Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #544: CL Review -- Pulisic olimpico, Malik as a 6, Weah rampant

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Watke, Tara, Salerno and Belz blaze through some of the midweek action. Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the SCUF podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. This is a Champions League review show. I'm hosting. My name is Watki. I'm joined by Tara, Salerno, and Adam Bells. Poulsick scored in Olimpico. It was number one on SportsCenter top 10. On the one hand, that's very exciting. On the other, wasn't this kind of just an accident?

Should we be honorary accidents in that way? It doesn't mean we can't celebrate it, though. It was awesome. Perfectly executed corner kick, even if it didn't go in. Well, it was a great cross. And I'm wondering if we should just be instead celebrating the great cross and not care about this olympico, which I have some questions about it as an honored goal category.

It was cool. I'm not going to disagree. I'm not going to deny that. Definitely it was cool. I just, I think it's more cool. that Pulisic celebrated it by making a joke. We're pretty sure he said an grand goal with a big smile on his face. So he's like, that was a great goal, right?

Kind of sarcastic. And then in the post game, he's very clear about, you know, he wasn't trying to score. I think that's even cooler. He doesn't need to. He's doing this from a position of strength. Humble king. Yeah. Well, he doesn't need.

he doesn't need to take credit for what he didn't intend. It's kind of like if, you know, not to overuse the golf analogies with him, but it's kind of like if you hole out or if you hit a hole in one, you're excited about what happened. You weren't necessarily going for that specific result, but you hit a great shot and got the best possible result. And in this one, you know, it was clear that he was going near post. He delivered pretty much a pristine ball.

The goalkeeper just apparated out of the scene, and it went in. But that smile on his face in the corner was like a million bucks. Like he was just thrilled. And I totally agree with you, Adam, about the humility and being honest about it, and that showing real confidence and that quiet confidence that he has. I guess the lesson here is there's multiple ways to look at all these questions and we have to have an open mind. There was some more game to discuss here.

Before the Olimpico, Poulzik had a close diagonal shot that was saved. It was created by a swashbuckling layout. But that was Bullsick's only involvement up until then. He was stranded out on the right while the play went all through Liao on the left. And that chance, by the way, that Pulsick got there. that was an accidental pass from layout Layau was definitely going to shoot

I'm so glad you said that because when it happened I was shocked I had zero confidence he was going to lay that off for Policic I thought even while it was going towards

Polisic there was still a chance that he was going to go for it at some point yeah they basically just deflected off his shin Yeah, there was just such a direction that first 20 minutes or so that the game was going to be played on the left-hand side and Christian Polisic was not to be involved. And am I reading too much into it and thinking that layout is motivated by his, he has a competition with Bolsa going now and he might feel, uh-oh, need to need to do something here because I'm losing. It does seem that that controversy has been highlighted in a more explicit way than I've heard it before.

Yeah. Are we, is there new information? No, it's just we're not real. It's just we're going to soccer podcast. You know, we're just like, well, what's a pretty, that angle we could come up with here. But in the game, it was right when he, Liao was taken off, I was, like, I cackled. I could not believe the cameraman brought, like, went over to Lealie out after the goal

to get his reaction that A.C. Milan scored immediately when Leal was taken off still while he was walking towards the bench. And he just looked, like, he, like, he, like, kind of smirked and kind of chuckled. And he, he looked pissed. Did he not? Well, there's no greater indignity than you being subbed off in your team immediately scoring, and it was immediate. He went off the far side of the field. He was just round in the corner.

He still had almost all the end line to walk across, and the balls in the goal. Yeah. It would be, you know, it would be a little embarrassing. I'd be embarrassed. It was a pretty bold decision to take him out. Chuck Waze came in and bawled out, though. Yeah.

So in that sub, they did a double sub, I believe, where they set it in two, wingers and that sent Poulsoc back to the center midfield. And then later on, Moussa's out there with him. We got to look at a Musa and Pousa and Poulsick in the midfield together. Did that move any of you? The emotion of seeing him in Poulsock together. Did that strike you as something that we should try?

For the national team? For the national team. No. But in this game, specifically, seeing Moussa come in, I was excited. I was like the confidence building exercise worked. We're seeing Musa back. I have to be honest, even when A.C. Milan is winning, I still am under the impression that they could blow it at any time.

And they didn't. And they didn't. So I was happy. Where do you think Moza is going to end up playing for Pachitina, though? Because he's had him out on the wing as a confidence. building exercise. And by the way, I've been thinking more about this confidence building exercise.

Might it undermine the effectiveness if he tells Musa and the entire world that that's what he's doing? Because then Musa's thinking about that. Is this an unconfident person, me over thinking it? You're hearing it as you need a confidence lesson, you piece of garbage. and that's not it.

Yes, exactly. I'm hearing as Potch, Collian, Moose is saying, you are a mess, and I see no route to improvement through any normal means. So we're going to try this one last moonshot idea where we play at Wing. It's probably not going to work. When in reality, it's extra support, it's care, it's love and attention.

I do. There's some work I need to do on my on my end. Which we are here for you. I do want to mention that pool six movement on the first ranger's goal, the one that happened right after layout came off, is hard in your post run? Just like the simple stuff in soccer matters a lot, man. You can't be good in the final third unless people are making selfless runs.

That would be my. Sports Center top 10. Not some accident, good cross that turned into a goal and we're treating as a work of genius. That's a mishap. Let's talk about PSV versus Paris. I'm going to refer to them as Paris

because this is the PS Derby. It's very, very confusing. What a great game. So much up and down. It's like a basketball game. The up and downedness of it combined with Malik, Malik Tillman, playing in a new position, can we say? A six?

Definitely. I had a tough time evaluating just what was going on out there. But it seemed to me that Malik was defending unusually well for someone who we think does not do that. Can I start out with what Boz said after the game? Please. He said, I thought he did a great job. From left winger to attacking midfielder and now six. the intensity with which he played was impressive.

That's the number thing he is criticized for is intensity, and he thought it was impressive. Should he now be our starting six against Jamaica? I guess it would be my next question. Are we ready to make that move? I am not. We'll go around the circle here. Adam, are you ready?

No. Okay. Salerno? Yes. reactive, but wonderful. It's all conditional, right? Like, who is the alternative? If the alternative is Aidan Morris or Eunice Musa, then absolutely.

Without hesitation. You're just a significantly better player than those other guys. I think this game, well, part of it is the intensity factor, right? And we'd be lying if we said that we can be assured of what to expect intensity-wise from Malik coming into a game, especially in a U.S. jersey. That's not something that he's demonstrated consistently, that he's going to come out and be flying around. That's the concern for me. Part of it, part of the reason I'm confident is you don't have to worry about him.

I mean, when you come out as a six, like, he know exactly what to expect. He knows what his role is there. It's extremely well-defined for him. He is out there to win the ball and to distribute it. He's not waiting for anyone else. You know what I mean? He can kind of seize a little bit more initiative there in that role. And it puts the focus squarely on his defensive work,

which he's always been quite capable of, maybe the willingness or the consistency has been lagging. But as far as his ability in the cage and his ability in the tackle, like some of the tackles he made in that game were outstanding. like just the length that he has and his quick reactions and the precision was I don't know there's many players in our pool who make those tackles. I know the one on Barclay in space early and then that one on Dembele when he was cutting in and Malik kind of was caught a little off balance and just flung his foot out there. It was just like, those are elite defensive actions. And so, yeah, I would give it a shot.

I don't think that our other options are more, are really that much safer, you know? I'm a little bit persuaded. Honestly, me too. It is conditional, though, like, who is available? Yeah, yeah. If Tyler's there, obviously, he's the guy, and I would probably lean towards Johnny,

but even that is not necessarily I'm not super confident that that would be a better move. We need to get more out of Malik. This is like, oh yeah, this is like Potch is one of his number one tasks over the next six months. I think it's an interesting point you make about

the six forces him to have this like pretty clear role. You know, he just has to defend. He has to, like how he has to, what he has to do in possession is, you know, distribute received from the centerbacks or the goalkeeper

distribute. I think there's probably something to that. And maybe the job of an 8 in this brand new potch system for the U.S. men's national team, not maybe. It probably is very much more complicated or like

more difficult to like find your spot in the game in that role in Guadalajara surrounded by a bunch of dorks. You know? And, um, And so, yeah, I can see that. But the things we need him, we need him in the attack, you know?

Like, that's where he is, I don't know, I feel like that's where his like super skills are just the coolness in the final third. But maybe he can, maybe he can be a part of the attack from a little deeper and maybe be more of like some, he was springing a few counters, hit a few diagonals and a couple kind of like deep. vision passes that didn't quite go where they needed to go, but it made me think if we're going to be playing a little bit more of a transition game, like he could really be a weapon back there as kind of a deep-lying distributor. I don't know, it's something that I would consider very strongly if I was Podge, for sure. Obviously, we'd like to have more than one game to go off, but it's something about being an attacking mid, I think, maybe,

for him leaves him a little bit indecisive. And he's not sure how much he should really kind of take onto himself to go and find the game or how much he's supposed to be staying in his shape or, you know. And I think being a more dedicated defensive midfielder might, in the short term, give him some much-needed clarity about that. And that would just allow him to use his skills without doing so much thinking. I shouldn't have called everybody dorks. I feel bad about that now.

That is not a bad word. I mean, it's not a bad word, but it was a bit harsh. Well, maybe. I like, I like, I like all the players who are around him in one way or another. Just, uh. But who were you thinking of, when you said the word dork, what player did you have, were you picturing in your head? It was the king dork. I mean, honestly, I was thinking mostly of Aidan and Brendan.

but it's not really fair. Hayden seems like a pretty direct dude. He would totally kick my ass. Yeah. All of these players would kick all over asses. Not that if they wanted to. They wouldn't. No, I don't know about that.

You're like 6'3. Most of these guys are shorter than my size are shorter. I tire very quickly, though. Chris, you would rag doll, Brandon. Can I also just add to the Malik bit? I found it was notable that his post game, Instagram highlight video, which I'm assuming he has produced by Sergenio's people. All of the

highlights were like defensive actions. We may have underestimated his appetite for that side of the game. I know last time we were talking about how he goes looking for cage matches and kind of puts guys on his back. Just because he's kind of a languid dude and he's composed and skillful, maybe he's got a little bit more appetite for the challenge than we've. previously thought. Something to note. Well, maybe he also hears the chirping a little bit, you know, some, in some parts of the internet or wherever.

And he wants to say, yo, I'm here to play defense too. Yeah. The other thing is also, this is a Champions League night in Paris. You know, that'll get you up a little bit more than New Zealand or Canada in September, you know. There were a couple notes from this game, I think are worth talking about. It ended up tying 1-1 incredibly. PSV, Noah Lang has scored in the first half. And then Paris ties it second half, 55th minute.

And then there was this big, important moment that we should discuss. We saw selflessness go terribly wrong. Goose Till was in behind, one-on with the keeper. And he tries to pass it off for a goal for a teammate, and it's intercepted. Is it crazy that when I saw that, I thought, Marquinos, who intercepted the pass, and just, or maybe he made the calculation earlier, or maybe he calculated it in that moment.

He's like, this Till guy's a loser. He's going to try to pass it over to this other guy. I'm going to cut it out. It seemed like he just knew what was going to happen. Till's definitely not in form right now. He's not a loser. He's not playing the player that he was looking like last year. Has there ever been a time in your life you tried to be?

unselfish and I went as badly as it did for Till. It's a big question. This isn't exactly selflessness, but I did, this is one of the most embarrassing things that happened in my early 20s. It's kind of selflessness, I guess. I don't know. It's sort of fake selflessness. I was, I got invited over to this girl's house. And I was just trying to be really, like, good and nice. And so I ended up, I was like 21.

She wanted to hang out downstairs. And I went up and talked to her dad in the living room trying to be really respectful. And I just ended up staying up there too long. And she got tired of it. She got bored. And she was like, well, see ya, you know. She just wanted to make out. She just wanted to make out.

And I just was like, I just was not picking up the signals. No, that's a doubt. I was up there, like, asking her dad about their, like, family history or something, you know? Like, so you came over from Czechoslovakia? She just bundled me out the door and I never saw her again. You know, it took me a couple days to figure out what happened. I was like, whoa. I think it's a pretty good analogy for what was going on in this play.

La Desma came on in the 84th minute. Are you guys all even more persuaded now, but my theory that he's going to be a career PSV utility man? I'm going to continue to hope for more from him, Chris, just to be perfectly honest than that. But yeah, it could happen. And it wouldn't be a bad outcome. I am also persuaded by your theory.

But he's already exceeded my expectations, to be honest. I mean, I didn't expect to see him in a Paris game. Shall we talk about Juventus versus Stuttgart? I would like to note Malik had a goal line clearance in the 90th. minute and it was cool. Well, yeah, not only was it cool. I'm glad you brought that up. I wanted to say something about that.

You know, it was that header. Martinez, for one thing, we didn't talk about this. Martinez did let that shock from Hakemi go through his legs from 20 yards out. Humiliating. Humiliating. But he redeemed himself with this save, I think. Maybe not completely, but it was a great save on just a bullet header. But he hits it, he saves it and it bounces straight up on the goal line with like,

a lot of backspin on it. So even if nobody touches it, it's hitting the grass and then going like on a diagonal line right into the net because of the way it's spinning. And that I think adds to the value of Tillman's goal line clearance.

Somebody probably would have gotten to it. But he didn't let that opportunity present itself. Did you all notice the kind of a little bit of technique he put into that clear too. Kind of like did like a circular motion and almost hit it with the outside of his boot.

It was impressive to kind of execute a difficult technique under that pressure. It's because he's calm. He doesn't care. He's a calm man. The composure. Much to the disdain of the United States men's national team fan base, he is chill.

We do struggle with how calm he is. It makes us nervous. Let's talk about Juventus. West McKinney, he returned from his injury rest, and he went straight into kind of a grind of a game. And dare we say too soon? Too soon? I mean, it wasn't good. Was he not good or Juventus was not good?

They couldn't really get on the ball. No one was good. It wasn't like he was specifically bad, though. He had one nice turn bringing down a bouncing ball and then playing it out wide to the ball. the right for, you know, to sort of get something going. And then he had that weird scorpion kick to, did you notice that? Scorpion kick to try to reach back for a pass that was behind him. And he played it like 40 yards ahead.

And he almost got to it. That's not a good play, though. It was a good. No, it didn't work. Well, nothing was working. So I think in the moment, I think it was a good play. I'm going to say that was his good play of the game. Yeah, check it.

The failed scorpion kick. Check it in the box. Timuea came on in the 55th minute for Conce Sao, and I think it's a totally different story, right? Brought the color back into my cheeks, I was so excited to see Timuea. It was like life for Juventus, life for me. So you've forgiven Timoya? I forgive him in two days. It was fine.

I forgave him yesterday. What prompted you to forgive him yesterday? Just this performance? I don't know. I'm just saying things. He was very good. This was a game where I'm renewed with confidence. What do you think he's going to bring in this next window that we were missing?

What's he given? What gift is he bringing to Pachitino? Chance creation. That's what he's going to bring. He brought to Juventus yesterday. And he's going to be it. going to do it for it. I mean, it's like, I guess it feels like we talked about this a million times on the podcast over the last three years, but he was like, he was at the center of

almost all the important goals that we scored in qualifying and at the World Cup. Almost all is an exaggeration, but a disproportionate number relative to the rest of the attacking cohort, I think. He doesn't do a lot of different things well out there, but the the things he does do well, he does so well. And you saw it in this game yesterday. We're going to see it for the U.S. Pulis is going to be just like charging into the box to get on the end of those crosses.

Yeah. What was your favorite cool thing he did in this game? Can I go first? Mine was when he megged the guy. Yeah. Not to steal yours if that was yours. It was so cool. The guy and ran down the line.

played a slipped uh was adzich adzich in behind the one the thing i loved about it was watching everybody along his side of the field rise to their feet as the crowd started to roar you know as he after he megged him as he plays up the slip pass was perfect just a little bit of a miscommunication on the final ball final run yeah he put in a and i think it was the 80th minute or 79th minute he put in a he was kind of played in behind and he just put in this kind of driven low cross that had like the most beautiful shape on it. And it just was like, I was just thinking, I don't know we have maybe, I don't know how many guys in our pool can hit that pass.

Like I think he's our most direct wide player and one of the few players that other teams have to fear getting in behind. And I think he's our best striker of the ball, whether it's a shot or a pass. I think he's the best pure ball striker. we have. Yeah, that was a really nice sequence too because it started with him combining with Fajoli and making

an underlapping run, very determined, and gets the return pass and then, like he said, perfect ball. Just, just cut out. So close. I had to feel these. But the shape on it, like, that's indefensible. You talk about the bend towards a goal and then away from it?

Henri Chase was in this, it appeared in this game as well. For the other team. What we make of that? It's my first time seeing him live. It was only a few minutes, but couldn't really tell a lot about his game, but his aura is intense. He is a big dude, and he's got this kind of wild hair and a scowl, and he's not out there making friends. He is out there to shut you down

and bring the pain. It reminded me that when I first found out about the duel net, angle, I followed him on Twitter or on Insta. And his tagline on Insta, like the little bit below the name, just says, just shut up and watch. And I was like, yo, this is a, that's some energy that our centerback room could really benefit from, I think. I hope Potch is on the horn of this kid because I'm all in on that.

I respect it. I respect it. Yeah, I like that a lot. All right. Celtic versus Atlanta. The stream on Paramount has a very low, bad picture quality. It's very blurry. Very, very blurry.

And I decided this week that I was going to protest by refusing to watch one of the games. And unfortunately, I chose this. You know, I like that we're content. in the time-honored scuff tradition of boycotting things that we never intended to do anyway. Good. I mean, and honestly, that's a pretty, I think you've identified one of the many issues with the Paramount Plus app. The stream, I mean, just getting the stream up as a victory. So I support you.

Well, apologies to Celtic at Atlanta. We didn't do as thorough coverage of that game for a bunch of complicated reasons, as you've heard. Before we go, though, some Champo games, you know. Can we talk about those just real quick? So Sergeant had a fake assist over the weekend where it just bounced off him to the right place. But then he had, you know, on Tuesday, a gorgeous play for an assist. in a 2-2 draw at Preston North End he gets played into space

between the centerback and the left back just has a lot to do at this point I think Shane Duffy the centerback on his team had won it and was striding forward I believe they were down to zero at this point Duffy plays this past sergeant where he doesn't really have anywhere to go

he's bracketed by defenders he lets it run under him real cleverly like under his legs takes a touch forward and then chops it to like sort of give himself space eliminates both of the not doesn't eliminate both them but it gives himself space to do something and then just plays a simple little square pass for Duffy for a simple little finish he did all the work to create the goal pretty much it's really nice and uh that's it he's got four goals five assists on the season so far one of the assists was

fake like i said but so what i like cool ex it's cool accidental thing, you know. I don't like them. It's just, it's the least impressive type of goal. The least? This was pool six worst goal of this season. Least, like, a penalty kick is cooler than that? That's crazy.

Yes. Because you're trying to do the penalty kick. If your cross accidentally goes in, I don't care. Dwayne Holmes also scored in this game. Too bad Greg's not here to celebrate that with us. And then Brenda scored. Nice goal. Composed, half volley on a bouncing ball.

And then he had a sexy, maybe my favorite play of his game was a sexy little Croiff slip pass to set up a shot in the second half. It was not finished, but it was a nice pass. On his birthday. That's the end of the show. show. Happy birthday to Brendan. Thank you for listening. There'll be another one of these types of shows next time there's Champions League. Christian Bullsick is a great player. His Olympicos should not really be that

impressive to you.