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?