Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Best of Halford and Brough 8/19/25

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Guest hosts Jamie Dodd and Dan Riccio tell us what happened in the last 24 hours in sports.  The Jays lose to the Pirates and which athlete had his talents wasted most by their team? The guys discuss the top all-time squandered athletes. Later,  Vancouver Whitecaps FC Manager Jesper Sørensen joins the show. Jesper discusses Thomas Müller and his impact on the club. Plus, what are the Whitecaps looking to add before the transfer window ends? This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and broughan-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-na. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Burrow to throw, his pass into the end zone, is caught by Charlie Jones in the back-right corner of the end zone for the touchdown. Tommy Pham with something to say, I believe, at the plate. I'm not worried about Tommy Fam's opinion about anything. The live, live on a deep right center field. He did it again. Good morning.

Welcome to Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. I'm Jamie Dodd. Dan Riccio with me for the week. Good morning, Reach. What's going on, man? Living the dream, Jamie. How's day two? How's day two?

Day two, always a little tougher in the morning on the wake up. Just don't let me hear you complaining about the time. Oh, no. One of the first things I learned in morning radio is don't show any weakness, never complain about that time you might be. That's part of, that's one of rough rules. No yawning allowed or at least do it. Well, yawning is contagious, you know.

I guess. But it's also his early. Sometimes we're going to yonning. on. It's 601. It's yawning time. Peak yawning hours right now. It might be okay to, like, you know, for, for, for, for Brough and maybe Halford, I don't know. They're used to it. Yeah. They do this. You guys do this on a regular basis. Well, Laddie's the only, the only regular. Although, and we have, uh, Elon producing. Good morning, Elon. Good morning, Gus. And Lattie here as well. Hello, I'm sleepy still. I was going to say, because I have heard. I've talked to people and I know, like, sat used to do the morning show at the old station. And, The word I've heard is always You don't ever really get used to it You're like, oh yeah, I'll adjust It's like, no, you won't

It's inhuman and you will not adjust Laddie is not in his head I think we're all night owls on the show too Yes, well if you're a sports fan We are not getting good sleep Yeah, not a chance You just mix in a couple of different naps During the day

I won't lie to you I did fall asleep for a moment or two During the Blue Jays game last night It's uh you doze off During baseball? What? No, impossible And then Tommy fam's outburst woke me up. So it was all good.

There you go. We are broadcasting live from the Kintech studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics, working together with you in step. Halfin and Brough is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal could get you on the road to being debt free in just two weeks. Visit sands dash trustee.com. And of course, 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line Metro Vancouver's trusted choice. For contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years, visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dumbar Lumber.com.

And never too early to start sending your what we learned submissions in. Of course, that's coming up at 830. Hashtag WWL, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports. Looking ahead to the rest of the show. We got an open hour here to start. So, of course, we'll do what's happened in a minute here. maybe we'll get into some NFL NHL conversations at 630 as well

but if there's anything you want to hear us chat about at 630 any burning Canucks questions NHL questions NFL questions you might have hit us up 650 650 we'll see if we can get to him at 630 the guest list at 7

we've got Richard Zockel former pro golfer of course the tour championship is this week so we can chat with him about that is it just a matter of it's going to be a coronation for Scotty Sheffler. It's also kind of anticlimactic because it's like,

it's the tour championship. It's like, but we all know who the champion of the tour is. It's Scottie Sheffler. Yes. I would love for Sheffler to win and then have bigger earnings this year

than any of the live guys. It's like, I didn't have to take the live money and I'm still making live money. I also would love for him to, and he wouldn't do this because it's not his personality. But even if he loses the tour championship,

just be like, yeah, but we all know who the best player is. Enjoy your tour championship. I'm still Scotty Sheffler. He's just going to be. going to go post post uh post round sunday like you know i didn't i didn't really care yeah this doesn't this doesn't mean that much to me to be honest guys uh so we'll chat with about that with richard zokel maybe look ahead a little bit to some of the rider cup decisions uh that the teams are going to have

to make as well at seven 30 really looking forward to this yes per sorenson white caps manager of course uh fresh off managing in thomas muller's debut match at bc place on sunday not the result they wanted with the late equalizer for Houston so we can chat a little bit about the results, what his team needs to clean up, but also of course what he saw from Thomas Mueller and what to expect

from the Mueller experiment, the Mueller era for the white caps going forward. It's interesting too, though, because there's a bunch of other storylines around the white caps right now. I mean, obviously, the playoff race and gearing up for MLS Cup, but also, you know, as you mentioned, Jaden Nelson looked fantastic in that game.

They just brought in Kenji Cabrera as well, who's flown completely under the radar, but I'm sure they're excited about him and have plans for him. And then, of course, the transfer window closes in just a couple of days here. And as we talked about it on the show yesterday, I'm sure they're looking for centerback help. So a lot to get into if Yesper Sorensen. Yeah, I'm excited to talk to Ypres. It's, you know, when you get the shiny new toy like Thomas Mueller, I'm sure the manager's just got a million things that he would like to do in his mind.

And now he's got a full week of training with Mueller here in Vancouver to try and integrate. some new ideas and get him more up to speed with what the white caps are all about. Yeah, so really looking forward to chatting with Esper Sorensen. That's at 7.30. At 8 o'clock, we will chat with Micahaway from the BC Lions BC Lions linebacker and they're

finally back to 500 on the season. So we'll chat with him about the team's season so far, what's going right in recent weeks, what they need to do, especially on the defensive side of the ball to really profile as Grey Cup contenders.

going into the playoff. So at 8 o'clock, Micahaway, 7.30, Esper Sorensen. 7 o'clock, Richard Zockel. That's what's coming up on the show. Laddie, let's tell everyone what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No.

What happened? I missed all the action because I'm moving. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Miss that? You missed that? What happened? What happened is brought to you by the BC

construction safety alliance making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit BCCSA. com.ca and Reach wanted me to mention this, which I didn't even know. You broke the news to me.

The Air Canada strike is over. What happened? Our national nightmare is over. They figured it out. I honestly brought back memories of NHL lockouts and stuff like that and like, you know, waiting up until Al Hours of. the morning. They're still talking. They're still negotiating, grinding away at it.

I thought you were going to say, brought back memories of like teacher strikes. I remember there was a good one when I was in high school. I think we missed a whole week. I was like, that's amazing. There was a few when I was younger. Get on the picket line, guys. This is great. Keep it going. Yep. Get on that picket line, but the Air Canada strike is over. So hopefully all flights will resume shortly and you'll be able to get to wherever it is. You're going through the end of the summer. So there you go. The Air Canada strike is over. All right. To the sports side of things. we will start in Major League Baseball.

It was the Blue Jays versus the Pirates, but really the Blue Jays versus Paul Skeens, I think was the way it was being billed more than anything. The Jays going up against probably the best pitcher in Major League Baseball right now. And they got too early off of Paul Skeens. They took a 2-1 lead, but they couldn't manage much else,

and they lose 5-2 ultimately. And this was an, there's a lot to talk about coming out of this game. We heard the clip from John Schneider on Tommy Fam, and I mean, what on earth is Tommy Fam's deal? That's a whole other question. I don't know if we have the time or the resources to really figure that out on the show today. Just like randomly accusing Blue Jays of things. I don't understand what's going on.

I miss that as well. Bat flip after a walk for some reason. Getting into it getting into a Tyler Hideman and all people like the backup catcher. What's your deal, buddy? What's going on here? He's mad the Blue Jays never traded for. He had a bad day. He's having a bad day.

It's been having a bad day for like five years in a row, I think. judging by the other stories about Tommy fam anyways uncharacteristically sloppy defensive game for the Jays you know Tyler Heinemann drops the the ball for the tag play at at home Ariel Rodriguez throws it away another throwing error on trying to catch the guy stealing at seconds

there's just a lot going wrong in the field for the Jays I also wonder we can have a conversation about their pitching but probably the biggest concern from that game for the Jays is not so much the loss but it's Vladdy leaving the game with left hamstring tightness and another play where he makes a great play as a first baseman stretching out, basically doing the splits to dig a ball out from bow on a tough throw at shortstop.

And it's in the moment, you're like, wow, that's pretty impressive. Yeah. There's a big fella and he's doing the splits out there. Good for him. And then he leaves the game with left hamstring tightness. So really, I think a lot of Jay's fans and I'm sure the Jays themselves are going to be holding their breaths a little bit here. I wouldn't be surprised.

And John Schneider kind of said after the game, you know, at this point of the season, Everyone's kind of just grinding through the physical toll of the season. So I wonder if this was more precautionary than anything. But we were just talking yesterday, a red hot Vladdy, which he has been recently, is so important to what this team is doing right now, to what they want to do in the postseason. It's a concern. Anytime he leaves the lineup, you're going to be concerned. Well, he's been one of the best hitters in baseball for the second half of the season,

had nine home runs. you know, he gets the RBI off of skeins early, everything going to how you want it to go for Vladie Guerrero Jr. And this pops up. It's not great. There's going to be an MRI scheduled for Vladi. You know, if he needs to go on the IL, then put him on the IL. There's no reason. You're still five games up in the division. This is one of the reasons he went out and got Tommy, or sorry, Thai France to at least be able to have a little bit more cover at first base and have, and he's been pretty good since coming over from the Minnesota Twins. So you have a little bit more cover, although if you give Thai France more at bats, you'll probably see more of the

Thai France we saw in Minnesota as the season goes on. I get all that. But you have a little bit of a cushion here to play it slow with Vlad Guerrero. And ultimately, that's what matters most. I think this is like baseball does this numerous times over the course of the season, Jamie, where it's just like it, you get excited, the team's playing well, they take two or three from the Texas Rangers, you feel pretty good about that, and then they go into Pittsburgh, and you get a couple early on Paul Skeens, you feel pretty good about it, but you can't get the win, Vladdy gets hurt, the defense doesn't look great, just an all-around night where you're like, This was frustrating to watch for Blue Jays fans.

And fortunately, it is a bit of a case of kind of no harm, no foul here for the Jays because the Red Sox lost to the Orioles. So the Jays remained five up in the division on both the Yankees. And the Red Sox now, having said that they did lose top spot in the AAL. They're half game back of the Tigers for the top spot in the AAL overall. Which kind of feels like a big deal because of how good the Jays have been at home. for sure. I don't know how much I, like, believe in home road splits all that much,

but the Js are like, what, 20 games above? Well, they certainly talk. They're like 500 on the road. They certainly talk it up, how much they love playing at home and the fans and all that. Now, look, you're going to get a good atmosphere anywhere in the postseason, but they're pretty into it. How's it helped them the last couple of postseason appearances? How about that series against the Mariners?

Yeah. That was great. The fans really helped them there. Blow, whoa, was it, 8-0 lead? Yeah. Oh, man. Tough stuff. Still can't believe they took Barrios out like that game.

no that wasn't the burrios game was it uh that was in minnesota oh yeah one where they took burrosa yeah that's right that one was in minnesota anyways i'm sure something else disastrous there was another disastrous managing decision decision in that one so there is a fair bit to talk about from that jays game and as i said you know sloppy defensive game flattie leaving but i think my biggest question coming out of watching that one is about the pitching and it's really about the pitching staff as a whole and you know you and i were texting back and forth a little bit early on in that game when Gosman was struggling with his command a little bit

and you know the Jay's score two on Paul Skeens and you feel really good about that you're up to 1 okay hey we've got the lead we've got one of our best pitchers on the mound let's go and try to lock this down and you know maybe once we chase Paul Skeens we can pad the lead a little bit more

and instead Gosman comes out and it's a tough inning and he gives the run right back and he can't really find the strike zone and it's a two two game and you feel pretty frustrated in the moment that your pitcher wasn't able to lock it down in that situation. And I just look at it now. We've been having the playoff rotation conversation. And if it's some combination in some order of Bieber, Scherzer, Gosman, there are really

questions around all three. And the big thing that stands out about that rotation to me is you're not missing a ton of bats. Like Max Scherzer at this point of his career, the velocity is down from where it was at his peak. He's not. really the power pitcher anymore right yeah still he can still strike guys out don't get me wrong but that's not his calling card in the same way it was earlier in his career gosman has never really been that kind of prototypical power pitcher you know beber again more of a control guy than a a total power pitcher and we know in the postseason the ability to miss bats becomes so important and even look in the bullpen for the jays they've got guys who can miss bats of course especially

with Varland coming over, but it's also like every bullpen now has guys who are elite at striking guys out. And so even by that metric, I'm not sure how the Jays measure up against some of the other playoff teams. And, you know, this was just against the Pittsburgh Pirates. So it's not like they were even going up against a fantastic lineup. But in those postseason games, when you really need to get the outs, it's so important to be able to miss bats.

And that's probably my number one question about the Js going into the playoffs is do they have enough of that in the starting rotation and in the bullpen. It's it's tough because they don't really have that ace that you'd love to see. The Roy Halliday's of the past,

the Randy Johnson's for Mariners fans or Felix Hernandez's as well. You look around the AL though, there's not a ton of those guys. No, I'm not... Scoobel. Yeah, it's scubel, crochet, if Boston gets in,

Houston's got Hunter Brown and Valdez that are pretty good the Yankees with Max Fried he's been really good this year one of their big signings Mariners with Brian Wu so you look at some of the playoff teams and there's a couple of those guys

but really when you stack Gosman up against some of those other names that I mentioned he's not too far off what they've been able to provide so far for their teams this this summer and I think with Gossman

it's just we've seen some really ugly starts from him this year yeah and he's been in a good stretch yes and even last night you know what he gives up two runs so it's not like it's a disaster but it's just it's almost like to me last night is one of those ones where

I almost come away more confident and where Gossman's at right now because he's able to battle through it and still give you a quality so that word battle I think is absolutely right. That's what he was doing. He was battling. It concerns me that it's like, okay, you're needing to battle against the pirates. How's that battle going to go when you're playing a team in the playoffs? That's my concern. It's like, you're right. He didn't have his best stuff. And it's like,

okay, he found a way to get it done and still have a quality start. But it's that we all know what it's like watching a pitcher who's like, Maiton doesn't have his best stuff. So he's a little bit afraid to go in the zone. He's nibbling on the edges and, you know, not really controlling it. When you're doing that against a really good postseason lineup, you're getting punished. And It's, it's, we know we can be prone to the home run ball and those types of things can really hurt you in the playoffs because one big swing can really change your outcome in the postseason when every pitch matters. I still think, like the Js have a compliment of a few good pitchers, but are they going to have the best guy on the mound to start a playoff series? probably not is the way I'd look at it. Unless Beber comes back and looks fantastic.

That's why I loved what they did with Beber and going out and acquiring him because it's like how many starting pitchers were really out there for you to go out and acquire that had that kind of ace potential and Beber is one of those guys. It's just, is that going to happen right away coming off Tommy John surgery?

He's going to make his first start Friday against the Marlins. We'll see how it goes. He's looked great in the miners, but the potential of Bieber, the ceiling of Bieber, is that he can be an anchor for this rotation going into the playoffs. It's just we don't feel 100% great about it because the guy just had Tommy John and hasn't pitched for the last year plus. Yeah. So you're going to need to see it and see it a lot here in a relatively short time before you're really feeling that great about Bieber. Should mention the Mariners as well. They lose 12-7 to the Phillies.

rare tough outing for Logan Gilbert he got chased after giving up six runs in the second inning now the Astros lost as well so the Mariners still a game and a half back of Houston in the AL West and a bit of we mentioned on the show yesterday a bit of a speed bump for the Mariners here that's now three in a row and I believe four of their last five or five of their last six five of the last six now but they have dropped it is interesting in the American League though there's some interesting well I mean even the division race is really the only super close one is the AL West. And unless Cleveland gets red hot, which they haven't really shown a lot of signs that

that's in the cards, we kind of know the playoff teams. Yeah. Already. So even for the Mariners, like, oh, they've lost five of six. They're still not really in danger of dropping out of a postseason spot. So they want to win the division. I know that's really important to them. They haven't won it in forever.

You'd love to get hot and catch the Astros here. But it's also not super high stakes baseball at the moment. As much as we want to be like, oh, man, it's the, it's the playoff stretch and everything. We kind of know the postseason teams. And so Mariners drop one, but the Astros lose as well. And they can kind of just go on to the next one and hopefully get back on the winning

track. Well, the schedule for the Mariners, like Blue Jays do have an easier schedule to finish the season. And I think that's going to help them lock down one of those buy week. Well, buys through the first round of the postseason. And I think that's, you know, the whole

Rust versus Rest conversation. Give me the rest every single day of the week. But for the Mariners, you know, going up against the Phillies, tough task. You're going to have a little bit of a lighter stretch after that, but you still got San Diego and Cleveland coming up on the schedule. And I think this is, you know, this stretch here is going to be telling, can they write the ship now that they are slumping after that eight-game win streak? You don't want to give it all back after a big win streak like that,

and they're in danger of doing that. So they need to write the ship here quickly and get things going back in the right direction. All right. That's the story for Major League Baseball last night. Now, we will get into some NFL stuff. There was a preseason game. There's some combos we want to have in the next segment. But before we do that, just while we're talking baseball here, and of course, it was the Jays and Paul Skeens yesterday.

And it's kind of tough because you want the story with Paul Skeens to be like, man, this guy's a phenom, right? He's still so young. He's so early in his career. And he's been so dominant. already like the sky is the limit for this guy he's we're watching a hall of fame career start in real time here and it's really exciting and that's part of it of course with paul skeins he's a pleasure to watch but because he plays for the pirates a huge part of the story is also i can't believe how much they're wasting this incredible incredible picture they have in

paul skeins and you know gets the win yesterday but really like he is having a classic squandered season in what is shaping up to be an all-time squandered career or at least a squandered tenure in Pittsburgh because I think we're all kind of doing the countdown to like when do they get, when do they decide to trade this guy? When do they decide to go, you know, call up the Dodgers or call up the Yankees and say,

hey, give us the hall. Back up, back up the Brinks truck of prospects and whatever for us and we'll give you Paul Skeens. But it got me thinking a little bit, all right? Like, is Paul Skeen's going to enter the pantheon of wasted athletes? like incredible individual performers stuck on just horribly incompetent teams that could never put enough around them to actually do something impressive. Is he the pitcher version of Mike Trout? Is that what you're saying? Basically, yeah.

Man, Mike Trout's career. What, uh, I know he's been heard a lot and all that, but like, guy is building golf courses in his off time now because of what a disaster. The angels have been and never, I mean, they were able to put Shohei Otani next to him and they were great. but they couldn't figure out the rest of their roster for years. And it feels like, you know, Skeens is headed that way. Yes. He's, you know, baseball, how long does it usually take? You know, was Argentinima drafted the same year as Paul Skeens? It feels like it.

Yeah, maybe one year. It might have been a year late. Actually, you might be right. But now he was drafted at high school. I know. And Skeens drafted out of college. But, you know, he's still in high A ball here in Vancouver, whereas Skeens was drafted first overall in 2023 and he's been like arguably the best pitcher in baseball ever since he started for the NL in each of the two All-Star games.

He was rookie of the year last year, finished third and Cy Young voting. He's going to have another year here where he's probably winning the Cy Young in the NL unless, you know, the voters get a little bit weird with it. But it's been essentially the best 50 games start. to a career in the history of baseball. Like you have to go pre-war to kind of look at some guys that had similar numbers. Maybe Dwight Gooden as well as similar numbers to Paul Skeens through the first 50 starts of their career.

And this is in the modern game. I think it's fascinating when he's been able to do and it's frustrating as a baseball fan that he's stuck on the pirates. It is. And stuck in the basement of the NL Central in perpetuity because the Pirates just as an ownership group don't care to win baseball games

is what my sense is of the situation. Certainly, and that's the sense in Pittsburgh as well. But the ownership, Bob Nutting, I believe is his name. The ownership group, fantastic name. It just does not care whatsoever about actually trying to invest in the team and win. He wants nothing to do with the playoffs. That's right.

And that was always the thing. Like, as a sports fan, I have no affinity for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but I wanted to see Paul Skeens pitch in a big game. I wanted to see Mike Trout in big moments. That's one of the reasons the World Baseball Classic was so exciting. Wow.

Mike Trout in a game that actually has stakes. I don't know how to adjust to this. I don't know how to really react to this. It was so cool to see. Mike Trout might be number one. If we're doing like all time athletes whose careers have been wasted by their teams, Mike Trout was a freak when he came into it. And it was a similar thing where he was so young and he was just so clearly the best player in the league,

absolutely dominant, like perfect all around player, not a flaw in his game. And that was when he was staying healthy all. the time as well and just nothing. I mean, he should have won MVP in his first season, but I think, uh, was it Miggie? Miguel Cabrera ended up winning the triple crown that year, something, something crazy. Yeah, he did. He won triple crown that year. Had, uh, 330 average 44 homers, 139 RBI. Miguel Cabrero was, was great, but he was seven wins per baseball reference. Yeah. While Mike Trout was worth more than 10 wins. Yeah. In only 140 games, too, which is nuts. As a 20-year-old, I mean, he was the best player in baseball, led baseball in war for five years straight to start his career.

It's insane what Mike Trout was and had early on in his career. And I know it's gone a little bit haywire with the injuries and everything like that. But it is a travesty that we've only been able to see him in three playoff games. The other one, the other two, I think, that are most prominent. in this conversation and both for me take the cake jamie because they retired because of how bad their team was yeah it's barry sanders and calvin john i was gonna say barry sanders i think is like the archetype of this conversation where he was just like this sucks i'm out guys like are you kidding yeah i mean and then it happened again with calvin johnson not not only did

it just happen once calvin johnson megatron was like you know what i Barry Sanders was right. I think I'm done with this. And thankfully, Matthew Stafford got out. He's like, you. This team has driven my love of football away. I'm out. Sorry.

Growing up in that small town that you just can't get out of. Yeah. I'm a lucky one. I got out. That's Matthew Stafford compared to Barry Sanders. Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson. If only Dan Campbell had come along earlier, those guys could have been happy in Detroit. Yeah, I think Barry Sanders has to be near the top of this list.

When you have to retire to get yourself out of. of a crappy situation that leads to no playoff success, then you know it's pretty bad. There's a lot of good texts coming in about this. The athlete whose talent has been wasted the most by his or her team, the most squandered athletes

of all time. You can text in 650, 650. We can pick that up on the other side. Get into some NFL stuff as well. Maybe check in on the NHL too. Again, send your text in 650, 650. It is Halford & Brough here on Sportsnet 650.

You're listening. to the best of Halford and Brough. Welcome back to Halford & Brough here, Sportsnet 650, Jamie dot Dan Riccio. Halford and Brough brought you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer. proposal could get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks, visit sands-trustee.com. This hour of the show is brought to you by Jason. Dot Mortgage.

If you love paying too much for your mortgage, then don't let Jason shop around to find the perfect mortgage for you. That's Jason. Dot mortgage. We are, of course, coming to you live from the Kintech Studio. And 650, 650 is the Dunbar Lumber Text Line. Metro Vancouver's trusted choice for contractors and rental warriors for over 50 years. Visit them at one of their three locations to serve you or online at Dumbar Lumber.com. Now joining us on the hotline powered by Power West Industries. He is the manager of the Vancouver Whitecaps, Ypres Sorensen. Yesper, thank you very much for doing this today.

How are you? I'm good things. Thank you. Thank you. So not the results. I know that you and your team wanted on Sunday at BC Place, but certainly the atmosphere and with Thomas Mueller making his debut, It looked like a pretty special evening at BC place.

What did you think of the whole experience and the atmosphere and the fan support on display? No, it's great. It was great. And it has been, of course, there's been a great vibe around us since the rumors about Thomas and since it was announced that he was coming. And of course, everybody has anticipated this moment for him to play for us. and I think that fairly I think that players

really responded very well especially the second half we played very very well but unfortunately football is sometimes that you have to score on your own opportunities and you have to be

able to keep the opponents away and they made a good strike in the second half actually we had I think we had control over the game but it was what it was but it was a great atmosphere, a great support.

So it was a nice, a great evening. The moment that I think a lot of us will remember from that match more than any else, unfortunately, is the goal that didn't count, ultimately that was called back off the foot of Thomas Mueller. What was your reaction in the moment?

Was as that transpired? Yeah, I was just celebrating. And then one of the assistant coaches said, it's off-sides. And I said, oh, and I looked out and I know that they check it. So I hoped still. I asked if it was close and I said it was very close. But of course, it was a magic moment, but yeah.

But there was a party spoiler and he insisted, so it was okay. Might have just been Brian White's pinky finger that was offside. Yeah, it wasn't much, but it was okay. It was, you know, it's what it is. Yeah, those things happen. But it is exciting to get Mueller in. And you see the quality on that play. You see the quality and just the runs he makes

and how it opens up space in the offensive third of the field, the passes, the vision he's got. So we can already see what it's like. But to get him into training and really try to get him integrated a little bit more this week with his new teammates and into this system, How big is this week of training for you to have a full week with Mueller available and getting ready for the next match? Yeah, it's of course nice now. We have some opportunities to really do something on a training pitch.

So we have Mueller now maybe with a little less noise around him and a little bit more on the pitch. It's not that he hasn't been focused, but there's been a little bit. a lot of focus surrounding him, also when he's been on the training ground. So I think it's going to be great just work continuously forward. And, you know, it's not about being perfect Saturday. It's about moving forward and get also too much into it, but also getting, you know, it's the last week of the transfer window. Let's see how the roster looks when this week is over.

So we need good training sessions where we can pick each time. other up and make sure that we can progress as a team. And I think for me, it's just nice that we have this time now. So we can hopefully build ourselves up towards a very good final part of the season. I hope that we can certainly. Well, as a tactical geek at times myself, I can only imagine how it is for you being able to think about the different options, the different combos, the different looks you can provide in attack with Jaden Nelson informed Brian White's been informed. Sabi has looked

really good. You add Mueller and Kenji Cabrera to this mix. It's got to be fun for you to figure out the different kinds of looks you can give to your opponents with all the options you have available to you. Yeah, definitely. It's nice to have those

opportunities we haven't really had a deep roster since we played in Mexico. since then it's been more or less depleted because of the Gold Cup and because of players coming out and not many coming in. Now we have Kenji and Rulain

which makes you know the death and especially at the front positions very good now and we also have Ali came back so that was also a thing and now we have now we have to see if we can

do something about the defensive part of the of the pitch so we can also maybe get more depth there now. So, and then we'll be good. Then we'll be heading towards the final parts of the season and hopefully we'll do very well there. You mentioned having Kenji Cabrera in the fold and he made his team debut last week in Hamilton,

his MLS debut on the weekend as well. He's kind of flown under the radar a little bit, of course, with all of the attention on Thomas Mueller. But, you know, he was a significant addition as well when he was acquired by the team. What can you tell us about Kenji Cabrera and what he's going to bring to the white caps going forward. Yeah, for me, he looks to be a very talented player.

Very quick, you know, in picking up things. He's got very good skill. He's more of a passer than a dribbler, but still he can pass well. He has a good right foot. can finish with both feet and also with his head. I think that he's a versatile player who can play both on midfield and in the highest line.

So I think he's a very interesting young player that we got in from Peru and I think, I hope that he will make, you know, that he'll start slowly getting in into how we play and get into the team and then I think he will be for the future a very good player for the Whitecaps. In conversation with Jeshurst-Wrensen, Whitecaps manager here on Halford and Brough Sportsnet

650. And I know you haven't had a ton of training time with Thomas Mueller yet. You'll get a lot more of that this week. And of course, you know, first and foremost, he's here with the Whitecaps because of what he can do on the pitch during matches. But when you bring in a player with his resume and what he's accomplished in his career, it also has to be a pretty great opportunity just to have him around the team in training for other players to get a chance to train with him and see what he's all about what have you noticed what are your early impressions just of having muller around the team and the impact he can have in that way yeah he's um it is great you know it is great for everybody it's great uh you know for me as a coach uh having a player

and uh also see how he works um see the example he sets and especially for his teammates um so see how he's already always, he's on, he's always well prepared and he always goes full out on the pitch and that's very important to see that's what brought him the career he's had

so far and hopefully he'll have many highlights coming and for everybody it's just, you know, now we all have to yeah, to also

So, you know, pick up Thomas's example and really be ready every day we are, of course. And I think this group has been great, but it's great to see a guy like Thomas also setting high demands for himself and also for his teammates, not because he's unrealistic, but just all the time communicating how he wants things, you know, how we can help each other when we play instead of afterwards. talking about what we should have done. So I think he's great in that sense, and he's all committed to the team. He's all in. He wants to come here and see if we can win something here, and that's why he's here, and that's a great part of it. What's your message been to the rest of the team about Thomas Mueller joining the

squad? Because I can imagine if I was, you know, one of the other players on the team and all of a sudden this legend is out there on the pitch with me? Do you get a little, is there a temptation to kind of go? away from what's made you successful, maybe to defer to him a little bit. Have you talked to your other players about, hey, just be us, stick to our identity.

Now we just have Thomas Mueller, but that doesn't mean we have to defer all the time to him. No, that's definitely a thing. It's very important that he, it becomes natural. And also that Thomas is not one small island

and then we have the rest of the group. It's very important that he's in the middle of the things because that's where he can affect things most and I think that's been my message and also that Thomas is a great guy of course you can have a little bit distance to begin with because you know it is it is a guy that you've seen and admired and you know grown up watch play but still now he's here and he doesn't want to be outside the group he wants to be a big part of the group so let's make it natural for him and for us that he's here he is a great team player that's what

that's what he is and what he's all about and he just wants to he knows that he won't accomplish anything alone so it's just we have to make it natural that he's here and yeah play along with him and of course it's good that he has

he has the talent and quality that he has and we also defer to that because we need to maximize what he can bring but but it's also important that it becomes natural for us to try to do it and not force things all the time. So it has to be natural to play the right past to Thomas and not just play the

pastor Thomas when it's not right because he's Thomas. So that's the things. We just need to make sure that we play natural and we play with the flow that we need. And I think we did that well in the second half. I think we had the flow in the game. We had the natural state of play. And I think with a little bit of fortune, we had scored the third. second goal and then I think we would have gone for the third but you never know it's football

where's Ryan Gald at in his his recovery could we see him get on the pitch before the end of the season yeah I really hope so I hope so because first and foremost I hope so for Ryan it's been a tough season for him we've been successful having had a good season but but he since he came to this club he's been you know really continuously

driving the team forward and also adding the quality that has elevated the team so I think it's also

you know I really hope for him that he will make it back for this season I can't set a date

but I am optimistic I see him do more and more and hopefully he will get back and be part of the last part of the season. I really hope so, and I also think so.

With the transfer window closing later this week, you know, the loss of Veslinovich on defense certainly isn't optimal, and Blackman had to come out at halftime with a bit of a knock as well. Is there maybe plans to add on defense before the window closes? That's not maybe. There is plans.

It's not only maybe plans, but there's plans, but it has to be the right players, you know, for the right money. That's what MLS is also about the cap and stuff. So we need, we don't want to do stupid things, you know, making a quick decision for something we really don't believe in. So, but we are looking and we try to do something. And we also have some options, but we have to see if it falls in place. What are the traits you're looking for in a potential addition at Center, back to your squad.

Yeah, you know, we are looking for someone who is not just because we have ranko out, but a guy that also can we believe can help us going forward in the future. So that's what we are looking for and I will not give any specifics

because I think that it's, yeah, that will not be fair to anybody but of course we're looking for players in that position with the currency. state we have in the squad. Well, yes, we're not looking for attack us right now. All right, fair enough.

Yesper, we'll wait and see if anything does transpire before the transfer window closes on Thursday and enjoy training this week. We look forward to seeing you guys back out on the pitch on the weekend. Thanks very much for doing this. Thank you very much. That is Jesper Sorensen, Whitecaps manager weighing in on, as we said, you know, it's not, obviously, we focus

a lot on Thomas Mueller in the course of that conversation, but there's a lot else going on with the white caps, especially with the transfer window, and it says sound like they are keen to add a centerback, keen to add. And as he said, they're definitely not looking for attackers. I've seen also... Not a maybe. There is definitely plans. There are plans. It's just a case if they come to fruition, they don't want to make a mistake just because they're dealing with injuries right now. They want to make sure it's a long-term fit as well. Well, it's tough to integrate players into the squad this late in the season, but it just feels like they, you know,

you've made the Mueller move. You've got to give yourself. the opportunity to make the most of this season right now for the white cap. So getting a centerback to me is imperative for them to continue on this good ride, on this good run, and potentially have a chance at MLS Cup. They need to add on defense. Gaspers Sorensen doesn't back away from that. There are plans. Thursday is the end of the window.

We'll see if they're able to get anything across the line before then. But to me, it's apparent, you know, with not only. Veslinovich being out for the rest of the season but Blackman also nursing a bit of a knock you just need to add back there and get something, get some more bodies get some more talent back there with

because Veslinovich is a big loss him and Blackman really strong centerback pairing but you lose that and you're more prone to mistakes at the back which is going to be a deciding factor when it comes to playoff time. Yeah I mean it doesn't matter how much flashy attacking talent you have up front if you're leaking goals at the back

end and your centerbacks are prone to the big gaff at the key moment. That's going to be really tough. Look at how they beat into Miami early in the year in the, uh, in the Conca Calf Champions League. I mean, Miami couldn't defend worth a bleep. And the white caps absolutely took advantage to that. I think the other big thing that, uh, we, we spoke about with Sorensen there is the potential for Ryan Gould to return now before the end of the season. What did you think of the answer there? Because you ask and he says, well, I hope so. Yeah. And it's okay. That's good. That makes me a little concern though, because we're still not dealing with concrete time. lines with updates. It's it's a lot of hope. And credit to them for what they've been able to do in

Ryan Gald's absence. But let's not forget. I mean, pre Thomas Mueller, it was either Brian White or Ryan Gald for best player on the team. Right. He is a massive, massive loss. They've been able to have a sensational season even despite him. But boy, if you could get him back, get him fit, get him healthy and on the pitch for a regular basis before the playoffs, what a shot in the arm would that would be. But it just feels like it's been so long since we've heard any sort of of concrete update on his status. It really is a mystery. Yeah.

Because all season long, you know, it didn't feel like it was going to be a season long injury, and now it essentially has been. And he did say he's optimistic that Ryan Gould will return before the end of the season, but that's not a concrete answer. And they've continued to live in a gray area as far as Ryan Gould's return to the squad. He's been training on his own, but, you know, he's been training for, a while now without any timetable for a return to the field and to the field of play. And that, that to me is still concerning for Ryan Gould's potential inclusion into the

squad through the end of the season. It's concerning too. And I don't want to, you know, harp too much on the words that Yesper is using there, right? It's, it's 7.30. So I don't want to parse them too finally here. But, you know, there's still a long way to go in the season. You know what I mean? Still 10 matches left.

Their final regular season game isn't for two months, October 18th. And then, of course, you've got the MLS Cup playoffs after that as well. That's a long time. Like a two-month injury is a lengthy injury, let alone all the time that he was already missed. You would love for it to be, oh, he'll be back, right? We can't give him a definite timeline, but he will be back this season. The fact that it's still kind of hopeful when you have a minimum two-month timeline to get him back on the pitch is a little concerning for me.

I'd love for there to be a timeline right now. I'd feel a lot more confident about it. Look, the White Caps do have a lot of attacking options right now, but Ryan Galds, Brian White, Thomas Mueller, and one of Sabi, Jaden Nelson, Ali Ahmed, as you're attacking for. I mean, that sounds pretty good to me. That's pretty gnarly. If you could be able to get that together before the end of the season.

If you could ever get those guys on the pitch, healthy, informed together, Justin the copier guy says, sounds like it might be a popliteas. Maybe they can talk to that. your Demp go about it. It was a similar thing, right? Similarly where it's like we don't, there's not a lot of like intel on what exactly

the injury is. He's working out by himself you know, he's skating by himself. It's like, is he going to rejoin the team? Wow. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see where it goes. And we're most hopeful for Ryan as well that he can get back on the field. 650, 650

is the Dunbar Lumber text line. Great to chat with Yesper Sorensen and as I said, I'm really excited to see where this goes with Thomas Muller after his debut over the weekend. We're going to chat with BC Lions linebacker Micah Awway in about 10 minutes here at 8 o'clock to kick off the final hour of the show. But of course, we're also going to do what we learned at 830. So send your texts in 650, 650 to the Dunbar Lumber text line. Hashtag WW, what you've learned in the last 24 hours in sports.

and as we dive back into the inbox and back into some of the conversations we were having earlier in the show as well. You know, we were talking about the Kansas City Chiefs likely, it seems like, to take a big step back this year or at least a step back. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but they're also the Chiefs. They've got that aura. But it did kind of get me thinking, right? We're so close to the NFL regular season getting going here. We're talking, doing all the previews and which teams are going to improve, which teams are going to slide back. we're still ways out from the

NHL season here but on the NHL side you know we always talk about the non-playoff teams that are going to jump up right can the Buffalo Sabres young team kind of I guess now

still finally take that jump and make the playoffs is this the year the Red Wings take the big leap the Anaheim with Joel Quenville behind the bench can they make the leap who are the teams

who are you think are like oh I'm worried the playoff teams that could take the big step back or the big slide back on the NHL side of things because we have the conversation about which teams could jump up and we're going to talk about, hey, can the Canucks make the playoffs? But by definition, someone's

got to fall out if the Canucks are going to make the playoffs. Who are the teams you see in the NHL that you think, you know what? They could be due for a pretty significant step back in the standings this year. So the team that jumps off the page for me is the L.A. Kings. Sure. I mean, it's hard not to look at them. It really is. And be like, yeah, I feel great about the L.A. Kings with Cody C.C. Brian Dumolin and Joel Edmondson as their bottom three defensemen. I mean, that's going to be tough. So you already have an aging Drew Dowdy who at times looked like his age last year.

Brant Clark, I know there's still hype around him, but hasn't really reached the potential they thought of him as a top 10 draft pick from a few years ago. So I think the LA Kings are the one that immediately jump off the page. Other teams, like, I don't think, like, Winnipeg's not going to drop out of the playoffs. But a step back from the record, for sure. Yeah, they're not going to have another 110 plus point season. I think another team in that category is the Capitals. Yeah.

Right. Now, is it all the way out of the playoffs? I don't know. But the Capitals were very much last year's Vancouver Canucks up the season before, right? And then we saw it now. Canucks went from 109 to out of the playoffs. playoffs right so i'm not saying it's going to happen but you just think of like they finally got the record for ovechkin how how motivated is he going to be at this point in his career some of the

incredible shooting numbers they got from a guy like alexi protis again there's some talent there i'm not saying they're going to come all the way out of the playoffs but if we're just talking about raw points in the standings the other team i'm really curious about in this regard the Toronto maple leaves and i know everyone says oh marner he's a bum you can't get it done well he got it done the regular season. Addition by subtraction. No, no way. Maybe once you get to the playoffs, but even then, probably not, but not in the regular season. Can Tavares have another year like he did last year at his age? Like, that's a reasonable concern as well. That's fair. I think Matthews has a better season for them. The defense, can Christanav keep standing on the ice? It's 31-year-old

Morgan Riley. 31-year-old Jake McCabe, 35-year-old Christanive, 34-year-old OEL. Yeah, that's a lot of concern for me on the back end for the least. There's some veteran savvy on the back end for the for the Maple Leafs. You're like the real estate agent. It's like it's got great potential. It's like that means it sucks right now. It's just a little dirty. It's still good.

They're just a little old. They're still good. They're still good. Veteran savvy on the back end. Veteran savvy on the, you know, they know how to play the angles. You know, they got a little bit of,

they got the dark arts in their game. You know, they know how to block shots and maybe get a, away with a few hooks and holds. I'd say, you know, I'm not sure about the Ottawa senators as well if they're going to keep getting better or are they still in that mid-90s range, which is not a guarantee to make the playoffs. St. Louis and Minnesota would be in that conversation as well as teams that were on the bubble

last year. We know with teams on the bubble. It's always fragile. Yeah, it is always fragile. And I know Minnesota, they persevered through a lot of. lot of injuries last year, and they do have some young talent that Judd Brackett and co have been building for a few years, so they should be okay. But, you know, the teams on the bubble are a lot easier to predict falling out. I'd say L.A. is the 100 plus point team

that I feel the most strongly could fall out of the playoff picture. Micah always going to join us on the other side, BC Lions linebacker, just before we go to break a little bit of Canucks reporting from my regular co-host Thomas Drance at The Athletic, who tweets, who tweets hearing the Canucks have cooled off on pursuing late summer UFA Jack Roslovick. Club wants a full-time center upgrade and doesn't see that player available

in the UFA bargain bin. It's going to take a trade. That's from Thomas Drans and he says he has more in his notebook at the athletic but the link is broken. So once I get that link fixed in the break, we'll see if we can get some more tidbits from Drans after we chat with Micah Away.

That's next here on Halford and Brough's Sportsnet 650.