Speaker 1: That's the handoff, and now it's time to catch up.
Speaker 1: So you said cup number three, Is that correct?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, that is Cup number three, and
Speaker 2: it's finally hitting man. Right before I jumped on, I
Speaker 2: was still kind of trying to figure it out. I'm
Speaker 2: feeling I'm signing to get it back.
Speaker 1: Obviously, we will end with Cliffhanger, as we always do.
Speaker 1: But last night we say I saved the Western Conference
Speaker 1: discussion for when you get to come by because of
Speaker 1: the chaos that is a different kind of chaos in
Speaker 1: the West than it is in the East. Western Conference
Speaker 1: matchups last night Houston at Hell and a shell tiede
Speaker 1: Vancouver won one. Kansas City, I think with the shock
Speaker 1: of the night beating Colorado for to one at Children's
Speaker 1: Mercy Cincinnati on the road, knocking the Loons out to one,
Speaker 1: and then you end up with Salt Lake, who's been
Speaker 1: trying to find themselves, you know, when you don't have
Speaker 1: a die Gomez anymore, and they did last night at
Speaker 1: home at Rio Tinto against Dallas three to two and
Speaker 1: Austin tiet one on the road. But if you look
Speaker 1: at Sebastian Dreusei's social media's he might be over the
Speaker 1: whole thing in Austin. You mentioned Seattle and San Jose.
Speaker 1: That should have been three points for you and it
Speaker 1: only ended up being one. I can just imagine what
Speaker 1: sports talk is going to be outside of us this
Speaker 1: morning and then the the chaos of Portland and Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: You Dylan Butler was on yesterday from MLS Soccer dot com.
Speaker 1: He said it was going to be a six '
Speaker 1: five banger. Unfortunately the juice boxes only went up to
Speaker 1: five and a half and it was a four figure
Speaker 1: number and if you went five and a half, if
Speaker 1: you went over on five and a half, you came
Speaker 1: out and the juice boxes pretty sexy. Because Portland put
Speaker 1: four on LA. It was chaotic, but it didn't seem
Speaker 1: like it was going to be, you know, like it
Speaker 1: was going to be close at times, like it was
Speaker 1: at three to two, and then Portland gets a one
Speaker 1: from more or elate to go four to with the
Speaker 1: Western Conference With what happened last night, what do you think?
Speaker 2: First of all, I mean, that was a Mexican brawl
Speaker 2: and knew you knew that coming in. I mean that
Speaker 2: was like Morales Barrera, like pac Man Marquees, like you
Speaker 2: know it was gonna be, you know, all out because
Speaker 2: there are two offensive squads, right, I mean, you can
Speaker 2: tell what you want about the Timbers back line and
Speaker 2: the deficiencies defensively, by boy, do they have weapons on
Speaker 2: the offensive side, and so do LA. So that was
Speaker 2: a great game. There's one of the ones that kept
Speaker 2: me up last night watching ninety minutes of it, and
Speaker 2: you could just see it right. So when I look
Speaker 2: at the standings, man, I just think that it's a
Speaker 2: good reflection of what's going on. For the most part,
Speaker 2: I feel like Seattle's still above where they really should be.
Speaker 2: I think that oursel now has a chance to win
Speaker 2: the Western Conference. LAFC dropping points, LAFC has They've struggled,
Speaker 2: and I've seen it consistently. Now they've went back to
Speaker 2: a four man back line, and I'm not sure is
Speaker 2: because of the Murijo injury, and I feel like they're
Speaker 2: at their best when they're playing with those three monsters
Speaker 2: in the back. Not sure if there's also a little
Speaker 2: bit of exhausting players and a lot of like the
Speaker 2: grind of the entirety of the season, bu Wanga, kick Olivera,
Speaker 2: all these guys that were at a really high level
Speaker 2: at one point. Right now they're they're just not as
Speaker 2: high and they've really they've really struggled with that. They
Speaker 2: really need those guys to be on points. So I
Speaker 2: think Oursel last night they founded without Carlos Gums. Finally
Speaker 2: they've struggled to do that. Julio was the demand. I
Speaker 2: mean he did everything out, running defenders, doing the Audigino
Speaker 2: type of shots from have field, putting it together. No Chicho, right,
Speaker 2: and you still get a good result against a good
Speaker 2: team that really challenged you because Dallas did that. So
Speaker 2: I think RSSEL can really get up there. So I
Speaker 2: think still from one to four, that's what you're gonna get.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter how those four move. I think that
Speaker 2: those four teams that you see right now, Galaxy, RSL, LAFC,
Speaker 2: and Colorado, those are gonna fight those four spots until
Speaker 2: the end of the season. I don't see anybody below
Speaker 2: that get in above. I see Seattle maybe maybe struggling.
Speaker 2: We'll see what happened with Houston. That's their next game,
Speaker 2: right and they have a bye week, so teams are
Speaker 2: gonna be able to get some coins on them, so
Speaker 2: in ten days they'll face Houston directly can be back
Speaker 2: by then because you know how much Houston misses that guy.
Speaker 2: So I just think that we'll see a lot of movement.
Speaker 2: Seattle still get in, I have no doubt Settle still
Speaker 2: get in, but I think Portland and Houston are gonna
Speaker 2: be above the Seattle Sounders by the end of the seas.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's and we're looking at the same thing
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference, although it's a little lower where
Speaker 1: traditionally you see the Purple team on the slow fade.
Speaker 1: Once Oscar Pere how realizes, oh I'm in the playoffs now,
Speaker 1: then you just kind of see Traditionally you would see
Speaker 1: them kind of go. Charlotte is the one that is
Speaker 1: really doing that, and that angle is pretty steep for
Speaker 1: Charlotte right now, with five matches to go in the
Speaker 1: regular season, they were in the seven. They've only won
Speaker 1: once in the last two months, and if it wasn't
Speaker 1: for Christian Kalina, I think they'd be a lot worse.
Speaker 1: But they're the ones that are doing the fade, and
Speaker 1: they're drawing Toronto into the seven. Philly and DC and
Speaker 1: Atlanta and Nashville and Montreal. Everybody who is seven teams
Speaker 1: five points from nine to fifteen. They hit a hot streak.
Speaker 1: They're drawing themselves up close. I think Charlotte's the team
Speaker 1: to look at in the home stretch here and kind
Speaker 1: of sit there and go, I don't know, man.
Speaker 2: First of all, talking about Nashville, I mean bj Kallen
Speaker 2: had just came and figured it out. I mean, what
Speaker 2: is going on? I thought nasha was a team that
Speaker 2: we would not worry about for the rest of the season,
Speaker 2: and they found some fire. They found it just recently.
Speaker 2: So a couple of wings back to back. I think
Speaker 2: Orlando they also have figured out, and that team is
Speaker 2: very talented, and if they continue to play oh Haita
Speaker 2: in that tank position just seems to be on real
Speaker 2: for condo tourists, is very confident, whether it's Enriquez or
Speaker 2: whether it's Duncan. They have some really good strikers and
Speaker 2: finish yours off top. So that's gonna be interesting. But
Speaker 2: I give you, and I do buy in on Charlotte
Speaker 2: just not having enough. Sometimes your goalkeeper can only do
Speaker 2: so much, defensive presence can only do so much, and
Speaker 2: when you can't challenge teams and you can get back
Speaker 2: from at least a one zero deafest said, it's just
Speaker 2: very hard to do and I just don't think they
Speaker 2: have enough creative players to generate enough to just be
Speaker 2: able to come back from a game whether there's a
Speaker 2: one zero deficit two zero deficit, and in MLS you
Speaker 2: need that from time to time. So I'll give you that.
Speaker 2: I still believe in in Atlanta. I still think DC
Speaker 2: United's gonna have some to say. So we'll see, but
Speaker 2: I do see Charlotte being the team that comes off
Speaker 2: to Toronto. Man to Toronto's that's so hard to figure
Speaker 2: out sometimes because I feel like they have the components
Speaker 2: to be a tough playoff team, but they got to
Speaker 2: get there first. They got to get their first and
Speaker 2: their schedule is not easy necessarily. I like a lot
Speaker 2: of the talent, I like a lot of the pieces
Speaker 2: because they end up playing they finished the season with Miami,
Speaker 2: they play Red Bulls. Chicago is an easy one, but
Speaker 2: there's just some some games there Colorado where you know
Speaker 2: things can get complicated for Toronto. But I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I think Charlotte can be the team that comes off
Speaker 2: the easiest.
Speaker 1: And three out of four in that Toronto mess because
Speaker 1: they only have one less they got one less match
Speaker 1: and everybody else so three of those mentioned in the
Speaker 1: run and it's gonna be pretty tough. We were having
Speaker 1: a philosophical argument on the show this week. Obviously here
Speaker 1: people are frustrated about the state of things and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, wanting more players in the transfer window, even
Speaker 1: though you end up with Amador and mid un Chuok,
Speaker 1: you're still looking for that winger. You're still looking for
Speaker 1: the starting nine. Uh, you're looking for a head coach
Speaker 1: all you're looking for a technical director GM, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it. And there was frustration here in
Speaker 1: the market about fans throwing their hands up basically, and
Speaker 1: it's just like, look, I just don't even go into
Speaker 1: the playoffs, don't make it in play the kids. Those
Speaker 1: kinds of things are you seeing in the Western Conference?
Speaker 1: Not necessarily in Seattle because Brian's already playing the kids,
Speaker 1: because you mentioned Red Baker, Whiting and Paul Rothrock getting
Speaker 1: minutes and things like that. Are you seeing the teams
Speaker 1: that are kind of hovering toward the playoff bar in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference? Are you sensing the same kind of
Speaker 1: frustration from them? Or when you interact with other fan bases,
Speaker 1: are you seeing fans that want to sit there and
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, I mean I want to push into
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I want to see where we can go.
Speaker 1: Or are you seeing fans that are apathetic with those
Speaker 1: teams right there on the edge. So it's like, now,
Speaker 1: we'll go ahead and we'll work on what's wrong with
Speaker 1: us and we'll get ready for next season.
Speaker 2: What do you see? Yeah? The two famisies that they
Speaker 2: see the most frustrated are ones that I think we
Speaker 2: saw coming and I told you they were going to
Speaker 2: be ahead of cold season, which is Minnesota. And those
Speaker 2: fans that they want just radical changes and they want
Speaker 2: things to just get figured out. And even if they
Speaker 2: do have the coach for the future, they feel like
Speaker 2: the the future in terms of players is just not
Speaker 2: there right. They don't have that, they don't have enough
Speaker 2: of the new DPS to know where they're going. There
Speaker 2: are questions about Pooky, and there's questions about the style
Speaker 2: of play. So those are the fan bases that I
Speaker 2: feel like maybe are in that let's just if we
Speaker 2: don't make it, maybe it'll be good for us to
Speaker 2: just reset, restart it and get going. In Austin, Austin
Speaker 2: fans as well. They have been fed up for a
Speaker 2: very long time. You mentioned the Rusie. We go back
Speaker 2: to Fagundes and the problems that they had with him
Speaker 2: and how much the fan base loved him. There's many
Speaker 2: that have been calling for the head coach for a
Speaker 2: very long time and they haven't got that. So that
Speaker 2: could be another team that they would rather perhaps just
Speaker 2: not make that push at the end of the season,
Speaker 2: be eliminated, and then that's going to create what everybody's
Speaker 2: been looking for, which is changes from the top all
Speaker 2: the way to the bottom.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's Cliffhanger time, and we know what that means.
Speaker 1: This is where we sit there and look at our buddy,
Speaker 1: Nico's juice boxes and figure out what he wants to
Speaker 1: do with him in addition to his cups of coffee
Speaker 1: and all weekend long, and we get an early start
Speaker 1: and it's an intriguing one. On Saturday, Messi and Friends
Speaker 1: on the road to Yankee Stadium to take on NYC.
Speaker 1: It's a two o'clock start in in the Yankee Stadium
Speaker 1: in the Bronx slight underdog Messi and Friends. After what
Speaker 1: happened last night, NYC's favored at a plus one forty seven.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna run through games and you just start
Speaker 1: talking about him when you want to talk about something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what are the numbers of New to Miami again?
Speaker 1: Plus one sixty? They are the road dog.
Speaker 2: She does a tough one simply because in New City
Speaker 2: of Sea gets blown out, but in in Miami got
Speaker 2: pushed in a limit by Atlanta and they have so
Speaker 2: many injuries, specifically in that back line. Ian Fray seems
Speaker 2: like he cannot go anymore. Christoph came off because he
Speaker 2: was done. I don't know if it was a cramp
Speaker 2: or he pulled something. We got at some point was
Speaker 2: on the ground holding his knee. I mean, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of components there where you know, maybe New York
Speaker 2: CITYFC does have a little bit of that edge. What
Speaker 2: are the goals on that? Maybe I'm more interested on
Speaker 2: the goals.
Speaker 1: Okay, So let's check the goals on it and see
Speaker 1: where we are currently. Let's see the over under seriously. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: last night the over under at five and a half
Speaker 1: for Portland and Lag was like plus two thousand. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was sick. It doesn't change until three two and
Speaker 1: a half is one fifty minus one fifty four three
Speaker 1: is a plus side at one oh six. Three and
Speaker 1: a half is a plus one sixty. So if you
Speaker 1: want to say two to one, you could get that
Speaker 1: out a plus one oh six. If you want to
Speaker 1: go higher than that, you're looking three and a half
Speaker 1: at plus one sixty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll probably go three and a half, three and
Speaker 2: a half, I feel comfortable with I think that that
Speaker 2: could be a minimum for that game in Miami, regardless
Speaker 2: of what's going on in the back end. You can
Speaker 2: tell and you can see how they were able to
Speaker 2: expose Atlanta a couple of times yesterday, but they were
Speaker 2: also exposed to times. I mean, if it's not because
Speaker 2: Moscarra cannot finish in front of goal, Atlanta probably wins
Speaker 2: that game. Three two. I mean that breakaway Moscara had
Speaker 2: on that right side. I mean, yes, obviously credit to
Speaker 2: the goalkeeper, but you should finish that. So I think
Speaker 2: this one could be three and a half at the
Speaker 2: very least. I'll take that, all right.
Speaker 1: Charlotte on the minus side, hosting the Revs at minus
Speaker 1: one forty seven c F Montreal plus one nineteen hosting
Speaker 1: Chicago Fire a plus two oh six crew and the
Speaker 1: Purple team seven thirty so seven forty start crew a
Speaker 1: minus one thirty three, Purple team a plus three twenty one.
Speaker 1: Your draw is a plus three oh three?
Speaker 2: Wow? Oh uh huh wow uh man. I don't know
Speaker 2: if I have the guts to take Orlando against Columbus,
Speaker 2: but that that that that is tempting, very tempting, for sure.
Speaker 2: What's the what are the goals on that one?
Speaker 1: I say, when when you weren't gonna pick a side,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there thinking, Okay, he's looking at the number.
Speaker 1: He is absolutely looking at the number. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: So goals, we'll start at two and a half, two
Speaker 1: and a half a minus one seventy five. Three is
Speaker 1: a minus one oh nine. Three and a half is
Speaker 1: a plus is it? Three and a half is a
Speaker 1: plus one forty one?
Speaker 2: Jeez? Man? So so what's four? Does it go that high?
Speaker 2: Four and a half?
Speaker 1: Four and a half is plus three twenty three?
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, there's a reason why that's so high. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, if I have to take on that, I
Speaker 2: probably I'll probably do the three and a half maybe,
Speaker 2: but yeah, that's a tough one. I think I would
Speaker 2: love to take orlanda city but they are so hard
Speaker 2: to figure out. And although they have looked a lot better,
Speaker 2: Columbus is Columbus, and I'm not betting against Columbus, all right.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna save Red Bulls in Atlanta, United and Seattle,
Speaker 1: and uh, what you're up to? Uh what you're You're off,
Speaker 1: aren't you? You don't have a you don't have a Uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've got a buye week.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I'll save Red Bulls in Atlanta for last
Speaker 1: COPA Tajas Houston favored on the road at Q two
Speaker 1: at a plus one fifty taking on Austin FC. FC
Speaker 1: Dallas a dog at home, taking on LAFC, who's probably
Speaker 1: gonna come in mad at a plus one fourteen. FC
Speaker 1: Dallas a plus two oh nine. Nashville a big home
Speaker 1: dog against f C Cincinnati, no real surprise at a
Speaker 1: plus one eighty nine. FC Cincinnati's a plus one thirty seven.
Speaker 1: Sporting on the minus side minus one oh six, hosting
Speaker 1: the Loons at the plus two forty eight Rapids minus
Speaker 1: one thirty five hosting Toronto at plus three twenty two.
Speaker 1: RSL minus one twenty seven Portland to plus two seventy eight,
Speaker 1: Galaxy minus one eighteen hosting Vancouver at plus two seventy
Speaker 1: three and San Jose and All Caps. The Juice Boxers
Speaker 1: were like, put a blanket over that one more than
Speaker 1: the margin of error in and around plus one fifty
Speaker 1: Sunday game Philly and DC. Philly is minus one eighteen
Speaker 1: DC coming to town of a plus two sixty six.
Speaker 1: What sticks in your head? Uh?
Speaker 2: That also Lake Portland? Man, I don't know why is
Speaker 2: calling my name Rsel As much as they showed us
Speaker 2: last night that they have the business and they can
Speaker 2: do it if they play us open as they did
Speaker 2: Dallas and they and they take that right to Portland.
Speaker 2: Portland will give him house. So let me get the goals.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna take Portland regardless of I think Portland.
Speaker 2: It's it's an interesting one. I think that they met
Speaker 2: chup well against rsl uh So. Yeah, let me get Portland,
Speaker 2: but let me let me see the goals, because I
Speaker 2: would be willing to go.
Speaker 1: Four and a half of now ooh four and a
Speaker 1: half a plus two twenty one.
Speaker 2: Hey man, give me that double down man, love that
Speaker 2: I like to see it. I don't know why you
Speaker 2: call my name, and sometimes you've got to go with
Speaker 2: the gut. That's an interesting one, but that's probably the
Speaker 2: one that really really sticks out for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: teams that are favored at home, and there's some lopsided
Speaker 1: matchups that really don't have any bearing on the playoff
Speaker 1: picture four and a half plus two twenty one in
Speaker 1: that matchup, so it was it was calling out the
Speaker 1: sirens song? Was there the plus two twenty one?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Man, I just see it. Man, this is look
Speaker 2: probably hiitting up going into the playoffs. I think that
Speaker 2: it could be a real dark horse. If you're not
Speaker 2: thinking that that Portland is the team that is gonna
Speaker 2: give you problems, they're gonna end up getting you out
Speaker 2: of the out of the playoffs. I go back to
Speaker 2: that Seattle Portland game where Bill Neville decided to just
Speaker 2: keep his uh fullbacks home and just play a little
Speaker 2: bit more cautiously. And then that was without two main players.
Speaker 2: Obviously no Cavecita and I don't think no evandering now on.
Speaker 2: So even then they were able to really kind of
Speaker 2: change it up a little bit. So I feel like
Speaker 2: going into the playoffs, Phil will be able to do
Speaker 2: enough adjustments to just ease up the issues in the
Speaker 2: back end and then just let those monsters up top
Speaker 2: do their thing. Uh, Evander is hot. Was thinking it
Speaker 2: was thirteen goals already. Mousquerra looks really, really comfortable, really good.
Speaker 2: Felipe Mora. I think he should be called up by Chile.
Speaker 2: So man, I think Portland is going to be a problem.
Speaker 1: All right. The one that called out to me is
Speaker 1: you were talking sirens, songs and totals. L A G
Speaker 1: and Vancouver. Three and a half is a plus one
Speaker 1: eleven four is a plus one eighty five. Four and
Speaker 1: a half is a plus two forty six. I like
Speaker 1: just as a little one. I like the three and
Speaker 1: a half in Lag in Vancouver. I'm thinking some goals
Speaker 1: can be had there, But I'm traditionally a chicken, so
Speaker 1: I'm only going to go up to the three and
Speaker 1: a half when it comes to Lag and the white Caps.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what did you say? It was the four and
Speaker 2: a half on that one.
Speaker 1: Well, hang on, all right, let me go back, all right,
Speaker 1: So Lag and Vancouver. The four and a half on
Speaker 1: Lag and Vancouver is a plus two four six.
Speaker 2: I'd be willing to go four and a half in
Speaker 2: now on myself, Okay, I really would That could be
Speaker 2: a very open ended game. We know what Las Eli
Speaker 2: Galaxy can do. They fell short against Portland. They're gonna
Speaker 2: want to come out there and just give it all
Speaker 2: to Thevancouver. If Vancouver is needed of points, they're not
Speaker 2: fearful to just push up those wingbacks. So yeah, that
Speaker 2: could be a little bit of a battle right there. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Last one on the board for US Red Bulls minus
Speaker 1: one forty five Atlanta United on the road of a
Speaker 1: plus three point fifty one your draw at Red Bull
Speaker 1: Arena plus three oh seven. What do you think?
Speaker 2: Fifty one for Atlanta? Yeah, yeah, I'll be willing to
Speaker 2: take it. Look, Red Bulls is another team that I
Speaker 2: felt like, had they brought in one more piece in
Speaker 2: the summer window, we'd probably be talking about a really,
Speaker 2: really good team. But they struggle in the offensive end.
Speaker 2: They're very sporadic there. Sometimes they can give you what
Speaker 2: you got, and I think against Atlanta, you need to
Speaker 2: force Atlanta to defend and you need to push back,
Speaker 2: just like Miami did last night. And I don't know
Speaker 2: if Red Bulls are going to be willing to do that.
Speaker 2: I mean they lost to Shit. I go for christ
Speaker 2: six two to one. So I really do think that
Speaker 2: Atlantic can take the momentum from a very well fought
Speaker 2: game against Inner Miami and and and bring it against
Speaker 2: Red Bulls and get get a get a result.
Speaker 1: Soccer Bar and Pulso Sports, what do we need to know?
Speaker 2: Uh, soccer Bar today was gonna be delayed all the
Speaker 2: way till eleven o'clock Pacific, as we are working on
Speaker 2: getting a couple of things going.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: We will have Ernand Lopez, who talked to me after
Speaker 2: the frustrating to two draft for Seattle, but one of
Speaker 2: the left that sions a laca, We're very happy despite
Speaker 2: being eliminated. He tells me we're playing for positions. We're
Speaker 2: playing to show everybody that we are a good collective unit.
Speaker 2: So that that's an interested interview there that we'll have
Speaker 2: in soccer Bar here at eleven o'clock Pacific. Uh, and
Speaker 2: Inpulsol Sports we will have not just yet, but we
Speaker 2: will end up having by Saturday something to hear from
Speaker 2: the Sounders after this frustrating loss. You can though, catch
Speaker 2: the postgame conference with Brad Smetzer, where essentially he does
Speaker 2: take a lot of the blame for what happened yesterday.
Speaker 2: I asked him directly, you know, when you have a
Speaker 2: game that essentially you could kill that you've been controlling,
Speaker 2: how much of that falls on you and not the players?
Speaker 2: And he took responsibility to accountability for it, So go
Speaker 2: ahead and check that out and pull support as well.
Speaker 1: What you said as always, my friend, great to have
Speaker 1: you here on your Thursdays, with Thursdays with Nico and
Speaker 1: your third cup of coffee. Enjoy your Rave Green the
Speaker 1: contents inside the Ray Green. We will catch up with
Speaker 1: you next week, my friend, Love you and be safe.
Speaker 2: Thank you boss. Take it easy