Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #351: A draft of USMNT prospects and late-bloomers for 2026

Episode Date: December 11, 2022

Matt Hartman, Marcus Chairez, Alex Calabrese and Belz pick XIs of players who were not on the World Cup roster and have fewer than 5 caps. Some surprises. Some surprising omissions. We call it the Future Draft. Hopefully it introduces you to some names to keep track of over the next three years.----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes (more than 50 this year), plus access to the Discord including live call-in shows and round-the-clock access to other reasonable USMNT and USWNT fans online, by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed----Here's the draft order...Player selectedPick #Slonina1Balogun2Paredes3Trusty4Tillman5Booth6Gutierrez7Wynder8Cardoso9Brady10Tomkinson11Wiley*12Tsakiris13A. Morris14Craig15Gomez16Aaronson17Reynolds18Vazquez19Luna*20Cuevas*21Richardson22Akinmboni23Zendejas24Medina25Tolkin26Okoh27Soma28Mendez29Konrad30Kalesho31Hawkins32Che33Vargas34Baker-Whiting35Yapi36Hall37Kochen38Cremaschi39Alvarado40Perez41Burton42McFarlane43Odunze44 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. I'm Adam Bells. I've got three guests today. Matt Hartman, the Long Island Youth Soccer Oracle, Marcus Jerez, who writes about U.S. soccer talent for chasing a cup, coming to us from Northern California, and Alex Calabrese, who also writes for chasing a cup, an undergrad at Syracuse, who is back home in Chicago. Welcome, fellas. What's up, Bill's? Hey. So we are here, as you know, for the future draft. This is a draft of players for the 2026 World Cup with lots of little rules that I'll get to in a second. We did this first in 2018, Matt, Joey Antone, and me. It is a tough business predicting the future.

And we are to some extent going to get it wrong as we did in 2018 when George Bella was the first overall pick. And my starting wingers were Nick Tidegway and Andrew Carlton. So laugh at us as much as you want. Now we have some very important rules and they are as follows. For this draft, number one, players who are on the World Cup roster are not available. Number two, players with more than five caps are also not available. This includes a lot of people. Chris Richards, Georgie Mahalovich, Ricardo Pepey, D.K., John Luca Bousio,

Mark McKenzie, James Sands, George Bello. The list goes on. Number three, selections are based on our projection of what the player will be in 2026. The measure of success is not who has the best team right now. but who has the best team in 2026. Number four, uncommitted dual nationals are fair game. And number five, each participant will select 11 players. We can set them up in whatever shape we see fit,

not beholden to the 433. So we've already drawn straws, and the first pick goes to Alex Calabrese. He'll be followed by Matt Hartman, then Marcus, then me. And we'll snake the draft to make it more fair. Alex, you are up, my man. A lot of pressure on the first pick. I've been thinking about it.

There's not really a clear, obvious first choice for me. No. So I went with my heart. I'm going with Gaga-Slonina, a goalkeeper for Chelsea, formerly of the Chicago Fire, 04. So he's 18 years old. And that is my first pick. I think there's a chance he's a starter in 2026. It's not a guarantee.

Matt Turner's going to be. in his prime, but Slonina, a season and a half as a starter in MLS at 18 years old, 17 when he first got the starting job is just incredibly impressive. So I am going to go with Gaga

as the number one pick. Okay. Very good. All right, Hartman, you're up. All right, so talked a little bit about the previous draft, right? Quite happy with how my team is panning out from

back then. Oh, stop. I also think that I also think that there is a clear weak spot in terms of, at least in terms of how the youth are panning out the younger kids. So I want to get this position out of the way early and take a person, a player that I took way back in the before times 2019. even though it's risky with dual national status, I'm going to take Foler in Baligan, the 2001 striker who is currently playing for Stadram in the French League one.

I think that he's a fairly complete striker, maybe struggles with the ball to his feet a little bit at times and withhold up play, but I think that his ceiling is basically as high as we have all the way down to like the 2000. six is, which is the relevant age range for this draft. So I'm going to take Fuller and Balligan. Yeah, I think it's a good pick.

I expected you to make that pick, actually. I was hoping you'd make the pick just so I didn't have to try to say that his club name. So thank you, Matt. No problem. All right, Marcus, you're up with the third overall pick. Yeah, so I think my strategy is a little bit similar to Matt, and I'm looking at where depth is potentially a little bit. week. So I'm going to take Kevin Perreides from Wolfsburg. I think beyond the big four,

our wing depth is a little concerning. And I also think he's kind of the only legitimate left-footed winger that's playing on the right side. So I think that's an interesting start to my squad. And he's starting to break through a little bit at Wolfsburg. So I believe in the talent. And I'm excited about him being my first pick. Alex, I love that you went with your home guy. Well done. Paredes, I'll just add on Paredes looked sharp in his, I think he started the last game before the World Cup break for Wolfsburg, right?

And played pretty well. Great pick. I'm going to be super boring and non-esthetic and also pick in a position of need. I'm going to go with Austin trustee at centerback. Here's the thing. He's not probably going to raise the ceiling of the U.S. men's national team in his career, but he's already a solid centerback in the championship.

He sort of just broke through this year in that way. He's tall. He's left-footed. I think he's going to get stronger, and he's going to get more comfortable on the ball, and he is going to play some kind of role at the next World Cup. So that's my pick. Number four is Austin trustee.

I'm also making that pick because I know that people don't, people, when they look at these rosters, they're going to be like, who has a credible central defense? And I am just absolutely, I'm absolutely pandering to the masses here. Yeah. It's a super solid pick. He was number two overall on my board just because, you know, there just aren't that many left-footed options here.

I only have, like, three left-footed centerbacks on my entire. draft board so yeah i mean he's a he's a limited player right now but i think he can improve and he'll be right in his prime in at the next world cup 27 years old okay fifth pick overall also goes to me and i'm going to take malik tilman uh i think he is a potential difference maker one of the few in this whole pool who has a solid claim on that on that label um i'm going to play him as my right wing I shouldn't have told you that. Forget that you heard that. All right.

Yeah, a great pick, but there aren't that many when it comes to the younger kids playing at starting regularly for their club team, right? So he doesn't really have that far to improve to, you know, like we were talking about him potentially making the 2022 roster and the kid is, what, 19, so. You could still argue that he probably should have been there, but we won't get into all that. Yeah. Marcus, you're up.

I'm going to go with another versatility pick and someone who's kind of having a breakthrough season this year. I'm going to go with Taylor Booth. He's in 2001. He can kind of play everywhere. I think he played 6, 8, 10. He's played wing. He's played right back.

So I like the versatility he gives me. And he's still fairly young. So he'll be, what, 24, 25? in 2026, and he plays for Utrecht and the Aere de Vizzi, Taylor Booth. Okay, great. Hartman, you're up? Yep. So it comes to me, I think I need to get a winger out of the way here just because of the lack of options there.

So I'm going to take Brian Gutierrez, the 2003 attacking midfielder slash winger for the Chicago Fire. just as a younger kid, I've just been really impressed with what he's been able to do in MLS playing on a not-so-great team and versatility to play in multiple spots. And he just flashed, when he was in the academy, he certainly did. And even in MLS, he flashes that like it factor where he's just a kid, I think, might take off. And we're talking about him as like a $10 million transfer a couple years from now. So I'm going to take him and stash him on my right wing for now. His development over the last couple of years, too, like every year, I think, remarkably better. I love that.

Yeah, great attitude too. Okay, Alex, you're up. Yeah, I'll just first say I absolutely love the Gucci pick. I think he could have a breakout season this year. But for the eighth overall pick, I am going to go with someone on the younger side again. I'm going to go with Joshua Winder, centerback from Louisville City. He's an 05. He's going to be 21 and 2026.

I think there's an outside chance that he is the starting right centerback next to Chris Richards. He's a very good two-footed ball playing centerback. And really, along with Richards, the only legit centerback prospect that I see right now. So I'm going to go with him. And I know 21-year-old centerbacks don't start a lot. But, I mean, we're seeing Vardial starting at 20, so for Croatia. It's not outside the realm of possibility. And, yeah, I think the sky's the limit for Winder.

He could be at a Champions League team soon. Awesome. Vince is somewhere rejoicing. Yeah. He's here, I think. He's in here. Alex, you get the ninth pick, too. That's true.

So there's a lot of options here. I'm going to go with... Someone now on the other side relative to this pool of players here. I'm going to go with Johnny Cardoso from Internacional in Brazil. He almost made the 2022 team. He was in the final camp before and just didn't make the cut. And he's had a really good season for Inter. And it looks like he's going to be going to Europe.

Valencia's reportedly interested teams in Italy. He's working on getting that passport, the Italian passport. And I mean, this is someone who, like, the Brazilian national team was looking at potentially calling into youth camps. So you know he's good if that's happening. And I'm going to go with Johnny Cardoso as a ninth overall pick. Nice. That's a very solid pick in my opinion.

Hartman, you're up. Cool. So I got a couple options here thinking about, again, positional needs. And I think now is a good time to get goalkeeper out of the way. and I'm going to take Chris Brady, the Gagas Lenina's current backup. Well, I guess there's a couple older players in the way, but in terms of young goalkeepers,

he's the heir apparent to Gaga at the Chicago Fire. You only have to go back a couple of years before people that watched youth games were saying that Brady might have the higher ceiling of the two of them. I don't think that, but I do think that he's going to be a super solid, MLS schoolkeeper and he

certainly has the shot stopping ability as we've seen with his appearances with the youth national teams recently so Brady here who had three Chicago fire players in the first 10 pick

not I all right man center back depth is looking scary okay so I'm going to take a player I may be higher on than others and is

maybe not so well known. In the U.S. soccer fan community, John Tomkinson, he plays for Norwich City. He's in 2002. I think people are going to start getting familiar with him in the Olympic team cycle because he's eligible for that team. He is from Texas. He went to England at a pretty fairly young age. He's got his first start, first team league start.

this year and I thought he handled himself really well. He's a big guy. He's like 6-3 moves well. I love how kind of locked in. He stays during the match. He's a really focused player. He can pass the ball pretty well. I think his ambition is maybe a little bit more than his ability at the moment, but he's not afraid to drive the ball down the field or down the pitch. and so yeah John Tomkinson Norwich City my hope is if Norwich gets promoted

next year he gets alone maybe back to the championship and can really get his career started that's a great pick by the way Croatia won and Belize unbelievable okay

so I get two picks here and I think let's see I think I'm going to take Caleb Wiley, the Atlanta United left back. I know John Tolkien is probably a better well is a better player right now.

I think Wiley has the higher upside has the tools to be an elite left back someday. And I want him. That ends the second round. Now we kick off the third round with me again. And I'm going to take

Nico Shakiris. Sort of all-action midfielder has a lot has a lot of attacking ideas. I worry a little bit about his quality in the final third, but he's still very young, and I think he allows me to build a midfield in a lot of different ways.

So Shakiris is my guy. Yep, two super solid picks. That's the top left back and attacking mid on my board. Ooh, I'm feeling good. Yeah, doing something right, doing something right. Yeah, I think both of those guys are going to be like, they, you know, they aren't quite established yet, but I think they're as surefire as any of the kids that are 04 or younger to hit at least at a decent level. Thank you, Matt. I appreciate that.

I do. Marcus, you're up now. I am. And I'm looking at, again, the depth of the pool. and so maybe overreaching on ceiling but not loving the options behind him. I'm going to go with Aidan Morris and the Columbus crew. He's a poor man's Tyler Adams, but can do a somewhat similar job in that he's got a great mentality, super athletic, can sort of clean up. mistakes in the back I have a feeling we're all going to have not the most

exciting centerback duo so Aiden Morris is my cover I think it also allows Taylor Booth to play a role that he's starting to really shine at at Utrecht and more kind of free roaming role Morris provides him the cover to do that so Aidan Morris 2001 also Olympic eligible probably the preferred number six and was in the pre-world Cup camp as well. Yep, and reportedly played well in that camp. Hartman, you're up.

All right, I'm going to take a centerback here and go with Brandon Craig, the 04 centerback for the Philadelphia Union. Brandon Craig could be a complete bust. He still struggles to defend adult soccer players. But as we've seen with the U-12, 20s. I think if he's going to hit, he's going to hit pretty big.

Just a fantastic passer out of the back. And absolutely tremendous set piece-taking ability, which is a great thing to have on the field. So I hope, I think if it's going to happen for him to this level, like where he's going to be a men's national team option, it's probably going to need to have the breakthrough this season. And I'm a little bit skeptical looking at, the current Philly Union depth chart that that's going to happen.

But I just do not like the other right center back options behind him. So they're going to take Brendan Craig here. Okay. I figured he would go pretty soon. Alex, you got the next two picks. But before you take your second pick, let me say, let me sort of recap what's happened so far for anybody who's joined us late. So give us your first pick, please.

All right, my first pick, I'm going to go with a left back. I'm going to go with actually Jonathan Gomez. I think he has a really high ceiling, of course. Maybe he's stagnated a little bit because Sochidad B got relegated, so now he's playing in the third tier, and we haven't been seeing as much of him lately, but he's still very talented, and I think a lot of people listening to this already know about him.

He made his national team debut against Bosnia. Got like seven minutes at the end, and it was good in that brief cameo he got. So, of course, the Mexican-American Dual National has played senior games for both teams, which is insane, considering he's an 03. But yeah, I'll go with Jogo. Nothing would make me happier than if he hits big,

because I think his ceiling is probably the highest. Let's see. Okay, if you're joining us late, let me just recap the picks so far. It's with the first overall pick, Alex took Gagas Lenina, then Hartman took Fuller and Baligan, Marcus took Kevin Perettis, and then I took Austin Trustee.

Fifth pick for me was Malik Tillman. Then Marcus took Taylor Boo. Ruth. Then Hartman took Brian Gutierrez, and then Alex took Josh Winder, the centerback from Louisville City, and then Alex took Johnny Cardoso, the defensive midfielder for Internacional. And then Hartman took Chris Brady, a young goalkeeper at the Chicago Fire set up. And then Marcus took Jonathan Tomkinson, who's gotten some first team minutes at centerback for Norwich City. And then I took Caleb Wiley with the 12th overall pick. That's the left back from Atlanta United. And then I took Nico Chakiris with the 13th pick. He's a midfielder at San Jose. And then Marcus took Aiden Morris

with the 14th pick. And then Hartman took Brandon Craig with the 15th pick. And Alex took Jonathan Gomez with the 16th pick. So now we start, I believe, the fifth round of the draft. Alex, you're up. Yes. I am sure on attackers. I have a pretty good defensive start, pretty defensively solid so far. I need an attacker. And there's an array of options, no real standout for sure, but I'm going to go with Paxson Aronson, new signing for Eintracht Frankfurt, younger brother of Brendan. He's in O3. He can be an attacking midfielder, a winger, center forward, which is where he played for the U20 team that won the Conquist championship.

Just a very dynamic player going forward, similar to his brother, but different in a lot of ways to a better finisher than Brendan. I'm going to go with Paxon Aronson. I don't know what position I'll play him in yet, because we have to see how this pans out. But yeah, I'll go with Aronson. Awesome. Okay. Aronson taken with the 17th overall pick. Matt Hartman, you're up.

Yeah, so going to take a player here that I fell in love with a couple of years ago, but has been on a bit of a roller coaster since. And just comes down to me just flat out believing in his talent. And I'm talking about Brian Reynolds, the 01 right back, that is currently at Westerloo. on loan from Roma. You know, just an outrageous athlete has, you know, fantastic on the ball as well, certainly has the size that you want to see the athletic

qualities in an international player. And if he gets anywhere close to what his ceiling is, I think it's going to be pretty hard to keep him in his prime off of a World Cup roster, especially given that I'm not super in love with any of the other rightbacks that we have coming up. So feel good with this pick here. Yeah, that's a good, good case made for Mr. Reynolds there. All right. Brian Reynolds, the 18th overall pick, Marcus with the next pick.

Matt took my pick. Son of a gun. All right. Yeah, it's going to get messy down the stretch here. It's going to. Yes. Save my lottery tickets for the end. All right, I need a nine.

I need a nine, and I need a Mexican-American, and I'm taking Brandon Vasquez. I have no idea where anybody else goes with the nines from here, so this should be interesting. Yep, at this point, my list is a bunch of kids. Yeah, it's going to be tricky. Okay, so with the 19th overall pick goes, Brandon Vasquez.

Yeah, I'm a little bit of a little. surprised he didn't go sooner. Totally. Let's see. I have the 20th overall pick. I will take Mauricio Cuevas. I know you're not as high

on him as I am, Matt, and he does have some work to do to get into that first team at Club Bruges, but he's going to have the U20 World Cup as a showcase. I think he is a very nice player who got screwed a little bit by his situation in L.A.

But he's comfortable on the ball. He can get forward. He defends reasonably well. And he's going to be my right back. After that, I'm going to take another Mexican-American, Diego Luna. He's going to, I won't tell you where I'm going to play him on the field. But, yeah, Luna.

Yeah, so this is where, I think this is an interesting conversation to have just because it's just two players that just. just weren't granted my draft board is only like five players deep because we're only drafting one player in each position but those are just two players that I weren't even in consideration for me and it's because for rio quivas it's just because he he has been given the opportunity but has not locked down a starting spot for club next which is the horrifically named second team of club bruges and then in diego luna while he certainly flashes in emil unless he's almost a complete liability when he's not on the ball.

And I don't know that at an international level, he's going to get to a place with the ball that he's going to be worth playing on the field, kind of a similar conversation that we've had in the past about guys like Richie and Alex Mendez, right? Do you believe in Diego Luna more than those guys? Well, I'll just Lay my cards out I'm gonna have Luna be my left wing And I think

I believe in Luna to create In 1v1 situations And You know, in other ways A little bit I think he has a little bit more Potential for cutting edge Than Richie Ledesma

Now I would pick Ledesma If Luna wasn't available, honestly To play left wing But I just think Ledesma's at a weird spot I know everybody I know I'm like Ledesma's number one fan, but he's at a weird spot where I can't figure out

where he improves the U.S. national teams ceiling. He doesn't, I don't think, in the final third. He certainly doesn't as a six or a defensive-minded midfielder. He needs to sort of, I think it's his problem at PSV too. They don't know quite what to do with him. He's obviously got a lot of talent. I think Luna at the very least, I can see a path to him being a chance creator.

at a high level. I mean, a lot of things have to happen between now and then, but at least it seems possible. And as others have mentioned, our wing options are limited.

I think, and I also think, you know, Quevas has been, he's, has he not locked down a starting spot on that reserve team?

Looks to me like he has. No, I think he, he has like five starts and like, an equal amount of bench appearances last year, but I think they've moved more recently to like a back three

and he hasn't been seeing time since then. He played on December 30, he played 49 minutes. I guess he might have come off the bench. Yeah, at halftime. Okay, anyway, we gotta move on to the next pick. Marcus, you're up. All right, I'm gonna go with a dual national

who is not yet appeared for the United States. so maybe I'm being a little far-fetched, but he's not captied as far as I'm aware, if he is. I'll have a plan B. I'm going to go with a French-Morocan-American Amir Richardson. He currently plays for, I think, the top-of-the-table club in League D. And he has a contract in place with the same club that Balagan's at now in League Un.

So he'll be with them next year. He's like 6.5. He's a really smooth. I think he's an 8. Left-footed 8. He has been playing. He has played with both the French and Moroccan youth set up. US maybe not his first choice, but I think they're still in the running.

so I'm really happy with my midfield now I got Aidan Morris, Taylor Ruth, and Amir Richardson. Richardson, I would like to mention the son of a four-time NBA All-Star, Michael Ray Richardson. Huh. What position does Richardson play, Amir? Yeah, I see him as an eight. I think he's got the kind of athleticism and fluidity to do more than the sixth job. So yeah As you would expect from the son of a former NBA player

He is outrageously tall Out there So definitely good size on him Okay Hartman With the 23rd overall pick You are choosing Well, Bells We have entered Speculation City

Because everybody left on my board is a child So I'm gonna I'm gonna start off with A player that I don't necessarily rate the highest of the players I have left, but it just fills a need in my team, and that is a left-footed centerback. So I'm going to take the 2006-born Matai Akimboni, the centerback that Wayne Rooney has given a run towards the end of the MLS season with DC United. The logic here is that we do not have left-footed centerbacks in our system

until you get down to like the 2008s. He is like six foot two or six foot three already. As a 16 year old, I guess he is now, 15, 16 year old, already getting some MLS runtime. Maybe a little one-footed, but has, at least when in the academy, has shown fantastic passing range. And judging him against his peers is a little unfair because of the size advantage he has.

he's essentially a lockdown, been a lockdown defender for the DC United Youth teams in a, in, DC United Youth teams that aren't particularly good. He's been their best player. So, I'm taking a punt on him, only going to be 20 years old when the World Cup, uh, runs around. But, but if any of our young left-footed centerbacks are going to emerge to, to, to be, like, a European-level guy, I think, I think I'm going to take my chances on him. Alex, you're up. I've got, for my next two picks,

I'm going to go with two players who are eight years apart in age, but they're both Mexican-American. So for the first one, I'll start with the older one. Alex Zendayaas, 1998. Interesting story because he supposedly switched to Mexico but never actually switched. He was supposedly on the provisional roster for the 2022 World Cup. Didn't make the team, obviously. Didn't get in any camps yet. But, I mean, he's playing for Club of Medica now, been one of the best players in League of AMA.

in this past season. He's locked down a starting job for the biggest team in North America. So, yeah, I'll go with Zendaihas, and, you know, he was on that same youth team with Polisic and Haji Wright and Adams and all them. So I'll bring Zendaihas in as my first winger. And my other one, like I said, two Mexican-Americans, eight years apart in age. I'm going for a 2006 cruise Medina, maybe one of the highest ceiling players that we have. shining for the 06 team for the U-17s for the San Jose earthquakes right now just signed a homegrown deal made his debut in a friendly against Seltavigo relatively recently and yeah I'll go with Cruz Medina he can play as an attacking midfielder sometimes as an eight sometimes on the

wing we'll see if he can start getting minutes for San Jose this season but that is my next pick. Okay. I like it. I don't know about you, but I've been a little worried with Cruz's season this year. He seems to flattening out a little bit. I've been a bit worried about it. Yeah. I mean, he looks disinterested, is how I would describe it. And like at MLS Next Fest is going on right now, like one of the bigger youth events of the year. And he's played pretty well there, kind of more of like a free attacking role than he has during the season. But it's scaring me a little bit too. But this isn't something that's uncommon, right?

We see it a lot with kids that have some hype on their name and get given homegrown contracts and are going to be in MLS preseason when it starts that they kind of lose interest in youth soccer. So I wouldn't be too afraid. He's still outrageously talented. but yeah that probably put me off of picking him early as well yeah clearly a clearly a very talented player um hartman you're up with the 26th overall pick cool so uh 26th overall um i'm gonna go with john tolken why not let's see if he could improve on where he is right now player that i've i've loved for for a long time um just just a real pain in the butt to play against um

a ton of talent on the ball. Maybe he doesn't play with the Red Bulls and like the best system for him to show everything that he has to offer. But he's one of those kids that when he was playing U-15 ball, you know, he was getting, when he was at like the back end of U-15 ball, he was getting like mid-conference college offers. And then he was consistently the best player on that team. And then when he was playing U-17,

who's kind of being looked at, recruited by better colleges. Red Bulls threw him on the field with the second team, to prove everybody wrong again and became one of the better players on that team, gets given a homegrown contract, goes to MLS, and has been one of the better left backs in the whole league. So just a player that I'm not willing to doubt. I think that he just has the willpower to get to a pretty good spot in his career. Okay.

Marcus, you're up. 27th overall pick. Yeah, I feel like I'm kind of cheating on this one, but, you know, oh well. Another dual nat who may never play for the United States. He's a 2003 Swiss American, born in Houston, Brian Ako. He's a left-footed centerback. I literally didn't have another left-footed centerback on my board. and he was about to, I think, play in a World Cup qualifier for Switzerland before he had a really devastating leg injury.

So this is an extremely risky pick because I think his rehab has been really challenging and delayed. I think he's just started training with the ball again. Before the injury, he was looking like a really, really exciting centerback prospect. And he plays for Salzburg. He, again, definitely prefers Switzerland. And if he gets back to his level and, you know, continues to develop, he's probably going to play for Switzerland. But, you know, you never know.

So Brian Aco. Yeah, centerback is a tough one. We got to, we got to search far and wide. 28th overall pick goes to me and I am going to take Pedro, Soma and I'm going to tell you, Alex, you're the one who turned me on to him. You're the one who turned me on to him. I watched enough footage where I could tell that this guy is a legitimate, legitimate talent. He's got good size.

He's got, it seems to have great awareness and kind of can play, can both shut things down and be a pretty high quality metronome from the six. Part of me wanted to take old man Pomacall and put him at the same. you know, argue that he'll, that's where he'll settle as he gets older. And I, and I still kind of like that idea, but I'm going to try to be a little more interesting and go with Pedro Soma. He's going to be my six. And then I'll take Alex Mendez with the next pick as, to round out my three-man midfield of Soma, Mendez, and Shakuris. Mendez was on the provisional roster for the Qatar World Cup from what I've heard and could have made the team, but didn't.

So that's interesting. Yeah, I mean, he wasn't going to make the team, right? But he's... He would have been an option if there were injuries ahead. Right, right, right, right. Yeah. May I nerd out on Soma for one minute? Yes.

Because I'm a massive fan. He would have been my second six behind Morris. I do class rankings every year. He was my number one, 2006. I'm a massive, massive fan. All the things you said, Bells. And yeah, I think he's probably the best six prospect in the youth pool, Brazilian American.

He's at Cornella. Yeah, which is a third-tier club in Barcelona, right? It is, but they're known for youth development, and he was getting first team run over the summer, and my guess is in the next year or two he moves to. a much more well-known club. So I love the game. He's very young.

It would be wild for a 19, almost 20-year-old number six to start at the World Cup. But I think he plays with maturity beyond his years, I think, already. So one more anecdote is for a while with the U-17s, he didn't have to do a lot of defending. It's a good team, and they had dominated a lot of the games there. in. They played an age level up tournament a few months ago and they played Germany's under 18s. And I think that's where you really saw that he can do the defensive work of a six. He was putting out fires left and right. So that really even elevated my thought on him. Okay. Sorry. I digress. No, I appreciate all this, all the, um, confirmation.

Yeah. Uh, okay. 30th overall pick. Okay. I think you've, We've all taken left back, so I'm not going there. All right, I'm going to go high risk, boom or bust. Career seems to be in a spiral, but the talent is still there and maybe he's just taking a little while to mature. My left winger to round out my dynamic attack is Conrad de la Fuente. All right.

He's at Olympiacos right now. now, right? I was just about to ask, I don't even know. Is he still there? No. Our good friend Daniel Smith said he was not invited to the Olympiacos, you know, kind of rolling back into half to camp, nor has he been invited to Marseille. So he is looking for a new loan, so pray for me.

Yeah, I mean, this just, it's not a bad pick, and I think that says a lot about where the winger pool stands. I think we would all love to come on here and say, like, there's this, like, 2006 or 2005 wizard who's just going to take the national team by storm, like so many of our current wingers in the pool did. But it just isn't there, unfortunately. Yeah, I mean, there's some good U-20 wingers. I mean, Quinn Sullivan's a good U-20 winger. I think Clark's okay. Yeah, I mean, there's a number of guys who are in that, like, you know, if the path is correct and they improve to a certain level,

it's just like the barrier to entry here is the problem, right? Like, do I like Quinn Sullivan as a player? Yes. Do I like Kate Cowell as a player? Yeah. Are, am I going to bet on any of them taking, like, you know? I'm surprised you didn't take Cal as you're right back. Let's not have this conversation.

Okay. Let's move on. So it's my pick. I'm going to take a winger here just because I just want to get out of way more than anything. The options here are dual nationals who may not play for the United States or very young children. or I guess Kate Cowell. I'm going to steer away and go with one of those dual nationals and go with Luca Kalesho,

who is the American-Canadian dual-national 2004 winger at Espagnol in La Liga. Right now he's bouncing back and forth between Espaniel and Español B, but he's a technical, like, super-shifty, low-center of gravity, explosive winger. And I think Español is a good spot for him, it sure seems like they're trying to work him into the first team. And when I look down the rest of the options here,

there are good wingers that we have that are 05s, 06s, but they're all very like direct Jordan Morris-style power running wingers. And I think Kalesho is the one that really stands out as a guy that has the tools to be that high ceiling break into our national team winger pool. If he chooses us, it sure seems like it's up in the air, between us and Canada. Okay. All right, Alex, you got

the 32nd and the 33rd picks. All right. I need to get another centerback next to Winder, and we're starting to run thin, so I'm going to go for someone who is very young again. Stuart Hawkins from Tacoma Defiance in the Seattle

Sounder system. He's in 06, like I said. And he was the MVP of the GA Cup when the Sounders won it. And I mean, he's a pretty well-rounded player, decent with the ball at his feet. Got a couple minutes in MLS Next Pro last year. So I'll go with him as my other centerback next to Winder.

Okay. And then for my next one, there's like the running out of like obvious picks here. I need a right back. So I guess I'll go for Justin Che of Haltenheim. He's not playing in the first team. I don't think he's got any minutes to season for them. I mean, if this were a couple months ago, maybe a year ago, he would have been one of the first picks, honestly, probably.

But he's kind of fallen off a little bit in terms of his growth, but he's still got a lot of talent. And if he can get his, maybe he needs to move away from Hoffenheim for that to happen. But I'll still take Justin Chey as the right back. I'm surprised he didn't go sooner even with his struggles for playing time, because he's versatile. you know, and I still think he has a high upside. I'd be curious what you think, Hartman.

I agree with you. I think that somebody, the person who took Maricio Cuevas, could have made a better pick by picking Justin Che. But, yeah, I mean, it was between Justin Chey and Brian Reynolds when I was picking my right back. I mean, they're in astonishingly similar situations, really, given their backgrounds and how their European journey has gone so far. I think the question with Che is just like he's he's more of a positional question mark than Reynolds is, right?

Like it's not even clear if he is going to be a right back. When he does play for Hoffenheim, it's sometimes in midfield. He's certainly had some run at centerback, not necessarily at Hoffenheim, but for the youth national teams. And we've seen him there for when he's played in the States. So yeah, he's just more of, I guess because he's a little younger, he's more of a question mark than a guy like Reynolds. but again a guy who's like crazy talented right he's going to be a good pro somewhere it's just a matter of what level he hits his best position is probably right centerback and a back three but that's not something that is everywhere so whatever he's he's got he's got good crossing

good passing range for a centerback so um that's why he's been finding himself on the right so he can get forward a bit more too and get crosses in because he did put in some really good balls when he was playing for Dallas in 2021. Yeah, I mean, the problem there is purely defensive, right? Yeah, it's a defensive awareness thing, which is mostly fixable, I would think. I'm kind of regretting that I didn't pick him earlier. All right, Hartman, you're up. Okay, so I haven't taken any midfielders yet.

So that was probably a good time to go in for one. and I was really hoping that some of these other demids would go so that I could take a child, but I mean, I'm still going to take a child in Obed Vargas. I'm going to take as my six. Kind of broke on the scene out of nowhere. Wasn't a guy who, I think, any of the people who pay attention to the MLS Next were ranking as like one of the top three players in the Seattle Academy. And he burst onto the scene and just was thrown straight into action with the Sounders in some pretty high-profile games and had some pretty good games, especially in thinking of his appearances in the Conca Calf Champions League, even early in this season with the Seattle Sounders.

The problem here with this pick is that he sustained like a semi-serious injury, and we haven't really seen him since. And also, I think, like, if you were to grade him from, let's say, like, the way that we grade, like, American football players from, like, a tools standpoint. He's not necessarily the most toolsy guy in the world. A lot of his success has come based off of his ability to read the game in a similar way that we saw with a guy, like when Jonathan Gonzalez burst on the scene in Mexico. I'm hoping he has a little bit of a better career path than Jonathan Gonzalez. has. But I think again, the D-Mid pool here is fairly weak. And I think that based on what he's shown in MLS at such a young age, if he continues to improve, he might be the answer to the what happens if Tyler Adams goes down. So take him here. Okay. Are, do you not worry,

I know Seuss is going to get mad at me if I say this, but do you not worry that he's a little bit like, you know, Danny Leva 2.0 or Josh Atensio 3.0 or something like that. I mean, he certainly has definitely, definitely, like, definitely has different qualities than those guys.

Yeah, he has different qualities. I think that those guys read the game pretty well, but I don't think they have the zero to 60 that Vargas had is where he, Vargas can read the play and get to the ball. And I think that's really the thing that has separated him and why, when all the options at Seattle are healthy. He's kind of the guy getting more of the run. And just, you know, like Tyler, he's not going to be a crazy passer of the ball by any means.

But the guys that we do have in this conversation, I don't want to name names because somebody else could still pick them. But they're like, they're either limited ceiling guys who are already playing in MLS or they're just like children who, like, it's a complete guess as to if they're ever going to learn how to defend even though they have the passing range so i think he's he's a solid a hoop as we have to to have a guy that approximates tyler adams tough to bet against the guy who at the age of i think 16 or 16 or 17 gets forced into a concocaf champions league final and holds his own i think there says something about the young man's mentality so

Little clues to like bet on people. That would be one. Yeah. No, certainly impressive. I mean, how many 16-year-olds anywhere in the world

are playing in any cup final? Let alone a Champions League final. Like, that's insane. I mean, that's why I bring up Lava. He was awful precocious in the minutes he got for Seattle.

And, the book's still out on him, I suppose, but I'll stop making the comparison. All right. Who's next? Marcus? Yeah.

All right. I have zero fullbacks and I don't have a goalkeeper. I'm going to go right back. And my top two options are one guy who just moved to right back and another guy who's probably on the path to moving to right back. So I'll go with the guy who's already there. And has looked pretty good. He's been, his name's Reed Baker Whiting.

Hopefully I said that last part right. He's within the Seattle Sounders. squad. He's currently training at Freiburg in Germany. Reports are that they're interested in, you know, potentially a loan to buy option. He's playing there at right back. It's been reported. He moved from the midfield, I think, this last year. He played a little bit early on with Seattle, and I think then they made that transition to right back, and he then spent a lot of time in MLS NX Pro, played there at a U-19 U-S. tournament that they won and looked pretty good. It looked like he was picking it up pretty quickly.

He's kind of long been a pretty well-known prospect, but I think flattened out a bit. So I'm hoping this positional change sort of ignites his development a little bit. And, you know, Freiburg's at the top third of the table in Germany. They're not a big spending club, but I think good sign that they're interested in him. So a little bit of a flyer. He's a 2005. But that's where we're at in the draft. So RBW.

All right. I'm going to go crazy in these next two picks. I need a striker and I need a right centerback. And I'm going to go young for both of them. The striker is going to be Darren Yopi. I don't know if you guys have seen much of his footage, but I watched enough to see that he has all. the physical tools to be a good number nine.

He seems to be able to strike the ball well with both feet and is reasonably technical. Got on right at the end of the season for the Colorado Rapids, and I, you know, obviously this is a huge risk. There's just not that many good options. I'm taking Yoppy. And then... I think before you move on, that's the right pick. After Balagan and Vasquez, he was the third striker. my board and like he said it's not because he's doing anything outrageous it's just more so because

he's so young and um has all of those tools that he'll need to be successful uh in mLS it's just like you know the problem here is that we've seen players like yapi with similar skill sets good skill sets come into major league soccer and make you know some impact got like a run of like 15 20 games and then they just get buried behind some like random argentinian striker and you never hear from them again. So it's just like a positional thing with him not being a super high level prospect. You wonder if he's even really going to get a chance with the way that MLS is set up as a league. But I still think that of any of the of the kids left, he's as likely as any to hit a high level.

He's 18. He's huge. He looks like he's he looks like a grown man out there. Yeah. You're completely right about his two-footedness and also something I like, which is something that like both Darrell Dike and Kyle Liren had success with in MLS was his the unexpectedness of his shot selection. He can just poke a ball from from a distance and he doesn't necessarily wind up on his shots. I see that, you know, Weis Scout has him listed as having Code Duvaren nationality. So maybe there's a dual national scenario there, but he was born in Denver. I have been surprised that Mikey hasn't called him in.

I think he seems pretty committed to the no-nine squad. Right. He would fill a need there. And I do think he's at a level where he could keep up with the surrounding talent. So maybe that changes. Probably doesn't too late in the game, but I've been surprised by that. Okay, yeah, me too. I assume if he, you know, if he performs for the first team for Colorado, which as Matt explained is not anything close to a given.

He'll get in, get his chance with the U-20s. Okay, my 10th pick is, do I go safe and try to win the game next week, or do I try to win the game in 2026 and probably lose it? 2026. Come on. All right. I'm going with Tyler Hall, the Inter-Miam E Academy Centerback. He's probably undersized if he, I mean, he is undersized to be a pro centerback right now, but he's only 16. Hopefully he grows a couple more inches. If he grows four more inches, he's playing for Ray Al-Madrid someday.

If he grows two more inches, he's going to be a good centerback for the national team. Very, very comfortable on the ball. and a good, I think, a good aware defender. So he's going to be partnered with trusty. Paul will be tasked with more of the buildout from the back. Just, I don't think, I don't know if you said it. Can you read off his birth year real quick? Here this child that you just said, if he grows four inches, we'll be at Real Madrid.

I think he's 16, right? So he's an 0, what is he, in 05? He's an 06. Okay. Yeah He's not Very young No he totally could grow four more inches

No he totally could grow four more inches It's more so with the He I wouldn't He's a good centerback I wouldn't have him as like one of the top Two centerbacks Personally for me in the in the 06 birth year He certainly shown

A bit like of the 06 centerbacks He's had somewhat of the highest Opportunity To show his potential but I think you're worrying about more than just height with Tyler Hall. I don't want to like, you know, lay out. Go ahead. Pick it apart.

No, I mean, he's an 06. A lot can change between now and then. But I think there are some, while he certainly has the ability to pass, I think the past selection has been somewhat problematic with him. A number of times recently with the 06s. I think he's even been benched on occasion because he's just, that there's a there's a chance that the ball is coming right back down your throat with some of the passes that he tries to hit and also he's not like a supreme athlete in terms of quickness speed stuff like that so i mean i think he totally like i don't think it's a bad pick he is on my depth chart but um there's there's some questions there bells you want you want your jump in the shark a little bit you want your center back well it's it's either him or henry kessler or jalen neal it's like it's the pickings it's pretty slim.

I think you watched Hall compared to like, say, Tony Leone, Leon, and, you know, I know we all salivated over Leone for a while, but he just doesn't look like he's going to be technical enough to be a good centerback, you know? And at least Hall, to me, looks like he can. And if he's hitting risky passes that come back down his team's throat, now's the time to do it, you know, while you're playing for Inter-Miam E2 and they can't even keep the camera on the ball. Marcus, you're up.

Okay, and I'm going to go goalkeeper, another child, and maybe he's the third keeper in 2026. He's at 2006. His name is Diego Cochin. He plays at La Masia in Barcelona. He's been given squad appearances for as high as their reserve squad, so second squad up to the main. He may be a little bit undersized.

I think he's around 6-2, but there's a lot of great goalkeepers around the world that are 6-2. But his reflexes, his instincts, all, I think, make up for not being maybe prototypical size. Again, he's still 16. That's kind of when young people stop growing, so he may not grow, height-wise at least. But, oh, man, he is an incredible goalkeeping prospect.

I think he's pretty clear of some of the guys who have been picked already in terms of where he's at, development-wise, you know, Brady, even Gaga. He's incredibly advanced with the ball at his feet. He can distribute to all kind of areas and phases of the pitch. he's I mean he's playing up multiple age groups at Barcelona so I don't think that's something to sleep on and we've seen crazier things and a 20 year old being the third keeper at a World Cup so he's at he to me aside from the height he's about as complete of a youth prospect as we have there is a bit of dual national panic though he's only I think represented the United States

I think he's Peruvian and maybe one other nationality. I could be wrong. He's far and away the number one for U-17s, so if you all are tuning into the Conca Calfu-S17s coming up and then hopefully the World Cup later in the year, he'll, I think, without a doubt, be the starter if he's available. So Diego Cochin. Yeah, so he's a guy had thought about picking two,

and really the only thing that stopped me was the age. right because he's just going to be i think he's going to be 19 when the um he's a leader in the in birth year if i remember correctly so he's going to be pretty young but if you're going just on like highlight real tape he's the best goalie that that was available here you can make outrageous saves um without a doubt the best distributor of gaga himself and and chris brady who i think are the clear uh top three here um so the the question is just is he going to get good enough is he going to be good enough soon enough and also the club right because every goalkeeper that comes out of la masia that starts for those youth teams is like the best thing since sliced bread right they're all

incredible goalies and then you look at least they were at youth level and then you look at where these guys end up and you know like there isn't an opportunity for a young goalkeeper to break into barcelona unless they're like you know literally a top 10 goalie in the world so the path also isn't as clear as you maybe want it to be and that's especially a concern for a guy you need to be starting games at 19 but you know I have nothing bad to say about him

as a goalkeeper he's outrageously talented fair points people are people are getting mad at us that nobody's picked McGlynn yet so they haven't tried to build a whole team around that guy it's like it gets kind of tricky although he's wonderful He's wonderful to watch on the ball.

I pick next, I think, right? Yeah. And I don't have a central midfielder yet. So Jack McClain sure is interesting to me. But I just don't, I'm just not a believer. I'm sorry. McGlynn isn't just not my type of eight. I think that he's, you know, he's fantastic on the ball.

Nothing bad to say at him when his team is in possession. His reading of the game is ability to take space. But he's just a turnstile. He's not even like Alex Mendez. Well, Alex Mendez has improved some in this category, right? But he's not even like 2020 Alex Mendez levels of ability to break up a play. and I just question how high a ceiling a player like that can have. I don't have any questions about his ability to have a career in MLS.

I think, like, for example, a guy that was taken earlier in Diego Luna, like another similar questions, I think he'll be a great MLS player, but we're talking about guys that are going to make a 2026 World Cup roster. And if you're bringing Jack McGlynn, unless there is a significant improvement in his ability to keep up with athletes, at the highest level that there is in international soccer. I just don't know. I just don't know that he's going to hit that. So I think it's a safe pick. I think he's going to be in the conversation for his whole career,

but I'm going to take a swing instead. And I'm going to go with Ben Cramanchi, the Inter-Miami Central Midfielder, who has recently made headlines by wearing the number eight shirt for the Argentinian youth national teams. He got his first call up. It's to Argentina, it's a small camp. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's in their future plans, but he's good enough to be.

And that's the thing that is intriguing to me, even as an 05, a guy that would be pretty young on this roster. He's another kid who has a bit of a weird path to this point to being considered one of the higher ceiling central midfielders that North America has produced. in that he spent most of his youth career in Weston, which is a huge youth academy in the United States. It has produced some good players over the years, but he joined Inter-Miamy. And then once he joined the Inter-Miamy Academy, his stock has basically skyrocketed.

He hasn't looked. He's been the best player on the field, almost every single game that I've watched. He's gotten a run in MLS Next Pro, as a two-way player scoring goals he was we talk about like how good Soma was with our youth national teams

Ben Cromanchi has had only had like three or four youth national team appearances and I think was the best player on the field when he was playing he seems like he's going to play a part in Inter Miami's season this year in terms of his ability on the field He's a willing, he's a willing two-way player, which unfortunately we don't see that often.

And his technical ability on the ball is the thing that really stands out, where he is confidently running at defenders. He's like doing things that you don't really see from, you know, teenage central midfielders that often, like, checking his shoulders as the ball is hitting his foot. and willing to let the ball run across his body. Really good technical mechanics as well with like he could pretty consistently hit like grass-cutting shots, grass-cutting passes across the field. Again, a kid that could like completely, he could be just in the form of his life right now. And that happens, right? You have kids that come through and they, for six months, they look ridiculous and then they fall off and you never hear from them again.

but I feel good about taking a punt on him just because if he continues on the path that he's on, he's going to be in January camps as soon as next year. He's so big and so good in traffic that I sort of considered maybe drafting him as a nine, you know? Yeah, and quick feat too. like for a kid of his size just you know his like you said that helps him so much in traffic and um

like a lot of the very impressive player did you mention that he was just called up by Argentina for a yeah earlier on it there's some interesting context there because it is a U-20 camp which is a age level up

for Argentina but I think talking to a few people um Argentina's strategy, and maybe this is a common strategy for Argentina, it's like go really wide with the youth pool. So I think they've called in something like 60, 70 players over the last year to the U-20 camp. So it may not be, you know, real time to, you know, panic that they're going to bring him into the Commonwealth U-20 qualifiers, I think, are in January and cap-time. I think that's probably unlikely, but it is pretty crazy to see a U.S. developed player

at a, you know, playing an age level up at a power like Argentina. Pretty cool. And Argentina, in recent weeks, no stranger to calling up American prospects multiple age groups up. So. Yeah, second one. Maximo Carrizo is Alex who's Alex referring to. Benjamin Kramoski was the 39th pick. Alex, you're up with the 40th overall pick.

40th and 41st by final two picks. First of all, I'm just going to address something. You guys have all picked strikers. I'm looking at the list of the strikers who are left and none of them inspire any confidence in me. So I'm going to put Pax and Aaron's in that striker where he played for the U-20s. I know.

It's not his best position, but none of these guys inspired confidence for me. So, yeah, I'll say that before I make my two final ticks. So for my penultimate pick, I'm going to go for a central midfielder, not Jack McGlynn. It is Alex Alvarado from FC Vizzella. He was with the U-20 team in the Concord-20 Championship. He really did everything in that midfield. He was good defensively and on the ball.

And then obviously scored against Honduras, the goal that ultimately helped get us to the Olympics for the first time since 2008. So yeah, Alex Alarado. He struggled to... We thought this was going to really be his breakthrough season with Vizela. I don't know if he's really gotten many minutes this year, if any at all. Maybe a couple sub-appearances here and there. I think he played a game in the cup, but still definitely a high potential player and a player that I really like stylistically as someone who can get into the USM&T

if he can get a breakthrough at Vizela and maybe get to move at some point. So that's my penultimate pick. And then my last pick is... I may as well just swing for the fences here and take like a big, big risk. So I'm going to go for an 07 with my final pick. I'm going to go for Axel Perez of Olympic Leonese Academy and the USU17 national team. And you mentioned Weston before. Here's another product of that system came through Miami and then ended up at Leon,

got called up to the US 06s, and that game he had, I believe it was against Belgium. Just an incredible, incredible performance scored one of those beautiful goals I've seen recently in a US youth camp. And my biggest concern with him is that he's really, really small. I don't know if he's going to be, he does need to grow a bit, but an 07, early 07, but still, still very young he'll be 19 in 2026 so yeah i mean you never know if he can break through at leone

at some point that's the best academy in france arguably so we'll see but may as well go big with the last pick he looked like the best player at that uh that camp with the u17s as the year younger i mean he's he's super fun fantastic great talent great technical ability it's just a question if he can it physically when he's played I mean he's already playing up an age group I mean he's born January 07 but once he's really playing with men will he be able to match that we'll just have to wait and see but it's hard to tell right now because we don't know how his how his growth is going to go not just as a player but just in terms of his size okay I believe it is Hartman's pick last pick for you Matt

all right cool so I mean there are a number of options here I think everybody else midfield is complete, right? So I could talk through the options a little bit, but with Jack McGlynn still on the table, Paxton's still there, Kaden Clark is still there. All of those guys are

better picks than the person that I'm going to pick. They're more likely to, I think, both be on the roster and also just have good careers, generally speaking, because I'm going to take a younger, kid who I don't know if he's going to make it but he's just my most, the player I like the most in the entire MLS Next setup in terms of how fun he is to watch and also some of the

stuff that he can do on the field. I'm talking about Mika Burton, Micah Burton, who is in 2006 attacking midfielder slash winger or with the national teams even more of a false nine who plays his club football at Austin in MLS. He is a special player in terms of his ability on the ball in terms of ability to pick out passes to teammates. He is kind of, I think, the player that, and this is at youth levels, like as a U-17 player, he's the player that I think we hope Brendan Aronson will be at times in that he's willing to do all of that, all of the hard.

work but when he gets the ball he does some you know concise crisp passing some outrageous like he could he could basically put the ball wherever he wants for a teammate not like necessarily over long distances but in that um you know in the mix uh and he's just like a a great great player at u17 level i'm not sure how well it's going to translate up he's not the best athlete but uh he's as technical and athletic as they come. And I think that I wouldn't be surprised if he's playing in MLS before too long. So there are just sometimes when you're watching these youth players where you just get a good feeling about a kid. And he's one of those guys for me.

He makes a lot of stuff happen for that team, doesn't he? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he has an outrageously high number of touches per game. and basically the heartbeat of that team. I'm going to push back on that a little bit. I've kind of had a similar concern of what I've seen with Cruz this season and the games I've met and I are probably one of a handful of people on Earth that watch a lot of MLS next games.

And I haven't seen them impacting games as much this year and not getting on the ball as much as he was. last year and that could be a number of different things but I've seen attacking mids this season take you know like Aaron Hurd for St. Louis has taken I think a massive leap forward in his ability to impact games and I think his tools are maybe a little bit higher than Micah Burton though I do acknowledge Micah's soccer IQ is is pretty substantial but I've been a little worried about him this year I haven't seen him impacting as much as I'd like to see, but I'm still a fan.

Okay. Marcus, with the second to last pick, the 43rd overall pick. Yeah, it's pretty clear what I need, and that's a left back. I thought maybe I'd be the only person to take an 07, but well done, Alex. I'm going to also take an 07, because why not? This is fun. I'm taking Christian McFarlane from NYC FC, potentially soon to be Manchester City.

There's been report, Christian's performance with the England U-16s in a recent that I think he caught a lot of people's attention. I think he was, if not the best, one of the top three players for England's team at that tournament. And you might be asking why the hell are you talking about England? Because he is a dual national. He has been at both camps. He was born in England, but I think raised majority in the United States. He is a homegrown.

He was one of the youngest homegrowns to sign. Because he's, I believe he has a UK passport, he could go to Manchester City before he turns 18. obviously NYCFC and Manchester City are owned by the same group so it makes a ton of sense he doesn't have some of the challenges that I think it's tough to project when you're projecting a younger player he's already physically very special he's an incredibly fluid composed smooth player like smooth is the word I'd used to describe him he could probably play a number of different positions. He, he kind of, I compare him to kind of like a,

like a slightly more athletic, and forgive me, this is going to sound crazy, but kind of like a Marco Alonzo where he can play wing, he could, he could play left back. He's probably a left wing back. He's just a really exciting prospect. It's going to, you know, England's floor for making their national team, and we're talking many, many years away is really high. So who knows what happens, but he's one of my favorite youth players. And so that's my, it's going to round out my squad. And I got Christian McFarlane as my left back. I feel like he's the-

Christian McFarland, I should mention, played against the U.S. Two weeks ago. I mean, he's really the only other option at left back outside of Wiley Tolkien and Gomez, right? I mean. George Bello. George Bello. Yeah, that's right.

He has like five tabs or something. Yeah, yeah, we can't. Right. The only other person I throw in there is Mauricio Iciss who plays for Pachuca, who's a Mexican-American dual national, who's starting to get on the Mexican national team's radar. He was in that pre-World Cup camp, had a breakout season for the title-winning Pachuca. He may have no interest in playing for the United States. I have no idea, but I think he's probably the other left back to just keep an eye on.

I was going for Columbia, too. Oh, okay. Awesome. With my final pick, I'll take Chitiru Odunzei. Yeah, it's a blast from the past. Yeah, I mean, he's still only 20. He's huge. He's slugging it out in the Premier League 2.

It's a late-blooming position. We'll see what happens with him. So that's my pick. Yeah. It's not a bad pick just because. the lack of other options available. However, if you go look at those Premier League 2 statistics, they aren't great. He's giving up a lot of goals.

Yes, he's averaging, I think, almost three a game. Which may, you know, may... I'm sure it's the defense's fault, totally. Yeah, come on. Jordan has posted the final picks. Does anybody have any thoughts on who made out like a bandit? And whose team other than your own do you admire the most? Where can we see these lineup?

In podchat channel? I like Marcus's team personally. I kind of like Marcus's team too. Yeah. I love Marcus's team. Yeah, I think you went young in some smart places. And the question is just are those kids going to break out in time, whether it's the, Kachin, the Barsa goalkeeper or McFarland, who, you know,

both of those kids are crazy talented and I'm sure will age, the picks will age super well. But, like, the only reason I didn't pick McFarland, like with Kachan is that he's a 2007. He is both representing England and interested in representing England. And with an almost certain move to Man City, it's like how interested is he going to be, even to be in our camps as a, I think he'll be 18 or either 18 or 19, right, when the World Cup rolls around. So it's a lot of question marks,

but I will say about my team is super talented. About McFarlane, he, the MLS Next footage that I watched with him, he was just like receiving the ball and passing it back to the left center back like every single time. He's a kid that like when that,

when you watch that tape will be very important because he had a serious injury. last year so like coming back he almost didn't play all of last season and then coming back early this year he didn't look super hot early but really caught fire lately and he he looked like before wrap up if you oh go ahead i thought i watched all of england's use 16s in this recent tournament and i think he was maybe their best player and was being a little bit more brave in terms of what he was doing with the ball going forward. So I'm not too worried about that. But yeah, I mean, I definitely went young.

And I guess I was going for, even if they don't make squatters, I'm banking on like, yeah, that guy was close. And if he was just a little bit older and he's looking really good. So, you know, this is all on record. That's what I'm going for. Hartman's got the best striker. I think that's pretty clear. Well, I mean, Vasquez Partisans will beg to different.

I suppose. Are we Do we think McGlynn is the player we're all going to get the most crap for for not picking? Is there any one now?

Yeah, Coach Beard is going apoplectic. I can throw a couple names at you that I still have left on here that no one picked. Quinn Sullivan, Kaden Clark,

Esmir by Daktadevich, I guess Adrian Gill, some people would not like that he was not picked. K-Kal. And then the next Paxon, Pomacall.

Kate Cowell, yes. The next striker up, who I didn't end up picking because I went with Paxon, would have been Rodrigo Neri. But that just shows you how weak the striker pool is. Yeah, maybe some, like, some people really like Malik Sunongo. People will certainly like his numbers. Was Hoppe not available? Or did we all just give up on him?

Hoppy was available. He had too many caps, I think. Oh, did he? I think he has, like, six caps. Oh. I had him on my. list. Yeah, me too.

But I didn't, I didn't look at this cap. So that was, that was the one where I was like, I guess we've all given up on Matthew Hoppy. Yeah, he has six. You're right. Because you played the Gold Cup and that one qualifier where he got like five minutes against Coast Trail. All right. We haven't given up on Hoppy.

Calcian days for, for old Matthew. You know, one thing that surprised me about this exercise is that you, when you sort of game out the opening rounds of the draft, you have to, you have to, you have to. You have to really figure out what your priorities are when it comes to center back, left back, striker, and wing. Like, midfield was full of possibility, I thought. Yeah, definitely. Like, there were, like, a hundred different ways you could construct a credible midfield from this player pool. But when you, but you have to get, you had to go right for a winger.

Otherwise, you're stuck with, I don't know. I'm a little surprised Christian Fletcher didn't get a shout. Does none of you guys rate him? He's my highest winger left. The problem with him is, I think, like, like I said, when I picked Kalesha, like it's unclear if Fletcher is a winger long term or if he's just going to be more of a striker

or a second striker guy, because he's, like, outrageously talented in terms of his ability to find good spots on the field and hit the back of the net, but he's not like a 1V1 wizard or anything like that. Like, I'm not sure that he's going to be an upgrade on the wing from the other options that we have available. I think his long-term position is probably inside.

Yeah, I agree. I think he's going to end up as a nine. He's just a little rough on the ball. But can sure strike it. Yeah. But yeah, as Bell said, like the, people are going to get mad about, like, midfielder who weren't picked, And it's just like, you know, we can only pick 12 and we have a ton of options.

And like if there was a left centerback anywhere near as talented as like my best centerbacks, my best midfielders available are Jack McGlynn-Pakston and Bentow Estrella, who is, you know, a really good prospect in the Red Bulls Academy. If there was a left centerback anywhere near as talented as those guys, they would have been like a third round pick. You know, it's just positional scarcity. Alex took Paxton. I mean, Tesman.

Testman didn't get drafted. Cole Bassett, John Luca Busio, a lot of transfer market value there left on the table. But like, I mean, the Testament troubadours may have some reason for hope, but I don't see Bassett or Busio being a national team player from here on out. So it's just like that transfer market value stuff. Oh, yeah, Busio does have too many caps. In midfield, you kind of have to think of it

a unit and playoff of, you know, the strengths of who you have. So I think midfield is going to be unique from squad to squad because you need to think about who they're paired with. Yes. And for me, it was like, well, I was tempted to take McGlynn, but I'm going to take, I took Mendez over him. It's like, it's one of those two for me as like sort of the creator in midfield. and I'll take the guy grinding it out in Portugal.

Any other shot? Any other thoughts? Any other shots? Any other thoughts? I think we're done. Our job mission accomplished, right? Yeah, we'll try to put them in like a lineup format. I'm sure somebody will get Doyle to come in and do the like the 11 at the end.

I can't wait to look back at this in three and a half years and laugh at how horrible it was. It doesn't take that long, trust me. Tyler Hall, yeah, Tyler Hall already. Shout out to Tyler Biden, who is, his last name is spelled B-I-N-D-O-N. He's a 05 left-footed centerback at L-AFC, who is like really, really taking the storm, taken the DA, MLS next by Storm over the last couple of months. he might be a big player it might be like a year from now we're looking back and being like how to hell

it would we miss is he gonna I mean there's another I want to give one quick mention a player I really like Sergio Oda Hell from the Fire he just debuted for the first team he still has a lot of growing to do

but he's got really good vision and technical ability I don't really know where he's going to fit in the midfield yet because he's been playing as a six and he really thinks of himself as more of a 10 but I'll just throw him out there. I don't think he'll be on the 2026 team or even close to it, but a decent player, so I'll give him a mention. Okay.

Let's talk about quickly who everybody's midfield is. Can you, Alex, who's your three-man midfield? I have Johnny Cardoso, Alex Elvarado, and Cruz Medina in front of them. Okay. I have Obed Vargas, Benjamin Cromache, and Mika Burton. Okay. I got... Booth is my free-roaming playmaker.

I'm building out with Amir Richardson, and Aidan Morris is cleaning up the mess. Yeah, okay. And then I got Soma, Shakiris, and Mendez. Which nobody's heard of Soma outside of, like, the 12 of us who follow this stuff. But... Soma is my favorite pick of your pick. Bell's favorite pick.

He's impressive, I think. All right. I think that's it from us. Thanks everybody for listening. Thanks gentlemen for your help with this. And may the best team win. Cheers. We'll see you.