Nos Audietis

I’ll admit, I was not quite ready for the 2023 season to end. A season that had once been virtually left for dead had come roaring back to life over the last couple months and I had sorta talked myself into the belief that this season was destined to end at MLS Cup. Maybe not actually lifting, but at least making a valiant charge, maybe even with Nicolas Lodeiro and Raúl Ruidiaz putting in a couple notable performances along the way. Nothing I saw against LAFC totally dissuaded me from believing that outcome was at least plausible, but the 1-0 loss at least means it’s no longer possible. If I’m to pull back a little, I suppose the final game was rather predictable. The Sounders played reasonably well -- I think you can even say they outplayed LAFC -- but couldn’t convert their chances, while LAFC made the most of theirs. Maxime Crepeau is a big reason why the sounders couldn’t convert, but the decisive factor ending up being the most predictable thing ever: Denis Buounga racing down the left wing and firing an absolute laser past Stefan Frei. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

It's probably still too early to say this season has been an unmitigated success, but by beating FC Dallas in the first round of the MLS Playoffs they showed that this season at least has some positives to take away. Jeremiah and Aaron give a bigger picture view on what this series told us about the Sounders and what they think could happen in the next round against LAFC. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

Much to our chagrin, the Seattle Sounders will be playing a Game 3 of their best-of-3 series after falling to FC Dallas 3-1 on Saturday. The match started off pretty much disastrously, with Dallas getting two goals inside 20 minutes. To their credit the Sounders played much better over the next 70ish minutes until a Jackson Ragen giveaway allowed Dallas to score an ultimately meaningless insurance goal. During those 70 minutes, though, Jordan Morris looked about as good as he’s ever looked, scoring one goal, having another waved off for a questionable offside and just giving the Dallas defense all sorts of fits. There was also a penalty not given despite VAR’s recommendation and a few other good chances for the Sounders to equalize. All in all, a disappointing but hardly disastrous result. We discuss. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

Drew Epperley of Big D Soccer joins us to preview Saturday's Game 2. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Sounders ran their unbeaten streak to 10 games and took a 1-0 series lead over FC Dallas in the first round playoff series. They got goals from Albert Runsak and Jordan Morris, a 12th career playoff shutout from Stefan Frei and generally looked about as good as they’ve looked all year. I still don’t quite know how to feel about this three-game series, but I know winning your first game is a lot better than losing it!  Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Sounders will play familiar-playoff foe FC Dallas in a best-of-3 series that starts on Monday. To help us get some insight on the Sounders' opponent is Jon Arnold, who is part of the FC Dallas radio team as well as the guy who runs the Substack Getting Concacaf'd.  Arnold says he think Dallas matches up reasonably well with the Sounders and tells us about the story of Bernard Kamungo, who went from a Tanzania refugee camp to U.S. youth national team player. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

A few weeks ago, we were asked by a listener to project how well the Sounders would finish. We were thrilled to discover that we probably underestimated how good this team was still capable of being. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

Matt Baker of the podcast Flyover Footy joined us on the show to help preview Saturday's regular-season finale against St. Louis City. He explains how the expansion team recovered from a midseason slump to blow away everyone's expectations. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Sounders closed out their regular-season home schedule with a 0-0 tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps. I think we can fairly say the Sounders had the better chances and certainly had more of them, but it would probably be a stretch to suggest they deserved much more than they got. Defensively, they were stout and limited a very dangerous Whitecaps opponents to just four shots, and only one each from Brian White and Ryan Gauld. Offensively, though, it was a lot of half-chances without too many clear-cut ones. The point was good enough to keep the Sounders in third place, but they’ll likely need some sort of result in their season-finale against St. Louis to maintain home-field advantage in the first round. It also closed the books on what is now officially their worst-ever home record over the course of a season, albeit one in which they allowed just .65 goals per game (the fewest they’ve ever allowed). Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Sounders got a massive win on Wednesday, beating the LA Galaxy on a 96th minute goal from Cristian Roldan that punched their ticket back to the playoffs. Jeremiah and Mark talk about how this win has helped revive their belief that this team might be capable of making a run. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

Alex Ruiz (@AlxRuiz15) of Galactic Tribune joins us on the show to give us a scouting report on the LA Galaxy, a team that both scores and allows goals in bunches. He says Riqui Puig is about "99%" out and explains how injuries have piled up this year. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

Ben Wright from Broadway Sports Media joined us to talk about Nashville SC, who is hosting the Sounders on Saturday. He says, among other things, that he expects Nashville to use a full-strength lineup and gives some insight into the organization's struggles to find a suitable partner for Hany Mukhtar. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

When Hugh Weber was officially announced as the Seattle Sounders’ new President of Business operations there was an awful lot going on. The team was deep into the process of updating their visual identity; preparing to open a new training facility that would also house the business side; and had just unveiled their new shirt sponsor Providence Health. Things have settled down a bit since then, but are getting ready to ramp back up. On Tuesday, the Sounders will unveil that new visual identity and they’re now just months away from officially opening their Longacres training facility. Last week, we had a chance to meet with Weber to discuss all of these things as well as things like the Sounders’ interest in exploring the possibility of building a stadium at Longacres; how their relationship with OL Reign could evolve; the status of some of the promises around the Providence sponsorship; and learned that the team is currently enjoying very robust season-ticket renewal rates while also taking a record number of deposits on new ticket packages. A limited version of the interview is available here or wherever you normally get podcasts delivered. There’s also an extended version that’s about 20 minutes longer that is only available to paid subscribers, which you can become for as little as $19/year.  Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

Ok, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Seattle Sounders are in the midst of a five-game unbeaten streak, but a lot of those results are against pretty bad teams. Still, they've been struggling for months against just about everyone so allow us to dream a little, yeah? Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Colorado Rapids have been mostly very bad this season but there are a few notable Sounders connections. The biggest is that Chris Little is now the interim head coach, he had previously been the Tacoma Defiance head coach from 2018-2020. We talked to Little about what's gone wrong, what went right last week and got an update on Danny Leyva. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Sounders travel to Frisco, Texas to play FC Dallas with a chance to solidify their place in the Western Conference standings. We talked to Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree to get the lowdown. He thinks Alan Velasco is more likely to play than the injury report suggests, shares some insight on Seattle U's Nkosi Tafari and let's us know how Dallas has dramatically improved their attendance. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

One of the most interesting people in the Seattle soccer scene is undeniably Wade Webber. The Tacoma Defiance head coach is from Federal Way, helped the Sounders win two A-League titles, played several years in MLS, became a high school history teacher and helped run Washington Premier before joining the Sounders as an academy coach. For the last three seasons, he’s headed Defiance, overseeing easily their most successful stretch during their nine seasons of existence. The Defiance have now won back-to-back Pacific Division titles in MLS Next Pro and have a chance finish with their best-ever regular season with two games remaining. During our interview, we discuss some of what is behind the Defiance’s success, learn a bit more about Sam Adeniran’s departure, get a scouting report on Braudilio Rodrigues and navigate some cat issues. In the subscriber-only portion of the interview, we also discuss the improvements Reed Baker-Whiting has made this season, the emergence of Snyder Brunell and get the story behind the banana bread phenomena. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

For a half, all was seemed good in the Sounders world. They were flying around the field, scoring goals and beating the Timbers at home. They took a 2-0 lead into halftime that easily could have been 3-0, but just as importantly were making the plays they needed to make to keep the Timbers off the scoreboard. We all know what happened next. Léo Chu picked up what I still insist was a pretty soft second yellow card, the Sounders went down a man and the Timbers came roaring back to tie the game and ultimately claim a point. Jeremiah and Aaron unpack it all and come away with some very mixed feelings. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.    

The Ride of the Valkyries team -- including Jacob Cristobal, June Eden, Steve Voght, Sylvia Bullock, and Susie Rantz -- discuss OL Reign's undefeated group-stage run to the NWSL Challenge Cup semifinals and preview the semifinal matchup between OL Reign and Racing Louisville. Coffee & Valkyries - a podcast by the Ride of the Valkyries team. Part of the Nos Audietis family of podcasts and is brought to you by Sounder at Heart which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21, 2023. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/  

This is the final week of the mailbag episode being available on our public feed. After this week, we're going to make this available only to paid subscribers on our private podcast feed. If you'd like to become one of them, we have plans starting as low as $19/year.  This week's episode serves as a preview of sorts for the Portland Timbers' match on Saturday. We answer some questions about the game; about the upcoming brand refresh; how Raúl Ruidíaz and Jordan Morris differ; an update on Danny Leyva as well as a host of other issues. Sponsors Full Pull Wines Watson's Counter Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/ You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.