We wear our work, day by day, stitch by stitch. At Dickies, we believe work is what we're made of. So, whether you're gearing up for a new project, or looking to add some tried and true work wear to your collection, remember that Dickies has been standing the test of time for a reason. Their work wear isn't just about looking good. It's about performing under pressure, and lasting through the toughest jobs. Head over to Dickies.com and use the promo code, "Work Wear 20" at checkout, to save 20% on your purchase. It's the perfect time to experience the quality and reliability that has made Dickies a trusted name for over a century. Welcome, everyone, to "Flavor Footy," sponsored by Noble Ice Vineyards. My name is Matt Baker, and it is "Rivalry Week." The playoffs might be slipping away, but next weekend, St. Louis City SC welcomes Sporting Kansas to City Park for one final match, Missouri vs. Kansas, STL vs. KCK. And while it might not have the grandeur of the playoffs as its background, it's easy to argue that this is the biggest match left of City's calendar. I'm back with a midweek look at news and notes from training, which included speaking with Marcel Hardel, interim coach John Hackworth, and a special longer chat with Indiana Vasilev. So, let's start with Marcel Hardel and get out in front of the fact that he hasn't been training as much with the club during the week. Hardel is suffering from some foot pain, pressure on his toe, as he said, that's been bothering him for some time now. The prescription is basically rest, which explains his lack of participation in most training activities over the past couple of weeks. As he told us directly on Tuesday, though, "I still feel it during the game, but I can deal with it during the game." And as Hardel's been going 90 minutes regularly, there is no reason to believe that should change. So, rest easy, this is just something to see, monitor as he's been training. Hardel seems good to go for games. Hardel also spoke on his positioning from last week that he didn't feel much changed last weekend as he played the eight position against San Jose moving to a deeper central midfield. And with Edu Louvin out, Hardel dropped underneath at times to that central midfield. And as he put it, he played that position with FC St. Pauli plenty, so for him, it was no change. Now, here's Marcel Hardel on being a leader since he arrived. Something that he said from the get-go was a goal of his. Yeah, I try to do my best to be a leader for the team. And I think so far it's, I do it well. I need a lot of more times a bit with the team to know everybody exactly better. But as so far, I think we make everybody a good job. And I try to do my best to be a good leader. I think you got an effective leader. Hopefully. Switching over to Interim head coach John Hackworth now, who gave us the following player updates after Tuesday's training session. Edu is doing well. You saw him for the first two activities. Felt better just trying to manage his overall load so that he can potentially be 100% on Saturday. Durkin not so great. Like his knee is just inflamed and it hasn't calmed down from Saturday. So that's a concern. But hopefully it will. And then Horn, Horn kind of another, since he's gotten here, we have put him and he's been used a lot. And so I think it's a little bit load management with him as well. He is adamant that he'll be ready. And he wants to train tomorrow. Kind of like SETI. I don't know if you guys saw SETI. He had a briefcase. He said he wasn't 100%. And I said, OK, do you need to take a little bit of time off? And he was like, no, I'm training. I'm training. Which I love. He's just trying to be tough. He just got a man. It's a balance, right? Being tough and getting through it without becoming more injured. You said Durkin, I think you were talking about before Saturday. He came to you and he passed the test looking fine. Was it a re-inflammation after the game that occurred with him? It happened really early in the game. Like he took a knock and then he hit a ball and he just was like, these two things hurt, you know. And that's, you know, when you have like a inflammation and essentially, you know, a layman's arm, it's a bruise and his knee. And something, you know, inflames that area or pain. You know, that's what just we're dealing with. He can't hurt himself technically more. But I mean, a bone bruise on your knee is really painful and can prevent you from being able to do what you normally do, which was the case. So it was the same thing. I'll take 20 minutes of Durkin any day, right? Hackworth was very pointed about playing SKC this weekend. Said he does allow himself to get a little bit amped about playing SKC, joked about throwing down the gauntlet against Peter Vermes and really reinforced that this is a chance to put their best foot forward against a rival, making it challenging and see if they can start putting together complete performances. But he did note that Darby's are never a perfect game. They're more, as John Hackworth says, of a fight and they've had two good games and they have to make sure they have a third against SKC. Hackworth also had some interesting comments regarding cities attack now and their growth over the past few games. >> I'm happy with it, but then I'm also frustrated that we can't, like we missed so many counter attacking moments in the second half. We missed a really good one in the 16th minute. Nukely tried a back heel flick when all he has to do is connect a forward pass to one of three guys. That's an area that we have to get better at. And if we do, then our attack starts to produce the third goal and the fourth goal. And now we're not defending for our lives in moments. We're literally dictating the game and that's what I want. We're not there yet, you know, so we're not. But I do like our attack, you know, to a detriment. Like, it's a 90 plus minute and we have shallow and steady and Simon, you know, and Ini, they're all flying forward. And I'm like, I'll take two of you. Two of you, other guys, stay back here. We haven't done it yet, but, you know, I'm not pulling back on the reins, if you will. I'm making sure that we're staying aggressive and trying to get the idea that we want to be the team that takes the initiative and whether that's in the 90 plus minute or the ninth minute. That's kind of our mentality. And finally on this episode of Fliver Footy, I had a chance to chat one on one with Indiana Vasilev to discuss a myriad of topics. So we'll finish this episode with that. Thank you for joining me on this rivalry edition of our midweek pod. And we'll be back quickly with a full preview of SKC streaming this Thursday on YouTube and out to pods Friday morning. I appreciate you listening. I'm Matt Baker. This is Fliver Footy. And now my interview with City midfielder, Indiana Vasilev. Indiana Vasilev, thanks for joining us here on Fliver Footy. Coming off a win. How are you feeling? It's the first time we've won away this year. So it's definitely a different feeling. Feels nice on the way back when you won a game, which we experienced a lot last year. And this year, it took the third to last away game to win, which obviously isn't good enough. Hasn't been good enough all year. But is it like an exhale afterwards, a happy flight type of thing? Yeah, it's a double-edged sword. We're happy that we finally won away from home. But at the same time, you have to look back at the rest of the season and say we haven't won away from home. That's not good enough. That's not going to get you anywhere in this league. I don't know the statistics, but I can guarantee you that teams that are successful in this league get results away from home. And it's pretty obvious. You can't just win. I mean, you could win out at home. But let's be honest, realistically, I'm not sure any teams ever done that in this league. How do you manage the fun with all of that? You're one of the more, I would say, joyful guys on the team. So this, not just the whole season stretch, but managing that double-edged sword. How is that for you? Yeah, I mean, it's all about being too high on the highs and not being too low on the lows. So yes, we could be very happy and excited about our win. But at the same time, you know, there are negatives that come with it. And that was also the same last year. Last year, we were so successful, but we weren't flying on that high too much because, obviously, after a loss, you don't want to come crashing on earth and have like a slide of bad games. So it's about balancing that momentum and, you know, that comes down to the players in the locker room and the staff. The players in the locker room have changed quite a bit. So now we're about a month, I think two months maybe, post transfer window. What's the locker room like now, not just personnel, but what's the vibe like? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely different. A lot of changeover, I mean, not a lot of changeover of staff, but changeover of staff and changeover of players. It's always going to be always going to create a new environment. And you always want that environment to stay competitive, healthy and happy. And having those three things along in harmony is what I think, you know, leads a successful team and that's not always easy to do. Actually, transfer window, I feel like we have done a good job at trying to harmonize those three things. And I think we've only lost once, actually, right? We've actually only lost once. Yeah, since that transfer window, is it? No, it's two, isn't it? Or is it one? It's two. It's Minnesota and a couple of Americans. Oh, a couple of Americans. If we count that. But yeah, I mean, I think we've done a good job at managing that. It's kind of just kind of trying to finish a season on a good note. And yeah, that's kind of what our focus is. So you mentioned right after Bradley Carnell as that transfer window was opening just the frustration difficulty. First time you have dealt with coaching change. You've lost some friends that have gone out, but I'm sure you've gained some new ones. How has that been for you personally dealing with this? Yeah, it's not easy. That's why you never make friends when you've been in this business. Yeah, it's been tough, fine. I think it's known to all that Tim was my, I was very close with Tim. He was very close with a lot of people. He was close to the city. So, I mean, it's been tough. Yeah, it's been tough. It hasn't been easy, but that's the business of the game, you know? I think I saw you went after dinner with him in New England. Yeah, so after Boston, I was able to stay for a couple of days and that was fantastic. You just showed me around Boston and we had a good old time. It was the first NFL Sunday, so we had a good old time. We were staying by Fenway while watching some football. It was good, it was good, it was obviously a fantastic time, like a nice little two-day mini vacation. Nice to have those moments. Yeah, of course, of course. And then it was a back to reality, back to the season, back to focusing. I think the team's in a very good job about this year. Well, reality back on the field, not just been a different vibe with the new players, but your role, how have you dealt with the incoming players, the new competition in the past few games? Yeah, it's been good. It's been tough. I always want to be there out there for every single minute. And in training, I'm trying my hardest. I'm trying to push myself. I'm trying to still be effective. Yeah, it's tough, you know? It's tough to make a... I mean, it's not tough to make an impact off the bench, but at the same time it is, you know? And I'm trying to come on with this with the same mentality when I start, when I don't start to try to affect the game positively. Some games are tougher than others, and obviously the role is different. Is there more pressure coming out in the second half? I don't think so. Knowing you only have 20, 30 minutes? I don't think so. I think it sucks that it's less time for me to try and create and do something. But obviously the state of the game matters too. I think I've ran with the ball from close to hour 18 to their 18, and I really wanted to attack. I ended up playing Simon in the corner because it's just the state of the game. So that does, you know, also affect what's going on. But yeah, I mean, it's been different. I'm trying to grasp it. I'm still trying to, you know, fight. I still think I can start this team and affect it positively. So yeah, I'm just trying to keep a good head of my shoulders, which is easy. Thanks to my mom and dad. Shout out to them. When you're on the field with these new players, is there anything that you're doing differently with the other teammates, or is it more just playing within yourself? Not really. I don't really want to -- I don't think anybody changes to play given who they're playing with. I think you always just try to play to your own standard you set for yourself. And it goes on to training. If you train hard and you work hard, you know, that's the kind of the level that you fall down to, so to speak. And yeah, I think if you train hard and work hard, I think it's going to show on the pitch. I don't think it's going to change, you know. In my opinion, I don't need to change based off personnel. I feel you're one of the players, looking at exporting Casey coming up. You might be the player who sparked a lot of the rivalry last season, saying that if the fans don't like us, Casey, we don't like us, Casey. How's the vibe going into this weekend, and is there still that need to get up for this team in particular? Yeah, I think they're still fighting for playoffs, so they're definitely going to be up for it. And I think we're always going to be up for that game. We're expecting a very big home crowd, a lot of energy, a lot of heightened emotion, a lot of passion, so we're excited. Any individual rivalries you're looking forward to playing with the other team, individual players you're looking to go up against? Not really. You know, in all honesty, they've got a lot of quality players. They've got a lot of good guys on that team, too. If you get to know them, I know I'm not supposed to say that. I know it's supposed to be a big rivalry, and it is, but... You want to play the best if you're going to produce. But on a human level, they've got a lot of good guys on that team. Having said that, you know, I feel like neither side will have issues just going through each other during the game. But aside from that, they've got a lot of good guys, a lot of quality, and we're looking forward to a good game. Last question. How does it feel being the AFC ambassador for saying that? I guess so. Yeah, I guess that's what I am. I guess two years in a row, people like it, I think, so... I don't think it's going away any time soon. We'll see, we'll see. Is it fun getting to reveal the cards, everybody? Oh, yeah, it's fun. It's fun getting the players a little bit of crap for their ratings. Are you an EFC player yourself? Not so much. Not so much. I don't really play too many video games, if I'm being honest. My best friend, my best friend, Jaden, he plays a little bit of NCAA college football, so I try and hop on that every now and again. But aside from that, I'm not too much of a big player, kind of just like giving the players some crap, which I haven't been able to do this year because my rating went down plus two, so... Oh, man. Yeah, so that's devastating. Rough bash. Well, Andy, thanks for your time today. Appreciate it, man. Have a good one. Thanks, you too. [Music] Bingo. All right, Phil, we're recording now, so it's live. Go ahead, pick on me the way that you want to. Did I say that? I would say that to my son, man. I mean, come on, man. Just go. This isn't CBS. All right, be quiet for a few seconds. Why would people want to listen to the Sims Complete Podcast? Well, a couple of things. One, if you'd like to see sons pick on their father, this might be the place. If you want to see a place where the father just kicks the **** out of his son, this will be the place. What do you like about it, Matt? Ditto. Father, son, dynamic duo, talking about the game of football that we love and share and appreciate together. And, you know, hey, it's an extension of what we did, right, growing up. I was able to watch my father play football, then obviously watch him as a broadcaster, and then he taught me the game of football and share the wisdom that he learned throughout his playing career. And, you know, hey, sometimes we're full of it, and sometimes we actually know a thing or two. Well, we do do a lot of research. At least I do. You're a little spotty, but, you know, you hang in there. It's fun. I love doing this, and it's been awesome. Sims Complete, check us out. Wherever your podcasts are available on the Believe Network. Appreciate it. See you. If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening. (crowd cheering) You
