Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #615: Monday Review — Dest Supercup winner, Leagues Cup rages on, Weah to Marseilles, etc.

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

Vince, Belz and Charlie Boehm talk through all the latest transfer news, Dest's winner against Go Ahead Eagles, the upshot of all this Leagues Cup action, a full transfer news rundown, and how bad is it really for a player to be one-footed?Clip Notes for $5 members and up on the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135726380?pr=true&cr=true In case you missed it, Watke and Scuffed have parted ways. It's the end of an era at Scuffed. We made the announcement here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/end-of-era-at-135486869And if you're a patron and haven't already, scroll back in your patron feed and listen to the grassroots episodes! Parts 2 and 3 build on the Tom Byer interview and I'm proud of them, and they're already available to paying subscribers on the patron feed. Part 2 comes out on the public feed this Thursday. Part 3 comes out next Thursday. Yet another reason to sign up as a member of our Patreon. 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, this is the Monday review, and we got to start with an announcement, which we posted to the Patreon. It is public. Anybody can read it, but Swaki and Scuffed have parted ways. He is no longer going to appear on the podcast, and I know that is going to be really sad for a lot of people. It's sad for us, but it is true. And unfortunately, there's not going to be. much more explanation than that. We can tribute him and praise him.

And we should do that a little bit. I got Charlie Bohm here with me and Vince. Hello. As we sort of soldier on in this new era. How are you guys? I'm doing all right, man. I'm doing all right. I just want to say shout out to Waki.

You know, us three, Bells, Waki, myself. We made we made some. magic, baby. May some magic. Those, I told you about a month ago, I listened to those, those Geogate pods. We had some real juicy stuff to delve into, right? There are stories within the stories. There were layers. There were interesting characters, lifelong relationships, et cetera, et cetera.

And that's our greatest work. That's our magnum opus, if you will. And so I'm happy that I went back and listened to those episodes. before this happened to really cherish and appreciate what we had. But like I said, we made some magic. And not only did we make magic, Adam Bells, we made history, okay? Because when you look at the success that we've been able to have

through the Patreon, through being able to take European excursions, et cetera, you know, the Monday Review played a big part in it, you know and as I look around and maybe maybe some people want to come to me with some bank statements um or whatnot but you know a lot of people have their their patreon uh subscribers public and I can I can see them and uh you know a lot of American soccer podcast ain't ain't doing what we doing baby and so and that's what I mean by saying that we made history real tangible evidence that what we did moved people and I'll miss Waki.

I'll just leave it at that. Yeah. It's something to mourn. You know, when you say we made history, I thought you were talking about, at first I thought you were talking about Waki, you know, being cited. I mentioned this in the announcement, but being cited without attribution by Danielle Raina when she called presumably Ernie Stewart. and said she was going to make those bounce passes come to a stop, you know?

Yeah. And those cool sneakers. So, I mean, he really did, Waki really did have a way of burrowing into the cultural moment. Yeah. And stick in there. It's canon. It's canon. You know what I'm saying?

Greg Burrhalter, as the U.S. men's national team coach, you know, there's a lot of things about them. That I think people on both sides, people on both sides would say different things, whether you liked them or disliked them, but I think everyone can agree on the fact that he was a bounce passer. You know? And I think if you ask people on both aisles to just name some things about Greg,

bounce passes are coming up. So, and like I said, yeah, real, in the reported word, it was on ESPN, they talk about bounce passes, you know, coming out of Daniel Raina's mouth. So like I said, Canon. But, yeah. That's crazy.

end of an era. Yeah. We wish Waki the best in his whatever he gets up to next. Charlie, how are you doing? I'm good. I feel like I'm stepping into some size 14s here. You know, even just happening for a Monday. Yeah, I mean, obviously the reason I'm sitting here is the incredible platform that you guys have built and maintained.

and the community that's built built up around it is just it's marvelous and not just gassing you guys up it's inspiring and and wow to think about being in not just not just telling the story but in the story that's that's just incredible not many people people can spend a lifetime in this space and that's right not reach that so wow yeah yeah being the nexus of the story kind of as my What is that called the third wall or the fourth wall? I don't know. You guys, you guys walked right through that. Yeah.

Through that. So, kudos to you and to Watki and everybody listening. It's, yeah. Mostly Waki, really, on that one. And I feel like, you know, another thing he was really good at was interviewing people. I want to say that real quick. He had a way of being specific with his questions. I mean, it was great at researching before an interview.

And then in the interview, he would just plainly ask a question that, you know, which is an art. Asking a question that is simple and sort of fueled by your curiosity and unusual, not a question that everybody asks. And he was just great at that and charmed a lot of people over the years. in interviews that I was participating in. So, let's start with PSV and DEST's Super Cup winner because it's really like the first sort of meaningful, competitive action of the European season.

That is positive. That is worth celebrating. So, I know, this game was almost, I think it was impossible to watch in the U.S., right? I couldn't figure out how to do it. And the footage is not on Wisecott. So basically all we have is the goal. But it's sort of vintage desk.

It's 84th minutes tied 1-1 with Go-Head Eagles. Carries it up the right side. Combines with Gustil, who kind of slips a little reverse pass to him at the edge of the box. And then kind of a little bit reminiscent of that goal that we witnessed in person against Costa Rica. Just blasts it with his left foot from about the same spot on the field, A little bit of in-out action to it. Nessles in at the far post, and that's the winner. Like I said, no footage from this game that I could find,

but I did catch up on his performance against Athletic Bilbao from a couple weeks ago, and he looks ready. He looks ready for the season. He's fit, spicy. Beautiful. Getting some minutes in them legs. You know, the fact that he could go, you know, He went a long time against Bill Bell, and then what, did he go the entire 90 in this match?

I think so. Yeah. So, yeah, that's something that's kind of been, I mean, it was like touch and go last year, right? When he came back, he had a little cameo that had us all excited. We were like, oh, he's, the surge is back back. And then he kind of struggled for fitness the rest of the season. And it seemed like he was kind of struggling for fitness in the preseason as well, a little bit. so to get two matches in a row where he goes deep in the deep in the matches and then also while deep in said match this match that we're talking about he has this beautiful combination now the right side scores goal etc so I think we can officially say that surge is back now let's go let's go now he just has to convince maricio pocettino that he's better than maximilian arston you know

That's what a tough task. Tough task. Or Alex Freeman. Yeah. Tillman was at this game? No, go ahead, Charlie. No, I'm fascinated by Surge Des, deployment of his left foot because he pops, that looks so natural. I mean, he look truly two-footed in that sequence.

And then you think back to the times when he had to get shoehorned in at left back with the national team. And he's always that guy drifting in. He always wants the right foot. It's like he's, you know, I know a coach, I heard a coach at the convention one time, I forget who it was, run an advanced session. He talked about, you know, be better with your, and a lot of pros have this. It's like, use your best foot. So if you're, you know, if your best pass, if your best touch is with your stronger foot,

do it, right? And he's always been that kind of player, like seemingly dominantly right footed. And I don't, I don't think it worked really in terms of the overall 11 when he was in, in it left back. But I'm fascinated to see if maybe he, you know, some of that gym time in a year or thereabouts on the sideline and coming back from major surgery, maybe a few little little new wrinkles,

little new edges to the technical base that he already had. So that's kind of fun to think about. That's interesting what that coach said at the convention. He said, so he was saying, don't try to use your weak foot just to, what, just to show that you can do it. But like try to make your actions happen with your dominant foot because that runs counter a little bit to the, I think the way some of us think, some fans think where we're like, oh, he's so one-footed. That's a, that's a weakness.

Yeah. And I've heard others too. Like there's this idea that there's always a right. There's always a correct foot right to play any given pass in any scenario or any ball you're playing, you know, based on body shaping, spot on the field, everything. But a lot of. And actually Eric Gwynaldon's talked about this back when he did broadcast stuff. Like if whatever it is you need to get the best touch on the ball in that moment, especially when he was talking about it in the context of finishing.

But it's fascinating to him because I'm a dominantly left-footed player and I was always trying to work. Like always, okay, I got to get, I should be able to do everything with my right that I do with my left. Right. When you watch even a professional level, that's just not necessarily the case. You have to play the right ball at the right time with the right weight on it. And that's usually going to be your stronger. but as long as you're not compromising that fundamental to play it. Sorry. Sorry to take us in the week.

No, I love that. I love that stuff. So early in the episode. I mean, that sounds like something. I feel like I've kind of accepted about watching soccer. It's like, you know, you would like people to use like their left. It's different than basketball, right? Where like in basketball it seems, I mean, it's pretty, I played whatever. It's pretty easy to train like your left hand to at least have it.

usable to where you can dribble with it a little bit, you can finish with it, etc. And it seems like in soccer that, I mean, that these actions are just so hard to do anyway, just even with your strong foot, right? A lot of times the weak foot just never comes into play. So it's like, I never really look at it as a weakness when somebody can't use. I mean, not necessarily like a weakness. It's like, okay, it would be nice to have if it's,

person had a left foot. But if the right foot is good enough, uh, Tim Weyer or something. I mean, you're talking to Sergio Doste, Tim Wea. If your right foot is good enough to just push that thing to the man's city zone and hit a cutback or whatever, then like, okay, that's good enough for me. Let's just work with that. Yeah, because in basketball, if you can't go, like if a player can't go left, you can just defend them by absolutely shading to their right. And then you pretty much shut them down. They can't do anything In soccer, you can't

It doesn't work that way It's more complicated You can still go left with your right foot You can pass to your left with the right foot And you look at like Leon O'Messie You know, the most obvious example of all Like dude barely ever uses his right foot I mean he does, he can

When he has to, it's quite good Yeah, it's pretty good But he just doesn't do it that much Anyway Yeah, I love that Tillman was at this game just watching? He's been around a lot

He really misses Eisenhoven. I would like for him to go to Germany. I don't know what's going on, man. Yeah. He's like at every PSV match. It's only, I think it's only like two hours away from Leverkusen, you know? It's not that far, but, yeah, interesting.

Levercousin, I guess we can just dispense with the Tillman stuff right here. He's going to wear the 10 for Leverkusen, which I think is pretty cool. And they play Chelsea in their next friendly later this week. So maybe we'll get to see him play in that one. Is that some type of...

Pep. Is that a Super Cup? It's just a friendly. It's just a friendly, yeah. Just a friendly. Yeah, I mean, the second divisions are all getting started. You know, the sweatshops of the second divisions are getting going here. the first divisions, their break continues.

Pepe started on the bench in this Super Cup match against Go-Head Eagles, and like I said, wasn't able to see how he played because the only footage I saw from the game was Deaths'Cole. But he scored twice in the middle of the week against crosstown. Cross-town, would you call him a rival? I don't know. Cross-town colleagues, FC Einhoven. They're just some guys over there, man.

Yeah. They won, PSV won that game 3-2. Pepe scored a couple of just kind of classic strikers goals. And actually the second one was pretty nice, pretty nice hit. And I think I was a little bit sad seeing how good Esmere Barcterovich looked in that game. He was cooking on that right wing. Yes. Fortunately, he's going to be cooking for Bosnia.

Yep, which I have made it known how much I love Bosnia on this podcast multiple times. I will never, I will never get upset at a dual night that commits to play for Mother Bosnia. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's my second national team for real. I mean, really like, before I really like knew, like the first soccer player outside of like Messi and Renato that I kind of knew was Eden Jeco. just because I'm like all my Bosian friends. The Young has been sold to Porto, so we won't have that storyline anymore. The new villain is going to be Al-Assan play.

Ple. I'm sure there will be some drama with playing time and selection there. But he's got the nine shirt. Speaking of shirts. That's true. Whatever intrinsic value do or do not wish to attribute to that. I think that's no. It is.

Let's do some transfer stuff. So Way to Olympic Marseille is Fab official last I checked. It's a loan with a $14 million obligation to buy some other clauses and add-ons and stuff. But that's good news, I think. He wanted to go to Marseille. That's the only place he wanted to go. And there he is. we'll see how he does back in league on i think he speaks french doesn't he believe so yes

it's been a lot of time in france he and i hope that that he does media in the assuming he's healthy and fit and playing well and gets called up in the fall really hope he does some media and maybe we get if enough time has passed that he'll give a little just maybe even just a little tidbit into into the uventus exit because i there's got to be with everything that happened this summer, the whole White House thing, there's got to be some layers to that, that uncoupling.

I hope we here to learn more. But will he actually give us the goods? You know, when that's the question. A lot has to go right for us here. I'm still hoping. Just looking through Marseilles squad and who they have,

who they deploy in their attacking positions. you know, and where Tim Whale might be able to fit in. It seems like there's a hole on that, on the left wing, actually. On the left wing, Mason Greenwood has been holding down the right wing for Marseille and scored 22 goals last season. But on the other side, on the other side, there is a fellow named Jonathan Rowe. it's even looked like they deployed Adrian Rabio there a little bit which is just like nasty

so I've always been a big Rabio fan haven't you man if he if he was in anyway we'll move on but he did decent player decent player but

yeah if he was black he'd be playing right back okay but anyway Jonathan Roe What are you going to say from Norwich? Yeah, same guy who was Who played for Norwich. Yep, Norwich, man.

And yeah, but it's looking like that's it. I don't know what other business Marseille's done. I'm assuming they probably brought in like another Somebody else to compete for that spot. I don't know. So we'll see where Timway ends up playing. But I think people seem to be kind of like lukewarm

on this deal. But it seems like he's in a position to where he can earn some minutes. And that's all you want. Whether or not it happens, it's up to them to stay healthy, get on the pitch and perform.

But I think he has a decent path to playing time. Good. I think... Go ahead, Charlie. They did also bring in just a few days ago, brought back Pierre-Emmerich-Albama Yang.

So a very interesting squad. very global foreign legion vibes to the to the Zerbees Marseille. Nice. It might be a left wing guy right there. Shut up. They even got some Concucath. They got Mario, Panamanian. Oh, yeah.

It's just funny to see these little connections throughout, you know, as players wander across the continent. So Michael Amir, Murillo, got a bunch of English dudes. The interesting squad. I'm excited to see it in the Orange Villa Drome. It's a very, very nice venue. I've watched many a match in there. I know a lot of people don't have B-N.

And based on what I've seen on Discord, people aren't excited to get it, or they are just not going to pay the $10 to sling to get the World Sports Package to have B-N, but I think you should. League ones interesting, in my opinion. Jonathan Rowe just shows you that it is possible to leave Norwich and go to a better league,

which is a little bit of an indictment of a red-headed friend from St. Louis. Still a little salty about that. But anyway, Gio to Parma still cooking. As a rumor, the Parma accounts are saying that Simon Somme, a Swiss attacker, is headed to Fiorentina, which frees up cash for a better offer for Gio. Expect updates this week is what they're saying, and I'll be feverishly refreshing my computer because this matters.

This matters a lot to me, and I think it matters to our chances next summer if Gio can get going. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. Yeah. It's a key part. It was a key part of the whole idea that we would be good one day.

You know? Right. Right. Like, Gio would hit and become like a, like at least a politic level player. If we had two Christians, yeah, I mean,

we didn't talk that much about it last week, but watch him against Liverpool's. Like, man, like he is just consistently a good player against good teams. And we don't have a lot of those, obviously. particularly in the attack of third, you know.

Right. Yeah. That's the key part. I really hope the reporting that I saw, or I guess it's more like rumoring and reporting that Dortmund are setting a hard line here. I really hope that doesn't prove to be the case or it doesn't turn to be out to be an obstacle to this deal. You would think that BVB want to get this over with and get him off their hands.

I don't know how they could possibly have an arbitrary number that they're going to insist on, but this is, it's concerning that it hasn't been officially yet. They really have no leverage other than being hard-nosed Germans. Yeah. I did, I did tweet at Stefan Bouchko, the, you know, who has the Yellow Wall podcast. And he thinks it's happening. They're selling him before the end of the window. So I don't know.

Good. Prayers up. Yuvay wants to sell Weston, apparently. I mean, not that we haven't heard that before, but contract renewal talks reportedly have stalled over disagreements about agent commissions. So I take that for what it's worth, but I guess West move is in play. I don't know. I don't understand the whole agent commission thing, just in general.

I have to be honest. I don't either. and how it because like we don't do business like that over here right and of course like the transfer part is like very murky as far as like understanding really how those things go about it's like okay we get a transfer transfer fee well well it's not even transfer this is a contract what what's what's going on man don't you don't you negotiate that with your client like what how is that being negotiated with the club uh especially when we're talking about a a just a regular contract renewal.

Corey Gibbs. This is when agents get paid, though. That's a thing. I mean, agents, it's the, it's the, you know, you get the, the drip of, of the 5% or whatever on the, on the month to month. But where they really get paid is the transaction is when there's a renewal or a transfer. And my understanding is that's, you know, that's the agent. That's the, the real bread and butter for the agents.

So, and I think it, just reading between the lines, just, you know, what you hear. I think it drives clubs crazy. I think they're a lot and more annoyed giving money. And in some cases, it's really big money to an agent than they are to their player. But again, not to circle back to this, but the events of the Club World Cup, their summer in America, have me now questioning everything about how you events operates. There's just so many questions about the decision-making process of that. I just wonder with Wea and now with with McKinney What are they doing over there?

Well, I mean, I mean A serious club. Chuck, you saw the White House video And infatino man It was clearly It was clearly Nobody thought that through But it was clearly Johnny, man

He told him to come, they had to come I feel like they were Do they play a match in D.C.? Yeah. YuVay? Yeah, yeah, they played that night. It was the danger against Al-Ali, I think it was, or all-Hol-all. They got two Americans.

I mean, it just is what it is. It just is what it is. And I mean, you know, when Trump didn't only ask the question to Tim and Wes, he asked it to turned over his left shoulder and asked the Uve Brass as well. And, you know, they

looked all, every bit as as as comfortable as Tim and West did. So I don't know. I'm not putting too much of that on UVA. I think it's just Gianni and Fentino being a very nasty and shameless man. I mean, it's just crazy that McKinney is still in this, though. Like, how many, how many summers has it been that there's just something happening with Weston McKinney and Juventus? It's been everyone.

Yeah, basically, other than the one after Pierlo's first season. Because then, you know, we get a loan to Leeds, parking spot lost. back then but you know what like our experience Vince talking to people outside the stadium in Rome

I think really illustrated to me at least McKinney is loved by the fan base you know like Juventus fans really do like him a lot and appreciate him

I would not say the same for Tim you know no no like he's nobody was going to say anything mean about him but like

Wes is to them an important part of, was an important part of the team, and Tim less so. So, I don't know. I'll believe his exit when I see it, I guess, is what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what it comes down to. But, I mean, you know, with the contract thing, that does, that might be something that actually forces their hand to get something done, you know. So Corey Gibbs, if you listen to this podcast, man. What an awkward conversation that would be as an agent with your client?

Like, Wes, you're going to have to leave because they're not going to give me 20,000 euros. They're only going to give me 16,000 euros. So pack your bags, buddy. I don't know. That seems crazy. Middlesbrough submitted a bid for Arfston for about $3 million, reportedly. Who knows if the crew want to sell? You got any insight on that, Charlie?

I haven't talked to anybody over there lately yet. what I can tell you from a conversation I had with Isatal, their GM in the summer, or sorry, in the winter when they had the whole Cucho saga, he mentioned me offhandedly that there's still, he, in his experience, there's still not the respect you would necessarily hope or expect for at this point towards MLS and its clubs in general, basically in saying not in so many words, but that they get lowballed a lot. And I think that annoys him and people in his job around the leagues.

They feel like their role in a player and the quality of the players they have is not necessarily respected always. And so it would serve to reason that you would have to be a little firmer and more patient with your negotiations in scenarios like this with Arston. But it's such a success story. I mean, this is a two-player. This is a guy that they nurtured into a starting level and an eventually international level player.

So I don't think they're going to hesitate to let him go, but they're going to want the right price, especially for a team with trophy ambitions mid-season, letting go of a starter. Charlie, are you insinuating that Maximilian Arstyn is a $7 million player? Telling them to double up or get out of here it would be a strong negotiating take, I think. But I do see why they would want to nudge that three,

that three mill number up a little bit with the window open for a little while longer here. Okay. Seven seems like a big number to me, but. Maybe five, maybe five. Left, wide left player, relatively two-footed. I can imagine Issa wanting a little, little improvement there. Well, Parma and Dortmund are at loggerheads over a gap of 2 million. So, I mean, I guess every million counts.

I mean, but it's August 4th. Everybody can be tough, you know, on August 4th. Right. As the month plays out, things get a little more, a little more scrappy, a little desperate. So we'll see. Yeah, I'm not going to say anything else. I hope it happens, though, because you like to see little clusters of Americans, you know, You got Aidan Morris there, and I think that helps.

I think it helps the team and the individuals. Yeah. I agree. And although I'm a little sour on the championship, thanks to Sergeant at this point, but thanks to Josh. That's a good league, though, man. That's a hard, hard, hard league. I think, I think. Totally.

You know, back when Cleansman was coach, this kind of word got out that he'd Apparently he didn't rate the championship. And so there was, you know, players that were, Americans that were playing there did not necessarily get as long a look as other leagues in Europe. And I just don't get it, man. I get that it's not the top flight, but that is a dogfight of a league. So I respect any American that goes there and cuts it or tries. It is a dog fight for sure.

You know, I guess there's some rumors about Forest pursuing Musa. Napoli's pursuing Musa. We'll see. Hoffenheim is interested in Brian Reynolds. He wants to move this summer from Belgium. Musa scored a goal versus Perth Glory. The Perth Glory. That's an Australian team from the West Coast of Australia.

roofed it from close range and a tight angle. Made the game 8-0, so a little bit anticlimactic. But good to see him hitting the net. And then just real quick on Christian, he's saying, you know, he's maybe a little dealing with a knock and I might miss the last two preseason games for Milan.

But he's saying all the right things about Allegri. In my opinion, quote, Allegri has started off on the right foot. He's coached many champions. He knows how to talk to players, how to create the right feeling with the team, and he's focusing on giving Milan significant defensive compactness an essential characteristic for creating scoring opportunities. I mean, I agree it's an essential characteristic that they did lack last year.

That last part is a little crazy. But okay. Let's take a little break. Come back in a minute, and we'll get into some Leagues Cup stuff, Tyler and Johnny. on the ground, boots on the ground in Louisville for the Frankfurt, Lou City game. If you would like to skip the ads, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes. It is what makes this podcast possible.

All right, we're back. Let's talk about League's Cup a little bit. The nation is watching as MLS and Liga Emeki's face off. I caught a bit of Charlotte versus Chivas Ended in penalty kicks A penalty kicks win for the team from Guadalajara Interesting to me because there was a You know a left pegs dunner from Rishi Ledesma

Almost identical to the to the Serginio Desco Um Uh Ream was out there steady Kind of looking exactly like he does for the U.S. Zaha is the focal point for their attack as Ajumang tries to settle in and get healthy for Darby County. And then, you know, just another piece of interest,

Efra Alvarez looking willowy out there, you know, no longer, no longer eating hamburgers every day. And, you know, kind of full of ideas for the goats. This is the most, the most North Americano, or no, can we say most gringo, the Chivas have looked in a long, long time. Medesma. Ever. Yeah.

It's amazing. Cowell. Cowell's there too, right? Cade. Yes. It's really cool. I mean, I gotta say too. Like, the older among us will understand, like, will understand me.

Like, this was inconceivable just a few years ago. Like, you had to renounce your American eligibility. You had to renounce any future U.S. call-ups to be signed by Chivas Guadalajara. and now they are shopping. They be shopping in California. We'd love to see it. Globalization just smooths over and homogenizes everything, doesn't it? Yes.

If only, it's like, is Athletic Bilbao going to send the scouting team up to Idaho, that Basque community up there? Let's go. That's the equivalent. Yeah. Gabriel Milito, the coach of Chivas said in the middle of the week, Cade Cowell is our striker, and then he didn't start either the next two games. Charlie, you've probably been watching a lot of Leaks Cup.

What are some sort of big takeaways here? What do you see? Yeah, you know, listening to you, it's sort of, I'm getting club world cup parallels here because I totally understand, like, it is a new tournament. It's an astroturf, whatever you want to call. all that there's a lot of negative things you can say about this this creation that a lot of people see as an unholy addition to the to the domestic landscape but i think it's i think it's going to persist and they're they keep twigging the format right it's a new format this year where you

have kind of unusual like everybody plays three games but but everything's across league right and it's actually you ended up being very interesting because it's very harsh no one's exactly sure it's only the top four on each side that go to the knockout stages and no one's quite sure what points are going to be enough. You can have some of these late equalizers and stuff have been disastrous because you go from three points down to one or maybe two if you can win the shootout. And I've come to see it as they're on to something. They're going to keep trying this.

There's a different energy. Some of these games, not all of them are getting great crowds, but some of these games are getting big crowds like lively atmospheres. There's a sense of challenge, I think. when you have like when Club America goes to Real Salt Lake and and all these America fans of course America draws crowds wherever they go and the big crowds in Utah were in gold that draws a response from the home crowd right who naturally take a little bit of umbrage or want to want to respond to the the the vibes they create I think the players feel that on some

level too not everybody's going to be as into it if you if you because of the format if you lose your first game, maybe, you know, the coaches approach changes. But this is, there's just a different vibe to these games. I think it's useful for the players. I think it brings a different sort of stakes. And it's a taste of an international level competition that a lot of domestic players are not necessarily going to get at this phase in the league campaign or at this age or at this point in their career. So I think there's something to it. I mean, when Diego Luna takes steps up to take a penalty kick, they win a penalty kick against Club America. They're trying to pull off a huge upset. that his kid gets saved.

I just think that's going to hit different for him and have a different experience. And in the big picture, developmentally, there's a lot of benefits to this for the player pool. Yeah. That Chivas' Charlotte game was like a home game for Chivas. You know, I mean, it was, that was a challenge, a challenge to the people of Charlotte, for sure.

To the people of Charlotte. And listen, making dudes take PKs. I know it's not the same as an international tournament or whatever, but I think if you're thinking ahead, if you're thinking positively that the M&T is going to get out of the group next summer, and then from there on out, you know, you're always in a possibility of shootouts. And I think it's good.

They kind of stole the idea, I guess you say, from MLS Next Pro, where they were doing these tie brs, tie-breaking shootouts, I think it's actually pretty good to get players more reps in that scenario. Yeah. I mean, we saw I pay dividends, right, with Alex Freeman. Everybody was wondering, what is Alex Freeman doing here? Stepping up to the spot, Polar Bear in Arlington, Texas, alert. You know, but he took the coldest pen of all, you know, and then it,

and then as the Discord kind of dove into it a little bit, it was like, oh, you know, he's used to doing this from Next Pro. So it took like 30 penalties last season or something. So, well, just to be 100% clear on the, on the format, there's two giant like tables, right? And I don't know how they organize that, but only the top four from each table go through to the bracket at the end and then to the knockout round. And you get one point for a draw, two points for a draw where you win the penalty kicks out. at the end and obviously three points for a win. So it is very, you know, it's anybody's guess who's going to go through

because there's like teams with five, four, and three points going into the last game. Yeah. Yeah, only a couple teams have taken max points so far. Kind of surprising. Like with many teams have now played two games and Tigris on the league at Meky side and Seattle and Portland are the only teams with six out of six points.

So kind of interesting. Okay. Okay. I tapped into the to the Columbus Puebla match. Not in real time, just on Wild Scout because I saw the young Moroccan American US Y&T player Taha Habrune

had two assists. Real quick, before I move on from the Moroccan American part of it, I just want to shout out French Montana. Um, but so I, I, I, I tuned into the match because I'm like, okay, two assists. And the assists look nice, right? The videos, like they, nice plays. Nice plays. The first one, he, um, picks the ball up right outside of the, like, left touchline in his own half,

carries it about 40 yards into the, into the top left side of, like, right outside of the box, like right to the left of the D and plays a slick little pass to, is that Diego, Rosie? Diego Rossi, who gets a little toe poke in and scores a goal. Very nice from Taha. The second one, almost like a kind of starts out as a carbon copy. Once again, picking the ball up, left touchline. That's where he was popping up and build up quite a bit. He's kind of playing like left wing in front of Max.

In front of Max Hartston. So receive the ball. Once again, had some room to carry the ball into his house. half or playbless half and then starts a little combination. I think he plays it. I think Rosi starts it off, plays it to Rossi. And then he just continues his run into the box, gets it in the box and then releases,

I don't know who it was for Columbus Crews streaking down the right side. And he scored another goal. So that was two assists from Taha, quite nice. So like I said, I tapped it to the, to the film. He is our official clip notes player of the week.

Okay. Okay. We got... Nice. Because, you know, I mean, everyone else is in preseason, you know,

I sprinkled a little tannotessment in there, like, only like two clips. Because, I mean, this stuff really just doesn't matter too much. Yeah, it really doesn't.

For a lot of these, it'd be different, like, like, like Noah KaBanks had a good performance against Crystal Palace, but, It was one of those things where they played Crystal Palace twice.

And Chris Richardson and everybody played in the match before. Noa Kha did not play against them. But anyway, so for people trying to establish their place, maybe it means something, but we don't got a lot of film on those games popping up on Wiscount or whatever. So anyway, I wasn't dealing with, I didn't have the material. So Taha is the player of the week. You got a solid like 10, 12 clips and clip notes of Taha.

Once again, $5, $5.5. a month can get you access to these videos I produce try to produce once a week will be producing once a week but anyway so how do he play overall

I think it was a mixed bag okay this is 06 bro's 19 I think his birthday's in February Big lad He's about listed at six foot Looks like it not the fleetest of foot right not the fleet of foot got a little bit of dog in him

um he's he's tuned into what he needs to do defensively you know i i don't i didn't see any like um times where he was like just completely spaced out he won the ball a few times by a few times i want to say like two or three um but the the bad here is that really outside of like when he was when he received the ball a few times he was on the attacking third. The rest of his general play was kind of mixed. Mixed back. He had two,

he had two Cardosos. I'm gonna start calling, he had two Cardosos, okay? Everybody should know what I'm talking about. Johnny Cardoso-esque, mistakes deep and build up. Like early in the match, first five minutes, two, back to back.

One where he received the ball, turned and like had plenty of time. to decide what he's going to do with it, decided that he was going to spray it out wide to like the right fullback, I gets picked off. He had another one where he comes back to receive the ball. He tries to pass it back to his centerback. That one gets picked off as well. Nothing came from these mistakes, but once again, two Cardos. And it just, there were there were times where, you know, he tried to replicate the magic of the, of the two assists on the carry. He had a, he had a couple loose touches where he was losing the ball here and there.

And so, and in between these mistakes, right, there are flashes of nice play where he brings, he kind of, where he'll bring down a popped up ball where it's like, okay, that's a nice touch. Or he'll receive a ball while he's on the move

and bring it along with him. And it's close control is pretty nice to where he doesn't have to slow down or anything. He can, he can continue his run and pick up the ball. keep the person on his hip while he's moving. He did that once or twice. So I'm, and this is, I'm not as tapped in with the youth national teams as I, well,

especially like, you know my rule about the U-17s. I don't tap in with the U-17s. These are, he's children, hit me up in their U-20s or playing professionally. And so this is really kind of like my first look at them, I think he's, You know, he's all right, man, but it's just like, I don't know, I think I might want to see some more from the physical profile or really just kind of trying to understand what kind of player he actually is. It's because is he a midfielder? Is he just a inverter winger? Is he a 10?

Is he good enough to be these things? The assists were nice, but also it's like Puebla didn't have the capacity, it seems, to track this, this ambling. six foot 19 year old down you know that's one thing about league and meckies man and Mexico in general right is just kind of the reason why we've been able to to have six while they haven't beaten us competitively

for six years until right now right it's because they can't cover ground for real and you kind of saw that on taha's to assist but yeah that's that's where I'm at right now for for more evidence or whatever, just watch the clip notes, you'll see. Okay.

Here and all that makes me just makes me think, we just need somebody to explode on the scene. That's why everybody's so excited about Kavin, even though he's not exploding on the scene, you know? Because there's a possibility of Will. Yeah. One thing I'll say, So Habroun came off the bench in the Hell is Real Game a few weeks ago,

I think it was three weeks ago, and crewed down to zero after five minutes and come back and just smoked Sinci 4-2. and he got the exclamation point laid on. And Nancy said something that caught my attention. He said, I love him a lot. This is Wilford Nancy on Tahoe, Bruin. I love him a lot.

He's brilliant. He has quality. We know that. When he was ready to play, he went off with the U.S. with the national team, meaning the U.S.U. 20s in the beginning of the year. The last two, three weeks, I would say he was still good technically and tactically, but he was angry. So a young man is getting tired of waiting, and I think he's showing some urgency in

training, he's getting rewarded with minutes in the games. And I think one thing I'll say is like we can have the athleticism to conversation about League MX, but those teams are more cutthroat at punishing mistakes. And so I think it's a great environment for a kid like that to learn because the crew's system is all about being daring, managing risk, riding that line. And I think he's in a great developmental environment. I'm watching him closely. I'm not going to be surprised if he's one of the next noncy ball prodigies. that climbs the ranks here.

In watching Taha on Wiscount, him and Max were sharing aside, like I said, and I kind of caught some Max Arfston in this match as well, $7 million Max Arston. And, yeah, at performance was nothing the right home about from what I could see. Like I said, you know, he popped up in a couple clips here and there, made some weird passes.

Anyway. See, here I was thinking Taha was just riding his slipstream, you know? Just enjoying. No. Just enjoying that cozy space underneath the wings of Max Arfston. All right. Tyler Adams was healthy enough to play 84 minutes in Bournemus lost to West Ham, which is the most important thing. Well, it's not.

There's another more important thing. But that's important that he's healthy enough to do that. even more important is he announced that he got married to the mother of his child. Congrats to him on both things, on the marriage first and on getting healthy second. Johnny, you know, you've now, Vince, you've now called a mistake in the defense of Theta Cardoso, which is totally fair given what we have, what we've witnessed from him over the last 18 months or so. But, you know, he was on the bench for Athletico, Madrid, in the middle of the week, played the second half of their friendly over the weekend. But, you know, perhaps the most interesting Johnny-related thing these days is there's an opt-a article, opt-analysis article, about why Diego Simeone wanted him.

And, you know, I think the visceral reason is that he bawled out against Atletico last fall. I mean, he really played well in that game. And, I mean, you have a better memory than me, Vince. probably remember it. But he also seems to fill a need for Adletico, and the article kind of lays it out. So only four midfielders in the top five leagues made more interceptions per 90 than Cardoso. So he's really good at sort of shielding that back line. He's also, for his club, extremely reliable in possession. To quote the article in a part that has

just sad irony for us as U.S. fans, he's safe, precise, and rarely makes the kind of mistake that forces the team into emergency mode. I guess with the goal he gave up against Turkey, there was no emergency mode because it just turned into a goal immediately. But so defensively, I think, well above average when it comes to like reading the game. And then, you know, at least for his club, really reliable in possession. And so he's going to just cover the back line. make wise decisions and create a platform for all the attacking talent they have there.

And I think the last line of the article was good. He quote, won't be the face of this new era, but he might be the reason it works, end quote. A couple episodes ago, we laid out the competition that Johnny May face at Athlete. And I mentioned Koke and some young Spanish men, Philadelphia, I forgot his name already. But I forgot. Connor Gallagher is also an athletic-ma-M-Gripp player. So that's another obstacle in his path, I guess. I mean, do I really rate Connor Gallagher?

Not necessarily, but he's there, you know. Koke, the thought was that he would prolong, that Cardoso would help prolong Cochre's career. You know, I guess he's on a one-year extension. But Rodrigo de Paul is not in the mix. That's right. That's right. That's good for him, too.

balling out for into Miami now. I mean, Johnny's a strange case because, like, it'll be so odd to have a player. I mean, if he, if his move to Aletico Madrid succeeds, and he, you know, he does actually end up playing a key role for them, how odd would it be to have a player at a club like that, not, you know, having done so little to win over the fans and the coach, frankly,

of the national team for us. It's going to be about what he does in the U.S. camps, right? And you certainly hope that even if he's not starting every game, that he'll still get the call. You know that Pach is going to have his eyes on him. He's well connected in Spain. Short flight, short hop over to London, if he ever wants to watch and play.

So let's hope he puts it together, man. It's just like sergeants. It's like always sad when these dudes can't do, can't put it all together. than international level where they can at the club level. Yeah, okay. Dino Tupmuller,

your old friend, Vince, sending signals in Philly that Pax will stay at Iron Truck Frankfurt this season. Jonathan Tannenwald tweeted that he said, uh,

he doesn't quite say it outright, but indicates that Aronson will stay with the club this season. So, man, that's interesting. I need to hear the exact quote. because, I mean, really, if I hadn't posted that video,

I could have posted this exact thing that Jonathan Tana Wall said. And, like, I would have been technically true. But, yeah. But Dino taught me those response, you know, when I asked him, was just like, hey, everybody here's part of squad, baby. I mean, I expect better of Tanawald

than to, like, than to take what Tautmiller told you and then turn that into... No, that's not what I'm saying. saying. Yeah. But I'm saying... I know. No, not that he... Like, say, Tupmiller said the exact same thing to you that he said to Jonathan. No, said the same thing to Jonathan that he said to you. I would expect better from him than to take that as an indication that he's going to stay, you know? I would...

My suspicion is that he would have said something more indicative, if you will, you know? Yeah. But you're right. I'd like to see the... I'd like to see the full quote, too. Because what he told you did not, to me, indicate that Pax was going to stay. He definitely left it up in the air. Right. You know, he didn't answer the question. Entry, Frank, for Louisville City. I went down to Lynn Family Stadium once again to take it in.

Pax and Harrison with a start. Once again, you know, he did what he should do against Louisville City. He looked okay. Marvin Dills got a start. Young... U-20 American who just came on my radar when it was an L. He was going through the preseason with Entrack Frankfurt. Young fella, going through preseason with Frankfurt.

He started on the right wing in this match. He's not a winger. I could tell that just from watching. It's like my first exposure to the man. He's not a winger. You could just tell from watching, like he had plenty of times where he had like 1V1 opportunities on the wing. didn't quite take them.

I was talking to Marcus Chores kind of during the match and after he told me he was a 10 that Dills is more of a 10 and it makes sense because it's the best moments in the match or like moments in combination moments where he could kind of release people

like release a striker making a into outrun into the channel stuff like that. But Dills also did he did score a goal, received a ball in the box,

took a touch, kind of turned, smashed it about right at the penalty spot. That it was quite nice. I think he's, you know, he got a shot, whatever. Everybody's got a shot, man. So I... Apparently, he just joined the first team. I think he's, it sounds like I'm just reading about him a little bit here. It looks like he's going to expect it to play for the U-21s this coming season.

But he's already played for both the U.S. and U.S. and Germany youth. national teams and they they got their eyes on him both the club and country yeah so you know what my favorite thing you you got was that interview with timmy chandler you know he seemed is i mean it was just a couple questions but that was nice uh yeah it was cool i didn't know what to expect right you know you hear a lot about timmy chanler he's besmirched i would say by the fan base a bit uh-huh and so yeah i just i just walked into this with like no expectations what was had no clue what to what to expect from him if like i was going to bring up the u.s miss national team and he was going to like hiss at me or something like because like you listen to people

talk about him it's like man this dude one hated play it for the national team two told somebody like who was there's some famous quote where he told somebody like that the club is what you need to worry about, not the national team, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm like, all right, let's see what's going on with this dude. And it turns out, number one,

he was happy that, he seemed to be happy that I brought up the fact that Antrach Frankfurt has an American flavor in that camp. I asked him about Nathaniel Brown, Paxon Arons, and Marvin Dills, etc. He said they're all good players, been doing well in training. Nathaniel Brown is hurt.

He made no appearances in Louisville. but, you know, he said, you saw what he could do last season. And, you know, then I asked him about Nathaniel Brown's decision. And this is where I kind of thought you would see some of the like indifference show up if there is indifference. Once again, this is before my era, like the whole Timmy Chandler thing. Right, right, right, right. But he kind of lit up. He kind of lit up.

And he was like, yeah, when is that time to talk to Nathaniel Brown about what needs to be done? I will make sure that I talk to him and only say good things about the United States. I don't know. You expect one thing, right, when you hear all this stuff about a person, then I talk to him and I'm like, man, it's a cool dude. I think I can hang out with Timmy Chandler. You know, people, like, kind of paint him as like a convergent, commercially type figure, you know?

But, I mean, there has to be a reason why Frankfurt's keeping them around as long as they have, like, he played a little bit in this Luce City match. Like, he's washed. That brother is, he can barely run, bro. He could barely run. But they keep him around for a reason. And, yeah, seems like he's a Fibbs guy. You know, something else that occurred to me watching that videos,

he was happy to see you. He was happy to see you in particular. And not that he knows you or anything, but you were talking last week about how, as a large black man, you run the risk of alarming people, right? You had to figure out how to move, how to move in the right way, which I totally get. But there is a flip side to that.

There is. Where, especially with athletes, they're happier to see you. Imagine if I walked up to Timmy Chandler, he's not going to look at me the way you looked at you. Yeah. So I think there's a double-edged sword here. I was happy to see that. There was some kind of reverence there, too. You know, I got a command and presence.

But, um... Yes. My brother made that same They're looking up at you And they're smiling My brother made the same remark When I got that Chris Richards video From a while ago

In Kansas City The day after they went to the Chiefs game And I asked them about getting the Same exact thing Yeah yeah My bro was like yeah You can tell you can tell He kind of mess with you a little bit

But that happens I talked to Timmy Chandler And then I also talked to Timo Hartung I think that's his name the sporting director of OnTrack Frankfurt. I didn't necessarily want to talk to Topmuller again. I felt like he was just going to give the same answers he gave me last time.

But so I asked him about Marvin Dills, first of all, and what his potential is because, you know, we are unfamiliar with him. And he said he can go, I mean, he gave the, he gave a regular pandas. He was like, you can go. Yeah, I clicked out of that pretty quick. He can go as high as he wanted to, as he wants to, et cetera. But then I did ask him about the fact that Paxson-Arensen had started two matches in Louisville. And they played two matches in Louisville, you know. And if we can look anything, if we can look into that at all.

And he did answer that. He said no. He said, no. He just came back to us from the Gold Cup. He came back a little late in preseason. I think they wanted to get some minutes. He didn't play in the Gold Cup, right, a lot. Or did he play at all in the Gold Cup?

He played it up. In the actual Gold Cup. He came off the bench once or twice, I think. Yeah. But, yeah, so I think they wanted to get some minutes in his legs. But he specifically said, no, do not read into this as far as, like, anything with regards to, like, starting, being in the squad or anything like that. So that's what I talked to on the field.

But let me tell you, I talked about how I was going to, I had scoped out the situation, right? And I was going to get down there and talk to Nathaniel Brown. My plan was thwarted because I didn't get, I didn't get down to the pitch fast enough. He was gone by the time I got on the pitch. And the reason why I was late getting to the pitch is because, like, So the media

You know We're up above in the media Room or whatever I'm media room and there's an elevator down to the field Okay We hit the button We're waiting on the elevator to come Elevator doesn't come

For I mean we're sitting there It's like all the media There's like a dude from Germany there There's me and a couple other people And the elevator doesn't come for like five minutes. We're sitting there waiting for this elevator for like literally five, six, seven minutes.

And it's like, I mean, there's only, there's the media floor, there's the first floor, and then there's the pitch. Like this is a three level elevator. So surely it should have came up at some point. And then it finally comes up. Why was the elevator not moving? Because the elevator attendant had the door open

and was just trying to cool off. It was just, just trying to cool off because their portable fan, the portable fan had stopped, like the battery had done, which I do get. And, you know, they'd be having these ladies in these, in these hot-ass elevators for two hours or three hours.

Since the stadium opened, so probably about four or five hours or something. But, so I understand why she did that. But, yeah, that's the reason why the elevator wasn't moving that we get on. And she's like, oh, I'm sorry, y'all. You know, this is like, it's a like 50 year old black lady

and she's like oh I'm sorry y'all but this battery done died I'm burning up look I'm like you know what it's all good the German dude is pretty frustrated the German dude has been like pacing back and forth the whole time been waiting on this elevator and so he's kind of pissed

but like he doesn't like say he doesn't like say anything to her but yeah we finally get on the pitch and I'm looking around yeah not known Nathaniel Brown unfortunately so I learned a valuable lesson, which is next time you just got to take your opportunities. Just run up, just sometimes you've got to run up and bummer or somebody understood.

But I thought it was all lost, but then I got some valuable stuff from Timmy Chandler. So that was cool. Yeah. Those things are, those situations are always chaotic. So let's get out of here. Charlie, you got to go. Let's get out of here. A couple more quick things.

So great job on the ground at Lynn Family Stadium. events and uh john luka is you know he's saying that he's got to be a team leader this year he feels like a venetian that's uh he's he's getting started here shortly john token and is going to apply his trade in the double bundesliga he actually already started started uh the game over the weekend at patterborne which they lost with which holstein keel lost um and then so i just want to mention that real quick and then the last thing is Charlie, can you give us a couple takeaways from the call with Turner this morning? Matt Turner, coming back to the Revs, trying to get back, trying to get his job back with the national team.

Maybe that's not even his main concern at this point. He just wants to play. But it is. He made clear that the national team is part of this. And I think he realizes that he's got to be playing. I think he feels that on a personal level as well as his national team career. But it's kind of, he was a reflective, Matt Turner, I would say. One of the quotes that I grabbed was, he said, I had some misfortunes, had some opportunities

that didn't make the most of as well, speaking about his European adventure. It just didn't go perfectly to plan. However, I started my beautiful family over there, I have zero regrets about my time in England. And yeah, I really loved it, so I never shut a door on a return either. But it's good to be back right here, back here right now, and I need to find my form leading into the World Cup. And now I turn to an extended family here in New England to take me in with open arms and just let me focus on my work and getting ready to achieve my ultimate goal, which we all know is to play in the 2026 World Cup here in the States. All right. Nice.

And he's got work to do because the revs are well below the playoff line. They are struggling. And if he can get, if he can jump back into things that quickly, then that'll be good news for USM and T fans. he's always good for a great quote isn't he he's like one of the better he's one of the better talkers thoughtful dude yeah yeah yeah all right we gotta get going we appreciate everybody who subscribes and uh thanks everybody for listening we'll see you