Speaker 1: Beat two, three four? What is up, my brother? It
Speaker 1: is the It is the handoff in the full house
Speaker 1: here on a Thursday, Nico moreno joining us. What cup
Speaker 1: of coffee are you want, sir?
Speaker 2: A couple of coffee, noumerodos or kens. There it is there,
Speaker 2: it is there. It is bravery cut up. How's everybody doing?
Speaker 2: Good to see you, John Nino, family of SDH. Always
Speaker 2: a good Thursday when I'm here with y'all excited about
Speaker 2: some of the games that went on going into the playoffs.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you guys have a whole list of topics.
Speaker 1: So let's do it, all right, So it's two questions
Speaker 1: and it's rapid fire for the handoff. Here. My first question,
Speaker 1: my first question to the both of you, and I'll
Speaker 1: start with Nino since he's got the furthest to trek
Speaker 1: Uh Johnny and Fantino. On the last day of the
Speaker 1: regular season in Major League Soccer, he decided that he
Speaker 1: was going to travel down to Fort Lauderdale and hang
Speaker 1: out with Messi and friends at the Erector set for
Speaker 1: the last game of the regular season. Then they win
Speaker 1: the cap, that they win the appetizer pie play, they're
Speaker 1: ready to go that they win it. Then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, Johnny Infantino gets on the house Mike and
Speaker 1: says that Messi and friends have been invited to the
Speaker 1: Club World Cup as Team thirty two as the host
Speaker 1: wild card. Nino, I ask you, tongue firmly planted in
Speaker 1: chic how shocking a moment was this for you as
Speaker 1: a follower of the sport of soccer, that mess and
Speaker 1: friends were invited to the Club World Cup.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's the best ever, right, he's the.
Speaker 1: Gold Oh I thought you were talking about anything. Yeah, like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute.
Speaker 4: That that that's his team and why not let him
Speaker 4: have him the chance for the first time ever in
Speaker 4: the MLS lead a team into into the World Club
Speaker 4: to competition.
Speaker 2: Why not? I think it's smart.
Speaker 3: It's a completely marketing based decision, this one. Of course,
Speaker 3: of course that doesn't have to do anything with the uh,
Speaker 3: with the achievements.
Speaker 2: But I like it.
Speaker 4: I mean I like it, And you know you're a
Speaker 4: METSI lower maybe I am, maybe I am okay, but uh.
Speaker 2: Let let the guy who gave everything to the sport.
Speaker 3: Let the guy who run the show for fifteen years
Speaker 3: to be number one in the planet alongside with Christiana,
Speaker 3: because I believe that there were the two Kings, not
Speaker 3: only one, two Kings. All right, this last year, man,
Speaker 3: this is uh You're gonna go to winter Fell after
Speaker 3: this and and tell your kids?
Speaker 2: Are you playing the.
Speaker 3: World in the world clubs with the with the MLS
Speaker 3: team and your friends.
Speaker 2: Isn't that cool? Man? It's awesome?
Speaker 1: I like it, all right, So Nico, I know you're
Speaker 1: equally surprised.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, And look, first of all, everybody loves Messi,
Speaker 2: whether you love his player, you love to hate him,
Speaker 2: you love Lino Messi, and it's not the point of discussion.
Speaker 2: I think that we already knew this was going to happen.
Speaker 2: Actually in Soccer Bar, we did a mock up of
Speaker 2: what that Infantino statement was going to look like. And
Speaker 2: other than the fact that they're going to get to
Speaker 2: host the game, it was exactly what we said, right,
Speaker 2: I Mean, you knew what was gonna happen, you knew
Speaker 2: what he was going to say, you know what it
Speaker 2: was about. But I think that the reality in this
Speaker 2: case is that they kind of deserve it, right. I mean,
Speaker 2: they've done enough to at least make it palatable for
Speaker 2: you to say you know what, Yes, we knew it
Speaker 2: was gonna happen. They could have even been eighth in
Speaker 2: the East. They could have barely made it to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: He might have been harder to sell. But this was
Speaker 2: going to happen. Right. But now where Lunel Messi and
Speaker 2: friends are the supported show winners, they break the point record. Uh,
Speaker 2: they likely have Coach of the Year, likely have MVP
Speaker 2: of the Year. It just makes makes more sense. Right.
Speaker 2: In reality, it is about marketing. It is about what
Speaker 2: Nino just said, is you know, is Lionel Messi is uh,
Speaker 2: you know, Jordi Alba is Busquets is Suarez in this
Speaker 2: huge tournament against European teams that they all played at
Speaker 2: or played against or whatever. And so it just makes
Speaker 2: a fantastic narrative. But again you have to realize two things.
Speaker 2: Anyone who's saying they earned or they they won this
Speaker 2: spot in this tournament, they're lying to themselves. Uh did
Speaker 2: they do the job to be noticed to get invited. Yes,
Speaker 2: but we have to clarify this is an invitation at
Speaker 2: the very end of the day.
Speaker 1: Yep. Second question in the handoff to uh Nino, would
Speaker 1: you go eleven hundred and eighteen miles on a bicycle
Speaker 1: to go see your favorite team.
Speaker 5: I would, really, I would, Yeah, I would, dude, it
Speaker 5: was eleven hundred and eighteen miles on a bicycle just
Speaker 5: to see payn you roll and you will you'd go
Speaker 5: eleven hundred and eighteen miles on a bicycle as well.
Speaker 3: Actually this wasn't closed, right, but I'm going to tell
Speaker 3: you I will on a thirty five hour road trip
Speaker 3: to watch my team back in two thousand.
Speaker 2: So it's not on a.
Speaker 3: Bicycle, no, but it's thirty five hours on a road,
Speaker 3: thirty five hours.
Speaker 1: Called Niko, would you go eleven hundred and eighteen miles
Speaker 1: on a bicycle to go see your favorite team.
Speaker 2: Just because I don't have the stamina to get it
Speaker 2: close to that? No? Yeah, definitely not not these days,
Speaker 2: even with you know, the desire and the love for
Speaker 2: the game and the love for Nacional that is my
Speaker 2: childhood team, or Colombia as I end up ended up
Speaker 2: going to Charlotte on a whim to go watch them
Speaker 2: play that semifinal of Coup America. If it wasn't on
Speaker 2: a plane and some ubers, I would not have gone.
Speaker 1: Oh Man, as always my friend Nino, be safe and
Speaker 1: love the jersey and have a great call, and may
Speaker 1: the pipes behave and we will catch up with you
Speaker 1: again next week. We would go fully loaded and we'll
Speaker 1: come up with more stuff around the planet as always,
Speaker 1: my friend. Great to catch up with you, Great to
Speaker 1: see you. Be safe and stop the sirens hanging around
Speaker 1: your house. You're scared, you know, you had a lot.
Speaker 2: Thank you John, thank you, Niko, see you guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he had, he had a lot of sight Iron's
Speaker 1: going on during his segment. I was kind of scared
Speaker 1: for a second there. I didn't know if people Voca
Speaker 1: laustan him or anything. All Right, So let's get into
Speaker 1: the discussion topic number one, and this came from buddy
Speaker 1: Alex Passin, who was keeping an eye on what's going
Speaker 1: on on the two hundred and eighty character app. Last night,
Speaker 1: there was a game in Major League Soccer and it
Speaker 1: was a game in the most literal sense of the definition.
Speaker 1: It was a game. It was ninety minutes, two teams
Speaker 1: were there. One team showed, the other did not. And
Speaker 1: so this morning on the two hundred and eighty character
Speaker 1: app or late last night, I'll check the timestamp. Someone
Speaker 1: that we know, as Ivanda Freida posted the following on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Portland fans do not deserve the people who have power
Speaker 1: over this club, people who say they are men but
Speaker 1: do not keep their word, people who are only there
Speaker 1: when the team wins. Unfortunately, these are things we have
Speaker 1: no control over. If Vander posted that at two thirteen
Speaker 1: in the morning Eastern time, so eight and a half
Speaker 1: hours ago, Evander was mad as ish about what happened
Speaker 1: last night. And man, this is this is a door
Speaker 1: I don't know if you need to open. But if
Speaker 1: Vander felt like he needed to open this door, and
Speaker 1: that does not speak well for what's going on in Portland.
Speaker 1: Oh man, So of course I do all this. It's
Speaker 1: like you set it up and then he froze. Ah,
Speaker 1: so uh dial back, freezing and everything. So hang on.
Speaker 1: So I'll do that and then we'll see if if
Speaker 1: eight and a half hour see I post something from
Speaker 1: Portland and I'm getting a Seattle guy to talk about it,
Speaker 1: and that's what happens. So that literally that that was
Speaker 1: you know, this is Cascade, this is Cascadia anger coming
Speaker 1: back as a part of the process. So uh, will
Speaker 1: getting in his Kennesaus State work Yeah. All I got
Speaker 1: to say is, if your favorite fraction is three fists,
Speaker 1: don't attempt to enter fifth third exactly. Don't enter the fraction.
Speaker 1: Entert your own risk. And yeah, Derek, good morning. Uh
Speaker 1: but yeah, so Evander, last night, literally at two thirteen
Speaker 1: in the morning, was the tail end of a thought,
Speaker 1: and it was that was the tail end of it.
Speaker 1: It was a three tweet piece of anger. First off,
Speaker 1: he says, First, I want to apologize to all the
Speaker 1: fans who on a Wednesday night dropped everything to support us.
Speaker 1: It's really hard to lose the way that we did.
Speaker 1: The truth is, losing is not in our plans, but
Speaker 1: we have to deal with it. I want to say
Speaker 1: that we, the players and the entire staff did everything
Speaker 1: we could to take poor Land as far as possible. However, however,
Speaker 1: sometimes we have no control over what happens, and what
Speaker 1: happens off the field reflects on the field, and then
Speaker 1: you end up with this third segment. Portland fans do
Speaker 1: not deserve the people who have power over this club,
Speaker 1: people who say they are men but do not keep
Speaker 1: their word, people who are only there when the team wins. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: these are things we have no control over. That came
Speaker 1: from Evander last night after the loss. That ain't good.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had a team in you had a
Speaker 1: team in Portland that was the nine. They scrambled in
Speaker 1: and you end up working your way to getting the
Speaker 1: home game and you completely and totally just blah. Oh
Speaker 1: and by the way, eleven hundred and eighteen miles. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to see. I'm trying to see what the distance is.
Speaker 1: It would be like going from say, lumin Field Wow,
Speaker 1: past Presno State. Wow. Okay, all right, so he's back.
Speaker 1: Did I unplugged? Did I unplug something?
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened. I don't know who's messing with.
Speaker 1: Me, but I was messing with you. It's the Portland
Speaker 1: fans because I brought this up about Evander.
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe maybe he's Evander himself, But look, did there
Speaker 2: a typical case of a player not having a good circle.
Speaker 2: Someone is gonna take that phone away at two thirty
Speaker 2: in the morning anytime, and it goes for anyone hearing
Speaker 2: this as a professional athlete or a college player that's
Speaker 2: moving up. Anytime that your body, your mind, your heart
Speaker 2: tells you I need to tweet this at two thirty.
Speaker 2: At one thirty at four thirty in the morning, do
Speaker 2: not do it. Hold it. Call your publicist, call your manager,
Speaker 2: call your best friend, call your mama, and have her
Speaker 2: just give you advice and really figure it out. I
Speaker 2: have no issue with the player bringing up his frustrations,
Speaker 2: doing it in a very political way and doing it
Speaker 2: in the right way. That's not going to affect the
Speaker 2: rest of your team. But that's not the way to
Speaker 2: do it. Not at that time. It does. It's not
Speaker 2: a good look anytime that you throw a post at
Speaker 2: that time, it says, don't do it. So as much
Speaker 2: as I get that, this probably has a lot to
Speaker 2: do with some contractual stuff, with some money things, we've
Speaker 2: seen it all season, right, he's been in without really
Speaker 2: saying it, he's saying pay me right, I'm the MVP
Speaker 2: season I broke the record for contributions in Timber's history.
Speaker 2: I get it, but don't do it in this manner,
Speaker 2: and especially not after a game where you got blown
Speaker 2: out by zero and you were one of the guys
Speaker 2: whose body language said I'm giving up. I'm thinking about
Speaker 2: cam Kun or you know, Porto Wayata or wherever he's
Speaker 2: going in the offseason, because that's what it said, and
Speaker 2: Phil Nevill was very clear. He said, look, Ayala was
Speaker 2: the only player on that field that had character, that
Speaker 2: was fighting every ball, that was blocking all the shots.
Speaker 2: More than one time, Phil Nevil during the post conference
Speaker 2: talked about I need more players to be leaders, to
Speaker 2: you know, have the determination to win games of this magnitude.
Speaker 2: Those are all if you ask me in the RECs
Speaker 2: at your best player and the guy that has the
Speaker 2: magic at his feet, but need to have it in
Speaker 2: his heart and his head. So all in all, I
Speaker 2: just think it's a bad look for Evander. Uh if
Speaker 2: this is any indication of where the team is moving,
Speaker 2: I don't see that he'll be back. And even though
Speaker 2: he had a fantastic productive season, Phil Nevill seems like
Speaker 2: a guy that needs the intangibles and needs more than
Speaker 2: a guy that's just good at soccer.
Speaker 1: Evander as a DP, one of the three dps in
Speaker 1: Portland this year, base salary according to spot track at
Speaker 1: one million, nine thirty guaranteed two million, three fifty five
Speaker 1: second on the club and guaranteed money to Jonathan Rodriguez
Speaker 1: two million, six twenty seven to five. So Evander thinks
Speaker 1: that he is worth more than two million, three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty five thousand dollars on a on a yearly,
Speaker 1: I could stipulate to that considering what he did in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference, he's definitely I think worth more than
Speaker 1: two million, three and change to what he's been able
Speaker 1: to be for that team. But yes, as Derek says
Speaker 1: on the twitch pitch, nothing good happens after two am.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, man, Look, and this goes as far as I've
Speaker 2: been in sports. More than once players have been talked
Speaker 2: out of not tweeting things at that time. And it's
Speaker 2: always fantastic, man, anytime that a player does it and
Speaker 2: they don't have that person next to him, and they
Speaker 2: just tend to either they're by themselves or they're with
Speaker 2: the wrong type of crowd, a whole bunch of yes
Speaker 2: men around you. This sort of situation happened. So it's
Speaker 2: unfortunate because, look, I was one of the people that
Speaker 2: thought that Portland had a chance to win this game.
Speaker 2: I mean, everything was in their favor. You're at home.
Speaker 2: Vancouver has four consecutive losses. As much as Timbers wasn't
Speaker 2: doing much winning since September, they I think pulled a
Speaker 2: big draw in Bloomitfield and I thought that was going
Speaker 2: to help out. But at the same time, and again
Speaker 2: I don't want to take anything away from what Phil said,
Speaker 2: because they do feel like there's a character component, there's
Speaker 2: a hard component that wasn't there last night, because the
Speaker 2: team just falls apart after that first goal where you
Speaker 2: can't clear the ball. It just bounces around and it
Speaker 2: ends up in the back of your net. But Jonathan
Speaker 2: Rodriguez was not or should not have been playing that
Speaker 2: game since Seattle. In the I don't know, thirty fifth minute,
Speaker 2: he was hobbling around the field. He was barely pushing.
Speaker 2: Phil Nevill said it after the game. He had a
Speaker 2: bad ankle. Santiago Moreno another player that had an injury
Speaker 2: that came on and wasn't able to do much because
Speaker 2: he wasn't fit. So there was a lot of other
Speaker 2: components that I think compounded the worst game in Timbers history,
Speaker 2: if you want to put it that way. I mean
Speaker 2: it was catastrophic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. And it was Ryan Clark at The
Speaker 1: Oregonian after and he posted that within the last hour
Speaker 1: looking at what Evanders said on Twitter, and Ryan is
Speaker 1: the main beat writer for the Timbers at the Oregonian,
Speaker 1: says these tweets from Evander last night of the continuation
Speaker 1: of a very real pattern of discord between Timbers players
Speaker 1: in the front office in the last three years. It's
Speaker 1: not just the Timbers army or a few whiny people
Speaker 1: on Twitter for Shieve, Eric Williamson, Santiago Moreno, Ivacic Zuperich
Speaker 1: Blanco Aspriya Evander. All these players have either engaged in
Speaker 1: public or private disputes with the Timbers, criticized ownership and
Speaker 1: or the front office, or left on sour terms. This
Speaker 1: is not normal. Ryan Clark posts by the way or
Speaker 1: the cost of doing business. Privately, players have expressed to
Speaker 1: me a lack of confidence and ownership beyond its handling
Speaker 1: of the club's various offield scandals. Several felt slided or
Speaker 1: straight up lied to by the front office. These things matter,
Speaker 1: club culture matters. The prevailing sentiment is the Timbers underperformed
Speaker 1: with a talented roster and Evander, one of the best
Speaker 1: players in team history. Saying what happens off the field
Speaker 1: reflects on the field should raise several alarm bells, and
Speaker 1: so that's what Ryan Clark is following up the conversation
Speaker 1: with with what a Vander posted ye and that's a
Speaker 1: great point.
Speaker 2: That's a great point because Timber's front office has had
Speaker 2: a gambit of issues and controversies and problems. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean that that that has to be said. And
Speaker 2: as much as I don't condone the tweet at two
Speaker 2: o'clock and the way that it was phrased, I do
Speaker 2: believe that there is a lot of discord. That there's
Speaker 2: been a lot of discord. As someone who's close to Aspriga,
Speaker 2: and before or he left, I know that he had
Speaker 2: concerns as well. And you know, now he's playing for
Speaker 2: the best team in Colombia, but quite honestly, there was
Speaker 2: that sense of I'm not sure if the front office
Speaker 2: is transparent and loyal to their players. So there's definitely
Speaker 2: something there. And if he comes from Ryan and you know,
Speaker 2: you absolutely gotta believe it. But again, when it comes
Speaker 2: to Vander, particularly, Astridia was a guy that would walk
Speaker 2: into that field and believe that that shield. I mean,
Speaker 2: Esprigia would do everything like right back, striker, winger, whenever
Speaker 2: you wanted to put him. He was a locker room guy.
Speaker 2: He was all over the field. He was pushing, yelling.
Speaker 2: I think Evander, regardless of his immense talent. He could
Speaker 2: use some of that. He could use some of that grid,
Speaker 2: some of that love for the the shield, for your players.
Speaker 2: If it's not for the front office, do it for
Speaker 2: the guy next to you, Do it for Ayada who's
Speaker 2: all over for China that was trying to keep up,
Speaker 2: you know, do it for those players.
Speaker 1: All right. So we've had the wildcard round and you
Speaker 1: got a thumping by a road team that was supposed
Speaker 1: to be a home team. And then what happened here
Speaker 1: in this particular footprint. Atlanta United gets in on decision Day,
Speaker 1: they win, take care of business, DC lays and Egg,
Speaker 1: Philly lays and Egg. Atlanta gets in, and then they
Speaker 1: go to Montreal, get a two nil lead, fight to
Speaker 1: two to two. Montreal does and then it goes to
Speaker 1: PK's they come out the other side. Now they get
Speaker 1: Messi and Friends, who they're the only team that got
Speaker 1: four points off of Messi and Friends all season long
Speaker 1: this year with a draw and a win. What do
Speaker 1: you think about how things are stacking up this weekend
Speaker 1: with the opening round of the playoffs across the board?
Speaker 2: I love it. I mean, narrative wise is amazing. Soccer wise,
Speaker 2: is going to be very interesting. Like you said, if
Speaker 2: there was a team that pushed Miami in the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 2: specifically comparting those games, Atlanta has done it in a
Speaker 2: good runner. From this surprised me against the Purple team.
Speaker 2: I mean, they came on and they were all over.
Speaker 2: They were effective, they pushed through and bullied that midfield
Speaker 2: that at the time didn't have Wilter, Carterhenna. And then
Speaker 2: in this one, look, I'm not gonna lie to you,
Speaker 2: I had Montreal winning this game. I thought Montreal was
Speaker 2: in good form. I thought that Cave and Clark and
Speaker 2: Joseph Martinez were playing very well. I thought that Edwards
Speaker 2: was a guy that was going to create a lot
Speaker 2: of issues on the left side. And for the first
Speaker 2: i don't know, twenty five to twenty eight minutes, Montreal
Speaker 2: was in there. They were getting forward, they were pushing
Speaker 2: the ball, but Atlanta was able to rope a dove
Speaker 2: out of that and really be the first one to strike.
Speaker 2: And it's just more power too to Atlanta. I really
Speaker 2: do believe that if this team can handle and they
Speaker 2: can add some players next season, they're going to be
Speaker 2: a problem. I don't think that they have enough right
Speaker 2: now to be into Miami. I don't think no team
Speaker 2: does in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 5: Not.
Speaker 2: Even well Columbus perhaps, maybe Columbus perhaps, But I do
Speaker 2: feel like Miami has shown you that they can outperform
Speaker 2: you even when they go down two goals like they
Speaker 2: did against New England. They're the team that has won
Speaker 2: the most points when being in a deficit. I feel like,
Speaker 2: unless there is an injury to Lionel Messi or Luis Suarez,
Speaker 2: I mean, this team should win it all. So when
Speaker 2: it comes specifically to Atlanta, I enjoy what they did
Speaker 2: against Montreal. Props to Valentino, who I don't know if
Speaker 2: it will happen, but let's say Valentino can pull it
Speaker 2: off against Miami, he might be the coach long term.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Gard Laggerway is the guy does
Speaker 2: in charge right now, and in Seattle he allowed an
Speaker 2: internet coach to just keep the job for forever. If
Speaker 2: Valentino can do magic and something I know one thinks possible,
Speaker 2: then maybe he'll be the guy there. But marn chuck
Speaker 2: Ato was really good. Saba, as much as he missed
Speaker 2: a couple of opportunities, has been really good. Theorey just
Speaker 2: the pressure, the pressing, the runs. There's something there, but
Speaker 2: I think Miami is just too much for Atlanta in
Speaker 2: this game specifically.
Speaker 1: Okay, So running through the matchups themselves tomorrow, Messi and friends.
Speaker 1: They're at home. They're a big favorite. Atlanta United comes
Speaker 1: to town on a quick turn LAG on Saturday night.
Speaker 1: They're the only one that's there, hosting Colorado. They're a
Speaker 1: big favorite. I'm still concerned about the injury to Georgie
Speaker 1: Mahilovich on decision day and how close to one hundred
Speaker 1: percent he'll be. LAG's a big favorite.
Speaker 2: What are the numbers on that for La Gua. Actually,
Speaker 2: I'm truly curious because I'm getting off early on Friday
Speaker 2: just to go play some juice boxes.
Speaker 1: Minus two to four on LAG, geez, I would probably
Speaker 1: look at a total.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's the total on that?
Speaker 1: So let me check the over under on this one?
Speaker 1: Three and a half is a minus one ten.
Speaker 2: Wow, they really do not want you playing that game
Speaker 2: at all? Yeah, I mean the number say it all LAG.
Speaker 2: Despite disappointing last game against Houston and the disappointing overall
Speaker 2: punching the gut after Marlin gets that go for LAFC
Speaker 2: and they go ahead as number one. Uh, there's just
Speaker 2: too much firepower against a Colorado team that has been
Speaker 2: rolling in a bad direction. He feels like the wheels
Speaker 2: fell off that bus. Cole Bassett also hurt. Sam Vines
Speaker 2: also heard. I mean there's a lot of injuries to
Speaker 2: a team that I think peaked at one point and
Speaker 2: now is in the decline.
Speaker 1: Yep. All of the home teams are on the minus
Speaker 1: side going through Tuesday. Purple Team favored of a minus
Speaker 1: one thirty hosting Charlotte LAFC, minus two to seventeen hosting
Speaker 1: Vancouver FC, Cincinnati a minus one ten hosting NYCFC because
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati is starting to do the slow fade, Seattle
Speaker 1: and minus one thirty five hosting Benny Ball Crew, A
Speaker 1: minus one thirty nine hosting Red Bulls RSLA, minus one
Speaker 1: toh eight hosting Minnesota United. Of all of those first
Speaker 1: round games, what are you staring at when it comes
Speaker 1: to what's going to happen?
Speaker 2: Man? I like the numbers in Orlando.
Speaker 1: What was it minus one thirty to the Purple team.
Speaker 1: Charlotte's a plus three eleven draw ninety minute draw is
Speaker 1: a plus two ninety seven, So you probably could get
Speaker 1: ninety minute draw in that one of the plus three hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of what I'm looking at. And look,
Speaker 2: Charlotte power to Charlotte, man, I mean they've been really good.
Speaker 2: That three zero against DC United was quality holding, ben teketed.
Speaker 2: The way they did is no joke. Orlando City has
Speaker 2: a hard time when they can't get going, and if
Speaker 2: something that Charlotte does is just knowing how to keep
Speaker 2: their shape and knowing how to keep guys like a
Speaker 2: Kundo Torres getting in high scoring positions and shifting in transition.
Speaker 2: So I don't see Angula being as productive on that
Speaker 2: white side either. I think that there's a lot of options. Therefore,
Speaker 2: Orlando at the nine. I would start a wire on
Speaker 2: this one as much as from here and Rique has
Speaker 2: been really, really good. But I'll probably take the draw
Speaker 2: on that first one and maybe go to PKS. Specifically
Speaker 2: at home, Orlando tends to struggle at times, so yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll go with the draw on the Charlotte game. When
Speaker 2: it comes to LAFC and Vancouver, regardless of the numbers,
Speaker 2: I would like to see the total on it, but
Speaker 2: you got to take LAFC. I think Vancouver as much
Speaker 2: as they won this game, and as much as they're
Speaker 2: making you feel like they are a choice that could
Speaker 2: go out there and fight against LAFC, I think that
Speaker 2: this game was very circumstantial and that hat trick by
Speaker 2: Ryan Goold is not going to happen against LAFC. I
Speaker 2: think LAFC is a sure winning game if you want
Speaker 2: to put her in a parlay. But what's the goals
Speaker 2: on that one?
Speaker 1: Three and a half is a plus one twenty one,
Speaker 1: that's where it turns.
Speaker 2: Three and a half. Yeah, I'll probably do three and
Speaker 2: a half. I feel comfortable with a three and a
Speaker 2: half on that one at the very least. In the
Speaker 2: Seattle Houston game, Man that that could be an under
Speaker 2: and that could be a zero zero draw to a
Speaker 2: one one draw. Pushing too pks And this is why
Speaker 2: you have two teams that mirror each other completely. They
Speaker 2: mirror each others on concepts, both possession based teams. Both
Speaker 2: tend to push that right back as far as they can.
Speaker 2: Alex rolled in for the Sounders, Dorsey for Houston. As
Speaker 2: much as Houston is no juggernaut, they can be very
Speaker 2: difficult to score on. I had Mikail in my best
Speaker 2: eleven in my votes for Best eleven of the Year
Speaker 2: for MLS. I think he's a very good center back.
Speaker 2: Having ectroreta bag gives you a lot of control, a
Speaker 2: lot of pace, a lot of a guy that can
Speaker 2: dominate that midfield with the dog like.
Speaker 1: You know, he starts to say something nice and positive
Speaker 1: about Houston and it happened again. Yeah, and so, uh so,
Speaker 1: let me go through the ref assignments while Nico's down
Speaker 1: it back up and we'll get his final comments on
Speaker 1: Seattle in Houston. ACH's return I think is big, but
Speaker 1: the numbers they're they're kind of shocking. So we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens when it comes to that. We do have
Speaker 1: our ref assignments. We'll get into that with Nico as well.
Speaker 1: So what were you saying about? What were you saying about?
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry, but I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 2: Just really obsessed me. But yeah, Acchiace is just the
Speaker 2: guy that can control the pace of the game. I
Speaker 2: feel like Seattle is gonna wanna possess it, He's gonna
Speaker 2: wanna retain it, and acchi Achi is a guy that
Speaker 2: could really affect that game. So I feel like that
Speaker 2: you're gonna cancel each other out. I talked to Alex
Speaker 2: Rodan about it. I said, what, what's difficult about playing
Speaker 2: a team that mirrors you this much? He's well, that
Speaker 2: you kind of know what the guy in front of
Speaker 2: who's going to do, and you're trying to beat them
Speaker 2: out to that position where you don't want to be
Speaker 2: when you attack. So it can really be a defensive game.
Speaker 2: So I think this one is out to be a
Speaker 2: draw in that first game, or a very low scoring game.
Speaker 2: So whatever the overunder is, you probably want to go
Speaker 2: under on it.
Speaker 1: All right, So here's what we've got for the total.
Speaker 1: I'll work my way backward. Three is a plus one
Speaker 1: fifty eight, so that's where it turns. Two and a
Speaker 1: half is a minus one eleven, two is a minus
Speaker 1: two twenty three. One and a half is a minus
Speaker 1: three fifty six.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, that's that's some tough scores, but it'll
Speaker 2: tell you why I think that this game is going
Speaker 2: to go down to the wire. So I'd say your
Speaker 2: best bet in this one is maybe trying to go
Speaker 2: for a parlay and just hitting some of these top games,
Speaker 2: because I think that that draws almost a safe bet.
Speaker 2: What's the draw on this one.
Speaker 1: Draw on this particular matchup. Let me die back here
Speaker 1: a second and I can tell you because it wants
Speaker 1: to sit there and give me three steps. Draw is
Speaker 1: a plus two seventy seven for Seattle in Houston, ninety
Speaker 1: minute draw.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I like that. I like that for day
Speaker 2: A game.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, So we do have our officiating assignments
Speaker 1: for the round one match ones. For Messi and Friends
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, United, Alan Chapman is the man in the middle.
Speaker 1: God bless us one and all this Mayor Pec Mitch
Speaker 1: is the fourth. Armando via Real is your var. Lag
Speaker 1: in Colorado has Lucas Sapala in the middle. Kevin Stott
Speaker 1: is your Var. Tom Supple is your A VAR Purple Team.
Speaker 1: In Charlotte, Drew Fisher is the man in the middle,
Speaker 1: where Senda Mendoza is your fourth. Michael Radchuck is your
Speaker 1: v R tj Z A BLOCKI is your AVAR lafc
Speaker 1: and Vancouver JayR Marufo man in the middle. Victor Revos
Speaker 1: is your fourth. Daniel Radford is your Var. Fabio two
Speaker 1: var is your AVAR Cincinnati and Negor City. Sergey Boyko
Speaker 1: is in the middle. Chris Penso is your fourth. Unice
Speaker 1: Maracchi your v R with t J Zablocki Seattle and Houston.
Speaker 1: I wish you nothing but patience, my friend. Ted Uncle
Speaker 1: is the man in the middle for Seattle and Houston.
Speaker 1: Corey Rockwell is your AR so AR one, so that'll
Speaker 1: save you a little bit. Ryan Graves your A is
Speaker 1: your AR two. John Freeman is your fourth. Sore In
Speaker 1: Steutschka is your VAR. Jonathan Johnson your A v R.
Speaker 1: Timothy Ford is the man in the middle for Crew
Speaker 1: and Red Bulls Photos Bezakis your fourth, Greg Dapka your VAR,
Speaker 1: and RSL Minnesota has Pierre Loukelazier in the middle. Remy
Speaker 1: two shot in your fourth, and edvan Jurissevitch is your VR.
Speaker 1: So those are your refing assignments and I and I
Speaker 1: wish you nothing but patience, my friend when it comes
Speaker 1: to that.
Speaker 2: I mean, Seattle's coming from a game where, uh, the
Speaker 2: officiating was absolutely ridiculous. Even Albert Rusnak called it poor.
Speaker 2: But poor doesn't define it. I mean there was some
Speaker 2: and look, the yellow card that ultimately ended up getting
Speaker 2: oh Bit thrown out of the game was soft, was
Speaker 2: inconsistent to what the game had given the referee, but
Speaker 2: I was more upset about the moments where advantage should
Speaker 2: have been given. Advantage that I see at the rect
Speaker 2: level in my daughter's team be given, and this guy
Speaker 2: is just blowing the whistle just to blow the whistle.
Speaker 2: It looked very Sussman. I honestly hate talking about officiating
Speaker 2: because I feel like teams should always do enough to
Speaker 2: not allow referee and to ultimately call the game. But
Speaker 2: it did mess with the flow of the game. It
Speaker 2: did mess with potential moments. But Seattle and all they
Speaker 2: they just have to do better at killing games, at
Speaker 2: putting them away, and goal scoring has been a huge issue.
Speaker 2: They're going to have to figure it out. I spoke
Speaker 2: to Brian Smetzer to the fact that there isn't really
Speaker 2: a plan B because Danny Musovski has seventeen minutes of
Speaker 2: play since August, Rawrydz has one game over thirty minutes
Speaker 2: since that time as well. You can't expect your next
Speaker 2: guy up to be ready for the big lights when
Speaker 2: he has no game rhythm, no game for him. So
Speaker 2: we'll see how that pans out for Seattle. That's my
Speaker 2: biggest concern facing a team like Houston. Seattle beat Houston
Speaker 2: at home a couple of months back, if not a
Speaker 2: month back, but there was no Achace, there was no Ponce,
Speaker 2: both guys that could be difference makers for Houston. So
Speaker 2: it's gonna be a bat. I think that some people
Speaker 2: are looking or undermining Houston. That's a serious team.
Speaker 1: No doubt about it. What's going on soccer, bar and
Speaker 1: polso sports? What do folks need to know?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I got to figure out I
Speaker 2: was going to own my internet and hopefully we have
Speaker 2: a show that it runs smooth. But yeah, uh post
Speaker 2: of sports mainly, you need to stay on pools of sports.
Speaker 2: There's gonna be a big announcement today for the Sounders.
Speaker 2: Is one that I'm pretty sure I know what it is,
Speaker 2: and it's been in the in the works. We ended
Speaker 2: up not kind of pushing it and breaking it because
Speaker 2: there wasn't a full story there. But uh, just stay tuned.
Speaker 2: There's gonna be some interesting news out of Providence. I
Speaker 2: cannot tell you for sure because I can't, but but uh,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be. It's gonna be. It's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 2: It's nothing like it's not new signing or anything of
Speaker 2: that nature, but it is something that maybe a lot
Speaker 2: of folks were waiting on. So it's just a confirmation
Speaker 2: on what I think everybody thought was gonna happen moving
Speaker 2: forward for the founders. So stay tuned Pools of Sports
Speaker 2: for sure. Soccer bar, in about forty minutes, we'll be
Speaker 2: getting into the debacle for uh, where do they go
Speaker 2: from here? Diego Chada is out of contract? Will he
Speaker 2: be back? All of these things we're going to talk
Speaker 2: up in a soccer bar, Atlanta United, we'll be talking
Speaker 2: about it. How far can they get? What are the chances?
Speaker 2: As much as you know it's maybe at a ten
Speaker 2: percent possibility, it's not impossible. Uh. And you know sometimes
Speaker 2: Atlanta thrives when they're the underdog rather than the big
Speaker 2: bat wolf. So it's going to be interesting. So go
Speaker 2: ahead and check that out at soccer bar.
Speaker 1: What he said at the soccer bar on the two
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty character wrap, and as our Buddy four
Speaker 1: card says, f e A the moniker for Atlanta United
Speaker 1: going forward, quoting Tom Brady here in the playoffs, f
Speaker 1: e A blank them all. That's that's that is on posters.
Speaker 1: That is that is that is part of the vernacular. Now,
Speaker 1: if you see that anything involving Atlanta United, f ea,
Speaker 1: that's what it means. Blank them all. That's that's the
Speaker 1: attitude right now.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you, John, if Atlanta pulls that miracle
Speaker 2: and somehow, some way beat Miami, is Rob Balentino the
Speaker 2: coach moving forward?
Speaker 1: I don't know, man. I mean, I think Rob has
Speaker 1: busted his ass and you will not find a a
Speaker 1: bigger support system I think than there are. There are
Speaker 1: those of us who've been fairly pragmatic about what's going
Speaker 1: on with Atlanda United. We love what Rob and the
Speaker 1: Staff of Peace together and have been navigating through all
Speaker 1: of this stuff. That is it. That is a Garth decision,
Speaker 1: and it will be a Garth decision that will lend
Speaker 1: itself to not just next year for this club, but
Speaker 1: years down the line. And I will say this, if
Speaker 1: if Rob at the end of this run, when that is,
Speaker 1: if someone in Major League Soccer wants to hire Rob Valentino,
Speaker 1: if it's Atlanta, if it's someplace else wherever, If someone
Speaker 1: in Major League Soccer hires Rob Valentino and they are
Speaker 1: patient with him, and they give him the resources and
Speaker 1: the players that he's looking for, like we've seen in
Speaker 1: this run, then you will find that you will have
Speaker 1: picked up a tremendous head coach and a staff that
Speaker 1: he surrounds himself with because of what it Land United
Speaker 1: has navigated through with Rob, gone through with Rob and
Speaker 1: the staff to get them to this point. I cannot
Speaker 1: give any higher praise to Rob Valentino than a lot
Speaker 1: of other folks here. It will be a Garth decision
Speaker 1: that will impact what's going on. I mean, Garth has
Speaker 1: said things publicly about you know, international experience and things
Speaker 1: like that, and so I am confident that Rob, wherever
Speaker 1: he is, Atlanta or otherwise, you get a front office
Speaker 1: it's patient with him. You get an ownership group that's
Speaker 1: patient with Rob. Rob is going to kick some serious
Speaker 1: ass wherever.
Speaker 2: That is what he said.
Speaker 1: But yes, so, but yeah, So if you see in
Speaker 1: bright blue letters fea, that is the that is the
Speaker 1: rally cry right now here in the Southeastern United States,
Speaker 1: involving at Land United. Blank them all, quoting Tom Brad.
Speaker 2: I like you, baby.
Speaker 1: So that's where we are. Go prepare for your show.
Speaker 1: Go get a cup of coffee number three, Love you,
Speaker 1: my friend. We'll catch up with you next week
Speaker 2: Thank you much fraid, have a good one.