Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #252: Interview with Jay Hernandez

Episode Date: February 17, 2022

Jay Hernandez, low-key one of the easier-on-the-ears pundits in this U.S. men's national team niche of ours, joins the pod to talk about the upcoming window, his path to USMNT fandom, his experience in Columbus at the USA-El Salvador match, Christian Pulisic's struggles, and a lot more.Hernandez is a big part of the First Touch Podcast, and covers the LA Galaxy for Areasportsnet.support Scuffed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedsign up for our weekly newsletter: https://scuffedweekly.substack.com/ join the Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU buy our merch: https://my-store-11446477.creator-spring.com/ 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. Our guest today is a Los Angeles, a USM&T fan, a Salvadoran American, a diehard L.A. Galaxy supporter and a friend of mine on Twitter, basically as long as I can remember, Jay Hernandez. He has his finger on the pulse of American soccer,

and he regularly holds court on Twitter spaces as part of the first touch. Collective? Is that the right thing to call it? Collective? Yeah, you can call it collective. That's actually a good way to put it. Okay. Well, thanks for being here, Jay. How are you doing? Hey, man, I'm good, man. Thanks for having me. We've been trying to do this for a while, and I'm glad we can make it work today. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for being here. How are you feeling about the upcoming window? I'm probably a little more nervous than most people are, to be honest. I don't like how the U.S. has been performing away from home. And we have the two toughest away games, you know, history-wise coming up. So I'm a little nervous, to be honest with you. Yeah, I'm nervous, too. I mean, I guess part of it is, like, last time you thought, what could go wrong?

We're going to play, you know, we're going to play Trinidad and Tobago away on the last, on the last match day, surely we can get a draw there. They're not even playing for anything. I don't know that this sets up any better than that. Yeah, especially because Costa Rica is still much alive. They're alive and they're, you know,

an experience side. So that last game is not the gimmies that we thought it was going to be. The El Salvador match in Columbus, you were there. I think that was your only, I mean, you live on the West Coast, right? So that was your only qualifier of the cycle?

Yeah, yeah, that was the only qualifier I've been able to make. I'm thinking about going to the Orlando one for Panama. Oh, dude, you got to come. Yeah. Yeah, I might pull the trigger on that. But the Columbus one, I mean, it was special to me. Because like you said, my parents are Salvadorian. so being able to see, you know, the country where my parents were born and the country

where, of course, where I'm born, play each other. I mean, to me, that was special. And, you know, I commented about, you know, sticking to both national anthems. And, I mean, to me, that was great. It was a great feeling for me. Yeah, so you just, let's do a little biographical detail. This is all new to me. I don't know any of this stuff.

So you were born in the U.S.? That's what you said? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I was born and raised in L.A. L.A. through and through. Both my parents came to the U.S. There was Civil War in El Salvador.

And they're pretty young. I think my mother was still in her teens when she moved here. And my stepdad also, they met here. But yeah, both about the same reasons, you know, getting away for the Civil War in El Salvador. So what part of L.A. did you grow up in? I grew up in what you call the South Central area. It's sort of close to the U.S.D. campus.

Close to where the L.A.F.E. Stadium is now. I grew up around that area. Okay. Were you big into soccer from, like, from a young age? I was born into it, man. Family, everybody watches soccer, cousins. We play soccer. We played in the streets.

We played in the park. My older cousins, they played in soccer teams, Sunday leagues. My uncles played in Sunday league. So it was soccer on the weekend for me. That's what we did. That was the family thing. You know, I haven't told you this before, but back when I lived in Des Moines, Iowa,

I played with a Salvadorian soccer team. I mean, I think I was the only non. Salvadorian. And, man, those guys ate well. They, though, their Sunday, their Sunday barbecues after the, after the games. It was real good. Yeah. It was good eating.

So, all right. So how did you become a USM&T fan? Like, uh, well, for me, um, it was in 94 when the World Cup was, uh, in, in the U.S. Um, it was about. nine years old. And, you know, just watching the U.S. play, you know, but at that time, I kind of knew the game a little bit. I knew what was going on. And then my uncle tells me Hugo Bedev.

He's a Salvadorian American. He's playing for the U.S. You got to watch him. So, I mean, to me, that really spoke to me, like, wow, like, this guy, he's coming from, you know, where my parents are from. and he grew up in LA and, you know, he's representing the U.S. Like, I thought that was amazing, you know. And just that and then, you know, Eric, when I was just scoring that foodcake on Switzerland, I think was,

yeah, that's where he became the U.S. MP fan. It's all about those World Cups, isn't it, for a lot, for everybody, really? Yeah, I mean, the World Cubs, they leave a lot of memories, you know, They really live an imprint on especially young kids, you know. Yeah. So what were your impressions of Columbus? Like I guess I should give people a little background that maybe not everybody would know. We talked about on our podcast about the qualifier locations,

and I was probably a little, didn't take the subject as seriously as I should have. I was saying like it's, you know, it's not necessarily racist for U.S. soccer to put all these qualifiers in the middle of the country and we were like I admit it we were what's the word flipping maybe you could say about the whole thing and you reached out to me and and we had a good discussion and then I ended up apologizing on the next podcast for what I said but why don't you like why don't you talk about how you think about all that whole topic the way yeah yeah soccer has put all I mean I get it I get the U.S. wanting the home field is at it I get them wanting, you know, pro-US crowd.

I really do. That makes sense, right? But I think with some of that, when they consider just the location, there's also some missed opportunities to grow the fan base. You know, some of the games you could have in more Latino populated area, kind of like Jamaica or Canada, you know, just to give some examples. You know, you could, you know, consider the locations for games like that, you know, in a more Latino populated or a more diverse populated area, you know, just to grow the fan base,

you know, because you think about it, it's been, you know, we've had a pro league for for decades now, about 26 years or so, we should be able to generate enough, enough crowd to have a pro-US crowd anywhere in the U.S. for the most part. I know Mexico, you know, there's some areas where Mexico is going to outdraw us no matter what. But in a country in general, we shouldn't be afraid to play in certain areas. that's my opinion we should be uh trying to reach those uh diverse uh areas and you know maybe there's a kid like me out there who sees uh a weston mckinney play uh a christian pulpit play and they're like wow i want to i like that player i want to you know follow that player and you know and fall in

love with the team yeah so you're saying like basically any non-referre i'm Mexico World Cup Qualifier and you know this is going to be it's going to be many years until this is an issue

again but it'll come back eventually in some in some form saying any qualifier other than Mexico uh you know

let the Midwest don't let me put words in your mouth but like let the Midwest have its fair share whatever but like spread them out yeah and I

know that they said travel was another big thing which, you know, I don't, I'm not like a sports scientist or anything like that, but I don't know if maybe an extra hour or two of traveling, is that going to have that big of impact on the game? I'm not sure. Yeah. But, yeah, I feel like, especially since we want to have kids of those backgrounds in our national team, you want the Jonathan Gomez, you want the. Pepe. You want,

you know, the Maricio Cuela. If you want those kind of players on your team, we're talented, you know, we can't shy away from fans

that like that either, you know, but you want to draw fans of that background also. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough. Did you say,

we were talking before we started recording and you said that you thought there was like 25% of the crowd in Columbus was Salvi's?

I thought, yeah, I thought there was a good 25% Salvadorians in the crowd. Like, like I looked around and I fell out of blue. And, you know, it made me happy that, you know, fans were, you know, willing to, to travel probably for the most part to Columbus to Steve the Elfabur national team, you know. And they got loud. They cheered. they got up for the game, you know, which was kind of, it's kind of funny because I felt like the American Outlaws were kind of reacting to the chance from the El Salvador crowd, you know? So, I mean, it made for a good atmosphere to me, actually.

I enjoyed it. Cool. And you got, I know, I saw a picture of you and Vince hanging out, so that made me happy to see that. Yeah, I got a chance to meet Vince, man. And he's a cool dude and, you know, easy-going guy. So, you know, it was pretty fun. I met a couple of different people who actually recognized me, which was funny, which was funny to me from Twitter.

Yeah, because your picture's not really out there that much on Twitter, right? No, no, but on that game, it was for that game. I actually posted a picture, you know. And there's reasons, of course, why you try to create private. and Twitter, you know, some of the, some of the people on Twitter might not be the nicest, let's put it that way. Right, right. I just, the reason I keep my picture mostly off Twitter is because I'm too handsome and

I don't want people to start feeling bad, you know? Hey, man, you're putting, you put everybody to shame. I get that, man. I'm just trying to care for my brothers and sisters, you know? Yeah, yeah, between you and Sam, it's tough flooding for the rest of us. So let's talk about the national team a little bit. Which U.S. player has surprised you the most with how, well, in any way over this qualifying cycle? I mean, the obvious one I think for most people is just Western McKinney playing out of his mind right now.

The level that he's taking his game with, you know, I've always joked around like, you know, The comparison of him and Arturo Ridao, you know, just halfway joking. Like, you know, if you can get half as good as... But right now, the level that he's at, my God. Yeah. It's a pleasure, right? Because... It sure is.

You had a player who was struggling, and then now he's just losing with confidence, man. Man, don't you remember the days when, like, I don't know, it almost was like if you had faith in West. McKinney as a U.S. fan, you were kind of in the minority. Like most people didn't really rate him. Am I remembering that wrong? Yeah. I mean, we've all saw, like, you know, his flaws, you know?

Yes. And it would show in some games you're like, look, he's not this. And even I'm guilty of that, you know, saying, oh, he's not technical enough. You know, I'm guilty of that myself, you know. But, you know, for him to be where he's at right now and at that level that he's at right now, man, you can't really say much about that right now. Yeah, the thing that struck me,

one of the things that struck me from Burrhalter's interview with Warsaw earlier this week was, Warshaw was asking him, what are you seeing from McKinney? Like, why is he playing so well? And Burrhalter said it's like his environment. you can tell that he's training at such a high level, like his speed of processing, his speed of mental processing is accelerating at just a fast rate.

And I don't agree with everything Burrhalter says, but that seems right to me. Yeah, yeah, he's right on that. Maybe Allegory's just got that out of him. You know, he seems to love playing that Juventus. Yeah, definitely. What do you think of the whole John Brooks? situation.

Frustrating. I mean, I've always rated John Brooks from, you know, we don't really have a centerback with his characteristics, you know, with the ball, I speak. We don't have a player like that. We have pretty solid defenders and Zimmerman and Miles and Chris Richards, but what he can do it to change our game offensively. I don't think the other centerbacks have that. You know, and to, you know, not know if this is personal or if it's just preference,

you know, it's frustrating. You know, I wish that if it was personal, it could be handled and you can come back to the national team, but who knows, you know? Yeah. Yeah, that's a whole part of it that I don't, yeah, I feel like we just don't know. But I mean, how much this is his lack of speed worry you, you know, if he's, if he is playing centerback for the U.S.? I mean, I, granted, he's with the ball at his feet, he's unparalleled among our centerbacks. But, but like he does look like he's running underwater sometimes when he's like trying to chase somebody down. Yeah, that's true.

But he also got to remember who he's been paired with at some point. I remember the Nation's League game against Mexico. He had Tim Rine next to him. You know, sometimes he's had Sergenio death next to him on the left, you know. Sergenio's not known for his defensive palace, you know. I think you've got to kind of protect John Brooks a little bit, you know. You kind of maybe you pair him with a, you pair him with. a Miles Robinson who can maybe, you know, clean up if he gets beat.

Or maybe, you know, Anthony Robinson, who's a better defender than on the left side than Serenio or Tim Rheem West, you know. So, you know, it's part of the tactics, right? You kind of find, you know, give or take what you want to risk versus where your reward might be. Yeah. Well, prayers up for that relationship, you know? Let's hope they can get it figured out if it, I mean, if it's personal. Yeah.

What is, you know, speaking of Burrhalter, you know, you're not afraid to criticize him. And I wonder, like, if you had to boil it down to two things or, you know, one to three things, what are your biggest criticisms of him as a coach right now? You know, and I've given him some credit, too. I think for against the Mexico game in Columbus, I think he pushed all the light buttons there, you know? Yeah. So I give him credit, too.

I'm not, I don't always bury him. But I think he kind of, he's late to realize the players just not at the level, you know. I feel like he takes, you know, he trusts some players and he, he lets him play themselves out of the net. national team, but I think he lets him stay a little too long, you know, to play themselves out. 100%. Yeah. I was just, I just saw that.

We'll go ahead. Keep going. Sorry. We saw that with Jackson and Yule. I think we're seeing this now with Sebastian Raj. You know, that's my first criticism of them. I was just thinking about that earlier today, like how, you know, more than 60% of his tenure as coach has been an era. of Michael Bradley, Will Trap, and Jackson Ewell at the 6th.

It's ridiculous. It's crazy to think about, right? Two years, two years of that or more. What else? What else, what else, what else you got on Triple G? I feel like, I feel like sometimes, um, he kind of has sort of like a, uh,

a small club mentality about it, you know? Kind of like, you know, like the whole choosing of the Minnesota location to use it as an advantage of it with Honduras. To me, it's like, come on, man, we're better than Honduras. We can claim anywhere in the U.S. You know, it shouldn't matter. I mean, it worked. We 1-30, which, you know, you'll plot them for us getting the win. but, you know, that kind of, to me, it tends the message to the players like,

hey, we need this to win when, in my view, we probably beat Honduras probably a lot easier in a different venue. Yeah. Yeah, I think that was a mistake. I mean, and I don't know, have you listened to the warshot interview with Burrhalter? I have not. I have not. Was there something in there that?

Yeah, he just sounded like, you know, they did not, they did not bargain for it being that cold. Now, that's on them. You know, they had, they should have known that it can get that cold pretty frequently in Minnesota. But it was clear. They should have asked, they should have asked you for some advice, brother. They clearly not listen to SCOF podcast, you know?

Right. But, you know, that's, they didn't want that. They didn't want it to be that cold. That doesn't make it better, but. Yeah. And Minnesota deserves a game, to be honest. They deserve it. They're a nice crowd out.

I like, you know, I like someone when we play them and on the last. It's nice. I mean, the time of the year was pretty, pretty dumb. It's nuts. But the city itself deserved a game. In April or something. Even March would have been okay. A little risky still.

Maybe to play the Panama game there that would have been smarter. Who knows? But then you're traveling a lot more. Okay. Holding on to players too long, small club mentality. What else?

I think, I think he, to me, it seems like he complicates the game more than it should be. Like you see it with some players they're not playing fluid, like they're, they're overthinking sometimes, you know? And I don't know if it's, if it's the instructions that are given, or if it's just the players.

But, and I'm not just seen it with one of the one player. I mean, we see it with Pulitzer's frustration, too. There's been a couple of players where I feel like they're not playing naturally. They're thinking too much. And I don't know if it's him just overcomplicating things, you know? Yeah, you know, I, Greg and I are going to record an episode about this tomorrow. But we got, he got access to this, like, this presentation that John Hurdman made in 2020. Where it's just, he just lays out the entire top to bottom vision for the, for the Canadian program.

And, you know, how they, how they teach tactics, what they want to. Maybe you've heard about this. It's like a, it's like a 90-minute. at Zoom call or something. And it struck me like, Herdman is a really, is obviously a very good teacher, you know?

Yeah. I don't know, I'm not, I don't know enough to say that Burrhaler's a bad teacher, but it doesn't, you know, he doesn't, his teaching ability doesn't jump at me

the way it Hurdman's does, I guess is the way I'd say it. Yeah, maybe he doesn't deliver the message. as clearly as Herdman. Yeah. Which would come up with it, which would bring us the same result,

which is players overthinking, not quite being completely. Yeah. One thing I actually liked about Herman is when, when they tied Mexico at that second, he was upset that he didn't win the game. And it kind of, and I started thinking,

would, Burrater the upset that he didn't beat Mexico in Mexico? I'm not sure. I think he probably be okay with the tie, right? Yeah. I mean, he wasn't even that upset that we lost to Canada, Canada. That one, you know, and it gets, it's one of the topics that, you know, it's out there right now

is the fan-based topic. I mean, stuff like that kind of gets under some fan-based skin, Like, you know, we just lost, you know. We're upset. Yeah. I can see, I can kind of see it from both sides. I mean, I think, again, the warshot interview. I mean, I have to talk about the warshot interview because it's like, that's where we get, like, most of what we get from Burrhalter, you know.

Right. But in that interview, he did make it sound like that was mostly him looking ahead to the Honduras game and trying to get the players ready to. be the best they could be in that game. And part of that is finding positives in the Canada game. And so it's almost like if you read between the lines, it's almost like he's just saying,

that was just, I was just saying stuff to try to get us hyped for Honduras. Yeah. That was in coaching for the next game you're playing, right?

Right. Yeah, it makes sense. It's still, you know, people are still going to be upset about it. Sure. Rightfully so. Other than McKinney's rise, what strong opinions do you have about the player pool right now?

I mean, I like what way as that right now. I think he's bringing something that we've been lacking on the wind, so it's just 1v1, like a player who could beat his defender 1v1, just go out of him 1V1, right? We're missing that. I really like what he's bringing. And I know that people are saying, hey, it was just Honduras. And, you know, it wasn't that great of a game.

But I feel like Luca Delatorica bring something different. And I'm not saying stardom or I'm not saying, you know, whatever. But I think he gets given some solid minutes off the bench. He brings something different. You know, he's not like Musa where he's just going to glide past with athleticism and, you know, his technical ability is pretty good. So I think that's something that we might have been missing, like, off the bench. Or maybe in that Panama game away, if we didn't have to rotate, you know.

Yeah, that, I mean, if he would have gone with a midfield of, Costa, Musa, and the La Torre, I think, who would have been in a better shape right now. How are you holding up? Speaking of Twitter, how are you holding up on there? It seems like you get into a lot of arguments. Yeah, I really, I really got to relax. So I'm gonna really try not to fight so much.

But I think, but that comes from like the passion, you know, the passion you have for the national team, the passion that you have from sports, yeah, of course, Like, I need to, you know, maybe take it down a notch. But it's just like the fire, man. Like, like, I want the national team to play well. I want, I want it to boss games. Like, one of the greatest feelings we've had in a long time is when we beat Mexico to zero.

And we didn't beat them off set pieces. We ran them off the pitch, you know? Yeah. Like, like, we want more of that. We, you know, it's, it's, um, it was a transcendent. games. Transcendant experience. Yeah.

Yeah. The one zero games against El Salvador, that shouldn't be enough, man. We should demand a little bit more than that. Yeah. Well, on the positive side, I don't know how much you think about this as like a conscious thing. But, you know, you and Edgar and Jorge and there's a lot of others are like, have become like a pretty sizable group of Latifian. fans of the USMNT on on Twitter and I

wonder how do you you guys talk about that like is that is that a thing that you that you notice or like any thoughts you have about that would be welcome here you know um I mean at honestly

at first we were just like oh we're just you know we're all USMMNT fans but um we're all from like different backgrounds too you know different backgrounds too you know different parts of the country, different, like, social backgrounds, too, you know.

Some guys are just going to college. Some guys have family, some guys, you know, they're, you know, they have a good job and, you know, stuff like that. So it's a very diverse group of Latino fans, which is awesome to me. I'm really, yeah, it's awesome for me too. You know, you know, it's pretty, it's interesting because maybe we, you know, maybe we, see soccer a little different than some, you know, it's maybe the way we were brought up or, you know,

how we watched it or how we criticized the team, you know, how we criticize the coach, you know, it's different, you know, the way we, we go about watching the games, you know? Yeah, well, how is it different? How is it different you think? Like more passion? I think, I think for, for, like, us, it's criticizing a player. It's perfectly fine.

If a player did not play well today, it's okay to say so-and-so did not have a good game today. That doesn't mean you hate the player. Yeah. And that's when I think sometimes it's still a little disconnected on Twitter because I didn't think player X played a good game today. It doesn't mean I hate them, you know. Right. But, you know, it's part of it. Being critical of the coach is part of it.

Like, you know, you see like Tata Martino, for instance, he wins. And the Mexican media, the fans, they want him fired. You know? Yeah. Some of it's a little extreme, you know. It is a little extreme where, you know, you want them fired. But it's fair to criticize the coaches. To me, it's fair game long as it doesn't cross the line, you know.

Yeah. my experience on Twitter you know it's a lot of like anonymous people and then it's like there's a fair amount of diversity because I'm you know interacting with you guys but it's not always like that at the games right

would you agree I think you were telling you were telling me off off air like when you were in Columbus it felt there were some moments where you like this is all white just look at all these white people it was a goal it was a ghost of shock because I mean I'm from LA it's pretty diverse

So you walk, you know, you walk down the streets here, I think people come home, I walked in Columbus, and I was like, I looked around and I'm like, I might be the only Latino in this section, you know, which is kind of, it was funny, but it was like kind of eerie at the same time, you know, like, I don't know. It's just a little different for me. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I know a lot of us don't want it to be like that. I mean, I can't change the color of my own skin, and I do want to go to the games. But, but. Yeah, definitely. But, yeah, I'm glad you were there. Let's see. Let's talk a little bit about El Salvador, about the El Salvador national team. You had, you had Erson Perez on a Twitter space a few weeks ago.

Maybe, I guess it was like a couple months ago now. And I thought that was a great conversation. And what's your assessment of his? dad said you're you know you can't be nice to him just because just because you had a sound I think man that the things that uh Hugo Perez is doing out there I know he gets criticism because he's not getting the results um and it's fair you know he to me actually he's gotten more assault than people thought he was but um yeah I think his dad is doing as good a job as anybody could you know with

stuff that he has to encounter with a pool that's not as deep as, you know, the rest of the countries in the region, having a change to culture, not just of the team, but the federation of even the fans. Because we're not to be a little bit pessimistic about the national team, you know. You know, so trying to change that, it's been good. I mean, I feel like he's brought new ideas and he's working. You know, he has a vision. And, I mean, I got a lot of respect with his got. I got a lot of respect, but it will better. Yeah.

Yeah, it's like part of me wishes he could be, he could coach the U.S. I mean, I feel like it's probably never going to happen, but... Yeah. How do you say his son's name? You say, is it, is it, Herrson? Yeah, in Spanish, it's Herzson, and if you want to say in English, it's Harrison. Okay. I mean, he was talking about having, like, a lot of issues with the, you know, with the Federation not being very sophisticated and stuff.

And then there was the whole thing, I mean, he wasn't super critical, but he was just saying, like, this is the reality. And then there was this whole thing about like players not Like saying they weren't going to play for the last qualifier and then all of a sudden they did play Can you shed any light on all that? Like what's the what's the latest with all that? So so the issue was with players they were their promise you know some bonuses for you know for reaching for wins they were promised a bonus of course they beat Honduras for the first climate history and qualifiers.

So they're promised a bonus. And, you know, for certain milestones, they were going to be paid bonuses. Also, when they were in Columbus, there's story that some of them had to buy or some of the winter clothing was donated because they weren't enough. Yeah.

And, you know, think about that, like, as the U.S. fan of your soccer players not having enough winter clothes or to keep worn, you know? Yeah. You know, that's something that wouldn't be thought of in the U.S., you know? So, and then, you know, the players were promised they will be reimbursed, and there's maybe some miscommunication that, you know, they were going to be reimbursed at a different time.

So, and that's actually something that in El Salvador is pretty common. You know, players in the Federation are just fighting among each other, you know? It's pretty common. So maybe not that big of a deal, really. Well, it's not a big of a deal, but then you have players like Alex Rodan who's not used to stuff like that. And now there's rumors that he might not want to play for the national team. anymore. So, I mean, it hurts, it hurts the national team.

Having drama like that, it hurts the national team. You know, that's something that you don't want. What's the, what's the, I mean, just to take it back to the sporting side. Like, what's the ceiling for El Salvador, like, in the future? You know, if everything goes right for Hugo Perez and the, and the player pool, and he keeps the job. through 2026? You think they can make the World Cup? I mean, that's the goal.

Actually, when he took the job, he said that the project is the 2026 project. Yeah, I mean, they've battled through this qualifier. They made a game of a lot, a lot of games. They've made a good game out of it, gotten some experience. But I think the end goal is always 2026, you know, with the U.S., and Mexico and Canada not being involved in qualifying. They see a window where maybe they can make a push to the World Cup. And, you know, they're recruiting.

They're recruiting in the U.S. They're having tryouts in the U.S. I spoke with Herson, and he told me he has a list of about 70 under 17 kids playing in MLS academies in the U.S. Salvadoran American. Now, I remember that. So, I mean, he's recruiting. He knows the landscape of U.S. doctors.

So, you know, that's the thing that's going to help our region with the U.S. doing so well in developing talent, you know, some of the other countries are going to benefit. Yeah. Which is good for all of us, really. I'm not mad about it. I don't know that anybody is, really. Yeah. How are you feeling about the Galaxy's prospects this season?

They got Douglas Costa. They got Douglas Costa from Brazil. And you know what, man, it's going to be interesting because it all comes down to his health. And it all comes down to how committed he has to the team, you know. Right. If he's going to be committed or if he's just here the collective paycheck, then it's going to be you know, another one of those DPs that didn't pan out for the galaxy. They've had quite a bit of them lately.

So, but overall the team looks promising. They've added some interesting pieces. They might help, you know. And some of the young players, I think, are due to have pretty good years. So, yeah, I mean, I think they'll at least make the playoff. I bet a Raah will be really good this year. Oh man That one still stings

Man Losing O'Hawr For real So things I think that kid is Yeah You know everything about that kid It's just

You know He's a great Great person All right Well somebody on Reddit Made fun of me for doing this But I still do it Is there anything you wish

I was asking about Surely there's something What do you think about Kulik's saying that he put too much pressure on himself? What's your take on that? I don't know. I mean, that answers a question that I'm not asking. You know, I mean, it's not that I'm not interested in that sort of thing from him, but like I want Pulisic to be a better part of the team.

and I feel like he could And maybe it's all Greg Burrhalter's fault I doubt that I think I think Pulisic Has some responsibility here And So okay If he's if he's if if if his response

To putting too much pressure on himself Is to You know Kind of be a static off the ball Attacking piece That tries to dribble people all the time And doesn't and honestly Doesn't do it very well

for the past several months. Yeah. Then please stop putting pressure on yourself. He's not been himself. He's not been the player that we've come to expect. And he's been not a great piece of a team, you know. Yeah. Do you feel like, sometimes I feel like he's glad he has to help,

but maybe deep down inside he wants to. wants to carry the team. Yeah, maybe. You know, like, yeah, like, I'm still the guy here. I mean, he's still the guy here, but he's not the only guy there, you know? Yeah. Well, it's not just his U.S. teammates who may have reason to be frustrated that he doesn't involve them the way he should or move off the ball for them the way they should.

Like I just saw just from From the Club World Cup There was a there was a moment where he shot And Kai Havers was like Kai Havers who won the game winning penalty Was like really mad at him You know through his arms up in the air And I just don't think he's like that good of a

He's not that good of a passer He's not that good off the ball He's really good at beating people 1V1 If he's if he's if he's not doing that Very well I'm not sure what he brings. He's still finding himself, right?

He's still finding, he's still, I mean, yeah, he's, what, 24 almost? Yeah. He needs to find himself for some reason. I don't know if maybe change of scenery from the club would help him, but, you know, he's been healthy for a bit, you know? It's not injuries right now. Did you think maybe we saw some flashes of the old Pulisic in that, uh, That game in Dubai?

I sort of did. I did. I did see flashes, but like you said, I saw a lot of static from him, not moving, not. But it was a decent game. I thought he was pretty decent in the game. I'm glad that, you know, he was able to, you know, win another trophy, which, you know, is always good for the U.S. For our players to be winning trophies. But I thought he did okay.

Yeah. I'm still, I said this on the Monday podcast we recorded, but seeing how well he played, which was, I think, not amazing, but quite a bit better than he has been playing, made me optimistic that he will, you know, make a big impact in late March. I'm always optimistic, though. Yeah. We need it. We need it. We, we, that game at Azteca is, looming lives right now. I mean, we're definitely going to need him to be out of the best. We get a point there. We beat Panama at home with you, Jay, and me in attendance. We'll be celebrating in the streets of Orlando.

Oh, man. It'd be so fun. Hey, why not? You got to be, you got a dream, right? Yeah. I think this, does four points get us in? I don't quote me on it, but I think pretty much, yeah. Pretty much, right, yeah.

Hey, I think we'll get it. I think we'll get it. And then we'll go to Costa Rica with a whole lot less pressure on us. Yeah, hopefully. Worried, but optimistic is how I characterize myself. That's the way to approach this three-game window. Well, Jay, I'm glad we got this done. Let's do it again.

Let's do it again another time, please. And thank you. No, definitely, man. Thanks for having you bells and, you know, how to get time talking, man. Awesome. All right. Thanks, everybody for listening. We'll see you.