Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #641: Midweek recap, MLS playoffs check-in with Charlie Boehm

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Full rundown of the action and inaction from the middle of the week, including Balo's goal and Wes's good performance against Udinese, Gio Reyna's quote to the AP, and Charlie gives us an update on where MLS playoffs stand right now. 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. We talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, happy Halloween. Charlie Bum has graciously agreed to join me for a quick one here as the nation gears up for trick-or-treating. Charlie, how are you? Thank you for being here. It's great to be here. We've got a fresh cut, got the Halloween costume laid out.

What are you going to be? Let's do this. My wife and I are going to do brain rot memes, AI slot memes. So I'm going to be the, I forget the name of it, but it's the, the shark that's wearing running shoes. I'm wearing a shark suit and running shoes. And she's ballerina cappuccina. So to see if anyone gets it.

Nice. Yeah. It's a, it's a crap shoot a little bit, right? But it's, but it'll be good either way. I don't think. Well,

as you will soon discover, my kid's 11. She's starting in first year of middle school and you get into these tween things that are like just, it's not full high school, but it's a next level up from, from grade school for sure. in terms of like costumes or how they feel about costume yeah like just like beginner teen stuff

like socializing and independence and then like me certain the memes change a little bit yeah in a big six seven phase it's really dude six seven what exactly does that mean they were saying that in my my daughter's third grade classroom too it's insane it's a lot it's like i'm sure there's podcasts have been made about this alone but it's like a rap lyric related i believe was in reference to La Mello Ball's height. And then kids thought the way the name of the artist escapes me. Is it like doop-duke-doop or something? It's a Chicago rapper.

And I can't believe I'm blanking on this because I spent significant time educating myself on this cultural phenomenon. And he like, he draws it out. So it's six, seven. So that's like the kids do it. If you say anything that could be linked to anything adjacent to those two numbers, you'll have a you'll have a room full of tweens screaming it okay it's so it's so bad that one of my friends kids schools banned the phrase told the kids to stop saying it so they started saying yellow mustard instead because yellow has six letters and mustard has seven letters

kids are awesome kids are awesome way to go kids um okay let's start with the absences in europe Start overseas, start with the adminses. So Pulisic, Waya, Jedi, and Tillman, all listed as out through mid-November on Fott Mob. I mean, your mileage may vary there, but they're all out for the medium term and likely going to miss camp the next camp. Johnny, still not back on the bench for Athletico Madrid, although I think he's getting close. And now we understand this morning, Richards has a calf injury, a minor one, and Glosner is disappointed in the USM&D's. handling of him on the international break. So Richard sat while Crystal Palace spanked a second choice.

Liverpool side 3-0 at Amfield in the middle of the week. Yeah, and it's something to watch here because Glasner spoke out in some detail about his complaint with the way that the USM&T staff manage it. So kind of interesting there. And then the other thing to note here, I guess, is that the Eagles have cooled off a bit. They're on a, I don't know if it's still a winless skid, but they're struggling, I think, at this moment to capture the heights of last season.

And we have to see, it certainly seems like Chris remains central to the project, though. Yeah. Yeah, he hasn't played great since the international, like, you know, basically starting with the international break, but yeah, he's got a lot of, I think he's got a lot of cred there. No Key Banks, another centerback were watching, didn't play in Augsburg's 1-0 loss to Bokham in the Pocall after a rough one on the weekend. They host Dortmund this afternoon, kick off in under two hours. So we'll find out where he stands, at least for the moment shortly. And then, you know, maybe the big news of the week, Raina, this is not the big news, but we'll get to it.

Raina didn't make it on the field for Gladbach as they beat Karlsruhe in the Pocall. three to one scally came on as a 90th minute sub but you know the bigger news is the ape interview that reyna gave he was asked if he'd handled things differently if given another shot at the 2022 world cup what did he say charlie maybe in certain ways but i'm not just going to sort of sit here and take all the blame for something that was made out to be completely my fault which i believe it wasn't and also my families too at the end of the day i was just upset that you know, I wasn't really playing. I was playing at Dortmund.

I thought that I wanted to play at the World Cup, and ultimately in the end, I didn't do that. And that's really what it sent from. Slight note, fact check here. To say that he was playing at Dortmund was perhaps a bit arguable because, as the AP helpfully reminded us in this week's coverage, the last time Giorina played 90 minutes in a league soccer game was March 2022, which is already several months before the World Cup.

So I'm never surprised when RainaGate pops back up into the discourse. In this case, I'm quite surprised that Renegate is back in the discourse years later because of Geo-Rena talking about it in this interview in a way that I think could have been handled better or perhaps more smoothly, could we say, Bells? Yeah. I think I mean everybody's got their opinions on this I just think I guess I'll say for sure I suspect this is not going to sit well with Pachitino if he's like if he's educated himself

about the situation and you know I mean anybody who has to say sorry a lot in life like me just say you're sorry you know just say I should have done I should have handled it differently instead of like instead of lawyering for yourself and your family and and you I don't even I wouldn't have even been expecting an apology here you could simply say you know I'm I'm looking forward I'm all about the World Cup in 2026 not the World Cup in 2022 and that would have been an eminently

defensible perhaps even intelligent clever answer and here we are I just just it just it's it's it's I don't want to put too much weight in in a few words and in a you know one small tidbit of what I'm sure was a much longer interview but it just raises questions about where he's really at and and there's already questions about where he's at on the pitch and and now there's more about general off pitch comportment as well so yeah and the question is yeah I mean the way I like to think of it now is he is so talented we on a pure sporting merit, I would want to see him on a World Cup roster, even if he can only play 30 minutes a game.

But if he's, if he brings with that, you know, a certain level of, um, intransigence and, uh, difficulty to work with. Yeah. Chaos. Then, then it, then I, I can't, I can't, I can imagine a coach like Maricio Pochadino saying, it's not, uh, it's not, uh, it's not where. it. So it's too bad. It's too bad. I'm sorry. I started talking about. The great irony for me is that the last, he needs a coach, maybe multiple coaches to believe in him, to show a little faith, I think. And the last one to do that was Greg Burrhalter. And we have no idea whether Pochitino has anything remotely like a level of interest and commitment that Greg Berhalter had in him and his success. Yeah, lifelong friends, those families, as we all know.

I still think Raina is probably the most talented player in our pool. And I still think there's a decent chance he'll make it somehow. But this doesn't seem like a move in the right direction. We'll see, we'll see. To the action from the middle of the week. So let's start with Eunice because he got his first minutes since October 4th, a cameo. off the bench late in a 1-1 draw with Milan. I mean, his first league minutes.

He played as an advanced midfielder. It looked fine. I had a chance to turn in poke home a game winner in the 80th minute off a cut back from just off the near post. Had his shot deflected up and over. No big mistakes, though, which I think is important. And he looked capable. So I'm taking that as a positive. Atalanta got a 1-1 draw, like I said, with Milan.

Does he get the call from Potch? Fitty, fitty, fitty. I don't know. What do you think? I hope so. I'm so curious to see what they could do with that skill set in that box midfield that's taken shape over the last couple windows. Yeah. I think he, on sporting merit, he should be there too.

And even if he's not playing a ton for Atalanta. Wes is playing a ton started under the new manager, Massimo Brambilla. Brambila, went 90, looked, I thought, really good. Repeatedly the kind of the key player in a slick combination through that Udnese defense. He keyed the play that led to the penalty at the end. He did have his customary three or four errant passage, which is par on the course, but par for the course. But overall, he was a straw that stirred the drink.

and I think he's probably, if Brambila is going to, if he watched that game and decides to bench him, I'd be shocked. I think he's going to be back in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future. So that's great.

I think it's great for West. He also still looks so serious, you know, clean-shaven, not goofing around out there. Something's really shifted in him. Igor Truder is gone, but perhaps he left a mark on young Wes.

I think back all the time to what he said in that last interview he gave with the TNT crew. I think it was after the second friendly of the last window. Maybe it was the first game. Talking about how this is the first summer, he's felt comfortable with his shirt off at the pool. It sounded like a guy who's probably unfairly been hit with body image-ish. in the cutthroat world that he lives in despite performance on the pitch, clearly got heavy messaging along those lines from Tudor over the summer and put in the work.

I think he's always putting in the work in those preseasones, but it does feel different this time around. Yeah. I got to say, I got to say as an aside, too, it's so fun to listen to that Yvesa home crowd sort of in conversation with the play on the field. because they express disapproval almost as much as they express approval and it's like this it really is it's kind of like a conversation where like is the play up to

par and if not then you're going to hear it from the crowd not jeers so much but just like kind of a sigh a very loud collective sigh from the crowd when like when a pass isn't you know when a pass is misplaced or there's a port of

decision made or something. So it's really, it's really fun to list. I was watching a Weissout, which trims out the commentary from somehow, I think probably for copyright reasons. And yeah, it's really, it's really something. Culture, baby. I know. I know. Yeah. We'll get to, we'll get to this in a minute, but there was, I'm always really encouraged when I see signs of something in that, in that genre developing here in the U.S. It's obviously something that happens at most at the club level.

And there are places in MLS, and I'm sure in USL as well, but I'm most focused on MLS where you see that level of connection. There was something similar in Cincinnati, what I thought was one of the better games of the first round of playoff fixtures. The hell is real game between Cincinnati and Columbus and Pat Nune and talked about how the crowd at Ticuel Stadium in Sinci was, was like it was that tactile feeling. And even when things don't go well, you kind of can hear

with the audio team on the broadcast has their act together, right? You hear that sigh, that collective exhalation, right? When maybe the final ball isn't right or it gets blocked or whatever. But it's so cool. And it's those little signposts on our way to being a true soccer powerhouse. I love to hear it. So that's a game you wrote about. We can talk about it now since we're on the topic.

was it was it that they were there was some criticism from the crowd as things weren't going with that's what noon noon and talked about no no he was talking about the backing that they got it was he was he was praising the crowd and it's and he had i wrote a couple pieces both before and after the game about it because it was the it is the highlight fixture of these three game round one series to have a rivalry game like this to have to have two really good teams with really good stadiums and fan environments play each other not just twice in the regular season and Darbys and now there's potentially as many as three playoff games. It's fairly unprecedented.

And he said, he talked about before the game, Noonan did, about the fans are what make this game. And there's such a, there's enough proximity. There's overlap in the fan bases because the crew people will tell you that a lot of those SINC soccer folks were crew fans before they got their own team. Since he came into, you know, kind of used an open cup upset of the crew back in 2017 to help make their case for getting an MLS. And now there's just, there's already this history.

It's only, only eight years now. It's all still very young, but there's layers of history and banter. And, uh, and the, you know, the stadiums are about 100 miles apart. So it's easy to do in a way day. I mean, there's even been competition in the context of the USM&T, right? The, uh, when the doso zero mystique broke in Columbus, they, they, they move that game down the road, which you know stung in a certain way for, for Columbus folks. And so the home field advantage is always big in MLS, particularly in the playoffs.

Only one lower-seeded-of-weight team got a positive result, one in the first round of these best of three games. And the Columbus, since the game was really interesting in terms of the tactical battles, the quality of play. One multi-monston of the crew said it was a high-level game. Even he was conscious in the run of play of the ideas, the sort of chess match of the two coaches. is trying to spot weaknesses and vulnerabilities and make changes in the run of play and find the matchups. And it's a good, good game. Do you feel like that's, I mean, so I've watched a lot of baseball playoffs in my life.

And there's, you know, the difference between a baseball game and like late August and a playoff game, I mean, unless it's a game in late August that's like in a title race or something. It's just so different. Is it, is there something akin to that with these? with these playoff games right now? I do think so, especially in the stadiums that are full or close to full and have that, you know, the type of fans or the type of local culture that encourages that.

It just feels different. And this is now part of the rhythm and the story of MLS is everybody feels in the air when you get into the stretch running in the playoffs. It's getting cooler, right, falls arrived. There's an edge to things. There's a collective anticipation that you can feel in the air. in those stadiums where everybody's tuned in and it's and it is different. And we can have a whole debate.

I know there's always a debate about whether the playoff format under values the regular season and what do European leagues that don't have playoffs get from every game having that sort of intensity to it. Obviously, that's the goal you want to get to. But MLS also reflects the American, North American terroir, right? That we do playoffs here. We do postseason tournaments. and it just feels different.

And it's, the downside of it is that we're, you know, we're going to see USM&T players, Diego Luna, Matt Turner, who are, whose seasons are already done,

and they will be sitting for, for months now because they're not in the playoffs. And then there's a good chance, Tim Riem is done. If they don't get a result in, in New York City this weekend, Charlotte, if C are out,

and that's bad, right? And especially now that we know that there's no January camp happening this, this winter. So there's, there's issues there. but I think that a playoff run can do a lot for individual players

and we'll definitely have some value for some guys in the pool this fall. Okay. Well, let's get more into it, but first real quick, just real quick. In Ligon, Tanner came on in the 68th minute, midweek up 3-1 over Paris FC and kind of presided over the second two-thirds of a bit of a bottle job by Leon. They drop the points. They end up drawing 3-3. Second goal, not his fault.

I mean, he was great on the ball, as usual. Second goal was not his fault. But I am kind of pinning the third one on him a little bit for a lack of recognition that an orange shirt was running free at the top of the box, and he's just kind of trotting along 15 yards away, kind of watching the ball focused on what's happening down in the corner. The cutback comes. The guy shoots.

It's blocked. And then it's kind of a miracle. It deflects up and over the keeper into the only spot where he can't save it. But you'd like to see him be a little more locked in there. And he has made a lot of progress in that front. But you know, got to call balls and strikes, huh? And Leon is still tied for third in the table just behind PSG and Monaco.

So their season is still a lot to play for. And then Balligan scored a goal in a 5-3 win over Nant. and, you know, it was a nice goal. Put it through the five hole on a breakaway. Wasted another breakaway, 1V1 with a goalkeeper by blasting it way over and blasted another one over after beating two defenders up the left side

and calling his own number. I would say he was a little below his usual level in possession. It doesn't matter. He's the striker for the U.S. right now for me. Let's take a break, come back and really talk more about MLS. If you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. the link is in the show notes. You also, if you join as a $5 subscriber,

you get the clip notes that mostly Vince makes, which are these really detailed highlight packages at the end of the weekend and also after every USMNT game. So think about it. We'll be back. You want the clip notes. You want the clip notes.

Yeah, they're good. Back in a second. And we're back. A lot could be decided. I mean, you already kind of gave us the broad stroke. but I guess Inter-Miamy, Vancouver and L-A-F-C and their global stars are looking to close the deal on Nashville, FC Dallas, and Austin FC, respectively.

What are you thinking about looking for in those games? Yeah, there's a distinct pack of favorites that took the right first steps in their first matches. Inter-Miamy have gotten, have had another season of telenovela ups and downs, but their main man, Leonel Messi, is golden boot winner, put up absurd numbers, and was absolutely devastating down the stretch and has the golden boot in is probably going to win a second straight MVP, league MVP award, and looks motivated, fit, and maybe a little pissed off in terms of the trophies they haven't claimed this year, and there's just one left.

and while they are not the top seed, they are looking like a tough out for certain. So shout out to BJ Callahan. He had the unenviable task of taking a Nashville team that had gotten just blown out in the second half of their decision day game against Miami and then had to turn around and get ready for a two or three game series against that very same Miami team a few days later. They tried to park the bus and tighten things up.

one and it didn't really work didn't work and and Miami tore them up pretty good now there's no aggregate involved here so they can they can change the story if they go out and play the best ball they're capable of at Geotis Park on their home ground this weekend but it is looking it's it's looking tougher for BJ and and that crew good season for them with open cup but they've got work to do now against Miami and then out west Vancouver is the story and it's MLS watchers will know that is not a sentence that you're used to hearing at this time of year. But Vancouver Whitecaps, despite not being the first seat, and we'll get to the first seat in the West in a moment.

But they are looking extremely good. They've been almost perfect. I think they've only lost one game since Thomas Mueller arrived. And despite having crazy injuries, all the challenges that they've had to overcome this year, they are playing extremely well right now and didn't allow a shot. FC Dallas's expected goals in the first game of the series was 0.00. Wow. It was much, much more one-sided than a 3-0 final scoreline would indicate.

And national team watchers will not be surprised to hear that Sebastian Bearhalter was doing all his usual stuff running the show in Central Midfield. So they're looking ferocious. And if they advance, as they're widely expected to do so with a win in Texas this weekend, And they will probably play LASC in the next round. LAC had a little bit of a tougher time with Austin. Another familiar face, Nico Estevez, has got kind of surprisingly down the back half because things looked real messy in Austin in the first half of the season. But they figured things out, even with somehow Brandon Vasquez's ACL tear,

simplified things for them, I guess, because they've been a limited kind of team, defensive-oriented, not super interested in possession for attacking sake. But they mirrored LASC shape-wise and made things much more difficult for Denebuwanga and Sun Hung men than many of the LASC victims have been since the South Korean arrived back in August. So that was a tight one. Ended up being a 2-1 LASC had to come back, but they two can sweep if they get a result. But then I have to point out, they lost on their last trip to Austin, and Austin was actually beat LASC. both regular season meetings. So it's not over for Nico and Co.

But they're up against it. So yeah, those are your clear favorites. Although the Sincis side we talked about, if they can get past Wilfrid Nancy and the crew, they are also a force to be reckoned with. Despite having kind of limp through the season at times, since you have not always looked great. They've had a ton of one goal victories.

But they two are looking like a battle-tested group and Miles Robinson at the heart of that three-man defense has been a big part of it. He was quite good against the crew in leg one and has that little bit of nastiness, that little bit of arrogance that you want from a dominant defender like him in his locker at the moment. Is that the kind of defensively sound but boring team that's going to make a run here in this tournament? You would have said Charlotte, I think, a few days ago. but they kind of laid an egg on Tuesday night. At home to NYCFC, right?

Yeah, they're statistically the best team at home in the regular season. I haven't been down to a Bank of America Stadium game yet, but I'm told it's a vibe. They get big crowds, they're spirited crowds, but the team fell behind and just couldn't do it. They were very much missing Wilfred Zaha who picked up a really, really ill-advised red card in the regular season finale.

and he is the straw that starts to drink for them. Big, big, big miss. It couldn't create much of anything. NYCFC had, were outstanding defensively and got their goal, caught Charlotte's back line napping. Alonzo Martinez, the Costa Rican, really, really classy finish. And that was all they needed. So now, you know, the Dean Smith, incredibly, just minutes before we started recording, I was reading that he kind of grouching.

to bit, I guess, about how the crowd wasn't all that, the home crowd, which is sort of not a great look maybe for the manager in this moment who needs that crowd to show up if they can somehow get a win on the baseball park in the Bronx this weekend and take the series back home. So the thing with Charlotte is, again, with Ream at the back, they've been generally quite organized defensively, but they don't take big risks. They depend on Zaha to produce moments of magic that set up Idaun Toclamati for good looks in the box. And without Zaha, there just wasn't much there. And they've got to prove that they can do what's necessary at the attacking end to make all that defensive structure useful at this time of year. In Yankee Stadium, which is kind of hard to do, I guess. It is. Not a good place to play.

So Christian Rodan and the Sounders, you know, they got to bounce. back against Minnesota after losing in penalties. I know Roldon missed this penalty. What else happened? That's probably not the most important thing that happened in the game. Yeah, Minnesota United, if you've paid any attention to them or what they've done since Eric Ramsey took over, they are the most possession-hating team in L.S. They are completely uninterested in having any kind of volume of the ball.

they are happy to defend in Canadian international Dane St. Clair's lap. I think he's probably going to be the goalkeeper of the year. I don't think they've awarded that officially, but I get this distinct sense that he's going to win that award. They trust him, and they are very dangerous on the break, though, ever since another Canadian, Tanya Aloishei got sold to Villarreal over the summer. They've been much less of a threat going forward. Yeah.

But they still do have good players in transition, and they love their long throws. another hot topic in the discourse of late. And the zero-zero-snooser kind of, I mean, Seattle took the initiative, did everything they needed to get the away win except finish. The final touch was just lacking. And then in penalties, you're always going to like DSC's chances. And so it went.

But I think of anybody who lost in the first leg, the Sounders probably have the most to feel good about because they can go home where they're quite good, another tough place to play, and maybe dictate terms and maybe get a little bit. more quality in front of the net. Jordan Morris was pretty good for a striker who didn't score. And I think if they go for it, this is a group that's been in these situations a lot. So I have a feeling that one's going to go right to the finish,

but they've got to make that happen at Lumen Field. Okay. All right. And then two more games, I think, to talk about Chicago versus Philly in Bridgeview on Saturday at 530 Eastern Time. This will be game two. Philly's up 1-0 after another penalty shootout win last weekend. It was 2-2. This is actually a pretty exciting game, right?

Like lots of goals. And Jack Elliott hits a beauty and stoppage time against his old club in his old stadium. No celebration. No celebration. Yeah. Yeah, surely. They must have treated him really well, sending him out the door. Yeah.

They didn't give him the money he wanted. free agency, but other than that, yeah, I mean, surely there's thousands of listeners who want to hear about how the Greg Burrhalter project is going in Chicago, right? I mean, it is, it is kind of, it's one of our bits. Well, listen, all that talk while he was a national team coach about how his system and his mindset works better in a club situation than a national team situation, I think you could say that's being borne out. One year in, they're in the playoffs, they've already won a playoff game.

I was writing a story about this that ran today. The green shoots of revival are breaking the soil up there in Chicago. They've got a new stadium on the way that's going to open in 2028. They're actually playing their kids. They got some talented homegrown, several of whom are in the national team pool. Where is the stadium going to be? Is it going to be downtown? Downtown.

It is on the Chicago River. It's part of a big development, a redevelopment project called the 78, which is, is just sort of south and a little west of downtown. Okay. So it's a great spot. This is great work, and it's, they can't get in there soon enough because their primary home is nominally Soldier Field, but at this time of year, not only do they have to schedule around the Bears home games,

they are getting booted out to Seat Geek Stadium and Bridgeview for a second straight game on Saturday because a rugby match is happening at Soldier Field. so the New Zealand, all blacks and Ireland are playing at Soldier Field. So it's Bridgeview. And not ideal for the players, but they're pretty comfortable at Bridgeview. They're going to try and ambush Philly. And I thought it was very interesting to when Bearhawthor spoke to media Thursday. He said, looking at Philly, which is half the age of a Chicago fire as an organization.

And he said, when you go in that stadium, you can tell there's rituals, there's traditions, people know, you know, what the vibe is and what things are like. And we're not there yet, but that's what we're trying to get to. So it's an interesting series, one versus eight. And it's, you know, Bearhalter looking at an established MLS contender and figuring out how he can get the fire there. And, you know, the vibes are out there. It's going well for him. Like, you know, they made it to a penalty shoot.

I mean, it was kind of a, it took a screamer at the end of the, at the end of regulation. but could have easily come away with a win here. Well, Greg, Greg went to muck up the midfield and try and make it difficult for Philly to do their car crash, you know, counterpressing transitions game. And it worked for 80 minutes or so. It was scoreless. And Philly looked confused.

It was, unfortunately, for the esthetes among us, it meant that Brian Gutierrez was the casualty of that tactical move and was on the bench, but came off later. And the game opens up, like, crazy like a lot of MLS games do in the last 10 minutes. Philly get to. It looks like everything's going to go according to to chalk. And then the fire come out of nowhere with two goals of their own and take it to PKs.

And then they lose in the shootout. But they feel good about that. I mean, again, considering they're on short rest, they had to beat Orlando in the wildcard game at midweek, considering their possibly their best player, Philip Zincernagel picked up an injury in the warmups. So he couldn't play. And he's a doubt for this weekend's game. considering all that, they made a real go of it. And it's funny, too, because the fire, one of the teams that had them,

I don't know if they finished tops in this, but their games had some of the most goals in MLS. So it was, and again, in a fun, kind of a contrast to some of the stayed plotting USM&T performances we saw at the end of the cycle with him, they love to attack. They love to get forward and their defenses to see them. It's just like, it's a neutral's favorite kind of situation. and he was joking that that's who they were in the end even though they they kind of clogged things up for 80 minutes it still wound up being a shootout and if you're just looking to tune in and have a get a little bit of a spectacle i think maybe maybe fire philly is is one to check out

this weekend yeah then i should mention guti you know he got in a scrap and then that ends with one with his teammate getting a red card towards the end there or hell and now another talented homegrown kid. Big, big loss for them, but one to watch for sure in the, in the long run

in terms of the player pool. Okay. And then Guti and Frankie Westfield, who came on as a sub for Philly, both nailed their penalties. Indiana Vassel have scored a goal. Yeah.

So lots of sort of USMNT adjacent fellas involved there. Portland versus San Diego. They play in Portland on Saturday at 9.30 Eastern Time. San Diego won the first game. two to one. Nice assist from Luca Bombino.

San Diego with lots of chances in this game. Just didn't put them all away. Still got the win. Do you think San Diego's going to, like, are they a real? I know they, I know they're the one seed, right? But yeah. Are they like, can they beat L.A.F.C. in a playoff? That is the question.

That is the question. There's always doubts about expansion teams or young, kind of unproven squads in the playoffs. Like, do you have difference makers? Do you have the collective understanding of what's required and what this stage is like? So they are not a highly vaunted number one seed. But, and again, I know I just told people to go check out the Chicago

Philly game. But if you haven't watched, just watch San Diego FC. Watch one of their matches, if you can, because they have one of the clearest identities in the league. they're so progressive, they're so intricate and organized with the way they build, they want the ball, they take risks with it, the risks are built into it. Portland peg them back and turned what could have been a blowout into a kind of a tight game in the end just from a transition moment where the ageless Diego Charah created turnover

in midfield and broke things open. But there was no doubt as to who the better team was here. And it's the way that almost every San Diego FC game has gone this year. They dictate the tempo. They want to beat you with the ball. They're good in other sectors of the game, too. But it's striking to see a coach that's climbed the ladder in the U.S. developmental pyramid to this point and is collected a bunch of youth national team kids

who are trying to climb the ladder. They are trusting young kids on a level that I've truly never seen before in this league. I mean, they are at or past where FC Dallas were at their peak with the Pepe-Ferra era kind of of player kids at FCD. I mean, San Diego don't even have academy classes. They will not have kids coming through for several years because they're starting at a very young age with the current academy year that's just begun. But they're going and getting guys like Luca Bambino and Bambino and they're drafting kids and they're playing them. I mean, and these guys are half of their back line is not old enough to buy beer in a bar, but they still control games and give much older veterans everything they can. and deal with and more.

So I think they're going to get past Portland. This is a flawed Portland team. I don't know where San Diego will go from here. But again, looking at MLS from a USM&T standpoint, you've got to be intrigued and encouraged by what's happening down there. All right. And also shout out Tyler Heaps, the GM, right? They play the kids at executive level too.

He's the youngest by far in his job in MLS. The less famous half of the couple that he's in. And his wife is Lindsay Horan Heaps. So, hey, I think that's it, right? You got anything else? I think so. I think so. Actually, I'll tube my own horn for a second here.

Yes, please. One of my favorite conversations that I had this year was with Tyler Heaps about the San Diego FC project. And he told me a great story about, and this is a guy who got that job through, he got European jobs by virtue of being a kind of a number cruncher and a whiz kid with U.S. soccer. and but we talked about his childhood and he has a really interesting backstory about how how he played D3 ball grew up in Minnesota had to pay his own way through through the pay-to-play

environment he told me a great story about how he and his mom would go and sell hot dogs and sell concessions at twins games and university of Minnesota basketball football games stuff and that was how he paid his his youth soccer fees and he has a pair of um again that the sickos know about the the Nike mercurial vapors, right? This kind of iconic cleat that's been around for ages. And he has a pair of those over his on a display shelf in his office. So I was doing a Zoom with him. And he tells the story of how whenever he wanted the new vapors, right? Landon Donovan, Christiana, all these guys have worn these. As a kid, his mom would say, all right, take out the notebook. And he had, mom was tracking his soccer costs in this notebook. And so she's like,

all right, that's going to be four games, right? So that was, that was, he made like 40, 50 bucks a night at the twins game, slinging hot dogs. So it was like, all right, next perimericurals, I got to work four games. Nice. Get the 200 bucks together. And I love that. And I think it'll resonate for, for a lot of the listeners. I know we can all look it up, but where did he play D3 soccer?

Was it in Minnesota? He went to Augsburg. Okay. I know that. I know that college, right? I used to play some amateur games on their field, right, downtown between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, check out what Charlie's writing for MLSSsockar.com.

He is the national soccer writer, national writer for that website. And I appreciate him being here with us. Everybody have a good weekend. Enjoy the time out on the streets. Get to know your neighbors. We'll see you.