Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 150: Mexico vs Japan, Quakes vs LAFC Preview Special
Transcript
- speaker-0: It is my pleasure to welcome you all to episode 150 of the Tectonic Takes podcast. Bienvenidos a Tectonic Takes because we have a crossover, of course. We have Ceza from GoalSided and we have a healthy panel of our ⁓ usual podcast hosts with Devin, Abram, and myself. We're to be talking about Mexico versus Japan. We're coming back from the international break and that's the key. matchup we're interested in from a Bay Area perspective. Of course, they met in the Oakland Coliseum this past Saturday. I'll get to share my experiences firsthand covering it as part of the press and we'll all react to it. Of course, we have three Mexico national team supporters here and then we will preview and get you set up for the big game San Jose Earthquakes versus LAFC at Levi's Stadium. So, A lot to talk about exciting times for soccer in the Bay Area and that's pretty much the headline, right? This is just having ⁓ Mexico come here in Oakland for the first time in 14 years, also returning to the Bay Area where they've had played a few times. Maybe not always the happiest of memories, but they're always happy to see the local support for their team. speaker-1: Yeah, and it's a big celebration amongst the fans. It's Banda comes out, the tacos come out, even the hashtag, tacos vs sushi, I thought was kind of funny on the screen while we were watching it. So yeah, it's a big fun whenever the Mexican national team comes around. And unfortunately, I've been at one of those 7-0 games, or the only one in the Bay. It wasn't fun, but I mean, other than that, the atmosphere is usually top notch, and it makes us excited for the World Cup coming next summer. speaker-0: Might as well get everyone's quick opinions on this Devon. Do you prefer tacos or sushi? speaker-2: I'm a burrito guy, so the next closest thing I guess would be, you know, same culture, tacos. Although I'm not gonna say I despise sushi or anything, but I am allergic to some types of nuts and shellfish, so I do have a bias against that. speaker-0: Yeah. I got a stick up for tacos of course, being a proud Mexican, but I do love me some sushi too. I've had my fair share sushi, definitely during my college days at UC Davis when the line was too long at the ⁓ school little cafeteria where you could just get quick lunch before class and it like, okay, I'll just grab some sushi and I'll be out of here, pay my seven or eight dollars, whatever it was. Those were the days. ⁓ But yeah, whenever you one, knew what they were doing, They get away with some wacky things like that hashtag, but... definitely got a lot of people's attention. And one thing that did get a lot of people's attention, we'll talk a little bit about Japan's lineup first before we dive deeper into the Mexican side of things. Of course, more people watch us that route from Mexico, but we definitely have to give a lot of credit to the strong lineup that we got for Japan. And this could be very similar to their lineup that kicks off for the World Cup. So in goal, had Zyan Suzuki. They had back three of Koita Katsura. So Yoshi Watanabe and Ayumu Seko they had Ritsu Doan on the right, Kairu Matoma on the left. They had a midfield duo of Wataru Endo, a champion with Liverpool and Daichi Kamada also an FA Cup winner and support shield winner with Crystal Palace. So they got the credentials in the Japanese side. And then their front three was Takumi Minamino, Ayase Ueda and the always exciting to watch Takefu Sakubo and he was their offensive MVP for Japan. Any ⁓ other standout players that you felt like it was fun to watch them all together for Japan after seeing them for so many leagues that you cover at goal side at SESAR? speaker-1: Mainly like Kubo for me was really fun to watch. don't always get to watch the ⁓ La Liga. I'm usually most ⁓ up to date on Premier League. I mean watching him play and just skirmishing by Gallardo was really fun to watch. as a Mexico fan, it kind of gets you a little scared that maybe Gallardo isn't the man. I mean Kubo, Mitoma were good. I thought Endo. Was really good at the midfield and just just strong Japan overall speaker-0: Yeah, and just taking a look at their subs, this is where they scared me even more. So they were able to bring in six players that also played among Europe's leagues. Not all in the top five leagues, course, Dijszen Maeda was one of their subs and he plays for Celtic. But when the subs are coming from still big clubs in Europe, Belgian Pro League, that shows you the level of depth that Japan have. They called up more Europeans Japan they won a group with Spain and Germany at the last World Cup they took Croatia to penalties and then unfortunately got knocked out the round 16 and We talked about endo that was a big-time matchup between him and Marcel Ruiz of Toluca So I'll introduce the Mexican lineup here We have Luis Malagon and goal or his Sanchez Cesar Montes, Johan Vasquez and who's just Gallardo or the back line We had ets and Alvarez Unfortunately, he had to come off in 30 minutes in due to injury We have Marcel Ruiz and Orbelin Pineda completing that midfield three. And then the front line consisted of Roberto Alvarado, Raul Jimenez, and Alexis Vega. And notable subs included Chucky Lozano from San Diego FC. It was nice for Bay Area fans to see him in Oakland, even though he wasn't available for the Sounds of the Earthquakes game a few weeks ago. And then Santi Jimenez of AC Milan came off the bench too. ⁓ Eric Lira was the player who replaced Edson Alvarez after his injury. So Abram, I'll get your thoughts on the lineup and then we'll talk a little bit more about some key players which is on a little bit. So Abram, I think this is one of if not the strongest Mexico lineup available besides Ubert Zamora who was unavailable because they're preparing him for the U-20 World Cup. So when you see this lineup, does it give you a lot of optimism for Mexico or more of the same? speaker-3: Yeah, I mean, I've been on record on the podcast, not have too much optimism for how Mexico as ⁓ a, I guess as a franchise, ⁓ you know, handle things. But no, I do think this is a strong lineup. I do think that ⁓ if you're the opposition, then you're looking at this lineup and you definitely have a lot of questions that you need to like think about a lot of strong players in the lineup. I think that Marcel Ruiz is For me, a bit of ⁓ a more of an unknown in the midfield. I haven't seen him play as much as I've seen like the others. You mentioned Gallardo and I don't know, there's another unknown in terms of like, which Gallardo we're getting today. He's been inconsistent since the minute I saw him make his debut. Like years ago, I was like, is this really who we got left back? Okay. ⁓ And it kind of his I've had that you know attitude about him to the whole time he's been here, but no, mean ⁓ Regardless of what I said, I do think that there's a lot of ⁓ Pieces in this team. I think that you know, we don't have ⁓ Mota but I think Pineda is a very good attacking midfielder I think that yeah, the team looks really good and ⁓ We didn't score any goals, but if you're looking on a paper We have a very strong attacking lineup that we haven't really had, I guess, ⁓ you know, names that maybe foreigners would recognize. I feel like we have a decent amount of those right now, which is, you know, always good to have. speaker-0: Yep. and we talked a little bit about Gallardo, that's one of the big stories particularly concerns in that defense. Center backs you have a solid pairing usually between Montes and Vasquez, that was one of the key moments of the game. But Sanchez and Gallardo in particular never really seemed to have two games in a row where they're effective for Mexico. Of Sanchez had some failed stints in Europe, Gallardo has been a Liga MX lifer. So you're kind of reliant on Luis Malek who was the MVP for Mexico in this game had to make some brilliant saves but where they really struggled was midfield especially after Edson Alvarez was injured so I'll turn it over to you Cesar ⁓ I'm really scared to see how long Alvarez is gonna be out you can take me back to your thoughts when you saw that injury happen and then it was Lira Ruiz and Pineda up against primarily quality midfielders among other threats for Japan the rest of the way speaker-1: Yeah, and I mean Edson coming out we've criticized them on goals I bought Quite a lot because we feel like he cannot give us that ⁓ Long bow all that through ball that a little bit of more creative that we want from him. He's really good defensively But I feel like during this game we needed something more we needed that, you know through ball to Raul or to Alexis Vega or to El Piojo Alvarado And then now him going down and getting injured. It's like even more more ⁓ redolence, right? Alarms going off. Eric Lira did his job. He's a Liga Mekis lifer as well. ⁓ I'm sure he's tried to go to Europe at some point, but you could definitely see the quality when you put him up against Endo or the European squad that this Japanese team has. Same thing with Orbelin Pineda. Yeah, he's in Europe, he's in Greece, plays champions or whatever, but it's not the same quality as playing in... the Premier League or playing in La Liga. So we're definitely missing, for me, the biggest miss was Gilberto Mora. And not because of, he's 16, but he has that gift that he can hold the ball in that, find the spaces, even at his young age, just being able to just find the right gas, find the right path, find the right tempo that I've been. you know going out really for not having are not being created enough myself reset a decent game but we wanted more i mean just japanese part of the midfield was just too much quality and i think mexico in general lack that quality speaker-3: Yeah, player like Mordek is like, how are you going to replace that? Because you can't just coach it. You can't tell somebody, ⁓ be creative. You have to have that. have to be like, endowed with it. Exactly. speaker-1: Like what Pedri has, right? He has that like, of knowing what to do, when to do it. I mean, don't think Orberlin Pineda has that in him. speaker-0: Yeah, and Devon, you wanted to weigh in on this? speaker-2: Yeah, I had a question. mean, like as Tectonic takes, you know, we like to discuss a lot about quakes, but I think there is a similar connection with what Cissot was talking about with one of the players who he deemed as like a struggling player on the field during the 90 minute period. I want to connect it to like Amal Pellegrino now that he's in San Diego. And I don't even think we've discussed this on the podcast yet, but, ⁓ you know, so Amal Pellegrino while he was on the earthquakes this season, he hadn't really shown much on the field, if anything, you know, but in one of the interviews to Bruce Arena, Bruce had stated that he was one of the best strikers in the training ground. You know, he was one of the best finishers, had the best technique, one of the best talents out there. Cesar, do you think that maybe that is like a similar case to what is happening with El Tri? ⁓ Like, you know, he may have had like great performances on the training ground, but then just didn't produce as much on the field. speaker-1: Yeah, I do think that maybe on the the practice pitch with the rest of his teammates he does show his quality But when it comes down to you know doing it at a real game or against real talent or a test He doesn't completely come through and overleaping. That's the thing is like he's done this multiple times through multiple coaches throughout the years It's like is he fooling everybody or is he going all out at practice only and says wait like games maybe I'll just do 75 % or whatever. ⁓ So I don't know, it's just a big question with him, it's a big question with ⁓ Carlos or Charlie Rodriguez, it's the same thing. ⁓ So yeah, mean we just haven't had talent come through Mexico that can replace those. speaker-0: And one thing that's been frustrating whenever I've looked at League MX rosters, particularly whenever it's the playoffs, Leagues Cup, CONCACAF champions, whatever, is I look at the players that starting in the ages and how difficult it is for players under 23 to get a chance, even if they're good enough. And then you see players on the roster like Rodrigo Huescas and Mateo Chavez. They're both European based. Maybe the plan all along is for them to start against South Korea and Nashville. get an opportunity there. But I feel like we may need to see a transition happen where they are the starting fullbacks ahead of the World Cup. And France made a similar transition ahead of the 2018 World Cup. They let Jibril Sadibé make way for Benjamin Pavard and they let an ex Manchester City dirt bag make way for Lucas Hernandez. So they were able to make that transition in the nick of time and they did not win a World Cup if Sadibé is starting at right back over Benjamin Pavard. There's no banger goal against Argentina to get them through the round 16 let alone all the other things that Pavard did well in that World Cup run So sometimes you got to take a gamble maybe on these under 23 players And I think they are playing it safe still with Jabert Amor and rightfully so you have to protect the 16 year old you have to give him the Opportunities to represent his nation at the U20 World Cup where Mexico has performed well in these underage tournaments I'll never forget the gold medal that they won at the 2012 Olympics which was essentially an under 23 with three senior players roster so that's a very important tournament for Mexico still and I'm very curious to see what more is gonna do who knows maybe he'll have Tijuana make a run in a Ligia before the World Cup something but um that's one of the more exciting parts of the Mexican roster that is probably lacking and has people particularly the Spanish language media critique of I agree it's selection process who keeps reassuring that he's close to filling his ⁓ World Cup roster of course that's going to be submitted in December same with all the other teams, but any other ⁓ Thoughts you have maybe like Whether or not Santiago Jimenez can be an effective player off the bench ⁓ Because he's kind of in an iffy situation with Milan who aren't doing so well says our speaker-1: I think he's just in a mix of like a not... doing well for club and country. And I feel like a lot of it on the Mexico side has to do with just the game functioning or the team functioning together. He doesn't have that quality that he had maybe at firing order where he can just be put balls into the space and he runs into and just finishes. And it goes along with, you know, what we talked about with ⁓ just the quality in the midfield. Maybe we'll see some better quality once Gilberto Mora comes onto the picture or ⁓ maybe Obed Vargas. slips in there as well that we haven't talked to him about him. But it's just as long as he doesn't show it off at AC Milan or now at Roma where he's going to go, it's going to be really hard for him to get minutes or Raul Jimenez. Because Raul Jimenez does this in the Premier League, right? He's one of the starters, if not gets a lot of minutes and he puts up assists and goals and just style of play I feel like would compliments the team a lot more than Santi Jimenez. speaker-0: And I'm glad Aguirre's... given Raul Jimenez the opportunity to be the locked in starter there. It's better to be a consistent performer at a mid-table club like Fulham than to not play well for a bigger club like AC Milan. And we'll see what happens with Roma if he is going to be out on loan Roma or if it's a permanent transfer, I'm not sure. He's going to have competition. Evan Ferguson was once a highly touted Premier League prospect. Arjen Dovbek is Representing Ukraine, so it's not going to be easy for him either ⁓ Surprisingly, ⁓ think maybe it's a concern when one of your better attackers in the game is Irving Lozano And that's a big point of contention from a Mexican perspective that they don't necessarily want to see an MLS player ⁓ Be at their World Cup even if Carlos Vela did score for them in the 2018 World Cup when he was an LAFC player, but ⁓ Devin do you think that When All-Stand Done in June, if Irving Lozano continues to do well for San Diego FC, you could see him on a World Cup roster. speaker-2: I could see him on a World Cup roster for sure, given ⁓ San Diego's form right now. Success is what drives a nation and a team. if you bring on all the most successful players, ⁓ that is more often than not the case of having a successful ⁓ tournament like the World Cup. ⁓ I do think the addition of a couple other wingers and ⁓ maybe some absences of strikers, I think one of the Danish wingers had left the team to go to another MLS club. I think this provides more opportunity for ⁓ attack and attacking space for Irving Lozano. And I think in the next four or five games, I think we may see ⁓ more stats coming from him in points and assists. speaker-0: The last player I want to highlight before I get some general thoughts on the game and then we'll get into the big moment. Abram, I know that you've followed Diego Linus a lot and you've seen some of the highs and lows of his career. How would you feel about maybe a redemption arc if he is able to get one of those coveted World Cup roster spots? speaker-3: I mean, I don't care who's in that spot if they earn it. If he does something to make me to make the McCon Federation, I actually don't matter. It doesn't matter what I think. But if he does something to prove that like he should be in that spot and it's undeniable, then I want him in that spot. If he's playing better than Alvarado, I want him in that spot. I I really it's about merit for me. And Let's be honest, who else are you looking at? we don't have... In that spot, at least, there's not too many names I can think of unless I'm wrong. Playing in Europe, playing at a higher level. ⁓ So, yeah, it boils down to merit for me, not much else. I don't care if some guy, like 32-year-old, just decides to start trying for some reason in his career. and then ends up in that spot instead of Linus. It's, yeah, it's about merit. speaker-2: I think this is also like a game of form too, like you have to be in form to be considered for a call-up and to just, you know, play successfully in your position and as a team. If you're not in form, then you're not going to succeed. ⁓ So, you know, form fluctuates. Form fluctuates from game to game or maybe even like a set of four games and four games of form and then four games of not in form. ⁓ And those four games of being not in form may hinder the ability to progress as a player and... You know, there's a bunch of like, there's a lot of psychology to that too. You know, if you're not in good form and the, you your attributes may decrease and you may find, want to find another club. So, you know, there's no promises, there's no guarantees in the world of soccer, the world of football, however you want to pronounce it or say it. But ⁓ yeah, I think at least in the next five or six months, I think coaches are going to pay more key, I think, to the European leagues now that the North American leagues will slowly come to a close. a ⁓ lot of players, it's kind of weird to me that in the World Cup specifically, at least with North American players, they will only be given maybe four months, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe four or three months to really prove themselves early in the season once the MLS or Liga Mequis strikes back. again. ⁓ Whereas, you the European world, they'll be in full form, you know, their season will be coming to a close. And those players, you know, at least as a USMNT fan, you know, like Pulisic or ⁓ Weya or any of those guys, ⁓ Weston McKinney, ⁓ they will be in top form and you'll know exactly what you're going to get from them in the World Cup. Whereas here in North America, players over here are going to be fighting, absolutely fighting for the first three months to even be considered on the roster. speaker-0: I'm just looking at some of the names of players that have been called up from Mexico that weren't in this roster We already spoke about a Brett Amora Obviously for the actual World Cup. He's locked in he's got to be there but for a midfield the other notable midfielders we were without Luis Romo and Luis Chavez who's playing for Dynamo Moscow and then for the attackers I would like to more says our sweat that that would be a nice to see if more opportunities but then you're looking at okay we know what we get with Benrim Martin it would only be to have a third striker behind the two Jimenez's ⁓ and then if a Liga mechs player is like meh and MLS players on the Mexican roster like I don't know then especially for Aguirre he does not appreciate Julian Quiñones being in Saudi and that's something that you mentioned with Omar in the last goal-sided ⁓ podcast So we're looking at pretty much, I'd say, at least 22 of the 26 spots could potentially be from this roster that Aguirre called up in this camp. And along with Malagon, I was prepared to praise ⁓ Montes in my article that I wrote about this game, up until the red card, says Ash. speaker-1: Yeah, unfortunately, he ended up getting a red card and sent off early. ⁓ I mean, a couple minutes early. But I think overall just the back line apart from Gallardo had a decent job, did a decent job. Seth Sarmontes, ⁓ wow, where is he at now? He's in Russia still, right? ⁓ But him and Yoja Masquez are the starting center back pairing that we're going to have. Apart from injury, I don't see anybody else slipping in there. I don't see the Mexican center back. gosh, I forgot his name. ⁓ No, Reyes, Israel Reyes. ⁓ Jumping in there and stealing the spot. I think those two are locked in. And I think after this game, I am confident to say maybe Jorge Sanchez can be locked in as well. He probably had the best game that I've seen in recent memory for Mexico. ⁓ but i think ⁓ well west has has a good claim to that spot too so again to to devin's point like the next few seasons ⁓ in the amicis for the last few months in the amicis and for really well west has playing champions league ⁓ qualifiers are now isn't just simply champions league and having good performances ⁓ are going to give them an opportunity again right before the the world cup and maybe sneak in there or battle it out but on the left side i think matilche has his knees to start i think ⁓ guyados time is done i think matilche just he needs to consolidate himself in ⁓ alchemar i think that's how you pronounce it in the danish league and be the starter there so you can say yo ⁓ javir agirre i'm your guy at the left back position speaker-0: I think we have the most qualified content creator in Bay Area Soccer when it comes to Danish Soccer with Devin. So he will be keeping an eye on Rodrigo Cuesca more than any other Mexican player besides Chucky Lozano with his contributions to MLS. Right Devin? speaker-2: I'll be looking out for him for sure. speaker-0: Yeah, ⁓ playing for Copenhagen, one of the big ones there, along with Michelin. ⁓ So that's an interesting player to see. You don't see too many Mexicans in the Nordic League, so ⁓ nice different experiences. And who knows, Mexico could be drawn in a group with any of potentially Denmark, Sweden or Norway. I know that European qualifiers are just getting started, so it remains to be seen. My tectonic take for this international game is that Of the non-UF uncommon ball nations Morocco is the top of that list but Japan is the second so I don't think we should be doom and gloom from ex-wiz prospects because they got outplayed by Japan they're a top 20 team for a reason and Japan they're as close as any of those outsider confederation nations to making a quarterfinal and I was speaking to one of the many Japanese journalists that were there they flew in from Japan just for this game as well as their upcoming game against the United States in Columbus. This particular journalist, name was Masao Korihara, he interviewed me as well as Daniel Poulter who covers Oakland Roots as well, just asking us about our general thoughts on the game, our thoughts on US soccer, Mexico soccer, and Japan. And he stated pretty clearly that many of us believe that Japan should be aiming for a quarterfinal spot in the World Cup. And considering they were pounded to shoot out of the way last World Cup, that's a reasonable objective. And I honestly believe that they have a good shot at doing that. So there's a lot of optimism among Japanese media. It was a pleasure to get to know them. I know that it wasn't easy for them with the language barrier in here in the Bay Area. When it comes to our soccer scene, we have a lot more accommodations for the Spanish media. We did our best to accommodate the Japanese media, but they were a pleasure to have that we, you know. The words that I exchanged with them and many of them did speak English and were able to communicate with me. It was fun sharing the space with everybody. So it was a very wonderful experience there. But we all agree that Japan probably second best outside of those two powerhouse confederations or is that tectonic? speaker-3: I mean, yeah, they're a super, super strong team. Everything you said about them, I agree. When you talked about this game leading, like when you told us you had the credentials and stuff, I was like, yeah, mean, they are very tough team. think they have a higher floor than us for sure because of just the quality of the leagues in which their best players play and even like just their average player is playing in a really high league. ⁓ It's where Mexico needs to improve, in my opinion. They're doing it. speaker-0: Yeah, if I had to Mexico on that list, I'd say Mexico could have a claim to third, but then you also have to consider some other African teams like maybe Senegal. I think South Korea have entered the conversation too. I mean, granted, beating the United States, not much of an accomplishment these days, but they looked really good. And they're not just Hyeongmin Son. If you think that South Korea are going to tail off just because their star player moved to MLS, that doesn't mean too much. We saw Gareth Bale move to LAFC that same club right before the World Cup and sure he was the main headliner for Wales ahead of that but he's still playing an important role and they have a strong unit surrounding him they have other players that they can step up so Yeah, just quickly rattling off, yeah. USA, they are in the toilet right now. They're by far the third best team of the three host nations going to this World Cup. And they have a lot of things to figure out. Enough with the Tristan Blackman, enough with the dartboard MLS player call-ups. They have to be top tier MLS players to make this World Cup roster. ⁓ Pachetino has to figure it out. Whatever vendettas he has with some of these European based players, he needs to make sure they're getting a look. And then, if Pulisic and Weah cannot talk that much before the World Cup, I would appreciate that. Those are my thoughts on the USA, Devin. Anything to add on to that particular- speaker-2: want to go back to the Asia point and I think South Korea is definitely a strong contender for number two. I mean I do recall what I maybe I don't recall. It's kind of sad admitting this but you know as a Germany fan that I am I'm trying to remember they put up a pretty strong fight against Germany and I totally forget what the ⁓ the result was the score line but they definitely impressed during that round of the World Cup. ⁓ enough to make me believe that South Korea is a very strong contender and especially with more South Koreans ⁓ moving to the Premier League and making appearances and kind of, you know, bringing South Korea to a bigger face of the planet now through the world of football. ⁓ I definitely see them being personally, it could be a tectonic take just like Ivan, a stronger contender than Japan. and potentially at some point just as strong of a contender as Morocco. speaker-0: Nippon ⁓ just quickly about the Coliseum support. This felt like a love letter to international soccer and a dress rehearsal for Levi's Stadium hosting World Cup games next summer. If you can pack 45,000 sellout crowd in Oakland in a Coliseum that is much more dated than Levi's Stadium, then bring over any national teams and there's going to be some great crowds in Levi's Stadium. Abram. speaker-3: Yeah, I just wanted to ask, Evans, because this was obviously a big deal for you personally to get these credentials get accepted. ⁓ During this whole process, what was the highlight for you? Because obviously a lot of new things ⁓ in this experience, but what was your favorite part of it? speaker-0: I was just in awe of the people that I shared the press with. Many of my colleagues, yes, but also people I've watched in ESPN Deportes, whether it be like clips here and there or whenever I travel to Mexico. People I've watched on Univision. I was a few rows back from Mafer Alonzo asking a question to Aviar Aguirre, like, this is star power right here. This is just an incredible experience and it felt like... A culmination of my journey in terms of what I've hoped to accomplish with the Tectonic Takes podcast and with my blogs. ⁓ I made it clear these last few years in particular that I don't know if I'm ever going to transition careers into journalism. ⁓ It's not what I studied in school. It's a tough nut to crack for a full-time job. Our boy Favi, he's doing his best and he's doing a great job as well. Doing that is his work. ⁓ but if this is the only international match I get to cover, I don't know if I'll even dip my toes up. Maybe I'll apply for credentials for the world cup. ⁓ but I do feel like 2026, I do want to scale back a little bit and just balance out for more life and ⁓ work and having free time on the weekends with my family and friends. But. I think that that was just bucket list sort of thing and it meant a lot to me, particularly because it was Mexico and because it was Oakland Coliseum. ⁓ My family grew up in East Bay, they lived in Oakland for many years when they moved from Mexico. ⁓ I was born in Oakland, even though I didn't live too long in Oakland before we moved to Hercules. And my first ever sporting event, seven, eight, nine years old, somewhere in that age range, was an Oakland A's baseball game. So I was just like, I don't care what happens. And like, that's why I'm one of the few Mexican fans not completely hating the result because it was a Without preparation for the World Cup too, it was a love letter to international soccer, was a love letter to Bay Area soccer, it shows that even in a difficult season for all of our teams, know, Santa's earthquakes fighting for a playoff spot, and unfortunately Oakland Roots and Bay FC potentially fighting losing battles for playoff spots, that... We have a very strong soccer culture here and we're all here in this space together because of that, because soccer is a big part of our lives. speaker-1: I hope you took many pictures and videos because it definitely seems like a full circle moment. Really happy for you, Evan. speaker-0: Yeah, for me, I kinda experienced the moment itself. So I did take a few pictures here and there. I took home my little tag that has tectonic takes on it, Mextor, Bienvenidos, that sort of thing. Took a few pictures of the stadium. I wanted to respect the space, of course, and respect people's time. So I just had the opportunity. If I talked to someone, great. I wasn't gonna try to take pictures. Another meaningful interaction I did have was I got to talk to, Abel and I, we both talked to, a a student, she's grad student at Berkeley that she's covering the game for the sports column at one of the newspapers there. this was a big deal for a lot of local writers as well for this opportunity and you know I made sure I thanked both the organizer from Mextor as well as Tommy who's been really good to me. He's the ⁓ media manager at Oakland Brutes and it showed how much that Mexico and Japan, their coaches, they were very complimentary of Oakland roots, particularly for Mexico providing a training facility. Japan was able to get a training facility at UC Berkeley as well, so they didn't have to like schedule time for both teams. I'm sure they did for like the last day of preparation, but even though the big headline was, oh yeah, of course it was Oakland, they got robbed at the hotel, like okay, sure, like you could get robbed at hotel in any city in the world, but... there's a lot more to Oakland than just the negative headlines. speaker-2: I mean, I got robbed, or I didn't personally get robbed. I watched a robbery in a random hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, and they're very known for not having weapons and whatnot and not being dangerous. So it can literally happen anywhere. speaker-0: Yeah, exactly. So I think it's very important that with soccer, we are very keenly aware of how intercultural it is. There's so many Mexican cultures at club level, at international level, that you get even more respect than you already have if you're a great person, that you understand all of these cultures blend into beautiful communities and you can see past those narratives. But sometimes some people need a little bit more reminding. The Bay Area soccer party doesn't start. I think it was nice that we had a international friendly with no strings attached Because now the urgency level dials right back up because sounds earthquakes They gotta pick up more points still because they may be in a playoff position now But they're still in a very vulnerable position, but luckily they have some good recent history against LAFC at Levi's Stadium You're probably gonna have to bank on that history, but the last time that they Faced LAFC at Levi's Stadium They were introducing Hernán López and they were getting gold contributions from Amal Pellegrino. So Abram Mallory shows how different that this challenge is going to be and how much of a challenge that they're going to be up against against Hyeongmin Son, Danny Boanga and Hugo Ioris and company. speaker-3: Yeah, I mean, of course, ⁓ we were a different team at that time. But I do have lot of optimism. think that ⁓ what we saw this season, in my opinion, was that although, you know, Hernán helped us last game against LAFC and Amal Pellegrino helped as well, this season they kind of were holding us back. ⁓ I think Amal Pellegrino, I think that there's a lot of quality about him. But if fate decided he couldn't score what is he gonna do like you know he just couldn't score for the life of him and not his fault he's not a bad player because of it he just couldn't score and so you gotta move on the same similar thing with Hernan Lopez is just ⁓ he wasn't feeding our system we gotta move on and so with that we gotta look at what we have now and i think that we have a very strong team going into this match we didn't have chicho last time we didn't have Josef Martinez Those right there are some big reasons why we should still be in contention. ⁓ Chicho hasn't been performing that great, but he still has 12 goals on the season, same with Jose Martinez. ⁓ And we have Christian Espinosa back, which is going to be a huge boost. I was looking at the stats for ⁓ LASC's game against San Diego, and although they had a very high volume of ⁓ attacking actions, They only got four shots on target out of 17 and they got, they racked up 2.7 XG and they only got a goal from that. Meanwhile, San Diego got 0.7 XG and got two goals and they had way better possession, ⁓ way better ⁓ on target percentage. They managed to like keep the game calm and make sure that they got out of there with the victory, even though ⁓ LFC have a lot of attacking talent and they're be knocking on the door. They were able to hold it tight That's something that's gonna be a it might be a problem for San Jose. We are not a defensively Sound team that's able to lock down offenses But that's where there's gonna be a lot of heat in this game. It's gonna be you know back and forth up and down speaker-2: Avery and Caesar, do have a question for you guys, of bouncing off that. ⁓ Who would be players you're interested in seeing on the field, at least in the starting 11, maybe a subs at some point, to kind of ⁓ build a better defensive wall against the... ⁓ Danny, my dog, enters the room. To build a better wall ⁓ against the LAFC onslaught. speaker-0: Go for it, Sizzle. speaker-1: I think for me, Bill LaRoux. I think him being in that midfielder gives us lot of like freshness, youth that we can maybe battle the midfield and also going forward I know he scored quite a few goals at beginning of the season so he can definitely help. like earthquake solidify and I think just being in the LA ⁓ Levi's Stadium just in general I think the last two times we were there ⁓ they won so maybe it's a Levi's thing or ⁓ but in general just Being really solid can help us then whatever we come up going forward is all positive gain. speaker-3: Yeah, I mean I was gonna say the same thing. ⁓ boulder is a big ⁓ factor in this match. ⁓ we've been talking about him all season, but I was looking at the stats I love stats if you can't tell and he's like in the top five for Pretty much every single stat you can think of including goals ⁓ he's great defensively great offensively. ⁓ weston in the discord, ⁓ he brought up a very good point that you know the the pairing of uh renaldo viera and ian harks may for some people they they might see that and be like okay that's a better defensive lineup in the midfield when we have chicho at the 10 we want to protect him but we had some issues with progressing the ball and that is the main thing you want baloo on the field for in my opinion he's very good at crashing the other box but he's very calm pretty press resistant and he's able to get ⁓ Long passes he's able to switch the ball very very accurately He's one of the best in in our team for for long balls ⁓ He he's got to be in this game man, I don't know what Bruce is doing I think that he maybe sees something in the training ground I do have to say there's been a little bit of a dip in form for Bolivarou, but even with that dip I still see him as our strongest midfield option, ⁓ you know I think that Ranol Oliveira has been very solid ⁓ defensively, but he thought 100 % match fit. for me, it's just, it's obvious if you want a change between the last match and the match coming up, you got to get Bolero in there. speaker-0: I agree. speaker-2: and your thoughts. speaker-0: Breeding Favis' article on Baudelaureux it dawned on me just how infrequent players can go through his journey ⁓ back and forth in the academy playing some college soccer and then he had to buy his time at Quakes 2, the town before getting an unexpected breakout this season. And then on top of that you look at the list of U.S. soccer players, not even just U.S. national team players but soccer players in general men and women side one of the demographics that we haven't seen so many of come through and this is what Fabi highlighted is Asian Americans and there are a lot of them that play soccer and maybe don't get as many opportunities due to a lot of flaws in our ⁓ US soccer culture in terms of which players get opportunities when I think at the highest level there's been a few Asian Americans that represented the USMNT the likes of Brian Ching and Lee Nguyen, but they were fleeting presences. Like they only had a few years that they represented that national team. Another player that it could have been ⁓ Zion Suzuki. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and then he represents Japan now, but. I think Bo LaRue being able to potentially share the field with Sun Hyung Min I think is going to be a big moment for Asian Americans that follow the sport, that have passion for this game and it's important that we... see that more players get opportunities and aren't excluded for whatever reason. So I think that's a big story there and Fabio did fantastic job highlighting that in his article on Urban Pitch. He's just one of many reasons why it's been such a pleasure to watch the Sands of Earthquakes this season. speaker-2: Abram, or not Abram, Ivan, I commend you so much week in week out for knowing all these random players that none of us know. And you just like, you bring in a new player that we have to learn every week and I just find that so fascinating. speaker-1: The footy knowledge goes crazy. speaker-2: For real, dude. speaker-3: That's why I panic every time like I have some trivia for you. I'm like, ⁓ my god What is it's gonna be? I'm so scared speaker-0: Well, ⁓ Abram, I have some trivia. ⁓ speaker-2: He just manifested it. speaker-3: Go quick speaker-0: A second African nation punched their ticket to the World Cup this ⁓ upcoming summer. Morocco already punched their ticket. If I narrow it down to North Africa, could you guess who is the second African nation that's already confirmed to be in US, Canada, and Mexico in nine months time? speaker-3: So I'm thinking Algeria or Egypt, but I'm, don't know. For some reason I'm like Algeria. What do you think? speaker-0: Cesar, Devin, do you have a vote? speaker-1: Algeria would have been my guess as well. I feel like Egypt's too obvious. ⁓ speaker-2: I thought I saw something about Mosal confirming for the World Cup, I could be waffling right now. no, I genuinely don't have a guess. I'll just go with Algeria as well. speaker-0: I've been thinking of Mosala defending ⁓ Darwin Union's honor on Twitter a few days ago, but Egypt has to wait a little bit longer because it's Tunisia that punched their ticket to the World Cup. ⁓ They got a win in their World Cup qualifier earlier today against the only Spanish speaking African nation, Equatorial Guinea. So that was a big win for Tunisia that they were in that World Cup group with Denmark, Australia and France the last World Cup, see how they fare in this World Cup. So thank you, Abel, for keeping me up for that trivia. speaker-3: The only Tunisian player I can probably name is ⁓ Hannibal, the ex Manchester United Academy player with the crazy hair who would always get red cards and stuff. But yeah, the crazy attacker. if he's playing for them, he shows them over Fransa, I believe. Very strong player. speaker-0: The other one that came to mind first because of the situation with Sheffield Wednesday and their finances was Jan Valeri who represents Tunisia and plays wingback for them. But yeah, Hannibal Medri is a big one too. And the key for me learning more about ⁓ soccer is that every week on my notes app I look at foot mob and see what games are on each day, where the streaming services are, and if I'm not doing anything If I put something on the background, especially during the day where there's not going to be conflict with North American based sports during the weekdays, for example, I like to put on a soccer game there. just from hearing the audio as I'm doing work in between classes and between teaching, that's how I learn about new players. And occasionally you find out about players that will eventually transfer to a bigger league or a bigger club or end up at the World Cup in 2026. So you never know. speaker-2: This is how you know Ivan isn't about the bullshit. He lives and breathes through his career field and his personal life at home and abroad, everywhere he goes. Lives and breathes soccer. You just have to applaud him. speaker-0: And it helps me prepare for my job. I'm a big believer of productive procrastination. teach intercultural communication. In this class today, we talked about Central America and the Caribbean. And of course, I use a variety of examples to appeal to a variety of different students. So like Usain Bolt, Bob Marley, when we talk about Jamaica. And we talk about, you know, many of the Haitian writers of the Harlem Renaissance. But specifically for Costa Rica, for example, I had to mention that that they've had that brilliant run in the 2014 FIFA World Cup as well. So I do mix and match my topics, but the biggest way that I tell my students is that you can learn more about other cultures by doing the things you do every day. You don't have to travel around the world. You just, whether it's sports, whether it's art, whether it's music, you're exposed to more cultures than you may recognize. So it definitely broadens our horizons there. speaker-2: I think in California specifically, I think that's very common too, because like, especially with international games, know, tracing this back to our original topic of just, either, whether it be Mexico versus Japan, or even like Columbia, where we've had a huge sellout of, you know, Columbia fans gathering in downtown or in certain aspects of, know, parts, the South Bay area. ⁓ There's a very large presence. of a variety of international fans and clubs. And I'm kind of looking forward to the earthquakes, figuring out a way to tap into that market once we get new ownership. speaker-0: Yep, I'm in my ranko. speaker-1: to to that, even being around the Bay, like you go to Pleasanton, like different culture there, you go to the South Bay, to Gilroy, even in Sunday league, like Colombians are like dominating Gilroy Sunday league. So it's really fun to learn and to like hear people talk and just, you know, go out to different restaurants. And I think it's amazing. And the World Cup coming around gets you more excited when there's so many different ⁓ nations represented in the Bay Area. speaker-3: Yeah, 100 % my favorite one of my favorite cuisines just because of I've just been exposed to it and Says that I'm sorry if this is offends you but Salvadorian food. Oh my god, like they got like basically the same ingredients But they do something different with it. Like it's just crazy different especially on chicharron con yuca. Oh my god It's simple, but it's just It's different speaker-1: I've only had their what are they called that what they're famous for The little gorditas the Salvadorians dude, I haven't had their yucca which I really want to try one time one day speaker-3: Yeah, definitely check it out if you get a chance. There's little places everywhere. speaker-0: Yeah, my Salvadoran place ⁓ is... Takara, Toro, and Lark's birth so in between my afternoon class on Wednesdays and my evening class from 6 to 9 if I don't feel like packing my own food or cooking the night before I'll go to that Salvadoran restaurant. It's really nice. We're approaching the end of our time here when we get one quick last thought or expectation about the LAFC San Jose Earthquakes game so rather than a score prediction if you want a score prediction you can but I like to do a Qualifier so the sounds that earthquakes will win this game if dot dot dot something has to happen for the sounds earthquakes to win this game and for me I'm looking at LAFC's record recently They played three of their last four games on the road and they won once and drew twice So they're a lot of points on the road granted against the likes of Chicago fired, New England and Dallas so for the sounds earthquakes to inflict the LAFC their first road loss in over a month which was to the Whitecaps. I that the Earthquakes have to hold them to two goals. I think that the Quakes could maybe scrape a 3-2 win or at least a 2-2 draw, but there's a high chance that LFC, despite being fifth in the Western Conference, that they are seeing red when they see the blue of the Quakes. Maybe it's the red of the 49ers seats at Levi Stadium, but they have the firepower with the likes of Buangwa, with the... They have son of course, but also 22 year old Winger from Ukraine. I'm gonna pull up his name here shortly. He's another X factor for him. R10 small Yakov. So he's another dangerous player there. So I think that two gold minimum. And I think that the Quakes obviously should aim for less, but we gotta be realistic. mean, so ⁓ that's my qualifier here. So Abram, the Quakes will get a positive result against LFC if what happens in your mind. speaker-3: If Christian Espinoza has a good game, I think that we could definitely ⁓ look at a win here. think that if you're looking at the Magic in San Diego, both of their wingers ⁓ were the ones who scored. So if we can utilize our width to the maximum potential, I think that we'd really give them a hard time, especially looking at their fullbacks, maybe a little bit ⁓ attacking. If we can get in behind them and give them a hard time. ⁓ could be a promising result but also I'm gonna put in the caveat that they have a very strong attack as well and we have a very bad defense so we'll see. speaker-0: Alright and I'm guessing by a good game a goal contribution is minimum but maybe two goal contributions? that your kick-talk? speaker-3: Go on assist ⁓ You know that is the the minimum that we need to see from Christian and he's had enough time to have a break We should be seeing 100 % fit ⁓ We've I don't think we have any major injuries right now that I can think of ⁓ Yeah, we have a pretty good amount of play that we can call up to the you know be in the squad so ⁓ Yeah, should be good speaker-0: All right, Devin. speaker-2: Kind of to build off of what Avram just said, we have a lot of players that have been tapping minutes into the town FC. know, Nico Tsikaris, Benjy Kukanovic, ⁓ other first team players that you would normally see on the Earthquakes roster from maybe like last year or two years ago. They're getting fitness, they're getting confidence, they're building everything up again. ⁓ There might be a chance that we see them, there might not. you know, knowing Bruce. ⁓ But to answer your question, Ivan, specifically, I think if we keep LAFC out of our box, not just the simple small six yard one, but the 18 and the little ⁓ dome, ⁓ if we prevent LAFC from entering the box and taking long shots, ⁓ I think we have a good chance of, you know, at least getting a draw out of the game. But also, you know, winning games is our priority to making playoffs and I think to do that we have to start distributing aggressive plays, aggressive balls, whether it be on the deck through to the six yard box or between the six yard box and the 18 on the penalty spot. It needs to be low driven crosses so players like Chicho and Yosef are able to finish with their one touches because I don't see Chicho or Yosef finishing lots of chances with their head on our team. A lot of their finishes are from their feet. And I think we need to tap more into that. speaker-0: There we go. So, scissor. speaker-1: you Yeah, I mean just echoing what Devin said, feel like even if the San Jose Earthquakes are able to keep LAFC out of the box or just be really solid defensively, we need to be really good attacking. To give an example, talking about stats, Earthquakes had expected goals 1.7 to Austin's 1.46. We need to finish the chances you get because we need to secure our place in the playoffs. worked on that during the week now with the ⁓ please send us we also coming back in. ⁓ we can be a bit more hopeful, but at end of the day, you have to play the game and you have to stop them away. speaker-0: The situation regarding the chaseback is a little bit less stressful in the sense that Real Salt Lake would need to maximize their points from their two games in hand to overtake Sansa Earthquakes, whereas Dallas can no longer overtake Quakes even with their game in hand, but you still have to take these last five games very seriously. I'm thinking a minimum of nine points in their final 15 games would be necessary to good about your chances of getting to the playoffs in your own power, ⁓ definitely seven or eight, but anything less than that you're really testing your luck. I'm excited for the second to last big game of season. We're hoping that the last game of the season is a big game and a positive reason if it's decision day or somehow it's not a big game at all and we're assured of a spot by them, but I don't think that's the case at this point. We know it's coming down to the wire and it's going to be a great night out at Levi's Stadium 5.30 p.m. And you know how the parking can be if you're not taking public transportation. You better get there by one o'clock, you know, so. definitely free up the rest of your day because you gotta make sure you're there and enjoying the experience. That's all our time for today. This is episode 150. We just hit the hour mark. And regardless of subscribers, thank you so much for everyone that subscribed. Regardless of how often you view us, for how long you've been watching us for these last five years since we've been doing this, it's been an absolute pleasure. We've had so many people come and go contribute to this. We're thankful to all our guests and we have fun doing it. And that's what we do it for having fun, for presenting the Bay Area and telling you about the San Jose earthquakes and then a little bit of extra like today on occasion. So we really appreciate all your support and GoalSide is just as worthy of your support. ⁓ I know coming up for your next episode you'll probably recap the Mexico versus South Korea friendly. You got more Liga MX to cover as well as more from the European leagues. You got another Mexico match to cover in your next episode against South Korea and there's gonna be more Liga MX and more ⁓ European footy. ⁓ When can people expect your podcast both on their podcast platform of choice and YouTube? speaker-1: On Thursdays we record Wednesday evenings so Thursday morning bright and early ⁓ Omar the co-host has them out for you guys anywhere on YouTube on Spotify anywhere you can catch Podcasts will be on there check us out goal-sided podcast speaker-0: Exactly, their YouTube link will be in our description. Of course, support them, support us. there's always room for great content ⁓ with so many talented people out there. And we're so happy to call you and Omar and everyone in the Gold Side community and your Discord server are friends. So thank you so much for your time. speaker-1: Thank you guys for having me. speaker-2: I also want to just quickly state we are five subscribers away. Five subscribers away from 500 here at Tectonic Takes. speaker-3: I know you guys got five friends at least. One of you has five different... speaker-1: Nose you guys speaker-2: This is about five different alternate accounts out there. don't what's to happen. speaker-0: ⁓ We're ⁓ room for Mexico to do well at least three of us are many of our listeners We'll see if the USA can pick up their act, but most importantly go quakes speaker-3: Okay, okay. speaker-1: Let's get it.