City SC Posse - Ep28: Navarro Has Arrived: 2 Goals, 15 Unbeaten & Minnesota Must Be a Win

Bright: It's early. But it's game day.

Kev: It's early. It's game day. Coming off of a big Mazoo win.

Bright: So Yeah, I didn't watch the game last night. We went we went out, which is why this feels early, 'cause it's a weekend and we're up at six thirty. but hey, we're getting the pod in. I s I said we've had some good momentum. so we gotta gotta keep it going. Even we this is our our second episode of the week. so we put out the the last episode before the The game against Portland on game day and we got a pretty good amount of views, not quite as many as the episode before with a two day window. But

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: yeah, so I was like, we gotta gotta keep it going. We got listeners some somewhere, believe it or not.

Kev: Rolling right along with with city, I guess, huh? We're keeping a good streak alive.

Bright: Th yeah, th that's for sure. 'Cause now City is fifteen unbeaten, fourteen in MLS competitions, fifteen overall. And I'm starting to lose track of what the actual number is. At the end of the games, I'm like, Where where is it? Is that fourteen? Is that fifteen? I don't know.

Kev: Feel like it was thirteen, wasn't it?

Bright: No, no, no, no. It i it's

Kev: Okay.

Bright: fourteen in in in MLS, fifteen overall. And it's a good problem to have. Good problem to have when when you're losing

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: track of of where we're at on our unbeaten run. But again, this was a game that was close to a win and we couldn't quite pull it out.

Kev: Yep. Disappointing. Disappointing. Another one that kind of felt like a loss. Just letting it slip by in the last bit of the game, but tough place to play. always good to come away with a

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: point, you know.

Bright: And that's kind of what what I was saying, right? Like, okay, we're better than Portland in the standings and we we could win this game, but it's it's on the road it and it's in particular a tough place to win if you're not Portland. So so

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: overall again if you look at the the road trip, two games in in one week up in the Pacific Northwest and thank you to the scheduling gods, like that actually made a lot of sense for us and and we were able to stay up there and maybe that helped. But if you go into it saying like, y you'll get four points, you take that, right? You take that any day of the week.

Kev: Yep. Yep. Now you would have thought that it was hook flopped in terms of where those four points were coming

Bright: Sure.

Kev: from. but yeah, I mean i in totality, right? Like four points, you feel good about it. overall it you know, you're excited about the game with Rafa coming away with two goals. one of the the earliest goals in the club history the earliest goal in the club history I think right in that first thirty seconds or whatever it was which was really

Bright: Yes, it was.

Kev: cool so you gotta feel good about that. A lot of good takeaways to carry them.

Bright: Well, I feel good about it because I was placing my bets at kickoff and I put I put Navarro or Navajo, however you want to pronounce

Kev: Nope. Don't rub it then because I let mine ride. yeah.

Bright: it, either one I guess. I guess either one works from what I gathered from the broadcast. I put him down to be the first goal scorer and he scored

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: so fast I was like, that was the easiest thirty dollars I ever made. Like it I made it in thirty seconds.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah. You feel good about that? Didn't didn't you have him down as a two goal scorer too?

Bright: No, well, I did, but not originally. I w after he scored so early, I went back and I was like

Kev: I gotcha. You said he's getting another one. Yeah.

Bright: I I I'll take the odds that he'll score another one

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: 'cause he still has ninety minutes to do it. And he worked out on the first one. And

Kev: Yeah. You worked out in that first one. Yeah.

Bright: it worked out on the second one. He gets he gets both goals and

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: and I think it might just be the beginning of of what he can do in this system and the and he had more opportunities. And he set up some opportunities too. We should this is another game where I felt like we should have had more goals.

Kev: You have my Yeah.

Bright: and and we couldn't we couldn't quite bury some of the Sangbin had a beautiful opportunity and had a good shot, but it it was just right at the keeper. But

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: but so that that was good. And then I won my I cashed out on my city

Kev: Thank you.

Bright: win. So I put money down for the city win and And when they got that second free kick, I did not like it.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: And I cashed out right then and there. And I'm surprised. I thought maybe they would put a hold on cash outs. I noticed that they do that with like penalty kicks and things like that. But they did not they did not do that. So I I was like, I'm gonna take the money. So on a ten dollar bet,

Kev: They do that a lot. Yep. I took advantage. Yep.

Bright: I got like twenty two bucks.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: And the the full payout would have been twenty six bucks, I think. So I was like, no, give me give me the twenty two and

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: whatever happens, happens. And then sure enough they score, which that was in the eighty ninth minute, pretty frustrating.

Kev: Yep. I lost lost my City Win bet. I did not cash out. But you know, sometimes that happens.

Bright: Sometimes that happens. Well, so I I've had two good games. I'm like up a hundred and twenty bucks in the last two games. so that gives me a little bit of a a runway tonight.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: we'll see we'll see what bets I make tonight. I might go a little little extra. I'll be down at the game at Energizer Park against Minnesota tonight, with the wife. So that'll be good. I think the weather's gonna be good. And we'll see. I I'm curious to see one, what lineup we we go out there with. Obviously we we played on Wednesday.

Kev: Why not we run west? Yeah. Sure.

Bright: Yeah, short rest. but I think obviously Navarro has to start.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: That's that's a no brainer. And now he's already on a yellow card watch for us. So his next yellow card and he's going to be suspended.

Kev: Yep. So

Bright: So if he picks one up tonight, he's he'll miss both games next week because he's he's cup tied. He can't play for us

Kev: For the top.

Bright: in the cup game. And then and then he would have yellow card suspensions for for next week's game against Toronto. So we'll have to

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: we'll have to keep a lookout for that. but I I was interested in the lineup, obviously, that they put out there against against Portland. Yeah. I mean, we

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: we made some we made some predictions, they didn't all come true. Betcher sat, which he's been on this hot streak, and they didn't they didn't play him. I mean he got in later in the game. Sang Ben, he played pretty decently, had some chances but didn't capitalize. So he gets a start and I I think you said it that Santos was gonna come in and and take Wallem spot essentially.

Kev: Yeah, we were gonna shift it over right. Totlin to the right, I think, and Santos play on the left side and sure enough it's what we saw. I think we saw that a game prior to so not too much of a surprise maybe there, but

Bright: Yeah, I don't I don't know that's

Kev: You know, I'd I'd expect Wall probably back back here on tonight's

Bright: Yeah, I know.

Kev: game, so

Bright: Yeah, Wallum will probably be back coming off of his his best start of the season a week ago. Santos, he's just he only has a left foot and it's just too predictable. He made a good cutback

Kev: yeah. Yep.

Bright: play down in the the bottom third and he had it on his right foot and he didn't know what to do with it. I was like, Cross the ball He couldn't. He couldn't do it. And he had to bring it back to his left No. So that's

Kev: Just can't put his body in that position to do it or something. I don't know. Yeah, like how do you I don't know how you get to that level and and you don't have that in you, but it happens. Yep. Yep.

Bright: Sure. It's a glaring weakness and when the other team knows it. Yeah. So yeah, so I figure we have the same back three. whether it's Orozco or McNaughton could go either way.

Kev: Roscoe or McNaughton. Yeah.

Bright: Totland moves back to the left. Wallum slides slides in. You're gonna have Dirkin and Edelman. Navarro up top. Mot Matan. He's been great, had another great game.

Kev: You can't you can't not play him, yeah. He's been

Bright: Right.

Kev: phenomenal.

Bright: So that leaves either Hulsa, again, Sangbin, or Betcher. I I but I figure that's the only spot that's up for grabs. Unless you're gonna rotate somebody else, unless you're gonna rotate a Durkin and Edelman, slide Montan back into one of their positions or or Totland.

Kev: That's tough.

Bright: And we got a lot of games. We got a lot of games coming up. We play next week for the US Open Cup matchup, which is a big game. It's a semifinal. You gotta you gotta throw out

Kev: Yeah, mean it's gonna help us keep keep rested. So I mean

Bright: No.

Kev: I'm just thinking about like what our core lineup would be. With Batcher playing so well.

Bright: Yeah, that's the thing. D

Kev: You know, it it and then Hulsa got freaking, you know, six million or whatever it was.

Bright: Has he showed you enough though? Has Hulsa showed you enough that you have to play him, or is it more about the money?

Kev: Yeah, I I mean I think it's more about the money so far, and then you know, the assumption is is he's the caliber player that you you're gonna want in your lineup. So it's just getting him comfortable in the system and you know fitting in with the the players around him. And the only way to do that is freaking playing, right? So you know, is it

Bright: Yeah. Get playtime. Sure. Sure. Did he just come in at magically something? And maybe it is right now. He may

Kev: Off the bench playtime or maybe.

Bright: have just came in to a team that's that's been on this run and he just hasn't quite molded

Kev: Rolling, yeah.

Bright: with it and so therefore he's not gonna get quite the opportunity that he would have gotten had we not been

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: on this run, maybe y he gets more starts. But but yeah, I I think obviously it's a good problem to have. We've talked about this. But with with Betcher, right, like you might have to play him with Matan behind Navarro. Or you have to switch to a two striker system. there And yes, you have to consider the US Open Cup matchup. But so I'll I'll be curious, of course, to see how it how it plays out tonight. But that might be the only position that's up for grabs is is Sang Bin's position from last game. Everybody else might essentially be the same, with the exception of that Orasco McNaughton switch. And they and they switched at halftime. McNaughton came on at halftime for Orasco. Orosco was on a yellow card. We had several yellows last game. Totland, Paul Very.

Kev: Yeah. What was that? Twenty one files, yeah. Lots of whistles. Yeah.

Bright: When you look twenty-one fouls, twenty-one fouls last game to their ten. To their ten. So we had twice as many fouls as they had. And and what's interesting is when you look at the possession, and it seemed like it went in in waves, right? We had a big string of possession early on. And then and then they had a good ten, fifteen minute window where we couldn't get the ball in the first half, and then it kind of just went back and forth. But at the end of the game it came up fifty-one, forty nine in favor of Portland. So a pretty

Kev: Hmm.

Bright: even game. So it's not like we were chasing them the whole time. So when you see twenty one fouls to their ten, you start to wonder, is it is it a referee issue?

Kev: Referee bias issue, yeah. It kind of feels like it sometimes, doesn't it?

Bright: Yeah, yeah. I don't know. And this is the same ref that that screwed us against Vancouver last year. If you remember Mueller, it was his first game, I think, after he ca came over against City, or at least his first game at home. And then they gave him a penalty kick in the ninety fifth minute or something like that. That wasn't deserved. And even in this game, that that first free kick that Portland had Was not a fall. It it was a dive.

Kev: Yeah. Yeah, I didn't get to see like the a clear replay of him not touching who that was Pulvara maybe.

Bright: Yeah, and Polvera was not happy with the ref on that foul call. And of course you knew it

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: was in a it was in a good position. And we set up the wall, and I guess there was maybe a little bit of controversy that their guys were too close to our wall, and that's why Berkey was all upset. I I couldn't quite tell. He the way he came running out there, I'm like, dude, you you couldn't see that ball. It went right in the net. It was a good shot. No.

Kev: Nothing to argue here, yeah. So I saw, I think where their players weren't in association to our wall or at least a different angle. And it does look completely different from, you know, probably, Berkey's perspective. But if you got the sideline shot of it a little off, maybe towards their goal, he was, he was a good yard off of the wall. From what I could tell. There was just nothing to complain about.

Bright: Yeah. Yeah. Well, either way,

Kev: Disappointing.

Bright: it ended up it ended up being a tie two two ball game and we now sit in sixth place. We actually dropped a spot in the standings. 38 points. But we've got San Jose also on 38 points. We've got Dallas, who won again. They're at forty points. LAFC at 40 points. So win tonight and a couple of losses s could still jump us up to third place. So

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: so a win y you need to win some of these games. I mean, we're talking about

Kev: especially at home.

Bright: we're talking about four points now when you add up the Dallas

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: and then the Portland game. So if you add those four points, then we're we're we'd only be one point behind Houston for second.

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: So, I mean, there are opportunities here, and DeMay says, it's it's a learning opportunity and all of that stuff, which is fine. I get it. That is true. But to your point, tonight's matchup is at home against a team that's sitting currently in 11th. They've had

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: back-to-back losses against Dallas and who was the other who was the other team that they played? Was it also Portland? It was Portland and Dallas. So so yeah, you gotta you gotta take it to him tonight. Hope obviously I think the energy will be there. There'll be excitement to see Navarro, but it is there's a couple interesting things here. we are not great against Minnesota. I think they they definitely own the the team record or the you know the head to head record against the two clubs. they've

Kev: Means nothing. I don't believe it.

Bright: They I know. You're right. I agree. It doesn't necessarily mean a lot, but they've won six of the last seven matchups between City and Minnesota. And they're

Kev: Yeah, that's interesting.

Bright: their better team on the road this season, Minnesota is, which is rare

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: in the MLS. They're five, five and two on the road.

Kev: Wouldn't that hurt losing this game?

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: I think it would hurt, you know, tying the game. But I'm going to go ahead and expect that

Bright: Yes. I I think anything s anything short of a win.

Kev: trend to reverse in terms of us losing to them and it kind of coming back up to the average. So I don't think it's meaning much. I think we'll be fine. I want to hear it.

Bright: Yeah, I think I think you do need a win tonight. Not not only to to keep this unbeaten streak alive, but to keep us in that good mindset going into the US open. If we lose this game, and then you gotta

Kev: Ready?

Bright: go play US open, and then you gotta come back and play Toronto with Sgt. I yeah, I think I think you gotta win.

Kev: These are the games you expect to win like these are the you know, you're a better team you're at home Yes, you're coming off of a Wednesday game. I don't know are they coming off of a Wednesday game, too

Bright: Yeah, everybody played.

Kev: Alright, so, you know, even there I guess, we've got plenty of skill on this team. You don't expect to lose this game, you can't really lose this game.

Bright: Nope. I I'll be betting on the win for sure. I I feel like I have to bet on a Navarro goal, but it might have to be the first goal. That's the kind of thing I've noticed. Like you're not making enough money if you just bet on an any time goal scorer. You gotta bet on a first time goal scorer

Kev: Yeah, well.

Bright: or a two time goal scorer to make some money.

Kev: Yeah, you know, you can go take your anytime goal scorer and throw in.

Bright: Parlay with the win.

Kev: We'll just throw in. Edelman, you know, getting a goal that, you know, that's where your anytime goal scorer value would be. just not likely to win it. That's why it's sitting up there at like plus 500 or whatever. So you gotta like partly like those anytime goal scorers sometimes. Yeah. He's a tough one to bet on for

Bright: Yeah. Well maybe I'll do the parlay. Maybe I'll do the Navarro Anytime goal score. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That might that might help me make some money.

Kev: any time. agree. Yep.

Bright: Yeah, well, 'cause they only put at like plus one twenty or something like that. I'm like, that's that's too low. Yeah.

Kev: If that, if that he might be like, he might be minus one 10 going into this game. Like they know he scored, right? So it's just so tough to make

Bright: Right, right. I don't know.

Kev: that bet on it. Anytime goal scorer.

Bright: Well, right now they have us at a forty six percent chance to win

Kev: Just wants to look at that, okay.

Bright: Yeah, a twenty-five percent chance to draw and then the Minnesota win at twenty-nine percent, which honestly I feel like is probably a little high. Yeah. It might be because

Kev: That seems high. That seems awfully high.

Bright: because of their road record, they might get

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: a little bump, but but I agree, given that we haven't lost in fourteen matches that we're playing at home, I feel like we should kind of be over that fifty percent. We should be somewhere around the fifty one percent, and then Minnesota splitting the percentage with the draw.

Kev: Agreed, agreed. Maybe good value there that I'll lay down a couple bets on a city win.

Bright: Yeah. Trying to figure out where we should go tonight. So we have we have a sleepover situation with the kids. they're staying with with

Kev: Thank you.

Bright: yeah, with my wife's parents. So

Kev: Absolutely.

Bright: yeah, so we have a little extra time before the game, and we might even go out after the game, just kinda depends on how we feel. but the real question is before the game. After the game, we might do like putt shack.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: They ha they have this deal, it's like nine d nine dollars after nine, so you get nine dollar drinks, nine dollar golf. I'm like, Okay, we could go play around a mini golf and and have a cocktail at Putt Shack. otherwise we like going to drops and and getting

Kev: Yeah, I know you.

Bright: yeah, getting a to go adult shake or whatever they call.

Kev: Not even to go, right? You sit there and kind of let traffic die down and all that good stuff.

Bright: Well, that's the thing, is if you go there then you miss most of the traffic. You're going against the traffic to get there. And then by the time you get your drink to go, sometimes we sit there and we'll we'll drink a little bit of it and then get the get it to go and finish it at home. at home,

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: not not on the ride home, at home. And and by then traffic is gone. So it's nice and easy. So that's the that's the perk of that. If you're going to like the foundry, you're kind of in in the middle of it with traffic. So it gets it gets tough. So are you playing around here? We just lost we lost your virtual background. no, people could see your office. It's gone.

Kev: I I'm trying to look at where Put Shack is. no. no. You're seeing the the ugly room. I was. I was I was looking at where the heck Put Shack is. but it's right

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: there, you know, pretty close to Ikea. So okay. I was trying to just get some

Bright: Yeah, it's at it's at the foundry.

Kev: birds around that.

Bright: Yeah, and some you know, s actually that might not be a bad idea. Sometimes we've gone to the foundry before the game. And 'cause then you

Kev: Mm-hmm.

Bright: kinda have your pick of food and and things like that, and my wife can get something some kind of crazy bowl and I can go get a burger or something like that. So you can kind of mix it up. so we haven't done that in a while. yeah, I'm getting a notification that your device is struggling, so we'll wrap it up here soon. But I don't know what that's about. also befas. I liked befas the last time we did that.

Kev: Yeah. You mentioned it.

Bright: I I always like the pitch. usually we don't eat at Schlafley, but I'm like maybe we have a little bit of extra time. Maybe we could go get a table and sit down at Schlafley and eat before the game.

Kev: Yeah.

Bright: So so I don't know. And then we get to sleep in tomorrow morning. So pfft it y it changes the whole outlook on this game and and having some having some drinkies, having some fun.

Kev: Well mark me jealous, although I will be at the the Cardinal game celebrating a fortieth, so I'll be down downtown

Bright: Yeah.

Kev: having some fun too. Just not my normal fun. So

Bright: There you go. Well make sure you're you're

Kev: we'll see.

Bright: placing bets on both games. You can follow follow

Kev: Bay.

Bright: the games on DraftKings or whatever.

Kev: Yeah, I'm I'm gonna be tracking it, I guess, on my on my phone. I don't know. I'll have to catch the replay when I get home or sometime on Sunday before we get a chance to chat about it. That or I'll come

Bright: All right. Well what's your

Kev: in and I'll just have you you talk about it, one or the other.

Bright: That that can work too, 'cause we'll wanna get a game in to recap this one or Todd in to recap this one and then preview the US Open Cup matchup next week for sure. score prediction for tonight.

Kev: Yeah, I think it's gonna be a nice three nothing game. I think we get a clean sheet.

Bright: All right. I was I was thinking three one already, so I think we're reverse of how we usually go. so I'll take

Kev: Probably.

Bright: I'll take the three one. You'll take the three zero. We'll see what we can do tonight. And and we'll come back at you guys next week, hopefully talking about another win and a preview the semifinal matchup against Colorado with no Navarro. So that that might play into yeah, he could start tonight and and then you gotta s you gotta save Betcher a little bit. Yeah, he's definitely starting tonight.

Kev: Tonight's light up. he's starting tonight. Yeah, I don't know. He already yeah, he already saved him a little bit last game, so we'll see.

Bright: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well we'll see. All right.