Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #645: The Albert & Sullivan Show at the U17 World Cup

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Matt Hartman joins Belz to talk about our two blue chip 16-year-olds and their eye-catching performances at the U17 World Cup after the USA beat Czechia on Tuesday to round out a 9-point window. We do a timeline of the game and then look briefly ahead to Morocco on Friday, mostly talk about Cavan Sullivan and Mathis Albert. 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.

A nine-point window It's time to lock this down. Oh, we want a nine-point window, a nine-point window. Sing with me now. Oh, we want a nine-point window, a nine-point window. Oh, we want a nine-point window, nine-point window. Oh, we want a nine-point window.

Hey, everybody, our U-17s just put up a nine-point window, as you may have figured out from the intro music. Joining me is the original U.S. youth national team guru on scuffed at least, long-time friend of the pod. Matt Hartman. Matt, how are you? Nine-point window bells, never been better. Everything's good. Everything's good in U.S. soccer again. Let's ride.

Yeah. Maybe you can talk me down from my high here. But it feels like this is the most exciting youth national team team, at least in a couple of cycles for both age groups, because of these two young stars. And it is just so fun to see Albert and Sullivan justify the hype with the way they're playing. They both still have a lot to prove. They're both really, really young. But aren't you a little bit excited about them too? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think the youth national teams at the two levels you're talking about being U-17 and the U-20 are definitely the most fun to watch when there's players that are obviously going to have an impact on the senior team, right?

And we haven't really had anything like that. I mean, we had blips here or there, but there hasn't really been a class that was definitely going to have some guys who were knocking on the door pretty soon. since, you know, the 2000s. So it's been, it's been a little while here. So I think, I think that is the case. When you say the 2000s, you mean the guys who played in the, what, 2019, U20 World Cup? Yeah, that would be, you're right, the 2019 U20 World Cup and the 2017. Yeah, 2017. This is the Tim Wea class, yeah, Sergeant, those guys.

Yeah, it feels like that a little bit. it to me. As you all probably know, they beat all three teams they faced in the group stage. Most recently, Tajikistan, and Chechia, formerly the Czech Republic. I guess you want to just go straight to the timeline,

get into it? Sure. Before we start with the timeline, I'd say like just line-up thoughts. Yeah, yeah. Give me those. Do those. Cigaris really, I think, had two goals with the lineup, being to

rotate where possible. with the quick turnaround times with this with this U-17 tournament also to get some numbers in midfield. And I think to that second point, you ended up with five central midfielder's on the field and a few guys that aren't playing in their preferred positions. And, you know, Hall, Sullivan to an extent, and secure is set right back. But theoretically, there's a lot of two-way talent on the field to combat some of the end-to-end soccer. issues that we've seen in the first couple games of the tournament. And I don't necessarily think the game played out with that, having a ton of effect on preventing that end-to-end soccer from taking place.

But it was an interesting lineup that I don't think we'll see again going forward, but it was made for an interesting watch from my viewpoint. Yeah. Yeah, it didn't really help with the end-to-end stuff at all, did it? I mean, maybe a little bit, but the checks got a lot, had a lot of chances. and we're all over us at the beginning. Maybe I should, you know, thanks for bringing me back down to Earth here. I should probably read the lineup.

So it's Aidan Stokes and goal. Mateo Sechiris played right back. That's Nico Securus' little brother. Christopher Cups, Martinez, and Jordan Griffin across, route out the back line. And then Cooper Sanchez at the 6th. And then like a front 5 of Sullivan on the right, Terry Carrizo, so Kevin Sullivan, Jude, Terry, Maximo Carrizo,

Jemir Johnson spelling Matisse Albert in the first half, and then Julian Hall, Krakowski, up front. That was the lineup, and those are all the central midfielder you were talking about there. I guess Securus is one of them. Yeah, Sequeiris, I've never seen him play right back. I wouldn't be surprised if he had, has played a little bit there, but he is nominally a central midfielder.

Yeah. Yeah, it just seems like, I mean, I guess I got into this with Marcus Cherez a few days ago, but it just seems like Carrizo is never going to be that much of a presence in the midfield in terms of playing against the ball. And I don't know that Jude Terry is that helpful either, is he? Am I wrong about that? Yeah, I mean, so I think you're right about Carrizo. I think that as Carrizo has gotten older, he's more and more.

fallen into if I'm going to be a pro soccer player, it's going to be because I'm really good at these things and he hasn't played a whole lot of defense over the last couple years. I would like never say never, but I don't think that there's a ton of room there for him to become like an eight type. I think he's probably going to be a 10 type if he's on the field for whatever team he is playing for. Terry is an interesting one because I just don't think that his style of play just like is suited to this roster at all where he's just kind of like you're connecting, happy to ping passes around except the ball, you know, progress it, be a connector, that type of thing, show up at the top of the box, just midfield things. But he's not the

player that's going to control the midfield and we don't have that player so there isn't a midfield. So I think that he's maybe one of the players that is struggling the most from the roster makeup that we have going on here. And I don't think he's going to ever be a player who dominates a midfield physically, but I do think that he has more to his game that he's been able to show thus far in the tournament. Okay. All right. So the Czechs had beaten Tajikistan, like handily, and then lost to Burkina Faso, who we had just barely beaten.

So it seemed like they were going to be a formidable opponent. And yeah, they were. They were the stronger team in the first 15 minutes. We couldn't really get into their half much. They were all over us. We did, like, a little bright spot in the ninth minute, right? Yeah. I mean, I do think that you're right, broadly speaking.

speaking that they had controlled the first 15 minutes. And it was evident pretty much from kickoff that the checks were going to be a physical challenge. I caught a piece of that Burkina Faso match. And man, it would look like a different sport than us versus Tajikistan. But yeah, that bright moment in the ninth minute that you're talking about, I think, was pretty good because it really encapsulates what the team is, I think, which is that Hall was able to win a 50-50 ball off a clearance. and had a pretty nifty back heel to an overlapping Kevin Sullivan, who found space with a shoulder dip and then a fake shot in the middle of like five check players before flipping the ball over to Johnson.

He got his defender to take a step inside before playing the ball across his body to Carrizo would made a run into the box. And Carrizo would end up not getting his head up and took a shot that was like almost comically wide. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the type of move that, like I said, that encapsulates the team in that there's lots of kids with ideas and ability to execute on them. And it just feels like there's maybe one or too many of them on the pitch at any one time in place

of a gut kid who could maybe finish the idea or win the ball to get us into those attacking positions more often. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of ideas guys out there. Yeah. Which I, you know, I'm not going to complain about that, really. But I think you're right.

So 14th minute, their big striker, I think it's like Skirnon or something. He's their big number nine. It gets onto a little pass from a teammate. So it's a ball clipped down the right sideline. And then I don't know if it was intentional or not, but if it was intentional, it was nasty, a little like one touch outside of the boot pass to him. So he gathers it in at the right corner of the box from his point of view and then does a couple little stepovers at cups and then rips one with.

his left foot through the legs of Jordan Griffin, who is sort of retreated and taken up a spot behind cups, beats Aden Stokes, but Karam's off the near post and then skitters behind, skitters across the face of goal behind Stokes, who is prostrate at this point. Only an alert intervention from Shakiris on the back post puts the shot off on the rebound, and it goes off the outside of the side netting for a corner kick. but yikes yeah yeah like you said it was a tremendous touch by that check number 10 having watched him play the rest of the game I would be surprised if it were intentional because he did kind of struggle a little bit with his touch but oh man

it certainly looked pretty and then Griffin and Martinez just didn't do a good enough job of getting ballside again and left cups hanging out the dry who I think in this moment and throughout the tournament thus far has done a really good job of like standing his guy up one v one and allowing his teammates to to retreat back behind the ball but at the end of the day the stepovers kind of worked him a little bit and we're lucky the ball didn't find the near post and lucky that securus was able to get a piece at the back post to credit to securis he did react pretty quickly to save that goal and

was doing a pretty good job at checking his shoulder throughout the move but and stokes had no chance if if that rebound was on frame. Yeah, and it was going to be if Shakiris hadn't been so alert. I mean, we come down on the fullbacks for not being alert in that situation all the time. Got to give somebody their flowers when they are because it's not easy to be. You've got to be really, you got to be really on the spot. Totally. But it looks at this point like we're going to be in trouble.

No? Yeah, definitely the ensuing corner from the, the shot that Securus put off the side netting ended up with a shot on target that was just right at Stokes. And if it was either side of him, it would have required a pretty good save. And again, like for the first time in this game, or pretty early on, we enter a period where it again, as has been, the theme of the tournament, feels like we can't contest the midfield. And if any of the games, this was probably going to be the one where this was the problem, you know, they were noticeably bigger than us. They had midfielers that could really move the ball around.

But it was, I was pretty defeated in the moment watching it come so early. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, another theme, a theme of this game is something you just mentioned, was that, which was that so many check shots were hit well on, it felt like so many were hit well on target, but within comfortable distance of Stokes, you know? Right.

Like, I don't know, I can think of, it feels like I can think of like four, five, or six off the top of my head. Yeah. Yeah, there were like three or four in a row towards the end of the game. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, sometimes that's how it is, and glad it was them, not us. Right. So we settle in a little bit, I think. We start to make ourselves known. They'll have a really nice combo in the 21st minute through the right side.

It's Jude Terry plays a pass to Hall through the lines. Call's coming back from the box to the ball. He plays it right back to Terry, and then there's one little, one touch, a little square pass to Sanchez. and then I think maybe a touch and then a quick pass to Carrizo at the top of the box and he turns and fires hits it well, draws a good save with that left foot of his rebound almost spills to Hall

arriving at the far post. So, you know, we show that we have some life. Yeah, definitely. It was an important move I think for us to gain a little bit of respect. Terry Flash is a little bit of that talent here that we talked about that he can have in combination. and this move was followed up by a minute later by Cups stepping up well into the check half to win a ball that ends in a solving cross, all still against the run of play. But we showed, as we have, I think, throughout the tournament thus far that we're a team capable of finding our moments.

Yeah, I'll be curious when you think the run of play shifted because I have recorded in much more loving detail our chances than, the check chances for the game. And so we're going to be talking more about U.S. chances, but there are like check chances sort of sprinkled throughout this timeline that you're just going to have to, you know, you're going to have to read between the lines here, folks. But I am curious when,

because it felt to me there was a, it did change at some point, but I'm curious when you thought that was. We can get in, we can, why don't you just say, say it when you think it was? Sure. get there. 23rd minute Sullivan tries to cut in and curl one from the right side. It's a yard or so wide, but you see like over here we have a, you know, bleached blonde

difference maker. And I think the checks understood this at this point. I mean, it wasn't far off from the far post. And now it's something they have to worry about. And, yeah. So there's... Yeah. Sullivan's about to have a good run in the timeline here.

Right. Yeah, I mean, just great stuff from Sullivan. And then, you know, Johnson beats his man for a good ball into Hall a few minutes later. Certainly dangerous. And then Sullivan would have another moment in the 36th minute, right? Yeah, because I've been talking about how it doesn't seem like he's much of a 1V1 guy. But he's sort of immediately proving that, wrong and here's an example

36 minute he's this is like you know a few minutes after he curled one cut in curled one this time he just chops and goes to the end line to his right foot and clips a ball into a dangerous spot right at the penalty marker it doesn't it doesn't quite get to anybody's head I mean I think it's cut out by a check defender but it's a it's a dangerous pass

and it could easily have you know, landed somewhere else. Yeah, I mean, and just really just shows what Sullivan excels at. I do think that I also have some level of trepidation about Sullivan as a one of you got one guy or like a winger long term. But he just makes these moments that can be so complicated in soccer, look so comfortable in terms of doing all the little things right with his body positioning and shifting his balance.

And he just kind of feels unfair at the level, at this level, which is crazy when you think about it because he's the youngest player on the field for either team. Yeah, yeah. I feel like some of it has to do with volume. Like if he's getting on the ball a lot, he can sort of start to set things up and, you know, sort of be strategic in the way he attacks like one way, one time down the field, a different way. the next time down the field.

If it's just like, if it's, if it's just, if one V1 chops is just like in a vacuum, can you beat a guy one time? Yeah. Maybe he can't. Maybe he's not elite at that. But once you get like in the flow of the game and he cuts in on his left foot, you see that he can pretty dangerous doing that. Then he can set you up and go to the end line.

His right foot is serviceable enough that he can, you know, he can do stuff with it. So I don't know. Maybe that's the. distinction. Yeah. And I do think like this is in in the time period where things kind of settled a little bit. We're still doing a good amount of defending, but it's, you know, at the top of our box with numbers behind the ball. And we have a bunch of dangerous stuff going forward.

So I don't occasionally, I don't know that we in the first half ever really got the better of the check through the run of play. No, I don't think so. Yeah, this was probably around when we had our best showing up with the first. first half in this like 35, 36 minute mark. We sort of drew level with them at that point, right? And having been behind for most of the first half. They, yeah, they're causing us a lot of problems through into the late 30s and Cups is doing a lot of good last-ditch defending.

But yeah, plenty of decent chances for the checks. Yeah, it's an opportunity to talk more about Cups twice. think was critical and has been for us in the back line throughout the tournament, calming presence and does such a good job of slowing things down. Got to say, Secarius really struggled on his side defensively, which made Cups all the more impressive. And Johnson was doing a good job of coming back on the left to help, which maybe hurt the attack a little bit.

But it's just off of this play that Johnson comes back and is able to win a ball defending in the 1v1 that he's able to get up to Kevin and it almost ended up in a cabin master class huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This was the 42nd minute. Like you said, Johnson wins it I think to Cabin's chest, like maybe 10 yards outside of our box and he just races upfield and tries to go basically coast to coast takes on two defenders in the open field

and he ends up kind of in a like a shoulder battle with their big central defender. And he just, he creates a little bit of a window to take that shot with his left foot from the left side of the, the left side of the goal, just scuffs his shot wide of the far post. But not too far wide, not too far. A couple yards maybe. Yeah. Yeah, again, just like so impressive how Kavin's able to ride the challenges of these much

bigger players and while still maintaining control of the ball. He takes the Czech center back. His name is Sebastian Peck. He has 20 caps. He's the most capped player on that check team. He's often their captain. And he takes him to the cleaners. He has everything but the finish. Peck does a really good job of recovering to put his weight on Kevin as he's shooting to interfere with the shot. And I think that if he doesn't do that, that's probably one-nill right there. Yeah, I love the way a little bit earlier in the sequence, he sort of, Kavin sort of loses track of the ball underneath him,

but is able to like kind of reach back underneath him and pull it forward. You know, just somebody who's like really has a lot of reps doing that kind of stuff, you know? Right. Just like a supernatural level of calmness that he has on the ball for his age. Yeah. All right. That's halftime.

We'll come Math, Matisse Albert is about to come on the field and, uh, and change everything. And, um, we'll be back in a minute. If you want to skip the ads and support our work, join the Patreon. Link is in the show notes. Okay, we're back. Matisse Albert comes on for Jemir Johnson at the half. It's got to be a nightmare to face him a fresh Albert after 45 minutes of running. Yeah.

I would think so. He certainly came on and looked energetic and definitely the spark, sparked the attack into life. An attack that really had very little success down the wings through the run of play when it wasn't, you know, Kevin going at it himself. So it was a good sub as you would expect from being able to bring on a player of Albert's quality and he went straight to work on the fullback on his side. Yeah, it felt like we were.

pretty much ascendant. I mean, not to say that the checks didn't continue to get chances. They definitely did. But it seemed like we were the better team in the second half. 47 minute mark, a nice little combo from Sullivan and Terry on the right. I mean, I'm probably overselling it by calling it a nice little combo. It was just a little pass him behind from Sullivan to Terry, and he whips a ball across for Hall. At first, it looks like Hall just kind of misjudges it.

but I went back. I slowed it down. I watched it over and over again. The defender does get the slightest of touches on it as Hall arrives, and that causes him to whiff, basically, from point blank. There was a touch. I don't blame Hall too much. But a nice, I mean, a very dangerous sequence from us,

like very, very, very close to being a goal. Yeah, definitely. I didn't see the touch. I thought Hall just whiffed on this on first watch. So I'm glad you were able to scrub. back and find that out. Yeah, I was, yeah, like the flight of the ball, I mean, he got it with like the bottom of his heel, but the flight of the ball changed.

I think it made it, it made it not bounce up as high as it would have had he not touched it. So, yeah, 49th minute, Hall does well on the half turn, you know, receiving a pass from, I think from Martinez, maybe, and plays just a lovely ball between the centerbacks for, uh, or between the center back and right back for Carrizo, who runs onto it and rips one. I mean, he got all of this with that left foot of his, you know, tipped over by the keeper. Yeah, good stuff from both players. I thought Hall had a pretty disappointing first half for me on and off the ball,

but plays a great pass in here and kind of the space that he's more comfortable with occupying, I think, than being back to the centerbacks in a number nine position. And then Maximo recognizes he's not going to outrun the recovering check defenders and takes a neat little touch to slow the ball down and give himself space to shoot as the defenders over on the play. And yeah, there's nobody on the team you'd rather be taking a left-footed shot from there. And it ends up being a pretty good hand from the keeper to make the save. Yeah. I mean, this is, we talk about the checks having a bunch of shots that were just within the keeper's reach.

I mean, if this had been anywhere, but within like the one-yard halo of the keeper's head, it's a goal, you know. But 60-ish minute, a nice combo from Cavan and Matisse to spring Matisse into the left side of the box. And he slides a ball across the six. And Terry is kind of within in the neighborhood there in the box, but he's a step behind getting there to thump at home. but it's just really good to see the star boys, the blue chips, working well together over on that left side. Yeah, definitely. I mean, it feels exciting every time Cabin and Mathis, you know,

get the ball to each other. And I think once they really started to put it together, you started to see Terry kind of find his way upfield into the position that he's maybe more comfortable with occupying and we'd see it again. that again pretty soon hereafter yeah so Albert in the 60 you know mid 60s weaves through the left side of the box past like three or four defenders tries to cut it back it's deflected by a sliding challenge from a defender loops up into the air gets headed over

in a scramble to the penalty spot where Terry is running like at a full speed he meets it with a leaping, half-folly, kind of like, you know, somewhat karate kick-esque, absolutely smashes the crossbar with it. I mean, it bounces down, but a little bit out from the goal line. So nearly 1-0, and we do, like I said, we really do look like the better team at this point.

Yeah, I mean, I wish this goal went in. What a goal it would have been. Perfect technique. almost hit it too clean, got too much power on it. It's a bummer because I think Terry could probably use the confidence as we enter the knockouts. But again, it's an example of the Starboys making things happen. And it's Kevin that gets the ball to Albert in the box. And when those two connect, I think good things happen.

Yeah, yeah. So big flurry of chances for the checks in the 75th minute-ish. they could have scored a couple times. We get a nice saves by Stokes on a long hit that's low and down to his right. And then I think it's Cups, maybe who throws his body in the way of another shot momentarily thereafter to block it. Yeah, I think that we were in this court sort of part of the match, we were maybe like a victim of our own success.

The sudden confidence that we had going forward with numbers kind of renewed that midfield issue. We had fewer bodies back behind the ball, and it easily could have hurt us in this time period. Like you said, some of these Czech chances are pretty decent chances where it's just, you know, one thing went awry. Kid just decided to take a shot when the pass was there. The shot ended up going right at Stokes. Yeah. It could definitely be an issue in, you know, elimination play. Yeah, we'll get into Morocco in a second.

I'm curious what you think about them as an opponent. Stay tuned, everybody. 78 minute mark, we score our goal. And it turns out it's a pretty straightforward sequence. Sullivan gets a long pass from Nifasha Burkimos, who had come on for Terry in transition, and he's got like two defenders on him, so he turns around and takes a couple touches backwards along the the sideline recycles it back to Shakira's the right back. And then he passes it quickly to Sanchez.

Sanchez passes it quickly to Carrizo in the left channel. And he's got tons of real estate in front of him. So he just drives directly straight ahead down the channel at the like the space between the left center back and the left. I'm sorry, the right center back and the right back for for the checks. And Albert is kind of. swooping in from the left, and Carrizo just plays a simple pass to him. It's well-weighted, but it's like in his path. And Albert takes just a devastating first touch past the tired defender,

who has at this point now no chance of catching up. The centerback is not thinking about covering, really, for the right back. So I'm not sure what's going on there. But he takes that first touch that's like probably 15 yards behind. the defender, and then he just runs onto it and then curls it around the onrushing keeper. Side netting, one zero. Yeah, I mean, I think you could certainly ask some questions of the Czech right back here, who chooses to leave Albert to help his midfielder with Carrizo.

I don't know that that's the play there. I don't know that the check midfielder was going to need help to contain Maximo. But you could also, I think, consider this like a goal of attrition where Albert was working that right back since he had come on the field. And as soon as the goal is scored, you know, that right back has his hands on his knees. And he doesn't even really make an effort as, nor does the centerback, like you mentioned at trying to recover on the play once Albert takes that touch and behind. But Maximo plays Albert in stride.

And it's a great job of controlling the ball and be lining by Albert. And it's a good finish, one nothing. Albert gets his moment. you can see in the the slow motion replay from behind the post that he aims at that as he's about to strike it he knows exactly what he's going to do and it feels really good about his chances you know yeah like this is a man who is confident in his ability to finish that kind of goal yeah i was going to say that's sorry bills i was going to say this is that's exactly how he scores for dormant like this was his he's so confident, like, taking up that position on the left touchline and just, like, making that in-cutting run towards the goal. Like, you couldn't have drew it up any better for him if you let him. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, some people will say, well, that's an easy finish. I don't, I don't agree with that, you know. It's not that easy of a finish. I mean, it's a finish you want to see your wingers make, but anyway, he made it look, he made it look really easy. the check still getting chances they've got to feel a little hard done by at this point yeah I think a draw probably would have been the most fair result all things considered but like we've mentioned they just couldn't put the ball on target often enough it wasn't like the stats weren't super lopsided or anything even though if you if you isolated the middle

third of the pitch and looked at the stats there. I'm pretty sure it wasn't all that close, but at the end of the day, it's all that matters is what you do in your final third. Yeah, what was it? It was like, um, 10 shots for us, three on target, 11 shots for them, five on target. Yeah, and two of those shots were speculative. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, speculative, yeah.

And then, like, possession was 52 to 48 for the U.S. So, yeah, I don't know. I guess we should mention the Shakir's Red. He comes through and kicks the ball away from somebody, but his kicking foot carries through and catches the ankle of a Czech player. And it was initially a yellow. was the sort of challenge issued by the coach of the Czech Republic of Chechia and then the ref decided it was a red card. It seemed like a red to me, honestly, but I know a lot of people

don't agree with that. Yeah. It was a little harsh for me just because he gets all of the ball and, you know, he does end up going through the Czech player's ankle. But I think you kind of see that a lot of times given as yellows. But I think, like you said, there's a little bit of context here. And he had a foul earlier in the game that was a little nasty. And it was just kind of doing a whole lot of grabbing to try to prevent. He was doing a lot of grabbing. Yeah.

He was being nasty out there, which I appreciate it. Right. And there's also the game state, you know, being up one-nothing and past the 90th minute, I think you don't get as much leeway on this sort of thing. But, yeah, I think you maybe earned his red. I guess. And a player that I think is probably unlikely to play, was probably unlikely to play in our next game anyways.

So on one hand, not a huge deal, but it's definitely maybe a little unnecessary. Also take an opportunity here to call out just how ridiculous this card system. Yeah. Yeah. In this tournament, I mean, it just like breaks up the play. So people are challenging the most ridiculous things. How does it work? Do they get two challenges a game or something?

Yeah, you get two challenges and then if you win them, you get them back. So it's a whole thing. But the real kicker for it is that it's not like you don't challenge a thing. Like you don't have to say like, oh, I think that it was a handball or I think that he was off sides or there was a foul in the runup. Like they just review like the full last 30 seconds. So you just have like the the ref there looking at the screen for like like a good two minutes. And then the TV crew doesn't know what the refs looking at. So you have the announcers being like, is he is was there an off sides here?

Was like what they have no idea what's going on? It's a whole it's a whole ordeal. Yeah, it doesn't sound great. I don't, I don't, I don't claim to be a referee, a referee expert. but I do, I guess the thing about this specific foul that makes it red for me is the follow-through on the ankle, you know? I mean, I know there's a little bit of natural momentum. There's a lot of natural momentum taking him that way. But Shakuris, he leaves the foot in and it seems like he pushes it through the ankle in a way that was unnecessary to me.

Yeah. I can see it. I think that, like, if I remember correctly, he's kind of like, tracking the ball with his eyes as his ankle goes through the other player's ankle. But I don't know if that even matters. Who knows the rules anyways? It's all just vibes and subjectivity.

Right. I don't think we need to go through the Tajikistan stuff. But I do want to say, because I mentioned some of it on the Monday show, but I do want to say that, well, I want to give you an opportunity to say anything you want. But also, I want to say on that penalty that Berkimos drew, it was a just deeply satisfying 50-yard switch from Sullivan on a dime to him that preceded his drive into the box where you got the penalty. And then, of course, Sullivan converts with a Peninka. But I didn't notice this till tonight, but that was, like, Sullivan gets the ball, I think, from the left back, just turns takes one touch and just ropes it over everybody to the other side of the field.

I'm like, he can do a lot of stuff well, you know? Yeah. Most stuff well even, which is, I mean, like I said, he's a cheat code in this age group. And the first one that we've had, I think, in a little while. So it's fun to watch. I think the Tajikistan game was interesting just from the stand. standpoint of us falling behind early. It's kind of good to get that experience in a tournament and not have that for the first time in the knockouts.

I think if it weren't for that, it probably would have been a pretty comfortable game. All things considered, I think the stats on this one in terms of like shots on goal. I think we outshot them like nine or ten to one with the one being their only goal, which was kind of gifted a little bit by our fullbacks not stepping with cups. early on in the game. But then I know we had to fight back, you know, fight through some of our problems in midfield, you know, establish ourselves in the Tajik third,

the final third. And I think we did a pretty decent job of doing that. And if it weren't for some pretty good saves by the Tijik goalkeeper, this probably could have been pretty lopsided. It was Hamuda's like giveaway that led to that for, Taji goal. And I wonder, you know, he didn't start this game. Was that just rotation or is he getting benched in favor of Martinez, do you think?

No, I think it's rotation. I don't think he's on a yellow, but I'm not positive. I know Guamarez is on a yellow, but I think it's a rotation. I would have a hard time seeing him not start the next game. I mean, he's just, he just offers a lot, you know, with, you know, his comfort on the ball, but also just six foot three left footed if is also kind of a cheat code at U-17 level. Fair enough. Okay.

Well, let's talk a little about Sullivan because it does seem to me he's really coming into his own in this tournament in these last two games. It's hard to see. I mean, he almost never plays for the union. The MLS next pro games are kind of, I don't know, I don't know what your view is on them, but they seem like kind of a joke to me. So it's hard to like ever see him play in anything that looks meaningful or is or at least It's fun to watch. I'll say that So now we're seeing him. He came in to camp a little late. He subbed on in the first game. He scored a goal. He wasn't he wasn't all that sharp in that first game

But now he's been pretty sharp in these last two games and I just want to say a few things I like about him So one, he's so active like this dude is everywhere He defends, he runs all over the place, he shows and shows and shows for the ball. Like he wants to be on the ball so bad, which is a really important quality, you know? And when he gets on the ball, he is looking to attack. And he has a lot of, like we've been talking about, he has a lot of ideas and weapons for doing that. That switch to nympha is one example. Lots of, like, really clever through balls.

Some of these little lofted passes down the wing to spring Albert. or Jemir Johnson. I mean, just clever passes that are played to a spot where only his teammate can get to it in, like, going into the opponent's defensive third. Like I said earlier, I feel like his 1V1 chops are better than I've made them out to be lately. And he, you know, I mean, he hasn't scored a banger yet,

but it seems like it's only a matter of time. And it does seem like things kind of slow down for him a little bit in the box. in a way that is somewhat supernatural, you know? Like, it's just, even when he's like coming to the cutback zone,

you know, from the left side, he just takes a like, he does a little he feint, like he's going to kick it and then he clips it over everybody, you know? He's just not in a hurry.

I mean, we've all been excited about him for a long time, but it just feels good to have some of that vindicated and just watching these games. That's the stuff that, kind of sticks out to me. Yeah, I mean, he's kind of undeniable at this level. I think that, like, a lot of trying to project youth prospects is just like you're,

you have a lot of guys who do really interesting things in bursts. And then you have a lot of guys who are consistent. And it's very rare that you guys, that you get somebody who's able to do a lot of interesting things consistently. and Sullivan is one of those guys and it just kind of boils down to his soccer IQ that, you know, he's a, he's a good athlete. He has, he's good with both feet.

He's not exceptional at either of those things. He doesn't have any exceptional physical abilities. He has a very good change of speed. But it's really just he does the right things at the right times and whether that's, you know, one of these through balls that you're talking about or changes of play or just the shoulder dip or just putting his foot on the ball. It's just all consistently high level.

Yeah. Man, I just, yeah. Well, let's talk about Albert a little bit, and then I'll say that what I was about to say is so he is just, just scintillating left winger. I mean, it's a very different player from Albert. Like much more of a, he will go at you, he will beat you. He will go either way.

The goal against the checks was an example of a guy who's just very assured in his craft, as we discussed earlier. And he just has a lot of ways to kill you out there. He can cut in, go to his left and cut it back. He can combine. And so I guess I just wish, and he's like he rips the ball with his right foot. Yeah. Like he really does. And I just wish we could fast forward both of their careers by about two years in the next six months.

Yeah, I mean, he's, again, like, just prototypical modern winger. He does so many of the things that you want in a winger in the modern game in combination, but also having that killer, one of you want ability, just equally happy to cut in or use his left foot to cross the ball. And I wish he would use his left foot for more. That's maybe the biggest knock on him right now is that in possession, he's not a super, two-footed player when he's not, when it isn't the case that he's at the end line to try to to move the ball in. But there's, there's a lot of talent there. I mean, like, this, he's, he's as complete, like, a true winger as we've had in a little while here. Is the word that he,

like, Dortmund wants to get him, you know, get him some first two minutes in the spring? I don't know. I mean, I mean, who can even trust these? reports, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, who knows really the last time I spoke to somebody, not at Dorman, but in the German national program, they talked a scout. They mentioned to me that I wanted to talk about Cole Campbell and Albert, and they mentioned to me that, you know, with Campbell, it's kind of, you know, Dorman, they want this, they want to see what they have, potentially interested in a loan, potentially interested in selling him if the right price comes across him. With Albert, the language was more,

they're being careful with him. They want to make sure it's the right time. They want to make sure it's the right situation. Seems like he's part of the five-year plan. Yeah. Oh, man, that's exciting. Anybody else in this tournament besides those two who's really, I don't know, changed your opinion about them

or gotten you more excited? or even less excited. I know you love the wet blanket things. Yeah, maybe I'll hold off on that for the nine point window. For the sake of the nine point window, I'll hold off on talking down any players. I'm pretty happy with Stokes, like Aiden Stokes and goal. I was pretty high on him as a younger prospect, just because he did some ridiculous things as a younger player. he was super active from the goalkeeper position.

And he's always been capable of excellent saves and is pretty solid distribution. But he's as inconsistent and mistake prone as any U-17 keeper is and likes to leave his line, even in some questionable circumstances. And I think he's been pretty steady for us as the tournament has gone on after some, maybe some shaky moments in the Burkina Faso game. So that feels pretty good, I think. I think Luca Moisa, he's a great situation in that like he was a former top U15 prospect for this group, kind of written in Penn, supposed to be the starter for the U17 team if you go back two years. And he's just a kid that's kind of struggled with form for most of the cycle.

he's undersized so playing a lot in Next Pro hasn't done him a lot of favors as opposed to playing Academy Ball and he's like traditionally when he plays he's more of like a connector piece for RSL but in this tournament I've been really impressed with him he's kind of like giving something about Tyler Adams impression and winning the ball often and is doing some pretty good positional things. And I don't know that he is that player, but I really appreciate him stepping up in a team that is really lacking that player.

So that's been, that's been super fun to see as well. And also Chase Adams, not a, I don't think super highly of him as a prospect, if I'm being perfectly honest, but it's just fun to have a center forward that's just like out there slamming into dudes,

you know, happy to do the holdup play. you know, really just traditional youth national team center forward from the golden days. Yeah. I'd love to see him score a goal or two before this tournament is over.

All right. That's great. So let's kind of wrap up. We face Morocco on Friday morning. Just real quick, their route to the knockouts was a little odd. They got blanked by both Japan and Portugal,

two zero and six zero respectively. And then they beat New Caledonia, a team that had drawn Japan, that had drawn Japan in their previous match, Portugal beat them by a score of 16 to zero, which comfortably qualified them

for the knockout rounds, even though they got third in their group. The goal differential was, you know, magnificent after that. Yeah, just like the weirdest possible situation. just like U-17 World Cup things. That New Caledonia game saw New Caledonia getting red cards before the 30th minute.

And so they were playing at New Caledonia with nine men against Morocco, and they kind of went to town on them, which has the great side effect of us finishing with three wins, but they were all by one goal. So we have a plus three goal differential. And Morocco, who lost two of their games, has a plus eight goal differential. And they lost one of their goals, their game's 6-0, too. Which is crazy. But, yeah, definitely a weird route.

I haven't watched any of their games, so I don't know that much about them as individual players. But it's worth noting that Morocco won the African qualifying tournament to get to the U-17 World Cup. They finished first place in Africa in that qualification. So this on paper doesn't look like... a team that we could potentially, that we should, like, for sure, beat. It's probably going to be a pretty tough game. I don't know what happened to Morocco in that Portugal game. But I suspect that it's going to be tough.

It's going to be tough. Yeah, that's what I thought, too, until I saw those scores of those two games. And I was like, okay, wait, maybe they're, maybe they're not that good. Because they've been our nemesis in every youth national team tournament that we've been in recently. You know, the Olympics and the U-20 World Cup. So, I hate to go down to him again. But we'll see. Who do you want to see start in that game?

Give us your starting 11 and then we'll get out of here. Sure, sounds good. So I'm going to stick with Stokes in goal. I'm going to have Gimeras, Hamuda, Cups, and Giovia along the back line. I'm going to start Moisa, Luca Moisa. Luca Moisa and Jude Terry in midfield with Sullivan in front of them, with Albert, Chase Adams, and Burkhamas across the front line. And then you'll look to get Hall and Johnson on the field when you can, hopefully,

for some change of pace. Okay. Yeah. No, Carrizo. Are you looking to get Maximo on the field? potentially, I mean, he certainly offers something in possession that is not offered by the rest of this group. Kevin Sullivan, nonwithstanding, assuming he may move out to the wing or something like that, it kind of gives you a couple of guys who are really comfortable, you know, playing the ball in. but it's a long-standing problem that I have with that type of player.

I just don't really see the role for them in a role for Carrizo in this group. I think that this midfield is probably going to have a ton of problems into Morocco without him. With him it adds a whole other thing where he just doesn't work enough. against the ball. And I do think this tournament has seen him do more running, throwing his body around more than he normally does. I just don't think the juice is worth the squeeze personally. Yeah, it doesn't seem to be. I mean, you know, it would probably feel different if one of those shots of his had been two yards to the right. And then it's like a, and then he's got a Galazzo to his name. but yeah okay well hey matt thank you so much for doing this and thanks everybody for listening

we'll see you