Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 158: Year Two For Bruce

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Episode 158: Year Two For Bruce · Tectonic Takes

• speaker-0: What's up, Quicks fans? We're here with, I guess this is our first episode of the season. So basically everything we did before is like the off season, but now this Saturday, at time of recording, is ⁓ the first game of the season. How excited are you to be back in PayPal Park Devon? speaker-1: I'm gassed. I'm really gassed. This is going to be the first time in the media box, but I'm genuinely looking forward to the start of this season. Watching the Quakes preseason, there was quite a bit of entertainment. Three wins, three games, at least in Coachella anyway. Lots to look forward to, and I'm really excited to share it with you, Abram. speaker-0: Of course, that's what we do. ⁓ more about Coachella, we got to go and this was your first bit of media involvement in your career. It was my second time going down to Coachella and it was a much better overall experience. think that they really ⁓ refined the fan experience because before it was just an open field. The players are out there and you're just trying to not get in their way. Now it was like a very refined experience with like bleachers and stuff like that. Very fun. ⁓ And obviously for me, the main thing was going down there with my friends, Devin, you yourself and our good friend Luis, who was our producer. Yeah. Watch out for a vlog ⁓ on that ship. That's probably going to be coming out soon. It's a lot to edit because we spent a lot of time recording those vlogs, but yeah. Keep your eyes peeled for that. ⁓ But no, over a two weeks we played three games at Coachella and we won all three. ⁓ Very ⁓ good performances. ⁓ I think that there was some areas where I felt like we could have been better. I think the Portland game was a little bit shaky. We ended up winning of course, but I think that was we went up one zero went down two to one and then eventually we ended up winning three to two. But Devin, how do you feel? the defense has been over the past three games because they've had good performances but they've also had shaky performances. speaker-1: You know, I think the defense surprisingly has been fairly solid and I want to contribute most of that success in preseason thus far to Daniel Muni and a surprise name, Reid Roberts. You know, ⁓ Assessing pregame before the very first game when we played Charlotte I had talked to you about you know what our starting 11 assessment would be and I think we posted that on socials and you and I both thought that Max Floriani was gonna get the nod to start and then all of a sudden Reed Roberts is there and You know, I don't want to speak for you, but I was really impressed with Roberts's performance. You know, it's something that Bruce Arena kind of looks for in the fundamentals of players. If they can graph the fundamentals and maintain that throughout the season, that's exactly what Reid Roberts did. And Daniel Muni as well. You know, lot of excellent slide challenges left and right. ⁓ Great duo in the back. ⁓ But, you know, back to Reid Roberts, I was especially impressed with the back line performance. It goes for all four. know, Benji Kukanovic, now a right back for us. ⁓ Pretty crazy impressive. The very first game was matched up with Wilfred Zaha against Charlotte and he won like six out of the seven duels. Incredible. You know, none of us would have thought last season that Benji Kukanovic was going to be our starter for us, nonetheless, a right back. You know what I mean? So defensively, very successful. And I think when Portland scored their their two goals we had a different ⁓ Center back pairing and I wish I took note of that ⁓ But it is something worth with noting ⁓ What are your thoughts Abraham? speaker-0: I would 100 % agree. think that Danny Meany is someone who often gets overlooked, but he's always performing to a really high degree. And you know, we've seen some mistakes. I don't want to say he's perfect, but no, he's very consistent. He's, you know, solid in the air, extremely fast. I don't think we really give him enough credit for being so fast and so agile and just like being everywhere and then also being very calm on the ball. In addition to that so the whole package basically But you know read Robert to someone who last season had a rough, you know, rough go of it and you know, it is hard to give him that you know the designation of somebody who you know You want to see more from but that's that's what played out ⁓ He's a rookie after all so it's not like I was expecting him to hit the ground and you know immediately be our best center back But ⁓ no, what we kind of expected is playing out where ⁓ both Reid and Florani had a really rough job ahead of them where their rookies coming into a terrible defense. You know, just the worst defense the league has ever seen and they have to do something about it, right? And, you know, it was hard. It was difficult. It a difficult task. And I think that they've done a lot better. They look a lot more composed. ⁓ I'm super happy with You know how those two are progressing and I think they could be really solid ⁓ Center backs in this league what you said about Benji is particularly Pressing because that's somebody who we all talk about right? He he was a left winger for a while And it felt like you know when he was competing with Cade. He was you know being primed to When Cade was out the door, he was primed to you know take it take over that role and like really make it his own and that never actually you know happened but he looked really really good at right back Zaha could not breathe with with Benji there and I will say the last game he had some you know strange touches in the box I don't know if you remember those where he kind of like gave the ball back to the oncoming you know attackers and that wasn't good that was obviously not something you want to see from your right back, but overall you have to say that Benji's pace power, you know, ability to bring it forward as well. He's not just like, ⁓ no nonsense right back. He's also can, can bring it forward and he had some really good crosses. I've been critical of his crossing ability in the past. I, maybe he heard me. ⁓ you know, I, I wouldn't want, I wouldn't want that to be the case because, ⁓ Benji, he's a scary guy and I don't think, yeah, I don't think I could take him, but, Obviously I'm kidding, but no very good crosses from him. I would love to see him ⁓ Get more chances this season ⁓ with him at right back and do on Jones at left back The back line is looking a lot better than I think that maybe we're prepared for ⁓ But I don't know if it's improved enough ⁓ with what we heard from Bruce in the preseason presser for Timo Werner where he said that like our defense is massively improved. ⁓ Obviously we won all three games, so it's hard to say that they've done bad, but I would say that we won those games because we were better attacking wise. We were the better attacking team in those three games, which is great. Obviously that's not a bad thing, but it does kind of paint a different picture about the success of our defensive back line. What do you think, Devon? speaker-1: I would agree to the most extent. I don't really have any counter argument for you at all. think assessing the three game period where we saw Dewan Jones left back and Benjie right back, I would be inclined to argue that we utilized our right side of the field a lot more efficient than we used our left. And that's not to say that Dewan Jones and Ricketts are bad players by a long shot. You ⁓ we saw a lot of promise from Ricketts and he generated a lot of good opportunities for us but just wasn't there to meet that final third clinical demand. ⁓ that we would hope to see as a winger. And I know that Ricketts is very capable of finishing, you know, in regular season. He opened the scoring last season and, you know, he made a couple of other good opportunities throughout the course of 2025. I ⁓ think they just need to, he and Duann Jones just need to build that chemistry as the season progresses. You know, you and I also talked during the game while we were down south and we had kind of noted that Buddha and Benji already have an insanely good connection. on the right. A lot of overlaps, underlaps, one-twos, wall passes, really good, you know, tactical understanding with each other. And I'm really excited to specifically watch those two players ⁓ kind of just, you know, build on that throughout the course of the season. Because, you know, preseason's at least just the start of, you know, good... good camaraderie, connection, et cetera, you would think it would only get better from here. speaker-0: Right and I do want to talk a little bit more on that because that is a very interesting point that you brought up the connection between Do on Jones and Jamar Ricketts Marik. It's was rolling out at wingback last season, but with this new formation Being a 433 that's what we played in every piece in the game. So we're probably going to assume that's that what that's what we will continue to see Coming into the MLL season You know those two I be wrong, but don't know how often they've played together in MLS matches. But it didn't look like they had great chemistry in comparison to, like you said, Benji and Buda, who have been on the team together longer. ⁓ But if Ricketts and Jones can get it together and have a better understanding... I think that that would be a very deadly combination on the left side because of those two just being so fast ⁓ and having a lot of ⁓ electricity in the way that they play. But ⁓ even though that connection might not be at the place we want it right now, it might not matter too much because ⁓ if Timo actually plays on the left wing, then Ricketts will be more of backup. And so we'll see him less often. Hopefully, you know Timo playing as many games as he can we got confirmation that his child was born recently So congratulations Timo for that ⁓ And so he'll probably be joining the team sooner rather than later ⁓ we didn't really have a concrete timeline of what that would look like, but Now that his child was born. He will be hopefully, ⁓ you know Moving over his family to the US which ⁓ you know, we love to see it ⁓ but You know, regardless of what that means for Timo and his family, it is doing wonders for our lineup. We look a lot stronger with ⁓ Timo Werner and also something that that is interesting is you noted Rick. It's having trouble finishing. ⁓ He was getting into really good positions. Those runs that he was making for Nico to play in swinging ball over the top to him. Perfect. Perfect runs. I had no complaints. Obviously, he seemed to get a little bit nervous when he got in the box. But Timo Werner probably is more experienced in those situations, right? And so if we have those same balls going to Timo Werner from Nico, who we'll talk about in a minute, that's probably going to end up in us getting a few more goals, right? Because that play is already set in stone. And I think it's just waiting for that last piece, Timo Werner, to slot in there. And I think that's a perfect set up. speaker-1: I want to add comedically a little note that Tim Howard does not believe in Timo Werner. ⁓ He did mention on the podcast or some talk show with ⁓ Lennon Donovan that he said something about he couldn't hit a banjo or he couldn't hit a cow with a cow's butt with a banjo or something like that. I don't want to quote verbatim, but I just thought that was really funny. ⁓ Yeah. Exactly like you said, know, Timo Werner is a little more clinical than than Jamar Ricketts. And that's again, not not speaking against Ricketts. We're not criticizing Ricketts. It's just more of the fact of the matter that Timo Werner has, you know, world class experience, played for the German national team, won the Champions League for Chelsea, Europa League for Tottenham, had success at at Leipzig, those are top teams in the world, you know, and he's bound to bring that success to San Jose. And, and, you know, like, like you said, with Nico Siqueiras being our, our official cam for the, rest of the season, or at least the first half of the season, I think, you know, those, those connections will bring a lot of success to not only Nico's statistics, having a clinical finisher in the top three or in the front three, ⁓ but also being able to give Werner a good ball in behind. And Nico is very capable of that, as you just explained with those perfect runs by Ricketts, unfortunately not as clinical, but excellent runs nonetheless. And Nico was able to give it to Ricketts on a dime. ⁓ So that's exactly what we're expected to see come 2026, this weekend when we play SKC. ⁓ We won't see Timo Werner on the field this weekend. However, he will be in the Bay Area and is expected to watch from the stands. ⁓ So, you know, if you do see him around the concourse, you know, say hi, welcome him to San Jose and ⁓ look forward to the following weekend after where he may or may not see the field for the team. But ⁓ yeah, I'm really excited to see our front four. I'll just say front four, including the attacking mid. ⁓ do their best to give us as many points in the early stage of the season as possible. speaker-0: I also want to point out, ⁓ know, terms of being excited for things, ⁓ we alluded to this earlier, but Devin is officially going to be the journalist joining me in the press box. ⁓ Ivan is still with the team. He's still with Tetranet Takes. He's obviously the founder. He's just taking time to himself. He explained this. not, shouldn't be a shock to anyone, but he's taking more time to be with his wife and be ⁓ more focused on his teaching career. He's a fantastic teacher, a professor I should say. ⁓ And obviously I never got to say anything publicly, but we wish him the best of luck. Ivan is ⁓ a very good friend of mine and he's one of the kind of people I know. So ⁓ I hope that he has a good time doing that. But in the meanwhile, Devin will be joining me in the press box and it's his first time doing so. I'm very proud of you, but can you... Tell us what that would mean to you. speaker-1: I'm nervous as all hell. ⁓ But, you know, excited nonetheless. I get to see a game from a different perspective. I used to sit in the corner all my life, you know, watching the games. So I basically was like the goal line technology for the longest time. And now I get to sit in the press box with you ⁓ watching, or not the press box, but the media box anyway. speaker-0: It's a press bug. speaker-1: Yeah, either way, watching with you ⁓ and getting to observe the game from a different perspective or a different side of things than just being a fan. ⁓ So yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. And then having to ask questions in the post-game pressers. ⁓ I'm also looking forward to that. And not even to just bring another perspective to my own life, but to add my perspective to yours as well is something I'm looking forward to doing as well. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean for me it was a very transformative experience. grew a lot having to be in those situations and Bruce is I fear I've made Devin nervous by talking about Bruce and how scary he is But it's not my fault. He is he is that scary. I get genuinely he's very tall He told me not quite as tall as you Devin, but we saw him in person Coachella and he just his demeanor and everything about him is just Obviously his pedigree also part of the main thing that speaks, you know, for him. But ⁓ he is also not very friendly to ⁓ questions that he doesn't like. And so I've been like, Devin, you got to have good questions. You got to you don't come in here with no bad questions. So I apologize if I've made you ⁓ if I'm responsible for your nervousness. But. Exactly. ⁓ And it will be a great experience nonetheless, even, you know. speaker-1: I'm taking all the notes. speaker-0: Even if you do get a snarky remark, as we've all gotten from Bruce, ⁓ you get to say that you got a snarky remark from Bruce Arena in a press conference. And not everyone can say that. So ⁓ we'll call them battle scars. speaker-1: I like that nickname. I like that name. I would like to return back to the preseason. I want to provide some stats for you, specifically from Nico Siqueiras. You know, last season he did get his first official MLS goal. And now he's officially our 10, which we will also note later on in this season or in this episode. But after getting his first goal of his first professional goal, ⁓ in regular season play. He finished preseason with one goal and two assists. Abram, what are your thoughts on his performance? speaker-0: ⁓ he basically ran the show, right? Like, I don't think anyone would be opposed to that, that, you know, assessment where he was probably the main guy making things happen on the pitch. ⁓ Yeah, one goal to assist. He should have had maybe another goal. ⁓ Obviously, we ended up scoring a Buddha. I got the rebound, but but no, he was really, really good. I was laughing earlier because it it kind of makes it seem like ⁓ You know, the only thing stopping Nico from getting the number 10 shirt was that he hadn't scored a goal yet. And so they're like, oh, you finally scored a goal. Here you go. You can have it now. But now, obviously, super happy for him, you know, not just for his performance in Gochela and everyone saying like, oh, you know, this is the guy now, you know, he's he's finally grown into the player that we're hoping for. At least that's what it looks like at this point. You know, it's kind of made more official with not just the ⁓ the change in number to number 10, which is obviously a very prestigious number here. ⁓ legends like matias perez garcia, or the ⁓ hennukkoy tom Did he wear number 10? I'm not sure walter martinez r.i.p. ⁓ but no obviously he's he's taking it from christian espinosa, ⁓ probably the number two earthquake of all time. You know, that's a little bit arguable, but I would say that he's in most people's top five, hopefully, you know, really big number to take on at this stage of his career. And then joined with that is his U22 Initiative contract, which keeps him here till 2029 with an option for 2030, I believe. You know, huge news. And he's somebody who won as a person you love it when he is selected to ⁓ you know take questions at the press conference because he is he's very generous with with his time and energy he he will take the time to think about your question and he'll try to give you the best response and the the most like you know meaningful response that that matters to him ⁓ that's not something you get from all the players all the time but it's something that is very much appreciated when we do get something like that and nico is somebody who I've never really been disappointed in the way he answers questions. ⁓ That's just talking about him as a human off the field. ⁓ Yeah, of course. And no, he's just a great person to have as a face of the club, just the way that he holds himself. ⁓ I'm super excited for this, what feels like the next era of Niko Schuervas. speaker-1: presentation. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well. And I think, you know, from many episodes since my inception here on Tectonic Takes, I've been a huge fan of Nico and I'll say it till the day I die. ⁓ You know, I believe in this coach, I believe in this organization. No, I'm just kidding. I believe in Nico and I know he's fully capable of the 10. I know having the 10 is a very prestigious, in a general context of the beautiful game, it's a very prestigious number. We may not have had a whole list of players, significant players in our club who have worn the jersey besides Espinoza and Donovan and you know, in the... other guys in the early stages when we were the clash. But it's an accomplishment nonetheless to have that number and a huge responsibility and Nico is definitely more than capable of taking on that responsibility. As we saw during preseason, one goal to assist, making beautiful balls. He could have had three assists if it wasn't for the deflected save on Buda's goal, but you you don't count those. ⁓ So his stats... are well represented of him getting that 10, but I think he could have gotten more, you know, in preseason. There are two chances with ⁓ Jamar Ricketts. I think he could have finished preseason with four or five assists at least. ⁓ So I think that's well represented in his number 10. ⁓ You know, other notable names here, Abram, we have LaRue, Oseni Buda, Preston Judd. Nani, a player that you probably want to dig into here a little deeper. all those players had scored pre-season and that's not something that you would necessarily see. would see players like Chichorongo, Josef Martinez making those step-ups. But now we have a long list of last season's backups doing what's needed to get the wins for this season. So I'm really excited for that. And as you know, as well as another shout out, ⁓ Mendoza was wearing Bo's jersey on the third game, I believe. it the third or second game? I can't remember. Third game. He was wearing Bollorou's jersey and he had a backflip pass to Nico who took the shot, deflected off the keeper, rebounded from the keeper and then Senibu to put the shot away. ⁓ But that was a really, really smart, intuitive play. by Mendoza, whom we will probably see for Quakes 2, but I think given his performance may deserve some first team play time in 2026. All right, what do you think, Abram? speaker-0: I have been talking about Mendoza since he was 17 years old. He pretty quickly, right as he got a first team contract with, he got a homegrown, I was like, ⁓ okay, I'll be honest. My first game seeing him, I didn't realize that he was a six. I was like, this fricking number 10, like this cam is really bad. I was like, cause I thought he was a cam. I didn't realize that he was a six. And so I he doesn't, you know, try to break the lines. He's not, he's not jibbling. I was like, this guy's boring. But when you recontextualize that as a, to being a six, it's so much different. He's, I've said he reminds me of Busquets, you know, I think that there is a lot of similarities, but he's left footed. You know, a lot of people might've watched him and been like, wow, that was really good performance from Bro LaRue. And they don't realize that was Edwin Mendoza. speaker-1: The announcer, 100%. speaker-0: Yeah, the announcer didn't realize but well because he came in and usually ⁓ mendoza wears 38 but for that game he wore 34 have no idea why ⁓ To play yeah, he wasn't expected to play I believe that he might have ⁓ played in the ⁓ because there was a scrimmage that morning Right. And so it's possible. Maybe his shirt was dirty. I don't know There's a million reasons why you know that could be but he ended up wearing bolero's jersey who ⁓ speaker-1: It wasn't expected. speaker-0: picked up a minor knock in the first match of the preseason. And so the announcer didn't realize that that wasn't Bolero, so he kept calling him Bolero. But I do want to mention Mendoza didn't just get that hypothetical hockey assist with that back heel. He also won the ball back to begin with. The keeper distributed it out to the center back, and Mendoza pressed him, got the ball back, and then had the wherewithal to play a back heel. Nico inside the box to for the shot and it was beautiful and it's exactly exemplary of what I've been towering about this player since he started playing for quakes 2 and the minute I realized like what kind of player he is I just saw him in a complete different light and He's he's he has so much going on out here. He's such a shy person You would never realize that he's a professional soccer player that he's just he's a genius and I'm so excited for him to get ⁓ more recognition. people are watching more Quakes 2 games this season now that we have officially rebranded back from the town to Quakes 2. I don't want to talk about the town anymore. That was the time and I tried not to go too much into it on here but and I'm still not going to. ⁓ But no another player I want to talk about is Noni Madueke. Not Noni Madueke! Okay, another play I want to talk about is noni Adi Mabua ⁓ He has the record for the most goal contributions in Quakes two season and Obviously was the town at the time but we're calling quick shoe from now on. Okay guys he got 19 goal contributions in 28 games and He only started 25. So if you want to look at that this way There was only four games in which he started and did not get a goal contribution. You know, that's very impressive. He got a 7.17 rating across almost 2000 minutes of play time. And everyone was super impressed with him. He's a huge guy. He's not the best dribbler as we see with the stats, but he has a lot of stats in the 90s. Goals, 94th percentile. Shots, 95th percentile. Shots on target, 94th percentile. Headed shots, 89th percentile. Very, very strong attacking presence. ⁓ Six foot four, a lot of people are very impressed with the size. And hey, this could either be a really good acquisition from our second team and something that needs to happen more where we get players from that second team, because otherwise what's the point if we're not promoting players? This could either be that or it could be another Max Arfton situation, which is the last thing we want. Right. So Max Arfton didn't come through our academy, played for UC Irvine, I believe. And, you know, he had a really good season at Quicks too. And then out of nowhere, the Quicks wanted to sign him. You know, they would have loved to sign him, but it wasn't possible with the Capspace at the time. And then he declares to the draft, You know behind the quicks back and the quicks didn't know about that. And so their plan was okay in second round We'll take Max Arfstin and then you'll have a first team contract. That's a you know, really clean easy way to do that but ⁓ In the first round of the draft Columbus crew took him and look where he is now, right? And so we can't let this kind of player go. This would be a really big loss to the earthquakes ⁓ If we were to let this kind of guy go it is very jarring to me to see a player born in the same year as me I'm being you know ⁓ And talking about him be like, ⁓ that guy's just a few months younger than me. Great. That's where we are now ⁓ but no Forget about that ⁓ This guy would be a very good signing. He's not a hundred percent, you know official but if the quakes could make that happen I would love to see it and a lot of people have been like clamoring to get him in because he had a very good performance for ⁓ in this preseason. Devon, what did you think of his games during the preseason? speaker-1: You know, I think especially for the game that we watched him play live, you know, he had a lot of chances with his head and a lot of chances with his feet. And to have a player that can utilize both head and feet is, I'm not going to say it's rare, but I think it's very helpful for the earthquakes to, you know, given the players who... distribute into the box. Benjic Akanovic making great crosses. Niko Tsukares putting the ball into the box when needed. ⁓ Players even like Timo Werner or Seni Buda making crosses into the box. You know, there's a lot of good chances to utilize Nani both his head and his feet. ⁓ There aren't many players who can perfectly utilize it quite like Nani can. And I believe, you know, Given the fact that Preston Judd is currently our starting nine and Timo Werner has stated in his announcement ⁓ press conference that he loves playing the false nine, ⁓ there are players above Nonny who have a higher caliber and more deserve to I think Nonny would be excellent depth from here on out. And he and Tomo Allen, I believe would definitely have to compete. on the second team, have to push each other to the limits to prove that both players are worthy of first team minutes. Especially Tomo Allen. Especially, you know, I'm just thinking out loud here, like, it's gonna be tough for the Quakes 2 manager to decipher who they want to start unless it's a two striker formation, ⁓ whether it be Tomo Allen or Nani. Because in the first preseason game against Charlotte, He had a lot of good chances. And then the second preseason game against Portland, he put one away, you know, and it was, was one of those through balls by, ⁓ Jack Jaczynski, our, our current, I guess, trialist, but draftee who we may sign and assign to this, the second team. ⁓ it was a great through ball and Nonny was able to over, you know, ⁓ overexert his physicality against Portland's defensive player and, and sneak in the goal. And that's something you want to see as a striker and that's something I'm especially looking forward to seeing as we cover quakes too throughout the season ⁓ You know that it's a big testament to Nani's ability and prospective future for the earthquake speaker-0: Also want to mention that he's not just like a guy who is just gonna sit in the six yard box and head it in That's not the type of player he is. He is also a very good hold-up player with 302 successful passes putting him in 89th percentile six assists putting in 96 percentile accurate long balls It was 18 96 percentile Very very well-rounded player a lot of good stats here He he's been dispossessed 40 times, which is obviously a terrible stat But ⁓ I I didn't think that he looked out of place. It's the point that we're trying to make He looked like he is mls quality. ⁓ I think that honestly the defense looked terrified of him Like they couldn't deal with the physicality ⁓ and the movement he almost scored off the header in that first game that we saw him in against charlotte ⁓ and you know that game changes a lot if if it's two zero instead of one zero, right? So no, if the Quakes let this go, I'll be very disappointed. ⁓ I obviously would love to see him continue with the Quakes second team, but ⁓ in a different context, where he's pushing for the first team rather than just being really good on the second team and there's no chance for him to go up because the contract structure is so frustrating in that league. ⁓ I think that, you know. Look out for him. Another trial list that we had ⁓ who a lot of people are hoping that we signed is Johnny Gonzalez, a Mexican midfielder. ⁓ And we were very, you know, surprised when we first saw him. We didn't know who that was or what to expect from him. But I was pleasantly surprised. And I thought that he he did enough to, you know, deserve, in my opinion, a team friendly contracts like nothing like crazy of course but like if we can get him on a good deal for us I wouldn't mind bringing him in what do you think when you saw ⁓ Gonzalez play Devon? speaker-1: Yeah, initially at first we were really confused who it was and why they were playing for us. And then, you know, through a couple of minutes of discussions with fans on the other side of the fence, we had discovered that, you know, it was ⁓ Jonathan Gonzalez who used to play for Monterey and had a short stint at Minnesota United a couple of years ago ⁓ and has been out of the game due to injury recently. But he's back, obviously, as a trialist for the Quakes. And he impressed us. He impressed me. specifically with his short passing and his ability to successfully complete a pass with good weight on it and good accuracy under pressure. ⁓ You know, I think that's a testament to what he's capable of and what I think we should be able to see out of a midfield ⁓ trio if he were to come on as like a sub or... or what not, replace BOLYRU for a game or two ⁓ with match congestion. I think he'd be a great replacement for that and his consistency kind of rolled all the way through to the point where he started, I think, for the third game, surprisingly enough. And honestly, I think it's a deserved start. What are your thoughts? speaker-0: Yeah, I agree with everything you said. thought he looked really press resistant. He's one of those players where their main thing is their technique and ability on the ball. He's in contrast to to to Nani. He's a very small guy, maybe five, six, five, five. ⁓ But, you know, his impact obviously is much bigger than that. ⁓ Very, very smooth on the ball. don't think I recall an instance of him losing possession. You know, he he chooses to play it safe ⁓ No, no complaints I think like I said if we can get a team-friendly deal like one similar to Jack's game I don't want to see Jack's game come on as an eight or midfielder like a ten sure I actually like Jack has ten but ⁓ People, you know are clamming for sometimes Jack has an eight and I'm like, no, he's a he's a winger or a, you know, impact 10 who just wide. ⁓ But with this guy, he's very clearly an eight or maybe a six. I think he played some six at the preseason. So let him do that job. ⁓ And, you know, in contrast to that, somebody who had an interesting, you know, situation that is not listed on our list here is Mark Anthony Kay. who in contrast to Gonzalez would not have such a team friendly deal. I don't see us, know, with the contribution that he had in preseason at least, if we're going off of just that, I don't know if I want Mark Anthony Kay back because of how much he was getting paid and what we could do with that money because I didn't think that Mark Anthony Kay looked better than Gonzalez. That was just my opinion. What do you think, Devin? speaker-1: Yeah, I don't want to say he's not worth his pay, ⁓ but I think his contribution didn't add up. to what you know what the contract he was given last season which I think was kind of a reason why he was let go at end of season and and and maybe there's a way that we can redo his contract however one of our our ⁓ members in the discord had noted on was an update on both the quakes and mls roster pages says entries from mark anthony k jersey number 99 and a cano aljondra cano were removed from the roster along with their position labels in related senior category contexts. So with that information, I don't see Marc Anthony Kay signing a contract for the Earthquakes first team. It's, mean, it's not like he's going to sign for the second team. I don't know why I made that differentiation, but you know, nonetheless, know, Gonzalez and other trialists who were with the Quakes at the time, even Nonny, they weren't on that list. And it seems like there might be a better chance for Gonzalez to ⁓ to make the first team with the professional contract and with lesser value, lesser salary value than Mark Anthony Kaye would ask for. speaker-0: Yeah, 100 % agree. ⁓ I like Kay. I like him as a player for the most part and as a person, super kind man. I'm very happy to have him at the club. ⁓ But you you said you don't think that he merits his salary, but you know, it was like something crazy, like $600,000 a year. I'm not, don't quote me on that. So I have the numbers now. Thank you, Hameen, for ⁓ putting these ⁓ numbers together for us ⁓ you he he did all this work so i don't want to like you know just leave it it's worse than i thought he is a pam player on eight hundred thousand a year guarantee speaker-1: 100k yeah speaker-0: That's closer to a million than it is half a million and that that's a lot. I don't think that that's very team friendly at all for the contribution he had where he came on like really late in the game to be like ⁓ a really big body in there. ⁓ You know, for what we saw in preseason at least, not only did Gonzalez play more, but I felt like he had more of an impact on the game and the flow of play. ⁓ So. I don't know, looking at this, Devin, what number would be okay for you? Because for me, don't think, if I'm looking purely at the caliber of player, not taking into account the context of which we brought him in, I would say 200,000 max. And that's a really big difference for that, for somebody who's making 800,000 a year to suddenly be making 200,000, that's still a lot, but like, I don't know if he would agree to that, right? speaker-1: You took the celery right out of my mouth. I was gonna say maybe 200, 250,000 as depth, which I think is still a little high for a depth purpose. Yeah, I think. speaker-0: That's how much Earl Edwards knows. speaker-1: I think 200 for Mark Anthony Kaye, who I know has had success on other teams who, you know, he's played with Bruce Arena and I'm sure you trust Bruce Arena and vice versa. just, I think his contribution would warrant around 200 to 250,000. I'd be okay with having him play. For the earthquakes for that that salary so we can still afford other players Potential DPs on on the roster, you know as we go along through the season ⁓ You know World Cup is this year There's a lot of opportunity that we can hire world-class players to stay in the United States after the World Cup is over ⁓ and if you have a player like Marc Anthony Kaye who's on a TAM contract of 800,000 then that's less maneuverability for the front office to make any deals with any other players who may provide a higher impact per salary. ⁓ So that's kind of my thoughts on it. speaker-0: And to be honest, like I said, Gonzalez had a bigger impact during the preseason, right? And so how do you, how do you as somebody who like is benefiting greatly from the freed up salary cap, gonna make the decision to, you know, pay what? If you give them a $200,000 like, you know, pay cut, that's still 600,000 and that's... For the value it's terrible. Let me let me do so eight hundred thousand Divided by ten, which is the amount of starts he had That's eighty thousand to start ⁓ that's too many. That's too many thousand to start and Yeah, can't justify that. I'm sorry mark Anthony K ⁓ lovely lovely person You gotta you gotta we gotta change the numbers a little bit ⁓ but I think that you that's enough said on that. ⁓ Probably happy to move on from Mark and Decay. ⁓ But what were your thoughts on ⁓ Ronaldo Vieira? I thought that he, for me, I see him in a completely different light now than I did at the end of last season. speaker-1: Yeah, so I think it's great to have experience in preseason to gain some sort of a chemistry with the team. Viera did not have that last season. He came in midseason as a six and did what he tried to contribute to the earthquakes with, you know, with his current ability. I didn't think last season he contributed all that well. Now that he's had a full preseason with the team, with the starters, ⁓ it seemed like he was way more comfortable as a six and he was able to distribute, able to get chances on net, ⁓ able to defend really well. I liked what I saw, all three games from Ronaldo Vierre and I feel way more comfortable having him as our six moving forward than I would assessing at the end of last season. speaker-0: 100 % agree and that's not to say he's perfect right? He's not the fastest player. He looks really big like he's put on the perfect or in all the Rivera ⁓ No, he looks like he is gained a lot of muscle and all season not that he was ever like scrawny or anything But he looks like he's a lot stronger now I Thought he looked good ⁓ Definitely better than anyone else in that position that we have right now speaker-1: name that's for sure. speaker-0: And he was writing the Captain's Armand, which is interesting to note. I wonder if that will continue into the MLS real season. ⁓ speaker-1: I think it would either be him or Timo Werner. I think Werner is going to accept a leadership role within this club as he enters towards the end of next week. speaker-0: Yeah, I agree. think that it's not unheard of for teams to captain their, you know, big European signing right off the bat. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up doing something similar. Devin, you asked the Tiktoknotik Discord who their top three players that they're looking at this season. ⁓ What were the things that you saw from that? speaker-1: ⁓ Well, I gathered a list of names here and I think the most common the most two common names were obviously Nico Secares and Bowleroo and for the most obvious reasons they dominated the midfield all preseason. Bowleroo was injured but you know with the game they made the biggest impact in that specific game versus Charlotte by scoring the only goal. ⁓ speaker-0: By the way, was injured, but yeah. You look really good. speaker-1: But know, Niko Sikaris, one of the most dominant midfielders that we have right now. We wouldn't have been able to say that last season given the fact that he barely had any minutes, was really impactful with the youth national team at every given chance he was he had the opportunity for and Correct me if I'm wrong. There was the youth world cup last season and he had a lot of really good ⁓ assists and goals ⁓ In that stint ⁓ So to see you know, nico and larue get the kind of fan recognition is wonderful to see ⁓ Another name on here is that that popped up kind of the most or second most is duwan jones D'Juan Jones was kind of a surprising name because he felt like a prominent household name. Not in the Quakes household, but just in a general ⁓ MLS fan household. A lot of fans know who D'Juan Jones is, especially crew fans. ⁓ know who Dujuan Jones is and and he makes a consistent impact every time he's on the field. Despite what I said in the in the first half of this this podcast ⁓ where I think he can improve but it's a big name nonetheless and I think that there's still more room for improvement for Dujuan Jones and I think the fans see it too. know ⁓ Jamar Ricketts another big name he just came off his his first official season in MLS last season. from start to finish anyway with the earthquakes. ⁓ Made a lot of really big impactful plays. I think there is a lot of shaky moments as well. ⁓ But he's showing promise in preseason and I think there's a lot more again to build off with Jamar Ricketts and I think the fans see that too. So I'm glad that he's also getting the same recognition. speaker-0: Any other names? Yeah, I just wanted to comment, you know, you were saying about DeJuan Jones and Ricketts, honestly, who I'll be talking about. You know, there was a disconnect there. I think anyone could see that they had some good moments, but our right side was definitely more cohesive than the than the left. But I didn't feel like that was DeJuan Jones's fault. Right. So he looked up and didn't necessarily see he had an option. So he had to play backwards. Or you know sideways and I don't necessarily blame him. I've been in that position Where I'm like, okay our left winger is just not you know where I want him to be not that he's not a good player But he's not where I want him to be so I'm just not going to pass it to him and and I'm not trying to heart heartbound Rick. It's too harsh I'm not trying to harp on Rick. It's too much here. But ⁓ there is a There's always something about him where I'm like he's not exactly where I think that he should I think that he has a little bit of a ⁓ lack of experience maybe You know, it's difficult to parse out the exact issue But like I didn't feel like he was ever ready to defend He's very fast. So he's able to to you know, make up for it, but he didn't stand proactively And you know, I saw that was a bit more of an issue ⁓ in the the species and as ⁓ a left winger, you know, he had really good moments when ⁓ Especially if the run is more obvious to make he he'll make that run but just the tiny nuanced moments where you just want like a step away from the defender and then you have space to receive the ball and then you know progress the ball that way It didn't feel like that side was as receptive to that as Buddha's side where he was able to you know, receive the ball under more pressure ⁓ So I'm hoping we see Ricketts improve in that manner because I think that if he can figure out those small things, nuanced, know, slight movements, I think that he, know, MLS caliber ready to go. Cause on the ball, I feel like he has a lot of ability, but it's just like off the ball, it's just lacking a little something. And I think that we could see a lot more from him. So just wanted to defend Jones there because I think Jones is a very good. player and we don't want to like, you know, blame him for what happened on that left hand side. speaker-1: Yeah, I think you made a really good point and I kind of want to add to that, you know, as we stated earlier, Jamar Ricketts may not be the starter on left wing for very long ⁓ as you know, Timo Werner is going to come in and replace him as a starting left wing. ⁓ What do you think Abram, now that we've just had that conversation about, ⁓ you know, not being Jones's fault necessarily for the somewhat disconnect on the left hand side, what do you think about the possible partnership with Jones and Werner. speaker-0: Well, I think that Werner is somebody who wants to play a pretty traditional inside forward. ⁓ Not just, you know, making because we talked about when we talked about the signing initially last podcast episode, we talked about how Werner is going to be getting on the end of everything, right? Like that he's just going to run onto things and he is very capable of that. And I think we will see that. But he's also capable on the ball. He's a very good jibbler, able to make passes as well. And so and he said as much in his press conference He said that he likes to come deeper and get on the ball. And so I'm expecting more of that from him ⁓ I think it's a little bit awkward when you have two inside An inverted left back and an inverted winger. They kind of want to take the same spaces on the inside channel ⁓ So I think that they they might struggle a little bit initially to you know bridge that gap where where one is gonna be where the other one's gonna go But I have no doubts that they will figure that out. think Jones is a very smart player. ⁓ He's had to think about it differently being somebody deployed on the left hand side, despite being naturally right footed. He's had to think about how a left footed player is going to go about it. So he, think, is very capable of taking that outside channel, regardless of what foot he prefers. and we'll be able to make the overlapping runs for Werner if he's cutting inside or vice versa, right? He'll be able to cut inside and play Werner, whatever they decide to do. ⁓ I have no doubts that they will figure something out. speaker-1: Yeah, I'm in the same boat as you. I honestly think ⁓ Jones may have to adapt to a more of like a traditional fullback role rather than like an inverted one. ⁓ I do see Jones having that capability and succeeding at kind of being more of like a ⁓ more of like a centralized fullback, if that makes sense, kind of staying tight. to the left center back and making those plays for Timo Werner who can stay higher up the field and find ways behind the defense. ⁓ know, Timo does like coming back, which I think is helpful on defense. And that's something that Bruce brought him in for is due to the fact that our defense absolutely was atrocious last season. And he can absolutely help with that. ⁓ With two other speedy. forwards in the same process, know, Preston, Jairus, any Buddha, know, Timo Werner doesn't have to be the only guy making in behind runs. You know, if he drops deep, just like Buddha did on the right hand side with with Benji Kukanovic, I think we can see Timo Werner getting assists as well as goals. So I think, you know, having this be a double impact player. I think this also benefits to Dewan Jones's role as well. if he's capable of kind of adapting to Timo Werner's natural instinct as a left winger. speaker-0: You also brought up an interesting point. know we're almost done here, but I want to talk about real quick something that you brought up multiple times while we were doing commentary and also just watching the game over discord Was that the wingers in this formation? They seem to be coming a lot deeper than you would expect for a 43 it kind of turned into a 451 in defense, right? We keep one forward up and then have both wingers come come down pretty deep to help cover And I thought that that was interesting, but it is like indicative of a team that struggles in defense. So put more defenders there, like try harder to defend in a way like, and you know, that probably will have mixed success because a lot of the defending will happen in the box. And so the wingers don't necessarily, they're not there to, you know, do those things, but the things before that, right? So there'll be less opportunities for the, ⁓ opposing team to get those crosses into the box in the first place if there's two people marking that area rather than just the one fullback. ⁓ So I think that will be an interesting difference this season and I hope that it turns out successful. speaker-1: Yeah, also another note on that preseason tactical front. ⁓ There were many instances on opposing goal kicks where we saw our midfield three, not just two, but all three of our midfielders almost as high as our wingers in a high press goal kick scenario formation, which I thought was really interesting. Nico was probably sitting just as high as Preston Judd, Bolaru almost as high as Nico. And then I think it was the game when Gonzalez started. Gonzalez was maybe sitting just below Boleru and then there was a big gap between Gonzalez and the back four. ⁓ That is something interesting to note tactically from 2025 to 2026 how we are going to press really high on goal kicks. ⁓ I think that's also a ⁓ sign of trust that our back line can win headers. ⁓ but also a testament to our midfield and Bruce's tactics that we can win the ball in the midfield and our own offensive third to gain counterattacks and potentially score off those counterattacks. I think it's something that's critical to heading into the match versus sport in Kansas City, who MLS analysts may not have had such positive ⁓ remarks of. ⁓ You know, we haven't really had positive remarks from MLS pundits either. ⁓ I know journalists have rated us pretty high in making playoffs, ⁓ but it didn't, know, MLS pundits had left us in maybe 14th or 15th in the Western Conference, ⁓ or at least really low in the Western Conference anyway. I think... You know, having that high press may change that ⁓ outcome and output, the offensive output anyway, for the course of the season. It's something for fans to watch. speaker-0: Yeah, and obviously that depends on the success of said press, but it worked out for three games in a row in Coachella. So obviously something's working. ⁓ Yeah, so that will be a very interesting ⁓ change to the way that we play it tactically. think that there are definitely a lot of different pressing triggers, you know, just that I don't think that I've been able to successfully like nail down exactly what it is, like when this guy goes, when this guy goes, but ⁓ it's different. That's the main thing I did notice that there is changes. They've been working on it and that's kind of a big thing I wanted to see. ⁓ But I guess we won't really know until the Saturday where we play Sporting Kansas City. ⁓ But guys, before we end this episode, I do want to ⁓ announce that we are changing a little bit of our brand. We have a new logo. We'll be ⁓ premiering that very soon. I'm not sure exactly when. But just look out for that. I'm very excited. ⁓ And we will also be streaming the press conference this Saturday ⁓ for Bruce Arena and whoever the player is is picked for the press conference. So super excited about that. Make sure to stay tuned. We'll try to get it more organized this time. It was a little bit messy during our trip to Coachella last time. ⁓ We figured out where we went wrong and so hopefully we'll learn from those mistakes and do better this time. Any closing thoughts, Devin? speaker-1: Hope to see you guys there versus Kansas City this weekend. I will be there. Abram will be there Come say hi come say hi if you see us around the concourse and I would be happy to shake your hand and I as if we're like celebrities or anything, but Friendly fans speaker-0: No, I I know I look angry. I know I look like I'm a mean person, but I am very much not. Devon gonna attest to this. I wanna shout out real quick, Kevin, I don't know his last name, but he joined the discord last year. A very handsome guy. He said he knew you, Devon. He came up to me and Ivan at the Stanford game. And you know said to watch the show and I keep forgetting to do a shout out. So shout out Kevin Whatever your last name is. I'm sure you know But yeah Yeah, like you Devin said feel free to come say hi We're not famous or anything. But you know, some people watch the show we've been we we've been gaining subscribers pretty steadily in the offseason so You know very excited for what that means for us speaker-1: Yeah, also subscribe, you know, if you want to watch any of postgame press conference content. Subscribe down below. Don't miss, don't miss a beat. speaker-0: Yeah, we'll. We're trying to step up the content this season. ⁓ We watched that footy dad, aka Eric, just killing it on the content and we were like, okay, we could probably do a little bit more here. So we have ⁓ different types of content coming this season. Hopefully we can get the press conference out more consistently. Other than this podcast, us talking about it, that's the main focus I have of making sure that there is a press conference available for people to watch. because not enough people are informed about what Bruce has to say about the team, about the game, ⁓ and we hope to change that. speaker-1: Most definitely. And then with that said, we'll see you guys next week and go Quakes! speaker-0: Go Quakes.