Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #328: Reyna curler, McKennie header, a famous win for Pepi

Episode Date: October 24, 2022

There was also some bad news, for Leeds, to cover from the weekend, and a lot of middling stuff. Another fully-public Monday Review with Watke and Vince. ----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Please support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed 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.

From the USSF approved territories of Georgia and Kentucky, and also from the FIFA approved territory of Brooklyn, this is the Monday Review. I'm Adam Bells. I've got Waki and Vince with me, and we're going to review the weekend's action, the action from late last week. First thing we've got to talk about is Giovanni Raina. He scored a goal.

I'll play the audio from it real quick. I can be going as well, Nico Schlaudebock. His pass here has found Rafael Guerrero, Brandt, Grants pass Mukoko on here now for Giorayna! What a finish! His first goal in the Bundesliga since August of 2021. Also continues to look very good, I thought. What did you guys think?

I thought listening to that was reliving his easiest can be arrival and then just placing it right into the corner there, making the angle look easy too. It wasn't an easy angle, was it? It was so calm. No. Left foot touch to set up the shot, bent it around the defender. He's just that dude, you know what I'm saying?

If he was a basketball player, we'd call him a real hooper. Yeah. And you know, hoopers know who's a real hooper and who's not. Yeah. It's a, you know, it's something that you have deep down in your spirit. And Geo definitely has that. You know, we've talked about this a little bit in the last couple weeks, but the connection between him and Bellingham is really fun to watch.

Obviously, he scored that goal. We should describe it. Some nice interchange up the left side. And he's kind of all alone on the left wing, receives that pass from Makoko and takes a touch with his left foot, bends it into the far corner. So it was a very, it was an effortless, stylish goal. But it should be mentioned that connection between Bellingham and Raina, like immediately in the second minute, Bellingham scored a goal.

And if you go back and watch it, Raina had a lot to do with that goal. There was a throw-in in Dortmund's half. Bellingham hits it to Raina. Raina works down the line and finds Mukoko's feet. McCoco comes back to Brandt. Then Brandt plays it to Raina on the half turn just inside the box. And then he finds Bellingham at the top of the box. Bellingham slips it out to Sula.

And then Sulla cuts it back to the penalty marker for Bellingham to just slap it into the goal. Like a very beautiful team goal. But I guess the reason I say all that is it's not just that Raina scores goals and like does this kind of he has this effortless vibe on the field he is relied upon by Dortmund to carry the ball up that up that left wing in this game yeah go ahead he was a driver of that goal because first it was him running in and there was a pass in there somewhere and then when he receives it he combines like the power of that play with the little his pass to bellion was like a tiny little classy chip yeah so it's like switching from running in everything's

moving fast to slowing the game down really quickly and doing a little chip that can be played across. He's so good. So basically, Dorman would be just, you know, neglecting their responsibilities of putting out a winning professional football team. If they did not rely on G.O. To, you know, get the ball to field, you know, just being a one of those ball progression cheat codes, as Greg Velasquez would say. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's just, he's in. I mean, I'm worried we're, we're risking being a little bit too high on him at this point.

You think so? No. No, I don't. Of course, I don't think so. I think we're right on the money. We're right on the money. Right on the money. I mean, we could probably go up a level, man.

I mean, you know, with geo, the ceiling is the roof. I had another note. Exactly. The ceiling is the roof. for Gio. I had a note on him that I wanted to share. He has kind of a medium high rate

of going to pick up the ball on the sideline for a throw-in, but then ultimately tossing it back for an arriving teammate. This happened in the World Cup qualifiers a few times. I think it was against El Salvador. And kind of the joke within the community

was he just always wants to be on the ball. But based on this game, I have a new theory. It's a strategic thing he does. He's trying to draw a defender in so he can make a quick run as he tosses it and we saw a little bit of that today

so I think he's been planning that all along he just hasn't had quite the right moment Oh and so that brings up another Another point about his performance Is that you know He wasn't trotting around too much You know I mean he was Don't get me wrong

He will trot He will trot He will trot but he also stretched that hammy out a little bit Trying to get in Make some tackles Poked the ball away and stuff like that and, you know, we saw some, you know, start, stop, some burst, some suddenness from them. So, all great signs, all great signs.

And played 66 minutes. We were not one week ago, maybe even less. We were thinking, hey, maybe this is a 30-minute player in the World Cup. Right. I mean, it's such good news, the whole thing. It's good news now. But, you know, we're not out the woods. And if something were to happen, we're going to be.

be looking back at least 66 minutes like damn a Dortmund yet undone again well there was a lot of uh i have a few other things there were a lot there was a lot of emotion after the goal you know he went to his knees and then fell on his face yeah on the grass he and bellingham cuddled on the ground for a while um i mean mukoko was was lying face up on the ground next to reyna just enjoying the moment i mean lots of lots of emotion there he's an almost from a guy You think he is? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he was in tears.

For sure. Every, not every setback, but at the beginning and then the next big setback. Yeah, and then, you know, you got the gestures, the perceived petulance, you know what I'm saying? Like, all that's emotion. Emotion coming out in different ways. So he is a very emotional dude. Where is it on his sleeve? But for some reason, this reaction to this goal surprised me a little bit.

but but I like I guess I hadn't realized that he hadn't scored because you know we've gotten excited about assists and whatnot but yeah I hadn't realized that either 421 days since a league goal I feel like he scored uh in the in some other competition but maybe not you know what and and and this tells you the power of G arena that he avoided a you know he avoided having the Twitter account made because even even you like like even our haters know like hey that's that dude Yeah. They're not going to make it decent. Yeah. He also, there was one, so he did, he did some good poke tackles. I don't know, didn't you have a word for that, Waki, where you just stick your foot in and poke the ball through the other guy? I would think it would have to be a poke tackle. I don't know how to improve upon that.

I'll take it. Yeah. And he also, speaking of him stretching out his hammie, he went in hard to do, try one of these poke tackles, got called for a foul. It disagreed vigorously with the referee. I mean, it looked put upon that this would be called. And then you could see a mouth to the guy he allegedly fouled. I got all ball. I got the ball. And then you see the slow motion replay. He didn't get the ball at all.

The guy. He just got the guy. So I appreciate that, you know, steadfast dishonesty from him. Yeah. It seems like dishonesty in soccer It might actually be People like it's definitely something you need to leverage Yeah

Without a doubt Yeah that's it's the world's game You know And there's a lot of different honesty codes out there Go ahead And his hamstring looked He looked fine We were a little worried about it at the end of last game

He was just tired it turned out We were spinning our wheels and panic there or at least I was. Oh man, there was this one moment in the second half. I think he was going up for an aerial duel or something. But I guess he ended up getting hit in the hip. And like after he comes down, he like grabs his, you know, lower butt cheek upper hamstring area. And I was like, ah, man.

Ah, man, he got me for a second. But then, you know, you see a minute later he's running it whatnot. He needs to be careful with these physical cues, and maybe he might be messing with us a little bit. He needs to be FaceTiming 24-7 with a trainer and making sure he makes all the right decisions over the next few weeks. Everything he eats, everything he does. Yes, obviously that.

And also just communicate to us that's what you're doing and don't make it seem like you're hurt when you're not. That's a lot to ask. Just keep doing what you're doing. I take back the request. Yeah, because, like, I mean, the thing that, you know, hasn't been talked about here is he has to be running out of ham to string somewhere like I mean I don't know how many times you can you can tear your hamstring and I don't know

how many strings are on the ham well see now you have me worried again I thought we turned to corner we were feeling really positive but you know I look I am feeling positive all I'm saying is hey take take it easy be mindful of the number of strings on your ham Yeah. First, sir. A couple other Americans scored. I mean, let's be straight about it. It was a fantastic weekend for the player pool.

But let's go on to the next goal. This one's from McKinney. Wouldn't she grappling with the other captain bandinelli? Quadrado's corner. McKinney! A couple of unlikely goal scorer tonight for you. Even in victory, he gets a little bit of a backhanded compliment from the commentator. But he dunked on Empoli right back.

Petar Stoyanovich for YuVe's second goal and a four zero win at home. He's just so good in the air. Our best attacker in the air for the national team by a very large distance. And you know, you notice, I thought he had an okay performance, but you notice when he comes off, Maxi Allegory just loves him. I mean, he's like smiling all over him and giving him hugs. Just shots with them walking side by side. Like they're on a buddy's trip. Yeah.

it does feel like Wes isn't quite as fond of Allegri as Allegri as of Wes, which is the dynamic you want as a player. His header goal, it was kind of like the smart, undersized big man dunk. It was a clear dunk. One where you kind of have to, you jump off two feet,

you're kind of under the rim, you're on a dead stop, you got guys hanging on you and you just have to know the angles. And then be smart about the angles, but you have to have the power to get up through it. It was kind of that type of goal. Not that there were literally men hanging on him, but that was the energy for me.

Maybe a little head fake to get the people around you off balance or something, you know? Yeah, I got you. I got you. But yeah, the black maca root, he's back. You can't keep him down for too long. Can't keep him down for too long. Yeah, he had a couple, you know, sloppy moments on the ball, as he often does. But he did a lot of good stuff on the ball, too, and he worked his butt off.

which is kind of his role for Juventus right now. Yeah. And that's it. And that is the goal the goal he scored. That's one we have to have in the World Cup. So that's the goal we've kind of been looking for.

So it's good to see this close in. Got to have it. We got to have it. And the thing is we're, like I would take it to the bank that we're going to get at least, he's going to find his head on a set piece opportunity. It just, is it going to go in or not?

That goal is kind of like the one against Mexico, wasn't it? Because he didn't have a run-up on that one either. He can just be there and jump. Oh, yeah. I thought it was kind of like the one against Canada that got tipped over the bar right at the end of the first half.

Oh, yeah. In this case, it wasn't tipped over the bar, obviously. Anything else on Wes? A lot of talk of benching him at the World Cup. I don't, I will not hear that talk. I guess I'll hear it. but it strikes a negative chord with me. I don't love it.

One note I have on him is, I think he's an underrated player to watch run aesthetically. I like the way he leans forward. It's kind of far forward, but it seems like the right angle. Yeah. Like he's never in danger

losing balance or anything, but he does have that torso, you know. Far forward. All that power is going straight forward. 45 degree angle or so. He's an incredible. athlete. He's he's incredible balance and ability to control the space around him, as we like to talk

about on this podcast. I have very little memory of him ever doing something clumsy. Yeah. And even when it would be defensively a while back, but even those moments, they're not that clumsy. It's just he, it was just a slightly slow decision. How many times does he run the ball down into the corner, which is, if you've played much soccer, you know, if you've got, you've got the ball in the corner with a defender on your back. It's a really difficult spot to do anything, you know? There's no, there's, you got to be a lot better than the other guy to get around him in that spot. And he does it all the time. He does it in, he does it in Syria. He does it in Concaf. He gets on that, he gets on that, he gets on, he's got the ball in

the end line and he somehow finds a way to just, um, leverage his body and get around that guy. and then stand a cross up at the back post or something, you know. And I think it was this game too where he did give somebody like a nice little shoulder, like in the box, I think, run out to a ball, gives somebody a nice shoulder and then laid it off. Yeah. Yeah. Peppy scored a really big goal for Groningen and played well in what I think is kind of a famous win for them. They beat PSV 4 to 2, the first time they've beaten them in eight years.

Here's the audio from the goal. That was awkward for Abispo and it's been taken off him. It's Engunga and it's in by Pepe and Grunningham lead. I remember Ngonga playing with Richie Ledesma at Young PSV a couple years ago. And he actually, I think he's going to help Pepe a lot because he created a lot of danger in this game. Anyway, Pepe got the goal, the opener and he was involved in a lot of their attacking moves. He has his moments of messiness in the holdup I think had a couple early in this match

But he's doing a lot of nine stuff quite well I counted three little Line splitting passes Or like opponent splitting passes One two to put teammates into the box One in the first half one in the second half One resulted in a shot And then he also

He also did one of those little splitting passes To get out of a pickle on the left sideline He also combined in the buildup to the fourth goal At the end the one that iced it and then made a run to the back post that dragged attention away from the goal score who flashed the penalty marker and thumped in the cutback.

That place was on fire too. He also on the third goal, he did a semi-dummy where it looked like he was going to backheel it. Instead, the guy just took it off him and dribbled a couple guys and shot and scored. Oh yeah, that's right. So I want to give him some, you know, good instinct to leave that.

Also, we should probably describe the goal. It was a rebound that, or the keeper saved it, dropped it a little bit, then I think kicked it directly to him. But, so he had an open goal, he put good power on it on the shot. I think a lesser striker would have gotten a little nervous there. He wasn't nervous. Kicked it right in.

Yeah. Didn't have to take any, you know, he didn't have to settle it, take a touch or something like that that might have, you know, reduced his chances of scoring there. One touch, yeah. One touch, boom. Right in the kisser. But, uh. And then what a scene in the state?

It has the stadium camera shake too. Yeah. So it's like, and the screen's moving a little bit. And then he just went with this standard celebration, which is the jump and the mini fist pump. And then he did a little arm spread. And then he did a handshake high five with someone in the crowd. It wasn't anything flashy, but I think that that's kind of, we see a lot of that celebration. It's nice.

You got to get back to business. Yeah, I agree with that. I do feel like he missed the moment a little bit, though. It was like that crowd was insane. I, you know, he scored it. He could have gone, had his run go straight to the endline crowd. I think they were the normal. They were the ones.

And they were the only ones in the stadium too. He kind of looped and went out to the outside. So maybe he's a little leery of the intensity of that intimacy he would have with that. I mean, I'm projecting quite a bit there, but. The captain who scored. the fourth goal, he went straight to the crowd behind the goal and started screaming at them and they started screaming back at him as they were throwing beers everywhere. Yeah. This is, this is seeming to be a real good spot, man. Real good spot for Rico.

It was, it's nice, man. It's nice. It really is. It's exactly the role he would have ostensibly play for the U.S. And he's doing it pretty well. Oh, man. I'm a fan of this team now, Grown again. Me too. Got to be. I was wondering, you know, we're going to get to leads, but with leads, you know, looking a bit shaky, who is going to be our source, our source of power and happiness? Ronan. That the whole fan base rallies around.

So, yeah, it could be Gronica. We got a few, we got a few candidates, I guess. But, oh, also, Bells. So, yes, he did have a sloppy moments and build up a few times early in the match. But as he got into the game, man, he really started, he really started balling. Yeah, I think so. I felt because at first I was going to say, you know, he has some good and some bad. And once you watch the whole game, I think he was objectively good receiving the ball.

And this just brings me to my other point that PSV, PSV really getting passed around by Americans this season. you know we got we got we got malick probably having maybe his one of his two or three good moments of the season against PSV James Sands of course Matt Turner Rico Pepe yeah I mean I love it and I mean maybe we can get uh I mean who who's in a bad run a form right now can we can we get John Brooks playing PSV in the Europa League or something I feel like Benfica is going to make it to the knockout rounds the Champions League, so we can't. Damn.

Well, whoever, whoever, I mean, can we get the, all the, all the, all the MLS players that have lost in the playoffs? We need a, we need a friendly against PSV schedule to get them on the plane. Get them, get them over here, man, because it's, it's open season for America. Just set up camp by rude Vinius Troy's house. Yeah, yeah, we need it. And, you know, we, we don't, we don't slut shame on this pod. But, you know, PSV maybe needs to get tested.

it's true we don't we haven't yet we haven't had a reason to it i honestly had never even occurred to me that we might but we do not do it we do not do it so PSV keep keep getting passed around actively seek out americans to to give up goals to thank you you know and some people and there may be a tendency of from some of us to be upset with rude van Nistelroy for not playing Ritchie Ledezma more. I'm not in that camp. I think Vinistaroy is probably Ladezma's best ally, you know? I mean, he has to be one of them because, I mean, he kept them around.

Right. Put him in against Arsenal. Yeah. And he has given him some minutes. It's just Ladezma's not. He's not. I don't know. He's not there.

He's not there yet. Yeah. Still baking. Right, he's still baking. And like I said, was the last week or whatever. If he ends up being a PSV for a minute, then let it be. Let it be. That's a real nice spot.

No, we allowed more than a minute. We were deciding he could be a career guy. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, if his whole career is at PSV, I'll take it. Yes. That is an objectively successful career. So, so we'll see.

But yeah, PSV just got, they got a lot of dudes. like in that attack and roll specifically. Yeah. And I don't know if Poulissix, I mean, sorry, not Poulosik. Dezma, I don't know if Lidazma is ready for the number six role. All right, should we talk about Poulosik, Christian Mate Poulosik? Yeah, he came on somewhere in the 70th minute range, maybe a little later, and didn't really do a whole lot up until he won a corner that then was turned into a penalty and was scored.

And that was what he did. He also, after he won the corner, he did a good get loud motion. He kind of flapped his right arm up, which was really good. And then there was some three men right in the front row who loved it. They started doing it too. And it was strangely, as Pulisic, he was kind of an innocuous corner he won. He got a congratulatory tap on the back from both the main United Keeper and one other defender. Wow.

So he really had an impact on pretty much everyone in that building. So congratulations. And then on the celebration, he was the first to Giorgino. And he was kind of doing that distance where he gave him a supportive observer, like, you do your celebration. And he got a little close. The problem is the rest of the Chelsea team was streaming in. The Pulitzer got overrun and was kind of shut out of the big jump-upon huddle on the sideline. and then he had a couple good dribbles or something.

Did he have a couple good dribbles or something? Or like what? Did he have a couple good dribbles? I think he had like one. I don't remember. I was really the goal was his big moment. The rest was an afterthought. And then they ended up giving up the lead in tying.

He didn't do a whole lot this game. Yeah. I'm seeing he had seven touches, supposedly. Okay. He's a good player. We need him. Yeah, and one thing that made me feel kind of good was just seeing, like, once the lineup was dropped, a whole bunch of Chelsea supporters that, of course, you know, there's no love lost between the people that listen to this podcast and Chelsea supporters specifically. But they were saying that Pully needed to be in the lineup.

He probably had earned it. So it wasn't just us, you know, with our red, white, and blue glasses. on saying that, you know, he had played well. Everyone, everyone had seen and acknowledged that he had played well over these past two matches and probably deserved a start. Yeah. Graham was always going to need to see a little bit more, you know, just dispositionally. I have to say his, I think he talked about it.

He called it like a glow up or something. Going from Brighton to Chelsea and he has like his haircut and shit. I don't know why, but it makes them look more ridiculous. And my grandpa are having a fade. I don't know why. Like usually a fade looks good on most people, but him specifically not. And you know, you knew straight away, you didn't even need to see it. You knew a fade would not quite fit, Grand Potter.

Right. It just don't fit. It don't fit. I don't care how nice your line is. That's not you, bro. It's just not you. What kind of haircut? is him.

Whatever he had before. I don't know what he had before, but just go back to the brighton. I mean, with him, the better the line, the worse is going to fit. Right. You need something a little rough around that. A little sloppy even. Maybe not sloppy, but let's not get it too clean and tight. Doesn't make sense for you, Graham.

Well, all right. Let's talk about leads. Well, they went up one zero, and no one would have felt confident at that point. I think even Jesse Marsh knew not to celebrate at all and then they lost.

I was talking about he did celebrate though. Yeah, but it was muted. Well, yeah, I guess when you talk about when you talk about Jesse Marsh celebrations, yeah, it was muted. Yeah, I mean, they're so far down right now. You can't even celebrate a goal

as hard as you would like yet. They need a couple of results. And hopefully he, it seems like he's going to get a chance to do a few results. He hasn't been fired yet as far as I know. Supposedly he's getting to the World Cup, which in the league, I'm pretty sure they got Liverpool and somebody else good. They could always pull it off, who knows?

This was the first really big time he had to do a full stadium walk around and applaud people as they boot him. That's a really unique character-building experience that as far as I know only. exist in the sport of soccer. There's no other profession. You don't even do this in other sport. Right, right. I like it. I think he's such as positive self-talker.

He's probably telling himself, like, this is a great opportunity. I'm really glad how badly this is going. So Adams didn't even start, right? Or didn't play? He had a small injury. He's got an injury. Supposed to be back in a week. Aronson played.

I don't think he was the problem. I think he was fine. I mean... What did you think? I mean, fine, might be underselling a little bit. It seems, especially in these past, I'm going to take the, I'm going to take the Lester match out. He wasn't, he wasn't that good in Lester.

He was fine. He did some things. But, like the Arsenal match, this match against Fulham, like he's really doing some things. He's really putting together some performances that are making me consider some thing. Yeah. My favorite thing that he's doing is he'll kind of be running in from the left a little bit into the middle and receive the ball and then it looks like he's going to play it to the

right but he'll play it left to a man who's not in in the picture in the TV picture. Yeah, like across his body. Yeah. Yeah. That's my favorite pass he's doing. And Tyler Adams has been doing that pass to Brendan Aronson. Like there's been good stuff between these two. Yeah.

Pretty consistently. Pretty consistently. And I mean for Brendan did not come out of this stretch, this stretch of me. matches without a, without an assist at least. It's been pretty crazy, you know. Pat Banford, he got his haircut, still ineffective. Yeah. So I don't know, man.

I mean, he, what do you say? He had like six or seven key passes in this last game and Brendan did. So, I mean, you know, he's doing his thing. He's doing his thing. And, you know, as far as how this affects. What I think about the national team. Well, here's what I. Like, I don't know why we constantly need to compare Brandon Aronson and Tim Way.

Well, well, it definitely wasn't going to be Tim Way. I'll tell you that, Waki. Okay, okay. Yeah, as far as a wing option, like, because he's not doing this from the wing. Yeah. He's not, he's not playing winger. He's playing as a 10, usually in this, in Jesse Marshall's system. So, you know, it's making me think about some things, man.

playing this double pivot with Tyler and Musa close to each other and one midfielder that's up and in the attack. But you were really going to put him into kind of a battle against Wales in the midfield? Look, look, I'm not saying I would do it. I'm just saying that I would consider it. And to be honest, it's taking me a lot to even get to this point. And not just to get to this point, but to publicly say it. Right.

It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's brave of you. We hadn't had the opportunity to really watch him weekend and week out when he was with Salisbury. Right. I don't know if we've watched this man over it.

Go through a full season of games and just see how he develops. What he's like really, really about. You know, we see him on the wing for the national team. but I just think this is opportunity to learn some things and we're getting some positive positive data points. I would say his past, the past few good games he's had has looked like his better games with Salzburg except with not quite as many easy free chances just because they were so dominant.

Yeah. So, which is good news because that was a lower level and now he's kind of figuring out here. And that brings up another thing that I saw this weekend, going back to Geo and Dortmund. Man, Adi Emmy. Adi Emmy is, yeah, I'm not going to say too much because he's probably going to end up making me look stupid. Because Dortmund usually doesn't miss on these things. But you didn't think he was that good. I've seen him, you know, we watch Dortmund a lot.

And I haven't seen too much. Adam, I assume you have some skepticism about this Aronson talk. No, I'm just listening. I'm fine. I'm fine with it. You know, I know he's a useful player.

I guess I, I guess I'm constrained by, I'm constrained by what I believe Burrhalter's going to do with the lineup, with the formation. And, um, I'm not going to bench Weston McKinney for Brennan Aronson at this point.

Mm-mm. And, and I think we need Tim Wea to stretch the field on one of those wings. I think he does something with his off ball movement. I feel like I've said this a million times, but he does stuff with his off ball movement, and his ability to pick out a pass from the right wing is pretty much singular in our player pool.

We need that. So then it's just a question of who do you start on the left wing, Rainer or Pulisic. I'm going to say Raina right now, and Aronsonson's not. starting for me. Even though I, you know, I don't disagree with anything Vince just said, except for maybe the openness to starting him at the 10.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, it's a, it is a system dependent thing because if the midfield three is part of the three of the, you know, of the two, three, five, then that's definitely a no for Brendan for me. but if that 10 is a part of the attack because you have you know the double pivot and

basically if you have Tyler Adams paired with someone like Eunice Musa or whoever or Weston although I don't know if Weston would do that so if you got Tyler you got Tyler another eight next to him and I mean what we were doing was you know keeping the right back back

with Reggie Cannon and all that then I would I consider it I consider it Okay. Let it never be said that on the scuff podcast, we don't adjust our opinions based on the data. Let it never be said. Anything else on leads?

Yeah, I mean, we're just, like I said earlier, we're on that search now. Of course, we're very fickle, like all fan bases. We're very fickle. What have you done for us lately? Leads, you're not holding up your end of the bargain. We're not getting a lot of, we're not getting a lot of good moments from you right now

and also stop allowing set piece type goals right on your attacking set they had an attacking set piece where they allowed a total breakaway the type where there's just a guy dribbling at goal for 60 yards with no one in front of him that's a that's something just the optics of that let's cut that out because fans will notice that

and like I don't like that yeah it just seems like even if it's not the coach's fault. That seems like something that the coach, they would get blamed on the coach. Yeah. Also,

are we going to talk about Jedi and Tim Rink in this match? Well, Tim Rheam was good. He had a bunch of blocks and he had some, he had one really nice pass to Jedi down the left side that went across. And I think that's where one of Fulham's really good early chances came from. And then Tim had that really long left-footed diagonal. That was nice.

Yeah. and then some good defensive stuff. Is that generally, what were you thinking about him? I don't know. So I think Tim has been a little bit worse lately than he had been to start the season. But still doing a job somewhat. I don't know. Like I was on the Tim Rine bandwagon, and I think I still am considering all the options.

But I don't know if it's like a slam dunk. I think I was trying to judge if people being really pro on Tim Riem was more of a reflection of dissatisfaction with our current, you know, Berhalter and our current centerbacks. Because people were saying he was really good in this game. He was good. He wasn't, I don't think he stood out that much in this game other than a few good passes and blocks. Right, right. And that's basically where I met. And he was unfortunate for one of the blocks that he did make resulted in that first.

goal. Like the ball, the ball came off of him and just popped up in the air. And it got headed home by Rodrigo. And that goal had heavy American involvement because kind of the first pass came from Aronson and it went across Anthony and he maybe could have. Oh, yes. Yes. He could have cut that out.

Judge that better. Right. Without a doubt, without a doubt, he could judge that better. Got eighting up by the ball. Yeah, I think that was a mistake there. Yeah. I was a little bit, maybe a little bit too high on him last week. That was the type of thing that, yeah.

It wasn't a disaster. He was kind of backpedaling and then he had to move forward and he misjudged it and just went for it. He probably shouldn't have done that. And then when Ream recovers, blocks the shot. Right. They had it in the deflection. And I was, so since the Jedi comments, right, about the one ankle thing, I was, I was just watching him to see. and I don't know

maybe there were a couple times where he was like slowing down off of a sprint where he like kind of hopped up a little gingerly to make sure he wasn't putting all the force on an ankle but most of the time like stop and start and changing directions he looked fine there were just a few moments where I was like eh

but but you know it doesn't really seem to be affecting the performance too much I didn't even notice that well full in one three two and I guess. So you said Leeds is going to keep Mars until the World Cup? Yeah, I think that's what they said on the broadcast

or what the club owner said publicly or something like that. I saw it on the Discord. But so they have Liverpool on Saturday. They got Bournemouth the week after at home. I mean, if he doesn't win that one, he's probably getting fired. Yeah.

So, you know, Born Miff at home, you got to get a dub there. Wolves and the EFL Cup, you need to sit everybody. You need to punt the EFL Cup, man. We don't need to worry about that. And then last game before the World Cup, Tottenham in London. Yeah, Sunday, November 12th. All right, so if he goes one for three in the league, maybe lives through Christmas.

Maybe. And just to cap this off, leads are in the relegation zone on nine points, two points behind West Ham. All right. In MLS, Dallas got knocked out of the playoffs. Hazes-Ferrera was not particularly impressive. They lost 2-1 in Austin, went down to zero in the first half. It didn't seem like they had much up their sleeve at all. And then Estevez subbed on Franco-Hara at the half and dropped Jesus into kind of a number 10 role.

I thought he looked a little better in that spot, but was not involved in Dallas's second goal. I mean, Dallas's second half goal, it was Velasco after some nice combination from Pomacall and Farfan down the left wing. How are you guys feeling about Ferreira these days? I mean, I really don't know how I'm feeling about Jesus, but I know how I feel about Austin FC. And that is that I don't like them. I don't like them. They seem to be doing a lot of whining. And that's not the type of, that's not the type of. carrying on that I can that I can get with.

You know what I'm saying? Talking about how everybody, how everybody has disrespected them. Just today, their owner, Anthony Precourt. Yeah. Tweeted out a laminated page of each of, I guess, the MLS writers' personalities, preseason picks on Austin FC. A lot of them had them like 11th in the West, 12th, whatever.

So they got, I mean, they got all the names on there. Matt Doyle, Andrew Weeby, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And it's like they do this as a marketing thing, but they're turning against the marketing arm of their. It feels so fake. It's so dumb. Yeah. I mean, it's just, I'm not calling, you know, the writers shills or anything, but that's the, they are paid employees of the league. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And like, I guess this is something you should expect. I don't know, because, you know, of course, Austin got a large influx of people, you know, during the pandemic of a whole bunch of tech bros or whatever, fleeing the oppressive government of California. Because they couldn't do, I don't know what it is that they wanted to do. But they couldn't do that during a global pandemic. And they've brought the same energy to their soccer team. And I'm not, I'm not with it.

I'm not with it. And I don't like that one guy either. The guy that says all right or whatever the hell. You don't like McConaughey? No, no. Well, that's, wow. No. What, are people not allowed to move to Texas now, Vince?

Is that what's going on? Hey, look. No moving to Texas. You brought a lot into this. Everybody has to stay in California. Don't move to Texas. Look, man. Joe Rogan FC over there.

over there in Austin. All right. All right. As for Jesus, I'm sticking with him. Okay. I don't even be making emotional judgments this close to zero day.

Yeah. I just can't help but compare. I guess it was loud in Austin. I was watching late at night, so I had the volume down pretty low. Was it Groningen loud? No, not even. The intensity level of those two scenes to me

It just is no comparison I'm on these good vibes of watching Pepey score for Groning In an essentially a regular season game against PSV And then I watched it I turn on Dallas And it's like, I don't know It's just such a grind for them to get anything going in the attack And all these bright green lights flashing everywhere I'm like, come on, man

This is Oh, hold on. I'm going to be a Euro snob before this is over. Like, I got to give a little shout out to Austin. Like, you know, they, number one, they had some, they had some different chance that I hadn't heard. They had it, it was kind of, that I was feeling a little bit. Okay, so you were feeling Joe Rogan FC's chance?

I don't, I don't think Joe Rogan had a hand in those. Yeah. They probably, you know, dipped in, into one of the neighborhoods that they gentrified and got an authentic Austin culture there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But then after that, they promptly sent them packet, promptly sent them packet out the city with the raised real estate prices and whatnot. Yeah. Austin, I hate you.

You hear me? South by Southwest, University of Texas, everything. I'm coming for you. I don't think I've ever been to Austin. I did read some of that. I did read some of that LBJ biography. That really has very little to do with visiting Austin. He spent a lot of time there.

In my opinion. All right. Should we move on to Tim Wea? Let's do it. Tim Wea had another good came on in the 67th with the game 3-3, and Leal ended up defeating Monaco, 4-3-3. He was not involved with the goal, but did some progressive stuff, also got caught offside three times by my count.

Twice. Twice. Yeah. But one of the times was so off sides, I think it should count as three. Yeah, what was he doing on that? I don't think he had a plan. No, I should take that back. It seemed like he had a plan.

I just don't know what it was. He was about seven yards offside, right next to the goalkeeper, basically. Running horizontal. Doing a loop. He was going somewhere. He did not want to be past the ball. I think he was doing some sort of sneak attack to a secret location that he hadn't revealed yet.

Here's what it is. I figured it out. I just figured it out. He cares so much about aesthetics that when he makes a run, he is never going to like stop and go back the direction he came. He just, he is compelled to continue his momentum in whichever direction he's going for the aesthetics of it. And I back him on that.

Create that arc. Put it out there, let the people see it. Yeah. I mean, I think maybe he was just expecting a return pass there. and he was just making that line breaking around to get it. He didn't get it.

And then Jonathan David passed it to him like a solid two and a half seconds late. I was like, yeah. I mean, he just kept with it. He didn't cut back. Adam was right. He kept what they're on. He wanted the aesthetic of it. But why did David pass it to him?

He was, he really was, people think we're exaggerating probably. He really was five to seven yards offside. And five to seven yards, there was less space between. Waya and the end line than him and the last defender. So he was like... Yeah. The reason they passed to him is because he could not have possibly considered that Tim would have been that far offside and have been that casual about it.

He just said it probably sensed his body language as his periphery. Like, well, he's on side. He's there for a reason. Surely, I can pass to him. Right, maybe. Well, it was a weird thing. But he... Go ahead.

Well, I was going to say that the first offside, that was clearly just like a late pass. like he had he had made that nice run down the wing pass you know coming through the space between the left center back left fullback type thing he was gonna he was gonna get there get to the end line who knows what happens then but the world may never know he did have one really nice moment in stoppage time where he combined cleverly up the right right side i think it was like pass he made a pass came back to me made another pass and then got yeah got on the horse Yep. And ran the channel, got on to the ball in behind and smashed it off the keeper. I think he should have laid it off for Jonathan David or Bamba. Would have been the fifth goal. But, you know, it's okay. He probably feels like he needs to score. Like, I think it's just one of those things where when you're a real hooper, like we talked about with Gio, Tim also falls in that category without a doubt. You probably just never have that much rust on you.

But like then, no matter when, because you just, you were born to do this. It probably has a little something to do with their upbringing as far as, you know, very, very good dads. They were also soccer players and moms in Gio's case. But, yeah, their rust is not something that exists. with Tim and Gio specifically. At the beginning of the match, they had the players walking in,

the Leo players specifically walking in. They're all suited and booted, looking very nice on top, some type of red carpet situation. Like, it was crazy. It was crazy. And they got a close up a Tim. They got a close up a Tim walking in, man.

Shades on all black suit. Looking very nice. I tried to screen record it. But when I looked, when I, like I did record it, and then when I pulled it up, I guess I have some type of anti-screen record software where it was just a black screen. That's getting around, that anti-screen recording software. Have you noticed this, Waki?

I have, yeah. Damn. Damn. It's impacting my life. Sergeant went 90 in a 2-2 win. No goal contributions, but I thought he was really good. Again, he's my starting striker in guitar, which means, Absolutely nothing, right? Burrhalter's not going to start, Sergeant, I don't think.

He's not consulting you, Bill's. Nope, he's not. Lots of good combination and ball winning and physicality. He just looks like the guy to me. He had one shot from a tight angle that drew a good save from the keeper. Continues to play well. He just very, in one other thing you notice is just how rarely he has the ball taken from him. It doesn't happen very often.

Yeah. and there was a I think in the Wadford match there was just one touch from him that I really liked that I just had noted like the ball was the ball was just fizzed into him

from like five yards away and he just and he just took it down like no no problems you know what I'm saying like just came it was cut it came right into his shins oh yeah I know the one you're talking about

and he like had to move his foot back but he like perfectly cushioned I was just like damn this dude he's he's a raft he has he has

I think I think some people may not I mean it's hard to watch some of these championship games and

you know we were able to watch everything on on Y Scout which is a little bit of a cheat but um

he's I think some people would not realize how well he's playing how good he is right now but yeah

maybe they do I don't know Dest started and played well and got subbed at the half up to zero for Milan. Some kind of injury, I hope, minor. Yeah, apparently he's not traveling with the team to their, to Zagreb. And I'm glad to hear it isn't, I guess, no, I'm not glad to hear it's an injury. Well, it's better than it being a, as long as it's a minor injury, it's better than it being a, you know, sporting decision.

Yeah. If it's minor enough, I'm glad. I was hoping it was just a cramp or something. But whatever it is, I guess. We'll see if he actually doesn't travel to Zagreb for that championship game. He was cooking a little bit. I counted three. I mean, my counting has been shown to be somewhat suspect in this episode,

but I counted three 30-yard-plus runs with the ball where he beat the guy pressing him and then created something for a teammate, including a shot for Origi. Seems like he's getting more comfortable in Milan. Yep, yep. He was doing it. He was pulling out some old surge stuff. He was restoring the feeling for sure.

Yep. Stepping past people, you know. It was nice to see right up until he didn't come out. Right until he didn't come out for the second half. But we shall see. Yeah. I mean, he'll start for us at the World Cup, and that's as it should be. Yeah. Well, if I could just, real quick, I don't know if you've noticed, but some players are, like, getting hurt, and they actually are, like, just saying, like, yo, I'm hanging it up until the World Cup. Like, Paredes has done that for you, they.

He got hurt, and, yeah, he's just like, yo, I'm not coming back until the World Cup comes, so. I wonder if Tyler Adams can get away with that. It's something he should consider It's something to consider for sure Because I feel like I feel like there's no The club's got to understand what's going on here You know

They just have to But Jesse Marsh's job is on the line Oh yeah Yeah for him his first professional start So you know He's not going to say hey I'm sitting out The World Cup Not that that would even be a good idea

Yeah You owe him, Tyler. No minutes for John Brooks. But let me remind everybody that he's behind Nicholas Odomendi, who is an Argentine international. And I looked this up. Odomendi started all of Argentina's World Cup qualifiers except the one he missed for a yellow card suspension. So it sounds like he just did a really bad job in free agency. Maybe.

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I get it. But, yeah. Go ahead. I just think, yes, sure. He did a bad job in free agency, but the idea that he sucks because he's not getting minutes for Benfica,

which I think is out there. It's not exactly, you know, it's not exactly right. I didn't realize that he was behind a, yeah. Yeah, Odomini's going to start at the World Cup for Argentina at left centerback. For sure. And the other thing is it's just like, It's not, as we'll talk about CCV, we're going to talk about CCV next.

CCV, Cameron Carter Vickers is, if Richards is not healthy, I think, I hope Cameron Carter Vickers is the guy who starts. But if it's not one of those two, we're looking at Aaron Long or Mark McKenzie at left centerback at the World Cup, guys. The World Freaking Cup. And it's not, it's not okay. It's not okay. I mean Yeah But at the same time man

Like You know Not every So John Brooks finds itself In the situation that he That he finds itself in And no matter what How fair it is or not

He has to find his way out of it You know what I'm saying By doing some by doing some convincing And You know He was a like Waki said He was a free agent He was free to sign with

any club in the world theoretically. And he chose the one where he's relegated to Portuguese Cup matches. So, I mean, and the thing is, there's two ways that you can interpret this. The most damning one is that he just didn't have any other suitable options. And, you know, he had to sign up to be a death piece for Benfica. Or, and the most charitable is that he signed up to be a death piece because he's getting the bag. And I have to say that I kind of doubt that. I don't know how much money Benfica has or it doesn't have.

But the size of their bags can be that big. Can't be that big. I just looked it up on Capology. I don't see. It doesn't have John Brooks's 22, 23 salary on it yet. Odomendi's making 2.1 million euros. Okay. I don't know.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, Brooks not blameless. if he doesn't make the World Cup roster, I don't think. Look, it was on him to show him prove, man. It was on him to show him prove, and you had from January 1st to negotiate with clubs, man. And on deadline day, you sign with Benfica and look at you. So I just don't know.

I can't feel that bad for him. He should be on the roster, yes, he should be playing for us. above these other options more than likely. But, hey, it is what it is. I mean, also worth mentioning Benfica's even on points with PSG and in the Champions League, they both have eight points. They've drawn twice. This is a team that is really good, or at least, you know, able to get results against

other really good teams. But anyway, you're right. I mean, he should have, if you really wanted to play, the World Cup, he should have gone somewhere where he's going to play. CCV, Captain Celtic, in a 4-3 win. You got anything from that, Vince? So he committed a foul to give up a penalty, and also he got beat for another goal.

So out of those three goals, he was responsible for two of them, unfortunately. This is the, you know, this is the less. center back of the Scuffs party. Yeah, I mean, he'd be my choice if Richards isn't healthy. And good golly, Richards is not healthy yet. I don't know what, I don't even know what is going on there. He was listed.

Yeah. It's unfortunate. It is unfortunate. Yeah. And I don't know who tweeted what was it, Taninwald. There's somebody that tweeted the, you know, Crystal Palace have two or three games left, and he's still not back already.

And the thing about it is, I actually think he would be up and fighting for some minutes because Crystal Palace isn't performing that well and their shipping goes a little bit. Like I think he would have, he might have been able to work his way into the lineup if he had stayed healthy.

But as, I ain't going to say too much. Just get healthy, Chris, please. Yeah. All right. Let's get out of here. here. What, what's that? One more thing. Kevin Paredes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Started for Wolfsburg. At right wing. At right wing. At right wing. At right wing. He did all right. Willsberg was up against it for

like, I'd say like good part of the first half. And they kind of turned the tides a little bit. And did they win that game? I think they drew. They drew two, too. Okay. But Kevin, he was busy yeah he was he was busy uh mostly uh technically secure you know what i'm saying the ball came into him he made a stick most of the time um like i said they they were up against it so especially in those points where he was kind of an outlet for them to get out he did pretty well most of the time um and unfortunately he he hurt himself like right before he literally his last action of the match he was like chasing a ball into the corner and I think he rolled his ankle.

It was a non-contact injury, though. There was some who knows what happened. Forensics on his Instagram post about the game that found that the tone of his Instagram post was positive enough that he probably wasn't hurt that bad. Well, that's nice. I don't know, yeah. But it is good to see him be competent and useful

for a Bundesliga team. even at right wing yeah and it was it was building to this point he had put together a nice string of of competent cameos and uh was rewarded with the start this weekend so yeah

hopefully another another real quick note uh marlin fossey who was a fullback in the fullum academy for a long time and like you know people have been following youth national team players for a long time we'll remember him. He's now had a good stretch of games to, for standard liege in Belgium, the fifth place team in the table there.

And he started and got right back and scored a goal for them in a three one, I think a three one win over Anderlecht. Belgium is, Belgium is where it's at. Yep. Very nice to see. You love Belgium, don't you? I love it. I love Belgium so much.

Never been, don't know much about it, but just the sound of it really is. Really got me. Let's just let's wrap it up. If you want to get the money review every week, sign up for the Patreon. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.