speaker 4: been fantastic this preseason.
Speaker 3: He's He's a really talented.
Speaker 4: Player that works really hard and creates a lot of chances.
Speaker 4: I think when you talk about who's playing the nine,
Speaker 4: and the important thing for us is that they do
Speaker 4: what they're supposed to do and they're they're predictable, not
Speaker 4: for the defense, but for our team, right, And so
Speaker 4: those are three creative players. And if if they know,
Speaker 4: if they're on the same page with the striker, no
Speaker 4: matter who it is, you know, if they're on the
Speaker 4: same page, the odds of us getting the ball to
Speaker 4: people in the right spots to generate quality chances are
Speaker 4: really high, and we'll be less reliant on all right,
Speaker 4: let's get it to this guy and expect him to
Speaker 4: create some magic to create a chance or a goal
Speaker 4: for us. So when you have sort of that system
Speaker 4: based approach to attack, I think it's gonna.
Speaker 3: It's gonna.
Speaker 4: It almost doesn't matter what the name on the shirt says.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, once you're in that situation, you've got
Speaker 4: to have the quality to finish. I thought, you know,
Speaker 4: Forster did an excellent job of that twice yesterday, where
Speaker 4: you know he's he's done a breakaway and you know,
Speaker 4: despite his relative inexperience and relative youth, you know, slots
Speaker 4: it away in the corner pretty calmly and and takes
Speaker 4: a second chance really well. And then Ari gets a
Speaker 4: good goal in the game after that. So those guys
Speaker 4: are going to get chances if they're doing with ask
Speaker 4: of them, and they are, and then it's just about
Speaker 4: finishing them and those three guys underneath, it's just about
Speaker 4: giving them service. And again that knowing where the striker
Speaker 4: is going to be at very specific times and parts
Speaker 4: on the field.
Speaker 1: So a lot was excuse me, a lot was made
Speaker 1: last year and Pablo was really good to come on
Speaker 1: the show and kind of walk us through this quote
Speaker 1: unquote new system that you guys wanted to implement, and
Speaker 1: you had a massive change over with his staff. You
Speaker 1: kept your head coach, but you moved on from a
Speaker 1: lot of the assistants and that system, combined with the
Speaker 1: real the bright personnel you provided, led to a lot
Speaker 1: of exciting, bright moments, and for me there was probably
Speaker 1: a six or seven week stretch where I thought it
Speaker 1: was the most entertaining soccer quite frankly, we've ever had here.
Speaker 1: Now in twenty years of RSL's existence, is there a
Speaker 1: adjust Is there an adjustment now to that system catered
Speaker 1: to the new personnel or is it kind of the
Speaker 1: same deal based off the success you had a year ago.
Speaker 4: I think there's yeah, there's a lot of similarities. And
Speaker 4: last year it was kind of building it from scratch
Speaker 4: because it's not what we did the year prior. This year,
Speaker 4: it's more about adding on to that, integrating new players,
Speaker 4: and then tweaks that can help us in specific situations. So,
Speaker 4: you know, there's a lot of the bulk of the
Speaker 4: group is comfortable with how we play and what we
Speaker 4: want to do, and now how do we integrate you know,
Speaker 4: both the guys that just joined us right now, but
Speaker 4: also the guys that joined us in the summer more
Speaker 4: fully into the system what we're doing. And then and
Speaker 4: then the other piece to go beyond that is, okay, now,
Speaker 4: when this isn't working, what's the second thing that we
Speaker 4: can do to break a team down that a little
Speaker 4: more difficult to break down. So it's just just integrating
Speaker 4: the new guys into that group and then enhancing what
Speaker 4: we're doing and just being consistent with it.
Speaker 1: So last year and you and I have discussed this,
Speaker 1: and for listeners that maybe just missed it, let's kind
Speaker 1: of rehash a little bit. It was clear that the
Speaker 1: situation and goal was left wanting and potentially a little untenable.
Speaker 1: You know, you transfer gav On. He stays in the
Speaker 1: Blitzer umbrella. I will not ask you on the record
Speaker 1: why Zach waited so long to get surgery. I'll just
Speaker 1: keep that to myself. A little frustrated, I would imagine.
Speaker 1: But you did make some additions, namely Rafa Cabral, who
Speaker 1: got the start yesterday. So talk about Cabral, the Brazilian keeper.
Speaker 1: What you're expecting from him. It seems like he's the
Speaker 1: first choice guy and the death you have behind him
Speaker 1: in goal.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, Rafa is just the really really experienced
Speaker 4: guy that brings some calm and some leadership to the
Speaker 4: group in the back line. He's good with the ball
Speaker 4: at his feet. He's a good shot stopping goalkeeper. He's
Speaker 4: played at you know, Napoli's played at Reading, He's played
Speaker 4: at Gramio, you know, in a few of the clubs
Speaker 4: in Brazil, like he's he brings a lot of experience
Speaker 4: to the position. He's a good you know, a good egg,
Speaker 4: a good character back there. He talks, he organizes, he communicates,
Speaker 4: I think all of that, and you know, obviously he's
Speaker 4: an older player, but in goal, that's that's kind of
Speaker 4: okay back there, and you're it's okay to have a
Speaker 4: guy who's a little bit older. Goalkeeper's age a little
Speaker 4: better than you know, let's say, center forwards do and
Speaker 4: and they get better, you know, as they get older,
Speaker 4: with more experience and they can organize, and you know,
Speaker 4: it starts to look maybe more like shots are right
Speaker 4: at him because hopefully their positioning gets better. So he
Speaker 4: brings a lot of that calm and composure that you know,
Speaker 4: we want back there, both in and out of possession.
Speaker 1: How many languages do you speak, Kurt, and not like
Speaker 1: Trey who claims he speaks Spanish but can't even formulate
Speaker 1: the sentence, how many actual languages do you speak?
Speaker 4: I'm I'm far more humble than Trey. I speak one
Speaker 4: language fluently. You're you're listening to it now. But I
Speaker 4: can get by in uh in Spanish, and if you
Speaker 4: give me a couple of weeks in German speaking country,
Speaker 4: I can get by in Germany.
Speaker 1: You know, at this stage of his life, humility is
Speaker 1: not something Trey is going to find. He is going
Speaker 1: to meet his demise as a result of his ego.
Speaker 1: But we can move on from it. I ask you,
Speaker 1: because I read this today. Ten nationalities represented in your
Speaker 1: eleven yesterday, Brazil, Greece, Columbia, Poland, Paraguay, Australia, Ghana, and
Speaker 1: of course the United States.
Speaker 2: What sort of communication.
Speaker 1: Challenges, Kurt, does that provide in a locker room?
Speaker 4: Nearly none. It's not funny because you brought up all
Speaker 4: those nationalities. But one of the threads through some of
Speaker 4: the more especially the more recent signings of the last
Speaker 4: two three windows, is that is that they all speak English.
Speaker 4: So you know, Alex Catranis whose Greek speaks English. You
Speaker 4: know Rafa Karol whose Brazilian speaks English. You know Diogo
Speaker 4: speaks English. You know, we only have a few guys
Speaker 4: that even Brian o'hada you know, doesn't always love to
Speaker 4: but he understands and speaks better English than he lets on.
Speaker 3: So you know, we have a lot of guys.
Speaker 4: That despite obviously Ari Peel speaking, we have a lot
Speaker 4: of guys from different nationalities. But you know, we wanted
Speaker 4: to find guys that did speak English so that we
Speaker 4: didn't have communication issues, leadership issues, those types of things.
Speaker 4: And even going into this offseason, it was something that
Speaker 4: we wanted to shore up and improve. And then you know,
Speaker 4: on top of that, obviously is we're still going to
Speaker 4: end up bringing some players at various points that don't
Speaker 4: speak English, and it's just getting them onboarded and speaking
Speaker 4: you know, at least passable English as quickly as possible.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I mean, finding guys that are already flow
Speaker 4: in English helps helps get them on board with what
Speaker 4: we're doing that much faster.
Speaker 2: All right, before I say you loose it is wild.
Speaker 1: There were six days away from a game that actually
Speaker 1: counts and matters but we are so just kind of
Speaker 1: take an opportunity here for our listenership on the program
Speaker 1: to kind of educate us a little bit on the
Speaker 1: cocky CAF Champions Cup. Er Deiano is your first opponent,
Speaker 1: and then we'll go from there. But six days away
Speaker 1: from game one, Kurt, how's the squad feeling?
Speaker 3: Squad feels good? Much feels good.
Speaker 4: I think, you know, heading into the Champions League, you know,
Speaker 4: and it's a competition that I've been a part of
Speaker 4: quite a few times. I think the one thing you
Speaker 4: kind of build up, you know, when you when you've
Speaker 4: been in it for a while or multiple times, you
Speaker 4: build up like almost an institutional knowledge about the tournament
Speaker 4: and what it means and the difficulties it presents. I know, Rcel,
Speaker 4: you know this. This club has been a part of it,
Speaker 4: but we haven't been a part of it in a while,
Speaker 4: and so I think we're going to have to relearn
Speaker 4: some of those things. But you know, it's it's always
Speaker 4: a tough environment no matter who you're playing. When you
Speaker 4: head into the Central American or the Caribbean countries and
Speaker 4: you know, play those games on the road, the conditions
Speaker 4: are just so much difference than what guys are used to.
Speaker 4: It just changes how they prepare and how they head
Speaker 4: into games and all those things, and they've got to
Speaker 4: be a little more ready, a little more sharp than
Speaker 4: than maybe they would in a normal league game where
Speaker 4: it's pretty homogenous from you know, city to city, club
Speaker 4: to club, hotel the hotel within MLS and within you know,
Speaker 4: North America. So it's something that that we've got to
Speaker 4: face that challenge. But you know, andreddy On is a
Speaker 4: good team. You know, it's not a team that we
Speaker 4: can look past in any way, and we just need
Speaker 4: to go down there and get a good result and
Speaker 4: bring it back home. And this is the earliest I
Speaker 4: think we've played at home since.
Speaker 3: I've been here. I don't know when the earliest.
Speaker 4: We've ever played at home is so hopefully the weather
Speaker 4: is a little bit better than today, but who knows.
Speaker 2: Kurt, you're the man. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And the good news for you about the season starting
Speaker 1: is you and I get a chat quite often, buddy,
Speaker 1: so I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: Have a great week with chat soon.
Speaker 3: I couldn't be more excited.
Speaker 2: I can tell.
Speaker 1: I can tell the sarcasm dripping from your voice the
Speaker 1: great Kurt Schmid.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 1: We've got to get to know these new players. Kurt
Speaker 1: is the technical director. He took over after they moved
Speaker 1: on from Elliott, and he's kind of the driving force
Speaker 1: beyond most of these decisions. RSL with a preseason draw
Speaker 1: three to three yesterday against New York, six days away
Speaker 1: from the Conka CAF Champions Cup.