Speaker 1: All right, I want to ask you a question while
Speaker 1: we get as we get into Atlanta and Miami finally
Speaker 1: and satisfy people's requests. Something we talked about after the game, Jason,
Speaker 1: was the change that Miami made at halftime or after
Speaker 1: halftime where they you know, Sujio Busquets wasn't available, you
Speaker 1: had a more defensive minded midfielder in the game, you
Speaker 1: took him out. Yeah, if Busquets is unable to go,
Speaker 1: how do you piece together that midfield if you're Miami,
Speaker 1: so you do not get absolutely massacred on the counter because, yeah,
Speaker 1: Miami's going to dominate the ball almost certainly, But there
Speaker 1: are moments in any game where you cannot dominate the
Speaker 1: ball for one hundred.
Speaker 2: Percent of it. You don't have an answer.
Speaker 3: You flat out don't have an answer in that position
Speaker 3: with what we have really seen because Sergio Busquets and
Speaker 3: Yanick Bright not training this morning. According to reports out
Speaker 3: of South Florida, Yanick Bright is the more defensive midfielder
Speaker 3: of the rest of them, after Sergio bus Getz, Who's
Speaker 3: such an important element for that team in the way
Speaker 3: that they play, in the way that they stay organized,
Speaker 3: even though defensively He's a liability, right, not really a liability.
Speaker 3: I think he's been very good for this team. And
Speaker 3: when you have a team that is so top heavy
Speaker 3: like Miami, you got to hit on guys like Jannick Bright,
Speaker 3: whether it's from the draft or from the league.
Speaker 2: Or what have you, and they did well.
Speaker 3: He's going to be out, according to I can't remember
Speaker 3: which player talked about it. He's not going to play.
Speaker 3: So how do you deal with that? I don't think
Speaker 3: there's an easy answer, because you know, we haven't seen
Speaker 3: Julian Gressel in this playoff series. You can't put him
Speaker 3: there and ask him to defend in that way. And
Speaker 3: Tota Martinez has played him as a central midfielder, but
Speaker 3: he's a liability defensively and we've seen that throughout his career.
Speaker 3: Who else can you put their David Ruiz is out,
Speaker 3: so that would be another player that you could have
Speaker 3: put there. He's not available. You're going to have to
Speaker 3: put somebody there and ask them to do a job
Speaker 3: that they don't do. You know, can Benjamen Kurumowski do
Speaker 3: that job to an extent? He can run, he can
Speaker 3: do things, but he's not a six. He's not a
Speaker 3: defensive midfielder. Do you put a.
Speaker 2: Noah Allen in there?
Speaker 3: You played no Allen as the central of three center
Speaker 3: backs in the last game, which was crazy to me.
Speaker 3: It worked, Okay, I don't think Atlanta exploited it enough.
Speaker 3: But can you move him up and bring another center
Speaker 3: back into the group.
Speaker 2: Maybe. But this is where.
Speaker 3: MLS rosters can bite you at various points where you
Speaker 3: have limited depth, and you're gonna have to make decisions
Speaker 3: on where that depth is limited when you construct a roster.
Speaker 3: Miami made a decision to have really three guys who
Speaker 3: can play the sixth role to varying degrees, and all
Speaker 3: of them might be unavailable. So how do you handle it?
Speaker 3: If you're Miami. I think you have to handle it
Speaker 3: by going out and trying to score ten goals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think you can handle it in another way.
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be fascinating because that's generally not taught
Speaker 3: to Martino's mo in these games. When you get to
Speaker 3: the stage of the season and you get to these
Speaker 3: kinds of big games, he gets more conservative than usual.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's gonna have that luxury, and if
Speaker 3: he does, look he's gonna have to find something in
Speaker 3: someone that we haven't really seen. And I don't think
Speaker 3: it's gonna get talked about. I think he's just gonna
Speaker 3: get glossed over. You know, we'll be talking about it
Speaker 3: on the radio, because if he plays David Martinez in
Speaker 3: that role, for example, does he have the characteristics to
Speaker 3: be able to be a six? Yeah, I think he does.
Speaker 3: He's never really played it. I'm sure there's some point
Speaker 3: where he played it for River or played it at
Speaker 3: Defensi Houstisia, but he's not a six. Can he be
Speaker 3: a six for a game for you because you don't
Speaker 3: have another six? That's where you're down to the experience
Speaker 3: and the qualities of Tota Martino And can he find
Speaker 3: that or is his option gonna be unorthodox for him
Speaker 3: and say, well, we're just gonna get hit there and
Speaker 3: we're gonna concede goals, but we can score more goals
Speaker 3: than them at home with the offensive talent we have.
Speaker 3: I don't know what his answer is going to be
Speaker 3: Without Janick Brighton, Sergio Buskitz.
Speaker 4: And we had Michael Parkhurst on in our number one
Speaker 4: and we were discussing pressure and elimination games, and you
Speaker 4: have the younger players that are there at the Kramowsky
Speaker 4: age and the pressure that's going to be on them
Speaker 4: in this match with the older players that have been
Speaker 4: there before, Messi Suarez, Geordie al But, et cetera. Mixing
Speaker 4: that with the younger players who haven't been in that situation.
Speaker 4: The pressure, the emotional pressure of not wanting to mess
Speaker 4: this up. I think that that ratchets things up all
Speaker 4: so emotionally for Inner Miami, no matter how they line
Speaker 4: things up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if the younger players are gonna
Speaker 3: necessarily think about it that way. I think it's just pressure.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they're worried about letting somebody down
Speaker 3: in these moments and that kind of stuff. I'm really curious.
Speaker 3: I mean, Federica Rodondo would be the other one, but
Speaker 3: you're gonna ask him to stay home a lot more
Speaker 3: and try to figure that out. But Rodondo's got to
Speaker 3: handle this moment. Diego Gomez has got to handle this moment.
Speaker 3: Tomas Abules, David Martinez have to handle this moment. And
Speaker 3: the thing about it, when you really dig into how
Speaker 3: this game can flow. If Atlanta scores early, how does
Speaker 3: Miami respond If Atlanta keeps Miami off the board for
Speaker 3: a period of time and at zero zero for a
Speaker 3: long way. How does Miami respond? How do the young
Speaker 3: players respond to the crowd getting antsy? How do the
Speaker 3: young players respond to that feeling of oh crap in
Speaker 3: the stands. I don't know the veterans will handle it.
Speaker 3: The veterans will be fine with it, But how do
Speaker 3: those young players handle that. I think it's more of
Speaker 3: that than you know, this idea of it's not Argentina
Speaker 3: in the World Cup in twenty twenty two or Copa
Speaker 3: America in twenty twenty one, where the young players did
Speaker 3: not want to let Lionel Messi down. That's different. You're
Speaker 3: talking about a cultural icon and one of the last
Speaker 3: opportunities that they're going to have to win something. This
Speaker 3: is not that I don't think Ben Jim and Kremowsky
Speaker 3: has that exact same feeling about Lionel Messi. He's going
Speaker 3: to be one of the closer ones. Some of the
Speaker 3: other South Americans are going to have that to an extent,
Speaker 3: but it's not the same. This is more of the
Speaker 3: end of visual to me, of how do you handle
Speaker 3: being a front running team but not being able to
Speaker 3: run out front. How does that get dealt with? And
Speaker 3: I don't know what the answer is going to be.
Speaker 3: And these are the moments where you learn a lot
Speaker 3: about individual character.
Speaker 2: And we'll see.
Speaker 3: I think we've seen from Atlanta in these moments as
Speaker 3: of late, that they have risen to the idea of
Speaker 3: being that underdog and that's what they've rallied around, and
Speaker 3: they have handled those moments very well. Miami hasn't been
Speaker 3: in these moments very much as a group, and we'll
Speaker 3: see what happens with them without potentially Sergio Busquet's and
Speaker 3: Yonick Bright sounds like neither one train today. It's going
Speaker 3: to be a big ask for them to be able
Speaker 3: to go. If anybody can handle that, it's Busquetes because
Speaker 3: of his history and his intelligence, But Kenny run because
Speaker 3: intelligence doesn't make those legs move any faster. How does
Speaker 3: Miami handle not having an ideal six?
Speaker 2: I don't know. And Atlanta has to try to exploit that.
Speaker 1: If that's the case, and shift sides to the field
Speaker 1: now because I do want to get to the flanks.
Speaker 1: Something we talked about as well is that Savo you
Speaker 1: need to might not actually have an empty sign on
Speaker 1: his tank and the way he played and the way
Speaker 1: he moved kind of trying to stalemate Jordi Alba to
Speaker 1: where they're kind of even even if they're canceling each
Speaker 1: other out. I wanted to ask on you know how
Speaker 1: you see that potentially playing out in game three.
Speaker 3: Jordi Alba is the player for Miami that scares me
Speaker 3: the most. I know that's sacrilege on a team with
Speaker 3: Messi and Suarez, but if Jordie Alba went reason of
Speaker 3: the field, he's the one who can change everything because
Speaker 3: then you're getting something it's not unexpected, but it's coming
Speaker 3: from an unexpected place to tilt the game, and he tay.
Speaker 3: If that's the case, he's probably eliminating Saba from joining
Speaker 3: the attack for Atlanta. So that's the battle to me
Speaker 3: that determines the game. If it's a stalemate like it
Speaker 3: was on Saturday night, in my opinion, then that opens
Speaker 3: the door honestly for Messi and Suarez to do what
Speaker 3: they can do, but it opens the door for other
Speaker 3: Atlanta players to try to win their battles. And the
Speaker 3: opposite side is an interesting one because if if you
Speaker 3: go with the same group for Atlanta and you play
Speaker 3: Saba as a wing back, and it's Saba dealing with
Speaker 3: Jordi Alba up and down the field. Okay, the other side,
Speaker 3: you're not gonna ask Pedro Amador to exactly do the
Speaker 3: same things as Saba.
Speaker 2: You're gonna ask.
Speaker 3: Him to do a decent bit of them. And Marcela
Speaker 3: Wagan is not Jordi Alba. So can you exploit that
Speaker 3: side more in the run of play? I think so,
Speaker 3: and you're gonna have to be smart with it. Look
Speaker 3: in another issue here that is definitely flying under the
Speaker 3: radars Jay Fortune.
Speaker 2: He's banged up. He didn't train fully. Yesterday.
Speaker 3: Rob Valentino talked about it and he took a knock
Speaker 3: and also a roll of the ankle in the game.
Speaker 3: Rob said it was pretty surprising that he was able
Speaker 3: to do as much as he did for as long
Speaker 3: as he did in that match, and he had a
Speaker 3: huge play on Messi late at the top of the eighteen.
Speaker 3: That was vital in Atlanta getting the opportunity to go
Speaker 3: win it. To be able to do the things that
Speaker 3: you want with Saba and Amador getting forward and exploiting
Speaker 3: Miami's want to get forward from their fullbacks, you've got
Speaker 3: to have central midfielders that can run in those moments.
Speaker 3: You don't have another one like Jay Fortune on the bench.
Speaker 3: Tristan Milliambob is not the same player. You're gonna then
Speaker 3: have to reconfigure your midfield a little bit. If it
Speaker 3: is Milliam Baugh, McCarty and Sleish can do it. But
Speaker 3: he's one person. He's already doing it on one side.
Speaker 3: So how do you handle that If you're Atlanta. It's
Speaker 3: a more subtle issue in the central midfield than not
Speaker 3: having a dedicated six or asking Ridondo or asking a
Speaker 3: center back to play it. But it is going to
Speaker 3: have an impact, and it's going to potentially affect how
Speaker 3: much Amador and or Saba can get forward. To make
Speaker 3: that fullback from Miami have to defend more. I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna you're probably gonna have to make the trade
Speaker 3: off a little bit more. You're gonna have to deal
Speaker 3: with Alba more. I mean, look, if you're thinking about
Speaker 3: which weapon am I more afraid of Jordye Alba over
Speaker 3: Marcella Wagan. So you're probably gonna have to have Sleish
Speaker 3: to that side of the field to help deal with
Speaker 3: that just in case. And that's what we've seen and
Speaker 3: I think that is fine, But then Amador is gonna
Speaker 3: have to adjust to Mullyambah not being able to cover
Speaker 3: as much ground as J four and help as much
Speaker 3: and maybe stay home a little bit more at times.
Speaker 3: So it's gonna be really interesting, Like those little chess
Speaker 3: matches in this game are gonna determine it. And I
Speaker 3: think it's been a fascinating series so far and it's
Speaker 3: only gonna get more fascinating in Game three.
Speaker 4: What about other injuries. I know that Stean was back
Speaker 4: at practice yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if he's good enough to start.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Uh, you obviously would love to have him back because
Speaker 3: I thought he has been really good down the stretch
Speaker 3: once he got healthy and got consistent games. Derek Williams
Speaker 3: has been outstanding. I thought he had his best game
Speaker 3: for Atlanta in the Game two, and that's not just
Speaker 3: because he scored. He was really well organized, really good
Speaker 3: at leading the line and stepping out when he needed
Speaker 3: to step out and closing down that space at the
Speaker 3: top of the eighteen.
Speaker 2: I thought he was great. You're gonna need that from him.
Speaker 3: And Luisa Bram has been very good in the moments
Speaker 3: we've seen him against Miami, You're gonna need that as well.
Speaker 3: I don't if Stian can go. I think it's gonna
Speaker 3: be hard for him to go ninety. Do you want
Speaker 3: him to close it? Do you want him to start it?
Speaker 3: I don't know how deep he can go and do it.
Speaker 3: So that then potentially gives you the ability to change
Speaker 3: up your shape though, if you want to or change
Speaker 3: up how you organize it. Because with Saba as a
Speaker 3: wing back, because you've played Ronald Hernandez as a central
Speaker 3: as a center back, do you want Hernandez as a
Speaker 3: wing back to try to defend Jordi album more?
Speaker 2: Maybe not be able to get forward as much.
Speaker 3: But does that give you the ability to go to
Speaker 3: more of a five two two one, uh three four
Speaker 3: three three four two one, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 3: Think of al Marim and what he's done with Sporting
Speaker 3: and what he's probably gonna do with Manchester United. Do
Speaker 3: you want Saba and Maranchuk as those two tens behind
Speaker 3: Tira which we would assume would start and in front
Speaker 3: of two central midfielders, or do you want three central
Speaker 3: midfielders and then have to sacrifice somebody or do you
Speaker 3: keep Bernandez in like again, see lots of questions. And
Speaker 3: that's the thing when you add gregorson back in is
Speaker 3: it just straight up for a bram or does it
Speaker 3: give you the ability to move other pieces around? If
Speaker 3: it doesn't from the start, it might at some point
Speaker 3: in the game. And that's what I kind of come
Speaker 3: back to you with this one is.
Speaker 2: Game two.
Speaker 3: The way that it played out, you really didn't have
Speaker 3: to make a dramatic change in the shape until the
Speaker 3: very end, and you didn't really have a clear cut
Speaker 3: option when fortune had to come off. You went aggressive
Speaker 3: with Silva and it paid off. I don't think you
Speaker 3: start wide open aggressive here, but do you have to
Speaker 3: turn to that at some point? And does it give
Speaker 3: you the ability getting gregorson back even with potentially losing
Speaker 3: fortune or having a limited fortune. Does it give you
Speaker 3: the ability to get more of a three front or
Speaker 3: a one in front of two which can expand to
Speaker 3: three depending on how you want it to look. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it does, but I don't know if you start that way.
Speaker 3: So to answer the questions about the lineups and the individuals,
Speaker 3: I don't know how it starts. I think Rob Valentino
Speaker 3: has been really crafty and how he's put this team
Speaker 3: together in these games. I don't think there's a guarantee
Speaker 3: that it's different than the team started against Miami in
Speaker 3: Game two, but I do think you see more evolution
Speaker 3: of how the team finishes between the start and between
Speaker 3: the final whistle.
Speaker 2: All right, Jered, go for it. What else is on
Speaker 2: your mind?
Speaker 1: I just realize we're running Jason up against the clock
Speaker 1: here and we're making work over time. To your point
Speaker 1: about not just the kids on the roster, but even
Speaker 1: the veterans on the roster, and we talked about this
Speaker 1: in all the playoff games, So why not just finish
Speaker 1: it off here? The longer this game days scoreless or
Speaker 1: tiede you know, how do how does everybody deal with
Speaker 1: that and deal with the pressure of you know, if
Speaker 1: you're the home team, I don't do you want this
Speaker 1: to go to penalties, especially with Brad Guzan deciding to
Speaker 1: I don't know, enter his avatar state in the last
Speaker 1: uh in the last month or so. But the longer
Speaker 1: it goes, you know, how do you how do how
Speaker 1: do players deal with it, not just the young players,
Speaker 1: but even the veteran players of that pressure of we
Speaker 1: got to get something we got to get something.
Speaker 3: I think on the Atlanta side, they'll handle it fine.
Speaker 3: They're they're not going into to play for that. They're
Speaker 3: going in to play to win. It's a ninety minute game.
Speaker 3: It might not be wild risk taking early, but they're
Speaker 3: going in to win the game. I do not think
Speaker 3: they're going in to defend and hold on. They're gonna
Speaker 3: pick their spots, they're gonna be smart about it, but
Speaker 3: they're looking for ways to win the game. For Miami. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't know how they handle that. I don't know
Speaker 3: how they handle backs against the wall, struggling to score goals.
Speaker 3: I don't know I will I don't know how that
Speaker 3: fan base will handle it. I don't know how the
Speaker 3: stadium will handle it. I don't know how it will
Speaker 3: feel in the building. You guys know what a feeling
Speaker 3: of that anticipation is in a building.
Speaker 2: You know it from your roles. I know it from
Speaker 2: my role.
Speaker 3: It's different in how it affects you on the field
Speaker 3: and does it make you try to do too much?
Speaker 3: Does it make you scared, does it make you too tentative?
Speaker 3: Does it in some for some players it makes them
Speaker 3: rise to the occasion. I don't know with some of
Speaker 3: these guys, Messi, Suarez, Alba, they've risen to the occasion
Speaker 3: so many times in these situations, and they very well could.
Speaker 3: And even if the young players around them struggle and
Speaker 3: fall apart, Messi's good enough to win this, Like that's
Speaker 3: just real talk.
Speaker 2: You have to try to take that away from him.
Speaker 3: If you try to take Suarez away in Albo way,
Speaker 3: and that's three guys you got to try to take away,
Speaker 3: but all them are capable of rising to that occasion.
Speaker 3: The question is going to be is the rest of
Speaker 3: the group capable And even if they can't rise to
Speaker 3: the occasion, can they prevent making the mistake that ends
Speaker 3: up sending shockwaves to this league? Because look, it's a
Speaker 3: it's not a question about who the league office wants
Speaker 3: to win this game. And that doesn't mean something's going
Speaker 3: to get tilted. That doesn't mean there's going to be
Speaker 3: a bad call here and a bad call there. Those
Speaker 3: happen on their own. But everything is against Atlanta United
Speaker 3: and they know that. I thought Brad Gazan's question about
Speaker 3: if there had been any punishment for Miami coming out
Speaker 3: late for the second half was very interesting because I
Speaker 3: think it gives you the mentality feeds into the fea attitude,
Speaker 3: doesn't it. That's something at Lanta United's going to feed
Speaker 3: on when those moments happen in the game, and they
Speaker 3: will again. It happens in a normal game in May,
Speaker 3: it's going to happen in this game too. There's going
Speaker 3: to be a bad call. There's going to be a
Speaker 3: call that you think is a bad call. There's going
Speaker 3: to be something that drives you crazy. For Atlanta that's
Speaker 3: going to fuel them. I think, I really do so.
Speaker 3: I'm not worried about the effects of those sorts of moments.
Speaker 3: I am worried on the Miami side of how that
Speaker 3: back line defends when their offense isn't getting goals, and
Speaker 3: I don't think they handle it well. But Atlanta then
Speaker 3: has to topple them over and they have to find
Speaker 3: a way to be attacking enough and in the right
Speaker 3: spots to punish Miami. If Miami comes out with the
Speaker 3: same group and No Allen's at center back, Atlanta has
Speaker 3: to find a way to get crosses into Jamal Tira
Speaker 3: matched up with no Allen and if then things move around.
Speaker 2: I like No Allen as a player. He's just not
Speaker 2: a center back.
Speaker 3: If Miami's able to adjust and get Martinez or Aviles
Speaker 3: matched up on tra in those moments, then Atlanta has
Speaker 3: to find the cut back to the top of the eighteen,
Speaker 3: and it's gotta be Moranchuk coming back across, or one
Speaker 3: of the other central midfielders making a run in. It
Speaker 3: very well could be a Tristan Milliam Bah who I
Speaker 3: think finds those space as well. You've got to exploit that.
Speaker 3: That is where Atlanta can beat Miami. The flip side.
Speaker 3: You know how Miami can beat Atlanta.
Speaker 2: It's talent.
Speaker 3: It's sheer talent with that attacking group, it's finding that
Speaker 3: space at the top of the eighteen. Atlanta has to
Speaker 3: be so dedicated to taking that away, making Messi go wider,
Speaker 3: to try to find opportunities, making Suarez drift away from
Speaker 3: the middle, to go try to find opportunities, try to
Speaker 3: prevent Jordi Alba from killing you and make it be
Speaker 3: one of the other seven guys on the field. Try
Speaker 3: to take those three away as best as you can.
Speaker 3: A lot of teams have tried it, very few have
Speaker 3: done it over three games. We'll see if Atlanta can
Speaker 3: do that. But in my opinion. The other way is
Speaker 3: what we'll decide it. For Atlanta, they score, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be hard for Miami to handle that. If Atlanta can
Speaker 3: hold on for a long time. But if Atlanta gets
Speaker 3: a goal, I think Miami's going to struggle to handle that.
Speaker 3: Atlanta's gotta find ways to attack, not all the time,
Speaker 3: not with abandon but in very intelligent ways and punish
Speaker 3: this weak defensive group for Miami, and we'll see if they.
Speaker 2: Can do it.
Speaker 3: Broadcast plans one more time partner seven o'clock for the
Speaker 3: five Strives countdown eight ten. Allegedly, if Miami shows up
Speaker 3: on time for the kickoff in Fort Lauderdale at Chase Stadium,
Speaker 3: we will be on Star ninety four on your radio,
Speaker 3: ninety four point one FM. On the Odyssey app type
Speaker 3: in Start ninety four. Not hard to find. You won't
Speaker 3: be able to listen to us on Apple. You'll have
Speaker 3: to sync that up. Not too hard, you can handle that.
Speaker 3: Make sure you're following soccer down here on all of
Speaker 3: your platforms, because we're gonna have a ton of content.
Speaker 3: Barring some late chain ranges of things. We are sending
Speaker 3: the most media to Fort Lauderdale to cover Atlanta United,
Speaker 3: maybe some of the most media in terms of sheer
Speaker 3: numbers to cover any Atlanta United postseason match in the
Speaker 3: club's history. It doesn't happen without you guys consuming the content.
Speaker 3: It doesn't happen without all of us being borderline insane.
Speaker 3: It doesn't happen without the support that we have gotten
Speaker 3: from you guys, from people like Kaiser Permanente, from Scott Flood,
Speaker 3: you know, finding those partnerships for us. It doesn't happen
Speaker 3: without the dedication of the people that are doing all this.
Speaker 3: So there's gonna be a lot of content starting in
Speaker 3: the middle of the afternoon from Fort Lauderdale, all over
Speaker 3: your soccer down here platforms.
Speaker 2: So hopefully you enjoy it.
Speaker 3: Hopefully you are with us in spirit if you're not
Speaker 3: in Fort Lauderdale. And it is an epic kind of
Speaker 3: night in the history of this So I hope that
Speaker 3: all of you enjoy it wherever you are.
Speaker 4: All Right, Partner, I know the fourth held up the
Speaker 4: lightboard a long time ago. We'll see you down there
Speaker 4: in Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 2: Audios.
Speaker 4: All right, that's Jason. Jason has to like hop on
Speaker 4: a plane and head south.