Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #617: Doug McIntyre, USMNT reporter for Fox Sports, joins the pod

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Doug, Belz and Vince talk about Poch's summer of (resetting) the vibes, when the wave of enthusiasm about the World Cup will hit (soon), where Johnny Cardoso stands, whether Sebastian Berhalter really has a better chance of making the WC roster than Gio Reyna, Doug's early years as a soccer reporter, what several other players have to do to make the World Cup squad, and much more. Then we run through the weekend news faster than we ever have on the Monday Review, including Dest's belter and Aidan Morris's imperious showing vs Swansea.In a couple weeks we (Belz and at least a couple of the grassroots episodes guests) are going to record a 4th grassroots soccer episode where we respond to questions and comments. You can send us a voicemail here: https://www.speakpipe.com/scuffedpodOr, if you don’t want to do that, send us a question here: https://forms.gle/YjdLExcqyyLn5KpK6 Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the SCuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, it's the Monday Review. We've got a special guest today. Longtime reporter covering the U.S. men's national team and American soccer in general. He was at ESPN as a full-time staff writer from 2011 to 2017 and then Yahoo Sports. And now he's at Fox Sports. He's a fixture in the USMNT Press Corps, Douglas McIntyre. Thanks for coming in.

You got it out of him. You can go by Doug. Only my mother calls me Douglas, but good to be on. Good to see you guys. I thought it would be fun. I thought it would be fun to say Douglas. All right, fair enough. But don't do it again.

Okay, I won't. I promise. How much do you miss World Cup qualifying this cycle? I do. I do miss it a lot. There's nothing like World Cup qualifying, especially in Concca Cap. It's crazy, you know, to go to places like San Pedro, Sula, the Azteca. I mean, one of the true cathedrals of the sport.

You know, goosebumps the first time I walked into that place. just an incredible, like, bucket list thing if you guys, I don't know if you guys been to Azteca, but phenomenal. I mean, you have to do it, even if it's the next qualifying cycle where, you know, we know that it's going to be a lot, there's going to be a lot more places for Kalky Gaff teams. I still think it's worth it to get down there. So I miss it. I think the U.S. team misses it as well. Those games are always a test, and they've missed that a bit this cycle, for sure. Are they, how are they going to overcome that, you know, not having to go through that crucible, you know? Yeah, I think it's, I think it's hard. I mean, the one good thing is that they

did have to do it in 22 and the core of the team is the same. So I think it was really important. Like, I had my doubts that that team could qualify. I really did. I was worried because, you know, as talented as they were, it's hard. And that team had, they had no one that had gone through it before, with the exception of Christian and D'Andre Edlin, really. So, you know, they got through, they qualified. That was obviously incredibly important that they did. that. So I think that experience will help them. But yeah, like these these upcoming friendlies that we're going to see and I think we're going to see some some big name friendlies between now and the World Cup they're going to have to do. And there are different tests, right?

Like if you go and play in El Salvador, the challenges you're facing regarding, you know, the field, the fans, the conditions, all that is, is different than if you're, you know, you're playing a top European team on a pristine field. You know, it's just a different kind of preparation, a different kind of challenge. And frankly, one of the U.S. team needs. I mean, they haven't played because of COVID last time out. They didn't play a ton of good opponents before the last World Cup. They will get that chance this year.

So that's going to have to serve as preparation. And I think it's good preparation, given what, you know, they're going to face on home so next summer. Doug, what do you think is the difference between, like, fan opinion on the Concaf qualifying and how we should perform in it and the realities that, you know, of the results that we see it's a it's a great question i'll give you an example all right so 2014 world cup cycle u.s team had a qualifier in antiga right tiny little island they should beat that team 10 nothing right you think uh it took a 90th minute goal i believe by edie johnson

to get a i think it was a two one win uh in a drive in driving rain in on a cricket in a cricket in a cricket stadium in Antigua, and I was sitting in the press box with shoddy Wi-Fi, which is actually good for a lot of Kocka-Gab venues where there's no internet to speak of at all. I remember being in the Aztec with no internet at one point. But, you know, I'm on Twitter and I'm watching fans absolutely crush the team and saying, like, this is the worst performance we've ever seen. And frankly, I was kind of on board.

I was kind of like, yeah, like they should have done much better. and to get to the post-game press conference, right, we had to walk, actually run because it was a torrential downpour across the field, right? So like, and it was a cricket oval. It was a cricket oval. So from my seat in the press box to the near sideline was probably 75 yards away, that's how far it was, right? So the entire press court sprints across the field. We get about halfway across, and I've told this story before. I forget what it's. called the cricket. It's like it's like the equivalent of the mound. It's raised up about four inches off the rest of the field. And it was at that moment I realized that like this was 2012,

Barcelona's best team in the world at time. Barcelona could have done nothing on that field. Like you could not play soccer on that field. It was not a soccer game. It was like a war of attrition. So like the idea that you're going to move the ball around, pass the ball around, play pretty soccer. Like it's an impossibility. And that was the moment I really understood that like games in cock, like, you can't, you have no idea until you're there. Players get told, like, you know, Timmy Chandler was told, hey, this is what it's going to be like in Cockett, I got qualifying, make sure you're ready, make sure you're prepared. He had no idea what hit him until he had stepped on the field in San Pedro Sula in February

when it's, you know, he just came from the winter in Germany. It's 90 degrees out. It's high noon. The stadium has been packed for four hours. You can't hear anything. It's a totally different. It's totally different. It's not soccer.

war. And that's the best way to describe it. Did anybody bite it on that cricket mound? Anybody in the press corps? No. Unfortunately, it would have been funny to see. I do know that, you know, the state of us in that press conference, like we were all, I think Yurton Clinton's been like laughed at us because we're all just absolutely drenched and just ridiculous looking. It was, it was an experience. But that's, you have to be there to understand what it's like. And for everyone who's gone to qualifiers, you know, I think you know, but it's a, yeah, it's just a different animal, completely different. You've been covering soccer for more than 20 years in this country, I believe, how, you know,

and we had this incredible low in 2017 when we didn't qualify. And then I think there was definitely a surge of enthusiasm after that for the team. And what would you, how would you describe the moment we're in right now? We got the World Cup coming, which should. be, you know, it is going to be exciting. But what's the feel? What's the, what's the situation? It's weird, man. It doesn't feel like the World Cup is right around the corner, but it is. And I think we got a little bit of a taste this summer with all, with everything that was

going on with Club World Cup, Gold Cup going on, you know, just every summer seems like there's a summer of soccer. I mean, last year that I know that that was the, the Fox branded event. We had Copa and Euros going, you know, Coppa and Euros going on at the same time, which was, which was phenomenal. But, you know, with the women's euros this year, with the, you know, you got club friendlies, league cups started. Like, you have games, you know, games every night at League MLS matchups every night for, you know, six of them for eight out of nine days or whatever it was. But it doesn't, you know, I feel like, Adam, that the attention span of all of us is just so low these days. so short that it's not we're not going to really know what hit is until the world cup actually gets here like that's how i feel like i don't feel like there's a lot of you know anticipation

just yet um but i think once we get to may 2026 it's going to be off the charts like it's going to ramp up really quick um obviously the results of the the u s team have not been great and i think that that's you know taken some of the excitement that you would hope to have if they the U.S. and team had won the Gold Cup with a first team in convincing fashion. I think people would be more excited about the World Cup next year, U.S. fans. But that obviously didn't happen. So, you know, it's going to take some, I think, some results. And, you know, we still need to see a signature win from this team against a top-level opponent.

Maybe if they, you know, beat a top European, South American team in a friendly before the World Cup, that starts to get people excited about this team. But, you know, when the World Cup gets here, there's nothing like a World Cup guys. There's nothing like it, whether it's in the U.S. or elsewhere, I'm old enough to remember the 94 World Cup. This is going to be, you know, magnitudes bigger than that was. The marketing for it's going to be everywhere. Like, it's going to be unescapable once we get there. But right now, it doesn't feel like a World Cup's coming to me anyway, even though it is.

So it's a little weird. Yeah. And, Doug, I agree with you. But it just kind of hit me this morning. The more I do think about it, the country is primed for soccer to take off with this World Cup. We were talking before we started recording about the fact that Doug saw that I was at the Entracht-Frankfort preseason match or whatever. And one of the points that I made is just the fact that, you know, soccer has made it in America. You know, you see On Track Frankfurt, Aston Villa, the fans that are there, all the different kits that you see or whatever.

And, yeah, this World Cup is going to be everything that all the people in soccer, Wanted to be. Yes, the moment that we're in is, uh, everything seems down. Everything seems down right now. But I do think once we get there, once the calendar probably turns to 2026. Yeah. And we can really say the World Cup is coming this year. Yeah, I think we'll start to see the excitement take up. And yeah, I mean, soccer is the third biggest sport in this country, in my opinion. It's just, of course, everything's so scattered. But yeah. Yeah. Yeah, speaking of it being scattered. Like you, you've written a little bit about this, Doug, but there were, what, an average 40,000 fans at these Club World Cup games, which is really impressive. And I think you made the

point, maybe you can make it here too, that these were mostly not people who traveled from elsewhere, right? So can you talk a little bit about that? What does that mean? What does that mean for the World Cup coming next summer? Yeah. It's very hard to, you know, there's not, Like I said before, there's nothing like a World Cup. So you cannot compare the club World Cup, which was the first time they've ever had a tournament like that, you know, 32 teams and won a host nation, World Cup style event.

It was a new, a novel, it was, I mean, it was cool. It was interesting. It was different. I liked it. I really enjoyed the tournament. But it is in no way, shape, or form like an actual World Cup. Like, it's the biggest, the men's world cup is the biggest event in the world, right? Like, sporting or otherwise, it's just, there's nothing.

There's nothing that everyone in the world is paying attention to at the same time, like a World Cup. So you're going to have all those U.S. fans next year. And they're, you know, as much as fans turned out for their club teams, whether it was River played or, you know, Flamengo and the South American fans were phenomenal. And to your point, like, most of them are based here. Like, they came from different places across the U.S. to go see their teams. They didn't have to travel from Brazil. Some people did, sure, or Argentina. some people did.

Most of those people were here. You're going to get all those people next year, and you're going to have tons of people to travel to the World Cup. So, like, I saw people, you know, there were some games. I think there was one club World Cup game that only drew 5,000 people or whatever. And someone says something like, you know, we're going to see that at the World Cup next year. No, you're not.

No, you're not. Every single seat for every single game will be filled. It's a completely different, like, it's completely, like, there's no question the World Cup's going to be success next year. There's no question about it. It's going to be the biggest, greatest World Cup we've ever seen by far. I mean, 50% bigger than any previous version, the amount of games. Like, it's just, I don't, people don't know what's going to hit them.

Like, we talk about not feeling like it's coming. But when it hits, it's going to be like, it's the greatest show on Earth, man. Like nothing we have ever seen before. I think it's going to be the greatest World Cup we've ever seen. Oh, you're hyping me up, man. I'm feeling, I'm like, I'm getting fired up just sitting over here right now. now. Can you let us behind the curtain a little bit? What's, what are the, what are, what's your role going to be at the, at the World Cup? I mean, you're working for the rights holder, right?

Yeah. Yeah. You're going to be on TV a bunch or, like, what do you? I don't know yet. I don't know yet. We haven't, we, we haven't had those conversations that. I hope so. It's, it's an interesting thing because I think ideally I would, I would probably be on both sides where, you know, I'm written press and I fill in on digital or on TV when needed. It's a tricky thing, though, because FIFA actually doesn't allow you to serve both roles at a World Cup. You have to pick one or the other. So that's a tricky thing. So it's not like the NBA where, you know, you have, you know, whether it's Bill Simmons or anyone else,

where they can kind of, they can kind of do both. So that's an interesting thing. But, yeah, like everyone else, we focus on what's in front of us. and the World Cup's not quite here yet, but the planning has begun, and I'm sure there'll be announcements as the tournament gets closer, whatever this role is going to be.

But I can't wait to be involved in whatever capacity. I know I will be with the U.S. team throughout until they get knocked out, if they get knocked out. So that'll be interesting. And then after that, you know, I would imagine that I'll be, you know, I'll be at all the big games and at the final. I met Life Stadium next July, which I absolutely can't wait.

I'm a New York native to see the World Cup final happening, you know, close to home is, yeah, it's a dream come true. Can't wait for it. If you had your druthers, though, would you rather be on the, I mean, that is funny that FIFA requires you pick one. Either you're a writer or your TV personality, but like if you had to pick one, which would you prefer? Well, I mean, I'm a writer at heart. Yeah, that's how I broke in. I know people don't read as much anymore. So it's covered that in some detail in our podcast.

Exactly, exactly. So I love coming on with you guys. I like talking about the sport. You know, so it's a tricky question. I think, you know, if you work in this business, now you have to be able to do everything. So ideally I'd like to not have to choose and I do both. But, you know, I'm a writer by trade.

So I got to keep it real on that front. Doug, you were with the team in guitar, right? Yeah. I'm wondering, were you able to sense? anything going on with the team with regards to the vibes. You know what happened with, you know what happened with GioG and everything. It's on my mind, but what were you able to see

on the ground there? It's interesting. Like at the time, Vince, they did a pretty good job of keeping everything inside at the time. But in retrospect, knowing everything that happened. And by the way,

as soon as the U.S. team got knocked out, I started getting messages that, like, that Gio came very close to getting set home from that woke up. So the second they went out, the board started to leak out of what had happened. But while they were in the tournament, it was pretty tight. But obviously going back, looking at things like, you know, the geo stopping answer questions. The mix zone, you know, there was a, I was out of trading the next day after the Wales game.

And, you know, there was something about how he had, you know, I said something like, you know, I think of geo had. been healthy, you would have, you would have played in the first game. And I remember I got a funny look from someone. And, you know, at the time, I didn't think anything of it. And then going back, like now I realize what, you know, what happened, knowing what went down, what the story was. So, no, I mean, I, you know, I didn't think that there was, like, like everyone else, like I thought it was impossible that that would be an issue because of how close the, you know, I mean, Gio Raina knew Greg Burrhalter's entire life. Like, their families were close. I didn't think there would be any issue with with with with that was the last thing I thought that

there'd be a problem so obviously I was wrong I think a lot of people wrong about that but at the time I thought it was you know I didn't I didn't think there was much to it and yeah as soon as they got knocked out we found out there was an awful lot to it so yeah I wish I'd known Vince I wish I'd reported it at the time but but I didn't so yeah they did a good job keeping it under wraps at least until they were they were eliminated I have a few listener questions I want to throw at you. One of them is about Gio.

But first, just a little bit about your background. So I read that your mom was a journalist and editor. What kind of work did she do? No, my mom was a reporter for many years. And then she moved on to the editing side. What, like at a newspaper? She worked for the New York Daily News. She worked for it.

She's both my parents are from Scotland. So she started out working for papers in the UK. You know, moved to the state. She freelanced for a number of years. She worked at Star Magazine. She actually broke the Jennifer Flowers, Bill Clinton scandal. Whoa. Yeah.

So, and then she was an editor. And then she finished her career. She was the editor-in-chief of Hearst Magazine's International. So she retired about 12 or 15 years ago. I never, you know, my mom never got me a job, never, you know, made a call, never did anything like that. She was an in-house editor when I started my career. I could send her stories and she would tell me what she thought.

She was honest. But she also said she, you know, she thought I had a future in it. And coming from her, I, you know, I took that to heart. And yeah, it's been a, I've been really lucky. It's been an amazing ride, better career that I could have ever dreamed of when I started. You know, some of the experience I've had. But, yeah, I owe a lot to a lot to both my parents, how supportive they were.

And my house was always filled with books and newspapers and things like that. And that's the reason why I ended up doing what I do. You went to Glasgow in the summers sometimes, right? And you were always struck by how little soccer was talked about when he came back to New York City. Correct. Was your, is yours like a Celtic family? No, no. So my parents are from the Glasgow area.

Okay. Just outside both of them. My mom's from mother. So we were Motherwell supporters still to this day. You know, it's amazing to me that I can now watch, you know, Motherwell play Rangers and their season opener on CBS sports. Like, that's crazy. Which I did, you know, last weekend. So, yeah, the first games I ever went to were at Fur Park in Motherwell.

And that's really where I fell in love with the sport because just the intensity of the games in Scotland and the fans. The fans are really what did it. like the humor, you know, the passion of the fans was just, was eye-opening. I'd never seen anything like that. You know, I've been to baseball games and stuff like, you know, sporting events in the U.S. There was nothing like that that I'd ever seen. So as like an impressionable, you know, 10, 12-year-old kid, you know, hearing a lot of colorful language and Scottish people are just incredibly funny in general.

So I just loved it. And, yeah, I've loved it ever since. They're like, when you say the humor of the fans, you're like making fun of players on the field. Everything. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. Just little quips, you know, like one guy in front of me saying, you know, if I was a manager, I'd shoot one every week, you know.

They'd soon learn. It's just ridiculous things like that. I mean, it's just silly. So, yeah. All right. So you one more thing about your background. So you graduated from Iona, you know, a hero of March Madness for me as a kid in 2000. and started full-time at ESPN in 2011, like I said.

Tell us about, you know, how'd you get, how'd you, how'd that happen? How'd you get to the sort of what seems like the top of the profession? Well, I started, so, yeah. So I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was in school. Like, I wasn't sure. And I sort of defaulted into, into journalism because I didn't really, I didn't have any other idea. And I was always, you know, I was strong background in English and all that sort of stuff.

I got an opportunity to cover the Metro Stars year out of college now, the Red Bulls, as their beat writer for a long-defunct internet website. Tell us the name of it. Tell us the name of it. The name of the website, believe it or not, kid you not, was internetsocker.com. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So they were part of the Team Talk network in the UK, so they actually had some money. not very much. I didn't get paid very much per story when I started, but it was, you know, I was the Metro Star's beat writer and it was an interesting time. Like Tim Howard was there, Tab Ramos, it was his last year. One of the first stories I ever wrote was him announcing his retirement, you know, one of the greatest U.S. players ever, you know, played in three World Cups. Yeah, so very interesting team. Bob Bradley showed up as coach the next year. There were a bunch of guys that ended up on the 2010 World Cup. team that were there, Ricardo Clark.

You know, Mike McGee was on that team in 2000. A young Michael Bradley was on that team as a teenager with braces. So that was a really interesting experience. And then I started as a freelance fact checker at ESPN the magazine in 2004. And I continued to, I started to write for them a little bit. I wrote for ESPN's website. I started out covering college soccer, then started to do some U.S. stuff, some MLS stuff. And it wasn't until 2009 that things really took off for me because along with my dear friend and former colleague, Luke Seifers, we started the U.S. men's national team blog on ESPN right around the Confederations Cup after the U.S. beat Spain.

I think that opened a lot of eyes at ESPN. They had World Cup rights the next year. And that was really like that. That's what really helped me get hired full-time, you know, to come. the national team as a national team beat writer. And I did that job at ESPN with Jeff Carlyle up until I left in 2017. So I've been very fortunate. You know, I always felt like the national team was the barometer of the sport in this country.

It's a way in to cover, you know, leagues and see leagues and players around the world, following U.S. players and, you know, wherever they go around the world. And, yeah, you know, again, very fortunate to have been able to make a career out of it. But I was also very lucky with timing as well that, you know, when I started and the interest in soccer in particular and the national team or soccer general and the U.S. team in particular kind of picking up as my career was taken off. Maybe a little luck, but you paid your dues, man. A little luck, yeah. Wasn't it always soccer or bust? I covered hockey, actually, earlier in my career.

I was a hockey player. I played hockey at Iona briefly. But yeah, so I covered the NHL a little bit, and I like that. That was interesting, but soccer to me was always just, there was the growth potential, you know, it's a maturing sport. Every other sport is mature in the U.S., the NHL, NBA, NFL, baseball, you know, soccer. Like, I was always intrigued by the potential of it, and I still am. And that's, you know, that's what keeps me going, keeps me excited.

and that's never, that's never changed. And, you know, I want to get to the point where the sport is mature in the country, but we're not there yet. And I think it'll be my entire career will be documenting the rise of soccer in this country because it's still a long way to go, but we're on the right track. And like I said to Bells when before we came on, there were 10 MLS teams when I started coming to leave, right? Now there's 30.

And there was, you know, no soccer-specific stadiums. You know, when I walked into Red Bulls, arena in 2010, I had tears in my eyes because I couldn't believe it. And now it's, you know, covered going to some of, you know, Atlanta and some of these places. Like, it's just remarkable to me how far in sports come. It's great. You also said off air that part of the reason you wanted to cover the Metro Stars was because that was the only way to get information on them. Yeah. Like, like, like if you want to get some facts about the team, you had to go to the training, you know. No, I remember like the Metro.

like when you know and before i before i became a reporter and i was just a fan and like you know i grew up in new york city i didn't have a team when the metro started to arrive it's like all right it's my team they played a friendly against like benfica their first year couldn't find the score i literally called the league office i was like do you know what the score in the game was last night like if you didn't go you like unless you went to the game you didn't know like it wasn't in a newspaper or nothing so yeah like i've always had that idea like i want to find out information because I just want to know and then, you know, if I know it,

I'll report it. Like, if it's, you know, I want other people that are curious to know too. And that's sort of how I've approached, I've always approached it. So, yeah, really good trading. Absolutely. All right, let's take a little break.

If you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. We're going to come back, do some listener questions, mostly about Pachitino. And then we'll go through our, like, sort of usual rundown of the week, of the weekend.

So we'll be back in a second. All right, we're back. Let's do some listener questions. Starting with hip hip-hip Jorge in the Bay Area, he asks, since Pott has taken over as head coach, what have been the distinct differences in the camps, training sessions, compared to when Greg was in charge? Yeah, that's a great question.

That's a great question. I think there's a level of, it's interesting. I sat down with Greg a couple weeks ago. He was in town and we went for a coffee. So it was interesting to hear his perspective. It was a private conversation. I'm not going to get into what we talked about there. Okay, okay.

The thing, yeah, sorry, I probably should have said that if I was going to not want to talk about it. I was like, huh. But the thing, so one of the things I think is, and I think Greg would admit this, like, there was a level of comfort that's set in with that group. Just because they'd been together for so long, you know, they came up together. They grew together. Greg grew his approach.

Those guys grew as people and as players. And they went through a lot together. And I think like it happens in a lot of cases, things just got stale. And, you know, the message stops landing. That's normal after five years. Like it's very hard to keep, you know, to keep guys engaged with the same voice for years on end. It's just, it's really hard to do. That's why coaches turn over so high.

You don't see coaches in any sports. lasting that long. So the main difference is that the players are on their toes now, that there's a new boss in town. They have to be. They don't, you know, it's a different, it's a completely different way of doing things. Potch has his own staff. There's some, you know, some holdover in terms of the support staff and stuff like that. But, but yeah, like these, it's, it's a completely different environment for these guys. And they're starting from scratch and they have to prove, themselves all over again. And I think, you know, you've seen, you saw the guys at the Gold Cup take advantage of that. You've seen some resistance, I think, a little bit from some of

the established players. But that's going to have to get sorted out before the World Cup. And the summer, you know, the thing I noticed the most this summer was Potch really starting to put his foot down. And after the Nation's League, really, I think the first few months he was in charge. He's really kind of sussing out what everything's about. There's a, you know, things he didn't realize before he took the job, I think, and getting his head around all that. But then after the Nation's League, I think it was like, look, I know what I have to do. You know, I have to kind of put my foot down a little bit more. And I think that's what we saw.

I think we might see that in the September camp a little bit. So, yeah, it's, there's a, there's a, the comfort level is not what it was under under Barletter. There's, there's guys that are, you know, that have to prove themselves. to make the World Cup team next year. And there's a lot of guys like that. So, yeah, and I was just going to say, you're right. Absolutely.

That's exactly what this team needs. The players, particularly the best players on this team, need to be held accountable. And I think they will be by Pachino and the staff. Yeah, because it seems to me that, you know, because we sit here and try to make sense of everything that Maricio has done, like the summer and everything. And it does seem to me that, like, if you look through,

if you look at it through that lens that this is what Pach is doing, you know, reestablish an order and other stuff. It seems like all of those decisions kind of fall in place and then end up making sense as far as like, you know, this is his plan. This is how he's going about it, et cetera, et cetera. So while we might be confused by like the deployment of a, I don't know, Max Arfton, Patrick Ogimog, et cetera. Yeah.

You know, he's putting obstacles in place for the players that, we think are the better players to overcome. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, I agree with you completely, Vince. Like, you saw him do that at the goalkeeper position, right? Like, where he was determined to start anybody other than Matt Turner, just because he wants to challenge Matt. He wants to hold Matt accountable,

and he wants to make it uncomfortable for him to get a spot back. Matt Turner, that is. You know, and it just, it turned out to be Matt Freeze. I think if Zach Steffen had been healthy, that, you know, he would have got the chance. maybe, you know, Patrick Shulte would have got the chance if he was healthy. I mean, those guys, I think we all thought were ahead of at Fries going into the Gold Cup. But Fries gets his opportunity and does well with it.

Now it's up to turn to claim his job back, and that's how it should be. And I think you're right. You see that in other positions around the field, too. This next question is related to this, and maybe the answer is the same. But Josh Warner asks, he says, I don't really know how to ask this as a question, but I would love any insights you may have into the player selection process of this coaching staff. They all seem like really smart people, but a lot of it feels like just vibes. And maybe the answer is just simply he's putting, like Vince said, putting people in the way

so that these more established players have to prove it. But what's your sense of it, Doug? I mean, in terms of like, do the guys that are getting called up deserve to get called? I mean, like, yeah. Yeah, like, why? Why Sebastian Burhalter? For instance, why Sebastian Burrhalter? Why not Aiden Morris?

I mean, they're both like relatively. Yeah, yeah. I agree. Well, I'm glad you asked about Sebastian Burrhalter in particular because like for me, like he's not a guy that was on anybody's radar at the beginning of the year. Like no one was clamoring saying, man, this guy should be on the January camp roster. Where is Sebastian Burrhalter? He's not on the January camp roster, right?

I don't know if you watched his games in the Champions Cup with Vancouver. Like I'd seen. I'd seen Sebastian play, right. So, like, I'd seen Sebastian play a little bit. Like, I, you know, okay, he's a, he's a, he's an okay player, he's got some technical ability, a little bit undersized. Like, I didn't think, nothing about him scream national team player to me when I saw him in years past.

When I watched him play in the Concordcaf Champions Cup this year against some good Mexican teams in games Vancouver won. Yeah. I was like, this guy's the best player on the field. Like, this guy's bossing this game in Mexico. against good Mexican opposition. So like Sebastian played his way onto the national team. Like in my opinion, like he really did.

Like, and that's what you want. Like he played well enough to get noticed and to get called in. And he earned that call-up. And I thought he was fine in the summer. But yeah, there are other- I'm not saying he wasn't. Sure. Is he better than the Tanner Testament?

I don't know. Is he better than Aden Morris? I don't know. I do know that Pocitino, what it feels like to me, and I don't know this for sure, but it feels like Pocitino in his first six months, on the job, wanted to take a look at everybody he could.

And he just about did that. I mean, he looked at an awful lot of players. You think about his first few camps like John Lucan Bousseo started a game. Adam Morris, I think started his first couple games in charge. So he's seen those guys, right? He's seen Tanner Testman. He's seen Cameron Carter Vickers. You go down the list.

He's seen just about everyone in the player pool now, up close and personal, not just as players, how they are off the field, how they interact with their teammates, what kind of energy they bring. You know, people laugh about vibes. vibes are really important. Vives are really important, especially in a World Cup. When you have a group of guys,

there's 26 players, only 11 played at a time, right? So you have 15 guys who aren't playing. The vibes better be good because if you have a bunch of jerks, your team's going nowhere. Look at France, like, look at the French team in 2010.

Look at the French team in 2002, right? France wins the World Cup in 1999. They go into 2022, 2002. They're the best team in the world. They have the best roster in the entire world. They don't score a goal at the World Cup. They don't score a goal, right?

They completely imploded. 2010, same thing. They go out in the group stage. Completely imploded, right? Look at that roster. How did that happen, right? So it met you, so he's figuring out, he wants to know who he's,

who he can count on on the field as in whatever role it is. That's what I think the summer was about. Now, does that mean that, you know, Aidan Morris isn't going to make a World Cup team and Sebastian Burrhal there is? I don't know at this point. I don't know. I don't think any of us know.

That's why the next few months are going to be really interesting. And Aidan Morris is in a, you know, he's started, played 90 minutes in the opening weekend for Middlesbrough. He's a good player. I really like him as a player. Really like him. And I could, I think he can be a national team player. But we'll see.

There's 26 spots. I do think the guys who were on the Gold Cup team this summer have an advantage just because the amount of time they spent with that squad, you know, with Pontino, the sacrifices they made. Like, there were guys, you talk about Matt Turner, right? Matt Turner spent his whole summer with, like, five Houston National Team, didn't play a minute. Didn't play a minute, right? So, like, yeah, I think those guys get the benefit of the doubt because they, you know, by all accounts,

everyone in that group was super tight and contributed to a really, really strong team atmosphere. And that's a necessity at the World Cup. You need the equality too, but you absolutely need the vibes as well. Is that why Potch cried at the end? Because he felt so good about the vibes. I think so. Yeah, I do. I thought it was a little funny too, right?

But like I, that team was, that team was, they cared for each other. They really did. And you can, and it's, you know, that, that's in team sports, like, you need that. You catch lightning in a bottle sometimes. That's how Lester wins a Premier League title, right? Like, they had quality as well. But sometimes a group just worked. They just clicked together.

They care for each other. They fight for each other. They play for each other. They play well for each other. They have chemistry. And you catch lightning and bottle and you accomplish something great. And I think the U.S. team this summer probably overachieved. They got a little bit lucky.

I think it would have been very difficult for them to play Canada in the semifinal. So Guatemala did them a favor in that game. But yeah. But they went to the final against Mexico. And I think at the beginning of the summer, we all would have taken that. Went up one zero, too. Yeah, if France needs good vibes, boy do we need them, you know? And look like, look at what happened when everybody misbehaved in 1998.

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. You have no chance. Yeah, we don't, we want to have a chance. Darius T. asks, do you think the player pool is better than its results, worse than its results, or about the same? That's a great question. I think they've been worse than their results lately

Of course You know like look at the Nations League right Like US should not be losing to Panama At home In a knockout game Shouldn't happen Still like no disrespect to Panama But that shouldn't happen

You go man for man U.S. is a better roster That shouldn't happen I still think the U.S. is a better roster than Canada Canada's a really good team And they play like a team And they have some real quality like Jonathan David is a top, top striker on a global level.

But man for man, are they better than the U.S.? I don't know. I don't know. So I didn't, you know, you look at that tournament, they were, you know, and this is a team that traditionally when it's done well, it's punched above its weight, and it needs to do that. And to have success next summer, it needs to do that. And it hasn't done that lately.

So, yeah, this is a team that's punched below its weight for the better part of, really since the 2022 world. I would say. How do you define success in the World Cup next summer for the U.S.? Is it a quarterfinal appearance? Yeah, at least. At least. I mean, you're playing at home.

You're going to get a good draw. You're going to be a seated team, which you'll never get in any other circumstance. We've seen a U.S. team go to a quarterfinal before, you know, more than 20 years ago, when MLS had 10 teams. So back when you were working for internet soccer.com. Correct. Correct. So I think, you know, the format's different. Like so now you need to win two knockout games to get to a quarterfinal.

Right? That's not going to be easy. Like the round of 32 game is going to be hard. Like it's not as hard as a round of 16 in theory. But that's a knockout game at a World Cup. That's a hard game to win. It's going to be a team against the level that we haven't been convincing against. You know, if it's like a.

I don't know, Czech Republic, something. You know, just one of those random countries like that, Ecuador, I don't know. Sure. Look at the Iran game, Vince. Look at the Iran game in 2022. That was a knockout game. That was a knockout game, right? They had to win the game or they're out.

And that was a really hard game to win. And they did it, but barely. So, yeah, I think you have to get to a quarterfinal. You go out of the round of 16. On home soil, that's a failure. You get to the quarterfinal, you can live with it. Everything goes right. You can get to a semifinal if everything goes right.

You get a little luck and they play out of their skins. That can't happen. You saw Morocco do it. We've seen South Korea do it. We've seen Turkey do it. You know, you can get to a semifinal, but everything would have to break their way. They'd have to, you know. And I think that's the ceiling for this.

Like quarter final would be success. Semi-final. Everyone has to be thrilled with that. and you play a third get you know if you don't get any further that you play at least you're playing a third place game the country would lose its mind if that happened and it'd be a great thing so it's going to be very very hard to do but yeah it's not it's not impossible if they get their act together well even a court getting to a quarterfinal in this tournament you would require winning two knockout games which 100% it would also be very difficult yeah it'd be

difficult but they can they could do it they could do it if again they play as well as they're capable of they can and and they get a little they get the bounces to get the brakes they it's not impossible. I mean one thing's for this, this may be the magical World Cup for Mexico to get the Quinto Partido. Yes.

All they have to do is make the round of 16. Oh man. All right. I mean, if we went to knock out games like this country's going to like people are, people are locked in when we get to the knockout rounds. You know, you see all those

videos or whatever of bars for the college kids or whatever, you know, for a round of 16. I mean, imagine winning two knockout matches. That would be. Yeah, we'd go nuts. Well, that's, you've got to get the momentum flowing. I think that that's part of the, you know, when 2002, I think, was a success

because it comes on the back of the greatest failure we've ever seen for this national team. Like, you qualify for the World Cup, you get out the group, you know, you're not winning that game against the Netherlands, most likely, though I would love to know what would have happened if Christian Polis could get scored that goal early in that game. It might have changed things quite a bit.

But I think that that's what disappointed people was that everyone got up for that Netherlands game, and it was such a letdown. You know, to lose 3-1, it just felt like as soon as the Dutch, like that game was over at halftime. I was in the stadium. Like when the Dutch scored the second goal, I knew there was no chance the US was getting back there.

Zero chance. However, they looked pretty good. 10 minutes of that game. They bossed that game and had a great chance. And again, if that goal goes in, things could have been different. But in the end, what do you expect? You're playing the Netherlands in a knockout game of the World Cup. You know, did Greg Burhalter get out-coached by Gus Hitting? Yeah, he did. Because Gus Hiddings, one of the, you know, legendary coaches, Van HAL, sorry, Van HAL. Yeah. One of the legendary coaches the last 30 years, right? Like, I mean, you're, yeah, you might win that game two out of ten times if you're lucky.

Yeah. You'd want it to be a bit closer, I think. You know, a multi-goal loss was hard to take for a lot of people in that game. I understand it. I mean, just look at the centerback. I mean, we don't have to relitigate this, but just look at the centerback pairings, you know? Virgil Vendike and Matias DeLict, and I forget

who even started for us. Who was it? Hez-Ferrearer. That's right. I remember this, like, Luca Delatori quote when he was just like watching from the sidelines, like, their defenders were so good. It was just, it was hard for us to create chances or opportunities, which it's like he didn't say that much, but it's like Luca Delatori saying it. So he's like, you got to add extra weight to it. Or it's like he doesn't open his mouth to say much. So it's like the fact that he really said that full quote is just like, yeah.

Well, again, like you go men for man, right? You know, like Nathan Akey's out. Like, they're just like, you look around the field. It's like, come on. Like, this guy starts from Manchester City. Like, what do you think? So, yeah. But that's, you know, again.

But yeah, they can win a knock, one, they win one knockout game. It's like the momentum starts to build. And then it's about capitalizing on it. So, yeah, that's what we all, I think, hope for that there's, you know, there's, the U.S. team at least gives a good account of itself next summer and makes the country proud. That's all you can ask for. Totally.

All right, let's get into Gio a little bit. Dortmund has given, is it Job? Is that how you say it? Yeah, given Job Bellingham, Gio's number seven. They brought it as a gift to Bellingham in England when they went to sign him. While Gio was still on the team, he's not wearing number 21 for Dortmund. It's not in the team presentation. No update on his move to Parma.

We're just going to have to be patient. the question from MGO 5 is did you get the sense or do you get the sense the current staff knows what's ailing Gio Raina? Is it and I mean maybe a more direct way to ask the question is is this problem medical? Is it mental? Is it bad luck? What is what's going on with Gio? What does Pach think is going on? I think it's a combination of all those things.

Like he's, Gio has hardly played in the last four years. I watched a video of him earlier this morning. A goal he scored in December of 2020 for Dortmund. Phenaut like just a phenomenal goal. Like, and he scored a ton of those. Like, so we know, we've seen his quality. And that's why people are so excited about this guy still.

But he has hardly played soccer for the last four years. And, you know, I don't know. if it's, you know, I think the injuries have taken a toll. You know, I look, if you look at his, Gio's sprint numbers last year in the Bundesliga out of like 400 some odd players, he was number 366, like in terms of like top speed. So like, he's not sprinting. He's not, and I don't know if that's because he can't because he's worried he's going to pop a hamstring.

He's, you know, been beset by hamstring injuries that have cost him, I mean, cost him nearly the season before the World Cup. the guy, look, the guy just hasn't played soccer, man. And until he does, it doesn't even make sense to talk about it as part of the national team. He's played 10 minutes under Pachitino, all in the third place match in the Nation's League final. I never thought he was a Potch kind of player to begin with. But, you know, you need as many good quality players as you have at a World Cup. So, like, I'm rooting for Gio.

I hope he finds a place to play. I hope he crushes it. You know, I hope he plays his way back on the U.S. team. But I'm less and less optimistic every day that that's going to happen because I just haven't seen it. Like there's, we, we can't go on, you know, clips that happened five years ago. Like, it just, it's, it's, you have to be doing something now today.

And I'm worried for Joe, because, like, he's now not getting, he's missing preseason. Dorban's already playing games. Like, the, the European season has already. started in some places like Scotland championships already kicked up you know three of the five top European league kick off next weekend the final two the weekend after that like geo hasn't a preseason with anyone where is is he going to step in somewhere whether it's farmer anywhere else and like be a world leader I'd love to see it but I'm not optimistic about it just not I can't be at this thing none of us can really what is this is just so this gives me so

much anguish. What is going on in his camp? What are they thinking? Are they just happy to be sitting for him to be sitting there in Dortmund doing nothing? Like, don't they want him to move? Just anywhere? I have no idea. None of this makes much sense to me. Like, Dortman extended him a year, his contract a year when they sent him on loan to Forrest last year. You would think they would want to cash in at some point. This is a guy that was worth 50 million euros. Like three years ago. Yeah. Yeah. And like now,

I mean, now Dorman apparently is holding out for 10 and can't get that. I don't know. The lack of up, I just don't know the answer. And the lack of updates is troubling. Like, I have no idea what's happening with Gio. And I don't think anyone else does. I don't think he's gotten great advice. The move to Forest last year made no sense.

It made no sense at the time. I said it at the time before he went. And that happened to play out the way we thought it was going to. So I don't know. I know he's changed agents a bunch of times. So we'll have to see. I mean, but he's got to land somewhere and he's got to play soccer.

And if he does that and he plays well, he can play his way onto a World Cup team. And if he doesn't, he's not going to be on the team. And it's as simple as that. Well, he doesn't have a great track record as a vibes guy either. Well,

I mean, again, right. So that, look, and that all gets assessed. Then as much as, you know, Pontesino is going to give all these guys a clean slate, like, you know, that's a big mark against him, unfortunately, for the rest of his career.

I mean, that happened at a World Cup. And that's part of his history now. And it's on him to show that he's not that guy and, you know, that he can be a contributor on whatever team he's on. And again, it's on him to do that. I still think he can. I hope he does. But we'll see. So CF Jacks asked, you do think, said Burlter has a better chance of being on the World Cup roster than Gio Raina.

As of right now, yes, he does. I mean, there's no question about that. I don't think that's a controversial take at all at this point. Okay. Go ahead, Vince. I kind of jumped over you there. Oh, no, it's fine. I'm just thinking back to when Doug said he was watching O.G Arena highlights.

And, man, he really did look like the real deal. Like, I remember somebody posted the, I think his, the goal he scored against Verde Brayman. Was that the one who he skipped past two people, curled it in for? far post and it's like you know everyone's response to the top speed stuff is like well he's never been the fastest but he was very sudden and that suddenness to me does it I just don't see it the way it was back then but yeah man he was he was special to quote it was yeah yeah well the thing look the the thing I think about a lot is like the soccer players main development years the years that a soccer player develops most are between like 17 and 20, 21.

And Gio's basically missed that entire time. Like he's hardly played. He's played less than 600 minutes a year every one of the last four years. Like he's not the same player anymore. He's not. And I hope he can get back to being because like you said, I mean, just the talent. And even for Dorman, like whenever he's played, he's scored. Right.

So like we know he has ability going forward. But I think, and I also think like there's just. you have to be a complete player in this day and age. Like there's no room for guys that can only, you know, operate in the final third. Like you have to be able to play all over the field. And, you know, again, I don't know if it's fitness. I don't know if it's, you know, because he's had muscle injuries or whatever. But, like, that's never been Gio's game.

You know, the defensive side of his game is still something that, you know, he's, it's not great at. And, you know, there's no room for luxury players in the modern game. There's just not. Can't play defense if you can't run. I mean, that's pretty straightforward. Let's get to the weekend action after a break. If you haven't already, check out the grassroots soccer series that's ongoing on all our channels, especially if you're in the process of signing your kids up for soccer, which many of us are right now.

I think you'll enjoy it. But even if you're not, the inconvenient truth about all of this is that American men's soccer is not going to get significantly better without everybody getting better from the ground up. So it starts with you, it starts with me. If you have a question or comment prompted by those episodes, please do send us a voicemail or write out a question. I'll put those links in the show notes because a few of us are going to respond to those in an upcoming episode. All right, we'll get to the weekend action after a break. Join the Patreon again, please to skip the ads and get the clip notes videos, which Vince has lovingly crafted for yours and our edification.

We'll be back in a minute. All right, we're back. Richards and Crystal Palace defeated Liverpool in the community. Shield, another trophy for the pride of Hoover, Alabama. Thoughts, fellas? Doug? I love Chris Richards. As a player, as a guy, yeah.

He's the best. He's the best. He is. He's great. Obviously, I mean, probably the guy, as much as we talk about, Lee Tillman and Diego Luna and did all summer, Chris Richards, you know, firmly stamped his place as an in-pen starter for the national team going forward. I don't think there's any question about that. And a great, great guy off the field,

great to deal with, always a smile on his face, just a lovely person in every way. U.S. team's lucky to have him. And he's a terrific player. And we saw that, I mean, look, Palace was the underdog in that game, and they were the underdog in the FAA Cup final against Man City, and they won both of them. So, you know, Richard's last two games for Crystal Palace at Wembley with a trophy on the line is on a team that beats city and then beats Liverpool. So I really like Crystal Palace. Great team to watch, really fun. I'm excited to see what they can do in the Premier League this season.

I'm excited to watch Chris Richards play weekend and week out, the best league in the world this year. Yeah. They're excited. Go ahead. I just want to say Chris has matched, you know, every trophy that Mikel Arteta has won at Arsenal. I mean, as an Arsenal fan,

it pays me to say this, but I mean, you know, it's talking about the magnitude of what he's been able to do here and the fact he's been able to do it with Crystal Palace, like, I mean, and was talking to Jack Pearson everything. He's reaching club legend status. I mean, let's get a, I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but a solid more, three, four seasons, maybe some more success. I mean, it would another trophy.

I mean, another trophy would obviously put him there. But, yeah, he's, doing well. Yeah. He is such a lovable person, too. I mean, without or no. Yeah, so he's humble and funny.

Like, like Waki always used to say, the funniest player on the national team. I do want to say from this game, the thing that really stood out to me is sort of his resilience, because he did take a pretty good lick from Akatike, and on that opening goal, got out-quicked to the inside.

and it was a dart to the far post, a really nice goal in the fourth minute. But Richards hung in there. And so did Pallas, of course. There was one moment a few minutes later where he gave it away to Ekatike. I mean, they were going at each other the whole game. Gave it away to him at midfield. And you're like, oh, no, now he's going the other way. Richards made another, made him like a more visible mistake than getting out quick at the edge of his own box.

But Richards chased him down, bodied him. embodied him, bodyed him, poked the ball out of bounds. And I thought, man, that's good. It's good to the mental toughness there to stay in the game. And then, of course, obviously, they won the game. Look, you're going to look silly sometimes when you're playing as top teams, top players. Yeah.

Like, that's, you're playing against Liverpool, right? Like, defenders, sometimes you're going to look bad. That's just, that's how it goes. But I agree with you guys. I mean, I was clipping that replay of the Ekatite goal. and it's like it's one step that Chris didn't make you know when Chris is trying to turn his hips he kind of takes like a negative step to where he doesn't like gain any ground laterally and and that gives like a tk the little bit of space to put that ball in it it's just like man the the margin for error so thin and uh but and still the shot had to go through the legs of um

was it wharton or somebody just the inside i mean yeah exactly the margins are so thin PSV Peppy not in the squad Bosch said he wasn't fully fit but we'll be back next week there's now rumors about R.B. Leipzig maybe being interested in Pepey you don't think so, Doug?

I don't know. That seems like a weird thing I mean they just PSV just signed him they offloaded DeYoung as you mentioned Vince so that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense I mean you know PSV is a Champions League club like he this is would be peppy's first season as the starter there um so i've liked to see him stay there i hope that's what happens um yeah i don't know if there's anything to those leipsic rumors at all right i don't either i you know i feel kind of even guilty just even bringing them up but you know

people will be like well what about the rumors to leipzig so um play didn't score that's pepsey's competition he didn't score in this six one opening game of the season season win. So I'm taking that as a slight victory. Dest did score in first half stoppage time. A gorgeous little one, two, at the edge of the box with play. Yeah. He's toying with the opponent in their final third, and then he gets slipped in, and he

roofs it from a tight angle, just lovely, lovely stuff, sort of vintage desk. And then he drops a highlight video. Well, he also contributed to the Till goal in the 70th minute, playing Parasich into the cup back zone, and then he posted a highlight reel to Instagram. So it's great to have him back in all his assets. Yeah. Yeah. Love Sergenio, another big personality.

I think the U.S. team really missed him over the last year. Yeah. So it's a great thing that he's back. They missed him at the Gold Cup. Clearly, you know, it was the right decision because he started the season very well for PSV. He looks like the goal was impressive, but like the highlight video was more like him dribbling through guys like he used to. Like that's what we want to see from Sergino Desk.

Huge, huge addition. It's like getting a new world-class player when he comes back to the U.S. team. And a guy that I think has matured a lot in the last couple years. And he's going to be a really important leader in that room. He's a quirky personality, as you know. Like, he's a different kind of guy. But I really enjoy him. I think he's great.

I know his teammates really like him. And he's going to. to help team immensely when he gets back in hopefully in the September window. Doug, I'm happy you brought up Sergenio Dest maturing because last week was the four-year anniversary of him showing up to Messi's goodbye party in the streetwear fit. And I do want to say the tweet struck me because obviously we've seen this time and time again. But I really thought to myself, I was like, there's nothing like that first time when you show up somewhere as a young man underdressed.

Yeah. You know? And you just feel like you stick out like a sword thumb. Like, and I know people maybe thought that like surge showed up there and, you know, thought nothing of it. But, but I'm willing to bet something like this, this thing in particular, for Sergenio Desk, the person that we know that he is, him showing up there, sticking out like a sword thumb, being severely underdressed and everything.

I feel like that probably stuck with him because I know. The moments when it's happened to me, it stuck with me. It was like, I can never let this happen again. So. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it was that or just him, you know, naturally just getting older and more mature like we all do. But yeah, it's all those little things along the way, right? Everything along the way, yes. Yeah.

I also got some intel regards to his highlight reels. Okay. Twitter follower, wake up in polo, hit me up in the DMs and said he's in Amsterdam. and he was talking to a guy from Einhoven about our Americans, and he said that Sergenio DMs people who makes edits to tell them to make sure they clip a specific moment, and then he'll tell them to edit the clips differently after watching them. So, you know, he's as involved in the process as we thought that he was.

A regular Steven Spielberg. That's right. That's right. I do have to mention, well, do I have to mention, well, do I have to. have to mention it. I'm going to mention it. Rotterdam's, supporter of Rotterdam's goalkeeper had a nightmare of a game. Caught out at the near post by Ruben Van Bommel, who's, I think is kind of interesting. He's Mark Van Bommel's son. He's a new winger at PSV.

He came over from Azid Alkmar. And what else? Beaten by Verman in the second half on a shot, he totally should have saved. I think he got a full palm to it and just palmed it right into his own goal. So, you know, I mean, the, the allegations of Farmers League are not going away anytime soon. It was kind of noticeable in this match, specifically. I mean, all due respect is part of Ryderdale.

Yeah, which there may not be that much respect, too. Parish keeps gaining strength as he gets older. Man, 36 years old. Now he's all over the field running the show, two assists and a goal in this one. What a player. Yeah, good player. Tillman, no longer at PSV, didn't travel,

with Leverkusen on their recent trip but is expected to play in their season opener. Okay. Championship kicks off. Captain, Josh Sergeant,

scored for Norwich. Just an absolute galazzo. Just kidding. He blocked a, he blocked a goalkeeper clearance into the net with his, with his butt. So, good job, Josh.

How do you feel? How are you feeling, Doug, how are you feeling about him not leaving Norwich? Look, I think Josh has to do what's best for him and his family. I think it feels to me like he's at a point where he, like he's just been named caps in the club. He's obviously well, like they're well established. His family's settled. He's getting well paid. He can play his way into the Premier League next year.

I wonder if he's just made the decision that that's the place he wants to be. And if he makes the national team or not, that's out of his control. He's just going to stay there and score as many goals as he can and hope that he gets called back in. From the outside, it feels like there's nothing he can do in Norwich to get back into the national team. Like if he wasn't on the Gold Cup this summer as the best striker in the championship last year, what can he possibly do to change Pachitino's mind? He hasn't played great in the chances he's, I think he started three games underpins. Potchitino didn't do very well in any of them, didn't score,

and missed a couple of really good chances in a couple games, not just the Nation's League. The one I'm thinking about in particular was Potch's first game against Panama, I think. I was in the building. Josh had an absolute sitter and he skied it. And to me, it looks like in hockey we say gripping the stick too tight. Like he's pressing. He wants it too much.

I know he cares about the national team. He's a good player. He's a good guy. I have not, you know, given up hope that he can make the squad. I think he can help the national team. I would love to have seen him be healthy for that Netherlands game in 2022 that we talked about. Right. Because I think he's a very good soccer player.

I think he can score. There's obviously questions. Can he score at the international level? He hasn't done so since 2019. I think, you know, he looks like kind of the kind of player to me that like once he gets one, the floodgates will open for him with the national team. He's just got to get that one. does he get the chance?

That's the big question. I mean, I thought he needed to move to a top division. I thought going back to Bundesliga from a career point of view, a national team career point of view, would have been great. But, you know, Josh made the decision that that wasn't the best thing for his family and how can any of us begrudge him that we all make decisions the best for our family first, as we should.

But, yeah, I don't know it's the greatest place for him to stay if he wants to make the national team. But, you know, it's just been named captain, and so it doesn't seem like he's going to move anywhere. So if he's going to do it, it looks like it's going to be there. I respect the decision if it is like, if the decision is like, hey, I don't, I don't care as much about playing for the national team as I do about my family.

I mean, who can begrudge him that? But if he still wants to put, if he wants to play at the World Cup next summer, like if he really wants to, you know. Yeah, yeah. dude should have moved but whatever yeah i mean look or you can move and still not make it and then you've uprooted your family for nothing that's true you know so like if he's just if he if he says you know what i mean he only played about half the year last year because he got hurt early in the season then he was out the first half the year if he plays the whole year and he's just

scoring every week he should get another look he should get another look whether it's in september or october or november or march he should get another look before the roster gets named and again if he takes that opportunity then um you know i do think there was and i don't know this for sure guys it's just a hunch but i feel like pochitina was so disappointed in the results of the nation's league that he wanted to send a message and you know we know he wanted christian polysic there i'm not sure that some of the other regulars would have been there um i'm not sure if weston mckenny specifically would have been on the gold cup squad this summer if he had been available he wasn't because he was involved with d'i vendez at the

the club world cup um so i feel like maybe poch made he sent that message by leaving some other guys out and those would include players like sergeant and joe scally and tanner tessman guys that had been involved and you know were kind of head scratches why they weren't why they weren't there i mean potch said josh was a football decision okay but is josh sergeant a better striker than brian white i think he is And no disrespect to Brian White, you know? So we'll see if that was the case and if some of the guys that were left out over the summer get another chance to come back in. I think they will.

So I have hoped that if Josh continues to just score the way he has been, he'll get another shot before it's all said then. Makes sense. And also, Pach didn't play Brian White hardly at all in the goal. After he tried him out a little bit, then he realized that probably realized that Josh Sargent is better than Brian White too. Yeah. There was a lot of guys like that, too. I mean, like, when you look at, he settled on a group of the Gold Cup and kind of stuff with him.

I mean, there were a bunch of guys we didn't see, like, you know, Nathan Harriol, I don't think, played after the Switzerland game. You know, there was a, it was very clear. Well, yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, no one covered themselves in glory in that game, obviously. But, like, it felt like there was, you know, he didn't go to his best. bench sometimes because he didn't trust what he had on his bench.

I don't think it was just a matter of, you know, too late to make substitutions. I think he looks down his bench and it's like, you know what, we'll stick with the guys that are on the field. Yeah. Real quick, Caleb Wiley, not on the squad for Watford. I don't know. Does anybody know what's going on there? Nope.

Nope. Yeah, okay. Haji subbed on in the 67th minute for Coventry. Game ended zero zero. Aidan Morris. I want to talk a little bit about him. He played the full, like you said earlier, Doug, played the full 90 and Middlesbrows win over 1-0 win over Swansea. Wait, it was 1-0, right?

I think it was. Sorry, everybody. Yeah. Aid Morris played the full 90 and Middlesbrose win, 1-0 win over Swansea. And, man, I was really impressed with how he played in this game. He was real crisp, assured. He was cooking on the half-turn. I mean, there were so many fouls in the game that, like, a lot of the times he would turn out of pressure in, like, just gorgeous manner.

And then there'd be a whistle off the ball, like, 20 yards away. And so the play would be dead. But, like, but he was looking really good. And, um, I don't know. I think he's better than Seb Burhalter, but I, I get it. I get, I get that Sebastian's, uh, yeah. Well, there's, what, what is the one thing, Sebastian breaks to the table that they, that what, the one thing. that'll get him on the World Cup team. What is it?

Fibes? The set pieces? No, set pieces. That's it. Okay. He can hit a set piece. And arguably, as well as anybody else in the player pool, right? Arguably. So I think that that there's going to be, you know, when you look at central midfield, it's really interesting. You have to say that, well, I mean, I don't, we don't know what Moose's situation is, but Adams and McKenney are locks. I think if they're healthy and available and bought

and all that stuff. We'll see what happens with Wes. But you need West and McKinney at the World Cup. No doubt about it. You know, I still think Moosa's got a chance to be in there. And if not, is there a more attacking option like the Tillman, like a Luna? But when you look at Central Midfield, right, like what, there's a lot of guys there for not a lot of spots.

Like, I still think Tanner Testman is a guy that is interesting. You know, he's playing at a good club in a good. good league he's a absolute physical beast which makes a difference at the international level we talked about sebastian's undersized um aden morris is a little bit undersized although he's pretty pretty strong uh strong guy yeah um yeah but like you know there's there's a lot of competitions for spot johnny cardozo i watched him play for athletic over the weekend how did he looked okay I mean, he almost looks good for his club. Like, he, I've seen him play a couple games,

so I'm playing against Porto as well. He's been fine. It's just, it's amazing to see him suiting up in those colors, you know, with playing for Diego San-Moh. I mean, that's a big step up for him. And you have to think, like, if he plays well, like, he's got to be in the mix somewhere. I'm still, that was one of the disappointments to the Gold Cup.

I thought he would get a run in games this summer, probably in Burrhalder's place if he's healthy. but he wasn't. He was dealing with an ankle injury to the whole goal cup and didn't play. Do you think it was really that, or was it just that he kicked out of his own goal? No, I don't think it was that. Okay. No, look, he's a quality player.

And, you know, there was some transfer stuff that was going on during the Gold Cup. I know, like, Athletico's team doctor did the medical while he was in camp with the U.S., things like that. But, no, like if he was available to play, he would have played. I'm sure I don't think it was a matter of, you know, Potch not thinking he's good. He's clearly a good player. And then you remember how connected Potts, you know, is in Spain. Like, all his assistants live in Spain. He knows everybody in the country.

Like, you know, he was teammates with Diego Semione. Yeah. Right? At the World Cup. So, like, he can pick up the phone. And, like, so he knows Johnny's a good player. Johnny will be on the World Cup team, I think. Like, I hope he has a great season this year.

So he can, you know, prevent. provide some real competition in the midfield because I mean look if you think back a few years ago guys like the idea that you'd have a guy who's you know potentially starting for athletic Madrid and not good enough to start for the US men's national team ridiculous that you're crazy yeah so we know he's a good player hasn't shown it with the national team I feel like eventually he will and he'll be at least the you know the first option off the bench but I think he's got the inside track in central midfield ahead of guys like Aiden Morris, Luca Delatori I'm a little worried about because again, he's a little bit

undersized. He does, like, what does he bring to the table? They're like, do you, are you going to take Sebastian Berhalter and Luca Deletori? Probably not taking both of them. And if you're taking one, then the set pieces are maybe what you, what you take. So a lot of really hard decisions that have to be made over the next, you know, 10 months or so. You know what, Doug, when you said, you said something that, that I think might have, uh, help me crack the code with regards to Johnny Cardoso. You said when you see him in those colors. At first, I thought you were talking about the USA colors.

When you see him in those colors as a completely different player or something like that. But you were talking about Athletico's colors. Which are the same colors as the United States Men's Natural Team. What I'm saying is once we get them in here playing well for Athletico, Madrid, I think we're going to see a little bit more transfer, the green over to the red and blue. It doesn't transfer as well Red, white and blue to red, white, and blue I think we got it there.

There you go. That's what he needs. That's what he needs. Real quick, Rexum opened their campaign in the championship at Southampton, which is, I think, the Rexum story is pretty cool.

There was a U.S. eligible player in the game. Downs came off the bench. Yep. Yeah. And he was credited with an assist, which was, I have to report, not really an assist. He ran onto a ball, squared into the six, whiffed on it, basically. Just couldn't get his feet right, which I feel like we've seen that movie before from Damien.

And then, like, from point blank, just barely gets a touch. It trickles through. I mean, you have to watch the really slow replay in high definition to see the touch. trickles through for Jack Stevens to thump it in for the game winner at 96 in the 96 minute. So that's Damien's contribution at Southampton so far. I don't know. Thoughts on Wrexham? Doug?

Thoughts on Ryan Reynolds? I've had about enough for Rexum, frankly. It is a great story. But like, yeah, no, it's, it's, I have enough, like, there's, I have to watch so much soccer. And, you know, I enjoy it. It's a privilege. But, like, I can't, I can't be. watching Rexham unless they're playing against the U.S.

men's nationally player. I like Damien Downs. I like, I would like to have seen more than the summer. For the record. I would like to have seen more of him this summer. I thought there were times where he could have come on earlier for Ajiman in games or even, you know, I know he was deployed with Ajima. They got, you know, kind of wide at the end of games. Look, he did score a, you know, penalty kick to the U.S. to the semifinal.

So that was his main contribution in the, you know, he did score a penalty kick to send the U.S. contribution in the shootout win over Costa Rica, right? Against Taylor Novice, right? Nothing to sneeze at. But I would like to have seen him a bit more. He's a quality player. We saw that into Bundesliga last year. Interesting move to go to the championship as opposed to, you know,

go to the team he helped get promoted to the Bundesliga. But we'll see. I think he's got his work cut out for him to make the World Cup team. But again, the fact that he was in with the U.S. all summer probably doesn't hurt his chances. and if he has a good season in the same league as a lot of other U.S. strikers, you know, Haji and Josh and Ajiman now at Darby. He didn't play over the weekend. But yeah, like, you know, at least he's in this. It's easier to compare where they're all in the same league.

So maybe that was some of the thinking as well. I see. Yeah. All right. Go ahead. Real quick before you move on. I do want to listen. if you listen to this podcast,

I assume that you have ascertained that Doug here is a real ball watcher. And I just want to bring up the fact that when I met Doug in Austin, I have my scuff podcast hat on. He came up, introduced himself to me, etc. He said, y'all do great work and he uses the play bill every weekend.

Every weekend. So I just want to know what, what's your weekend routine like? Oh, man, it's crazy. Yeah, it's, I mean,

it starts first thing, Well, usually the weekend starts on Friday, right? So we'll get a couple games on Friday afternoon, hopefully with the U.S. player involved. And then, yeah, man, my TV's on from, depends what time. Some of the Scottish games kick off at 6 in the morning, right? You got Celtic and start the day with Cameron Carter-Bakers and Austin Trustee and just go through, you know, go through the games. And even if it's not a national team player, the 730 Premier League game is going to be on in my house.

And, yeah, I try to watch as many. best players every week as I can. You guys do great work. I wanted to say this at the end, guys, but I really admire your passion for the national team, for the sport. It comes through and everything you do. I love it. It helps me. And it's an honor for me to come on and join you guys today, because I've been a fan of your work for going back years. And like I said, yeah, those playbills are so helpful because it's hard to get your head around how many, how many, how many, game story you don't have the mLS games on there though right like so that's that's that's it's only european games right so like i know you've you've added the you know women's players the last couple

years that's a nice touch um but then when you add in the mLS games too guys it's like yeah it's just right it's there's a lot of soccer to watch on the on the weekends when mblest season starts in february it's like man what what what what you know how do i stay married it's really difficult you got a family man like yeah it's hard it's hard well my son loves soft soccer so we watch a lot together so that's really great um and yeah uh so shout out i got a shout out gregg velasquez because he's the one who does it every week gregg velasquez in his laboratory in ankeny iowa you know just pumping out the playbill Greg does a great job man it's it's awesome everyone should be using that that playbill every weekend keep track of everybody

A little bit of transfer news real quick and transfer injury to close us out. This Freeman to Via Real thing, is this, is this? Real. I don't think there's anything to that. It's terrible. Okay. It's not, you know. Don't think it's real.

Yeah. With the double, with the double R. The double R. Yeah. No, I don't think so. I don't think, I mean, look, the guy. The guy to go to for all your MLS reporting, as you know, is Tom Bogart. Does a great job.

You know, any transfer news, you check with him. He said that Orlando doesn't want to sell him. I know there's been interest from Premier League teams in Freeman. I believe he will be in the Premier League this time next year. That's what I think's going to happen. But I don't think it's going to happen before that. And look, there's a risk for all these guys. Like anybody that's on the world, like that, you know, can realistically think that they're on the World Cup roster now.

They're taking a huge chance making a move at this point. It doesn't work well. It probably costs Ricardo Pepe a place on the last World Cup roster. You know, if he stays in Dallas and scores a bunch of goals on the same team as Hayes-Ferra, like maybe he goes in Hayes's place or they go together or whatever. I don't think it was a great move for Ajima. We'll see how it pans out, but that's a big risk. To me, if he stayed in Charlotte, keeps doing his thing there. You put himself into a position to be on the World Cup team.

Now I'm not so sure. So, yeah, anybody that wants to move, I don't begrudge anyone chasing money or try to take that step up in their career. But being on a World Cup team is a pretty great thing in your career too. And for me, you know, it might make sense that wait a year. The money might be there in a year. It's hard not to take it now. If you play well at a World Cup, doors open for you.

So I'm curious to see how it pans out for some of these guys if they bet on themselves or if they, you know, they don't just yet. So we'll see. Eunice maybe to Nottingham, Forrest? This is, still sounds possible. I guess they can pay more than Napoli. You don't think so. Yeah, I don't know.

I'm not sure. I don't like that fit for them. I think the best thing that can happen is, is, you know, there were some rumblings. I don't know if it's true or not that, you know, that maybe he can stay at Milan. We've seen, you know, Max Allegory have changed a heart on player, U.S. players in the past, Weston McKenney.

I would love to see, I would love to see that situation happen with Eunice at Milan. I mean, he was a guy that was starting for them last year, every game at the beginning of the year. They had a coaching change. Similar thing to the U.S. where he's a good enough player to play a bunch of different positions. and that's hurt him in his career because he's been moved around and it's prevented him from excelling at any one spot. So I think that was part of the problem at Milan last year.

I would love to see him stay there and play for Allegra. I really like Allegory as a coach. But we'll see. We'll see what happens. But yeah, troubling lack of news from him as well. These guys got to be playing the year into the World, you know, going into the World Cup. And there's too many guys that are just an uncertain,

uncertain situations and Moose is a guy that he was a starter at the last World Cup at 19, 20 years old, turned 20 during the tournament. You know, you would think he'd be in contention to start for this one too,

but he's got to be playing like everyone else. Yeah, I feel like if he's there, he gets leaned on, you know, at the World Cup. I agree. He's a great player. Yeah. Yeah.

Two and a half weeks left in the transfer window, I believe, right? So there's still time. Matt Turner's back. in New England. They dos acero lowly D.C. United. He got a clean sheet. So he's back on track, I guess, in his quest.

And then, yeah. And then let me just say, let me just do three little bits of injury news. Balagan picked up a minor injury during training, didn't play for Monaco against Inter Milan and their friendly, should be back soon. Jedi is apparently still recovering from knee surgery over the summer and won't be in the squad for Fulham to start the Premier League campaign this coming weekend. That's a little troubling, but I mean, it'll be all right, right? Yeah, yeah, it's a little trouble.

A little trouble. We need them to play. I mean, I would like for him to be there in New Jersey and Columbus. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, it's just the thing that it's concerning about that is that it feels like Fullum didn't manage the injury really well. And I don't want to, you know, speak out of turn and criticize Fullum, you know, if it's not warranted.

But like, they were not getting relegated. They were not, you know, there were the last number of games in their season, they didn't have much to play for. Obviously, you know, in retrospect, it had made sense to shut Jet Act down then, having to do the surgery earlier because now he's missing the start of the new season. So not ideal. And, you know, a guy that we all thought was going to maybe move to Greener Pastures, this. summer and doesn't look like that's going to happen now either. So not the worst thing in the world for him to stay at Fulham, but, you know, not what we thought was going to happen with Jeddah and definitely not great to have one of your top players

start the season on the sidelines. Yeah. Good point about that home stretch of the season that they didn't have much to play for, did they? Did they have like a Europa League spot they were going to? Definitely not the last game. I think the last two, three games of their season, they, You know, they could have done without Jedi. It would have been fine.

The last bit of troubling injury news is Kevin Perretti is still sorting out his foot, apparently. The local newspaper is saying he'll be, quote, out for long, end quote, which is, you know, classic sort of translational diction there. He broke his foot. Again? Yeah, he broke it again. a different bone than the one that broke last year. I'm getting this from Discord user Charlie, who, without revealing why he knows this information,

just know that he's a good source. And so anyway, Kevin broke another bone in his foot. And yeah, it's going to be out for like, I think, 12 to 14 weeks, 12 to 14 weeks officially. Oh, brutal. Really, that's, really, that's, really unfortunate. That was a guy that was on the come-up, absolutely. He started a nation's league game at the end of 2014 against, 23, I should say, against Trinidad and Tobago, you know, looked like

he was going to be a key part of things this cycle and just, you know, got, I think he got injured at the Olympics, right, guys for last year? That's where he, right? And so really unfortunate. I really like Kevin Paradis as a player. I thought he had an excellent chance of making the World Cup team. and it just, you know, it looks like injuries are going to, you know, maybe stop that from happening. Maybe not. You might have some time at the end to Econ, but, you know, it's going to be an uphill climb for him now, for sure. For sure.

Yeah. Coming back in November, late November, something like that. Yeah. We'll see. Because, I mean, I do like him as a player as well quite a bit. Yeah, that would give him one camp, right? Like, there's the March window, and then after that it's going to be the World Cup team gets named. There'll be two friendlies in June.

And then we're right into the main event, guys. So, yeah. All right. I think that's it from us. Doug, thank you so much for the generous use of your time. And good luck over the next 12 months. Maybe we'll get you back. Anytime, guys.

Anytime, like I said, pleasure. I really appreciate what you guys do. You keep the fans engaged, excited. Like, your passion comes through and everything you do. And, yeah, it's a treat to be all with you guys. Vince, it was great to meet you in Austin. Adam, I'd never met you. I look forward to catching up in person somewhere along the way, man.

Yeah, we'll make it happen. And thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.