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Episode 167: Another Day at the Office · Tectonic Takes

• Tectonic Takes: What's up guys, welcome back to another episode of Tectonic Takes. We're back after our big win, big 4-1 win at LAFC. I didn't think that it would happen, I'll be honest, but super happy to be sitting here today with my co-host Devin. Devin, how are doing? I didn't expect any of this to happen either. As you can tell, you know, from different podcasts, my voice is partially gone. I went down to LA to watch the game myself. I had a really good time. Screamed my lungs off. know, winning 4-1, you gotta scream at every goal. It was one of the best away experiences I've ever had. And, you know, I was there in the MLS Cup win. I was in attendance in LA when we beat Chicago Fire. ⁓ And that that's pretty close up there. I'm not gonna say that a regular season game was was close to ⁓ You know winning an MLS Cup for the earthquakes But you know, it's on that emotional level of beating your rivals away in their own home stadium ⁓ I Thoroughly enjoyed myself We're back here now ⁓ Abram what what did you what did you think of the win? I mean, I thought a lot about the win ⁓ very definitive performance, I don't think there was anything that went wrong, was no like, there's nothing we could look at and be like, okay well we could do so much better here, I don't think anyone is blaming Reed Roberts for that on goal, I think that's the only blemish on this game, and if I was a time traveler, I wouldn't instruct him to not put his leg out there, You don't know what happens at that point. ⁓ You know, like you have to go for the ball. I don't know. And sometimes that happens and that's unfortunate, but nobody's upset with him. ⁓ And obviously he has been performing really well this season. So you earn yourself one of those. If you defend really, really, really well, you only concede what? Three goals in eight games. Something like that. You get like five clean sheets. You get to score an own goal, guess is what we're saying here. Let's take on it takes part. That's the tectonic take of the day. You get to score an own goal if you don't let any in the other games. ⁓ But no, a fantastic performance. I am curious, Devin, what year was it where we won that the MLS Cup against Chicago? You're putting me on the spot because I think it was 2003. But I can't remember if it was a 103. I was very young at the time. Right. was going to like, how young were you? I was extremely, I mean, was born in 97. So was either about four years old or six. That's the best six. Yeah. That's very young. I don't, yeah, I don't think I would, uh, obviously it's a special moment, but more so of like hearing about it rather than like the, the actual memory you're forming yourself. But, uh, Yeah, very glad you were able to get to this game. I unfortunately was not able to go. I just wasn't feeling the trip to LA. Just way too tired. I don't know if you guys can hear, but I've been sick for the past week. So that's been a struggle to deal with. But this was a wonderful game. We saw an assist from Niko Shakaris, two goals from Usani Buda, one goal from... ⁓ Timo Werner and an additional assist for Timo Werner. this being the first game where Timo has scored, do you think that that's gonna help, ⁓ not just his image in the eyes of Quakes fans who might be disappointed with him so far, but also just like help him, you know, gain the momentum to get more goals in the future? It's funny because the broadcast studio had mentioned that Verner and you know, we'd mentioned that or someone had mentioned this to Bruce, but the broadcast studio had mentioned that that team of Verner was not a superstar player. And then Verner goes out, gets one goal, one assist. And then at the very end of the game, they mentioned that Verner is a superstar player. ⁓ We know he's got, you know, the talent and the skill to, you know, produce many more numbers and tallies for this team. ⁓ you know, we kind of thought that he's going to start the earthquakes season, maybe a little shakier than, than what he's producing right now. ⁓ but he's showing that he's ready to compete with the highest level teams in this league. And I really enjoy Timo Werner's presence, despite, know, my questions and criticisms of, of, of him in the way that like his absence gives us a lot of goals, but here he is in the starting lineup. and we've got four goals in the game. So it seems like they've really adapted to Timo Werner's style and they're kind of reaping the rewards in that way. Timo's one of those guys where he makes the opposition defense reconsider every action and move in every step of every play. He attacks the defense, he makes them worried, he makes them stutter step. In any way, He gives himself the advantage by pressing the opposition as fast as he can, finding that open space, know, collecting a bunch of defenders to him, which opens up other players as we saw it, you know, ⁓ somewhat with, with the Seni Buddha, you know, he's on the left-hand side. LAFC shifts over to that side and leaves Buddha wide open. It's, it's those kinds of plays that Timo Werner's just presence alone as a historical ⁓ trophy winner in Europe. will do to opposition teams. kind of forget about other players. And that's exactly what he did. That's exactly what happened. He attacked the defense on his goal, ⁓ made him a little bit worried, fell to the ground, completely missed the ball, and he was able to slot it past Hugo Luis. And then the first goal, or the first assist, he just ran down the wing, ⁓ collected a defender, and then crossed it over to an open VUTA. It's very routine for Werner, but those type of routine plays is what's needed to overcome a league ⁓ dominant figure like LAFC. Did you see something similar, Abel? Yeah, mean, ⁓ you were saying that it's routine. It's routine in what we expect from a European caliber player. Those things, you need to do them well to be at Even an okay standard in European leagues and you know people want to forget I'm looking at his you know transfer value across his career in December of 2020 he was worth 100 million Like he was a big deal at one point, right? And he became a meme. But just the standard of play is elevated when Deema Verna is on the pitch. That's not to say that we don't play well without him. You know, I think that flitty dad, Eric put it really well when it's like, we don't play worse without him, but we do play better with him, right? And you know, just to... to make the statement like, well, we're better off without him when he's not playing, the team looks better or whatever. We look really good with or without him and that's great. But it's a silver-leaf simplistic in my opinion and not really taking into account how good he has been when you kind of disregard him like that. In 276 minutes, he has one goal, three assists. In two starts, he has four goal contributions. This is really good. Right? And because we're having such a good season, we're already spoiled. And we're like, well, you know, let's put Skean. Like, you know, that's who the backup is. It's either Timo Werner or Jack Skean. And having Buddha on the left and then Skean on the right. And I love Skean. I think Skean provides a lot of value to the team. I've said this time and time and again. But there's a reason we brought in Timo Werner and it's discalibur performance. ⁓ For him, none of that was like, you know, he didn't make it look super hard. ⁓ I think that there is more in the tank for him. I do think that, you know, there was an opportunity or two where I was like, can you shoot though? Like, could you like be the man and, you know, I don't mean like be a man. I just mean be the man, like be the DP that we brought you into be. like- I you were referring to that one left footed op- Where he was on kind of like a break past the defense and just tried to cut back to his right? that the one you were thinking about something like that? Yeah, there was there was the opportunity where I was like you have to shoot like you have to test the keeper or something There was also an opportunity against ⁓ There was two two moments against Phoenix where you know, I wish that he would have shot and he has a good shot We've seen it before like when he was worth a hundred million, you know, like he can do those things You know if I'm gonna be you know on the opposite end of the spectrum if I'm gonna be cynical of his performance, I think that For the goal he scored the optimal pass the optimal decision is probably a pass to Judd because You know, maybe a better defender there gets the ball Because he's totally whiffed on that tackle right like he had the angle to take the ball away. He didn't do it just because he went over the ball. Timo is very lucky in that scenario where, you know, if he had passed the ball to Judd, then the opportunity to present yourself for the defender to win the ball there. Luckily, he ended up, you know, getting the advantage in that that situation and sliding it away. But, you know, that's not always going to be the case. ⁓ Yeah, interjection, too, on that on that point. ⁓ You know, that's the reason why we call it. Teemo or why Teemo's nickname is Turbo, because it's that very same play that you just mentioned where he turned on the jets, know, quick change of direction, which caused the defender to hesitate and to, you know, reconsider his next action or move. And that kind of threw the defender off. So when he attempted to tackle his head was all, you know, discombobulated. ⁓ And I think that gave Timo the advantage and will continue to give Timo the advantage in future games. Yeah, just the sonic boom that emulated off of Timo's shins, just as he made that turn. No, I agree. Timo is very fast. ⁓ And he's only 30, turned 30 very recently. People were surprised. I saw comments like... Why is why is Timo Werner running fast? Like well, he's turbo Timo like this has been a thing He's a physical specimen and he's been like this his whole career where you know, even if he's not doing well particularly in in certain scenarios His physical numbers has always been you know, very good I'm not surprised that he has become a very strong piece in the the quakes front line. I am surprised about how little impacts in a way like how we are still doing really well without him ⁓ you know which is a very good problem to have ⁓ where it's like you know if he's fit then then we can we could beat teams like LA but ⁓ against you know against other teams as well we can still put up a good fight ⁓ and honestly at this point i'm like are we ever gonna lose again And not trying to jinx it here, but like, we look very good and I'm very happy with where we are at the moment. ⁓ Devin, I want to ask you, aren't you glad that we didn't go with a full strength lineup against Phoenix, where we won that game anyways because we were the stronger side, and then we would have had guys too tired to face this LA team, which we're good. You know, they had a lot of glimpses of, you know, quality, but obviously they're not at full strength, but they could have hurt us in a lot of instances. Yeah, I actually have many opinions on that. you know, specifically for the Phoenix game, I'm thrilled that we made a ton of lineup changes. And I'm glad that I predicted, you know, Nani would get the start. before the game had even started. recorded Monday, Wednesday they played, Nonny started. It didn't have that best, you know, the best game that I think he could have had. But I think it was just due to height and strength and they were trying to utilize Nonny in ways that I think we could have seen in other departments of his skill sets. ⁓ But that being said, you know, yeah, we did rotate a bunch of the... the guys, you know, and it showed our true character to our depth that these 2026 substitutes who would have been like on the reserves in 2025 are stepping up and made us look like a professional soccer team versus a USL team. And I know Bruce Arena gave credit to them, but you know, players like Jack Czizinski and Nick Fernandez. all stepping up to the plate to put the ball in the back of the net, ⁓ along with other players that we hadn't considered, Max Floriani getting the start as well. ⁓ Those type of guys deserve minutes and they came out to shine versus ⁓ Phoenix Rising and that also gave us the advantage heading into LAFC. where we rested our starters. Meanwhile, LAFC had to use their starters because they had a Champions Cup game, which they, you know, they moved on to the next round versus, I believe, Cruz Azul. And it, you know, after the conclusion of the Earthquakes versus LAFC game, I don't know why I said it like that, but the LAFC game, their head coach had made mention that, you know, it's a tight schedule and... He just kind of touted his, explained his frustrations about fixture congestion and the fact that he has to use his substitutes. But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking you have one of the deepest squads in all of MLS. I don't really think you should be sitting here complaining because we just saw you guys, you know, head to Portland and almost walk away with at least a point. You know, unfortunate, it was like a Wando goal at the very end, but ⁓ your depth has substance, you know, and It's a shame that he kind of has to like, in his mindset, he's forced to think that it's either his starters or bust, which in MLS, I mean, I kind of get it. You we've had many of those moments in years past where maybe our depth didn't step up to the plate like they are this year, but at the same time, like they have a good skill set, you know, why not use them? ⁓ But, you know, to that point, we had the advantage. Our players are ready. They were arrested, well arrested, and they were in the mindset to win the game. It's an away game, but they don't care. They'll treat it as a home game as such. They'll use the home fans to their advantage and absorb that atmosphere like it's their own. I think that's really unique to our players. Did you get the same feeling, Abel? Yeah. I'm really happy with the way that we handled our squad in this stretch. So we had to win the game against Sporting Kansas City ⁓ and You know, we want to go far in this open cup ⁓ Bruce has said the goal is to win it but they're not gonna say the goal is to lose it I do I do believe that if the opportunity presents itself when we get far we'll try to win it But ⁓ I think that you know, it was probably the right call to go out to second team against Phoenix Rising here. It does become a little bit more complicated ⁓ for the Minnesota game because that's a team where they have a much better chance of beating us with their first team. ⁓ Obviously being an MLS squad, ⁓ it's very scary. It's not as scary as the alternative, which was Sacramento Republic, ⁓ which Even though they're a USL squad, I'm just like, I just don't want to play them. just, I just, I hate playing them. ⁓ just cause it hurts so much more. But, ⁓ no, I'm very happy with how the team was rotated. ⁓ you know, Timo Werner got 45 minutes against Phoenix just to get a little bit back into fitness. I'm assuming that he had been, you know, training and, preparing for this LA match, you know, for, for a while now. ⁓ thankfully he was fit. I don't know how long he played ⁓ in terms of the minutes, but he played a good chunk of it obviously and was very influential in that match. ⁓ So, and obviously if he had played more than 45 against Phoenix that would have been a struggle because ⁓ as many of you know we went to 10 men in that match and so having Teemo Werner just defend for his life for another 45 minutes that would have been unnecessary. And I know that like, yeah, you want to have your best players on the field at all times, but you do have to a good manager is good at managing his squad. And this is an example of where I feel that Bruce Arena got it right. I don't think he got it right all the time last season. We were, you know, probably very vocal about that last season feels like, you know, decades ago at this point. But I'm sure that we had things to say about that at the time. ⁓ But so today we spoke to Useni Buddha for the media availability. We're recording this a little later in the week than we usually do. because of the game happening on Wednesday, we had Buddha for the availability on Tuesday. And I enjoy having Buddha for these mini presser things, things that he's well spoken. Devin, for your question, I don't. Remember how you phrased it, but ⁓ were you happy with the answer that you got? Yeah, I mean we were just talking about how you know, the earthquakes are gonna roll into this stretch of midweek games and and a heavy saturated schedule I just wanted to kind of see where at least Buddha's head is that as well as you know, maybe Him talking about the rest of the players or the rest of the team. I had asked him Well, actually I started by mentioning that, you know, we're on a five game win streak, you know, if we had United strand, he would have had a haircut by now, but ⁓ I asked him about the five game win streak and you know, what does that do to the players mindset with Austin FC and St. Louis City coming up, both weak teams and how they may handle their ⁓ potential complacency. ⁓ I think he answered it really well and he said, we're going to take this one game at a time. We just look at the next game and see how we can handle the opposition. ⁓ I'm kind of paraphrasing here, but it's kind of like my takeaway of how Buddha answered it. It's not necessarily just the words, but it's also like the intention of the message. ⁓ He he's just one game at a time and also just look at what he can do ⁓ versus each opponent. ⁓ and how he can utilize his skill set against individual matchups and whatnot. For that reason alone, I really look forward to the Austin match, but by the time this is placed publicly, the Austin match will have concluded and we'll be preparing for the St. Louis game. ⁓ But I wanted to go back to Osemi's performance. versus LAFC and you know, looking here on the shot conversion rate versus LAFC, it's a, on MLSsoccer.com is a four, the highest conversion rate ⁓ in, you know, among both teams. ⁓ Obviously, you know, two goals is a ridiculously good stat versus the highest, you know, one of the most dangerous teams in the league. and one of the most dangerous goalkeepers because, you know, LAFC fans were, you know, sending praises to Hugo Larice for not conceding a single goal all season. ⁓ And then, you know, here we go, scoring four goals and Osani Buda was half of them. I think it takes a lot of courage and you enjoyed this part specifically, Abram, so I'm gonna send this over to you after this segment, but both of these goals that Osani Buda scored were near post. Yeah, ⁓ both of them were really good finishes. I'm looking at the first goal, ⁓ in the 53rd minute. It has an X sheet of 0.06. That's a very fine margin. and it's just because of the situation that Werner plays Buddha in. ⁓ that's the only reason that goal is like, you know, kind of possible because of where you know, Larissa is having to get across the entire goal and and is beating us at post You know, that's that's a goal where it is very fine margins It's on Buddha to you know, pick apart that gap But you can't look at it or at least I don't look at it as like okay. Well, Luis you got to do better there Buddha second goal though Where you know Nico set up that play perfectly where he was he looked over Yes, if you seen the highlights, you know, I'm talking about when he receives the ball. He looked over his shoulder is Buddha there Yes, he goes straight towards the goal. He doesn't look at Buddha another time until after he plays it back to the Buddha he waits until the left back commits and and goes toward a Preston Judd and then he plays it over to Buddha who just sets it up for himself and then you're like, okay, well, this is a difficult chance because Luis is much more set in this opportunity. But I think what makes this goal go in is just how unexpected it is. Where, you know, anyone of the same mind facing Hugo Luis is going to go to the back post. But just, you know, that's not him. He is going near post with this and let me look at the XG for that record. Yeah, you know, I kind of want to touch up on that goal too, because, you know, we've been singing Nico's praises since basically the start of the season and how well he's done, but there's no but. I mean, if you take a look at that second Buddha goal, Nico draws in basically three defenders, opens up space, I think on both sides for Jack Skane on the left and Nocene Buddha on the right. And he chose to play it to Buddha. But it's that hold up play that I'm talking about, that specific skill set that I was just praising Werner for, that Nico is now taking into account ⁓ with, you know, per game. And I think that's the part that Werner's rubbing off on Nico is he's taking the defenders on, he's holding up play, waiting for the right moment, and then plays it over to Buda who's wide open because Nico is able to, you know, he's so dangerous that LAFC players now consider him a threat. And three players have to mark him, opening up space for others. And that's why I think Nico is just so unique for this team and in the league. And he's considered one of the more dangerous players of the league with, you know, six points, I believe, on the season, maybe more now. ⁓ It's those types of things where you're making a big name for yourself and you can finally open up players. who may not be recognized or as recognized ⁓ by other clubs or league analysts ⁓ as Osenibu. And that's not to say Buddha shouldn't be recognized. It's just technically he's not as recognized as Niko and Timo. And that's what you want to utilize, ⁓ that open space. And ⁓ sure enough, we did that. And I'm really impressed with Niko's performance and... I guess just overall all of the attackers that we have because I mean we've been saying it over and over again and the players have been saying it over and over again. This is a proper team, a proper team. You everyone's in it to win it together and you see that and I think that that specific goal that we're talking about with with Buda's second kind of exemplifies the entirety of the season so far with just goals can come from anyone. And it came from those two in particular. Yeah. So I looked at the opportunity for a Buddha second goal and it is a 0.10 XG, not very high XG, massive overperformance for a Buddha. I think he gets 0.16 XG for those two shots. And to get two goals out of that is really big. Just a testament to how well placed they were. And you know, even though Luis goes to the back post, like he kind of shifts to because he assumes going to his right. ⁓ It just it's hit so hard that he doesn't have time to react. And even though the ball is so close to him in proximity, there's nothing he could do. Great shot by Buda. And that's why, you know, he's he's been, you know, perennially perennially starting this season. ⁓ You know, I don't know. If you started every game, believe he has. ⁓ So that'd eight starts for him. ⁓ And it's very well deserved in my opinion. think that... You know, we've had things to say about his, you know, general chance creation and stuff like that. But when Nico is top of the league for chance creation with 32, I believe, at time of the recording... ⁓ You know the chance creation coming from elsewhere and if he's gonna be able to pop up and make goals Come out of nowhere Consistently then I say that we still you know keep running with him if he's still gonna be able to do this and also he had a really big part to play in the own goal that ⁓ Lafc scored where he was the one to pop it up across the goal to Jamar Ricketts in the first place Jamar plays across down to Nico and Porteous I believe is how it's pronounced you know tries to clear it out but Ends up in an own goal, which is very great for us Yeah, another situation where you know Buddha came up really big Abram did you did you hear the soccer wise podcasts? I think that was released today or yesterday. I didn't I didn't get a chance So I believe specifically, Bolaru had a... There were many earthquakes players that were mentioned and there's one in particular ⁓ after Bolaru, but I want to talk about Bolaru's performance for this game. You know, he has two assists. ⁓ One of the assists, he received the ball from an errant LAFC pass and nutmegs the defender or the midfielder. And then sends the ball over to Timo Verna who then scores the goal. ⁓ And then the other one, I can't remember exactly. that one, he gets a hockey assist on that one. That's the one where Timo crossed it to Buda. But then he gets a direct assist on Timo Verna's goal. Yeah, the hockey assist, I'm still like, I'm glad they have it, but I'm still like confused why it's not a separate category, if that makes sense. But anyways, thank you for the correction. It's those types of plays, you know, that I just praised Werner for, where Bo looks for that open space and takes advantage of it. And, you know, he draws in midfielders, he draws in defenders and opens up space for others. And I'll say that again and again, just because of how important it is. ⁓ I was just very, very openly impressed by Boleroo. And I know... We keep saying that we're impressed by Bo's performance, but I think it's also that storyline of Bo's history and where he came from. He came from college, he came from the draft, and then went to the town FC or Quakes 2 for a little bit, and then joined the first team. And you don't really see those performances necessarily from guys who make it up that path. And it's not to say that they don't deserve that level of performance, but... It's from guys that you don't necessarily expect it from. And Bo has really taken on a new role in responsibility and maturity. And this game versus LAFC, you could see a clear difference between young Bo and old Bo, or current Bo. He's not old, but ⁓ current Bo. ⁓ Yeah, with those two assists and, jeez, yeah, no shots on target. kind of browsing the stats here. ⁓ know, along with those two assists, he had a key pass as well. So it could have been, you know, technically three assists, but ⁓ yeah, just really impressed with Bo and all the midfielders who have kind of just taken up these specific roles. ⁓ The next player that SoccerWise had mentioned, and I'm so glad that they mentioned his name, is Benjic Akanovic and you know during the build-up to this LAFC game Abram we we had talked about the importance of Benjic Akanovic heading into this game and in how the impact how he may impact Benji, not Benji, Denny Buonga's performance you know and if he was to shut him out then that would be huge for for the earthquakes and in mitigating shots on target and points and sure enough as I'm looking at the stats You know, Buang, it didn't have a single shot. Not, you know, not even, not even a shot on target. The only two players for LAFC who registered a shot on target were Jeremy Obobacy, who the quakes are very, very familiar with, and Young Min Sun, who registered two shots on target. So between, you know, between these, all these players that played, there's only three total shots on target with this high scoring, high caliber. offense and midfield you kind of expected to see more but I think this is because of of you know Benjic Akanovic's influence shutting a lot of these top named players down in the league and specifically Denny Buonga who's one of the most lethal if not the most lethal player apart from Lionel Messi this league has seen in a very long time I I'm glad he's been given the praise by soccer wise and you know maybe with consistent performances like this I think I think the national team may may have to reconsider who who plays it right back in the future yeah I don't think that I mean I I don't disagree I think that he could do a job with the team I don't think he wants to and I don't think that they want to just because of how how stubborn the national team seems to have been lately where they're just like these are the players like ⁓ Timothy way out he can play he could play center back right and it's like no he can't I know you want him to but he can't it's like it's like in Finding Nemo like I know you want and to that point so Timothy way I can't play right center back no matter how fast he runs he can't do it Daniel Muny can I Danny Muni could actually do a genuinely good job on the national team. Along with Benjicke Canovic. Who has been, you know, very solid. it's not ⁓ a normal thing to be able to do to just like play a different position entirely. Which is, you know, we do see the ⁓ transition from winger to fullback. But it's more because Like, of the attributes that allow them to be an attacking threat coming from the back, right? So, that, like, you don't usually see a winger become a fullback and then, like, he is a locked down fullback. Like, his main thing is how hard it is to get past him. And that's Benji's game. Not to say he's not good on the attack as well. But if I was to point out something about Benji, it's definitely how fast he is, how physical he is, how good in the air he is. I don't think... I think he could dunk easily. I think Benji could dunk soaking wet with his vertical, genuinely. ⁓ You were mentioning Bolaru, and I saw some stats that were very interesting that I'd like to bring up if that's okay. ⁓ We're looking at 83 % successful jibbling for him. So, and that makes it look a little bit worse. He attempted six jibbles. He successfully jibbled five times. Five passes into the final third. He was only dispossessed one time. And then that's only talking about, you know, his distribution. If we look at his defense, he has one tackle, three interceptions. seven recoveries and was only jibbled past two times. You know, I'm it's, it's, it's special what we're looking at with Bolero and it's a big part of why we've been able to overperform in a lot of people's eyes this season where, you know, this is the point I tried not to make too much. Say, say, Bolero came to us on a DP contract, right? His name's Bo Larino. He is a Brazilian that we bought off of a big European team. And we just put him in the squad. With this kind of performance, you wouldn't question that. You'd be like, yeah, that's our DP center mid, Bo Larino. And he looks so good. Like, the way that he moves the ball. You know, the way that he distributes, the way that he wins the ball back. Just, so... It's so valuable to have a player who can make an interception, make a nutmeg, and then before you know it, you are now on the counter attack. Like, within seconds. Let me, let me say it again. He made an interception, then nutmegged the guy he intercepted, and then sent us on a counter attack. A fast break. Huge. These kinds of things are not normal. ⁓ So obviously we're very big on Bolivar here. But we also just want to say why we're huge on Bolivar. I mentioned Danny Mooney. Very good defender in his league. He's looking like one of the better defenders in the league. And not just because the quakes have been so solid where I think only Seattle has ⁓ Only been scored on three times this season. I think it's us in Seattle and a big part of that is Muni, you know, just with his recovery speed is incredible. I think the fastest defender period in the league and the only there's only two players faster than him. One of them is Jamar Ricketts, who is also incredibly incredibly fast. Sorry. ⁓ It's a very good position we're in right now, but ⁓ Can you tell us about what your perspective is on Meanie? Because I think I've said, you know, about all I could. I'll bring up some stats while you're talking about him. Yeah, I mean, as a general statement, A-Rom, I just want to say how nice it is to just sit here and like talk about how great our players are and how amazing this group is as a whole. In so many other years, you you'd listen to Quicks epicenter or you'd listen to Tectonic Takes. talking about what we as a team can do better or improve. And yet here we are, we're 7-1 and ⁓ just ⁓ like praising everyone on the field because they just look so good. And you know, you're talking about the lethality of each player. It's a collective group. ⁓ And Daniel Munoz specifically is part of that lethality mitigation team. And like, I don't know why I said team, but ⁓ it's part of the mitigation on conceding goals and whatnot. And ⁓ he does a really good job of it. I know that Jack Skean in one of the press conferences had explained how speed is so crucial to this team's success. And it just kind of underlooked or yeah, underlooked. ⁓ I think it's a very accurate statement. Daniel Muni used to be a foldback, believe in college. Correct me if I'm wrong, but ⁓ he used to have a foldback role and then, you know, for us, he's centerback and he occasionally played a CDM, but mostly was a centerback. ⁓ I think you might be thinking of, well, there's a few guys, Tanner Beeson, ⁓ Mac Floriani played a little bit of right back. ⁓ I think I was his name, Reed Roberts. Same thing. He played left back a little bit. But muni from what I remember it was like well He's a center back out now and then he played some CDM because he's so good on the ball I think when he when he first started he may have had a couple of he did he? When he was first brought on because center back is like, you don't trust them right away He was put at right back and then in his first start. I believe he got a yellow card against DC United when his whole thing is that like his entire college career not one yellow card and then first start yellow card I believe that was during the luchi gonzalez days but yes definitely can play right back I'm not I'm not you know saying that but you asked me about a college career that's what I remember if I'm wrong if anybody from ⁓ Danny Maynard's college can correct me feel free in the comments also Big shout out to Dissmiley who is always in the comments of these videos. Shout out Dissmiley. Yeah, we appreciate your positivity and your commitment to being the first person, sometimes usually the only person to comment. And my dad watches all these videos, but even Dissmiley is here supporting no matter what. ⁓ Yeah, I feel like there's so many things to say about Daniel Muni. Yes, he could play fullback is kind of what I'm saying is he has the speed for sure. But he's also, you know, gained, I think a lot of strength in the offseason and he's he's able to body a lot of the big name players and intimidate them as well. You know, he shut down young men son. He helped shut down Danny Buonga. He helped shut down a bunch of L.A.F.C.'s attacking threats. And here we are, you know. talking to each other and the Quakes have what, five clean sheets in the first eight games? That almost for our standards is unheard of and a lot of that is attributed to Daniel Muni and I think I'm gonna play a 60-40 game here and I think 60 % of his success is because of his speed and 40 % is because of his strength. But if he's giving 120 % effort, I wanna give that extra 20%. to his ability to make a successful tackle without conceding a yellow card or conceding a dangerous foul ⁓ anywhere in the box. And I think that that's what helps ⁓ this team succeed game in, game out is to not concede those dangerous fouls. Yes, albeit Reid Roberts ⁓ conceded an own goal, but it's bound to happen. This is his first full-time. His first season as a ⁓ full-time starter ⁓ for this team and you know sometimes you make mistakes in your first full season ⁓ especially in big games but you overall he also contributed to those five clean sheets. ⁓ So yes, speed does play a factor but I think strength does as well and both Daniel Muni and Reed Roberts hold a lot of that you know to their chest and you know... ⁓ display Every attribute they can per game Yeah, and ⁓ you know Danny Mini ⁓ Also, I think ⁓ not just speed not just strength but agility I think is a very underrated You know not stat but attribute where if if long the turns mini turns, you know He is able to not just keep up with for pace but also Just he could turn on a dime and you can't shake him. If you can't run past him and you can't outmaneuver him, what are you going to do? You know, he's only about six foot, so he's not super tall, but he is very good in the air. It's like, I don't know, if you told me Danny Mooney is a DP, I might be like, okay. Like, it's not like, it's not as egregious as as a Bolaroo probably, but like look at these stats, okay? First of all, for his distribution, 6 passes into the final third. That's pretty good for a center back. Let's look at the defensive contributions. 1 tackle, 1 block, 6 clearances, 3 headed clearances, 1 interception, 6 recoveries, jibbled pass 0 times, 100 % aerial duels 1. That's a very good performance from a center back. He is doing that game in game out. This is not new from uni. This is just another day at the office ⁓ Super blessed to have someone like him where when he came in I was like, okay Why are we getting another center back? We have like six ⁓ but now, know, he's one of three center backs and You know, he's the one where I'm like, well don't touch him leave him on the pitch at all times I don't care what happens ⁓ And you know that that's really working out. Obviously we have a Floriani so 3 center backs isn't accurate. We have 4. Sorry Flo. I apologize. um. No my point stands Danny Mini has been incredible this year. Um. And he's shown glimpses of this. He locked down Messi. Messi didn't score that game. Uh and he was pissed about it. He was like that whole kerfuffle after the final whistle. Where he just wouldn't let it go. Where he didn't get fouled by Mewni, but you know, he thought he did. It was the whole thing. He scored 900, I'm sure he be okay with You'll be fine, Messi. There was what, 3-3 that game? And he had a hand to play in every single goal. Yeah. Anyways, that was a while ago. You can watch our episode on that game if you're interested. no, super... Like you said Devon, you mentioned that like we're talking about all our players positively That it's a great place to be Daniel had an amazing save ⁓ He wasn't tested too many times, but when her and son just pulled off a incredible volley off a corner kick or something ⁓ Which was going top bins and Daniel just decides I'm Superman now and floats over to that corner to knock it down And then find themselves like crashing into the post, but getting up right away. I was about to say I was I was terrified ⁓ of the potential of like him hitting his head. were watching the the replay ⁓ on the way home, ⁓ like immediately after the game. And and shout out Luis, who was sitting next to me in the car. We had noticed how close his head was to hitting the post. And I'm like, please, Daniel, you're just so fragile. If you hit the if you hit the post, I am worried to be out for like four months. Thankfully he didn't but yeah very close call. We need to get that man a helmet ⁓ Maybe some some knee pads some shin pads Just get them more geared up because we can't afford to lose him like a pet or check exactly Not just pet or check but like Robocop just like fully kidded out ⁓ Not not that Earl Edwards didn't perform really well in his appearance against Phoenix ⁓ we haven't Talked about Phoenix so just a little bit of like peppering in some commentary here and there but ⁓ Hey, shout out shout out to the commentators for the Phoenix game tectonic takes. ⁓ yeah That that that is true a very big accomplishment for the show. We were mentioned on CBS Colosso or not CBS Colosso but CBS Who are you know hosting that that that broadcast they shouted us out two times ⁓ one in the 43rd once and around the 73rd ⁓ Very happy to be a part of this podcast and moments like that, you know make us realize that We're not just doing this to do it Which is you know, sometimes it feels like that sometimes it feels like only you and I are the ones who see this Devin Well, we record it we put it out and then we don't hear about it and we do it again the next week ⁓ But, ⁓ you know, just the fact that people are watching the stuff we do. We've been trying to expand the content and do interviews and stuff like that. Just to see that it is resonating with people, people are watching it and gaining insight from it. That's the whole reason we do it. It's for the community. ⁓ So, you know, just with that happening ⁓ during the Phoenix match, it's just confirmation that we should keep going. Yeah, and also more interviews are on the way. ⁓ so if you haven't heard, you know, we have a Patreon check out the link in the description join our Patreon and you have access to ⁓ exclusive, ⁓ content, ⁓ within the community and you know, we'll, we'll continue providing better interviews and services for, for you, you listeners. Yeah. One of those, ⁓ Patreon perks is the ability to vote on the next player that we interview. Votes are in. We have a player that we're going to attempt to interview. I haven't asked yet, ⁓ but it should be... There's a very good chance that they should accept. ⁓ If not, we have a backup player as well. Also voted for by our Patreon. And if you have a player that you're like, well, I really want to hear from this guy, there's a very good chance that we could make that happen for you. And there's also a myriad of other benefits, like seeing this episode early. So the people who would want to see it on the Wednesday for the Austin game would be able to. Only the Patreon can do that. ⁓ And also ⁓ extra perks in the Discord. ⁓ Yeah, like Devin said, it'll be in the description for anyone interested in doing that. also all of our content remains free. We don't want to ⁓ pay wall anything. So we still value... the people who have decided not to join the Patreon. ⁓ Which is obviously most of you guys, ⁓ very happy to have you guys, you know, it's not just a Patreon, Patreon only type of thing. Yeah, everything that Abram said. But there is something that Quakes fans want to see Abram and that is the upcoming game versus St. Louis City, see. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I was just going to bring that up. I just had to cough a little bit. So we watched the highlights of the Seattle versus St. Louis game and St. Louis didn't look very good. You know, it's difficult to go into the games and, ⁓ you know, not be complacent. So, I will say that, like, obviously there's a chance of anything happening. ⁓ But this game ended 4-1 in favor of Seattle, who are the team that beat us. So, you know, there's that to keep in mind. But overall, St. Louis hasn't had the best start to their year. ⁓ You know, same with Austin, but like Usseni said, they're going into these games like they're taking it one game at a time but they're gonna treat them like any other opponent ⁓ there is no benefit to you know underestimating anyone at this stage so yeah I mean I'm looking at this game now I feel like we have the upper hand being in better form but you know anything can happen anything that you're worried about for this game Devon You know, I think just judging based off of the eye test and the highlights that we saw, Seattle is very defensive. And maybe that's we should give credit to Seattle. I'm sorry. St. Louis is very defensive. We should give credit to Seattle because obviously they're just a very impactful team, very attacking team. They love to counter. They love to normally sit back and absorb pressure and then counter from that. ⁓ But they they're always dangerous no matter what Seattle is. And ⁓ know, playing against St. Louis, they exposed a lot of cracks. ⁓ Unfortunate to Denny Bawanga, who also exposed some cracks versus the the earthquakes game. ⁓ don't see as much danger from St. Louis. Their only goal came from a very late substitution around the 89th minute. You know, there are some players who are dangerous. but I just don't see any of these specific statistics coming out of St. Louis in particular to really intimidate our back line, Benji Kukanovic or Daniel Muni or Reed Roberts or even Jamar Ricketts who we thought could have been injured. ⁓ I think it was towards the end of the first half versus LAFC. The quakes communications team and they confirmed for me that Ricketts should be okay to play on Wednesday We'll see if he does because I don't know you look at that and you're like, well, he's obviously not you know peachy I Would be a little bit worried about like playing him too much after just he looked hurt. I don't know. I don't know what you want ⁓ But wasn't hobbling. Yeah, I mean He looked to be crying a little bit after he came off. So, you obviously not a great sign. But if they say he's okay... I mean, we also saw him take a big impact in preseason. And I was like, hey, Jamar, you feeling okay? And he was like, yeah. Yeah. I don't know what's up with him. He looks hurt. He's not. And, you know, it's a little bit weird. But obviously he is somebody who can provide a big impact in games that he plays in. So be very happy to have him available. Yeah. And I think he provides a lot, you know, offensively and defensively. ⁓ I mean, we can say that about many of our players, but specifically for, you know, Jamar Ricketts, he just provides so much of a threat. that I think no matter if you put what, Werner at left wing or Jamar, it's essentially a similar level threat. I don't know. Am I going crazy for that tectonic take, Abraham? I think historically, if we're looking at numbers, I don't think that's a crazy take in terms of points per game. They look very good. And I think in terms of how they can get behind a back line. You know find players in the box and You know put defenses on their back foot with their pace there are similarities and you know that so don't think it's crazy to say obviously For me, I prefer team over and then you know tomorrow being able to play You know left back or whatever it is. He ends up playing I'd I like them both to be available at the very least Yeah, and you know as we were watching the stat or the the highlights, ⁓ Sounders versus St. Louis, we had picked up on something in particular and that's the set pieces against St. Louis. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? mean, anyone who saw the highlights, ⁓ well, it was also talked about very broadly across MLS Twitter and stuff where two of the goals were identical. ⁓ They found Christian Roldan at the back post on corners twice. and they were the same exactly ⁓ one was his head one of the ⁓ half bali or full bali but they didn't mark him either time you know that's something where like all of my bad guys ⁓ make sure to pick him up next time make sure you don't do that again all he did it again oops sorry come on ⁓ and that's another reason why i have a lot of confidence for this match but like we have we As people who are putting our opinions online, we have to be cognizant of, you know, being complacent, being too cocky. And so we're trying to not like, you know, say, okay, well, we got this. But if you're looking at the numbers and you're looking at like, you know, what should be the case, I think that we have a very good opportunity to get another three points here. Yeah. I think it's also one of those other things where De Rosario's goal for Seattle. Exposed a lot of cracks for st. Louis's defense as well because st. Louis was ball-watching Significantly, I think for their players surrounding him were ball-watching and De Rosario His back was basically faced to goal and he still managed to score a far post shot ⁓ So with that quality that you see from De Rosario is almost If not more quality from most of our attacking players And we don't have to be faced back to goal. You know, we have players like Bolaru who can absolutely smash a shot in top bins ⁓ from outside the box if they're not willing to press us. We can take long distance shots. Tess Berkey, ⁓ who also conceded a shot near post, ⁓ similar to Hugo Lloris, who are really two of my favorite goalkeepers of all time, apart from Manuel Neuer, that switched to MLS and now I can't really support them because they play for different teams. you know, ⁓ I'm a big fan of both of those goalkeepers and they scored near post goals. And I think if the Quakes can expose that and just play the way they played versus St. Louis or play the way they played versus LAFC, maybe we can rack up a similar amount of goals. Or, or since we have a midweek game versus Austin, We don't really know exactly how that's gonna fare when this releases. ⁓ But maybe there's some rotation there as well. Maybe there's some midweek rotation where we start some of the guys that played versus LFC and then we back off a little bit versus St. Louis and then prepare for Open Cup and whatnot. I'm not exactly sure how Bruce is going to navigate these stretch of ⁓ saturated game weeks, but. You know, I think St. Louis and Austin are easily winnable games based on the fact that their performances are not at all up to par ⁓ per their fans' expectations. Yeah, they're definitely winnable as long as we show up. The Quakes have to be there that day. It can't be, you know, the Shakes. It can't be the Tremors. It has to be the San of the Earthquakes in all their strength. ⁓ And you know that being said They can't go into both these games at a hundred percent in terms of their lineup. They do have to ⁓ Be a little bit ⁓ Smart about how they approach the starting lineup for this Austin game keeping this st. Louis game in mind But looking at the table here ⁓ Austin sits at 13th place with three losses four draws and one win St. Louis is doing slightly worse than them with four losses three draws and one win both of them have a combined Two wins not doing well The only team worse than them right now is sporting Kansas City who obviously have six losses are having a very bad year Hard to see anyone doing worse than them ⁓ But in the recent form of st. Louis they have obviously lost against Seattle they won their open cup game But that's not super relevant to this match They drew against Dallas and they drew against New York City ⁓ So they they do have something about them. It's not like we're playing a team of nobodies here, but If if we do show up if we You know are in the right headspace, which we've seen this team start to slip a little bit They lose focus in in short you lapses if we can avoid that or minimize that much possible and player cards right against austin to still have a full strength team or air as close to possible against st louis then we should theoretically win ⁓ but of course anything can happen ⁓ any ⁓ closing thoughts devin ⁓ don't really have any specific closing thoughts other than you know i i i think this is this is a very a very six point match week, if that makes sense. ⁓ If we walk away with six additional points, ⁓ you know, trying to look at Vancouver's schedule here, there could be a could be a chance that we top the supporter shield standings ⁓ over the rest of the, you know, the rest of the league. And, you know, as we're five points over LAFC right now, I think it's a fun little. fun little side stat. The only goal that we conceded against two of the top teams in the league this year ⁓ was an own goal. of the Western Conference teams, the top three Western Conference teams of last season has scored a goal against us on their own doing. We conceded that and unfortunately it came from Reid Roberts, but you know, Vancouver, shout out. San Diego, shout out. LAFC, own goal. They haven't been able to score against us. I'm really excited for this coming week. 100%. With all that being said, we will be back in a week's time to preview the match against Toronto as well as recap the game against St. Louis and the Open Cup game against Minnesota. ⁓ That's going to be a very interesting match. see how that goes. It's on a Tuesday. ⁓ So we'll see. ⁓ But until then, we'll see you guys next time. Go Quicks. Go Quakes.