LAFC + | Ep. 12

Let the May Madness begin! Dave Denholm and Mario Ruiz talk about the LAFC loss vs. San Jose as a pattern has developed. How much of an impact did Levi’s Stadium have on the match between the Black & Gold and the Quakes?

Get to know LAFC’s new German forward Luis Müller as Mario sits down with the Cal Baptist Alum. Messi cooked this weekend in record setting fashion, Dave and Mario discuss. Plus, a look around MLS, Western Conference style. And, LAFC goes to Vegas!

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[Music] [Music] a pattern has developed now that’s the bottom line welcome and uh lafc take it on the chin again on the road still windless on the road 04- one now after a 3-1 loss to San Jose Earthquakes up in Levi Stadium in Santa Clara California and yeah we got to dive in the pattern is there this is not just a fluke I mean you’re five games in on the road that’s almost a third of the way through the season you’re about a third way through your schedule you got to start turning it around on the road get some points one point from five matches obviously lafc not happy with that welcome this is lafc plus he is Mario ree I’m Dave denhom and we are part of the English language radio team for lafc and uh Mario good to talk to you buddy tough tough game on Saturday didn’t expect maybe how it went down uh still kind of shaking our heads a little bit but you got to give credit to the earthquakes too they played a great match their their best game of the season by far no question about that yeah that’s that is so true but but uh definitely a step in the the wrong direction after lafc picked up the draw in Portland right the last Road match this is definitely a step in the in the wrong direction on the road for lafc and honestly Dave the calendar it just does not feel sorry for the black and gold as the schedule starts to pick up this month lafc playing what six games this month in May here including the US Open Cup match that is a midweek match that’ll be coming up this Wednesday and it’s going to be interesting to see the rotation how head coach handles that and and we’ll see this month of May is going to be very interesting for for the black and gold for sure and to add on to that if you win that game which you hope you do certainly to move on you got another May game which would be a midweek US Open Cup game coming up later in the month so you’re hoping be another added game yeah yeah that will add to the schedule certainly there will be some rotation I’m sure we’re just guessing on that right now haven’t really got word on that or anything but you would think some players are going to get some opportunity maybe that haven’t seen enough minutes coming up to this one can’t take anybody lightly no pun intended we know how this goes Mario we know how it goes on the road LFC need points on the road we need a win on the road let’s go to Vegas and get a win away from home that’d be fine by me we’ll talk more about that but we have to talk about this match and here’s where I say that we start the show with kind of a you know like a little teaser line we don’t do like the 30 second tease thing like some podcast do uh thank you for joining us by the way this is lafc plus as we mentioned but we do give you a little tease and the tease is the pattern it’s it’s no longer just a one-off this is a struggle on the road and it goes back to the beginning of last season a great season lafc get to the MLS Cup final but they lose that on the road Unfortunately they did get a big win in Seattle if you remember in the playoffs of course to give themselves a chance to come home to host the Western Conference Final which they beat Houston so they got that massive win in Seattle but Mario in the regular season since the start of 2023 ml regular season is 17 Road games each year we’ve now played five this season lafc’s record in the last 22 Road games starting from last season in MLS regular season play four1 and eight you know that’s as everyone would tell you including Steve tundo and John thorington and Larry Freedman that’s not good enough you got to do better than that on the road that’s it’s 20 points from 22 matches so that’s not a good enough and being sharper in the box especially on those set pieces continues to be an issue I think for LFC and that I’m sure will be addressed again and worked on at training this week but I want to say you got to give it up to Christian Espinosa who played a tremendous game over the weekend against LFC a great assist on that pass uh and then he also had an olympico goal right With a Little Help from from Deni touching that but also Dave the thing that me and you kind of talked about just very briefly uh before the game even started on Saturday was how much of an impact does it does playing at Levi Stadium have on this match San Jose has a huge Advantage playing in front of an NFL siiz crowd uh 45,000 almost you know certainly I think their regular Stadium holds 18 18 18,000 yeah Mario whenever we play them in the regular Stadium which hasn’t been often we didn’t do it last or well I should say we did but one game is always in Santa CL this year we happen to have two home games against San Jose so their their one home game they still put it in the NFL stadium right because of the Rivalry even heard them all pelino commenting about how it’s a derby you know which yeah I don’t think Al feels that way frankly maybe they should if I’m being honest we better start thinking that way because San Jose’s played us very tough no matter how right terrible they are which they have been they somehow give lafc their best go every time Home and Away quite frankly they give time you know lately in bimo stadium but yeah it I’m glad you brought it up because it it does seem a little unfair if you’re just hey every year when you play lafc you can put it in this big stadium and draw double the crowd and get a better home field advantage seemingly that that shouldn’t be the case you should maybe once in a while you want to put a game in there Mario or when you host when you host us twice you know every other year maybe I guess you can put one of them there but that’s seems yeah that’s two years in a row against the black and gold and you best believe that they’re going to try to do that again San Jose is going to try to do that again next season yeah now I can hear a playoff game the fans listening I can hear you listening going who cares you should yes it’s not an excuse in terms of losing a match you got to go up there and win right but just in principle unfairness it doesn’t matter if it’s lafc or something the Colorado Rapids don’t have to play there right you know like but people will then say though oh you get to play them three times though and they they’re terrible well yeah but we also have to play the Galaxy three times and the Galaxy are a lot better than they have been lately so that’s stuff does even out I get it it’s just the principle of they don’t ever host other you know they host the Galaxy and lafc in that stadium so they get a home field advantage often well they don’t host other Western you know they don’t host Austin there you put them back in that 18,000 seat stadium that has no energy half the time no disrespect to the fans who really try there they have some good fans but you get what I’m saying like it’s not a HomeField advantage in that little 18,000 seed Stadium we take that thing over most of the you know the 3252 is louder most of the time and that’s obviously what they’re trying to stay away from they don’t want that to happen any MLS game is a tough game right anybody can win on any particular MLS game but then going out on the road it’s that much tougher and then if you’re going out on the road to a huge NFL stadium it’s just that much tougher that’s just all I’m saying just the point that I wanted to make I like it I I don’t disagree you know again people are going to throw it at us don’t make EXC we’re not the lafc deserved to lose San Jose deserved to win they were the better team no doubt we’ll get back to that in a second it is the episode 10 contest phrase of the week though and that is jump for La football club that’s the phrase of the week jump for La football club and if you’ve been following along the last three shows episode 10 11 and now this is 12 you know that there’s a phrase of the week hidden somewhere in each of those episodes go find all three you just heard the third one jump for La football club you get all three of those by listening come back find me on Twitter talk soccer one word talk soccer follow me there on Wednesday May 8th coming up the day that the lafc plays Las Vegas lights depending on when you listen to this hope you’re not too late but should have listened early in the week but on Wednesday May 8th at 5:00 p.m. Pacific 8:00 p.m. Eastern depending on where you are in the country I will tweet out the word contest that’ll be the whole tweet talk soccer on my Twitter feed be the first person to respond with all three phrases and you’ll win a pair of tickets to an upcoming lafc match first person go listen if you have if you’re keeping track you’re in good shape episodes 10 11 and 12 we hid one phrase of the week somewhere in each episode at different times easy enough easy easy to find like you’re not I’m not hiding them in the sense that you oh I have to listen every second of the you know you’ll find them but get those three come back to talker on Twitter Wednesday May 8th 5:00 p.m Pacific I’m going to Tweet out contest respond to that tweet with the three phrases if you’re the first one you’re gonna win my pair of tickets one pair of tickets my season tickets to an upcoming lafc match I’ll coordinate that with you on Twitter through DMs or what have you but good luck with that good luck lafc on the road further you know we’ve got to meaning that this has to change Mario you can’t be taking less than a point per match essentially I mean that’s just not going to get it done I know they’re a great team at home of course we are it’s a it’s a fortress almost unbeatable at home but we see it at the top of the West it’s no coincidence Mario every team five the first five teams in the west have at least three wins and I believe Minnesota now has four Road wins so they all have at least three Road wins that’s how you climb the table in MLS and I referenced it briefly about the Columbus Crew Mario but think about it we had to go on the road that’s the only reason we lost MLS Cup I believe that Columbus Crew are a fabulous team don’t get me wrong but if you’re playing them at bimo in the championship last season because you had a better record than regular season col uh MLS champs two years in a row I believe that it does matter these games do matter it does matter yeah that place in Columbus it was rocking I could barely hear the whistle that day on the MLS Cup last year so they definitely uh had an advantage with that that 12th man behind them it is a real thing and it’s a great Point Dave and Steve tundo knows that and I want to just hear his thoughts after the game about the performance from the black and gold up in San Jose here’s a little bit of Steve chundo here fortunately not the best performance from our boys tonight um against a uh a team um who played as a group really I think that’s all it took to beat us tonight um you know on the road this year I think this this sums it up kind of for us um on the road we seem to find ways to beat ourselves and um not so much that teams are beating us but we find ways to beat ourselves and we did it again tonight so that’s something that needs to be corrected and um you know the good news is that um all of the tools that we need uh to correct the situation are in our locker room and um it’s just a matter of um connecting some shots and and understanding how to win games on the road I can’t disagree with anything he said honestly the the pieces are here we’ve seen it yeah I like that part I like that part where he said the pieces are here we know that got to sharpen up he’s right the lafc are kind of beating themselves on the road a lot of times taking nothing away from you know again San Jose’s effort was there they deserved it you know they haven’t played that well all season long but you know if you’re lafc Mario we talk about it a lot home away what you’re gonna get the best you’re gonna get the best effort from everybody everybody wants to beat lafc you’re not going to get a bad game from people for the most part occasionally it happens but San Jose had nothing to lose going in that match really they were desperate and you know early goals change matches we know that too that Rodriguez header on a set piece really did change a lot because it didn’t allow LC to get any offense going in the first half right very little because then they bunkered in and were looking for that counter now in the second half Mario people are going to think I’m I’m not a homer I’ll tell the truth I thought lafc played pretty well in the second half as crazy is that sounds offensively they did now defense Steve dundo was right they just making too many mistakes offensively I thought it was a pretty decent half in the second half yarro made some massive saves I mean how you could count him on you need more than one hand to count the good saves at William he hadn’t played that well all year either quite frankly I mean he’s had a rough year and you get their best effort literally and it goes that way I’m going to take this to golf Dave I’m GNA take this to golf really quick you know there’s a saying like beware of a sick golfer who just goes out there and just plays like without anything going on in his mind without anything to lose right that’s kind of like San Jose you know they’re in last place they have nothing to lose and they’re going up against lafc but they have their fans so that’s kind of like how it went it was very dangerous it was almost like a trap game for lafc uh but definitely that’s how it was it was just like nothing to lose type of Atmosphere for for San Jose and that’s how they performed you’ve started to get into golf lately haven’t you last few years of course yes I just don’t have enough time I love it though you weren’t you weren’t a huge player back in the day when you know maybe when we were the first time I went you took me out to my first actual golf course and I remember that day it was I don’t know how many years ago but you hit you hit the um you hit the pole actually you hit the flag on one of your shots and it landed like right next to the hole you know what’s sad Mario I have I get worse every year by far like it doesn’t matter how much or how little I play I when I was 14 I that was the best golf I ever played because I played every day yeah I’m terrible now right when I first started dve the ball yeah yeah you were athletic enough that I could see that you could get better certainly it’s never easy when you’re just starting out but I was thinking about this the other day real quick and I want people to comment if you’re watching on YouTube or if you’re listening somewhere else so you know leave us comment you can hit me up on Twitter talker Mario IM Mario re uh Twitter Instagram you can hit me up on Instagram Dave denol I was thinking about this if you played the Masters right if you played austa one day not in the tournament the Masters but at Augusta and they set it up like they do for the Masters the length how far how much farther you know it’s just ridiculous what would you like people always say what would you shoot i’ try to break a Mario I don’t think I’d break 150 for 18 holes there I’m not kidding 150 if you had to putt everything you took every stroke no Mulligans play from where you know play the no drops no fixing your you know L you know whatever 150 I don’t think I’d break right now at a tough match golf is such a mind game and a lot of sports is a mind game right you have to be mentally strong mentally sharp yeah and that’s where we’re bringing it back to this this game here in San Jose but what what would you shoot do you think would you could you break aund whatever I asking everybody not just I mean you know no way I definitely I wouldn’t be able to do that 150 I mean that’s I’m like eight a hole I’d be at that course it’s ridiculous yeah like I said when I first started playing with you I could drive the ball and it kind of was natural to me but as I’m playing as the years goes on I’m just losing the driver I’m even I’m like afraid to even bring out the driver oh it’s Dreadful it’s an awful thing you know who didn’t lose the driver F finally he actually hit a great drive and I don’t mean this disrespectfully I thought Christian Olivera was really he’s starting to get it like in tune a little more remember because like early in the season he was just barely missing or he was knocking it right at a keeper no matter how hard he’s starting to kind of get in the groove a little bit you could liken it to putting he’s finding that stroke and uh we got to play this this is the radio call Courtesy of ESPN 710 in lafc this is the ol Vera goal which was the bright spot I thought he had a great second sends it back to Costa who gives it away here Ola just outside of the 18 help in the middle well it’s supposed to be the goal I can’t see scor from 12 y out yeah this couldn’t work Mario I don’t know what’s going on there I apologize for the no problem we heard it we heard it it was it was going it was playing actually oh it was yeah hit yeah go for it one more there goes nice finish there from Oliva his second goal of the season and does this mean lafc are back in it 69th minute 31 San Jose yeah he did give us a little bit of Life there in that match right there for the black and gold but just his fight in that match and his effort his pursuit of every ball his his creativity his quickness it’s always given problems for for the opponents right and he bagged that goal and hats off for Kik for that one but you know honestly I think that Kik wasn’t really too excited too happy after that game and I have a little bit of his post game from that so let’s let’s hear that let’s see that here yeah and I just want to you know translate that for you guys he said basically like that goal was worth nothing for me because we lost the match if we would have won it would have gave me more confidence but no that goal is worth nothing to me well it was his second goal of the year and I hope it does give him some confidence I hate to hear that I mean I like the the sentiment that he’s not mhm feeling good about his own stats right he want you want a team player like Kik is he he sacrifices himself all the time like let’s face it he gets to that end line no matter what he’s running his butt off I mean so I can appreciate the sentiment but I hope it does give him a little confidence that was a brilliant strike that’s exactly my thoughts Davis I know he’s upset and I know he doesn’t like the result but that’s got to give him confidence going forward he might he might not say that but deep down he’s feeling pretty good about that goal going forward because he has been you know so close he has been so dangerous in every single game and I think that does uh boost his confidence for sure going forward as the season moves on yeah side netting across the six Beautiful Finish let’s hope that’s the way it goes by the way just to let you behind the curtain a little bit because of those the audio issue I was only hearing background music I was hearing no cut Mario that’s funny yeah I heard the I heard the I heard the audio Yeah the the goal call was every time I hit it I’m hearing some background music it’s like I have no that’s the internet blame it on the internet there who knows so that was the youth movement too if we’re talking about youth movement at first Christian Oliva was a big part of that with that goal we sawar compos come in getting more and more comfortable coming off the bench right now still trying to work his way back in the starting 11 I like maybe we’ll see him I’m speculating on a you know in a game against Las Vegas potentially maybe Omar can get some more minutes you know give uh Ryan holl head a little more rest potentially we’ll see how that plays out on Wednesday uh if you’re listening to this before that US Open Cup match uh also Lewis Mueller signs officially for lafc we talked a little bit about him obviously and that and he you sat down with him Mario for an interview uh that we want to play for you now as well this is Lewis Mueller recent signing from lafc to he’s now officially part of lafc where’s the number 91 here’s Mario ree with a new signing Lewis Muller you grew up in Germany right you’re born in Germany you grew up there for your childhood played soccer there learned the beautiful game love the beautiful game at what point did you make it to the states uh it was my last year in Academy in Germany I got injured pretty bad and then I’ve decided I want to do something else um get fit again like playing and also get education so I came here to the states and went to college so you went to Riverside Cal Baptist of course and you bagged a gang of goals I seen what was that experience like and how did that help you to get to where you’re at now oh it was super cool experience um it helped me to get my confidence back after my injury uh I played almost every game obviously scored goals that helped my confidence like I said and it was just a super nice environment good good teammates good good coaches and yeah that was pretty cool I see you here at training with all the confidence uh tremendous strike I see you at LFC 2 bagging a bunch of goals what’s that confidence come from for you and what is that like whenever you play with lafc first team and then you go to the LFC too in like the same weekend sometimes uh that’s that’s kind of difficult because it’s a lot of um a lot to take for the body but I just try to prepare myself well for both games um and do the best I can and I I love playing soccer so I don’t mind having two games on a weekend so going forward in 2024 what’s some of your personal goals here with lafc I mean personally I just want to help the team the best I can be ready when they need me uh whether it’s the first team or second team I’m just going to stay ready and help the team the best I can when when you ask a lot of the coaches like Jordan Harvey or a lot of the coaching staff they talk about him and that power and that confidence that he has in it shows you know we’ve seen glimpses of it in lafc too and a little bit there in his few minutes that he had in his debut with lafc’s first team yeah great stuff Mario a man who doesn’t lack any confidence as we move on to the let him cook segment and now part of the plus of AFC plus yeah uh you don’t leave lonel Messi open we have to start talking about him right off the bat breaks records seems like every time it goes out now he does it again one goal five assists in a 6-2 thrashing over a pretty tough New York Red Bulls team albeit this one was in Miami with lonel Messi available but now I’m pretty sure he’s got 30 goals and 30 assists already no I’m kidding of course but five assist breaks record six goal contributions in one match Mario that breaks a record of course and the let him cook portion was if you didn’t see the assist he gave to new signing what mty roas relatively new signing right oh my goodness a cutback pass and Ras himself said I just continued my run and I thought I had no chance I’m paraphrasing he basically said I was not expecting the ball back by by any means he just goes running into traffic somehow Messi sees it cuts the pass back I mean dude it like it nobody sees that except for except for Messi because not even roas saw that coming but Messi is the only one that sees how he’s going to get that pass through and my goodness but Miami got revenge for sure on the New York Red Bulls right from that loss earlier in the season yep Suarez picks up a hattrick Messi with 10 goals now 12 assists Mario I mean that’s just insane in all of like 600 minutes like he’s getting goal contribution somebody someone was talking about some like in the 30s minutes like every 30 plus minutes or whatever it is and I mean that’s absurd like it just makes anyone in a pink shirt play like an Allstar like if you have a pink shirt on this year you are probably going to have a career year because Messi makes everyone else that much better it’s just amazing yeah and don’t talk to me about the Monteray Series in Champions Cup he sat out the first match Monteray got two goals on the road that was always going to be imposs not impossible but they were never going to give Leonel Messi an inch of space down in Monteray they were going to let everybody else beat them once he did you know he missed the first game and it was over that series was over they lost that in the first game did enter Miami because Messi didn’t play don’t even tell me about oh they D you know you have Messi for two matches I’ll take my chances against anybody in the world if I’m into Miami literally at this point so know they deserved it but yeah I mean Matias Ros roas had another goal as well which is another tremendous goal he had a brace and and if you get goals from supporting Cass on that Miami team that’s going to be very very tough to be because you already know of course Messi’s going to do his thing and Suarez is going to do his thing sure but when you get the other guys going too what are you gonna do you got a golaso from roas and then you got Messi doing his thing watch out yeah you know Diego Gomez a player I know there’s been injury concerns for a lot of these guys though down there so a lot of the younger guys were actually getting hurt I know up but you know everybody was worried about Suarez playing all you know like it still is a long season to go that’s for sure true but roas you know guy like Matias roas you know you you look at him and you think oh Miami is bringing in all these kids he’s 28 like he’s a veteran you like he can still you know this guy knows what he’s doing I mean he’s a great player in his own right so yeah it’s look I mean teams are going to beat him along the way Miami is not going to win every game here and I you know again we’ve talked about it on the show Messi’s going to miss a lot of games coming up you know the record that Carlos ve set with go contributions may still be not attainable frankly as crazy as that sounds since he has 22 already does Messi but ve did a whole year 49 gold comp contributions that’s still a long way to go over the course of a season so we’ll see I mean Messi is messy no doubt about it he can do it we know that he could do it yeah you know way fewer James but he’s still going to be missing a lot of matches this season and you talked about bringing new guys into the league Dave we also let’s go back to San Jose really really quick because we got to see their new DP signing right edanan Lopez the uh the great nephew of Diego Maradona and here you see a picture of him and he’s got his mate and you could just see you could just see his personality and his flare so a little bit of Maradona already and he kind of looks like him too so that’s kind of cool but you know I’m a fan of that mate so I saw this picture I was like oh I got to get this picture cuz I got my mate you know I got it right here I got my mate gourd over here my personalized gourd right here if you can see that there you go me mate Mario check out that song matter of fact I was gonna say go listen to the music of the great Mario re he’s got the song I was it’s called M mate yeah check it out go type in MIM mate by Mario Riz on Spotify Apple music wherever you get your music and I got a bunch of other songs there too but yeah I love this picture here and we got to see a little glimpse of him right and uh he pulls up like this just walking with his mate so I love that but he came on in the second half right and he earned that free kick like right away and he showed a little bit of his of his qualities and I’m excited to see what comes out of him yeah I a little surprised Luchi brought him in that early I mean I guess you know they wanted to debut the gu’s record signing $6 million transfer fee from B crowd yeah yeah on one level I’m not surprised he was brought in to start the second on another level I was a little because of the game they were winning one nil you know you figure you’re going to defend a little more but then again good good move in a way because he can handle the ball I mean clearly we saw the skill he can maintain possession he can create some stuff didn’t really have a massive impact on this match just getting to know his team but I think that was mostly because of the score too right it was three three nil 3-1 so exactly most of the time LC were chasing that game so they were going to have a lot of the ball San Jose was going to defend a lot which they did appropriately so you’ll see a lot more from this kid no doubt he’s a good player he was wearing that debut patch too right Dave so uh I think it was on the on the chest right so we talked about that debut patch that players are wearing this year and me and you are excited about that and can’t wait for those cards to come out how good would it be to to get that Anan Lopez debut card that one of one that’s awesome can’t wait for that that should be a good one yeah no doubt about it those will be really big for rookies I mean technically Lopez this is his fir would be his first MLS Trading Card obviously it’s his debut yeah but you know like guys who are like also rookies who are getting that patch that would be big or don’t have I’m sure he probably has trading cards from argentini he played down there I could be wrong I don’t collect it’s not really big in that culture but who knows yeah that’s true you know but they’re out they’re out there though I mean it’s not as big you know like you say but they’re out there no doubt about it I mean you go you go like you wouldn’t think there stuff oh there’s tons of Diego Mar Dona rookie you know like stuff you wouldn’t think wow back then you know but yeah they’re out there so but it’s a great call Great shout those debut patch cards are going to be cool love it around the rest of MLS part of the LFC Plus show here you know we got to give uh today we usually give out some Kudos and then you kind of look for some teams that maybe this is Western Conference Focus Mario because you know some Western Conference had a pretty good week some teams specifically Colorado Rapids they go into New York into that Yankee Stadium weirdness team that’s really been turning it on the Rapids took it to him two-nil win they get a goal late to ice it but man they were in control I you know Cole Basset is a good little good young player still lot of experience he’s not super young anymore but he’s you know he’s still in the prime of his career and the Rapids are just getting it done you know Chris armas once you get into the focus or into the swing of how he wants to play that he can be tough that team the type of teams he coaches can be tough to beat we saw it now New York City experiences it with Colorado going on the road again it’s like three wins now for them on the road already this season that’s yeah that was in the rain on a on a baseball field a clean sheet win on the road what a goal from Navajo as well a bender to the side netting for his fifth goal of the season so he’s playing well too so yeah that was a great win for the Rapids yeah yeah very impressive got to give them some Kudos same thing with Minnesota United they go look Atlanta United is not a great Road team if they come to you you can usually handle Atlanta you go down there in that Dome on that Turf in front of that big crowd it’s usually a different story for just about every team they’re almost unbeatable down there and Minnesota United went in there and just smacked them around with a 2-1 win but just the way United plays man mines we saw it again we went into Minnesota and they they handled it most games on the road weekend you know was another tough one have have had some circumstances or have been pretty good matches for LFC in even in losses at times or you know drawing with Portland Minnesota they had no trouble even against us at home now they go on the road and don’t really have trouble with Atlanta a tough place to go you know Emanuel Roso for all his skill and great talent they haven’t missed him bottom line maybe they’ve moved on you know maybe it’s it doesn’t look like that’s ever going to kind of doesn’t look like he’ll be coming back no they don’t need him they don’t need him they haven’t missed him like you said yeah but they do have kvin Ariaga kin Ariaga has been playing very well and at the moment he had a goal in that win over the weekend and just had a baby so he’s in form and he seems to be super motivated so watch out for for araga and Minnesota United man yeah araga big part of also how this defense is holding up I always felt like you could get to Minnesota defensively if you just kept pressing them with your off but they’re not giving up a lot of goals this season so Eric Ramsey new coach there doing a great job yeah and really has uh you know under some weird circumstances again with the whole Roso situation or whatever hasn’t seemed to make a difference uh now some trouble in the west or a little bit of trouble Mario and again not terrible this is a team though one of I think two teams in MLS that only has one loss all year and yet it’s not all perfect for St Louis St Louis city people are like why they only have one they only have two wins all they do is draw a bunch of draws is kind of yeah they do they have one loss in 10 matches and they only have 13 points on the season that is almost impossible to do Mario as they keep drawing another nil-nil draw this time another you know decent go to Houston brutal place to go most of the time you’re going to take it on the chin against the Dynamo in Houston so they get a point but we’ve talked about this many times over the years we used to do soccer week all these shows right and I think people are starting to get it go on the road I’m I hate hearing coaches talk about get a point on the road that’s a great result no it’s not a great result it’s okay also it depends how the game flows you know if lafc would have picked up a three3 draw in the second half on Saturday that would have been a great result the way the game went on the road you know you’re down three nil but no don’t just don’t just say oh we want to go on the road and get a draw you know how many points that is out of 17 games yeah 17 that’s not enough calendar kind of been the Calendar’s kind of been tough for for St Louis early on right they played already they’ve already played RSL twice we know how good how great they’re playing at the moment they played the Galaxy who’s off to a good start they’ve had two conquer Champions matches earlier in the season that were in mixed in there so a lot of the effort was put yeah a lot of effort was kind of put into that as well so could there be a little bit of hang hangover from all of that maybe I think we might be seeing that we saw it towards the end of last year though too they were not they certainly got off to a flying start and they deserved all their success they’re building a great Club there we don’t want to take anything away from them they’ got a good future the fans are incredible fans have a lot to look forward to and they still will but yeah it’s typical with a young team in MLS right the second season that little hangover potentially didn’t happen with LFC we happen to have one of the best seasons of all of MLS history but a lot of teams you know you stub your toe a little bit in season two we saw with Austin now they’re started to turning around a little bit so it’s not like all is bad again one loss in 10 matches normally you’d be like holy cow this is phenomenal even if you drew five of them you know like you still should be have more way more points than 13 points from one loss and they got to find ways to win because again you can scrap it claw get some draws every now and again no shame in that when maybe you were supposed to lose a match you get a late that’s great but they just don’t seem they’re they’re missing what they had last season that kind of heroic goal you know jlus would find a way or Len would somebody would make a you know just some crazy goal out of ay Jackson would make a play Pompeo is a nice you know they got talent but I just wanted to point out like you in MLS and not just St Louis you got to go for wins you have to get the three points Home Road wherever don’t be playing for these draws it it will bite you in the long run because the problem is you’ll probably get a lot of them and you need wins you know so enough of that rant but what are your thoughts on St Louis overall you still feel confident about them I mean you seem you seem like you’re still high on them though as a team am I reading wrong uh maybe for the regular season I think they can get it together and I do like uh Roman berky of C of course uh but but last year I think you and I were spot on when we said wait till the playoffs and we saw the early exit from them too so I’m still kind of up in the air but I think uh they definitely have a chance to be towards the top of of the west but then again you know that playoffs will come around and I don’t know if they have enough to make a deep run into the Western Conference playoffs yeah and it’s not it’s not a matter of um like uh well they’ve got a bunch of injuries this is how they build their team this is their philosophy it’s not to spend huge money on an individual player you know like not they’re well okay this might be what you get if you build like that now again last year tremendous start kind of covered over a lot of that and maybe they’re feeling good about themselves you know behind the scenes like oh you know look at us like look at how we’re building this team we have no Superstars we’re going to build it h I don’t know Talent usually takes you a long way in professional sports Mario we know this in All Sport so yeah we’ll see how it plays out again not not off to a bad start but yeah they need something let’s just put it that way lafc well they need a victory on the road let’s go get one on Wednesday coming up at Las Vegas lights US Open Cup round of 32 the pregame at 7M on espnla 710 and the espnla app which is a tremendous app uh Mario your thoughts on this obviously lafc Affiliated previously with the lights as like a minor league affiliate now they’re on their own in USL Championship as lafc of you know they G the whole league went to the MLS next Pro kind of set setup the lights under owner Jose Bautista pretty cool little angle there play at Cashman Field interesting match no that’s you know get the win on the road any way we can is my My Philosophy win and move on right I mean let’s just get it done well the first thing that comes to mind for me is big picture right is uh let’s get into the conquer Champions let’s win this US Open cup let’s raise this Trophy and jump into that conquer Champions tournament and then secondly uh I just think about it’s a chance to see some of the the younger talent because we know sometimes there’s rotation when when it comes to these matches and lafc have strong young Talent as you know with lafc 2 who is in first place at the moment might I add which is great to see so we will we get to see Mueller who we just had an interview with will we get to see more of dwas Tomas anel who knows who comes into these matches lafc have talent that are young with lafc too let’s bring them in there let’s put them on the big stage let’s see what happens I’d love to see that yeah especially to with Vancouver by the way coming up on the weekend that’s the next match we’ll talk about Saturday at beo Stadium 7 PM for the pregame again espnla 710 and the espnla app this is a big one you know so you have yeah you got that weekend and there hasn’t been much of this going you know to begin the season we haven’t had a midweek game so everybody’s rested and you know people who are completely healthy are in good shape there’s no you know no worry about that so to speak so but when you have a Vancouver team that’s three points ahead of you in the standings yes you know and they’re a very tough team you’re at home where you haven’t been beat Vancouver is not afraid of anybody they’ll punch anybody in the nose on the road even so it is going to be a tricky match Steve chundo and his staff have you know decisions to make here right do you just kind of well let’s focus on the open cup and get that win no matter what do you go strong for that obviously lafc want to win every tournament we’re in yeah or do you kind of also have to do it with one eye on a very difficult match coming up on the weekend yeah and Vancouver they had a really good game over the weekend against Austin they weren’t able to pull out the win weren’t able to pull away with the three points but this is a team that is playing together they don’t really have uh dominant Superstar but they are all on the same page pulling together so it’s going to be a very tough match and like you said they’re right above lafc in the Western Conference standings so this Saturday bimo stadium is a match with huge Western confence implications that’s for sure yeah no doubt let’s get two right let’s get two I’m gonna get selfish and greedy this let’s get six points one of them was obviously a knockout game in the US Open cup let’s move to the round of 16 there and then you know finish up the week on another high note on Saturday pounding Vancouver and really just keeping that home field advantage which lafc of course still unbeaten at B Mo Stadium lafc plus episode 12 Mario it’s in the book book another great episode brother good stuff as always yeah thank you yeah we’ll talk again uh this Wednesday right yeah well uh we will again pregame 7 o’clock espnla 710 in the ESPN LA app for the US Open Cup round of 32 lafc visiting Las Vegas lights that’s do it for LFC plus he’s Mario re I’m Dave deom thank you so much for listening if you’re on YouTube watching the show we appreciate all the support hit us up leave comments give us a thumbs up on YouTube if you’re there thumbs up on all the other platforms to leave reviews we appreciate all the support so far for LFC plus Mario have a great week buddy yeah yeah D black and gold let’s [Music] a [Music]