Craig Waibel shares Sounders offseason plans

Jeremiah resumes his captaincy of the SS Sound Bites to catch you up on a busy few days to close out the year. He discusses the 2025 schedule, the league’s publishing of the General Allocation Money totals for each team, updates on various rumors, his take on the new Leagues Cup format and a brief recap of the SuperDraft.

Jeremiah and Aaron answer a lot of your questions, dealing with everything from Adrian Hanauer’s stewardship of the club to the impact of the Club World Cup on this season. Before they get to all that, though, they dig into the rumors surrounding the potential acquisition of Paul Arriola and Jesus Ferreira.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/

Following his end-of-season press conference, Jeremiah sat down with Sounders GM Craig Waibel to go a bit more in depth. Waibel shared his thoughts on the Sounders’ season, some of the plans for the offseason and his excitement about an international-heavy 2025.***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/

Jeremiah and Aaron discuss the Western Conference final in the first segment and then do a deep dive into the roster. They go through each player and discuss whether they should be a building block for the future, a short-term keep or someone it’s time to move.Get the podcast delivered to you on Spotify, iTunes or any other podcast service.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/

One of the breakout stars of MLS Season Pass is former MLS star Sacha Kljestan. As one of the lead studio analysts, he’s proven himself to be clever, entertaining and well researched. We are thrilled to have him join the podcast and help us preview the Western Conference final. Kljestan knows the Galaxy particularly well, both having played there and having a brother who still works in their front office. ***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/

Niko Moreno (@ElRoloNW) joins Jeremiah to discuss the final preparations for the Sounders’ Western Conference semifinal against LAFC. Niko is particularly interested in seeing some sort of tactical change and suggests putting Raúl Ruidíaz back at striker with Jordan Morris moving to the wing. He also floats the possibility of seeing João Paulo back into the starting lineup, which becomes even more attractive if Paul Rothrock can’t start. Jeremiah and Niko also discuss some of the big moves around the league that could have an impact on the Sounders.

One of our favorite announcer teams on the MLS Season Pass lineup is Max Bretos and Brian Dunseth. We’ve had Dunseth on the show a couple of times, but with the Sounders gearing up for LAFC we thought it would be good to have Bretos on for the first time ever.Bretos is one of the longest tenured announcers in MLS, first starting out on Fox Soccer Channel before moving to ESPN and then eventually to MLS Season Pass. In addition to calling games, he also does work with LAFC. We figured he’d be a great person to provide some insight into the Sounders’ next opponent.If you’d like to hear more from Max, check out his podcast “The Soccer OG.”

With a pretty big lull in the schedule, Jeremiah and Aaron are doing their monthly mailbag. Among the questions they tackle: Who should have played more? Who should the Sounders move on from? What positions should Sounders prioritize for upgrade? How will the Sounders finally beat LAFC?

No, it wasn’t pretty, but in times like this it’s important to celebrate good things. By beating the Houston Dynamo, the Sounders have qualified for the the Western Conference semifinals for the 14th time in 16 seasons. It’s the seventh most in MLS history, and the only teams who have done it more had 13-season head starts. Jeremiah and Aaron give them their due.

That was not exactly the performance we were hoping to get from the Sounders, but to act as though winning the game is anything short of a positive is rather silly. Jeremiah and Aaron break it all down and look ahead to what Game 2 might look like.