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

0:13

day goes into the office,

0:15

into the laboratory, to try

0:17

to cook up some great

0:19

stuff for you guys. That's

0:21

why he's here! Ah, from

0:23

New York, New York. You

0:25

are listening to Extra Time.

0:28

I'm Andrew Weebie with my partners in

0:30

Matt Doyle is here. is

0:32

here. Carr is here. is here.

0:34

Two hosts for two teams two teams

0:36

remaining, Galaxy, the the New York

0:38

Red Bulls. MLS is set

0:41

Saturday, December 7th. 7th. Covered

0:43

starts starts on Mless p .m. at 2.30 p.m.

0:45

It is free, It is free. -E

0:47

-E. You understand the concept.

0:49

Come hang out with us. us.

0:51

Hour and and a half pregame

0:53

show into a four p a 4

0:56

start for the game start for the

0:58

.m. Pacific Pacific Time local Dignity. Oh, it's it's

1:00

gonna be an absolute

1:02

banger. This is the years coming,

1:04

Doyle. Like years coming, was the dream. Tierraon

1:06

this was the dream. Land and

1:08

David Beckham, Landon Donovan, whoever

1:10

the heck Bulls Bulls had

1:13

at that time, I've conveniently

1:15

forgotten. forgotten. Ten years too late, I guess,

1:17

I but it's still a wonderful a

1:19

I don't know man in in 2014.

1:21

I was really happy to see really happy

1:23

to see future ETR enough ETR

1:25

regular Charlie Davies make his way

1:27

to MLS Cup like that

1:29

was a pretty good match

1:32

up Boston versus LA. Have you been have

1:34

you Have you always been rooting for our

1:36

future? future ETR members in MLS? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I

1:38

have a little bit of bit of spice

1:40

must flow. the spice must flow.

1:43

Kaylin Carr has obviously been here. He's

1:45

done it in this very stadium twice. We

1:47

will not talk about the results. We'll

1:49

like We'll like through those waters himself. If he

1:51

does if but But this is the conclusion,

1:53

man. We've been going for. going for basically

1:55

a full year, after know after the end of

1:57

the and into the the off all the way here

2:00

here. hundreds of games, more than 100 shows

2:02

to get to this point as well. And

2:04

the Galaxy have a chance to return to

2:06

the Promise Land, to get back under the

2:09

bright lights that it seemed like they owned

2:11

for so many years. And the New York

2:13

Red Bulls, well, they've been cursed. They've only

2:15

been here once. It was in 2008. It

2:18

was a long, long time ago. We will

2:20

detail just how long that was here in

2:22

a little bit. But let's start, as we

2:24

always do, with the best thing that we

2:27

saw. Conference Finals finals edition. the

2:29

best player on the best team remaining

2:31

in the playoffs, putting in a legendary

2:33

final half hour. You've all probably seen

2:35

the news by now that Ricky Pooge

2:37

unfortunately tore his ACL, the 64th minute

2:39

of the galaxies, win over the sounders.

2:42

He played through it. He was just

2:44

like noticeably limping the final 25, 30

2:46

minutes of that game, but that did

2:48

not stop him from notching the game

2:50

winning assist today on Yovlich. Making that

2:52

play in that situation, the guy was

2:55

already on his path, I think, to

2:57

a legendary Galaxy career. This is one

2:59

that I think, especially if the Galaxy,

3:01

you know, pull this off on Saturday,

3:03

this is one the Galaxy fans will

3:05

be talking about 20 years from now.

3:07

Just an incredible moment. I'm gutted that

3:10

we won't get to see him in

3:12

this game because he is such an

3:14

entertainer out there. It's gonna change a

3:16

lot about how we talk about this

3:18

game tactically, just because Ricky's one of

3:20

one. But like. Like I had friends,

3:22

galaxy friends, texting me after the news

3:25

came out saying like we're ready to

3:27

build the statue already. That's how much

3:29

they love this guide and what he

3:31

meant to them this year and what

3:33

he especially meant in the biggest moment

3:35

of the biggest game that they've played

3:38

this season, that they've played in a

3:40

decade. I mean love him or hate

3:42

him, you knew that if there was

3:44

going to be a special game changing

3:46

moment, particularly on the game. side it

3:48

was coming from Ricky's foot like he

3:50

demands the ball at all times I

3:53

thought it was actually a detriment in

3:55

the first half but in the second

3:57

half ACL or not when he gets

3:59

the ball in that position the ball

4:01

from Delgado and Delgado knows where the

4:03

ball needs to go. Yovitch knows time

4:05

to make the run. Just a way

4:08

to the past the vision on the

4:10

past it was all perfection for Ricky

4:12

but man Kaylin you can identify I

4:14

expect in some ways with this in

4:16

some ways. We didn't know But we

4:18

knew something was up. Ricky was with

4:21

his parents. He had the towel over

4:23

his head. He was being comforted by

4:25

Greg Vani. And I said on the

4:27

post game show, I don't want to

4:29

speculate, but this doesn't look good for

4:31

Ricky Pooh's. What were you experiencing in

4:33

that moment? What were you experiencing in

4:36

that moment? Knowing what you've been through

4:38

in the past. Why didn't you keep

4:40

playing? Why didn't she keep playing after

4:42

you for your racial? Just for some

4:44

water on that. No, there was that

4:46

strange, there was that strange piece where

4:48

kind of after the game, you saw

4:51

him kind of break down almost. Yeah.

4:53

And I think, you know, for whatever

4:55

he was going through, there was kind

4:57

of, there's kind of a surreal moment

4:59

where you're like, did this, is this

5:01

happening? Did this happen? And I know

5:04

something doesn't feel right. for him he

5:06

was able to to your point like

5:08

he still brought out that moment of

5:10

quality where he just kind of like

5:12

makes that subtle little pass just right

5:14

by the foot of Jackson Reagan where

5:16

he knows he can't reaches it and

5:19

it's perfectly weighted to it. But then

5:21

I think after the game you're you're

5:23

sort of adrenaline and your emotion wears

5:25

off and you realize oh no like

5:27

this is something is actually wrong. You

5:29

feel it on, I knew right away

5:31

when I tore my seal in MOS

5:34

Cup, but there is that sinking feeling

5:36

even afterwards where you're like, is this

5:38

real? Is this, did this happen? And

5:40

I think that moment, which is a

5:42

horrible moment, comes through for him in

5:44

that, in that moment with Greg, and

5:47

then I think with his family. sure,

5:49

because then you start to almost see

5:51

the reaction of other people and it

5:53

really kind of sinks in for you

5:55

as like, oh, I'm out. And so,

5:57

you know, I feel for him, he's

5:59

been, you know, he's really been the

6:02

best player of the tournament. by far

6:04

in MLS Cup and getting a chance

6:06

to host it at home. He said

6:08

this is the reason he came to

6:10

Los Angeles. You mentioned wanting to win

6:12

trophies. That's what the standard is for

6:15

the galaxy. And I think for all

6:17

of us, like going to watch MLS

6:19

Cup, you want to see the best

6:21

player. You want to see what Ricky

6:23

could do in this moment with the

6:25

spotlight on him. He enjoys all that.

6:27

And so for him to miss out,

6:30

I feel horrible for him. But yeah,

6:32

from the galaxy standpoint, you know, they're

6:34

going to have to adjust and move

6:36

on and that's a horrible part of

6:38

the way this goes through the playoffs.

6:40

You lose guys as it goes on,

6:42

but to lose a player like this

6:45

and with so much quality, one of

6:47

the most entertaining players to watch in

6:49

MLS, that is just a brutal, brutal

6:51

blow for the galaxy and of course

6:53

Ricky and himself. I think part of

6:55

this is obviously, you know, feeling awful

6:58

for Ricky and not knowing when we'll

7:00

see him again and knowing he has

7:02

a hard road in front of him,

7:04

including having a witness this final. But

7:06

I think there's, like, just for me

7:08

personally, like watching Ricky has been one

7:10

of the most pure soccer joys of

7:13

the entire season. for me and I

7:15

just think about like you go to

7:17

see a movie and you're like oh

7:19

yeah like Brad Pitt starting in this

7:21

like the leading man like oh you

7:23

know this is a Tom Cruise like

7:25

mission impossible joint like you know that's

7:28

the dude and that's what Ricky is

7:30

for the galaxy despite the fact that

7:32

they have some of the best players

7:34

in the league surrounding him he just

7:36

demands that sort of space and time

7:38

and consideration not just with the way

7:41

he plays but with the way he

7:43

behaves like this was his This was

7:45

the moment, it's like, you were born

7:47

for this man. Like, the way that

7:49

you think of yourself, the way that

7:51

you play, the way that you have

7:53

come to this club sort of out

7:56

of the blue to get them back

7:58

to the promise land, it just feels

8:00

like, yes, Ricky's being robbed of this

8:02

massive moment. He's the story here, but

8:04

I think everybody. wants to witness this

8:06

are feeling a little bit robbed right

8:08

now as well. We just hope that

8:11

the recovery goes smoothly and he's back

8:13

and there's another moment like this for

8:15

him and he'll always have of course

8:17

the Western Conference finals. We'll get into

8:19

more of what they'll do without Ricky

8:21

Pooge and you know evaluate his season

8:24

etc. later on in the show but

8:26

well let's keep it a little bit

8:28

tight here. Kaylin best thing you saw

8:30

conference finals. I'm gonna go to the

8:32

other side and John Tolkien's set piece

8:34

service and yes, no shots from open

8:36

play, I don't believe. But goal on

8:39

the road. to go to cup like

8:41

that is mls cup playoff heritage you

8:43

know that's that's important so and the

8:45

service for Tolkien as well was top-notch

8:47

like the the service to be able

8:49

to drop that in in a place

8:51

where it's it's too much space yeah

8:54

but you can't come out for that

8:56

really it's coming too fast and then

8:58

it was funny because Andrez Reyes you

9:00

know he heads the ball in and

9:02

then goes into the net himself and

9:04

and but I just think even when

9:07

I think of Tolkien and the playoffs

9:09

in general like I think of last

9:11

year and the different place that that

9:13

team was in where it was really

9:15

Tolkien had was relied upon he was

9:17

the only one to be able to

9:19

find those moments he stepped up he

9:22

scored his free kick against Charlotte in

9:24

the in the opening round he scored

9:26

a penalty on decision day to get

9:28

into the playoffs he was taking every

9:30

penalty yeah penalties set pieces now it's

9:32

like They have not relied on him

9:34

in the same manner that they have

9:37

in the past, but in the big

9:39

moments, his personality, you need a player

9:41

like that to want to like grab

9:43

a moment and make it his own.

9:45

And you know, Tolkien I thought stepped

9:47

up in that moment as well. You

9:50

know, that service though to the back

9:52

post was just top notch. Defied gravity

9:54

man. He really he really smacked that

9:56

one bent it perfectly into that run

9:58

Maybe if you're Orlando put a body

10:00

on the six foot three inch center

10:02

back could be a good charge into

10:05

the back post our own decent suggestion

10:07

can matter and well mean, look, we

10:09

don't know what the order there was

10:11

for us to pray on the staff,

10:13

but it definitely looked like the way

10:15

that Orlando was lined up across sort

10:17

of the six-yard areas. It's almost like

10:20

zonal. Nobody ever puts a body on,

10:22

Reyes, and the, nobody ever puts a

10:24

body on Reyes in the buildup to

10:26

the buildup, so you're assuming, okay, well,

10:28

if it was man-to-man, somebody would be

10:30

with him trying to obstruct him, just

10:33

making there at the back post. Like

10:35

just like put your smallest guy on

10:37

on Reyes not to out jump him

10:39

but yeah to bump him to make

10:41

sure that he doesn't get an unobstructed

10:43

run up to dunk at the back

10:45

post exactly like that it's it's just

10:48

basic stuff and it was You know,

10:50

I didn't think Orlando made many defensive

10:52

errors in these playoffs. I remember Yonson

10:54

had one, I think in the second

10:56

game against Charlotte. This was basically their

10:58

only mistake on the day was lining,

11:00

well, first of all, committing the fall

11:03

where they committed it. That was brainless

11:05

from on Google, but like, and that

11:07

one in particular, not being cognizant of

11:09

what a threat Reyes would be on

11:11

that type of service from an in-swinger.

11:13

Like, it... See a

11:16

million times man, details matter. Details

11:18

matter. Oh look, details came to

11:20

the fore in this one for

11:22

me, and it's not about on

11:24

the field for my best thing

11:26

I saw, it's more the best

11:28

thing I heard. I just have

11:30

listened to Steve Kangelosi call Red

11:33

Bulls games for decades. Now in

11:35

his voice is the narration for

11:37

me of all these amazing Red

11:39

Bulls teams that that didn't get

11:41

the job done. I'm trying to

11:43

remember, was Kenji wouldn't have been

11:45

on the call in OA because

11:47

it would have been a national

11:49

TV broadcast, but he did a

11:52

ton of those for ESB and

11:54

back in the day. Would he

11:56

have called the Red Bulls going

11:58

to cup? Would he have been

12:00

a part of those games? I

12:02

wish I could remember. supporter edition.

12:04

Got you. Anyway, I just thought

12:06

it was poetic and perfect and

12:09

playoff in MLS and American North

12:11

American soccer heritage that K&G was

12:13

the guy calling the Red Bulls

12:15

first trip to the Los Cops

12:17

since 2008. A gift from the

12:19

soccer gods, you might say. There

12:21

are fans surely watching right now

12:23

who sat in a cold empty

12:25

giant stadium years ago looking for

12:28

some reason to have their team

12:30

make them smile. It didn't happen

12:32

a lot. They cheered for the

12:34

likes of Miola, Mathis, and Petke.

12:36

They tried it with international stars

12:38

like Donadoni and Henri. There were

12:40

club legends like Luis Robles, Wright

12:42

Phillips, who's watching back in the

12:45

studio right now in New York.

12:47

None of those men took this

12:49

team to the mountaintop. This group

12:51

will have a chance to do

12:53

it. 90 minutes away. We know

12:55

this, they'll go west. And

12:59

you never thought you'd hear these words, the

13:01

New York Red Bulls will play for MLS

13:03

Cup. Oh, it's just, it's cathartic, like I

13:06

have goosebumps listening to it again, and I've

13:08

listened to it four or five times. I

13:10

just, as it happened, as I was sitting

13:12

next to BVP, who was, I mean, jacked,

13:15

absolutely, Jack, those are still his guys, like,

13:17

throughout the club, he spends a ton of

13:19

time at the facility as well. I felt

13:21

great for the fans of the Red Bulls,

13:24

man, because they've been through it. It's been

13:26

16 years since their only other appearance, like

13:28

that's more than half the lifespan of the

13:30

league. I was thinking back on it, what

13:33

has happened in that amount of time? 2008.

13:35

14 teams in Major League Soccer guys. There

13:37

were 29 this this year. There'll be 30

13:39

next year. 14 teams that year. The Red

13:42

Bulls won the Western Conference that year to

13:44

get to cup. We'll have some trivia on

13:46

that in a little bit. Sasha Klession made

13:48

the best 11 for Chief us USA. Super

13:51

League existed. Single ladies by Biance top the

13:53

charts. No country for old men won best

13:55

picture. George W. Bush was in office. Kaling

13:57

Carr played for the fire at that time.

14:00

Yes, yes, yes, yeah. I

14:02

mean, I was in college.

14:05

I was like a early,

14:07

very, like two years into

14:09

MLS fandom, to soccer fandom

14:11

in general. Doyle,

14:13

you were feeling what in 2008,

14:16

doing what, jousting with what child's

14:18

toy. It was a frustrating year

14:20

in 2008 because it was just

14:22

Pekwai and Karyo, where he just,

14:24

he changed the lineup, he changed

14:27

the formation, he changed everything about

14:29

the tactics. every single game. And

14:31

so there was never any flow

14:33

to that season. They snuck into

14:36

the playoffs late. And then come

14:38

the playoffs, they just played it

14:40

like sort of a box standard

14:42

for 2 2, or the 422.

14:45

with like two attacking-ish midfielders and

14:47

just like played against the ball

14:49

and it all came together and

14:51

it worked and it felt really

14:54

improbable because just looking at that

14:56

bracket there was a big win

14:58

over Houston who were the two-time

15:00

defending champs in the first round

15:03

and then they went to Salt

15:05

Lake City to win the Western

15:07

Conference final. which is still kind

15:09

of mind-boggling. And it felt like

15:11

house money. It felt like this

15:14

team should not be here. And...

15:16

Oh boy, deja vu, huh? That

15:18

sounds familiar. Yeah. Eating Columbus crew,

15:20

the defending champions in the first

15:23

round. Seriously. And then they got

15:25

to the they got to the

15:27

MLS Cup and they played like

15:29

a team that should not be

15:32

there. They got absolutely trounced by

15:34

the crew in 2008. And then

15:36

like I was in that supporter

15:38

section for a lot of bad

15:41

losses. And like any time you

15:43

get to a final and you

15:45

lose, I think fans are pretty

15:47

bummed. But like this was not,

15:49

there were a lot of tears

15:52

like, oh God, we should have

15:54

won it. It was like, yeah,

15:56

we're here with house money. We

15:58

lost three one. go have some

16:01

drinks and go bike jesting in

16:03

the park afterwards. It's fine. Oh

16:06

man, what is bike jousting? It's exactly

16:08

what it sounds like. There are videos

16:10

of this bike jousting and it is,

16:12

and there are like some MLS legends

16:14

involved, you'll see some Sean Francis, smart

16:17

enough not to get on the bike

16:19

and go jousting, but definitely encouraging that

16:21

kind of behavior. The greatest tacos I've

16:23

ever eaten my entire life I had

16:25

in the in the in the parking

16:28

lot outside of dignity health after the

16:30

game. That was awesome. Shout out to

16:32

the Riot squad, one of the great

16:34

Galaxy fan groups. I still remember the

16:36

hospitality they showed to me and my

16:38

ESC Brethren that day. Tacos in LA,

16:41

that's something to look forward to this

16:43

week. We will have a presence on

16:45

the ground and there will be coverage

16:47

an hour and a half ahead of

16:49

the game. I think I get out

16:51

Wednesday night and I know Kaylin will

16:54

be there. We'll have a show on

16:56

Thursday and get Doyle tactical thoughts as

16:58

well and try to get you prepared

17:00

for that. First thoughts on NMLS Cup

17:02

before we go into the nitty gritty

17:05

of these games and how and why

17:07

we arrived at this particular match up.

17:09

Two questions as far as injuries. Carbio

17:11

and Royce, we'll see how those develop

17:13

over the week. But Kaylin, just your

17:15

first gut reaction is somebody who's played

17:18

an MLS Cup, who's actually played in

17:20

two MLS cups in this very building,

17:22

has somebody who's been an underdog in

17:24

the building as well to the LA

17:26

Galaxy. Well first that the galaxy you

17:28

know I feel like for the last

17:31

whatever five years or whatever we've been

17:33

asking are the galaxy back are the

17:35

galaxy back in almost to the point

17:37

where it's kind of been you know

17:39

almost a bit and a bit maybe

17:41

forced and every time the answer has

17:44

been I've consistently said no we would

17:46

we would never force a bit on

17:48

this show we would never look at

17:50

my galaxy right over here it's it's

17:52

flickering it does it that Yeah, right,

17:55

but this is now a place where

17:57

you can say they're back in a

17:59

the Galaxy to me are back. They

18:01

do have to win it. Also, by

18:03

the way, because that's where the standards

18:05

are and they're playing at home and

18:08

that's it. So I think that's the

18:10

part that stood out to me from

18:12

the standpoint of having played against those

18:14

Galaxy teams with the big stars and

18:16

I have a ton of respect for

18:18

them. I also can relate to it

18:21

from the standpoint of being going to

18:23

LA twice and having zero expectations or

18:25

pressure. Everything was around Beckham. landing, keen,

18:27

rightly so, fully understand, obviously, and we

18:29

came in, we're like, all right, we're,

18:32

you know, all orange guys from Houston

18:34

coming in town. I was, the first

18:36

year, I was very excited. There was

18:38

all these media events and all these,

18:40

a lot of press that had not

18:42

been, which I would imagine if you're,

18:45

the Neelis brothers, you're gonna be like,

18:47

I don't recognize any of you. Like,

18:49

you have not been out to Red

18:51

Bull training facility. Wiebe, have you been

18:53

out to? I can't say that I

18:55

have. Was I one of the ones

18:58

in 2000, yeah, in the early 2010s?

19:00

I was, I was, I was walking

19:02

in. Yeah, I used to feel that

19:04

way where I'd be like, oh, Simon

19:06

Borg and Andrew Wiebe are now here,

19:08

because we're in the Eastern Conference final

19:11

and we're going to MLS Cup. And

19:13

I kind of love that, you know,

19:15

I think Red Bull, from their standpoint,

19:17

we'll feel that way where they're like,

19:19

oh, look at all this press. Now,

19:22

the tricky part is, I felt that

19:24

that kind of threw us off. And

19:26

then the next year, we came back

19:28

and we were like, we're staying at

19:30

the Torrance Marriott, we are not taking

19:32

any fanfare. I even remember, like, I

19:35

think Oscar de La Hoya was a

19:37

minority owner of the team and he

19:39

was like, hey, we'd love to come

19:41

talk to you the team. We

19:44

don't need we're not we're not we're

19:46

just here for a business trip. Yeah,

19:48

I love that I love that celebrity

19:50

journalist Andrew Weavy threw you off in

19:52

the build. It was more like it

19:54

was more like I was given assignments

19:56

by Simon Borg and they were all

19:58

like ask the hardest. most baiting

20:01

question that we can. You know, credit to

20:03

Simon, he had a nose for a story.

20:05

And I was just, I was, I was

20:07

me, so I was like, oh, I'm on

20:09

it. Let's do this thing. Absolutely,

20:11

but no, I think the managing that,

20:13

managing the pressure, the tickets, sorting all

20:15

that stuff out in a short week, but

20:18

I think from the standpoint of Red

20:20

Bulls, I feel like show up the

20:22

way that you have where you don't

20:24

turn it into something that it's not.

20:26

I know it's the biggest deal in

20:28

the world, but I would say from

20:30

experience. focusing and I saw Sandra Schwartz say

20:32

that in the post game you really

20:34

seem just kind of like we're gonna

20:36

get back we're gonna study film we're

20:38

gonna get back to it quick week

20:40

not a lot of time to think

20:42

about it let's just get back to

20:44

business and I think that's the best way

20:46

to approach this thing. I

20:49

said at the top we've been dreaming about

20:51

this and like it feels like a fever

20:53

dream but the Red Bulls Galaxy Cup is

20:55

finally here. Yeah, I mean a dozen years

20:58

ago fans of both teams used to call

21:00

it the 1% Darby because these were the

21:02

two highest spending teams in the league. Remember

21:04

they had that series where Rafa Marquez and

21:06

Landon got into it afterwards. That was 2011.

21:09

I want to say the ball throwing incident.

21:11

Yeah. Yeah, and from 2011 to 2014, it

21:13

really was, like, like, these are the two

21:15

big market teams and these were the two

21:18

teams that spent the most and it felt

21:20

like at some point. this meeting should have

21:22

happened then, because as he said, it was

21:24

Beckham and Keene, it was Henri and Marquez

21:27

and Cahill, and it just never worked from

21:29

the Red Bull side of it. And so

21:31

they went in a very different direction, right?

21:33

And the Galaxy have been a, you know,

21:35

1% Tarby team throughout their entire existence. But

21:38

after Henri left, it was guys like Brad

21:40

and Sasha, who are legends in this league,

21:42

but they'll even tell you, like, like we

21:44

were missing one piece short. We were one

21:47

piece short. We needed that guy. like in

21:49

Emil Forsberg. they got that guy and it's

21:51

not like he's been dominating the playoffs but

21:53

he makes the difference time and again in

21:55

those biggest moments so it's I don't know

21:58

telling or it's car or some other word

22:00

I'm not thinking of that the first year

22:02

that Red Bull Global has brought in a

22:04

top tier euro like that a guy who

22:07

is kind of 10 years later, the on

22:09

re replacement to a degree, they made it

22:11

to MLS Cup. So it's just like, it's

22:13

been, it's been a weird dozen years for

22:16

these two, for these two clubs, and it

22:18

still feels kind of surreal that we're finally

22:20

gonna get this match up that I think

22:22

everybody was kind of expecting the first half

22:24

of last decade. I mean, I remember those.

22:27

Those games used in dynamo. Yeah, spoiling our

22:29

ourselves, sporting Kansas City. But I remember the

22:31

way that those Galaxy Red Bulls games were

22:33

treated, like in terms of the way we

22:36

covered them once I joined the league, but

22:38

before that, when I was just, you know,

22:40

just falling in love with Major League Soccer,

22:42

and there are all these touch points between

22:44

the two teams, and you think back, I

22:47

believe, to their very first game ever at

22:49

the Rose Bowl. That was sort of the

22:51

start of it, but then it continued to

22:53

continue. And for me, it was the I

22:56

think 07 Galaxy Red Bulls game at Giants

22:58

Stadium. Yep. Doyle, and I had watched a

23:00

lot of like Fox Soccer Red Bulls games

23:02

where that building was empty, but you know,

23:05

I was a sicko or a burgeoning one

23:07

at the time, and I just remember being

23:09

like, oh my God, there's like 55,000 people

23:11

here, there was all this build up because

23:13

it was Beckham. Juan Pablo on hell was

23:16

just a revelation as well. Josie Altador was

23:18

this young star and you were just, I

23:20

just remember watching that game and it did

23:22

5-4 and Carlos Pavone who we've had the

23:25

pleasure to be in the studio with the

23:27

last couple years as well with scoring goals

23:29

and it was just like, it's one of

23:31

the most formative moments of league fandom and

23:33

interest for me and I know that sort

23:36

of stereotypical of like, oh, of course, you

23:38

know, the Beckham game was a part of

23:40

that for you, but I think that's true.

23:42

a lot of people, where it was just

23:45

sort of like, oh, I have to pay

23:47

attention more. This was so fun. And then

23:49

they made him a less cup and then

23:51

there were all these great teams for the

23:54

Red Bulls that just. They never did it.

23:56

And this curse of curricula, I mean, they

23:58

said it was over with the supporter shields,

24:00

like, come on, I'm on, I'm on Caleb's

24:02

side. Like, it doesn't end with a shield.

24:05

It has to end with a championship. And

24:07

I just, I think about a lot of

24:09

people that hit us up over the years,

24:11

like how they're feeling on this day, having

24:14

not just experienced that big boom, but also

24:16

all the moments in the moments in between.

24:18

Like, you remember Bill Carroll in section 202,

24:20

section 202. He used to hit us up

24:22

on this show all the time. He was

24:25

like the number one mailbag guy that we

24:27

had. I wonder what Bill Carroll is feeling

24:29

right now. Michael Drickel hit us up, who

24:31

always hits us up and says, he just

24:34

wants to say that I'm excited to watch

24:36

my team go and try to win its

24:38

first cup. He says he watched by himself

24:40

in college in 2008 for them to lose

24:43

to the crew. Now he's got his best

24:45

friend into the game. We've been season ticket

24:47

holder since 2011 and we'll get to watch

24:49

this together, couldn't watch this together, couldn't be

24:51

happy. Couldn't be happier about it, couldn't be

24:54

happier about it. Couldn't be happier about it.

24:56

Couldn't be happier about it. Couldn't be happier

24:58

about it. You know a lot of ways

25:00

the thing I think about in terms of

25:03

this particular matchup is yes the soccer and

25:05

the organizations and all the things that they've

25:07

done to get to this point but almost

25:09

more so the fans that for the Red

25:12

Bulls have been through three decades of misery

25:14

and for the galaxy it's been a very

25:16

hard decade and I just couldn't help but

25:18

think when the galaxy booked their place and

25:20

got through like why they were there and

25:23

they were there because the fans last year

25:25

in the midst of arguably their worst season

25:27

ever said oh hell no like this is

25:29

not it. This is not it. Like we're

25:32

done waiting, we're done being patient, we're done

25:34

saying, okay, well here, have another season, have

25:36

another big signing that flops, have another chance.

25:38

Like they put their foot down and they

25:40

forced change at their club and like that's

25:43

the reason why the galaxy are here. I

25:46

mean, am I crazy to say

25:48

that like the fact that they

25:50

did that and Wilcoons came in

25:52

and now nine of 11 starters

25:54

on the team that got to

25:56

him less cup come from the

25:58

windows that Coons was evolved in

26:01

from the middle of last year

26:03

on like. entire trajectory of their

26:05

club seems to have changed because

26:07

the fans just said, nah, this

26:09

isn't it, like we're not down.

26:11

Yeah, they're back to being the

26:13

galaxy again and it's. It's remarkable.

26:16

I think we did a good

26:18

job of covering it in the

26:20

moment. I don't think we've done

26:22

as good a job of reminding

26:24

people that that's what happened. Like

26:26

that is what catalyzed 18 months

26:29

later, a little more than 18

26:31

months, but like not that far

26:33

later. This team's now in MOS

26:35

Cup and Will Coons deserves all

26:37

the credit in the world. Like

26:39

congratulations to John Thorrington for winning

26:41

executive of the year, but it's

26:44

Will Coons by a mile. The

26:46

fans made it possible because of

26:48

the protests, because of the TFO,

26:50

because They recognize that the galaxy

26:52

were supposed to be something better

26:54

than what they had been for

26:56

almost a decade under Chris Klein

26:59

and Yovan Karofsky and getting those

27:01

guys out and getting someone with

27:03

a bit more competence in there.

27:05

Well, you can see the dividends

27:07

that is paying. 2.30 p.m. Eastern

27:09

Time is when coverage starts on

27:11

Saturday from Dignity Health Sports Park.

27:14

Apple TV, MLS season pass, again

27:16

it is free. We had a

27:18

question from Nathan Jay before we

27:20

get into the particulars of these

27:22

matchups in the conference finals. Where

27:24

does the Red Bull side rank

27:26

as underdogs in MLS Cup history?

27:29

Like how big of underdogs are

27:31

they in this particular match? Is

27:33

it like, hey seven seed? And

27:35

I believe that's the lowest of

27:37

the lowest of all. It's tough

27:39

because Anders made the point in

27:41

the pre-show that if Forsberg is

27:44

healthy all year, this is probably

27:46

like a 55, 60 point team.

27:48

Their underlying numbers are really good.

27:50

They went through the crew in

27:52

the first round and we all

27:54

know what I think, you know,

27:56

how highly I think of the

27:59

crew. won on the road against

28:01

a really good Orlando city team

28:03

in the East finals and they're

28:05

playing a galaxy team that's going

28:07

to have to scramble on the

28:09

fly without their best player, the

28:11

guy who really defines their entire

28:14

system. So. It's

28:16

tough to say they're even that

28:18

big an underdog. At the same

28:20

time, galaxy are what, 65 points

28:22

and the Red Bulls are 46,

28:25

something like that. So there's a

28:27

pretty big gap in the standings.

28:29

You could make an argument either

28:31

way. I don't think any of

28:34

us would be shocked if the

28:37

Red Bulls that win this one

28:39

and the way that we would

28:41

have been shocked in say 2018

28:43

when Portland, if Portland had beaten

28:45

Atlanta, right? Like that's what an

28:47

underdog really is supposed to feel

28:49

like and I don't think this

28:51

hits that level. I'm thinking back

28:53

like 2014, 2014, revs were on

28:55

a heater, but like, they weren't,

28:57

they had, they had, Germain Jones

28:59

and, and, and like, Lee win

29:01

was an MVP finalist basically, and

29:04

had been arguably the best player

29:06

in the league down the stretch.

29:08

I mean, I guess, 2018, Portland,

29:10

Atlanta's strength and Portland's sort of

29:12

being middle of the pack. The

29:14

other ones, I would say, are

29:16

around the time that, you know,

29:18

it might even be Red Bulls

29:20

Columbus, like, I think the Red

29:22

Bull Columbus one is pretty apt

29:24

as far as, because the other

29:26

thing is nobody really wins on

29:28

the road in MLS Cup. I

29:31

think New York City did it

29:33

in penalties against Portland, but Portland

29:35

was not, it was kind of

29:37

like a surprise that they had

29:39

gotten all the way there. And

29:41

then what RSL, you mentioned RSL,

29:43

that was a really good team

29:45

against the Galaxy. And that was

29:47

also at a neutral site at

29:49

that point in time. It was

29:51

in Seattle. So it's very rare

29:53

that you see, I guess the

29:55

only one would be Columbus losing

29:58

at home to Portland in 2016.

30:00

15, yeah. So it's very, 16.

30:02

16. Toronto lost at at

30:04

home to stuff to

30:07

Seattle, Yeah. Well, they tied, they tied, they

30:09

fair. they tied, you know, let's, Let's,

30:11

you know, let's, you know,

30:13

let's be accurate. If

30:15

it it'll probably look something similar to

30:17

that. to that. I mean, but I do

30:19

think Ricky being out out throw up

30:21

that question where think without that

30:23

you would say. say, I think I think you

30:25

would be even talking about a much bigger bigger underdog

30:27

case, of course. And now this this just throws up

30:29

the question question, I that they've done all right without

30:31

Ricky in the past, but right has the most touches

30:33

in the league. has the most progressive passes. He

30:36

leads in pretty much every statistical category you could

30:38

possibly have as far as being much every and that's

30:40

how they play. So I think that's the one

30:42

part where you're like, have. I don't really know how

30:44

how to look. And when you think of also

30:46

the way that of also the has been able to do

30:48

a good job going up against. a good job going

30:50

up against all dominant -based teams like

30:52

Columbus already in already in this

30:55

playoffs, you start to say, to say, okay, well,

30:57

to Doyle's like maybe this isn't quite as

30:59

as lopsided as you would think. Is it Sandra Shartz or is it just

31:01

it just Coronel's has been playing out

31:03

of his mind. Well, we'll get there. We'll

31:05

get there. Let's dive in. Let's dive

31:07

in. It feels like we're, we're to to

31:09

So our shorts has done has done a really

31:11

good job of setting things up. So

31:13

that Carlos 15 saves has to make 15

31:15

saves a game. Great job. Galaxy Pip the Sounders, Ricky,

31:17

the Sounder. Okay, Western sounders. first, Galaxy Pip, the but Ricky,

31:20

is a game. Okay, Western go for MLS Galaxy, Galaxy, Vanny

31:22

had this to say, to lose played in three

31:24

all three, all the LA three, all I managed to

31:26

lose all three all three, all one of my personal

31:28

goals three, back here was to try to

31:30

rectify that situation three, three, three, I didn't have to

31:32

live with that. three, three, three, three, three, three, three,

31:34

three, Now, this game was interesting game

31:36

was interesting because of some lineup decisions, particularly

31:38

on the sounder side, on been playing with

31:41

five in the back, at least you can been

31:43

playing go there because he had at who couldn't

31:45

start. He had Reed Baker, there who couldn't

31:47

start. Of course, Paul who was out. That meant

31:49

He had Reed started on the left side with Of

31:51

course, to him. Cause new was from being ill

31:53

on international duty. started on the left side with

31:55

played the game on their

31:57

terms for from minutes. duty.

32:00

Greg Vani I thought trying to flip that

32:02

started Marco Royce, but his groin just didn't

32:04

let him impact the game at a high

32:06

level. He left it half time for Mark

32:09

Delgado and things switched just a little bit.

32:11

But let's just start with like those first

32:13

85 minutes. What did the sounders do? What

32:15

did the galaxy not do? Well, I would

32:18

start with the set. We talked last week

32:20

going into this match about the type of

32:22

match that the Sanders needed to play to

32:24

win, and it went exactly the way they

32:26

wanted, where they were able to have it

32:29

be tight. They actually had a lot more

32:31

of the ball. I think I can't remember

32:33

the possession stats, but I think at a

32:35

certain point in the first half, they had

32:38

a lot of the ball much more than

32:40

you would have expected. And so I think

32:42

the way that the match shaped up was

32:44

much better and then you started to see

32:47

even Ricky Pooge starting to get a little

32:49

bit frustrated and you know you saw some

32:51

of the like when you go and win

32:53

a get win every match leading up to

32:55

this point five to six what like it

32:58

starts to be a little it starts to

33:00

wear on you. the further it goes because

33:02

you're starting to say, okay, well, this is

33:04

actually shading towards this is the way they

33:07

want to do this. Sounders didn't create a

33:09

ton. There was like a few half chances.

33:11

There was the free kick from Roosnax. That

33:13

was going to be the path. But even

33:16

still, they felt like they were in a

33:18

good spot. And then. It's really just one

33:20

mistake. But credit to the galaxy for staying

33:22

patient and not, you know, we're going to

33:24

celebrate Ricky Pouch, of course, and that past

33:27

was spot on and the courage to stay

33:29

in the match and to, you know, fight

33:31

through that. But I think that it was

33:33

really just, it showed just the way the

33:36

sounders playing the margins, they needed the margins

33:38

to be tight. And that's usually a match

33:40

where when the margins are tight, that's where

33:42

Schmetzer and the sounders find a way and

33:45

get through. That's what they've done all the

33:47

way through this, but ultimately they made a

33:49

big mistake in that moment and that was

33:51

what cost them. I thought the sounders did

33:53

a really good job on Ricky, especially in

33:56

the first half. in terms of forcing him

33:58

to play side to side and sort of

34:00

encouraging his worst his worst traits which are

34:02

that he wants to take too many touches

34:05

he wants to be the guy who makes

34:07

every decision he wants to have ultimate responsibility

34:09

for it feels like every attacking move that

34:11

the galaxy make and when he drops so

34:13

deep and just sort of conducts back there

34:16

there are a lot of times we just

34:18

saw like it was Jordan Morris it was

34:20

you know depending on the side he went

34:22

sometimes it was rolled on stepping out to

34:25

him There was just always somebody in his

34:27

face to prevent him from playing vertically and

34:29

from connecting that ball into Central midfield and

34:31

then following, which is so good at. And

34:34

that Marco Royce didn't seem to be fitted

34:36

either, so he didn't provide as many options.

34:38

But I thought they just did a great

34:40

job of frustrating him in that way. And

34:42

then the body language to go to the

34:45

Bobby Warsaw side was like, it was bad

34:47

for the galaxy in the first half. It

34:49

was like bickering on the field. It was

34:51

every time, other than Ricky, They got, I

34:54

don't know, like what's the word, it's not

34:56

that they were too patient, it's not that

34:58

they were impatient, it's not that they were

35:00

impatient, it's just that they relied too much

35:03

on Ricky rather than collective play to try

35:05

to break down a Sanders team that was

35:07

never gonna be broken down by one dude

35:09

making build up predictable. Yeah,

35:12

I don't disagree with that. It was

35:14

not a great half or even a

35:16

great 60. It wasn't a great game

35:18

at all at any point from the

35:21

galaxy. And I think the sounders, their

35:23

structure and their game plan is the

35:25

main reason for that. Right, like when

35:27

when a team struggles in the way

35:29

the galaxy struggled, in this one, often

35:32

we point fingers at, you know, the

35:34

players and, oh, Ricky didn't do this

35:36

or Peck didn't do that. And it's

35:38

like, no, the other team has some

35:41

agency here as well. I'm not to

35:43

say that Ricky covered himself in glory

35:45

that first 45 because he was breaking

35:47

shape too much, right? He was. trying

35:50

to do it all himself and you

35:52

know when he comes back hopefully he

35:54

comes back a hundred percent but the

35:56

next evolution of his game is going

35:58

to hopefully be letting

36:01

it unfold on someone else's terms

36:03

occasionally. But the sounders weaponize that.

36:05

They did a really good job

36:07

of knowing exactly how to frustrate

36:09

the galaxy. There's a reason why

36:11

they came into this game having

36:13

only conceded two goals in three

36:15

games against Galaxy all year long.

36:18

And on top of it, look,

36:20

new who gets a lot of

36:22

criticism from a lot of corners.

36:24

Anytime he had to stop Gabriel

36:26

Peck 1 v 1. Did he

36:28

loved it? He loved it. The

36:30

entire concept of like Nuhu verse

36:33

Peck. he was just he

36:35

was locked in did you see the

36:37

Jersey trade afterwards I mean even in

36:39

a losing effort you could just see

36:42

knew who's smiling he's taking the Jersey

36:44

and it's like he's like taking the

36:46

pelt from he's like yeah I took

36:48

you down man like yeah I was

36:51

it was it was it was great

36:53

the flip side is that look we've

36:55

we've criticized it I especially have criticized

36:57

the galaxy all the all year long

37:00

for their rest defense I have said

37:02

repeated or I had said repeatedly I

37:04

don't think they're good enough defensively to

37:06

to to to win an MOS cup

37:09

in MOS Cup. There was none of

37:11

that on display. I actually thought they

37:13

were a lot better prepared for those

37:15

line-breaking passes that Jackson Reagan hits, that

37:18

really put LAFC in a lot of

37:20

trouble. The Galaxy were a lot more

37:22

solid, a lot more prepared for that.

37:24

Edwin Cerillo's development over the course of

37:27

this year, I always thought he was

37:29

like a good young player with. some

37:31

potential but like now he's starting demid

37:33

for a championship caliber team and like

37:36

there's no qualifiers to that like he

37:38

has earned that spot and on top

37:40

of it we we praised Wilcoons for

37:42

a lot of the obvious things pencil

37:45

and peck Carlos Garces,

37:47

having a guy who fits

37:49

so perfectly in that back

37:51

line, can run with Jordan

37:53

Morris, but also plays on

37:55

the front foot, understands his

37:58

limitations as of all. well,

38:00

and it doesn't try to

38:02

hit the types of passes

38:04

that can get a team

38:06

like the Galaxy that's gonna

38:08

have guys sort of positioned

38:10

aggressively, not gonna hit the

38:13

passes that get them in

38:15

trouble, adding this guy in

38:17

the summer window. I

38:20

think maybe I slept on it. I

38:22

think maybe I didn't trust him that

38:24

much to start. And again, that's correct

38:26

to Greg Vanny. Yeah, it took a

38:28

while to develop for him to become

38:30

the starter, but now that he is,

38:32

they have the ability to put out

38:34

fires in a way that, well, like

38:36

there were two or three chances where

38:38

I thought Jordan Morris was through. in

38:40

this game. I thought he was going

38:42

to at least get into a position

38:44

to put a shot on goal and

38:46

Garasas was able to shut that down

38:48

and there aren't, we saw the entire

38:51

second half of the season, there aren't

38:53

a lot of centerbacks who can do

38:55

that in the open field. Entire back

38:57

six acquired since last summer when, by

38:59

the way, the Galaxy had a transfer

39:01

ban and couldn't sign anybody whose ITC

39:03

had to come in. They got Maya

39:05

Yoshita because they signed him outside of

39:07

the transfer window on a free transfer.

39:09

But it's Yoshida, it's Yamane, it's McCarthy,

39:11

it's Nelson, it's Garces, it's Edwin Sorillo

39:13

who was also acquired in a trade

39:15

at that time, Kaylin and the killer

39:17

peas obviously, and oh look, we haven't

39:19

talked about the goal score. Dan Yovlich's

39:22

galaxy experience has often been that he

39:24

is sort of the forgotten man, whether

39:26

it was with Chicharito, whether it was

39:28

when he got injured, and now with

39:30

the killer peas where he doesn't get

39:32

to be a part of the special

39:34

nickname, but look who scored the goal,

39:36

his 20th and all comps, like it's

39:38

time for a little day on Yovlich

39:40

appreciation hour. What does he show you,

39:42

what did he show you on this

39:44

particular play? I just think that The

39:46

system, he's the perfect striker for this

39:48

system because he has no interest in

39:50

going to the wide areas. He's not

39:52

gonna try to like overlap or come

39:55

down and check off somebody, look to

39:57

combine with one twos with Ricky. He's

39:59

actually, he's actually pretty clever in and

40:01

around. box where he can lay it

40:03

off and he does make the right

40:05

pass but ultimately this guy is interested

40:07

in one thing and that is hitting

40:09

the back of the net and it

40:11

doesn't he doesn't need a ton of

40:13

chances to do it he is streaky

40:15

and but and he's he runs off

40:17

confidence like a lot of guys but

40:19

but he is he gives him that

40:21

one chance he hits it low hard

40:23

on frame and he gives himself a

40:26

chance. and you bank on him to

40:28

put those away. So I don't think

40:30

it really matters whether he's, you know,

40:32

gets to do the fun stuff with

40:34

the wingers out wide with Peck running

40:36

by four guys and, or Painsell streaking

40:38

in behind or Ricky throwing back heels

40:40

and one-two's off everybody. You just need

40:42

the one dude up top who's not

40:44

interested in any of that and just

40:46

wants to put the ball in the

40:48

back then that. And so I think

40:50

for him. you know, it's good for

40:52

him to get that moment. There's still,

40:54

I'm sure he's thinking there's one more

40:56

left for me where I can really

40:59

start to put myself in the conversation

41:01

of top galaxy, you know, in that

41:03

sort of lure we talked about of

41:05

guys that have found the biggest moments

41:07

and the big matches and gotten that

41:09

trophy in that title. And I think

41:11

there's going to be a little bit

41:13

more on him now. because without Ricky,

41:15

the team is losing a little bit

41:17

of that emotional leader to the team.

41:19

And I think there are other guys

41:21

that are less so less obvious that

41:23

are gonna step up. Yoshida obviously has

41:25

the experience. McCarthy is an MOS Cup

41:27

champion. I think of guys like Mark

41:30

Delgado, whom we may see from the

41:32

start in this one, guys that have

41:34

won MLS Cup before that can actually

41:36

carry it lift a little bit more

41:38

of that load, but ultimately. I think

41:40

they need, there may be less chances

41:42

than before and they need a guy

41:44

like Yovilish to be able to grab

41:46

that moment and to not be afraid

41:48

of it. And that's surely in his

41:50

personality. I love you mentioned Delgado. I

41:52

mean, huge credit to Delgado who's been

41:54

on the bench. sure has not been

41:56

happy about it because he was a

41:58

massive part of this this turnaround He's

42:00

an LA guy to achieve us USA

42:03

You know homegrown from way back in

42:05

the day. He could not have been

42:07

happy even a Marco Royce to have

42:09

lost his spot I thought in the

42:11

second half like the way that he

42:13

was able to just cover ground That's

42:15

not just defensively, but that's also to

42:17

make himself available to be a player

42:19

to combine off of and to be

42:21

around the ball in key moments just

42:23

a completely It just changed the way

42:25

that the game looked for the galaxy.

42:27

It didn't mean that they created a

42:29

bunch of chances, but ultimately there's a

42:31

reason why that game winning play comes

42:34

off the foot of Mark Delgado being

42:36

in a place. to take

42:38

a ball and then he plays a simple

42:40

quick pass to the right place, to the

42:42

right foot, to the right player, and they

42:45

score off of it. I think he has

42:47

to start. He has to start. Then it's

42:49

a question if Markle Royce is healthy to

42:51

play as a quote-on-quote dual ten, but really

42:53

more, or dual eight, but more of a

42:56

ten, or if, I mean, I guess Diego

42:58

Fogundas, if Royce can't start, we'll get into

43:00

that more probably later in the week with

43:02

a little bit more news with a little

43:05

bit more news. Before we get the Sounders

43:07

Doyle, I just want to put Ricky into

43:09

perspective and the season he's had because we're

43:11

sort of saying goodbye to him on the

43:14

field now. Gavin Meister says LA is going

43:16

to fall apart like Brazil without Namar in

43:18

2014 without Ricky. Taylor 12 of course put

43:20

out the the stats on with and without

43:22

Ricky. Five games all comps without Ricky. They

43:25

have three wins, one loss in a draw.

43:27

They lost to St. Louis, but remember that

43:29

was a weird like midday game. Like midday

43:31

game. Yeah, it was a weird game. I

43:34

kind of throw that one out. But they

43:36

beat New York City, R.S.L. and Kansas City,

43:38

and they tied Seattle without Ricky Pooh. You

43:40

would draw out the St. Louis win, we

43:43

be? I didn't, I walked into that. I

43:45

didn't intend to be as biased as that

43:47

sounded, but it might have, might have been

43:49

dripping with it. I

43:52

mean, God, one of the great

43:54

individual seasons, almost like Valdirama. 26th

43:56

assist season, which I guess you

43:59

guys probably don't remember, but I

44:01

sure do in that he is,

44:03

Valdarama, even in that era of

44:05

number tens, was one of one.

44:07

And in this era of great

44:09

number tens, guys like. you know,

44:12

Lucho or Carlos Hill or honeymook,

44:14

Ricky is still one of one.

44:16

He's the only one who plays

44:18

like this and he put up

44:20

huge numbers while doing it and

44:23

driving the one of the best

44:25

attacks in the league. He was,

44:27

even though I think if I

44:29

was a coach. I would lose

44:31

my mind trying to coach Ricky

44:33

and I think Greg Vani basically

44:36

said he did at some point.

44:38

As a pundit, he's my second

44:40

favorite player in the league to

44:42

watch and the only reason he's

44:44

number two is because the greatest

44:47

player of all time happens to

44:49

be in our league right now.

44:51

Ricky is just pure entertainment and

44:53

soccer genius when Buddy John Mueller

44:55

put out a compilation of the

44:57

kids best passes from the year

45:00

on Blue Sky and it's like,

45:02

these are the moments. in the

45:04

sport that you live for, to

45:06

see this guy get on the

45:08

field and conceive of a connection

45:11

between himself and another player that

45:13

in a million years you would

45:15

not have thought was there. That's

45:17

what he brought. And another big

45:19

part of it. maybe even the

45:21

biggest part of it was that

45:24

somehow on this team filled with

45:26

guys like Marco Royce or Gabriel

45:28

Peck and Joseph Paintsel, Deion Yovilich,

45:30

like these guys bought into it

45:32

too. And that's why the Galaxy

45:35

got as far as they did.

45:37

And it's fitting that the goal

45:39

that brought them back to MLS

45:41

Cup was one that was conjured.

45:43

by Rickyfuge. And this guy comes

45:45

back next year, hopefully 100% healthy.

45:48

I don't think he's gonna go

45:50

back to Europe. We said this

45:52

on last year, last week's show,

45:54

like why? you. This team is

45:56

going to be built around him

45:58

for as long as he's here.

46:01

And he has a chance to

46:03

end up in that pantheon of

46:05

all-time elite Galaxy Grates. And for

46:07

his sake and for the sake

46:09

of the Galaxy in the league,

46:12

I hope he does. One thing,

46:14

he was not in the, he

46:16

was not a finalist for the

46:18

MVP this year. Yeah, no, I

46:20

was thinking that was he talked

46:22

about him. Yeah. So, so when

46:25

you think of like, you

46:27

know I think what the playoffs did

46:29

was sort of to remind people like

46:31

oh no no like yes and and

46:33

part of it also I think is

46:35

because Peck is so filthy that everybody

46:37

was like oh my god like this

46:39

guy is ridiculous and so now and

46:42

I think ultimately what this season proved

46:44

to me and this is also partly

46:46

why I think Greg Vani and Wilcoons

46:48

deserve a lot of respect is Ricky

46:50

Pooh played the same way. since he's

46:52

been an MLS. He's played the entire

46:54

time like this, but they now have

46:56

better pieces around him to allow his

46:58

game to come to life. And I

47:00

will miss in this interim while he's

47:02

out, the way he plays, because he

47:04

plays like it's like a pickup. And

47:06

he does it in the biggest games,

47:08

he does it in the first minute,

47:10

he does it in that 90th minute,

47:12

whatever it is, he's just fully expressing

47:15

himself, which is such a fun thing

47:17

to watch. It's not to your point

47:19

Doyle. It can be maddening and you

47:21

do have to have the structure and

47:23

pieces around him. They put that there.

47:25

So now he is in that MVP

47:27

conversation and in the playoffs. He is

47:29

the playoff MVP for me regardless of

47:31

what happens. He was, you know, he's

47:33

been the best player in the biggest

47:35

moments. And so I think that. That

47:37

is the part now where it's like,

47:39

and again, it's just makes my argument

47:41

again towards the playoffs that are revealing.

47:43

And what I love so much about

47:45

the unless-cut playoffs is that it's revealing

47:48

of who the best players are and

47:50

who can conjure up Carlos Cornell himself.

47:52

And so I think he's firmly put

47:54

himself, I think we probably. to hold

47:56

our hand up and be like this

47:58

this guy not being an MVP conversation

48:00

was was a big mistake on all

48:02

of our parts. Boy I wish she

48:04

was I just wish that that injury

48:06

and we look back at the tape

48:08

it looks like it happened about the

48:10

63rd minute sort of cutting non-contact you

48:12

just Boy, if you could change history,

48:14

I wish we could do that just

48:16

to, one, not have Ricky go through

48:18

that, but two, to witness what he

48:21

could do in this historic moment for

48:23

the Galaxy and for Major League Soccer.

48:25

Sanders post-mortem, some quotes I thought stood

48:27

out. Number one from Christian Roll Don

48:29

on the game itself. Christian Roll Don,

48:31

we did enough to not lose the

48:33

game. We didn't do enough to win

48:35

the game. Brian Schmetzer on the relative

48:37

success of this season which they got

48:39

57 points made two semi-finals but didn't

48:41

get over that hump. Quote with our

48:43

club the season has not been a

48:45

success because we didn't win any trophies.

48:47

We were close and a lot of

48:49

teams around this league would say that's

48:51

a successful year but for us that

48:54

really doesn't hold water. Kaylin. You gotta

48:56

love it. He is calling out basically

48:58

an entire league, being like, yeah, might

49:00

be good for these losers, but for

49:02

the Seattle Sounders, we want more. They

49:04

just, they didn't have that last piece

49:06

to really get over the hump, to,

49:08

you know, to create the volume of

49:10

chances that they needed to to beat

49:12

the best teams. Well first, should we

49:14

let Doyle tell us why it was

49:16

a successful season? 57 points, made the

49:18

semis in two tournaments, this in the

49:20

US Open Cup and quarterfinals of another.

49:22

Like they're one of the five best

49:24

teams in the league, they developed in

49:26

Obed Vargas, a 19 year old kid

49:29

who the I mean, it wouldn't, would

49:31

it shock any of us if they

49:33

got a $10 million offer? No, no,

49:35

like I've talked to people within the

49:37

organization, like they wouldn't sell them for

49:39

anything less than eight figures, and I

49:41

think they'll keep him through Club World

49:43

Cup to try to, to try to

49:45

get even more than that because he

49:47

is a freaking baller. Now, I will

49:49

say they also found, in Jordan Morris,

49:51

like a ready-made replacement for Ralphry Diaz,

49:53

they got the- No, I don't. heard

49:55

they're looking for a number nine. I

49:57

would not do that. They're gonna have,

49:59

they have an open DP slot. I

50:02

would use an open DP slot on

50:04

Joseph Painsell style, direct goal scoring winger,

50:06

and then I would use, they have

50:08

an open U22 slot. I would use

50:10

the U22 slot on a number nine

50:12

to back up Jordan Morris. But Jordan

50:14

Morris is a much more effective player

50:16

as a number nine than he is

50:18

as a winger these days. I agree

50:20

with that. finding like oh God we've

50:22

lost our best all-time number nine and

50:24

like we had his replacement on the

50:26

roster and the sounders went 17 5

50:28

and 5 once Jordan Morris played and

50:30

he scored 19 goals on competitions which

50:32

is second only to leave the old

50:35

in terms of all-time maybe real either

50:37

way I I respect that Brian Schmetzer

50:39

is trophies or bust. He's won a

50:41

lot of them and he is one

50:43

of the all-time great coaches in this

50:45

league. 57 points, two semi-finals, quarterfinal. finding

50:47

some answers from within developing your young

50:49

players. Like this was a successful season.

50:51

It was a bummer of an end,

50:53

obviously, if you're a Sanders fan. This

50:55

is a definition of a successful season.

50:57

This is why I went in Schmetzer

50:59

said this. I was like. I'll pour

51:01

this in a glass for me. Let

51:03

me stir it up a little bit,

51:05

enjoy this moment, savor it. Like every

51:08

MLS team tries to tell me that

51:10

every year was a success. No matter

51:12

if they finished, where they finished? And

51:14

I'm like, why is it? Why are

51:16

teams so scared of saying? that they

51:18

didn't succeed to their ultimate goals. Because

51:20

you can't have it both ways where

51:22

you start the season. It's like, hey,

51:24

team, everybody comes in and says in

51:26

pre-season, we're gonna go, we're gonna make

51:28

the playoffs, we're gonna get in the

51:30

top four. And if we don't make

51:32

it, we don't actually, we're gonna win

51:34

a molest cup. And then we didn't

51:36

quite reach that, but it wasn't a

51:38

failure. And I'm like, well, you can't

51:40

have it both ways. So I think

51:43

the reason why Schmetzer, I think the

51:45

reason why Schmetzer, why Schmetzer and the

51:47

reason why Schmetzer and the reason why

51:49

Schmetzer and the reason why Schmetzer and

51:51

the reason why Schmetzer and the reason

51:53

why Schmetzer and the Sanders continued to

51:55

get trophy's continued to get trophies. exactly

51:57

because of this, that they don't, they

51:59

sell a little bit of Vargas, they're

52:01

not like, oh well, we're defining our

52:03

season by the outbound transfer fee attached

52:05

to developing young players and being sold

52:07

abroad and that that's good enough. They

52:09

want to win. That's why they won

52:11

the Concaf Champions League. This is why

52:13

they continue to do things that MLS

52:16

have not done. up into this point

52:18

is because the standard is not just

52:20

okay to get to the Western Conference

52:22

final and oh yeah we had some

52:24

injuries and we didn't have Yaimar and

52:26

we didn't have XYZ and you know

52:28

the game we made a mistake it's

52:30

like no that was not a success

52:32

for us. If that was factually the

52:34

case, then Raulary Diaz would not have

52:36

been on the team this year. If

52:38

it was trophies or bust, then the

52:40

last year of Raulary Diaz's contract would

52:42

have been bought out and they would

52:44

have bought a new DP before this

52:46

season because it was obvious at the

52:49

end of 2023 that he was good.

52:51

But that's not, so they were fighting,

52:53

but they were, that, I, I 100%

52:55

agree, but it was clear that they

52:57

were fighting one hand tied behind their

52:59

backs this season because one of those

53:01

DPs was not going to be able

53:03

to help them. And then it turns

53:05

out with the Dale of Vegas signing,

53:07

but Schmetzer's the black knight. He's the

53:09

black knight, Doyle, you cut his arms,

53:11

cut his legs off. He's still trying

53:13

to bite you. He's, he doesn't care.

53:15

I'm with Kaylin. I'm with Kaylin. Winners

53:18

I'm with Kaylin in the sense that like

53:20

this is what makes Schmetzer special. It's like

53:23

he's like yeah no we should we should

53:25

win if we want to call it an

53:27

ultimate success. You can still have varying degrees

53:29

of success you can solve moments within the

53:32

season things you're proud of. Otherwise how do

53:34

you show up the next year and get

53:36

to the same point and be like oh

53:38

well I guess last year was a success

53:41

so we're here. I mean, he got a

53:43

new contract. It's clearly there are a bunch

53:45

of losers. But this is the same case

53:47

I have with the supporter shield too, where

53:50

you're like, oh, well, we win the supporter

53:52

shield. So the season is success. And then

53:54

it's like, well, there's also the playoffs still

53:56

waiting here. So the teams that just seemed

53:59

content and sound. this point, it's already a

54:01

success. That seems like a fragile way to

54:03

go into the playoffs. I just think, I

54:05

just think if you're a big club. like

54:08

especially in this league, yeah, let's win

54:10

something. There are multiple opportunities. They were

54:12

in line to do it. They couldn't

54:14

quite get it done. It's okay for

54:16

Brian to say that like he is

54:18

a ball of a winner. I think

54:21

I completely agree that it's it's it's

54:23

okay for him to say that and

54:25

you know, you guys changed the argument

54:27

from success to ultimate success and obviously

54:29

it's not an ultimate success. I saw

54:31

what you were doing there weebi and

54:33

moving the gold post. They've already lost

54:35

the argument. That's true. We are in

54:37

a post semantic society right now. Under

54:39

says we have to move on. Under

54:41

says we have to move on. That's

54:43

the only reason I'm moving us on.

54:45

Red Bulls. We finally got to you.

54:47

Very unread bulls like you got the

54:49

job done. Got them less cup. Orlando.

54:51

We can argue about what happened to

54:53

them in this. But first of all,

54:55

the trivia we promised. What are the

54:57

other teams that have won both the

54:59

East and the East and the West

55:01

to make to make MLS cup. Do

55:03

you guys? Do you guys? Eastern

55:06

and Western Conference champions. Just anybody

55:08

in the middle of our country?

55:10

There are three. There are three.

55:12

Now there are, yes. No, now

55:14

there are four. Oh, really? Yeah.

55:17

Do you know? Fire in the

55:19

rapids. Oh, so you. And they

55:21

are Houston Dynamo. And then the

55:23

Houston Dynamo. How did I not

55:25

remember the Houston Dynamo? Come on,

55:27

Weebie. Well, there's another, too. Kansas

55:29

City. Did

55:32

they go East and West? Canada

55:34

City won the West with Tony

55:36

Miola and then they won the

55:38

East with... You're right. Wire. In

55:40

2013. Somebody's got to do better

55:43

prep on their trivia. Can't put

55:45

anybody... look you know what at

55:47

the end of the season it's

55:49

only success if our trivia is

55:51

well thought out and actor from

55:54

the start and I have... Does

55:56

anybody know the team that has

55:58

won three different conferences? three

56:02

down again it had to be in

56:04

the middle of the country i feel

56:07

like this is like nashville and leagues

56:09

cup or something there's this is like

56:11

a trick question it's not there used

56:13

to be a central conference chicago fire

56:16

won it oh anyway yeah this is

56:18

the right one the east and the

56:20

west as well yeah so that this

56:22

is the red bulls team that did

56:25

it is as we said it's just

56:27

kind of absurd like they won two

56:29

games out of a real quick on

56:31

this amel Forsburg on the post game

56:34

he got it right Yeah, he was

56:36

like, I don't think we've won the

56:38

Eastern Conference title before. He was confused.

56:40

We were like, dude, this guy would

56:43

pass the trivia exam. This is dope.

56:45

Is that better or messy knowing all

56:47

of the formats of the playoffs before

56:49

the playoffs started better? and like listing

56:52

that. I'm gonna take the Forsberg one.

56:54

Yeah, I think that's it. You should

56:56

know the playoff format. Yeah, that's fair.

56:58

That's fair. Look, this Red Bulls team

57:01

won two games and 20 leading into

57:03

the playoffs. They were, especially without Forsberg,

57:05

like kind of the definition of a

57:07

mediocre team. They didn't lose a ton,

57:10

just nine times. That was third best

57:12

in the East and actually the Galaxy

57:14

and Now I have seen both lost

57:16

eight times during the regular season. just

57:19

never felt like they really got going

57:21

a couple little bursts especially to start

57:23

the season that went against Miami was

57:25

a big one for them. But it

57:28

sort of feels like this team of

57:30

all teams for the Red Bulls might

57:32

be the one that feels sort of

57:34

curse proof just because nobody thought they

57:37

had any chance. The ride in the

57:39

underdog wave. I mean, like, a lot

57:41

of these guys just don't, they don't

57:43

know that history. They're not burdened by

57:46

the history in particular, not Forsberg. Weirdly,

57:48

a lot of the guys are though,

57:50

right? Because the Neelis brothers are from

57:52

New Jersey. I know, but I don't

57:55

think they, I don't think they feel

57:57

like they own it. You know what

57:59

I mean? Like, I don't think they

58:01

feel like they own it. You know

58:04

what I mean, like, that's a, that

58:06

is. That is the right mentality for

58:08

a professional athlete, right? You don't, I

58:10

don't think a lot of guys inherit

58:13

that type of thing. You see it

58:15

every now and again, but I'm sure

58:17

they're aware of it, to a degree.

58:19

It's just not something that is dragging

58:22

them down. And on top of it,

58:24

they have a couple of matchwinners who

58:26

are winning matches right now. Weirdly, one

58:28

of them is Dante Vanzier, who had

58:31

been a massive bust through his first

58:33

two years, and up until these playoffs

58:35

playoffs. Down the stretch was terrible and

58:37

once the playoffs kicked into gear, he

58:40

has been, I think the best player

58:42

of these playoffs. It has been in

58:44

a lot of ways, the playoffs of

58:46

the goalkeeper's, they've been immense. So far,

58:49

they have saved, shout out to my

58:51

guy Tudor Robin for putting these numbers

58:53

together. The goalkeepers in the playoffs have

58:55

saved 15.5 goals over expected goals on

58:58

target. So if goalkeepers had just been

59:00

performing at an average level in terms

59:02

of shot stopping in these playoffs, there

59:04

would have been 15 or 16 more

59:07

goals scored so far. Number one is

59:09

still Matt Fries at 4.33. Goals saved

59:11

over expected goals on target. Number two

59:13

is Cornell at 3.97. So he's saved

59:16

them about a goal per game. That

59:18

is an absurd amount of value to

59:20

bring to the table. And it's allowed

59:22

for Sandra Schwartz's genius game plan of

59:25

putting 11 guys behind the ball, absorbing

59:27

pressure by defending in Cornell's lap, and

59:29

then hitting long balls and trying to

59:31

win second balls. It has made that

59:34

not just viable, but successful. Am I

59:36

allowed to say that the game plan?

59:38

has been successful. Not yet, so not

59:40

yet. Yeah. There's only one way. Now

59:43

to be fair, Orlando tried to flip

59:45

it on them in the first half

59:47

and make them have the ball and

59:49

they didn't do much with it on

59:52

that part. But I love you. Sandro,

59:54

he's the sixth manager in his first

59:56

year of the club to make him

59:58

last cup, the others, going back to

1:00:01

15, Caleb, well, I guess Bruce Arena

1:00:03

would have to be. Didn't Sandro Short

1:00:05

say something about not not expecting to

1:00:07

go to MLS Cup? Yeah, yeah. Really

1:00:10

like in the middle of the year,

1:00:12

remember it was like, yeah. Yeah, there

1:00:14

was patience and the expectations, etc. Yeah.

1:00:16

Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to

1:00:19

figure this. It's hard to figure this

1:00:21

season out. This is not the team

1:00:23

that should be here. I'm gonna throw

1:00:25

this trivia away. I need to, I

1:00:28

need to better vet my trivia. But

1:00:30

Sandra Schwartz is in his first season

1:00:32

of the club and he made him

1:00:34

a last cup last year in Wilford

1:00:37

Nazi. Let's dive more into the game

1:00:39

plan there, Doyle. Yeah, like this was

1:00:41

a team that talked about how they

1:00:43

wanted to play with the ball early

1:00:46

in the season and did at times,

1:00:48

but then finished basically last in him

1:00:50

less in possession over the course of

1:00:52

the season and in the playoffs have

1:00:55

just said, yeah, you know what, actually

1:00:57

five in the back and setting up

1:00:59

our pressure and playing through the feet

1:01:01

of Forsberg and letting him hit a

1:01:04

couple balls over the top to Lewis

1:01:06

and Dante, that works pretty well. Yeah,

1:01:08

I mean, that's it. I don't. I

1:01:10

don't mean to downplay it because I

1:01:13

think Senator Schwartz has actually made all

1:01:15

the right choices including personnel. I'm a

1:01:17

big Noah Ella guy. I think of

1:01:19

the four centerbacks on the roster. He's

1:01:22

the one who has the best long-term

1:01:24

future. He's also the worst fit for

1:01:26

what they're trying to do right now.

1:01:28

The Neelis Brothers and Andreas Reyes. almost

1:01:31

haven't put a foot wrong though really

1:01:33

really try to in the second half

1:01:35

of the day. Dylan has been so

1:01:37

good. He's been amazing. He's been, he

1:01:40

looks like a guy who was a

1:01:42

top three draft choice a couple years

1:01:44

ago, which is what he was. And

1:01:46

Sean Nellis is. Mr. Reliable back there

1:01:49

and making the game be about that

1:01:51

and then opportunism going in the other

1:01:53

direction. And they had that one opportunity

1:01:55

with Cam Harper streaking up the wing

1:01:58

and Angelo commits a terrible brainless foul.

1:02:00

them the one chance that they needed.

1:02:02

It was really the only good chance

1:02:04

that they got all game long. They

1:02:07

took their chance. Orlando City did not.

1:02:09

That was the whole story of the

1:02:11

game. Andres Reyes

1:02:13

had a tough one against Cincinnati

1:02:15

last year in the elimination game.

1:02:17

And the first round I believe

1:02:20

it was, I was there. Yeah,

1:02:22

he gave way the ball that

1:02:24

led to the Bupenza goal and

1:02:26

he missed his penalty. Should he

1:02:28

have been sent off in this

1:02:30

game, Kaylin, what do you think?

1:02:32

He got the early yellow, absolutely

1:02:34

deserved. And then he had the

1:02:37

high kick in the Duncan McGuire's

1:02:39

head. Didn't get this guy off

1:02:41

the field Asa. He

1:02:43

could have easily could have definitely could have yeah

1:02:45

to go in that high But I thought it

1:02:47

was it was smart of shorts to that's kind

1:02:49

of how Reyes plays right he's on he literally

1:02:52

plays on the edge always and last year didn't

1:02:54

work out this year did and so you're you're

1:02:56

sort of rolling the dice in that sense But

1:02:58

I thought it was smart to pull him off

1:03:00

and to point on to your point on no

1:03:02

island though This is why

1:03:04

it's important to have depth at the

1:03:07

center back position. And I think Eila

1:03:09

has the ability where he can play

1:03:11

and break lines. And I think that's

1:03:13

what makes him a really exciting center

1:03:15

back, which is rare to say about

1:03:18

a Red Bull center back. But he

1:03:20

can do the Red Bull center back

1:03:22

things. Like he's a six, four, six,

1:03:24

five guy who can be, he's strong

1:03:26

in the air, he can cover ground.

1:03:28

He can defend in space, like he

1:03:31

can do a lot of different things.

1:03:33

That's why I'm super high on him.

1:03:35

And he's needed to to come in

1:03:37

late in games to come in these

1:03:39

last 20, 30 minutes to close it

1:03:42

out when it's been ugly. And it's

1:03:44

been, he can do that as well.

1:03:46

So they have that sort of safety

1:03:48

card to pull Reyes when they need

1:03:50

to and to allow him to also

1:03:52

get the best of them. I think

1:03:55

it's tricky. The only thing I would

1:03:57

push back on Doyle on Doyle on

1:03:59

Doyle. Okay. we were in

1:04:01

the studio. And they pushed out and

1:04:03

they pressured them high up the pitch

1:04:05

and it was a ball-dominant possession team.

1:04:08

We thought they might sit back because

1:04:10

we were like, this is a nightmare

1:04:12

matchup for Red Bull because. Columbus used

1:04:14

that press against you and they're not

1:04:16

just comfortable necessarily sitting back and I

1:04:18

think they've shown that they can do

1:04:20

it different ways now. I think playing

1:04:22

at Galaxy is the biggest pitch I've

1:04:24

probably ever played on in my life

1:04:27

it feels like you know just you

1:04:29

can never get reach the end of

1:04:31

it so you can't just come out

1:04:33

and press I don't think you can.

1:04:35

Well, we'll see how he approaches it.

1:04:37

I don't think you can come out

1:04:39

and press them. But without Ricky Pooch,

1:04:41

though, that does change things a little

1:04:43

bit. And so, but I do think

1:04:46

they have a little bit more tactical

1:04:48

flexibility that that shorts can can pull

1:04:50

and mix some choices to, you know,

1:04:52

play a little bit more with the

1:04:54

ball at times or hit in the

1:04:56

counter, they can press high. Like, I

1:04:58

don't think they're so predictable predictable as

1:05:00

it seems. I mean I

1:05:02

thought Greg Vani, his point about the

1:05:04

two most aggressive teams making him less

1:05:06

couple was an interesting one, certainly the

1:05:08

Galaxy are that with the ball and

1:05:11

basically I would say on the crew

1:05:13

series, you could say the same about

1:05:15

the Red Bulls without the ball, I

1:05:17

mean less so in this Orlando game

1:05:19

and maybe that's where we should. Do

1:05:21

you want me to give you guys

1:05:23

the data? Because the Red Bulls line

1:05:25

of confrontation, that first game against the

1:05:27

crew was 12 yards lower than their

1:05:29

typical line of confrontation. Really? What about

1:05:31

one of the first half second half

1:05:33

split? I'm not going to pull that

1:05:35

up right now in the middle of

1:05:37

the thing, but what I will say

1:05:39

is that I agree with you guys,

1:05:41

the Red Bulls can still press the

1:05:43

hell out of teams and there will

1:05:45

be. John McCarthy, not comfortable with a

1:05:48

lot of speed. Yeah. There will definitely

1:05:50

be some triggers. I wouldn't be shocked

1:05:52

if they went with a man oriented

1:05:54

press, more than a ball oriented press,

1:05:56

at times against the galaxy. Like sports

1:05:58

is very clever about having different. of

1:06:01

the press up his sleeve. We saw

1:06:03

that against the crew. But my point

1:06:05

primarily is that throughout these playoffs, it

1:06:07

has been about absorb, it's why they

1:06:09

went to five at the back, man.

1:06:11

It's been about absorbing that pressure and

1:06:13

making the, or giving the other team

1:06:15

an opportunity to make mistakes and then

1:06:18

relying on Carlos Cornell to be amazing.

1:06:20

And he has been. Well, first of

1:06:22

all, that they would be an endless

1:06:24

cup, obviously, shock, amazement. But if you

1:06:26

would have told me that they would

1:06:28

do it without Lewis Morgan contributing a

1:06:30

goal to this point, I would be,

1:06:32

I would tell you, you're insane. So

1:06:34

I still think that he has something

1:06:36

to say in this match up and

1:06:38

is like, you know, not doing the

1:06:40

players to watch, but would be one

1:06:42

where if they do have to sit

1:06:45

deeper like Doyle mentioned in that lower

1:06:47

line of confrontation He could have it

1:06:49

and you get that we saw that

1:06:51

more in the first round matchups where

1:06:53

they were able to get him out

1:06:55

in space So I think that's a

1:06:57

that's one to watch for me in

1:06:59

this one I didn't think without Quayo

1:07:01

they would get through either. I thought

1:07:03

Peter Stroud was incredible in the role

1:07:05

that they wanted Peter Stroud to play

1:07:07

in this game. He's Orlando, which is

1:07:09

just like cover every blade, beat Uber

1:07:11

aggressive, like pressure the ball over the

1:07:14

field. He was really, really good. Let's

1:07:16

talk about the big moments for Orlando

1:07:18

and sort of put their season to

1:07:20

bed here. The Faku miss is sort

1:07:22

of the fulcrum on which This game

1:07:24

Hinged in a lot of ways, you

1:07:26

know, incredible touch and breakout from Orlando

1:07:28

City who really gave the ball to

1:07:30

the Red Bulls in the first half

1:07:32

and said actually we don't think you

1:07:34

can break us down to your point

1:07:36

Doyle. So how about you come forward

1:07:38

create a little space in behind and

1:07:41

will be the ones that get in

1:07:43

behind you and that's what happened? It

1:07:45

was a wonderful touch by Oheda and

1:07:47

a really good decision his sort of

1:07:49

pace and timing and wherewithal in the

1:07:51

final third has been very good on

1:07:53

those final balls and he finds Faku

1:07:55

in the place Caleb where Faku wants

1:07:57

the ball on the left foot coming

1:07:59

inside can choose which part of goal

1:08:01

he wants to go to and just

1:08:03

kind of hits it at an easy

1:08:05

height for Coronel and doesn't disguise the

1:08:08

finish enough. Like was this a, where

1:08:10

does that finish rank for a pro?

1:08:12

I'm like, I think I should do

1:08:14

better there. Well, you could you could

1:08:16

just see from his reaction. He immediately

1:08:18

was that, you know, it was all

1:08:20

over his face. He just wanted that

1:08:22

one back because you don't know how

1:08:24

many chances you're going to get. And

1:08:26

I think the way Orlando play is

1:08:28

not a volume. It's not a volume

1:08:30

offense, right? Like they're, they're going to

1:08:32

try to create their moments and. You

1:08:35

know, the perfectly set up for him

1:08:37

to go to the far post. And

1:08:39

I think he had maybe already decided

1:08:41

he was going to close his hips,

1:08:43

but didn't sell it enough initially. But

1:08:45

yeah, it was, it ended up being

1:08:47

a relatively easy save for Cornell. It

1:08:49

was like. he just read he

1:08:51

just read him and waited he stayed patient

1:08:54

didn't didn't guess and he just was able

1:08:56

to save it so but yeah that's that's

1:08:58

a huge chance to be it was one

1:09:00

where it was almost like you're too open

1:09:03

where you're you have a lot of time

1:09:05

to think about it and sometimes as a

1:09:07

striker that can be the worst one where

1:09:10

you just kind of want to like you

1:09:12

know not have time and play more on

1:09:14

instinct because it looks more like the first

1:09:16

time yeah there was a defender coming back

1:09:19

maybe that's what threw him off in terms

1:09:21

of having time to say I can't go

1:09:23

far posed because their defender sliding in here.

1:09:25

Either way I mean like once once the

1:09:28

rebels got the goal they just sort of

1:09:30

shut things down there were some half chances

1:09:32

to come but man what a what an

1:09:34

opportunity lost. Doyle for this Orlando team for

1:09:37

Oscar Perea who have been chasing this exact

1:09:39

moment for their entire existence, certainly for the

1:09:41

club, but also for Oscar and is basically

1:09:44

most of his adult professional life, if not

1:09:46

the vast majority of it. Yeah, this is

1:09:48

only the second time that they've made or

1:09:50

that Oscar has made conference finals as a

1:09:53

head coach and he had this one. I

1:09:55

mean, I think I still think Orlando were

1:09:57

the better team. I think they are the

1:09:59

better team. They have more talent. They were

1:10:02

at home. had the big chance that the

1:10:04

game hinged upon, I think, and that Faku

1:10:06

miss. And then they also had options and

1:10:08

more chances down the stretch. I thought they

1:10:11

did a pretty good job against a really

1:10:13

tough Red Bulls defense of creating looks. in

1:10:15

the final 15 minutes of the game, and

1:10:18

they just couldn't get over the hump. I

1:10:20

did the post-mortem. It's on MLS Soccer.com right

1:10:22

now. All of those are wonderful, by the

1:10:24

way. Thank you. Appreciate that. It's great to

1:10:27

go. Just run through them off. You haven't

1:10:29

hit them yet. Most of this team's gonna

1:10:31

be back. Like, the vast majority of these

1:10:33

guys are under 30. You know, or in

1:10:36

their early 30s, like Jonson and Cartaena, but

1:10:38

like this team should be really good again

1:10:40

next year. I don't think they'll get, it's

1:10:43

hard to imagine them getting as clear a

1:10:45

run to Cup as they got this year.

1:10:47

It is a massive. It is a massive

1:10:49

squandered opportunity. It's not a successful season, this

1:10:52

one. You know, I think they underperformed. They

1:10:54

did eventually, I think, hit upon the recipe

1:10:56

for future success, but it's gonna be within

1:10:58

the context of the conference around them, I

1:11:01

think being even better next season. So I...

1:11:03

This one, if you're in Orlando City fan,

1:11:05

like last year's loss at home to Columbus

1:11:07

in the playoffs, that one hurt, I think

1:11:10

this one hurts worse. I think this one

1:11:12

is, I think this one is, this one

1:11:14

is pretty brutal. They're going to feel in

1:11:17

their gut for a long while here. And

1:11:19

to your point, though, this is a win

1:11:21

now team. I think the Lewis Muriel DP

1:11:23

signing said that. He's got 33 years old.

1:11:26

You're not signing him to develop and to

1:11:28

figure it out and to figure it out.

1:11:30

He's gotta be the guy right now. And

1:11:32

remember last year, even after that second seed

1:11:35

in the east, like Oscar Prejo was coming

1:11:37

out of contract and it was like, oh,

1:11:39

this is kind of, this is weird. Like

1:11:41

I remember being on the. like, you gotta

1:11:44

bring this guy back based on what they've

1:11:46

done. He signed a two year deal, so

1:11:48

he's halfway through that. It'll be over at

1:11:51

2025. And I just wonder, I just wonder

1:11:53

what they're thinking internally about how they elevate

1:11:55

this group to your point. pretty much a

1:11:57

set group unless you're going to sell somebody,

1:12:00

which they weren't willing to do with Duncan

1:12:02

McGuire, then he didn't have like a big

1:12:04

time season. I mean, they were willing to

1:12:06

do it. It's just a black run. Okay,

1:12:09

fine. Doesn't know how to use a fax

1:12:11

machine. There you go. But the number. But

1:12:13

the number. But the number. But the number.

1:12:15

But the number wasn't. But the number wasn't

1:12:18

right. But the number wasn't right. But the

1:12:20

number. But the number. But the number. But

1:12:22

the number. But the number. But the number.

1:12:25

But the number. But the number. But the

1:12:27

number. But the number. But the number. But

1:12:29

the number. But the number. But the number.

1:12:31

But the number. But the number. But the

1:12:34

number. But the number. But the number. But

1:12:36

the number. But the number. But the number.

1:12:38

But the number. But. But. But. But. But.

1:12:40

But. But. But. But. But. But. But. But

1:12:43

There's been a bunch of changes just based

1:12:45

on teams saying, well, how do we elevate

1:12:47

ourselves outside the cap? And it's been the

1:12:50

head coach. And when the Wilfs took over,

1:12:52

you have to think that maybe they wanted

1:12:54

to make a decision like that. I know

1:12:56

Luce Muzie and Oscar go way back. They're

1:12:59

super tight. I love Osker. I think he's

1:13:01

a great coach. But like, if you look

1:13:03

at these playoffs and you look at the

1:13:05

thing that we wondered about with Orlando City,

1:13:08

which is can they play when they play

1:13:10

when they're the favorite. or that's in the

1:13:12

playoffs when they're the top seed when they're

1:13:14

expected to go through. I didn't play like

1:13:17

that really I don't think against Charlotte. They

1:13:19

did more so against Atlanta but still one

1:13:21

one nothing. They were at home against the

1:13:24

seven seated Red Bulls and the game plan

1:13:26

was to force the Red Bulls to carry

1:13:28

the game when they were at home and

1:13:30

it's just like. I

1:13:33

don't know man, I don't know,

1:13:35

I wouldn't I wouldn't be shocked

1:13:37

if something crazy happened in Orlando

1:13:39

and they decided they wanted to

1:13:41

go a new direction. I'm not

1:13:43

advocating for that in any way.

1:13:45

I just look around this league

1:13:47

and coaches have gotten fired that

1:13:49

I never would have expected to

1:13:51

be fired and it sort of

1:13:53

felt like OSKAR's kind of been

1:13:55

on thin ice for a little

1:13:57

while now. My official prediction is

1:13:59

that OSKAR will be the coach

1:14:01

at the start 2025 is as

1:14:03

bad as the start of 2024

1:14:05

was for this team. Changes will

1:14:07

be a foot. I think he's

1:14:09

coaching for his job next year.

1:14:11

Yeah, man. It's just a bummer

1:14:13

of an ending. Any last thoughts,

1:14:15

any last feelings on anything from

1:14:17

this series? Kayla? All

1:14:20

right. Well, let's real quick talk because

1:14:22

we saw another guy lose his job,

1:14:24

unfortunately. Well, I guess if you're a

1:14:26

Toronto fan, you might have differing feelings

1:14:28

about it, but John Herbin resigned as

1:14:30

the head coach of Toronto. C. So

1:14:32

that's yet another change around Major League

1:14:34

Soccer since the end of the season.

1:14:36

We now have. Four full-time managers out,

1:14:38

Tata, Vanney, Nick Cushing, John Herdman, one

1:14:40

interim and Rob Valentina, who will not

1:14:42

return four and a five managers in

1:14:44

since the end of the season. Javier

1:14:46

Mascherano, Olaf Melberg, Eric, Quill, Bruce, Arena,

1:14:48

Nico, Estez. There are open jobs in

1:14:50

Vancouver, Atlanta, New York City, Toronto, and

1:14:52

Philly. And as I just outlined, the

1:14:54

trend is for change. Kaylin, I would

1:14:56

argue that the trend in Major League

1:14:58

Soccer is because of the amount of

1:15:00

money being spent on players on everything

1:15:02

else and naturally expectations rise and your

1:15:04

ability to affect the roster is different

1:15:07

because you have salary cap implementation. So

1:15:09

if you're spending more money and you're

1:15:11

looking around, you're like, okay, how do

1:15:13

we get this group to another level?

1:15:15

Well, maybe it's the head coach and,

1:15:17

oh, by the way, 10, 15 years

1:15:19

ago, the head coach has had all

1:15:21

the power soccer wise within organizations or

1:15:23

the vast majority of it. Now the

1:15:25

CSOs really wheeled that power. What's going

1:15:27

on? What do you make of this

1:15:29

much more impatient, perfectly willing to make

1:15:31

a change at the head coaching spot

1:15:33

era of major league soccer? Well,

1:15:36

first of all, just looking at the

1:15:38

names where it's Musharano, Melberg, Quill, Arena,

1:15:40

and as to that. So you're like

1:15:42

all over different types of profiles. So

1:15:44

I think one, there's just more interest

1:15:46

in being a head coach in MLS,

1:15:48

whereas before it was kind of like,

1:15:50

if you weren't sort of a former

1:15:52

player or of the cloth, so to

1:15:54

speak, you weren't going to come here.

1:15:56

And I see a lot of coaches

1:15:59

now have been able to come here.

1:16:01

on. It's much just like the player

1:16:03

pool. It's much more a part of

1:16:05

a global conversation and market. The only

1:16:07

thing that I think a little bit

1:16:09

is what the second thing you can

1:16:11

say also is the pressure has now

1:16:13

raised. And you can say that to

1:16:15

my point, I think more people are

1:16:17

feeling like it's not a success. If

1:16:19

you don't get results or you don't

1:16:22

get to lift trophies. And some of

1:16:24

that I think is it. So Brian

1:16:26

Schmetzer out then. Honestly,

1:16:28

people were saying that earlier this season.

1:16:30

He just got an extension. He was

1:16:32

under pressure halfway through the year and

1:16:34

Oscar Parade was coaching all the way

1:16:36

down through decision day almost last year

1:16:38

without a contract. So yes, I would

1:16:41

say there's a plenty of people that

1:16:43

were saying Schmetz are out early this

1:16:45

year and now that's proven to be

1:16:47

foolish and that leads to where I

1:16:49

think is we've seen this sort of

1:16:51

advancement of the infrastructure of MLS. from

1:16:53

the standpoint of separating these roles, right?

1:16:55

One man in this case did everything.

1:16:57

You make the signings, you scout the

1:16:59

draft, you know, we realize that's not

1:17:01

really the best way, so to speak,

1:17:03

to get this done. But on the

1:17:06

standpoint from my side, I think sometimes

1:17:08

it's turned into a little bit of

1:17:10

a cop out to fire the coach

1:17:12

as the problem. And I think we've

1:17:14

seen this a few times now, even

1:17:16

this year, where I'm like, is the

1:17:18

coach the problem here? Is the coach

1:17:20

the problem in San Jose over the

1:17:22

last whatever years you want to say?

1:17:24

Or is there a larger issue at

1:17:26

play? And I think from my standpoint,

1:17:28

and that's not just San Jose, I

1:17:31

think the same thing about Philadelphia, I

1:17:33

think the same thing about a number

1:17:35

of spots that have not been there.

1:17:37

And so I think there is a

1:17:39

little bit more of a, it's a

1:17:41

cushier role now to be one step

1:17:43

away from the sort of firing squad,

1:17:45

so to be able to make that

1:17:47

change and it's easier to maybe really

1:17:49

evaluate and that in the galaxy are

1:17:51

a perfect example of that. Greg Vani,

1:17:53

people were calling for him to be

1:17:56

gone. Now he's suddenly coach of the

1:17:58

year. did he change

1:18:00

as a manager? No,

1:18:03

they changed the pieces around him. And

1:18:05

then suddenly you can see the success come.

1:18:07

So I think some of this is

1:18:09

like a little bit of an easier move

1:18:11

where it's the easy. And I think

1:18:13

coaches will tell you this themselves, they'll say,

1:18:15

Hey, look, we didn't get it done.

1:18:17

Ultimately, that falls on the head coach. That's

1:18:19

me. Same thing with players. We understand

1:18:21

that. But I think if we're going to

1:18:23

really do an analysis for me, sometimes,

1:18:25

if you look a step above, sometimes that's

1:18:27

where you can actually make meaningful changes

1:18:29

for a club in the long term, as

1:18:32

opposed to just kind of changing the

1:18:34

guy who's going to, you know, take the

1:18:36

pieces out there and try to do

1:18:38

his best work with it. But yeah, that's

1:18:40

part of, I think, what's happening from,

1:18:42

you know, sort of higher elevation at the

1:18:44

way, least the way I'm looking at

1:18:46

it. Hey, nobody wants to fire themselves, right?

1:18:50

I mean, let's talk about

1:18:52

John Herdman. He resigns. There's

1:18:54

a lot of noise, a

1:18:56

lot of overhead. We

1:18:59

don't want to drone on about the

1:19:01

details here, but there's just a lot going

1:19:03

on with, with John Herdman right now.

1:19:05

And he resigns as the manager of Toronto

1:19:07

FC after a year. Do we count

1:19:09

last year when he was observing? don't, after

1:19:11

a year, Toronto FC are again in

1:19:13

shambles. Yeah,

1:19:16

it feels like productive shambles, right? Because

1:19:18

this is the last, well, not

1:19:20

the last, but like it's, it's, they're

1:19:22

clearing out all the remnants of

1:19:24

the Bill Manning era and they're clearly

1:19:26

going to go into a new

1:19:28

direction. It'll be interesting to see who

1:19:30

actually makes the hire to replace

1:19:32

John Herdman. Is it going to be

1:19:34

Jason Hernandez? There's

1:19:36

a new M LSE president

1:19:38

and I forget the guy's name,

1:19:41

but he took over mid

1:19:43

spring. Is he going to have

1:19:45

his hand in the pot

1:19:47

here? that's what, but like, forget

1:19:49

the coach. We have to

1:19:51

figure out the org chart and

1:19:53

the logistics of how the

1:19:55

team is run. And until that

1:19:57

is clear and sensible, And

1:20:00

they go and to go back to

1:20:02

having someone Tim Bez Bichinko. He's the only one

1:20:04

he's the only one who's

1:20:06

ever gotten anything resembling success to

1:20:08

go back to to much debated

1:20:10

word out of this club. debated

1:20:13

word out of is club. I need

1:20:15

to see the I chart

1:20:17

before I have before I have any confidence

1:20:20

that this is more than just

1:20:22

is more than just sort

1:20:24

of rearranging the That That

1:20:26

said, Vani Sartini. Tire

1:20:29

Danish Artini. Oh man. That would be going to the dark

1:20:31

would be going to the

1:20:33

dark side. successful than any

1:20:35

quest successful than the still a

1:20:37

one, a rival still a trading

1:20:39

rival trade of coaches in me

1:20:42

the open jobs in terms

1:20:44

of attractiveness. New York York city,

1:20:46

Atlanta, Vancouver, Toronto, Toronto, Philly. I

1:20:48

would say say Atlanta, I I just think of, I

1:20:50

just went on this whole rant of the

1:20:52

structure of a club and I'm like, you

1:20:54

have a club and I'm you have Arthur Blank. That

1:20:57

seems like a pretty good Blank. That

1:20:59

walk into, a not to mention to

1:21:01

of the cold not to mention the the,

1:21:03

the infrastructure, the training facilities, the

1:21:05

the around the club the So now. So

1:21:08

to me, that one looks like like

1:21:10

the obvious answer as far as like the far as like

1:21:12

the first one that you would want to take on. on.

1:21:15

All right, let's keep ranking then. We've got

1:21:17

to land at number one. think you and I can

1:21:19

both agree with that. agree there a clear

1:21:21

number number two? Is

1:21:24

it maybe, I I don't know, maybe Toronto,

1:21:26

depending on what happens? you just would think

1:21:28

you'd have a long think you'd the one

1:21:30

that you think though. It's like, you're

1:21:33

like, you think though, it's like, you're like, it's a little

1:21:35

bit. It's just like Atlanta. don't know if it

1:21:37

would be, I don't think it'd be

1:21:39

Vank, although Vancouver is sort of fully

1:21:41

formed. be, So think it has a good team,

1:21:43

but it would So there's not a ton

1:21:45

of wiggle of fully formed. And maybe that's

1:21:47

a good thing. thing for lot of managers,

1:21:49

a lot of managers aren't good at

1:21:51

the developmental part of the job. What

1:21:54

they're good at job. What they're the team

1:21:56

in a position to win games by

1:21:58

having the best players play play soccer. are

1:22:00

part of the job. That,

1:22:02

just based on the pieces

1:22:04

on hand, that's a good one.

1:22:06

Philadelphia does not seem like

1:22:08

a great job to me

1:22:10

right now. Toronto,

1:22:13

like yeah, I mean, I guess the

1:22:15

attractive part about Toronto is that you're

1:22:17

going to have a long leash, but

1:22:19

also, like, you're going to have to

1:22:21

deal with insignia for a year. Yeah,

1:22:23

a lot of it is assuming that

1:22:25

you're going to be able to clear

1:22:28

the chairs here pretty quick and make

1:22:30

some of decisions. It's going to be

1:22:32

a grim 2025, I think. New York

1:22:34

City, New York City, for me, would

1:22:36

be too. Because you have, you also

1:22:38

have the new stadium coming. Yeah, you

1:22:40

have, you have, you have, you keep

1:22:43

in the, the chair warm for PEP.

1:22:45

Maybe you can be an assistant. Yeah,

1:22:47

I know, it's like, uh, Neville,

1:22:50

yeah, sorry, sorry, Phil Neville, like in Miami,

1:22:52

right, where you're like, oh, Miami, yeah. Yeah,

1:22:55

yeah. Okay, okay, okay. But I think the

1:22:57

chance to work, especially if you want to

1:22:59

work with talented young players, you're in New

1:23:01

York City, you're building towards this new stadium

1:23:03

in Queens. To me, that seems like pretty,

1:23:05

pretty alluring of the ones where you kind

1:23:08

of know, Philadelphia, you're going to play young

1:23:10

players, right, that's going to be the style.

1:23:12

They want to play fast. You almost have

1:23:14

to be an exact fit for that. Whereas

1:23:16

I think that's a much broader scope if

1:23:18

you're looking at Atlanta or New York City,

1:23:21

plus I think they'll probably be some more

1:23:23

investment as well, because that was that was

1:23:25

the issue in Philadelphia. And Vancouver's actually gone

1:23:27

out and spent some. And I think that's

1:23:29

the most win now piece of a team

1:23:31

where you're like, oh, I'm looking at this,

1:23:33

I can win with this. And as a

1:23:36

manager, that's got to be enticing. And Also,

1:23:38

Vancouver is a beautiful place. I would be

1:23:40

very... The Korean food there? Oh my goodness.

1:23:42

Yes, sir. All right, wind on this one.

1:23:44

How how juiced are you? How excited are

1:23:46

you with this breaking news from Tom Bogart?

1:23:49

The San Jose earthquakes have acquired... Anthony K,

1:23:51

Romney and Ian Hark's the rare three

1:23:53

the one game deal one

1:23:55

game deal for 500

1:23:57

K game in an

1:23:59

international roster spot. If

1:24:02

you're translating, that's probably

1:24:04

like 700 K like 700K in

1:24:06

game. Yes, we're We're ending

1:24:08

the show on this

1:24:10

note, Level of of excitement

1:24:12

on a scale of

1:24:15

one to 10, please.

1:24:17

please. I'm at at at

1:24:19

least seven. Really? Maybe he's real? Okay. But I do, I do

1:24:21

like it I do, I do like

1:24:23

it from the like, what being like,

1:24:25

what does everybody think I'm going

1:24:27

to do? I'm I'm going to exactly

1:24:29

that. It's going mean, he told us he's always been

1:24:31

a culture guy. He's always been

1:24:33

a culture guy. He has his

1:24:35

guys his he likes what they

1:24:38

bring to the locker room as

1:24:40

much as what they bring on

1:24:42

the field. And like, these are

1:24:44

three guys who are known as guys.

1:24:46

Well, they're his guys. He literally

1:24:48

signed these guys these guys of, but

1:24:50

not Dave Romney. I don't think think. Anders

1:24:52

really wants us to us to end the

1:24:54

show. Okay. That's it for us.

1:24:56

Cup, 2.30 PM Eastern Time, coverage starts on Mless starts

1:24:58

on on Apple on on Apple TV free. MOS countdown

1:25:00

90 minutes of that minutes of that into.

1:25:03

final, the big game, the one

1:25:05

we've been waiting for for, Emiles Cup, hosting

1:25:07

the New York New York We will

1:25:09

have a preview later on this

1:25:11

week for you this full coverage and

1:25:13

full coverage, Emless Soccer.com and Emulus right. Enjoy your

1:25:15

week, everybody. everybody. Adios.