Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #623: Balo, Sarge come in hot, Poch visits Ohio Stadium, camp arrivals

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Charlie Boehm returns to join Vince and Belz for the Monday Review. Seattle's triumph over Inter Miami leads us off, then Balogun and Sargent come into camp in form, and lots more after that, including a big win for Tyler at Tottenham.CHECK OUT OUR MERCH: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, it's a Labor Day Monday review. Coming to you from Vince, Charlie, and Bells. Charlie, how you doing? I'm well. Happy Labor Day to everyone. Thanks to all the laborers of the generations who've given us this day. That's right. Vince, how are you? Yeah, we've been giving this day, but here I am laboring.

You know what I'm saying? up at it once again, watch the soccer, about to make this video when we get done with this. So, you know, I've made it a day on, not a day off. But, you know, it's all going to come good when I take off on Friday and go to New York to watch Sean Jawadsky play some soccer. Yeah, baby.

That's right. Lots to get into, lots to get into, now that we have our Labor Day traditions behind us, game on Saturday versus South Korea and then Japan on I believe Tuesday right? Yep. The Tuesday after that. I'm going to get interviews with a couple of journalists who cover the Japanese national team and one who covers the South Korean national team tomorrow.

So if you're a patron or you're in the Discord check it, go to go find the link for the question form if you want to submit a question to those guys. the South Korea reporter he had a like a 90 minute sit down with Yergan Kinsman like seven months ago and it is it's really good

so I'm really excited about that Steve Hahn is his name is this post fire was he still on the job or was he no this was post firing and you know Yergan I mean Yergan's just

we watch the video it's hard not to kind of like it you know he's so he's at his best post firing That's the best time to talk to me. Right. Right. Right.

But he's just so, he's smiling the whole time. Nothing, nothing bothers him. You know, the questions were pretty tough, and he's, he's hanging in there pretty well. Anyway, excited about that. Before we get into the, before we get into sort of national team players coming into camp and all that, I just want to, we should probably start with the league's cup final. This was pretty exciting, right? I imagine you stayed abreast of it, right, Charles? Yeah, yeah.

I actually wrote a piece for Sounder at heart in the lead up to this one about Miami because big up Jeremiah, Oshan, he's an incredible dude. They got a great thing going up in Seattle. You know, it's been going for so long that we take it for granted. But they set a new record, I think. I think that was their biggest crowd ever. or definitely one of their biggest crowds ever, some 60K something. It's just crazy.

You know, for a tournament that, of course, not everyone loves and is invested in, but they did it upright and made life difficult for Leo Messi and friends. Pretty narrative rich outcome they had. I kind of have to say, maybe I'm jumping into this too soon. No. But I'm sure we're going to get into some of Potch's selection quirks, right? And his, him making clear in both languages at his press conference last week that his feelings about MLS

and the validity of choosing players from there, which I have to say I've taken a little bit of perverse delight just in the chaos that he's just unleashing upon the fan base. Not just you. But what gives it away, what gives it away, what gives the game way a little bit, what undermines the validity of his, nonetheless valid points,

is I think one of the best Americans in MLS this year is not on the roster, and that's Christian rolled on. And apparently it turns out even he's been playing hurt. I don't know the inner details. I don't know how much they're keeping it under wraps. And I know every time a typical USM&T fan hears the name Christian Roldon,

they roll their eyes because there's a lot of history there. but players are not static quantities. And this guy is back in central midfield, and he's just doing the damn thing at a really high level, week and week out for a very, very good team. And there's also Jackson Reagan, right? Jackson Reagan is one of the best centerbacks in the league. Yeah. A bunch of USMNT leave asides on this team,

not just those two, but go ahead, Vince. You know, I've actually started to wonder, because I was watching, for the people that don't know, clip notes, is going to be only people that were called up into this roster, baby. So we got some Sean Zawkesi. We got some Alex Freeman. We got some Tristan Blackman. And so I was watching, I was watching Tristan Blackman,

and I saw a frame of Byron White, and I saw some Sebastian Burrhalter in there as well. And it got me thinking, maybe they just zeroed in on a couple teams. you know, like maybe they just really zoomed in on the on the Vancouver white caps like, oh, okay. You know, this is, I like, we like how this team plays. Let's call up. Oh, there's a few Americans on here. Yeah, let's call them up.

Go ahead. Vince, and it's also teams, maybe this is a coincidence, but I'm not sure it is. These are players and teams that happen to be playing Inter Miami a lot. I don't know if that's, and maybe that's just that, you know, because there is a fascinating thing happening in us where everybody, the inner Miami does get everybody's best game. Everybody gets up for a game against Messi. Even if he's not on the field, it's Messi's team. They're the ORA team of the league or whatever.

But like, Whitecaps gave them some work in the Concordiaf Champions Cup, and that's clearly put a bigger spotlight on those Whitecaps guys, you mentioned. And then Alex Freeman has made a lot of hay from shutting down Jordi Alba. And up until the semifinal that Miami won, in the league's cup at midweek, Alex Freeman was like just shining against players much older and more renowned than him. And I think that has to have helped his radar.

Yeah, this is what I'm wondering. Because like you said, Chuck, there does seem to be some pretty large blind spots within their evaluation of MLS. But yeah, let's get to speak gate. Can we talk about that? Well, yeah, but just second. So I don't think we've actually said it.

The Sounders thumped the Aura, the ORA team of MLS, 3 to 0, in front of their 60 to 70,000 fans with, I think, Jesus Ferreira playing well. Not just Christian, but also Alex rolled on playing well. And then little Paul Rothrock, the hometown boy, sealing it with a third goal late in the second half. I guess the Sounders had like a jersey swap deal where you could bring in your messy jersey and get a free Paul Rothrock jersey before the game traded in and then he scored and then yeah there was a bit of a brawl on the field after like Bousquet's through a punch and then there was also some saliva in the air. MLS first of all I got to give them credit they give you some high quality Caucasian names you know what I'm saying Zawatskyy Rothrock

Maximilian Arstyn. You know what I'm saying? I mean, Griffin McDormine Yow, I mean, which he ain't necessarily playing in my last yet. But he might be making his way back. We'll see.

But also, you talk about ORA, ORA, Mr. Brian Schmetser. He called it. He did the, he did the, the ant, the ant man. You know what I'm saying?

When he said, they got KD, we got Jade McDaniels. Brian Schmess, they got messy. We got Paul Rothrock. He actually did this in the press conference. And Paul Rothfrock came on a pitch and scored against the vaunted, vunted, into Miami, flamingos. So you talk about real aura. Real aura is earned, ladies and gentlemen. And, you know, kind of alluded to it, Chuck did as far as the Seattle Sounders.

I mean, been a pillar of American soccer at every different level. NASL, USL, now MLS. You know, this isn't, this isn't plastic, baby. This is real built soccer heritage within the United States of America.

And I don't know if enough people give them credit for that. And even if you don't like their current players, if you're not a, if you're not a roll-down liker, if you don't think those guys in the first team are up to the, up to snuff, you should be paying attention and giving thanks to the wider project because they have quietly built one of the best player development pipelines in the league

in terms of having a quality academy that's recruiting. They're the ones that help dig up Obed Vargas out of Alaska and bring him to Seattle, get him. He just passed, I want to say he passed 100 first-team games already. He's like the youngest guy ever to do it in MLS, something along those lines. And they've got a bunch of kids that have come through. They're still at a high level even with tons of injuries right now because of the Tacoma a defiance project.

Rothrock's a great example. That's a college kid. He blossomed a little bit later. They've also got Academy kids that are doing the business right now younger than than expected. So it's a really good holistic project. Yeah. Garth Lagerway probably with a lot to do with that.

So Suarez spit on somebody, spit on some old man in the crowd or something? Assistant coach or security guy, I think. Yeah. Okay. It's crazy, man. They really are a telenovela, though. I mean, win, lose, or draw, Miami are always doing attention-grabbing stuff. It's wild.

So, Chuck, it seems like the tide is turning. Or maybe the tide, or maybe it isn't turning. Maybe it's always been anti-M Miami. From the people that are most invested in MLS, when I can tell people that aren't Miami fans, fans of different clubs around the league seems like they've had enough and this was before, this was pre-spit,

you know, it's pre-saliva. It's a Miami bathroom at my last line. Let me just ask you that. Well, I mean, that's a thing. Like, it's, it's the fact that we're having that, that we would have that debate,

I think is in the net, it's a positive for the league and for North American soccer because they, they draw so many eyeballs, domestically, internationally and they are the they they are the the standard in both in good and bad in terms of what everyone measures themselves against so in terms of you know i mean i can tell you from the league

website's perspective like that's that's the the gold standard for like what draws traffic what has what gets eyeballs to the to the different apple not just apples season season past but like apple news when mLS items get get put on to the apple news feed like like like Miami are certainly in, what, five years, barely five years of existence or going on six now. They've just blown everything, they've grown the parameters of what's possible. And the way they've done that has had some sharp elbows to it, right? So for sure, there's some OGMLS fans. There's people who have been around a long time or who are supporters of other clubs that are absolutely have had it up to here.

they feel like they've been force-fed messy, they've been forced-fed Miami. And then I think there was a little backlash from all the All-Star game drama as well. You know, even getting into more institutional levels, like I think even executives at other clubs and maybe, maybe even league executives that are kind of going, all right, like, you know, there's some diva behavior here. So all of that is stirring the pot, though. It's still good, I think, because you have, whether you love them or hate them or only paying attention because of them, they are a magnet. Yeah, I love the pot getting stirred. And congratulations to Seattle on their League's Cup trophy. That's cool.

Cash Prize, Concaf Champions Cup qualification. I want to talk about the two strikers who had standout performances, and then we get into some questions about the lineup for this weekend. maybe we should start with the camp arrival pictures. Have you taken a look at those? Either of you? I've seen what's been out so far. Initial impressions, number one, not Serge's best work. His little Nike sweatsuit he had on.

I think the bottoms were quite wrinkled, little wrinkled, you know what I'm saying? I mean, and it was a Nike sweatsuit as opposed to like a Casablanca one, which he was rocking when he was really in his bag. Maybe it's because of the pay cut, you know, leaving Barsa, going to PSV, had to hurt the pockets a little bit, just a little bit. But, um... He's got a Nike deal, though, right?

He must have a deal with them, right? Yeah, he probably does. He probably does. But, you know, a lot of these... They, you know, they don't got to wear Nike at all times, you know? Right. They usually bring out the designer for Camp Arrivals, and, uh, yeah, Serge, let me down a little bit on that one. Yeah, he didn't look quite as florid as he usually does.

It looked like he was late for his plane. That's what it looked like. Maybe that's his all-business statement. Right. That was going to be my thought, too. I mean, you know, it was always all-business, Tyler Adams, you know, Y-T. Mm-hmm. Just.

White T that probably costs $800, but nevertheless. I don't know. Tyler, Tyler seems like a hands guy to me. Yeah, what's the name of the town he's from Wapahanick Falls or? Wapinger's Falls, I believe. Wapinger's Falls, yeah, yeah. Might be a Haines Town. Yeah, it's true.

Red Bulls kid at heart, blue collar. That's right, that's right. To the strikers. So Baligan got his second start for Monaco after a long injury layoff. His second full 90. He scored in, what was ultimately a 3-2 win against Strasbourg. Seems like he's healthy as a horse.

And his goal was really nice, like a plate in behind, kind of a little bit of a loose touch into the box, and then Chips the Keeper, real clever, real cultured. And then he also, like earlier in the first half, he had a similar situation running in a similar channel and drew a really good kick save with a ripped shot. shot to the far post. So he's looking dangerous.

He's also really, really solid in the holdup play. We've talked about this a few times, but that run into the channel of his is really something because he doesn't look like a huge, strong guy, but somehow he has just like, he's just got some leverage and some lower body strength and balance where you cannot move him off of where he wants to be. And so he gets that edge and he might go to goal. goal. He might hold it up, but he is a force to be reckoned with. And I guess that's really it. I mean, he wasn't involved directly in the last goal,

which was scored by Minamino, but he was the first one to run over and congratulate him. This was a stoppage time winner after they had blown a 2-0 lead. And it's wonderful that he's going to be in camp now. I can't wait. I can't wait to see him. He also had a nice bit of hold-up and a nice little pass around the corner that created a Monaco chance where B-Riff was off-side. It was ahead of the ball. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which was quite nice from Balo.

But I just mentioned Beryriff. Beerf was back in the lineup. And so Ballo kept his starting spot and continues to play well. Everything's looking great.

I mean, that running the channel you were talking about Bells. I mean, first of all, uses the leverage. It gets low. Low on the center back. You know what I'm saying? He's rooted like a tree stump, gets to the ball, and then also not just collects it, collects it, dribbles them, gets past them on the end line.

I think it's like cut back, was like cut out or something, but it's just, yeah, it's all there. It's all there. I can't wait to see it. If we end up dumping balls into the channels, a la Big Pat, like I said, last week, I think we're going to that's going to be a good, good revenue stream for us.

And we got somebody who can probably do a little bit more with it. than Big Pat could. Yeah. And surprisingly gets there, like, almost as much as Pat does, you know? Go ahead, Charlie. Now, I love the tradition. This is a proud program tradition of players who don't get called into the initial list

turned out to be essential. So I'm secretly, again, perversely hoping that Potch puffs his chest out, you know, get a goal or some goal contributions from Bala. this coming week and then gets to praise him at length and act like he's a genius for making him the last added to the roster thanks to a hamstring injury. Only because of an injury to Brian White. Yeah. Yeah.

That's it. I mean, we can't let this man off the hook for that. I mean, yeah, we really can't. We really can't. And, you know, Greg Velasquez has been in the Discord arguing that there's like, you know, a hundred different permutations that maybe Podge was thinking this way and this happened and we wanted to keep it with the club because of this, because of that. At the end of the day, Brian White was going to be there and Flo wasn't.

And World Cup's happening in nine months. Yeah. And I just can't accept that. I just can't accept that on its face, you know. I think you can have the debate about someone like Josh Sargent. You can say, all right, he's playing at a high level. He's scoring goals at a high. high level with his club team.

But whatever reason, he just, he hasn't met the standard in the national team uniform. I don't think you can really say, like, Balo's main sin has just been being hurt, right? Or having teammates around him with M&T that didn't necessarily know how to maximize his skill set. For me, he's still, like, on paper and on the field, he's still, there's never been a compelling argument to me that he's not the first one you look to when he's available. And even without the teammate maximization that you talk about, Charlie, I mean, he's, what? I mean, the man, okay, he's played 17 matches for the U.S. has five goals and four assists.

And these are, I think two of those goals are against Canada in a final, if I'm not mistaken. I think just one. He scored one of them. Okay. And one of them's against Panama. One's against Columbia. Right. One is against Panama.

Ghana. He scored a goal just Ghana? He played well in that game. Yeah, I can't really be. But either way, you know, 17 matches, five goals, four assists. You know, and people, you know, tend to act like he's been a disappointment or something for this team. I heard something about Alexi Lala saying something like he should be. be lucky that he hasn't, that the team hasn't moved on from him or something like that.

It's just like ridiculous. What are we talking about? But anyway, man. You can do whatever, you know, in a post-truth environment here. I think also, I think also Sargent has suffered from being injured a lot too, you know, or like just not being in the right situation. Not to the same extent. I think Ballo's the better player.

But I think Sargent's been hard done by circumstances. well. And, I mean, just to move on to him, he had a brace over the weekend. One of his most productive attacking games, probably his most productive attacking game this season, attempted seven shots, which is way above average for him, and then put in an absolute shift. I mean, just working that big old caboose off. Drew a penalty and a red card, getting pulled down after he gets played into the box at the end of the first half, converts it very coolly. I mean, it's a it's a very pleasant penalty to watch you know hesitates sends the keeper the wrong way rolls it into the left side netting and then a lot of more hard work

and then at the end of the game he gets his goal of the season so far and this goal i think bears some uh detailed description because it was so nice it's chested to him in front of two defenders maybe 35 40 yards from goal he drives at the goal he's got two defenders in front of of him. And he just kind of dribbles at him. He's got an attacker coming in on the right side, sort of drawn attention. And he just shifts it onto his right foot and then a snapshot from 22 yards. Absolute top ends banger. I mean, just smashes it. The keeper doesn't have a chance. And it kind of, you know, it kind of reminds me of like the way Tierra used to score goals. I mean, they're different players, obviously.

But the way Tierraum reused to score goals where he'd just be dribbling outside of the box, and all of a sudden, bam, shoot, he shoots, and it's just a rocket. And you're like, I didn't even expect him to shoot there, but it looks so easy for him. And it looked a little like that. And he did it right in front of the Norwich away fans to seal the win, 2-0. They just explode, people saluting at him. And he's over there thumping the crest. and I'm pretty sure, I'm not 100% of it,

but I'm pretty sure they start chanting USA. It's a great scene, and he's got to come into camp feeling really good. So I guess I wonder, how do you guys feel about a 352? I mean, I guess how do you feel about it personally? Is there any possibility of it under Potch? Probably two separate questions we need to deal with separately,

but... I love a 352. I think it solves a lot of, problems. I think players should be, you know, three-man back lines are so much more common than they were, whatever, X number of years ago. But my guess is that one, Potch is super leery about making dramatic changes in the wake of Switzerland still

and of dramatic changes of any kind. I don't, I'd have to look back into what his personal tactical track record is with playing with a shape similar to that. So I don't know, there's probably some research that would help us help us there. And when the M&T has tried it, because that was always Bearhalter's desired plan B was, I guess he would probably call it a 343 or a 3421, but it seemed to melt certain guys' brains,

particularly in terms of like the defensive shape and the responsibilities and just having that ability to fluidly understand your roles. So of course you can always debate you know, implementation, quality of implementation. I think you should have that club in the bag.

But man, I just don't know if Pach is of the mindset now or ever to give it a try. Because you would have to drill it, and I think then you'd have to commit to it as something that you're putting into the curriculum. You're sending guys notes between camps. You decide I have these three or four guys that I think could play those two striker roles.

I need to get them, get them, some chemistry and get them working and thinking together. So that's just like, that's a lot to do. And he makes a big deal out of how little time they have together. Yeah. Would it be in a great for a gold cup for a month together at the goal cup? But I don't think we saw anything like that. Yeah. Maybe late in the game, like when Downs would come on, it was like something kind of like a two-striker set up.

But a couple times, but I don't know. Yeah. I mean, the other thing you can do, I guess, is just keep the base framework still a 4, 2, 3, 1, but just have one of those guys probably Bolo maybe as the 10, but just let him, let him roam. Yeah, yeah. That could work. What were you going to say, Vince? Well, I've thought myself out of it now, but I was thinking about that first match, the Panama match, where, the shape.

Not that I remember it properly. It wasn't a back three. It kind of looked like a back three, though, in possession, you know, with Eunice and Eunice going up and down, right? And then Jedi playing, like, in the front five, and we were just hitting long balls to him all the time. So it was, like, a back three of Joe Scali, Mark McKenzie,

and whoever else it was. I think it might have been Tim Rheem. It's probably Tim Rheam in that match. but uh so we've played something similar to it before um but in in actual defense it was a back four you know Jedi jettai came back uh unit stayed up a little bit but i wouldn't be i wouldn't be too mad at it and also charlie to your point you know about people's brains melting back when gregg did it i feel like that's a that's a big part of the of the gregg era that people leave out because they wonder why he was so rigid towards the end, why we only played this one formation with this one personality and played this certain way.

That's because that's the only thing they ended up working. Like, you know, we tried to bring that three back out in Honduras. And, yeah, it was, we all remember that first half of Honduras. It sure doesn't mean, it sure doesn't feel like the national, our men's national team is full of a bunch of supple soccer minds, you know? But, you know, I like the ballow at the 10 idea. Maybe one of them would just play as the nominal winger. Because if you don't put both of them out there, you're probably starting Diego Luna, right?

Or Damien Downs. And I think that's quite a drop from one of those two to one of those two. Vince inspired me to go back and look at the at least ESPN's lineup sheet from that from that USM&T Panama game 1-0 Panama I think that's when you're thinking about it in

in CNL semifinals No no no I'm talking about I'm talking about Pach's first match In Austin Oh further back okay okay All right I'm looking back at this lineup going damn he really played these guys Because yeah he had pool sick at the 10

He had way on the left in the C&L game. McKinney was nominally on the right. Musa as a right back. Scali as a left back. Like, what the? Yeah. Anyway.

It still don't make no sense to me, Charlie. It's less coherent than I even remember. This is what I'm saying. And people still be coming for Tanna Testament for that match. I'm like, man, there was a lot going on. There was a lot going on. But anyway, no use crying over spilled milk. That's right.

And you're correct. Okay, so 2-0, USM&T, Panama, friendly, 2024, Austin, 3421, Riem McKenzie, Scali in the back, Robinson and Muses, the wingbacks, Pulisick and Aronson behind sergeant with Morris and Busio centrally. Right. Squads have been played. Lineups have been fielded. That's true.

Hey, we do that same thing. Okay, give me Tyler Adams and just pick another midfielder. Put them in there. Sebastian Berhalter. I mean, that's who it's going to be. That's right. That's right. You know, it's funny.

I don't want to diverge too much. I'm sorry, Vince, but like you reminded me that I remember always watching because Bearhelter's thing was very much not 352. It was like, this is a 3421. And it was explained to me that if you were a pass-a-move, pet ball enthusiast, proactive apostle, you don't play 352, you still want the loan striker with two pocket players behind them because that creates the triangles and the relationships that are most comparable to the 433, you know, Barsa Dutch style 433. And I just always remember being frustrated by it because sometimes you just need two

strikers to be together and you don't and you don't want to do it out of a four four two because there's built in limitations to that shape so like why are we doing all that like it was like i thought there was a lot of farting around in terms of what greg was trying to do with the three in the back instead of just you know solving just like being more basic so so we're thinking burhalter and adams maybe if we were to do this three four two one ber halter and adams that's right maybe Ballo and Ballo and Pulisic as the two and then Sergeant up top, or could it be the other way around? I'm just talking, I'm just sort of grinding my axe about having Sergeant and Ballo on the field at the same time.

For this window, I think so, again, and not to veer off again, but if you did have a coherent plan to make a three, four, two on an option, and you do watch the Columbus crew regularly, which we know that, that, that Pach is a crew appreciator, Aidan Morris is bawling out for the top team in the English championship right now, and he has done that exact role. So a Morris Adams pair that is that sort of your deep, you know, your twin sixes or your whatever you call that, the base of the box would make a lot of sense. But as it is now, he's not in, right?

So, yeah, I think it's probably Burrhalter. If you take the half glass full perspective, everything's going to be made right in October. All the best players will be there. That's what I'm hearing. Let's talk about Pepey real quick because he played the entire second half of PSV's historic home loss to Telstar. Lost, got Dosaceroed by the little Dutch club. I thought Pepey looked pretty pedestrian in his 45 minutes out there. He did get missed, making a good run into the gold mouth a couple of times.

but his brightest moment was a one-touch layoff in the 79th that set up a pretty decent shot. He did not look super influential or sharp, in my opinion. I think Desk gave it a good effort, tried to make some things happen. Not at fault for either goal. I just hope he doesn't put up a highlight reel after this loss because that would be probably not very well received.

So those are the strikers. Let's take a break, come back in a minute, and cover all the rest of the news that we got to cover. Hey, if you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Also in the show notes, the merch store. If you look on, if you're watching the video, you can see a hat that Vince is wearing. It's a beautiful hat.

U.S. soccer. Black Power. Pink accent. Let's go, baby. That's right. All right, we'll be back in a minute. All right, we are back. We got to talk about it.

Potch was at the Ohio State Texas football game, and he was trying to lead the crowd in the OHIO chant. And I would say not exactly a man-of-the-people moment for Mauricio, you know. Well, he's going to have to get used to it, baby, because he, I mean, he needs to be on every game day. I think this was Fox Big Noon. I wonder what he thought about the whole thing. I wonder what the fans thought of him because I just didn't feel like they responded to him very well

you know why would they yeah a small word in Pach's defense I'm trying to think of what the equivalent inverse of this is to be like having your American coach do a proper matte

brewing process maybe in Argentina or like cut this steak the way that we do in our cultural legacy. And if you don't, you know, you're going to get a clowned on. Yeah, be a capo at a San Lorenzo game in Buenos Aires or something. Yeah, he was set up for sure. He was set up for failure. But that's the thing.

You know, it's his week one. He has to continue on. It's a long season. It's a long season. We need to get the man in front of the cultural competency. see that's right it's important continue having them in front of the people make them a celebrity guest picker on um on game day maybe somebody feed him some picks i mean that that did so much for timothy chamolays uh curating in america that man came on college game day and he was really

talking ball with them boys and and ever since then it's like man because you know you see the name timothy chamois you're thinking he's some upper crusts high saluting French person. Which he is, basically, but. No, we went to NYC Public School. Timothy Shalmay has an excellent team because he rolls out and talks ball about soccer. He's like, he's a, he's a St. Ed Chan fan. Yeah, that's right.

Because his dad was. And then he, he went to school with Alex Muel, who's a Red Bulls Academy kid, who's now with Nashville SC. And he had like some retro Columbus crew, like men at work crest, like a track jacket at some game or event he was at. And it was like, this man is his, he's either, he's either, he's either, he's either him or he's got an excellent team that is serving up like information, gear, connections, like, U.S. soccer, go get Chalemay's team for Potch.

I mean, he is him. And the next game day is going to be different. He's a sign-on gate. You know, he is him. But, uh, the quitsats had a rack. That's right. I watched those movies on the way to wrong. Man, I was on the edge of my seat.

What a, that's some good, some good, some good film right there doing one and two. Cinema. But, yeah, he just got to, he just got to keep at it. He just got to keep at it. And, you know, I assume we're going to have Potch in front of a lot of different crowds as we lead up to the World Cup. I'm expecting to see this man at a rodeo. you know, more college football games. I mean, you know, there's no other way, really, to reach the entire country that you can at a college football game or doing game day or whatever.

Yeah. You know, you're reaching the, I mean, college football is like really the only place where the South really has a, you know, there's somebody. without college football a lot of the South would be quite forgotten in American culture I would say and so you know you can reach the South

East West etc yeah we just got we just got keep at it we just got keep at it I'm not mad at putting this man in front of the people on game day or whatever keep it going keep it going just feed them some picks and like I said we're an easy crowd

Americans are easy crowd he gets up he talks a little ball he goes back and forth for Pat McAfee and Nick Saban or whatever boom we're in there he just has to say stuff like roll tide or you know whatever

you know sick him dogs I mean Lee Corso has been reading few cards for 10 years right Lee Corso's been getting served up served up the good you know the good lines so just just get punched some of those big signs

off camera have Posh put one of the yeah put the big heads on The mascot head on. Exactly. Yeah. Have him kick a 40-yard field goal. He could do it in his sleep. And just have him kick a 40-yard field goal on TV.

That would work. They'd be doing that at a game day. They take, like, a random dude from the crowd and make them kick a field goal for money. Have Potch compete against a random dude from the crowd. It started 10-yard line. See if you can hit a 20-yarder. I love that. That's great.

That's quality. So that happened. leak. He's also back from injury and playing now, scored in his first appearance. A lovely chest down, shoulder down, side volley with his left foot off the far post. I think also looked pretty good in general, really, you know, kind of like we know how he looks, which is he now is somebody who works hard on defense and is capable of magic on the ball. Unfortunately, by Leverkusen ended up tying 3-3 at Verda Bremman, and then their coach got fired.

Eric Ten Hogg is out after two games. Those Bayer-Levacruz and front office got spoiled with the previous coach. Yep. Now they're just firing people willy-nilly. I don't know, there's probably more to it. But it is kind of weird that Ten-Hawks. is out so fast. Hey, man, you know what? I'm happy that we didn't call Malik into this roster so he

can stay back in Leverkusen and navigate this power vacuum that has been created with Eric Tenhag's ousting. You know, we really needed him to hold down the fort in Leverkusen and not come to the United States of America, nine months out from a World Cup. So, yeah. I see. I see where you're coming from, yeah. Be able to do some politicking, you know. Pots for saw this. This is apparently

the first time a Bundesliga club has ever appointed a new coach and then removed them after two games. Crazy. Things are changing in Europe. Supposedly the captain said, Captain Robert Andrews said

Misery versus misery was that last game. So I guess things are not good behind the scenes. And you just have to hope and pray that it doesn't affect his showpiece, high money, high dollar, summer signing. That sounds like T.S. Eliot. Misery versus misery. The club has too much, too much invested here. Ten Hogg's a weird dude. I guess that's my sort of from a distance understanding, a weird. I mean, the Dutch are kind of, You know, kind of abrasive in general.

And who knows? Christian Pulisic scored another goal, scored off the bench. Didn't start. So against Leche, didn't start because I guess he was dealing with some kind of knock. But he says he's okay. I'm fine. He said, I had some problems, but I'm fine now. Today I think I touched the ball three times, but I scored.

It was a beautiful night, end quote. And Musa started on the right wing. in this game, which I know you love to see Vince. Right wing back, you know, right wing, but I don't love to see it. It was extremely nasty. Well, once again, bro, I'm, yeah, I'm tired of it.

It's just like the wingback thing. It's like he don't got to be, I would even have more time for him as like a right back. But him as a right back, maybe invert him in the midfield a little bit, let him do some stuff like that. Cool. I would be all on board for that. But for some reason, people want to put him at Wingback, want him to try to take people on one-on-one,

do things in the final third, etc. It's just, it's not going to work. It hasn't worked. And every time he's playing an advanced position like this, it looks like this. And so, I mean, I've said enough on it, but yeah, I didn't have a great time watching Eunice start this match. So I'm happy.

I'm happy that he's on the move Going to Atalanta Just up the road from Milan Burgum Yeah It'd be a great place to visit He'll He'll join on loan

Reportedly According to Fab A buy option not mandatory And he You know there's even videos of him getting his medical So this seems pretty Officiiott and Santi Jimenez is on his way out, maybe going to Roma.

And then Milan just signed Adrienne Rabio, another Vince favorite. Hey, yo, if you, if there would have been a match with Eunice Musa, right winged back, Adrian Rabio in the midfield, my head might explode it. My head might explode it. I can't take it. So I'm happy that I can tune out just a little bit. You know, you got to watch Christian. But Bells, as you said before, do we really got to watch Christian every week?

I mean, that question rings in my head all the time. But, yeah, we got, we got Musa out of there. And we also got some other moves to Syria, within Syria, bin Ha, Kermoski. Moving to Parma. It's been saying Okay They were going to get Gio Now they're going to Benha

Did you know this Also Tom Boger reported that they That they made an inquiry for Jack McGlynn This is from Tommy Scoops itself Not Tom Booger Uh Yeah I get tricked

I get tricked sometimes I'm like wait a second Bogers really saying that Ah no I love a good parody account I actually ran one of one of my college friends, girlfriends when I was a sophomore in college. Anyway, I'm not going to get to that whole story. I'm going to look this up.

That's like a good off-camera conversation. It is a great off-camera conversation. But, yeah, this is one. I don't think the Magic Plain Ride over to Europe is going to get. get me to rate Ben Ha. I need to see, I need to see something. He's sort of been, he's sort of been shelved in Miami, right? Like that he kind of, he kind of found a way out of playing.

Well, he's a utility player. He's kind of been a utility guy for them. They put him in different roles and he complained about it to, in the media a few weeks ago and drew a rather, a rather stern public response from Javier Maserano, basically explaining. in essence your preferred position is full of elite players

and so you need to take what you can get you know be a utility guy and he's you know I didn't I lost this but he signed a new contract not that long ago he's extremely well paid to be a utility guy by MLS standards by 20 year old in MLS standards this had to have been a good deal for him personally

because he's got he's got a great setup in Miami so I'll be in I don't think this has reached here we go level, but I'll be very intrigued by this move. It's a great move for him in terms of his progression in his career, I think, if it comes through. But it's, this is a Key Biscayne kid. Like, he's been in the club for a long time. You know, he still lives at home with his family. So probably the, probably a good time for it, but there's certainly an element of risk.

But maybe he's looking around not seeing himself on these USM&T rosters and realizing he needs to to try something different. You know, when you say he was complaining to Javier Machirano about his lack of not getting enough playing time in his preferred position when you're on a roster with Lino Messi and Sergio Bousquetts, that reminds me of, you know, we were talking before we started recording about shame and how shame is out. Shame is out. And I'm like, this seems like maybe a decent example of that.

Like, could you imagine complaining to Machirano about that? if you're beside Rodrigo DePaul buddy you you ain't this place in Rodrigo de Paul yeah see but this is why I do have to raise them up

a couple couple pegs in my estimation just because of the you know the Gajon is on this kid I love it I love it I mean you know went to the media

spoke his focus truth you know cause this whole thing and it's looking like it's paying off for him you know he got his agent he kicked his agent in the gear and look at how it worked out. So I think it will, like I was talking about.

Des Moines, Iowa-based Parma, FC. I actually love the move if it's a stable, non-disfunctional environment for him in terms of the club and the locker room and everything. I think he's, what he's gotten a little stick for, I think is being overrated in terms of, terms of like his, uh, his game overall. But I think the thing is he's, he's, he's a, you know, Argentinian American kid, but he's very American in the sense that he, he runs. He's got an

engine. He goes all day. He'll run out wide. He'll come off the bench. He'll run centrally. He compress. Like, and I think, I think the American skill set, the traditional American skill set, can have a lot of value in the Italian context. Yeah. And if I remember correctly, once, I said this about when Gio was rumored there, if I remember correctly, from watching Parma when they played Milan, when they played Uve, they got like, they got runners. You know, they got a lot of, they got a lot of pace and power and people that run and, you know, get into duels and kind of muddy the game up. Now, allegedly, their new head coach, Carlos Questa, is supposed to be playing like,

you know, some type of beautiful soccer or something. But, you know, when you're in a, when you're in a relegation scrap, tend to throw those things to the side. So we'll see. Parmer's gotten some decent results, if I remember correctly, so far this year. Let me see. I have, for what it's worth, put in a request to interview Kyle Krause. I have not.

I have not yet heard back, but, you know, we're working on it. Gladbach, no Gio. He's not in the squad. He's still working up to match fitness. I think that may be a little while. Joe Scali started and played 84 minutes and their 1-0 loss to Stuttgart. But I'm not out.

I'm not about to watch. Gladbach to see Joe Scali pass the ball backward for 84 minutes. No, thank you, sir. It's a shame. I urge everybody to go, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, bells, but... No worries.

...Ce plus donor on Blue Skies who posted it. I think it's Bundesliga's Instagram page posted a pretty incredible image. I don't know if his AI or what, but the, you know, so Gladbach are the foals, right? That's their, their mascot. And there's an image of a Wild West scene with the Gladbach-Foll mascot, wearing a cowboy hat flanked by Gio and Scali wearing Stetsons, their arms folded. It's a it's a it's a hilariously Stereotypical Western

Maybe it's AI Slop I don't know But these are two New York Tri-State area dudes And they're like Put up this cowboy hat And stand next to the full mascot It's great

It's great Yeah I wonder if they've ever been West of the Mississippi For anything other than a Than a camp Than a national team camp Yeah

Jedi I want to see that image though Jedi once again came off the bench for Fulham, so he's working his way back in. Another garbage time sub for Wes. No update on that contract extension or move. Let's talk a little bit about Tim Wea versus Tanner Testman. Leon comes away with the victory on a late own goal over Marseille.

Waya started at left back, I think, and Tanner started in the midfield as he does. It's a big match. First of all, you can really get. get the, you know, when you get a Leon Marse, Marse, PSG, you know, one of those big matches in league on. You can really, you can really fill it in the air. You can feel it when you watch the broadcast, et cetera, et cetera. But we got some yank on yank crime, tan a testman, tackling the ball off of Tim Wea as he tried to, as he tried to dribble it into the box early in the first

have. That was that was nice to see. For me as I you know what, I'm not going to say that. I was going to say I'm divested my my 10 way of stocks, but that's not necessarily the case. But is he seem like he's lacking a little juice right now? He looked, he looked a little bit better in this match, which, but Marseille got like a semi-early red guy. I mean, it wasn't early, but they got a red card.

And it kind of killed the match for him. But first 20 minutes, he was looking a little bit more sprightly than he was before, which I think, I mean, given him, he's just a better fullback than a winger at this point at a top five league. He can really show his ability to play soccer better as a fullback, getting the ball on the build out, you know, and being able to either carry it inside and play. one, two, or do whatever, then he is, like, getting the ball to standstill on the touchline, playing the wing. At that point, you know, I mean, we've seen, we've seen Tim Weya's movies, you know. That's not, that's not the ideal use for Tim Wea. So, but, yeah, he looked a little bit better this match.

Okay. Tim, and, Tim, of course, in camp, I'm kind of hoping he starts that right wing back in this hypothetical 352. desk that left wing back. Tanner, of course, not in camp. And, you know, we're just hoping for better days ahead in October for him. Yeah. Tyler.

Stats, by the way. Testman's found, it's like a great spot for him, man. I hope that Potts really is watching. 46 out of 51 passes completed, one chance created, six defensive contributions in the full 90. I mean, that's a high level. I'm glad he's. I'm glad he's settled there. Yep.

I'm excited, man. I'm excited. He's come a long way. He's come a long way. Like you said about rolled on, players aren't static. And I think Testament has actually taken some strides forward even in the last six months. Yeah. And it needed to happen this year, I think.

I was kind of like not worried, but it was just like, this is the make-a-break year for Tanner. To me, just because, like, I mean, he's what he's. He's already like 24, May 23, about to turn 24, something like that. And it's like, you know, I've liked him as a prospect for a while because of the tools and stuff. But, yeah, he's really starting to put it together and become like a good soccer player. Yeah. Diamond hands over here, baby. Also, one thing about Eunice real quick, that I just want to bring up. I see a lot of people continue to say that this man is failing up.

he's making his move from Milan to a Champions League team in Atalanta, et cetera. And they say two things. And these two things can't exist at the same time to me in my head. That he's failed up twice and that he's regressed over the past two or three years. You've got to pick one. You got to pick one. If you're saying that he's failed up twice with the first failing up being his move from Valencia to Milan, then you're saying he was already as.

and then if you're already asked, how can you regress from assing this? Okay? Or or you can say, oh, I thought he was good and he's regressed. But you can't regress. But you can't say that you can't say both things

to be true at the same time. I'm just, I just want to say that. And number one, well, number one. And number two, I feel like it just means that your evaluation was off in the first place. because I remember the Eunice Musa Haydays. People were telling me he was better in Weston McKinney.

Always stood fast and firm. Like, that's not the case. That has never been the case. I've always thought, you know, it's just, you know, he came on the scene and he started dribbling. You know, he started making Edson Alvarez look like a fool. He made, you know,

deuce from El Salvador, Honduras, whatever. No disrespect to them. Look a fool. And I understand being excited about him. But, you know, when you look at this, His entire body works club career and stuff. It was never like a situation where he was like one of Europe's bright young stars or something. You know? And I almost feel like that's how people treated him.

And now a lot of people are sour on him because of what their previous expectations were. But he's 22. He got three, 2,000-minute seasons in top five leagues, one of Valencia 2 at A.C. Milan. line. You know, similar to what I was saying about Chris Richards last year, he's got to let the cake bake. And look what happened with Chris Richards, bro. We pulled that thing out the oven, put the fork in it. Fork came out clean. Fork came out super clean. And now look at what we're doing. We got a delicious cake in the form of Chris Richards Afro to eat. So I just want to say, similar to Chris Richards, Unis Moose. So we got to let them cook.

If you believe in the talent, which I do, that's all that's all you need to worry about. Just believe in that. And we'll observe the rest. But, yeah, I don't know. I just feel like. I think there are two kinds of soccer players. And we've been beating this drum in the grassroots episodes, which I know not everybody listens to. But two kinds of soccer players at every level.

there are those who can dribble past somebody, and there are those who cannot. And Eunice is a player who can dribble past people. And that is the foundation for everything else in the game. And I think, yeah, he hasn't always been the cleanest pass, or maybe he has had some bad moments defensively, some mistakes passing in the back. But that foundation of him being able to step past somebody with the ball, that is...

so important. And yeah, just to sort of piggyback off of you, Sam, let the cake bake, we got the right ingredients. The right ingredients are there. And I don't even think he's been as, I don't even think he's been as, I don't even think he's been as bad as people. Everybody thinks he's been, you know, I think he's been, like, look how he's played for the national team. Like, look how he played at the World Cup. He was, he was very, very good. And Burrhalter ended up completely depending on him as a eight. He was 18? He was 18 years old? He was only 18 years old, 19 years old? Something like that. 19, somewhere in there. Yeah, probably 19. I mean.

And he's going to, like, I urge everybody, too, if you don't, if you haven't watched Adelanta, go watch Adelanta because you're probably going to enjoy it, even outside of the Musa angle. This is one of the most aggressive, attacking-minded, like, full-throttle teams, generally speaking in Europe, and I think it's going to be a great system for him to maximize his strengths in. Yeah. If we don't have Eunice at the World Cup, that's going to be a big mistake. Now, this is a slightly different, Atalanta. Gasparini no longer the manager.

They have Yvonne Urich. And they've had, as a matter of fact, the result that I was thinking about that was good for Parma was against Atalanta. They drew Atalanta this past weekend. And also, Atalanta drew Pisa to start off the season. You know, it was a huge, they didn't deserve a draw type of situation. XG mismatch, et cetera. But, yeah, regardless, we'll see. And it's very possible also that Eunice is playing wingback for Atalanta, sadly.

Feet on the chalk. Sadly. But we'll see. We'll see. I'm taking the unknown over what I saw him do for Allegri on Friday. I still believe, let's move through. Than ball in a place like AC Milan, especially, I still think his best position is, position is as an eight and if you're trying to get regular minutes in a position like that at a

club like ac milan there's just so much more to it than what what you're actually doing it's just drama there's intrigue there's personalities huge new sightings every window yeah johnny has started three consecutive for at let it go madrid they have not gotten a win yet this season which is a little troubling. They tied Deportivo Alavis over the weekend. Tyler played the full 90 away

and a 1-0 win at Tottenham. Big win for Bournemouth. Anchored the midfield. Any thoughts here, guys? I have a couple things here. I watch most of this game and I actually

took a moment that the praise was the recurring praise was warm enough for Adams that, I recorded some of it because I thought it was striking from the peacock team, you know, some English accents who are necessarily incentivized to take note of the American guy. This game was at Spurs. This is the Spurs team that everybody's been talking about.

And for 80% of this game, they had Spurs in a bottle. I mean, when I looked at the, it was so striking, the dominance. It was only one nil and they couldn't finish a bunch of chances so they had to hang on until the end and spurs did rally at the end but as of the 75th minute i think the xg for spurs was like point one and uh and adams Adams was just wrecking shop in the engine room he was a big factor in it and uh one of the commentators so he was just they just couldn't get service to to the to the strikers and adams was a big part of it and uh and they were they were saying one of the guys said uh i won't i won't give you guys i want to torture you with my accent impression but

uh adam stopped supremely well there the U.S. international, and again, Bournemouth are delighted to have him fit and firing for sustained period, has had such miserable luck since he's moved from Leeds. And then that was first half, and the second half, he breaks up yet another attempted buildout from the back by Spurs. Adams is breaking up the ball

into that midfield area, every loose ball, and then he earns a foul, dangerous free kick. He's laughing, but he's been fantastic. I've been brilliant in that midfield. With the loose balls, any forward ball that Tottenham had played, they make sure they're getting there first. So it was vintage Tyler Adams in a high-level environment. So

Everyone should feel very, very encouraged by that. Beautiful. Yeah. Okay. I'm going to ask you a question real quick. And I'm just going to ask the question. So, okay, the idea that we can beat a better team in the World Cup, right? Part of it hinges on our ability to sit in a block and absorb pressure.

Can we sit in a block with Todd? Adam's a part of it. I asked this question. This question has been in my head. I meant to ask when last week, Bells and Greg get Greg's opinion on this. But, you know, we've had these, we've had these mishaps in our defensive shape when we've been sitting back in a defensive shape with Tyler Adams, kind of coming out of it, jumping out too fast, leaving gaps behind him. Fellas, what are your initial thoughts? I'm going to just go take the optimistic route and say he can do it and he will do it when it matters the most, even if he didn't exactly do it the last time it mattered the most.

Okay. You know, even the most disciplined low block keeper is going to get pulled out of position sometimes, I think. Yeah. I'm not disagreeing with your overall point. I'm just saying, like, it's just a matter of whether it gets punished and then how you Zepruder it. Of course.

But I think he can, yeah, he can do it. He does have the tendency to ramble. That's where you hope coaching plays a role. You know, and somebody sits him down, whether it's Potch or one of his assistants and crunch his tape with him and shows him why so much hinges on his discipline. And I also think after all that time we spent talking about, whether years ago, whether Adams could be alone six and yada yada. I think you just put somebody next to him.

And here's where I think somebody we slighted earlier in the conversation about that central midfield pairing is Luca Deloori. I think Luca may end up turning out to be more important than we realize right now because they've known each other a long time. He's got that ability to be a complimentary player and maybe settle someone like Adams just just the glue guy in tactical terms. I'm sure he's a glue guy in the locker room as well, but just be that, you know, sit them together

and have them figure out that relationship and cover for one another's limitations. I forgot how along those two have played together. They have played together since, like, they were you 17. Adolescence, yes. Yeah. They combined in the buildup to that gorgeous Josh Sergeant Gold.

at the U-20 World Cup against Ecuador, where he kind of swive- Cut, bells. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, they did. The two of them, and then I think Sergeant got, I think Adams got the assist. All right, let's get through the rest of this real quick. Haji, five goals and five games, but not on the roster right.

That's a long middle name in case you were a little confused. scored again, hit the post. So almost had a brace. The USMMAT Twitter account even retweeted a clip of his goal. Yeah. Yeah. Alex Zendajas got an assist in Club America's 2-0 win over Pachuca, his first goal contribution of this season.

So it's been a little bit dry for him. He's in Clipnos, too. I watched this match. Okay. There's a lot of things going on on, on Lika Emacky's broadcast. Oh, man. So they got some splashy graphics.

Oh, splashy graphics, man. I mean, to say the least. Like, I was, like, on the assist. Like, I record the assist. And then, like, the video that Waskow provided from this match is kind of grainy. So I was getting the replay, too, so you can really see how Zendai has played this ball across goal with his, like, inside foot, which was his left foot because he's, like on the right wing in this match.

And so I'm, you know, usually they put the thing up on the screen and then like it transitions to a replay, right? Whether it depending on what league it is, you know, in league on, there's like a big L comes on the screen, then like boom, replay. And I was getting ready to hit record and it was like a big soccer ball just popped up on the screen. But it didn't turn into a replay. It was just like a, I don't know if it was like this goal is sponsored by this company or something,

but it was just like the thing just stayed up on the screen. Then I had to wait an extra like 10 seconds for the replay to come up. I don't know. It was just, it's just a lot going on over in Mexico. Yeah. In game ads, you know, the pop up on the broadcast all stuff. It was, it was two DNA. It was there.

It was their broadcast that Wascal had. But, yeah. Entertainment. Yeah, a lot of picture and picture stuff. going on. Yes. I wouldn't be shocked if a little man started running around the pruner of the television. It's a lot.

What's going on here? It's a lot. But we've got to get out of here. Thanks everybody for listening. Thank you to Charlie. Thank you, Vince. We'll see you.