Nos Audietis

Jimmy Mack of KC Soccer Journal and No Other Pod joins us to provide some insight into Saturday's opponent, Sporting KC. Just like the last time these two teams faced, Sporting KC comes in on a 10-game winless run. Unlike last time, the underlying numbers suggest Sporting is just as bad as their record suggests.

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Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

With no game last weekend, Jeremiah and Aaron have an extended Mailbag episode this week. Among the topics they tackle are what the Sounders need to do for this season to be considered a success; how much of the malaise around the team is directly attributable to home scoring woes; and where expectations should be set for the summer transfer window.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Adrian Hanauer first became formally involved in the Seattle Sounders when he became the managing partner of the USL team in 2002. One of the first big hires he made was appointing Brian Schmetzer to be the head coach. While steering the ship on the business side, he also served as the team’s general manager, a role he maintained for the first five years of the Sounders’ MLS existence.

I first met Hanauer in 2010, shortly after I started writing for Sounder at Heart. At the time, I was struck by how eager he was to share his thoughts on both the business and sporting aspects of the team.

He stepped down as the GM following the 2014 season and has been the majority owner since 2015. As the Sounders and his role within the team have evolved, I’ve also had fewer interactions with him.

Behind the scenes, though, he remains as active as ever. Hanauer is a near daily fixture at the team’s new Longacres training facility, where his office overlooks the pitch.

That’s where Hanauer and I met about 10 days ago to broadly discuss the state of the franchise. My intention was to get a sense of where he sees the Sounders within the broader MLS landscape; what kind of preparations are in order for the 2025 Club World Cup; how he perceives the Sounders’ handling of various off-field issues; and his vision for Longacres that goes beyond the training facility.

You can listen to the entire interview here:

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

For a few glorious moments, it felt like the Sounders had scored a hard-fought win over the top team in the Western Conference.

The seeming clincher came deep into stoppage time when Reed Baker-Whiting intercepted a pass, drove forward, shrugged off a defender and calmly delivered a pass to Danny Musovski, who hit a sliding shot into the net.

Musovski, who has had a few terrible misses in recent weeks, looked particularly relieved.

Baker-Whiting, who has been working himself back from a six-month injury absence, let out a roar that had to be particularly cathartic.

Except it didn’t happen. Well, at least not officially.

VAR flagged Musovski’s challenge that started the sequence for review and the referee ultimately decided to wave off hte goal.

Less than a minute after the ball was put back into play, RSL had the equalizer when the Sounders failed three separate opportunities to clear the danger.

Instead of a potential season-defining win, the Sounders were instead stuck with more frustrating dropped points.

In a season of depressing results, this feels like a low point.

Jeremiah and Aaron discuss.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Frequent guest Matt Montgomery of Wasatch Soccer Sentinel is back to give us an insider’s look at Real Salt Lake, the best and hottest team in the Western Conference. He explains what’s behind RSL’s surge to the top of the standings but is sure to give us a glimmer of hope about their vulnerabilities.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Matt Baker of Flyover Footy joins us to preview Saturday's match against St Louis City.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio is one of the top reporters covering MLS. Last week, he was in town to watch the Sounders-Whitecaps match while reporting out a feature that’s supposed to run around the 50th Anniversary match on June 15.

We caught up to talk about his impressions of the Sounders’ place in the current MLS landscape, what he learned while he was here and discuss some what make differentiates us in a copycat league.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Just as it seemed like the season might be turning around, we’re right back in purgatory. The 1-1 tie against the Vancouver Whitecaps wasn’t necessarily disastrous, but it certainly wasn’t very encouraging either.

Like we’ve said so many times this year, the Sounders defended well. They even scored an early goal in this one. But they did very little to build on that lead and were ultimately undone by a very frustrating sequence of calls that ultimately led to the Whitecaps getting a 94th minute equalizer from the penalty spot.

Jeremiah and Aaron discuss their frustrations over being in that position in the first place, vent a bit about the penalty decisions and try to look forward as well.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

The Seattle Sounders will face defending USL-Championship title holders Phoenix Rising in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on Wednesday. To help us get a better understanding of the opponent, we reached out to Backheeled’s Joe Lowery, who also happens to be the color commentator on Phoenix Rising broadcasts.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/

Look, we're not naive. We understand that one win -- no matter how good it felt -- doesn't fix every problem the Sounders have, but after failing to beat the Timbers in six straight meetings does feel awfully good and will hopefully provide some much-needed momentum.

Sponsors

Full Pull Wines

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.

"Diversions" audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/