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Episode 176: Are The Quakes Gunn-Shy Still · Tectonic Takes

• Tectonic Takes: What's up Quakes fans? We are back with another episode of Tectonic Takes. I'm here joined as always my co-host, my good friend Devin. But you might have noticed that we have a very special guest today. Once again on the show, that footy dad, Eric Sarceno. How you doing, Eric? Doing good, man. I wish I was doing better with ⁓ six points in the pocket, but You know. No, I mean going into both of those games, you know, especially considering the form that we had earlier in the season, which everyone keeps pointing back to like you guys were so good here, but now not good. Like calm down. But these regardless are two games that we should have gotten six points from, like you said. ⁓ Orlando not doing very well this season, although ⁓ this was ⁓ I believe Griezmann's first game in MLS. ⁓ And also Los Angeles Galaxy who are also not doing very well. ⁓ we didn't lose to, but we very much should have won. ⁓ but ⁓ Devin, what was ⁓ we're we're gonna we have to talk about Orlando just a little bit here, but ⁓ we all know the meat and potatoes is LA. What were your thoughts of that Orlando game? ⁓ as disappointing as it was. Well, I mean I wish I had no thoughts, 'cause that was definitely ⁓ a game to forget. ⁓ I mean You know, thinking broadly here, Antoine Griezmann carried much of the momentum for Orlando. You know, he facilitated most of the the passing and directional play. He dropped back to like a midfield position, ⁓ deeper than what you would see as like a false nine would. You know, he was basic basically the midfield and the attack at the same time. and and ⁓ the the the Quakes, you know, it seemed like the Quakes didn't know how to scout. For Griezmann because they didn't know what to see or what to expect 'cause there was no game footage of him. So, you know, the the Quakes kinda walked into that game blind and and Griezmann, you know, said, This is my territory, this is my turf, you know, this is my sport, my game. Here I am. I'm gonna take over San Jose, and sure enough, ⁓ you know, he dominated possession, dominated the game, and ⁓ yeah, killed us for nothing. Yeah, ⁓ Eric, would you say that was More of a case of Quakes losing or Orlando winning or both. Yeah, you know, I could I could go on for days on on what I think went wrong and what but we just started, we got time. You know, it it did feel more like Orlando won. ⁓ I think they came into the game saying, you know, this is a top of the top of the league team. We have to go hard, or you know what I mean? It's gonna be hard fought three points, and they ended up coming in and just having dog walking us. Like it just did not look like the Quakes that we're used to. And I think my issue with it isn't necessarily that they lost. I think it's in the the manner that they lost. I think it didn't look like we're number one team in the league. Like it just didn't. ⁓ I think it was like had we had like a hard fought battle and it's like, ⁓ you know, World Cup jitters, you know, they're kind of getting but it just it felt like it was a a division one team versus a division two team. Like there was just such a gap in the performance which It's disappointing as a Quakes fan because we know the level is higher. ⁓ and I think that's really been my takeaway from the last two games is it's not that the level isn't there, it's that they just haven't found it coming back from the break. And I think that's what hurts more as a Quakes fan. Like if we were just a bad team, losing to a bad team, cool, but this is a good Quakes team. They they are they've beat some of the best teams in the league already. And to go to lose four zero at home just Rough. Yeah, to a team that's already on fourteen points. I I still can't wrap my my rind mind around that. Yeah, Griezmann or not, at the end of the day, you know, it's eleven players out there and one player can make a difference. Shouldn't make that big of a difference against ⁓ top of the league Quakes. ⁓ Devin, I'm gonna go to you next, but I I I wanna give my thoughts first. ⁓ Angus Gunn. So obviously this is his first match in Orlando. ⁓ Big expectations and huge gloves to fill ⁓ following Daniel's departure. It was kind of gonna be unfair for him either way, but it's like four zero is like probably the worst case scenario. ⁓ though personally I don't think all the goals were his fault. I think he could have done better. But also on the flip end, we saw a lot of hate for Daniel right away, ⁓ especially after the Almada two goals in stoppage time. ⁓ where some people felt that was Daniel's fault. ⁓ do you think that that's the case again, or do you think that a lot of the ⁓ I guess hate is ⁓ warranted? I mean, I think it's just misplaced bitterness, to be honest. You know, I I as a fan, I get quickly tired of seeing people blame new play new income players. Like if if players were to see this in the comment section, I just feel like there's an immediate disconnect between players and and and fans and it's just hard to connect to the city that way and hard for the players to fight for you when immediately upon you know your introduction ⁓ the fans don't necessarily have your back or forgive you for one bad game or the th the very first game. ⁓ I think it's pretty harsh. I think a lot of the blame, if anything, can probably go to ⁓ you know, Bruce Arena and and and staff for not getting the deal done at the beginning of the season when it should have been, you know, done that way. and you know, also just for the issues with Daniel, whatever they may be, I think it's it's just difficult for any goalkeeper to come in after Daniel and expect a Daniel level performance on your very first and second game. ⁓ yeah, like you know, we'll we'll get to the galaxy game in a second, but I you know, it's it's duly noted that that Gunn made a step up. From Orlando to Dallas. Yeah, like Gunn had a couple of mistakes against Orlando, but then he played better the next game. And and we're hoping, you know, that we see a trend rise in the positive direction, you know, leading up to to Cincinnati and and thereforth. ⁓ but specifically at Orlando, you know, let ⁓ let ⁓ get the digit jitters out, you know, let ⁓ communicate with with the back line, get things together. It may not go as smoothly, but You know, with with more time comes more consistency. You know, I have I have faith in Bruce. well we'll we'll see what what goes from there. But I think ⁓ fans need to I think fans need to be a little bit more patient with with Gunn because ⁓ hardly anyone in this league can compete with Daniel. For sure, yeah. Like like we said, ⁓ Daniel didn't have the warmest reception either. He grew into those gloves and there's a reason that he is now regarded as one of the best quick keepers we've had. ⁓ but that wasn't the case after his first two games. ⁓ Eric, we had a post that we ⁓ collaborated on today, so I was seeing you get comments all day ⁓ people being very upset about Angus Gunn. ⁓ I saw somebody said, Well he's thirty now, so he's only gonna get worse as if goalkeepers don't go much past thirty. That's he deleted that comment by the way, 'cause I replied to it. Yeah, no longer exists. That's funny. But ⁓ I guess ⁓ what are your thoughts on ⁓ Angus Gunn replacing Daniel? Yeah, I mean I have ⁓ I have a little bit of a bias towards goalkeepers. ⁓ I married one, so I've I have a really like deep understanding of what it takes to be a goalkeeper. I've trained goalkeepers for years and ⁓ I've watched the toll that that goalkeeping took on my wife in college and you know, ⁓ so I I have a soft spot for keepers. I don't like laying the blame solely on keepers. ⁓ I was a fan of Daniel pretty early on in his career. ⁓ with the Quakes, I think I saw some glimpses of of a really good goalkeeper. And I think the injuries early on really ⁓ overshadowed that. the problem I'm having with gun is I think I'm suffering from that same kind of like misplaced ⁓ bitterness that that Devin was talking about. And I don't I don't think it's fair for Gun. I don't think I think you put any goalkeeper in that situation unless they're like a prime Garcias or a Prime Buffon, they're not gonna do well. Like the expectation was was shut out, 4-0 win for the Quakes, and he had to make 30 saves in order to for the fan base to be like, okay, we have Daniel 2.0. So I don't think there was really a realistic scenario where he came out looking like where he came out with the having Quakes fans confidence on him. And I think that kind of sucks for him. I think he was thrown in the deep end. ⁓ a little bit too early with him just getting with the team. There you could tell. I'm I mean, I was behind some of those goals early on. I'm right, and you could just see that there's just a lack of chemistry, which happens when you just met somebody three, four days ago. Granted, he is a professional player. He should be able to, you know, strap his boots on and make the plays, but I don't think two games is enough for us to see. I think The real issue here is the fact that Quakes fans have to wait games to see if our goalkeeper's gonna be good. ⁓ in my opinion, not knowing what's going on in the background, I mean, it it just sucks to see that move be made in the middle of our cup winning season. Like I wish there had been some level of, you know, both people, both parties saying like, let's suck it up till the end of the season and then figure it out. Let's win this cup. And then figure it out. Let's win the supporter shield and then figure it out. And I think that's what most fans are really upset about is like we shouldn't have to be testing a new goalkeeper in the middle of a historic season. ⁓ so I think Gunn kind of drew the short end of the stick here. ⁓ I I like I said, I think you put any goalkeeper that was available in that spot, there's no scenario in which they they come out looking good unless it's like I said, an amazing game of their life. So that being said, I think Gunn did leave a couple of things that, in my opinion, it's like at yeah, your defense can hang you out to drive, but if you're making that save, if you're making like there was a couple goals where he kind of just stood there and the and and you know, the term I like to use, he got treed. He was kind of just sitting there like a tree waving in the wind while the goal went in, and that's what I think ⁓ I don't have the confidence in because I'd love to see him at least attempt to make a save. If he's sitting there going, you know, ⁓ and I'm like, ⁓ he just his reflexes just need a little help. But there was no reflexes. And I think that for me is what's tough to kind of gauge. It's like, give him some time, but I'd like to see a little bit more out of him early on. So it's tough. It's a weird situation. Like I will fully admit that I'm blinded by the fact that that Daniel left. His kids went to school with my kids. He's a super sweetheart. ⁓ you know, so I I've I'm I have a soft spot for Daniel. ⁓ I waited a long time for him to come up and be the number one that we wanted him to be and we were finally being rewarded. So yeah, it's it's it's fifty fifty. I really hope Gunn turns out to be the number one that we need. and I hope that he leads us to the promised land. ⁓ I really do, but I I'm not sold yet. So I'll give him a couple more games. Another initial note of concern previously for Quakes fans was is Daniel's injury history. ⁓ You know, the fact that a lot of Quakes fans are are so high on Danielle, but he missed so much of twenty twenty five. And yet, you know, about two days ago, Danielle, playing for FC Dallas, gets hurt again and is subbed off the field. Now, if we had Daniel at the time, right now, he may be missing another seven, eight matches, and now we're gonna s you know, if if he's still on the Quakes, then we'd be seeing Earl Edwards Jr. or Mon Montali and whatnot. And I think Gunn will provide more of a consistency on field basis than what we would see out of Danielle because he's just so injury prone as what we now see out of FC Dallas. So this is the reason kinda like why I'm asking Quakes fans to be more, you know, supportive and patient with this because I think it's the consistency that that matters here of of being on the field, being present, communicative with the team. And having players in front of Daniel who are confident in or not Daniel, but in in front of Gunn who are confident in him, ⁓ who, you know, are excited to communicate with him. ⁓ and I think that that'll go a long way, especially in, you know, in postseason matches, if we if when we get there, ⁓ you know, imagine imagine losing Daniel like one or two games into a postseason and now that that dramatically changes our entire outcome of the playoffs, you know. FC Dallas will now have to miss Daniel for like the next, I don't know, however many games. But we're so used to that. Now we have a good goalkeeper who I don't believe has much, if any, injury history at all. So, you know, I think, you know, looking at that on the bright side of things with gun, ⁓ that may improve ⁓ you know, just the defensive consistency over time once they finally get used to each other. Well, you bring up a really good point with injuries, and I think something that Quakes fans don't always see and this is the fun part of what we do is I try to like I look at injury reports, I look at the starting eleven, like I I love that stuff. That's my favorite. And something to note and 'cause I have a lot of faith in Bruce Arena, even though this is happening, like I do still think he's the coach to bring us a new cuff. But I think what a lot of Quakes fans miss is the fact that Earl Edwards was injured Wednesday. I don't know if he still is, but he was injured for the Wednesday game. So he wasn't available. So I'm sure that factored into the fact that Gunn was starting. Could you know, if if Edwards was ⁓ wasn't injured, would we have seen him instead and saved Gunn for later on? I think, you know, Bruce was dealt kind of a a a a weird hand in that sort of in in that fact because you know, a first string keeper that is kind of rusty is still better than, you know, a third string keeper, in my opinion. So I think that's That also factored in and maybe that's why we saw him so early. I don't think we should have seen him. I think the classic was kind of a tough debut, but I think that would have been a little bit better than seeing him on a random Wednesday night. ⁓ so I think that factored in. I think a lot of people don't realize that. So there's a lot that we don't know that's happening behind the scenes that, you know, is factoring in here. And I think, like I said, like you said, is we gotta give him time. It just sucks that we have to give him time. Absolutely. And yeah, ⁓ one thing that I thought of while while you guys are speaking is that committing to Daniel is also committing to Earl Edwards Junior. Like, if you're sticking with with Daniel for the rest of the season, you gotta be ready for about like seven, you know, E. E. J. games. ⁓ or whoever the backup is, 'cause as like you said, ⁓ Edwards is injured. And Mentale, we haven't seen anything from Mentale or Crockford. ⁓ we have a few keepers here, but you know, most of them are playing at ⁓ the ⁓ Quakes 2 level so we're not seeing a lot of them at ⁓ first team. I don't know how they would how they would perform. But ⁓ thankfully it wasn't a shutout like we would have hoped but ⁓ we do have rising ⁓ views on Gun after he did put up a few good saves against LA Galaxy. ⁓ Devin, how much did this game do to impact your perception of Gun and what he could become for us. Admittedly, I think you know, I had seen the Orlando game and thought, just like Eric said, that he could have made some improvements here and there on the field, made some better saves. You know, ⁓ just act standing like a tree definitely doesn't help your case. ⁓ attempting to at least make a save of some ti some kind, getting low like Daniel. ⁓ you know, I think the galaxy kind of put a ⁓ A better perspective on what we're expecting to see out of Gun. ⁓ he had that one handed outstretched save in the second half, which I think was a amazing. ⁓ on the counter side of that, there was a moment where Paint Sill in early in the first half was through on goal and I was expecting the offside's flag to be raised, but the ball was so far so far away from Paint Sill I thought Gunn could have come out and protected the ball or just cleaned it up. But he didn't. He stayed close to goal and let Paint still kind of, you know, take a shot. Thankfully Paint Still missed and the offsides flag was not raised. ⁓ otherwise that would have been a goal that I thought Gunn could have, you know, ⁓ done done better on. ⁓ and then obviously the the the first goal by Galaxy was kind of a nutmeg. ⁓ you hate to see that, but I'd rather get mu nutmegged than get scored on a near post. So ⁓ it is what it is, you know. We only conceded one goal, weirdly enough. in the classico, I think that's that's a big improvement over over what we saw versus Orlando. You know, I'll take the small wins, whatever however we can get it. knowing Bruce Arena, it can only get better, hopefully, because, you know, every second season that Bruce has had, these he's walked away with at least some sort of silverware. So ⁓ then again we've also said that about second season Pele and we we all saw how that came out. So ⁓ you never know. Quick's curses or Quig's curses. But I I did see a better perspective out of gun and and I hope to see more versus Cincinnati. I know Cincinnati's a pretty crazy team to expect a good performance out of considering they got a Vander and some some other good players. But yeah, I I think I think the defense will will find some improvements ⁓ despite the fact that Muni's gone for the rest of this week. Yeah, ⁓ Eric, same question. ⁓ how much did this game ⁓ do to impact your perception of gun? ⁓ I mean it started off kind of rough. ⁓ that that first goal, that five hole goal is it was a rough watch. ⁓ especially at the Clasico. I think ⁓ I mentioned that in my video today where something like that just the the stadium went silent after that. It like you lost the fans there and and he was kind of you know crawling back into it. The second half was definitely a much better showing from him. And I think I was there for that, you know, that fingertip save. I watched it from, you know, a hundred yards away and it was beautiful and it showed the class there. ⁓ it also kind of showed me that we're gonna get completely different goalkeeping from Daniel. I think guns height definitely ⁓ is gonna factor in and some of those long-range, you know, top bins goals are probably gonna be non-existent. But that that play for those low balls, I think, is where we're gonna see a huge difference between him and Daniel. ⁓ and that's definitely my biggest takeaway from watching him play is don't expect those those those low. crazy saves that that we would see from Daniel. I think expect to see a little bit more calculated ⁓ of an approach from him. Like you said, he's a little bit more reserved. He's a little bit more kind of likes to stay in his box more than than Daniel did. ⁓ and maybe that's the chemistry thing. Maybe he's, you know, still kind of feeling out his defense and, you know, playing with what he can and can't do. You know, if he comes out wide, he needs to know that his center back is at least making a run towards goal. To make sure that it's covered. And if you don't know your center backs, it's hard that's a hard call. I as a center back myself, I know, you know, the kind of player that I am and the kind of center backs that I've played with. And, you know, it's everybody reacts differently. Some, you know, some center backs are gonna kind of stay and make sure that the cross is covered, and some like me are gonna run the goal and put your hands behind your back and get ready to get smashed in the face to to save the goal. But you know, he doesn't know that yet. So I think ⁓ we'll see if he opens up a little bit more once. Him and Muni and Roberts and you know, whoever's playing ⁓ the outside back position at that time is is ⁓ how they kind of mesh together. Yeah, Abram, you had a better perspective than I think both of us because you sat higher up stadium. Did you did you see anything that maybe put a better perspective on your thoughts on gun? So here's the thing about this last game. I watched a good amount of the game, but ⁓ I'm blaming Ryan at the Quakes for this. They told us that the press conference is happening immediately after the final whistle and we have to get it done before the fireworks start going off. And ⁓ I guess the players didn't get off the field quick enough because they didn't end up doing that. But what that made us do is I had to leave at the eightieth minute. ⁓ so the last ten minutes of the game, seventeen minutes of the game because of the stoppage time, I didn't get to see it. I I I saw the penalty on my phone, but I knew what had happened because ⁓ it didn't sound like a ⁓ penalty had been scored. so that's ⁓ where my perspective is. I saw a a relatively back and forth game. I did see Reed Roberts score a goal. ⁓ but in terms of like, you know, overall I think you saw more of the game than me. So ⁓ that that's ⁓ that's my answer for that. ⁓ but I d I'd wanted to bring up ⁓ Next question. We didn't have any out and out strikers for this match. So Noni Dumabua, third string, injured. Luka Jovanovich doesn't have a work ⁓ work permit yet. And Preston Judd got himself a yellow card in the last match and wasn't available to do yellow card accumulation. Which we knew would happen at some point. And was completely unnecessary. He it wasn't a ⁓ a foul or anything. He just pissed off the ref enough to where he he ended up getting a yellow card. Regardless, ⁓ I'm gonna ask Eric first. Do you think that Luka Jovanovich playing in this match, ⁓ if he if his work permit were ⁓ you know done and sealed already, would that make any difference? Seeing we had Buddha there, but he's not really ⁓ That's not really his his ⁓ main strength. He's more of a winger. But ⁓ how how much better do you think this game could have gone having someone like Luca there? ⁓ I think absolutely there would have been more goals. I think ⁓ from what I've seen from him, he's a goal scorer. He knows how to find the net, he knows how to take a shot, he takes shots when they're available, and I think that was very much missing this game. I think there was a couple shots where You see Buddha kind of either take a second touch or let the ball roll, thinking there was gonna be a forward there when, ⁓ wait, you're the guy that's supposed to get that final touch in. ⁓ you could see that there was a huge disconnect. And I think ⁓ when we're talking about forwards, like even a third, fourth string forward is gonna be better than somebody trying to be a forward because that instinct you can't teach. You can't teach someone to just be hungry for goals. Like that's something that is in a forward's DNA. ⁓ and I think having somebody with that skill set ⁓ at the level that Jovanovich had looks like he's had, I think definitely would have made a difference. I think some of those opportunities would have been put away. And I think, you know, not to put a lot of faith in somebody who I haven't seen play, similar to the gun, it can go either way, right? We don't want to get too excited. ⁓ but I definitely think he could have been a difference maker. But how much, that's the hard part to say. Right. And it's also like Buddha isn't the worst player I've ever seen play striker for us. ⁓ that would have to go to Andy Rios. But you know, it's just the tendencies that he has. d are you a Rios fan? Don't tell me you're a Rios fan. No, no. I just I'm cringing, increasing at the thought of him playing for the Quakes. I Eric was looking confused. Emigara, that's all I'm gonna say. Okay, okay, okay, okay. But Emigara ha had skill. Okay. And he had a Ferrari. So Yeah. I mean I I saw like a banger goal from Megara for us. He and Hannah Goidum definitely competed for each other for sure. ⁓ Goidum, that's a good one. That's a poll. ⁓ we'll have to do a whole nother podcast talking about the worst earthquake players of all time. ⁓ our worst eleven. That might be that might be a fun one. Alright, sounds good. ⁓ but no. ⁓ it's just ⁓ Buddha he he's a winger. ⁓ he can, you know, play There, but he's more of a false nine if he is there because of what he likes to do. He likes to control the ball, not necessarily like get in behind in that way. So I it it's just it's such a contrast to Jud that it kind of hinders everything because the way that we want to score goals is to like you know force it into the box to Judd. And if Buddha's there, it's just a much different profile. ⁓ the way that he plays is just not going to be ⁓ s you know, compatible with everyone else if we're trying to play the way we did with Shud. Whereas Luca from what I saw, he was a threat in the box, fox to the box type ⁓ player, very aggressive, wants to shoot, just like point blank, just wants to shoot. ⁓ Buddha was looking for a better opportunity, kind of ⁓ waiting for the perfect chance to come, and that's not really gonna happen. and Also, ⁓ I I feel like we missed ⁓ Buddha at right wing. ⁓ I didn't think Skein had his best game, unfortunately. ⁓ actually one of the worst games, just 'cause he he when he entered the box he looked terrified. ⁓ I guess ⁓ Devin, same question. ⁓ do you think Luca could have made a difference as much? ⁓ I'm not sure if Luca could have made a difference. I think Eric made the best point there. It's just like expecting Expecting a lot from Gunn like we did with Daniel and and then expecting the same thing from Luca like we did w like we do with with Preston Judd. I think it's just it's tough to immerse Luca in that in that Cali Classical atmosphere. ⁓ I think it'd be great for for you know, expectations to come, but it's it's tough to throw someone into like a derby ⁓ in their very first game. ⁓ I actually would have been okay with him coming off as a sub and you know, placing ⁓ Buddha at the nine and and someone else on the wing, which I'll say in a second, but s you know, specific specifically speaking on on on Jovanovich, I I think he would have made a great second half performance. I mean, do you do you guys have a similar mindset on that or I mean, my my perspective, like I understand that it was a hard game to throw him into. Like I I don't disagree with that. I think that stylistically I just prefer an out and out striker in this formation. And so I think that the team would have played better, like a higher capacity than than we ended up doing because of how Buddha plays striker versus Judd or or Luca. so it it's hard to say 'cause I don't think that, you know, necessarily he would have scored like a hat trick or anything. That's not what I'm trying to say. But just j as a result of him being there doing striker things, I think that that makes the rest of the team play like we should be. ⁓ and so that's my take on it. I don't know if Eric has a different take on And it also puts it also puts the defense on a on a different kind of level as well, because they're the I think they were a little bit too comfortable with Buddha in the box. ⁓ and that was definitely clear. I don't think like like you said, I don't think he would have scored a hat trick. I think the difference would have made he would have elevated the game of everybody else around him because they would have played how they play with Preston and, you know, and I think that was definitely clear that there wasn't that same kind of flow that you would see with that full Quakes eleven. ⁓ sorry, I just I just put in the in our little chat here. ⁓ I I said maybe maybe you know Jovanovich could have could have had a Griezmann effect where no one knew how to scout him, no one knew anything about him, and you know, he comes to MLS and showcases his talent in the very first game and and does what he wants and then performs at at a really high ability and then we have high expectations for him for the rest of the season. But you never know. But we're not quite Griezmann, the you know, twenty eighteen World Cup winner, but I I get your point in that like they don't know what to expect from him. Yeah. Hold on, hold on, cause Atlético Madrid and Adelaide United are pretty close, man. You gotta you gotta give Respect Adelaide. Respect that. Yeah, ⁓ I'll let you guys have that. ⁓ I'll I'll just you know No, so this game is is one that we should have won. In my opinion, I think that if ⁓ you know Timo ends up scoring that penalty, we win that game. ⁓ but overall, ⁓ Timo I don't know if he carried the team as much as I would have liked. He lost the ball, you know, quite a few times on the left hand side. He was one of our more dangerous players in the first half at least. ⁓ but overall, what did you make of Timo's performance, Devin? You know, I I think Timo had some really good moments in carrying the ball into the box. I think the distribution just wasn't there as much as I thought it would be. I thought, you know, we'd have more accurate passes to the feet of our teammates or Timo would create some some dangerous chances of his own and attempt to finish it. ⁓ I you know, just reading the the chat as the game was progressing, I there was a lot of praise for Timo, but I didn't think it was necessarily warranted because Yeah, he dribbled into the box and created his own space, which is lovely. But when you do that, I feel like you have to create something that, you know, that JT Marsenkowski hurts to say, you know, playing for Galaxy, but that JT, you know, should be stopping. But there were no shots on target, you know, Timo had a really good opportunity towards the top of the box and completely missed the net. And that wasn't just for Timo, that was for the rest of the team. We just didn't test the keeper. Whether it be long range shots, short range shots, whatever it may be, JT was just kind of sitting there waiting for his next move, but we didn't we didn't necessarily do anything and it and I think a lot of that, you know, Timo facilitated, but just, you know, the final third product wasn't there. And and there were there were a couple of times that I think Timo was guilty of that. Eric. I I mean, I think my hot take might be that has Timo ever carried this team to a win before? Like he's he's had great performances, but is he the guy that we're really like sitting here going, like, no, don't worry, we've got Timo Werner? Like that yeah, I don't think that's come out I I'd all res all due respect to Timo Werner and the caliber of player that he is and has shown in Europe, but he really hasn't been that for the Quakes this season. He's had stellar performances, but I don't think I looked at the lineup once this year and went, ⁓ good, Werner started. It's like, ⁓ Werner started. Now the lineup's rotated again. And we did well with Werner. He's gotten goals and assists, and he's but I don't know that I was sitting there going, Don't worry, Werner's gonna carry us to a classical win at the beginning of this game. And his performance was kind of mid. Like it I I think he had a good couple good opportunities. Obviously, the penalty is one of them, but I won't beat a dead horse there. ⁓ but there was a couple shots where the shots were just straight to the keeper or even against Orlando, there was just not a lot of definition in his shots and i the passing just wasn't as good as it should be. And I just I don't know, I I he I wasn't expecting him to come and be our savior and he kind of proved me right. Yeah, I think the only game you walk away from thinking that he actually carried the team was L A F C away, but that that was that was about it 'cause he you know, he got those He also got the assist that won us the Portland game. ⁓ but I wouldn't say he c like ⁓ carried the team there. He just made a very good pass to Buda. ⁓ so ⁓ and I wanna like say he does have a positive record for us, but he doesn't carry the team in how we play the way that Nico Chikaris did, or even Bo LaRue. ⁓ who didn't have his best game but also ⁓ for me was one of the more threatening players on our side. ⁓ he was able to progress the ball ⁓ by j you know dribbling, long passing. ⁓ but overall there's very mixed takes on Bolaroo. Some people thought he was the worst player on the pitch. And obviously that's not me. I think that's that's kind of crazy. ⁓ but Eric, you look the most affected by that take. I'll let you go first. No. No Bolaru is is He's he's getting up there for me as far as like who I kind of ⁓ not I don't want to say it can do no wrong, you know what I mean? Like ⁓ I obviously he's still young in his career, but I think his play on the pitch just i is is really good despite how the team is doing. I think he's everywhere, his touch is good, he's trying to get creative with ⁓ with his passing. ⁓ to call him the worst player I think is is a huge stretch. Was he the best player on the pitch? I wouldn't say that either, but I think that calling him the worst player is when he's been one of our I even think last year when he wasn't getting as many minutes as I thought he should have. ⁓ he's definitely one of those players that when he's not on the pitch, it's felt. ⁓ which is, like I said, what I was hoping to have from Timo Werner. But I think you take Timo Werner out of the lineup and it's like, ⁓ Timo's not playing like that's a bummer. You take Bo out of the lineup and it's like sound the alarms, like what's happening? Yeah, I agree. And I I also think that, you know, as as a team effort, it it did came down to it came down. It it did come down to a ton of other opportunities. Like, you know, we we're not gonna talk in depth about the PK attempt, but I if you guys didn't see after the PK, after JT made that save. You know, one of the Galaxy players tried to clear the ball, completely whiffed and and Benji Kakanovich was right there, ready for a shot on target, takes a shot, it would have completely missed the target entirely without any, you know, anybody right in front of goal. ⁓ Benji would have missed the target and instead he hits Ian Harks. He hits Ian Harks. You have to hit the target there, you're inside the box. I'm sorry, but that's that's something that needs to change. in in our you know, our league plays is if you have such a good chance, you can't waste those opportunities. I know we just you know, Timo missed the their JT made a good save on Timo's PK, but you know, those follow ups, those those rarely come come by easily. You have to bury those. Yeah, I I definitely agree. I didn't see that obviously 'cause I was in the channel. I actually had no idea that happened. But ⁓ regardless, I know you said we weren't gonna talk about the the PK too much, but I did ⁓ hear something very interesting. ⁓ my dad ⁓ was telling me over and over, you know how dads do. ⁓ he said before Timo took the penalty, Marco Royce pointed which way he was going to JT. and obviously have it they they know each other because they played on the German national team together. ⁓ my dad was upset because nobody on the Quakes team went up ⁓ Timo to tell him, hey, ⁓ you've been found out. ⁓ Marco knows which way you're going, you told JT. So do something not that. ⁓ I don't know I didn't see that personally. ⁓ but ⁓ I guess ⁓ My my question is how does Timo take such a poor penalty in such a big moment of the game? 'Cause tha that's kind of the penalty you'd expect from from me. Like that's what I would do, just kind of shoot it, just make sure it's on frame, but like, God. ⁓ what'd you make of that whole situation, Eric? Yeah, I mean i that PK was kind of say if I believe That your dad probably saw something like that because JT left his line pretty early, almost as if he was guessing, or but it was a very confident guess. And in my opinion, there was like a split second where he could have changed the direction because he was very clearly going. But in hindsight, you know what mean? I could say that all day long, but I wasn't there, I wasn't taking the shot. And I've taken my fair share of penalty shots and it's not as easy as is that to kind of switch where you're going. But at that level you would hope that he kind of could see it on his run up. I don't know if his head was down or what, but yeah, JT left pretty early and just had it clocked all day long. And and I I'm sure that something like that kind of, you know, they studied tape or whatever it may be. ⁓ you know, it's n obviously not as crazy as like the World Cup where they had the ⁓ you know, the which way everybody shoots on their water bottle because we don't have penalty shootouts for regular season. But Yeah, no, it definitely looked like he had some sort of an idea of where he was going. Devin, did you see anything? ⁓ yeah, I think you were your your data's actually spot on because there was a video that's Shout out Juan. Everyone say shout out. Shout out Juan. ⁓ the video surfaced on our in our Discord server of the video showing Marco Royce pointing to the direction for JT. ⁓ and then JT I think was also trying to get ⁓ Werner's attention by screaming Timo Timo. Yeah. And I think pointed to that direction too. So he's he was definitely in Timo's head. JT was. ⁓ which is why what you want out of a goalkeeper. ⁓ just Haiti's on the other side of a classico this time. 'Cause yeah, we should sign a guy like JT. That'd be go that'd be good. So say you're like Ian Harks and you're on the pitch and you see that, assuming somebody saw that, do you tell Timo? Or or do you just like Yeah, right? Like he he knows the way you're gonna go. Like Just do something different. I don't know. ⁓ Devon But it comes down to the chemistry of the team, right? It comes down to how well how well have you meshed with your players to just like you know what I mean? 'Cause like I always like to joke, like my best friend and I can go on a pitch together. We've been playing together since we were seventeen, eighteen years old. We ended up playing on the same ⁓ you know, adult teams as well. And we have this like chemistry of like I can just give ⁓ a look and just like, you know, and we understand each other. But if you don't have that connection with your teammates, like You know, somebody like Timo Werner and you know, not that I think Ian Harks has this at all, but like what do you say to a a a World Cup, you know, World Cup legend for whatever, you know, it's Timo Werner or whatever. Like you can't just go and say, Hey, I know you know what you're doing, but me, this guy that's played in MLS his whole entire career, thinks you should shoot to the left. And so it's like you know what I mean? Like if you don't have that connection, you know, you would Mr. Werner, can you not shoot to the right, please? Like it so I I think You know, like the I don't think they have that connection yet. And you can see it with some of the players. You can see it in some of the promo videos that they do where it's like, you know, it it it's not there yet. It doesn't mean it won't be. I don't know, but I think they I think that factors into it as well. Did you guys see the ⁓ the promo video where Buddha's asking questions to to Timo and he's like in one word, how would you describe the culture at the club? And he's like, Cool. And Buddha's like, would you want to elaborate on that? Like, no, because you said he was only one word. It's like such a German thing to say as well. He's like following the rules. He's You gave me rules. I know it's not the same accent, but all I thought about was youhoo be some blowout. Yeah. ⁓ but obviously no shade to either of those guys. We love ⁓ both Usani and ⁓ Timo. ⁓ but man, like I think you gotta just so that like you're not trying to like tell him what to do, right? But it's just so he's aware of all the all the variables. ⁓ yeah. And it's hard for for him to then shoot left and go exactly where JT said to go. But man, it's just like penalties that that's why they're tough. 'Cause like so JT would then see you tell, you know, Timo to not shoot right. So then and he already told them to shoot left. So then what's he gotta do? ⁓ Devin, a any any ⁓ further thoughts on this before next topic? I've I've been a striker since I was three or four years old. You know, all I know is is you know, how to be an attacker. I feel like when you're on the spot and you're you've already decided which way you're going to go, if you have a teammate approach you and tell you like, Hey, you know, these guys are are are telling, you know, this goalkeeper that You know, you're expecting to go right. I feel like that that'll also throw off the mentality of the goal you know, of the the the penalty taker as well. You just kinda have to let them do their thing. You know, there's there's two different decisions that you have to make when approaching the spot. If you're going the same direction, you can shoot high top corner, or you can shoot low, which normally is suggested. and and I think with that, maybe Timo could have placed it placed the ball a little higher. I mean, this is after the fact, you know, it's all what if, what if, what if, what if. But I think having a teammate approach you saying, like, hey, there's a bunch of talk behind you, you're you're an attacker, you're a penalty taker. You don't want to hear that. You've already made your decision as you're approaching the spot. So ⁓ it's just kind of the trust basis of of letting your teammates or you know, letting letting the spot taker kind of do do what he needs to do. Yeah, see I'm I'm kind of the opposite of that. I'm I'm like when I play, I'm very much the get inside the other team's head type of player. ⁓ definitely the the type that I tell my kids not to play like. ⁓ but you know, I I would be sitting there kind of doing the opposite, like trying to help get in J T's head, saying something like, Hey, he can't dive to his right, like you know what I mean, trying like say something without directly saying, Hey, shoot left, just like hey, like, you know, and and 'cause you know at that point whoever's in goal is going, Whoa, hold on, like I can shoot hold on, like I'm really good. And so now they're sitting, you know, even if if it's for a split second, that's all you need. You know, so that that would be me. I'd like, ⁓ he's got no he can't dive to his left, he can't dive to his right. Right. He's got one short one leg shorter than the other and like you know, something like that to try to like just get in his head the other way around. But it's also why I got a lot of yellow cards as a as a player. No, it it's it's ⁓ something that I don't envy these professional players. I don't wanna be on that spot in front of the ultras who, you know, they're going crazy. ⁓ But ⁓ speaking of the ultras and just fans in general, what did you guys make of the hellscape that was the Stanford parking lot? ⁓ did you guys get there early? Wha w what was it like for you guys? 'Cause for me I had to like my dad dropped me off like hella far away from the stadium because I was gonna be late if he didn't do that. Like we were look we were driving around, they were like, There's no parking, you gotta go to this museum and I'm like, Well, I'm gonna I jump out so And he goes park somewhere. You know, it was it was such a hassle. And I ended up getting into the press box on time, but ⁓ I can't imagine I'm the only one who had any kind of issues with the parking lot. ⁓ Eric, I know you have family. ⁓ yeah, no. I got there at probably twelve o'clock, usually about when they open. I every year I get there early and we're always too early. So this year we're like, all right, we'll get there. twelve o'clock and I we didn't get it we didn't even start moving until twelve thirty, twelve forty five. and it was just it it was different from years past. I think the the whoever was running everything was a little bit disorganized because they actually ended up closing lot two where I was ⁓ for people that had prepaid for their spots and they were sending them down to a different lot which was cheaper but they were using the same pass to get in. So they kind of they overpaid for the parking they were at. ⁓ my brother actually ended up turning around going home because he, you know, they had work and stuff and they were coming. It was like 5 30 when they left their house. It was 20 minutes before game time. They still hadn't gone in. They got turned away at the gate where we we had a spot saved for him, like we do every year. and they wouldn't let him in. They it was a whole nightmare. There was a bunch of people sitting there by the gate. Upset the manager was supposed to come out, never came out. ⁓ and so there was a lot of people that were really upset with how it was run and the fact that people were with prepaid passes, season ticket holders. ⁓ I was actually sitting there. So shout out if if you're watching, I'm sure if you watch me, you watch Tectonic Takes. ⁓ but it's there was people sitting there waiting to get in, and then they saw me, and then they'd be like, Hey, what do you think of the Daniel thing? So we're sitting there chatting with supporters, which is so funny. Like, they'd come and they'd be ⁓ footy dad, like You know, w who you who do you think's starting as a striker today? And ⁓ then they'd move on and the next person I'm sitting there waiting for my brother, like I'm also upset and like trying to be nice and like it's not you know anybody's fault, but I'm like ⁓ like on the phone with my wife, on the phone with my brother, like and so yeah, it was it was kind of a nightmare. But the tailgating was fun. That's why I get there early every year, so I don't have to deal with that kind of stuff. and we had a lot of tacos. So that made up for it for me. The tacos make up for it for sure. ⁓ Devin, that was your ⁓ time at the stadium. Eric sounded so sincere and sweet when he said that we had tacos. Now I want tacos. ⁓ no, it was good. It was actually our first time ⁓ tailgating as hosts. So normally, you know, I think I was with you, Abram, when we went to to Goldside's ⁓ tailgate and ⁓ the per se ⁓ preceding that I did not remember a single minute from that game. I think it was twenty twenty. I remember you were you were freaking I was long gone. And it was similar to similar to to Saturday's game, ⁓ against LA Galaxy. Had a lot to drink, ⁓ ate hot dogs, ⁓ had a bunch of snacks, ⁓ brought a bunch of friends over. ⁓ it was cool catching up with a b with a bunch of people. and I I I think it was also awesome that, you know, with I think it's with this new Tixer partnership that fans were allowed to enter the stadium at five thirty, collect their shirse, and then be able to ex you know, ticket their way back out of the stadium to tailgate until kickoff. I think that was an awesome experience and I think we should do that more often. ⁓ I'm sure, you know, Ticketmaster didn't allow that, but Tixart did, I'm not sure. But ⁓ yeah, I we'd we'd stay tailgating until about seven, seven fifteen, and then we're like, ⁓ maybe we should head in now. I can start seeing the skydivers ⁓ come down and and this was I I had brought my best friends into ⁓ you know into this Quakes environment and it was their very first sporting event, like live. Not not hockey, not MLB, not NFL, they hadn't gone to any other sporting event. This was their first soccer game and ⁓ they they had a pretty good time. I I gave them a forewarning. I said I'm I'm very emotional and passionate during these games. So if you start hearing me yell at the refs about anything happening, ⁓ join in, even if we're wrong. That's that's what we do. We just yell at the refs and and hope hope for the best, right? ⁓ but no, they were vibing to the supporters groups. They they really enjoyed to see the ⁓ the smoke from afar. ⁓ we actually almost ended up joining a ⁓ some of the supporters groups at at in the second half because, you know, they were starting to vibe with their with their music. So ⁓ yeah, maybe next time. Maybe next time. But no, I I had a really good time and ⁓ it was nice to finally see, you know, my my close circle kind of enter my life, at least. For sure. Well the reason I ask you guys is because it's a a very big point of discussion right now in the Quakes community. Should we stop Stanford? ⁓ I know I, you know, had a really hard time with ⁓ the parking and I've had hard times before. I know the supporters groups, both of them, ⁓ or how how do we have? We have like four. But ⁓ Seismic Union and the Ultras. Neither of them like Stanford because it's a hassle for them to get their s you know, situation sorted. I don't know the logistics. Thankfully, I don't have to deal with that. But ⁓ I can imagine it's really tough and so the question has to be asked like, do we keep doing this? Is it still worth it? This has been such a traditional thing that we do every year, but you know, a lot of fans aren't Enjoying it. I I saw some people in the or heard some people in the press box saying they're not coming back here. Like they're doing PayPal Park, ⁓ maybe Levi's, but not Stanford. ⁓ Eric, while you go first. ⁓ I have a really strong opinion on this. ⁓ Stanford needs to stay. 43,000 people. You can't beat that. ⁓ sentence this weekend, too, by the way. Right. I think the people saying that are typically newer fans. ⁓ they're typically fans that not necessarily new, but let's say ⁓ post PayPal Park era. The fans that didn't have to stand at at Buckshaw, ⁓ the fans that haven't attended a game at Spartan Stadium, the fans that, you know, ⁓ weren't displaced when Houston when the team moved to Houston. ⁓ those are the fans that love Stanford and it's a tradition at this point. I think where the Quakes went wrong is trying to replicate it with Levi's. Cause I I I think that game doesn't need to happen. But Stanford is a tradition at this point. You don't do it because I mean I'm sure they do it because 43,000 fans, that's quite a bit of revenue. But you don't do it for the revenue, you do it for the tradition. You do it to remember the fact that not long ago the Quakes didn't have a home. That long like not long ago the Quakes were borrowing stadiums and ⁓ you know, playing their giant derbies like this in a stadium that doesn't belong to them. And now we've made it our home. We've made it part of our identity. I think Stanford stands for that, stands for how far the Quakes have come. ⁓ so to have a big match like that every year, I it's become a tradition for my family to go out and tailgate. ⁓ it's like one of two games that my mom goes to like willingly and is like excited for. ⁓ if I have extra tickets, she's usually like on one one of the top people that I want to take with me. But she's like, ⁓ you know, it's I'll watch them from home. I'll be comfortable. But Stanford, she's like, nope, I gotta go. I gotta go cook the tacos. I gotta go do this. And it it brings us out of our element. It just reminds us, you know, of our roots. And I think Stanford needs to stay. Stanford is a tradition. It's a staple in earthquake's history. And I I I don't see a reason to get rid of it. But Levi's, I'm okay with taking that one out. Yo, can we just like start winning at Stanford though? 'Cause I think we'd all enjoy it a bit more. Our last one came in in twenty nineteen and you know, I've we're still trying to chase that high. I think COVID COVID's cursed us at Stanford. ⁓ but, you know, an important thing to to think about here is twenty twenty seven MLS is shifting their schedule to the winter schedule f you know, and and paralleling the European markets. And one issue with that of of you know trying to schedule a Stanford game is now we may not see a Stanford game until after February or March because it would coincide with the NC N C double A I don't know college football schedule as well for Levi's with with the Forty Niners and, you know, some i ⁓ individuals brought this up but we don't want to play any soccer games when the field is trashed out by the, you know, Forty Niners and Cardinal and and whatnot. ⁓ So maybe maybe we'll see the a a I just had a brain fart. A single de you know, single de mayo ⁓ kinda event style at either Stanford or or Levi's. I would imagine Levi's works with Mariachi. I that would be so cool. That would actually be so cool. or maybe like a ⁓ a drone show of I don't know. Any Mexican style ⁓ culture. Tacos. Yeah, yeah. Sure. I can say it. You guys can A Taco drone show would be pretty cool. Just the whole time. Like music. The one taco with a smiley face in it. Yeah. ⁓ my god. I actually you guys have sold me. This is dope. Yeah, exactly. I think we should make it happen. Right under the airport ⁓ lines too. ⁓ yeah, no, I it's gonna change. We're not gonna have a July fourth classico. This was the last July fourth Classico, I think at Stanford. So ⁓ until things change or maybe we have like some big old preseason event, we're we're not gonna see ⁓ a Quakes event around July fourth for the foreseeable future. So I don't know if that's gonna the hit hit Quakes fans a different ⁓ a different way in their hearts, ⁓ now that they've witnessed that, but I don't know. Maybe we find a new holiday or we celebrate Easter Easter weekend at Stanford Stadium and have a fireworks show for that. Never know. Yeah, ⁓ so some stats from this game, not not on the field stats, but ⁓ the Quakes Communications were very eager to tell us that this was attended by over forty three thousand people and that it was the seventh most attended game in MLS this year. And on top of that, the second most attended game in MLS this year that didn't involve Leonel Messi. So very well attended game. They say the Bay is a small market. I disagree. ⁓ but ⁓ like you said Devin there's gonna be some changes especially because with the way that the league is being restructured into the kind of zonal thing, we might n only face LA once a year because they're gonna be grouped in with the Texas teams And it's it's all changing. do you know anything about that? Like would we play them like would we trade off like at their stadium and then they play at ours like the next year? Or from what I from what I remember is we play every MLS team once a year, but we play our divisional teams twice a year, if not more. Right, and LA wouldn't be in our division anymore. Right, yeah. Both LA teams we'd be playing once. and that may affect You know, one year we have a home game and then the next year we have an away game. I don't necessarily agree with that structure. I don't like that structure at all because I really enjoy going down to LA to to to play these teams and watch them here at home. but yeah, that's definitely gonna significantly change our league structure and whether or not we play games at Sanford or Levi's. ⁓ Eric, ⁓ you know, LA ⁓ Galaxy is our biggest rivals we've from since the beginning. Do you feel any sort of sadness by them being kinda taken away from us in a way. Like we hate them but like, no, don't leave. I like beating the galaxy. It's one of my favorite my top five joys in this world is watching the Quakes beat the galaxy. So I I think playing them once a year really sucks. I think it kinda goes into a deeper conversation of trying to be Europe, you know, and you know, I hope my season ticket renewal comes with a nice warm jacket that I can wear in the winter at PayPal Park. ⁓ It will not. But I mean I know it won't, but I'm gonna say it out loud because closed mouths don't get fed. ⁓ You know, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know why we're not playing the Galaxy s if of all teams, you know, at least twice. At least once there, once back. ⁓ it kinda just is is weird decision making by the league and I I'm not a fan of it. I I think this whole schedule change thing has been a whole weird thing that they're catering to a weird niche of fans that ⁓ doesn't need to happen, but That's like I said, we could go into a whole podcast into that. But Yeah, I mean I would love to do that. And we are reaching the end of our time. ⁓ unless you have some closing thoughts, Evan. Anything to add? I don't think I have anything. I I did list a couple of things here. I would like to know, you know, after after a whole conversation. I had seen, you know, Eric's video on on Instagram of the good, the bad and the ugly and I wanna know after this conversation, has your good, bad and ugly changed? ⁓ no, I think I'm still pretty the good. The which one of you is the ugly? I'll be the ugly, it's fine. Okay. ⁓ no, I I don't think so. I think, you know, I'm pretty I like to be as open-minded as I can be in those conversations. ⁓ I don't think it's you know, sometimes I do have to be a little bit more reserved when I do mention that because I want when people watch those, I kinda want people to be like, Yeah, like. I see that, you know what I mean? And if you kinda go too far either way, then you start to lose people. ⁓ not saying that I would change my opinion to for the views, you know. Maybe every once in while, but ⁓ no, I I think I'm pretty firm on it. I think there wasn't too much to be left ⁓ to be said about the good. You know, Reed Roberts scoring, great. We always love to see our defenders get in involved. The bad, we just didn't play well. You know what I mean? We missed a PK in stoppage time at the end of the day. You you miss a hundred percent of shots you don't take, and you can't win games if you don't score more goals than the other person. Like that's at the end of it. And just the ugly is just ugly. I I I think there is a lot for this team to fix in a very short time. ⁓ I think I I'm willing to give the team a couple more games to figure it out, but I I can very much see from the responses in my in my DMs and in my polls that Quakes fans are already kind of getting their pitchforks ready. which sucks to see 'cause after the start of the season that we had, you know, I think the the core group of players deserve kind of a little bit more lenience than that. I they gave us ⁓ an amazing start and I think ⁓ they have what it takes to finish out the season strong. ⁓ but I can see why Quakes fans are not ready to just kinda go back to being the Quakes of Mikel Stare or you know, yeah, I think two that era. Two very brief points here, Abram. Number one, I think it's it's maybe a little unnecessary. I'm not trying to call out Quakes fans or whatnot, but we haven't as a team been in this position where we're sitting in second or third in the West. I d if not second. I know Vancouver has scored the exact same amount of points. They lost the game, like we lost versus Orlando. They drew their very next game. We drew versus Galaxy. Like we're still sitting with Vancouver on points. It's hard at the top, man. Yeah, it's hard at the top. But I think I would only show concern when we've you know dipped to maybe like fifth or sixth sixth spot because that's kinda what we're, you know, almost used to seeing, if not further down that ladder. Much further. Yeah, much further. Like b borderline underneath playoff slash, you know, wooden wooden spoon level ⁓ ability. But we're still high up there in the playoff spot. I think we need a little more patience, forgiveness, and you know, this is a team that we've we've seen turn it around instantly after a bad performance. ⁓ and then, you know, ⁓ second point, I I think ⁓ you know if you want to see the earthquakes perform well through a ninety minute period I think we have to be the team that scores early and first. If you've noticed in many games of the past this year, we've been the first team to score in under the ten minute mark, which leaves the other team kind of scrambling to to equalize and that gives us more opportunities in behind them, ⁓ because they're pushing so high up the field. ⁓ which, you know, yeah, we we'd score more goals off of that. But the fact the last two games, we've conceded first, early within the first ten minutes of the game. We're now the team that's scrambling trying to push for an equalizer and then it, you know, all went to hell from from Orlando. ⁓ and then kinda similarly with with the Galaxy, even though we kinda crawled our way back into the game. ⁓ so I guess a key to to the next couple of games is is to look out for for early goals and and see if that changes and sways the momentum in our favor. And it should help a lot to have our captain and Preston Judd back. ⁓ because We're missing both of them at the same time during Calic Classico, you know, obviously is gonna have a big impact. And ⁓ Jonah Gonzalez did not impress me ⁓ too much in his cameo. ⁓ but that's a a topic for another time. ⁓ thank you guys so much for joining me. ⁓ Eric, where can people find you? ⁓ usually out at the local ice cream shop, getting some ice cream on Tuesday. I'm just kidding. No, ⁓ you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, that footy dad. ⁓ haven't started my only dads yet. But you know, it'll it'll get there. No, but I'm I'm on socials. I'm I post every day. I post a lot of dad content, a lot of soccer content. I love my Quakes. and I've been starting to really try to highlight the Bay Area footy culture. So I'm trying to talk to more lower league teams, some grassroots teams. ⁓ because like you said, the Bay Area has an amazing soccer culture. ⁓ so ⁓ that's what I want to highlight. Yeah, potentially be on the lookout. for a new podcast ⁓ from potentially from Eric potentially. ⁓ nothing confirmed yet. ⁓ but we're we're hoping that ends up becoming a reality for you. ⁓ yeah guys go check out ⁓ Eric's stuff ⁓ some of the best ⁓ not just Quake content but Bay Area content ⁓ that we have out there. ⁓ and also check out our Patreon and ⁓ all the other stuff we do. ⁓ we had an issue with our audio uploads. We'll adjust that real quick None of them were being posted since May. ⁓ there's a ⁓ auto upload feature and it just wasn't auto uploading. So ⁓ we've not fixed that, but we've uploaded all the ones that didn't get uploaded. So ⁓ we apologize, audio only fans, if there's any out there. ⁓ but thank you guys so much for watching. We'll be back to cover the next Quakes game. But until then, go Quakes. Go Quakes.