Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #227: Belated wrap-up of the U20 Revelations Cup

Episode Date: December 3, 2021

Matt Hartman graciously joins again to talk through what we can have possibly learned about the U20s after their three matches against Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. This one's for the diehards.support Scuffed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedjoin the Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU buy our merch: https://my-store-11446477.creator-spring.com/drop us a question at this link and we’ll try to answer it: https://forms.gle/vEatDVE6wsMzekep8 Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Georgia. With me is Greg Velasquez in Iowa. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. The U-20s played Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico's U-20 teams last month and came away with a 4-0 loss, a 1-1 draw, and a 2-1 loss. It was kind of an odd situation for the team because it was their first time together and their coach, Mikey Varas, was named only a couple days before they faced Brazil, obviously a strong U-20 national team. Much of this was going on around the same time as our senior team was playing Mexico and Jamaica, so we didn't get to it as fast as we usually do. But here we are a few weeks later today with Matt Hartman, joining me reluctantly to talk through what we learn from these matches about this age group and its potential future contributions to the men's national team.

Matt, how you doing? I'm doing well, Bells. Let's get into it. All right. Well, I just want to say, on an overarching way, going back and watching these games, in a more sort of clinical way, I found myself sort of encouraged, despite the results.

There was nobody on this team screaming out for a chance with the senior team, but I think it's a credible group of players for this age level. And, you know, I've given up trying to predict who will hit as a big player. It's just very difficult to know. And, you know, these kids are still

nearly two years away from the next U-20 World Cup. So a lot will change. But we can talk about who looks like a potentially good player at this level, at least. And I think there were several. Yeah, there's certainly a number of guys that are good players at this level. I think we knew that going into the tournament rate. And we've never in the 10 years plus that I've been watching our U20 team not had several guys that are good players at the U20 level. So I'm definitely still encouraged by our like three or four best individual talents,

just as I was before going into the tournament. But I think it is a little hard to be positive about the best that are you 20s have to offer, save a few guys leaving a three-game tournament with one point, the most goals conceded and the least goals scored. So as you mentioned earlier, I am kind of doing this podcast in protest, because I don't really, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean,

I guess, you know, the results, you, you predicted the result of that first game. You know, we, I mean, we both, and I agreed with you. Like, there was no reason to believe we wouldn't get shellacked by Brazil with a coach that was two days into the job, a group of players that were together for three days or something. Yeah, they had one practice. And we did look pretty bad in that game. And then I, but I, then I thought we were, you know, respectable in this, second two games. That's my opinion.

In any case, I appreciate your presence, even in protest. And stay with us, listener, if you'd still like to hear about the U-20s. Here I will say that this is a listener-supported podcast without advertisements, and the way to contribute is our Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Do with that information what you will. The first game, of course, in this little round Robin was against Brazil. And we came out in a 4-3-3. It was Gabriel Slanina in goal, Justin Shea at right-back,

Jalen Neal and Casey Walls, as the centerbacks, and then Caleb Wiley, the Atlanta United 2 player at left back. Seattle Sounder midfielder, Daniel Laver, was the sixth, the deepest of the three midfielers, and then the Philly Union duo of Jack McGlynn and Paxton-Arensen were the eights in theory of possession, prioritizing midfield, I think. And the front line was from right to left, Cade Cowell, Caden Clark, and Dante Ceeley. Yeah, some interesting lineup decisions there. I think the idea here was that Celi and Cowell would act as the outlets, and Cady and Clark would act as less of a false nine and more of a fourth midfielder. Who was going to make it difficult for Brazil to build centrally since McGillin and Leva, as we talked about in the preview episode, aren't exactly great at stopping teams from doing that.

So that wasn't super promising from the jump that Vargas wasn't doesn't think that McGlin and Leva would be able to stop Brazil. I mean, not unexpected, but it's also an early sign that there isn't a ton of belief that the true nines on this roster in Malik Sunongo and Miss Isle-Rodriguez are capable of leading. the line for this team. Yeah. And that, you know, that lack of faith was certainly rewarded. Is that the right word? By their performances through the rest of the tournament. It feels weird to call it a tournament.

It's like, it's three friendlies, basically. But anyway, one, first 10 minutes. So instead of doing like a blow by blow timeline, I just have, I've written little chunks or put together little chunks of notes. on 10 or 15 minute periods of the games. So I got for the first 10 minutes not much happening. Both teams look decent and the ref is wearing the same color jersey as the U.S. Yeah, that was kind of bizarre, right?

Because don't refs just carry around like four different color jerseys or something like that. I don't know how roughing works. I don't really either. I don't know. I assume they have some. Well, they did because they got changed at halftime to a different color. Yeah, exactly. But you couldn't have picked a worse color.

I mean, I guess he could have worn the Brazilian yellow and that would have been just as bad, but outside of that. Anyways, yeah, game kind of started uneventfully. We didn't look as shambolic as we would look for the rest of the first half, but I think this was mostly Brazil feeling us out. I don't think we did anything particularly impressive. And the heat on the Brazilian press didn't ramp up until around the sixth or seventh minute. Yeah, I'm not going to.

argue that we were wonderful in that first 10 minutes because second 10 minute period 10th to the 20th was was disastrous. Yes. We get a goal for Brazil. Wiley gets beat and Wells does nothing to help him and eliminates himself. And then Neil and Shea get caught between defending their guys and stepping to the dribbler. I'd just say right now we're not going to talk about the other teams players very much, if at all. We're just keeping it very U.S. focused here. It was a good Brazilian wide attacker dribbling into our left channel,

and he lays it off to Neil's guy, Jalen Neal's guy, and he scores a goal. This is Leonardo who had a hat trick in this game. I thought Slinina probably could have done better on the goal. Brazil gets another chance shortly after because McGlynn gets shouldered off the ball, and then another because Lava plays a solidlyne. plays a slow, low crossfield pass in our third that gets picked off. And then in the 18th minute, Brazil gets a penalty, pretty poor back pass from McGlynn to Walls.

And then Walls, it gets picked off right in front of Walls. And then Walls fouls the guy just inside the box. It's a clear penalty to zero Brazil. At this point, I don't, you know, Sealy looked okay to me. Cal was something south of okay in my opinion and we just we looked pretty hopeless right I mean calamitous defending on both goals I mean there's like a full game worth of chances

in this 10 minute period for Brazil yeah Wiley is an 04 right so he's younger on the younger side of this team who is playing against this caliber of attack for the very first time in his life you just don't see kids like Brazil had on their team. I'm not necessarily saying that they're significantly more talented than a lot of kids that play in the DA or MLS Next.

But kids in the DA or MLS Next don't play like this. It's just like a different style of soccer. Yeah, I mean, these are potentially future stars of the Brazil national team. Right, right. And then McGlynn isn't quick or strong enough to prevent the Brazilians from flying by him, Che's lack of defensive awareness was disappointing in this 10-minute stretch,

but not unexpected. And then... Not if you've watched him for FC Dallas. Yes. Yeah. And then the loser of this 10-minute period, and the whole game really was Casey Wals. Who, you know,

and Wals is one of the dominant DA centerbacks in his age bracket, and he looked just about, just about as bad as you can against Brazil. And again, I think it's just being shell-shocked by what he had coming at him in this game. And, I mean, the lack of preparation couldn't have helped.

I mean, there was definitely a decisiveness in the final third from this Brazil team that I think you don't see hardly anywhere in soccer. You know, I mean, I'm not trying to excuse the U.S. performance. I'm just saying, I'm just agreeing with you that this is like a caliber of, just bang, bang, attacking that I don't think, yeah, clearly Walls and several others had not seen that before.

Yeah. So, like, in a way, it's kind of good that this was the first game, right? Because we were probably never going to win the first game that we played, judging by, you know, like the lack of cohesiveness in the team. But playing what I think was clearly, like, one to 11 on the field, the best. team at the tournament and potentially the best U-20 team in the world in the first game like man was it a trial by fire for these kids yeah a good a good maybe if you want to spin it a positive way a good humbling experience i don't know um 20th to 30th minute uh we get we did get a good little

sequence from erinson that leads to a sealed sealy penalty shout erinson kind of tiptoes across the top of the box. And then passes a little a little bit out wide to Seeley. Sealy steps by a guy and I thought he got fouled, but it was not, the pen was not given. And then there was a Lava shot from distance that went way over.

I thought Lava was pretty bad in this game through 30 and pretty much throughout. Yeah. It looked like a, like a Sealy penalty to me as well. But he was arguably offside on the play anyway. I saw that on the Univision replay of the buildup, they had showed, they showed it from the,

you know, in a way that you would, if you were pointing out that the penalty wasn't given because of off-sides. But I don't know if that's the actual reason. I don't know. Do you want to make a call on the spells if it was off-sides? I included a little picture of. Yeah, I'll say he was off-sides.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's just a minor detail. And then Danny Lava looked like Danny Lava, right? Like he didn't look good in this game. But if you've watched Danny Lava play, you know, over the last year or so, this was never a game that a play that Danny Lava was going to look good in. Yeah.

This level of competition and the speed that Brazil play at is just kind of like a worst. case scenario for him. Right. The hope has been for, you know, at least a year now, probably longer that he would develop a little more strength and quickness as he gets into his later teens. And it seems to still be a deficit there, unfortunately. Because he seems like a pretty intelligent player and a pretty good passer of the ball. But it's kind of the same issue with, you know, with the senior team midfielder.

with the senior team midfield. If you can't, you know, what's the word? If you're not athletic enough, it's just not going to work out, I guess. Yeah. Last 15 minutes of the first half, we get, McGlynn's kind of slow on a rotation at the top of the box and allows a blast from there. And Slinina pause it off the post.

I did not seem, I did not come into this thinking I was going to be criticizing Slinina twice in the first, you know, 15 minutes of the post. podcast, but it wasn't convincing goalkeeping, in my opinion. And then Cal just not great. 40th minute, we get a good move up the left wing from Aronson and Seeley. Clark can't quite get to the through ball. 42nd minute, a third goal for Brazil. Right down, Justin Shea's flank.

The FC Dallas player just doesn't, didn't, and this game at least look comfortable as a wide defender. I guess we can get into the, is Shea, well, why don't we get into it right now? Is Shea a centerback? or a fullback long term? I think his ceiling is significantly higher at centerback. But, I mean, there was a point in time where I probably would have said a similar thing about Brian Reynolds.

But, you know, it's hard to say. I mean, I don't think that, like, with the Bayern Munich interest in him, I don't think that they see him as a fullback long term. Like, he just doesn't fit their profile there. so yeah um he seems most comfortable in a three man back line as one of the wide centerbacks right now at least yeah definitely and i mean for the sake of the national team i sure hope that he's a centerback because yeah that's kind of where we need him yep so uh that goal so that that goal happens because um because shea's not aware defensively and

And then we're pretty defeated at this point. And yeah, like I said earlier, you predicted this. Yeah. I mean, I wish I could say this game had a chance of going any other way. But Brazil was always going to beat us comfortably. As a whole, they were more talented, more physical, more experienced, more prepared. And I mean, at this point, the game is basically dead. I think everything from here on out has to be taken with a grain of salt

because the Brazilians kind of came out of halftime and don't get hurt mode. Their intensity, the intensity on their side kind of fell through the floor. And then, I mean, the goal coming out of half certainly didn't help that. Yeah. Well, I guess that's the next thing I've got to say is, again, in the first 15 minutes in the second half, it's Casey Wallace, who gets caught out after a week clearance. And Brazil is just bang, bang into the Man City zone. And it's another cutback.

and Leonardo gets his hat trick from near the penalty marker. It's too bad, again, because I thought we looked like a credible, to me we look like a credible group of players, but just totally, you know, totally a mess at the back. And, you know, it's not, we should say it's not a time to give up completely on a player like Casey Walls. There's, his long-term story is unwritten, but he probably should not be called up to the U-20s for,

the next camp, I would think. Yeah, I mean, like, if you're going to give up, if you're ever willing to give up on a player like Casey Walls, now you're giving up on like, you know, all but three, three centerbacks born in 2003 in the country. He's still a very talented player. I mean, like, again, this was a tough ask. And Casey Walls is a player who has like not very many youth national team opportunities until now. He's played basically his entire career in one system. to then, you know, throw him in the lawlessness of a U-20 team without a, without like a game plan in place, well, at least a well-drilled game planning place.

Oh, and by the way, you're playing one of like the three favorites to win the U-20 World Cup. It's like what, I mean, if he played well, it would have been amazing. Yeah. It's like, would have been one of the most incredible youth national team performances. So maybe he should be called up for the next camp and given another chance. I mean, he's kind of, he kind of has to be because there aren't options behind him. You mean as a left-footed centerback?

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, well, I have a scheme that doesn't require putting him in the starting lineup, but we'll get to the- Yeah, I mean, you could talk starting lineup, but, you know, if you're talking about a camp, right, you need like, what, five or six? center backs not named Casey Walls and I just I would have a hard time getting there. Okay. Well, you would know.

60th to the 75th minute. I'm not going to belabor any of this, but we get Diego Luna for Cili. That's the El Paso locomotive player. And then Cade and Pierre. Is it Pierre or Pierre? I pronounce it Pierre, but I don't know that I've ever said his name out loud. We're heard of his name said out loud. Right.

You say it out loud in your. head all the time, I bet. But he was, he came on for Aronson as a, I guess as more of an advanced player, even though he played much more fullback over this three game, uh, stretch. And then the Chicago fires Brian Gutierrez came on for Cade and Cade Cowell. Um, I thought Luna was bright off the bench and so was Gutierrez. Uh, like you said, grand assault, Brazil's foot was very much off the gas. but yeah that's it I guess I've got other notes but I'll leave it at that final was 4-0 nobody impressed all that much

although like I said there was some general competence to celebrate I thought celebrate a strong word to acknowledge right I think like if you're going to give anybody some credit for this game it would be aronson who at least was like he was doing some good things out there running around as you would expect an Aronson to do. But yeah, like the rest of the good moments basically came after the game was already dead. So there's no reason to talk about how well Diego Luna played off the bench, even though he definitely offered something that the starters didn't. Yeah, just a little bit of teeth in the attack, I thought.

Yeah, let's move to the Columbia game. in this one we played more of a three four two one Alex Borto got a start in goal the three-man backline was Justin Shea Orange County SC's Kobe Henry and Jalen Neal from right to left and then it was sporting Casey's Cade and Pierre and DC United's Jacob Green as the wingbacks and then we had I guess the the middle two of the four-man band were Daniel Edelman and Philadelphia's Quinn Sullivan. And then Clark and Gutierrez were the attacking mids and Malik Senogo. The Union Berlin U19 striker we discussed earlier got the start up top.

Yeah, I mean, I think this is a good adjustment to like a more defensively stable formation and group of players, I think. It should probably keep in mind that this was a bit of a rotation game for every. every team into tournament. So not really our best group, not certainly not Columbia's best group. But yeah, I like the changes if you're looking to have to, you know, take a point out of this game. I think the big one would probably be that the coach got the lineup right. Yeah. It does, it did seem like a nice adjustment.

We play to our strengths with the three centerbacks here, I think, given the, of our midfield options. I did not realize that this was a mostly rotated side for Columbia, which explains some stuff because it wasn't that exciting of a game, really, even though it was obviously our best result of the three. First 10, U.S. to me, was the better team. Several times were in their box and making problems. Sunigo gets unfairly called offside once.

I'm no ref. Joe Manchkin. Right. Yeah, I mean, this was one of the better spells we had in the, in the tournament. Nothing breathtaking, but good solid buildups that made the Colombians scramble a bit. You know, if there's any, if there's a ton to build on by, you know, like, I think that it was a good 10 minutes to build on for the rest of the game and, uh, defensively stable. And we, we, especially compared to the first game, we really never. We certainly weren't as threatened as much as we were by Colombia as we were by Brazil.

Yeah, I was thinking that by about like the 30th minute that this Columbia team didn't look that good, which makes sense now because they were rotating. They were also clearly like the third best team at the tournament, I think. I didn't watch Columbia's game with Mexico, but I watched their game with Brazil. and they're like Brazil was you know doing what Brazil does to them in a similar way that they did to us they just just that Columbia was able to stop the ball from hitting the back of the net more than we were yeah that makes sense I mean I thought Che She was dropping some dimes down the left wing from his right center back spot and he did look a lot better as a CB CB than an RB 20th to the 30th minute

Gutierrez for the U.S. He's weird because he's messy but he's always trying to unlock the defense so I don't know what to think. Lots of collateral damage there but at least he's trying to do stuff. I don't know. Yeah, exactly.

Excuse me. Snogo also pretty messy but without the sort of unlocking part and then Clark gets a good little nutmeg and works another guy in a special little moment of class. I put that clip on Twitter and it gets a lot of people love that kind of stuff. It was kind of like Clark's best moment of the tournament, really. Yeah, it was Clark's best moment of the tournament.

But like if we're looking at, you know, like, we're talking about like results here, but I could kind of care less overall, right? You're looking mostly for those guys who show that they have that, that thing that's going to you know that little bit of extra that's going to make them successful and these moments that Clark is able to pull out just you know these special moments like as you mentioned and I think the only player that consistently

were you know even more consistently show that in this tournament was Paxton Aronson just they're they just look a little different and they can do things that are a little different on the ball so yeah I would agree with that sure and I agree with you Gutierrez was messy, but I'll take messy and occasionally inventive over a backpass machine. I like Gutierrez as one of the options for this team. You know, like he seems like he'd be a good trailing, the get the trailing on the score line, throw him in, and he'll make some stuff happen. I think it's clear, it was clear by this point that Sonogo isn't the solution at the nine behind Pepe in his age group.

And it was probably unfair of us to expect that. But there was a ton of hype surrounding him in some youth national team circles, given his German national team pedigree. So it's worth noting. Yeah, it seems like I've been hearing his name a lot for a long time. But he's pretty raw. He's still pretty raw. It just says a footballer.

Final 15 minutes of the first half, Columbia actually gets a goal on a good cross and header that goes off the post, then a finish on the rebound. but the guy was offside. So, and then, you know, what so often happens in soccer immediately after that, Kobe Henry floats a ball into the box for Gutierrez, pretty hopeful, really. And the Colombian centerback just makes an absolute meal of it. And Gutierrez nips it and gets behind him,

and the centerback has no choice but to pull him down by the arm. And it's a penalty kick. And Clark goes up there and hits a Panenka right down the middle. I like that. I like to see that. The announcers on Teouda... Love to do. Yeah, they were so...

Yeah. The announcers on Teudenae. And then there's a big chance on a free kick from 30 yards for Columbia, and I thought it was a hell of a hit and a great save by Borto just to get a finger on it. Other notes,

had are Jacob Green struggling a little bit. Game is disjointed, but Columbia kind of ascendant toward the end of the first half. Another decent chance in the 42nd minute, a shot from distance that went right at Borto, and he was able to handle it. Yeah, I'd bet the middle third of this game had more changes of possession than completed forward passes.

Not really much worth elaborating on outside of the Borto moments, just a super sloppy back and fourth affair. But Borto is a player who you look at the moments that he has, not only in this game, but also at club level, and you really think, man, he's probably going to have a pro future. And I think you can realistically put three or four of the goalkeepers in the best 18 of a 2004 age

group between Sloanina, Borto, and Jeff Dunswap and Chris Brady, who are also homegrown guys who aren't quite at the level that Borto and Sloanin are. Hmm. Well, that's good. It's a ray of light here. It is, but you only get to play one of them, so. Right. It's kind of annoying. Any other position, they both, you know, they get on the field, but not here. Yeah. Go-keeper's a weird one. At the half, Varas brings Aronson on for Sonogo and Casey Walls on for Justin, I'm sorry,

and Casey Walls on for Jalen Neal. The first 15 minutes of the second half, we get a good chance for Gutierrez after a good bit of work from Pierre, Clark, and Aronson up the right wing. Gutierrez kind of waste a move, but Pierre looks like a nice player to me. Sullivan goes for it from 50 yards in the 51st minute. I like the idea. Not really sold on him as a lot.

a player, but he's got Hutzpah, that's for sure. I'll just keep trucking along here, Matt. Let's just jump in if you want to. The 60th to the 75th minute, we get Pukestus, Rokas Pookstus for Gutierrez and Jack McGlynn on for Caden Clark.

Edelman's winning a lot of balls in the middle. He seems, he's like Larry Bird out there, the kid who knows how to judge the caram the ball off the rim and get all the rebounds. just picking up loose balls. And so I didn't, you know, I didn't think Edelman was an incredible, he didn't look like an incredible player, but he was good enough to do the job. And then in the 73rd minute, Quinn Sullivan just swings through the back of a guy's legs,

full force. And he gets sent off. Hard to argue with that, I don't think. Right, right. I mean, it's a clear red on Sullivan, not sure what he's doing there. Outside of trying to find a way out of the game, maybe he's just one. with a take an early shower, but, um, I mean, who, who cares really? I don't know. I mean, it's, it's nice to see some passion, I guess. I'll, we'll write it off as that. Um,

it was nice to see, uh, Putskas again, uh, you know, because it's just been such a long time since I was able to play him, play soccer. He didn't really have much of an impact on the game. Um, he's an 04. So, you know, again, not that when you're, when kids are this young, you know, that difference between 03s 04s is quite a big deal unless you're Cade Cowell who was like a December 03 but looks like he's 30 years old at least 25 he looks like he's at least 25 right I agree with you on Edelman I think that Edelman is the option that I'd pick at the 6 going forward if only because the lack of other options and that his club play has been more impressive than a guy like Lava

like I not a kid who I think has like a tremendously high ceiling in a similar way to like a Chris Durkin or an Adam Saldanya but he gets the job done most of the time even with you know like even though he's

athletically limited in some ways and it's kind of a small kid still but you watch Red Bull 2 play and he mean he could do the job there and I don't know that Lava has ever really done the job as a lone defensive midfield or even in USL. So yeah. So you're in camp Edelman right now for the for that number six job at least.

Yeah. I mean if we if the U-20s need to win a game, I think Edelman's the player. If it's a friendly like you mean play play whoever you want I guess. I mean the bottom line is we need options. We need some dark horse options to emerge at midfield and at, the nine, probably at centerback two. Well, yeah, center back too would be helpful. I would say, I would say yes, and I would say that it is unlikely, it is unlikely that

reinforcements are on the way. Okay. And I mean, unless you dip down into the 05s for like a Reed, uh, Baker Whiting or, you know, a kid like that. So I guess isn't like insane, but it is kind of. It does seem. it's unusual for that to happen, right? For you to go down two years like that.

Right. Well, the final 15 minutes of this game, the U.S. wasn't hopeless, but they were downed man, and Columbia was doing most of the attacking, and there was a real flurry of danger in stoppage time, and in the final minutes of the game, there was a Casey Wall's handball shout,

which I think was a handball, and a few other nervy moments. And then Columbia gets their goal, just to straightforward move up the right, wing and then a cross pumped in. And it wasn't a headed goal. It was a, it was, it was, it was volleyed in, side footed in, in the air. And Shay and Henry were both in the vicinity and both probably could have done better.

So that's, that's all I've got from the Columbia game. Yeah. Should we move straight to Mexico? Let's just go straight to Mexico. You want me to take the lineup else? Yeah, take it. Sure. So we played in a four, three, two one against Mexico with Gaga, Sloanina and Net.

Che, Henry, Neil, and Wiley across the back line, a midfield of Diego Luna, Danny Lava, and Jeremy Garay, with Rokas Putskas, Cade Cowell, and Brian Gutierrez across the front line. Yeah. So obviously the Mexico player that everybody's talking about is Marcello Flores, and he did look awfully good in this game.

He gets the first goal in the first 10 minutes, just a fantastic goal. it starts on our left side, Mexico's right side. Johnny Perez does a nifty little shift of the ball and then plays a good pass into Flores, you know, kind of in zone 14. And then Flores is going one-on-one with Henry. And he does this thing where he drops his shoulder and he goes,

he goes at the near post. And then he just takes a shot at kind of an unexpected time. time, you know? Like the shot just comes out much faster than you think it's going to. And Kobe Henry doesn't have the fastest feat anyway from what I have seen of his footage. So he may not have gotten to it even if it was like a sort of a classic full windup. But anyway, Flores buried it far corner. Unstoppable shot, I thought, for the goalkeeper, that is.

Right. I mean, it's just a great individual play from Flores. Like, what not really much you can say about how the U.S. should have. defended it. He's just a few levels above anything we have in terms of chance creation flora as that is. And I mean, talk about, talk about players that just look different when they play soccer. And kids that a lot of our kids wouldn't won't have seen anything like growing up. And I mean, he's all of that.

So. But, but. Yeah, it's weird. He's, he's just playing for the Arsenal U-18s right now, right? that's where he's playing soccer and he's going to play for he's going to be a full international very soon for one of Canada or Mexico

so you kind of hope that he gets he gets England England did in a way that some prospects do where they just look incredible at 17 and they just get stuck behind world class players and at the pro level and never quite live up to their

expect like the expectations that or the quality that they have as a U-18, U-20 player. But man, if he lives up to the player that it looks like he can be, he's going to be a problem for the U.S. for a good long time. Yeah. I don't say this lightly, but the way he moves and the quickness of his feet does bring to mind a certain former Barcelona number 10 a little bit, the one who was left-footed.

I can't bring myself to say the name out loud because it seems weird to compare a player like florist. No. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, I don't think that is a crazy comparison to make. Just the way they move. Exactly. In terms of just their, the way that they play soccer.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was actually more concerned with the chance in the second minute that. it was, I forget which Mexican player was, but he was kind of taken down right on the edge of the box by Kobe Henry. It ended in a shot that I guess was on net, but, you know, Christian Torres skied it from around the penalty box, but that's a yellow card and a free kick and just about as bad of a spot as you can give a free kick if Christian Torres didn't end up making an attempt at it. So another moment where it's like, I know that you are a little positive, I guess, on the centerbacks coming out of this. But I mean, if Kobe Henry, if this is a game that we need to win and Kobe Henry is on a yellow card and giving up a chance in the second minute of the game there, that is not a good recipe. No, no, for sure.

I guess I was, I mean, these are young players, all of them. I thought Henry did do some good things. So yeah, he did some other good things. He did some bad things too. Yeah, of course. I mean, defensively speaking, he was, he's kind of unquestionably the best defender I thought that we had in the tournament. But we have a lot of good defenders. Like, you know, at centerback.

Like, I don't think that our youth ranks into DA are, like, don't have players like Kobe Henry. The problem is, you know, like you view these guys as prospects for the senior team, right? And I don't think there's a reason to be super excited about any of them as ball playing centerbacks in the way that we want our senior players too. I would agree. There's nobody here who looks like a level up from it from, you know, a potential, even a potential level up from. what we currently have in the senior national team pool. Right. And we live in a world where like Cameron Carter Vickers and Eric Palmer Brown aren't even being mentioned anymore, right?

For as senior national team callups, you view both of those guys as the players they were at this age group. And I mean like, I mean, they're just blowing. They're instant starters for us here. So while they're, yeah, when you put it like that. Yeah. When you put it like that. It's like we should be, what should we be expecting from our youth national teams now? Well, let's give them a real camp and a real preparation period for a game, I guess.

Yes, but also I've watched these kids play for years. I mean, there isn't passing ability coming that wasn't shown here. Like the players that they were in these games are the players that they are from like a technical standpoint. they just weren't as well prepared as they should have been and that that's that's not nothing but like when it would explain the whole thing right exactly

when we get back to the conversation of like talking about is US youth soccer on like a clear upward trajectory or like you know golden generations and stuff like that this center back core and like there is the Tony Leonie situation that

is out there. But this centerback core of 03s and 04s is inequivocally the worst centerback core that we've had at the U20 age in almost 10 years.

And you know, you mentioned Leone, Leon, was probably how you say it, I guess, but he, he's played for Mexico in this game,

but he still lists the USMNT on his like social media accounts. So it's the, it's not, not done and dusted. He plays for LAFC. I don't think he's a great ball playing centerback either, really, right?

Like, he's okay, but he's not flashing, like, John Brooks potential at that. No, no, but I mean, but that, like John Brooks level potential would be very rare for this age group, for a player to be passing the ball around like that. But, like, what you really want to see is these, as some of these guys move to the, move to, like, USL level and be given the opportunity to pass out of the back. And for Jalen Neal and Kobe Henry, I mean, Neil gets more of an opportunity of it at it than Henry does. But for the most part, it's like, you know, we're getting these kids pro minutes, but we're very much trying to mitigate what they're not good at. And that is passing the ball out of the back.

So like, is there room for growth there? Yes. But is it coming anytime soon? Like, you know, they just, they don't get to do it on a, on a regular basis because it's not instinctual for them. And it is for Leone. Leone does, he does, he is the ball playing center back at Las Vegas. Okay. All right.

Well, that's a substantive difference. So the second, the second 10 minute period, 10 to 20, we get, we're getting some joy up the left side through Wiley Gutierrez and Luna. Um, less able to build through Shea and Cowell up the right. right side. I know you're a big shade, uh, Cade Cow guy, but like, um, yeah. I know he,

I know you're a big K. Cal guy and I know he created so, like some of the little amount of danger that we created in this tournament. But boy, he was, he was a mess on the ball, like basically in all of these games. Yeah.

Yeah. He was a mess on the ball and he is often a mess on the ball, regardless of where he's playing. But I mean, I think, I think that if you were to, to take like the Brazilian defenders and the Mexican defenders, be like, man, who was the guy on the U.S. that scared you today? And the answer would be like Kate Cowell because he he does things.

That's true. That like, you know, we talk about like, I've talked about like the technical ability of the Brazilians and Mexicans catching our defenders off guard. A lot of these other guys haven't seen players like Kid Cowell, you know, especially since these Mexican and Brazilian kids have mostly only played academy level ball. I mean, Kate Cowell is a, a plus plus athlete. He's a grown man.

Yeah, for sure. He's a grown man and he does grown man things like he did on our goal in this game. Yeah. Well, I thought, just to hit a few other players,

I thought Garai was a little too timid receiving the ball in the middle. Like, It was very much like he was going to pass it backward almost every time. That L.A.F.C. player, Christian Torres, muffed a second chance in the penalty area for Mexico in this period. And then Johnny Perez really looked good in this game. I know the knock on him has been athleticism. Has he been involved in many, any U.S. camps ever? Yeah, he was in an ID camp when he was 14.

I think that's the last time. So he's a U.S. camp. He's pretty much, he's an American, he's an American kid, plays for L.A. Galaxy, but he's been, he's basically been playing for Mexico's youth teams for the last three years, right? Yes. Yeah, almost exclusively. He was one of the guys who was getting, like, he was getting U.S. and Mexico call-ups

when both of the teams weren't playing at the same time and he was just turning down the U.S. ones. So of like these three of like Christian Torres, Antonio Leone and Johnny Perez, Prez is probably the one to be the most pessimistic about the U.S. having a chance at if he is a high enough level player to play for both full national teams. Yeah. Well, too bad.

But we do have a lot of good wingers. 20th, 30th minute, we get a couple chances in a row. Cowl slams one off the Mexico Keepers face from kind of a tight angle. and on the ensuing corner Gutierrez hits cowl for a header at the marker. He heads it wide. Not seeing much from Pooks to or Garay, as I mentioned. Lava was a little more influential in this game, but still kind of timid. I saw a nice entry pass from Kobe Henry in contradiction to all the slander you spewed a few minutes ago.

About him not being able to pass. No, I'm just kidding. He did have one nice entry pass in there. a line breaking pass from deep. He made a good tackle on Flores in the box, sort of getting back at him for that goal earlier. A decent chance comes from Luna and Gutierrez in the last 15 minutes,

going at the right side of Mexico's defense. Cowell has an awkward chance at the near post, can't put it on frame. And then, you know, some more good combinations from Luna and Gutierrez. Just nothing from Pukestas, I thought, in this performance. Yeah, agreed.

And again, he is a little bit on the younger side and had to fly quite a distance for these games. It's just hard to see, hard to tell what we're going to get from him, but I'm not by any means giving up on him. The Kobe Henry tackle on Flores was really well done. It's another moment where the Spanish language announcers were kind of like taken aback by the, fact that it was even that it was possible that he could tackle uh flores one on one on one in the

in like in that situation right there they like it surprised me too yeah they called it like an exceptional time moment or something like that um and i mean by this point in the game it's certain it it did look like it did seem like flores was just doing whatever he wanted with the soccer ball i don't know if this was if the if the if the floriz like pirouette in midfield had happened yet by this point but that was a moment. Yeah, well, we're now to the end of the half and that happened somewhere in the middle of the half. So, yeah, it had happened.

Yeah, he was, and what impressed me the most about that is he was holding off Cade Cowell. Yes. You know, like, so there's strength. There's strength there in that, somewhere in that little Marcella Flores body. 45th to 60th minute, so opening 15 of the second half, Seeley comes on for pook-stas.

And the U.S. was kind of dominating, actually. Despite all our nitpicks, we got our goal in the 50th minute when Garay and Gutierrez swarm a guy in midfield. And then Gutierrez plays Cowell in. It's a poor touch from Cowell, squirts to the end line. But he runs the end line and just puts a guy down with his shoulder, takes a ball, and then picks out Luna in front of goal who tucks it home with a stab of his left. foot. It's 1-1. And I don't think it was a totally undeserved 1-1 at this point, even though Flores is clearly the most exciting player on the field. I thought Sele looked a little

disinterested in this game, but he did boss Flores once and launch a counterattack. And as the hour mark strikes, Mexico starts to exert more control on the game. You got any thoughts at this juncture, or should I just plow right ahead? No, I mean, I'd say that, like, again, this is the Cowell moment that we had talked about earlier. And like, this is the good and bad that you're going to get from Cade Cowell for the next couple of years. Yeah. We're like, you know, he's just a dominant athlete and not nowhere near good enough technically to be on the same field as players like Mexico and Brazil had. But you can make up for a lot of it with just elite physicality.

and there's nothing wrong with that. So he creates our goal here and Luna does well to stab at home. His celebration was pretty fun. He was super pumped about scoring that goal. Shaking his US crest at the crowd. Yeah. You love to see it. And then talking about Seeley looking disinterested, you know,

this is the thing with Dante Sealy. He kind of can fall in and out of games and if that's something he can grow out of, he's going to be a heck of a player, but it hasn't happened yet. Well, he certainly physically looks apart. You know, I can't remember if we talked about this the last time we convened, but he, you know, if you watch his clips from the Airstivizzi, he's, he gets his body involved, you know, like he'll get his body in the way of somebody and, and box somebody out to get to the

the ball. Yeah. I'm not sure. Yeah. Go ahead. I mean, he knows what he's doing, right? Like, he has all of the, the talent, all of the know-how, like, every, the physical, technical ability is all there.

He's like, the best way to describe the, Seeley, I think is that, like, if you, if you were able to put together, like, a five to six-minute highlight video of him and put it in front of, like, any team in the world, they would, like, be willing to throw. $10 million at you. But if you had to put together like a 20-minute highlight video, it's going to be significantly less exciting about it. So, again, I think all of the talent is there, and it's just going to be a wait-and-see situation with him to see.

None of the highlights in either. Or very few of the highlights in either video will have come from this tournament. Yes. I mean, you can say that about many of the U.S. players. I can't remember what minute, but it was between the 60th and the 70th that Mexico got their second goal. We clear one left-footed Flores cross and it gets cycled back to him for another. This one comes after a good run from Flores that leaves Garay in the dust and he whips it across the six. It's deflected slightly by Slanina with his hand, which unfortunately puts it over the foot of, I think,

think it was Neil. Yeah, Neil. And then the goal score whose name I don't know, probably doesn't get to it if that little sequence of events hadn't happened. But he does get to it and he just cushions it into the net from point blank range to one. The U.S. starts to exert some control again. But in the last 20 minutes or so, Flores does get another shot off with his right foot from.

I'm inside the box. That quick release shot is really something. Daniel Edelman came on for Lava in the 76, Caden Pierre for Caleb Wiley in the 79th. And I don't know. The game just kind of petered out. We didn't get dominated in the game. I thought it was an okay performance from the U.S.

Yeah. I mean, it wasn't okay performance, I guess. Like, if you're just looking at, at, you know, like the score line and the way that the game was played out. But again, like, if you're looking at, if you're looking at reasons to think that any of these players are better players than we thought that they were coming in, I'm not sure that there's a whole lot there. And, I mean, we're just going to have to see how much this team, like, actually getting a full camp together in. proves this stuff. And there are certainly pieces here, you know, like, if you're of the mindset that a

U-20 cycle only really needs three or four players that need to contribute at the national team level to be successful, I think that there is an opportunity for that to happen here. But, you know, I think that this game against Mexico felt a lot more like the old school mid-2010s games against Mexico when we were, you know, we had moments, but if we play,

if this game was played 10 times at 10 times, I'm not sure that I would favor us to win more than three or so. Just like, we were just outclassed in terms of technical ability. Yeah. I think I agree with that.

I mean, Flores is a class above, for sure, like you said. But and Perez is a very nice player too. Well, I thought, so, you know, sort of wrapping up the whole tournament, I was pleasantly surprised by Jalen Neal and Kobe Henry. I think they're competent. I mean, I'd like to see, you know, how they develop as ball playing centerback. I mean, Neil seems a little more comfortable in that role than Henry. Henry, the more physical and imposing defender, I think, than Neil.

Yeah. You got any pushback on that? Yeah. I mean, not really. I mean, like, there's, I think that they'll both be fine professional centerbacks. And, like, it is, it is incredibly early to be talking about, you know, 18-year-old centerbacks. But, like, I think that, I think that, I think that, you're right in that they won't they shouldn't be problems at this level against most teams

I would just say that it's kind of a high floor low ceiling situation with the two of them comparatively to centerbacks that we've had at you 20 level in the past obviously they're both incredibly talented soccer players compared to you know compared to us. Yeah. Well, the other pleasant surprise for me was Kate and Pierre and Caleb Wiley. I thought they were fine at fullback. I thought Pierre was a little better than Wiley.

Now, Wiley's, if we get Jonathan Gomez and Kevin Paredes in this group, then Wiley's going to have a hard time finding minutes. but if we, you know, for some reason, don't have those, either of those two, I think Wiley's a fine left back. And Cady and Pierre is a little better than fine, I think, get right back. Right. I mean, if you take the standpoint that Kevin Paredes and what's, why am I forgetting? Gomez.

Gomez. Joe Go. Are the starting fullbacks for this team. And that Caden Pierre and Caleb Wiley are the backup. like they seem perfectly competent. Again, it's a matter of like, from my standpoint, I'm looking for people, guys that are screaming, I have U.S. men's national team potential.

Question marks there. Wiley is on the younger side, so that's promising. If I had to come up with guys who are stock up out of this, it would probably be like the two of them would be high on that list, mostly because the other guys who impressed me, who had any sort of, like, you know, impressive moments in this game in this tournament were Clark Aronson and Cowell,

who were like the three guys going in, who I was pretty comfortable with their trajectory. Yeah. Okay. Well, as we have discussed, the midfield remains a big open question and the attack wasn't good enough to generate a consistent threat.

Here's my 11, based on these three games. I'll ask you for yours. But I'd play a three-man back line, as Varus did, against Columbia to de-emphasize the midfield. I don't know if I, I don't know if I like Slinina or Borto better. I mean, Slinina is the one with all the hype, but Borto was the one who was a little bit more impressive, I thought. Then it'd be a Shea, Henry, Neal, three-man back line

with Caden Pierre and Caleb Wiley as the one. wingbacks and then Edelman and Clark would be my midfielders with Seeley Cowell and Aronson across the front line. It would be an unconventional front line because Cowell is not really a, you know, drop in and play make kind of nine, but that's okay. That's okay. If we don't put him at the nine, then we have to sit one of Sealer, Seleer, or Erinson or Clark.

So we got to put him at the nine. Yeah. Right. I mean, I'm in the same boat. So my, I'm going to play more of a 433, but I'm also going to have Sloanina in that. I think Borto certainly has a shout here as well. It's more so that like going forward,

Sloanina is going to be the guy getting more pro minutes, more game time. So he gets the one spot for now. I'm going to have Pierre, Che, Neil, and Wiley along the back line. My midfield is going to have Edelman sitting behind, Paxton Aronson and Cade and Clark with I like that

Dante Sealy Brian Gutierrez and Cade Cowell across the front line but again like it kind of has the same problem that you have

that your lineup has by like you just kind of have to find a spot for Cowell and some of these like wingers slash tens

and like there there may be problems with like an Aronson Clark Sealy Gutierrez with a team that starts all of them from a defensive standpoint. But I don't know. It's just a risk I'm willing to take over starting a guy like Danny Leva or Jeremy Garay.

Yeah. They seemed like a bunch of players who had never played before together, you know? I mean, there's a good reason for that. Right. I mean, that's what they were. Yes. But you could really tell. I do think Luna, Gutierrez, and Leva all probably do have a place in this team.

I'm not quite as low on Leva as you are, but I do acknowledge his limitations. And then, you know, players who weren't in this camp who I think I hope can play a role are the aforementioned Gomez and Paredes. They would walk into this side at left back or even. left wing for Paredes or maybe right wing for Paredes. I don't know. He could play a lot of places. And then Moses and Iman, hopefully we'll get a chance in the midfield at some point. He did get a fair amount of minutes for D.C. United but fell out of favor as the season went by.

And then didn't he get hurt? He got hurt too. Yeah. And then a couple sort of wanderers in the wilderness would be Mauricio Cuevas. Kuevas, L.A. Galaxy player who's, you know, reportedly been frozen out by the L.A. Galaxy front office for not signing a homegrown deal. So now he's training with the U-17s. But he was a L.A. Galaxy 2 player. And then Leo Torres is a player. I haven't given up on. He's a San Antonio FC player, but he was on loan with the Real Monarchs. And, you know, scored a couple goals. I thought he looked pretty good in his last two appearances. of the season before that end.

This was not the monarchs of old. They were pretty bad this year. So that's a caveat. But Quaivas and Torres, I think, are both effective players. Hopefully they get a chance. Right. Man, where to start. I'm, I do think.

I'm scared. I do think that Jonathan Gomez and Kevin Peres make a big difference in this team. Paredes is like Cowell a guy who I think you just need to get on the field so wherever he fits

wherever you can get him that he fits like you put him on would you play him at right back I'd play him at right back I'd play him on in either of the wing positions I wouldn't even hate him if we were to play like as a wide midfielder

if we were to play like with like a wing back or in a 4-4-2. He offers a lot wherever he's going to play. I think that Nyman, um, uh, Nyman,

I think still a, like a tremendous prospect. Um, does he do anything that's super different from the guys that we had problems with, their lack of, um, like physicality or presence in this camp.

Uh, I'm not, I'm not sure. Like, he might be, he might be able to, help this group, but I'm not convinced that he's a help now guy. I think he's more

of like a wait and see how he develops guy and he might be one of those guys who isn't a major part of the youth national team but is that but is a part of the national team. Leo Torres, I think I mean, he's young too, right?

He's an 04. It's hard to see him getting a shot with this team just because there's so many so many of these guys are like him, right? Like he's in that Diego Luna Aronson Brian Gutierrez

position group Yeah So He's younger than that Yeah I think that's true Not Doesn't quite have the resume That they do

And then Maricio Cuevas is just I mean When's the last time Maricio Cuevas has played a competitive soccer game It almost feels Yeah I mean like I said he's he's He's literally

Frozen out Like I don't I don't Don't think I'm wrong in saying that the last time Maricio Cuevas played a competitive soccer team, we haven't even, we hadn't even gone into a COVID lockdown yet. It's been that long. And when you're 17 years old man, like, that is a, that is a long time to sit out for a speculative shot at Europe because you're not, you know, I don't know. I question

I question the advice that that kid is getting but I mean he's so he's he is 18 now right he has to be so yeah what is even going on there like you would hope that if a agent had him sit out a couple you know like almost two years

in order to not sign a homegrown contract that they had something set up but I don't know I know again like hard to see him being an answer for this team right away, even if he is still the level of prospect that he was a couple of years ago, he's going to take time to build up to that level. But I mean, we've seen like, if we go back to the days of Chushu Hilton,

right, we've seen better fullback prospects disappear because they didn't play soccer for a period of time. So I'm not optimistic about the Kueva situation is what I'm getting at. Yeah, I may be in fantasy land there, but he, you know, he did, he was boss in, boss in the flank over there opposite Jonathan Gomez for the U-16s two years ago. And it was a fun thing to see, you know, remember when they, remember when they won that tournament? Yeah, I mean. They were good. They were both really good.

They were two of the best players on the team. Yeah. I mean, I was as high on Kuevas as anybody I felt at, at some point. I mean, like right before the U-17 World Cup, I guess, that was a little bit before it. But, yeah, I mean. He did not go to the U-S17 World Cup, a little too young. And I'll push back a little bit on Torres. I do think he's the same kind of player as a Gutierrez, but he's, or, you know, an Aronson or something.

But he does have, he has a remarkable knack for holding onto the ball when he, you know, in tight space, when he has somebody on his back. Like he's not going to fly into a crunching tackle and like set the tone for the game. He's not that kind of player. But he does have some physical ability that I think is a little harder to identify, you know, but it's there where he can, he gets the ball and he just kind of manages to keep it. You know, he's not, he doesn't get like, he doesn't get little brothered off the ball as much as you might think he would given his age and his sort of his size. Right. I think he's getting a little bigger too. He is. He is. I mean, like, but he's playing, like, let's forget about the Gutierrez, Aronson's, Clark comparisons, right? He's playing at the same level that as Diego Luna is not putting up your, like, the goal assist line that Diego Luna is. I think Diego Luna does the things that you're saying a little better, if not much better, just because he's a bigger dude than Leo T.

Torres is. And Leo, it's impressive from Torres because he, he gets, like, you know, he is able to do that with a smaller frame. But for the sake of helping this team,

that doesn't matter, right? That's just a, like, a long-term good sign. So, yeah, I mean,

you would need some injuries to get him into this team, I think. It would. Or a big step forward in, you know, in his career next year. Which is,

like, I don't even know, what's going on there because he was loaned out to real monarchs this year as far as as far as we know he's just going back to san antonia right which isn't i think so a great situation so yeah um what else oh nine i was going to say a little pushback on nine and i think like torres he's pretty good in the cage match you know like i think he is he he if he gets tangled up with somebody he he manages to come away with the ball i think his problem for DC United was more often just not like being fully aware of what he needed where he needed

to be or like what where the danger was coming from and so that he would never actually get tangled up with the guy you know yeah I mean undoubted camp camp guy right I would even love love for him to be involved in the team just because I rate him that highly as a prospect who do you play him over do you play him as a six can he do what Edelman can do then or if not are you sitting one of Aronson Clark to get him in the lineup? I would try him at the six, yeah. I mean, he's played positions, that position a little bit, I think, for D.C.

and positions adjacent to that at a much higher level than Edelman never has. And so I think it's worth a shot, yeah. Okay, fair enough. I think we should just, we should end it here. Sure. Don't you think? Sounds like that.

Anything else? Nope. Remember I'm doing all of this in protest. I think that there are no takeaways from these games, good or bad. You know, like, we have thousands of minutes of tape on basically all of these guys. Three games against three pretty dang good youth national teams in the situation that they were in. I mean, what are we doing? What are we doing, Bells?

Yeah, what are we doing? I mean, I guess I would argue that all that tape of, you know, Casey Wall's, Boston 15-year-olds in the, is he in Sacramento? Or where is he? He is with, it's not Sacramento. It is El Pas, El Paso? El Paso. Oh, yeah.

He's on loan at El Paso, right? Right. because they have the thing with the earthquakes. That's right. That's right. So that's why I was thinking Sacramento. Yeah, the earthquake. So, I mean, we have all that tape of him,

but, like, you know, I would argue there is some value in seeing a young player try to, like, solve problems at a much higher level. And with a little bit of stakes, I don't know how much stakes there were to these games, but stakes for their career, you know, like, do they want to impress? and they're suddenly in a high pressure situation facing Brazilian opponents. Now, did anybody come out of that Crucible looking good? No, I don't think so. No.

All right. And this is where it gets back to. Like, if you're going to have, like, take, like, considerable takeaways that inform your judgment of these players from these games, basically all of them are bad. And I think that that is, like, kind of. unfair on the kids because it's just it just wasn't they just weren't put in the situation by the Federation to succeed in these games already at what I would consider a talent disadvantage so I would say it's not a trad it's not a tragedy though it's not like we send them to the

World Cup that way I mean that that would be that would be a tragedy and they should have had a coach ready to go before two days before the Revelation Cup. It was already on the calendar. But, Sela V, I guess we'll wait till the next camp and see what the next roster is.

And maybe we'll talk about that then. Sounds like a plan. Maybe without a protest. Sure. Not under protest. Right. All right. Thanks a lot, Matt.

Really do appreciate it. Yeah, no worries. We'll see you.