Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #582: Cardoso banger, Tillman returns at PSV, Sargent scores, Milan flails

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Belz and Vince with a lengthy "what's up with Poch" opening segment, Johnny shines for Betis, Malik back and fresh in Eindhoven, West starts under new coach, Josh scores, we're definitely going to Rome. A great question from Mike in the Buffalo area. Here's where you can send us a voice message for future episodes: https://www.speakpipe.com/ScuffedPodcastVince and Belz and George Quraishi are definitely taking a group to Rome from May 10-18, here's some detail, including a rough itinerary: https://earthlydelights.notion.site/Italia-25-with-Scuffed-1a3f3f1e0145804793e8e83e982168fdAnd here's where you can still sign up: 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. Hey, everybody, it's a Monday review. Me and Vince here. How you doing, Vince? I'm just chilling, man. Been deep in thought over this past window where we're heading. What does it all mean, et cetera? Yeah.

Where have you landed? Where have you landed? Where I've landed is, you can't tell me. The decisions that Potsch made in this window were with the aim to win the Nations League. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's no way he makes these same decisions in a must, must win. If it was the World Cup that Pott should make the same.

Personnel decisions mostly, but even, maybe even tactics wise, etc. Right. I think it would try to do something. So it's like, we're in limbo, right, as fans. It's like how much trust can you really put it? Because I'm thinking back to like Greg Burhalter, right? It took Greg, it took me maybe like three Greg Berhalter mistakes and him learning from the mistakes very slowly

for me to give him some grace. Like for instance, that Japan, Saudi Arabia window, after it happened, I was like, okay, I'm pretty sure Greg's going to learn from this, and we're going to come out in the World Cup and look like a different team, and he's going to make the proper adjustments, and he did. Yeah, he's going to go hard into MMA, basically, was what we were hoping for. Hard in the MMA and getting Aaron Long got out of there. And he essentially did it, right?

And so now we don't have, we don't got the background with Potch. and as fans wearing limbo wondering how quickly he's going to how ruthless he's going to be i think he's proven to be somewhat ruthless and we don't even know if like him leaving like uh you know calling aida morris and john lucca off john lucca up at first and then leaving him off is that him being ruthless is that him just wanting to cycle through the pool and an emma hayes type style um you know i'm saying so it's like we know that changes are going to come off the back of this Like Potch has not been afraid to make changes early in his tenure, but it's just, um, just want to see where we go from here. So now, now it's just like, you know, I'm anxious.

I'm anxious now. I'm just waiting for the, those pre-gold cup friendlies to see what's going on. But then even with the gold cup and whatnot. Like, is he going to, is he going to treat that like a, you know, winning at all costs? Maybe, probably not, though. You would hope so. But even then, it's like, uh, we're not going to have. players available, which I have to say, I haven't fully believed that until I started to see the

prize money for the club World Cup. And yeah, man, these dudes ain't going to be. What is the prize money for it? It's a lot. It's a substantial amount of money. Like per player? No, for the club. I don't know. I don't know about anything per player. But it's enough to make, you know, like for Juventus, for example, everybody's talking about Yale. They got to get to the Champions League. They don't spend a lot of money in this past window. They're trying to spend some more money.

They need to be in the Champions League. And that Club World Cup prize purse, it's, I don't think it's championship money. As far as like, you know, revenue from just prize money from being in it and gate money, etc. But it's a substantial amount of money. I forgot the exact figure, but it's a lot. And so FIFA's trying to make this a serious of, of a competition as it can be.

And so... Yeah, so we'll miss the Uvei guys, but I mean... Yeah, we'll see. I guess we'll see about Gio. Yeah, you know, one other thing about the window, I noticed watching Wes in Uva's 100 win, he was pretty... He was pretty on it, pretty locked in,

like, hustling pretty hard. Yeah. And it was a little bit of a contrast to the way he looked for the U.S. And I think, like, he also is going to, I mean, I don't love that he didn't give it his all in Los Angeles. But, like, it doesn't really matter, you know. It's like he'll, if he does it at the World Cup, no one will remember this, you know. I know, but damn it.

You know, it's like, we need to pick me up, man. Well, do we? So that's another question. It's like, do, is this a big missed opportunity that we were, that we had laid an egg? in Los Angeles. I'm not sure it is that big of a missed opportunity. I mean, did winning Nations League three times, like, bring in a bunch of new fans?

It's just what it is with the culture, you know? I mean... Yeah, fair enough. I mean, of course, winning helps. Yeah. But it's all just like... I don't know, maybe it's just me. And, like, I don't know.

I'm just getting tired of seeing all the takes. Everyone's... One thing about soccer, man. Everyone is very dramatic. And it's kind of like that. And all fans... It's not too dissimilar from any sports fandom. But I think soccer, it gets ratcheted up just another degree.

You know, I mean, I'm just naming names here. I'm not coming for anybody. But I'm seeing, you know, Dax McCarty, uh, Sasha Clestion. You know, everybody's just like, do these guys know what it takes to be a USM&T international? And it's like, man, come on, man. It's the same group that just went through a World Cup, et cetera, et cetera. Like, I'm not saying you can't criticize what's going on here because it's a disgrace. All right, I'm just going to go ahead and throw that out.

It's been a disgrace, getting grouped in Copa and then continually losing to Panama. Yeah. No, it's not good. But, you know, doing all this, do these guys know what it means and all this, blah, blah, blah. It's like, man, come. Right. I mean, just play for the Des Moines Minus and leave us out of the movie. Let me play, let me play a voicemail from, so Waki and Charlie Boehm and I did a show on Thursday where we took calls from,

essentially took voicemails from around the country. And I got, we have a few left over and I wanted to play a couple of them today. I just want to skip straight. We weren't going to do it until later, but let me just skip straight to this one from Mike in Buffalo because it's kind of long, but it's really well-stated question. So let's hear it. Hey, guys, this is Mike from the Buffalo area. I wanted to talk about the idea of skin in the game.

I was listening to the phone-in episode after the Panama game. And a lot of fans seem to be questioned in whether Pocetino is fully invested in this job. And, you know, kind of reminded me of how I felt about it. Cleansman when he was here. You know, the way he would just kind of shrug off bad results with the media afterwards. And when he left Donovan off that roster, basically just to win a pissing match, I knew in my heart he didn't get it. And, like, what he didn't get, in my opinion, was that the job is a two-part thing.

You know, the first part is to look after the short and medium-term results, like any coach. But the second part is to be a custodian of the long-term growth of the game here in America. And, you know, the good American coaches we've had in the recent past, Burrhalter, Bradley, Arena, Bob Gansler, they all had skin in the game. And they all got that second part of the job. Now, I'm not saying you have to be an American necessarily, but you better have a strong understanding of that history. And that struggle that generations after generations of coaches have gone through to put this game on the map. And you've got to know that the results you get with this team are going to have a massive impact. on either progress or regression in that struggle.

And I think Cleansman didn't understand how serious the job was in that regard. And I'm starting to get suspicious of Pochitino, too. So the job is a two-part job. And one of the parts is evangelism. You know, you have to be a salesman of the sport. A salesman or an apostle. You can't do that from across the pond, man. Yeah.

You got to be in Chicago or Atlanta, whenever they move there, whatever's going on. But, I mean... Does he understand the struggle? That's the thing. Maybe that's the key word, the struggle. So, first of all, my first thought is that Bells, I think you were vindicated and ask him Potsch if he watches the games.

Number one. I feel a little bit, you know, just quietly. quietly vindicated a little. And your call, when you ask somebody like, hey, Pach, I don't know if you, I don't know if you've been watching G. G.R.ina play, but he ain't looking too good out there. But I think you've been vindicated

because, once again, like I said, to start this off, you look at his decisions, particularly personnel-wise and where he decided to play players. I'm not sure. I'm not sure he'd be watching the club games. That's all I'm saying. I'm not sure.

Or that he thought, real hard about it. Right. Right. So that's point number one. I guess point number two as far as the evangelizing part of it. I think maybe we just got a different setup. Right.

Whereas with Ernie, I think it was Ernie plus Greg. And their vision is casting down over the Yantys, et cetera, being involved. there. Now, I think it's just like Crocker thing. Crocker runs the show on both sides, W&T, M&T, and Potts is just an employee like any other employee. Now, is that the best use of $6 million and having Mauricio Pachino as your U.S. M&T men's national team coach? I would say, without a doubt, no, because of his stature in the game, his celebrity. I mean, you know, the fact that we have somebody that can reach out to the,

to the Premier, to the Premier League watching, um, group of people. Public. Yeah. Yeah. That, uh, that, you know, only, only tune in for Premier League games and, and that's it and don't care about, I don't know. Any, any other soccer going on in America, you know, their local clubs, whether they be MLS, USL, whatever, the national team, all that.

I think that, I think Maricio would be, it would be a waste if he wasn't used as a bridge. Yeah. Like, he should have a weekly segment. His imagination needs to be fired with the responsibility of it, though. You know, he needs to believe that it's something that is at least interesting to him. Yeah, we should have, I mean, there should be a weekly segment of Maricio Paschino or men and blazers or whatever. Something, you know, so reaching out to the people, he should be. be on

like Champions League you know every week ESPN whatever he should be on the CBS Champions League

desk just making appearances bro he should but instead we get Instagram captions of him on a hammock with his with his

dogs selfies pictures of his feet whatnot and yeah I guess when you we'll see when you

when you wrap it all up yeah because I remember I remember I was not a sicko back then. But I was like, I was a casual

like World Cup fan. Right. And I remember when Klinzman was hired. And I was excited myself because I had been paying attention to that past World Cup, right? Where Klusman was, Yerkin Klinzman was coaching Germany and all that, all that. And I remember it being sold as, you know, he's coming into change everything. You've soccer development.

We're going to get real. Yeah. Right. Right, everything, he's going to be the grand pooh-bah of soccer in America. It's all going to be Yergen Cleansman's vision of trickling down to the youth fields in Chickamauga, Georgia. You know. That's right. That's right.

The last frontier. Right. Did it work out that way? I guess not. Should we even expect it to work out that way? I guess that's part of the question, too. like I know a lot of people expect things from the Fed um what is how do how does it work in other countries like what what is the Fed's uh

yeah bird in here you know what I'm saying like I don't know I don't know yeah like can't like I'm trying to think of like basketball like that's that's where that's where a lot of my sport experiences, as sport experience in America. Like... Is it a super centralized system where like talent is like directed from the top? No.

I'm trying to think of like somebody coming down and like directing people how to coach your local optimist league or something like that. Like I mean... Right. Everybody thinks they know, you know, and everybody does know. That's the thing.

It's like everybody knows about basketball. And every league all the way down. Yeah. Not the case in soccer. I don't know. Bels, you got any additional thoughts? No, not really. Just that it's, that, you know, to quote a famous far-right influencer who I think is dead now.

You know, culture is down, I mean, what is it? Government is downstream of culture. And I know we have a big, we have a big Latino culture that loves soccer in America, a huge, a huge community that has been martial out there too. Man. That's another part. That's another part. And it's like he's not even in the country most of the time. But we had somebody comment on our Patreon page that like, you know, I say there's not enough soccer culture in America and I'm wrong about that because of the Latino community's strength in the sport.

And they pointed out that this person pointed out that there weren't, there wasn't anybody at the USA Canada game, but you know, tons of people at the Panama, Mexico game. Same when the U.S. played Panama. There were a ton of people at the Mexico game. He's like, well, if we had half of our roster Mexican-American for the men's national team, then, you know, we would be, we would have a fuller stadium. And I'm like, well, maybe, but that's not the way to choose the team, you know. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely, there's definitely a disconnect there, though.

For sure. Right. between our Latin communities and representation in all parts of U.S. soccer, sport. It's something I think about all the time with regards to basketball. Certainly nobody in management, right? Or very few in management level positions. I'm watching videos from the McDonald's All-American practice. and, you know, on the baseline

it's just a whole bunch of white dudes. And I'm not... From such a Catholic school in New Jersey or whatever. Yeah, it's like, I mean, white people play basketball, too, obviously. Quite a lot of white people play basketball. But...

Some of them are pretty good, too. It's not... It's not... That baseline picture ain't representative of... Right. You know, so whenever you have a disconnect like that, you always do got to assume that there is

some type of problem for me. You gotta assume there's a problem somewhere. But yeah, Potch could be reaching out there. Mm-hmm. I mean, I'm even thinking about... That's a credibility, yeah. It speaks to language.

This topic makes me think of how like, like just in Louisville, right? We have a large Latino soccer player community. And the three pros from... The three pros from Louisville, two Bosnians, and Andrew Farrell. Amina Eckich, Marseidich, Andrew Farrell. No, none of my dogs. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think it is partly a disconnect between the Latino community and, to be specific, the U.S. men's national team. But there's also just a really strong connect between that community in this country and the Mexico national team. team, you know? Like Sebi Salazar and his mom were, like, weeping, seeing a World Cup goal scored in 1994. He was born in the U.S. She, you know, she moved here for work.

And it's just a really strong connection. It's not going to just, you know, be replaced. Well, when you sell, like, session tickets, right, where you just get one ticket and you have the ability to go to USA, Panama and Mexico can. Canada. And USA Panama starts at 4 p.m. local time. Like, I mean, it just... It just is what it is.

Like, I don't know. Like, any game that does not involve Mexico is just going to be... It's going to look like how it looked. Yeah. Well, all right. Let's get to the... Some of the weekend action because we had, you know, Johnny's... Go ahead.

Well, just one more thing. Dude, we haven't talked about this lately, but... A lot of people are getting upset, too, that he doesn't care about dual national. Yeah. Are a lot of people getting upset? There's some people who are upset. Well, you know, the users are suspects, people that really care about these things. And, you know, there's a lot of people like, oh, you know, no Anthony Robinson would have been nice to have a Daniel Brown out there.

Which, you know, I'm not too mad at it. but he's a little more he's a little different than burrhalter on this subject right right he's not quite as so i guess it just begs the question like if he's not being that figure over here and the times he's not coaching the national team he's not from what it seems out here recruiting dual nationals in his off time and it's questionable whether or not he's uh watching the game soberly uh What are we getting for $6 million at this point? Yeah, we're getting a name and a reputation right now for the most part. But I believe that he's going to do his level best in 2026 and that hopefully this will all be a distant memory.

Yeah, I mean, for me... It's really the only thing that matters, you know? Like people, even to the... Like, if we're talking about soccer evangelism, the World Cup is the only thing that matters. People will only, nobody talks, nobody who's not a sicko talks about who won the Gold Cup in whatever year, you know? Yeah. And the Copa is even, I think, confusing to a lot. Less and less, fewer and fewer people in our country are confused about what the Copa is, but I think still the majority.

I mean, you could say that, man, but we had some good, we pulled some good numbers on TV for those games, those Copa games. some real good numbers so okay because Fox did push it you know what I'm saying and I think we did have games on linear Fox

I mean we did get to play Uruguay and might have had the chance to play Columbia I mean yeah Columbia Argentina Brazil but so yeah you're probably right it's still not the World Cup though

you know for the average American for sure And if I, and if you had to like, if I had to guess, so I've already said that I don't think he was making the decisions that he made with like the intent to like win at all costs. Now you take it to the next step. What does that mean? What is he doing? That's where the anxiety comes in, right?

Well, yeah, but it's like, I have to assume that he's just like evaluate. And maybe I could be like, hey, pop. We did not need to see Max Arfston and left back. Like, you know, say that it was just a waste of time to me, to me personally. But, but, you know, maybe he saw something, whatever. Wanted to see it in action, I guess. I mean, Fosse was kind of a waste of time, too, while we're at it, you know? Yeah.

I mean, I'm happy for him, but, like, he's not going to help us. I mean, really. we don't need to see Joe Scali anymore at right back. I mean, we've been saying this since it was time for Joe Scali to play right back, you know, when Serge got hurt. Bring him as, put him on the roster, have him available if something happens. But, yeah. And also one more thing before we fully leave the Paschino thing.

I do want to say, I do think this team needs a leader, desperately. It's become pretty clear to me. don't respond to Tyler Adams. I don't think they respond to Tyler Adams at all. Not even a little bit. What makes he say that? I mean, I'm not, I'm just, he just, I just don't, because we get these performances, he's there, right?

He was there in Copa. He was there in Nations League, and we get the performances that we've been getting. Like, I just don't think as a. Should we start sending leadership books to Chris, Richards, like let him sort of grow into the role. I mean, who is it? Who's it going to be? Who's going to be the leader?

We have a lot of guys, I think, that aren't wired that way, I do want to say. Yeah, Tim, I think Pulisic, Tim, definitely not wired that way. I think Chris got the charisma to do it, right? Chris has the charisma to do it. Anybody else? I don't know. I think, shoot, I think what? West can do it.

But, like, it would require, like, loads of serious training that I don't think he's disciplined. I don't think he's willing to undergo at this point in his career. But it's like, you know, sometimes you can't just arrive and be like, I'm the leader. You know, the group got to choose you. Yeah. Type of thing. And I don't think, like I said, yeah, I just don't think they respond to Tyler.

you know Tyler can do all the barking in people's face that he wants to but I think when he walks away he just gets a whoever he just barks at give him a little the little side thumb point and get a load of that guy type of thing you know what I'm saying like I don't think he I don't think he's moving anybody

necessarily so I mean it's a special person that can move somebody with a without a doubt With an admonition or a rebuke, you know. Without a doubt, shoot, maybe even Diego Luna. I don't know. But somebody got to, it has to be somebody. Yeah.

Within the group. It can't just be the coach, which also circles back to our North Star, the tweet from Airborne 69, which continues to ring. like it's just it becomes truer like every camp hashtag the coach he doesn't get enough credit for how he keeps a team 100% all in mentality bro there couldn't have been a truer statement there couldn't have been a truer statement when you look back at it think about the world cup and just brought that window up right think about how that window went yeah you could have lost a lot of people Right. No. No. There was no, nobody was shaking.

We come to Qatar. We're ready to play ball. You know, he really didn't get enough credit for keeping the team 100% all in mentality. I guess that's true. Yeah. And really, and then also the ominous part of that tweet being, that picture being taken right in front of the Raina family. dinner table with the with the skylies too and they were spread out on some heavy duty wicker chairs you know they were they were looming they were looming and uh i think they succeeded and whatever they set out to do and yeah the team hasn't been the same sense man it all goes back to that doesn't it uh hey let's take a break and then we'll come back let's take a break we'll come back we'll come back and talk about Johnny and Malique, A.C. Milan, Juventus.

Probably we'll talk about the state of the U.S. men's national team a little bit more, I would imagine. Alfonso Davies agent firing shots across the bow against Jesse Marsh. If you want scuffed ad-free, join the Patreon. For $5, you get Vince's clips of the action we discuss here, plus more of the Yanks abroad action from the weekend. Satisfaction guaranteed, if that's the sort of thing you're interested in. Back in a minute.

We're back. So let's get to Johnny sits out, a little bit injured, or so they said, for the U.S. camp, and then comes back right away, massive derby against Sevilla, you know, cross-town rival, Green versus red. He scores a delightful goal and goes 90 in a 2-1 win for Real Batisse. So basically the goal is, you know, they're just, Batiste's just probing around the penalty area and I don't know the player's name, but it goes down to the end line and dude just lifts it.

Johnny kind of ghosts in. As that, you know, that young guy, what is Rodriguez? I don't know, whoever the young guy is number 36 with the blonde hair. He kind of runs past, draws attention. the ball floats down for Johnny and he kind of jumps and volleys it a little bit of a karate kick quality to the finish

and just absolutely smokes it. Unstoppable. Makes it one-one. And then he just did a... I mean, Two Feet Elite has an incredible comp up on the social media platforms. He just looked really good, really slick and tight spaces,

strong in duels. Yep. Wasn't all that hurt, it turns out. Which is fine, it's fine, it's fine. I'm just saying that in a pleasantly surprised way. Yeah. Hopefully we see him at the Gold Cup. Yeah, I was hopeful that it would turn out like this when you saw the,

when we got the little information that we did about the muscle discomfort. Yeah, is that what they said? Yeah. The type of injury. It's like, ah, you might be back. But once again, man, big game, Johnny. Big game Johnny for the, hell yeah. For Betise, at least.

But, bro, every single big game, Bettis has, man turns up. It turns up in a big way. They love him. They love him so much down there. I do love me. That one time when he, what is he, like, intercepts a pass down on the sideline, and then dribbles past two guys, clips the ball over.

Clips the ball over the side line. The leg of the one dude, yeah, yeah. Yeah, pretty nasty. Yeah. He didn't end up giving the ball away later in the sequence. He did. He did. But even the one where he's on that same touchline but going the other way,

where he clips the ball up to his teammate. I think his teammate loses it. And they try a pass down that touchline. He cuts it out. Oh, yeah. And then he gestures to the crowd. Yeah. Yeah, man.

Man of the people, man. That's right. Love it. It's a shame. Betty's has very nice kids. and you can't get them in the U.S. Like they won't send them over. For real?

Yeah. Huh. Unfortunately. I mean, it got a very nice green. Always have a nice stripe pattern or something. You know what I'm saying? But yeah, we can't. What if we slap some tariffs on Sevilla?

You know, they start sending them. Which, once again, there's no worse native language to English translation than Sevilla to Seville. It just loses all of its aura when you call it Seville. I guess. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely better. Sevia's definitely better.

I agree with that 100%. Without a note. But yeah. Trying to be doing this thing, man. I still think watching him play that he can do a job as a six. But more of a six-eight than a six. You know, one thing that caught my eye from this game is that that shot he had that he hit just wide, you know, cutting, kind of cutting him from the left. I was like, okay, all right, you know, now you're looking like a six, eight who produces revenue a little bit more.

Yeah. I mean, not to mention the volley, which was extremely high level of difficulty strike. I'm just thinking, because now, right, with the window that just passed, I'm just thinking of everything in the context of the. men's national team like Johnny Johnny paired with Tyler Adams

I don't know if that's necessarily it I'd you know what bells I think we're back to Tyler Adams versus Johnny Konda

like I think you have to have one of them and then I think you want to pair them with like a unismoussa yeah I would say

and then where play West as a 10 probably. I mean, if he's, you know, if he's bringing it. If he's bringing it. But he got to sit on the bench so he started bringing him. I'm sorry. We can get a Weston McKinney versus Canada performance from some other people. I think, you know, he still did some things, right?

He passed the ball out to Tim. He was part of that buildup, right, for the goal. He passed a ball out to Tim. and then Tim found Diego, et cetera. So it's not all lost, and, you know, I got to be harder on Wes.

Yeah, I got to be hard on my son. But, yeah, I just think we need to pair either Tyler or Johnny with somebody else. I don't think, like, Tyler, Tyler, Johnny gets the same results as Tyler West.

I would say. Johnny, maybe a little bit nicer. in those tight areas, but it's not like, he's not doing it on like a high volume level or anything like that. It's just like ball pops to him and an opportunity for him to do something. He does it. And once again, we saw it in that Kansas City game against Canada, right?

It gets caught in a, in a, what should be a manageable situation? Yeah. And it ends up not being managed and go Canada, you know. I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's not going to keep happening with Johnny. I mean, because you see him in similar types of situations for Betis, Betis, and he's fine, you know? I don't know. But we're talking about economies of scale. Adam Bills, if I can pull my NBA hat on.

But like, all right, Milton Friedman. Yeah. It's just, you know, we does it four or five times. It looks good. Ask them do it. 10, 15 times. Different question. Yeah, one out of 15 is not good enough, you know?

If it happens once every 15 times, then you're, that's not a good score on the test. Yeah. And that's something that I'm starting to really hone in on. where it's like you know it's nice to extrapolate it's nice to try and extrapolate that like you watch this game

and be like okay yeah he can he can handle Canada and what they throw at us but maybe not yeah you know it's nice to be on the optimistic side but

I'm gonna stay on the optimistic side just because like it stands a reason he will become good for the national team. Johnny, that is, you know? Yeah, yeah. It would be weird for him not to. Yeah. Same with Malik.

I'm not saying he's not. And really not, now that I think about it again, I don't know if we should. Because if you do Johnny plus somebody else, then maybe you're keeping Johnny at home more. And we need Johnny to be able to roam. like he does for for betty's so maybe we can't maybe we can't try a tyler johnny because somebody else has somebody has to hold right and um as we've seen with betties like

he's really started the blossom as he's been giving this freedom to allow to get into the attack and whatnot yeah and i mean it's not this isn't a uh one-time thing right like this has been happening all of 2025 like he has that license to get into the box and he does it a lot It is really fun to watch, too, by the way, and it's on ESPN Plus. Most of you know this already. Cucho Hernandez scored the go-head goal against Sevia right before that end of the first half. Just gorgeous. That young kid plays a ball, whose name I can't remember, plays a ball into Isco.

Isko just a one-touch redirect path into Cucho's path, and then he, like, tucks it under the sliding goalkeeper's legs. This is how you carve up a team that's sitting back, you know, just probing and probing and probing and trying stuff, darting runs. Finally something works. Malik, back on the field for PSV. He posted a I'm Back hype video on Instagram. It's not that great. I don't know if you've watched it. It's fine.

Then they lose to Iax. But the main thing is he's back. And I thought he looked really good. came on at the half down 1-0. Looked sharp immediately. I don't know if Potch is interested in watching PSV-Einhoven games, but he will get some ideas if he does. I didn't watch.

I mean, it was like PSV won the possession battle and the XG battle, but Game Man played on a spreadsheet in it. That's right. Iax wins to zero. They got a nice kind of a scramble goal from Klausen and then a really nice individual effort from Trieri, and PSV missed their chances, which were none of them was, like, incredibly good,

but... Malik looks good, though. True six-pointer. True six-pointer, man. Title race, basically, settled by that. PSV's nine points behind, but they're in a comfortable place for winning a Champions League spot. Seven match days remaining in...

The air division. Okay. Of course, Dest is also back. He started this game, played 77 minutes. Super scintillating from him, I didn't think, but, you know, solid. He had a chance to clip one over the onrushing keeper when it was still 1-0 in the second half. Would have been a great play. Keeper makes a great play.

Blocks it. Otherwise, played some crosses in. Wasn't at fault for either goal. Okay. I'm going to be patient, but it's a damn shame that he came out the way he did. And then two matches since, it's kind of. Yeah. I mean, he's got to be, I think, a little more cognizant of his opposite number for Iax than he does against Otto Den Haag.

Yeah, of course. So. Yeah. Yeah. Sergeant went right back to England and scored. Stoppage time winner. Man. Crazy in it.

It's a pretty nice pool, too. Bro, it was nice. It was real nice to get that shot off the way he did. Yeah. He did miss a chance or a 1v1 chance earlier in the game. I mean, has it intercepted by the keeper? Nice play by the keeper again. Damn.

pretty identical to the Cucho one and I think he was even trying to put it down through his legs too but yeah hopefully he has a chip on his shoulder carries it into the summer yeah it's a shame man I don't know if he has

I don't know if he's a chip on the shoulder kind of guy um maybe I don't see I don't see why it wouldn't be oh yeah it's a shame it's a shame it's going his national team career is going this way I will continue to have faith in Josh Sargent.

People are still arguing online about whether we should like ever call them up again. But it's like, man, I'm going to just continue to have faith in the good players and hope for them to be good players for the national team. But once again, back to the main point of Potch and his personnel decisions and tactical decisions. we played Josh in the Panama match where once again we got five

attackers occupying the back line of five and everybody's just trying to run beyond and get the ball in behind Josh Sargent I mean did not check to the ball once and it's like we talk about That's his strength Yeah yeah it's like we're talking

talking about Josh Sargent here and he didn't get to do that at all He didn't get to show that part of his game off even a little bit and he didn't know that goal was going to be called offside and he slotted that thing home. I was watching again, you can see you can see him do his little runoff. He's running to the corner flag, a little jog.

Yeah. And then saw the, you know, saw the man with his flag up, threw his hands up, exasperated. But it was a very authoritative finish. You know, like no mistakes about it. Yeah. You bring the man to camp.

You put him in a game and you don't let him show off one of his best attributes. Like. And then you don't play him in the, the next game where he could have showed off some of those attributes right and and it was clearly lacking at times from his replacement yeah so has potch gotten anything right yet i don't know if he has i mean come on we got we got to respect the away win at jamaica yeah that's true that's true um yeah and then the whole thing which we've talked about on this podcast other people have talked about it

But Wea not being able to stretch the line on the right side. And then you're playing Sergeant as a guy who's supposed to be running in behind for the ball. Come on, man. And that's not, he's not his strength. And. Sergeant running in behind while Tim Weas checking to the ball. Exactly. Yeah.

What we doing? All right, A.C. Milan, still down bad. Musa suspended. Pulisic started. Oh, that's what it was. Unis was suspended. Okay. Yeah.

I guess the main talking point is that Santi Jimenez missed a penalty and Conce Salle spoke about it afterwards. So the question, of course, is why doesn't Pulisic take him? He's four of five for Milan. Everybody else is one of five. Conce Salle said after the game, there are three players we've designated to take penalties

and they train for it. Pulisic stepped aside to give confidence to his teammate who hasn't scored in a while. We know how these things go. It's not up to me to tell them who should take it. The three of them decide among themselves based on how they feel. But that's a good sign. It shows the dressing room is united.

Milan lost to Nopoli. But at least, you know, the dressing room is united. Yeah, man. I think the Champions League spot is basically impossible for them at this point. I mean, not mathematically, but... Um, Uvei can jump Bologna and Atalanta. Like, they're both within striking range. Milan is, oh, yeah, yeah, it's a rat.

It's a rat. All right. All right. Milan, they're on 47 points. And they have eight match days left. And they are eight points behind YuVe. Yeah, and YuVe is not even in a Champions League spot right now. Yeah, so.

Uvei is one point out. Yeah, so, all right, never mind. never mind and there's what three teams between Milan and YuVey in the first place so yeah it's a wrap this was another instance

there's another little something that brought up as a point of contention people saying Christian Policic soft man he got pushed aside by Santy Jimenez he put his

he put his Nation's League trophy on the table and said hey I'm the big dog I'm the big dog here Christian politics and and then Conce Sal's just whitewashing it to save his

save Christian's dignity I guess man I don't know but yeah I mean we went through this we have like this whole season like the fact that they

the other penalty takers have taken five penalties while Christian Polisic has taken five penalties and I'm pretty sure Christian has been on the field for most of those at least I would say at least four of them you know what I'm saying and the the one he has saved

was once again just a hell of a save by that huge keeper from I think it's Torino right yeah I mean it was an incredible save it was so nice So, I don't know. The idea that you got Christian Polisic on your team and you're still preparing three other dudes

and take penalties. And it hasn't been that long since Santee scored. Yeah. Well, Christian got to, you know, take the next one. Juventus beats Genoa 1-0 and Weston beats the allegations starts in Igor Tudor's first game in charge. There were some rumors that he was going to be shelved.

Always are. Always will be. He played left wingback, and I just want to say Tudor is an uncommon, but not unheard-of name in Croatia, and it has no connection with the English royal family. Yeah, I thought West was good, pretty good. Not amazing or anything,

but he was, he's a hundred percent reliable at that position. He does offer some forward throws. I was going to say he doesn't do it as elegantly as Johnny, but when he is bringing it, he can break open a game more, I think more often than a player like Johnny can. I'm not against a low block necessarily, but he can like, you know, just, it doesn't always look super pretty,

but all of a sudden he's like, he's broken through two lines. and things are off to the races. So you did have one of those, like a really nice turn in the middle of the field. Yeah, look like Wes. Louis Watson McKinney. Yeah. I don't have much more to say about this performance. Once again, Yaldas, anytime over these past two seasons that Yolos hasn't been on the field, I'm like, man.

I think Yolos needs to be on the field. Yeah, I think so too. And he showed why he needs to be on the field by providing the... Just a totally solo effort, you know? Yeah. Like, man's nice. I just stays with him. I love a finish like that over the keeper's shoulder, you know, from a tight angle.

Yeah. If you really rip it, like, no chance. Yo, we're on for the trip to Rome. So we're going to take another break here in a second, but we're on for the trip to roam. May 10 to 18, flights have been booked. Vince, Howler magazine founder, George Qureshi, and I are taking a group to see Lasio v. Juventus and Roma versus Milan at the Stadio Olympico on the banks of the tiber. We're going to play pickup all over town, eat well, see some history. It's a bucket list trip where the only thing you have to do is pay us and then book your flight to Italy. The rest of

it, game tickets, meals, lodging, museum passes, everything. Wine, dinner is handled, I would say expertly by George. Last spring, people were joining the trip right up to a week or two before we traveled. So if you want to join, it's not too late. There are two links in the show notes, one with information about the trip, more information about the trip that is, and the other where you can express your interest. Everyone is welcome. We've got at least one woman on the trip.

She's actually a repeat from last spring. Hey, Aline. So I promise you this is not a bro vacation. It's going to be a trip that appeals to you. your humanity and enrich your life, at least in my experience. Links are in the show notes. Vince is cackling at me after that display of capitalism. The display of capitalism is crazy.

I mean, I don't know. I guess I was just laughing at the idea that like a scuffed European trip is going to be some type of bro excursion. It just don't compute for me. But so, I mean, it probably does need to be said. Yeah. No, it's going to be a very not-broughy trip. We'll be back in a minute. All right, we're back.

Tyler Adams had a spotty outing against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinal. Got whistled for a handball early, conceded a penalty. Erling Holland missed it, but yeah, that arm was in an unnatural position. I don't know if he thought he was going to get away with that, or what was he doing? What was he doing there? Just being Tyler Adams, man. I mean, just going hard, man. I mean, sometimes the arm pops up.

Sometimes the arm pops up, man. He then played Holland in just a gorgeous through ball over everybody. Trying to, I don't know, trying to maybe pass it back to his keeper, maybe clear it. Not really sure. Holland missed the chance. So not a great day for Erling, although he did score later. Neither goal was Tyler's fault. Bormouth lost 2-1.

This is the time where I bring it up, man. I have to say his play against, well, I'm not going to put the Panama. I'm not going to say too much about the Panama because there wasn't really much for him to do. But the Canada match. Well, so once again, now that Tyler's been back in our last, lives, you remember why we have started this. Do you want to call it a crusade in the first place? You know, him versus Johnny type of thing.

Bro, he's just, he just don't cut it on the ball, man. He just don't. And he needs a, he needs a babysitting the buildup, man. So Greg identified this. He even said it out loud, which, um, once. again is another example of how he kept the team 100% all-in mentality. It's just like, you know what I'm saying? The fact that he could just call out your captain like this and be like, yo, you know,

he's not good on the ball. It's something we struggle with it throughout. Did you really say that? I want to. I forgot the exact quote. But it was when, it was that window, the Morocco, Uruguay window. I think we played him in Cincinnati. Kansas City where we, that's the first time we tried out like a double pivot of sorts.

And it was Tyler and Eunice. And it worked out quite well. But at some point in that time, I don't know if it was, I don't know if Tyler needs this. Yeah. Yep. I don't know if it was postgame of Morocco in between the games, whenever it was. But I remember it clear as day. Greg said it.

he was like we need this like Tyler needs this Tyler he mentioned qualifying as like a place where Tyler fell short with the ball and and you know

it just is what it is bro he's not going to get better at that at the stage of his career he just needs significantly better yeah he just needs someone to hold his hand throughout the buildup process get it to him

once again I say this with no disrespect but you know you got to get Tyler the ball facing forward where he just can just play passes

to people that are in front of him anytime where his back is to whatever and he has to operate in 360 degrees of space is just it's just a no go man he's not wired for it

no he's not wired for it I'm even going to put some videos in the clip notes I went through I went through Tyler's involvement against Canada was passes

specifically but because there was there was when I was going through doing the clip notes for the Canada match uh in the 15th minute

there was a there was a point where he could have turned he didn't um and then he passes it backwards into pressure basically basically yeah

and then the 50th or no not the 50th minute but right right when the clock goes to 49 minutes where he has that one, where he plays that pass that just goes off a Canada defender and it becomes like a Canada chance.

Mm-hmm. Where it's like both opportunities. At first, when I first watched it, I was going to ding him for like, hey, this man isn't even checking his shoulder to like know what's going on around him. But watching it back,

I had to slow it down to 0.5 speed. He was checking his shoulder. He knew what was coming. It was just when the ball. came to him, he just had no, he has had no solutions, man. He just don't got, he just don't got it. You know what I'm saying? The creativity to like, hey, no, like in that instance, the defender is coming from his left.

Touching with the outside of your right boot off to your right or something. Yeah, I'm going to take this touch into the space, which is out here around my right shoulder. And yeah, I'm going to take that touch, turn that way away from this person that I know is coming towards me. and I know the space is over here on my right side I'm going to turn that way and then boom I'm going to have an easy chance to get the pass off that way it's just those things he doesn't do and those are things that

the tan man does that Johnny does that Ada Morris does Ada Morris had a Ada Morris had a pretty good match this weekend against Oxford United but who's actually doing reasonably well in the championship

right like they're not they're not bottom of the table they're not they're not they're not asked but um yeah it's just the little subtleties and stuff like that i mean it just we don't have to it doesn't have to be a uh there's that to be any controversy about it um etc etc it just is what it is bro Tyler don't got it in this game and so we need other people around him that can do things like that like a unis musa who we played 20 minutes in the midfield in this camp you know once again coming back to the overall theme of this podcast um and and played what 90 minutes out wide it's just if you've been listening to the show i've been i've been warning y'all i've been warned of y'all i've been

warned you then it came to they came to fruition but um yeah so until Tyler improves on that or uh i don't know we finally find some way to hide them to where it's not that big a deal. We have to keep on talking about it. It's a problem that we're going to have. And I think what, for me, what it, what it, the problem is not just like, aesthetically I would prefer to have a six who can play on the half turn. And because, because I'm so aesthetically committed to that,

therefore I don't care about his defensive contributions. No, I think his defensive contributions are really great. But the problem with having a six who is uncomfortable on the ball and the way that you're talking about is that it ends up tilting the field against us. It has huge knock on effects on how much we're attacking and how much we're on the front foot. Right. It's like the same thing Greg was talking about with Scali. With fullbacks, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, except for it's Tyler Adams. It's our defensive midfielder, yeah. You can run straight at the man. I mean, Tyler Adams is not going to hit you. with some slick turn that eliminates you because you came in a little bit too hot. No, he's going to get spooked by you. Yeah.

So. Maybe that's why he's so good at pressing and counterpressing because he knows exactly the mindset of the spookable player. That might be it, man. That might be it. And once again, not trying to downplay the man, the defensive contributions were needed, right? In the Panama match specifically,

I don't know if he didn't even too crazy in Canada, I can't, I can't remember. But anyway, the presence is, I'll take it. I'll take the trade off. We just need to build around it. All right. Let's do four more items. I got Jesse Marsh and the Davies injury.

Let's go. Alfonso Davies, Alfonso Davies agent accused Marsh of pressuring Davies into starting the game and said that, quote, Canada soccer needs to do a better job managing these players. You know, Davies came off hurt early after getting tangled up with Ajamong. And then I'm talking about in the game against us last Sunday. And then had to have surgery. Tori's ACL.

He said he had a band. I didn't realize he tore he's his ACL. Yeah. Yeah. Jesse Marsh. Just from that play? From that play. Which is, yeah, which is crazy.

because I went back and watched it a few times. It's like, man, that was, there wasn't that much going on there. But I guess the torque just came from like, you know, Alfonso Davies running very fast and a little kickout from Pat hitting the, hitting the leg, causing a little bit of hyper extension there.

But anyway, but yeah, what a... That sucks, man. What a POS, Jesse Marsh is, man. I mean, it is. it's firing my agenda right back up. I was happy when I seen this. I can't lie.

I mean, not happy day towards ACL, but when I saw the agent part, I was like, oh, yeah, we're back at it, baby. We lost the battle. We've lost a few battles against Jesse Marsh at this point, but we're going to win the war. We're going to win the war, man. And then...

You're always going to win a war against someone who's at war with himself, you know? Bro. And Did you see? He so clearly is I was dying laughing at this shit last night Did you see

That they did an article About Jesse speaking out against the Trump stuff Right? Okay They did it I think it was in the athletic Jesse Marsh speaking out It was an article about

Jesse And People responding Back to him after he made the comments about, about Trump and be like, hey, leave Canada alone, basically. You know, like, I share sentiments. I share a sentiment.

But he had to hype it in traditional Jesse fashion, Jesse attention seeking man type fashion. He said, yeah. And I mean, after the 50th text I got saying, are you worried about potential backlash from Trump? I really started. I really had to sit there and think about it. Like, like, what? Like, bro,

50 people to not text your ass, Jesse, shut up, man. This dude kills me, bro. He kills me. And walking down the tunnel

after he gets a red card, he's like, he just, he's such a dramatic person. Yeah. It's hilarious. But the thing that killed me with regards to this injury stuff.

So, like, the agent thing comes out. I think they kind of hash it out. The agent kind of walks it back, I think, the next day. And I think maybe the day after that, Byron Munich comes out and it's like, hey, we're about to sue y'all, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Y'all, Alfonso Davies gets hurt. And y'all tell us it's not a big deal. Then y'all put them on this 13-hour flight with a torn ACL. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? So. What did Byron Munich say exactly? We're demanding a full investigation

until the events from Canada soccer and expressly reserve the right to take legal action. Sending a clearly injured player with a damaged knee on a 12-hour intercontinental flight without a thorough medical assessment is, in our view, grossly negligent and a clear

breach of medical duty of care. Wow. Yeah. That's from the CEO of Byron John Christian John Christian Dreson And then also

Another one The participation of Days Who already had Muscular Prowders Before the game In a match Of no sporting

significance Is incomprehensible From our point of view Dresden Was on fire But he was going crazy Oh man Yeah I mean

Of course I would be upset too If I were them well Jesse I don't really know what to say do you I just I mean

look man at the end of today I think I'm happy the Jesse's in my life to be honest he provides he provides a little color to everything

but man he is just he's just he loves he loves attention he loves yeah he wants to be sainted he said 50 people reached out to it, bro. It's crazy.

50 concerned people. Put me on the cover of Time magazine, everybody. Right, right, right. 50 concerned people, not 50 people reaching out just like, oh, you know, Jesse, I agree with you type thing, which maybe I could get on board with that. Maybe that happened. 50 senior level executives. Right.

He got word from the White House itself, like, hey, an aide or something like, hey, man, you better watch out. Yeah, coming for you. All right. Two real quick things. Caleb Wiley, back on the field for Watford, started, and they've got a comp of his performance going around on Chelsea online social circles. I thought he looked pretty good.

Yep. He definitely has the unteachable stuff, like size and strength and speed. Better doubt. It's like the rest still needs to come together, I think, but Chelsea fans are interested. I think there's a little bit of like shiny new object enthusiasm going on, but that's how it works, isn't it? That is how it works.

But one thing I have noticed, though, is that Chelsea fans, they do keep up with the loan army for the most part. Like... Interesting. Some of the podcasts I listen to from across the pond, you know what I'm saying? Like, they know who Mad Meosga was. Yeah. You know, even though they have...

had really no reason to know who Matt Mioska was. It's a little bit like covering a national team. They can have really big spreadsheets. Right. Right. And Brendan, Brennan Erinson scored 33 seconds into Leads 2-2 draw with Swansea. So congratulations to Brendan. And I know this is going to be special to you.

Davion Kimbrough has joined a USMNT camp. That's right Got called up Got called up And I think he's been in a few Since Yeah But it's always news

When he chooses the U.S. Yeah Because he'd be going back and forth He'd be going back and forth It's hard to keep up with him But yeah Davion Come on home, bro

You know where home is You know where home is And it ain't Yeah It's Atlanta It's Atlanta baby That's right That's right

We put the headquarters We put the headquarters there just for a day beyond Kimbrough. Just waiting for him to come through the wings. So, you know what I'm saying? We don't cook it all up for you, bro. We got it, we got it ready. We got it ready for you.

You can't wait to come to Fayetteville, Georgia. A little drive out there after a long night out of town in Atlanta. Get an Uber, probably, you know. That's right. Well, I mean, he's only 15. They start him early in Atlanta, man. Yeah.

Start them early. They're in camp in Florida, March 30th, April 6th, the U-15 men's national team. So, that's that, uh... Well, I'll say this, as far as, like, the Fed and Crocker and all that, you know, you got the youth teams up and running. I know it's been, like, a point of contention for people. As far as, like, uh, amount of camps and whatnot. Um, every time I turn around.

round's another youth national team camp, it seems. And even on the women's side, bro, I mean, they don't... The women just introducing new age groups, bro. They ended a U-23, U-20, U-19, U-17. Hey, we'll take it. Yeah. It's hard to keep up with all the emails, honestly. All right.

Hey, thank you for your patronage. If you're listening on Patreon, you know, the link, like I said, is in the show notes. If you want to get these shows ad-free. thanks to our producer Liz for all her help much much appreciated thank you Vince we'll see ya