Halford & Brough in the Morning - The Rebuild Will Be A Slow Process

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports, they discuss yesterday's Canucks home loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning (3:00), plus they preview tomorrow's Whitecaps matchup versus San Jose with Apple TV MLS host Kevin Egan (25:46). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

You're listening to Halford and Brough. The Tampa Bay Lightning come into Rogers Arena. Score six, led by Nikita Kucharov, who had three points on the night, and beat the Knox by a final score of six to two. It was competitive. And Springer drives the ball, right field in deep. Fernandez turning at the fence. It's a grand slam.

Ladies and gentlemen. The week. Good morning, Vancouver, 601 on a Friday. Happy Friday, everybody. Sweet, sweet Friday. It is Halford, it is Brough. It is SportsNet 650. We are coming you live from the Kintech Studios

and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver. Jason, good morning. Good morning. Good morning to you. Ladi, good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Alfred and Bruff of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt?

If you do, Sands and Associates can cut your debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. This is them today at Sands. That's trust. We are in Hour 1 of the program. Hour 1 is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle you get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver.

We're coming to you live from the Kintech Studios. Steps strong with orthotics and footwear from Kintech. Time now for our morning guest list. It's the Duick Morning Drive brought to you by the Duick Auto Group. It begins at 630 this morning. Kevin Egan, host of MLS on Apple TV and a good Irishman on this, St. Patrick's Week, not day, is going to join us on a Halford and Brough show.

Caps are back in action this weekend. It's a Saturday. Late night starts 7.30 against San Jose. I also have to ask Kevin, what is this MLS sprint season that they're going to do next year? It's like a truncated version of a real season, but they're going to cram it into like a couple weeks at the beginning of January and February.

And this is because why? They want to get their schedule on track with the rest of the major leagues across the world. They're no longer going to be a summer league. They're going to be a traditional fall to spring league. But they don't want to lose a season. That's right. They don't want to lose that precious revenue, Jason. So they're going to do a tiny little season at the start of 2027.

Just a tiny little one. I hope we hear something like the White Caps will play in Detroit after the sprint season. Yeah, right. That's what we're hoping for. Maybe the sprint season. season won't be the last, but we'll find out with Kevin Egan at 6.30 this morning. 7 o'clock AJ from AJ's Pizza on East Broadway. A reminder, we're giving away a $100 gift card to AJ's the best pizza place in the world.

For the best, Ask Us Anything today, it is Ask Us Anything Friday. And I'll tell you this. You, the listeners, are going to be in tough to beat Jason Brough in the Ask Us Anything game because he was grinding last night. He was up way late putting together all kinds of great Ask Us Anything content. However, if you're able to best him, you will win a $100 gift card to AJ's for the best ask us anything. 705, Ben Jacobs is going to join the program, senior football correspondent from Give Me Sport,

two soccer's in one day? Two soccer's? Unbelievable. He sat down with Canadian manager Jesse Marsh recently in which Jesse Marsh unveiled a whole bunch of stuff that nobody knew, including the fact that he says he was guaranteed the U.S. men's national job. and then he actually turned down a job in England because he thought he was getting it, only to learn that he wasn't getting the U.S. men's national job.

Then he landed in Canada where he's very happy right now. He also says... And then he put a giant chip on his shoulder. Yeah, like the size of America. And then he also told Ben that despite having never won a game at the World Cup and never having drawn a game at the World Cup and never getting a single point from any match at the World Cup, Marsh thinks they're going to win the group,

thinks they can win their group at the upcoming World Cup. So lots to get into there is Ben Jacobs at 705. 8 o'clock Rick Dollywall is going to join the program. Intrepid Canucks reporter from Donnie and Dolly on Czech TV. We are going to talk about last night's game and all of its glory. The draft lottery, which is reportedly going to happen on May 5th. And better culture in the Connect's dressing room, according to Rick Dollywall. And finally, Curtis Douglas, who did not get to exact his revenge against the Tampa Bay Lightning last night.

You're not supposed to go through all of them. You're just supposed to pick out like one or two of them. I did not know there were rules. I made the rules. I made the rules. Just like just right now. This is a very moment. Take back what I said about Curtis Douglas.

Maybe we won't talk about him. And I wonder if they let him go and get a tough guy on July 1st who can play ever game. That meant to be every game, but Rick spelled it wrong. A reminder, finally, it is Ask us something Friday. And the last day as well for Monster Jam tickets. Monster Jam. We're giving away a four pack of tickets. to see the jam at the Pacific Coliseum

on Saturday, March 28th at 7 p.m. Caller number 5 at 8 this morning, so right before Rick Dollywall, 604, 2800, 650. Last day this week, you'll never be able to get your hands on Monster Jam tickets again. 8 o'clock this morning,

caller number 5. Except on the secondary market, but you're going to pay a lot to get inside that Colosseum. Or the initial market, or just hanging around. You know how much it cost to see Trachosaurus? I don't.

It ain't cheap. I don't know, actually. And Trekkasaurus, I don't think is on the North American tour He is. No, he's being replaced by classroom crusher. Which I find a questionable name. Yeah.

Yeah. What are the kids like? I hate school. No. Down with homework. Down with homework. All right. We got a lot to get into on the program.

Without further ado, Laddie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened? Missed that?

You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.ca. It was a big night for Nikita Kucheroff and Anthony Sorrelli. Each had three points as the Tampa Bay Lightning powered past the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Rogers Arena on Thursday night. It was a tale of two teams at two very different ends of the spectrum, Jason. Yeah, I really don't have much to say about the game just because this is what the Canucks are, and that was what the Tampa Bay Lightning are.

The Canucks were pretty badly outclass last night by a far superior opponent. It was 4-0 for Tampa Bay, less than halfway through the game, and that was with an incredible save by Kevin Lankinen off of Brandon Hagel. Yes, it could have been worse last night. the lightning did get a few bounces here and there and we're lucky to tip some shots, but they were just, they had the puck all night. They were fully in control of the game. And, you know, I think if there's any good news for the Canucks,

it's based on production at least, Marco Rossi is playing like a top line center in the last four games. He has nine points. That's an amazing run, considering the bar that's been, set this season by the Vancouver Canucks, nine points in four games. The bro line was pinned in their end for a lot of that game. And if you look at the analytics, they didn't have a good

night. But, you know, Marco Rossi continues to produce. And by the way, I asked, I texted Brendan Batchelor last night during the game. And I asked, like, how do you list the lines? Like, how does, you know, why is Rossi's line the second line, despite the fact that they're playing, you know, in terms of production, at least better than any line that the Canucks have? And I was like, I should know this. And he was like, probably. But he said that he lists them based on the order they go in at practice. So it's like the drills that they take. Who goes first in the drills? And apparently Pedy's line still always goes first. And I was thinking it would be funny if Adam Foot like blew his whistle and was like, uh, uh, uh, Pedy. No, no, no, no.

It's, it's, it's, it's Marco's line goes first and you guys are the number one line now. It's like when, uh, you know, in the Simpsons hockey episode, when Homer let Lisa right up front instead of Bart. Yeah, Bart initially gets it because he's a good guy at sports. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lisa becomes better at sports. Yeah, yeah. I can see the correlation here. Yeah. I think it should do that. I think that would be pretty good. You know what? Nothing much else to, honestly,

nothing to report from that game. I think that was the type of game. I mean, listen, we're all, we're all, you know, I see the narratives as like, they made progress against Florida. And then, you know, they took a step back against Tampa. I'm not really going to look at it like that. I think they've just started their rebuild.

They beat a Florida team. They played fine. Florida is they don't have their heads in the game right now. They're missing so many guys. And if they were going to be focused on any game on this road trip, it wasn't the Vancouver game. It was the game they played last night in Emmington where they beat the Oilers. And we'll talk about that later.

You know, it's just they are what they are right now. They are a young team that is learning, yes, but they are also just bereft of any game-breaking talent. And that includes Mark Orozzi, who's on a run, who's on a nice run. But he's not a game-breaking talent. They don't, he's not Kuturov. Like what Kuturov is doing is just incredible. And last night, he almost did it effortlessly.

Yep. And, you know, you did touch on something kind of interesting that we're going to have to monitor moving forward. And it's how do you discuss and analyze and break down the rebuild? Because this is, this is unique. this is uncharted territory for everybody involved. The organization, the players, the media, the fans. No one's gone through.

Can you even do it? No one's gone through this before. I mean, I kind of... It's such a slow process. Exactly. That's a good point, Adela. I zoom out, right? Because if they have a good game, you can see, they're making progress.

Well, okay, but are they going to make it, keep making progress? And then at the end of the season, what are they a Stanley Cup contender? No, they're still the same roster, right? You see, zoom out or Z? zone out. Zoom out. Zoom out. A little bit of zone.

But also zoom out. Like you're not, the young guys have to improve. And I think that's what you monitor for sure. But the young guys will also improve more when the team is improved and they've got better players to play with. See, now here's the thing. As I take you behind the curtain here at SportsNet 650, I don't know if you guys in listener land are aware of this or not, but we have a lot.

underline a lot of dedicated content towards the local hockey squadron, specifically the game-to-game stuff. We have hours of programming baked in around the individual games. So, for example, and I don't mean to throw IMAQ under the bus here, and hopefully I'm not doing it, but he's got an article up on sportsnet.com. I right now saying, Canucks take step back after small progress,

and it's important to learn from it. I would vehemently push back on this notion that they took a step forward against Florida and they took a step back against Tampa Bay. Me too. Because I don't think it works like that. I think with this collection of players, so many of them, let's be honest,

are not going to matter one iota when this thing is at the finish line, right? Like there are some guys right now that are going to be distant memories when this thing is to the point where we really start getting invested in games again. We have not locally ever gone into a season where the games don't matter.

This organization has always, always put the dangling carrot of competitiveness. And if it's not the playoffs, the catchphrase always used to be meaningful games in March, right? We don't get that anymore. It is interesting to think about it that way, though, because if you do think about it that way, is there anyone out there

that thinks that the Canucks are going to be a state, Stanley Cup contender with Marco Rossi and Elias Pedersen as the top two centers. The bro line leading the way to the No, no, no, no, but let's just talk about the center. No, no, no, no, no, okay. So what do you, what do you do then with that? Like, even and so if management, is

management is sitting there and going like, I mean, maybe they think they can turn the team around with Pedersen and Rossi as the top two centers, but if you don't think that way, then then what's your game plan going forward? I mean, Rossi's signed for a couple more years at a cap hit of $5 million. Is that a guy you want to take all the way to the end of that contract?

So he's in that position where he's got one year left on his contract. And let's say his production is pretty good. And then he's like, yeah, I'm going to need to get paid because now I've got one year left before unrestricted free agency or wherever he's at. And then unrestricted free agent years are like the kind of I've learned this so many times because they end up getting those guys. And they're like, okay, you got to pay me now. Yep.

Right? So what do you? So I'm not, I'm not sitting here saying like trade Marco Rossi right away. But if you are long term thinking, you need to take that sort of stuff into account. Because sometimes, like Marco Rossi right now at $5 million, what a bargain. Amazing. That's great. If you got to pay them, less of a bargain.

Absolutely. And also, you always, always, always. have to ask yourself the question, if I sign this guy long term to a deal, can I win a Stanley Cup with him? Sure. And a guy like Rossi, I think you could say that in a less prominent role,

I don't want to say depth, but less prominent role, he could probably be a viable contributor. What he needs to do is prove that despite, you know, the tire fire burning around him, that he can still produce and play a pretty high level. And I will say this,

if you want a glass half full approach this morning, with what he's done over the last nine games. So since the calendar flipped to March, he's got four goals, eight points, four goals, eight assists, 12 points in nine games.

I would say that of all the guys on the team, he's shown more than anybody in a season where there's not a lot to play for. Oftentimes you don't have the most robust line mates. Your team doesn't produce very well, and you lose more often than not. There's a guy that's going out, in producing at a pretty impressive

clip. Now here's the thing. He does have some good line mates right now in terms of chemistry. He's still quite young as well. I mean, he lines up perfectly with the rebuild in terms of like, right, right, but is he going to be a 2C this is not something but you don't know, but I don't know, but I don't know.

On a good team, he'd still be a 2 or a 3C. Like on a cup contending team, probably a 3C because the Minnesota Wilde deemed that he wouldn't be. And he got to, I think that's their area. And he got to the playoffs last year, he's not a big guy. No, he's undersized. He's not a big guy.

You get to the playoffs and then you're like, oh. I still think he'd be a contributing player on a playoff. Where? Probably 3C on a good team. 3C is sometimes a different type of player, though. Okay, but that's so far down the road. But I think it's important to lay it out. I think it's important to lay it out that way.

I think what's important right now, and it might sound too simplistic, but when you find players that are able to rise above and produce and play well in what's supposed to be a downtime for the organization, you take that as a net positive because you can either sign that player or you can move him for assets. There's a least value in it.

That's the end of the game, end of the story. Every guy that comes in right now, every guy that comes in right now should be looked as such. Hey. But the problem is that sometimes the way the Canucks operate is like, he's producing, he needs a new contract,

let's get him one. Yeah, like if Martin Horace finishes on a heater and ends up being, I don't know, the 1.5 point per game guy over the final 20 games of the season, you know there's going to be calls for,

they need to lock this guy up as soon as they can. Well, the good thing is they can't sign him to any sort of contract because he's got two years left after this one. So, but, but, but you just, I really want,

I really want the underwriting, like, question to be, can we, if we're going to sign someone long term, can we win a cup with this guy, especially at a key position like center. Yeah.

And I, you know, this organization has been fooled by small sample sizes before. It's been fooled by late season pushes before. And I just think that entering into this brave, bold new world of the rebuild, we are not going to be able to do business the way that we've always done it, which is look at individual game by game results and say, this is a step forward and this is a step back.

or look at a week in which you win three or four and then a week in which you lose all four and say that these are ups and downs. It's all down until you reach a point where you consider the rebuild to be over and you're ready to step on the gas. And that is the most crucial part of this whole thing. Everything that precedes it is about building up to that point.

There's no slow burn or slow climb. There absolutely needs to be patience, but patience comes in acquiring assets, not looking at what you have in 26, what is it, March 20th, and trying to decide right now if that's going to be a major play apart four or five years down the road.

Certainly not looking at a game to game basis. You can maybe say, wow, in the last 10 or 20 games, you know, Zeve Bouem has really started to play better. That's something that you can latch on to. So you're not just doing it on a game by game basis because this isn't,

the Canucks aren't, you know, during the regular season for most teams that want to make the playoffs, you're looking, you are looking at how the team is progressing and how they're doing because you want them locked and loaded for the playoffs. This is a very different process. This is a four or five year process where, you know, on a game-to-game basis, it doesn't really matter. You want to take a look at much larger sample sizes for individual. players. Now there are teams in this league who are looking at things on a game to game basis very

closely and some of them not too pleased with the results, including last night, the Edmonton Oilers. And we're going to start our NHL rundown there because the Edmonton Oilers suffered a four-nothing defeat in their first and only rematch of the year against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. The same Panthers team, I'll remind you, which knocked Edmonton out of the Stanley Cup final each of the last two years. Now, the interesting thing here wasn't so much the 4-0 score line. It's what the head coach, Chris Knoblock, had to say in the aftermath. I'm going to yell at you to pause this after his first answer because I want to take everybody through what happened last night and why Knoblock was under such fire. Naubleck opened his

presser by talking about his team's effort level in a home 4-0 shutout loss to the team that ended their season two years in a row. Here's what Chris Knoblock had to say. just want to start off by getting your overall thoughts on how the game went. The guys worked really hard, and I thought the effort was there, and we just couldn't find a way to score a goal. Okay, stop it right there. After this, there's this long, kind of uncomfortable pause where I think all of the media members listened to what he just said,

and he was like, he thought he was okay. No way, he said he was okay with the effort level after a 4-0-0 lost to the Florida Panthers at home. Is it Mark Spector time now? No. Oh. It's Ryan Rashog time as a matter of, man. And kudos on Rashog.

Listen to his question. See if you can get what he's getting at here. Maybe a little more out of the coach after a flat performance against the team that ended your season two years in a row. Here's how the rest of the media availability went. The effort was there and we just couldn't find a way to score goal. So we asked you earlier today about this game and if it was, was, you know, any more to it given it was the Florida Panthers, right? And you were very focused

on the standings. But, like, should this game have been about a little more than that? And did you, like, did you feel the pride kick in from your players that's required? Like, it's 4-0 on a night, you know, a team that came in here that doesn't have much to play for, that should mean a lot for you guys. Yeah, I don't know, I don't see it that they didn't show up and play tonight. We came out strong. We, first 10 minutes, I thought we were, had the majority of the play. We had one shift there. We're a couple of opportunities to score. Puck gets popped out.

They get a breakaway goal. And after that, I think we were flat. Probably if we were flat, it was for the last 10 minutes of the third period. After they scored their first goal up until the end of the first period, that's probably part of the game I didn't like. overall, you know, I would maybe criticize us, maybe not shooting the puck enough. You know, I thought, yeah, I thought the effort was there. It just, we couldn't find a goal.

And I think a lot of it had to do with us not shooting enough. So he wasn't biting. And Speck asked his personal favorite, Darnel Nurse, a similar line of question after the game about, you know, energy and intensity and this being a big game for you guys. And Nurse also kind of said, hey, we try and bring it every night. and we like our effort and sometimes it just doesn't work out. So there's this dynamic at play where the media is just begging for someone to get angry and upset with how this season is gone. And none of the Oilers will take the bait either because they don't want to give reporters and they talk about a headline, as Petey would say.

Or they genuinely believe that the effort's okay and the results just aren't there. I watched the game last night. But certainly watched the first period. I mean the effort If the effort was there Then the Oilers are in trouble Right Is that not a very obvious thing to say

And I know they're missing I know they're missing dry saddle And that's huge And you know Hopefully for their sake He's back and ready to go for the playoffs But You know I've maintained all season

That the Oilers are Not particularly close to as good as they were Two years ago Or last year Like this is this is a It's a thin team Defensively they got issues.

At least they saw their goaltending. And I honestly, yeah, right? I mean, the goaltending is a problem. And frankly, you know, the Chris Knoblock, who came in and was the hero a couple of years ago, well, welcome to coaching in the NHL, right? I don't know if the message is starting to fall flat,

but I do know that the fan base is turning on him. Okay, we're going to go to break. When we come back, we're going to dive into a little MLS Vancouver Whitecaps talk with Kevin Egan. After that, we'll get back into the rest to the NHL stories from last night. That'll cap off the final part of the first hour

of the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650. It's Canucks Central on SportsNet 650. From exclusive interviews to insider scoops and post-game breakdowns, we've got it all. Tune in weekdays 4 to 6 p.m. on radio and on demand through your favorite podcast app. A Friday, Fiesta Friday here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Halford and Brough of the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Do you have payday loan debt? Well, if you do, Sands and Associates could cut that debt by up to 80% with no upfront fees. Visit them today at sands dash trustee.com. There's still an hour one of the program, the midway point of hour one. Kevin Egan from MLS's Apple TV coverage, host on MLS Apple 360 or MLS 360 on Apple TV. It's going to join us in just a moment here.

Hour one is brought to you by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycline, They recycle you get paid. Visit the Middle of 1770 Powell Street in Vancouver. To the ABLE Auctions hotline we go, as mentioned, our next guest, the host of MLS on Apple TV, Kevin Egan, here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. Morning, Kevin, how are you?

Good morning, yeah, wonderful, thanks. How are you keeping? We are well, and if I'm not mistaken, the last time we had you on the program was ahead of the Vancouver Whitecaps Toronto FC match that you were working. And I said, to make this rivalry better, Toronto FC, should mix in a win every now and again. They did not. They lost 3-0. Since then, the caps have also

beaten the Portland Timbers 4-1, and Minnesota United, a match I was at last weekend, 6-0. Between what you saw from working that Toronto match and the weeks after, what have you made of this start to the white cap season, Kevin? Yeah, well, first of all, I referenced you guys

on MLS 360, and we had some tweets rolling through afterwards with, you know, thinking it was some shade, but the reality is you're spot on. dominance has been there for all to see with the Canadian rivalries in favour of Vancouver, but also in Cascadia as well, and certainly when it comes to the Portland Timbers. Not so much in Comcaf Champions Cup play. Obviously, Seattle disposing of Vancouver in relatively easy fashion, you know, on the scoreline,

not necessarily on the pitch when Vancouver did cause problems for Seattle, but well played to the Sounders. But I think for Vancouver right now, the season has been so positive. Yes, for Saranson, will be focused on just not letting that fixture against Seattle derailed the momentum in any way. Because I think there's just too many positives, the performances of many. And I could go through so many players,

but young players like Aze Jackson coming in, brand new at the club, has been tremendous. You know, and obviously Thomas Mueller, Brian White, scoring goals. There's too many positives right now to focus on Seattle. So now it's about MLS Cup, I think. It's about really focusing on what you can do in the league and how to keep this momentum going.

Yeah, well, I mean, we talked about Concaf Cup, and we said, you know, it might be, might be, that they're not all that disappointed about bowing out of that competition because they've got so many other things going on. They're still in the Canadian Club Championship. They're going to be in MLS League's Cup later on. And of course, there's the MLS regular season campaign and everything that that means to them.

Right now, you couldn't ask for a better start to the season. They're plus 13 goal differential. They're 4-0 through their first four matches. The question for you, though, Kevin, if you had to power rank, the top team singular in MLS right now, would it be Vancouver, or would it be LAAFC who are almost equally impressive having not conceded a goal yet and also 4-0 through four matches? I think it's probably, ah, it's tough.

It's 1A and 1B, and I don't know who to pick. To be honest, I was left with doubt over LASC after they just about squeezed past Al-Holense in the Conccapped Championship Cup, but then against Seattle also did away with Vancouver Whitecaps pretty comfortably on the score sheet. So it's a difficult one to say, Seattle, excuse me, LACF, The L. AFC defensively with Porteous and Tafari have been excellent this season. Like that's an area of the team that we don't talk about because of some young men, Denny Buonga. Young Davy Martinez has been sensational for them.

So it's an area we don't really discuss. I think Estacchio and midfield has been really good, the Canadian international for LASC. So LAAFC might very well pit Vancouver right now, but if they do, it's by next to nothing, because Vancouver have been almost flawless in Major League Soccer play. Just the enthusiasm that these players are. have to attack. It's just a joy to behold right now under Ypres Sorensen. And I was curious. You know, we saw in 2023 St. Louis come in under Bradley Carnell win the Western Conference and then completely fall off a cliff in 2024. And I was really curious what we'd see from Yester Sorensen

after an MLS Cup heartbreak when the Vancouver Whitecaps played so well in Miami. I was curious to see how to start this year. But they've been brilliant. They've been so, so impressive. And now you've got players that are going to go shine on the world stage like Kubas and Burrhalter at the World Cup. I'm sure all Vancouver fans are just living in the moment and embracing the moment because it's been such a positive start again. Well, it's been how dynamic they've been offensively. Jason and I had a friend who was also at the Minnesota match last Sunday, and he said he's been to a handful of White Caps matches before,

and he didn't think he ever saw them score a goal. But then they made up for it by putting it six against Minnesota. And if you look at it right now, having a plus 13 goal differential with 14 scored and one conceded through four matches is pretty impressive. set up this weekend's challenge right now because it's a San Jose club that's gotten off to a good start as well they're fourth in the table,

they're 3-0-1, they've got the nine points through the four matches, set this one up for the listeners and the viewers, it's a 7.30 start from BC Place, whitecaps in San Jose. You know, this weekend I set on a production call for MLS 360 that

this really is the test for certain teams are you a pretender or a contender. And I'm talking about Ray Alsalt Lake, I'm talking about the Red Bulls, with young talents for both of those teams. And I'm also talking about San Jose. So San Jose, while they've been really impressive to start the year, obviously they were taken down in their last game at home

against that plucky little founders team that we often bring up on this show. But San Jose otherwise would have been very good. They went to Philly and won the game at Philly, which not many teams do. However, I still think that they're outperforming what they are so far this season. And I'm curious to see how they show up at B.C. place. This is the ultimate test for them.

If you can hang with Vancouver at BC place, you can hang on anybody. And that's the goal for Bruce Arena is probably to remain defensively solid. I think Mooney at the back has been excellent for them this season. Daniel's been better in goal. They've got a team full of, I would say aside from Tim O'Verner, their names that fans who are casual viewers at the league are going to look at and say, who are these guys? The young Superdraft picks that Bruce Arena has somehow churned into high-performing

major league soccer players. And that's what he does as a coach. He goes in there with no fanfare, and he's gotten rid of Christian Espinoza, Joseph Martinez, Chico O'Rango, and he's playing the super draft pick Preston Judd up front with players alongside him that wouldn't get into the Vancouver team at all. And yet he's getting results with this group, with Shakuris now playing as the 10. This is a decent team and a young team that believe in themselves. But that belief could be quickly crushed by Thomas Muller and the White Caps, if the White Caps are on form this weekend. We're speaking to Kevin Egan, Apple TV MLS host here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

Kevin, I did want to ask you about MLS sprint season, which was announced yesterday, and that's going to be a truncated season at the start of 2027, which will allow them to wrap things up early and then start fresh in the fall to follow the major European leagues who go from a fall to spring schedule. What is this going to look like? Because I have a hard time trying to imagine what a short, early year. season is going to look like, how it's going to play out, what the ramifications are going to be. What do you know based on your understandings of what MLS announced yesterday? Yeah, I think it's fairly simple in the sense that there's 14 games, 14 regular season games,

seven home, seven away. So a sprint to get to the playoffs basically in May. And then after that, you know, you could be crowned MLS champion after a shorter season. But I think it's imperative. The bigger picture here is the change of the calendar. And there's some fans that won't like it, maybe in certain climates, ultimately, this is going to put Major League Soccer on a different platform when competing for players.

When we have players, like let's say, for example, Minnesota last year, there's lots of examples of this over the years. Minnesota, via Real come along from La Liga and they have a big time interest

in Tanyolo O'Shea, Canadian international. They take Taniolo O'Shea, they pay good money for him, and off he goes. Minnesota don't have the time or the window to replace him. And it's happened so often

where Major League Soccer is at a disadvantage given the schedule, So to be on the same schedule as the major leagues around the world puts MLS in a much better light in terms of recruitment. And in terms of selling players, selling young, talented players, maybe to top clubs. I just think we're going to see the real benefits of that down the line. And the sprint season, honestly, should be quite fun. Then we head into a shorter summer break before we launch the season, I think in later July of 2027.

By the way, before I let you go, I got to say, like, you talk about the opportunity for bigger transfers and more big-name players coming. Minnesota in that 6-0-0-drubing that they took at the hands of Vancouver in Vancouver. They brought on Hymas Rodriguez at late into the second half like kind of a tough way to make your debut

for a guy that has that story to career. I will say this, I had no idea that we had such a large Colombian contingent in Vancouver. Every time he got off the bench to stretch, people were like yelling and screaming

their heads off. Like you understand. Is he exciting when he stretches? You know what? When you're stretching, gets the crowd going? When you're stretching to come into a 5-0 game, you're not that enthused.

I've seen guys do it before. Like, I've got to go into this. But he acknowledged that there was a big crowd there, and they wanted to see an iconic player from Columbia getting into the match. And I thought it was very symbolic for MLS. On the same pitch, even though it was such a one-sided match, you had Rodriguez and Mueller,

and it really gave you an idea of where MLS is at in terms of acquiring those big international transfers. You know, on this, I think you've up a great point. And this, the first ever time we've seen two golden boot winners from the World Cup face each other in Major League Soccer. Hamas is a guy with 47 million

Instagram followers, for example, right? So instantly he's, I think he'd be I think we talked about this the last time I was on the show, just that the influx of these huge global blockbuster names that have massive followings. Like Thomas Mueller is 15 million. I'm just talking Instagram alone and people are probably in their cars right now

rolling their eyes saying, why is he talking about Instagram? But ultimately the eyeballs matter, right? and these people have huge influence around the world. Hamas Rodriguez is a mega star in South America, a megastar over in Europe. So to have him at Minnesota of all places, it's the most shocking transfer. Like Thomas Muller to Vancouver, I thought was shocking. But in a great way, culturally, great fit, a brilliant fit on the pitch, just a tremendous leader. Thomas Rodriguez, to a freezing cold Minnesota was just, like this guy was complaining about the cold.

Thomas Mueller said this, that he was complaining about the cold when he's. in Munich. Then he goes to Minnesota, of all teams. So it's just, it's crazy. And I think we're only seeing the beginning. I said at the start of the year that I believe that we're going to have a newcomer of the year in Major League Soccer this year that currently is not even in the league, because I think we're going to see a real influx after the World Cup of players that want to come here and play in Canada, playing in the United States, and be part of Major League Soccer. Speaking of the World Cup, are you nervous for next week? I'm so nervous, guys. My wife, it says I'm a nightmare around the house.

at the moment. I'm constantly checking to make sure that we've got our guys fit and available. Make sure, if anything happens to Troy Parrot, we're in serious trouble because Evan Ferguson is injured as well. So we're in a tough spot. We've to go to Chequette. We're talking about Ireland, by the way, folks. We've to go to Chequette, and then we've to win there in Prague, and then we have Denmark, most likely. Denmark or North Macedonia in Dublin. So I'm tempted to jump home for a few days because the celebration in Dublin, if we get there to the World Cup for the first time since, you know, 2002 would be absolutely phenomenal.

And of course, Canada is going to find out who they play in their first group stage match in Toronto. Is it going to be Italy, Northern Ireland, Wales, or Bosnia and Herzegovina? Do you think Italy's going to find a way here? I don't know,

and that's the honest truth. I don't really trust Italy right now. They've turned a little bit of a corner with Coutisotso, but it's just over the years, I think we've been conditioned by the fact they've let us down. At this stage, they've let down their fans. So this is a really, really difficult path for Italy. I think,

look, I'd love to see the Italians at the World Cup. The World Cup doesn't feel the same when Italy aren't in it. We've had such great moments over the years with Italy, whether it's winning it or just coming close, like in 1994, and my favourite player in the world, the young kid was Roberto Vaggio, I just struggle to think that on the road

against the teams you've mentioned that Italy will get it done. It's going to be fascinating. And a lot of nerves around the world, watching these final few places get played out. But it's going to be a tremendous party all summer long. And I know I'm in Atlanta where we've got eight games. You guys have games as well. I just, for anyone listening, I just advise them.

Embrace us. Dive in. You don't even need to go to the games. Go to the fan fest. Just enjoy the flavor, the fun, the flair of all these different international cultures that are going to come to your city. It's going to be wonderful. You know what?

You mentioned the 2002 World Cup with Ireland being in it. The jog my memory, I wanted to ask you, and this is now just basically a personal conversation. between two buddies. Have you seen this Saipaun yet? The movie the Roy Keene, Mick McCarthy blow-up movie? You know, I'll tell you, again, for anyone that's not aware,

Roy Keene was a player. I think, you know, maybe Manchester United's greatest ever, and certainly Ireland's greatest, I think, that had a bust up with the manager, Mick McCarthy at the 2002 World Cup, and was ultimately sent home. And that story divided Ireland. Like,

50-50. I remember in school, I had a couple of guys that all of a sudden you know, they aligned with me and I was very much for McCarthy at the time, the coach, because I thought you can't Keene wanted to leave, Keene wanted to walk away and I've since seen it a little bit differently as I've gotten older

but I just it just divided us so, I mean for everybody, this movie is actually a touchy subject because it divided families at the time and people struggle in Ireland to see it as just pure entertainment which they show it, it's a movie people are saying, well that actually didn't happen

and this is incorrect and I think I think when I watch it, I need to just sit down and enjoy it as entertainment instead of actually diving back in and what happened. I've heard it's the issue that divides Ireland the most. Yeah. Forget, forget about religion. Forget about the past. Forget about, you know, all the civil war.

Just talk about Roy Keene and Mick McCarthy and that'll get people going. You know, the side pan incident was actually called The Troubles Part 2. Yeah, you know what? Okay, I will say this. I saw it. The scene where there's the final, like it comes to a head and Keene dresses down McCarthy in front of the show. It's Steve Coogan is Mick McCarthy. And I can't remember the name of the actor that plays Roy Keen.

But you can actually hear a pin drop in the background of the set because it was so intense. And the acting is really, really well done, that one particular scene. So for those that haven't listened or seen it, I recommend seeing it. It's a very good film. Anyway, Kevin, we're up against it for time. We've got to let you go. Thank you very much for doing this today. We really appreciate it.

Enjoy all the matches this weekend. We'll touch base again soon. Sounds great, guys. Take care. All the best. Yeah, you too, thanks. That's Kevin Egan. Apple TV, MLS coverage here on the Halford & Brough show on SportsNet 650.

The World Cup is almost always pure drama. Mm-hmm. Like, if you, I've been watching some documentaries on YouTube about the 1990 World Cup. and the English team that went there. And of course, hooliganism at the time was a major problem for England. And actually, England had been banned. The clubs had been banned from going to Europe because of the incident in Brussels, the Heisel incident between Liverpool and Uve.

It was horrible. A lot of people got killed in a stadium crush. And then, so I'm watching. this documentary and England actually made it all the way to the semifinals and their fans were they actually banned England for the group stage to the island of Sardinia. They said, you guys are going to an island and there was battles between the police and the fans there. And then England actually came out of the group and had to go to the mainland and the cops were like, but at any rate, you know, that's one story. Meanwhile, at that same World Cup and this documentary

she didn't cover that, but I've watched another one, and that was Maradona, and after he'd gone to Napoli, Maradona, you know, representing Argentina in Italy, and all these people had kind of mixed feelings about that. And that was, I don't want to say the beginning of the end for Maradonna in Italy, but it might have been, right? Possibly. I mean, every year have these, like, there's so many different storylines going on at the same time, and, there's always, there's always drama. I mean, you think about the World Cup four years before in 1999, 1986, that was one that Canada qualified for.

That was the Maradonna World Cup and the Hand of God and everything. Like, there is going to be so much stuff that happens at this World Cup. And most of it, frankly, is going to happen later in the tournament because I think the group stage is going to be a little so-so. because the quality of... It's going to be watered down. It's going to be watered down, right? Maybe there's going to be one team that gets upset

and doesn't make it out of the group stage and that'll be a big deal because a minnow will get through. The inverse of it, though, is that there's going to be more countries and ethnicities represented and traveling than ever before. So that also makes it a little bit more interesting in terms of the cultural rainbow that we're going to see because someone asked me the other day, they're like, well, how much different?

terms of atmosphere and travel and tourism and energy, is this going to be from the Winter Olympics? I said, you have no idea. Yeah. In the first part, because I'll be dead honest about this, there's a different level of frenzied competition to World Cup than there is about the Olympics. Yes. The sports that you get fired up about at the Olympics, it's a different vibe.

It's more a celebration of the athletes. And there's a lot more individualistic sports at the Olympics. And also, a lot of people don't have as much of their national pride at stake or on the line as they do when their team is playing at the World Cup. That's just a fact. Unless it's the Dutch in speed skating or something like that. Sure. And even then. But they're not like.

Yep. They're not like. And don't get me wrong. There are international feuds that play out at the Olympics. I'm not naive. And I'm not trying to say there's not. It's just when you have a tournament like this with the amount of different countries and cultures and ethnicities that are coming together, all in one mix. zone, it sets the stage for some real passion to come out.

Secondly, you also get parts of the world represented at the World Cup that just, quite frankly, aren't going to be there at the Winter Olympics, right? There's for either, you know, geographic climate, whatever reasons, there's a lot of countries and a lot of, quite frankly, continents that don't participate as enthusiastically in the Winter Olympics as they would in the World Cup. So there's that to consider as well. What it means is kind of what you were alluding to. There's always high-level drama at these tournaments.

and I'm just like so over the moon excited and a little curious to see how it's going to play out from a little apprehensive but you know well there's always the car crash element of it right are we going to see something unbelievable pop off are we going to see one of those type of instance you never know but that's what having this great individual tournament where so many different people are going to congregate at once

go on and it's going to happen here in less than 100 days here's a question for you because this is very this is very very Halford brand. I'm going to ask the guy that wanted the Rams to win so that they could face the Seahawks in the title game. Do you want Italy to make the World Cup and join Canada's group? Yes. Even though it would definitely make it harder for Canada to get out of their group.

Canada might only host this once. To be able to play a country and a federation of that caliber. In Toronto. Toronto with the opportunity to get a result would be fantastic. Because coming up on the other side of the break, we're going to talk a little Jesse Marsh with Ben Jacobs, who of course is a senior football correspondent for Give Me Sport. Jesse Marsh is pretty convinced that if Italy gets through and they play Canada, he's convinced the Canadians can go in there and get a result and top that group, even if Italy is in it.

You know, Jesse March lives in Italy during the season, and he's very familiar with SETIAA and the players that are going to make up that Italian team. He said so in that interview with Ben Jacobs. So we'll talk about that on the other side as well. It's a football Friday here on the Halford & Brough Show on SportsNet 650. We have a lot more to get into. A reminder, there will be some Canucks Talk on the horizon, so don't worry. We've got an open segment at 7.30.

We've also got Rick Dollywall coming up at 8 o'clock this morning. Also at 8 o'clock, we're giving away tickets to the Monster Jam, a four pack of tickets to see Monster Jam at the Pacific Coliseum, Saturday, March 28th. That's not at 7 a.m. That's an 8 a.m. call 604-280-0-650. Also up for grabs today is the $100 gift card to AJ's pizza on East Broadway.

That goes to the best Ask Us Anything. I think what we'll do, Jason, is in the 7.30 hour, that segment there, we'll dive into the Dunbar Lumber text message in basket, read some Ask Us Anythings. We'll also do some of the ones that you prepared as well because you have a few good ones. I want to go back on some of the things that happened in the NHL last night as well because there were some interesting results.

We can do it all. You think Edmonton's got goal-tending problems? Vegas has got goaltending problems. It was a good night for the Pacific Division. 05 and 1 the Pacific Division went yesterday in six games. Pretty impressive. Pretty impressive. Anyway, we got to go to break.

We got a loaded 7 o'clock hour coming up. You're listening to the Halford & Breff Show on Sportsnet, 650.