Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #629: Post-window wrap with Jason Davis, plus the weekend action

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Vince and Belz go the distance with one of the deans of American soccer broadcasting, Jason Davis. Covered everything from the Byzantine World Cup ticket-purchasing process to the meaning of Balo's performance vs Japan, three at the back, whether Gio's jogging is a problem, and who gets called for Poch's first-choice midfield. Patrons get a full extra hour: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138971878?pr=true&cr=trueHere are some links to Jason's stuff...The Best Soccer Show: http://youtube.com/@TheBestSoccerShowMorning Kickaround: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningKickaroundSoccer Eagle newsletter: https://jason-davis-soccer-eagle.ghost.io/ 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 when we talk about U.S. soccer. Our guest today has been on that American soccer content grind for a long, long time. He started the best soccer show in 2011 with Jared Dubois, and they're still at it reacting to USMNT rosters and matches on YouTube. Check that out. He hosts a three times a week show called The Morning Kickaround,

which is sort of a more general interest American soccer show. He authors a newsletter called The Soccer Eagle, and mainly he co-hosts when all the talks football on Sirius XM. So he's a busy guy and we appreciate his time. Jason Davis, welcome to scuffed. Thank you for having me, gentlemen. Very cool to have the invite. I'm glad to be here.

So we're going to get into the, we got Vince here too. Vince, how are you doing this Monday morning? I'm doing great bells. Had a great weekend. You know, Mexico, I'm going to bring this up. Mexico won the battle and the Gold Cup, you know, beat us in the Gold Cup final. But we got redemption this weekend, ladies and gentlemen, if you were paying attention to Canelo Averas lost. I repeat, lost.

Some people say he got his A word beat. So, yeah, I just had to bring that up. And I think Santee missed another chance for A.C. Milan. So a bad week for fair-skinned Mexicans. Hmm. Hmm. I like how you got that on the record. I appreciate it, Vince.

I do. I do. So we're going to get into the other weekend action shortly. But first, I thought, Jason, your discussion of World Cup tickets and whether you're going to go to the games or go to a watch party with Jay Rodeus was good food for thought for me. Can you kind of give us the rundown of what's going on with buying World Cup tickets and what are the challenges? Yeah, I'm not an expert on this. Well, compared to me, you are. Okay.

Well, maybe that's fair. And we did do, on morning kickaround, we did have an actual expert, this guy who goes by travel football, football, the Spanish word, fan. You can find him. He's got good stuff. You know, he was walking this through. This was like a day before the first round of applications. Like, this is the thing that is insane to me. And like, I can get it.

It's a massive event. Games all over the continent. You got to kind of manage it. But, like, I'm applying to buy tickets? Yeah. Like, what are we doing here? Like, I don't, that part is such a. a strange thing.

And so we picked his brain and got, and he's like, Visa cardholders get first crack. If you're not a Visa cardholder, you got to wait. You know, there's the first round, the second round,

a phase or something. He's talking about phases and all this. And I think obviously for me, having been, having written about and talked about soccer for a long time, it's really hard to kind of just stomach where this stuff is gone. Like, and how FIFA has kind of just.

messed it up for everybody. You know, it used to be, Sett Blatter was just an idiot and would say something stupid about, you know, women playing in short shorts or whatever and we'd be mad about it. And we knew that there was money being handed out in paper bags and stuff like that, but it didn't feel like we were necessarily being squeezed quite the same way we're being squeezed now. I know this is like all of life.

Like everything is about exploitation now. And FIFA has just jumped on board. And the fact that number one, it's a complicated process. Number two, they're doing dynamic price. pricing, you know, which people might even know what that is, I guess, but that's just basically like the price is not static. It is going to change depending on how many people

are interested in that particular game at that particular moment. They're doing it for airline tickets too now. It's insane. Like, you don't know, like, how to get the right price. The fact that they're willing to do that is because they're doing it here. They wouldn't do it anywhere else. I don't think anybody else would have a stomach for it, including Mexico, who has laws against it, which means if you go to a game in Mexico and you have to be a Mexican national to get these benefits,

they don't do dynamic pricing. Right. And there is no secondary market the way there's going to be a secondary market here. And so it's, again, it sort of cracks open the whole thing. Like it's no longer about like, it's for the good of the game. No, it's for the good of FIFA. And that sucks because the last time we had one of these, I was 15 years old and not paying attention to the game the way I should have

and didn't get my parents to take me. I probably wasn't living near a game. now I'm established middle-aged man with cash to throw at it if I want to. And I just, I'm not enthusiastic about it. Are you going to do it? Are you going to go? Well, I'm not typical in another way,

which is that because of the radio job, there's a chance that I'm going to be pulled around doing different stuff. Like, it may be a work thing for me. And so I don't, and I know that's like, on some of all that, it's a privilege, and I don't want people to be like, oh, lucky you. I'm, I think I would buy, tickets, I would seriously consider doing it if I wasn't in the job. But I'm in the job.

So it's kind of like that thing of like, should I, and I get, that means I get to kind of sit on top of my, my mountain top and talk bad about the process because I'm not directly engaged with it. And I feel for anybody who really wants to go to games, right? And who really wants to see the U.S. men's national team play a home soil in a world cup because that's going to be a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah. I'm really torn about it. Go ahead.

I have to say I hopped in the Discord because I saw somebody saying something in one channel. They were like, where are we talking about World Cup tickets at? And then it was in a whole separate channel that I hadn't accessed yet in the Discord. So I hop in. I'm like, what's going on in here, man? What's y'all doing? I see y'all talking about. I see a lot of loading screens.

People are posting screenshots of loading screens or whatever. I'm like, what's going on? They were like, yeah, we're just applying to have the right to get some tickets. and I'm like, oh, okay, I just logged off. I saw some people posting loading screens too in one of our communities or something. And literally they were like, I sat here for like 45 minutes waiting for it to say that my application had gone through

or whatever, right? And again, this is not even buying tickets. This is just putting your name on a list so you have the possibility of buying tickets down the road. Like, luckily for Mexico, Canada and U.S. fans, We know where the games are going to be. We don't know who we're playing yet, but we do know where the games are going to be

so people can make their accommodations. And that is the thing too, right? The U.S. is playing out west. And I live on the East Coast. So if I was interested in this, the other part of it is like, oh, I got to buy tickets. And then dynamic pricing might mean I'm playing $100 per ticket. And it depends on like, I'm taking my family.

Am I going by myself? And the planes dynamic? You know, do I want my, the planes dynamic? The hotel prices. If you, come on. I mean, we're, we're, we're talking about your vacation budget for like a quarter century, like a decade, like depending on your family and what you got.

Like if you're spending $10,000 to maybe go to one game, if you're taking like two or three or four people, like if you wanted to take your kids, like if you're in that position in your life. And I got a four-year-old who's a little bit too young for me. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. And it's what it should be. Like it should be that opportunity for us to continue to put seeds in the ground and grow soccer fans. And I don't know.

It doesn't feel like that's what it. The only thing that's not dynamic right now is the U.S. men's national team. So I want to know how that's a little bit, that's a little bit of a low blow. I think it actually, I think we're on the cusp of dynamism. But how are you feeling? How are you feeling right now, Jason? It's wild how that one game against Japan just changed the whole attitude. Like I said, I said on Blue Scott, it kind of reminded me like of an allergy commercial.

Like in the beginning, they're like, and they can't breathe. And then they take the claret and whatever and the skies are blue and everything is, oh, and I can breathe. And it felt like that. I don't, I mean, I think you guys and me, like, we don't want to jump all the way till like everything's great. Like, we want to be, you know, smart about this and discerning about what we witnessed and like, does Poach really know what he's doing? Like, I still don't know if Poach really knows what he's doing. But we saw at least like some joy on the field. Like they looked like they wanted to, they were playing.

playing together and it was fun. You know, but there's just so many unknowns, right? Because he used this window as a sandbox and he was bringing in all these guys that, you know, good for Tristan Blackman. I don't think Justin Blackman's going to a World Cup. So, you know, what can I take away from this experience? It's all limited. And I don't think he gives, I don't think he cares at all, whether it's hard for us.

No. But we have to hold on to something. And that's the problem with the national team. because it's a stone skipped across the water. And those ripples, they're big for us, but they don't really matter that much right now. I mean, I have to say, like, Jason, you illustrated the feeling perfectly because I went to New York, right?

Went to the match in Harrison, New Jersey, the South Korea match. Yeah. And I'm in New York for, let's say, less than 48 hours, or right about 48 hours. I come home, you know, I got a wife, kids, family, whatever. So I come back Sunday, home Sunday, Monday, and then Tuesday comes around. I'm like, am I driving these three hours to go to Columbus?

And I'm slow playing it. You know, I'm off work. It's like it's 9 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11, 12 goes by. I'm like, you know what? Vince, you got to get in the car, man, if you're going to get past the Cincinnati traffic. I'm like, you got to go. I waited to the last second about like 1 p.m. I was like, you know what, Vince, let's just do it, man.

I go meet some people, some scuff listeners, people from Discord, whatever. That was cool. But, I mean, the match, like, I didn't realize how much I needed it, how much I had been missing this hit of endorphins until, you know, I sat down, watched the game, and I watched that performance. It really re-energized me in a way that, you know, I mean, I wasn't expecting, first of all, because it was like, this is the harder match of the two ways.

of the two in this window. And yeah, it was a great surprise and also just something that really just put a battery in my back for a little bit. Yeah, but again, as soon as we saw the lineup for Japan, we're like, oh, okay, well, what is this even, you know, if we win this game, what does it mean? No, I mean, they brought on the heavy hitters

in the second half, right? And we were still good. It was still good. We got better. We got better after that. Maybe better. But I don't, you know, again, sort of it's like trying to analyze what that means.

Like, okay, well, did Japan get thrown? off a bit by bringing in these players who are a little bit more dynamic, going to want more of the ball, going to kind of change the approach for them. You know, does it mean a lot that we were better when they brought on the mean and those players? Again, like that's what this period underpoach has done. It's left us feeling kind of a drift with how to feel about it. And I talked to so many people, national team guys, guys who played in World Cups who

would say, none of this matters. it doesn't matter right now. We don't even know who's going to be healthy for the World Cup. That's obviously true. But as a fan, as somebody who's not thinking about it like, oh, let him cook, he's got to figure it out, give him some space. I just want something to hold on to.

I just want like a little bit of joy to say, I can feel, because it's so easy for us as national team fans. And there's so much of this right now. It's hard not to get sucked into this idea. Like, oh, we're getting grouped. We're getting grouped. It's going to be terrible.

And I don't, even if you can rationally make the argument without knowing who's in our damn group, you don't even know who's in our group, you're talking about getting group, even if you can make that argument, guys, like, I don't want to be thinking, that's not how I want to be thinking about the World Cup. And since it's not, since I don't have a time machine, and I can't predict the future, let me live in the belief that we're not getting grouped and that we're going to be fine and we can maybe even make a run and win some knockout games. Like, let me believe that. And so as long as there's no, nothing that even a positive fan can point to like, look, look, they did something good. It's hard, right? Because I don't, it's a home world cup. It's a home world cup.

Was there nothing in the, nothing concrete that you could pull from the Japan game that you thought that's something we can build on? No, no, I do. I do. I think, well, obviously the formation switch, right? Which that had happened in the South Korea match towards the end, right? We got to look at a back three. And when we talked about this roster for the best soccer, Jared Dubois is an adherent of the back three.

Like, he just loves that system to begin with. Yeah, I picked up on that. And he's a defender from his playing days, you know, high school and stuff. But he appreciates a back three. Like Michael Parker's is his favorite player because he thinks he's the perfect, okay, perfect centerback for a back three. Right. That's his, that's how his, and he's, you know, he's an old head, so he goes back those days.

But he made the argument. He, like, he looked at the roster. He said, this is a, this is a, this is a. for a back three. And I was like playing devil's advocate, trying to make it interesting. Oh, yeah, why do you think that? What is it? And honestly, when you look at it, you know, there just wasn't a lot.

I mean, the fullbacks that are in the team are wingbacks, or at least more suited to play wingback than fullback. Certainly, Max Arfston's not a fullback period and, you know, end of story. So I went with him on it. I just didn't know if we were going to see it. And then we got a little bit of it in the South Korea game and they improved a bit. And then he rolled it out against Japan. Now, again, maybe you guys have a better sense of this to me.

Is he committed to it? Or is this something where he's going to be, you know, is he going to be scheming per opponent? No, today we need a back four, but in this game we need a back three. What does the midfield look like? You're matching Japan because they played the same system, essentially. If you're not matching players all over the field, does that mean you stay committed to it? And again, obviously Tristan Blackman notwithstanding, people are like, do we have the depth that's centerback? to do this.

Once you get, we were talking, we were trying to put together at 23. I know it might be 26, but we tried to put together a 23 in the best soccer show for the World Cup as of right now.

And once you get past Ream and Richards, centerback gets pretty dark. It gets a little scary. So, yeah, that's the issue for me. That is a real issue.

It's just, it kind of made everybody look a little more free and better, like across the board, you know, so maybe you, to maybe you put in a somewhat dire

option at centerback just to make everybody else better. Yeah, I mean, that's the problem, right? Sorry, Vince. Yeah, that's the problem. It's like, you can give here, but you might, you lose something else somewhere else on the field. Like, it's going to have a knock on effect, but like, is this a net positive when you consider that?

And, you know, people have thrown out, maybe Jedi plays centerback, and you still have an Arston type as a wingback. And, you know, we like Jedi, but he's a traditional fullback in the system he usually plays and has played for the U.S. men's national team. So if he's an overlapping fullback, do you even want him trying to play as a wingback? So there are things there. It could be an underlapping centerback, you know? Yeah.

Gatti style. There are possibilities, right? But the mind spins. And then we go, well, are we? Do we have time to sort this all out, guys? That's a big question. But is Potch committed to a thing? So in the press conference, he kind of talked about the fact that the form of

that we started out with at South Korea was probably a little bit too complicated for the players based on the amount of time that he's been with the team and the group that he had. And so he said he went to this, he matched Japan, right, with the formation to

simplify things for the players. And so, like, I mean, I know that doesn't give a lot to him being committed, but what I took from it, though, is that he's learning things. He's learning things, you know, right? He's new in this role.

as a national team coach, after being a club manager for this amount of time. So what that tells me, I think, is that he maybe won't hesitate to match a different opponent going forward instead of doing whatever lyrical miracle he was trying to do against South Korea. And that was the thing about the Burrhalter era was constantly wondering if he was just making it too damn complicated all the time. And that he, or at least trying to be granular when that's not the best approach at the international level and just demanding sometimes say, Greg, just keep it simple. Like, come on. You don't have a lot of time with these guys. They're coming in and out.

You got injuries that are affecting what your first 11 looks like. Why would you make it complicated? And I think that psychologically, and I'm fascinated by this, even though we can't know, Burrhalter was a striver, right? He's an American coach, unless you are one of the lucky few for American coach. is the national team is the top of the mountain. It doesn't go any higher than that. So you want to prove something. And so when you want to prove something, you overthink it. And I think Burrhalter is kind of that way anyway. Whereas maybe, if we're lucky, Pochitino recognizes maybe this is the moment the clarity comes. So he's like, oh, yeah, I can't make this complicated.

I don't have the time with these guys. And he doesn't have to prove anything because he's already been at higher levels of the game on the club side. Maybe that's a thing. I don't know. I'm hoping I'm hoping I'm hoping Yeah Yeah was the only

I guess the only Bob Bradley has very Very brief stint that Swansea Right And then Jesse Marsh flew too close to the sun And his extremely tight gray jeans And

That's it So So I guess one thing I want to get your thought on that I mean Pelligrito Matarazzo Let's not a leave out People get real picky

That's true That's true Go ahead Yeah I guess I wanted to get your Wagner David Wagner have you said that one I'm sorry Bells I'm sorry No you're right you're right right fact check fact check Uh Verzler was it?

Hertzler yeah Bobby and a Hertzzer Hertzler On the striker uh situation I'm curious I'm curious what your thoughts are because for me and I think for Vince too and for Greg uh we're like we were so pleased with the way Ballo played against Japan like I'll and I'll speak for myself here, the thing that I like about him the most is he is a formidable opponent for opposing centerbacks. He's somebody that they have to deal with, and he's a handful.

And I just don't think you can say that about how Josh Sargent has played for the national team. And I think maybe the jury's still out a little bit on Peppy. But Ballo, he creates with that quality of his, he creates room for everybody else to operate. Well, there's no perfect guy, right? They all have their flaws, obviously. I mean, sergeant's flaws that he simply cannot get chances and score goals for the national team. Or, you know, he just can't put the ball on the net when he plays the national team.

I think people, you know, you talk to soccer people, sergeant's the most well-rounded of the entire group. Like, he can do a lot of things pretty well, which is why he succeeds at the championship level, which is a pretty damn good level. But if you're talking about actually putting the wall in the net, and maybe bringing a little bit more of that dynamic quality, that's what Balagan has, that Sergeant does it. He's certainly more dynamic than Sergeant is, and he's physically imposing.

And, you know, you saw it on the weekend with the goal he helped set up for Monaco. I was just thinking about that before you asked the question, Bells, because, you know, I think the goal he scored against Japan is obviously an example of that, too, right? He uses his physicality well to create the space, so you can take the shot. That's a good finish. And the one thing I would say is, like,

I think Peppy's the best finisher of the bunch. That for me, he's the best finisher, but he does lack some of the other things that Balagoon brings to the table. So if we're just talking about what, what that race looks like right now, Balagoon is top of the list. And I don't even think it necessarily needed

the goal to make that true, but it certainly makes it easier to say, Val is a guy, look at what he did. But, man, I gave such a triumphant fist pump when that goal did go in the back of the net in Columbus because I was just like, man, he's bowling right now, but like I, like, just, just give me a goal at the end of it. And yeah, once I think finally at the back of the net, but with the system that Potch is running,

where it asks the center forwards to be dynamic, you know, it, it asks that of the center forwards, you know, we saw it in the goal cup with Big Pat. I mean, the offense is built around Big Pat, basically, you know? Yeah, like, like the center, the, the, the center forward is the, is the line stretcher, is the person running channels, all that stuff. And yeah, I think just when you talk about, obviously, I'm not disagreeing with you on Pepe's ability to finish chances. I think I do agree.

But yeah, can him and sergeant, that's the main question is like, can you be that leader of the line that Pott is truly asking these center forwards to be? And it's, uh, I mean, I think we knew like that the battle got had the talent. When we all went nuts over his choice, right? When we're tracking him into Indian Orlando, it's because we know that he's got that pedigree. I mean, it obviously helps that he came through an arsenal. And everybody goes, oh, look, he came through an arsenal.

By the way, you know, I saw Gideon Zololam play soccer this weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Wow. Just the name. Just the name. But Ballagoon coming out of Arsenal had us all hyped up. Obviously, him, his choice. Like, we're doing that tracking flights and Instagrams and all that.

stuff. And I think that overhypes him a little bit, obviously. He hadn't gotten his landing spot because Arsenal wasn't going to put him in their team, which, you know, if he was truly that level, he'd be playing for Arsenal, right? We wouldn't have any question at all. But it's obviously been like a betting in period in France, or in Monaco, rather. It's been a thing for him to kind of get adjusted and injuries and all of stuff. But I think that top in talent, like, in terms of you look at like where they come from and what they've done, yeah, I mean, he's, he's the guy. He should be the guy. And maybe, Confidence is part of that and the system, if the system benefits his talents, then we might have our guy. We might. Yeah. Okay. I took a lot of encouragement from that personally, but, you know, some questions from listeners. Adam and Chicago asks you, Jason, how certain are we that Max Arfston won't start over a healthy Jedi at the World Cup? I'm not certain at all.

No. I think what we learned is that Poach loves him some Max Arfton. Like, really, really loves him some Max Arfton, willing to even pull him. put him in positions where he's uncomfortable defending because of what else he can do. And he is very good. I know Columbus turned down an offer for him. I can't remember who it was. It was in Middlesbrough who just wants to pick out every Columbus player and they get their hands on, apparently.

Yeah, I like Max Arstyn, but yeah, that he is a specific kind of player as a wingback in that system. And if there is, if there is a commitment or if it is, hey, our personnel works best for this, Max Arfston very well could start over Jedi. At least it would be an option that I think if you were like talking about three group stage games, depending on the opponent, you could see Jedi starting two and Max Arfston getting a start in a third or something like that, depending on the absolute situation. That sounds right to me. Yeah. And it should be like that.

By the way, it should be like that. This thing that we do where we're like, oh, what's the first 11 for the U.S. men's national team is that's a red herring. There's no such thing as a firm first-a-law. You might put Polisica on every team you make, but there are going to be spots where you're like, well, that guy's maybe not perfect for this kind of situation. Or if we're going to go up against a team that has massive amounts of possession compared to us,

do we really want a Max Arvston on the field? Like, those are questions. Right. Yeah, have him defending 1v1 like 17 times in the game. Exactly. Probably not. Just real quick, for you move on to the next question.

I just do want to say, Jeddye hasn't been around for a while now, dealing with injury and whatnot. But when we saw him, when we've seen him under Potch, Pach has used him in very creative ways. You know, we saw a Jedi underlap. Yeah.

And that one Jamaica match, Potch's first match against Canada, it was actually Jedi leading the line. He was the one that we were dumping all the balls over the top two. And I thought was probably, that's true. Probably our best player in that match and created that goal that Eunice Mousa scored. So.

Yeah, I don't think this is about, about like, oh, Jedi's not good enough, Vince. It's just, yeah, yeah, having options, right? We know Jedi's good. I mean, in fact, you're talking about probably the best player, like better than Christian over a certain period of time for the national team. Like, last year, you got Jedi Robinson is the best U.S. men's national team player we've got. Yeah, and there's also, like you said earlier, Jason,

there's the love affair between Potch and Arfston, which I think is a factor here. He like where he really does love him a lot. Calvin in Albuquerque A little coincidence there There's been a lot of discussion around team vibes dynamics since the summer What's your impression Of how those have changed

Since the beginning of Posh's tenure Well I don't think that the It's one of those things It's funny It's funny because we made so much out of Polisic and Waya And the new generation against the old guys Yeah

And you know I feel like I'm kind of in the middle of that working with an old guy who was not on the old guy side. He was more on the politic side of that. Eric was always saying, you know, that those older guys need to shut up. Now, he's got some maybe personal access to grind in that regard, too. I'm saying too much, hopefully.

But it was interesting to decide to see that because that, as dumb as that all was, I really think it was pretty dumb. It's stupid. It also is one of those, like, you rally together. kind of things for the team, for the players, and for Poch, too. Like, you know, I, I wonder how, how Poach actually interacts with this team, because Argentine coaches are sort of notorious for being like, there are hard lines between the coaching staff and the players.

And we don't really do this mix and match. We're all to, rah, rah, thing. Like, I'm sure Poach gives team speeches. I mean, that's not a thing everybody does. But, you know, I remember hearing, uh, when, Tata Martino was in Atlanta, like, just how culture shock it was when, you know,

coaches don't go in the players' dressing room in Argentina. It's like, not a thing. Huh. And so I didn't know, like, how that was going to work with the American player. And of course, the team is not all sort of American by upbringing. But I, like, that vibe stuff is always

probably overstated on our end, right? It's probably always like, we're reading too much into what's going on. And again, that they're not together all that often. They may be in WhatsApp groups and stuff, but I don't think they're talking about this and their WhatsApp groups,

not at 22 and 23 and 24 years old. That's not what they're talking about. So, yeah, I think the vibes was mainly about us, the fans, and how we feel about the team. And things can change so much in six, eight months. And by the time we get to May, I don't know that any of that is going to matter. Like I don't even know if what happens in the warm-up friendlies

is going to matter all that much to what happens at the World Cup if they lose or something. Like one match, sometimes one match is not even really connected to the next one. I guess I think one thing that, I mean, that may be true, but I do think winning is good for vibes. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that is true. That is true.

Yeah. So like, so the, you know, losing, the way we got spanked by Switzerland, lost the game to Turkey, and we go and play the Gold Cup games and sort of muddle our way through Guatemala and then lose to Mexico. And then we come in, we lose to South Korea in kind of a shame, I would say a shameful manner. And that's got to be bad for vibes, I would think. Well, okay, but that might be true.

But again, I guess one thing that I don't know is how much that carries over camp to camp when you're turning over 10, 12, 15 players. Yeah, fair enough. Right? Like, if we have a bad window or a bad tournament the way we did in the summer and Christian's not there or Weston's not there or whatever, Gio's certainly not there. We can talk about Gio. Oh, we're going to talk about Gio.

I know. When we get to the World Cup, all those guys are there. I mean, obviously, I'm jumping ahead and there's still windows between now and them. But like, I guess what I'm saying is like, we don't, we don't do a team and B team. We kind of just pick whatever's of the moment. Obviously, the fans respond to, uh, to call ups in a, in a pretty excitable way. But I don't know that, like, what I, what I'm not sure about is like, if the vibes carry over, if it's not sort of the A team that called up, they got called up. If we're, if we're not thinking of this as like, this is a competitive window. We got to win these games.

therefore we're calling up the absolute best 23, 25, 26 players we can versus this window, which was like, shout out to Nathan Harrile, you know, that kind of thing. Right, right. Well, Jason, let me ask you this. Did you think, I guess a lot of people have said in the Gold Cup that some like mentality issues with the team were fixed or whatever. Did you, did you buy any of that? That mentality issues were fixed.

that the team had a problem in the first place, that the hustle heart wasn't there, and all that, like that whole narrative. Yeah, man, I'm really, really skeptical about that talking point, that they don't care. Now, look, I do radio for a living, and it kind of pays to be a little hyperbolic sometimes, and you get into, like, let's just play this up

because it gets people excited. And like, we all, I'm not immune to this, right? I'm not pretending not to be a fan who gets attached the idea that or feels or response to the idea they don't care because I care. So I want them to care like I care. And if I get any hint that they don't care like I care, I'm going to be yelling about it. So I think that's the, that's the part of where I'm skeptical that there's just real sense that like, and again, I come back to the old guys versus young guys thing and the beef. I think the old guys are just so, it's across life.

Older people just yell about younger people. This is what we do. This is how culture, this is how humanity has worked for thousands of years. So why would it be any different for this? Right. And again, I think it's also circumstancing.

Some of the old older guys, not all of them, but some of these older guys didn't get opportunities that these players have. And they are, they're jealous of those, they're envious of those opportunities at those players. Like if I,

if I grew up now, I'd be in Europe just like Weston McKinney is in Europe or just like Timway is in Europe. And instead, I grew up in the 90s. And, but see, that's the thing, Bell. you can't, there's no data to prove that, you know, Tab Ramos wouldn't have been playing

Champions League football. But all those guys believe he could have if he wasn't American or maybe he, if he didn't get hurt at the exact wrong time, that kind of stuff. Like, that's always part of the story too. So. I'm just thinking, I'm just thinking of Landon, Donovan's time at Leverkusen, which was mostly him just being homesick the whole time. So, you know.

In, in terms of, like, players. Well, like, he did. He got a chance. He had a chance to go. But now we're going to get to, now we're, and obviously Tim Howard's part of this story, too, and he's on that show with Landon, and he got his opportunity to play in Europe. Yeah. But he did well. I do think that there's also, the part that you cannot separate from a lot of this is that a lot of those people.

Now, the fans, some of the fans were yelling about it, and that's different, but some of these guys that are the former national teamers that are yelling about it are also as, as Mark Polisic correctly said, as much as like, don't like some of the stuff he's done. As Mark Priske correctly said, they try to get them clicks. Of course, yeah. So Landon. Which also Mark Pulisick tried to do with... Of course. That's the thing.

We're all Spider-Man meme. We're all Spider-Man meme. We are. That's it. I mean, I don't think you guys do that as a rule here, which I appreciate. And I don't think... Best Soccer show is a little bit more casual once a week, and so we don't lean into those storylines as much as I think some other things do.

But, again, especially the guys that are like trying to make... something happen on YouTube, trying to make something happen with a podcast. They're willing to say it. Look, I will say that Toroioa's been pretty even keel about all of this. He's part of that older group. Again, Eric has been like, let Christian take a break. It's fine. He needs to be ready for the World Cup.

Who cares what's happening now? It's so long season, all those things. There are guys that it's not all the same. Tau Ramos. Marcelo Barbeil, Balboa was certainly more like, everything's cool. This is not a thing. So again, we just like to yell about young people, not caring as much as old people care, I guess.

I don't know. Old guys are not a monolith is what I'm hearing, you know? That's true. Yeah, yeah, sure. Old guys are not a monolith. No. But, you know, take the old guys out of it for a second. Potch was really moved by what he seemed to be moved by what he viewed as the

Brotherhood that was created at the Gold Cup. You know, he was in tears after the Mexico game. So, I mean, what do you make of that? Is that? did something get accomplished there vibes wise and then we can get off of vibes we can move on from vibes yeah well I mean vibe vibes are intangible to talk about and frustrating at the same time

yeah I mean I'm sure for whatever I said about Argentine football culture versus American sports culture I'm sure you know poach needs those things to pull him deeper into what this is right like obviously he plays for his country.

That's sort of like an easy, natural thing to care about because you're representing where you come from. He's a higher gun. And we know, we always going to, we're always going to question whether or not higher guns really care. You know, everybody talks about, no one's ever won the World Cup with a foreign manager. All right. Well, what, six, six countries I won a World Cup.

Let's not get too picky about that. But, and we, that's not something we need to care about yet. Like, we're okay. Yeah, we're okay. Yeah, we're okay. like, we get a foreign manager and we take one step forward. That's pretty cool. manager ever taking a team to the quarterfinals is the real question. I believe,

I believe, uh, goose hitting took, uh, South Korea to the semis in 2002. That's right. But that was home, and that was a home nation. So you get that too.

Like maybe poaches, you know, again, who knows, right? This is, I don't know that it's a great data point to be like, look how bad Morocco was leading into 2020.

And then look what they did the World Cup. Because that's just one, one bit of evidence that it can be done. But it does show that, like, you know, whatever leads up to the World Cup, sometimes you kind of got to toss it out. But I do, if Poach actually connected to something he didn't quite understand at the time, that's good. However, I was a little annoyed by him pushing back at the criticism in this window and the way he kind of framed it. Because it felt to me like he was doing that thing like a lot of foreign soccer people do, which is kind of pat Americans on the head and say, well, you don't really don't, you don't know what's going on.

here. Yeah, why don't you guys go leave me alone? Because I'm the real soccer person in the room. And I don't love that. I still think he carries a little bit that with him right now. Hmm. I don't like that either. Nobody wants to be patronized. And I said this when I was like responding to all. I was going to write about it. I didn't get a chance to. But

to me it's like if you win, you can do that. If you got the national team humming, you can say you can get upset about criticism. Now, he was saying like something about he didn't like the criticism the players were getting he was like we should all be in this together kumbaya and pablo mauer took offense to this all right he was like eff that we gotta stop doing this thing kumbaya we're all support the national team thing we need criticism we need we need coaches to be answering hard questions because that's how you push people

to be better i thought maybe pablo was overreacting a bit but i did see what he was talking about which is this idea of like, why is Poach telling us to be like, rah, rah for our national team when he's talking about media people. Like media people's, their job is to say, what's going on,

why are you doing this? It didn't work. Can you fix it? And if he wasn't getting upset on his own behalf, if he was getting upset on the players behalf, okay, I guess there's something to that. But if he was,

if he was kind of upset on his own behalf, like, how dare you criticize me? Yeah, and that's not cool. You better be winning in order to, if you're going to do that. You better be winning,

like, for us to be like, okay, fine. Yeah, we won't, we will stand back and let you do your thing. Well, his wife was the one who gave the real, um, the real truth of the matter. She said, why are you being, why are you mad at these guys? These guys are nice compared there. Okay. Yeah. Exactly. And the press court is nice. I mean, it's so respectful of Potch. Like, there's hardly any. I know. I mean, we jump on these calls, bells, and I'm like,

and I'm, so I have, uh, my wife is Puerto Rican. Her first language is Spanish. We have a four-year-old. He's learning his first language is Spanish. He'll get English, but he speaks Spanish. So, so I'm trying to learn. I got in law. So I'm trying to learn Spanish. And I'm fairly fluent. And I speak with my kid in Spanish. And I jump on these calls and I hear some of these guys dropping in Spanish language questions, clearly in their second or third language. Spanish is not their native talking. Shout to Charlie Baum, who did it, this last one. And I'm like, I respect. Like, respect for you, like, putting yourself out there because I get nervous as hell. Like, I'm not, uh, uh, uh, uh, Joe, ablo, Espanyo. Like, it's, it's a thing. So.

Yeah, we are nice. We're super nice. Yeah, they're really nice. I mean, there's definitely some good questions asked, but it's not that combative. No, no, no. Okay, a couple more questions from listeners. Chris from Kansas City says, even though I don't like it, Posh seems to be married to a two-man central midfielder with three, four attackers ahead of them. Tyler Adams seems to be written in pen in one of those spots, even though I would like to maybe see a little more from him.

Who and what skill set should we be prioritizing? next to Tyler Adams. Well, I mean, it was interesting to see Christian Roldan do his thing, right? Because he wasn't in the roster. He wasn't, he was an afterthought. He's a 30-year-old MLS player that lots of people don't write,

even though he's been really good in MLS. And what the difference was between what he and what Burhalter brought alongside Tyler. Now, you know, again, maybe it's not that Tyler should be written in ink. I don't know. But I do think that Tyler,

Tyler's defensive abilities and the amount of ground he covers are so next level, it's just got to be intoxicating for a coach. Like you're just thinking, like, I can't, how do I choose not to have that guy with what he can do? Because you're thinking, I think by nature, almost every coach outside a handful are conservative at first. You work from a position of like, let's protect things. 100%. Yeah. Before you get to let's attack things, right? And Tyler is just a natural piece that like if you're like building from not just from back to front,

but if you're just building from how do we stable out? Like how do we make sure we're not just giving up chances? Tyler's a guy. But then you need somebody to compliment Tyler because Tyler doesn't pass the ball. It just doesn't, doesn't pass the ball. So if that's the case, what kind of player are you putting in there? And maybe Burrhalter is just not the level. And I mean, honestly, we shouldn't be fast forwarding to Sebastian Burrhalter being a World Cup player anyway.

I don't think he's to the level. No, I don't think so either. And probably Christian Roldan isn't either, but he's a better pass for the ball. He's a better connector. That's what it is, right? He's a better connector, Christian Rolden. And I do think he also has good instincts up the field and pushing into the attack. And I don't know.

Like, is there a player that replicates any of that? Like, I love Eunice. Thought Eunice would have advanced a little bit more. He's still very young and maybe it was unfair to him. But Eunice has been a one-trick pony in the national team. You get the ball to you? he drives it 30 yards forward and he looks to lay it off that's what he does pretty much yeah he doesn't have it he doesn't and he doesn't even have that sort of you know step on it pause look for the

run in behind or or play a wall pass or do any of that stuff like he just doesn't do those things so i don't know i'd ask you guys i mean i know it was a question for me being on the show but i'm curious like who you think is the the skills that maybe again like maybe it's not tyler next to him but it's hard to imagine Tyler not starting at least the majority of games when it matters. I think. So I think we've ended up skipping that line of two so much. Yeah. And like build out and stuff that it's almost like you don't even necessarily need a connector there.

Like it can be, it can be Wested. Like it can be, you can pick. Wouldn't you want one though? Wouldn't you want one? You would want one, but it's like what it ends up being. I think what the role ends up being, if everything else is clicking, is that it's a low responsibility position that hopefully comes into play once we've already gotten past kind of like the first phase,

like approaching the attack and third kind of thing. So I guess I say that to say like a lot of, I think a lot of different midfielders could fit there because I think Pott just kind of de-emphasize that band of two when it comes to build out specifically. Well, I mean, but you know, having somebody to play at least in combination, particularly when you're getting pressed along the sideline. And if you're going to play with wingbacks,

you got those players higher up the field and you're going to want to get them on the ball, I don't know. I feel like you need somebody who understands how to step into those moments. Because what Tyler's going to do is he's going to, if he's going to present, if he's going to show for the ball, he's going to play a back. backwards. Yep. And then you're just going back to Tim Ream and asking Tim Ream to either cut out lines,

I don't know. Or dump it. Yeah. Or dump it. Yeah. I mean, one thing rolled on gave us, I think, that Burrhalter didn't, is a little bit more dynamism. Dynamism in the word of the day. But dynamism in the press and in like ball winning.

You know, he's just a little more Johnny on the spot than Sebastian is. And more of a connector, like you said. So I guess taking his performance. and what he did and trying to figure out who else could do that and maybe do it a little better because I think the problem was with Christian was he was too messy with the ball like especially in our defensive third.

Like Greg said in our recap, the clock was ticking down too fast for him when he had the ball and he just didn't have a sense of how to get rid of it quick enough. And so I mean they got like, remember that time when was it Ogawa just rattled the crossbar? That was a hold-on giveaway.

And so I like test. I like Testman. It was good with that, for sure. I did note that too. Like, it's as good as he was in the press, as he said, and as good as he was in some other areas, he did get caught it in possession and get it all over a couple times. Three times, something like that. And Testman, I like Testman.

Does he provide the same bite that a Christian rolled on does? Like going against the ball? Right. He's getting better. But you have, you have out and out defenders there. and Tyler and Johnny. And Johnny's never shown it for the national team for me.

And I think Johnny in possession is a problem. I think Johnny is very good with the ball at his feet. And after that, yeah, I don't know. I like Ed Morris a lot. I think he's a pretty decent passer

but I don't know if he's at a level. And he wasn't in this team. He wasn't called up for this group, which I don't know what that means exactly. And then we're all looking at October. And like, it's like this looming thing, the October window, because if poach is true to us,

word and this was the last mess around window, then October is going to give us an idea of who he really thinks are going to be his guys. I mean, he won't have it in stone yet. Again, Parsica's injury, but yeah. Yeah, that October roster is everything. I mean, Johnny looks, just to go back to Aden for a second. Aden looks as good as anybody in the midfield right now. But I got my side eye for the championship right now because of the way Josh has looked. judging the whole division or Josh Sergeant scoring goal.

Well, it's not just not putting the ball in the back of that is just being a non-factor against Korea. And I, and I do think, I honestly do think, I honestly do think, take

Josh Sergeant out of it completely. Ligaun, they call it a Farmer's League, some people do, but Ligaan is a legit top flight competition. I mean, those those are

athletic opponents and intensity. And it's, I think it's a clear level above the championship. And so when I see Testman look pretty good, even in a loss, even in a loss for Leon over the weekend, I kind of feel like he should get extra credit just for the league he's playing in because it's harder to do, it's harder to look good in the midfield for Leon

than it is in the midfield for Middlesbrough. That's probably fair. That's probably fair. I mean, I mean, I don't want to open up the giant can of worms that is whether or not your club form means all that much when you come into the national team. Not form. I guess you're not talking about form.

You're talking about just like regular competition and the level that you play at. And I mean, I do, clearly that matters. Clearly it does. But does this sort of skill set and fit for the system matter more?

And does that edge, I don't know that it edges more as a head of assessment. I don't know. I don't know how you decided between those players, to be honest with you. And I don't know.

And I don't know. Neither of them is even in the, And I'm trying to remember the 23 that, and again, we did 23 because even though it's probably 26, it's just traditionally to do 23. And it made us, it forced us into difficult choices. I'm not sure I had either of them on my roster. I'm looking at your 23 right now, Mr. Davis. I did that in the moment. Don't judge me on that if it's bad.

It's okay. It's okay. This is really impossible. But yeah, you don't have either of them. But, you know, the way I look at it, there's, there are some tough choices. If you're going to bring four, three goalkeepers, four centerbacks. four fullbacks and it's a 23 man roster. Then you got 12 spots.

Do you think, so this, this, when I was, I don't have it in front of me and you do. So you're cheating. But I do think that there's some possibilities with, and this is all the choices that managers have to make going into World Cup. If you've got some versatility baked in. Like again, the idea that Jedi play centerback in a back three or obviously Sergenio can play both sides. You know, is, is there something where you don't have to take an extra body?

in a position group because you've got somebody who could do a couple different things. I wonder if that's a thing. But again, we talked about centerback depth in order to play a pack three. If Jedi can play centerback, then you don't need to bring another pure centerback. I don't know what that means necessarily. Mark McKenzie or, you know, again, I know there's some concern about winning the ball in the air with any of these guys. And if that's an issue. So I don't know if you're looking to bring somebody who's good in the air, even if they're not necessarily the most dynamic player in the

the back three, but, you know, that, so when we talk about like four, four, you say four fullback spells, like, I don't know, is there really going to be four fullbacks in this team? Okay, let's say there three fullbacks. Then you can, I think at most you can bring seven midfielders. And let's just, I know you did this just on your own show recently, but let's, let's talk about who those seven midfielers might be. Because it seems to me, and I think you agree, Adams is a lock. Yeah. Malik Tillman is probably a lock. He's a lot. For sure.

Tillman's a lot. Yeah, I think he has to be a look. He's luck. Yeah. I do, yeah, I think the glow up over the summer was intense for, for Tillman.

And he showed me something because I hadn't seen it. And I think, I do think he has this bearing about him, you know, talking about intangibles. He presents as a guy who is in high effort. Like, just the way he carries himself.

Like, he's kind of got, I think I think I said he kind of got, kind of guy has a he's got a resting like a resting face that just doesn't inspire you like he always looks like he's about to cry on some level

I feel bad saying it but it came out a couple times over the summer and I'm like man you don't like I think that what he took the penalty right man I don't know they just I'm thinking about him I like him a lot really want to see him level up but he's definitely in this team you're right about that okay so we got two locks

out of a potential like us you know potentially seven midfielders is what I know you had this conversation already but let's do it again is west and a lock I think he has to be I mean the talent alone makes him a lot for me I don't know what you know again being left out what that means we know him we know Weston you know rest in you know read between the lines if you want I guess but I don't think I mean as long as he's not coming in completely cold and he is he is getting minutes with you vei he has to be of the team, doesn't he?

And he does a lot of, he does a lot of things really well. Oh, for me, he's a lot. And I think Potch is gonna, Potch is gonna bring him in October and it's gonna be curtains on that whole discussion. Raina, started over the weekend.

Yeah, he did. I didn't get a chance to watch that full game. I read your notes, I watched a little bit of it when I was in Albuquerque. Obviously not a good result for them. Yeah. So kind of putting that in the top,

in the context. I did like this note about his top speed, which is like an offensive lineman. So I don't know, man. The most maddening player we have had. I mean, not to make it about the past, but I can't remember a player where I was so excited and so high on him, only to have it. The gap between that and where he's at be this big. Maybe that guys get injured. Like, every players go, and everybody's all, Freddy would do.

Nah, man. Like that really wasn't what Freddy's story was. But it just started he just started a game in the Bundesliga. I mean, you know, there's every reason to think that he'll have a runway. Right? That's what you're saying. Right, Mel? Like, there's a runway here.

Well, I just, I just kind of, I mean, you're not, I'm not arguing specifically with you. I'm just arguing with like the general opinion of him. It's not like he's fallen that far. I mean, he doesn't play that much. He didn't play that much last year. He was the best player for the national team at the, at our last successful. Well, can I break in with some news here, Bells that may be pertinent to this discussion? It seems as though he'll have a new manager starting next weekend.

Okay. Looks like Gladbach's made a choice. That doesn't surprise me. That was an atrocious team performance from them. Does that, does that change any of your thoughts about, I mean, look, Deals' talent is uneniable. I think he was the best player for Gladbach on the field yesterday. day. Okay. Again, not saying much, but I think anybody who comes in to manage them is going to

want to, if at all possible, get him involved. I mean, you could argue at Dortmund, there were options ahead of him. Okay, fine. Sure. Whatever. I guess, right? But just everybody is pointing to all the evidence is building that no matter who he plays under, they find a reason not to start him or not to give him significant minutes. And maybe that won't be the case with the next boss at Gladbach. I don't know, right? Lobbeck obviously made a choice to get Geo. So at least in terms of the sporting director, they show we're going to invest in Geoerena because we still see it.

And he's not like he's, you know, he's not very, he's still a young player. It's not developed. I don't think he's developing anymore, but it's just that question of whether or not he can apply the, the tools he has at the top level. And I'm glad it's Gladbach and not Parma because that wouldn't have been, that wouldn't have given us really a whole lot to go on,

even if he played minutes for that club. I just think the way that they would have to play or the way they do have to play in Serio would make it really tough to pick him out and go, okay, we see it here. Yeah. So maybe, although Globeck is bad, so there's that. I wanted to happen because I do. So the question around Geo is the same question I would have around Diego Luna and the same question I would have around Alejandro Zendayaas after what we saw, right?

We love the goal, great goal. And I think Zendayaas is capable of that on occasion. He's obviously very good in Mexico. Diego Luna looks great when you watch him from an effort level, clearly. He has a bag of tricks. It doesn't always work. But when it does, like, oh, damn, I can see it.

Like, he's a spark, right? He's the X factor. And we don't have a ton of those. We know the Christian level. You've got to get him the ball in the right places for it to work. But we know the Christian level. After that, for attacking players, who's like the X-Fact?

Who's the guy who's going to, like, off of the neck for for a chance or an opportunity or a goal when you really need it and I don't I don't know that I think that can be Gio I want it to be Gio I think we all don't we all think that that is Gio if he's

if he's firing Vince well well first of all it's it's it's Balo you know I'm going and throwing this I'm throwing this hat of ring right now staking my claim just just because of once again the fit of player and system is just so perfect.

Yeah. Well, I also think that, so this is the thing about Gio that I always talked about. Like, Gio's a dick on the field. He wants the ball. He thinks he's open. Remember there was that, that, was it, was it the Mexico game or some game where he was like bracketed by four guys and he's got his hand in the air like, give me the ball. It's like, Gio, you're not open.

Like, what are you talking about? But I want that. Like, I don't know that we have a ton of that either. Like, the guy who's, like, I talked about like Timmy being a nice guy or looking like he's always kind of dealing with something emotionally. He's a good player. And this is, again, coming back to intangibles. And I'm kind of talking about stuff that we've already covered.

But there is something to be said for having a dog on the field. And even though Diego Lou is not, he's a really nice guy. He's got that dog thing. And I think Ballow has it, too. I think Balow thinks he's the shit. I think he thinks he's really good. And we kind of need guys who think, and Geo does too. So, yeah.

To that point about Ballo, he missed a couple chances. over the weekend like cut at one time he took a throw in it was actually a really nice play took a throw in turned a guy came across the top of the box

and just skied a shot over uh... minamino and birith were both open across the box for a pretty easy square and he just turned he just turned and looked at him cold like

like what are you going to say but that's a thing so you know system and all and skill set you want you want it you want your striker to be that guy you do Yeah, I mean, play the smart ball if it's going to be an easy tap-in.

But I don't blame guys. Shoot or shoot. Like, I don't blame guys for taking shots if that's what they've been told their whole life. This is your job. Go score the goal. So, yeah. All right. So Raina, not a lock?

Is that where we're landing on that? I can't put him in as a lock. What about you, Vince? I'm projecting here. He wouldn't have been a lot before he started playing. I think Pach has made that clear. but glad back seems very invested in getting Giorana as many minutes as his hamstrings can hold, baby. So with that happening, there's no way where I see G.O. Raina playing regularly at club and him not be in a lock on the national team.

I'll put it there. Okay. All right. I mean, again, the talent is in terms of like the most talented players we've got. He's so high on that list that I can see the argument. I can see it. Top three or four, probably, easily. So then we got, so if you can agree, just for the sake of argument,

that Raina would come if he's healthy, that's four midfielders. And then you got Musa, Cardoso, Tesman, Morris, Rodon, and Delatore fighting for three spots. Yeah. Yeah. I wonder, because of that connector thing, I wonder if Deletore has an inside track here.

I know people downgraded him a bit because he moved to MLS, but he's been good. He is good with the ball in a way that a lot of those guys aren't. But it is a tough battle. I mean, he's not the most dynamic player. We're going back to that word again, Pels, is so good, Deletory. So I don't know what you think that pecking order looks like. I'll tell you how I would do it. I'm bringing Musa.

come hell or high water. I know he's a one, I know he's a bit of a one trick pony, but that one trick is, you know, it's the one trick you need. He's also, so some of this is that it's based on the fact that he doesn't,

hasn't been playing a ton. Yeah. And I think coach did him dirty a couple times. He planned him out. Come on, Jason. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about,

baby. Yeah. Did him real dirty. Like, that's not, nobody thought he was going to succeed in that spot. And I like, oh,

he played, he played, there's a winger at, uh, Via Real or whatever. It's like, no. Valencia. Yeah.

Sorry, by back. Get my V's mixed up. Valencia. You played Winger, Valencia. Yeah, but not that way. He didn't play Winger. So I think if you use him properly, he could definitely be useful. And, you know, again, if we're talking about guys, if we're not talking about

Eunice Mous as a starter, although we all remember M&A working so well together, I can see him as a lock. You couldn't convince me as a starter. right now. Exactly. But I think he's probably in this team because he's got experience, like he's got experience in competition with the U.S. at a level that a lot of these players don't.

Like there is something about, like, is there a trust level thing for Poach with a Morris or with a testman maybe? Whereas Moosso, despite his age as a veteran of this team, those guys know him too. Yeah. Yeah, that, I think that's a factor. I mean, he's going to, Atalanta plays.

at PSG on Wednesday. Champions League kicks off. And so there's going to be a lot of minutes to go around. They got the entire group stage ahead of them. This guy's going to play. You would think so. I don't have a lot of trust Yvonne Jurech very much, though. Why?

I don't know. I don't understand that. He's been kind of this, well, all Italian, all the guys who work in Italy, he's not Italian, he's Croatian, but all the guys who work in Italy are just bouncing all over the place all the time. Yeah. He was out South Hampton last year, and he lasted about four months.

Oh, that was a disastrous campaign. Yeah, it was pretty bad. He was at Roma before he took over, I believe he took over for Dorasi after Dorasi got fired after Barino got fired. And he was at Roma for, I think he got fired within a month at Roma, month and a half, something like that. Like, he plays some pretty dire stuff, which is wild for out. Atlanta to hire him because Gasparina was not that guy. So I don't know exactly what that means for Eunice playing at Atlanta. I mean, if it's more minutes and he was going to get at Milan, then who cares, I guess, on some level.

He was in the midfield over the weekend off the bench. Were you going to say that, Vince? Playing in the midfield, right in the middle of it, Andy got the number six kit, you know. But before you threw all the dirt on Mr. Jurich's name. James. Jason Davis. I was going to say I like this guy because, you know, a lot of the times, as you alluded to before, you know, managers like to play games with Eunice, put him out wide or whatever, despite, despite never having any performance that has ever moved me at a wingback position or whatever. But anyway, he's starting off in the midfield. So, Jureitch, he's on my, he's on my good side right now. Okay. I mean, it will look, you know, until proven otherwise, I guess you just got to give, got to give him the benefit of the doubt. So, what, a quarter hour for Eunice in the midfield is a step forward for you. Right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, fair, totally fair. So for me, Musa comes to the World Cup and then, you know, you got to figure out, do you want to bring Test Man, Cardoso, Morris, or probably Luna would be the other one for me. And there are different profiles there, so. I know. Well, do you need it?

I guess if you have Raina and Tillman, do you need another number 10? Probably not. Probably not. No, that's the thing. Like, I think if Gio makes this team, that's bad news for Dale Luna. Yeah. Yeah. And I like, and I like, yeah.

Glenn is also in the mix. I forgot to mention him. So that is an interesting one. I think I maybe put him on my 23, but, and I, and I recognize that I'm a victim of the moment here, like a recency bias in full effect. I love Jack McGlynn. I hope he's got, he's got something, right? And again, that left foot is, is like a well.

that a lot of teams would kill for just to be able to put him on again for the last 15 minutes or something and let him get I mean the way they set him up on that left foot against Japan it was pretty it was it was yeah that brought me out of my couch off my couch for sure again he he doesn't give you a ton sort of up and down the field he's not going to cover a ton of ground but he pops up in good spots to get on that and get on that left foot and I think he's got good instincts And, you know, we've seen some pretty killer set-piece service from him, too, which is a weapon. Yeah. I mean, I'd love to see him.

One more thing on, Melend, do you think, do you read Poach falling in love with McGlynn in a similar way he fell in love with Arfston? Or is that an overstatement? No. I don't. Okay. Do you, Vince? Not really, no. No.

Okay. No. just because, I mean, when you talk about minutes given to each specific player, you know, McGlynn kind of, I don't want to say, fell out of favor during the Gold Cup, you know, but maybe he does love him in that super sub role, though, because it's stayed throughout the gold cup into this camp. So I'd say it's a possibility, but yeah, there hasn't been any, I guess because there hasn't been any opportunity for it, but there hasn't been any glowing praise for Jack McGlynn

the way he's talking about, you know, Max Arfston or Malik Tillman so far. That thing about Jack having that magic left foot is, I mean, it matters. If he gets the ball anywhere within 35 yards of the goal, there's a chance he can score. Or drop a dime on somebody's head or something. So, I mean, it is, it is important. You know, Poach does that thing where if anybody has a decent showing in the post-game, he's going to, he's going to, he's going to, going to talk him up a bit. So I know he's done a little bit with Jack, but I guess it's a matter of whether you read that as of the moment and sort of ephemeral or if it's like it's sticking with him

and he's going to carry that forth. And also, of course, it matters who else is in contention. And again, you know, if you're talking about building a World Cup roster, do you want three players to do basically the same thing? Or do you want maybe a guy who does this and a guy who's somewhat similar and then a guy who does something completely different but sort of fills the same space or plays in the same pockets. Yeah. Yeah. Which I think Jack is an option for that.

Dio Luna is also an option for that. But as you said, he kind of fits more of the 10 profile. And if you got Gio and Malik, you don't, you don't really need Dealuna. So you probably need to bring one of Cardoso, Tessman, or Morris, at least? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Who's your, if, who's your choice of, oh, man. from those three. It'll change. Our opinions will change over the next two weeks. Well, again, I never come away from watching Johnny play and think, oh, you know, he looks great through the national team. Or he looks even, even, and I know, like, that's a spot where you, if you are standing out, it's not always great, clearly. Tyler jumps off the screen because of just how athletic he is. which which I mean

which might also give you a sense that he's better on a day than he really is but also you're again we talked about the give and take you're going to get that from Tyler and then you're going to he's just going to be a black hole when the ball gets to him and we're not going to get anything going forward

out of him Johnny is probably better in that regard but I guess I'm always wondering if there's something in the way La Liga teams play or the setup that's around him. And I don't think he's looked fantastic for Atletty yet. Got benched over the weekend.

Yeah, see, that's a bad sign. And they got their first result, I think. They got their first win in the season. Yeah, without him in the lineup. After an incredibly bad start, like, to the point, like, you know, I was like, oh, the title race is all over for Atletico, Madrid, three matches into the season. And I kind of adopted them when I, I went to Spain last year.

I got a shirt and everything. I was like, I'm jumping on board at Ledy because I don't want to be a, I want to be a front runner with Barcelona and Real Madrid. And they're letting you down. A true man of the people, Jason.

Oh, trying to be, you know, trying to be. But yeah, if he's not, I know, I know Semioni likes Barrios in the midfield. Koke is 33 and probably slowing down. But if you're losing out to him, against a team, you know, a decent team in Rio, I don't know.

Does that vote poorly for him? And then, of course, you know, what is, what does it look like in the national team picture? Like, Joss Sergeant can go score a ton of goals for Norwich, be player the month in the championship. And then it just doesn't work for the national team. It doesn't mean he's a bad player. This means he's not the international we need. That could be Johnny Cardoso too. But I don't know that means that he loses out to Aiden Morris or Tanner Testman.

I don't know. I don't either. gun to my head I'm taking Testament right now I think I get the sense you like Testament right yeah

but barely I mean it's I don't feel that strongly about it Vince I mean as much as I love Tanner

you know I've started a whole fan group Jason over over my love for Tanner but but I think I think I'm still going Johnny I think I'm still going Johnny

is that just because the level he plays on? I think. Is Johnny a better defender than Tanner is? And so if you're going to back up Tyler, then that's the guy? He is a better defender, yes. On his best days, I'm not going to say he's, on his best days, Johnny looks pretty slick. And it's just all about hopefully getting that out for the national team.

Now, to be clear, if we don't get any better performances between now and the World Cup, then I'd probably look at taking somebody else because I really do think he's like in his head now and like looking at his face after that last mistake in Turkey. It was just like, man, he wanted to be anywhere else but that soccer pitch at that moment. And he kind of disappeared from the pitch for like the rest of that half anyway. But yeah, I believe in the talent. I believe in the talent, man. I've watched a lot of Johnny Cardoso.

I think he's a good player. I think we're making an argument that talent matters. If we're going to put GEO, if we're even going to, you know, imagine Gio in the team, it's because of talent, not because of anything else. And Johnny would be the same. It's just funny that Johnny gets that benefit for the doubt. Josh Sargent's not getting it, not getting it at all. I do think there's some parallels there.

I think Josh is in his head when he comes in place for the national team. But Ballo's not in his head. And I don't know that anybody has some. sort of announced himself the way Ballot has at Stryker as a partner with Tyler. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. We're going to take a break. We got a whole other hour coming with Jason Davis going through the weekend action. Gio started, played pretty well in a bad game for Baruchio Munchin Gladbach. West started in a huge game for Juventus, a huge win over Inter Milan. Flo Balligan continues to play well. Pepe scored two goals.

There's a lot to get into and we can fit it all into the grand scheme of what that World Cup roster is going to look like next summer with Jason Davis. If you're a patron, you are about to listen to the rest of it. If you're not, thanks for listening. We'll see you.