Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #592: Monday Review — Balo’s back, Dike scores, Charlie Boehm joins us

Episode Date: May 5, 2025

Charlie Boehm joins Vince and Belz to talk through the weekend action, he lends his MLS expertise to the discussion. Balogun starts and scores for the first time since October. Good game from him. Dike's back on the scoresheet too. Wrexham is headed to the Champo, Leeds is headed out of the Champo and Brendo is looking for a home. Vince and Belz are headed to Rome on Friday.Send us a voicemail www.speakpipe.com/ScuffedPodcast 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 the Monday Review. Waki's off this Monday. Got Charlie Boehm and Vince with me. Charlie, how are you? Back again. Honored to be here. Honored as always.

Honor to have you. Vince, how are you doing? I'm doing great, man, and honored to be in the presence of Chuck, Charlie, Charles, Boom. Because, because. Well, first of all, I was sad to miss the episode, the previous episode that he was on, because Charles, Chuck, Charlie, has been one of the people that's really got me. You know, ever since I joined scuff and started doing the thing. It was really like him and Jeremiah Ocean.

Those are the two. Those are the two like, I don't know, not just. friends of the pod, but I've been friends of Vince since I've started doing this. Kindred spirits. Yeah. Kindred spirits. Let's go. The golden endorsement. I cannot believe it. This is incredible, Vince. Thank you. That's right, baby. You put out good energy in the world. It comes back around to you. That's right. Of course. You love that, man. You're natural, though. You're natural. It was easy on my side. So, Vince, you want to talk about Wrexham, right? You've been wanting to talk about Wrexham for months and months and months.

Hey, I mean, I do think at this point, because I think the last time we talked about them or I talked about them, you know, it was to papu it and papu the whole story and all that type of stuff because of my contrarian nature. When a lot of people are just hyped about something, I'm just like, yeah, you know, it's worked out for me. You know, Jesse Marsh, maybe worked against me with Diego Luna, et cetera. But now I have to, I mean, I got to respect it. I got to respect it. Three straight promotions in a row. You know, they are now in what we can call the big leagues since they have made it to the championship. And I cannot ignore it.

And the fact that they embarked on this project and seemed to be in it for all the right reasons. I get him confused with it. This is Ryan Reynolds, right? Yeah. I get Ryan Reynolds confused with the other dude that kind of looks like. Ryan Gosling? Yes, that's it. That's it.

but yeah they seem to be in it for the right reasons they've done it they've done it like the hard way you know they didn't just swooped into some already huge club and refurbish it and do a couple things like no man they went into like an old it whales uh Welsh industrial town went into like West Virginia yeah yeah exactly exactly and for anybody that hasn't driven through West Virginia you need to do it at some point because it's like I mean I know we got some West Virginians because there's some in the Discord

there's some of the like and I spend a lot of time West Virginia my cousin played baseball etc I'm not really trying to doubt to poo poo it but there's some scenes in there that you may or may not believe is America okay so anyway

but yeah to do it this way to bring them up to the National League and through the period and mid and to not only do that, but to promote soccer over in America, you know, by bringing, by putting the TV show on, by bringing Rexham here for preseason friendlies or whatever, all the different type of stuff. I have to say overall, I can't be too much of a grump about it. And we'll see what they're about once they hit the championship.

Yeah, this is where it gets real, I think. And I'm like, I know it's a storyline both on the field and off because they're also in an entertainment product, but they're not going to be the big dogs by any nature anymore. The championship is, I've become a fan of it, actually. Everybody loves a Premier League. That's great. Champo is possibly even more of a dog fight, just the nature of it, what a grind it is, the different types of clubs.

And Wrexham is going to be a really interesting addition. And they're not going to be blowing anybody out of the water, I don't think. They're going to have to earn it. Yeah. I've never poo-pooed the Wrexum. thing because I'm a pro-rail zealot. That's why. Right. Right. The mystical power of pro-rail has a hold on me.

And I see that, I see that path up the ladder and it makes me excited. Yeah. And I think for like, you know, we talked about the USL stuff a lot, right? And for people that are pro-USL or pro-MLS having competition that is pro-Rail-based, I think maybe the argument that they can that they can really hold on to as far as maybe proof of concept that this might be able to work is just seeing

how the Rexham story has enraptured, not even casuals. I mean, we're not talking about casual soccer fans, I'm talking about people that you know, do not care about typical American sports fans that do not care about soccer and the opportunity

that Rexham had due to the promotion and relegation system, I think is at least a solid 50% of why they've had so much success here in this country as far as gaining eyeballs and, you know, cerebral cortexes. I watched the first, I didn't watch, I haven't watched the whole show. I watched like the first four or five episodes, but I do remember they went to great pains to explain the different divisions. and the pyramid in that first episode. And I thought, man, if you're not really following this and you see this and you're a regular sports fan, you probably will be intrigued by the, you know,

what was it? There's a bottleneck between the National League and League 2, right? Yeah. Where it's basically impossible to get through there. I mean, it has to be an act of God to get from National League to League to. but then once you get into league two, then you can really get going. And that was the hard part, I guess, going from National. Because they didn't do it the first season, did they?

Yeah, there was some agony. Some real agony early on and some near misses. All right. Well, I don't know if I'm going to be rooting for Wrexham, but I'll be paying attention. I think isn't the next part of the content strategy to go find an American, or maybe a Canadian if you want to go Ryan Reynolds on it? Like that would be a fun little hook. Let's see, you know, let's see a yank with the red dragons.

Who's who you got? Who you got for tapped for Rexell? Let me just, I'll just throw out to the listeners what we were batting around before we started recording, which is despite having a pretty good season and his club having an excellent season, there's widespread reporting that Brendan Aronson is facing the exit door at Leeds United. I don't know about that decision myself. I don't know if that's entirely fair to the player. but if they've decided that they need a Premier League level number 10,

and they're basing that off of Brenda's, you know, struggles in the very brief and challenging circumstances under which he got that opportunity the first time around, then they're going to go out and splash some money, I would imagine, and that leaves him either trying to battle his way back into a rotation spot, or maybe he's shown enough for others to decide that this is a top championship player. I still think he's actually doing the business for the team that just won the division. But man, that'd be some fun content, right? Get an Erranton on the squad.

Yeah, he looks like a little Welshman, too, doesn't he? A little bit. They love a scurrying technical, you know, kind of. Looks like Daniel James. Kind of gnomish kind of, yeah, you know, exactly. Pale, dark hair. Yeah. He's got the industrial, you know, industrial backdrop experience for all the time in southeastern

Pennsylvania. Let's go. Bethlehem Steel to Rexum. Oh, man. That's right. Yeah. That's good.

And they got to get you on the writing team. Yeah, sure. I mean, that's my one you know, a little zinger that pops up today. But, uh, yeah. Chuck, we might have to get you on out of here because I don't know if you're aware,

but this is an anti-Brennan Harrison podcast, man. You're a little too flowery, which you Hold on then I mean, you can always spin it, right? Be like exile, exile that underperforming lightweight to the Welsh hill country, right? There you go. Look, man, there's worse places to go

than staying in the championship, I think. I had to get my one, had to get my one Brennan Harrison moment in there. But I wouldn't be mad at it. Maybe Matt Turner. Matt Turner? you know, he's not playing at all. Also, I saw today, you know, our Air Divisi correspondent, Daniel Smith put in the Discord

that Ernie Stewart said PSV is looking for it in the market for a keeper. So between there, Rexum, I don't know. And, but thinking about it, the one dude that's not Ryan Reynolds has the Philadelphia connection, right? Bob McEleney, yes. Right, so maybe Brendan, fits just you know perfect circle

yeah yeah man McLehaney's the real the real blood and guts behind this whole thing right I mean he seems like it yeah it seems like it yeah it seems like it yeah how do you what's the read on Ryan Reynolds

do people like him or is he on too many phone commercials yeah people do not like that the things I see about him are always negative and it's but and you know there's that weird thing going on going on with his wife, right? In that lawsuit,

I forgot his wife's name. She'd be with Taylor Swift at the Chiefs games. Blake Lively. Blake Lively, yeah. Beautiful woman. Who's she suing? Justin Baldoni. She was targeted basically,

kind of like how to, a coordinated, as I understand it, he coordinated reputation wrecking operation was, was launched against her. And, uh, yeah, man,

I, I, I'm like, I'm a little more, I'm pretty sympathetic as much as sympathetic as I can be to massive, extremely wealthy Hollywood A-listers. I'm sympathetic to the Reynolds' lively access, I have to say. And I mean, I have to say he seems like a clever business person in terms of leveraging the wealth and fame that he got to even bigger levels of wealth and fame with some smart decisions. And at this point, we have to say, Rexham is one of them. Yeah.

I mean, he'll always be a legend for Van Wals. order. I'll say that. I didn't know how big Deadpool was in the UK until the Wrexham scenes that showed like the guys, they're like, Deadpool bought our club. This is incredible. I was like, I did, okay, all right. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you feel about it's always sunny? I'm always sunny the parts that I've watched, which is not a lot.

think are funny. I like it. Okay. I'm a stand. I have to say I've watched every episode. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good show. Incredible longevity. It's probably an acquired taste. McLehany's the writer too, right? Or he's one of the writers? One of them, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a legit accomplishment right there.

Yeah, they've been on like, I think they're pushing into Simpson's territory in terms of like how many years they've been doing it. So that alone impresses me. They're still doing it. Working in a job where sustainability is difficult. The vapidity and emptiness of particularly the blonde girl and the handsome dude is just magnificent. What a magnificent achievement that is. All right, let's move on. Balagan scores his first goal since October.

and I think actually was really good in this outing. His first start since he got injured, played a part in all three goals. Yes, his contribution to the first was a modest little layoff, but what a flowing move this was. This was Champagne football from Monaco against a pretty bad San Yatian team. And, you know, another plug for Pro-Rel. San Yatian's terrible, and that stadium was

full and very intense because they're, you know, trying to fight their way to safety. So. They're, you know, trying to fight their way to safety. So. Bells, are you aware that's Timothy Salome's club? I was not aware. I mean, no, I wasn't aware of that. I'm not going to vouch entirely for this, but because it's always possible.

that these are elaborately constructed PR pushes. But this dude seems like a legit ball is life type soccer liker. He's spoken often of growing up. He grew up with Alex Muel, who now plays for Nashville. He was a Red Bulls Academy kid. And they were like, they went, they had a, what did they do? They covered like a Justin Bieber song or something when they were like, yeah, something like that.

Children. And then the video came out. And it was like, so he's, so, so Salome has, has vouchers. from wheel and vice versa and he like he talks about being a san an inchan fan because his dad's french right i think so and he goes to games you just see him you see him at various games and various leagues like i think he's really into it yeah he he was wearing a columbus crew jacket to a con a couple of incredible vintage like yeah like whatever handler or the hard hat the hard hat guy on it yeah yes yeah and at work crest yeah incredible yeah and even if it's his entourage he

They're doing work, man. They did incredible work on that. I shouldn't have doubted, shallomay, because isn't he the same guy who, like, he went when he was at NYU, he went to like a speech by a rapper and asked to be knighted by the rapper? Lil Bita bass guy, yes. Yes, he got knighted by L'B, which, well, Bells, knowing you, I know you're not familiar with L'B whatsoever.

I'm not, I mean, I wasn't even, I looked him up back when I saw this happen. I still wasn't familiar with it. Yeah, yeah, see. And that's the thing. Looking Lil B up is not going to even explain to you like the cultural significance or anything. Like it's just like he was basically like the first meme rapper almost to put it kind of that way. That doesn't mean anything. What's a meme?

What's a meme rapper? So didn't he coin the term based? Yeah. He's one of the authors of the content? Yeah, yeah. It all came from Lil B. Little B to Bisc God. And basically I couldn't even tell you.

you what being based is necessarily or what he meant by it is just like spreading love and positivity and and he's a terrible rapper okay that that's number that's number one that you should know terrible rapper i mean i mean like comically bad like you if you listen to some songs and i used to we used to bumble a bee all the time but like and and it starts off as a joke but then you start listening to them unironically is just i i can't explain who little B is or why he has the pull that he does. But it's just like, it's all aura. It's all aura.

You know, or before aura. You know, we're talking about 2011, like, into my freshman year, freshman year of college, into my sophomore year of college. I remember first day, sophomore year of college, we pop, we get in the, we get in the dorms, we get everything situated, we plug the speaker in, and we turned that little B up immediately. And to the point to where my roommate's mom and dad were on the other side of the suite getting his stuff situated. They had to come over like, hey, his mom don't want to hear all that cussing mansurn.

It's just like I said, it's terrible. But everything is just based on aura, his swag, is just he just created a whole world around just being yourself. And a huge part of the being yourself thing was just him rapping. Even though he was bad at rap and he was rapping, like he was the best rap on the planet. And he gained a huge following that way. He has a huge cultural significance. But yeah, like I said, and a Wikipedia page is just not going to be able to relay all those things to you. Yeah, no, definitely not.

And, I mean, Salome believes in him. I mean, it meant a lot to him. You know? It meant a lot to him. But, you know, back to Salome's club, Sont-Itienne. They lost 3-1. Monaco. And like I said, there was a little layoff on that flowing move from Ballo when Beirth turns

and plays him into space. It was understated and clever. And then he makes a hard near post run, leaves the ball as it gets clipped across the goal, and you get a tidy finish from Akleu. That's like in the opening minutes. On the second one, Ballot ran in behind. He's a handful. He's a handful when he gets that shoulder inside you.

and a ball gets played in behind. He runs to the end line, floats it back across to the top of the box. Minamino kind of messes up the chance his shot gets blocked, but it falls to Almas Musrati, who has one from distance on the deflection, and it pinks, and it pings in. And then, of course, Ballot got his goal, which sealed it late. Kind of a broken play, honestly. Everybody thought he was offside.

He wasn't. He gets played into a wiser. one-by-one with the keeper and tucks it home. So, pal was back. What's that, Charlie? He rode the knife's edge on that one, I have to say. When you think about a player like that who's been out for so long, do you hit the ground running because you've been grinding so hard for so many months

behind the scenes to get back on the field and find your top form? Or does it take you a significant period of time of match action? Right. And so I have to say when you just look at overall that game in particular, I haven't watched a ton of his other games, but he looks sharper than I think you would expect, given the layoffs. Yeah. And I think it's just like the type of player he is. It's just like, as long as Flo can run, you know, he's going to impact the soccer game.

You know, like maybe he fluffed that chance. He fluffed the chance early in the match. He had a pretty good one and he put it like all the way wide of the goal frame. I think it hit off like the advertising boards and bounce back. But like, he's just going to. going to cause problems regardless. Like he's a low touch striker, but he's not a low, he's not a low impact striker. You know, he's just, he's just going to find the centerback, which everyone he chooses to pick on,

and just going to run off him all day, all day. I remember one game last year where, like, within like the first 15 minutes, it's like he gets played him behind like six times. He loses five. And then the one he wins, it was that one highlight real one from last year when he, like, when he, like, threw a dude to the ground. like carried it a little bit and scored. But it's just constantly, he's constantly going to go.

Constantly going to go. And like I said, whether or not the layoffs really hit or like his touch is going or if he's sharp when he gets those chances in front of goal, that's a whole different question. But it's like he's going to impact the soccer game as long as he can bring his physicality to it. And he knows how to use it. And I just love watching him every time he plays just because of that.

you know, he's just a menace. Yeah, he is. He is. And he was going wild with the layoffs in this game. I mean, he did one layoff where he laid it off, broke two lines backwards with the layoff, you know? Played it back through two lines of San Etienne's defense to find a teammate. But, you know, mostly they were working. And it's good to see him rounding into form.

As the summer approaches. Yeah. And it was... Has he been out for a long time. And I just want to remind people that he was proud for a big season. Like he was... I want to say it was like three goals and seven matches or something. You know, before he got hurt, disocated his shoulder or whatever.

Like, it was coming for him this season. Unfortunately, he got hurt and all that. And now beeriffs there and whatnot. But I still think it'll be good. Like, I mean, with Imbollo... Beirif and his self-healthy in this match he got to start. And they play two strikers anyway. I think everything's going to be just five.

Yeah. Beareth is good to play with. I mean, we talked about this a few weeks ago, but like, if you want to play with an elite striker, he's probably won't. He's in that short list that you would really like to play with because he's a good passer, too. Monaco looking like they're on track for Champions League. I've still got some work to do, but that's really promising.

And we'll put this in front of you guys. he's got to be on the Gold Cup squad, right? He doesn't need rest. Surely Pach is going to want to take a look, right? You would think so. A long look, let's say. Yeah, for sure. And real quick, Monaco is handling their business.

On the other side of that front, Leon is not handling their business. I think they're almost at this point going to play themselves out of Europe. I mean, they're out of Europe right now. They're in seventh place. Maybe they get a cheeky conference league. I don't know. But they lost. A cheeky conference league maybe run into A.C.

Milan there. They lost against this set in T's ASEAN team, which apparently is like some big derby. I wasn't aware. But they lost to them. And then this past week, they lost to Lance, two to one. And that's six points. that they needed, six points that would have put them shoot in second place of league on.

And points that you would think that they would collect. And because the launch game was at home. They play Seatian on the road. But anyway, six points that they did not get, Tana Testament, did not start this weekend. They chose to play. So, so Tiliso and Matich was a double pivot. And they played Almada, Cherokee, Mika Tase, and, Fofana, which really, I can't, I can't be too mad at that. That's a solid line up.

That should have brought it home for Leon, but they haven't. And let me see, League Aux has two more matches left. Two more matches left. They got Monaco and they got Angiers. And so they need to win, probably both of them. I think Champions League's out the question. but maybe they can get Europa League but there's a lot of teams

stacked in that little block right there Opportunities slipping through their fingers Man Fonseca Fonseca's too busy talking about how hard of a job in Milan is needs to focus on the job he's doing right now He gave an interview like a week ago I said you wouldn't believe the pressure

in Milan you know it's unbelievable something like that and meanwhile his team's dropped six points in two weeks So it's a shame I'm just messing around but but uh yeah

all right so um let's go to PSV they won 4-1 at home against Fortuna Sittard um Tillman and Ledezma both started Desk came in for the last 15 um I don't have a ton to say I mean Tillman did some

some slick stuff there was a couple of shot assists that were real nice plus plus kind of stuff. Richie made a lot of underlapping runs. Rick Elfrink is reporting that Ernie told Richie that PSV will not be extending his contract. And there are some sort of unconfirmed reports that he has interest from Chivas,

Italy, and the championship. I mean, it seems a little harsh for them not to want to renew his contract. He's been a good soldier this year. I think I saw somewhere that there is an offer on the table for lesser terms. So maybe he just doesn't want that, which understood, understood, especially after you done hold it down for an entire campaign, basically. But yeah, it is what it is, man. It seems like we're going to be seeing them in Emekies next year.

Man, I hope not. I hope he goes somewhere else. But at least, you know, at least he's put together a full season of tape as a pro soccer player, which I don't know if anybody thought that was going to be the case this time last year. So counter blessings. Tillman's punishment for being late to a team meeting was brief. You know, he's back in the starting lineup. But NSCX, that's a Twitter handle, wants us to analyze the Malik Rokas Pooks.

effort commitment spectrum. And I think this is a great question. Love this. Love this. He replied to a tweet and added us. The tweet was from Croatian football. And it's got a picture of Rokas looking, I don't know, a little bit troubled. And it says, after getting stuck in traffic due to an accident, Rokas Pookstus, parked his car, rode a bike, and then fell into a manhole.

And then fell into a manhole. And eventually he ran across the city of Split to make it to Hedek Splits morning training session. A wacky turn of events for the American this morning. So assuming this is true that he actually fell into a manhole trying to ride his bike to practice. I don't know, the spectrum sort of writes itself, doesn't it? I'm just glad he's okay. Man, sounds terrible. Yeah, sounds horrible.

Looney Tunes ass. Like, this trip he was all made with it. What is this? It was like a, I mean, that could end his career. Yeah. Liding a bike into a manhole. They made a sudden.

Surely he didn't fall all the way into the manhole, right? I do have so many follow-up questions. Like, is this a bike share? They got like a, they got like a lime bike situation going on over there. Like, where'd the bike come from? Did he have the bike on the back of the car? Is the bike, did the car get left?

In the traffic? Maybe somebody was riding the bike by and he said, hey, can I borrow your bike? I got to get to training. Hey, man, I play for, yeah, I play for a big club, man. I got to go. Yeah. And I do think a key part of this is his manager is Gennaro Gattuso, if I remember correctly. Yeah.

Is that right? That's why you're hauling ass. Yeah, he had to go. He had to go. Like, just show up with the limp and then let, let, you know. Let them assess you there, but don't call them over the phone. Oh, I fell in a manhole. Nah, no.

That's not going to work, baby. It's amazing. The Gattuso aura is incredible. Incredible. This can be the plot for like Space Jam 3. You know, you get sucked into the cartoon world when you fall into the manhole. And then Gattuso got it come down there too? Oh, man.

Ooh, that's beautiful. That sounds great, actually. A cartoon Gatuso and the Loonie Tunes? world. I mean, you would hope Potch at least sends him like a, you know, hope you're, hope you're doing okay text. You know, I see you. No, I wouldn't count on it, Charlie. Come on. Come on. Something. He's, he wants to grow that player pool. Does he? This is a sign. This is a sign. He wants some desperation out on the pitch. This, this, I would take notice if I were him. I would put decent money on him having never even heard the name, Rokas Pooks this before.

I would feel strongly confident, though, that that someone on staff, is is is trolling Twitter you know perusing Twitter for for data points yeah so I mean Potch must have like a give me the Twitter compendium you know every Monday or whatever let's say like say hey man we got something interesting happening down in Croatia we think you should see this yeah after Rokas Pustis plane fell into a warm hole and then he had to get a had a hitchhiker ride from 5,000 light-yons years away. He made it to USMNT camp in June. Hey, listen, kid, you're not flying commercial. We got the private jet.

We heard you a little accident prone. So the two men, Malik and Rokas, obviously on different ends of the spectrum. But I prefer Malik. I prefer the Malik way of doing things. You never catch Malik falling in a man. Oh, man. He's never in that much of hurry. Not even in the final third with the ball at his feet. Yeah, you've got to record a special episode for that, if anything like that ever happens, for sure.

That's massive. Yeah. So that's where it manifests positively, Adam Bell is where, like you said, final third ball at his feet. You know, he's just chilling. But, but yeah, on the flip side of things, of course, you know, being late to buses, being late to team meetings, etc. letting his teammates down significantly as they laid out for us last week.

You just got to find the happy medium there. I found the happy medium. Also, since we got Chuck here, I do want to ask you, all this talk about Seth Browhalter got me thinking about other MLS midfielderers. And, you know, the one who I've pledged field T2 over the past years, Timothy Tillman. It seems like he's been doing his thing this year. Do you think he's maybe should be in the fold or what?

I'm a little surprised that things haven't gone more in that direction for him just in terms of national team opportunities. And again, I think I've had some version of this conversation with you guys before. I say it often, like, you know, everything you're doing at the club level just gets you in the door, right? And then national team coaches, like most coaches, are inevitably going to prioritize with they see an experience firsthand with the player. So, you know, you can do everything right and then, and then it just doesn't shake out when you're in a camp.

But he is, I mean, I think he's quite possibly outside of Deni Buonga, like LAA's most important player because, and this has been a big topic in MLS circles. Like, you know, Steve Tarundalo has persistently been sort of gone into a tactical shell a little bit. And there's sort of doubts about his ability to win big games because he's just such a reflexively conservative manager. And that sort of has reflected itself in the way their midfield is constructed. They've let go a lot of sort of attacking-minded types who can play a final pass and help them play pretty soccer in preference to dogs and ball winners and defensive types.

So I think some of that gets overblown a little bit, you know, because you have to make it to big games to lose big games. But Tillman is one of those. He's a truly two-way play. player, he's, he's just always involved in everything they do. I think he's an interesting, interesting skill set and profile. And then the, the next question just becomes, you know, how does he translate that to the next level up? And we don't have much sample size on that. And I, I think if you, with a manager now who is prioritizing MLS, it appears, maybe more than

the last couple have, I think it's a question worth asking. There's only room for one, I think. Have we ever tracked down Papa Tillman, like their dad? Because we didn't get a World Cup video because obviously he wasn't on the World Cup roster. And that's, you know, that's how he got CCV's dad and Sergenio's dad. But where is Mr. Timmy now? I don't think, I don't think he's involved. As far as I can tell.

You know, you watched the few videos that we got about the league. and, you know, they're always like our mom, her mom was the one that was there for us, etc. I think it's just them three as far as, as far as I know, as far as I know. And there hasn't been anything about, you know, Tim's here now, right? Full-time.

Hasn't been anything about, like, you know, a reunion or anything like that with Papa Till. So, yeah, I don't think. Okay. Timmy briefly mentioned him in a my story type piece that LAFC ran, I think it was last year. And he said, this is his words in writing. Our mom, Manja, raised me and my brother Malik, and she wasn't particularly into football

the time. Neither was our dad who was around until I was about four or five years old. He was in the U.S. Army and traveled a lot, so he wasn't at home much. Okay. Wonder where he is now. Atlanta, maybe. Got to find that out. This is a Discord.

This sounds like a Discord-based project. Somebody out there has seen him. Somebody. We got to shake the bushes. Hold on, those wisely in Atlanta. I don't know. Maybe just some big city. Some big city where you chill after a career in the Army? Lower cost of living down there. Los Angeles doesn't seem right.

He wouldn't be in Los Angeles, would he? I mean, who knows? He brought him out. Yeah. Let's take a little break. We'll be back in a minute. If you want to get the, if you want to get all these episodes, ad-free, join the Patreon. Link is in the show notes.

All right, we're back. Juventus, still in the hunt for Champions League, still in a Champions League spot. West and Awaya both started in their away draw with Bologna over the weekend. Wes won the ball in the lead up to the first goal for Keffron Therom's goal. And then, I don't know, other than that, it looks like YuVe is. has reached a verbal agreement with Wes on a deal through 2028. And we're going to see them on Saturday, Vince. We'll be there for Lazio Uve this Saturday.

Big time, man. It's finally here. It's finally here. Big game, right? I know. A lot of stakes. Yeah, a lot of stakes, man. Deadlocked.

Yeah. Both teams on 63 points. Oh, yeah. Because if anybody who listens to the podcast would remember, when we were in Italy last spring, we saw Milan visit Yuve. But that was a total dead rubber. There was nothing to play for for either team. It still was one of the highlights of my life. So I can't wait.

I still can't wait for this one, which will be a meaningful game in Rome. Yeah, man. I'm excited to get there. excited to see it. Yeah. My first time outside the country, and I get to ring it in, like my first 24 hours, I'm going to see Weston and Tim out there fighting for Champions League. It's going to be beautiful.

Yeah. We're like landing in the morning on Saturday, and then, you know, basically getting ready for the game. How many is in y'all's crew? How many you got? Ten. Ten people plus Vince, George and me. I would invite people to sign up, but I think it's too late. So should it coulda woulda.

Should it coulda woulda. Bells has been saying that. I'm jealous, guys. Over and over. He's been promoting it. Yeah. So that'll be incredible. And then by the way, we're going to record something on Sunday,

Vince and I and probably Waki as well. And then probably we'll do something. and right after the Coppa Italia final, which we are going to as well. Got confirmation of that a couple days ago, Milan versus Bologna. So you'll hear more about it from us. A.C. Milan plays today, later today at Genoa. I said they might get a cheeky Europa Conference League, I don't think they're even in, I don't think they even have a chance at that.

Europa Conference League They'll be in Champions League if they win the Kappa on next Wednesday Nine points back of Latzio in the league So That's tough Yeah Yeah

Well they'll be on Europa bills I'm pretty sure to look at the Europa I don't think they goes all the way to Champions League If they wouldn't Oh it doesn't Okay Because I remember Arsenal won the FA Cup We went to Europa

Okay Well, I mean, they'll take anything they can get because they're not getting it the normal way. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah, they really don't get a shot, do they? I don't realize they were so far back. Jesus. See what happens when you put Eunice Moose on a bench. Yeah, I think the only other thing about A.C. Milan is Felix.

Joel Felix was asked to describe his teammates in one word. and I mean, got a little case of the pace and power here, but he asked, you got to ask, so what's, what's the one word for Laos? Speed. One word for Reinders, leadership. One word for Santi Jimenez, stupid. He laughed. He laughed when he said it, but he did say it. Oh my God. Ruiz Costa Class Teo Hernandez I said speed for Laos So I'll say train

For Teo For Manian captain Which is a little on the nose I think Bruno Fernandez Power That's his Portugal teammate Pulisic

Quality He said quality And then for Cristiano Ronaldo He said Matador Did he mean train like in training sessions or a locomotive?

I took it to mean a locomotive because that's kind of what Teo reminds me of. That would be better. Yeah. More descriptive. Matador for Cristiano, though. That's kind of an interesting one, isn't it? Is that like a really high compliment in Portugal to call someone a Matador?

I don't know. I don't know. Do they have the... I feel ignorant. I don't know about the bullfighting culture of Portugal. Is there a bullfighting culture? I don't either. I mean, there's got to be some spill over from the Basque country, right?

Again, you guys are giving me research homework here. I've got to educate myself about Portuguese history with bulls. All right. Well, yo. Yeah, that's the, go ahead. Can we talk about Spain and Portugal and I have no power, man? Y'all see this? Y'all hear about this?

Electrical power? Very important. For like a significant amount of time? I mean, I know they don't have any geopolitical power, but... It's brutal. What happened? Do we have a breakdown? Yeah, what's the sociocultural context here?

Why is this happening? I have no clue why it happened. I just saw some tweets. Let me see. April 28th, 2025, a major power blackout occurred across the Iberian Peninsula, affected mainland Portugal and peninsula Spain, where electric power was interrupted for 10 hours in most of the peninsula and longer in some areas.

It's the biggest ever blackout. 55 million people in Spain. Trocious. So is there any thought of foul play? Was this? I have no clue. I just saw some articles and they're seeking answers. I don't know.

Well, I hope that doesn't happen. I tell you, we can't say much in the States. I'm from Texas originally, and every winter now, it seems like it's going to be, you know, that janky power grid down there is on its last legs going to leave people in the cold. Yeah. Just Texas, though, because they decided to have their own little thing. There is what I learned. Yeah. Yeah.

Pretty terrible. Pretty terrible. We'll see when all these AI farms get up to running. Dude, that's what I'm, that's all I'm thinking about right now. That's all I'm thinking about. Yeah. Of the thousand of reasons to, to please pump the brakes on this. No one wants this.

I just, we want power. Reliable power grid. Please stop. This is a call to the Silicon Valley intelligentsia. Please stop. Had enough. I use Otter for transcription Otter stop it I don't want the AI features

Duolingo I don't want the AI features please stop Yeah I know you have billions of dollars sunk into this I don't care Cut your losses They're not going to stop Charlie I know I know it's going to take my job It's going to take a lot of other jobs Right down into the mall

Yeah oh has MLS.com started MLS Soccer.com Not a realte That's not my department but I I am under the impression that there is some emerging AI initiatives that are happening. And this is where I flash the Jose Marino, if I speak, if I speak GIF. Yeah, I understand. Tyler Adams, played the full 90-in-born-this-comeback win at Emirates Stadium against Arsenal.

Good on him. Yeah. he uh it was it was a regular tyler adams match i have to say some of the well it's it's obvious i guess but there are some people on twitter being hyperbolic about tyler adams performance and when i tapped in watched it um it was okay it was okay he did some tyler adam stuff and uh he did good yeah dig it you just got to love him stacking up uh starts. Yeah. And that's what he needs. He needs some longevity. Great time to catch Arsenal. I mean, that's a result that could reverberate, right? Because that's, I know if it's like the worst

case scenario for Arsenal with everything that's happening with Champions League. But I still would not have expected Mornmouth to wreck him in that way, in that emotionally painful way. Yeah, definitely not. But it was well for him. It really, It's just stay healthy, man. Please. It doesn't get Bournemouth back into the picture for, you know, for a European spot. But, man, they were like, you know, two months ago they were in the, what, top five? But they've slid out of that.

Basically, ever since we noticed that they were really hot. It's just so hard to do. You know, even with Premier League money, the depth that you need to sustain this. I mean, I think it's, but Nottingham Forest is. is the most incredible thing, and we'll see how everything ends up. But it's just fantastically difficult to be at that level this point in the season to sustain things.

And Forrest famously bought like 30 players. Right. From them gaining promotion until now, I think it's like that third consecutive season in the Premier League. And it's like they just keep buying people on top of people. Like they bought a... I don't know if you remember Sangari. from PSV, the 6th?

Yeah, he's a good player. Disappeared. Just got lost. I thought he was a little overrated, but yeah, just he's not there. I mean, you wouldn't know he was there if you, you know, don't pay attention to what's so interesting to me about this topic is I think a lot of managers, maybe even most managers, they would ideally pick an 11 or maybe a 14, like have a tight rotation of players that they trust, that have a chemistry and understanding with one another,

and then let them just start them week in, week out, right, and build the rhythm and have that momentum as a collective. And, I mean, we'll talk about Vancouver Whitecaps in a little bit here, I think, but they are rotating a little bit on, you know, doing this, doing what really no MLS team has ever done, very few, to be making a deep, a continental push while still being extremely good in the league. And it's just, it's incredible. Like, I'm always waiting for the bottom to drop out on this.

Like teams that don't appear to have depth that can still reach a high level just with that understanding you have. But it just takes one or two injuries, you know, and the physical demands, I think, of these elite leagues are so ferocious. It's the hardest managerial job there is, I think, to get the right mix of rotation, and keeping guys fresh while still having that collective understanding and momentum, you know, in the 11 week in week out. It's amazing.

Yeah, I didn't think about how Vancouver is doing that, but they definitely are, aren't they? Top of the league for points in MLS. Yeah, but I don't want to skip. I don't want to skip steps. Excuse me, Bills. Okay.

So J. Mai Tolkien, and they're very careful to call him that on the Bundesliga broadcasts. John J. Mai Tolkien, he and Holsthiel are staying alive, just barely, beat Augsburg 3 to 1 to keep Hope alive. He got the pass before the pass on the first goal, which was really far from goal, but it was actually a really nice little, like, stepped around a guy, played a pass as he was kind of fouled. And then there was a deep ball in behind that led to like a shot that was blocked up into the air. and then the striker headed it in over the keeper. But I thought, I think Tolkien continues to look good, honestly.

Any disagreement there, Vince? No, no, really. Just, you know, the fact that he can receive the ball, face somebody up, and has the option to step past him or find a pass at somebody's feet, you know. It's just like the thing I've been waiting on Joe Scali to develop, for four years now. And I don't think it's ever coming for Joe, unfortunately.

But I guess when I was watching, when I was watching J-Ma play, it's just like, it's nice to know that we can develop this kind of fullback, you know? And yeah, he was a little bit, this was probably one of his messier games, I would say, but overall, yeah, I mean, got to be pretty pleased with what he's showing in the Bundesliga right now. Strong and. Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

That team was, I think most people would have written them off not that long ago. He got an assist out last time out in that wild four three win over Gladbach. And now they've, they can, I think they need some help. And they've got a tough run in with, they've got Freiburg at home and Dortmund away. So I don't know if you'd bet on them, but the fact that they have it, at least a chance to get, you know, maybe even getting into the playoff, the third from bottom spot and living in, you know, another week or two. That's really impressive and a great experience for him, I think, as a player. This just turned out to be the right move at the right time and

the right challenge. And we so often are saying the opposite about a player at this point in their, you know, move to Europe. Yeah. Well, you know who made the wrong move? Leonard Maloney. I just want to mention that because, because the team that is, where did he go? He went to Mainz. And the team that is one point. In January, right?

Yeah. Hidenheim is one point above Kiel. And that got me thinking about Maloney. And I just looked at the, I mean, he's played a total of, I can do the quick math here. He's played 18 minutes for Mints since he made the move in January.

Yeah. Hidenheim has two easier games than Kiel does, I believe. But, you know, stranger things have happened. They drop, if they lose both of these games, and Holsh and Kiel wins one of theirs, then they're in the playoff.

Yeah, Haydheim has Union and Verder. No easy games in the Bundesliga, though. Just like MLS. Just like MLS. That's right. All right. Josh Sergeant, not at

ton to say here, but he played the full 90 and Norch's 4-2 win over Cardiff. Norwich has been not winning a lot lately, so good to see them when they're, at one point we're in the promotion hunt, not anymore. So too bad. Coventry was in a six-pointer with Middlesbrough. Vince, I know you were locked into this one. Yeah, yeah, just to see who would come out on top, you know. At Adam Morris against Hajie Wright, you know, you know.

If Mendelsborough wanted to get into that playoff, they could have did it. But instead, they lost 2-0 to Coventry. I think both Yanks played well. Haji wasn't really involved in either Coventry goal. Neither was eight and, well, actually, so the first Coventry goal is a header. It was a Jack Rudoni brace. First Coventry goal was a header from Rudani where Aiden is at the scene of the crime.

There's a centerback marking Rudoni. Basically, Rudini's bracketed in the box by a centerback and Aiden Morris. And the centerback is just like standing a yard off of him for whatever reason. And there's a cross to Rudoni. And Aidan Morris is closer to Rudoni than the centerback that was marking him is. So it kind of looks like Aiden got like a mini dunked on, but I don't know. put that more on the center back, he should have been in contact for Rudoni to where, you know, if the ball is just placed on his head, there's some, there's a, there's a

contest there, you know, instead of Rudini just getting a clean header. But yeah, Aidan played mostly well. This was about a six out of ten for Aiden, I want to say. But, but have been very pleased with Aiden's season overall. He's been, he's been, he's been, he's been pretty damn good, man. You know, he's a possession conductor, controller in that midfield and his midfield partner, I think his name's Hayden Hackney

or something like that. He's like a... Hayden and Aiden in the midfield. Yeah. But I think he's like a highly rated youth Englishman, a midfielder coming up and they've

mostly held her down. You know, Middlesbrough's basically been let down by like a lack of a lack of bite. You know, they don't got that Coventry front line. They don't got an LISMs.

They don't got a Haji Wright. You know, like Coventry got some dudes as far as people that can create danger and put the ball in the back of the net. But yeah, I've been pretty impressed with Aiden.

After starting off, pretty lukewarm on his performances in Middlesbrough, I got to put some respect just on the fact that you can get and receive the ball as many times as he does in a match. And really, as far as in caught in possession or giving the ball away cheaply, he doesn't, he doesn't do it a lot. And he, and it's, he's kind of a unicorn in the pool a little bit. Pride of Indiana.

Well, he's not from Indiana, but he's, he went to Indiana, right? Yeah. Fort Lauderdale to Columbus, to Indiana, and back to Columbus. Okay. All right. Daryl D. Staying in the champo, we got to say Daryl Dicay scored a goal, his first goal since the... Incredible.

What a score. Yeah. I love this. So it was a header, right, on kind of a floated ball into the box. Yeah. Thrashed at home. He also got an assist. Should have had two.

Should have had two. Second, another great chance he created led to a shot off the post. So he's looking sharp. Is he? Yeah, after the better part of two years out, he gave some great quotes to Nick Miller of the athletic after the game. And I think this is something that USM and T watchers will want to read because unprompted, Darrell went into,

mentioned the World Cup, said, you know, he's still dreaming. He's dreaming about not just any World Cup, next summer's World Cup. And I'm sure that that's one of those kind of things that kept him, kept him sane and kept him looking forward and kept him positive after the better part of two years out with just Achilles' nightmares. He said, this is Darrell D.K. speaking to the athletic, that's one of my goals. Every single player has always dreamt of playing at a World Cup. I'd love to be part of that squad.

Anytime you're able to represent your country, it's a big honor, especially on a big stage like that. Of course, I'll be working towards that all offseason, all season to be able to be a part of it. If you were him, would you send a message to Podge? Be like, hey, I'm coming. Why not? Yeah. I mean, what do you have to lose? And I would at least beg for or, you know, ask or just shake the bushes or whatever to ask if there's any way he could even just train this summer. because he's been out so long and he gets back just at the very end of the season. He's hungry right now.

I'm sure he wants to be in any high-level environment he can be in. I would think, now, you know, we set back a minute in this position that we've agonized over for years and years now, the number nine spot. There's actually some really interesting storylines happening and he's one of them. Again, given how much POTCH has spoken publicly, clearly, conscientiously about trying to create hunger and create competition and open up the players' ideas of what's possible around this program. I think you give Daryl a call and see what he's up to this summer. Yeah.

Yeah. Nobody's claimed the job, really. I know Rico's the people's choice, but or at least some of the people's choice. Is he going to be able to play this summer? Right? I mean, he hasn't played a game. I don't know if he's, I don't know what. the update is on him.

The original timeline was general timeline was three months, right? So we are past that now. But it's just awkward with the European season ending. That's a shame, man. Sergeant is whatever the opposite of the people's choice is. That's what Sergeant is. Yeah. But I don't want to give up on him yet.

Yeah, I wonder how much lobbying is going on behind the scene. scenes to, because I mean, I'd be lobbying if I were a player. Got to. It's not your average goal cup. Yeah. But it's kind of hard to imagine some of them lobbying, you know. There's just the thorough passivity that they give off. Just show me where to, just give me my plane tickets.

Show me where to go. I'll be there. I might play hard. I might not, you know? I mean, that's the coaching staff's job, really, right? I mean, they're the ones that should be making the calls and sending texts and, you know, asking, are you up and stuff, right? But the, the, actually, you guys are touching on something. I was on soccer-wise with David Goss a few days ago.

And we were talking about how it's such a unique situation, right? You don't have qualification games. You're a little more than a year out. Things are bad, but also there's a lot of interesting players right now making interesting pushes. So I think we have to sort of, the community around, the national team has to sort of open up its preconceived notions about what this summer's going to look like, what the next year is going to look like.

Because there's going to be players coming out of nowhere, right? I mean, this is what the program needs. At least that's certainly with the coach, seems to think it needs. And I think there's reasons for that. Someone like Brian White, someone like Sebastian Burhalter, that's way closer to the realm of plausibility than it would have been not that long ago.

I'd just worry that Posh isn't, well, We've covered that we talked about this at length. Just worry that he's not paying attention basically. You know?

Well, so we'll see it a lot now. We'll be able to tell a lot going forward, right? It's like, now that you've got your bell rung, we'll see how he responds.

I'm going to assume that it's going to be well that he's going to get into gear because, you know, he's a professional soccer coach. No way. He don't like to lose, I would assume. And, you know, he got a job to do.

So, yeah. But he's in London, right? So you would think that, and I know recently bias is just a human thing, he's got, he's got to be reading about D.K. With his morning coffee the same way we are today, right? I mean, he's got the tabs and that frantic media environment. he's immersed in that at the moment. So I would have a wide conception of what's possible for the next go-round, the next roster.

Okay. Yeah. All right, a few more things before we get to Vancouver, which we all want to talk about. Well, just really one more thing. Leeds have won the championship. We talked about this a little bit earlier, but this is. why Brendan may be available for Wrexham. Yeah. I'm not reading all these stats.

I'll just say I think Brenda had a good game. I think he's had a lot of good games, you know, after hitting a little bit of a lull at the start of the year in the early months of 2025, it doesn't, I think he's won over a chunk of that fan base, but it's widespread reporting suggests that he has not won over enough people inside and around Leeds United Football Club.

Well, yeah, it seems like, you know, everyone's on the chopping block, including the manager. You know, like his job's in danger as well, it seems. That would be insane, but... Well, you're at the right place for the insanity to transpire, you know. Leeds is very chaotically ran. Ellen Road, baby. They're marching through the streets, Man, they got a championship parade happening, I think, possibly as we speak.

Beautiful. They had thousands of people in the streets for that, for the parade because they won the title. And he was, you know, again, I don't think he turned up on the score sheet in this last game, but, you know, they've been, he talked after the media after the game about how it's Leeds United brand. Like, they always do this. They're dramatic, right? That everything is, they've had it. They've had come from behind results. They've had blowouts.

They've had so much drama. They really are. It's like, I don't know if it was being the subject of a reality show documentary that put them in this zone or vice versa. But this is a drama club. And whether he stays or goes, I mean, that's going to continue to be a big factor in Brendan Aronson's life. You know what? What a privilege it would be to score nine goals at Ellen Road in the season, you know? Nine and two?

Yeah. Come on. It would be. 73 chances created on the season. The dudes still not getting respect. Yeah, not for me, really. But I'm excited for him. I'm excited for his future.

I don't care if he stays. I don't think he needs to stay at Leeds. In fact, it probably makes more sense for him to leave as they go to the Premier League. Go somewhere where you can be. you know, an important player, I would say. And he was that for leads. I don't know about an important player, but he played a lot this season.

He scored nine goals, got two assists. Go back a year. Think about what we were saying about this guy a year ago. What are you thinking? I've been saying the same things about him for the last five years, so I can't remember what were people saying about him last year? Well, he had, you know, he engineered, he insisted on wanted out after the relegation. at all costs, right?

Had to use the relegation clause in his contract, then didn't, you know, after a year in Germany at Union didn't get the move, maybe that people would have thought that that's what he was trying to get from that year-long loan spell and said, told everybody. I mean, I caught up with him when the national team were here in D.C. around that time. And he was like, I just, you know, I want to go back.

I got unfinished business. And he did it. I mean, you can, you can, we can talk about the flaws that remain in his game, but like, he said he wanted to, to improve his position at that club and, and, and leave in a better place than, than the first time. And if he leaves, then he's, he's done what he said. So credit for that. Yeah, mission accomplished for sure. Yeah. Let's do, let's do Vancouver. So, I don't, this happens since we last convened to discuss. Vancouver, so they beat Inter-Miamy in the second leg in Miami. Second leg of the semifinals in the Champions Cup.

Three to one, so it's 5-1 on Agriot. Utter humiliation for the flamingos. And Vancouver in the CCC final. And Sebastian Berhalter scored, and Brian White scored, which basically happens every four days now. One assist from Bearhalter. Right. Pretty cool. Pretty cool what's going on over there. I guess we had Jeremiah O'Shan on last week, and I asked him, is it hard in Seattle when Vancouver is this good? And he said, you know what? Actually, there is technically a rivalry, but nobody cares, you know?

Like if Portland was good, then everyone in Seattle would be mad about it. But Vancouver's good. They're fine with that, you know. I'm surprised by that. It is such a Cinderella story, too. I mean, that's the thing. Anybody who's paying attention to this, you know, MLS watchers at other clubs. So I probably don't have to tell you guys. Inner Miami is not the, not the neutrals.

Sorry, the neutrals favorite, but they are not the, a favorite of fans of other clubs, right? This is already a widely reviled club because it's a, it's a celebrity-driven project, and they're spending a lot of money, and they're flashy. And, you know, some of that's not entirely fair, but not a hard club to, I think, for fans elsewhere in MLS to root against. And Vancouver is like the epicurean ideal of the Cinderella that is going to come along

and make an upset like this as satisfying as it could possibly be for a neutral. And just to run through. So, you know, Vancouver spends something like the market size is about half the size of South Florida. they spend a fraction of what Miami spend on on their salaries on their squad their biggest star such as it is is Ryan Gould who's a Scottish international and is their highest paid player one of the only people on the team making seven figures in annual guarantee compensation and he's been hurt he's missed out on most of this Champions Cup run and the coach just got here yes for Sornson had arrived with approximately

zero North American soccer experience and is just bossing the league and champions cup. They are leading the supporter shield standings. Almost every MLS team making a deep Kanka champions run ever has suffered or at least had to tread water in the league. And they, I mean, they torched, they come back from an insanely intense midweek trip like to Miami or to Mexico. And like, they'll generally, they'll torch whoever they're playing in the league,

which is just unheard of. And they're doing it with, there's some academy, a couple academy kids that are involved. There's these kind of like project players that didn't make it at their first spot and are now getting a second chance and are getting coached up. Every player on the squad, every player who takes the field is showing a level that they, is their best they've ever shown or that they've never shown before in their career. It's just incredible.

I was going to say it wasn't Burr Alder picked up off waivers from Austin or something? from Columbus. He went on loan to Austin. I guess didn't do enough to convince them to part with any funding. But I think Vancouver paid $50,000 in allocation money with another $50,000 in potential performance-based incentives. That's going down as already it's looking like one of the best trades in MLS history. I think 50K is the least that you can send. That's like the minimum amount that can be involved in a transaction.

action. So this was a flyer and he's incredible. I mean, he is statistically and for the eye test the best eight on the continent right now. And no one saw that. I mean, it's just unreal. Like he runs all day. He covers ground. He's making incredibly effective and smart late runs into the box. He's just, he's seeing everything at a high level. His fitness is incredible. The only drawback is that he picked up a yellow in the second leg. So he, uh, under Concaf's, um, somewhat strange. Caution rules. He's, uh, he's going to miss the final. But Ryan Gould may be back. So we'll see. I mean, I still, if it's Vancouver, Cruz Assul, fun storylines on both sides. Actually, there's a bunch of MLS tie-ins with Cruz Azul, which is a weird thing to say about a, uh, a Mexican

giant. But, uh, June 1st is going to be a fun one in Mexico City. Coming right up, 26 days. from now. That's plenty of time for the for the mob to get a lot like I've heard you know you've seen some tricklings

everybody's like oh this is ridiculous Sarah Burrhalter got to be out for this for this final but 26 days we can really we can really get a petition going garner some support to see if we can petition Conca Cave to get

to get the man's in there man. Love that. I wonder how Sebastian feels about the U.S. men's national team and its fandom in particular. I should. Jeff Ruder at the Athletic did a good one-by-one of them last week. I urge all listeners to go read it because he talks about and he didn't really get into the, he tried to get him talking about the G.O. Raina stuff. Apparently, they used to be homies.

It sounds like they're no longer homies. But he didn't really open up a ton of. about that the dramatic side of Greg Berhalter's tenure, but he did talk about one of the most meaningful experiences in his progress as a professional was during the pandemic, he went home to Chicago and was just living at home and lockdown, and he and Greg would go out to their local field and just do sessions. And he just got, he had the full attention to the national team coach in those moments.

And that helped him, you know, helped him find new facets to his game. which is pretty cool. That is cool. Well, Luna scored a goal, a penalty, and Brian White was named MLS player of the month for April, five goals in three games. Anything else you guys want to talk about? Amanda.

Yeah, and White, if you didn't watch the Miami Vancouver game, the White scored the backbreaker, the first of Vancouver's goals, which is the away goal that, you know, because Miami scored first. So they were only one goal down in aggregate, going into halftime, and Vancouver were rocking. And then they were just a totally different story after the break. And White got the, gets an inline cutback from Bearhalter for the all-important way goal.

And his movement on the play is just like, it's elite. It should be its training film, I mean, for a striker play. Like step for step with centerbacks, he's bracketed by both centerbacks, just hits the breaks and makes himself a pocket of space for one touch, left-footed finish from right around the penalty spot. Just beautiful. Did he, the clip I saw, I couldn't tell if he croiffed it in or if he passed it in, side foot in front of his plant leg. Yeah, he contorted his body a little bit.

It looked to me like just a side foot, but so clinical because he hit it, I think, that's pretty sure that's his weaker foot, and he tucks it right inside the far post first time. I mean, it looked like something, it looked like they had done it on the training ground. maybe a thousand times. Just the understanding and the speed of thought was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was a revelation. Over the two, over the two legs in this in the CCC in general, he's been really good against Miami. He was just a different level.

I mean, everything you'd want from a nine. So I'm just so impressed with the dude. Very much a late bloomer. Um, I get that he still maybe, you know, has to show something, um, to really be in the conversation with the, the very top of that depth chart. at the number nine spot, but he's earning that chance because he's doing it. He's not just an MLS standout.

This is a guy who's doing it against two of the best teams in Mexico, just did it against Miami. Yeah, great player. And we know Posh is very good at seeing what's in front of him, maybe less good at seeing what's not in front of him. But you've got to think there's a decent chance he brings Brian White in in the summer. he's already had him in a camp and he keeps scoring goals and he probably can't be bothered to research anything else. So there we go.

But there's dirty work too. I mean, the guy can occupy a centerback. I mean, he's just a beast, even a hopeful long ball in his direction. He's going to make the centerbacks work. And then it is able to turn and play and get his team forward. So I think there's a lot to offer there. Okay. Chicago has a good chance of signing Kevin DeBriana.

We should mention that. That'll be amazing. We all want three T's and KDB to be working together. We all want that, right? Yeah, for sure. They're going to do work. My heard Gootie's playing time a little bit, but that's okay. That's okay.

It's a price that needs to be paid. All right. Hey. Well, real quick, Adam Bell's are. Are you aware that the LA Galaxy have zero wins? And I'm all this right now? No. I wasn't aware of that.

Now I am. Not only that. Are you going to talk about the game yesterday? I didn't watch it. They lost 1-0 to Kansas City. Kansas City on an own goal. Kansas City did not take a shot. I'm not talking about shots on goal.

Kansas City did not take a shot, and they won 1-0 over the defending Amless Cup championship. It is unbelievable. Man. What's going on in bottom of MLS right now, man? This is crazy. Well, Montreal is to be... Montreal, I get it.

Got Atlanta United down here. D.C. United above Atlanta United. Toronto understood with all the... All the stuff that's been going on with them lately. And their big DPs being underwhelming. The Jack McGlynn Reclamation Project, Yeah, I'll talk rocky start. Individually and team-wise.

Really, other than that, I mean, I guess it is, I didn't know Salt Lake was out of the playoffs as it stands right now. Interesting. Everything will change. Everything will change. That's the thing. It's one of my critiques is like it's so hard to get oriented. like when you win the MLS Cup one year and then that team is at the bottom of the table. Like one month later, what?

11 matches for them. They haven't won one. A failure cascade of epic proportions. I mean, and, you know, they got this trophy, right? But this is, they sold out in every sense, in the sense of just throwing everything they had to be the best they could. year and then they literally had to ship out their best players. I mean, the 11, half the 11's gone. And it's not just, you know, Push is injured, of course, but they do have their other two DPs back on the wings now.

You know, I think over time, I think they'll figure it out. I don't even, I'm not even writing them off for the playoffs because it's such a forgiving format. But, whoof, it is so hard to stay good, man. It's much hard to stay good than they get good in MLS. Man, this is, I'm looking at the stats right now. Just seeing expected goals, 0.00 is just a crazy visual. Unbelievable. 0.00.

And they won 1-0. Crazy. But, but yeah, man, I mean, you look at this front four. Marco Royce, Pantel, Peck, and Christian Ramirez. Well, you should be. You should be doing a little something. It shouldn't be this bad. Yeah.

That's the deal. Royce has been a big disappointment. Overall, I think he's had a hard time staying healthy. So, you know, I don't know what he's got left. He's got questions to answer now. But it's just you lose momentum. It can be such a powerful force in your direction. And then when it's gone, it is, it is gone.

And it's the statistically, I think it's the worst title defense, worst start to a title defense in the history of the league. You hate to see it. I love to see, I love to see the galaxy be good, you know. Big club with some history. Don't like to see him be bad. All right. Hey, we got to get going here.

Charlie, thank you. Always a pleasure. Thanks, everybody for listening. We'll see you.