Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #605: USMNT vs Saudi Arabia recap

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

Vince and Belz react to and recap the 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia basically immediately after the final whistle. Richards comes up big. Tillman keeps building his NT chops. Most everybody else had a forgettable night and the Saudi opponents treated Arfsten like Shaq at the top of the key. 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 a rare night of recap from Vince and me. I'm vanishingly rare. I don't think we've ever done this before. The U.S. defeated the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 1 to 0 on Thursday night in Austin. It was a bumbling affair on both sides. Plenty of comedy. But Chris Richards had a massive night, both sides of the ball,

and we dug out the result that puts us through to. the knockout rounds of the Gold Cup. We now have a record of 42 wins, one loss, and five draws in the group stage of this tournament. That tip Charlie Bowen for that. Vince, how are you doing? Happy Juneteenth. Well, June Teeth is now over, Adam Bells.

It's officially June 20th as we record this here podcast. But thank you. Thank you. My day was filled with existential dread and anxiety of how, going to recap this game without having fully rewatch it in full Vince fashion. So you kind of ruined it, but I appreciate sentiment. Thanks.

Sorry, man. I have a little bit of dread about recapping a game without watching it twice myself. So we'll try to, we'll do our best. Lineups. Matt Freeze and goal? Freeman, Richards, Reim and Arfston across the back line. Burrhalter and Delatore in the midfield,

Jack McGlynn, Malik Tillman, and Diego Luna in that band of three. And then Pat Ajarman gets the nod again. I don't know, any surprises or thoughts there? Mostly to be expected. I think I mostly agree with the Charlie Bone view on things that Pottra's going to, especially particularly the front five, running back. yeah and um so what we got baby yeah apparently cardoso still getting over some kind of illness

allegedly and um yeah and i mean it is kind of ironic that sebastian burrhalter is like a mainstay in the potch lead gold cup uh it's pretty sick i can't i can't allow to you i'll be i'll be uh basically over-indexing his reactions with like everybody else. Like, you know, after his assist for the goal, you know, him and Tyler give a nice little two-hand, two-hand slap of hands. You know, I can't call it a high-five. It's two-handed. But, you know, a nice slap of hands and a hug.

And it's like, man, we need to delve into the, into these, especially, you know, with the legacy USM&T players. I guess their legacy is, you know, the 10-year ones at this point and. Right. Seba's relationship. We need some boots on the ground. Sanjay. Sanjay, been doing a lot of, you know, been doing a, been writing up a storm. Drop two today, guardian byline.

Let's go. Big time. But, yeah, let's get on that next. Let's get on that next, man. Yeah. I guess I'm still frustrated by Josh Sargent's absence, but it is what it is. Nobody wants to hear me Kavetch about that anymore. Oh, you know what, Bill?

I was thinking about this. You know, when you asked for takeaways last pod, and I gave kind of a half-baked one. But the real takeaway that I had meant to say, but I forgot by the time we were recorded is you know what Adam Bell's what with this this team that we're seeing right now that was put on the field today um potch wants us to believe that that is that is the the you know capital the um u.s. minnesota team so at this point we got to treat it we got to treat them as such yeah yeah i get mean people are talking about like a cultural reset you know they were talking about that on the fox broadcast people are talking about that in the discord server And, I mean, it's kind of a mystery what's going on. Like what he, what exactly Potch has in mind with all this. But he likes these guys.

He likes this lineup. Likes him a lot. Yeah, no. Yeah. That's what I'm saying, man. At this point, these are your World Cup starters. So we got to start from here. We got to start saying things like,

you know if Christian Polisic wants to get back in his lineup he got to earn it ladies and gentlemen okay there's nothing given anyone nope

I mean after what happened in March I don't mind there being some sort of dramatic stuff going on but uh yeah all right

the Saudi the Saudi lineup um ala Kiti in the goal Ali Madrashi Just a hilarious player Playing right back Abdullah Madhu And Abdullah Abdu

Abdulela Alamri As the centerbacks Nawaf Bushal At left back And then the midfielders Would be Saoud Abdul Hamid Ali al-Hassan

And Ziyadh Al-Johani And then Front three Ayman Yachia Firas al-Burikhan And Abdu Rahman

Al-A-Bood, I think is how. They were saying it on the broadcast. I'm not going to bring up those names a lot as the recap goes on, but that's their starting lineup. And, you know, neither team, let's be honest, neither team was particularly good tonight.

I mean, Chris Richards had a good game. Like I said, at the top. Yep. Malik Tillman had a good second half. But, uh, this was not, like, two teams firing on all cylinders.

This was, I thought, entertaining, but messy game. Yeah, it was pretty nasty. If you look at it, the,

the XG from this match and the Panama match is about even. I had 0.70, early returns from this match. Panama was something like 0.68 or something. 269, something like that.

So, yeah, with Saudi Arabia having, so Saudi Arabia had point three, whereas Panama had a point one XG, which I think mostly came from the goal. But, yeah, it was. Yeah, because we didn't have anything outside of the goal. we didn't have anything really, really stick out as... We have five total shots in the match, Adam Bells. Yeah. I mean, the Panama match, we had 12 shots, five shots on target, obviously not high value opportunities as the XG evened out, like I said, in these two matches. But, yeah.

It's Big Pat and Max Arfston, who really stick out to me. as frustrating, you know? I mean, I'm with Charlie. When Charlie said in the last episode, he sees the vision for Big Pat, like somebody who can run the ball down, hold it up, create chances, you know, with his physicality

and can shoot with both feet. I don't know, I'm paraphrasing, I don't know if that's exactly what Charlie said, but something along the lines of, like you can see what we're trying to do with Big Pat. I can see it. But the question is, as Charlie said, are his feet going to be good enough for him to be a starter on a World Cup

U.S. men's national team or even play in a World Cup for the U.S. men's national team? Remains an open question. I'd say probably not at this point. But, yeah, so I don't, like, we had some chances where the balls fizzed across the six and, you know, Pat just doesn't get to it. You know, he's not, like, alert to the, he's not, like, alert to the, he's not, like, alert to what other people are doing and ways to, like, score off those moments.

Or even to run in behind when somebody flicks it for him or something. I mean, he'll run in behind, but it's all very, like, straightforward. Yeah. He's going to run and go get it. Even, like, later in the match, you know that run that Damien Downs made? Freeman played it to him. You could just see, like, it was a little bit more cooth to Damien's run. than when Pat's runs are usually.

Like, you know, Damien is like, he's really bending it lengthwise. He's really elongating it through Saudi Arabia's backline as he's peeling off there. And, you know, given like, which gave Alex Freeman a better target to play it into. and like gets him going towards goal with the way he bent it you know to where where he receives it he's facing up he's on the edge of the box on the right side of the box and he's like ready to go he fizzed and i think that ended up being fizzed towards pat yeah and i think the ball i mean i think that was more on day meaning than anything um yeah it was hit a little too hard yeah for sure but yeah that and then uh that that one touch when i think it was like

long ball from Matt Freeze, and he laid it off to Diego Luna. Luna played it up to the Malik. To Tillman. Yeah, yeah. To Tillman, right? And then Tillman, Tillman overcooked his ball over the downs. Yeah. Yeah, it was just like, too, I think, you know.

Nice little moments. I won't say too much yet. Because, you know what? I think Pat did some Ari things in this match. I think he was better than last match. I would say probably I mean

was a consistent he was a consistent problem for Saudi Arabia to handle for sure that's the thing that's the thing and I think that's what Charlie's talking about like he's always going to be

a bit of a problem and forget about like shoulder to shoulder battles with a centerback I mean he's going to win he's going to win that every time I mean he can get from behind a center back

in front of him and win the ball consistently you know right So there's some good stuff there, but oh boy, there's some there's some bad stuff too. Yeah. Like you cannot play with him.

You cannot play with him in tight space. Well, again, let me just, let me just contradict myself because there was that really nice flick. Oh, he was doing this. So I don't know. A jury's still out a little bit, but there was like more than one. There was like two like nice little combination of moments from Pat. Okay. All right, Pat.

Yeah. Big sexy. maybe he was feeling good because it was Juneteeth but I don't even know I mean you know I'm not going to get into it he he's technically he's he's African American but he can actually trace his roots back to his African heritage where I unfortunately cannot because of reasons that him bills uh but anyway anyway uh don't get too much into that uh you brought him actually Harveston. Yeah, we got to talk about this real quick.

Man. No, yeah, we got to talk about it for a while here. Bro. I don't want to beat it. Go ahead. They were guarding Max like a bad three-point shooter. You know? I had the exact same thought. Like Shaq. Like Shaq out there at the top of the key. Shack at the top of the key. Like, like, defender all the way in the paint. You know what I'm saying? Like, hey, bro. Caitlin Clark waving away. Waving away.

Yeah, you're waving at him. You can get it out here, man. This is what we want, baby. This is like, you know, Saudi Arabia's defensive shape was kind of amorphous. Asymmetrical is how I would put it. Yeah, it was definitely asymmetrical for sure. Like they were making sure they took away our right side, like clearly.

But also, you know, sometimes they'd be in a back four, sometimes their number six would come back into the back line and it would be a back five. There's just a lot of stuff going on. But one thing they always did is give that Caitlin Clark wave to Max Hartstaff. He did not make him pay once, brother, once. Well, no, he didn't make him pay. He did.

There was one time where he played an early ball with his left foot that zipped across the six. He did. Yes. That was that was a light in the darkness. But for the most part, he was awful. And we ran the whole offense through it. We ended up, I don't know if this was exactly by design or just because it was what Saudi Arabia gave us. And we didn't change it up that much until the second half.

And even in the second half, it was still kind of happening. He was on the ball so much in that space. And Luna, and we got to admit, I got to admit, Luna had a really bad game too. Yeah. So he and Luna working together over there was. Diego. Nasty. You know, you know what?

I can't even say that because, bro, Brendan Aronson came on and was, at this point, I'm pretty convinced Diego Luna is a better player than Brin Aronson. I'll just, I mean, I don't have a doubt about that. I kind of,

I needed to see it. I needed to see it, but it's like, bro, I mean, you touch Brendan, bro. he just melts into like it's anyway uh well we'll leave that alone but he needs to pick it up Diego does I think but yeah you got to play better than that but there's not too much pressure

coming from anywhere else uh but we we need we need them to get it going but but let me get back to my max arson real quick just because of the fact that You know, early in this match, he hits a sombrero to get itself out of a, to get itself out of a tricky situation. And you're like, oh, okay, Max is feeling it. And then he goes out of his way to show you that, in fact, Vince, no, you had me, you had me misread. I'm actually not feeling it today.

Like, he's just actively passing out of opportunities to attack the goal. when you are ostensibly an attacker. Right. And it's not, and even when he was passing it backwards, the pass was like had the wrong weight or was on the wrong foot of the person he's passing to.

And you can just see it as the half goes on. He's like camera zooming in on him. He's like shaking his head, muttering to us. I'm like, bro, what is going on? Like, even like kind of in the buildup sometimes, he would get the ball around the halfway line. And it's like, bro, all you got to do is beat

old dude Madrashi like he's pressed up on you just like Man that guy bro push it past the man and go

yeah just just whip it in just push it to the end line and whip it in every time at this point you know but even

but like I said I'm talking about like half line situations yeah like in the buildup earlier in the buildup bro like bro we need some more

we need some more out of you just like everywhere please it's just like and it's like he has some ball skills and stuff obviously you know you can see him he can do

the flicks and tricks all time but it was like got in the final third bro he just didn't want to do it that was that was a disheartening performance because he had like all the space and opportunity in the world

to get it going and he didn't and that's just like damn man like what we got what we got you out there for man I know yeah his defense He had some struggles defensively.

He got away with a pretty egregious close line of Majrashi. And so when we look at our offensive struggles in this match, I got to put a lot of it on that, right? It was just like, bro, I mean, he was receiving the ball in so much space. Like, it was not like they regard them like a hesitant but capable three-point shooter. Like you said, it was Shaq. If Shaq was on the three point line, that's how they were guarding. Like, he was getting the ball, and the entire defense had to shift over towards him.

And it took, like, five seconds for it to happen. Like, he could have got a running start and ran at Masraishi, like, time after time after time. And he didn't do it. He didn't do it. And when we have been talking about the lack of final third juice from Max Arfston, I have been thinking a little bit about Sergenio Dest because, for the fourth, the U.S. His end product hasn't been tremendous necessarily.

But where Sergenio is sure to do in these situations is make something happen. It's an unfair comparison to Maximilian. I'm not unless Potsch really does see him as the, as the truth. Well, that's the thing. It's like, bro, Potch clearly sees him as somebody capable of delivering something. in these areas. That's why he's there. And he's not delivering a damn thing.

And yeah, like we're saying, to make matters worse, the relationship with Luna was not coherent or fruitful. And I think Luca Delatore also, you know, so it was mostly our plan with those two, Luca and Diego. And I would say those two both had pretty bad games as well. So. And then our two best players, our two best attackers, in my opinion, on the field.

Well, I mean, Luna's got a shout here too, but the two most incisive players on the field, Tillman and McGlynn, you know, at least with their passing and their ideas, you know, they barely got on the ball in the first half. I mean, they did a couple times. They did some stuff, but McGlynn did some, a couple things. But that's another thing is like, even on my right side, there's no with either. to speak of. Definitely no depth from McGland. He's not going to stretch that line. Right, right.

Yeah, I'm even thinking about there was a play in the first half where like Diego gets the ball. It's like in the buildup. And he gets the ball kind of close to the touchline. Max is on the touchline. And Diego's kind of drifting that way with the ball. And Max kind of makes a run in behind Diego. and Diego passes it to where Max is supposed to be on the touchline

and the ball goes out for touch. And you can see the camera zooms in on Diego. Diego's like Max, like stay there. Like where you go? Because like if you read that situation, there's nowhere for Diego to go except for it to pass the ball. And then I think if Max is there, then we have a nice little triangle.

We might have a little opportunity to get out and have like a little breakaway situation. But yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know. Max Arfston the most, like, saucy, unconfident player I've ever seen, bro. There's a lot of us play right now. Full national team player. Like I said, if the World Cup started today, starter.

So. Well, I mean, he's, imagine getting, like, such a huge vote of confidence from Maricio Pocitino. Right. And he should be confident right now. And Paul, one of our patrons, Paul on the Discord, Columbus crew fan, lives in Columbus, has said that I think Columbus crews like color guy or something like that has said like ever since

he started getting called into the national team he's been a little gun shy in the final third and his like players dropped off a little bit so I don't know it's a lot going on but anyway yeah that that's the

that was really the story of the first half I mean we're going to go through some of the timeline here but the story of the first half is Saudi Arabia basically suffocated everything except the space around Max Arfston and Max Arfston couldn't really make anything happen with it. Let's skip straight to the 11th minute. Patient bit of possession and we end up with Malik in space out wide. This is after, you know, a pretty choppy first 10 minutes.

Saudi Arabia is pressing a little bit. and we can't really play cleanly through them, although it's clear we're going to have the ball, you know, basically. Right. All the time in this game. So this, Malik's got it out wide, about the 10.30 mark,

and he rips across through the box. It's just out of reach for, well, it's quite a way he's out of reach for Ajamon. Arston collects it, wins a corner. The ensuing corner is well hit. I forget who hit it exactly, but it goes, it's punched away well by the goal.

keeper for Saudi Arabia just in front of Freeman's head. And another ball goes in just over Richard's head and Luna can't handle it at the back post. So it's not like we're in, we're there. We're just not incisive. And there's no, go ahead, go ahead. Oh, I just want to say Adam Bell's, uh, are, the person that took that corner is our set piece extraordinary.

Sebastian Burle. Sebastian. Yeah. I mean, the set piece that gave us the game winner was, a beautiful ball. It was pretty nice. Yeah. I feel like it didn't get,

it didn't get enough love on the broadcast either. But no space in the middle for, I mean, he got interviewed after the game by Jenny Tafts and everything. So it's all, it all worked out. But anyway, no space in the middle for LDLT or Luna or Burrhalter to sort of operate.

I mean, they could, maybe if they'd been a little cleaner, they could have operated, but it was, it was a challenge that they could not meet. And it was tough, man. Like I said that, I mean, they were flooding them.

They were flooding that midfield for sure. I think for most of this first half, the beginning of the first half, at least, they were in like a, what looked like a 4-4-2 to me. They were doing a good job in their 4-4-2. Like their two was denying entry into Seb and LDLT, and let's say, kind of pulled out of the amoeba. Their four in front where they were, you could tell, they were pointing, they were tracking.

they were tracking runs pretty well, people that were popping in and out of the midfield, they were tracking them. They were locked in, man. They were locked in. And they were for sure clock in that middle. And, you know, people from the, if the back line felt like the midfield was overloaded, they were popping up to apply pressure to whoever it was, popping up in a half space or whatever. I was pretty impressed with their defensive organization.

Okay. Yeah. A far cry from Trinidad to me. Bego for sure. The previous game. Yeah. But I mean, I should mention Berthelter tried to dribble through two green shirts early to try to dribble through that press once, which is what we needed somebody to do,

just carry the ball. And it gives it away. It luckily falls to ream. This is like maybe the sixth minute or something. And, you know, we recycle possession. But that was kind of a scary moment. Could have bounced a different way. through 20, I was particularly dissatisfied with Burhalter's performance.

I'm not going to beat up on him too much because he had the cyst, and he's also pretty steady in there, you know. He's also the son of the hashtag the coach. Continue. That's right. That's right. But he, you know, like his diagonal ball is not. Hey.

I mean, totally. It felt like McClint was The only person who could hit a crossfield switch In the field Real. Masrazi was camping under the banks Yeah

Just catching a fly ball You know To use another sports Other sports analogy 20th minute Saudi Arabia Has their first sort of warning sign There's a move up

our right side, Freeman gets turned by Al-Bari Khan, and he plays it to the middle. Burrhalter gets beat, and then there's a, I'm sorry. I'm watching it. It was a,

who you think of a beat, I just write it wrong. Well. Well, Barthalter does, so he gets beat to the ball from the, the, the man that collects it. Yeah, the man collects it with his back to Freeman.

Yeah. Holds it up a second. It passes it someone who, yeah, and the person who gets it in the middle is being chased by a sub. And then the man makes the run off of Tim. It's I'll be to Burekan, Burekan, who gets on the end of the through ball. His shot is from a really difficult angle. He just kind of rolls it to freeze at the near post. But it's a chance.

It's a shot on goal. we get a little bit of nice stuff in the 23rd minute, a nice pass from a glen into Ajamang's feet from the right side, and a good one-touch flick. This was the other one that you mentioned earlier. A good one-touch flick from Pat to Malik. It seems like he's in on goal, but some good defending from Saudi Arabia in these kind of moments.

Guy runs over and nicks it away from Malik. Yeah, we got to give. Full credit to Pat here. It was kind of nice. It was really nice. It was nice right here, man. So we had two like this. This was the better of the two, actually.

Yeah, for sure. Like, this is like plus, plus, plus. The other one was just like a little slick back heel, which was cool. But this one, weight was nice. The recognition that Malik would be the, you know, the free man next to them was nice. Execution, all that. Yeah. That's, you got to give that to Big Pat, baby.

31st minute we get the first of two huge plays from Chris Richards in this game. So this is Freeman, Alex Freeman, who I think also had a pretty uneven performance. He overcommits on a ball that's bouncing. And the ball was moving really fast on the grass out there in Austin. And a ball is just kind of like ripped through the center circle. It bounces. And he's chasing a guy. And it skips through both of them.

And it's all the way out wide to somebody who's just wide open. And this guy's in on goal. And he's running at the near post. And he opens up his hips to score. It looks like it's a shot that's going in. Side foot it to the far post. And Chris Richards just on his horse comes all the way back and blocks that shot. I really do think it's 1-0 if he doesn't make.

this play. For sure. And somebody was making the point that he, he regulated his run to get back in a way that, like, stopped the, there being a cutback being open. And then he had some burst in the last two,

three seconds to get there to block the shot. So he, he eliminated both possibilities. Even if he did, even if that's not true, which I can't say because I haven't rewatched the game. It's still an incredible play by him. And tough, man.

I mean, even while, because you know the angle that you're watching the game from, obviously, on the TV. It's like, even when bro shooting the ball, you know, I had no, you see Chris diving, but it's like, okay, this is going to be a charity dive. It's already one-nill, KSA. But, yeah, this was amazing from Chris, man. Really, really incredible play. Well, he's coming to his own as a leader on this team, which is what we, which is what we prayed for, you know, or what we called it hoped for. Yeah. Called it, brother.

A lot of, some people didn't believe in me. Some people didn't believe me, but, but, hey, notice, I've been on successful sports teams. I know what it takes to lead, to lead men, all right? You ever been on a team with 110 dudes, okay? from all different walks of life. It's an experience. So, but Alex Freeman, how are you feeling about him? Well, so he played some nice passes in the second half.

And I think I have a two in a row. I largely back him 1v1 as a defender. But like I said, it's uneven. And I mean, he's also, you know, it's a little bit generous to give him too much credit for this. But he was the guy who drew the foul that resulted in the set piece that gave us the winner. You know, I mean, he's kind of just wandering around with the ball and happened to get fouled. But, yeah, I don't feel like fantastic about him, but he's 20 years old. And he's not going to be the starting right back, I don't think, despite what.

what you said earlier. The World Cup was today. Yeah. And this is, I guess, what I was trying to convey when I was talking about Alex Freeman in the Turkey Recap, I think. Just like the fact that, you know, when you say somebody's the best right back in MLS, I'm expecting to see a little bit more polish on the man than what we got right now. Like, he's very much still a prospect. And that's fine. Yeah. That's very fine. I'm not trying to take anything away from him. But yeah, he's very much still a prospect.

And like, a little older. Like, it'll be 21 in like August. He's older than Caleb Wiley by like four months. Okay, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, but he does have tools. I mean, I'm not trying to take that away from him. He got tools.

He got athleticism, et cetera. He's been doing, you know, on the ball. He's been on a pretty admirable job. even though his responsibilities are kind of limited basically, you know, playing in that Joe Scally role. But yeah, probably giving us more than Joe gave us. I don't think Joe makes those two passes in the second half. Yeah, probably not.

The one that Damien Downs and the, I think Pat was the other one. Oh, yeah, yeah, Pat was when the goalkeeper came out and at the, you know, had a little controversial play. potential dog so even though it I don't think it would have been a dog so but no I was I don't think it was even really a foul but yeah right but uh yeah so he just need just needs to cook a little bit more and and this is all understandable right I mean I don't even know if he's eclipsed a thousand minutes in MLS yet right but he's doing about what I expected I see people being like oh really really rating like is uh the fact that he can

execute these like tactical game these game plans because he's doing stuff differently than when he than what he has done in Orlando City as far as like Orlando City he's like bombing get really getting into the tag and stuff like that where he's where he's where as he's more reserved here and to that I respond I mean the the man played like 6,000 minutes and MLS Next Pro and if he can't execute different game plans at this point like MLS Next Pro needs to be thrown in the waistbin if What are we doing? What are we doing? If the man then played, I think 6,000 might have been a bit much.

But last year he did play like 2,200 minutes, I want to say. And then like 1,000 or 1,500 or something the year before that. And I'll say I'll like to say, well, what's the point of having these little professional pathways if we're not? I mean, the main thing we should be able to do in these lower levels is to teach our players how to apply different tactics. tactical game players and put him into practice. So anyway. For sure. For sure.

Yeah, I mean, I'd like to see him bombing forward a little bit more at some point in this tournament. But, yeah, I'm not. This was a breakdown. This was a defensive breakdown. And I don't know if it's entirely on Freeman that it got. So it turned into such a opening jail break situation. It's a tough one.

It definitely looks like bro is about to collect that ball, you know. the guy in the center circle and he might even kind of dummied it a little bit looking back at it on my phone that I just did right now so it's but this has like happened like three times now yeah that's the thing

yeah in this window let's just keep an eye let's keep an eye on it 33rd minute good little sequence from LDLT the game was crying out for one of our midfielders to carry the ball past the defender, Eunice Musa style, and he does it. 3210 is the timestamp. Shifts it over to Burrhalter and he plays McGlynn out wide left and

McGlynn, you know, he's in some space. He hits a really good early right-footed ball. I think it's the first time he struck the ball with his right foot the whole tournament so far since the window open. Good early early right-footed ball across the six. And this is one where I think Ajama's got to be, maybe he was surprised that McLean was going to hit the ball with his right foot, but he's got to be a little bit more alert and just stab this home, you know, or at least get a, get a boot on it. Yeah, he's definitely when this ball was played across. Yeah, yeah. So maybe he's thinking, you know, definitely Jack is going to shift it on his foot and try to whip it in.

But which would be understandable, but I'd like to, I'd like him to be on that. 35th minute that's when Arfston gets away with closed lining Ali Majrashi and this was a

I mean could have been a yellow I don't know I guess I'm not a roughing expert but this is a pretty serious foul and it doesn't even get called it doesn't even get called

as a file the AR just waves it waves it away waves it away uh uh no not a file yeah but then I guess the last action I have in the first half

is that 45th minute, that good early ball across the six, much like McGlynn's from Arfston. So it's the one time where he makes him pay a little bit for all that space they're giving him at the three-point line. And it kind of fizzes all the way through to McGlynn. He stands a ball up for Pat, and Pat heads it just off the defender's head. I don't know if it hit the defender's head before it hit Pat's head or if it hit it after, right into the goalkeeper's arms. But a shot on target.

Clock shot on target for... The boys. And that's the half. We're going to go to a break. If you want to skip the ads, get the clip notes that Vince does, which is videos of all the actions on the timeline. He also does them when we're doing the money review throughout the year.

Notable stuff from players at their clubs, join the Patreon at the $5 level. That's right. Links in the show notes. Or the $10 level if you really want to support this podcast. So, we'll be back in a second. All right, we're back.

No changes at the half. I mean, Stu Holden kept talking about like there's probably going to be some changes at the half. I knew, I knew better. Potches can make any changes at the half. No way. No. That's not how this works.

Luca tries to force the... I've got of good players on the bitch. No, yeah. I mean, people kept talking about, we need some subs. I'm like, who? What are you talking about? Haven't even mentioned, uh, Haji. Yeah.

Got an Achilles issue and it seems in the press conference. In the press conference, I think it was Kyle Bond maybe, tweeted this out. But anyway, at the press conference, somebody asked about Haji. And they said, Pach gave a big sigh and said, we will release something about his injury tomorrow. Oh, man, I'm praying for a Josh Sergeant call up. That would incredible. It was video of like, Haji, like, walk,

into the stadium. So I'm hoping it's not a torn Achilles. That would be absolutely crazy. But it's a damn shame, man. Is it really that much of a shame? I mean, he can't really play striker. I mean, we could use him as a sub off the bench on the wing, but. We need wingers, bro.

I mean, people talk about Kevin Brady's being a backup right wing. I'm like, I like Kevin Braydons. I'm not sold on that at all. Yeah. So. Yeah, no, it's a shame. I take it back. It's definitely a shame.

I mean, of course it would be a damn shame if he can't, if he, if he has a serious injury. He was walking, he was walking across the field on the, and the post game, too. He didn't look. Okay. He looked pretty happy. I just want to see him with the, not all, but the same opportunities that Pat's kind of getting. I would like to see Haji with those. I just think he's...

You get Haji faced up on the centerback in some space. I would. I think he, you know... Yeah. Can encourage some Juneteenth or a half of some people, for sure.

Right. Reparations, if you will. I know you hate it when I talk about big men who play small. Because I'm a relatively small man. But I just don't like he's not like Pat. Hodgis not like Pat at all. Like he may run down a ball on the channel,

but he's not going to win of, you know, a shoulder to shoulder battle with most centerbacks over that, over the course of that running down process. So, but he, we do need wingers. You're right about that. I'm just saying if you, like last match, Pat got a whole bunch a ball's play to him in the channel. You get,

you get Haji in the channel. Facing people up. Yeah. I mean, that's where he makes his bread, man. So I, I would have just liked to see it, but it's okay.

Anyway, Bells, before we get to your first time, I just want to say, we start out the second half. We start out the second half. We get the ball to Max Arstead on the left wing. And this time,

after presumably being, uh, yelled at it by Potch. Yeah, getting a pep talk. Get a pep talk. He immediately gets the ball and tries to cross it in, and it goes right off Majraji out to the touchline. Madrashi, the defender who's facing him up.

Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah. He just smashes a cross off somebody. That much of improvement, unfortunately. Yeah, it felt like picking on Max was, I don't know, sort of mean for a while. But now he's, like, started both of the games in the Gold Cup and the Switzerland game.

Did he start the turkey game, too? Yes. Yeah, he did. Yeah, he started all four games in this window. Now I'm just feeling like I'm speaking truth to power, you know? Like, this man is not it. He's not it. And we got John Tolkien sitting there, bro.

Yeah, John Tolkien's a good player. I don't know. All right, so right away, Luca tries to force the issue to sort of make some things happen by carrying the ball and he turns it over twice in the first minute and a half of the first half. I mean, of the second half. Saudis can't punish us, but it's,

I appreciate the, you know, the sort of, what's the word? Not ambition, but like, proactiveness. That's not the word I was thinking of either. Anyway, ambiguity. I appreciate that. What's that? Ambiguity. I don't even know if that fits.

No. It's, yeah. It just popped up. Anyway, I appreciate that he's trying. It's late, but, yeah, no, it is late. 48th minute, slick from Tillman on the counterpress to not only to win the ball, but then step by a guy and try to scoop it to Pat in behind. But again, Saudi Arabia gets there first, some good,

last ditch defending from them. And this is Tillman. Tillman was, you notice we didn't even, we barely mentioned him in the first half. I don't know if we even did. But he does have a much better second half. Yeah, there was, I'm sorry, if there's a point,

it might have been the end of the first half, but there was a point in the first half where like, they read out like touch numbers. Tillman had like eight touches. And Mike Sarston had like 30. or something like that, 35, just to, you know, just to give you an idea what's happening there, yeah, what was going on.

But yeah, real nice play from Malik. That's a, that's some Malik magic, languid, and then he ends up doing something. And that was, I mean, that was a goal without a very nice intervention from the Saudi Arabian. Yeah, 13, I think it was. Yeah. But, I mean, that's a really, actually a really encouraging thing about this game is that Tillman didn't. Not only did he not get subbed off until, I think he went to full 90, right? But he didn't give up because it looked like the kind of game for him that we'd seen in the past for him with the national team,

where he just kind of disappeared and didn't have any sort of impact. Even early career with this club, you know, this would just be one where he, yeah, disappeared. But I was actually thinking a lot about Millie Tillman today for whatever reason. But yeah, man, whatever, whatever Pizza Bosch. And then because, you know, we've talked about him under review and stuff. He's coached him pretty hard. Hooked him when necessary. Caught him out in public when necessary.

His teammates are caught him out in public when necessary when he misses the bus. or whatever. And, yeah, it's some clear improvement in his game. Like this defensive bite that he's developed, it wasn't necessarily there two years ago, even one year ago. Not consistently, anyway.

Yeah, and you're saying not even for his club. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. But, yeah, he grew, like they said on the broadcast, he really grew into this game. And by the end of it, he was, you know,

He was throwing his weight around. He was making big tackles. He was drawing smart fouls. And this was like the first, this thing in the 48th minute was the first kind of positive thing he did in the game. And it only got better from there. He impressed my wife at him. Really? Yeah.

It's always an interesting barometer. You know who impressed my wife when we watched that game in Nashville, which both your wife and my wife were at, the Canada, the Canada qualifier. Yeah. Brendan? Was Brendan, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What did Kristen like about Tillman's game?

He was scrapping. Yeah. He was scrapping. That's the thing. He was scrapping. And I do wonder if part of that is the Lindsay Horan thing. You know, she's talking about like, America's don't know soccer. They just listen to Julie Fowdy and say whatever Julie Fowdy says.

because at that point Stu Holden them are going on and on about something about the league and so I don't know if it was that phenomenon but whether it was or not

none of us are above that phenomenon to be totally honest you know facts yeah all right Big Pat stays kind of messy he has a loose touch

and I mean trying to receive a ball which it just seems sometimes so hard for him to do cleanly. And he's, I don't even have the timestamp on this, but studs on the boot of number four, the centerback, the big centerback,

and there's a big brouhaha about it. And a VAR does look at it. To me, that looks like a pretty serious foul, you know, boots to the top of the, I mean, studs to the top of a boot.

But I think they didn't even call a foul from it, right? No. I don't believe they did. but definitely no disciplinary action. 53rd minute, McGlynn wins a corner with a ball whipped on the ground into the box. He just kind of a blind, like, swivel and just kind of hit it as hard as he can. Daisy cutter to the top of the box, and they can't, the defender just kind of flails at it. It careens out of bounds.

And we get a corner, which McGlynn takes, and he finds Richard's head at the back post. a good chance. Richards, I think it does really well in an aerial duel that was substantial to get a good header on it. But he sends it right at the keeper. Yeah.

I mentioned the duel because it wasn't like it was some kind of free header or something. He was really battling with the guy in front of him. 53rd minute is when that happened. 59th minute. Really good chance from Saudi Arabia. Good grief.

This was not good. Luna gives it away in our attacking third. This is after Pat, if you may remember, Pat gets, like, runs down a long ball, kind of smashes his way through a few defenders, and then loses it, just kind of trips on it. It is a little bit ungenerous, but he just kind of, like, leaves the ball behind as he's running.

And then, but then anyway, after that, after some scramble, Luna's on the ball. He gives it away. and Saudi Arabia is off. They come back at us, ball out wide for Al-Abood, and he is wide open. I don't know exactly where Alex Freeman is in this scenario, but he hits a good shot,

rings the crossbar from a tight angle, beats Matt Free's dead to rights, but he was offside anyway, so it's all a little moot, but the two best chances of the game at that point so far belonged to the kingdom. Yeah, if this is, I mean, I'm a ding, Alex Freeman, right here right now, but if this was a goal and, you know, we didn't get a win out of this match, I mean, it would be even bigger ding on Alex because there's really no reason for him to be sucked in as much as he is. Like, you know, in transition from possession, right, with Max Arstyn as high as he is consistently.

of course we're dealing with a three-man back line going back into our half right tim ream chris richards uh Alex Freeman but the thing is as this play kind of develops there really isn't any threat any unmarked threat um that should lead to Alex Freeman being so close to Tim Richard too i mean to Jesus to Chris richard too yeah really just not one at all. And, yeah, he's the whole reason bro gets that clean shot off. And probably a chance he should have put in the back of that. You know, I thought it was in the back of the net.

I was driving while this was happening. And, you know, at some point you got to look at the road. So when he shot, when he shot the shot, I'm like, ah, man, that's it. and then I let I let whoever that is the play by play guy let me know what happens and he's like oh off the crossbar and I was like oh wow

I can save there but yeah looking back at it as Alex Freeman 100% 100% okay all right well some work to be done by Mr. Freeman next thing is we get some

like very quickly after this we get some good little attacking work from McGlynn Tillman and Pat around the box. Tillman's so slick, that little Pat flick that we talked about earlier. And Jack just can't quite corral it. But that was a nice little moment of encouragement. Then Damien Downs comes on for Jack McGlynn. So we kind of go to like a two-striker.

I don't know exactly what our formation was, but Downs' role very different from McGlens. And then Tyler Adams is on for LDLT. And then we get our goal. This is 63rd minute. Freeman wanders into the middle from the right. It seems like he's kind of dribbling to nowhere. There's like four or five green shirts around him and nowhere really to pass the ball.

But just as he tries to pass the ball to what looks like nobody, he gets fouled. And Burrhalter lines up for the set piece. He curls it in behind just beautifully. and Richards meets it with his left in-step on the short hop, just zings it past the keeper. 1-0 USA. This is a great ball from Sebastian like we talked about. Nice finish by Richards.

And then a lot of relief from everybody, not at least me after the VAR team decides that it is, in fact, a goal. Richards was not offside. The knee of the defender was, kept him on side. My ancestors were on the side. Yeah Yeah

But yeah We We made a change I don't know if it was right out of half But it was At least some point Into the second half Like ten minutes into the second half

Where Sebastian Kind of dropped into Alex Freeman's spot And Alex Freeman moved up Along the line a little bit And Yeah the foul comes from this, right?

You know, he receives the ball in a more advanced position that he, than he has been previously, which kind of gives him the license to dribble into that ring of five Saudi Arabians, which, I mean, he was going absolutely nowhere. And the foul is even, I'd say the foul is even a little questionable in the first place. Right. But the whole reason he was able to make that run was because he was a little, a little advanced. He wasn't in, yeah, he wasn't a stapled to the back line anymore because

Sebastian Burrhalter had came and set him free in the same way that his father did when he set all of all of the black USM into here free free to play for the national team. So, so as much. Greg Burrhalter, the real hero of Juneteenth. Exactly, exactly. I was thinking about this while the game was going on. I was like, man, as much as it's a day for us, man. It's a day, hey, Burrhafter family. Greg, I hope you got invited to a cookout. I ain't going to lie. I know people, people get a little peeved when a white person does a thing.

And it's like, oh, he can come to the cookout because he did a little jig or something. But, but you know what, Greg, you don't give us so many opportunities. I mean, if you, if you read one of Sanjay's, pieces today. If you read Sanjay in the Guardian, you know, Chris Richards talking about the fact that there's a couple of matches where he gets out there and he looks around. He's like, oh, there's

eight black people out there. Well, you know who did that? It was a man in a tight t-shirt, tight jeans with the Nike's all. Yeah, I mean, okay. Hey, look, look, Adam knows. I'll tell you this. Those players deserved to play.

No, but I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this, there's been many, many a time in history where people for one reason or another have cut off their nose to spite their face. So much so that you can't necessarily always guarantee that what's obvious to you will be the thing that happens. So, I mean, props always goes to the doer. Okay. All right. Well, shout out Greg Burrhalter. I guess.

So it was 1-0. And, I mean, that's the decider. Luna, a few more things happen. Luna gets a yellow and a set piece for KSA, dribbling and accidentally stepping on somebody's boot. This was a little weird to me, but, you know, I guess it's a foul. And then we get that good knockdown in the 71st. minute that you mentioned downs for Luna out to Tillman he tries to play an early

ball in behind for Downs and he hits it too hard and I mean it was a big chance wasted there and Tillman knew it he put his head in his hands through his head back yeah we get the free go ahead go ahead oh no I was gonna say I just expected I just expected the the the Malik ball to be there you know I did too that's that that's like that's his bread and butter right there yeah he I even think the ball to downs later that led Downs into that challenge where you got kind of hurt. That one was even slightly overcooked. I think the field was really fast, you know?

But anyway, Freeman Longball for Pat in the 77th minute. He almost gets to it. This is when he clatters with the goalkeeper and there's no foul called. And the replay shows that there really was no foul. Right after this, I just really, I just, I loved this. Madrashi, like, tries to clear the ball over on the right side line, hits it straight up in the air like 50 feet to himself, to himself, and then it bounces off his thigh and goes out of bounce.

I'm like, this guy's hilarious. And he was so mad, you know, he was mad the whole time. It was really. Yeah, he was very animated for sure. Yeah, yeah. So 80th minute, we already discussed this, too. This is when Downs gets played down the channel by. Freeman again

Yep Whips it across for Pat Too hot for him to get to I think Downs could have found Malik with the cupback That was on Malik was in a lot of space Arriving at the top of the box

You get some good hold-up play From Pat in the 81st Fowled at midfield Just kind of pulled down That's a lot of times What defenders have to resort to Is just fouling him Because what else they're going to do

And then And, you know, there's some other stuff here and there. A lot of nice defensive work from Tillman. The 83rd minute is that one where he wins it at midfield, just takes it off somebody, plays a pass in the middle for Downs. Downs gets cleaned out, stays down for a while, so that added to stoppage time. But, you know, would have been awesome to see Downs get to that and put it away.

He seemed like he was okay. He came back and he played. He wasn't hobbling or anything. thing. And we get miles on for Freeman. Cardoso comes on for Pat right at the end of regulation. And then basically the last thing we got to talk about is the scrum. I want to put out the bad signal for Guaqi to make a video about this moment because

it would be, it's just perfect for him. But it happens in the 90th minute right before stoppage time. his dead ball situation Adams is kind of messing around with the ball kind of like kneeling over like leaning over almost like begging somebody to push him down you know you know how he is

he's just an annoying person and he does somebody somebody takes him up on it pushes him he goes down and he makes the absolute most of it of course Burrhal so interestingly Sebastian Burrhalter is the most outraged of all

see this is another one of those interactions they got me thinking about this whole thing that I talked about it earlier I mean Greg Berthelter really is Martin Luther King Jr.,

isn't he? Like, he and his whole family. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Sebastian and his interaction with the legacy US in the menteeers

bro, that's what I was talking. Yeah. Okay, okay. He's outraged. Sean King. Go ahead. Anyway, he runs over and just hollers at the guy who pushed Adams.

And then number 24 comes over. So Burrhalter doesn't even push anybody. He just comes over and he yells at 16. And then 24 comes over and shoulders Burhalter viciously. and a scrum is developing. Herve Reynard, Hervee Reynard runs on the field. I have no idea what he's talking about. I have no idea what he's mad about.

But he runs into Chris Richards, and that stops him. And there's a big crowd around. And then Potch runs on every bit the peacemaker, just like arms outstretched, you know, massaging Renard's back. the whole thing is just beautiful. It's really fun to watch. And then Alwood and Burrhalter, I would say unjustly, both shown yellow.

And that's that. And then we get stoppage time. They mentioned on the broadcast something that I thought was fascinating. The ref, who was named Ortiz, is the same guy who was disciplined by Concaf, for asking Lino Messi for an autograph after the Champions Cup game, which is, that is just not acceptable, you know?

It's like, you can't do that, man. Man, I mean, right, but, yeah, yeah, throwing a bone, man, you know what I'm saying? He, like, you, it's one of those things. Like, when he took that job, bro, the idea that Messi could be playing in Cocker Calf was, like, beyond his wildest dreams. I suppose, yeah. And then you see it in front of you. It's like, I got to take my shot, man.

I'm going to get in trouble for it. But my grandkids are going to have this little piece of paper with Lino Messy's signature on it. You know what I'm saying? I mean, it is something, I guess. There's a nasty little backheel from Tillman in the 94th minute for Brenda. And here's where Brenda, I mean, just cut. it back for downs. Just try. But he recycles possession. And then I mostly bring this up to say that

it goes back to Tillman. And then he, he kind of shields the ball, gets fouled, falls down on the ball. And he gets up smiling. He's got a big smile on his face. And I thought, man, this is, he's not only playing well this second half. He's part of this team. He's an important part of this team, but he understands Cocker Calf. And I think if we want to have two good takeaways

from this game, it's Richards being the man and Tillman being the man, you know, both of them. Okay. Because otherwise,

I don't know what's what's positive, really? What's really that positive? Yeah, we didn't play that well. We didn't play that well. No. Okay,

so I saw people in Discord were pretty happy they were like yeah we conquered half the shit out of this game we showed some gamesmanship that we haven't showed prior which maybe that's what you're getting on to right with a Stelman Fowl I wouldn't go that far

yeah that's a that's a thing like I yeah I'm happy we won the match and you know what one more point you know I made this point before Adam but if we get like average set piece production in the Greg Burr-Halter era it's it probably ends up as like a rousing success you know what I'm saying if we could if we weren't just like the worst set piece team ever if we could get if we could get like one every like five games or so you know a set piece goal yeah or something yeah yeah you know and so

Hey man Goals change games Goals change emotions Goals change how you can potentially feel about a match All that different type of stuff right I mean if we knock one in They're magic yeah yeah they're magic They're magic man uh you've seen that meme

A good goal can change your life I haven't I think it used to be a good book A good book could change your life Somebody changed the goal where like somebody you're walking in with like regular clothes on then you like walk under the book and walk out and you're like dressed like a lawyer you know you got a suit on it but they do it with like foot mob scores where it's like you got a 6.3 then you okay you get you a goal now you got a

7.8.8.3 yeah yeah exactly and that's what goals do man and so it's like we got the set piece goal we're able to see how to match boom um form it says what it is Haiti I watched a good bit I really watched a lot of that Haiti Trinidad Tobago match that was played earlier today because nothing was really on TV at the moment and

it was a draw Trinidad Tobago tied Haiti Goodness Haiti had a penalty to go to take the lead and I said to myself right as he was running up I was like he's going to skyd us over the bar and I'll be damned

Oh, no. My boy Scott it right over the bar, man. Tucson Overture wrote over his grave. But anyway, yeah, Haiti's not very good. I'll just leave it at that. They're not that good. So maybe we'll be 43, 5 and 43, 1 and 5 the end of all this or something. That's right.

That's right. So we're going to take care of business. Do you want to see some rotation? Yeah, I mean, I was hoping Tolkien can get some scraps in rotation, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I want to see Tolkien for sure. I guess I don't really care that much outside of that. I want to see if Haji, in fact, can't go to the group stage.

Let's get, let's get, make a heartfelt phone call to Josh Sargent. Yeah And see what happens Yeah, we'll see What about you? I'm just along for the ride, man Yeah, I mean, I mostly feel that way too Yeah

Haiti recap's going to come out on Tuesday So that's going to be Greg will join me Chris would like to Chris wants to join And if he wants to, he's in So, um, yeah, um, before we get out of here, I do got to say happy Juneteenth to Hervey Renard as well. Bels, are you aware that he's hashtag down? What does that mean?

Oh, he's married to, he's married to an African woman, a woman from Africa. That's right. That's what I'm talking about. Is that what hashtag down means? Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh. She's like, being serious.

She's like, she's gorgeous. She's a gorgeous woman. Mm-hmm. I mean, he's very handsome, too. Oh, so she's... I see, I see him. Yeah. I see him, I see footage of him and I, makes me want to go do push-ups, you know?

But I don't. So. But, yeah. I think that's it from us. Very late at night. Thanks for listening. Thanks, Vince. No problem.

Um, oh, you know what? While you're sitting, if you made it to this point of the podcast, go to YouTube.com, uh, either on your browser on your phone or download the YouTube app. Or if you're a computer type of person, get on your desktop or and or laptop, log into your YouTube account. Uh, type in scuff soccer podcast and, uh, hit subscribe on that bad boy. We've been posting all the, yeah, we've been posting the last maybe 10 episodes up on YouTube. You don't got to watch them on YouTube.

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