0:00

Extra time is exactly how I find

0:02

out find out what's going

0:05

on in the Get lost, get

0:07

lost. Get lost! podcast has influenced me

0:09

a little bit as well. Everybody up

0:11

here! Every single day

0:14

goes into the office, into the

0:16

laboratory to try to cook up

0:18

some great stuff for you guys.

0:21

That's why he's here! Greetings folks,

0:23

and welcome to Extra

0:25

Time. I'm I'm your host, Matt

0:27

Matt Doyle, I'm Los .com's armchair

0:29

analyst. ready to give you,

0:31

that's right, a one -man

0:33

show, flying solo today because

0:35

Andrew Webe flew last

0:37

night night. to Carson for MLS

0:39

Cup 2024, presented by without his

0:42

his microphone. the level of That's the

0:44

level of professionalism that has achieved after

0:46

a decade and a half on the

0:48

You've got to respect it. got So

0:50

what have we got today? One thing

0:52

and one thing, only a tactical

0:54

breakdown of what to expect from the

0:56

the 29th MLS Cup. If If you're listening to

0:58

this, I'm sure you already know

1:00

that the game's on Saturday at at 4

1:02

.m. Eastern and that that you can watch

1:04

it for free on Apple TV. I'm

1:06

sure you also know that it's

1:08

the L.A. Galaxy the New York Red Bulls

1:10

with Red going for their record their record

1:12

6th MOS Cup the Red Bulls hoping for their first,

1:15

which would be their first their first cup win

1:17

of any sort. show on M.L.A. -game show passed with the

1:19

with the usual Weebie Sasha Bradley Bradley Bright the

1:21

rest of rest that starts at 2

1:23

p .m. at 2 p.m.m. Eastern. Gonna have a lot

1:25

of info on that one, so I

1:27

invite you all to crack open a

1:29

cold one and settle in for an

1:31

afternoon of what will hopefully be some

1:34

good soccer. a cold one. Okay, as as for

1:36

that. will it be? I it be? this in

1:38

my wrote about this in

1:40

my tactical preview column, which

1:42

is up on the website

1:44

right now. And right now, game

1:46

really breaks down into two

1:48

parts for me. The first

1:50

is how have the galaxy differed

1:52

without Ricky Pooge this season? He

1:54

is, of course, out with

1:56

an ACL tear after that

1:58

remarkable match -winning assist again. the Sounders

2:01

in the Western Conference Final. And

2:03

then the second part is how

2:05

have the Red Bulls changed over

2:07

the past two months ever since

2:09

they took a beating in the

2:11

Hudson River Darby in late September.

2:13

Remember that 5-1 game. Sandra Schwartz

2:15

kind of threw it all out

2:17

the window after that one and

2:19

the Red Bulls have become very

2:21

Red Bulls-ish again in regards to

2:23

their attitude towards completing passes and

2:25

having possession and stuff like that.

2:27

I think we start with Ricky

2:30

though, and we talked about this

2:32

a lot on Monday's show. He

2:34

is unique in how he plays

2:37

his role as a number 10,

2:39

who wants to also be in

2:41

number eight and will sometimes drop

2:44

all the way to the back

2:46

line and gets more touches than

2:48

anyone and it's heliocentric to an

2:51

extent that we've never really seen.

2:53

in MLS before and Greg Vani

2:55

has talked about this, talked openly

2:57

about how Ricky plays the position

3:00

in a way that Vani himself

3:02

is not necessarily all that comfortable

3:04

with. He had to learn to

3:07

be and with Ricky it's worth

3:09

learning to be that because he's

3:11

a world-class passer of the ball.

3:14

You can't replicate that. And so

3:16

what we've seen in the five

3:18

games this year from the Galaxy

3:20

in which Ricky hasn't played is

3:23

that they haven't tried to replicate

3:25

it. Whether it's Mark Delgado or

3:27

Diego Fugundez or Marco Royce, who

3:30

I don't think is going to

3:32

play much in this one, even

3:34

though the Galaxy are making noise

3:37

like he's healthy. I've heard from

3:39

sources at the team that... 20

3:41

minutes tops is what they're hoping

3:44

for from Royce and they're you

3:46

know set the I would take

3:48

the under on that number but

3:50

anyway whoever it is out there

3:53

in place of Ricky is not

3:55

going to do the things that

3:57

Ricky does in terms of dropping

4:00

shape and making the midfield shape

4:03

the rest of those guys react

4:05

almost entirely to him. And that's

4:07

what Vanny meant when he said

4:10

he wasn't necessarily comfortable with how

4:12

Ricky played the position. He had

4:15

to learn to sort of accept

4:17

the parts of Ricky's game that

4:19

are I guess kind of different

4:22

from how Vanny himself sees the

4:24

game. You don't have to do

4:27

that if it's Mark Delgado and

4:29

Diego Fagoodness on the team sheet

4:31

in those spots. So they're both

4:34

really talented players. There's a reason

4:36

that the Galaxy were still really

4:38

good team, three one and one

4:41

in those five games without Ricky.

4:43

It's because they have a lot

4:46

of good talent in that midfield,

4:48

but they're good talent in terms

4:50

of you plug them into a

4:53

role. and you ask them to

4:55

play that role without breaking the

4:57

team shape on either side of

5:00

the ball. And that's what they

5:02

did and it made them I

5:05

think stronger defensively,

5:07

more structured defensively, less prone to

5:09

the types of turnovers, that at

5:11

times, especially against pressing teams, really

5:13

killed the Galaxy this year. You

5:16

know, on balance, I do think

5:18

that the Galaxy are obviously a

5:20

better team with Ricky out there,

5:22

but it's a lot of variants,

5:24

right? There's the ability to bury

5:26

a good defensive team, like Minnesota

5:29

United, what was it, six to

5:31

two? but there's also the ability

5:33

to go to Portland and lose

5:35

for two in a game that

5:37

maybe wasn't that close. You know,

5:40

because teams can just sort of

5:42

camp on you and know that

5:44

this one player is going to

5:46

try to do so much that

5:48

there are going to be chances

5:51

to go in the other direction.

5:53

I don't think that's the, like,

5:55

we're not going to see that

5:57

version. the galaxy in this game.

5:59

We're gonna see a box standard

6:01

for three three. If anything, I

6:04

think it'll look, I mean the

6:06

best comparison I would have would

6:08

be like some of those really

6:10

good sporting Kansas City teams of

6:12

a long time ago, where there

6:15

was a clear back point and

6:17

then two other central midfielders who

6:19

would kind of shuttle between an

6:21

eight and a 10 win the

6:23

ball and go a lot of

6:25

pressing, but also a lot of

6:28

retreating into a low block. draw

6:30

the opponent upfield. I mean, honestly,

6:32

in some ways, it's similar to

6:34

what we saw from Orlando City

6:36

in the first half of the

6:39

Eastern Conference final against the Red

6:41

Bulls. Like, they gave the Red

6:43

Bulls a lot of incentive to

6:45

come upfield with the idea that

6:47

they would hit in between, behind

6:50

through their wingers. and you know

6:52

they're number 10 and I think

6:54

the galaxy with Peck and Painsell

6:56

is the wingers and you know

6:58

maybe Fagunda is releasing early and

7:00

trying to be a little bit

7:03

more of a number 10 than

7:05

say Delgado will they can replicate

7:07

the types of things that Orlando

7:09

had success with and that NYC

7:11

of CFC had success with in

7:14

the Eastern Conference semi-finals. So I

7:16

think that's what we'll see. A

7:18

buddy of mine, Zeb Bush, who

7:20

does great work for American soccer

7:22

analysis, he pulled some data for

7:24

me, just to give you an

7:27

idea of how much of what

7:29

the Galaxy do has come down

7:31

to Ricky. He completed 426 passes

7:33

into the final third this year,

7:35

which is more than 30% of

7:38

the Galaxy's total amount. That is

7:40

an insane amount of burden for

7:42

one player. And for Ricky, it's

7:44

not a burden, right? Like he

7:46

has to play that way, and

7:49

he refused to play any other

7:51

way, even when he was on

7:53

Barcelona, which why he's not on

7:55

Barcelona anymore. It's much more structured,

7:57

much more positional. Without Ricky, you

7:59

know. five games, the distribution of

8:02

passes into the final third was

8:04

much more equitable. It was Delgado

8:06

who led the team, but also

8:08

Fagundez was right there with him,

8:10

sort of shoulder to shoulder. And

8:13

then the other thing was Mickey

8:15

Yamani, the right fullback, he got

8:17

much more involved, much further upfield.

8:19

Because if you look at the

8:21

way he would play, when Ricky's

8:23

out there, he would have to

8:26

kind of hold his runs a

8:28

little bit, be less of an

8:30

attacking threat, and more, I think,

8:32

focused on rest defense because of

8:34

those turnovers. Well, when you have

8:37

a more structured three men central

8:39

midfield in front of you, you

8:41

don't have to worry about that

8:43

as much. You're able to get

8:45

forward and get into the attack.

8:48

And so he ended up being

8:50

a possession weapon and an attacking

8:52

weapon in those five games in

8:54

a way that he really wasn't.

8:56

for most of the rest of

8:58

the season, including into the playoffs.

9:01

That's not to say he hasn't

9:03

been a really good player. I

9:05

think he's actually given them, no

9:07

matter who's been out there, he's

9:09

given them a ton of what

9:12

they need, just with his smarts

9:14

and his positioning, and he doesn't

9:16

need to be at the center

9:18

of it all. And we've seen

9:20

the same from the left back

9:23

in John Nelson. He's had some

9:25

good moments already in these playoffs

9:27

and he's done a wonderful job

9:29

filling in after winning the start,

9:31

really being handed the starting job

9:34

via injury mid-season, but locking it

9:36

down since then. But he is

9:38

more involved. in terms of creating

9:40

attacking sequences in these games without

9:42

Ricky. It's a really interesting dynamic.

9:45

In a lot of ways, I

9:47

think it does make the galaxy

9:49

easier to prepare for because everybody's

9:51

played against a 433 at this

9:53

point, especially one without a genius

9:56

chance creator. Central midfield. The flip

9:58

side, again, it's that variance thing.

10:00

I think it raises the floor

10:02

for this team. And when you

10:04

add in the fact that there's

10:06

central defense has been so good

10:09

since Garces came into the lineup

10:11

with, I think there's about four

10:13

games left in the regular season.

10:15

They've been a top five defense

10:17

in the league in terms of

10:20

non-penalty expected goals per 90. And

10:22

they were I think a bottom

10:24

10 defense in the league in

10:26

the first 30 games of the

10:28

year. So you can see it's...

10:31

one guy making a lot of

10:34

difference in an area where for

10:36

most of the year I had

10:38

really questioned the galaxy I really

10:40

didn't think that they would be

10:43

an MOS cup contender because of

10:45

that inability to stay structured and

10:47

that inability to put out fires

10:49

at the back and it's all

10:52

sort of come together through throughout

10:54

this playoff run and I think

10:56

it probably even takes a step

10:58

forward. in this game

11:00

just because of what that three-man

11:03

midfield will look like. On the

11:05

flip side, as I said, the

11:07

Red Bulls got drilled in the

11:10

end of September that 5-1 lost

11:12

to NYC and the Hudson River

11:15

Darby and Senator Shorts, to his

11:17

credit, had tried to soften some

11:19

of the edges on energy during

11:22

soccer throughout the year they were

11:24

hitting more short passes more passes

11:26

through midfield completing a higher percentage

11:29

of them fewer passes going direct

11:31

it was still the Red Bull

11:33

game model but it was married

11:36

to this idea that If the

11:38

opportunity is there to use the

11:40

ball, then you should use the

11:43

ball. And they did well with

11:45

that, I thought, as long as

11:47

Emil Forsberg was available. But once

11:50

he went out injured in early

11:52

July. didn't have that one guy

11:54

who could unlock a defense. And

11:57

we saw, I mean, we saw

11:59

what a struggle it was from

12:02

for the three and a half

12:04

months that Forsburg was out, this

12:06

team won two games. I think

12:09

it's two out of 20 total

12:11

across all competitions, like that is

12:13

just brutal soccer. And the final

12:16

straw was that that loss. And

12:18

since that loss to NYC, We

12:20

have seen this team go back

12:23

to doing some Red Bulls things

12:25

in terms of high pressing, which

12:27

of course they did the second

12:30

half of decision day against the

12:32

crew and then the first half

12:34

of that game one against the

12:37

crew. But even beyond that, they've

12:39

become a root one team. And

12:41

I'm gonna give you some numbers.

12:44

before the loss to NYU FCFC

12:46

in September, the Red Bulls took

12:49

599 touches per 90, which was

12:51

22nd in the league. So still

12:53

in the bottom third of the

12:56

league. After, that's down to 476

12:58

touches per 90, which is dead

13:00

last by a mile. Everybody else

13:03

has taken at least 540 touches

13:05

per 90. So we're talking 17%

13:07

gap between the 29th place team

13:10

and the league which is a

13:12

Red Bulls and 28th. Before that

13:14

5-1 loss they were at 79.4%

13:17

passing accuracy 26th in the league

13:19

so still not a team that

13:21

prizes passing accuracy they still We're

13:24

always going to focus on winning

13:26

a lot of 50-50s, second balls,

13:28

huge part of the game model.

13:31

But since it is, second balls

13:33

are not just a huge part

13:36

of the game model, they are

13:38

the game model. And you can

13:40

see it in the passing accuracy,

13:43

they're down to 73.6% passing accuracy

13:45

over the past two months. Again,

13:47

dead last in the league by

13:50

a mile. Before this is an

13:52

interesting one to me before that

13:54

loss 3.48 attempted switches per 90

13:57

which midtable which is a 14th

13:59

in the league so they wanted

14:01

to to actually use the width

14:04

of the field it makes sense

14:06

because they were playing that 4222

14:08

and they were getting a lot

14:11

of the attack out of those

14:13

overlapping fullbacks since the loss they

14:16

have gone to five at the

14:18

back and they are down to

14:20

1.43 switches attempted per 90 minutes

14:23

which is 27th in the league.

14:25

So they're hitting I think 40%

14:27

as many switches per 90 over

14:30

the past two months. And that

14:32

tells you the very obvious thing

14:34

if you've been watching this team.

14:37

They get the ball and they

14:39

go vertical, like as often as

14:41

possible, long and vertical. And that's

14:44

where the next numbers come in.

14:46

Before that loss. 36% of their

14:48

passes were forward, which is a

14:51

high number, fifth in the league.

14:53

The teams ahead of them are

14:55

like Philly and St. Louis, you

14:58

know, teams that always want to

15:00

play north-south, but, you know, not

15:03

a standard deviation higher than that,

15:05

right? Like, the Red Bulls were

15:07

in that group or even a

15:10

little bit behind the leaders. After,

15:12

after that loss, 45% of their

15:14

passes are played forward. Not even

15:17

like the most, the most, Dyer

15:20

moments of Gary Smith era,

15:22

absorb and counter Nashville F.C.

15:24

were over 40%. No one

15:26

in the league this year

15:29

was even close to 40%.

15:31

And here the Red Bulls

15:33

are over their past nine

15:35

games all competitions. 45% of

15:38

their passes are played forward.

15:40

I think if there's one

15:42

number that tells you I

15:44

mean, as much as possible

15:46

about the change in the

15:49

way this team has set

15:51

themselves up tactically and what

15:53

they've looked for, if there's

15:55

one number that does it,

15:58

it's that. soon as you

16:00

turn the ball over, the

16:02

Red Bulls are going to

16:04

try to get vertical in

16:07

as few touches as possible

16:09

and almost half the time,

16:11

that is their first touch.

16:13

It's really an incredible thing

16:16

and it's obviously something to

16:18

look out for in this

16:20

game on Saturday. And here's

16:22

one more that I think

16:24

does a good job of

16:27

telling a story. Before that

16:29

lost at my CFC, 14.1%

16:31

of their passes were long

16:33

balls. Pretty high number. That's

16:36

fourth in MLS. Since that

16:38

game, 21.1% of their total

16:40

passes. So more than one

16:42

in five are long balls.

16:45

No one else in MLS.

16:47

is over 16.6%. So we're

16:49

talking 25% more long balls

16:51

than anybody else in the

16:53

league. Like it's not energy

16:56

drink soccer. It's not like

16:58

they've done. a little bit

17:00

of that. We talked about

17:02

this on Monday show, Kaylin

17:05

and Weebie. They've done some

17:07

of that against the crew

17:09

especially. They came up field,

17:11

I think were baited into

17:14

it a little bit against

17:16

Orlando City in the Eastern

17:18

Conference final, but this is

17:20

not traditional Red Bull stuff.

17:23

This is proper footy. This

17:25

is like you're watching Burnley

17:27

in the championship. And it

17:29

hasn't been seamless, right? Like

17:31

they're not. They're

17:34

not here strictly because of

17:36

tactics. They're here because in

17:38

large part, I think Carlos

17:40

Coronel has been the best

17:43

player in these playoffs. He

17:45

stood on his head making

17:47

one huge save after another,

17:50

saved, I think it's about

17:52

four goals, over expected goals

17:54

on target. And when you

17:56

have a hot goalkeeper and

17:59

you have DPs who are

18:01

doing just enough, not absorb?

18:03

Why not sit back and

18:05

say, okay, we're gonna trade

18:08

possession and feel position for

18:10

space to counter attack into?

18:12

And if we're not. burying

18:15

those counter-attacks, at the very least

18:17

we can damage you on set

18:20

pieces. And that's been, there's plan

18:22

A and plan B for the

18:24

Red Bulls this postseason, and there

18:27

hasn't really been a plan C.

18:29

And it's not a criticism of

18:31

sound for shorts to say that.

18:34

It's just he understood what clubs.

18:37

in the bag he should be

18:39

playing on this course and he

18:41

has played them relentlessly and just

18:43

for the second time in club

18:45

history it's the final game of

18:47

the season and the Red Bulls

18:50

are still standing they're 90 minutes

18:52

away from potentially their first ever

18:54

cup win of any sort so

18:56

no criticism of Sandra Schwartz even

18:58

though you could probably tell it's

19:00

not my favorite type of soccer

19:02

to watch. So then what do

19:04

I think we'll decide this

19:07

match. I think this is a

19:09

fun note. And again, credit to

19:12

my buddy Seth Bush for digging

19:14

this one up. In those five

19:16

games, the Galaxy played without Ricky,

19:19

their passes allowed per defensive action,

19:21

which is a rough measure of

19:23

how high in hard teams press,

19:26

goes from ninth in the league.

19:28

So the pretty high pressing team

19:30

with Ricky, down to 26th. And

19:33

I went back and I watched

19:35

most of those games and I'm

19:37

pretty sure that's by design because

19:40

Ricky's such an undisciplined defensive player

19:42

that you can't be without the

19:44

ball for too long. If he's

19:47

not getting touches literally every minute,

19:49

he's going to go seeking the

19:51

ball and he is going to

19:54

break your defensive shape. So that's

19:56

something that think Vanny had to

19:59

build into his team was we

20:01

need to get the ball back

20:03

A.S.A.P. so that our genius chance

20:06

creator doesn't get a TV and

20:08

he can get on the ball

20:10

and he could try to make

20:13

something magic happen. And hey, 65

20:15

points in a place in MOS

20:17

Cup, you can't argue with that.

20:20

When he's not out there, it

20:22

goes back to that structure I

20:24

was talking about. It goes back

20:27

to the fact that they're not

20:29

as prone to turning the ball

20:31

over in bad spots. And in

20:34

fact, their Delgado especially, but Fagoodenas

20:36

is also very good understanding the

20:38

shape the team needs to be

20:41

in defensively. So they take less

20:43

risks. They take fewer... chances in

20:45

terms of who and where they're

20:48

going to press because they don't

20:50

have anybody out there who's got

20:52

those itchy feet, who needs to

20:55

get the ball back, A-S-A-P. And

20:57

instead it makes sense for them.

21:00

to draw that line a little

21:02

bit deeper, try to coax the

21:04

opponents up the field, and then

21:07

draw a line of confrontation maybe

21:09

at midfield or even past midfield

21:11

a little bit. Let those opponents

21:14

get comfortable knocking the ball around

21:16

and then spring a trap on

21:18

them. get into a situation where

21:21

you can isolate one of the

21:23

wingers, either Gabriel Peck on the

21:25

right side or Joseph Painsell on

21:28

the left side, isolate them in

21:30

the channel and create the types

21:32

of transition opportunities that the galaxy

21:35

are, I mean, they are absolutely

21:37

lethal in those moments. Those guys,

21:39

and Day on Yovitch as well,

21:42

all. double figure goals. And as

21:44

well, Yevel doesn't have double figure

21:46

assists, but he's got 20 goals

21:49

and eight assists. And I think

21:51

about 2,400 minutes across all competitions,

21:54

like that's really, really good. They're

21:56

all ruthless finishers. They're all really

21:58

smart about. chances. And they're all

22:01

on selfish in those moments. And

22:03

to me, that is what the

22:05

galaxy are gonna be in this

22:08

one, right? And. It's

22:11

not to say that the

22:13

midfield is not going to

22:15

have no bearing. Like if

22:17

you told me that the

22:19

game's only goal came from

22:21

a turnover in which that

22:23

front three got out on

22:25

the run, but it was

22:27

actually Fagundas with a delayed

22:29

run, you know, finishing a

22:31

pullback from 16 yards, I

22:33

would say yeah. Yeah, that

22:35

sounds like something that could

22:37

definitely, definitely happen. You know,

22:39

if you told me that

22:41

it was the galaxy... 70%

22:43

of the ball and breaking

22:45

the opponents down, breaking the

22:47

Red Bowl backline down with

22:49

an 18 pass movement, you

22:51

know, 14 of which were

22:53

in the attacking third, I

22:55

would say that that just

22:58

seems less likely in this

23:00

one because they're not going

23:02

to have Royce for, you

23:04

know, anything above like a

23:06

C minus version of him.

23:08

So I think. what

23:10

we saw in the first half of

23:13

that Eastern Conference final, where Orlando actually

23:15

enticed the Red Bulls to get on

23:17

the ball and get up field, I

23:19

think that Vani's gonna take a page

23:22

from Oscar Perey has playbook in that

23:24

regard. We saw a bunch of it

23:26

in those five games without Ricky. And

23:28

the other thing to note here is

23:31

that. I've been

23:33

super critical of the galaxy

23:35

defensively for most of the

23:37

year, but I went back

23:39

and I watched that Western

23:41

Conference final. And I think

23:43

I mentioned this on Monday

23:45

show. I was really impressed

23:47

with how, even with Ricky

23:49

out there, how structured they

23:51

were and how aware and

23:53

alert they were of everything

23:56

that could possibly go. they

23:58

weren't tight through the middle

24:00

specifically with regards to Jackson

24:02

Reagan's line breaking passes. Reagan

24:04

is so good at those.

24:06

He. I mean those passes

24:08

against LAFC, who's a really

24:10

good defensive team, I think

24:12

they started a number of

24:14

failure cascades for LAFC where

24:17

they had to scramble. And

24:19

the Galaxy almost never got

24:21

into those scramble situations defensively.

24:23

And that'll really, not that

24:25

the Red Bulls I think

24:27

will try to do that

24:29

too much, especially if they're

24:31

not going to start Noah

24:33

Ella, who is by far

24:35

the best passer among their

24:37

four centerbacks. But I... I

24:41

just, I don't think they'll

24:43

be vulnerable, the galaxy, in

24:45

that situation, in a way

24:47

that they were, I mean,

24:49

as recently as the elimination

24:52

against the sounders in the

24:54

League's Cup, right? Like they

24:56

were, not exactly played off

24:58

the field, but like any

25:01

time the sounders were playing

25:03

the ball up the gut,

25:05

the galaxy were just immediately

25:07

chasing the game. There

25:09

wasn't any of that. There really

25:12

hasn't been any of that from

25:14

them in these playoffs so far.

25:16

What there has been, and this

25:18

will play to the Red Bull

25:20

strengths, is the galaxy aren't great.

25:22

first ball, second ball soccer, right?

25:25

And that's what the Red Bulls

25:27

have done. Hit a long ball,

25:29

try to knock down that long

25:31

ball into the path of an

25:33

on-rushing midfielder or a second forward

25:35

and just go from there. It's

25:38

not that the Galaxy are bad

25:40

at it. I think since Garces

25:42

has come into the lineup, they

25:44

have a... physical element that they

25:46

were lacking and Maya Yoshida is

25:48

still very good at reading the

25:51

game as you would expect from

25:53

someone of his experience but it's

25:55

not their strong suit and this

25:57

is you know if you're a

25:59

red fan. This

26:01

is your hope is that

26:04

it looks like one of

26:06

those two crew games. We

26:08

were the first one where

26:10

the Red Bulls were able

26:12

to press pretty effectively for

26:14

30 minutes before retreating into

26:16

that shell or the second

26:18

one where they were able

26:20

to do that first ball,

26:22

second ball and create chances.

26:24

They did the same thing

26:26

a little bit against NYCFC

26:28

though. NYCFC did a really

26:30

good job of putting Cornell

26:32

under constant pressure in a,

26:34

I mean, Cornell's performance in

26:36

that game. was an all-timer.

26:38

And that's it, right? Like

26:40

if you're choosing to play

26:42

the needless brothers who've both

26:44

been pretty good, and Andreas

26:46

Reyes, who has been good,

26:48

but like begging to get

26:50

sent off, you're choosing long

26:52

ball, second ball, over. the

26:55

ability to build from the back

26:57

in the way that this team

27:00

did for the first eight months

27:02

of the year. And again, I'm

27:05

not going to criticize Sandra Schwartz

27:07

for that because look at where

27:09

the Red Bulls are now. I

27:12

certainly didn't have them going this

27:14

far. I don't think there are

27:16

many people who did even Red

27:19

Bulls fans, who I'm still friends

27:21

with didn't have much hope that

27:24

this would be the team that

27:26

made it back to MLS Cup

27:28

for the first time in. 16

27:31

years. I was at that game

27:33

16 years ago. I will say

27:35

that we walked into the Red

27:38

Bull Sands, we walked into that

27:40

MOS Cup final with zero expectations

27:43

that we would walk out with

27:45

a trophy. That Columbus crew team

27:47

was fully healthy and they were

27:50

so far superior to even the

27:52

best version of the 2008 Red

27:54

Bulls. I think it is a

27:57

much closer, much tighter matchup this

27:59

time. with Emil

28:01

Forsberg back and with Coronel

28:04

playing like this and with

28:06

Ricky Hurt, you get the

28:08

Red Bulls at a level

28:11

that feels at least championship

28:13

adjacent and you get. the

28:15

galaxy at a level that

28:18

is much, yeah I don't

28:20

say much, but is less

28:23

dynamic than what we've seen

28:25

from them throughout these playoffs.

28:27

I still think that the

28:30

galaxy are the favorites. I

28:32

wouldn't be shocked if they

28:34

lost, I'd be a little

28:37

surprised, but not shocked. Whereas

28:39

2008, it would have been

28:41

shocking to me and everyone

28:44

else if the Red Bulls

28:46

had won that game. You

28:50

can probably tell from the

28:52

way I framed that that I

28:54

am picking the galaxy. They're in

28:57

Carson. They haven't lost all

28:59

year in Carson. Their only

29:01

home lost this year was in

29:03

Pasadena in El Trafico. And

29:05

even without Ricky, they've got

29:07

matchwinners, Peck and Painsell have been

29:10

phenomenal. Yovilich, we saw what he

29:12

could do against the sounders.

29:14

Cornell has been, like I

29:16

said, the best player in these

29:19

playoffs. John McCarthy is a

29:21

former MOS Cup MVP. He's

29:23

not going to be overawed by

29:25

this moment is what I'm saying.

29:27

And like, when they've had

29:29

to call on him in

29:31

this postseason, he has mostly delivered.

29:34

He hasn't been as, you

29:36

know, mind-bendingly outstanding as Cornell,

29:38

but he hasn't had to be.

29:40

Garsis and Yoshida together, they don't

29:43

make mistakes. They don't give

29:45

you the types of chances

29:47

that the galaxy were just sort

29:49

of handing away for free

29:51

earlier in the season. The

29:53

numbers, like I have them before

29:55

me now, before Garsis, they were

29:58

allowing. non-penalty expected goals per

30:00

90, which was 21st in

30:02

the league. So a bottom third

30:04

of the league defense. In

30:06

the eight or nine games,

30:08

since Garces has been in the

30:11

lineup, it's 1.05 non-penalty expected

30:13

goals per 90, which is

30:15

a top five mark. in the

30:17

league. The Red Bulls could still

30:20

do it. I think there

30:22

are better team on set

30:24

pieces and we've seen the Galaxy,

30:26

this Galaxy team, be vulnerable.

30:28

about or vulnerable on set

30:30

pieces, even in these playoffs. The

30:32

Red Bulls can do that first

30:35

ball, second ball thing. That

30:37

is a distinct advantage for

30:39

them. So I do like the

30:41

Galaxy's ability to deal with

30:43

it a little bit better.

30:45

If Delgado is next to Edwin

30:48

Cerrio, kind of playing in a

30:50

double pivot and looking to

30:52

clean that up and you

30:54

don't let Emil Forsberg, you know.

30:56

get on that ball immediately.

30:58

You don't let, whether it's

31:00

Stroud or Edelman or Carbillo, if

31:03

he's back and available for this

31:05

one, you don't let them

31:07

win the ball off the

31:09

knockdown and score the kind of

31:12

scorcher that Carbile had against,

31:14

against NYCFC. So I think

31:16

the Galaxy are a little bit

31:18

better built to deal with that

31:21

than they might have looked

31:23

at at first glance. But

31:25

still, it's a... Yeah,

31:28

I mean, there's a path for

31:30

the Red Bulls. There is a

31:32

path for them to do this

31:35

thing. But I am picking the

31:37

Galaxy. I'm picking the home team

31:39

in MLS Cup. It's been a

31:42

dominant run for home teams for

31:44

most of the past 10 years.

31:46

And that's what I think will

31:49

continue to see in this one.

31:51

But we'll see the game is

31:53

on for free on Apple TV

31:56

on Saturday at 4 p.m. Eastern

31:58

1 p.m. Pacific that pregame I

32:00

said at the start of the

32:03

show was that it starts at

32:05

2 o'clock. It actually starts at

32:07

2.30 p.m. You could catch Weebi

32:10

and Sasha, Brad, Kaylon Kyle, Kevin

32:12

Egan, all the rest of the

32:14

gang on that one, breaking everything

32:17

down. I'm looking forward to watching

32:19

that. I will be on my

32:21

couch with a hefty pour of

32:24

something wonderful for that game. Oh,

32:26

you know what, there's one more

32:28

thing I wanted to cover. The

32:31

Club World Cup draw was announced

32:33

today. And obviously, we're going to

32:35

be talking about this a ton

32:38

on this show over the next

32:40

seven months, eight months, however long.

32:42

But just so we have it

32:45

on the record. Inter Miami, get

32:47

Palmeris and Porto for their first

32:49

two group opponents in the Club

32:52

World Cup. The Seattle Sounders get

32:54

PSG and Athletico. So, Miami got

32:56

a much kinder draw. I still

32:59

don't think either of the MLS

33:01

teams will be expected to advance.

33:03

Anders is in the chat right

33:06

now begging me to provide analysis

33:08

of Seattle's group. I will say

33:10

that PSG has been abominable this

33:13

year. And I would I would

33:15

sacrifice maybe two fingers, maybe even

33:18

a foot for the sounders to

33:20

pull that one off, but I'm

33:22

not going to go into that

33:25

game expecting it. So. I just

33:27

wanted to put a bow on

33:29

that one. We will have more

33:32

talk about that in the months

33:34

to come. On Monday, we will

33:36

have an MLS Cup rematch, excuse

33:39

me, MLS Cup recap, and then

33:41

a look ahead to the expansion

33:43

draft, which is coming in the

33:46

middle of next week, San Diego.

33:48

officially take their bows as the

33:50

30th MLS team. And then in

33:53

the weeks ahead, we have the

33:55

reentry draft, we have free agency,

33:57

we have the MLS super draft.

34:00

then we have like three weeks

34:02

of off season, which I

34:04

am looking forward to. And I

34:06

am also looking forward to

34:08

this looking forward to this MLS I appreciate

34:10

you guys sticking with me with

34:13

minutes, not bad bad for a monologue

34:15

right there. And I appreciate you

34:17

guys sticking with us all

34:19

year long. The big game is

34:21

coming up. It's less than

34:23

48 hours away than 48 I hope

34:25

you guys all enjoy it

34:27

and we will talk to you

34:29

soon. Thank you.