Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #571: CL Review -- Juve & Milan out, PSV & BVB advance, full treatment, Sanjay joins us

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Also Celtic is out, but makes a good show. Sanjay Sujanthakumar joins the Monday Review crew for a fun, rambling episode. The Weah banger, Vince thinks most of Juve is a bunch of frauds, Theo's madness interrupts a Yunus masterclass, does Joao disrespect Pulisic? The trip to Rome: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfp2O1bIr5KNSymt3ayP3ctERCooDo3ADM5Kf_kSHpmr6ITMg/viewform 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 SCuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Well, Richie Ledesma and Gio Raina are the only U.S. eligible players headed to the Champions League round of 16. I've got Waki and Vince here, plus a special guest, Sanjay, Sujanta Kumar. You've heard him interview national team players for us. Welcome, Sanjay, to a talking podcast, I guess we'll call it. Thanks for having me. It's an honor to be here. Sanjay is also my, in addition to being a great interviewer, he is my designated driver. He will drive my car on very short notice to wherever we need to get to.

I appreciate his service for that and everything else he does. He was also there for that fateful meeting with Burrhalter, right? He was, yeah. Yeah, we don't really talk about that anymore, though. Oh, yeah, we do. We do. We do. We do indeed. I mean, does the public feed, listeners, do they know about this interaction? I feel like we do need to be. I can't be in a position. We don't have to talk about it at length. I'm happy to talk about it, but, you know, it's not the right. There's a time and a place.

Okay. All right. Well, it was pretty, I would say pretty significant in all of our lives, really. Yeah. Yeah, it was the kiss of death. Yeah. That's what it was. Yep. Greg Burrhalter met his hero in that moment. We both died. It's a nightmare meeting. Greek tragedy? He's back, though. He's back. He's very back.

Good for Greg. We'll be watching his career with interest. So, hey, so to the Champions League, the narrative is he had a good week, didn't it? Excellent week. as an air divizzi respecter, I just want to get in here on the, I was in on the ground floor. I just want to let everybody know that. Also, Bells, you said, Richie and Gio, low-key, might want to throw in the cheeky Serginio des.

Yeah. It might be back before it's time. Yeah, he's of the Malik, Rico, Serginio trio. He's the only one with a chance to get some Champions League minutes, I think. So yeah And Richie actually played all right today Played all right today didn't he Yeah he did

Workman like But doing some offensive things too Is out there Getting that ball Going by a guy Passing it They were giving it to him For long stretches of that game

A lot of touches A lot of touches out there Right back for a For a team like PSV That likes to play some soccer Yeah I'm going to take y'all's word on it Because ever since the report came out that may or may not be a false rumor report came out two and a half weeks ago

that maybe he was going to he was looking into switching federations getting his getting his Mexican passport etc rich he's been dead to me he ain't popped up in none of the clip notes videos no nothing that's been intentional I even set you a timestamp this weekend yeah I was like put that one in there and I didn't want to respond back to you and be like bell's uh F-O-H but in my head I was like I was like nah get out of here get out of here bro he's flirting with the enemy so yeah

but we'll see we got a roster coming out soon and he's done enough to catch some eyes I would hope well it it would be an interesting case Richie he spends enough time of

loving and respecting him doesn't get a call up makes a business decision I don't think he's going to be as as any other and the guy he's switched. I think he's going to be in a new category. What do you think, Sanjay?

Yeah, he's been through so much. But honestly, and no disrespect to him, like, I sometimes forget he's in the pool until I see his face on TV. And remember, that's also an American player at PSV. But I just

don't know. We don't forget here because Adam mentions at every week. I mean, it was such a formative time for me as a, you know, watcher of soccer and podcaster,

fan of the national team. You know, I was making video. Anyway, we don't have to get into it. But Concaf Edgar, you know, I think sometimes he's, sometimes he's right. I'll put it that way. He said members of the USMNT staff

were at the PSV versus Juventus matchup, the focus was mainly to scout Richard Ledesma in order to get an idea of what he could offer for the team as he's in contention for a spot in Nations League and the Gold Cup. You know, is he correct? We'll see, I suppose. But I'm thinking if Pochitino comes in and says,

Richie, we're calling you up, he's not going to say no. He's not going to say no to Potch. Not effort. It's talking to you five years ago. Right, right, right. Yo, even when, you know, those five years ago, when the dual-knit stuff was at a fever pitch, you know, we were very afraid that we were going to lose, like, all these guys or whatever. Richie was, like, one of the main ones where everybody was like, yo, he can't even speak Spanish, bro.

Like, yeah, he doesn't speak. Bellas, didn't he? He shouted you out in a tweet, right? Yeah, when he got signed by PSV, he tagged me. tagged the old handle, which was Lev Mata, my last name. I was trying to be incognito at the beginning of scuffed. I didn't really want my employer to know how much time I was spending on it. Bro, that's American history.

You see how this is turned out? He's in the round of 16 in Champions League. Bro, you got the shout-out when he had the pin over the paper. I know. It's crazy. Like a high school recruit. I feel like he's maybe deleted the tweet since, and I didn't ever. think to screenshot it or anything.

So you just have to take my word for it. As you reference Vince, Dest is back in group training for PSV. Not quite ready to play. But Wea started this game. Tim, Wea, that is. West started the game and Richie started the game. Thoughts? Main takeaways from this match.

Every single Italian playing for you, Vintas is a fraud. I just want to say that. I just truly want to get that off my chest, bro. It's been sitting there for a minute. whatever happened in them euros that got manwell locatelli you know his uh that that you know he made his name in that tournament and i just want to say maybe even the euros is a is a fraud tournament um just off top because what i've seen from locatelli ever since you know he signed with uvei and i've really been paying attention to uve i mean dudes i mean come on brother got pressed off the pitch by

jerry shouting uh you know what i'm saying you're supposed to be you're supposed to be a guy, bro. And it's like, yeah, you can drop a dime when you got the time to do it. But it's like, bro, PSVE came out. They were intense. They were, they were intent on making YuVe feel them. And Coop miners, Locatelli, just wilted, bro. Wilton.

Yeah. It's crazy to see. It was crazy to see. I mean, two things that makes me think of saying are one, PSV was really good, I thought, like, playing some nice soccer in this game throughout. Pats off to Peter Bosch. And then, yeah, like especially in extra time, that team, that Juventus team looked broken. And except for Wes, I would say.

They had gotten run by that point because they were sitting back and getting PSBs just flowing over them. And they're sitting back in not a catanaccio kind of way. No. It's not a tactical Italian thing here you're going. They're just, they're broken. are broken people. Yeah. And unfortunately, our guys, Wes Wea, who, what a goal.

Yeah. Made an account of himself, didn't he? And Wes is trying to help him get out. And he's doing some good stuff. But, yeah. It's a PSV day. It was nasty. Nasty.

I saw, bro, who's dude? Not Benucci, the other centerback. They played in MLS. Kealini. Kealini was at the match. And just like how we talked about a few weeks ago with like Zlatan, who on that pitch can look, Zlatan in the face for like Milan? Only person that can shake Kealini's hand, look him in the face, there's two of them.

Weston James Earl McKinney, Timothy Tarpeweil. That's it. Yeah. All the do is on that pitch. Come on, bro. I've even been, I've even sort of grown somewhat fond of Conce Sal. But man, he was bad in this game. Every time he got the ball in the attacking third, it was a...

You know what? That's another thing. I was in the Discord and the game thread, and it does make me, I have to say, being in these two game threads these last two days, Milan and Yuve. It makes me very uncomfortable how people talk about flare players, man. I just don't like it. I don't like it. Everyone sounds like your grandpa.

What's the discourse? You know, selfish, pass the ball. These guys. Sanjay, would you agree that Adam has probably played a big part in creating that bias? Let's talk about it. He's a long bit about getting in that cage match, winning battles, focus on the physicality of American soccer. Do you think Adam has maybe led us astray a little bit here, Sanjay? Not to put you on the spot.

I think he adds positive balance to it. I'm honestly not plugged enough. I think Adam has the right taste. Okay, so you think he adds value. I agree with that. I never said he doesn't. Well, Sanjay, how do you feel about Flair players? Specifically, Rafa Liao and Francisco Conce Sal.

I don't have strong opinions about either of them. I do get defensive about the Flair player thing with our pool. If you go back to McGlynn in the January camp Of the discourse around him I agree with Bells that when people are calling someone a flare player It's probably because they have a comparative advantage That's so much bigger than anything else Other players in the pool have

At something pretty rare So I am defensive about it honestly And you know, that's a good point you bring up there I've reduced bells unfairly I mean I feel like I've expounded at length in writing about how you basically, I mean, I'm paraphrasing myself, but basically being a flare player

is a prerequisite for being a top level player. Like you have to be a flare player. I mean, who has more flare than to Kenny when we're talking about those quick passes? You're absolutely right. Hey, we're finally here, bro. We are finally here. I'm happy you brought that up watching.

You need all of the things, don't you? You do, but you need the flare first. You need to be able, to beat someone on the dribble, or at least trick them with the ball, to be good at any position. Not goalkeeper, I guess. The exception.

It helps. And Tyler Adams is the other exception. Yeah. Can't wait to have him back in camp. But we will not ask him. Ask that of him. He's never going to be a world-class central midfielder, though, because he doesn't have it.

Sorry. He's going to be extremely useful for the U.S. We're talking about the Champions League here. and more than to find being it next year, but, you know, let's focus on what we got going on here. Well, when they are, though, I want to see, I mean, I was wondering this the other day, how many other D-mids are that much better than Tyler Adams

in, you're talking about that category of clubs, prem clubs are the best in Europe. I think he's closer than people think. You've got to start with Tana Testament first. No, well, I think Johnny may have jumped him because people are talking about it. putting him in a double pit with Tyler. I don't think

I think Johnny has supplanted Tessman. We still talk about him because we care so much about his journey. I mean, you're right, Chris. Johnny's been bawling. I was joking everybody about Tama Tama Tama. Being better Tyler. But Sanjay's right, though. I would

like to see it because last time we did see it, it was with Leipzig. And we know how I went with Tyler or Leipzig for the most part in a non-Jessie Marshaly. It, you know, he was kind of a square peg or whatever. But Bournemouth, if they keep Irola next year the Champions League, a cinema. Cinema.

Yeah. Yeah, no, that'll be wonderful. And I do think, I mean, I'm very stoked to get Tyler back in this next camp, fully fit, firing on all cylinders. We need him so badly. We're not a world, you know, we're not a team that can be picky about people on the half turn and stuff. So back to the Uve game, two things I wanted to say about way. Well, besides the goal, which I feel like we should really talk about a little bit, he's just so elite at whipping the ball in from a horrible ball striking angle.

You know, he's running full tilt facing the end line. and he can somehow whip it in at a perfectly right angle to it's something that a lot of people can't do you know and you saw that early in this game put one on Colomwani's head

just you're like how to I'm getting the point where I think I'm expecting him to do it but even as he's doing it you're like how does he do that how does he shape his body in that way running full speed towards the end line. It's one of his like superpowers and it's super valuable.

Do you guys have a take on what side he should be on with that in mind? With that in mind. We've had some takes as a winger. We've also just seen him doing what he's done it right back. So if we want to walk back any of our takes, you know, now it would be the time to do it. or we don't need to. We think we can put this man anywhere on the field. I feel like we've talked at length about him needing to be on the left because he's right-eye dominant because that's what Podge said, right?

Yeah. And I like him on the right. The point Pott's making and that we supported was this man can play. That's right. That's what it comes down to. It don't matter. Just put that man on the pitch, man. I think I like it better on the right, though.

Bell's is dreaming of Wyatt right-back overlapping Cabin Sullivan tucking in as the winger. Yeah, probably 2028 is when we'll get to see that. Sandra, do you have any Kevin thoughts? Because any time we can hear someone talk about him, it's all kind of bring some joy to us. It's funny you say that. POTCH was actually, if I'm not mistaken, he was asked about him during a January camp presser, and it was a very standard question in response, but I thought people would pick up on it because it's Kevin, but I don't think anyone really noticed it.

So, well, is I a meeting to transcribe that one for you? I will. Now, I think if he starts playing well in MLS, it's going to be a very humorous discourse on Twitter where people, you know, want everyone, they want Bad J.F.C. They're clamoring for him to crack the squad because we're lacking depth at that position and he might bring a real spark ahead of the World Cup. I'm definitely getting ahead of myself with this, but... I'm hearing that you're putting him well ahead of Raina.

I did not say that. No, that's what I heard. But the winging air conversation, I mean, obviously it's unfortunate what's happened with Perides' season. I think we should be talking about Quinn Sullivan too if he has a good season. So yeah, it'll be interesting. I think Cabin plays well. It's going to be funny, the discourse.

Man, speaking of the discourse around Kevin, I've been seeing people talk. You know how it is. Anytime some kid gets some hype or whatever, everybody's like, oh, we're going to ruin the kid. We're doing too much too soon, et cetera, et cetera. And I just want to remind the people, I forgot who wrote the article about Kavin's family

but the one anecdote that just stays in my brain to tell you that the Sullivan's are very serious people there was going to there was about to be a U.S. youth national team tournament somewhere overseas I want to say it was in Spain yeah this was the one I wrote I think yeah I was going to say you're looking at the man who wrote this one I didn't know I couldn't remember what was going on but shout out to

shout out to my goat saying Jay. They were waking the dude up at 2.30 a.m. Like two weeks before the tournament to get his internal clock right. Come on. They have a delegate who's clipping this podcast, and they heard Sanjay's who did you bring into the discussion with Kevin? I think Paredes.

They're going to clip that for Kevin. We'll listen to this garbage. Anything negative we see. say anything slightly negative we say is going on that bulletin board you know what you are talking about some serious serious people so i would just they buried their own son in that version i just told right so i've got no remorse i feel like Vince Vince Kavana also I mean maybe you can speak to this too sonj but i feel like Vince Kavana also sort of I mean, even though he comes from an upper middle class, probably upper class, if we're honest, background,

he does check some of the boxes we talked about a few weeks ago where he is, you know, he is getting too much too soon, to your point, and he is just an absolute dog, you know, like he totally believes in himself. He's not lacking in confidence. It's like one of those AAU kids, you know. and I feel like that's that bodes well maybe but Adam we are watching him closely if we sense even a hint of a dent in his confidence we are going to come after him for associate economic status immediately that's right because we know what it is so he better keep that confidence up or he's done

you got to send Sanjay back uh too rich but what was your sense Sanjay of his um his confidence in himself. Yeah, he's got the confidence. He's got the charisma. I mean, this kid was on, he was on Sports Center, like, you know, very relaxed, being even sarcastic. Like, he's, he has that, that superstar moxie that I don't think any American player has, has had just yet who could, who could, with his level of potential.

So, I think there's also, like you talk about all the buzz and stuff getting to his head, there's just a generational difference now, right? Because of social media. That's right. How much exposure these kids can get? So I don't think he's like an exception. I think a lot of kids are going to deal with this and he'll deal with it just fine. His family or definitely got him grounded.

So. Tell him, bro. They sounded like. Everybody's out here sounding like old men. We talked about the soccer dads. What, I'm about to go. Whatever. Everybody's out here just sounding Come on, man. Y'all sounding like y'all on field of eight and your kid ain't getting the ball too much.

You know, pass the ball. I've had enough of this. Why, selfish, et cetera, et cetera. His head's too big. I mean, come on, everybody. Let's drop the cliches, take a breath. You know, let's enjoy. Let's enjoy.

We got some big talent coming through. But you had another thing to say about Tim Weyer, Adam Bell? Well, I just thought we should talk about the banger. Well, he beat, he did play a pretty good defense. There's one duel in the 37th minute where he just, he faced down, no along. Ultimately, the hero, the game for PSV are one of them. But face him down, 1 v1, just stepped in front of him. Cool as a cucumber and send it up the line.

Got things going the other way. So he can defend, you know, I mean, I'm not breaking any new ground here. but Tim can defend. It was a nice give and take, I would say, especially once Tim started getting worn down by like the 60th minute, and Noah was just, he was kind of going crazy over there a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't too much resistance. And I do want to say the first goal, I'm putting at least 20% on Tim. Because he got caught up a little bit? Well, he went to cut it out. Is that the goal? Um

The Parisage gone, right? The past along Yeah He went yeah Yeah Just because of the fact He got cut out by that pass And because he was cut out

By the pass Wasn't able to catch up Then Noah Lang Is able to Cut inside without much resistance Because the right centerback's already over there And The down to Parisage

I mean That was such a cold finish man What a ball of What a baller. Dude, because Colo Mwani had the same, basically the same situation on the left side, you know, moments earlier for Juventus. When West dropped the dime to him. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's not exactly the same.

It's a lot of differences. But basically the same orientation of the goal and the goalkeeper. And he hits it right at a Paris Hitch just catches all of that. Just a blazing dart to the bottom corner. I thought he caught on a half volley at first. No. the ball did not bounce full, yeah, full volley

that touch, like, that touch looped it up in front, I don't know, I don't know if he meant that or not, but he sure did sit it up nice for him. Tim's goal? Anybody want to talk about that? This was the, the peak, like,

please Var don't ruin the moment. Yeah, come on. He was, he prayed. He was praying to, that's the first time I've ever seen a player, pray to Var. He had his hands. The prayers were answered. Yeah.

And he is the player that would do that. For sure. And I'm glad he did. I mean, this goal, man, like, yeah, the more that I think about it, Vince was saying earlier, how some of the UV players were just not doing it. And it made our guys look relatively that much better. but at the same time, like, what we're going to remember,

like, it's just surreal. The West's goal and this goal. And West, captaining in the Derby win. Like, what a time. It is a time, a great time to be alive. What a time, bro. If I was an Italian, I would at least be trying to adopt Western McKinney as honorary Italian.

I don't think you can do Wea because that last name doesn't end in a vow, but McKinney, especially the way the Italian say, you know, McKinney. You can make that Italian if you wanted to. So at this point, because everybody else is just, you know, shaming your name, I would try to get a little, you know, key to the city, something for my boy. I think they could go for a way as a cosmopolitan Renaissance man. Right. It would have some claim to them there.

Fair enough. I love them, you know, just get both. but to your point, I think McKenny has the more obvious pick. Yeah. Way's goal didn't, it didn't touch the ground, right? After he struck it? I was looking at that thing. That was the beauty of the shot.

It was such a low buzzer. It may have touched. It may have not. I don't think science could ever determine what exactly it did. I'm going to say it didn't. But, yeah. I mean, science has its limits, doesn't it? That's kind of what you're saying.

Absolutely. So that's actually pre-annissance. We're doing some more medieval work there. How do you feel about the call? The Englishman calling the game called it a humdinger. That seems like a little bit of cultural appropriation to me, you know, for an Englishman to use the word humdinger. I thought it was an odd choice. Is that our word?

Whose word is that? It seems like it's an American word, right? That could be wrong. Yeah, hit up scripts. Need the etymology. I don't know that we have a word for exactly what that was. I've seen people call it a daisy cutter, but we don't, it's not really. It's more of a warfare thing for us.

Yeah. Cruise missile. It was a sweet, sweet strike. And, you know, it's a bad result for us, I guess. YuVe crashing out. But, you know, if Serge comes back for PSV, then it's fine. And sort of in the great time to be a live category, I wanted to say, it's just really fun to see Wes out there holding court in a game of this level, you know.

He is so at home in his relationship with the referee, with the opponents. You know, he's out there caressing Luke DeYoung's back at one point. you know he he he's just so so comfortable he got into it with him at two so right he's doing both yeah he was telling him to quit being such a baby and luke de young was ashamed as he ran away he knew he he knew west was right

he got some dat from parisitch that's um after that uh that header you try to try to head a cross goal um yeah man he's i mean legitimately this is not a joke anymore. He's Yuva's best player.

Especially when you watch that extra time, like, bro, he is the, he's the talus man. Well, well, you know, you got Randall. You got Randall. Understood. Randall Columont is doing his thing. I'll give that to him, but he's going to be gone next year

when the new season starts. And other than that, it's West, bro. Yeah. Yeah, the extra time, it really hit for me. I mean, there's That one little spin he did, it was in like the second half of extra time on the right side. You remember what I'm talking about? He just got out of pressure effortlessly.

And I was like, oh, my God, him and this late in the game, him and Wea, man. I remember that play too. It was like at the death, like 118th minute or something, right? Something like that. Yeah, it was like in the 110s at some point. And I mean, he just has gas for days. Like it's incredible. Oh, he passed it in by Gula.

Am I true? Was it? Maybe it was. And he just didn't do anything. Whoever was he passed it to, just didn't do anything with it. I'm like, man, this is the end of the game. West just progressed the ball 45 yards. Bro.

You guys need a goal to survive. Pick it up a little bit, you know? The one two we yield is? On the left side of the box, play that man into the Man City zone? Yeah. And then just, he just kind of scuffed it at the nearest defender. bro because you could tell like PSV was throwing on

dudes I ain't heard of and we've watched a lot of PSV like you can tell like the physical level from them just completely dropped off there was a whole bunch no shade to Richie there was a whole bunch of Richie La Desmond's out there a lot of little brothers

so like you've had the opportunities to like do to do a little something but it wasn't to be the case Vladvich had that one off the post I was ready to go crazy. But yeah.

Couldn't bring it home. Yeah, I mean, I think it's great. The Sol wins in Desk getting to do some stepovers in the Champions League knockouts. I love to see. Later, knockout stages. Quick announcement. Last spring, we went to northern Italy

for a trip to see Juventus Milan in Turin and a game in Como and one in Venice. We're trying to do something similar in Rome this May. May 10 to 18, roughly. The games would be Lazio Juve and Roma Milan, and we're in contact with the clubs, and they're asking for a firm headcount for tickets to those games. We also will try to get tickets to the Copa Italia final, which will be the middle of that week, and Juventus and Milan are both still alive in that competition.

There's a chance they could face each other in the final, or one of Atalanta or Inter. There's a chance neither of them will be in the final, so that's also possible. There's also a chance we can't get the tickets also possible, But we're going to try, and that would be a really cool sort of third experience there. Last year's trip was a huge success, really the trip of a lifetime for me. And I know for a fact that the people who joined us had a blast because more than half of them are trying to come on this second journey. This year, Vince is going to be there, very likely. George Qureshi, who planned the last trip and is planning this one, that's the editor of Howler back in the day, who will also be there.

He has a lot of the restaurant reservations sorted out in some of the historical stuff. We'll play pickup soccer around the city. We'll stay in very cool, you know, modest but cool Airbnbs, cappuccino's in the morning, the gronies in the afternoon, the Coliseum, the most important city in the history of Western civilization, potentially three premium European football experiences involving Americans playing at the highest level. If you want to join us, you still can. I'll put the link to that form in the show notes, and George is planning to publish a pretty detailed itinerary on Monday and sending it out to everybody

who has filled out the form to express their interest. Keep that in mind. Fill out the form. Let's take a break here and be back in a minute. We're back. A.C. Milan versus Finord. A.C. Milan also out.

Eunice was in the midfield to start the game. Pulisic starts on the wing but in a relatively free role as usual. Very slick from Christian off the kickoff brings down a long pass and simultaneously cuts in on his guy. A little square for Santi to break through the back line and win a corner. And then on the ensuing corner, Christian gets it short and then shifts onto his left foot,

plays a ball to the back post for Chaw, who nods it across for Santi. Another header from very close range from the L Tree player. It's one zero inside a minute. but um and you know AC Milan went on and dominated the first half they should they should have scored again probably several times and then uh you know things kind of fell apart not kind of they fell apart fell apart bro it's a shame this is the second milan red card that has interrupted a unis musa midfield master class um this first one coming from unis himself no no the other one's in the implea match.

I think Eunice is on the wing for that. Okay, you're right, you're right, you're right. But,

yeah, the first one was in the impoli match. That was, uh, old dude from Chelsea, uh,

the centerback. But, uh, Tamori. Yeah, Tamori. Te'o, man.

Hurt my soul because, man, Eunice was bawling. Damn, he was bawling. He was very, like,

defensively alert, too. That, that really stood out to me. very aware what was going on wide areas who was trying to get behind centerbacks or you know find some pockets like he he looks all around like he's he's ready to get back in uh i asked poch about this in november and and poch basically said you know we like him there we got to see what happens with this club it's happened with the with this club now so

right yeah he had them he had them he had a final order completely penned in You know? Anytime the ball would come out, he'd bring it back in. They were just pinned to their box. He was doing a lot of that. Nice connection with Pulisic in the 40th minute to set up Santi for a chance. A little pass between the lines to Pulisic. Nice touch from Pulisic.

Plays Santi in. Santi kind of, I don't know, am I being harsh? He just kind of fell over backward with the ball at his feet. Not harsh. I don't think. you should be harsher. I mean, talking about an El Tree player.

Yeah, he should at least gotten a shot off. How about that? That's right. Santiago Jimenez. I noticed, I'm starting to develop some bitterness

towards Joel Felix because he doesn't have the same respect for Pulisic that everybody else in the team does. Now, where are you reading this disrespect? In his body language,

in his remonstrations. Are you factoring in that he's Portuguese? I'm trying to, I'm trying to defend him a little bit here. I totally agree with you. I was not factoring in that he was Portuguese. Because they do remonstrate, not to be racist. Yeah.

I mean, you know, everybody else has seen Pulisic kind of carried the team on its back. Even Raphaeliao. You know, not a man who needs to give very many people respect. Anyway, I'm prepared to pursue this path. I think it's a good one and we'll definitely stay on it. It seems like he's going to stick around, unfortunately. I don't like another small man out there with my small man. Yeah.

We have one small man and he's kind of our guy and now if we have this jail coming in, I don't much care for it. I don't care if they're playing different positions. It's even kind of like a small man name. Bro, he's pushing six foot. So what are we talking about here? Is he? Yeah.

He has a small personality, then. I had to look it up because I'm like, this dude looks tall on a pitch to me. Does he? Man, he looks small to me. He's slight. He's slight. So the first half ends with Teo getting a yellow for just hurling a fine-or player to the ground by his shirt, which seemed a little unnecessary at the time.

I mean, the guy wasn't creating any danger, really. He didn't need to do it. There's no reason for it. I mean, I guess he was maybe mad that six-foot-tall-tall-jaw was, you know, on the ground crying at the center circle. I don't know. But, um, that's part of why it seems small to me. Maybe. I'm crying about.

That was the beginning of a crash out from the Frenchman, Teo Hernandez. Because five minutes in the second half, he gets a second yellow and gets sent off for simulation. That's diving, pretending that you get fouled in the box when you didn't get fouled. And you deservedly gets a yellow. What a sad way to lose the game for your team. I mean, pathetic. Sick. Harold itself, bro.

I mean. Zero contact. These high-level professionals can get themselves some dumb red cards. I think we've noticed pretty well over the past, certainly year. Without a doubt. I've forgiven the earlier ones in that time table. I don't even think about them anymore. But recently, man.

So the game just kind of goes away at that point. Tragedy. Eunice was in the middle of a master class. Bro, if they advance, Eunice holds it down in the sixth position. He's, you know, might have turned his whole profile amongst the fan base might have changed. Yeah. I don't know. I'm just very upset. The fan base will get there.

We get him playing in that central position. They just need some exposure. They're all going to come around real quick. You know, I cite these guys somewhat occasionally. I cite these guys occasionally because they're just sort of like a non-online litmus test for me. But these friends of mine who are local here who follow the national team, they hated Burrhalter. You may remember. They love Eunice Musa.

They have loved Eunice Musa. along. They think he's just the greatest. They know soccer too. So I don't know if I don't know what the fan. Well, that's because they saw him playing in the middle of the World Cup. I guess. Right. Like I talked about last pod, if, I mean, if I was subject at my club to somebody playing wing and the way the Eunice must be playing the wing for a club, they consider is their self as, you know, a titan in the game like AC Milan and you got Unisover just doing God knows what, I would be very upset, bro. And it would probably color how I would look at him when he plays other positions as well. I mean, you know, that's just how it is.

Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. So Philadelphia Union alumnus Julian Karan deals the death blow in the 73rd minute, an authoritative header on a lovely cross from the left side. So Finnerad advances in aggregate 2-1. We forgot to mention that Malik Tillman was in some of the pictures and the videos from the PSV game afterwards, you know, celebrating.

He's in a boot. He's wearing glasses. Yep. Bro, he... Malik had on his cougar hunting fit. You know what I'm saying? A real respectable young man in that. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he has no trouble on that front. Well, I think we know he doesn't. Yeah. We don't know. Yo, we should have asked Rick about that, bro. I know. Yeah, probably should have, but he might not have liked that. I don't know.

You can never tell what the Dutch are they're going to be into. I also spent a bunch of time with Malik Tillman clips earlier. this week because, you know, Rick was so high on him. And I wanted to make a little video off of the audio of Elfrink talking about how he's the best player in the Air Divisi. And I got to say, this is the same Finer team that Tillman just absolutely stunted on earlier this season. I just want to say, Paxson-Arensen also stunting off Ironoid. Good, good, good. Yeah, honestly, this game is second half so deflating that it's hard to really digest it.

Dortman advances over sporting Lisbon. Gio almost scored when he came on, hit the post. Probably should have, I mean, should have scored. But, you know, this was a sleeper of a game. The commentator, I thought the commentator was pretty funny. He was just kind of babbling in a low, quiet voice. It turned into like almost music. I guess the thing to talk about is the BVB News blog,

tweeted out that Dortmund have now run out of patience with Gio Raina and the club are looking to partways with him permanently in the summer. That is a news aggregator, BVB News blog. The source is Rur-Nock-Ricton, which is the Rurr News, a real newspaper in the Rurr Valley. So it seems probably true. Is it a relief? That's how to Sanjay, you a big Gio guy. I am, yeah. to the point where a few other journalists,

not going to name names, but people mess with me about it. No, I mean, I'm, listen, honestly, at this point, I just wanted to be healthy when the U.S. plays, because I think on any given day, I do believe he's that talented where he can take over a game. The fitness thing is a problem,

but even going into World Cup, you have a few friendlies, right? You have a group stage that is supposed to be easier on paper. So this dream of him being a Lundor caliber player For me it's not about stopping about that a while ago It's just about him showing up for the U.S. and doing what he's done If you were able to pick the spot he goes next I was going to ask you guys

Wherever I mean it sounds like you're asking MLS or no Well, is that weird? I'm open to Erdivizzi. I'm open to Italy. I'm open to MLS. I'm open to anything, yeah.

He just needs to be on the field running about. Thanks. That's what I think. Get on a team, man. Not MLS, though. Come on, guys. Bro, I don't care. San Diego.

Let's get him out there with... You can go to MLS to tear it up. Why not? It's different, yeah, yeah. He's not going to go to MLS, so, I mean, it's... No, he's not. It'll be a moral victory if he goes to the Airdivizzi, because I think his, you know, his team is too proud.

But, yeah, he should go to one of those Air to Vizzi clubs, I think, gives feedback under him. That's my take. I hope so, man. I mean, I was going to say Ernie, but I don't know if Ernie could do it. Ernie's one that got this whole ball rolling, baby. I don't know if he can.

Yeah. I don't know if he could make that call, unfortunately. I've seen a lot of people saying IAX. We'd love to see it. I don't care, bro. Just go play some balls. I've kind of wanted him to go to Iax for a while. They could use him, I think.

Go play for Brendan Rogers. Yeah. yeah honestly the way they played we'll get into that soon uh i'm curious to see how potch handles geo i mean even in a game like this where he doesn't run a lot he gets on the ball it's a it is a pleasant viewing experience and um kind of always has been you just got to do all the other stuff and more bring more urgency uh Celtic also got eliminated no surprise they lost to Byron Munich. What do we got?

I mean, no surprise, but they've acquitted themselves well throughout this entire Champions League and gave Byron a real tie, you know? It was beautiful to see. And I kind of somewhat expected it just because of how they played throughout this Champions League. We got a couple Celtic fans as patrons that, you know, been to Discord every once in a while. They were talking about how this is the best. Champions League run that they've had in a long time,

which now I think about it, I think that's pretty true. I mean, there's mostly been dormats, you know, maybe fighting to get sent down to Europa. And so this was, I mean, truly a great campaign from them. And, you know, CTV and trusty were mostly good in the Champions League, for the most part. You know, CCV had a, I forgot what game it was,

He had a back pass. They got picked off for a goal. Trustee was probably responsible for two goals in the Ashton Villa match, I want to say. So those are probably like the low lights there, but like, bro, they were good. Celtic was able to control the ball in a lot of these matches. And even a lot of times, they had decent spells against Byron as well. The technical players all over the pitch, but a good team, a good team. and CCV and trusty were able to show themselves as, you know, adept enough with the ball.

I mean, there would be times where I would tweet out from the scuffed account, like, you know, over under 210 passes from CCV and Austin. And they would hit the over, bro. You know, touching the ball a lot, distributing a lot. Both of them have, both of them can break lines with it, you know. Austin of course left footed a little bit more athletic I prefer him I would say But I think they both earned a shot And I don't think they were ever exposed by Byron

There was that one Are they? Were they? I think he split him right Like early in the second half But besides that I can't really remember Them being Yeah

Okay so one Goreska chance Take that Nine times other than we'll take that. Do we all prefer trustee here? No. Okay. But it's mostly an emotional thing for me.

Do you prefer trustee? I guess. I mean, I don't know if I prefer him. I'd just like to see him get more minutes. We've obviously seen some of CCV. We've seen CCV at the World Cup, right? So he's not new to us. Trustee would be cool to see him get a chance.

I think the real debate is considering the chemistry they're building, if something happens to the first choice pairing, which right now I'm assuming is Richards and McKenzie, if one of the first choice guys isn't available, like how close are they, how close is Posh to giving these two a shot as a partnership because of that value add with the chemistry?

I was talking to my Celtic friend about this, and he said it to me like months ago, and I was like, yeah, man, whatever. And then when you see them more than hold their own against Spying Munich over two legs, it's like, all right, wait a second. What partnership would really do better than that? I like the idea of putting our first choice guys on the little bit of pressure that if you're not figuring out, we've got a pairing that's going to come in and wait both you out. I like that. Some ringers, you know what I'm saying?

We got some Celtic ringers about to come. on you. Bells, what do you think? I have to confess, I didn't even know that it took a stoppage time goal from Byron to equalize. They went up.

They were heroes out there. A few minutes ago. I didn't know that. I've barely paid attention to Celtic. I don't particularly rate either trusty or CCV. And I apologize to everyone for, I have nothing

to contribute here. There's a lot of soccer to look at and watch, you know, everyone chooses what's near and dear to their heart. But, yeah, like I said, I'm choosing trusty, but also CCV-Huddered down at Iran, had to say that correctly, match. And Potch, you know, he got his history with CCV. CCV has at least been in, you know, training camp with Tottenham when Potch was the coach. before he got sent on his loans or whatever.

So Potch knows the player quite well. If he doesn't get caught up, that'll let me know that it's probably just a wrap, considering CCV's history with Podge. So we'll see, but centerback looking how it is, man, I would love to see it. I think you know. Chris Richard's wrong, but I think that times he hasn't gotten called up was injury-related. Yes. I think he's due for a call-up.

Right. This would be the first. one where yeah the Chris the Chris Richards section of the clip notes this week is quietly one of the best parts of that video I think bro he was balling he's getting he's real comfortable now he did a lot of good stuff yeah yeah in that game this weekend and yeah the struggle dribble of the year really yeah almost almost resulted in a goal yeah yeah I mean if he's if he's playing he's on question CB I don't think POTCH would actually do the Celtic partnership thing, but it is,

fellas, I was the same way as you about Celtic until this round. This was eye-opening, honestly. Did you guys all meet up somewhere and watch the game together, the three of you? I mean, bro, they... Nobody told me. The Milan match was first, right? And then the Celtic match was after that. It was just not a whole lot going on.

Yeah. But like I said, I've been keeping up with Celtic this whole run. I mean, you have. Celtic only plays 14 games worth watching a season if they're in championship. You know what I'm saying? So it was just like, now's my time to tune in. Once again, I'm not watching Kilmarnock. I'm not watching Ross County.

I'm not watching Hearts. I will watch Atalanta. Not watching Hearts of Midlothian? Nope. You watch the test and they pass the test for sure. That's awesome. I mean, a stoppage time goal, otherwise this goes to extra time. Last kick of the match.

Crazy. And it was, Sonny hits a cross-in basically to like a midfield runner that none of the backline should be tracking at the moment. It's a very nice cross. It's the player's head. Casper Schmichael saves it. And the ball then, he spills it. The ball then bounces. And CCV has a chance to clear it.

and he clears it right into Afonzo Davies and the ball just bounces off Alfonso Davies into the goal. Now, the people I've been debating could, should CTV have done something different that would lead to a better outcome for Celtic? It's really tough to tell if you watch it, Bells, it's a really bang, bang play. But yeah, that's how to match in it. I can just see CTV's face. A really funny visual came from this

because Bob Morocco was talking to like something like he should have took a touch, swiveled his hips hit it with his left foot, et cetera, et cetera. And just imagine that CCV trying to do that one. And then if he failed too,

man, it would have been it would have been sadder than what we've seen now. But the memes, it would have been box office, bro. Just refrigerator-shaped CCV trying to do all that in that moment. It would be comedy. Yeah, it's easy from the couch, right? I mean, the only...

It's easy for the Bob Maracca's of the world. Exactly. Get off the couch, Bob. Tell him, Sachi. The only other thing you could have done, I guess, was put it out for a corner, right? We try to clear it that way, but who does that? Yeah, that would have been crazy.

They're not taught to do that because then you're just giving them a chance, right? Vince, I'm glad you've dug up the... the CTV's dad's proud and excited video. I did. By the way. It's an honor and a pleasure to watch my son. Yo, I've went through that.

Just wait until Sir Junio Desk comes back. I got one Brewing. I got one Brewing. I went back through the video. There's some gold in there, man. There's some gold in there. You know, okay, so that's it for Champions League, I think. I just wanted to say quickly, the behind the crest for January camp video dropped a couple days ago.

And the Patrick Ajamong story just continues to fascinate me. Because there's some details, it's not from the, well, you get an extended, like, sort of emotional conversation with him in the video. But also, there's a piece in the Charlotte Observer last few days with some details about him. This is a guy who scored two goals and two games for the national team. whatever you want to say about January camp. His mom is a CNA at two nursing homes. So she's like a nursing home assistant. And his dad's a delivery truck driver.

And, you know, his circumstances remain quite humble. His salary at Charlotte is $71,401 a year. And as you know, he played D3 soccer until he was scouted by a future teammate at Rhode Island University. who texted the coach the following about him. He's like, that kid, Patrick Ajamong from Eastern, is a very, very, very talented individual. When I played with him this past summer,

I could see why he's been lighting up D3, super unpredictable, left foot, right foot, insane athleticism, and he can finish. He plays anywhere across the front three. We need him on our team. So it's like he, I don't know, he's played in Summer League with somebody who recruited him to a D1 college.

That's fine. And now he's, you know, he might get called up. the end of this month, in the next month, I mean. What do you think, Sajie? Is it going to get called up? Who are we expecting?

Josh, Vasquez, and, I mean, it's, yeah, it's Vasquez, Ajamong.

I don't even necessarily think Ajamong is really that good, you know, just to be clear. But the story is unbelievable. It's crazy. It's also crazy

that there's a, there's a first-tier, professional athlete in this in this country that that I can I can look at I can I can call Pat broke um you know but they get your sponsorship deals up or something bro because uh I mean he's going to get paid eventually but big big take a little big right now though I think that should be our main thing is we want to root for him to get paid I want to get camp let's get him into camp I mean it's such a crazy example of the sort of two-tiered system and I think it's not totally unique to MLS, but they just signed Wilfred Zaha, and I don't know how much they're paying him.

It's in the millions, I'm sure, right? Yeah, got to be pulling right alongside Pat, Big Pat. Well, Chris, if he's getting into camp. 2400 every two weeks or whatever it is after taxes. He's going to get like 30,000 in camp, right? Yeah, exactly. If he gets into camp, that actually, like, yeah, that means more to. Yeah.

Right now he's not, he could say. He's easy. He's at 120. you know. Okay, okay, okay. Fair enough. He got me, he got me then. I'm put my hands.

I don't know what January camp is, I'm assuming. Yo, I do want to shout out. His mom being a CNA at two nursing homes, yo, you talk about some manual labor. Man, that's the worst job on earth. Yeah. Bro, she is flipping. She is making sure,

ma'am, mom, papa, don't get no bed sores, flipping people over. Getting yelled at all the time. Changing diapers. Like, you know, CNAs do the grunt work. presumably his mother is black too and she's she's dealing with some rude white people I'm telling me that right now do you have any idea how I did a training course for CNAs oh you may like a third of the course we're training them to deal with

extremely racist senile old white people yeah rude is a really nice way to put it I guess yeah dad's been doing two shifts some of the time a lot of the time on that delivering pharmaceuticals? We love a bootstrap story. Big Pat doing us all proud and he will get paid. Hey, thanks everybody for listening. Chris, Sanjay, Vince, and I

kept going for another 17 minutes or so. It was fun, but we got pretty far off the rails so I'm taking that to the patron feed. Again, the link for that's in the show notes. Thanks for listening. We'll see you.