SoccerWise - MLS Edition: LAFC USOC Winner, Whitecaps Canadian Champ & MLS Vibes XI

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

There were three champions crowned across North America in three hours on Wednesday night. Now Soccerwise is here to break it all down. Tom and Gass dive into LAFC's first Open Cup win. What does the three-peat mean for Vancouver, and how does Columbus carry on after losing the biggest game of all time. 5:23 USOC Final Recap 24:40 What USOC Means To LAFC 27:33 SKC’s Rebuild Going Forward 34:18 Whitecaps Canadian Three-peat 51:38 MLS Vibes Best XI 55:00 Weekend Preview Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

What's up everybody welcome back to SoccerWise David Goss and Tom Bogert here with you all to award three more trophies on this Thursday. Tom we play soccer for 12 months in North America for the most part. We give away like 10 trophies and we did three of them on the same night. You know, why not just load everything up? Do you feel victorious on this Thursday? I feel gross because I ate an extra large pizza by myself because I was, I talked myself into it. I was like, oh, I'm looking forward to the Open Cup.

I was just like, wait a minute. The Campioness Cup? All right, that could be fun. Let's see the lineups. Oh, the lineups came out. Full strength of both teams and Canadian Championship tonight? Dude, it's Championship Wednesday.

I'm going to go get pizza. And then I was curled up in the fetal position by 11 p.m. because, surprisingly, my stomach was hurting from going back to the pizza box yet again. You ate the full pizza? I did. No, you didn't. I did.

Multiple sittings, though. So, like, I think I got home with it at 7. So it's four different meals. It was basically across a day, not across a sitting. Across three hours. I think that's closer to one sitting than to two. Oh, Tom. That is a lot for me to intake right now.

Yeah. And even then I woke up this morning. I was like, why do you feel so heavy and gross and tired? And it's like, I don't know. I'm probably just really unlucky. Or it's the fact that I had all that pizza and milk. I love milk. And then maybe it's that.

Pizza and milk? I love milk, dude. I had to stop buying milk. So like when I was buying groceries for the first time in college, like, bro, I would go through a gallon a week. It got to the point where I was like, I cannot buy milk or I will drink a gallon a week. And I do not need any more margins of putting that much fat in my body because I do plenty of fat in my body. For instance, an extra large pizza by myself on a Wednesday night night is this um coffee situation or is this straight glasses of milk what is called what do you mean you use it to put in things or you just drink the milk drink it i gotta drink like

a pint oh my god like i don't think i've drank drank a glass of milk in maybe 20 years and it is guess who hasn't broken any bones wow the strength is over i can feel the calcium through the computer right now or sweating out of me hey it's good to know we can finally target a sponsor and we can go for the dare the the dairy farmers of soccer america which is obviously a huge cohort of the pool. So thank you for letting me know. My friend Susan will be very excited when she listens to this because she also loves milk. And I tell her it's disgusting like six times a week. So you've got a partner in crime as I believe a hurricane hits me right now.

Literally in the last 15 seconds, it went from daytime to nighttime and started raining. So unfortunately, my power will go out. I'll lose the fridge and my milk will go bad. So you can drive down here and drink the rest of the milk. And I'm kidding. There's no milk in my fridge. I'm not discussing. Like, Tom, let's dig into.

I'm like so thrown by this right now that I can, I'm going to have trouble getting back foot. Yeah, I'm going to have trouble getting planned until they get punched in the mouth. You know what I mean? And now you're just like, whoa, I'm going to have trouble getting over it. We've obviously got a huge show for you because we did give away three trophies yesterday. So we've got LAFC to celebrate. We've got the Vancouver Whitecaps in their Canadian Championship three-peat to celebrate as well. And then we've got Club America, who have won the biggest trophy on the planet.

They are Campeones Cup champions, and they are now officially campeons of campeon to campeons. They are the champions. So we will probably spend about 75 minutes on that game and we'll sprinkle in two or three minutes on the other one. And then we got to know right now, right? Yeah. The show will be done. And then we've got a mailbag question. I'm going to do the mailbag episode tomorrow. Tag on with my interview with Haley Carter, the sporting director for the Orlando pride,

which is currently in the longest undefeated streak in NWSL history. They have the fourth longest shutout streak in NWSL history as well. So I dug in with her a whole lot about what they've built and the future of the league. We talked about the new CBA, how it'll affect her job, building clubs, and the future of the sport in this region. So it's going to be a really fun show to put out there on Friday, and we'll start doing this every Friday.

So send me any ideas of people you want me to interview. And of course, if you join our Patreon, you get access to our Discord. That's where we hung out yesterday, talked about all the games. We will be in there on Friday and Saturday, Sunday as well, talking about all the games. And that's where I pulled the mailbag from as well. And that's where we got our Vibes 11 question that we will get into later today. But let's start with the U.S. Open Cup. LAFC, their first U.S. Open Cup victory in club history.

And that's it, Tom. It's a success. LAFC, you said they couldn't win the big one. You said they couldn't step up. You questioned them. And they have arrived. This is ridiculously unfair. But go on.

That's okay. We don't need context. It's not like – it's not sad if I said any of that. But, yeah, big one for LAFC. That's what Steve Trudlow texted me after the game. So I'm just saying. He said, tell Tom I said suck it. That is not an official quote, by the way.

Thank you for clarifying. LAFC were good, not great, but lifting the trophy, that's all that matters. Olivier Giroud, I thought, looked better within the flow of the game. There were multiple instances where Danny Belonga got to the end line, caught it back for Giroud. One was a goal, one was a really nice save by Tim Melia. Seeing those moments is super encouraging. But again, most importantly No matter what happened

They won the trophy, lifted the trophy Added to the trophy cabinet And LAFC got the job done LAFC did get the job done They ended up winning 3-1 in extra time After going ahead 1-0 In the second half of regular time It felt like a big event It felt like a big event, right?

It felt like a big moment. There were stars around. The atmosphere was good, as it always is at BMO Stadium. There was, you know, great crowd support. What, Michael Johnson throwing the eagle in the sky at the beginning of the game? Throwing the eagle? That's ASPCA's game. I don't know.

Maybe, but that's kind of what it looks like. You hold it up and then you throw it. And you let that baby rip and that eagle flies to the sky. And it was. And then as you said for LAFC, I thought Chirondell's comments coming out of halftime were interesting of like the game's up tempo that suits us. I understand his point.

I didn't see a ton of problem solving in their group of using possession to disorganize Sporting Kansas City, but you knew the chance was going to be there. Before we celebrate LAFC, we got to talk about Sporting Kansas City. This was their season in a microcosm. This was their last two years packed into one game. There is talent on the field that you trust. There is talent to our debate about Lorenzo Insigne and Gauld and like quality of soccer player. There are so many players on the field for Sporting Kansas City where if you put a ball down, they can do things that are special that a lot of people on the planet cannot do. It looks good in the middle third for large segments

of the game. They don't score any goals, and they will at some point open themselves up and expose themselves and give you an opportunity in transition. Whether that opportunity was offside, we'll discuss in a moment. But that kind of felt like the formula for LAFC was like, wait for it. And everyone talks about pressure being at home.

Yeah, LAFC had a little bit more possession than half in this game, but they let skc play their game and play themselves into the holes they were going to play themselves into and they didn't do anything different than what we've seen from lafc over the last few months yeah um as you said this was the season for kansas city mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this was a microcosm of kind of what is wrong with the team. Like you think about the game winning goal, Omar Campos.

That's a left back cutting through several players in the final third, scoring the goal. That ends up being the game winner. You think about Alan Polito was bad and that's at the root of the squad building issues with this team. Centerbacks aren't good enough. That's at the root of the squad building issues with this team. Centerbacks aren't good enough. That's at the root of the issues with squad building of this team. Kyrie Shelton was fine as a converted winger playing right back against Danny Buonga, who's on $750,000 on the salary cap.

This was a microcosm of all the issues that are plaguing this team. And still that little bit of hope that they were okay on the day. Again, the better team won. But again, good, not great on LAFC. It was 1-1 going in stoppage time. Johnny Russell had a 1v1 against Ryan Hollingshead, and he beat him, got a shot off. And how many times in the last seven years

have we seen that hit the back of the net? I wouldn't call it a golden chance, but it was like, still, they almost did just enough. And things could be much different. But again, they came up short. And this is a big disappointment for Kansas City. Again, this wouldn't have solved all the issues that I just said. They're still going to go into the offseason figuring out the Palito situation. There's nothing to figure out this is what it is right um they will go into the offseason

looking at how do we upgrade the defense how do we upgrade defensive midfield how do we improve the academy pipeline none of that would change with the trophy but it would have felt a whole lot better it would have um they've already qualified for conca cap which is big but it would have we talked about on tuesday it would give them their fifth ever open cup make them undefeated in open cup finals which is like an amazing stat to have as a club and this is a club that's built themselves on painting the wall and winning trophies and like yeah it would it wouldn't have saved their season but I think it would have really changed the reality of where they stood you You mentioned the goal from Compost to win it. You watch that moment for Sporting Kansas City,

and Sporting Kansas City spends $1.5 million a year on Nemanja Radoja and $900,000 a year on Remy Walter, and Zoran Bassang is on the edge of the box as the defensive midfielder, and he lets Compost make the run past him because he's scared to make a challenge in the box because he's a left back playing as a defensive midfielder 105 minutes in to an a cup final like you are asking these guys to overextend themselves because you have blown it on the middle of the roster build for years now especially at that defensive midfield position and that's like the difference of what you get and And LAFC was going to

get their chances and create their openings. And they did so. And this is a KC team that there are large segments of games where you're like, wow, this is a good team. This is a fun team to watch. It is never killer moments where they are finishing off teams or they are dominating the game enough to put teams away and they allow teams back into it and that's what's i think really tough to watch if you're a sporting kansas city fan and i think that's what's really tough when we talked about this game which was like i couldn't see kansas city winning and then kansas city went and tied for 90 minutes right on the road like they're in the game and i still couldn't see a way in which they won that game at like so while we're on the disappointment train once lfc went up one nil this game should have ended two nothing or it should have been comfortable going

down like they shouldn't have gotten extra time um the way that the game ended in extra time the last you know five or six minutes after kai kamara the absolute legend after kai kamara made the game 3-1. That's what it should have felt from the 80th minute to the 90th minute, like a little pre-celebration, right? So there is, while this was a bounce-back performance by LAFC and something that is obviously very good, it should help kind of get them out of their funk. This is why I keep on stressing good, not great from LAFC.

And again, the chance could have been there for Kansas City. But, like, this is what, you know, when we were talking about previewing this game on Tuesday, I just didn't see a scenario in which Kansas City was going to win this game or, like, you'd have to – there was a lot of if-ands or if-thens to kind of see that path. One of the things for LAFC as we move back to them is I was – I think I said on Tuesday's show, like, with Murillo out,

there's no way they go back five. They're going to play a couple more numbers in midfield. And I was really surprised by that out the gate. I think some of it's understandable. Like it makes you safe to play. It allows you to get a Hollings head and, you know, plenty who have been good into the attack. It allows the front three to be a little bit versatile and move, but it didn't allow them to dominate possession, I think,

and create the overloads that you would like to see a team like LAFC, who was doing this three and four months ago, dominating the ball and beating teams with possession. You'd like to see them be able to do that against Sporting Kansas City at home. They chose not to. Maybe they can't anymore. Maybe that's the run of games they've been through maybe that's the additions they've made have changed the team so much that they're not capable

of playing that way I think that's where you come with the good not great side is you know they were fine in the way they chose to play the way they chose to play is not overly impressive I'm I can guarantee LAFC would say who gives a crap crap? We want a trophy. And that's their job. And I think that's fair. And that's where it comes down to, though. You can't ask people to say, oh, well, we've almost won trophies. If you're going to play that way, you got to win because you're not really offering anything else to your fans and to people. And they did. And so they got it done. They get the trophy the trophy their first in club history it puts them with one trophy already this year after losing the league's cup final it probably sets them up in a

way tom in which this season is a success no matter what else happens yeah depends on what the playoffs look like right like if they get kind of bounced in round two like right like if they get to the conference final or or you know have a really good kind of series or game, then, yeah, it is, look, this is about trophies, LAFC have made no mistake about it, they've said it from the beginning, we're about trophies, man, like, that's what the culture is at this club, that's what we're striving, it's not good enough if we don't win trophies, so, again, another one to add to the cabinet, and you were right, like, whatever nonsense we're saying about, hey, I wish that they were more expansive. I wish they controlled the game more.

I wish they did this. I wish they did that. Doesn't matter. Like, winning this way and winning, again, if they wanted to drop down to five at the back and stay with this, I was really hoping Olivier Giroud's introduction into this team was going to make them go back to 4-3-3 and play more expansive. None of that matters if they win a trophy, man. Like, none of it matters. Yeah.

And Giroud stepped up and was big. We asked the question on Tuesday, like, what do we make of his introduction? He scored the goal. It's not the most complicated goal to score in that moment, but you're looking for people to put that chance away. You're looking for people to make that run. That's what they asked for. He hadn't played in the Open Cup up until this moment,

so it's his first Open Cup appearance. He scores the opening goal in the final, and it felt like you could see the emotion for the whole team, and especially for him coming out of it. He's always dreamt of winning a U.S. Open Cup, so he finally had that moment in his career, and I think it'll be big. I think it's one that we'll look back on in three four months and say like that was probably it for Giroud where a lot of it clicked because I think he's just needed that simple one to get started and it was the formula we all thought it would be right it's Boguch and Buonga stretching field stretching the field wide being able to take their players 1v1 and then after that Giroud's going to win his battle in the box and that's what we saw exactly yeah you said it perfectly again

like Buonga against Kyrie Shelton again like I'll say it he Kyrie Shelton played fine played well he's not the reason that this team didn't win but like if I'm LFC man like going at that over and over and over and over again I would feel that way for Bwonga versus you know any fullback in the league to be fair but like in this spot like give me that as many times as possible I don't like even if Kyrie was winning tackles taking the ball off him that's fine it happens three times in a row it's not going to stay like this the rest of the game so um I think that was part of the game plan and like when we talk about playing into their strengths like that is their strength.

They have the best transition player in the league. But Belonga is more than that and can be more than that. And I think that there are still going to be enough transition moments that you don't need to sit deep. Again, I was surprised that they went to the back five with Murillo injured. I guess part of it comes down to Eddie Atuesta was unavailable, precautionary with some sort of knock, they said. But they had Ilya Sanchez on the bench.

So I would have liked to have seen that. But again, Olivier Giroud played better. They integrated him better. And so maybe there is a path forward to finding some sort of compromise in, and again, even calling it a compromise could be a false premise. This was just my opinion. Steve Tron, the club could see it a different way. They probably do.

But some sort of compromise in like, they're still going to be defensively sound, get as many transition moments for Danny Blanc as possible, but we can still kind of have some of those finishing patterns that ends with Olivia Drew at the near post on a pass for Blanc. And I will say, I think even if they play that way, and this is tough to say coming out of the League's Cup final, which was, you know, sort of similar to MLS Cup, which is what they are trying to adjust from and get better from. Bogus is a better player now, and Bogus likes to operate in similar spaces.

So I and I think you saw in this game, right, when Buonga, when the game would open up a little and Buonga wouldn't try and stretch the field, Bogus would come over from the right side and take up space that was there. And in the first half, the best look at the end of that half is Bogus comes over to the left, is able to hold off his defender, clean possession, and then he almost lays it off for Buonga, making the underlapping run into the box. But Bogus also wants to operate in that that space and so it fits for a lot of this team it's why i felt very certain tillman would be in the squad it's why we think lewis o'brien fits the squad as well because they're both north south players but you i still think you need what ilia or atuesta brings to draw some numbers in at times to be able to have a little bit of a curveball so um laFC score, they go up one zero. You're thinking it's done. And this comes back to the SKC thing. The goal they score is two

moments of brilliance from two good soccer players, right? It's shallow. He's first touch. It's the vision. It's the layoff. And that Tommy finished is something he's capable of. It's something Russell's capable of. It's something Polito's capable of. That's what's hard about digesting this team as individual pieces, and then you put it together, and you get a team that's already eliminated from the playoffs and loses in this final. And SKC are able to push it to extra time, and you start to get into the benches.

You start to get into depth, and there's just a lot more there for LAFC right now. You have to shout out Kai Kamara at 40 years old, still getting it done, still being a factor. And it, and it feels more cohesive when he's on the field right now because he's been around them for a year or so and feels like very comfortable in the

movements that he's supposed to make around those attacking three. Yeah, man. Like dude, Kai Kamara is awesome. I, dude, Khakimbar is awesome. It gives me so much joy watching him succeed, continue to succeed. The way he plays the game, everything he's about, it was beautiful. The moments after the game when he was with his children who live in Kansas City,

flew in because like that he spent a lot of time there. That's where their permanent home is. Flew in the morning of to watch this game to be there um i thought it was adorable kai kind of made a point and he did the apple tv post game hit and he was with with his kids he was at the podium after the game doing like normal media scrums his kids are up there um it was really beautiful and he had a really great quote coming from this. He was talking about Don Garber and the future of the Open Cup. He goes, make sure that he doesn't take MLS away from this. This is American soccer.

Kai Kamara is American soccer. The weight that's coming from him, I love it. I'm glad that he took this spotlight to say that. He is somebody who emigrated to the United States from Sierra Leone at 16, settled in the greater this spotlight to say that he is somebody who emigrated to the united states from sierra leone at 16 settled in the la the greater la region um another one of the quotes he said last night was

like yeah um like this this is home right like kakamaru has been a nomadic dude in his professional career the most time he spent somewhere was kansas city and a couple stints or whatever um but he's bounced around so much he's played for more teams than anybody in his history a couple stints or whatever. But he's bounced around so much. He's played for more teams than anybody in Ole Miss history. A couple of those teams, they were different stints too. So he's used to moving every single year essentially. And he feels like he has a home in Los Angeles, not just at LFC, but like just kind of that's where he broke in. And like all the lower level, like the college soccer

and then playing in like the reserve league and whatever, like all the ways that he's broken into this, like he is American soccer and his words mean more on this specific topic. Yeah. On the, in that post game quote, which as you said, was really good. He talked about the journey that people, that they ask you to take to get to the top and sort of saying you have to leave the um you have to leave the open cup open as an opportunity for people to go through that journey he talked about him and chris wandalowski who he has now over the last few years brought up a lot because they've

they were on this similar path and they're going to finish as the top two goal scorers in MLS history of D2 college soccer, playing in at the time, the PDL, just for an opportunity to get a chance, and then reserve league, as you said, super draft, reserve league, battling in through rosters, building up your career to get to those high points and those big moments. And not everyone gets there, but everyone gets an opportunity if you leave the system open. And that's what he was talking about.

And it was really interesting that he chose his career path as a way to answer the question of like, what's the value of the Open Cup and what should the future of the Open Cup be? We talked about it a ton on Tuesday. So if you missed that show and you're listening now,

you can go back and listen to that. We did 15 minutes about the future of the Open Cup and what we want to see and what we're hoping to see but it is telling that i think the thing i have seen the most around the internet and the internet's not always real life coming out of the game is that kai kamara quote even on the night of the game like that's where i think a lot of people's minds are at even when the games are going on which is part of the problem of like there's not enough attention all the time on the games and all of that but I think it's telling of

like what's going on in the soccer atmosphere and all of that I thought Kai spoke really well on it and played really well and you talked about the uh making you know celebrating against SKC and all of that he had the hard hands I think he was pretty simple about it and was pretty clean about it in the end. But he him and LAFC were able to get it done. And I think once you got through this game and you had SKC travel, you know, two hour weather delay on Saturday, eliminated from the playoffs, traveling to LA, it felt like as the game went on, LAFC should be able to take advantage. And they did., I think, as the game opened up late on. They're younger. I think they're more technical, man for man,

as well as they have more experience now winning in these moments. Like, you trusted Johnny Russell. You trusted Alan Pulido. They've never as a group won anything. They've never played in a final before. And so I think you saw LAFC's quality there. Shout out to, I believe it was 600 uh supporters club staff families um from the sporting kc side that made the trip out for the game and

you could feel it like you could feel the atmosphere you could feel both sides of it it felt like a final and felt like a big game yeah i love that it was really cool atmosphere is great again obviously the lafc fans first and foremost because there's just more of them there but it was really cool. The atmosphere was great. Again, obviously the LAFC fans first and foremost because there's just more of them there. But it was really, really cool to see the traveling contingent for SKC. I'd love to see that. I'm going to say, sort of I tossed it to you, but I didn't answer. I don't think it matters what happens in the playoffs. If LAFC wins the U.S. Open Cup and they go into the League's Cup Final,

this is a good season. I understand the only thing that gives me pause is Giroud's age and like the amount you spent to bring him in and we don't know if Bogus and Kike Oliveira like this might be a one chance for this this specific group and they should all recognize that internally but if this year ends without them winning a playoff series I don't think you can walk away from this and say two finals, one championship, the first time your club's ever won it. You've gotten back into CONCACAF competition. Like, I don't think this, this is what clubs should do. And I don't think it's fair to change the rubric unless they specifically say the only reason we played this year was to win MLS Cup.

And that's their opinion. I would be surprised if that's what they said. Yeah. Now again, they're equal opportunities for trophies. There is obviously a little hierarchy with MLS Cup being the most important for the domestic campaign and everything, but the U.S. Open Cup, it's still a trophy, it's still very important. And, again, make it a success. One more point to add, Carlos Vela wins another final. There's that aspect to this.

So he at least put a jersey on for the postgame celebration um i didn't know if it was going to be another uh a shacket and then like a very fashion follower very handsome very good uh but at least he had his jersey on it was nice he uh he also ate a whole pizza during the game he just won a trophy on the back end of it and you have to come on soccer wise the next day and talk about it uh hat tip to tim milia phenomenal in the first half really good across the game he is part of that core he was one of only two players i think in this team who had played in the previous open cup final for sporting kansas city so for lafc that's our thoughts on where they stand they've

got a huge game this weekend. They play FC Cincinnati. They are still fighting for home field advantage. I think you can see over the course of these two finals what home field advantage means for LAFC. So there is a ton of value there and remaining top four at a minimum. And if they can sneak to top two, they could get at least the two rounds at home

in their own confines, which is really big for them. And if the Galaxy finished first, yeah, you don't want to travel away, but it would mean you don't really have to travel over the course of the final two rounds of the MLS Cup playoffs. On the flip side for Sporting Kansas City, eliminated from the playoffs. They lose this game. Peter Vermees had comments after the game about the Mateusz Bogus offsides. It seems to be offside.

The account that does the lines on the field, which I cannot remember for the life of me. No, I have it right here. Offside modeling says Bogus appears to be about a foot offside. You really can't tell from the angles and from the cameras, which is unfortunate. Vermees felt this call has gone against them so many times in the past. I think that's probably a little bit of the emotion of the moment coming in, but that's fine. But for Sporting Kansas City, now the season's over. They can't make the postseason.

They had this one opportunity to change everything, change that conversation. They don't. And now, Tom, they go into an offseason in which a lot of the big pieces on this team are still under contract, including Alan Polito, who's on $3.6 million through 2026. It's tough. They can finesse some flexibility. They have musical chairs a little bit with their designated player situation They can finesse some flexibility. They have musical chairs a little bit with their designated player situation where they'll kind of maneuver different guys in depending on how advantageous it is.

For the salary cap and allocation money, they could add another two DBs if they want to. Why would you have any expectation that that's what they're going to do? You shouldn't, right? They want to. Why would you have any expectation that that's what they're going to do? Yeah. You shouldn't, right? Like, this is a team that I don't think have transitioned to MLS 4.0 or whatever you'd want to call it right now. So I'm glass half empty with this group moving forward just because a lot of these problems have been the same problems

for the last three or four years. Centerback, defensive midfield old um not being able to bring in the next wave behind johnny russell in particular um daniel shall we had one really really good season he has not hit that same level uh but he's obviously he's a good starter um alan palito had one really really good season i think most of us could have guessed that was going to be unsustainable and it might not be the best long-term investment um but they gave him the contract anyway eric tommy i think has been a good signing but he's 30 um is it good signing or can he be very good right like i think those are the margins here i just don't trust this team to get the push, the top-end talent up, which would have to come with more money.

And I don't trust them. Like, they've had a hole at defensive mid since they decided three years ago Iliye Sanchez was cooked. And he's just won, you know, 15 trophies with LAFC during that time, including last night. And central defense, it's the same thing year after year. Andreu Fontas, I voted him defender of the year one year. I forget what year it was now. It's all blending together. But, like, other than that, it's the same thing year after year andre fantas i voted defender of

the year one year i forget what year it was now it's all blending together but like other than that it's been fine it's been somewhere between and fine um and like the defense is still an issue and defensive midfield is still a glaring issue bringing more academy players through jake davis has been awesome you can't have both we're not going to spend a lot of money. We're not going to really jump into like modern MLS and also have an academy that's not producing multiple of those players every year. Like the Philadelphia union spend money really smart, but they do really, really well at their academy as well.

So that's how they've sustained their success. I'm really worried about Kansas city and there's a path forward, but I feel like we could have said that any of the last three or four years and yeah none of the issues fixed it is unclear from the outside what this club wants to be and how they want to build it and what the reality was as you kept saying keep saying you know they haven't stepped into the modern MLS was like they pushed the ability to compete with the group they had against the LAFCs and Atlantas of the world as they came in the league because their core and their baseline was so high because they had drafted

so well and they had developed so well and the fact was that Tim Milia and Matt Beisler and Roger Espinoza and Graham and all of those guys meant that whether they hit on all their DPs which they really have not going all the way back to the origination of the rule in Major League Soccer or not, they were going to step on the field and have probably the advantage at six or seven positions head-to-head against their opponents. That's no longer the case. And so they don't have that baseline to build off of.

And like I would say, Iliye probably is cooked if he stayed at SKC because he couldn't cover the ground and they don't have the center backs to help him. And they don't have the system built around him. And I think that's the case with a lot of these guys. Like one of the guys they can get off of is Eric Tommy, who's on an option year next year. If I was a different MLS team that needed a little attacking creativity, I'd go get Eric Tommy, but I don't know that SKC should resign him because I don't know that he makes them better and he's the problem of what they need. So I think there's a lot of pieces in there which are talented. We don't understand exactly what they are choosing as their path forward and what they want to be.

I'll put my hand up and say, I said they should resign Alan Pulido because I think the talent he has is better than anyone else they're going to go out and sign because of the money they've chosen to spend. And like, that wasn't like, oh, we'll sign Alan Pulido. And when he's done, you know, we'll sign Almiro and then we'll sign PT and then we'll sign Barco and then we'll sign Tiago. That wasn't what they were doing, right? Pulido was the big one. It hasn't worked out, but I'd still rather have his talent on this team than not. And there's a lot of question marks. Jake Davis looked good in this game. He's looked great at right back. I think he's a really good option at both. I'm not sure where he's better. And that will be interesting to watch as someone who likes soccer and likes

the US national team potentially and to see his development. But it's not enough for this club to be built around and i don't know that there's a cornerstone on this roster right now that you could say okay over the next five years like this is a permanent piece because if milia is one of the best like he's not going to be around for that long and a free for you don't know enough about and shallow we i don't know if he is that guy and has played to that level that's I think the scary part that's the worrying part if you're SKC all right yeah yeah sorry shallow we and Tommy I think are complimentary pieces I think it's a no-brainer you bring back Eric Tommy on the

number 1.1 million or whatever it is um and just again just to last point of to re-highlight their lack of spend like Robert Veloter is their fourth highest ever transfer fee paid what would he be for atlanta united like 27th yeah you know it's just like they don't take enough swings and and they don't spend enough when they do so you can you can spend less like seattle sounders real ruy diaz and nico ladero you get. You don't need to spend $5 million in transfer fees every year. You just keep re-signing the great players, and they've done neither. So SKC's season is over. Vancouver Whitecaps, three-peat in the Canadian Championship.

My power went out last night as these games were all sort of going through it. So I watched the first half of the Canadian Championship on my phone. I watched the second half of the Campiones Cup and the shootout on my phone as well. So on my phone, it looked fun and it was fantastic. My hand cramped out at some point just trying to hold my phone up and stay locked in. But Vancouver hosting TFC, it was the second time in three years. It was the second time that it years it was the second time that it went to a shootout directly after the end of regular time there was no extra time in this game

and Vancouver comes out on top some really fun moments in this game because for Vancouver so I finally got the rule it is three Canadians in your starting lineup that is the rule it's not on the field it was more i thought it was more too back in it because it's like one of those things that always comes up we're like oh how are we going to cover it which by the way is why isaac bomer started this game because vancouver only had adekube and ali ahmed in the starting lineup so and vanny sartini said pre-game oh he's not playing because he's Canadian. He's playing because he's earned it because he has played throughout the Canadian championship. I don't even think Vanni Sartini believed that at the level he does now.

Isaac Bomer saves a Bernadeschi penalty kick in the first half to keep it at 0-0. He then saved one of the shootout penalty kicks. One as well was put over the crossbar. Vancouver wins it. He's man of the match. He's starting fights with Jonathan Osorio. He might be in my Vibes 11 as of right now. He's the head coach of Vibes.

We didn't even talk about that. We both know that that's true. It's just things that we know. He was awesome. So, partly, the game wasn't particularly super fun it wasn't a great performance it wasn't super entertaining so let's start with the off the field the end of the game stuff vanny sartini after the game i love this quote it's a fantastic feeling i'm really proud of the guys i told them after the game this is

the victory of love this is the victory of love of the guys for each other of the togetherness of this group everyone was really pushing pulling sorry for each other because even in a day where toronto fc played better than us we fought we fought we fought and i'm really happy for them so one i love that he's able to say like yeah look toronto we're better right like yeah he's just honest i'm not gonna say that yeah and like i how authentic he is. That's the only way he knows that about you. He also did an interview with One Soccer, the Canadian broadcaster, after the game. And he said a lot of that stuff too, which I want to say again, I think that's all beautiful. And that's stuff that matters. And it's difficult for us fans, media, Poonits, whatever, to really understand that from the outside.

And the role it plays, I don't know, just let me go. And so he was talking about that. And then they were like, hey, Danny, like, are you going to take your shirt off and celebrate? I think the fans want you to do that again. And he goes, oh, no, no, you know. No, I'm not going to do, you know. He's talking and he goes, you know, how about this?

I'll take my shoes off. New tradition. I'll take my shoes off. So now he's walking around in his socks. And it was a laugh. Good laugh. The interview ends. I don't know.

So 10 seconds later, there was 100 pictures of him on social media without his shirt on. So that was hilarious. I love this guy, dude. Are you kidding me? During the shootout, he just went and sat down. Like, one, he stood for the first round, and they kind of went into both huddles. And I think for, which I think is I like, for Toronto, I think the players were really leading the huddle.

Like Herdman had them in there. And I think it was Oso and Bernadesi who were talking like those are leaders. Sartini's in the middle of it. And he's just, you could see him. He's like, goes on a little rant and then he just stops. And then he like kisses someone's head and then he starts again. And then he like stops after a little bit. And then he starts slamming Bomer's chest and then he starts again.

And he's just kind of, like, wandering around, just, like, hanging out before the shootout. Then after, I think, the first round of shots, he's just like, screw this. And he goes and sits down on the bench. But he's sitting behind his staff, so he can't see. And he's just kind of waiting to hear the reactions from the crowd. He's a lot of fun it is obviously as we said a big deal for this team they qualify for concalf they are so far behind toronto and montreal in the history of this competition like vancouver we did during covid

we did um the depths of it we did sort of the mount rushmore's of all the clubs and we did Vancouver and like it was like Russell Tyburn and like that was kind of it like there was just no history for this club so you can't understate winning this Toronto has won this 10 times and this is just the fourth one ever for Vancouver they're still behind Montreal like we can't minimize what this means for this club. And when I talked about the baseline with Casey, like they have that baseline, right? They play poorly. They don't play terrible.

They now over the last three years, we'll lose a game in one leg in a Canadian championship and bounce back and get the win. Like there's consistency to this where Toronto and Montreal don't make the final every year over the course of these four years, because they don't have that. But zero big chances in a final at home, that's the question marks around Vancouver.

The high-end talent, the production in the big moments, this felt like the story right now, which is similar to sort of what I talked about with LAFC but in a different way. Hang around and see if someone else makes a mistake, but not the initiator and not the creator. And I thought in the first half, Vancouver found some really dangerous openings. Brian White, one V one with long at one point,

Gauld had a really good moment where he snuck behind the back line and tried to square one to white as well. That Petretta red gets over, clears it away. Like you saw those moments. They didn't build on it though. And Ali Ahmed taken off at halftime. I assume that's an injury I haven't seen, red gets over clears it away like you saw those moments they didn't build on it though and Ali Ahmed taken off at halftime I assume that's an injury I haven't seen but I don't know why you would take him off he's one of the best players in this team and I thought Vancouver actually

lost control as the game went along and they were lucky to get to the shootout and then once they got there they showed their pedigree of like being in that moment before and being pretty confident yeah and i think that all lines with again what fanny said like trying to do better um that like bernadevsky didn't score a penalty there they had their chances um isaac bomber was awesome sorry to keep on bringing up these quotes from fanny but um he again he was talking about bomber how great he did he goes i hope my friend jesse was watching talking about jomer, how great he did. He goes, I hope my friend Jesse was watching, talking about Jesse Martin, Canadian national team. And then in there, he just weaved in as he's euphoric, smiling, laughing. He's talking about how great hit players are, all of this. He goes, yeah, pretty good decision by me to start him, right?

Just completely messing around. I was just like, dude, this guy's the man. So, yeah, what an awesome moment for Isaac Bomer. What a great moment for the Vancouver White for isaac bomer what a great moment for the vancouver whitecaps that's three in a row this is again adding to the trophy case the canadian championship is a little bit different just because there's three mls teams playing numbers right like montreal toronto vancouver every single season should go into this competition assuming expecting striving to win it and. And Vancouver have the last three years. And Vancouver are easily the best Canadian MLS team over this time.

And this is a reflection of that. And we'll see if they can take the next step in the playoffs this year. On the conversation of the next step and where this club's going, it's telling that this was the smallest crowd of the three finals. I think it peaked last year. I was very surprised. I was very surprised. two years ago against toronto i think they set the record for for a whitecaps crowd not a soccer crowd because bc places hosted big games and then last year it was fantastic for

montreal part of it was scheduling so last year the final was in june and it was like a nine week stretch i think where the tournament started you know there's energy there's momentum the final happens boom but I also think it's like all right we've seen you do this and I think the fan base in the in the market wants to be excited by the next thing like can you push things farther right for Toronto they rebuilt things under Tim Bezbachenko they made the playoffs great but it had to build. If in 2017 they didn't make MLS Cup and they didn't win it, I think you would have started to see the crowds dissipate,

and we've seen it now in the 2020s. And so I think that's where, for Vancouver, that's the danger here. It's like you've built a really good team. And I said it on the last show, this team could be around for a while at this level. But if you don't take the next step, you start to feel, I think, atrophy from the fans. And that's a little bit of what you saw on this Wednesday night.

It should be the biggest moment of the season. And it was, but it felt different than it did over the last two years for this Whitecaps team. From Toronto's point of view, I don't know that it's a huge surprise, right? Like this game played out like a lot of their games have played out. As we said, they were good. They were dangerous.

Shout out to Richie Larea. He is a savant at drunk penalty kicks. He literally dribbles by. Is it out of Kube that he draws it on? I don't remember who he drew the foul on. He dribbles by the player. Maybe it's a border. He dribbles by the player and then just kind of waits to be like now you're gonna foul me so you can come follow me now i'm ready it's uncanny yeah it's uncanny there's nobody else

like it it is he's been doing this for years and he's doing it against his former team so he's been in training with all these guys or against his national team teammates like everyone knows who he is in on the field in this game and he still does it to them, and he still is able to draw the penalty. They're not able to score it, and then you get into the shootout, and Vancouver are able to win it in that moment for Toronto. They've still got a shot at the playoffs, as we talked about on Tuesday. They sit in currently tied for the last spot in the postseason at on tiebreaker right now,

but they've played one more game than everyone else. So Toronto's going to have to play well to make the playoffs. It's going to be a brutal end to the season in terms of – so they play at Chicago this weekend. Kind of a must win, honestly, because they play Red Bulls andami as the last two games like particularly miami one's gonna be difficult but um they're the unlucky team that isn't playing decision right and this year the way that decision day falls is it's international break before

decision day their last game is october 5th they have two weeks of training of did we do enough did we not do enough what's going on like? Like, that sucks. So, like, and it's unfortunate, too, that, again, they had the midweek final, lose the final. You got, like, travel. They went from Colorado to Vancouver. Now they're going to Chicago. I don't know. I'm sure they'll stop home or whatever.

I don't know the itinerary. But that's a lot of travel. That's a lot of congestion. That's a heartbreak. You got to pick yourself back up. And, oh, my God, like, we need to pick up points here to ensure that we're going to stay over the playoff line because there's a bunch of teams behind us that are um i wouldn't

say sprinting or chasing us down i'd say a lot of teams are falling over each other for this ninth place in the eastern conference and whoever does their lose to philly in round one of the uh the play-in game but um if toronto make the playoffs if they finish ninth again not not a high bar to clear and not normally something to write home about, about what a great season. This is absolutely a successful season for this team. We could see on the outside, very easy to see bad contracts and what they had to do in the offseason to try to move on from a lot of players. I can tell you from having a better look, I was privy to a better look on the inside and speaking to people who know more than me,

this situation was even worse than we could have deduced from the outside. Like, all of the contract, like, they had multiple, they knew they were going to buy somebody out, and it was like, alright, which one of these five players are we going to buy out? Is there any chance that any of these other players can exit the club without there being a buyout? That's awful, right? Like, the previous regime as is normal in mos doesn't mean that it's good when you're fearing for your job you pull every

single dollar forward from the future that you can pull forward because if if you don't do it you're getting fired and then if it happens it doesn't work out you get fired not your problem who cares like so this has been a beer about transition. This has been enough positive steps to determine for me that this is a positive season. Again, I'm grading on a curve. It is a very low bar to clear. But to a man and to a woman of people who were trying to prognosticate what the season was going to be, I don't know, 98% of people had Toronto either dead last or second to last in the East. So playing meaningful games at this time of the season, getting to be i don't know 98 of people had toronto either dead last or second last in the east so playing meaningful games at this time of the season getting to a canadian championship final i think it's a success like especially if they if they hang on in that playoff

spot yeah uh we talked about a little bit when we did the underrated team but they basically didn't spend any money off on the roster this last off season to change things because all of the major money has been spent. Kevin Long is on $250,000. He was the big addition to your back line. Flores, who we talked about, he's been really good. Again, none of those were big signings. But the problem is you still don't really get a lot of that off the books. Insigne and Bernadette are there.

Richie Larea is on a big contract. Petretta's on a big contract they're all still there the the main one you get off of is prince of wusu which helps if you can spend eight hundred thousand dollars on a striker who you'd actually start that's ideal over not but like this is not done for toronto um they still have to rebuild because of the points you made of like the way they sort of push themselves over the last few years to try and be competitive. The final championship of the night, the historic, the tradition laden, Campione's Cup, Columbus against Club America. own ace cup columbus against club america this is the big one tom this is what we all love this sport for and we got what we wanted in the end get juiced um jokes aside i was concerned that this was not going to feel like a final and it was going to feel like a glorified friendly

it felt like a final and it was it was a lot of fun honestly um Coupe America have been the best team on the them and Columbus have been the two best teams on the continent and things change very quickly in the game at least so they don't have Julian Quinones but like this is still a really really great team so these are two teams that still have the height of the power Kucho Hernandez is still here like that doesn't that's not always a guarantee for the team that wins MLS cup as either, depending on where you are in your roster build and where your best players are in terms of their career. So these two teams generally were preserved from how great that they were in,

in past to qualify for this game. And they both started what from the outside for club America, I'm not an expert that looked as, you know, first choice as it gets. Definitely was for the Columbus Crew. And it was just a really good game and a really impressive test. Like, I want to watch the Columbus Crew against Club America, against Tigres, against Monterey, against all these teams as much as possible.

And, again, I was fearful that last night was going to be a disappointment, and it wasn't. Yeah, it was a fun soccer game. Like, these two teams went for it. They played the way they play play which is fun to watch um club america brought three internationals off the bench in the 60th minute as their subs like this is a massive team with a huge roster and a ton of talent um not that top end talent like you know it's like no one on the team's as good but you still have starters for chile and paraguay and um you have brian rodriguez who's playing with uruguay still and henry martin and like all these pieces um that are really impressive to watch and i thought it was actually interesting to watch columbus sit in

and defend a little bit in this game because they were better at it than i expected and they looked okay in stretches where club america started to knock around, and that's probably good to know if that's something Columbus has to fall into at times in the postseason, not because they choose to, but just because that's the way the game goes sometimes. So it was an entertaining game. It goes to shootouts, and, like, I don't know. We're in danger of getting us to a spot where I don't care about shootouts anymore. Like, you give me a summer of tournaments there,

every game ends in a shootout. And then you throw this thing in on top and it's like, do you feel the pressure? And it's like, yeah, I mean, you could see Schulte at the end. He'd rather have won that than not.

He was pissed. He didn't make that final save. That doesn't mean anything. And I think with league scum, it's kind of ridiculous that this is still a competition because you built a whole tournament for this whole point. Like this is still a competition because you built a whole tournament for this whole point like this should have been the you know the precedent to it i don't know what term i'm trying to use there and so now that you've set this up you really don't need this

and like it was a fun game from good teams but i'd like to see them fresh for big games so rather than waste them here i'd like I'd like to see Columbus and America be able to rest their players on a normal week to see them be good on the weekends and see them be ready for playoffs and all those other things going forward. So Club America won. League of America is a better league. Club America is the best team in the region. They're arguably the best team in the world because of what happened last night. There was a bunch of controversy off the missed PK from Odminson. The question is if it's not saved.

Does the goalkeeper affect the player? I don't know. The goalkeeper always affects the player. Because you're trying to shoot away from the goalkeeper. That's a dumb rule. It should be if you hit the post. It doesn't matter what the goalkeeper does. That's my take.

And that's pretty much as much juice as we have for all of that. Let's dig into the weekend. Let's talk MLS general. Before we get there, let's do our vibes 11. I believe it was Webhead who put this in the chat. I don't even have a lower third because I wasn't even ready for it. Let's talk. It's all vibes, baby. Let's just talk vibes. We worked on it together and somehow we both wrote down completely different teams. So you can present yours first. I can present mine, and we can face off in battle. There's only one team here, and it's mine.

That's all I'm going to say. Goalkeeper, Sean Zawadzki, because I think that's a good vibe, given his performance coming off the bench for Columbus, the midfielder. Backline, Richie Larea, Walker Zimmerman, Rodrigo Schlegel, John Tolkien. Midfield, Felipe Martins, Coco Carrasquilla, Evander, and a front line of Luca Oriano, Christian Bentacchi, Diego Luna. A couple quick notes. Bentacchi is here on Vibes because he's the greatest aerial player in this league.

And he is, I think, better at that skill than anybody in this league is at anything that they're the best at. He is clearly the biggest drop ball from first to second and i love it i'm proper football man i'm playing in my uh in my ultimate team i've got the old school peter crouch six foot seven and darwin nunez and just four four two give me some stoke city kits give me long throws and just put in the box mate that. That's what we're talking about. In the mixer. In the mixer. You would be very comfortable in Wembley sitting next to me watching the League 2 playoff game where every fan just yells, do him. Do him. Do him. And it's just that for 90 minutes. And you're like, oh yeah, this is the home of the sport.

Ours are pretty similar across the back because that's when we were still on the same page. I was the one who said Zawadzki and goal, but you know what? No. Congratulations. No. Isaac Bowler is my goalkeeper.

He's obviously my goalkeeper. So I don't need Zawadzki anymore. I've got Isaac Bowler and goal. We have the same back four because Richie's obvious again, the PK savant. And then also always being like, but I'm innocent. And then.

And the guy who stirs, stir all the time then does the i'm innocent thing while always being the one who's starting altercations yeah exactly uh i had tolkien walker and slagle as my backup goalkeeper as well by midfield though i went with keaton parks keaton parks will take someone on anywhere on the field. He is a great vibe. I have Kubo, who has been all vibes all season for the last two years and can play 87 positions. So I need him in my team. And then I've got Evander in there because he's been, I talked about like, there's these moments where he's like, why did you make me score against you? I hate that you did that to me. Then my front three, I'm going striker-less, is Diego Luna, Coco, and Oriano. I don't know that I have a center forward.

I mean, Patrick Ajegon obviously has a threat to me in every team. Every team I put together. That dude's vibes, though, man. Yeah, he is. I think he's vibes. I think he is, too. But I don't want to disrespect him. He's in a best 11, not a vibes 11.

You want to disrespect Evander? Yeah, I don't want to disrespect him. He's in a best 11, not a vibes 11. You want to disrespect Evander? Yeah, I don't know. I'm okay with it for now. He's in eighth place, his team. He'll take what he can get at this point. That's our vibes 11. Oh, I needed that. If you have differing, let us know.

We are open to all suggestions as well. Let's dig into the weekend. A lot of the teams that played on Wednesday have big games this week. So I already mentioned LAFC face off against FC Cincinnati in Cincinnati. I have zero idea who will be there for LAFC. Like if you remember back to Columbus playing at Philly midweek after that, it was a completely rotated team they still won lafc that game that week had to go and play in the open cup semi-final so they didn't get the chance to sort of like take a game off if it was me i would do it i'd be like hey nathan ordaz you've got 180 minutes in

you for this game you are playing two positions and we're doing the rest of it without you. Give my guy Luca Bombino a chance. Best left back in the pipeline. Make it happen. But like, this should be must win for Cincinnati. On paper though, it is an exciting matchup and the best of the weekend. Yeah. On paper is a very good qualifier. He's Carlos Vela, 90 minutes fit. Maybe he can give the good qualifier. Is Carlos Vela not in his fit yet? Maybe he can give the shift. Yeah, it's important for Cincy in terms of playoff seeding. They're level on points with Columbus, but Columbus have a game in hand. Obviously, Columbus had their own midweek game,

and they're getting the benefit of LAFC having played a final midweek. So, Cincy, this is a good spot for them to pick up points. Anecdotally, do you remember after Cincy walloped Miami? What was it, 6-1, 5-1, whatever it was. Incredible game. That's when it looked like we had a six-team race for the Shield. Turns out it was just one. And we were looking like all these games were forecasting for it by the end of the season. Look at all this.

Columbus plays Cincy and Miami plays Columbus and LAFC plays them and the Galaxy play them. Well, one, there hasn't been shield sticks for any of them. Messi wasn't back for Cincy. Cincy had their own injuries. Columbus plays every day and a half now. LAFC is coming off this. All these games that I was so excited for and just hoping we're going to get full strength, we're going to get rested teams or whatever.

None of that has happened in any of the seven games, and I'm really disappointed about it. Yeah, and you're going to lose another one here with this game probably, although it could be really fun for all those stakes as well or because of all those cases as well of like just pure chaos the other big one this weekend both for standings for playoffs and for rivalry is the Hudson River Derby happening so Red Bulls against NYCFC these are two teams we've talked about a lot over the last few weeks of like the downturn and the struggles this is a rallying point moment for you also this could be a firstround playoff matchup for you.

If you end up being the 4-5, which is very likely, it could maybe be a 3-6, probably not. With the way these two teams – It cannot be. It's not mathematically proven, but let's save the suspense. The Red Bulls are not making up a 12-point gap on Columbus or Cincy. And NYC probably cannot make a 15-point gap. Never mind.

It is mathematically impossible because of the tiebreaker. So it could be the 4-5. Glad we sorted that. Just want to say glad we stopped everything. You're welcome for doing it. But it would be a fascinating first-round playoff series, and this could be the decider of who's the home team in that and who has the two games at home versus the one game,

which would be pretty big. And this is, I think a chance for NYC FC to stop the slide that they've been through. Like you come off, stop the steel. Yeah. You, I didn't say that.

You did. You come off. I hate you so much right now. You, you come off the James Sands equalizer You know, in front of a huge crowd At home against Miami

All that stuff in the last game Can you grow on it? Can you ride on that? And like, here's an opportunity Where you know Red Bulls are going to let you have the ball They're going to let you dictate the game This is a matchup you have struggled with a lot

In the past Can you take advantage of it this time? And I think this is a huge chance for NYCFC. And for Red Bulls, they always, I mean, it's a big game because they're rivals and there's all of that going to it. But I think this should be one for NYCFC to try and take advantage of. I would go the other way. I think that that rings true for both teams, that this is a chance to get right.

What you say is these teams, neither of them have won since early July in MLS. It is what it is, right? So the rallying cry around this is it's a derby. Who cares? Throw everything out. And then if you win, you have a good performance. In the locker room when you're all celebrating, you kind of come together. It's like who cares about what's happened the last three months?

Who cares? Nothing matters. This is the start of a new chapter of the season, and we're building towards the playoffs. So I think this is a good time of the season for it to happen for both these teams, because if it was Red Bulls against Montreal, or NYCFC against Nashville, a 2-0 good performance, good win doesn't do as much to jolt your season as playing your rival and potentially winning that game. On the Red Bull side of things, Emil Forsberg, as of a week ago, I think Sandro Schwarz said that he was likely to be back for this game. What? I didn't even know we were allowed to say his name anymore.

Now you're going to start throwing him on the field? Yeah, allegedly. I haven't seen any updates today. I believe he did his pre-game press conference today if we're both going to be searching that but um yeah if he'll be ready sandra swars on emil forsberg um said they'll decide if he starts or comes off the bench in the next 36 hours that sounds to me like he's coming off the bench but regardless this team is bleak without this attack i'll say sorry is bleak without forsberg they're a different team with the man like if if he's gets into good form again starting with nycfc

going down the stretch like you could like that could be the best team in the next group like again i still even with forsberg i don't think that they're good enough to challenge the top three but like that is a different i guess side of again the slop that has been you know four through honestly 15 in the eastern conference yeah um nycfc already beat red bulls this year they beat them uh late on last year as well so it's been over a year since red bulls have beaten nycfc um and it's a big one for these two teams, as we said, heading into those standings. If Forsberg's back, it changes a lot. He draws attention. He sets players up in different ways. He's such a threat on set pieces that it changes, I think, a little bit how you defend, where you're willing to give up those chances and then the challenges

you're willing to make around the box. So it's a big difference for this team. Out West, some really good matchups. Kansas City have to go to St. Louis. That is brutal. You get eliminated from the playoffs during a two and a half hour weather delay on Saturday. You fly to LA, you lose a cup final in extra time. And now you have to go play your rivals who will be eliminated but aren't yet. And you probably have nothing left. Like this is, I think this is a recipe for disaster for Sporting Kansas City and for St. Louis. They've been playing some better soccer. There's an opportunity to like get a good win against your rival and sort of make it a cleaner finish to the end of the season. And then all the Cascadia teams in some good matchups.

So Vancouver facing off against Portland and Seattle facing off against portland and seattle facing off against houston uh on this weekend i assume vanny sartini shows up with prosecco on the sideline and he's just drinking straight from the bottle and celebrating into this game i don't know the group vancouver brings out there but reminder takayoka didn't start because they needed the Canadian and Bomer was amazing. Stuart Armstrong hasn't started a game yet. Ahmed got subbed out at halftime. So there are pieces there for Vancouver to put out on the field and I think put together a fairly competitive team. But this one's going to be vibes. Vancouver gave up four goals last week against the Galaxy. Portland, we've talked about seven million times. I would expect this to be a 3-3 game at worst.

Yeah, I don't know. I'm worried to see what it's going to look like after winning the Canadian Championship. Again, I know that they're fighting for seating. But, like, Vancouver, again, whether they're 5th, 6th, or 7th, I don't think it makes a huge difference. Like, I think that there are a lot of really good teams in the Western Conference. Look, Portland could overtake Vancouver, and they could slip into the play-in round,

which I think would be pretty disastrous, but they have a game in hand. There's still time here. Again, the most important result was Wednesday night, so I'm worried about a little bit of a letdown. It may be an intensity, but we'll see. I do hope that we see more minutes from Stuart Armstrong because that's the most fascinating thing about this team

going into the playoffs for me. How does he look? How does he elevate the team? And most specifically, how does he change the role, the focus, the ability to contribute goals for Ryan Galt? If Stuart Armstrong is somebody who is elite at ball progression, then Ryan Galt doesn't have to do a lot of middle third work, and he can potentially be freed up to do more in the attack. So I'm looking forward to seeing what that looks like over the course of the end of the season. But I sent out a month ago, and I know that they're being careful about bringing him in. So that's the most interesting thing about this club going into the end of the season. Yeah, the other name I'd throw in there

is Sam Adekube. Like, he was hurt for a while. He came back. He has not played a full 90 since. He's been in and out. He plays a lot of spots for them. He was a big-time signing. He started at right wing back this game. But then his best moment was playing a cross in from the left

while rotating across the field. And then when Ahmed comes off, he ends up at left wing back with Raposo coming back on. He's another big part of this team. I think the best pure soccer game we're going to see this weekend is Seattle-Houston, right? All of these games have this team played midweek, this team played midweek. Seattle-Houston, two teams fighting for the potential of a home game. If not, they're fighting to get that little bit higher in the standings.

Also, two teams, I think, that both believe they could make a Western Conference Finals this year. And there are two teams where, for the most part, what we see, they don't lose because of weak link soccer moments, right? They are two fairly composed, well-built rosters in which it's normally the lack of a moment of brilliance that they can both falter in, but it's not very often like, oh, this team just tripped over themselves, like you talked about at the bottom of the East, and that's why they lost.

And so I think we could see a really good game. Houston's been really fun to watch the last two or three weeks. They've been, outside of the chaos of Galaxy in Portland, they might be the best soccer team that's not named Columbus or played for Wilfred Nance in the league. And, like, you should always tune in for them. They should always be on your TV when they're playing. 100%. I couldn't agree more. I would, I would add that Houston has been playing incredible ball for the better part of two years. So yeah. Yeah. They finally gotten healthy. Ponce needs to score goals, but there's a lot of options there and they have been fun to

watch. Well, with that, we get to the end of our show. So we will be back next week to review all things. Monday recap to sort of reset the standings, everything that happened this weekend. There are a lot of like weird must-win games because you look at teams that are trying to make the playoffs. Montreal playing San Jose, that's a must-win game for CF Montreal. Philly playing Atlanta.

Gotta get the main screen. That's a must-win game. Must-win does not mean super entertaining. Low-key, the other two games to point out for people, if you're looking as a neutral for things to watch. Minnesota hosting Colorado. Minnesota on a good run, but they haven't played the best soccer. Colorado have been phenomenal. And Dallas hosting Orlando. I think we're going to find out if Dallas is for real in a game like this against a better opponent and a team that's also in good form like them. All right, that's all for us. Monday recap, tomorrow, mailbag show, and the interview coming out. Next week, we will have all of our coverage as well across Major League Soccer and WSL as we continue on here at SoccerWise.

Thank you all for listening. We'll talk to you again very, very soon.