Speaker 1: Nico, Nino and Nelson. It's time for the handoff here
Speaker 1: on a Thursday. First off, my friend, which cup of
Speaker 1: coffee are you on? One or two?
Speaker 2: Is this number two?
Speaker 3: Do?
Speaker 2: His number two? Has been a bit of a moving morning,
Speaker 2: you know. Always excited to be on with John, with Nino,
Speaker 2: with my folks down there in Atlanta. Just happy to
Speaker 2: be on cup number two.
Speaker 4: All right, So here's the handoff question for this morning.
Speaker 1: I was thumbing through some stuff and I found this
Speaker 1: particular post from Fabrizio Romano.
Speaker 4: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: And it had to do after both the foe goal
Speaker 1: won their title, and he's and John Texter, the owner
Speaker 1: of Eagle Football Group for the moment until he wants
Speaker 1: to go and buy Everton admitted on his Instagram account
Speaker 1: that he found out about Tiago Almada as a player
Speaker 1: on the two hundred and eighty character app.
Speaker 4: Brud didn't know about him.
Speaker 1: Dude on Twitter reaches out to John Texter and says, hey,
Speaker 1: you ought to give this.
Speaker 4: Guy named Thiago Almada a look.
Speaker 1: So John Texter gives Thiago Almada a look, signs him
Speaker 1: from Atlanta United and now has won a title with
Speaker 1: him at both the Fogo I ask the both of you,
Speaker 1: and since Nino you have been here first, I will
Speaker 1: ask you first, and then this will give Nico a
Speaker 1: chance to formulate a response as well. If you're an
Speaker 1: owner of a club, do you openly admit on your
Speaker 1: Instagram stories that you recruited because someone recommended a player
Speaker 1: on Twitter to you?
Speaker 2: I got no issues with that. I'm good. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: don't care. I don't care. I'd be honest with you, brother.
Speaker 2: I mean, if I didn't find out about the guy,
Speaker 2: maybe we my monsco team, they've ova looked him. I
Speaker 2: overlooked him like the coach over looked him. And then
Speaker 2: somebody on social media says, hey, Beth interest to this guy. Hey,
Speaker 2: and it's any guy is Romano the transfers in the planet.
Speaker 2: So this guy might know that these he got something,
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll need it, no problem, nonie it man,
Speaker 2: I'll do it.
Speaker 1: Libertador Medica reaches out in Portuguese to John Texter and
Speaker 1: literally says, there's a good player, Nico. There's a good
Speaker 1: player called Tiago Almada. I believe he's a great addition
Speaker 1: to both the Fogo for the Libertadors. He's an Argentine
Speaker 1: who sets up plays as fast as good finishing and
Speaker 1: can also play for the wingers. At the moment, he
Speaker 1: plays for Atlantia United. Texter responded, I'll check him out. Thanks,
Speaker 1: We've got recruiting going on via Twitter.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 2: Look, I think that whenever you are a person in
Speaker 2: a role that demands respect and you are representing your organization,
Speaker 2: you got to just be able to frame things a
Speaker 2: little bit better than that. I am with Nino in
Speaker 2: the fact that, hey, you know what, maybe it's a
Speaker 2: funny story, maybe you just bring it out. Believe you
Speaker 2: mean that anyone who doesn't take information from anywhere as
Speaker 2: a recruiter is doing themselves as this service. There are
Speaker 2: times where you might have missed a player, and it
Speaker 2: could be a fan, it could be a reporter, it
Speaker 2: could be absolutely anybody bringing a player to your attention,
Speaker 2: and if you don't check it out, you might miss
Speaker 2: out on a player, because I mean that's just the
Speaker 2: way of the game. You might be a manager or
Speaker 2: a recruiter scouter that's hyper focused in Europe or hyper
Speaker 2: focused in Spain or whatever it might be and getting
Speaker 2: these sort of tips. Sometimes you go check it out
Speaker 2: and you strike go so I don't see anything wrong
Speaker 2: with the method, but the phrasing could have been done
Speaker 2: a little bit better. I think that it would have
Speaker 2: frenched it up a little bit in my benefit if
Speaker 2: I was in that position, if I'm.
Speaker 1: If I'm an owner, it's like instead of sitting there
Speaker 1: and saying yeah and so on. On his Instagram story,
Speaker 1: Texter says, why do I always try to be accessible?
Speaker 4: Question mark? I was chosen in quotation.
Speaker 1: Marks for both the Fogo on LinkedIn and found Tiago
Speaker 1: Almada through Twitter.
Speaker 4: What's next?
Speaker 1: So John underscore Texter on his Instagram stories reveal that,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to check with my two other
Speaker 1: owners in Peru and in Seattle about what they thought
Speaker 1: about that. Nino, my friend will be watching this weekend.
Speaker 1: We'll be watching later today, moten say and Sporting as
Speaker 1: The Fall of Sporting continues in Portugal at three p
Speaker 1: fifteen Eastern time on Goal TV. Thank you, my friend,
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with you next week. I was a
Speaker 1: pressure guy, all right, bro, yeah, there go, there's a
Speaker 1: Nino and Nico all right, so now it's you and me,
Speaker 1: all right?
Speaker 4: Uh. I had to bring that story to the table.
Speaker 1: I saw that and Tech and Fabricio Armano had the
Speaker 1: screen cap of text on his Instagram story sitting there
Speaker 1: saying this is why I'm always accessible, And it ended
Speaker 1: up with the recruitment of Tiago Almada from Atlanta United
Speaker 1: for an Eagle football group and got him a crown
Speaker 1: at both the Fogo.
Speaker 2: Hey look not the two horn.
Speaker 5: But I've spoken to a lot of GMS sporting directors
Speaker 5: across MLS and having players that we've mentioned in conversations
Speaker 5: and then a couple of months later, if it's not
Speaker 5: to that specific team, they're onto another team and they
Speaker 5: end up being pretty successful.
Speaker 2: So I mean, it does happen. I mean we all
Speaker 2: have we're all passionate for the game, we all watch it,
Speaker 2: we're all scouting for the next gem that's gonna come out,
Speaker 2: and sometimes we have the right idea, we're all looking
Speaker 2: at the same guy, and uh maybe it's missed some
Speaker 2: way along the ways for some of these guys, and
Speaker 2: uh yeah, So I like that being accessible. I would
Speaker 2: do the same thing. I'd be more than open to
Speaker 2: anybody provided me a little bit of extra information if
Speaker 2: I was in that position. Now again it's the phrasing
Speaker 2: is that I have an issue with, Uh, you know,
Speaker 2: you could just say, you know, I get I got
Speaker 2: resources of all forms of shapes to do the job
Speaker 2: that I do and you know whatever. But that's a
Speaker 2: little too open to transparent for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so courting our good friend arn and I want
Speaker 4: to say I told you so. I don't want to
Speaker 4: burn horn toot tooted.
Speaker 1: We are still recipients head owners called all the trophies
Speaker 1: that's our man, aren't and of the for you don't
Speaker 1: mess with double A the enforcers.
Speaker 4: We got stuff to get into here.
Speaker 1: Do you want to start with the game at the
Speaker 1: end of the season or do you want to start
Speaker 1: with the roster moves that happened that are attached to
Speaker 1: that big old coffee muggy years that happened yesterday.
Speaker 2: Hey, uh you know you quarterback your baby. I'm good
Speaker 2: either way. I mean, we could go chronological and started
Speaker 2: the game and end with the moves and decisions.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all right, so let's let's bust it down,
Speaker 1: all right, Let's talk about the last game, the end
Speaker 1: of the season here and the fact that Ricky Pooge
Speaker 1: played thirty minutes on a damaged and eventually I guess torn.
Speaker 1: We don't know if it was torn at the moment,
Speaker 1: but played thirty minutes on a wonky knee and still
Speaker 1: had the moment of the match that got Lag the
Speaker 1: goal that they needed to knock off Seattle. What's it
Speaker 1: been like in town since Seattle finished up on the
Speaker 1: short end of a one nailed match that was it
Speaker 1: was Nervey at points, but it was a great conference final.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely disappointment in the Pacific Northwest. Here in Seattle,
Speaker 2: the fans believed that this could happen once again. They
Speaker 2: fall one game short of a final. I think that
Speaker 2: I got to just tipped the hat to Ricky all
Speaker 2: my respect. You could see how painfully it was for him.
Speaker 2: I mean I rewatched the game. His hot on one leg,
Speaker 2: He's walking around, you could see it. You can see
Speaker 2: he's bothering him and it seems that all he wants
Speaker 2: to do is leave the game. Once he makes something
Speaker 2: happen the goal of pass, he has a shot blog.
Speaker 2: You can see the frustration. There's a point where I
Speaker 2: think it's pain Soil that has it on the left
Speaker 2: and he is kind of in an open space in
Speaker 2: between the lines. He wants the ball, he doesn't get it.
Speaker 2: He grabs his head is like he was so frustrated
Speaker 2: with not being able to influence the game before he
Speaker 2: has to go because he knows that knees either out
Speaker 2: or going out. So I just I applaud him. I
Speaker 2: applaud him because he he makes that goal happen. Seattle.
Speaker 2: On the other hand, I thought that they surprised me
Speaker 2: in the approach of the game, in the execution of
Speaker 2: the game plan to limit Ricky, to limit Paincil, to
Speaker 2: limit Peck, even Jovilish to a certain extent. Uh, they
Speaker 2: were keeping him off danger zones that were not allowing
Speaker 2: services into Jovis for most of the game. They're really
Speaker 2: locked down the flanks. Knew who did a fantastic job.
Speaker 2: But whenever you're facing the team like LA, you can't
Speaker 2: afford to make mistakes and that's what ultimately costs you
Speaker 2: out of the game. Nathan passes the ball or ill
Speaker 2: advice passed into Alex Rodan in a pressure zone. I
Speaker 2: thought that that pass was unnecessary where he put it.
Speaker 2: Alex Rodan tries to pass it immediately to Joe Pavlo.
Speaker 2: That pass he kind of whiffs, it takes a big bounce,
Speaker 2: it ends up on LA Galaxy player ultimately into Ricky
Speaker 2: Riaky into Jovis and that's the game. So credit to Riki,
Speaker 2: Credit to l Galaxy for staying in the game for also,
Speaker 2: you know, being patient. They could have changed things around.
Speaker 2: They had some issues of their own. Marco Royce ends
Speaker 2: up believing in the forty fifth. I thought that guy
Speaker 2: did a great job coming in and filling in. So
Speaker 2: credit to Greg Danny and this ELLE Galaxy team in Seattle.
Speaker 2: As much as they had their difficulties throughout the season,
Speaker 2: I thought in the playoffs they played sound soccer. They
Speaker 2: played to their strengths, which was being a defensive team
Speaker 2: in this one, no Yamergomez Andrade, no Read, no Paul,
Speaker 2: and you still are able to hold the best offensive
Speaker 2: team in MLS, probably without in Miami perhaps, but they
Speaker 2: were definitely the most talented group in my opinion, up top,
Speaker 2: and you were able to do that with some absences.
Speaker 2: So I've been pretty hard on this team. On brand Smetzer,
Speaker 2: uh and give him credit for going in front of
Speaker 2: the cameras and saying this was not a successful year.
Speaker 2: I agree with him, and Uh, he could have gone
Speaker 2: up there, you know, chess forward and saying, look, nobody
Speaker 2: believed in us. We got to where we did. We
Speaker 2: got as far as you know, many things would have
Speaker 2: wanted to be. We got to the final of the
Speaker 2: Western Conference, and he didn't. He was very forward about
Speaker 2: it not being a s sincessful year. And I agree
Speaker 2: with him, and I applied for it.
Speaker 1: It appeared to me, and call me an idiot if
Speaker 1: I'm an idiot, that Seattle. What Seattle wanted to do
Speaker 1: was make Lag fight left handed. And what I mean
Speaker 1: by that is they took paintcil away, and they tried
Speaker 1: to take Peck away at times. And Pecan's up on
Speaker 1: the left hand side and he gets to create with Pooge.
Speaker 1: But it looked like they wanted to try to have
Speaker 1: Lag fight left handed. Let's take the bishop out of play.
Speaker 1: Let's let's kind of pin him in. So we'll pin
Speaker 1: Yovola Jan, We'll take paintsil away and try to have
Speaker 1: Poosh and Peck and that left hand side beat us.
Speaker 4: Was I wrong in that?
Speaker 1: Not?
Speaker 2: I mean yes, uh, but more in the design of
Speaker 2: I know I have my best one on one defender
Speaker 2: on the left. So if I'm gonna get stuck in
Speaker 2: a moment where uh, there is a transition moment and
Speaker 2: there is an opening, I'm gonna have my best defender
Speaker 2: take you down. I'm gonna provide more help on the
Speaker 2: right side, where Alex Rodan is not as defensively sound
Speaker 2: as I knew who is. That's also the side where
Speaker 2: I had Nathan, who had had less than eight starts
Speaker 2: on that on that end, So there was a little
Speaker 2: bit more of a collective effort on that side. And
Speaker 2: knowing that and he did ends up blocking down Knew
Speaker 2: who ends up blocking down Peck, then I feel a
Speaker 2: little bit better by putting all my efforts to my
Speaker 2: quote unquote weaker side. So yes, I did think that
Speaker 2: they try to move it on over here and La
Speaker 2: Galaxy in a very savvy way. They started to force
Speaker 2: balls into pain soil and force balls on the other side,
Speaker 2: and that ended up working quite a bit. So I
Speaker 2: don't think you're wrong on that. I think that there
Speaker 2: was a sense of more of the effort being done
Speaker 2: to maybe leave Tech and ri Key out on the
Speaker 2: left side.
Speaker 1: So now lag is in the last game of the year,
Speaker 1: Royce is a question mark, Pooge is out. How do
Speaker 1: you foresee them trying to keep this attack going in
Speaker 1: fifth gear up against this Red Bulls team.
Speaker 4: How do you how do you envision this lineup looking now?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think you go back to I
Speaker 2: don't remember if it was June when Reeky miss fire games.
Speaker 2: I believe that in those five games they won three,
Speaker 2: lost one and drew one and it was Serio Delgado
Speaker 2: and Fagundes in that midfield. And I feel like Fagundas
Speaker 2: can do a lot of the Wreki type stuff, obviously
Speaker 2: more limited. I don't want to call him riky. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying when he comes to the passing, when he
Speaker 2: comes to the ability to distribute, he's not as strong
Speaker 2: obviously getting forward and being vertical with the ball, breaking
Speaker 2: lines with the ball, but he can definitely provide some
Speaker 2: of the riky things that can hold the thing together.
Speaker 2: And I think that when he comes to depth, Ali
Speaker 2: Galaxy has it in midfield. They still got you know, Brukman.
Speaker 2: If they want to bring him in, they want to
Speaker 2: play a little bit more defensive, they want to be
Speaker 2: more careful. But I think he will be just Fagunds
Speaker 2: coming in and Delgado came in for Royce in the
Speaker 2: last game, and I thought Ellie gottsould look better with
Speaker 2: a guy on the on the pitch. So I'm thinking
Speaker 2: that it's gonna be a very easy transision. Is going
Speaker 2: to be exactly the same thing that you saw in
Speaker 2: the second half against the Sounders, plus for Gundes for Riki.
Speaker 1: All right, So then out of the Eastern Conference it's
Speaker 1: Red bull and everybody sits there and they look at
Speaker 1: the idea of, oh, well, they're you know, they're they're
Speaker 1: a low seed, the lowest seed ever to make it
Speaker 1: to MLS Cup out of the you know, the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 4: But they're not that seed. You know the difference in
Speaker 4: Red Bulls.
Speaker 1: Red Bulls are not that seed with a healthy Emil
Speaker 1: Forsburg versus and not healthy Emil Forsburg. You see the
Speaker 1: difference between them being who they are and who they
Speaker 1: ended up being with the I mean, look, they ain't no.
Speaker 1: Seven seed, I'll tell you that right now. But you
Speaker 1: see the difference in Red Bulls and Sandro Schwartz with
Speaker 1: Emil Forsburg in that lineup.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think you saw it early in the
Speaker 2: season when this team did have all their tools and
Speaker 2: they were all in form, and they go on a
Speaker 2: bit of a run and you see a lot of
Speaker 2: the red bull pressure and a lot of the secondary balls,
Speaker 2: the duels and everything that you're seeing success of this
Speaker 2: team throughout the playoffs. So I agree with you. I
Speaker 2: don't think that there were a seventh seed, but the
Speaker 2: circumstances of the season led them to lose a lot
Speaker 2: of games, lose a lot of momentum. And you and
Speaker 2: I both know that inertia is a big thing when
Speaker 2: it comes to MLS, is a big thing when it
Speaker 2: comes to getting into the playoffs. They were able to
Speaker 2: regain that, and now you see that maybe that played
Speaker 2: into their own advantage as well, because you have teams
Speaker 2: going into a three game series or a one game playoff,
Speaker 2: a scenario with the team that you are kind of
Speaker 2: underestimating because of their seating, because of the boring way
Speaker 2: they play, or whatever it might be, they're gonna allow
Speaker 2: us the ball and then all of a sudden being
Speaker 2: very good about what they do. And that's why you've
Speaker 2: heard me say a thousand times identity is a key
Speaker 2: component to winning games. And that's what they have as
Speaker 2: an identity. They all know exactly what they're playing for.
Speaker 2: Everybody is giving you ultimate effort, and when you get
Speaker 2: that guy with the magic feed, the guy that can
Speaker 2: change it all up in Emil Forsberg. It just amplifies
Speaker 2: everything around you, and that's why you have them where
Speaker 2: they are. I thought that Orlando City they kind of
Speaker 2: shot themselves in the foot not being able to finish
Speaker 2: the moments they created because Red Bulls is a team
Speaker 2: that you cannot allow to stay in the game. You
Speaker 2: cannot allow them to just settle into the game to
Speaker 2: be able to take away those moments and make them pay,
Speaker 2: and they weren't able to do that. But Gundatoris had
Speaker 2: a clear shot just I think it was poortally placed
Speaker 2: for now, great safe, whatever you might want to say.
Speaker 2: But there were a thousand There were at least three
Speaker 2: more ways that Gunatoris couldn't approach that shot, pass it,
Speaker 2: or whatever it was, to make it a more optimal decision,
Speaker 2: and he didn't. So credit to Red Bulls. I think
Speaker 2: they're going to make it difficult for lag But credit
Speaker 2: to Schwartz this midfield. I mean, when I looked at
Speaker 2: the injury report and I saw that Carbajo was not
Speaker 2: going to be in, I was like, oh, that's a
Speaker 2: tough one. Hey, stroking In did a fantastic job. Edelman
Speaker 2: has been great all season, or at least to close
Speaker 2: the season, and they did great.
Speaker 1: Juice boxes have lag the minus one nineteen that has
Speaker 1: been trickling back toward even money as the week has
Speaker 1: gone along. Ninety minute draws a plus two seventy nine.
Speaker 1: In the composite courtesy of our friends at odds Portal,
Speaker 1: Red Bulls are a plus two eight six.
Speaker 4: What do you think, Ooh.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, Uh, that's a That's a tough one, man.
Speaker 1: I'm just that I'm just gonna if you're saying tough,
Speaker 1: that means to me, you're looking at a number, You're
Speaker 1: looking at totals, You're not looking at anything else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe totally would be the way to go in
Speaker 2: this one. But either way, let me just kind of
Speaker 2: break it down to you, just because, Uh, as much
Speaker 2: as I do believe that this LA Galaxy team has
Speaker 2: dept to replace Ricky and perhaps Mark Royce, well, I
Speaker 2: don't think is as influential as Ricky. Obviously, it does
Speaker 2: change their game. It does makes it a little bit slower.
Speaker 2: He does make it a little bit more predictable, if
Speaker 2: you will, because the things that Riky is willing to
Speaker 2: do no in that team is willing to do. And
Speaker 2: even if Agnes is a good passer, he doesn't have
Speaker 2: the same passing ability to put bolts in between lines
Speaker 2: and through balls that Riki does. And all Red Bulls
Speaker 2: needs is one time where you are doubting yourself in
Speaker 2: a pass that you don't put enough pays on a
Speaker 2: pass that you're coming and building out of the back,
Speaker 2: and you give him an opportunity. So I, honestly, I
Speaker 2: have a hard time. I think that Led will pull
Speaker 2: it off ultimately, and I don't think the margins are
Speaker 2: very high in this one. I think that you shouldn't
Speaker 2: surprise anybody if Red Bulls that has taken out Columbus,
Speaker 2: that has taken out Orlando, that has you know, continued
Speaker 2: to get clean sheets and their way to the final
Speaker 2: beats this lag team. But I'm gonna take Lag. But
Speaker 2: what are the numbers in terms of the scool.
Speaker 1: Three and a half is a plus one sixty five
Speaker 1: for the over. Four and a half is a plus
Speaker 1: three seventy six.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: I think three and a half is the play here.
Speaker 1: I think you're looking at probably if it's ninety minutes,
Speaker 1: well it's to go backward. Three is where it changes
Speaker 1: from minus to plus. Three is a plus one twelve,
Speaker 1: So if you think it's two to one, you can
Speaker 1: get a little bit added to your your pocketbook if
Speaker 1: you go at a plus one twelve on the over
Speaker 1: at three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, let me get that three and a half
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna I'm gonna take Lag Ultimately. I feel
Speaker 2: like there were moments where Angulo and Fakuturis had the
Speaker 2: opportunities to exploit when the Red Bulls were very high
Speaker 2: in their lines doing that pressing, and they were unable
Speaker 2: to capitalize. Whether it was a poor movement by Ojeda
Speaker 2: or a bad touch by Taurus or remb Rikit that
Speaker 2: did not have to get game at all. You cannot
Speaker 2: do it against Lag. And Jovivich is an assassin, and
Speaker 2: he's the phase he put when he scores no reaction,
Speaker 2: just angry at the camera. He's trying to show you,
Speaker 2: man that he's disrespected. That everybody talks about Triple P's,
Speaker 2: that everybody talks about Roy's and whoever you want, and
Speaker 2: nobody talks about Jovis. But that's a bad, bad man.
Speaker 2: I mean, that is the phase of an assassin. And
Speaker 2: he's ready to just take you out. I think he's
Speaker 2: going to be big in the final. I thought he
Speaker 2: was a determining factor in this game against Seattle. So
Speaker 2: give me lag and I'll take the three and a half.
Speaker 4: All right now.
Speaker 1: The roster news that I wanted to get into yesterday
Speaker 1: from yesterday involves the team that you cover on a
Speaker 1: daily basis, and it was a big part of the
Speaker 1: discussion we had in hour number one about an individual
Speaker 1: in particular, Rollery Diaz out of contract leaving Seattle after
Speaker 1: seven seasons.
Speaker 4: That opens up a DP slot in Seattle.
Speaker 1: So he departs as their all time leading score across
Speaker 1: all comps, two titles, MLS Cup and the Triple C
Speaker 1: back in twenty two. In talks was Joe Polo and
Speaker 1: Albert Rusnach. JP has played in over one hundred matches.
Speaker 1: Rusnach a DP second leading score in twenty four with
Speaker 1: ten goals and sixteen assistances. So you get to the
Speaker 1: Western Conference Final, you now wonder what Craig Wible has
Speaker 1: up his sleeve. Options Exercise Baker, Whiting, Bell castro Chew, Rodriguez, Rothrock, Declined,
Speaker 1: Quita Hada, Nathan Dylan, Tevez, ruy Diaz out of contract
Speaker 1: and discussions JP and Rus Knock And the question that
Speaker 1: we brought to the floor is the Nico Lededo esque
Speaker 1: question involving role ruy Diaz this time, would someone who
Speaker 1: made two million base and two point seven this past
Speaker 1: season think of themselves as a tam player who comes
Speaker 1: in has to be that microwave you come in.
Speaker 4: I need instant impact.
Speaker 1: You don't have to start every match for me, you
Speaker 1: have maybe start fifty percent of them.
Speaker 4: You're in multiple competitions.
Speaker 1: I know you'll showcase in certain points, but you ain't
Speaker 1: going to be making two million or two point seven.
Speaker 1: You might be making the ledetto money of eight hundred
Speaker 1: thousand that he did this year for the Purple team.
Speaker 1: What do you think is going to go on now
Speaker 1: with raw ruy Diaz, now that he gets to go
Speaker 1: and pursue his own future someplace else.
Speaker 2: Look, I like to start by saying that he has
Speaker 2: been an absolute privilege to cover the franchise best striker
Speaker 2: of all time, no doubt in my mind, at least
Speaker 2: to me in my opinion. Take it for what you will.
Speaker 2: Goes Permittent tells you everything you need to know about
Speaker 2: how good he's been for this squad, from breaking the news,
Speaker 2: the transfer news here in Seattle about his signing all
Speaker 2: the way to the last game. Has been a real
Speaker 2: learning experience in the way a certain player can be
Speaker 2: little misunderstood. But that has all the quality in the world.
Speaker 2: So when he comes to his potential future, I will
Speaker 2: say that there is a lot of interest and I
Speaker 2: kind of saw it. When it comes to money. Yes,
Speaker 2: he's not going to get a deep contract here in MLS.
Speaker 2: He'll be a high level camp player. I wouldn't put
Speaker 2: it past him to even get a little bit more
Speaker 2: than Nico, just because of the position that he plays
Speaker 2: in where maybe there's a little bit more belief that
Speaker 2: you can revive him in a Joseph Martinez sort of way.
Speaker 2: So I think that there are two markets that have
Speaker 2: the advantage. One is MLS. After this number twelfth, when
Speaker 2: free agency opens, you'll be able to take real offers.
Speaker 2: I've mentioned already twice there's at least two teams interested.
Speaker 2: There seems to be a couple more than added since
Speaker 2: the last time we spoke, So there is a few
Speaker 2: teams that are willing to take a gamble on a
Speaker 2: former elite striker in MLS. The other is LEGAMX, and
Speaker 2: LIGAMX has turned into It's kind of funny because they
Speaker 2: used to call MLS the retirement league. And now if
Speaker 2: you've been in MLS and you haven't had a good
Speaker 2: season or you want to take a second chance of
Speaker 2: your career, you go down to Mexico. I mean you
Speaker 2: have Luisa Marija down there, You had a Kiloba, you
Speaker 2: have Francisco Calbo. Just yesterday, if I'm not mistaken, Dajome,
Speaker 2: it was presented at Santo's. So you got all these
Speaker 2: MLS players that get, if not similar money, maybe even
Speaker 2: more money that they would have here because they're a
Speaker 2: new commodity in in in uh Lega Max. So I
Speaker 2: think those are the two markets where Raldridiaz would would
Speaker 2: go to. And maybe Nino is going to have a
Speaker 2: heartbreak here, but I think would be a very last resort.
Speaker 2: I think all of the circus that media created with
Speaker 2: some false reporting that he was going to be I
Speaker 2: don't last summer hurt the whole process. It hurt even
Speaker 2: Roldridiez's decision making. Uh And I just think that those
Speaker 2: two markets MLS and MX is where rauldradius would will
Speaker 2: end up ultimately.
Speaker 1: Is he at a point in his career where he
Speaker 1: will take the one year and will go ahead and
Speaker 1: see what happens, and I'll go ahead and I'll do
Speaker 1: the prove it to you one year deal or does
Speaker 1: he want to security and want the one plus option
Speaker 1: two plus option, two years solid?
Speaker 4: Where is he in his career?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. It's actually he wants that two
Speaker 2: year contract. And New England Revolution was interested in him
Speaker 2: during the summer and I'm told that he was looking
Speaker 2: for a two year deal and between a whole bunch
Speaker 2: of things that happened was they weren't able to make
Speaker 2: the deal happen. So can New England be also another
Speaker 2: team that is interested in him and he's willing to
Speaker 2: give him a two year deal at this point in
Speaker 2: time that maybe the one ready to do in the summer.
Speaker 2: We'll see, But yes, definitely looking for at least a
Speaker 2: two year deal. That's what I'm hearing. That's what most
Speaker 2: players are job publish intuition is very similar. He is
Speaker 2: right now. I'm told fifty to fifty whether he'll come
Speaker 2: back to Seattle or not. It was a lot less
Speaker 2: a few days ago. He was ultimately going to be leaving,
Speaker 2: but now they're in negotiations with the club. I brought
Speaker 2: before the release the press release from the team that
Speaker 2: he was negotiating with the team. He does won a
Speaker 2: two year deal, So that's going to be important for
Speaker 2: any player at that age, right job securities. I want
Speaker 2: to make sure that I'm getting at least two years,
Speaker 2: and then we'll see what happens after that. So yes,
Speaker 2: Raoul JP, both of them will be looking for the
Speaker 2: two year deal. In terms of the other players that
Speaker 2: are out, I don't see Dylan Tevis coming back. I
Speaker 2: don't see Sota coming back. Nathan definitely not back for
Speaker 2: that price tag. So Seattle definitely making some moves to
Speaker 2: either trying to bring down the price of some of
Speaker 2: these other players or looking elsewhere to get that depth.
Speaker 3: Albert is an interesting one man, because, look, there's a
Speaker 3: huge discussion we just had that on ninety three point
Speaker 3: three KJR in radio last night, and.
Speaker 2: It's hard to argue that the numbers aren't there. And
Speaker 2: I am someone who does believe that if you you
Speaker 2: are a player that came on produced for my team,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take care of you. But that doesn't mean,
Speaker 2: I'm going to throw in the house of the window either.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna put myself in a situation where if
Speaker 2: you want a race that's beyond reasonable, then I gotta
Speaker 2: let you go. But he's on a contract that's about
Speaker 2: two point three if I'm not mistaken right now, how
Speaker 2: much is that race that you're asking for? So I
Speaker 2: think Albert Russnek and the reason what they're negotiating is
Speaker 2: because he does want more money. I would put the
Speaker 2: cap at two point six. I would not go beyond that.
Speaker 2: I do believe that he is worth the DP spot.
Speaker 2: People have been on my mansions and said, hey, he's
Speaker 2: not worth the DP all of these things. Maybe he
Speaker 2: isn't the best DP, but he does give you continuity,
Speaker 2: and he has proven to you that he can assist
Speaker 2: that he can score. Maybe with a better surrounding team
Speaker 2: that coach stellar group around him, he might be even better.
Speaker 2: I've said one, two, three, four or five times that
Speaker 2: the Sounders need to go get a twenty six to
Speaker 2: twenty seven year old striker that has twenty goals in them,
Speaker 2: that that is a proven striker, and that immediately changes
Speaker 2: and amplifies the things that Albert Russa can do and
Speaker 2: then you can see what happens with Jordan. Play them
Speaker 2: out wide, have him, you know, take turns. Maybe you
Speaker 2: look into a situation where you try out two strikers,
Speaker 2: but I do not think that going into twenty twenty
Speaker 2: five with Jordan Morris as your only striker or as
Speaker 2: your main striker is a great solution. Because hear me
Speaker 2: out here, John, people have this misconception that Jordan Morris
Speaker 2: won the position as the loan striker for this team
Speaker 2: throughout the season, and he didn't. He was given that
Speaker 2: position on preseason. Rauri Diez was relegated to the bench
Speaker 2: and was always going to be a bench player going
Speaker 2: into the season. And the only reason why he played
Speaker 2: as a starter to start twenty twenty four was because
Speaker 2: Albert Russ that was hurt. That was a need to
Speaker 2: go to a four four two that didn't quite work.
Speaker 2: I remember asking Jordan Morris if he didn't want to
Speaker 2: go back to the wing, if he didn't think that
Speaker 2: he was better, because he wasn't working. It wasn't working
Speaker 2: with him up top. Now he grew into the position
Speaker 2: and he got a lot better. And you've heard me
Speaker 2: say right here that Jordan Morris has grown as a
Speaker 2: striker and has done a lot of the hold up play,
Speaker 2: link up play, a lot of the things that he
Speaker 2: wasn't doing before a lot better now. But that does
Speaker 2: not mean that I don't think that this team should
Speaker 2: not go out there and spend that DP money on
Speaker 2: a proven commodity that can come in and put the
Speaker 2: team on his shoulders and come out big in big
Speaker 2: moments when he comes to the striker position.
Speaker 1: What is going on this weekend with you and MLS
Speaker 1: Cup and pull those sports on the soccer bar. I
Speaker 1: imagine that you guys are gonna be watching it with
Speaker 1: your feet kicked up and yelling at a TV screen
Speaker 1: what's going on?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we're doing a couple of things. I am
Speaker 2: actually setting up and end of the season open mic
Speaker 2: for later on today at five point thirty. I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna take people's questions a little Q and a. We'll
Speaker 2: see who shows up in terms of some of my
Speaker 2: colleagues or you know, special guests. But the whole point
Speaker 2: of this is just to get a take on everybody
Speaker 2: in terms of what they saw from the Sounders this
Speaker 2: time around and what's coming up in twenty twenty five
Speaker 2: if you want to hear my take on whether it
Speaker 2: was a successful season or not for the Sounders. I
Speaker 2: don't think it's successful, but I thought it was encouraging.
Speaker 2: There were little things that we can talk about there
Speaker 2: in that open mic. We're obviously gonna touch up on
Speaker 2: the final. We're gonna be on in Soccer Bar here
Speaker 2: in about forty minutes to break down the final nice
Speaker 2: and in depth, and we'll definitely have a end of
Speaker 2: the season specially so for you guys on Wednesday next week.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of what we have already programmed in
Speaker 2: Pools of Sports and Soccer Bar.
Speaker 1: As always, my friend, great to see you. Go, enjoy
Speaker 1: the rest of that second cup of coffee. Get ready
Speaker 1: because you've got to get to talking in forty minutes.
Speaker 1: Love you, my friend. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, guys,