Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #461: Monday Review — Pulisic, Wes, Tim ascendant, Richards at DM, etc.

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

The first Monday Review of 2024 with Watke, Vince and Belz. We celebrate the ascendancy of the three Americans in northern Italy, talk over Chris Richards' 8-match run of starts at Crystal Palace and whether he's getting better at playing on the half-tur, Sargent and Dike are back from long injuries and scoring, January Camp is underway. It's the year of Copa America.Consider subscribing to Scuffed on Patreon. You get an exclusive episode at least once a week, full versions of all our interviews with players and coaches and other soccer people, access to the Discord server and live call-in shows, plus occasional video content: 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 Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, this is the Monday Review. Hey, everyone, we're back. Happy New Year, Vince. Happy New Year events. Happy New Year's. Happy New Year Waki. Thank you.

We really jammed up that. You said Happy New Year event. He waited, and as soon as you started talking, you said happy. You just ran over him and said, happy. wish me happy new year. By now, it's coming again. We're off to a flying start.

Yeah. 2024 year, the year of Copa America. We're actually recording on a Sunday night, but you'll be listening to this on Monday. It's the Monday review. It's been almost three weeks since we convened. So I think we better get to work, huh?

Yep. Let's start in northern Italy, where the boys are ascendant. I think it's fair to say, even more so than the last time we talked. Well, their Senate, they just reached a height and stayed there, at least in the case of Pulisic and Wes. And now Tim's back. Flying.

Galazzo's. Yeah. It's been a very influential. It's been a big three weeks for them, boys, for sure. Pulisic is pretty much the guy. I mean, this was true in December, but it seems even more true now. He's the guy who delivers for A.C. Milan, at least through the first half of the season. He's the man there right now.

Six goals, five assists through half a season. season had an assist on Sunday. He's reached the point he doesn't even have to worry about participating in the celebrations that much. He can be a minor player. Like he can assist a guy. The guy doesn't need to point at him and run to him anymore. He's also a matter of fact.

He can go off the side run to the bench or whatever. Yeah, because now he's like, I mean, the dude he assisted today forgot his name. Triori. Trieri. I mean, so is Waki. saying treori is that right means nothing in the soccer world yeah you know you can you can just say treori you could be mentioning any 50 to 100 football in the in the primarily no but uh i think this was a i think this is a young man uh you know ac c milan said a lot of injuries shock at

this season yes shock at treoree uh 19 years old so uh i i bring that up to say to your point walkie about the celebrations that Pooley is now the person delivering the passes that that you that that Ivory Coast supporters back home are just praying and hoping that that Chaka doesn't mess him up just so that he doesn't get a you know a glare from Christian Polisic you know what I'm saying like Christian Christian's that guy now like like the inverse of the it's the inverse of what we experience with our all these kids coming up. You know what I'm saying?

Like Wes playing with Christiana Ronaldo. You don't want Wes to mess something up. Serge playing with Messi. You know what I'm saying? Not to say, of course, of course. Not to say that Christian is on that tier. But, you know, he's a big dog now. He's a big dog now.

Even Raffer Liao, you know what I'm saying? I need to see, you know, Christian big time him a little bit. You know, if he missed a chance, Christian, go ahead. I mean, you've earned it at this point. Get a little, uh, What's the word I'm looking for? Exasperated? Yeah.

I'm very tired. Exasperated, throw your arms up in the air. You know what I'm saying? Some geotype mannerisms. He's earned it at this point. He's that guy. USA, USA, etc. Yeah.

Oh, I got to mention this. Did you guys see on Twitter that Bill Buford, somebody tagged us in on a Bill Buford tweet about the Italian commentators, Marosuma? Do you know who Bill Buford is? He's the guy who wrote Among the Thugs, which is just an amazing book about, it's about English supporters in the 1980s. Vince just gave me a look.

Gave me a look. He got in with a group of supporters. I forget at which club who would just go running through the streets, fighting and stuff. Anyway, he's following at scuff pod on Twitter now. He did a book called Heat about. Mario Battali, the cook, too. He, like, was a volunteer in Batali's kitchen back in the day.

Back before Batali had all his troubles. Anyway. Cool. You better do some tweets. USA, USA made me think of that. Otherwise, it's a waste. Got to get Bill Buford on board. Right.

Is he the travel writer? Or is that another guy named Bill that was a similar last name? He's mostly a food writer now, but he wrote. that his three books are among the thugs, heat, and then he wrote one about called Dirt, which is also about cooking, I think. I think he had a different person. I'm thinking of Bryson.

Oh, yeah, it's not Bill Bryson. So yeah, Pulisic, he really is that guy. It feels like unfamiliar territory, doesn't it, for us to have a guy who is the guy at A.C. Milan. One of the two biggest clubs in Italy. It's definitely a new development, a different development. but very welcomed, of course, very welcomed because at the end of the day, if we're going to do something in 2026, I know, you know, we've talked about this multiple times on the pod, but it's going to have to be on Christian shoulders.

We just hope that, you know, people also ascend to meet him on his ethereal plane that he currently occupies. Yeah, but there's only got to be but so many other people coming to help. So he's got to, you're going to need to do quite a bit. Maybe we'll get a couple guys. Maybe five. If we're lucky. Hopefully, I mean, if we can. Yeah.

If we're lucky, I mean, I guess we'll, we'll get there and talk about the other people that can, that can probably reach that point. But, yeah. I mean, it's just great. It's great to, I guess, to summarize it. all. I mean, you know, we've had a lot of doubts. Everyone's had doubts. You know, the greater USM&T fandom as a whole. I won't say Greg Burrhalter had doubts, but, you know, he was like deservedly benched and, in my opinion, for a match, you know what I'm saying, for not

quite delivering the way we thought he could and should. And, yeah, it's just beautiful to see, man. May I long continue. you know, health permitting, all these different types of things. Yeah, there's no guarantee it will continue. So, you know, I'm just trying to enjoy it while it does continue. Wes is beloved in Turen. We've talked about this at some length, but he, you know, Juventus two points back of Inter, Inter Milan in the league,

and Tim is back healthy, reminded everybody in front of the home crowd, who he is with that screamer from 30 yards against Salernetana in the Copa Italia and I feel like we should discuss this goal for a little while here we can get back to Wes

maybe we could talk about Wes first whatever you guys want I don't know we can talk about that goal it was it was by Salernatana twice I got killed they paid by them twice yeah they did

that's what threw me off when he said I had to go look it up yeah they did They played them in the cup at home, and then, I guess, three days later, they played them down in, what is that place? Well, Salerno, which is just South of the Sanfus. On Sunday. Which, there was some, I don't know, I don't want to say too much in fear of my life and my family's lives. But there seemed to be some made men in the crowd on Sunday here at 12 p.m. Eastern.

time when I watched the sign of a ton of UVA match. But anyway, back to the What's a made man? What's that mean? Um, mobbed up. Oh,

yeah. Okay. I don't want to do racists or a guy with a vape. Did you, did you see the two do, the three dudes in like suits and like overcoats? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I wasn't going to bring up. Are these like soccer executives they keep showing? Or they just kept showing this three groups, powerful match? powerful power of men yeah it's very powerful

I mean it would make sense if they are the front office of Saoanatana I guess being that you know the match was in Salerno and they kept showing

these three men but I don't know there was something there was there was something regal about them but also potentially nefarious at the same time

I don't know are you perceived a ruthlessness yeah I don't know It was just the way they're dressed The way that they're dressed It was you know Most time you see

Club executives You know what I'm saying They might have like a little black suit on A little something But these dudes It was just like A little too much to wear Like

You don't have to be that dressed up If you are a club executive Because you can just go back Until your box or something If the weather gets a little unruly or something I feel like these people Did not have a box to go to Yeah

Within the stadium I got a video clip of it just in case anything happened after so I'd have it the record of it. It was the overcoat. Really, that they really tip me off. But anyway. It seems like a pretty bare-bones stadium. Yeah, no bells or whistles there. I'm supposed to be talking about Tim's goal.

That's right. Tim's goal. Yeah, he hit it a lot like he hit that one at the U-17 World Cup a few years, a few years. It just has like an incredible, I don't know that I see other people strike the ball this way. There's something about it. It dips a little bit, but there's, there's something about it that's just unusual,

and Keeper had no chance, rang off the bottom of the crossbar. Oh, go ahead. Yeah. I would say, like, people, I don't know, in baseball, they might say, like, pitchers throw, like a heavy ball. I think Tim hits a heavy ball. Like, it doesn't, if you look at it,

Like the slow-mo of the shot, it doesn't spin. It just flies in the air with no rotation on it whatsoever. It's going to go where it goes. A lot of times with the U.S., you know, we've seen it where like it's just, it ends up being like a knuckler. It's not as well-placed as this one it was. I guess because of the lack of spin. But, yeah, it's just like it's a canon.

Like literally when you say people have a cannon Well, you know, you shoot a cannon now. The cannon's not... A cannonball is a rotating however many RPMs or whatever that you would need for it to curve, per se. I think that's what we're seeing from Tim. Let me play the audio of the goal

from Juventus TV, because it's not Maro-level, but it's pretty fun. She'll play the final novant-twe-sim. And then, she prova, We-A. That calcha da long-lon! What goal of We-A! I'mma me,

what a merivial! But what goal we've seen? What goal has made? Timotty Wea. Timotieuea. I like this.

Mamma Mia. What meravilla. I imagine that means how marvelous? Yeah, that's awesome. It's a stark contrast to Moro Soma, where he has decided to

pander, specifically to us, to the USM&T fan base. You know what I'm saying? my man, I don't know who that is doing the Yuvai call. He's very Italian with the, and I appreciate the, I appreciate the, too. You can appreciate them both, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

Both sides of the aisle. But yeah, that's a nice switch up from Soma, I think. So Tim's back. He's healthy. I mean, that was kind of the big news. And then he had this goal and then he played, started in the game today, earlier today, where they came back from 1-0 down beats Salernatana in the league. Like we said, down in front of the mob in Salerno.

And he and Wes helped set up the first goal, which was the equalizer. West did one of his patented cutbacks after West played. I mean, Tim did one of his patented cutbacks after West played. I think it was Millick, and then Millick laid it off for Tim. So things are going pretty well. And then Blahevich got the late winner. what a beautiful place Salerno is. I just pulled this up on my...

Let's pull this up on the Google machine. Beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. Tons of beautiful places in Italy, I guess, but... I suppose so. I had a feeling... I don't know, just looking at those guys in the crowd,

I was thinking Salerno was in the South somewhere. It's not right there on the coast, right there in the little crevice of the boot. Beautiful place, beautiful place. But yeah, Tim, so Tim started that 1-0 win against Roma, came off the bench for the Copa Italia match because Cambiasa was back. Cambeio was serving a yellow car suspension for the Roma match. So Tim came in and played.

Cambiasa was back as Copa Italia. He's been playing pretty well. He's been playing pretty well and kind of like held down that right wing back spot. So came back Copa Italia Tim came off the bench Scored the banger I was not expecting Tim to start today Tim got the start because

Campiazzo was sick I guess it seems So that's cool And he took We've talked multiple times about Yuva The frustrations of watching this team Some people find it boring I can never find Weston McKinney

Playing soccer boring but I will say that Mr. Max Allegory, like, I don't understand what he's doing. He turns the difficulty up on his own teams. It was almost like, how so? You know, lots of. If you watch this match, you saw that YuVe in buildup, well, none of us. When they were in the attacking phase, a lot of times you had Tim Way of working in between the lines and Weston McKinney out wide right and I don't think that's the best use of any one of

those two players it's like you're getting it you're getting the worst Weston if he's wide right you're getting the worst Tim if he's inside working in between the lines like that because it it wasn't like he's like playing a second strike or something like Tim like this is uh kind of playing as a half space merchant kind of it's it's yeah it's it's a half space merchant but like Uvei also aren't like that close to the goal. You know what I'm saying? Centerbacks are probably positioned around the like the halfway line. Like there's still some work to be done to get it to a point to where somebody's going to do some damage and score a goal or whatever.

And I just think at that point, why would you have, why would you have Wes where I write? Why would you have Tim inside? And if you notice where that first goal comes from, first goal comes from West receiving the, they're actually, everyone's in there. positions, according to Vince, everyone's in the correct positions. West receives the ball, plays a nice pass for Millick to run on in the box. Milik lays it while Millick grabs it, faces up, Tim makes a nice dart and run to the Man City Zone where Millick lays it off for Tim, Tim cuts it back, blah, blah, blah. All of that happens because everyone is situated in position where they're supposed to be positioned, in my opinion. You know what I'm saying? If you get

get, if you got Tim in that position where Wes is, maybe that ball doesn't get to Millick. And then if Millick does get the ball, Wes probably isn't making that run. And if he is making that run, he's not necessarily going to beat his marker to be able to gain the advantage to receive the ball and be able to do something when they receive it. All this stuff, you know, the chain reaction, all this. So, I would just say it. The ball from Millick to weigh it. Well, just a second.

The ball from Millick to weigh is a little bit behind him. So it was a really nice touch, actually, to bring it in front of him so that he play the cup back from the end line. But go ahead. Right. And I don't know what the last thing. I mean, I'm basically finished. It's just like Allegory, just let these people play in the positions that you have them in.

You know what I'm saying? I don't understand what the thought process is between letting Tim come inside and let Westcoe go outside. But it just, it doesn't make sense. Thank you. Okay. My sort of big picture thought on all these three is that they're in such an encouraging sign about the development pipeline for the U.S. I regularly have the thought.

So this is kind of an on the one hand, on the other hand thing. On the one hand, I regularly have the thought that our national team wouldn't have the chance to be good without all these dual nationals, you know, players developed in other places. and then I've sort of bemoan the lack of soccer culture in our country and worry about the pipeline for the national team in the future. And I still kind of am concerned about that. But we're right in in the 2024 with these three players playing important roles at the two biggest clubs in Italy.

And that is a good sign for the development pipeline because they were all substantially developed in the U.S. There are some asterisks. You know, Wes was spent some of his childhood in Germany. Tim is the son of a global superstar Ballandore winner. So that's like a little bit of a different category. But still, they mostly grew up and played in the U.S. until they were of the age to decide to play professional soccer.

So that's good. Yep. And two of them are black. Oh, no. Honestly, that's good too. It is. I just, I just wanted to say that. But the thing, I do think about dole-nats from time to time myself as well.

And the thing about dole-nets is maybe you would think that if we, as we rely on these players and build our programs on the, build our program off the back of some of these, you know, Dole Nationals, you may think it's like unsustainable, right? You know, just the fact that we have a Sergenio desk pop up. in the Netherlands, a John Brooks pop up in Germany, Malik Tillman, Tim Tillman, blah, blah, blah. But as long as we keep sending our best, our brightest, our horniest over abroad, surely they shall return, you know, with their American seed properly spread in Europe and other places too.

You know, yeah, Zion Suzuki, ain't that his name? In Japan, I'm going to assume that's a military. baby too. So, you know. And this is why we encourage all of our listeners to vote for whoever's the most militaristic candidate. We don't get into politics. Just pick the one with like, once the footprint far and wine. Yeah. There are practical and ethical reasons to not like the, uh, the large American military footprint in the world, but not in this context. This is definitely a counterpoint.

Yeah. It's a counterpoint for sure. I mean, you know, I haven't kept up too much with what's going on in Venezuela. But if we need to, if we need to strengthen our presence in South America. You're exactly right. Yeah. You know, in the surrounding countries to make sure that whatever is going on there doesn't trickle its way up all the way to, you know, take our freedoms here in the great USFA, then, hey, do what needs to be done, man.

A couple bases in South Paulo, Rio, you know what I'm saying? Man. What, yeah, so we're talking Caracas, Sao Paulo, Rio. Where else should we target for military bases? On a video. Okay.

They've got stuff figured out down there. We need a big one there. Yeah. Let's see. We can get one in a... You know what? I'm forgetting the names of all these. places.

I think we've... Yeah, we got it. We've covered it. It's mostly a Monroe Doctrine kind of thing. South, I mean, South America, Western Hemisphere. Next subject is Chris Richards. Maybe what's going on with him is the biggest development across the player pool, even though it's not quite as sexy as what's going on in northern Italy.

But, yeah, he keeps playing defensive midfield in the Premier League. and he's seven straight starts well actually eight straight starts eight full straight full 90s if you count the cup match so that's one win three losses and now four draws counting the cup match against Everton

they drew against Man City one win three close of Drew against Man City the notable ones are drawing Man City losing the Liverpool and Chelsea and then beating Brentford

what do you guys think I got some thoughts but I just think it's great he's getting out on the field yeah that is the most important thing and exciting fun games yeah

it's probably making it better at soccer what it comes down to in it I mean eight straight matches like what's the last time Chris Richards did this? Hoffenheim, probably. Like, I feel like, yeah.

Hoffenheim, and even then, I don't know if he got eight straight, eight straight 90s. I mean, this might be a first in his career. People, you know, in Discord or whatever, I can go back and double check your boy. But I don't know. It's a, go ahead. Well, one thing that's bothered me a little bit is I've noticed the announcers have become a little bit condescending to him because they're not expecting him to do anything much with the ball. So if he does something kind of good,

they're like, oh, what a turn from Richards. It was just the most basic turn of past you can do. Right. But he, you know, it's not a real complaint. I'm glad they're saying that kind of stuff. Yeah, they'll say stuff like, well, it's been quite a run for Richards here and holding midfield, you know. It says such and such a number of straight matches,

as if it's like a big surprise, which it kind of is, honestly. But I think, tell me if I'm overreading things, but it seems like I've detected a bit of a bit of improvement on the ball from him in this stretch of games. Like when he first started playing, he was just, you wouldn't even look him behind him, you just receive the ball and knock it right back to one of the centerbacks. Or, you know, kind of diagonally out to a fullback maybe.

he still does a lot of that, no question about it, but it does seem like in the last two games, there's a little bit more of him playing on the half turn, or maybe the quarter turn, you know, doing just a little bit. He did a three-quarter turn. On the third goal against Brentford? I don't think it was, it was played in,

no, it was in his own half. This was the one that the commentator complimented. Oh. Almost a full turn, but he was turning open up towards his goal and then playing it to a center back. I played on the three-quarter turn back to the center back. But it was still good. I had to go back in the memory bank bells from that third goal that you were talking about against Bradford. But yes, that was a nice ball.

He played, he received it from the right side. Yeah, spread it out to the left side. Yeah. Probably his best action on the ball in this whole stretch of games. Yeah, and then I asked him to do too much And I asked him do too much But I didn't watch the Everton match But he did have a lot of passes

He had more passes probably in the Everton match Than I think He's had I just checked it was football mom has him at 38 I watched a lot of the clips A lot of those were headed clearances That happened to find somebody's feet Okay

But I watched I didn't have a ton of mistakes No I don't remember any I don't remember it. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. I think he is a really smart player, and he is, you know, I'm probably sort of doing a little bit of wish-wishing analysis here,

but it wouldn't surprise me if he figures this out, you know, how to play. He could. They asked Burholter about it in the press conference, and he diplomatically said, no, he's a center back. Yeah, which I do agree as well. Even with everything that we've just talked about, I do think that it's a little bit premature, and people are like, oh, is he coming for Tyler Adams?

But I do not think so. I do not believe that to be the case. It's a little bit intriguing, though. He did say it was good to have him as a depth option. So it's a good thing. I mean, we'll take it. From the perspective of the Richards family in Hoover, Alabama, this is just, it's just fantastic because he beat,

not only does he get to play eight straight games for a Premier League club, he is a more, he has a more diverse skill set, he's learning how to do different things. It's going to make him a better player all around, and, um, it's awesome. Yes, I, I do believe that to be the case. Um, also,

he had that pass for the third goal against Bredford. Um, I'm pretty sure this came during the break. I forgot what game that was where you got that tackle outside the box like the tackle off a corner to keep the possession with Crystal Palace and they scored off a header.

I want to say that was. I don't know that one. It might have been Chelsea. I think I was Chelsea. You can put in a good tackle. It absolutely was Chelsea. When Crystal Palace had a corner and he tackled

Gusto. I think it was Gusto. have received the ball outside of the box and was going to go the other way for Chelsea. Chris Richards comes in with one of his patented tackles. The ball falls to IU who sent a cross in for Alisei, which

what a player, Alisei is. He's really nice. Yeah. What a baller. They took it off the chest and violated in near post with his left foot. So, you know, he's out there doing his thing. And Crystal Palace is that win against Bradford was huge, because I feel like

I think they would be like three or two points out of a relegation spot if it wouldn't for that win. So, you know, Roy Hotson's on the hot seat a little bit. We want Roy to stay in the job, right? You know, Chris got eight straight 90s with him in charge. So every Crystal Palace match, you know what I'm saying? We need the dubs. And also, before we get off Crystal Palace, I just want to say, you know, everyone talks about how Greg Burrhalter may or may not be wasting our talent. in the U.S.

I just want to say Ghana is wasting. I mean, we play Ghana, of course. And on this pod, you know, I was talking about there might be a formidable opponent. And they're just wasting all different. I mean, over this break, I don't know if y'all have seen, like, Mohamed Kudos, he's been bawling,

watching Crystal Palace, Jordan Ayu's been balling, kind of. Thomas Parte, et cetera, et cetera. They got good players, man. And, uh, I don't know. Just something to think about. Keep it in perspective a little bit when you say Greg's wasting our talent. I mean, Ghana came here with a pretty decent resume club-wise.

Yeah. Pretty decent team, and we busted there. So, I don't know, but may along continue for Chris. What national team does Alise play for? He's a, I think he wants to play for England. Oh, okay. I will say on the subject of Richard's tackling, He's also, we've talked about this as well, but he's very strong.

He's gotten a lot stronger in the last year or two. And even if he's not elegant with the ball in the middle of the field, it's really hard to take the ball off him because he's bigger than all the midfielders. He's up against, most of them at least. That's the thing. That's the thing about it. He's not making any, like, I don't think there's been a single, like, bad giveaway, bad pass. I mean, he's giving the ball away, of course.

Bad back pass or anything like that. You know what I'm saying? he's mostly but because the thing about it even if somebody is passing the ball backwards uh the ball comes to the ball is going to come to you in a lot of different ways right and more to

Chris is very clean with his first touch you know as a as a converted centerback somebody who hasn't really needed to use your first touch like under pressure very much you know what I'm saying he's able to bring that ball down even though he's passing it back he's bringing it down cleanly and passing that thing back So, to your point, Bells, if Chris is able to parlay this experience into something more and maybe a permanent new position that he can play it, that his ability to receive the ball is going to be key.

And the fact that he already has it a little bit, we'll take it. Also, Alisei's French. Thank you. All right. Next thing, we got over in the champo, we had some strikers coming. back from long injury layoffs. First of all, Joshua Sargent,

scored a goal off the bench versus Southampton and his first appearance since, I guess it was late August, early September, when he got hurt. And then he started on Saturday,

or over the weekend. I think he came off at the half. I couldn't figure out if it was like a planned substitution to come off at the half or what, but do you know anything about that? It looked. planned.

Okay. But I didn't read it anywhere. Nearly score, the goalie score was pretty nice. Let's listen to the audio. Jonathan Rowe, can he spark halfway low? Norwich's top scorer to Sarah, who plays it back forward to Roe, and it's not a bad ball. Rowe with a reverse past the sergeant.

It's the chance for Sargent. He's got it. He's off the post. Josh Sargent is back. And back among the goals for Norwich City. Against the run of play, on the counter-attack, a swift break, and a lovely finish from Josh Sargent. So he snuck it far post with his,

just inside the far post with his left-footed pass shot, right? Yeah, it was right-footed. Yeah, I see it. Yeah, it was right footed. Oh, okay. But it was kind of a, it was clever. He, like, he kind of, like, hesitated over the ball right before he hit it

and then just placed it right between the legs of the defender who was touched tight with him, right in off the post. Nice goal. It was very nice. very nice I always love a off rhythm take like that you know what I'm saying his ability to get your get your shot off because you you know Defender lines up your stride pattern or whatever and he takes if he takes his big

like two steps to get to get it going and a big back swing and all that and you know that thing's blocked because because dude's right there you know and Josh was pretty good at getting his stride pattern locked up and blocked yeah right He's been proficient in that area. He was one of the best in Germany. But now he doesn't, that doesn't happen anymore. He went for, he did an offbeat assist attempt through the guy's legs yesterday or Saturday.

That could have been. The shot didn't go in, but it was cool. Yeah. He almost scored against Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup. That FA Cup game he just referenced. left-footed shot from like he tried to go near post maybe could have gone far post should have could have woulda but it's good to see him back

and healthy really excited about what he's what he can do over the next few months yeah and I mean he's coming back the championship's a crazy league man they just never stopped playing yeah they never stop playing whoa okay 36 matches played

I mean, not 36, 26 matches played when they play 46, 20 more left. They've already played 26 matches. Why are they doing so many games? It's like 50% more than the Premier League, yeah. I don't know. 46 matches is crazy. Jesus.

Just a meat grinder. Yeah, but I bring that up to say Norwich is currently at 35 points. They are 13th in the championship. Sunderland has the last playoff spot with 40 points. Now, like I said, Norwich is 13th, so there's one, two, three. There's like seven teams between them and Sunderland. But there's definitely a chance.

There's definitely a chance to get in there. And, you know, they've been missing, they've been missing their guy, right? Josh has hurt. I think old dude got hurt too. Barnes. Didn't Barnes get hurt in the interim of? He was playing that. Oh, never mind.

He's back now. Yeah, he's back. Yeah, let's get back on the yo-yo, Norwich. Let's get back up there. Yeah. And David Vaughner is... I'm not sure I want that for them, but... It was such a bloodbath last time.

Pretty much. It was nasty. Yeah. Which... But they won it, so... I'll bring this up later. But, yeah. D.K., Darryl D.K. also return.

D.K. also returned from any much longer injury layoff and scored a goal, a volley, kind of gifted to him by an opponent. It was a really nice, you know, kind of laid out, sidewindered it, smashed it into the goal just ahead of the board. It couldn't even really see the ball. That's what happens when he scores. Yeah, I don't know how close he is to the national team at the moment. He's kind of in Haji Wright territory, maybe a little bit behind Haji Wright.

you right in the pecking order, but I'm paying attention. As will we all. He's probably not that close right now, but he has such a particular thing he does. If he's scoring a bunch of goals, you know, maybe you'll be

you bring him to a tournament. Yeah. So. We'll see. You kind of at this way. He's not that good. He's not that good, but he got to stay healthy. I'm, I don't, I'm, so I mean, it's been so long since Darrell D.K. played soccer that I don't even know, like, how I feel about him anymore. Like, I, I feel like I was kind of excited. Um, before all the injuries really started hitting. I know, when was that? Maybe like, uh, really from the, from, from, from Nations League on, from that Nation's League, because he played that, that, was that Costa Rica match or whatever, that Tim and Brendan match that that they, uh, that. Yeah.

That was the one after we beat Mexico 3-2. Right. In 2021. Yeah. It seems like ever since then, he's been dealing with injuries. He's probably probably like, I don't know, 25 total matches in those two years or whatever. Half a championship season. Yes.

But, yeah, we'll see. We'll see. He's in the hat. Bells, you brought up Haji Wright. Might as well talk about him. This man has eight goals and five assists in this championship season so far. Sam's found a home on the wing, on the left wing right now for Coventry. He's doing some stuff, baby.

He's doing some stuff. I didn't even know he was on the wing. Yeah. He hasn't been on the wing the whole season, though, right? Like that he sort of gradually moved over there. and I do I don't want to be too much of a cold water guy but like probably half of those goals

are just like tap-ins off of rebounds and you know I can hear Greg Velascus's voice behind me right now Sam you know you got to be in the spots to score the goals I know that but like you know something about cleaning up a rebound you know with nobody around you just doesn't engender the same confidence as like a goal like the one sergeant scored.

I mean, those were Balagan's goals last year. We weren't complaining about it. That's true. Or the moon. But Baligan had, yeah. I mean, fair enough. How that everyone's turning on Baligan? Yeah, there's some sort of,

there's some rumbling in the ranks about his numbers for Monaco. I don't think he's been that bad, though, right? What is it like? No, no, he isn't. Four goals, three assists or something. thing or three goals two assists? Four goals, three assists, I'm pretty sure. I mean, so far.

He could easily get to 10 and 10. Yeah, that'd be a nice return. I'm not too worried about it. I'm not either. The one thing I will say that I was going to say earlier, but I wanted to make sure that we got to the point where we had introduced all three of these championship strikers is, you know, the championship is a,

it's a strikers proving ground. You know what I'm saying? If you can do it in the championship, like I'm having it. But yeah, when you see people that came up, that have come up through the championship and are now scoring goals and most of the Premier League, top five leagues, you know, Dominic Selenki, Ali Watkins, you know, we saw the historic season that Alexander Mitrovich had in the championship, even though, you know, he was decent in the Premier League. But, you know, even before when Fulham came up in 2018 or whatever, he had done this thing

in the championship before, Jamie Varty, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you get your numbers in the Champions League, I do think it means something. You know what I'm saying? It's not something to shrug off. And it seems to be a nice development spot, right? You're playing two seasons worth of games. You're getting your reps in. You're getting beat up.

All those different type of stuff. Yeah. That's what kind of want to see Sergeant do a full season there, see what he can. I mean, if he ends up in the Premier, like I'm not going to complain, but the second time you said the league, you accidentally said Champions League.

And I just, if I don't, if one of us, what happens is someone says something, if we don't correct them, then people complain about Yeah, thank you. That's facts. I'm talking about the English championship in the English football league. Thank you. Even though everyone,

no, I stop. It's over. probably everybody knows what you meant to close it off on hansy real quick yeah please you know we we we we don't have a lot of winkers we don't got a lot of winkers uh hzhi you know what i'm saying you know he he might be able to do like a like a tim way a impression a bro exactly a little great value tim waya you know get you down the right wing like like stretch the line you know what I'm saying, get some balls over top. Maybe even have a little bit more juice dribbling it than Tim does.

Is great value lower status than Kirkland? Yes. Yes. It is lower status than Kirkland. He's going to have to do some work. I'm going to have to actually see it with a national team for me to move him up to Kirkland. Right now I'm going to keep it at great value. But I do think he could do a little something on that right wing specifically.

Or whichever, I mean, whichever wing that we need are, you know, in behind runner or lion stretcher all that different type of stuff um i do think that's i do think that's a little intriguing it's a little intriguing rangy dude fast you know what i'm saying we we saw what he did in turkey all those long carries and all those all those runs and everything you know what i'm man there's a little light bulb above my head right now yeah no i like it i'm very interested in that um the other striker in the you know in the conversation of course is ricardo peppy PSVs having a long layoff

kind of like the scuff podcast everything was but everything's good in PSV you know they

as you all know they remain they've won every game they've played in the league and they kick back up

kick back off again on this coming weekend so against Excelsior which should be another drubbing

they had a should be a drubbing Excelsior. There's like a Christmas Parra-friendly today. They played Hamburger twice.

Well, no, they played a different team. They had one, didn't they play against two different teams today? Two different squads? Maybe they did play against two teams. Yeah, they did. Yeah. Okay.

Well, they had two scrimmages. Somebody else. I forget who was. The first one, the non-Hamburger one was their second team, essentially. Not like Young PSV,

but like, you know, the bench, the bench, Pepe started in that one and when they played Hamburger, the first team you know Serge started

Malik started and and also Dion got two goals so he's not slowing up no it's the long game for Rico there yeah but it's good information to know that

Malik is you know solidified itself as a first teamer at this point um what was so well he played so well towards the end of the first of yeah oh uh he has not signed yes

no no um they they want to bring them in but I think there's some type of clause where like uh it's not a straight up buy clause like Byron can refuse PSV's right to buy or something anyway uh we will we will see what happens when it comes to that But at this point, it is great to know that Malik is in the PSV first team, considered a starter. I was just going to ask y'all, what's happened to Chuky? I don't know because this man's been.

Oh, got hurt. Oh, you hate to see it. You hate to see it because Malik's been playing on that left wing a little bit. But, yeah, Malik's really starting to come out and show who he is. it's looking like he's that guy. So, may along continue, may PSV keep cooking.

Serge doing this thing. You love... Geo better... Geo better watch his back with Malik around, you know? And, and has there been any

news on Gio, maybe leave him, Dortmund? Like, the transfer window has been open for a week now, and,

uh... It's, I think it's there waiting until summer. Okay. That's the rumor. heard basically. There's a very wordy version of that.

Yeah. I think we might have saw the same thing, Waki. Yeah, we did. It was like, you know, his, his contract's running down. So it's either like he impresses in this semester or he's moving in the summer, basically. That's what it comes down to. So we'll see. They played a friendly NGO started in it.

And I think reports kind of said, you know, he wasn't that good but you know it's a it's friendly like like nobody from dormant was that good apparently also Dortmund is bringing back jaden sancho um who got cut by manchester united right he got cut i mean he's a ball he was a baller for dormant i mean i will never forget that but exactly like like imagine imagine uh telling yourself that when you were watching a pulley on the bench for Jaden Sancho. And like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, jaden was so nice that he was like the only, uh, the only person that was in front of, in front of one of our guys that, like, couldn't get slandered. And it was like nothing you could say against Jaden Sancho. He was really good. He was putting up, like, 15 goals and like 16 assists the season. It was, it was incredible. It was incredible.

So he's coming back to Dortmund. So we will see if that has an issue, has any effect on Gio's time. They did say that he could play attacking mid. fielder, which, you know, he watched him the first time he was at Dorman. I mean, it would make sense. He did a lot of his damage inside, making plays, setting people up. Marco Roy, I would just say, be very annoying if Jaden Stancho came in and had to be arena. It certainly would be. It's a, it seems like the chances are decent. But then there's

also the Marco Roy's injury clock, which is, you know, about to go off. You know, it's, it's he's been healthy for a little while and it's too long it's been pretty healthy not wishing that on him just using past precedent they still have

they still got Champions League right yep um so I guess we'll see I mean if he does really

it's a win-win situation if he does leave he'll be fine if he shows up and convinces Dortman that he's good again, that's good too.

I think he has a competitive fire to, you know, prove himself no matter where he ends up. And I think he has a talent. But you got to, you know, stop pissing off Matt's Hummel's, you know? Right, exactly, exactly. I forgot about that.

What happened? I guess I was just over. It doesn't matter. I forgot that. Hopefully he got Matt something for Christmas. you know what I'm saying a little German splutzen What is German splutzen?

It just sounds like something German donut Yeah I made that shit up But We're talking about Exactly All that stuff When you In the beginning

You know people that can ascend To meet Polly And you know, the savior committee of the saviors, I guess. Of course, police won. It seems like Malik is in that tier now. Malik seems to be that he could be in that tier. You know, like, I'm going to put him in that tier.

You know, he can prove that he is not in that tier. I think there needs to be a re-tearing. But based on the old tiers, like, that makes sense. At this point. So it seems like he could probably get there and ascend to be a match winner. really what we're talking about is people that can be match winners in the highest level games, right?

Yeah. They can give you that moment of magic that can carry a struggling attack on their back for whatever game against whatever opponent. Pulley's up there. Malik, we all think Gio can get there. He's at a little sputter

over these past six months. You know what? He can, but is there a distinction between the type of thing we're talking? about and what Tim does. See? I'm, we'll have to see

how the rest of the semester plays out. So I am teetering a little bit. I'm not saying Tim, I'm saying to in that top, top tier, difference maker in the highest level games, I don't know yet.

He's a difference maker against, uh, against, uh, whoever that bum is to be checking up for Mexico. Of course. As,

as, that's not even, that's not even a question. But in that, in that higher, All right, tier. Can he do it? Hopefully he gets a nice run with YuVe, and we will see.

You know, he did all right today. I'm not saying he can't get there. Or that, yeah, I'm not saying he can't get there. She was a difference maker at the World Cup against Wales and Iran. So those are not the highest level games, but, like, and it's not because he, like, juke somebody and beat him at the top of the box and then got a shot off. It's because he makes beautiful runs and times them perfectly. and in the case of the Iran game,

almost perfectly. It was like, you know, he was a couple centimeters offside on that ball. I mean, Weston played him. So you all seen that one meme where it's like,

where it's like a futuristic world and it's like the world if such and such event happened. If we got that goal, man, Weston assist, Tim goal, I would be the world for me right now. You know what I'm saying?

And I would be, my minivan would be floating off the ground, ladies and gentlemen. But I don't know. So I'm a, you know, I'm, I'm teeter in a little bit. I'm sitting a little bit. Maybe, maybe I'll come back to reality. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, revisit it.

But right now, Pully, Malik, Gio, throwing Wes in there. And right now that's, that's who we got. Oh, well, Balo. throwing ballo in there too that despite all the I was going to say naysayers but I can't say that at this point in time that despite all the haters

that you know there aren't that many somewhat of a letdown this season yeah he's still a guy that we can count on in these in these top tier matches so that's that's really what I think we should be

looking out for in 2024 in the lead up to cope America okay top tier Are we going to keep calling the savior tier? It sounds like you don't want to, and we should call it something else. I think we should call it something else. You picked up on that. I think that the savior cheer is over.

That was a different era. Yeah. Yeah, it was a different qualification. Yeah. We have been saved. We've qualified for a World Cup, participated in it, won a game in it. Yeah. You know, the program has been saved.

And so. Salvation is ours, and now we just need to be saying. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Sanctification committee. The Christian Comp Sanctification Committee. Exactly. One more item is January camp training starts tomorrow. Starts today if you're listening to this on Monday, which most of you are. By the way, you can listen to the whole Greg Burhalter press conference on the Patreon.

I threw that up there earlier tonight. I don't think I'm going to read the whole roster, but why don't think I'm going to read the whole roster, but why don't you give me you each give me one or two guys you're interested in seeing. Come on, baby. All right. I hadn't.

No, just tell me two. No, Jack McGlynn. There's one. Diego Luna. Yeah. Jack McGlin. This is so different

from how Scott Podcasts used to be back in the day, you know? and it's a good it's a different era we got to change what the Savior Committee is called we got to change

the way we talk about these things we should also probably do more like you used to do it as well but this is not going to happen at this moment

talking about this January camp no January 7th is not Jack McGlynn is uh it'll I don't think he's I'm not like super optimistic

about his chances as a national team player in the long term but I'd be lying in it I said I didn't think it'd be fun to see him play in the shirt. Like, he's a fun player to watch. And I hope he gets to play against Lavinia. That game is on Saturday, January 20th.

All these January dates give me flashbacks to 2021. You know, yesterday was the anniversary. That was a great time, man. When you stormed that you were involved in the story. I'm at all. Well, remember Andrew Carlton was I know he wasn't, no, just to be clear He was in Washington, D.C.

He didn't, there was no evidence He stormed the cop, the cap. Yeah. That shit was so funny, man. I was in D.C. I was in D.C. I was in D.C. Like, no, you go ahead, Bill's.

Well, no, you go ahead. You were at work. Oh, I just remember sitting at work just like, sitting at my desk like, damn. They really do it. Like, you know, they had the live stream going. Are they doing a coup? what are they

and then the guy with the with like the the shaman shows up man that was just the cherry on top of the whole thing it was I'm I'm sorry y'all but y'all should be

acquainted with me enough now to know that I was laughing my ass off that that entire two and a half three hours or whatever man that shit was funny as hell

the memes man come on you had the old lady with the little with the little last American flag just looking like she didn't know where the hell she was. Yeah. And then the one dude, the one meme when a dude came out like, we've been in there ain't nothing going on. I had talked to like a bunch of those people.

People like that two nights earlier making a video, you know, making a video. Oh, you were doing scuffed, scuff news? Yeah, I was making a video with a bunch of the people. There was a rally on January 4th in Dalton, Georgia, which is 45 minutes from where I live, Trump was there. And so when I saw the thing on January 6th, I'm like, well, damn, they really did

all that stuff they were talking about, you know? Because when I was talking to them that night, two nights earlier, I'm like, you guys are so full of talk and there's none of this is going to happen. You're just talking. Right. So anyway, that was my experience of it. I was not laughing my ass off, but.

and and and and to the point of me saying that I was left my ass off I do want to be clear it does seem that tragedy was narrowly avoided as you know uh congress members were able to to get to safe territory and you know leave their quarters um yeah it could have been just to be able to leave their quarters their offices or whatever um so that you know they weren't there when the people showed up. But anyway, to bring it back to... Happy January 6th, everybody.

To bring it back to January 20th in the match in San Antonio, this is something that's been getting on my nerves quite a bit here lately, quite a bit. I do want to comment on the fact that ticket literacy in our country is at an all-time low. It is just at an all-time. The amount of, number one, the amount of people saying I looked up Copa America tickets.

That $500,000 tagging U.S. soccer. What are you going to do about this? Tagging my goat, J.T. Batson. You know what I'm saying? He's trying to have a nice vacation or whatever, a nice holiday. And it's like, bro, the Copa America tickets have not come out. You know what I'm saying? They have not been released.

And U.S. soccer is not going to have anything to do with them. Yeah. Yeah. If your dumb ass was going to press buy on them $500,000, $1,000. all tickets, good luck getting in to Jerry World or whatever the hell you was going to try and do on that day when the game did come. Because let me tell you what you weren't doing. You weren't getting in the stadium.

Yeah, you were getting scams, sir. And I bring this up for this game because I saw, I mean, we all love Edgar. We all love Edgar. But I saw a tweet from Edgar that was like tickets for this match in San Antonio are $250, $250, $500. U.S. soccer, what are you doing about this? The tickets were sold out. These were resale tickets, guys.

I mean, I know everybody wants to blame everything on the U.S. Soccer Federation. If you need a primer on how to buy tickets to get to a U.S. Minnesota team game, please hit me up. You know what I'm saying? Come to Louisville. I'm available for your convenience. You can hit me up on Twitter. Yeah, I'll do it.

That would be, because I would. I had to try to do it once. It was hard. do it. I will do a webinar. I will, well, Waki,

that was, that was that Mexico game in Cincinnati. I mean, that was, you know. And actually wasn't that Max and Montana. Just.

Okay. So I was by saying, like, like demand is, is never that high. But yeah, shout out Max. Um,

matter of fact, me and Max, my host is together. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can, it's a great reason to be a member of the Discord. Uh,

pre-sale codes come out early and often. they get shared you can get in there get your tickets you can get tickets for face value face value for a u.s soccer uh ticket for the most uh you can get in you can get in for for seventy dollars seventy five dollars with fees with fees for the most part now some people might say hey i got a family of of 18 that's a little bit too rich for me but i don't know what to tell you i don't know what that's a thing people always stop having kids bro $70. How am I supposed to get my family a six in the...

I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you, sir. Ma'am, uh, maybe leave, you know, the junior at home. I'm sorry. But you can get in for about $70. You can also join the American outlaws and get tickets with them.

The thing about these soccer specific stadiums is there is not a bad ticket in these soccer specific stadiums. You can just get, you can get in anywhere. You can set up high, get a tactical view. You can sit in the end zones. If you sit high enough in the end zone,

you also have you a nice little tactical view of the match. Okay, people, I need you all to understand. And if you see, if you get on a ticket app, ticket master and you see verified resale ticket, that means that ticket is not, is out of the control of U.S. soccer.

That ticket has been bought, and this person is selling said ticket for a profit. this webinar could be a banger yep it's it's gotten on my nerves to this point I've seen at least 15 tweets about Copa America tickets being expensive as hell

and then and then when I saw this one about this damn January cap match first of all you ain't even going to the damn January cap match you just want to complain about this day everybody won't complain about the roster and then all of a sudden you want to complain about the tickets too you know what I'm saying pick a struggle

pick a struggle that's all I'm saying and then somebody who's not going to be struggling in this January camp that I'm very excited to see of course Tim Tillman Tim Tillman baby we're finally here we're finally here first call up first cap hopefully he's going to run the middle of the pitch you know I'm saying out from the tyranny of what's the run the next know it was Tarundolo Steve Tarandolo

he don't got to play with Ilya Elye and Kelan Acosta two six is next to him you know I'm saying he hopefully he can get out here he can he can he can receive the ball in some space and do some things with it and do some things with it hopefully we can see something um that's the person i'm i'm most excited to see of course great you know that's why that's why i laughed a little bit when you even when you even brought up the topic bills because it should have been obvious yeah it should have been obvious and they haven't listed as timmy Tillman, Timmy Tillman. We'll take it.

Timmy, Tim. Timothy. Luna. Ada Morris is here. Luna will, as you said, Chris, Luna will be, you know, he's interesting. I'm kind of intrigued by Duncan McGuire. I was just saying the name she bolded.

Yeah, I know, but, I wanted to pretend that you didn't. I didn't take Schulte to myself. Is anybody, uh, Is anybody still intrigued by K-Kow? I don't think intrigues the right word. I'm glad he's still around. Open to him, I guess, as a right back, as I've said for many years.

That's a thing, man. It's like, we can, even though, like, deep within my being, I'd be wanting to write people off, but I know that's not, that's not going to be the right, uh, the right path to take if I want to be, if I, if I, if I don't want these takes to come back in my face. So it's like, Kay Cowell, you scored one MLS goal last season. It's taking everything in me. Not to write this.

Yes, yes. Development is not linear, et cetera, et cetera. But damn, man. One goal in the MLS season, K, and now, you know, we're getting rumors of him going to Mexico, which, uh, if you want to come. If you want to become the next Oberlin Panetta, be my guess, sir. I don't know. I'll tell you.

But, like, to play in Mexico, not play for Mexico. Right, right, right, right. I guess my Paneda comic can be construed. It's construed. But he's going to be out there on the field, and so we're just going to have to live with it. K. Cowell's going to be playing. He's going to be another twing. The Georgie, I don't think we should dwell on it, but the Georgie Mihailovich trajectory is,

it's tough for Don Garber It's tough Coming back He's coming back right It's definitely tough for Don't Yeah he's coming back Colorado Rapid now Georgie

Um People were real bullish on his chances Of making an impact at AZ Alkma Which He did not As we learn As we learn more and more I mean he might have been

He might have been a He might have been a Wilford Nazi You know what I'm saying Reclamation Project And now that he's not under the best coach in the northern hemisphere yeah um

maybe he just came back to earth uh I don't know so one thing one one thing I will say is uh I think I could say this Alex said that you know Alex uh Calabrese

uh plugged the Chicago land native real plugged into the to the situation with Georgie He said that possibly him going to the Gold Cup really put it into his his A-Z career which I don't know Maybe you just shouldn't have went to the Gold Cup man

I mean we saw how I worked out with Luke Cup If your situation is that fragile I mean I don't know He just loves the national team Yeah he does He wore his jersey He did watch games

at a bar you wanted to collect more jerseys you know what I'm saying you know you can't ain't pull up to the bar in the same outfit all the time you know check me out

I got a dazzle camo too to go with the to go with the Great Lakes the Great Lakes Why isn't he in this why isn't he in this roster with Joshua Tencio and Azeel Jackson

Sean Zawatsky Anyway Let's get out of here Go ahead. I got one more question because I do think this is important to bring up just because it like it was the case

that players found their way onto the full national team through January camps that may or may not have found their way on if it wasn't for January camps. You know what I'm saying? Under Greg Burrhalter. So that's the one thing to watch out for, I guess.

If he falls in love, like I saw, him talking about uh jackson regan and he was he was kind of he was kind of flowery in his and his pros there you know what i'm saying he was like he was like ah one of the best ball playing centerbacks in the league and blah blah blah i'm really excited to get in there and work with him and so i'm wondering yeah you know it just it just popped up on my head uh well what it could be is if if there's two players who are even roughly and one's in europe one's in mLS he spent three weeks with this one of

player who got a chance to show that he could play within his system, it might be kind of right to pick that player. He wouldn't even necessarily need to be a nefarious thing or a biased thing. Oh, I mean, just because you got that data. I'm not saying it's good. Right, right. I mean, yes, you got that data. But I wonder if the transgressions of this past window have affected how great.

Greg may interpret that data. So we shall see. Or is it business as usual? And, you know, we just find ourselves in a situation where Nicosi Tafari is just in every camp from here to June 2025 or something. Yeah. Tafari's actually kind of fun to watch when I have seen Dallas game. The word nefarious had never, wouldn't, hadn't even crossed my mind until you said it. I think it's more like Greg has this can galaxy brain stuff.

Like I You know Look at how I've uncovered This hidden gem In January camp That is I feel I suspect he may Have some desire to do it

And I think like coaches Kind of at every level Kind of like to do that sort of thing You know I like the coach in it Yeah I guess I think I was saying

That's the temptation By doing that It's not Not nefarious Just like there's this temptation to do that. Right. Kind of a natural thing

if you're around. Not a fair, but potentially foolish. Which, I mean, we talked about this before, but like, Greg was still talking about how he can,

how he can save Aaron Long and, how he can save Aaron Long's ball playing ability. Even up until, like, basically, up until that Saudi Arabia match. You know,

they had a roundtable with, Exxwanic, Grand Wall, RIP, I think two other reporters where, you know, it was, dude, do you all remember that? It was kind of informal. So he was saying there, he's like, we can develop Aaron's ball playing ability if we really work at it or something like that? And in so many words, in so many words, because, you know, the whole thing about that

Japan match was like our inability to play, I guess, the press. And so that was a lot of the conversation was about that. And our centerback's ability to play with the ball. And he's like, he's like, you know, you see top level. centerbacks, you can't tell where they're going with the ball until the last second when they decide to play the ball and blah, blah, blah, blah, and it's a skill set that that isn't that tough to teach the guys and blah, blah, blah, blah, which was the origin of the god dangit Joe, all that different times.

If y'all remember way back. But, so, yeah, I mean, it's not, of course, of course coaches want to coach and develop, but I do feel like the risk of somebody. unjustifiably making their way into the national team and making, you know, stealing minutes from somebody who's better. It seems pretty low to me right now, you know, from this camp, but it's... We're probably talking about something that's not going to happen. At this point, I would be kind of suppressed.

But also, I didn't actually hear how he said it, but that Shaq Moore quote also kind of piqued my, you know, kind of raised my eyebrows a little bit. He said, Shaq Morris. Basically saying Shaq Morris, potential backup for Surge. The Surge is suspended for Nation's League. How many games Surges suspended? One, two.

One, two. I think. Okay. I don't know. Did FIFA Congress get together? So I guess it's just one. I guess it's just one. But, you know, just.

Yeah. It's interesting. Interesting. We'll see. All right. January 20th is the game Saturday, 3 p.m. Eastern time to Central. And then after that, it's Nations League. And thanks everybody for listening.

We'll see you.