City SC Posse - Ep22: RSL Opportunity, 7th & Climbing, Ostrák Broke the Bus

Bright: I don't even know where to start. Do we start with seventh? We just keep moving up the table.

Kev: Yeah, we can start wherever you want to, but seventh is a good place to start, why not? So feels good, doesn't it? From from bottom to

Bright: Yeah. It does feel good. And let's do let's do a little bit I mean, from fourteenth, right? So yeah.

Kev: seven and i in the playoffs and in playoff position I guess. So yeah.

Bright: Let's do it a little bit backwards today. Let's start with Real Salt Lake. And then we'll go back and we'll look at the win over Colorado. So again, for any new listeners, we had great viewership last week. So again, for any new listeners, this is the eye test, more for the casual fan, no crazy over your head stats or nothing like that. And normally we do the recap and then the preview, but I'm thinking let's let's do the the preview first. We'll talk, we'll get ready for the game tomorrow night. against Rail Salt Lake and a huge opportunity here to continue to climb the table. And actually we talked a little bit about it. I talked about it with Duds on the NFNP pod. And he's actually gonna be joining me for the game tomorrow night and possibly be a guest on

Kev: Mm. A game that

Bright: on this pod. So

Kev: A game that should have been my game, which is it was a tough one to give up, but I've got a pretty busy weekend, so made sense for the trip.

Bright: Yeah, I knew that. Yeah, he got some weddings and stuff like that, and and getting babysitters three days in a row and all of that, I knew it was gonna be tough. So I was

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: like, hey, I'll take I'll take the tickets, why not? But then I couldn't get a babysitter for for my wife to go, so I'm I'm taking Duds.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: he's been listening to to this podcast, so he's pretty up to date on all things city, and I know he likes going to the games. so it it should be a fun game to go to. And what I was saying to him last night is Is when you look at the standings. So, yes, we're sitting at seventh place now with 25 points, and we now have an even goal differential. so we're at zero, twenty-three goals

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: for twenty-three goals against, and we've got three teams directly ahead of us with twenty six points. So it's an opportunity here. Real Sa Salt Lake is currently in fourth place at twenty six points. They've they've played one less game. game than us, okay. But you've got a chance to to move up to fourth place in the standings with a win over Rail Salt Lake and then if if Dallas or the Dynamo lose, I don't know what their schedule is, I don't know who they're playing, but if they have losses or or ties, we're sitting there firmly, all of a sudden at the top of the table, right? And and looking to push our way into the top three.

Kev: It feels it feels right with the way we've been playing, so that's all I'm gonna say. We should be at the top of the table.

Bright: Well, I mean certainly lately, yes. You know, coming out of the break, we we have a lot of a lot of wins and and coming w into the break

Kev: We can't say that looking at the full picture, sure.

Bright: Right. But w but when you look at the first whatever it was, ten games out of the season, you know, an absolutely horrendous start, we're thinking, here's here's another crappy year and y we would have never thought that we would have had an opportunity to to get into the top

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: four. Yeah, we might have thought like we're gonna really claw and scratch our way and try and get into the the playoffs, but now you're thinking, Let's keep this run of form going. We have Royal Rail Salt Lake at home. Home, so you should have the better odds, and we do have the better odds, and we'll we'll get to that certainly in the minute. So you bring home a win. Now you're sitting in the top four. We have signed a couple of new players. So, you know, with Matan and Yeah,

Kev: Yeah, got some reinforcements coming and

Bright: and Holsey, I still gotta figure out how you actually pronounce his name. but I don't know if you've heard it. No. Yeah, we'll figure.

Kev: from you. You know? Outside of print, I

Bright: We'll we'll figure it out. I've watched a

Kev: haven't I haven't heard anybody, right? Like I've just read about it. so we're

Bright: Yeah, th and same same for me. I watched a couple of cool videos with him coming into the city for the first time, meeting some of the guys, checking out the field, that the team posted.

Kev: right.

Bright: I know Damay did a press co conference the other day and and I didn't have a chance to watch it, but I read through some of the the highlights and and the like. But, you know, you bring in a couple of these new guys and you know, our form is better. I think we're still wanna go out there and get a number a number nine striker. So All of a sudden we're we're looking dangerous.

Kev: Yeah, if we get a number nine, like a a true number nine up at the top, we are dangerous. I I think he said it right, but that is the glaring piece for me that that's just missing.

Bright: Yep, no and and I I get that and and we know a little bit about Betcher and and the like, but all right. So going into Saturday night, we they're putting us currently at a forty-five percent chance to win. Rail Salt Lake a thirty percent chance to win, and then the draw possibility at twenty five percent. So lower than it was against Colorado, which makes sense. Rail Salt Lake is a better team. but, you know, we're still I think especially with our recent run of form, playing at home, we're in the driver's seat.

Kev: Yeah. We got all the momentum coming our way, so at home, you know, I don't think you're looking to bet if you're making a bet. I wouldn't be looking at Salt Lake, you know, side for that one. You're either looking at a a city win or a draw.

Bright: Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

Kev: I you know, I'll be I'll be putting down a a city win bet, I think.

Bright: Yeah. y it's more fun. I ended up going for the draw, just 'cause I thought that the odds

Kev: Hey Jeff.

Bright: were better and the the money money was better, f against Colorado and and we'll get to that. It

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: looked like it it almost would have been a draw and and we did pull it out and I was th I was thank God, I was thrilled that we did. I was I was fine losing

Kev: Good God, yeah.

Bright: the five dollars. But it's definitely more fun when you're putting the money down for the city win and you're at the stadium, you know, you're not hoping for a draw just so that you can win ten dollars.

Kev: Yep. Yeah, although that could be a slice of pizza, you know?

Bright: Yeah, and that you know, that is what we got. we went and we got the Detroit style pizza, switched it up

Kev: Uh-huh.

Bright: a little bit and and it was it was good, it was perfect. We were able to go sit up and watch

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: the march and eat our pizza. yeah, so that so that was that was good at the game for sure. All right, here's a here's a couple of teen stats though against Rail Salt Lake. Right now, you know, and and actually these might even be outdated. Let me hit refresh. so I went and I pulled these up, but I see that they they have our standings in here is a little bit off. No, didn't refresh. Alright, here's some other here's some other stats. I've got I got other backup here. So possession is right around the same, just under 50% for both teams. I would assume being at home we should end up with a slight possession edge. shots,

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: they're averaging 15 and a half shots per game to R 14. Shots on goal, they average six per game to our four point eight. We have more block shots. Total passes are almost about the same. Pass accuracy is pretty much exactly the same. We get a more corner opportunities, so six to their four point seven. So again, you add those together and you end up at what? Pretty much almost exactly eleven corners per game. So probably right where that bet will be. we have more.

Kev: Usual over under at nine and a half.

Bright: I yeah. Okay, well then we're averaging, you know, between the two. They they're average more than nine and a half, so could be a good bet. some of the other stats look pretty pretty much on par. They do have more expected goals than us. we're better in the air. We have way more aerial duels won. you know, other than that Pretty pretty pretty standard. Same amount of yellow cards per game. So on paper, it looks like a pretty even matchup. and again, with us

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: being at home and our run of form, we have a we have a pretty good opportunity here. They have their one big player, Xavier Gazo, Gozo. He's got six goals, four assists, eighteen shots on goal, and the highest expected goals on the team. So he's kinda their their go to guy. So we'll have to look and wait and see how does he fit into the lineup tomorrow night and you know, and

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: And he might you know, he might be the the driving force. So you can contain him and and, you know, you hopefully play Leuven and Hartle both. and and I I think we got a pretty strong opportunity here.

Kev: Yeah, you don't think Lubin's gonna be sitting down on this one, do ya? Starting lineup. He's gotta be in there.

Bright: I mean I certainly would hope not. And and let's talk a little bit about the lineup.

Kev: That was a surprise, but

Bright: Yeah, a little bit of on the lineup against Colorado, I was shocked not to see him in the starting eleven against Colorado for a couple of reasons. One, they took him out in the sixtieth minute, for the the midweek matchup,

Kev: Yeah, go for your

Bright: and I assume that they did that to protect him to start in the next game and then didn't see him not in the starting eleven. So I don't know why that was. Was it just a coach's decision? Did Leuven say, Hey, I'm not a hundred percent fit or, you know, I need a little bit more time?

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: I you know, I don't know. why, but I was surprised. And I was also surprised to see Wallem back in the starting eleven because we had we had a good game without him in the starting eleven. And wouldn't you know it, he had the lowest

Kev: So

Bright: rating on the team again.

Kev: Doesn't it doesn't matter. Expect him every game. It he could be it could be a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday game, like three games in a row. He's playing like 90 minutes in each of those games. He's not coming out unless if he gets

Bright: Yeah, yeah. Well

Kev: that red.

Bright: and and that's the one or concussion. And that is the one thing that we will say he he

Kev: It's insane. Word concussion.

Bright: seems fit and he hustles. And so I actually had a I also actually had a message via our website from a listener, which I really appreciate. So thanks for dropping us a line and and I'll give you a a shout out here. but he was a Wallum fan, and he did not necessarily

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: like the way that we talk poorly on Wallum. And he said he agreed with all of our other takes in the episode, with the exception

Kev: Or well.

Bright: of our hatred for Wallum. And to be fair. Like I said, he does hustle. He is fit, but he's consistently the lowest rated player on the team. He doesn't do enough in the final third. We've seen him in previous games, costs us games and goals with terrible turnovers.

Kev: That's yeah. Yeah.

Bright: And he just doesn't he doesn't make anything happen on the attack. He is the

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: ultimate play it backwards play. Step on the ball, play it back, kind of a guy. He's not pushing the ball forward enough.

Kev: Yeah, I will say over the last couple of games, I do think he's pushed it forward a little bit more than he had earlier in the season, which is I guess good to see. It honestly

Bright: Maybe he's a listener, maybe he's listening to this pod.

Kev: it could have been it could have been Wallum that emailed in. You know, that that would

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: probably explain why this listener didn't like it. but yeah, I mean I stand by it. He's he's cost us in games a number of times. His offensive play at times is just not not been there, right? Like his cr I've said it before some of his crosses in the middle of the season. I say in the middle of the season. In the middle of that first stretch, right? Just it so poor. No

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: thought behind it from what I could tell. but I'll give it to him. He's a hustler. He's he's fit. You know, he he can run down that down that line all day long. just some bad positionings and some bad tackles.

Bright: Sure. And maybe that's why he's g maybe that's why he's getting the minutes.

Kev: Some bad penalties at the wrong time, right? Wrong time, wrong place of the field. So

Bright: Yeah. Yep. So we'll we'll see as we look for the the starting eleven. I'm I'm hoping that

Kev: Dislike I just

Bright: Yeah, I dislike him. I need

Kev: Doesn't move the needle for me.

Bright: I think he should be out. You know, you gotta put gotta put Louvin back in there I think. key you know, certainly keep Totland. You could keep our back three, you know, whether it's Orosco

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: or McNaughton or Fall. You know, I think you can, you know, rotate any of those three, but you gotta keep Bum Gardel, gotta keep Hulvera in there. Durkin, Edelman, maybe Durkin sits one, I don't know, picking up some yellow cards or

Kev: Versus

Bright: s something like that. And you can play Louven back there. Yeah. I

Kev: Some switching you could do there. Yeah.

Bright: you know, I don't know. Betcher for right now, Betcher still gotta be your guy up top. You don't you don't have anybody else. So you gotta play that. And I think you gotta continue to funnel the attack through Hartle. I know he didn't have as big of an

Kev: Bro.

Bright: impact in this last game. And again, I'm gonna do a little bit more of a breakdown. but I you know against Real Salt Lake, I think you have to I think you have to continue to funnel through Hartle. And I know a lot of city fans are getting a little nervous because there's these rumors that, you know, there yes, yes.

Kev: It's miserable. It is miserable seeing it, right? Like, why why do they have to come talk to us about Hortle? They they were

Bright: Yeah and and

Kev: also talking about bringing in Toy Shirt, right? was the other one that I saw, which is free agent now. So I'm like, please just I love

Bright: Yeah, so Toy Shirt's a free agent. They can do whatever they want to do with Toy Shirt.

Kev: I love that idea. Take I like Toy Shirt. Please take him, put them on your team, sign them a contract. Let's not do the hurdle thing. Like I'm good. I went hurdle. We can't go anywhere. Revolt. Yeah, we would. We would.

Bright: No. I think I think City fans would they'd revolt a little bit. I mean, he is he's been our best he's been our best player. He is a hundred percent fit, you know, he he's another one that can play the

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: whole game, hustle the whole game, control the game, makes amazing passes, he can score

Kev: Clearly, yeah, he's scoring. we're we're making these moves. So now we think that okay, we've improved the team and we're I think all the fans are excited about what we've done over the last couple days to bring in the reinforcements and what this team could look like. So the idea of shipping off a key piece now after those moves is just counterintuitive, I think. Like it it does

Bright: Yeah. I

Kev: not make sense for the position that we're in and the standings and and the moves that

Bright: I would agree. The

Kev: we've made to bring a talent.

Bright: The I would agree with that assessment one hundred percent. The only thing that that I can kinda think of is that, you know, you bring in you bring in Holsey

Kev: I go.

Bright: or however you pronounce his name. He plays a similar position. Maybe he could be the Hartle replacement and you ship Hartle off. Hardle's a D P player. You make a bunch of money and now you turn around and and you sign a striker.

Kev: Get that nine.

Bright: So I I could see the argument, but I also, you know, y you hate to You hate to burn that

Kev: Yes.

Bright: bridge with Hardle, who's just been a great player and embraced the city, I think, and the city has embraced him and and he's really been the driving force of this this turnaround. so so to see him move on before the end of his contract or you know, seems strange.

Kev: What what does that do to what does that do to team chemistry? Like a big change like that, you know, a key piece

Bright: Sure.

Kev: probably you know, I'd say probably. Of course he's a key piece in that locker room and a key voice. I don't think you can do that right now with the way that this team's looking. I I was trying to remember, is the team that's trying to trade him, and I I can't tell you what team it is.

Bright: Handover, I think. Handover. Yeah. Yeah.

Kev: n yeah, some nine nine, I don't know. was it closer to to home for him? I know he's he's German.

Bright: Well, yes, it's the

Kev: I think this team would have been in is it a Belgian team?

Bright: No, I think it is it German? I think it's German, right?

Kev: Is it a German team? Okay, so even closer than I I thought. So that would be like the only thing that I could think like they're asking him, hey, is this what you want to do?

Bright: Well, and and maybe he's got that relationship with Toy Shirt, you know, they played on the the German national

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: team together, the U twenty threes or whatever, as did Leuven, so he still has that connection with with Luvin. Here, I'm I'm gonna look it up right now. Yeah Hanover ninety six plays

Kev: Yeah. Like that that's the only thing I can think of entertaining it is like, is this what Hurdle wants to do? And you know, if he's like really pushing for

Bright: Right. Yeah, if he's saying that he wants to

Kev: it.

Bright: if he's saying he wants to l leave the US and go back to Germany, that's one thing. I don't think that's the case. Hanover ninety six plays in the Bundesliga.

Kev: It yeah, and I can't fault somebody for going home, so

Bright: The Bundesliga. Yeah. So yeah. I I I

Kev: Need to go home.

Bright: do get that, but I don't I don't necessarily think that's the case. I think he likes it here. I think he likes the team. I think he likes the fan. He likes the the stadium. He likes

Kev: I think he's having a great time. What do mean? No.

Bright: the all of the facilities. That's part of the reason why he came over. And Berkey said it

Kev: Well in Sweden.

Bright: in in an interview now too. Like we are improving our squad and I and

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: I think they're all starting to see that. So again. And the other rumor is is that Hanover ninety six can't afford So, okay, they might be interested, but they s they they don't actually have the money to buy him, so if that's the case. All right. Give us

Kev: Okay, perfect too. Good. Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Bright: give us your score prediction and then we'll we'll move on to the the Colorado review.

Kev: All right, I'm gonna go with a two nothing win. Two nil. We're

Bright: And the damn.

Kev: we got a clean sheet going.

Bright: Alright, that's that was gonna be my score, but I'll say three nil. just to just to say it's gonna be

Kev: Ooh, ooh.

Bright: it's gonna be fun, the attack's gonna be on, and and I'm hoping that I have a a good time

Kev: Gee,

Bright: at the game.

Kev: were we changing anything in the lineup? I wanna know is is Singh Ben gonna be out there?

Bright: I think Sangbin should be out there. I think he's deserves to be out there.

Kev: He's he's my guy. I lost some money on the last game because I put in a first time goal scorer, any time goal scorer on him. and man, he had just a wicked chance in that game to get it.

Bright: Off the crossbar.

Kev: off the crossbar, I was like, there it was. He gets so like I feel like he's getting all these chances. So like I I want him in there because I know he can convert on some of those. That was just a brutal on it.

Bright: Yeah, I would agree. Like I said, I think you gotta get Leuven in and you gotta get Wallum out. The rest of that, y I'm pretty open to to changes, but I I think it's been a pretty strong lineup choice. We talked about Matan. He was technically available, so again, I don't I don't expect him to start or anything like that. But is he gonna be on the bench? And then Holsey is definitely not available, so he he just got here. There's not gonna be Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Kev: Mm-hmm. We'll see what if he's on that bench. Yep. Not sure. Sure. He just got here, yeah. Yeah.

Bright: All right, well let's let's talk a little bit about about the Colorado match. it was definitely frustrating being there in the stands. We had a great time. You know, my wife and I we got down there early. We we always pretty much go to Schlafley for the first beer. Then we went and walked around the city block party a little bit, got in there early enough, went and got the pizza, watched the the march into the stadium, went and got our seats. Perfect, perfect evening. It was a little hot. was a little warm, but but it was y

Kev: Yeah, it was. It was.

Bright: it was it was manageable, it was fine. And you know, when they pick up that red card, we already talked about the starting eleven, so we can kind of skip that. No luven and then

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: Wallum back in there. But they pick up the red card in the twelfth minute, eleventh or twelfth minute if I'm remembering correctly.

Kev: It's super early. Super early. I I couldn't remember if it was eighteenth. For some reason eighteenth was sticking out to me, but may yeah, maybe it was earlier.

Bright: No, it was yeah, it was definitely definitely earlier than that. And what was interesting is a couple of things. One, we were already kind of pressing their back line. We had ha just had an opportunity before that, where we had stolen the ball or put some pressure and they almost had a giveaway. And then we do it again, and this time Sang Bin is he's going to be on a clear breakaway. Never never got to that

Kev: Thanks.

Bright: point because their guy takes him down so quickly. And I thought he did a pretty good good job when especially looking at the replay and whatnot that made it kind of look incidental or because they were still so close, but he knew exactly what was happening and I in the cr

Kev: For sure. Could you do did you see the touch? Like what was that touch in the state in the stance? Cause on TV it was just like that was the worst play that I like the worst I don't attempted a settle or whatever he

Bright: Sure.

Kev: was trying to do. If it was a one-time pass, whatever he was trying to do, that was miserable.

Bright: Right. I mean, w watching it live, you can't really tell. You just see that it's either a misplayed ball or yeah, a bad touch, and Sang Ben's gonna take this to the house. He's on a breakaway. But before he even has that chance, he gets taken out, and I immediately stand up, hand up, I was like, That's a red card, that's a red card. Well, you know, the ref

Kev: Right.

Bright: the ref had to get there. He he

Kev: Took it took his time a little bit, yeah.

Bright: did and and he started like pointing and and I was like, Is he not gonna give any card here? like

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: it and especially with it being early in the game, you know, sometimes these officials are hesitant to give

Kev: Yeah. Y y a little bit more.

Bright: out early cards and stuff like that. And then I was thinking, like, is he only gonna give a yellow? But then he

Kev: Yeah, I'm

Bright: did reach as soon as you see him reach to the batch back pocket, then you know, like, okay, the red card's coming out here. But I immediately

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: said it because it you know, he was he was the last defender. Sangbin's now it's just him and the goalie. There was nobody else that was gonna be able to get in the way, so it it had to be a red card. It was Sangbin, I think, right? Yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure.

Kev: Was it saying Ben or Betcher? I I felt like it was Betcher, but I could be wrong. It wasn't okay. I I thought it was Betcher, but whoever it is. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it was so it was a terrible touch. You know, I I was watching on TV. We were up at a shout out to Trumans and Fenton. met

Bright: nice.

Kev: up a couple buddies to watch the game up there. and it just a miserable touch. Let that ball get behind him. And he did the right thing taking down, taking him down, I think. Early in the game, I don't

Bright: Y well

Kev: know. Maybe maybe that's debatable. Like, do you let him have the chance and not go down down? I don't think you do. I think you take him down. And it was like he did such a good job of like casually doing it almost in live play that it was tough to see how

Bright: That's yeah, that's what I mean.

Kev: intentional it really was. But when they broke that thing down, like his touch was terrible. the it clearly in intentional in terms of the takedown and if it wasn't like a live red card I I think it would have been a red card at at the virtual look at

Bright: Sure.

Kev: so

Bright: Yeah, yeah. And I guess to your point, like you take him down and you kinda hope that you don't get the red card, I guess, but I I kind of in the thought that it gets so early in the game, even if you do give up a goal, yes, it's a bad goal, it doesn't look good, but you have plenty of time to get back in it. Now

Kev: There's time to Yeah.

Bright: now you're down a player, right? So they're down a player, they

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: have to make a substitution, and I feel bad for the guy that got subbed out. He was pissed. He was pissed. And I know he understands

Kev: For like eighty minutes.

Bright: it. It wasn't his fault.

Kev: Sure, you you do all this prep to get in this game, you get amped up, you're ready to go, you're out. Yeah.

Bright: You're yanked in the fifteenth minute or something like that. So so

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: that was a bummer. Now the other thing I'll have to say, it I already said it, it was hot. It was humid. And now

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: and I think I think this is ultimately what happened to to Colorado, they're just getting Ran down. They're worn out. They're playing defense most of the game. And we all we always know it it's harder to to motivate yourself on defense. It's a lot easier to find the energy when you're when you're going on the attack. So and it's the s it's the

Kev: When you're looking for a win. Yep.

Bright: same in hockey. I mean, look at it in hockey, right? When the offense is just moving that puck around and you're like, the defense has been on for one or two minutes. Is the offense tired? No, they're not. Is the defense exhausted?

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: Like they can't even move, right? So I think that it eventually got to that point with

Kev: Il card.

Bright: Colorado, but it was frustrating because the first half, really, outside of of Sangbin's opportunity, we generated no offense. There was no creativity. That was my my biggest frustration

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: with the whole night. And even as we move into the second half, the second half, the attack was i in front of us, which was great. And that was the only thing. I'm like, you know what?

Kev: Okay.

Bright: We're gonna be going all out in the second half. To get a goal, we're up a man. I was like, hopefully, we should see a couple of goals, so we're we're gonna get the better viewing angle. But even coming out of the second half, we did the exact same thing. And it's basically rinse, recycle, repeat. We pass the ball down to the down the wing. The winger,

Kev: Yep.

Bright: whether it was Wallham or Totland or somebody else, they stepped on the ball, they passed it backwards, and then we switched fields, and then they passed it down the wing, and then they stepped on the The ball and passed it backwards. Every now and then we'd maybe push one into the middle to hurdle, but then he didn't have anywhere to go with it. So what did he do? Passed it backwards or pass it off to the wing, and the winger stepped on the ball,

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: passed it backward, rinse, recycle,

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: repeat. And it wasn't working. And I understand that Colorado parked the bus. I understand that this was their game plan was to tighten it up, play, you know, all 10 men behind the ball, and just try to frustrate the crap out of us and not give up.

Kev: Mm-hmm. Survive and

Bright: give us any real

Kev: yep.

Bright: opportunities. I get it.

Kev: Yep. Yep. Yeah, I mean I think you see this.

Bright: But as a as a fan in the stands.

Kev: I think you see it a lot when you go down or you know, when when you're up a man, I guess, right? Like it it's just control trying to find a spot, a good opportunity to go in. and you you know, sometimes you you you feel content just to hold on to the ball and swing it back around because you got the ball, they don't have the ball, you're not gonna lose if they don't have the ball. and eventually

Bright: Sure.

Kev: you're gonna work your way in and get those opportunities. it didn't surprise me, I guess. There's more, yeah.

Bright: And there's always you think that there's more time. Yeah.

Kev: And you know what? There was plenty of time. There was plenty of time until it felt like there wasn't because

Bright: Until there's not. Right. Exactly. And

Kev: at no point in time was I like I worried that we were losing that game. I was like, okay, we're gonna win this game. We're gonna win this game. But eventually I was like, are we gonna I think we're gonna win this game. I feel like we're gonna win this game. Are we gonna win this game? Like are we gonna get that goal? Cause it just it took so long, considering we were up a man, you know, with 80 minutes into, you know, left in that game. And it just it felt like it was gonna happen. We had some opportunities, but we couldn't put it away. And i I did

Bright: Yeah, and really

Kev: start getting a little nervous, I guess, about that goal, but

Bright: I felt the same way. I also felt confident that we would eventually score and we would win the game, but as you say, as the game goes on and on and the fact that we weren't creating any real scary

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: scoring chances is is what made you nervous as a as a fan and you could really feel it in the stadium, especially where where we're sitting. in section one two, everybody

Kev: Nothing else. Okay.

Bright: it like the frustration was boiling over. It was this constant, shoot the ball, cross the ball. Y you know, look

Kev: Yeah. Yep.

Bright: for hard whatever it was people were yelling, mostly me, but but other other people were yelling too. I hope everybody likes my commentary in my section 'cause

Kev: pr probably heard you like, Yeah, shoot the ball. That's right. Crossed it.

Bright: So let's talk about the g let's talk about the goal. I mean the goal was a thing of beauty. And you bring

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: in Luvin came in the game, Ostruck comes in the game, and I said this in the blog. I've always been a fan of Ostruk. I think he's a great player. Yeah, I think he's a hustler. I think he can control the game. even when he had to be the the main center midfielder, I thought he did a really good good job. I don't necessarily want him in that role. I think he's better in the role, you know, that he came into in this game. But we had a nice cross from Bum Gardel over to Totland. Totland heads the ball, you know, beautiful, just kind of soft one touch header back to Ostruck, who also now he's in space. Takes one touch, nothing crazy, you know, doesn't step on the ball and look at his options, just one light touch, sets the ball up and takes the shot. Which we were saying it in the stands,

Kev: It swings it into that corner, yeah.

Bright: like we're gonna have to start shooting from further out because Colorado had just packed it in so much and they were

Kev: They're so compact in there. Yep.

Bright: moving backwards, right? They you could see that they were retreating on that play because the cross came in so deep. to Totland and that you they had to play for an immediate cross across the box. Right?

Kev: Proven.

Bright: So instead he plays it back, defense is on their heels, gives Ostruck a little bit of extra room, and he just

Kev: A little bit more time. Yep.

Bright: thing of beauty right past the goalkeeper off the post. Beautiful

Kev: Work that bad boy in, yep.

Bright: curve. It's in. And I'm I was pumped for him because the only thing with Ostrak is he's constantly dealing with injuries. He's never truly been healthy for any kind of long stretch since he's been with the team, which has been since since the beginning. So so to see you could see and again the celebration was right in front of us. You could see how much it meant to him. and and the team felt felt relief. And then you could see Colorado too. They felt

Kev: Yeah. Get one in there.

Bright: completely deflated and and exhausted. Exhausted.

Kev: for s for sure they put in all that effort. Yeah. I honestly thought after that one came, I was like, I think we're gonna get, you know, another one not too soon after. which never obviously happened. But yeah.

Bright: And we didn't and and I think we we started playing just possession ball, right? Like to your point earlier, let's just hold on to the ball. And they it it f

Kev: There was a second that they put on some pressure, right? So I got a little nervous that we were gonna play the yeah. Sure. One breakaway. Yep.

Bright: So they did start to put on some pressure. And and you always worry about the counterattack. Even when you're up a man, all it takes is that one opportunity when it's zero zero. But they didn't they didn't have a shot on target the whole game. They only had one shot total. They didn't have any real

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: Chances. Now they get a couple of of corners late in the game or a free kick, and that that's what makes you nervous as a fan is like, okay, a set piece. They're gonna score in a set piece. They haven't

Kev: Mm.

Bright: had real chances all game, and we're gonna come out of this in a tie. It did not happen. The ref eventually blows the whistle, and Colorado was pissed, and they picked up a yellow card because of it, too. You know, the the guy slams the ball down because they had just gotten the ball and were getting ready to go back on the attack, but time

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: was up. We We were already kind of past the

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: the the extra time and and the way where it's like pointing. Yeah. And and again

Kev: Yep. You can't have another ten minutes, man. Like it's just the way it works. Like at some point the game ends.

Bright: you could see how tired they were, how exhausted they were and it yeah.

Kev: mean I you know, it's tough. It's t it's tough to take a a red card so early in the game and then have to completely change the way that you were gonna go into that game, start playing defense

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: and then just tire yourself out for the next whatever it was, it was probably sixty sixty five minutes that they went without

Bright: Seventy eight minutes. Seventy eight.

Kev: Okay. So sixty sixty five

Bright: Not yeah.

Kev: sixty-five minutes down a man. really? Okay. I I I

Bright: No, seventy eight minutes they were down a man. Yes.

Kev: thought you were saying we scored at the seventy eighth minute. we scored in the

Bright: I think I think actually maybe we I think we did. no, Ostruck was the eighty third minute. Eighty third minute. So yeah, yeah.

Kev: It okay, yeah, yeah. So whatever whatever how long, right? Like just playing ten men basically, defensive minded, running after the ball because they never really had it. and then yeah, letting one out. That's it's exhausting. I I've done it. I've done it. I've been in that game.

Bright: Yep. Yep. Well that's two games in a row now. We've played up a man. If Real Salt Lake picks up a red card in this game on Saturday night, I don't know. I'll be beside myself. That just doesn't happen, but it'll be it'll be fun.

Kev: The I can't remember. Can you bet that? I g I feel like we can bet that somewhere. Might as well do it.

Bright: I'm sure you can. You could bet anything, right? Well, I'm I'm excited I'm excited to go to the game again. The temperature's gonna be good. it's a high of seventy-two on Saturday, but there's a chance of rain, chance

Kev: Yeah, it's calling us down.

Bright: of storms. So we'll we'll have to kind of see how that plays out. think about taking duds to the pitch. maybe especially if it's raining. I don't depends on how crowded it

Kev: That'd be cool. Yeah.

Bright: is, but might go get some food. I will say my wife and I we went to narwhal's after the game last week. Pitch

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: Picked up some adult slushies. They don't have sandwiches. Adult slushies,

Kev: Some sandwiches. yeah yeah. I was thinking of

Bright: yeah. And came home, relieved the babysitter and and had

Kev: Smarts.

Bright: our adult slushies, which were which were good. And and good for a hot day. Good for a hot day for sure. But but so we'll

Kev: Delicious. Yeah. They cooled out.

Bright: have we'll have duds on on the pod maybe next week. so a little bit of an

Kev: Okay. Nice.

Bright: NFNP crossover. And I do have to say, if you haven't checked out the the NFN. FMP pod, go check that out. It's on the same channel here. Different topics, right? But we had a guest on. We had a Mr. Mark Greaves on this week. He's a local St. Louisin, but he he lives in Ohio now. But he told a really cool story. He used to be, he was the former president of lower.com, if anybody's familiar with that mortgage lending company. And he is the one that negotiated the stadium naming right.

Kev: come on.

Bright: lower.com field. It's no longer lower.com field. I think they they had

Kev: Uh-huh.

Bright: it for five years and he tells that whole story about how he personally negotiated

Kev: Well.

Bright: that deal, what some of the terms were, what the process is like, and and we talk a little bit about, you know, St. Louis City, Energizer Park

Kev: Right.

Bright: and the like. But if you're if you're interested in that story, you want to hear his his Columbus crew and lower dot com field story. it's pretty interesting stuff along with some some other information. So go check out NFN Peapod

Kev: Like it.

Bright: and we'll have Duds on next week to do a little recap of what hopefully will be a 3-nil win. Yeah,

Kev: And you went.

Bright: that's right. And and maybe see us fourth at the table. So we'll come back at you next week, hopefully

Kev: Like it.

Bright: celebrating a win.

Kev: I like it. See y'all.