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This is the mailbag episode for Week 11 of the MLS season. We mostly focus on how the Sounders will handle the situation at left back, but also get into potential plans for the summer transfer window and discuss the possible return of YachtCon.

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We also have a line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.

It wasn’t exactly the result the Sounders were looking for, but considering they had only even claimed a point at RSL once in the past 12 trips to Utah a 0-0 shutout might not be such a bad thing. Utah has been a rather horrific place for the sounders to play and anything that can go wrong usually does. This time, however, it was more of a mundane road draw. That the Sounders also managed to keep a shutout should probably be seen as a bit of a bonus as well.

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Matt Montgomery of Wasatch Soccer Sentinel joined us to share his thoughts on Real Salt Lake, to explain why they call pop 'soda' and to talk badly about Pablo Mastroeni's tactics.

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Coming out of a week that was pretty darn depressing and only seem to get worse as it wore on, the Sounders put together a workmanlike win that should calm any lingering concerns that this season was poised to go off the rails.

A quick recap: First they lost 4-1 to the Timbers, collapsing in a way we’ve never really seen. Then on Wednesday, Raul Ruidiaz goes down with yet another hamstring injury, that night Jordan Morris plays 88 minutes for the USMNT in an ultimately meaningless friendly that ultimately kept him out of startering consideration and then on Saturday we find out that Nouhou was a last-minute scratch due to some migraines. Through about 75 minutes, the Loons made life pretty difficult, setting up shop in a midblock and refusing the Sounders any sort of transition opportunities. 

But rather than get over-anxious or settle for a tie, the Sounders found a bit of magic through Fredy Montero and a perfectly hit shot from Albert Rusnak to secure three points.

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We caught up with Andy Greder, the Minnesota United beat writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press to get a better understanding of what's going on with this weekend's opponent. Greder tells us the latest news surrounding Emanuel Reynoso's absence, gives us the lowdown on Kemar Lawrence's potential availability and gives us some insight on how Minnesota has managed to go claim 9 of 12 points on the road so far.

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It's our weekly mailbag episode. We try to figure out if the Sounders have completely lost any edge in the rivalry, try to determine which players were most missed, explain what's going on with Xavier Arreaga, and try to help a St. Louis City fan figure out how to avoid becoming an asshole.

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If you'd like to become a subscriber to our Substack, that can be found here. All background music used is royalty-free content licensed via pixabay.

So, uh, that happened. For the better part of 70 minutes, the Sounders basically controlled the match against the Portland Timbers and looked likely to end their three-game losing streak. But then Dairon Asprilla scored an admittedly impressive bicycle kick, revived the crowd and sent a bolt of energy into the Timbers. 20 minutes later, they were 4-1 winners.

It was the fourth straight time the Sounders had lost to the Timbers, the first time that’s ever happened in the rivalry’s history; the Timbers beat the Sounders by three goals for the second time in three meetings, a losing margin the Sounders have only suffered two other times since the start of 2019; they’ve now outscored the Sounders 11-2 in those four games; and the Sounders gave up more goals in that 20-minute span than they had in their previous 700 minutes this year. 

It was not surprising that Brian Schmetzer was about as mad as I’ve ever seen him in the postgame, saying he’s not even sure if the Sounders can consider this a rivalry anymore. 

We unpacked the collapse and how the Sounders move forward.

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If you'd like to become a subscriber to our Substack, that can be found here. All background music used is royalty-free content licensed via pixabay.

Stumptown Footy is dead, long live Stumptown Footy. As you probably know by now, Vox decided to stop funding most of their MLS sites a couple months ago. Most of them are moving forward in new formats. Stumptown Footy is one such site.

We caught up with Sam Svilar to get the lowdown on their new life as a newsletter (currently parked at StumptownFooty.Substack.com until the URL license switches over) but more relevantly about the state of the Timbers. 

Things are not so good in the Rose City, where they come into this match riding a six-game winless run. It's not just the top line numbers that look bad, either. The Timbers' season high for xG is 1.1, a mark the Sounders have topped in 5 of 7 games

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Get to know OL Reign assistant coach Scott Parkinson in our first "Coffee & Valkyries" of the 2023 season. Scott talks about how he met OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey, their first stint working together at Utah Royals, his time as head coach of Gotham FC, and reuniting with Harvey for 2023 and more.

This is the mailbag episode ahead of Week 7 of the MLS season. If you'd like to get your questions answered in future episodes, please shoot us an email at [email protected].

In this episode, we answer questions about who has been a bigger surprise so far in 2023, what do we do with so many hot players and so little starting spots, and we wax poetic about our next matchup against those dudes to our South.

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This week's music: Perry Como - "Seattle", "RVIVR - "Ocean Song", Woody Guthrie - "Roll On Columbia", "Your Journey Begins" - OurMusicBox (Jay Man) (CC BY 4.0)