Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #640: U20 wrap, U17 look-ahead with Marcus Chairez, Noahkai struggles, Diego shows out at ComplexCon

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Vince, Belz and Marcus on the mics. Also, is Diego Luna actually cool? Not just soccer cool but universally? An in-depth discussion of his photo with Lil Yachty, Quavo and Yeat, which MEANS SOMETHING to Vince. And then we talk about a small part of the weekend action. 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. Hey, everybody, it's the Monday Review. We've got Marcus Chores here and Vince, of course. So we're going to lean into the youth national teams, the U-20s, wrapped up their World Cup campaign a couple weeks ago. We haven't really put a bow on that. Also, the U-17s kick off their group stage in the U-17 World Cup against Burkina Faso on Wednesday, November 5th.

So, first of all, how are you? How are you, Marcus? I'm good, I'm good. I'm just flew back from Germany on Friday. So I'm just kind of getting acclimated to being back in California. But no complaints. I'm happy to be here. What about you, Vince?

How are you doing? I'm great. Good. That's all. No preamble. Okay. All right. So the U20 wrap up.

Marcus, I know you wrote something for the U.S. soccer collective. your website about the tournament after it was over. Kind of nice and short and sweet. Can you give us the TLDR on the tournament? You know, like what did you make of this group, first of all, in their performance? How did they? They fell out in the quarterfinals, just like everybody before them has done. But this was a little different, right?

This was a little different. Yeah, I mean, they, on the way to that, they beat France 300. and they beat Italy 3-0, and we could go into how good of, you know, France team it was or how good of an Italy team it was. But no matter what, I mean, even a B or C, France or Italy team are going to be a lot of good players. And they played really good games against, you know, two massive countries on the way to, again, losing, I think it was the third youth tournament, youth World Cup in a row that they lost to the eventual finals. So they lost to like Germany in the last U-17 that won in Uruguay and the last U-20 that ended up winning. So they lost to Morocco. But yeah, the TLDR is I think they kind of played.

I think our preview episode told the story pretty well. I think they're really a high-functioning team. They were well-coached. They just played very together. They played with a lot of energy and passion. and effort. And I think they played some good soccer at times. But, yeah, I mean, kind of like a lot of these tournament games, we tend to lose,

is it just came down to some moments that the other team capitalized on, and we didn't against Morocco. But I thought it was a team to be proud of, and I thought a lot of guys showed well. and a lot of there weren't many guys that didn't show well. And I think I think Marco Mitrovich might have had a misstep in his roster selection against Morocco. But overall, I think he coached these guys out really well. They played together. They had a really good understanding of what they were trying to do.

And I would not be surprised if he's on the like Mikey Varus kind of pathway and he gets an MLS job somewhere after this. I mean, the, the large. lost to Morocco, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We had the run of play against the eventual champion, but we just made mistakes, right? Yeah, yeah. I mean, there was another Josh Winder own goal, which is like his third one in a U-20 World Cup game. Otherwise, I thought he was actually quite good. But it's hard to get around another own goal. And then I think, I think the goalkeeper Adam Bodry had a misstep, and I think the second or third goal, I can't remember.

And we just had a lot of chances that we just didn't capitalize on. So I think, yeah, run of play, we were the better team. But just like it always does, in tournament games, it came down to mistakes. We made some critical ones, and Morocco didn't. I mean, if you compare last U-20 World Cup to this one, that's a difference for me. We were not the better team against Uruguay when we lost to them. I don't know. Looking for silver linings over here, and I feel like that's one.

Who are you most disappointed in? Yeah, that's an easy one, unfortunately. I think Cole Campbell came into the tournament with probably as much hype as anybody on the team in terms of a guy who could potentially be, you know, somewhat close to the senior team. And I think he obviously really struggled. So I'm not like ready to ride him off. But, yeah, it wasn't a great tournament for him. He just, I think he struggled in his final third decision making.

He just seems like he was trying to rush and force everything. But he was a guy that was going to be counted on to really help. provide a lot of the danger on this team that kind of lacked a lot of juice in the final third. And he just, he did get the goal against Morocco. He scored the penalty. And I thought he was a little bit better in that game. But, but overall, I think, I think he struggled. And I think you could kind of, you could feel it.

You could feel like in his body language that he was really forcing it. I think he maybe felt the pressure and knew he wasn't delivering. and I think that just kind of like snowballed on him. And, you know, what happens? He's 19-year-old kid. Yeah. It's too bad because he was, you know, he's actually played first team minutes for Dorman,

albeit a small number of minutes. You would think he would come in and kind of be on cheat code mode, but it was not to be. No. And then you mentioned something. I've just laughed at it if it's his face. expression.

Yeah. Yeah. I was very disappointed. It's just like, I was just thinking through all the like Cole Campbell things, but it's like, you know, very fast fella. You know, like one of the fastest attacking players in the Bundesliga period.

Over last season, over those like, what, you know, 50 minutes he got last season, he put in a sprint fast enough to register up there. But it's like, and you would think, coming down the U-20s, with just having an obvious physical trait like that, that it would just, that it would, at the very least,

he could rely on that and it would play up and give him some positive, dangerous moments that we could showcase, even if he was struggling, but he's struggling on a level that it's just like, damn, you know, it was, it was, it was, uh, eye opening. I don't know if you want to say he got exposed,

whatever, but it's like, you know, especially from this summer, when it's like the rumor mills going around is he going to Stuttgart, is he not? Dorman keeps him Not in the plans I mean, which is crazy First of all you're going to keep him

and be like, oh, you're so important and then release him to go to the U20 World Cup and, you know, we get a performance like that, then it's just like damn. Well, maybe the, I mean, not to make excuses for him, but he also just isn't playing anywhere, right? He's not playing on

the Dorman's second team. He's not playing for the first team. So he's essentially not played any games since last spring when he was playing for their second team. So he kind of looked like a guy who's not playing a lot of games. He's running really fast. His mind's running too fast. It just seemed like he needed to slow down a bit, slow his mind down a little bit. But maybe that played into it.

But yeah, it wasn't great. I'll spare everybody a geo update today because I know that there's some. listeners who get really upset if I even bring up his name. But I got to mention Leonard Carl, that Byron 17-year-old. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that goal he scored, that third one he scored

against Gladbach. That was like, this is the Bavarian Little Messi here. Like that touch into the touch into space and then just like absolute confidence to curl that into the upper 90. I mean, we're talking

there's levels to this teenage game, you know? Yeah, we're not there. Yeah. I mean, news flash. Newsflash, buddy. It was like, when I saw it, this was my first exposure to Leonard, Leonard Carl,

and first of all, like, I see the tweet, I see, he scored a goal, I see the name. I'm looking at the name, I'm like, come on, bro. You know, this ain't no real player. the Leonard Carl This is an academic from the 19th century You know what I'm saying Looked at him too

Right Picture Right And then you see the goal It's like ah damn Yep Goalkeeper didn't even move Like an inch

Not a single inch Beautiful Anyway that's the update From the Bruchia Muchin Gladbach Loss at home To Byron Munich 3 to 0

Let's get back to the U20s You mentioned some quibbles with Mitrovich's roster, even though Mitrovich, obviously, he coached this team really well. What's your roster quibble? Well, he... We talked about this before, too, I think. Yeah, well, there's that, but I think the actual, like, starting 11 decision, it was weird to not start Taha Habrune, one who's of Moroccan descent. And, you know, he's talked about he's a big fan of Morocco. He had been starting the last few games, and they started an extra defensive midfielder instead.

They started Matthew Corcoran. And so a team that's going to sit back, bunker, and counter, I think they needed more players. I think it had a domino effect. So Habroun was kind of playing the false nine, although it was kind of being rotated in game between him. Kramashi and Shakiris were also, they're all kind of like flexible. in that role. Anyways, so taking out Habroun, which is, I think, kind of middle to final third is where he's quite good. I think you saw that they lost something in that area of the field. It also pushed Brooklyn Raines up to be more of an eight, and Matthew Corcoran was kind of the deeper

lying midfielder. And so then you're also losing Raines' kind of coverage as a six. He's kind of like a, he's a little bit like Tyler Adams and his kind of ability to put out fires, though he had an issue in the game. But I just thought, I thought starting Quarkering for the first time, pretty much all tournament, in a game where you kind of knew what Morocco was going to do, didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And I, so that was like my main coaching with the decision. But then this team did, you know, they, they, they, They barely played with the classic nine.

Marco Zambrano was the only nine that they brought. I just have never thought he offers more than what Carol Figueroa can offer. And I just, I think the team, you know, same as the last few 20 cycle. They just, they're playing their best 11, which didn't include a nine, and I think it showed at times. And I still, I personally still, uh, uh, you got some Figueroa stock. Yeah, I'm still holding some Figueroa stock. So I think, I think, uh, I think you would have been a better fit. But yeah, that's it.

Who was the player of the tournament for us? I think it was really hard to like pick, like, a true standout. I think kind of representative of this team. it was really the collective that was sort of the star. I mean, I know Kramashi had one golden boot, but he got three of the five against New Caledonia, so it's with an asterisk. And I wouldn't say he was like the star.

The team, I think he played like how you'd expect him to play. I really liked Winder's performances, actually, other than the unfortunate two own goals. I think I'm just more acutely looking at centerbacks all the time because it's where we're in most need on the senior team. Starving. Yeah, and I think there's something there with him. And I thought his distribution throughout the tournament was pretty good.

I thought he played in space better than maybe I've given him credit for and he wins everything in the air. and he just got he's just got kind of a nastiness to his game, which I like in the centerback. So I'm surprised he didn't get any goals off set pieces because he's really good in set pieces. So I liked, I thought,

I thought there was a reason to be somewhat hopeful about him. I think he made his first Benfica bench in Champions League. Yeah, yeah, I guess Newcastle. And it's been kind of, I think, people have been wondering what's going on with him because he hadn't been playing for Benfica B and he hasn't been on the bench or in the squad for the first team

and I think something came out where he was having some visa issues and so maybe that is the reason and maybe we'll start seeing him like at least be in the squad for the first team more often so I checked before we got here he wasn't in the squad this weekend for the league game Okay.

That been figure played. Okay. So maybe that's, maybe that's fake news. I don't know. So, yeah, I like, I was, I liked his performances. And then I think another guy we might talk a little bit about is Frankie Westfield. I think probably the most consistent, like, positive performer from the tournament. And just looks like a player that could be useful for the senior team.

in the future. He just can kind of, doesn't have a lot of weaknesses in his game as a right back. Maybe not like elite at anything, but, you know, can do the defensive job, can get forward and be useful in the final third. So I thought if anybody came out of the tournament with, like, their stock increasing somewhat significantly, it might be him. Okay. Shakira, did his stock increase at all? Or not really? I mean, it was a buyer's market, right? He was, San Jose kind of just destroyed his stock.

But I thought he did what he needed to do in terms of like this tournament showing like he's still a really effective middle third, final third player. Had a beautiful free kick against Italy, right? Yeah. So, yeah, I think if you're like, I don't, you know, if you're another club looking to buy, you know, buy low and get a high potential maybe young player, San Jose should be shopping him. So, yeah, I think it was, that tournament was what he needed. And I, the only other player I wanted to bring up is Xavier Gozo, because he, I know in your piece about the tournament, you kind of spotlighted him as a player who, did well, was expected to do well, I think, but did well. Yeah, I think you have to remind yourself he was playing a full cycle up, which is not easy

at a U-20 World Cup. He had a fantastic cameo off the bench against France, really was kind of the one who ignited the win late in the game. I thought he was okay against Morocco. But yeah, I think throughout what you've seen with him, And what you've seen at Real Salt Lake is he's just really tightened up his ball control. And he was just kind of a mess like a year or two ago in terms of his first touch and his ability to just control the ball in tight spaces. And that seemed to improve.

And then when you add that with his kind of his physical ability and yeah, I thought he had a good, not great tournament. But for a player playing up in age group, I mean, that's that's a really positive thing. to say and I think if I'm a scout watching that team and I'm looking for like who's the player I'm probably most like if I'm a scout for a club in Europe and I'm looking at that team and I'm looking for like who's the guy I would want to bring over from that squad it'd probably be Gozo and kind of like centerback like we need we're also starved of wingers so it's just nice to see see his development over the last year and maybe gives you a some hope that he's just going to kind of be on more of an exponential curve in the next couple of years.

May it be so. Well, so like I said, the U.S. kicks off versus Burkina Faso, November 5th, started to start their group stage campaign. And I guess I'll just read the roster just to cover our bases here. Goalkeepers are Jack Court Camp from supporting KC., William. Lodmau from supporting Lisbon and Aidan Stokes from New York Red Bulls. And then the defenders are Chris Cups from the Chicago Fire. Jordan Griffin from the Philadelphia Union.

Pedro Gimaraj from Orange County SC. Ramiz Hamuda from the Birmingham Legion. Enrique Martinez from the LA Galaxy and Gio Villa from Real Salt Lake. I think Via is a fullback. Who else is a fullback? that Gimerich is. Gimerich and Griffin are both left backs, so they only

brought one right back, which is interesting. And then that's VIA, right? And then the midfielders are Maximo Carrizo from New York City FC with the famous dad. And then Luca Moisa from Real Salt Lake. And then Cooper

Sanchez from Atlanta United. Kevin Sullivan from the Philadelphia Union, Jude Terry from L.A. F. Mateo Shakiris from the LA Galaxy. That's Nico's little brother. And then the forwards are Chase Adams, who scores goals a lot for the Columbus Crew 2 team.

And Mathis Albert from Borussia Dortmund, Nympha Berkimos from Charlotte FC, Julian Hall from the New York Red Bulls, guy who actually does play in MLS, Jemir Johnson from Philadelphia Union, and Kellan LeBlanc. also from the Philadelphia Union. So a lot of Philadelphia Union representation here. You know, we got to start with, we got to start talking about by talking about Kavana.

He, you know, someone came on our podcast, someone whose name I will not mention. No, we're going to mention the name. Who don't know anywhere. And said he was going to get 1,000 minutes in all competition this season. This is not turned out to be true. He has 425 minutes in MLS.

and Open Cup. And half of that's in Open Cup. And I think mostly his MLS minutes are garbage time, sporadic cameos. No goals or assists with the first team this season. It hasn't been the breakout we had hoped for from Kavan this year, or at least I had hoped for. That's David Goss, by the way. I just want to make sure we get the name out there, number one,

And number two, I met him outside of a Red Bull or no, a Sports Illustrated arena. I think that's what they call it now. And I thought about bringing it up, but David was such a nice guy. I want to talk to him about some other things. I didn't want to sour the interaction. Yeah. I'd be like, hey, hey, remember when you, you know what I'm saying? But, yeah, he does need to be held accountable for this, man.

He doesn't need to be. because he gave me a lot of hope that was you know and and and it's not you know there are repercussions to feeding the hype machine and and you know the hype not hyping you know i think we've learned this every year i don't know if you have been paying attention to archmanning and what's going on at the university at texas that man's ass but but yeah man you know you got to be careful what you say about young prospects man you think you He throw out a thousand minutes and you don't get the thousand minutes. Yeah, now he's, now what?

He's Freddie a do. You know what I'm saying? It's just, we got to try to maintain a realistic level. I mean, it goes even deeper than that. There were times when the U.S. would lose games, the U.S. senior team would lose games, and people would be mad at scoffed.

Yeah, yeah. For being excited about the young general. generation, you know. I mean, it's, it's, it's, you know, got to be careful, which we haven't always been on this podcast. It's not just David Goss. Anyway, Kevin, should we, should we, tell us why we should still be excited about him. If you think we should. I think we should. I think, uh, some context is key. Um, he, He played about a thousand minutes in NextPro, the second tier league. I guess technically it's the third tier in the that sort of non-existent U.S. pyramid.

He was only like, let's say, I think he was one of two players in his age group, 2009 age group, to play over a thousand minutes. And he had over like, I think he had like 11 goal contributions in 1,000 minutes. So playing still against, you know, mostly 20, let's say 20 year old, 21 year olds about the average age in MLS-Nex Pro as a 15-year-old was when he was playing looked like one of the better players in the league. So if you remove the hype machine and you weren't told he was going to get 1,000 minutes in MLS this year, you'd look at that and you'd be like, hey, that's, That's actually kind of where we'd like him to be. That's a really, that's a good next step to where he was the year before. So if he, you know, he plays, let's just say he played with the second team all year

and he puts up 20 goal contributions. I think people are probably not disappointed with that. That's true. Yeah, that's totally fair. So can we, Marcus, is it time to start putting respect on MLS Next Pro as a development tool? I don't know. I just feel like some people might. might be listening to you and be like, what, what does that mean?

Yeah, a thousand minutes in MLS Next Pro, the league's ass. Like, you know, that, that can't, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, the sun peeking to the clouds is, you know what I'm saying. But I don't know, I mean, as a devil's advocate, I would say Alex Freeman came to MLS from MLS next pro and looked ready. More than ready. Some people would say. Um, so just, just, just as we're racking up data. you know, is the league I asked or not, Marcus, I guess I'll just leave it there. The answer is always gray, right?

It's never black and white. I think a lot of the league is ass, but there are signs that performing quite well in that league has been an indication that you might do well in MLS. And that's what we need. So Frankie Westfield's another good example. He was not expected to be like, I wouldn't think he was expected to be a big contributor for Philadelphia Union's first team this year. I think Harriol was hurt at the beginning of the year. He came in. He played really well. And he kind of just really kept the starting spot for most of the

first half of the season. And the year before, he really kind of broke out in Next Pro. I'd never really rated him too high, but he kind of took a step up in Next Pro. He was the best 11 player in Next Pro the year before and then he, you know, then he does really well in the first team. So I think, I think there are some indications that if you're like, you know, dominating in X Pro as like a 16, 17 year old, 18 year old even, probably more like 1617, like that is probably a fairly good indicator that you might be ready to do well in MLS. But large in parts, there's still a lot of teams using that league in the wrong way. And so you've got like 24 year old journeyman or were maybe okay college players playing.

And that's really, we just don't have enough domestic talent. Right. To make that league a good like under 21 league. So we're relying on like bringing in a lot of players from South and Central America that are like 2021 or older college. you know, guys that aren't making it in US, USL or MLS. So it's just there's not enough good quality in the region to make it a good developmental league.

I think as our pipeline gets bigger and I could definitely tell you that like looking at the younger classes, just the depth of talent that's coming through, we're still not like developing enough high end talent, you know, like your Leonard's. But, but, but, uh, but the depth is getting better. and I think that will eventually help that league become more competitive, but I still think it's a, you know, there's ways to get value out of it and seeing who's like doing really well

is a decent indicator. Okay, yeah. What's Kavin's next step? Is he going to, is he going to Manchester after this season is over? So he can't because of, so he's got a German passport. So he could go to the, EU, he just turned 16. So he can go to England.

He just can't go to England. So it would have to be probably one of their. They got a decision to make. I think all the powers and cabins can't. Like if they want to leave, I think they could leave. I would imagine the 425 minutes across all competitions is not a great, you know, not a great piece of leverage to get him to stay. That's not going to say well with Brendan Sullivan.

I'll tell you that right now. No, no, no. So, yeah, then you look around the city group and you say, all right, well, where might make sense for him to go if you were to go. So I don't know. I think it's kind of 50-50, whether he comes back to Philly or goes somewhere in Europe. Well, I mean, you could see it being a really good situation for him in Philly next season. if he can, you know, hit that magic David Goss number. You could take all of Quinn's minutes.

I mean, unfortunate for Quinn. Yeah. He's hurt, but, I mean, you know. It's really difficult for me to sit and watch Indiana Vasselov play 2,000 minutes with Kavana Sullivan behind him, I have to say. It's difficult watching that guy play. I know he scored. As the great...

I can't remember if it was Gary or Brian Clibbin once told me that there's a there's a lot of value in a player who provides a high professional floor, you know, for a coach. And I imagine. Are we talking about Indiana Vassalov? I think so. I think so. I mean, that's got to be what he does, you know. That professional mustache.

I know that. Yeah. I don't know if he's cut it or what. I think it was Watki who said in one of the camps, he's never seen someone so unsure of himself or something like that. American soccer personified. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love this theme here on Vince.

I couldn't support it anymore. We're going to get to some more than a little bit later. So, yeah, Kevin's scoring goals in MLS Next Pro. I just want to add a little bit. to that, is that league good or not question? Because I watched Nympha, Nympha's hat trick against

Inter Miami 2. Inter Miami 2 is probably one of those teams that's not handled, not approaching it in the correct way, but they, that was a joke of a defense that they were up against. And, um, uh, Berkimos, uh, you know,

I mean, actually, some of the goals were nice, but it's not a great, advertisement for the league to watch that enter Miami 2 side try to defend and like you said there you know Buzz Carrick was on here a couple months ago saying that that North Texas you know the management the ownership of FC Dallas is like really proud that North Texas won MLS Next Pro but they did it with like 25 year olds some 25 year olds and you know they don't the North Texas FC Dallas doesn't know what North Texas is Is it a developmental side or is it like, are they like trying to win trophies that frankly nobody cares about, you know?

Yeah. And it seems like they're trying to win these trophies and they're really proud of that. And it's like, well, what are we doing, you know? It's all about incentive, right? Like what are these people in these positions being incentivized to do? And if the people at the top are incentivizing these coaches to win games, that's how they're being measured in their job, which is it shouldn't.

I guess that's what they're doing. But yeah, I think it's the biggest problem in the league right now. But there are teams doing it the right way, which Phillies one of them. Phillies, you know, they start like an 18, 19-year-old average team. They won, I think they won last year, and they're in the finals again. So, like, they use it the right way and they win.

So it's possible. But, yeah. Let's talk about Mathis a little bit, because, or is it Matisse? Matisse Albert. Matisse, yeah. Matisse, my bad. Oof. Matisse.

Cut that out. Yeah. I'll own it. I'll own it. But, you know, he keeps scoring goals for the- You already read it in the roster. Yeah, I'll take it. Oh, okay.

Yeah. He keeps scoring goals for the Dortmund U-19s. I mean, probably the highlight of the season for him so far as the goal and assist against the UVA U19s and UFA Youth League. Hasn't really sniffed the first team this season. What are you expecting from him in this tournament? I think we should expect him to be a impact player. Like, he's improved a lot since he's gone over to Dortmund. Yeah, I think he's probably the second most exciting.

like younger prospect we have and i don't know that the gap between him and cavan or is that wide i think um i yeah i'm hoping he he kind of breaks out and and has a really big tournament same with cabin is it likely that he'll play on the which side which side will he play on because he's a winger he'll play on the left i think he's pretty much always played on the left for the u.s. and mostly for Norman too. Okay. And then Kevin play in the midfield or will you play on the right? It's a good question.

It's kind of this team is really attack heavy. Like all the top players are pretty much like tens or wingers, which is kind of unique for us and kind of fun. He could play, they could invert him and he could

play on the right wing, you know, as a left-footed player. I think Maxi Carrizo is going to be the captain and he's a 10 like he's a pure 10 uh so they have they have they may do they may run like dual tens uh which they've done a bit with this team where maxie and cabin play together and they both play in the midfield it leaves it leaves the six kind of with a lot of work to do um but i don't know i'm actually not quite sure how he's gonna i haven't seen the last few camps

they've had their sort of full arsenal of attacking talent, but none of the games have been broadcasted. I don't really know how Gonzalo's been running them out. That's Gonzalo Cigaris, yeah, for everybody. Just real quick for you, move on. Every time I hear or see the name, Maximo Carrizo, I just picture him in my mind as, like, you know, those in movies or whatever that's stereotypical Italian kid that uses, like, his name in the first person.

And like, when they're talking to somebody, like, you know, like let's say he's frustrated on the soccer field. They never passed a ball de Maximo,

you know, yeah, yeah, type thing. Like, like, like that, the name combined with,

like, his dad's behavior, like, I don't know, I could just, it just, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That's what I see. An Argentine American, but of, obviously, with a name like that, of Italian descent. Right,

right, right. Um, Who else are you going to be watching? Who else are you going to be watching closely in this tournament? Yeah, outside of those two, I think all the wingers are exciting, which is just kind of a unique thing for our rosters from senior down. Like all four of the guys that play on the wing with Matisse, Nympha, Julian Hall, as you mentioned, I think is probably the most experienced player.

in terms of first team minutes on the roster. He can play. He's kind of a more direct winger, who can also play as a nine. And then even Jemir Johnson from Philly is like one of the more clever, like one-on-one players. I actually am very excited about him too.

I think he's probably going to PSV when he turns 18. He's gone out there a bunch of times, played in a bunch of, featured in a bunch of tournaments for them, hasn't signed with Philly. So, you know, when he turns 18, I think he'll go probably into their U-21 setup. So all four of the wingers, I'm excited about. Maximo.

Maximo, I think he's just like a unique player. We don't develop a lot of players like him. So he's like a true Argentinian 10 and not like at the level that Argentinian national teams develop. but he's just like a really fond, technical, intelligent player to watch. And then I really like Jude Terry, who's going to have a lot of work to do, kind of being the firefighter behind all these attacking players. So I think he might be like the key to how well or how well this team does because he's going to have a ton of work to do, sort of progressing the ball

and stopping transitions the other way. So really most excited about some midfield and attacking talent. And then I think the most interesting defensive player to watch is probably Christopher Cups from Chicago Fire. He played, I think, 3 or 400 first team minutes this year and did not look out of place. So as a 16-year-old centerback in MLS,

that's reason to be optimistic. So yeah, there's a ton of talent on this team. It's like the opposite question of the U20 team. Loads of talent haven't seemed to figure out how to play well together, not really done well in terms of peer results. So it could be fireworks, it could be an absolute train wreck, not really sure. Hall, I just want to say Hall hit 9.

971 first team minutes this year. Time start to dialogue. Yeah. And two goals and assist, I guess, in that time. Most of that, I think those all came at the beginning of the season, though. All right. So, you know, tune in, U-17s. It's always kind of fun to watch.

You might get to see somebody put on a master. class and then disappear from the scene like Andrew Carlton did. Or you might see somebody hit a banger and then become a player for Juventus like Tim Wea. You never know. You never know what's going to happen. Marcus, real quick. Yeah. Are you a...

So based on you being you, I assume I know the answer to this, but U-17 World Cup being moved up in frequency, you are you a fan of this? Yeah. It was more data for me, right? So I think it's always good to have the young players play in high pressure situation. So now every class is going to get a chance to do that. Ideally, the qualification process is a joke now. So the trade-off is like the regional tournament is like almost not worth watching.

Because they don't, they're not going to, it's not even a tournament. You play in like a group. And it's like, you know, the minnows of Conca Calfe, we're not. playing Mexico in that tournament anymore. But yeah, that means all of our teams are going to go to the World Cup, most likely, and get to play in high-pressure games and get to experience that. So, yeah, I'm a fan of that. I mean, the qualification tournament was kind of fun to watch,

but also was Fool's Gold even before, you know, outside of the final against Mexico. Let's take another break and then come back. and talk about the weekend action. Okay, we got to start with the bad news out of Augsburg. Bells, hold on, but before we get this, a bad news out of Augsburg, I would like to talk about the biggest thing that happened in U.S. soccer this week, this weekend. Real quick, before we get in the weekend action, this actually happened off the field. Tim Howard getting dunked on by the Tennessee, the Lady Vols?

Did he? What happened? on my radar. He said that this is actually pretty interesting. He went in and the Lady Vols soccer team took 10 penalties against him. His daughter plays for them now. And so he has a personal connection there. They took 10 penalties against him and the challenge was he had to save four of them to win.

Okay. And he went into it very confident and he only saved two. And he got, you know, he got, he got, he got. chirped at a lot on that practice field up there in Knoxville so you can watch the whole thing on on Twitter I think NBC NBC put the video out because Rebecca little gave him a bunch of crap about it on at the desk you know what like how did this come about they just because his daughter plays for the team so right just I don't I don't know they were like but this wasn't preempted by I don't know, him talking us about women's soccer or something, right?

I don't think so. No, I think it was all very good nature. But he said he went into a pretty confident that he was going to be able to save four of these penalties. And, I mean, there was some stone cold penalties. I don't know the names of any of the players. But. And then I guess Landon Donovan said, I guess Landon Donovan was talking some crap about it on their podcast. And then he tweeted out that he was going to.

take penalties against their goalkeepers, one of their goalkeepers, and he promised that he would make nine of them, which I don't know, seemed like what's he talking about? But anyway, Tim Howard was a total gentleman about it. Okay, okay. I thought it was going to be one of the moments, but okay, sounds good. You know, when you're watching it. He's been watched for a long time. That's right. That's not what you had in mind to bring up, though. What was, what? This came across my Twitter timeline last night. It's a picture.

Okay. From, I think this is ComplexCon. Okay, which Adam Bell is, if you're not familiar. Complex. I know it mostly is just a website. I think it was a magazine. Hip Hop magazine, whatever. They have a convention every year where a lot of people from hip-hop culture get together.

So we're talking, we're talking sneakers. we're talking rappers, streetwear brands, etc., etc. It's like a huge thing that they throw every year. And everybody from those industries get together and, you know, they have their booths or whatever. So it looks to me in this picture in the background, Nike soccer had an activation. Okay, I'm looking, there's a sign that says Mad Stadium. And I think maybe there's some like some type of netted little soccer field where you can, play ball with one Diego Luna.

Okay. And so Diego Luna, Nike, first of all, has a, they brought the total 90 stuff back out. I don't know if you've seen that Adam Bells. Everybody's doing nostalgia. Total 90 kids. You can get you in Donovan. Total 90 Jers. Anyway, so

I'm looking at this picture. Diego Luna, picture with, from left to right, Cuevo, okay, who essentially I guess for to make this simple for people. Migos, a rap group. Cuevo essentially was the lead singer

of the rap group. You know what I'm saying? The Beyonce of Amigos, so to say. One of the greatest rap groups of all time. Anyway, in the middle, Liyadi, okay, rapper. And then, on the right, Yeat, who also is a rapper, for my money, the best white rapper

of all time. Nobody come from me on that, okay? We can have the eminent. discussion at a later time. But so Diego Luna's in the middle of this picture. How this picture came about, I don't know, there's no backstory to it. But what I will say here in this picture, and I tweeted it on my Twitter account at v underscore so spiffy. It's within, I quote tweeted and just put LMFAO.

So you look at this picture. Diego Luna fits in here. Yeah. Okay. That's what I was thinking. He fits in. He looks good. And, you know, it kind of, he's not smiling.

You know, you don't smile on these pictures. I mean, Yead even has a, yead has a shi-stie. He's big on wearing shyses, terns, things over his face, whatever. He's worried about getting COVID. Yes. Diego fits in to a point. to where, you know, I've long been on the side of like, we need to, we need to not, we need to not emphasize Diego Luna's look so much.

We typecast. You know what I'm saying? We're typecasting a man. He's a soccer player like anybody else. There was actually an article in The Guardian has come out that was written by one of his family members about how the whole family used to go over to his, I think, his mom's house, which is Diego's aunt, watched Mexico USA games,

and Diego was a little kid running around waving a USA flag chairing for USA well. And they gave a lot of backstory in that article about Diego Luna's upbringing, to which confirmed all my suspicions that he is much more like everyone that's came up through American soccer than he has disliked everyone that's come through American soccer. You know, he's raising academies. He's a middle-class kid.

Middle-class kid. There was also a quote from his, from his brother. I forgot the exact quote, but it was something like, you know, people call him a streetballer. And it's like, no, he's not a streetballer. All these skills that Diego has can be taught, can be learned and taught, you know, through formal training, et cetera. So anyway, but, but the man has the look.

Okay. And it's undeniable when you see it in this picture, he just passed the tattoos and everything. you know, he just looks like soccer. You know, and he looks like cool soccer. And I always have understood the appeal, but I just wanted to make sure that we're on doing the, you know, he's from the, he's made it up through the barrios and, you know what I'm saying? I was just like, ah, let's chill on that.

But, you know, when I'm talking, we were talking about, you think there's hope. I've been talking about this campaign that I've been going on as far as taking a critical look at U.S. soccer culture and what we can do to break through to people. You know, we talked about it with the Land of Donovan thing. It's been, you know, a common thread through my appearances on scuffed. You know, just trying to find that cultural point where we can break through. And I guess this is the point I'm trying to make in this whole segment is that after the

Gold Cup, I thought he was, you know, maybe I was just thinking he was U.S. soccer cool. He was cool to people that follow U.S. soccer, maybe the people that are just outside of the U.S. soccer bubble who are fans in America that can relate to Diego a little bit. But no, what this picture shows me is that Diego Luna has the opportunity to be universally cool, universally, generationally cool for a U.S. men's national team soccer player. I mean, not even generationally, like the cool goat when it comes to U.S. soccer if the play matches, man. So yeah, I think that's what really when it comes down to it, that's what this

picture told me. It's like we really have a true, true, true potential crossover star. And yeah, I think we gotta maximize it. The reality of soccer in the U.S. is like it just hasn't been

cool as a kid to play forever. And I think that's changing a little bit and I think you see it in kind of like Because I'm at this like, I'm at GA Cup and Next Fest and all these like bigger tournaments. Right. Here in the U.S.

And I think you are seeing the like the coolness factor of the sport and sort of the confidence and swag that comes with that. It's starting to change a little bit, I think. And I think you'll start to maybe maybe even like this U-17 team, maybe like the first team where you might see like a different kind of that these kids carry themselves when you watch Julian Hall, Cabin, Matisse, Jimmyer Johnson, like, so I would, I think everything you've said on this topic is spot on. Like, there's just like an uncomfortability with being a like professional athlete that's kind of come with being an American player in the sport. And it's like his like generations of just being the not cool athlete.

Yeah. ever. And I think that's starting to change just as soccer enters more of the like zeitgeist and mainstream in terms of like to culture kind of more broadly in the U.S. but so let's see if these younger guys can bring something a little different because I do agree that really like even even like Lune is an edge case for his age group, right? You look at like the guys in his age group to like Jack McGlynn's or whatever. it's still like

I think he's like ahead of the curve in that but I think maybe the younger guys might bring a little bit more so we'll see right but Diego's so ahead of the curb that

like the fact that we can get this picture like no other U.S. Mids National team player can take this picture with Cuevo Liyadi and Yit and fit in to the point to where you know

he's in the conversation for coolest dude in the picture you know What have compared this to what's that picture that Christian had a while back? Oh, the one with the dudes in London when he was in like the like underneath Wembley. Yes. We need like a side by side of this picture and that picture. And I think I think it might illustrate what you're saying.

Exactly. You put so this was Christian Pulis. I think he was at a Jack Harlow concert. Shout out to. shout out to Jack, Louisville Native. And yeah, he was at a Jack Harlow concert, and there was some dudes, I think some local rappers from London who were opening for Jack Harlow, either opening or just were guests or whatever.

And so they saw Christian, you know, former Chelsea player, right? So he's certified in the streets of London. And like, you know, all these black dudes huddled around him to take a picture with him. And it's like, it's like, police. and I don't know some of the white dude and they fit in well enough but you know it's like

you know there's a polar bear in Austin Texas in this picture it's a it's a hilarious picture but Diego Luna no polar bear in all it in Texas you know he's just also the bar is higher in this picture that Luna is in oh without without without a without yeah these are tier

these are tier 1A rappers I mean yeat um is one of the biggest rappers going right now. And like I said, greatest white rapper of all time. Quavo, I mean, come on, stamped certified. Lo Yadi is, you know, one of the tastemakers of this generation that is now passing here. But it still remains very culturally relevant. It makes good music as well. But yeah, I just, I've been so on the other side of pooing the right, not really pooing the rise of Diego Luna. I just wanted

everyone to stop and think about what they're saying real quick before saying it. That's all. And, um, but he, he gives us a lot that we can use on this front. And, and that's, and that's just what this picture really said to me. I'm just like, man, he's, I mean, he looks hard. If he looks, he looks, he looks hard. He looks cool. And like I said, when I said, he just looks like soccer like I imagine that Cuevo Yee and Lilladi saw Diego maybe playing in that cage with whoever walked by that little

activation or whatever and was like bro we got like who is this dude you know what I'm saying like I don't think they thought Real South Lake when they saw him you know what I'm saying they thought they were thinking you know whoever Juventus you know he could be the 10

for Real Madrid for all they know what I'm saying we see Diego Luna it's like the possibilities are endless And I think that's also why people's minds go to where they go to, you know, when they see, when they see them. There's a level, there's a level of discernment that's almost impossible to do, I think, to, like, that you as like, whatever culture you sit in and have a level of discernment to, like, another culture you're maybe not as comfortable with. And I think people are just incapable of maybe doing something, like, having that level of, like, thoughtfulness sometimes. And I know this. that's why I try to get out in front of it for people.

I'm like, yo, please just listen to me on this one thing. I'm not saying you can't enjoy the man. I'm growing to enjoy his play for the U.S. Minnesota team. Like I said, in this past window, he's coming on. He makes things happen almost every match. But I wanted that to lead the way before we start talking about, whatever, whatever, whatever.

But, yeah, I think we got a real tool that we can use in the culture wars, bro. And that was probably obvious after the Gold Cup as well. it without or doubt was obvious after the gold cup but um yeah there's just real they're just real staying power here there's real staying power as a matter of fact my daughter came home last week doing the uh doing the dance that Diego did after he scored that goal against Guatemala what that little um the dude on the boat oh yeah the Indonesian um yeah uh rowboat captain or whatever yeah and I actually went and showed her that goal so she Um, so, yeah. So he's, he's on it a little bit. It's just adds to the complexities of Diego Luna. I mean, there's a lot of intrigue there, like on all, all sides. But Marcus, you be in here real quick, just, uh, just to ask you about this as a, uh, Latino, Latino man, uh, latinks.

Can people, do people say latinx anymore? Uh, but, I don't speak for everybody, but yeah, that's fine. Um, yeah. Yeah, yeah, what? Have you noticed anything in the streets with regards to Diego Luna and his rise? Are we reaching people that we previously did not reach, or do people feel represented in ways that they have not felt before? I mean, I'll be honest. I don't know that I have, like, the best pulse or, like, representing Latino culture in the U.S. I could get into my backstory that we don't need to get into in this podcast. But when this whole conversation got started with Diego, the first thing I did is looked up where he was from, because he's from California.

I'm from California. And a lot of times, I mean, right or wrong, you can kind of look at where someone grew up and get some idea of what's going on. And he's from Sunnyvale, California, which is like between San Jose and Mountain View. It's in like Silicon Valley. It's not the like Palo Alto's or like the super wealthy areas of Silicon Valley but it's like not a bad place to grow up. It's like the more middle class of like Silicon Valley.

So I mean, I kind of like got a good idea of like what Diego's childhood was kind of like just from that. But I don't know that he's like moving the needle like culturally. I think what I think. Like what the Diego Luna's and, like, Ricardo Pepys do for someone like me who's Mexican-American, but was for myself kind of raised more in the, like, I'm mixed. I was raised more of the white side of my family. And what I, like, what I always loved about Rico was just, we always hear these stories about, like,

if the choice is Mexico or the U.S., like if I have the chance, I'm going to Mexico because that's what I was raised in, that's where my passion is. So when you have guys like Diego who's running around as a kid, saying go USA, go USA in a Mexican family, I just, like, I think that's cool

because it's someone I, you know, I've always identified with like the U.S. soccer team. So seeing more young, a Latino man kind of making it more than just the business decision. And kind of with Diego, it kind of was always known that he like preferred the U.S. Even like his first U-20 game, like I was against Mexico, I think.

And he was like, he scored and was like on his badge and was like very excited. So I don't know, get back to your original question. I don't know like how much he's moving the needle in terms of like Latino culture and bringing more fans over. over. I felt like Rico maybe did that a little bit. I felt a little bit of that when I was at some games and you'd see like some families who had allegiances to both sides and like a lot of peppy jerseys there. Maybe Luna's just not quite there in terms of like his stardom to move it. But but yeah, we'll see. A couple goals at the World Cup will work wonders, you know? For sure.

Yeah, so that's the thing is like He has to be on the World Cup roster, bro That's what I've come to He has to score a goal too That'd be nice Yeah Scoring a goal would be huge Oh you're saying you want him on the World Cup roster

For years It's the thing now with the cultural dimensions And everything like the things he's bringing He's a lot He's got to be there He just adds another element to the team I think if you're thinking about the big picture.

I mean, we may be in luck. Potch loves him. Yeah. We need a face, man. I think most certainly right now he will be, right? I would be surprised if he wasn't, so. Don't you guys think, though, that players, I mean, not players, children think soccer is cool totally apart from the U.S. men's national team.

You know, it's like they're finding their inspiration in other places. American, American children. Maybe more so in the last like 10 years. Like, I was growing up, no. Yeah. Right. Like the demographic that everybody cares about right now. Right?

What is it like 18 to 33 or whatever? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, Marcus. You're marketing. You're marketing. So, yeah, that demographic there, I would say no. but give it 10 more years and yeah

I mean soccer will be ubiquitous and and respected amongst all the people, young people with disposable income yeah so nobody banks yeah

no I'm glad to have seen that picture and he does look cool he does uh... Arby Leipzig who are good their second in the table. Put up six on Augsburg with Banks in the starting 11. 6-0 was the final score.

All right. First goal, Banks and his left wingback get one too, way too easily. I put maybe more blame on the left wingback, but Banks has to be more alert here. He's a little bit kind of slow to react, both when he comes up to meet the guy who plays the pass and when he realizes that his left wing back got left in the dust. Yeah.

Second goal, his man beats him to a cut back. This is, you know, the guy on the right back or whoever was playing, defending on the right side, does get worked in a somewhat surprising manner, but still, Nokey's got to be ready to get in front of the guy who shoots this and try to stop that shot, and he doesn't. And then the third goal, he gets left in the dust on a long ball and a flick at midfield. and then it gets squared. And, I mean, there's still a lot to do.

But it just looks a little, just a beat behind on each of these three goals. And the good news is you can't pin the fourth, fifth, or sixth goals on him. Right. That's good. That's good. Yeah, it would be tough if it was all six. You're sure. So we'll see what happens with him in the next,

a few weeks because the fans in Augsburg were not well pleased with their team's performance. Yeah. And I mean, we talked about this last week. And I brought up a few moments where it's like, you know, no key, not a certified business handler yet. And he's just not. And also, Adam Bell's, I'm going to get on to you. It's to be the last time I get on to you for like a month. Okay. But it's a This is a semantics. It's a semantics discussion. But, you know, when you're talking with Doug about, about Nokey, you know, you call him a man child. Now, he is tall. But he's, you know, very much a child. You know, you say man child.

You know, we're talking about fellas that are. LeBron James. Yeah, yeah, type of thing, type of thing. where no key is just very much child you can see it in his body um and yeah right now we're just saying it in how he plays i think i mean the second and third goals were were quite nasty i mean the first one too don't don't get me wrong but i think out of all these the second one is like man like that was a very controllable situation um where like you got you there's nothing really happening there's no like quick decisions you need to make there's no um

Yeah, you have one job. You got to mark that guy. You got to mark that guy. Right, right. There's not a whole bunch of stuff going around you. Do I pick him up? Do I pick him up? There's no communication needs to be had.

You are here with one guy. It's you and him. And, you know, you see the dude, get to the end line, play the cutback. And you don't even make contact with your boy. You know, he just, he just, you know, cuts in front of your face, scores a goal. And all you can do is just throw out like a. a lazy foot to try and get the ball when he shoots. And it's just like, ah, man, that's, that one's tough.

That one is like, yeah, I, I got to, I got to put my Nokey Banks dreams on hold until, until, until something happens, you know. We got, we got to put him on a pip, essentially, is what I'm saying. I thought it was interesting that, because he got a yellow in the first half, too, and again, late. I think that's the theme here. He just seems to be reacting in a step late. And I thought it was interesting that they didn't pull him.

I thought for sure he was going to get pulled at half and maybe some others too, right? But they kind of let him work through it. And he did have a better second half, even started to be a little bit more proactive on the ball, which he's done less of this year. And I don't know if that's just, it's not a good. his nature, I've seen enough of him to where he's, like, very aggressive on the ball. So that leads you to believe it's being coached away, like, out of him. He's being asked to not do that too much.

But, you know, I think, I think had he got yanked, I would have probably thought he's probably not going to be in the starting 11 next week. I still think he might be now, the fact that they kept him in to kind of work through it. But, yeah, I mean, the, we're starting to see, uh, theme. and it's just reactive play, just step late. And I also thought the second was the most damning. The third, I think I heard an argument that kind of made sense with me, which was like the Tisma, the centerback kind of flew in unnecessarily

where it didn't really need to, and it kind of put Nokey in kind of a lose-lose situation. But yeah, I mean, yeah. Even if you had the second one just on it, own. Yeah. You know, it'd be like, man, he, it's a bad game. I think the first one is, the first one's pretty bad too. In my, in my opinion, but it's, it's just like, the first one is like, I can understand why he didn't take the, the, um, the, the one two man, you know, it's like,

everything's happening bang, bang pretty quick. He's just now getting his minutes and the bonus. You know what I'm saying? It's like, I can excuse that one away. You can excuse the, the first and third away, but yeah, as me and markers are saying, yeah, it's just like, number two is like, man, if you're going to be a centerback, that should have been handled with relative ease. There's really only two things that the guy he was marking really was going to do, right? It was going to do what he did, which is kind of go towards the first post or float back to the second post, and it's more likely he's going to go to the first post.

So the fact that he was slow, slow to react when there was really not a lot to expect that his man was going to do was maybe the concerning part just he seemed to be just not clicked in and the technique is all over the place like when he notices dude gets to the inline like he turns his back to his mark completely and starts like as if he's like running back from like the midline or something when like a player's been jail broke so it's just yeah yeah yeah we might he's just not he's not ready we'll pump the brakes we'll let what do you say we'll let the cake bake that's right A couple other quick things. YuVe lost 1-0 at Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico.

I don't have a ton to say about it, but Wes played in the midfield. I thought he was actually pretty good. The goal that Lazio scored was on an errant layoff from Canadian Jonathan David in his own third. I mean, still needed a deflection to get past the goalkeeper. But that was the difference. I think Yu-Ve, I mean, Yu-Ve was lucky not to concede another one, if we're honest. but also unlucky not to equalize.

So it was a pretty, I think a pretty good game and a nice showing from Wes. They're getting two to her out of there. Yeah. Fired. So he's got another coach. He's got a win over. Yep.

And then also before we get off this, Bells, you remember when we were at the game in the Stadeo Olimpico, you made playing Lazio, Weston McKinney had an assist, and you were nowhere to be found. But anyway, I was keeping living.

I was trying to get people a beer, man. Good host And I was trying to get myself a beer too If I'm being totally honest So the Champo striker squad Went scoreless over the weekend Pulisic, Jedi and Tillman are still hurt Tim came off injured in a 2-1 loss for Marseilles

Digging assist Did he? Yeah Tim went, yeah Okay Oh yeah on the Greenwood goal, of course Tanner gets a 2-1 win at home, I think. Yeah, yeah, home gets to lose.

Almost went to... No, no, not to lose. Sorry. Almost... Straussborg. Yeah. Almost went to full 90. I mean, he did go the full 90. He just came off in Stoppage Time, I think, is with a time wasting sub, right?

How do you look? All right, I'll go. I thought he was kind of a classic Testament game these days. days. Like, he was very tidy in tight space, got out of some pickles. I didn't notice anything, like, too terrible defensively. I think he was just, like, clicked on, didn't have any, like, breathtaking, like, plays in the final third that I saw.

Maybe I missed something. But, yeah, I thought he was solid. These games we really need to pay attention to the good, the somewhat good French teams, you know, the Straussborg. Yeah. You know, he had a kind of tough one against Leo that one time that me and you talked about bells. Probably his worst game of season if we had to, yeah, index it. But, yeah, PSG, Monaco, Leo, Straussborg, Boig, Boik, you know, those are really the ones where you want to see something come out of. the tan man so yeah decent performance get the two one win leone performing well in league on this

season um and you know the tanner thing brings me to something that i did want to get to with marcus on the pie real quick just real quick just so especially with this u20 class and i see you talking about it with uh youth national team call-ups that aren't the the glamorous ones that aren't u-seventeen's i i forgot what the most recent one was but you know you're saying i see you say u.s soccer is prioritizing smaller technical players. Yes. For the most part, over the ones that are probably more projectable physically. And it's like, you know, I see it with the U20s.

It's like, when we have these players, it's like, okay, we have this technical competence all over the pitch. We're able to produce repeatable, we're able to get repeatable performances from these U.S. teams with the ball. against quote-unquote better opponents. And, you know, I think about somebody like Aidan Morris, for instance, it's like, he had this technical, I guess he had this technical floor and is able to apply it to a point to where now he's, now he's like a real controller in the midfield. And so now that we have these kids with these skills, like, how does it change what we're looking for? As far as future contributors to the national team, like, is it just that, like, should every,

because it seems to me like now we're just, we're just like in this waiting pattern, in this waiting pattern, right? It's like, all these U-20s, he's like, okay, we got all these dudes with, like, a decent baseline technical competency. And then we're just waiting to see who has a little bit more in the tank physically, or like, what, is that? I mean, the way, the challenges I'm seeing are in the, younger age groups where the players aren't separating themselves in terms of like club level

that they're at. So once you get to like U20, even U17, like the players are separating themselves and it becomes kind of obvious who you should select. Younger age groups, they're all pretty much playing the same kind of level. So the talent ID process is there's a lot more subjectivity to it, I think, that's happening. And what I'm noticing, and the problems I'm seeing are that we've now, because the technical floor just throughout kind of youth soccer in the United States has raised, what you have now is you don't have to make the decision between what people in soccer call like an early developer who you just lump it up to and they're going to be faster and stronger and score goals versus a slow, small technical player who maybe doesn't project. physically. You don't have to make that decision anymore. We have players now at these younger age groups that have projectable profiles and also have a really solid technical foundation.

And so to me, and if you look at like what some of the other bigger soccer countries in the world, how they look at selections, that's the baseline. You start there. Who has a profile that could actually even make sense at a higher level, but also brings the technical foundation. And then you figure out the tactical side later on. And we just don't seem to be thinking about it this way. We're leaving a lot of players off of rosters that, to me, you know, you could see if developed properly in four or five years,

they could be really interesting. And I have like theories about why. There's definitely like some politics at play. but like I think that scouts in the U.S. think it's kind of like they think they look smart by selecting the like small crafty technical player. I think it makes them feel more like a savant, like a soccer savant if that makes sense.

And they kind of like they, but the, and yeah, maybe one out of the 20 that they select, maybe do hit a gross spurt. And then they end up being, you know, something really interesting. But the likelihood is if you're slow and small when you're 15, you're going to be slow and small when you're 23, 24, 25, too. That's just the reality, unfortunately.

And that, in today's soccer, that just like, it doesn't really work. Look around. Like, there aren't a lot of slow and small technical players playing at high levels. You have to also be, you could be small, but you better be strong and fast, too. And so, like, I just think there's a selection process that's kind of broken. And I also think, like, we aren't developing technical, tactical players like Spain or Argentina. So let's stop trying to, like, go that route. Like, we aren't going to produce players like that right now.

So we should go a different route. But that's, yeah, that's my rant for that I'm trying to, like, get out there right now. Because I'm noticing it very consistently. So I don't know what that is. I think it's people outsmarting themselves, honestly. I don't think scouting is actually that difficult. It's, you know, especially at these kind of younger age groups, it's like you've got guys that project physically and that are also really good on the ball.

Let's get those guys into the team. That makes sense to me. Okay. Well, let's get out of here. Des was back in the 11 for PSV, so that's good news. Seemed to play well. Yeah Well

Real quick Flow Had had a good showing It's Tottenham In the Champions League Probably should have scored Um Totem's keeper was

Was Doing what's Standing on his head a little bit Really ended up being a No-no draw When Monaco Could have won Should have won

Maybe a solid 2-0 Something like that I think he put up like 0.7XG in that match Something like that had a real nice combination with Achliush. That classic flow lay off and spinning behind. That, yeah, he received it in the box.

Aiklush played him in. A little deaf touch over the top. And, yeah, it was saved, unfortunately. And then he had another chance that he caught off of his thigh on like a cross, played a cross against Toulouse this weekend. Keep her saved. But, yeah, that's all I got. He also had a nice, he had put up 0.6xG over the weekend.

I had one, had one from point blank that was actually nicely put on target. Did you just say that? That's essentially what I just said. But you can delete what I said and put in the game. No, I'll delete what I said. He's getting into good spots. Yeah. Yeah.

And this is like what he does. You know, he's not the best finisher in the world. I think at this point, we can see that for the men's national team. It's all about the accumulation of chances for flow. Thanks, everybody for listening. Thank you, Marcus. We'll see you.