Speaker 1: Ral salt Lake is back in action. Coming up on Saturday,
Speaker 1: they hit the Roady take on Nashville. They'll be back
Speaker 1: home to take on Toronto the week after that after
Speaker 1: getting all three points over the weekend against the LA Galaxy.
Speaker 1: Our next guest sporting director, decision maker, intelligent soccer minds
Speaker 1: and a good time if you want to grab some
Speaker 1: dinner hangout.
Speaker 2: Kurt Schmidt. Tuesday afternoon, Kurt, how are you, sir?
Speaker 3: I'm good.
Speaker 1: It sounds like you are in transit somewhere. Where do
Speaker 1: we find you on this lovely Tuesday?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, in transit, heading heading home and I gotta
Speaker 3: get on the phone when I get there. So was
Speaker 3: lucky to squeeze in.
Speaker 2: Well, I feel lucky you made time.
Speaker 1: Do you have to get on the phone with a
Speaker 1: potential signing or two that you are trying to get
Speaker 1: across the line prior to the transfer window closing in
Speaker 1: about two and a half weeks?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's definitely related.
Speaker 2: So okay, fair enough? Follow up? Where we at in
Speaker 2: this process?
Speaker 1: You know, the last few weeks, it's been Jason, it's
Speaker 1: been Tony, it's been uh, Pablo a couple of different times,
Speaker 1: and since you are the guy and the buck stots
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: Yes, I know it's a collaboration.
Speaker 1: You guys are talking together in a room, you know, ourself,
Speaker 1: fans chomping.
Speaker 2: At the bid.
Speaker 1: Are we getting close to getting these things across the line?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, we're getting close, you know, not sleeping a ton,
Speaker 3: trying to trying to adjust my body clock to to
Speaker 3: try to match the European time change a little bit.
Speaker 3: But we're getting close a little bit, a little bit
Speaker 3: every day. Obviously we all want it to go a
Speaker 3: little bit faster, but it takes what it takes.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Since you alluded to your body adjusting to the European clock,
Speaker 1: I imagine you are speaking with players that play there
Speaker 1: soccer in Europe?
Speaker 2: Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3: I can't believe I let that slip.
Speaker 2: Europe's a big place, Kurt. There are plenty of soccer
Speaker 2: teams over there. I mean a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Wondering, because look, I could read you the rumors that
Speaker 1: I see online, and I've got three strikers in front
Speaker 1: of me that I'll play at MLS that you've been
Speaker 1: linked to. But you're speaking the players internationally or are
Speaker 1: you speaking of players domestically too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's not one option, right, so we've
Speaker 3: got a couple options. There are some options in the league.
Speaker 3: You know. It's teams are in an interesting spot. We're
Speaker 3: right around that time where you know they've got what
Speaker 3: they or they think they know what they've got. After
Speaker 3: the early games of the season, we're coming up towards
Speaker 3: the trade deadline, so you're going to start to see
Speaker 3: some movement within the league. So that may impact things
Speaker 3: as well, you know, but what we're looking for is
Speaker 3: is a tough spot, you know, a tough position to
Speaker 3: kind of fill. Always from within the league. You know,
Speaker 3: I think there's a few good candidates that could take
Speaker 3: a step and be contributors, but you know, it's a
Speaker 3: tough position to internally and usually have to go broad
Speaker 3: to get to get someone in there.
Speaker 1: As you know, Kurt, and now we'll tell our listeners
Speaker 1: the primary transfer window closes in two weeks, so we're
Speaker 1: looking at a hard deadline of April to twenty third.
Speaker 1: What's realistic to expect as far as making these additions
Speaker 1: prior to this window and then the process of getting
Speaker 1: them on the ground and how long it takes to
Speaker 1: get them acclimated to the system, and what's reasonable to
Speaker 1: expect when we could actually see them playing significant minutes
Speaker 1: and hopefully helping you guys out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, there's obviously the deal, you know, the
Speaker 3: deal and time it takes that to get done, which
Speaker 3: is where we're at right now, and hopefully finishing that up.
Speaker 3: There's the immigration process, which you know can't be forgotten.
Speaker 3: I think the the you know, that's usually three to
Speaker 3: four weeks, depending on a few different factors that are
Speaker 3: of our hands. And then you know your your comments
Speaker 3: about getting out acclimated and adjusted to the system, That
Speaker 3: obviously is the thing that takes probably the longest. You know,
Speaker 3: we play with with a little more structure, maybe than
Speaker 3: than a lot of teams where we might be recruiting from,
Speaker 3: and so it'll take teams that take players a minute
Speaker 3: to you know, do enough video and get on the
Speaker 3: same page with their teammates and the coaches and fit in.
Speaker 3: But we still think a guy can come in and
Speaker 3: have an immediate impact and create danger and help us
Speaker 3: right away.
Speaker 1: How many players are you hoping to have signed before
Speaker 1: April twenty third?
Speaker 3: I will I will say, I'm I'm really hopeful we
Speaker 3: get one guy in. If there's another one that we
Speaker 3: can do, we'll do it. You know, we're we're keeping
Speaker 3: our ears open, our eyes open to what's out there,
Speaker 3: whether that's internal trades or abroad. You know, obviously we
Speaker 3: have an international player limit which we are always kind
Speaker 3: of bumping up against. So the odds of an additional
Speaker 3: signing being domestic are quite high.
Speaker 1: So of course everybody is surmising that. And for our
Speaker 1: listeners if you're just tuning in, Kurt Schmid is with us.
Speaker 1: So if there's one player across the line, is it
Speaker 1: safe to say that that player is a striker?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, sure, it's pretty safe. Okay, definitely an attacker,
Speaker 3: and it's someone that can play center forward for US.
Speaker 3: I think, you know, Ari and Forster have done well.
Speaker 3: You know, even hayesus has come on there and done well.
Speaker 3: There's still young players that you know, we'll have their
Speaker 3: up and ups and downs. We believe in all all
Speaker 3: through those guys, you know, but I think sometimes it
Speaker 3: helps to have more experienced player come in and you know,
Speaker 3: shoulder some of the burden, some of the load and
Speaker 3: and you know, teach those guys as well and help
Speaker 3: those guys develop So we are developmental club, as you know,
Speaker 3: so we're gonna keep developing those guys. But yeah, we
Speaker 3: need to add a little more experience in that part
Speaker 3: of the field.
Speaker 1: If there should be a set secondary player added, what
Speaker 1: position would that secondary player play.
Speaker 3: That's a great question. Likely in the attack, but not
Speaker 3: closed off to anything. I think some of it is
Speaker 3: is finding a good opportunity and something that we can
Speaker 3: we can exploit, but likely looking to add some more
Speaker 3: competition in the attack. I think our competition in the
Speaker 3: in the middle of midfield and in the back line
Speaker 3: has been has been good early in the season, you know,
Speaker 3: but upfront is where we you know, we haven't scored
Speaker 3: as many goals, and our competition there is maybe quite
Speaker 3: quite as good as it is in the back right now.
Speaker 1: Are you satisfied with the goal opportunities that are created,
Speaker 1: because it's one thing to have a pure goal scorer,
Speaker 1: and certainly we've had a few on this team, and
Speaker 1: one is recently last year as Chicho that was able
Speaker 1: to put away a lot of chances. But you can't
Speaker 1: put away chances that they're not created. So are you
Speaker 1: satisfied with the create activity the attacking ability of your
Speaker 1: players right now that are providing the chances that hopefully
Speaker 1: these new players will be able to finish.
Speaker 3: Happy, Yes, satisfied. No, you know it's it's obviously just
Speaker 3: the math equation, right. You've got to score more than
Speaker 3: you let in. So if you want to win games,
Speaker 3: you either got to let in fewer goals or score more.
Speaker 3: So I look at it, you know, as yes, we
Speaker 3: do need to create higher quality chances, and in more games,
Speaker 3: we need to create higher quality chances than we can
Speaker 3: see in those games. I think defensively, you know, we can.
Speaker 3: We can tighten things up as well, and I think
Speaker 3: we've been a little unlucky. We've also conceded some some
Speaker 3: quality chances on the defensive end as well. But those
Speaker 3: things are always intertwined, and I know that, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: if we're able to finish of some chances that we're
Speaker 3: creating earlier in games, that lightens the load on those guys.
Speaker 3: So I want to do both. I want to increase
Speaker 3: the chances we the quality of the chances we create,
Speaker 3: and decrease the quality chances that we concede. But I
Speaker 3: think those things are interdependent.
Speaker 1: So as somebody who is acutely aware of the difficulties
Speaker 1: that decision makers like you face when it comes to
Speaker 1: getting these deals done. I know that I'll ask you
Speaker 1: about the delays as to why this has taken place,
Speaker 1: and we could go in a million different directions. So ultimately,
Speaker 1: how would you characterize and articulate to RSL fans why
Speaker 1: these signings have not been able to be completed yet?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, it takes at two and in
Speaker 3: this case three to tango, right, You've got to get
Speaker 3: us another club and another player all on the same
Speaker 3: page at the same time to get a deal done.
Speaker 3: And we're only in control of one of those three parties,
Speaker 3: so we are at the whim of other parties a
Speaker 3: lot of the time. And and sorry, they'll train a thought,
Speaker 3: but when we when we go out and we're talking
Speaker 3: to these clubs, you know, they have their own motivation. Okay,
Speaker 3: they could they could be motivated to sell or not
Speaker 3: their windows closed, which we seees in advantage sometimes in
Speaker 3: MLS that our windows stays open so long, but it
Speaker 3: can also be disadvantaged because as we go and talk
Speaker 3: to clubs, they you know, if they've got a player
Speaker 3: who's performing for them in that moment, they don't always
Speaker 3: want to let that guy go if they can't replace him,
Speaker 3: so we're kind of battling battling those that pushful.
Speaker 1: It has been reported pretty widely widely excuse me, first
Speaker 1: by Sportico and then ultimately the Salt Lake Tribune and others,
Speaker 1: that there is a what I've been told is an
Speaker 1: eminent ownership shift where the Miller family is coming in
Speaker 1: to take the business interests on of the team. Ryan
Speaker 1: Smith will exit stage left to focus on other things,
Speaker 1: and the Blitzer group will maintain whatever control they maintain.
Speaker 1: The natural follow up, Kurtis, has this ownership stuff in
Speaker 1: this transition? Has this delayed your ability to make some
Speaker 1: of these decisions and get it done.
Speaker 3: I'll just tell you that I'm I'm far too worried
Speaker 3: and busy with with trying to get some signings over
Speaker 3: the line to comment to you about any ownership situation.
Speaker 1: Fair enough and smart answer, But I do want to
Speaker 1: go back to what you referenced, because I think I
Speaker 1: think Ralpha Kapral has been really, really good. And as
Speaker 1: you referenced earlier, you know it's a math equation. You've
Speaker 1: got to put in more than you give up and
Speaker 1: maybe lost in the attention on the attack is you
Speaker 1: guys have given up eleven goals, which is third worst
Speaker 1: in the West. Are we focused too much on one
Speaker 1: area of your team when maybe there's other areas that
Speaker 1: we need to be honed in on as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I do think we need to tighten things
Speaker 3: up in the back. But as I said before, the
Speaker 3: things that those things are interdependent. So on the one hand,
Speaker 3: there's a psychological opponent where if you feel like, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're playing center back or goal keep for you know,
Speaker 3: anywhere on the back line, and you feel like your
Speaker 3: team can score a goal, you play with a little
Speaker 3: more confidence and maybe you're a little loose or left tense,
Speaker 3: and that helps you play better. Uh, even if that
Speaker 3: that guy doesn't score, but if if you're worried about that,
Speaker 3: potentially you know, and maybe we miss a good chance
Speaker 3: or two, and now it shakes everybody a little bit.
Speaker 3: So from that standpoint, there's a psychological component. Defense is
Speaker 3: also a team game. Rafa, I think Rafa has been
Speaker 3: you know, very good, despite the stat you mentioned, I
Speaker 3: think he's played really well. He's led the back line,
Speaker 3: he's been good in possession, He's made some good says,
Speaker 3: but you know, there's ten guys in front of him
Speaker 3: that also have have a responsibility to limit the chances
Speaker 3: that that we give up so that Rafa doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be as good or have to do as much,
Speaker 3: and so we need to we need to work on
Speaker 3: both of them.
Speaker 1: So of course, uh, you know, a lot of attention
Speaker 1: right now on Diego, deservedly so with his recent national
Speaker 1: team call ups, his kind of cult you know status there,
Speaker 1: with his ability to play through injury and that broken
Speaker 1: nose and was named the Utah Male Athlete of the Year,
Speaker 1: got a brace for you guys against the Galaxy, becomes
Speaker 1: the youngest RSL player to tally fifteen goals fifteen assists,
Speaker 1: and it's only it's only good news as you reference
Speaker 1: your developmental club. And as Jason said on the show
Speaker 1: last week, we're a club that you know, we don't
Speaker 1: necessarily ride a check for ten million dollars for a player.
Speaker 1: We develop a check and then sell that player for
Speaker 1: ten million dollars. I would imagine, Kurt, your phone has
Speaker 1: to ring all the time about this young man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, Diego's doing doing great. How much my phone
Speaker 3: is or isn't ringing? In relation to him, you know,
Speaker 3: is not really the point. I think the club, the
Speaker 3: club values him aton I value him a ton. I
Speaker 3: know the coaches value him a ton, and and my
Speaker 3: goal is to keep him here where he's performing at
Speaker 3: a good level as long as we can, you know,
Speaker 3: and how long that is is you know, again, like
Speaker 3: I said, as long as we can keeping ear and
Speaker 3: he's happy here, you know, we're happy to happy to
Speaker 3: keep him intent. So you know, all that other stuff is,
Speaker 3: you know, we don't want it to become a distraction,
Speaker 3: either for us or for him, or for the fans
Speaker 3: or anybody. Let's just you know, the point is to
Speaker 3: enjoying them while he's here and have him help us
Speaker 3: be as successful as possible.
Speaker 1: But also, by your own admission and the admission of others,
Speaker 1: the point is, in addition to keeping them happy and
Speaker 1: keeping them playing well, the point, the other point is
Speaker 1: to continue the club's ethos and belief that you are
Speaker 1: a team that identifies young talent, develops that young talent,
Speaker 1: and then moves that young talent on if you can,
Speaker 1: you know, get the right price. So what are what
Speaker 1: are the the plates that you're juggling and spinning around
Speaker 1: above your head as you're balancing out what the right
Speaker 1: thing is to do for a player that is on
Speaker 1: record saying that he wants to play in Europe, and
Speaker 1: as the chief decision maker for a club that is
Speaker 1: on record saying this is what we do.
Speaker 2: We develop young and then we sell.
Speaker 3: Yeah we developed, we did we buy or you know,
Speaker 3: draft or bring through the academy young players. We developed them,
Speaker 3: and yeah we sell them, but we don't you know,
Speaker 3: we don't need to sell all of them. We do
Speaker 3: need to sell some to keep the sort of cycle
Speaker 3: churning and the cycle going. But every situation is different,
Speaker 3: right so Jego situation, it will be different and is
Speaker 3: different from Andreas or Fodel or anyone else that we're
Speaker 3: talking about. We're also a club, you know, and as
Speaker 3: I'm you know, working on the team and the roster
Speaker 3: and building things up that you know, we we do
Speaker 3: need to have some uh some pillars of the of
Speaker 3: the group right that that can be on the team
Speaker 3: for a long time. And right now you've got guys
Speaker 3: like Ohita, You've got guys like a Mecca to two
Speaker 3: guys that play in the middle of the field that
Speaker 3: you know, I think could be could be longer term
Speaker 3: players here. Brian has already been here, you know, a
Speaker 3: few years, and I think when I got here, you know,
Speaker 3: it was sort of the end of uh or. We're
Speaker 3: coming towards the end of a cycle where we you know,
Speaker 3: we had de Miror and we had Albert, we had Cello.
Speaker 3: You know, we had some good veteran guys that has
Speaker 3: sort of you know, aight out or left the team.
Speaker 3: And now we've got to replace that aspect as well.
Speaker 3: And as you know, as as you pointed out as
Speaker 3: us and pointed out, we're maybe not going to go
Speaker 3: buy you know, six seven, eight, nine, ten million dollar
Speaker 3: guy to fill that role, but we think we can
Speaker 3: develop guys into that role as well. So the player
Speaker 3: development aspect, you know, has has more than one logical endpoint.
Speaker 1: So let's get an update, progress update in your opinion
Speaker 1: or lack thereof, wherever you're at with it. For Diogo,
Speaker 1: who on paper is your only designated player, and you know,
Speaker 1: the breakaway against La you got to at least make
Speaker 1: the keeper make a safe, you know. But but I
Speaker 1: will give him credit because he's the one that won
Speaker 1: the ball back and provided the secondary assist on Diego's
Speaker 1: first goal. But I just think in that spot, you know,
Speaker 1: with all the attention and fanfare he received when he
Speaker 1: was signed, I think there are people that are wanting more.
Speaker 2: Where are you at hurt with the progress of Diogo?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's playing really well this year. I
Speaker 3: think he's facilitating the game a lot. You mentioned the
Speaker 3: first goal. Second, you know, he facilitates uh in the
Speaker 3: in the possession for the second goal as well. And
Speaker 3: you know, him getting those chances is a huge positive.
Speaker 3: You know, when we look at recruitment and scouting and
Speaker 3: evaluate players within without the league, we you know, we
Speaker 3: look at things like expected goals and expected assists and
Speaker 3: is this guy creating chances better a flight quality? Is
Speaker 3: he is he taking you know, he's taking shots of
Speaker 3: a high quality, And you know those are areas where
Speaker 3: Jogo's donald right this season and the execution needs to
Speaker 3: get there. And I think, you know, when he continues
Speaker 3: to create those chances, I do think he's going to
Speaker 3: finish them. You know, he's obviously got the one goal
Speaker 3: this year arguably should have uh you know, the second
Speaker 3: one from you know, second one should have been in
Speaker 3: LA against LA one hundred percent. But I know he's
Speaker 3: a team guy, and he's nobody's harder on Diogo than
Speaker 3: Diogo for for missing a chance like that. But I'm
Speaker 3: just I'm I couldn't be happier to see it manifest
Speaker 3: itself in him fighting to win that ball back and
Speaker 3: create our first goal, to help us score the second goal.
Speaker 3: And he's a team guy, and I know he's he's
Speaker 3: certainly far happier that we went, that we win the
Speaker 3: game than he is upset that he missed the chance.
Speaker 1: One spot, Kurt, that I've felt and this this is
Speaker 1: just you know, this is something you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: walk me through because I just I like Alex Catranis,
Speaker 1: and I think there's a lot to like the Alex
Speaker 1: and Sam battle at that spot.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, it's one thing when.
Speaker 1: You guys had the Conky Calf Champions League kind of
Speaker 1: schedule sneak up on you where you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: bunch of midweek games. But when that went out at
Speaker 1: the table, I just figured that spot was Alex's. And
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with a healthy competition, But what do
Speaker 1: you make of that battle and how it's kind of
Speaker 1: played out?
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, competition is the watchword, right, it's he's
Speaker 3: he's had that position. Last year, he didn't have as
Speaker 3: much competition for that spot, you know. This year Sam
Speaker 3: came in to kind of help us out in two
Speaker 3: spots that left center back and left back and help
Speaker 3: us through fix your congestion. One was in Concast Champions League,
Speaker 3: hopefully another as a run in in Lenked Cup. But yeah,
Speaker 3: right now, when it's one game a week, it's it's competition.
Speaker 3: And when we have competition between two guys that can
Speaker 3: both start in this league at the same position, that's
Speaker 3: gonna make each of them, you know, perform at the
Speaker 3: top of their game. So I think Sam's appearance as
Speaker 3: Sam starts or something that's gonna motivate Alex and sharpen
Speaker 3: him up. And I thought he had a good game
Speaker 3: on Saturday, and I know that's gonna do the same
Speaker 3: to Sam. And I think if we have those two
Speaker 3: guys pushing each other as hard as possible, it's gonna
Speaker 3: make us as as good as possible, regardless who starts right.
Speaker 3: So that's that's the goal when we strive to build
Speaker 3: that depth and competition. And as I said earlier, I
Speaker 3: think we've done a good job of that. Along the back.
Speaker 1: Line, how healthy are you guys? Heading into the weekend
Speaker 1: in Nashville?
Speaker 3: Picked up a knock or two that we're still working
Speaker 3: on obviously, you know Kobe Henry last week, this week,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe maybe one more. Uh, it's a little
Speaker 3: too early to kind of say, gonna gonna have to
Speaker 3: see how the next couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: All right, before I say you loose, Uh, I've heard
Speaker 1: that Nashville soccer specific, Uh stadium is pretty is pretty cool?
Speaker 2: Is this your You've been there before, haven't you?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yep?
Speaker 1: What's your what's your favorite visiting venue? What's what's the
Speaker 1: best atmosphere? If I take our spot away here, what's
Speaker 1: what's your favorite venue to go watch a game at?
Speaker 3: I won't I won't pick one. I mean, I think
Speaker 3: I think places like Portland, like l a. C. Even
Speaker 3: like Minnesota, Austin. When those places are are alive, they're
Speaker 3: they're really they're entertaining to watch, and they're they're intimidating
Speaker 3: atmospheres to to play in as as a visiting team,
Speaker 3: and I think they're just as a soccer fan, they're
Speaker 3: just you know, like a wonderful place is to watch
Speaker 3: a game and to experience a game. I know there's
Speaker 3: a few others that I'm missing, and you know, apologize,
Speaker 3: I guess, but there's some really good atmospheres, and I think,
Speaker 3: you know, from a stadium standpoint, there's obviously been some
Speaker 3: really nice stadiums built recently within the league. You know,
Speaker 3: we were just in Minnesota. That's a really nice stadium.
Speaker 3: You know, Nashville is certainly one of them. You know,
Speaker 3: I mentioned also already, but they're one of them as well,
Speaker 3: you know, So there are some, you know, there's some
Speaker 3: nice stadiums in the league these days. So it's really
Speaker 3: it's a pleasure for the for the players, and it's
Speaker 3: a far cry from back in the day when when
Speaker 3: this thing started up.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, buddies, safe travels will set you loose because
Speaker 1: you have more important phone calls to make, namely in Europe.
Speaker 2: Thanks for the time about with chat too.
Speaker 3: Perfect Thanks man.
Speaker 1: Kurt Schmidt, sporting director for Real Salt Lake. Two weeks
Speaker 1: away from the primary transfer window closing,