Latest / Tectonic Takes / Episode 164: Familiar Faces
Transcript
- speaker-0: What's up Quakes fans, we are back with another episode of Technonica Takes. We told you we'd be back to preview this game against San Diego and I think that's the only thing on the agenda unless we can think of something else to talk about meantime. But Devin, I'm thankful you could join us today. How are doing? speaker-1: I'm good. It was a long day today, so I'm looking forward to the recording and discussing quakes and and you know whatever else to come I know we had a couple of quakes on international break. I don't know if you want to break that break the ice there first, but You know good news on Oseni Buddha. He did bag a couple of assists away You know did you did you witness any of the international games Abraham? speaker-0: I didn't get a chance to watch any international games. Honestly, I'm going be a person, not just an analyst on the show for once. I've been really tired with... We've done a rebrand. It's been 30 days since ⁓ Tecronic Takes has rebranded. And just all the things that we have to do to keep up our image and make sure everything's working and get the whole team going in same direction. It's been going really well. I don't have any complaints. in that regard of how it's going. I'm super happy with the things we've been able to do, but it is catching up to me. And so soccer in general has been like, okay, I'm just gonna watch quakes. And then like, I don't even play FIFA very much anymore just because like I have to chill on soccer. ⁓ But no, so I didn't see anything in the international. ⁓ I do get updates occasionally on teams that I follow. I saw that USA got blown out by 2 ⁓ That was that's gotta hurt for you Devon even though you're wearing all Ireland gear right now speaker-1: That still hurts too, we were eliminated from the World Cup contention. speaker-0: Yeah. But no, can you enlighten us on how Buddha did? speaker-1: ⁓ Well, I personally didn't watch the game, but I know Buddha ⁓ in his most recent game ⁓ bagged two assists. So in that regard, you know, it's something that I'm looking forward to, to him bringing his form over to the earthquakes. I know Niko Sikaris started as the U20 number 10. ⁓ And I'm hoping that experience will bring Niko back into whatever form he had with the U.S. youth national team. back to the earthquakes and so he can start to really put some points on the board for the club that really matters. ⁓ The black and blue. speaker-0: ⁓ exactly ⁓ now ⁓ it's really cool to see that but i got to assist because you know the the main criticism that we've had over his you know season so far is that he's been good getting on the end of things but he had been super creative that's not to say he's playing horribly but i know that i know but and i know he has standards are higher than what he's showing even though he's scoring everything else has been like a little bit lackluster so if he's able He's showing that he does have that in him to create and set up for his teammates. I didn't see those those goals so I can't speak on them like in any detail but yeah it would be really good to have somebody else providing assist for the quakes right now because the front line is gonna really matter for the game against San Diego. speaker-1: Yeah, looking at San Diego stats right now, they're currently in awkward form. And by awkward I mean in both MLS and CONCACAF Champions Cup competition. ⁓ First of all, they got blown out of the water in CONCACAF Champions Cup versus De Luca. Both games, San Diego getting a red card. And then the following game after that versus Real Salt Lake, San Diego FC also getting another red card. You know, two of those red cards, CONCACAP Champions Cup won't count to the match versus the Earthquakes, but the red card issued versus Real Salt Lake will carry over to our match this coming Saturday. ⁓ So that's one less player for them to utilize and one more player in benefit for us. ⁓ You know, in the last four games, San Diego FC haven't won a, or in the last three games, San Diego FC haven't really won a game. They beat Toluca 3-2 and that was in March 11th. March 14th, tied versus FC Dallas 3-3. ⁓ March 18th, lost to Luca 4-0. And then recently, March 22nd, drew to Real Salt Lake 2-2. So, looking at current form, obviously in a broad, you know, in broad respect, the Earthquakes have the upper hand. It's a home game, they're really confident. You know, some of these players are coming back from international duty, looking really good, healthy. We have a full squad apart, you know, unfortunately from Dewan Jones. The San Jose Earthquakes look to be the team to beat right now this coming Saturday. What are your thoughts Abram? What have you seen? speaker-0: I 100 % agree, I think that ⁓ there are ways in which this game favors us. ⁓ You know, losing out on Mick Vey is gonna really change how they approach this game. ⁓ But no, I watched the game against Rail Salt Lake and there were definitely things that I was looking at and I'm like, we might struggle to deal with that. ⁓ The way that they built up ⁓ approaching the final third and in the final third, they're very deliberate, they're very... ⁓ Concise with what they want to do and you know, ⁓ Anders Dreier an incredible player We've yet to beat San Diego. So I'm not going into this game with like, you know, super high hopes but I am cautiously optimistic for what we can do because you know, San of the earthquakes aren't any slouch either this year We're doing very well. I just like I said earlier our front three is gonna really matter because I felt that when playing RSL, specifically ⁓ Gozo gave them a really hard time from the wide positions. And so for me, if we can spread them out and spread out the back line that is, and attack with ferocity and lot of pace, I think that that's gonna be our best bet. ⁓ Just cause they look pretty solid in lot of areas, but you know. I will also concede that some of the goals in that are so a game way a little bit scrappy if you watch the highlights You know exactly what I'm talking about But yeah, like I said consciously optimistic not going into the game was too much of a chip on my shoulder I'm just like this could go either way, but I think that if the quick show up will we have a really good chance of winning? speaker-1: Yeah, you know, lot of East Coast teams are looking at the West right now, the Western Conference, like, you know, they're pretty amazed at how good the West looks. know, LAFC, Vancouver White Cups, San Jose Earthquakes, San Diego, like the list goes on and on. And these are two of the top teams in the league right now. you know, thankfully, it's nice to say that as a Quakes fan, because we're, you know, it's a very rare occasion where we can say that we're one of the top teams in the league. it's under seven games you know and anything can happen after seven games but you know this is where we are now and you know we're we're fighting against top teams like Vancouver Whitecaps just coming off of one-nothing win like ⁓ you know this this is the season where we can compete and I think this it'll be a very big tell to the rest of the league if we could beat another top-seeded team like San Diego FC. ⁓ You know, I think a couple of ways to do that would be forcing San Diego out wide, making a play out to the left, know, giving Pellegrino all the chances he can. I think if we can counter as well ⁓ with pace, it doesn't really seem like San Diego is confident in defending, especially in recent games. They've conceded a heck of a lot of goals. So, you know, if the earthquakes just continue what they're doing, I think we can really find a couple of goals and, you know, push San Diego beyond their limits and make them, you know, start to ⁓ kind of collapse in a way. ⁓ I think that's how we're going to win the game. speaker-0: Yeah. I don't have any advanced statistics here, but just looking at Cold Card Facts, ⁓ they do have more goals against. We have only one in the five games so far. They have not lost a game yet, have. However, we do have more wins. ⁓ But even though we only have one goal against and they have five, ⁓ they have almost double the amount of goals for. We only have seven in five games, which isn't the worst. There's teams that have much worse than us. ⁓ I think that they do have a lot of firepower and there's gonna be a big threat from their attack. Again, Anders Dreier is somebody I'm very scared of. ⁓ Not just his general play, but also against us. He's given us a really hard time in the past. And so if we can nullify that or... You know, to the best extent that we are capable of doing, ⁓ I think that gives us the best chance, obviously much easier said than done. ⁓ Now I'm looking at the numbers here and we look really good and so I don't want to discount us too much. This could be another game like the Seattle one where we come into it like, okay, we can do this and then we just get disappointed for whatever reason or maybe they outscore us or whatever. Cause like Our attack right now, we're doing okay, but it's a little thin. How many goals do we have in the last three games? I think it's two. speaker-1: Yeah, I believe two. We scored one versus Vancouver, we scored one versus Philly, and then zero versus Seattle. speaker-0: Right, obviously bolo can pull a rocket out of nowhere and that'd be great, but we can't rely on that to happen every game You know, this could be a draw as well. I'm not discounting that possibility either but for me right now My main concern is if we can match Their firepower with with ours like they they don't have a strong of a defense as we do in my opinion Which is really weird to say as a quakes fan But, you know, going forward, if they can, you know, if they find a way to stop Werner from doing Werner things, and, you know, that's not impossible. He was quiet against Vancouver because he had a back injury. ⁓ You know, what's our what's our next option? Like you said, Judd, he's very good in certain situations, but if he's drawn out wide, if he's not able to make inroads to the middle, then then he's kind of a non threat either. Brutus coming into this game in good form after his tent with Burkina Faso the last game he played for them But I don't know to me. I'm not I'm not super filled with confidence Devon Do you have do you think that you're more optimistic about this game than I am? speaker-1: Looking at our depth chart, honestly, no. I feel like this game is gonna really come down to our substitutions or the substitutions of the game benefiting San Diego or the Earthquakes. I think, you know, it's gonna be a fairly even match. Potentially a lot of goals scored. I know we did just, you know, beat Vancouver away at BC Place and shut them out and that's, you know, an even higher scoring team than San Diego FC. So I'm... somewhat cautiously optimistic about you know another shutout or a win but at the same time like you know this is San Diego they're known for scoring a lot of goals and they're known for having a lot of dangerous chances throughout the 90 minutes period ⁓ i'm not exactly sure what their xg chart is ⁓ according to MLSsoccer.com their expected goals versus RSL was 2.5 so they're generating a lot of opportunities ⁓ and that's that's what worries me I think we can shut them out in the first like 30 to 45 minutes of the game but anything after that their depth chart is insane and I'm expecting you know some of their Scandinavians to come off from the bench because obviously you can't put like all five or six on there all of them are dangerous and you know I think at some point our defense is gonna break I hope it doesn't but I think it will and this is a pretty dangerous attacking team so I would like to see what we can do to mitigate damage throughout the 90 minute period. speaker-0: Who are you looking at to make a difference in this match? I'll give you my answer first and then I'll let you answer. To me, this is a really big game for Werner. Obviously, I was too assist in the games he's played so far. So that's not bad. I'm not looking at him and feeling too disappointed with his general play. But he is the main guy, right? Whether we're looking at him as like, you're the only DP that we can field right now. what what what do something you know and he is coming up against ⁓ Oscar Verhoeven or a Wilson Eisner both former Quicks Academy players neither of them are quite as fast as Werner ⁓ Verhoeven might take him out Like to put him at the way that he plays I always have loved the way that we're having plays very aggressive But I don't know if he will be quite a match for a team of earner So if he can you know shake free and make stuff happen. This is a game where it's like There's a higher expectancy from my end being like, okay. Well, you better do something because you know, this is a an opportunity This is your chance to like You gotta score you gotta make another assist to someone who's not buddha or even another one to buddha. I don't care I don't care where it comes from but like I i've been a little bit The last game against vancouver was a little bit lackluster and I know he had a back injury and he only played 45 minutes ⁓ you know with extra time, but It hasn't been like he hasn't blown the roof off the place. ⁓ like like we hoped I guess But it hasn't been bad, I'm just, I would like it little bit more. And now that he's playing more, I'd it to continue to grow rather than have plateaued the way it has. What do you thought, though? speaker-1: Yeah, no, I think you bring up a really good point in that, you know, ⁓ Vernard hasn't necessarily blown the roof off the place and he hasn't really exactly made a significant impact on the field, even though he had two assists in the first couple of games with the Zenny Buddha. You know, I like to have those two players next to each other in combination rather than having Press and Judd kind of placed right in between, you know, I think... the quakes would be in a better position if Timo Werner and Preston Judd were to swap positions. And that might not support Preston Judd playing on the wing. We have Ricketts. I think it would benefit the quakes if we were to play, you know, in a better tandem situation with Oseni Buda and Timo Werner and, you know, especially Ricketts. Ricketts is two assists. You know, Werner is two assists. Buddha has what two goals? I feel like there's there's two significant feeders right there in Ricketts and Timo Werner and if they can distribute Buddha ⁓ Any good opportunities he will put him away one-timer ⁓ That's not to say that press and Judd won't but I just like the combination of those three ⁓ In preference over, you know anyone with with press and Judd and that's not to say presence bad I just think that the combination would benefit us in the long run ⁓ So, you know, to answer your question, Abram, I think the more significant player I'm hoping would make a bigger impact in the game versus San Diego is actually Jamar Ricketts. Same position, just different player, you know, further down the depth chart. I see Jamar making more of a defensive impact on the team, especially on our left side. Overall, I just like what he brings, both offensively and defensively. We saw his hustle versus Vancouver. We saw... his composure when taking players on 1v1. If there's a player that we can really get by, hate to say it because he's a former earthquake, but Oskar Verhoeven, think Jamar Ricketts can do a good number with his pace and his confidence against both Verhoeven and Eisner. I'm not sure exactly what San Diego is going to do on their right side matchup with our left side because I think our left side will be way more dominant. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what Bruce will have in counter of San Diego's tactics in advantage to, you know, both Ricketts and Verner ⁓ as options on the left-hand side. you know, that being said, I think ⁓ Ricketts will be the better opportunist for us. speaker-0: I mean, yeah, I think that in a way it's a lot more attacking if we were to make that change. ⁓ It's more dynamic and the players can move around and they're more mobile. Not to say that Judd isn't mobile, but Deemo Verner is more mobile, Buddha is more, Rick is again more. ⁓ And so that's a lot of speed, right? Again, not nothing against shud, but he is not as fast as Timo Werner or Ricketts. I think he's faster than Buddha, but That's not what we're talking about ⁓ And so the I I do enjoy front threes that are very mobile and can pass in between each other and make combination plays Kind of like ⁓ MSN back in the day Messi Suarez they more Able to play with their feet, you know move around and and beautiful stuff like that ⁓ One thing that I think is interesting That I just realized while you were talking is that both of the goals that RSL scored came from ⁓ I believe they were both headers from strikers. So they're number 22 scored in the first half and then Olatunji scored I don't remember if that was a header or not, but it definitely came from across ⁓ no, it came from a low cross and then he scored like a ⁓ bouncing ball ⁓ but either way That's something that I'm realizing could work to our advantage if we can get the balls into wide positions and You know Timo Werner is he's very strong off off the left But I I would like to see what he can provide in terms of creating different types of Combinations because he's not the kind of striker that kind of stay on the last man ⁓ That's not what we've seen him play for us when he has had a few minutes there. He likes to drift into midfield and you know move wide and and move around and create combinations with specific players so i think that if we can like create opportunities wide to put crosses to the back post ⁓ we've seen that san diego struggled with that kind of thing ⁓ and you know that makes me optimistic and again i don't want to crap on judd too much but i i was really disappointed with his play against vancouver i i felt like i've said publicly I felt like he was out of it and not super interested. He looked like he got pissed off in the first half and then just stopped being Preston Judd and working as hard as we know he likes to do. ⁓ And so, you know, maybe Bruce saw something similar, maybe not. ⁓ It'll be interesting to see the different types of combination that we can go with in the front line, even with the limited depth that we do have up front because Judd can pretty much only play as a striker whereas Teemo can play all across the front line, Buddha as well, even though I guess we know I prefer him as a winger. Ricketts did play striker in college for when they needed him to, but I wouldn't say that's somewhere that we should shoehorn him into if we don't have to. And he's very good on the left and I love the crossing. ⁓ It's very refreshing because we're used to ⁓ Inverted wingers that's us very popular in this league. And so somebody making cross suits the way that ⁓ Tomorrow likes to do is very refreshing During the week Devin I made a video on the current left-back situation ⁓ and you know ⁓ just If you haven't seen it go ahead and go watch it. I'm going to spoil that I picked ⁓ Paul Marie as my favorite to replace Juan Jones at left back. ⁓ And I don't feel too strongly about that. I don't think Paul Marie is like the best left back to ever exist. I think that he has a lot of strength. I also think that Vito Costa ⁓ has a lot of strength in areas that Paul Marie maybe doesn't. He's not super strong in the air, but he's not abysmal in the air like Paul Marie. And so you know different different things for different times to different situations um but i am curious if you have a differing opinion to mine um if you think jamar should should go back there even though he's like the only deaf we have at left wing like i'm curious to hear your thoughts on the whole thing speaker-1: You know, we had this discussion a couple of times and we agreed that if we pulled Judd out of the left-wing position as a sub or a starter, there's almost no depth at left-wing. And I would rather have Jamar as a winger, specifically because Abram was really creative and jumbled a bunch of stats. ⁓ speaker-0: Jumper. speaker-1: jumbled up. He had a whole set of organized stats out for our Discord server and really put a good piece together. And it explained that Jamar had way better attacking statistics than he had more of like defensive statistics in comparison with Paul Marie, Vitor Costa. I don't think Benji was on there. speaker-0: didn't put an end to it. We talked about this and because you had mentioned that Benji can play left back, I do agree. I asked him how comfortable he would be. Put the clip. speaker-1: Wherever the coach needs me, I'm pretty comfortable there. So for me, it's not a big deal. It's not a problem. ⁓ If that's where they want me, then I'll be there. speaker-0: He said that he'd be very comfortable playing left back. For him it doesn't make much of a difference. ⁓ But I didn't use him in the video, I didn't put him in the stats because that's another player and it would have made a lot more work on me. But mostly because I really like him at right back right now. And like it wouldn't make sense to move things around. I think we have even less depth at right back than we do at left back because Victor Klaasar can only play one of those positions. But sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I wanted to explain why Benji wasn't there. speaker-1: No, I'm really happy you interrupted because I wouldn't have been able to put a cohesive sentence like that as you did spoken so well. So, you know, to sum up, I do think, you know, Paul Marie offers more overall than Vitor Costa. And, you know, looking at the depth chart and the normal starting 11 for San Diego, I don't see a lot of height. advantages, you know, that I don't see many players that are even taller than than Daniel Muni. So I actually this game, I would prefer to see Paul Marie to see how much damage he can cause defensively and offensively in link up with Timo Werner and or Jamar Ricketts as a left back. I think he would offer more to the table versus San Diego than Vitor Costa would and say Vitor Costa for more ⁓ I guess like in-air ⁓ Matchups, yeah versus any opposite opposition. So that's that's kind of where I stand I think Paul Marie can offer more versus San Diego and I would like to see His combination with other players that we have speaker-0: Something I I don't think I got across enough in that video is that I don't think we should throw the to Costa and the garbage bin Because Paul Marie has better stats in certain areas. That's not I don't what I'm saying I think the two cars had a lot of value to offer this team in games where Paul Marie isn't working out and there are that will happen We had to stop playing Paul Marie at fullback because he was getting beat at the back post Every game it was it was terrible ⁓ And so yeah, that's a very obvious situation where if you think that somebody that Paul would end up marking would beat him in the air, you go with Vitor Costa. But when you're attacking with your fullbacks, Vitor Costa looks lost sometimes. I know that he has scored goals in the past just miraculously. He has set things up for himself and in the past. You know found success in front of goal, but I don't think that's something that we should expect A lot of the times were just he just happened to be in the right place Palme I think can give you that more consistently. I think that he's more sophisticated in the build-up And you know, he also is a threat from range We we say Palme only scores bangers as kind of a meme, but it is a genuine statistical like Outlier that this left back is scoring so many goals or right back or whatever he is playing when at the time when he scores those goals He can shoot from range and he can score ⁓ Really crucial goals and so that's not something that we should forget about that that is another ⁓ like imagine having Paul Marie scoring bangers and then you have Bollorou score another banger and you know like that that provides so much more threat from range if we have both those players on the pitch at the same time because then they're trying to mark both. You have anything to add Devon? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I think you hit most of that nail on the head. know, the Paul Marie, Boulogne, they offer a lot of defensive pressure from San Diego. You know, they kind of force San Diego to push higher up with those opportunities from outside the box. And knowing that both of those guys can score at any given moment, wherever they are on the field is pretty crazy. And, you know, gives a lot of advantages to the earthquakes in terms of, you know, how to shift their tactics and whatnot. And I don't want to get too deep into that, but overall, I agree. I would like to point out though I do want to see more offensive goal scoring creation from Timo Werner. ⁓ We had discussed this, whether it was in the Discord server or in person, we haven't really seen Timo Werner take many shots on target. Something that San Diego could take advantage of is limiting Timo Werner to distributing the ball to other teammates. If they can restrict the passing lanes from Timo Werner, I think they can shut him down, to be honest. I wanna see more from Timo and more as in taking shots on target and generating chances and testing the goalkeeper more. We haven't seen that from Timo and we saw it more with Chelsea and RB Leipzig. I want to see it here in San Jose too. Show us what true Timo is all about. speaker-0: Yeah, ⁓ no, we we've all seen the highlights. Well, hopefully he has a really nice goal catalog ⁓ in and around the box And that's the main thing that I was trying to touch on earlier when I said I would like him to do something at least test to keeper at least get some shots on target if they're saved they're saved but Do it, you know because he doesn't look super threatening. He looked really good against seattle, but not we lost that game and we didn't score any goals and you know we only had the highest actually chance was Preston Judd with point four or something ⁓ you know it wasn't it there was flashes of what's to come I think with his speed and able to take the man to the end line or cut in but if he's not if he's not cutting in and then ripping a shot And you know getting us closer to scoring or looking dangerous then I don't know what the price tag is for Because it's it's just we need somebody that's effective and doesn't just look good ⁓ I'm not accusing him of being just a look good player, but it's time to see more from him I think that is what his fourth appearance maybe yeah, I think fourth appearance for us ⁓ and you know It's tough to say because he got two assists right away. So two assists in four games We're trying to manage expectations, but I would like to see more from him and just overall play even if it doesn't culminate in a gore assist I'd like him to test the goalkeeper a lot more like Devon said speaker-1: Yeah, I think this is also us trying to set a consistent standard all the way to the end line of the season. You know, I think the first seven games are important for getting your legs under you. I think it's important to set a, you know, to set a standard for the rest of the season. And there's no better way to do it now and to hold that same accountability to the players and consistency all throughout the season, especially during big game moments like versus San Diego, you know, they've been a consistently hot since they've come into the MLS and they're still gonna be a hot team after we play them. So, you know, if you wanna really test your team's mental strength, mentality, you gotta win these games and you gotta compete. Whether you win, you draw or loss, you know, if you keep it a close game, that's one thing. But if you're getting blown out like 7-1 like we had years ago versus Seattle Sounders, that's another thing. ⁓ I really... hope that we can utilize our attack. to generate a lot more scoring chances from many different areas of the box than the same area we've consistently seen. And I think that was like around the penalty range, the penalty spot range, that kind of distance away from goal. I think we need to see more, you know, more options from other players and not just like Preston Judd or Oseni Buda directly from the middle. We need to generate more opportunities. So San Diego is kind of sitting there confused. wondering what to do next or how to re-evaluate their tactics. ⁓ I mean that might be the inexperienced coach in me ⁓ kind of asking for those things but also at the same time ⁓ we need more consistent difficult chances on target ⁓ all throughout the 90 rather than those once twice chances a game like we saw versus ⁓ Seattle with that one press and jut opportunity. We just need more of that. And I think that'll win us championships, along with our defense, obviously. Defense wins us championships, and our defending is good. We've only conceded one goal for this season, and we hope it continues that way. ⁓ But in order to get to a championship-level squad, you also need to score goals, too. And you know. two goals in three games, you want to see our team pick up the pace there. speaker-0: Yeah, and I hate to say it, but some of that falls onto the shoulders of Nikos Keris. I'm not saying that he's playing poorly at all, but I would... I've seen better. I think in the beginning of the season when he was leading the charts. I don't know where he is on the charts right now for key passes, but it slowed down, I would say. So if he could, you know, get more of those, I think that we'd be in really good spot. And he really is the guy that's gonna help just mesh everything together. And I do think he's capable of that. ⁓ But it's just like similar to Timo. I'm not saying that they've had bad seasons or anything. We're playing really well. ⁓ But just like a little bit more, like a little bit. And not just more, but in the right spots. need... ⁓ Niko to get those passes into the areas that will create goals and create really dangerous opportunities. There was a pass from ⁓ Niko Schakaris to put Timo Werner in on goal where he got the ball on the left and he kind of played it behind the backs of the two defenders and then put Timo just straight in ⁓ at the edge of the box. I don't know if you remember the opportunity I'm talking about ⁓ against Vancouver. I saw it on Twitter where somebody said like this through ball from Nikos Keris makes me feel things and I was like yeah, that's what he can do and I knew I saw that like about to happen when he did it ⁓ and Timo just wasn't lethal enough in that instance. think that it was his ⁓ I think that it probably was had to do with his back injury You know, that's a really hard thing to play with But yeah, if we can get more things like that where where Nico played the pass he did his part but Timo didn't I he there wasn't enough ferocity for me I wish you'd seen the clip Devon because it was it was a beautiful pass from from Nico speaker-1: I think I know what you're talking about. In the past was from our own defensive half of the field, right? speaker-0: It was in the in the the middle third but on their their side of the the halfway line speaker-1: Did it split between two defenders? In behind? speaker-0: He was being pressed by a defender on his right shoulder and with his left foot he passed it behind that defender who was pressuring him and then it went in between their right back and their center back and then Timo ran around the outside ⁓ and took it onto it. ⁓ You'll love it when I show it to you after this, don't worry. ⁓ But no, like that's a really good example of what Niko Shukares can do. ⁓ but what we need team also to ⁓ to be on a day game ⁓ we need to be fit as well ⁓ but not like i said they're not playing poorly ⁓ and it kind of i'm realizing there's a new difficulty that we have as analyst this year where in the past it's like well what can i say we're doing bad and i was like what can i say we're we're doing really well i gotta know what you want ⁓ And I guess that's just the job of a podcaster. The point of what I'm trying to say is that ⁓ Niko Tsukeris can, just a little bit of growth from him, a little bit of improvement and more efficiency will really boost his team ⁓ and to be more than the sum of its parts, if that makes sense. speaker-1: I completely agree with you. There are flashes of Niko skill in every game. I think some of those chances are absolutely generated ⁓ with opportunities on net from others, or for others. And I also think that some of those players could be more clinical from those Niko passes. you know, going back to your point, I think maybe we can see more per 90 of those good threads and passes from Nico. If you want to see a fluid offense, it comes straight from the 10. ⁓ And now Nico is our number 10, and he's playing as a 10. And if you really want to see good lateral forward movement, ⁓ it seems like you'd want to play through that midfield system, and Nico is the guy to do it. So if we can see more passes, more of those dangerous passes, opportunities in behind the defensive back line to Press and Judd, to Buda, to Werner, anyone with pace, I think we can see more opportunities and goals in the coming ⁓ games this season, especially before World Cup. And I want to touch on something really quick. Some guy from Atlanta ⁓ United reached out to both of us asking for quotes. And one of the questions was, who do you think is going to, or how do you think Timo Werner is going to make an impact for your team? And I had answered that I think Timo's biggest impact will be after the World Cup. I think the first couple of games here may come with a somewhat hot start, ⁓ but I think you're going to really see consistent numbers. after the World Cup and I still think that might stand true ⁓ given his injury status. You know, if he remains healthy, that's great. And if not, then we may not see a good Timo for, you know, for a good while. I'm expecting Jamar Ricketts to somewhat be that performer until Timo kind of gets, you fire under his feet. And that I, in my opinion, won't be until after the World Cup. So that's kind of like when you're asking me questions about, you know, whether or not ⁓ Jamar Timo will start. I think Jamar, if he really wants to make a consistent impact and be a starter, it's going to be now because I think Timo is not going to be hot for another couple of months. speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, it's not just the physical aspect of it, despite what Bruce wants to be cagey about, you know, it's clear that Teemo isn't 100%. He looks really good. Like in games where he looks good, he looks fast. He looks fine. But ⁓ it's obviously not 100%. It's not what his capacity is. ⁓ He has more, and I'm very confident in that. ⁓ And it's just a matter of getting fit again. and also getting to know the team and getting more acquainted. I think that is happening pretty fast. I think that he looks good with the team. I think that when we really get to see the connections, like at 100 % I think that this team will be much, stronger. ⁓ And we will reap the benefits and the attack as well as the defense. Like it's not just going to be the defense that's getting the headlines. It's going to be that we can score too. Sure. speaker-1: ⁓ Abram, I have a question for you. Obviously with the game coming up versus San Diego, there are a lot of former Earthquakes players on their team. Who would you be most excited to watch play against us? Obviously we wouldn't support, sorry, we wouldn't obviously support San Diego and we don't want them to, you know... speaker-0: I mean, I- speaker-1: any specific player to play well against us because obviously we're here to support the earthquakes and only the earthquakes. speaker-0: You're answering my question for me. I have more to say if that's okay. Yeah, my real answer, if I wasn't speaking to someone I respect, I would say, I don't care. Like, I want to see the Quakes play and that's it. Like, whether they played for us in the past, that's great, but I am really focused on our result and how it goes for us. But... speaker-1: Okay, I'll take that as your answer. speaker-0: in a personal just a guy who likes football as a sport ⁓ it's weird because Verhoeven is somebody who I enjoy watching but I think he's very good and so it's tough to want him to succeed ⁓ because it is directly detrimental to our goals but I like how Godoy plays I just When he was here, I would get really frustrated with him because I was like, why is our center defensive mid leaving and just going on crazy runs all the time? Like once in a while, sure, but he was never in the defensive ⁓ area. And so I would get so frustrated. But I think that he's really grown since leaving and, you know, he was the mainstay for Nashville. He's been very good for San Diego in the games I've seen him play at least. ⁓ I like watching him play. ⁓ so that's probably my answer and i don't think that like he necessarily presents a threat that we can't ⁓ come back i think that if forhoven has a really good day then that means that teemo verner isn't effective and so that's just in my mind i'm looking more at gadoi who i don't know why i don't see him as much of a threat i just like the vibes of the way he plays i think it's a very beautiful way of looking at the game speaker-1: think he's been a substitute for the last couple of games, especially in CONCACAF Champions Cup. And maybe that's just Champions Cup, and he's a starter in MLS. And I haven't watched San Diego too much, but you know, over the last couple of games I've seen them. Correct me if I'm wrong, Aram. Wasn't Godoy one of the players who was like a Portland Diego Chara for us? Like he just kept getting yellow cards and red cards and yellow card accumulation. He kept getting suspended for us, and it was really frustrating because we could barely play him. speaker-0: So one stat that I thought was interesting when I was watching the San Diego play at Rail Salt Lake was that he got the yellow card in that match too unsurprisingly and the commentator said that that's his 74th career yellow card. ⁓ And so that's not like, that's a lot of yellow cards. ⁓ That's nothing to scoff at. ⁓ It's nothing like anyone like a I don't know how many yellow cards Sergio Ramos would have, but like it's still a really good amount. That's in like, imagine in 75 games that you've played, you got a yellow card. Some games he probably got two in the same game. You know, I wouldn't rule that out. ⁓ I was only sporadically able to go to games at that time and obviously the TV deals were really Weird and so I couldn't really watch it at home I would only be able to watch from the stadium and I was like 14 15 at the time I'm not able to go to the stadium on my own with my dad takes me and he would pretty Regularly, but I wasn't able to follow the team as strongly as I did once I got my own Jarvis license and all that And and that's when my my love for the quakes really grew I remember him back in the day, but I wasn't like able to pay attention nearly as much as I would like to speaker-1: Yeah, I do remember Annabelle Godoy making a couple of really interesting tackles over the course of his Quakes career. I don't remember specifically if he was around when MPG played with us. I had a vague... speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ memory today of some random mpg connection and i didn't i was confused whether it involved ⁓ anibal gadoi or some other midfielder but now that you've confirmed anibal gadoi and mpg were playing in the same at the same time ⁓ i i just thought that was a really funny connection between mpg and anibal gadoi ⁓ playing for the quakes Yeah, lots of memories, but obviously different teams now. ⁓ We hope that he doesn't succeed versus the earthquakes and go for it. speaker-0: So. Yeah, something we can get to that's not interesting but something that is really weird to me is how ⁓ Matias Perez Garcia was looked at after his stint here at the quakes because when I watched him play I was like this is the best player on the field This guy can dribble this guy can get paths. He can get through a bunch of guys He has a lot of skill and he's wearing the number 10 ⁓ The games that I saw him in were happened to be a good one I guess but everyone I talked to looked like thinks of him as one of the worst players in Quakes history and I'm like how is that true and I remember when when we Traded him for Darwin's Aren ⁓ we don't talk about sir and very often anymore for good reason But I was like, why would we do that? Why would we get rid of our best player? in favor of Darwin's Aren and then I got memed in the in the Instagram comments because I said we we traded our best player for some like 30 year old center mid and Everyone was like how you think that? Mattias Perez is a good player like he looked good to me. I don't know speaker-1: That is interesting. didn't... See, I'm one of those that never considered MPG as like a ⁓ good player for us. speaker-0: Yeah, I'm curious like what about him made him not a good player speaker-1: I think that it's just... It could be like a personal thing, a personal vendetta against him and that just like, I hate that type of player that goes down and draws a ton of fouls when like he can shake off some of those chances and continue his opportunity forward. He never took that opportunity. He always just went down immediately after like the smallest touch. And usually you like to praise those kind of players on your team and you hate them when they play against you. But I didn't like it when he did it for us as well. And I think that was one of the things that frustrated me about his game. Yeah, he did have a lot of amazing skill and talent, but I don't think he utilized it in the way we wanted him to and instead he just drew a lot of fouls for us. So I think that was the part that made me feel like MPG was more of a mediocre ⁓ player than a superstar or anything. speaker-0: I've heard a lot of takes where like I'm the only one who seems to like him. Let us know in the comments what you guys think about MPG. Chophies is another player. I'm like when he was here, you guys wanted to pay 3.2 million to keep him. And then he lost his passport and then everyone was like, that's the worst player I've ever seen play in my life. And I'm like, that's not true. He scored like 12 goals in whatever games. He scored a hat trick out of nothing. And then we lost the game and we let him down in that game. I don't remember who it was against. He scored a freaking olympic goal. And we're like, no, he's chubby. We don't like him. He was never good. He was very good, but. obviously i don't think we could have kept him i'd i'd been presently feel that we could buy him just the perception of how good actually was is drastically warped from like what i've considered to be reality of like a lot again when when he wasn't like available we were like we can't win because who's got a score not trophies because you got here well what the other guy we had was uh... andy reels label come on by what we're talking about speaker-1: comparing apples and bananas here. ⁓ speaker-0: No, no, no. Apples and then like a rock that is bitten on the ground. ⁓ speaker-1: I think he brought a lot of offensive skill. speaker-0: He wasn't pressing, for sure. He wasn't defending, but he was scoring goals. speaker-1: Yeah, he was scoring a lot of goals, man, that passport story overshadowed a lot of his career here. think one... A lot of fans considered that passport story as kind of like an escape to leave the team. speaker-0: I understand, I am someone who likes to look at things very... I like to see the truth, like I don't care about like emotions when I'm talking about analysis. yeah, it hurt when he, like that was betrayal, right? I'm not gonna like, sugarcoat it. I think that he was a very good player for us. ⁓ If we're looking at like, did he fit the super defensive man marking system? Of course not, you know? But he played well for us and he was one of our best players at the time. Espinoza is obviously better and we have better players but no, I think that the reality of how he performed for us is warped based off of the betrayal and I do understand that but I don't, if we're looking at the objective reality of how well he played, I don't like to factor in the passport because the passport to me doesn't, the passport wasn't on the pitch. I don't know. speaker-1: wasn't so reflective. Yeah. I think comparative to like with all the other players that we brought in, Chophies was probably the most impactful player that we signed. And, you know, here we're on a large nostalgia trip. So if you're still listening, I thank you dearly. But, you know, nonetheless, like Chophies offered, he offered a lot and that's indisputable because, you know, he's got highlight reels, you know, he made us famous on ESPN, not like we weren't already famous, but you know, he had a lot. He was a very as the new generation would call him, clippable player. He had a lot of clippable moments in games and that brought a lot of attention and eyes to the earthquakes from analysts and enjoyers of the sport in general. We needed a trophies in that time and I'm glad we had them. It's just kind of unfortunate that a good majority of the fan base considered that Passport story as an overshadowing moment of what he actually brought to the team. speaker-0: Yeah, and that's just like my personal take. think without the passport, I think if he didn't lose it, you know, if he didn't lose it, he would be Quakes don't for the Chris trees won't forget player. What we call them. ⁓ I think Kato is probably another ⁓ court. OK, though, another she's won't forget player. ⁓ And then we have Lenhart and Gordon who aren't, you won't forget they are legends, but just under them is Cordell Cato. Who else? ⁓ Jordan Stewart. ⁓ speaker-1: I can't think of any on this spot. I don't know if you would consider Flo Youngverth, those treats won't forget flair. speaker-0: Yeah, I would that's a really good one Marcos Lopez speaker-1: Lopez was good too. Yeah, where is he now FC Copenhagen? Yeah I Miss the guy low-key I might be the only that's a tectonic take that's a tectonic take but I do miss Marcus Lopez, know We're talking about less left backs a lot. I think he would be a good left back for us speaker-0: Yeah, in think that if we had someone like him, if we had him here, it would be no question and it would give Duwanna really hard ⁓ time. I think that Duwanna would have to compete really hard with Marcos Lopez. Honestly, I think that it would probably be Duwanna on the right and then Marcos Lopez on the left if everyone's healthy. ⁓ That would be a really good signing, Bruce, if you're listening. You're probably not because it's a long video and you don't like me, but... ⁓ go go look at marcos lopez see how much it costs and see if we can bring him in you can take a flight to copenhagen just like you did for verner it'd be great ⁓ but you know ⁓ that's ⁓ neither here nor there ⁓ we hope you guys enjoyed our analysis of the upcoming game against san diego ⁓ devin do you have any closing thoughts speaker-1: I have no closing thoughts except for the fact that we'll see you guys at Paypal Park this Saturday. We hope you guys have a good time this weekend and enjoy the rest of your week leading up to the game. speaker-0: Yeah, one thing I want to touch on before we leave is that Preston Judd's did go through surgery and he is doing a GoFundMe to raise funds for the surgery. It is a $30,000 surgery and it's a very rare affliction that his dog picked up. Very sad to hear, but if you are interested in helping out, we will have the link in the description to the GoFundMe. You know, terrible news to... and this episode are on ⁓ but ⁓ overall this was a fun episode we got to talk about some Quicks history some shoots won't forget players ⁓ and I got to ⁓ get that off my chest about Chalpey Lopez and ⁓ Peregracia I'm like these are good players you guys just don't like little dudes who are left-footed little tiny little left-footed guys speaker-1: We do this more often. don't know if the fans would like this segment, but I would like to add a couple of segments here and there throughout the season of like Streets Won't Forget players and kind of talk about them and their impacts and then kind of like compare it to like players we have now. speaker-0: Let us know if you guys liked ⁓ the more ⁓ chilled out vibe. We didn't have too much of a structure going into this episode. We just want to talk about San Diego. But obviously it was a fun conversation talking about a whole bunch of things. ⁓ if that's something that you guys like, let us know in the comments or in the discord. You guys know where to find it. ⁓ But yeah, we will be back after the San Diego game to preview, to go over that game again, then preview the game against Sport in Kansas City. ⁓ And until then, go Quakes. speaker-1: Go Quakes.