Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #657: A superdraft of Pochettino's call-ups since he took over

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Vince, Greg, Sanjay and Belz duke it out to see who can craft the best team in a draft of all the players Poch has called up. Let the games begin! I'll post the lineups and some polls shortly.Germany trip: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfI4Cp1VpS2eCphsNjf6QHdaRDq86Tf-FeUhJ2tQ0RzkbxQhw/viewform 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, before we get into today's show, just a quick plug for the trip to Germany and the Netherlands. It's April 18 to 26 this year. Get to see the boys tuning up for the World Cup at Barusha Munchin-Gladbach versus Mines, PSV versus Zwoll,

and Koln versus Leverkusen. So that's a lot there in the Rhine River Valley, and then also a trip up to the Netherlands and we spend some time in Amsterdam, which is a fantastic city. We're still accepting expressions of interest on the Google form that I will put in the show notes.

If you have any interest in going, if you think definitely you will go, please, please fill out the form. We're starting to turn the screw. Some emails are going out to interested parties on the details, and we'd love to have you join us. it'll be most likely Vince and me

We're going to have a great time So come to Germany and the Netherlands with us All right to the show All right everybody the day is here We are going to run a draft of all the players Maricio Pachitino has called up Since he took over the U.S. men's national team The World Cup is now five months away

Pach has called up I believe 71 players We thought this would be a good way To think through the player pool And we have an August panel today Vince, Sanjay, and Greg are here. I'm also a contestant. How are you guys doing?

Sanjay, how are you? I'm pumped to be here. First pod ever where I've recorded with Greg, like official pod. Greg is the OG genius of this community, in my opinion. So this is really an honor to be here. Too kind, Sanjay. Always some special magic when Greg's in the house. Vince, how are you doing?

I'm just going to keep it short and simple. You know what I'm saying? I'm not trying to butter anybody the way Sanjay just did. You know what I'm saying? He's trying to, you know what I'm saying? You look at this as a competition. You know, Sanjay's playing chess, not checkers here.

So I'm just doing all right. Ready to compete. All right. And Greg? Yeah, this is my first draft. And I don't do any fantasy football. I feel like I'm at a real disadvantage with draft dynamics. Because I don't know exactly how it works,

but I assume you just. pick your very favorite players who you like more than the other ones. And that's how you end up with your best team. Well, the smell of false humility is ripe in the air. And let me give you a few ground rules. I'm going to spin the wheel and figure out the draft order right now. We're going to snake the draft. So one through four and then the person who takes pick four gets five and then back up to, you know, you guys get the idea.

If one of the contests, so how many are we going to pick? We're leaving that a little unclear. We could stop at 11. I think we need to stop at 11. I just won't throw that out there, man. We own you. 44 players? 44 players, brother?

No, a few, I disagree. I disagree. A few of my subs will inform my 11. You know, you want to compliment it a bit. So we'll play by here. All right. All those plans work out for you. Yeah.

But the rule is if somebody decides they've seen enough, they can just say, let's close it down once we reach 11, anywhere above 11 per player. And then as long as they get a second, we're done. So it could be 11, could be 12, could be 13. I'll be surprised if we get to 14 or 50. We'll post the rules of order with the podcast so that everyone can see. All the rules and bylaws. There's so many of them. And then who wins?

That's another question you may wonder about, listener. The winner will be decided in a very sloppy fashion with a bunch of unscientific polls on various internet platforms. And then we'll revisit this, you know, who was the victor when the World Cup roster is announced in a few months. And we figure out who got the most names on the roster. That's the basic outline of what we're doing. I'm going to go ahead and spin the wheel.

I've got... Before you do, before you do. I got one more question for waiting our picks here, and that is injury status. Is that being baked in, or is it everyone is healthy? I think we should just say everyone's healthy. Okay. Imagining everyone is healthy on June 1st, you know? June 19th, June 12th.

whatever, June. Yeah, and I just want to add for our listeners, so Greg mentioned fantasy football and everyone's familiar with the NFL. There's also college football going on and a lot of talk about Indiana football and the coach's philosophy when it comes to production over potential. So I'm qualifying my team right now by saying

there's going to be a lot of potential, but in six months that potential will be realized, you know. It's not just about getting the best players in right now, now as transfers like your Indiana. Soccer's more of a potential sport. Okay. Just throwing that out there. Buttering Greg up, buttering the audience up.

I see it. You know what? I've been meeting this for a second, but since Sanjay brought it up, shout out to Indiana football. Heck, heck yeah. Just because my guy, Rod O'John, cornerbacks coach at the University of Indiana, former coach at Lindsay Wilson College, where I attended. one of my guys, one of the, well, first of all, you like to see anybody that, you know, was your coach, had success or whatever. But I really like seeing him have success because he was just a cool-ass dude,

cool-ass coach, somebody that we just had a good time with while he was coaching us in, I don't know, 2013, I don't know what year it was, probably 2012, 2013, something like that. But anyway, to see he's made it to the mountain peak, mountain top, national championship. championship game, you know what I'm saying? It's Indiana. Okay, let me spin the wheel. Congrats to Indiana. I think that is pretty cool.

So good. All right, here we go. You're going to have to trust me because I'm the only one looking at it. But really, I don't even know. I'm not good enough at math to know which spot is best. So here we go. The wheel is spinning,

and it's going to land on Vince. Vince has picked number one. I wonder if that's going to be. Let's go. So am I going right now? Are you... No, let me get the order figured out. Let me do it again.

Spinning. There's only three of us on here now. And Greg gets pick number two. Now, Sanjay, who gets picked three, who gets picked four and five. You got picked three, Sanjay. That leaves me with number four. And Vince, are you ready to go? Let's get it.

I'm ready to go. I got every, you know, I got my players, teared out. The players that I have tiered out, I mean, you know, we talked about 44 players. I only got about 25 players teared out. The rest of them are in tier five, the rest of these are messed. That's the hat, right? Yep, yep.

I guess I could have called it the hat, but I just put the rest of these MFs. You know what I'm saying? In this list, it was like breaking me down. Just going to fill out some spots when you need to. Okay, who you got? Number one overall pick. Number one overall pick will be none other. than Mr. Falarin Balagan.

Oh, man. Wow. Wow. That was not you, I thought. I thought I'd get him. I thought I'd get him. That was not what I thought. Not happening.

This has been the person that I've zeroed in on in my pre-draft process. I was like, if I get flow, everything will fall in a place from there. You know, especially when you look at this thing, you got to look at the draft. Greg, you said you haven't drafted before, but I know you're smart enough to understand positional scarcity, which then, you know, drives value in a draft type format specifically. You know, I have Balo and then a couple of tears down the rest of the strikes. You know, when it comes to attackers, has to be Flo Balagan. He has changed our attack for the better since he came in, what, second half against South Korea.

And we really haven't looked back. I think he pairs with Christian Policity to give us another elite attacker. and with the two of them together, we really should see some fireworks in the World Cup, provided that they are both healthy, which, of course, you know, I'm a knock on my wood desk here. You know, it can be up in the air.

But yeah, I'm going to flow. No other striker close to him. He can affect the game in multiple ways, in behind, ball defeat, eliminate centerbacks, as if he's the size of a big pass. but it's not the size of a big pat. And so not a lot of issues, not a lot of negatives in his game.

And yeah, that's a pick. That's a pick, brother. Can't believe it, Vince. I can't believe you scooped him up. I was, I mean, the same thing. When we gave him the year-end MVP, it very much feels like, I know Pulisic was hurt for a lot, but it just feels like watching the games, low is the guy who makes the biggest difference over the guy who's coming in behind him.

Oh, man. Okay, so I'm going to take my consolation prize. Am I on the clock? Yeah, you're on the clock. All right, first off, congratulations, Vince. Thank you. I thought I could get him. All right, second off, I will then take Christian Pulitzer.

Okay. All right. I feel like I don't have to explain it that much because I don't think it's too much of a dredge. No, and I think there's actually some positional scarcity in his perspective. position too. Not as much, definitely. But for Sanjay, Sanjay, go ahead. Chris Richards.

Wow. Yep. Yep. Positional scarcity, name of the game. I agree. I agree. That's a nice pick. I had a tiered out. Well, Bell, you go ahead and go. Maybe I'll reveal my top four.

Vince, that felt like when the Browns drafted Baker Mayfield, that won. like no one thought that was happening until the very end. I thought you were going to draft someone else who will probably go within the next couple of picks here. Let's see, Bells.

Okay, I'm gonna, I get two picks, four and five, and I'm gonna take Tyler Adams and West McKinney in no particular order. Okay. Yeah, I don't know that there's that much to explain. I think there's some positional scarcity at the six as well,

and McKinney is arguably the most important player on the team. I thought you were taking him Nope Okay let me try to keep this This board Up to date It's back to you Sanjay

You have the chess game I feel like this stuff You might put a timer on Yeah this is This is It's tough for Sanjay Because he's coming on the heels of a double So he's got to really

Really think about what's coming on I thought one of them would still be there I didn't think we'd Like two midfielders would go Back to back All right Did I reach? All right, I'm going to take St. Virginia dust.

Okay. I like that. That wasn't the reach reference that was someone else. Can we trade picks? We should have figured this at before. I'm a trade-a-allic in fantasy football. Does the fancy football have, you can trade picks in fantasy football? Yeah, it depends on the league.

Like in my dynasty league, yeah, it's non-stop. The yearly leagues, it's less common. Okay. If you guys introduce trading picks at this point, I would probably, I would probably just abandon. I would draw. I can't wrap my head around there any things. I will go ahead and take Jedi Robinson. On account of deaths being gone.

I can't not have one of those two guys. Had Jedi on my tier one. I was looking to take it with my next pick. There has been one person drafted that was not in my tier one. I know who it was No no no It went to Tyler Actually you know what

Tyler was like a borderline tier one tier two I was like uh Well if I get shut out of the Was it was a death or Richards It was Richards wasn't it No it was surge actually Okay it was search I got surge in tier two

All right You get two picks Oh I do don't know I got okay Well Malit Tilman off the rip That's my remaining Tier 1 player Yeah

I had left. And then, yeah, I think my other tier two players are looking like a reach to me right now, other than one who's sticking out. And because of positional scarcity, once again, I got to go with him. Timothy Webb. Come on, Vince. I'll have y'all know. I'm not drafting a goalkeeper until my last people.

Maybe that was, I shouldn't have let the cat out the hat right there, but you know what I'm saying? I think we were all thinking it Yeah, okay That's a very good round Vince, that's a great round Uh Getting way as like getting diced Yeah Vince is off to a strong start here

Oh I'm struggling Okay Uh Because it's it's scuffed and I'm not gonna let anyone else have this honor I will go ahead and take Giovanni Raina No Man

No No Yeah I knew I could get Gio or Malik because I knew Vintel was going to take them both. Yeah. And you knew it wasn't getting past Sanjay. Gio wasn't getting past Sanjay.

Bells wasn't going to let two picks go without taking Gio. Yeah, yeah, that too, that too, you know. How are we feeling, man? Gio did not start this weekend? Yeah, he came in late too. You know, that was, like, they were up by a lot. He was the last, the last up, right part of the last wave.

Yeah, we're going to have to figure out if geo without playing much or his clubs can be able to contribute against a team like Paraguay at that level. I'm devastated right now. I'm just trying to gather myself. Yeah, I'm pretty much it's a creativity drought in the rest of the... The pool is very front heavy for

irreplaceable players, front end of the attack. I do love imagining right now that Vince has totally ready, like, to go with everything. I feel like you've got your board, Vince. You got, like, thumbtacks and string. I got my board, bro. Look, I took the doc, like the whole call-ups thing.

I copied it, and I made my big board, man. I ain't playing. I'm a real drafter. You know what I'm saying? I used to be a big fantasy baseball player, fantasy football player. See, people talk about fantasy football. You won't come to the big leagues, plays a fantasy baseball, brother. You don't know nothing about fantasy sports, too.

You play fantasy baseball. at 62 game. You know what I'm saying? So multiple time league winner over there. I'm taking Tessman. Yep. I had him in my tier two,

ranked ahead of Gio, Mr. Tanner T. Back in the starting lineup for Leon, played this weekend in the, I think it was a cup weekend. They played Leo in the cup, got the dub. Back in the midfield, by the way.

Is this some flexibility, Sanjay? If you want to put them back there next to Chris Richards, depending on how the draft shakes out. You know what I'm saying? It's a good pick. Greg, can I trade to ask youo? No trades. No trades. No trades.

Got a laid a lot of deal. I would have been tempted, Sanjay. Adam Bell's is forced into a choice that he's not going to want to make, but I think he's going to have to. Yeah, he's got to take Turner here. You got to get him right, like right now. Vince, while he's thinking, I do need you to make sure you don't like delete players as they get picked because I want to be able to, I want you to be able to publish your big board at the end of this. You're like, that's got to be good content. I got you.

I'm not deleting that. I haven't touched nothing. I'm just looking at it. No one can see, like, as they're listening to this, but I'm actually sitting on my couch, Cliff Kingsbury style. It looks exactly like that. It's exactly what my place is. All right, I get two picks. I'm going to take Eunice Musa.

Okay. And Brendan Aronson. I knew it. I told me. You're going to be forced to do it. You're going to be forced to do it. Deposit is in your bank account right now. Big Brenda Incorporated.

How about Bells is hoarding all these center midfielers? I'm looking at the board. I'm like, who's actually good? Who else is good at soccer? Yeah. Eunice sticks out like a sore thumb on that measure. I know not everybody agrees with me, but that's my opinion. You got flexibility there, Bills, right?

Obviously. A lot of brothers, so you got a lot of wingbacks on team. You know what I'm saying? Along with them being a little bit. We do our wingback talk with all these guys, Musa, McKenny, and Wea. And then, like, just kind of forget that Tyler Adams played right back for Leipzig into the Champions League for years.

Looked a little stiff out there, got to say. All right, so it's back to Sanjay. There's one player remaining in my tier two. I'm going to go with... Tonsie has no attackers. I'm going to go with Rico. Okay. Okay.

Rico, player who slid down my draft board after this weekend's incident. You know what I'm saying? He is now hurt. But for anybody listens to the podcast, especially to listen to last week, you should know why I moved Rico down. Rico, brother, you got to stay on your feet, bro. You got to stay on your feet. Ed Looney Tunes' ass fall.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to talk. Talk down on the sick and shut in here. But come on, you broke your radius and your owner, brother. You know what I'm saying? After just a ass fall, come on, man. Come on, man.

That's crazy to me, to me. Once again, get well soon. They said it's going to be two months. So it doesn't look like it's too, that this break, arm break is going to cost him too much. But we got to stay on our feet, baby. We got to be an athlete. Come on.

It was nasty, man. You could see it in the replay. His arm broke, for sure. His arm broke. And it wasn't from, like, somebody running into him or, like, challenging for something special. Like, he's just... lost his feet reaching back for a pass that was a little behind him.

Yeah, I got him in my tier four. He's, well, that seems a little unfair. I wasn't playing, bro. I wasn't playing around. He's behind, uh, he's behind, he's behind Haji and Pat. You know, I'm saying. He went to tier four off that. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Shout out to L train. You know what I'm saying, but, hey, Vince, I, I don't know how you even get four tiers before you get to the, the, the, the, the, the, um, whoever these guys are here. Because I feel like I'm already there. And that includes whoever I'm going to have to pick next. I'm just like, all right, well, I just need a body here.

So I don't know if this guy's good. The defenders did not get to four tiers. Tier four for the defenders was the rest of these months. But everyone else I could kind of do it. Okay. I just realized Bells has MMA reincarnated. Makes you think. Bell's running it back, running it back.

He's taking Josh Sargent eventually. I mean, looking like it. Martin Luther King Day in one week. Okay. I have to add center midfielders. So I will take a guy who is playing for Aletico Madrid. I don't know how much he's going to play for him or how much he'll play for the U.S. But we'll put Cardoso on the squad.

Okay. Okay. Johnny Cardoso drafted over. Christian Roldon. Well, Vince, I'm going to make you decide if you want to do it. You got two picks. You don't have any center mids yet. Bell isn't taking anymore.

Yeah, I guess I am thin in the, yeah, me, you know, okay. Well. You're about to run out of LDLT, Burrhalter, Aidan Morris, midfield. Hey. You know. Tim Tillman, I feel like we'll end up on, we'll end up drafted. Come on, man. I only have one player remaining in tier two.

and that's Alex Freeman So I'm taking Alex Freeman I thought you'd leave him because you got way I thought I could get I thought I could still get him It was devastating for me And of course you get another pick I don't even know we're running I think we're running some sort of

I haven't thought this out yet But okay Johnny's taken Brenda's taken Right now I'm looking at Ada Morris or Christian Rodon I've been watching Ada Morris here recently. Sean's kind of coming off. Just slightly. Not a smooth playing the ball as he was.

You know, he's coming off a little bit of an injury. I think he sustained in last camp, I want to say. Like him as a player. But you know what? I need a little bit more of that added bite that Christian Rodon gives the team. Coach on the field. Christian Rodon. and yeah I think he has a little bit more juice

than an attack than a Seb yeah I'm going I'm going Christian Rodon a little bit more bite than an than an Aiden Morris even though Aiden Morris tries very hard to provide the bite you know what I'm saying Christian a little bit more fluid a little bit more athletic out there

Okay he can shoot from distance He can shoot from distance Give me Christian Rodom man. And, you know, we playing a fluid midfield. You know, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got, I got to have my midfield, too. Maybe. They're just depending on how I decided to set up.

Actually, Malik Tillam was definitely in my midfield. No, I think about it. Because he, uh, yeah, you watch him play for Levycues and the way he's really truly running the show out there. Yeah. I got to, I got to have him touching the ball. I'm not buying it, Vince. I'm not buying it for sure. I feel like you could be sandbagging just by saying that.

Like, I'm definitely not interested in any other center midfielers. no I'm looking at well I'm not going to say anything else but you know looking at the rest of the pool you know what I'm saying me yeah those are my picks

those are my picks man I'm like I'm like how things are shaping up for me all right you just did two right okay so I'm taking I'm taking weekend goal scorer Joseph Scali that's what my offense is coming from

I'm getting some offense from from Marine Biles himself. Fishman. Man. I don't even know of any other right backs. Are there any other ones left? Oh, you've got Wes and Tyler. And Musa. You can make do.

Yeah, bro, you good. If you want to dip into a little Marlon Fossey to honor the people we met in Rome that were from Jersey. Yo, yo, by the way, shout out to them, though. When you really think about it, without them, I'm not going to the sanctuary. So you think about the

events that that chance encounter at a at a gelato place. So we definitely can't do this trade? We're not trading, bro. It's not trading. I mean, he has a right back now, so it would be... Yeah, I don't need desks anymore.

I mean, I can see you going for Scali for left back, but you still got the arf out there and your guy, oh, your guy, did he not get, did Caleb Wiley ever get called up? No, no, no, no. He was one of the AI hallucinations. I was putting together the list. You got called up.

Vince and I interviewed him right before. It was a camp before Podge took over. Yeah. All right, it's reach o'clock. I'm taking Jack McGlynn. Okay. Just kidding. I don't think that's a reach.

I think he's a genius. I think he's more of a goal threat than. any player selected so far. I'm just going to let Sondry. I'm jealous. I wanted, I wanted McGlynn. I wanted McGlynn. It's like you, after you get past the top two, three wingers, it's McGlynn for me. McGlynn, probably my first, the last player that was outside the rest of the, the rest of these M. You know what I'm saying? Maybe that was because his dad came on.

It's got a podcast. I decided to give him some. decided to give him some favor there but yeah shout out jack for those that don't that didn't hear it when i said it the first time stood next to this man uh at the new york camp he's he's about my height solid six two so when you're talking about his physical shortcomings he does have them but then also realize that he is a large soccer player as well and that might help him um he has a physical long coming yeah to be able to be able to overcome those in some ways.

Yeah, and if you haven't rewatch that goal against Turkey in a while, what a thing of beauty that was. So I guess it's my turn, right? And I get two picks. Mm-hmm. Shore up my wide defensive areas as best I can here, and I'm going to take both Maximilian Arfston and John Tolkien. Oh, my God.

Okay. Head in your bets, sir. Bells, I love it. I don't want to put Weston McKinney at Wingback. You don't have to describe it. I'm not like all the other white people. Which is one of those guys are you going to run on the right side? Arstyn.

Okay. Makes sense. Makes sense? I literally just thought, like, there's no way. Like, I'll definitely have a crack at one of them because one of them will get selected and then you just took both of them. Tolkien's my guy, too. I just sort of, you know, argue for my choices again here.

After Jedi and Dest, I think it's an indistinguishable morass of defenders. I'll hear arguments about Freeman and like where he's like making a bet on him. I had it all prepared when I was going to take him. I was going to say, I'm going to take a bet on Alex Freeman, but I didn't get to take him. I think there's not that much difference after Destin Jedi, just like there's not that much difference after Ballo. There's not that much difference after Tyler Adams. I mean, if you're talking about the Sanjay potential overproduction type of thing,

well, I mean, this is actual production I'm about to talk about here. But can you see John Tolkien doing Alex Freeman v. Uruguay? Maybe. Maybe. But, you know, Alex Freeman did it, brother. So, yeah. John Tolkien played really well in that game, too. He obviously didn't have quite the same impact, but he was underrated, I thought.

Yeah, he did. I think he had a good game, too. Anyway, Sanjay, you're up. Yeah, we're starting to scrape here, and we're going to lean into, we're going to lean into, at this point, I'm looking at your teams, and I'm probably the betting favorite to finish last. in this poll, unless, you know, people really appreciate potential. This sounds like you're prepping for Noki Banks. Yes, that's who I will be taking. I'll be taking Noki Banks, who is very much a Bundesliga starter now.

There was a beat down over the weekend, but he wasn't at fault for any of the goals. He had some good interventions in the first half, had to step along the second half. he looked visibly pissed off and that's good in a way to see you know a young player that invested and um obviously you don't want bad body language but he's a guy who i'm not saying he's outgrown augsburg but um i think he he has the quality to be on a better team uh before long and developing in a better way um so yeah okay do you guys notice that you do you watch and play at all. He was like, after each goal, he was like, what the hell is going on? No, I didn't. I didn't watch. I noticed, I watched the goals. I noticed that he wasn't in fault

for any of them. Yeah. That's, that's what I noticed. Which is a little bit of a, a little bit of a change from the past few months. Yeah, I mean, come on. He's, you know, probably what he's, what he's singing is like, I can't leave they're doing this with G.O. Rain on the bench is my guess. Uh, yeah. I'm gonna, I don't. I don't. know. I'm going to go ahead and take because I feel like he deserves to be in this draft. I'm going to take Tim Tillman. I need

some center mids. I like that guy a lot. Watching him at Groethefurt. Well said. Thank you. So I'm taking Bundesliga veteran, Tim Tillman. Okay. All right, we're back to Mr. Irvin with the two picks. I don't got no centerbacks

at this moment in time. I'm gonna take one. Welcome to the U.S. men's national team. I'm gonna take one here. I have one name that I've written out in my tier three. One of the defenders that hasn't been taken yet, I probably would have been fine. I had no key ranked in front of this man.

And I think people are tired of seeing them, maybe, at this point in time. However, anyone who has been played that isn't him or Chris Richards. They haven't necessarily covered themselves in glory either. And so I'm going with the Ageless Wonder. Tim Raine. Let me give me Tim Rine. He could have been talking about so many people.

Up until the Ageless Wonder Park. Age is so under, yeah. I mean, looking at the pool, man. It's like that. Nobody's moving me, man. Mark McKenzie. Eh. Walker.

Miles. I'm sorry. I'm sorry It's going to be Tim Rehm and Chris Richards in the opening game of the World Cup that's my guess

that's my prediction yeah if they're there it'll be them let me see so looking at my team now I got Freeman Reem

Malie Tullman Rodon Balagan Wea and looking at my big board everyone's everyone outside the rest of these MFs tier is is taking except four, five people

five people I think I'm a I think I'm gonna finish out my attacking line with this pick and it's I'm looking between two strikers of African American descent

I don't know I'm gonna go with here man you know what actually yeah I'm taking I'm taking Hajj right I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it. I'm taking Hazy,

right. I got to stay true to my big board. I did have him in front of Big Pet. One who's played, you know, I have Tim Way on one wing.

Follow in the middle. We're going to go ahead and put Haji right on the other wing. Should have done it. If I was Flow, you wouldn't do it. It can be some interchange

between him and flow, maybe. We'll take it. But yeah, I'm like in the positional versatility, the fluidity that we can play with. Haji,

I think, has, he's in a very nasty goal draw right now, by the way, for Coventry. I don't think he scored against Australia. I'm pretty sure that's a fact. But, but he can hold her down on the wing, and I rate his ability to hold it down on the wing higher than a Diego Luna, Alex Sentejas. And so that's what I'm going with, go with Mahjee. all right vince you just you keep scooping him up one one round before i get to him okay uh i don't

i feel like there's no way bell's picks sergeant over picks anyone besides sergeant with who's left and he needs a striker uh but i don't care i i really want to see geo and big pat play together the world deserves it so they're the same type of player i feel like they got the same kind of mindset and how they want the game to flow. So I'm taking Big Pad to compliment Gio. All right. Man. I got to be honest, I kind of wanted Big Pat over Sergeant,

especially with this discouraging news of his Canadian adventure. This seems like a consensus then. Everybody had Big Pat ranked over Josh Sargent? I don't think of what we are as fans. We are, I am. I wouldn't do that. It's just like, what, What have we, yeah, well, anyway, we don't have to get into it.

We've seen, we've seen Josh Sergeant, we've seen Josh Sergeant play well at a World Cup. I know. I think people are forgetting that. Did he score a goal? Let me, shit. You know what I'm saying? I saw him hop over a ball and turn his ankle. You know what I'm saying?

Once again, to the, to the stay on your feet. You know what I'm saying? I mean, come on. Well, now I'm going to sing his praises the rest of the episode. But, okay, so what's going on with Josh Sergeant, Bells? to other people. Oh, he's going to apparently reportedly go into Toronto FC following in Michael Bradley's

footsteps on that front. For a payday and Well, for a payday, but also trying to get out from under a relegation threatened Norwich City. Sure.

Isn't it funny when these like inversions of the proxy wars happen before us? Like, like now big Pat's over there and Josh is here. Yeah. But yeah, sure, but that's not Anyway, that's not why I'm down on Josh You know

Turned down the opportunity to go to Wolfsburg To apply his trade with Norwich Things aren't going as planned For him or for the club And now he's trying to force his way out He did not play in the FAA Cup this weekend He called the manager and told him I can't play You got transfer stuff floating around my head

Etcetera So he's trying to force his way his way out make this thing happen to Toronto FC in the MLS you know I mean potts MLSA of course so does this really hurt his chances too much it might help his chances who knows but that's what's going on right now and I do think I do think the relegation part you know is um leading me to not be as proxy warish about this whole thing like you know what I'm saying he's trying to get out from another bad situation, man. And it is a bad situation.

And it is a bad situation. So it's like, is he just running from the ground? I mean, he is running from the ground. But like, you know, there's something pushing them towards getting out from under that grind because I don't know. Nobody want to be in league one or. Even the champo. There's no, there's no like honor in grinding it out of the champo in that sense.

Like, it is a, it is brutal. Yeah. So it's not like, oh, well, everyone should, everyone should take a gear to play in the champo. like absolutely not. It's so hard and it takes its toll on so many players. So I have no, I have no issue with him bailing on the champo. It would have been,

it would have been just nice to see him make another go at the, at the upward curve of the parabola in one of the top leagues, just to see how it panned out. Like I didn't expect him to just pour on goals, had Norwich been promoted and been playing in the Premier League. But moving to an established team, and in like the Wolfsburg category would have been kind of fun to see.

I guess now it will just be a different kind of experiment to see how he does coming back into MLS if he comes to Toronto. Yeah, the proxy war will really ramp up when that happens. I feel like, even when he was scoring goals for Norwich at the beginning of the season,

they weren't winning games. So, yeah, it's more power to him if he wants to get out of there. So is it Sanjay's turn? One last thing about Sergeant with him, I just feel like because of how transformative Ballot was, the disappointment with Sergeant was like compounded. Sure. And I don't think that's fair to Sergeant because I think if you put Sergeant with our

strongest possible lineup, which we might not see until the World Cup, if we see it there, who knows. But like I think Sergeant can produce when everything's clicking around him. And that was not the case while he was being called up. You can definitely produce when everything's clicking around him against Australian national team centerbacks levels of that nature. You taking a shot of Haji right there? Is that what I'm hearing?

Not really. No, I guess it could be taken that way. I just mean centerbacks who aren't going to play for one of the great nations at the World Cup. but are good enough to play in the champo. I'm down on the champo as a level. Yeah, all the doggin on. I'm with Sanjay, too.

If Sargent is somehow the guy for whatever circumstance that Flo can't play, I would be like, okay, Sergeant is as good as the next guy to throw up there for us. Okay. Get him out of here. Sanjay, Sanjay, make a pick. I'm going to go with... I'm going to go Zendaz. Wow

Wow not lowered by the aura of Diego Luna It was between The two of them Well then Sanjay might have another crack at it I don't know if Bell's gonna go after his favorite barista either Well I get two picks And I think I'm gonna go Luna

Yep I need a winger And I think I'll go Matt Turner Go with a goalkeeper Matt Turner is the first goalkeeper off the board why is that Adam Bells? I think he's a better I think he's a better shot stopper than Matt Freeze

and I mean I guess just let other people pick who's going to win this based on the roster but I wasn't really thinking about who's actually going to play at the World Cup so I assume Turner will be on the roster I sort of assume Freeze will do most of the playing at the World Cup but I don't know for sure

Okay. All right, it's up to Sanjay. Again? Yep, I'm going to go with... James Sands. James Sands. Okay, okay. It was really judged unfairly after that Australia game.

He should have been the holding guy in that game instead of rolled on. People are complaining that he can't pass the ball forward. You shouldn't expect him to do that. He's got to be paired with. with someone else who can, and that's what I'm doing with my team right now. Plus, I can slide him. He should be building in the three. If you're building with the three, he should be building back there,

and that's what I'm going to do with my team. And Banks. I don't see another team here with defenders who can build up the way my team can. And you look at these other teams, a lot of talent higher up the pitch, but how's the ball going to get there? I don't know. You tell me. I got Tim Rine was arguably better on the ball,

They're our best defender on the ball, by the way. I mean, if you want to take it there, Mr. Sanchich. Sajyatkeh Kumar. I got Big Pat. Who needs buildup? What are you guys even talking about? Your modern ideas. And you know what?

You know what? I'm going to add to this bullying. 11 that I'm going to throw out there. We're going to put Walker Zimmerman back in the rotation. Walker Zimmerman. I'm scoring on corner kicks. Geo taking them. Big Pat.

Walker, scoring. People are going to look at the lineups and see Tillman online and think that that's Malik and I'm going to buy some votes that way. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Vince gets two picks now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm back up. And, you know, I debated between these two players and one of my earlier picks. But, you know, I'm going to go ahead and round up my midfield, man, Ada Morris. Yeah, give me Ada Morris. You know, I talk down a little bit. but we got a play dictator. We have a person who is very comfortable receiving, you know, upwards of 100 touches, 113, 120 touches in a match.

You know what I'm saying? Can really dictate the play for us. We got, who else is on my team? We got Alex Freeman back there. We got Tim Riem, Malik Tillman, dropping back to help build out. Ada Morris with them as well. we're going to have a good time.

We're going to have a good time. Tim Wea doing this flicks and tricks. Come on, man. And then Balo to hold that thing. All right. So, Hayden Morris there. I'm really like a team, man.

You don't need everything you can get out of Malik Tillman. Yeah, that's right. Tim Wea. I mean, he's got flow. Yeah. I'm jealous of this. That's why, brother. And we are going to get everything we can get out of Malik Tilman.

If you see how they're doing it right, I don't know who's the levikie's a manager right now, but he's getting everything. He can get out of Malik. And, you know, under the tutelage of me, I know how to motivate the man. I know how to motivate the man. Okay.

You know, we've already had him type into his ancestral powers once. You know, that whole campaign was led by me, if y'all forgot. His name, not Malikas Malik. He's accepted it. everyone else has accepted it and look how it's propelled his career forward you know from then on and i'll go back to that i got more tricks you know from that from that point of view okay so who's your other pick no uh uh look like it's going to be a defender i'm not i'm not i'm not i'm not going for no

subs it's going to be a defender so who do i like the most i got tim ream as one center back i got alex freeman back there i might need some athletic cover i don't have a left back um I don't have a left back, but we'll just leave that up to, you know, to God. You're saying you don't want Christopher Lund? I definitely do not. All right. I definitely do not. And it's looking like to keep it up with him a little bit.

His playing time has gone down. Okay. For Cohn. And, you know, I've been talking about it as he's been going throughout this season. He's been playing. And, you know, the pace and power that is possessed by one Christopher Lundhansen is immense. He's one of the, I think he's still on the top 15 fastest players in the Bundesliga. But the skills, the skills do not match the athletic prowess that the man has.

And I think that's why you've seen the playing time kind of dwindle as we've, as we've come out of the, what is, the Ruck Runda into the, are we in the Ruck Runda? Are we in the Ruk Runda? I can never remember which one's the HINRunda and which one's the Rook Runda. Okay. All right, so we're in one of the Rundas. All right. So who's your athletic cover at centerback? I think it's going to have to be Miles.

Knew it. Vince, are you entertaining, are you entertaining Waya as a left back? I'm entertaining it, but then I'd have to put somebody up there. And I want, I want Malik. I do not want Malik playing the wing. I do not want that. So, but, so really, I guess I'm not entertaining it that much. But yeah, I guess it came down for me.

Mark McKenzie. Miles Robinson Mark McKenzie You know He's in the rest of these Well Miles Robinson is too Is in the rest of these MFs tier But if I really had to

If it really had to rank them Damn well Miles Robinson there Especially for what I need Mark still has the And you know Mark had the ability to play left back too You know I was thinking about I was considering that in my head

But I think we'll get Miles Miles I'm considering back to pay with Tim Rhee All right, Sanjay, I'm chomping at the bit over here No, but it's not, you got to get one Oh, I'm sorry, Greg, sorry We just, each person gets, get to at least one pick

For round Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and take Mark McKenzie Yeah, my last centerback I don't know what bells is gonna be left with here He's, he's running out, actually, I mean, you don't worry about you don't worry about me You don't worry about me We also, I feel like need to designate who are vibes guy is going to be.

I mean, if that's a case, I'm off the charts. I got Christian rolled up, man. If that's a tiebreaker, come on, man. I just know my midfield's going to blow everybody else's midfield off the pitch. He's in my pick right now? Yeah, Sanjay, you're up. I can't believe Bells took Arfston and Tolkien in a row. What a, what a, what a, blew up everyone's plans.

You know, a lot of us were pretty sure DeWan Jones. was a perfectly servable right or left back so he's tailor made for this kind of draft mhm Sebastian Berthorhalter on the board oh yeah

oh yeah you're gonna play him at left back Sanjay plus you got Dest you can run Dest on the left I mean you got you got options yeah yeah no there's there's

yeah I've drafted more versatile players than than anticipated yeah let's hang on here one last look at the board there's a

rate the rules and draft Kevin Sullivan? No, you can draft. No, you can't. You can't. See what I called up. Caden Clark kind of looks like Kevin Sullivan when you're just looking at the first names and who's on the list.

I'll go with yeah, I'll go with Sebastian Berlter. All right, so Sanjay and me and Vince all have one outfield player left to pick. Just throwing that out there.

Yeah. Yep, yep. Yeah Listeners will know that I have a set piece advantage over everyone With that pick I get out of bed with a two-goal advantage Yeah, probably true

Okay I'm going to go ahead and get I'm going to run it back to that With it 2017, U-20 World Cup Austin trustee and Cameron Carter Vickers There we go I like that Keep the Celtic boys together.

Yeah. Boy. You can't buy centerback chemistry like that in the free market. Yeah. Sanjay, you could take Sergeant and just absolutely put bells in a spot. And you could use it less than, I mean, he could attack from. Wait, wait, Sergeant not been taken yet? No.

This is criminal. Well, unless you guys want to, one of you guys wants to draft Sergeant as a winger, I'm thinking he's going to still be there in the last pick of the first 44 picks. Want to quit her? I mean, I'm saying. I think trustee is, again, I don't think there's that much difference between, look, I'll say it this way to be diplomatic. I don't think there's that much difference between any of the non-Richards and Ream centerbacks and each other.

Yeah. I don't even know if there's that much difference between Richard. and the rest of the centerbacks. That's crazy. That's very subtle shade in my team. I wasn't trying to take a shot at you there. I just think the line is pretty flat on the centerback. Listeners, he's trying to downplay positional scarcity here

and diminish the value of Premier League centerback and probably the best centerback from the history of the program. And it might not be close by the time it's all sudden. done. Although, Nokey also happens to be on my team. His two-footedness, his two-footedness is reminding me of Richards, you know? Like when Richards, remember earlier, they put Richards on the left side of the back three and forced him to distribute with his left foot.

You see it now with Nokey, sliding some balls in with his right foot. So, again, my team playing out unrivaled. Richards is a solid B at centerback for the U.S. men's national team. and Austin trustee is like a C. I mean, look, there's been people that watch the ill-fated Wilfred Nancy tenure at Celtic quite closely in the Discord. And they said Mr. Trustee was hell, it was really bad. Yeah, it was bad. I'm not one of those people who watched that.

All right. Well, Sanja, you're up, and I just got to say I'm looking at your group. And I'm curious, are you going to pick a left back? If not, I want to know now who you're thinking is going to defend that less side. Yeah, it's so good. Right now, I'm writing out iterations of a lineup. It's probably going to be back three, but right now I'm trying to write something, you know, that I give to a sub to give to the players. Like, put it in his sock, you know what I mean?

Like, I'm trying to. Do you guys remember when Greg Burald are in Giassiz Arda's playing left? wing back in the gold cup at the end of a game with barely E.K. up top. Jesus, Chris. There was, Greg, actually, until you said Sergeant, I had the pick ready to go. But

now, but I have to account for the anti-sorgent sentiment that's pending. Oh, internet is going to be incredibly anti-surgeon for the next couple. Yeah, and that's going to thank my... Because even the people like him are not thrilled about, I mean,

people don't like him are already kind of Yeah, they're not trying to hear it. I'm going to give you 30 more seconds. I'm going to take all 30. All 30. You're really... I've done some of these drafts where I just got absolutely curb stomped, you know, on like the... On the bourbon?

Future drafts. Oh, I thought you meant during the draft process. Just drank so much. Yeah. No, it just got just destroyed because I didn't really know who to pick. But, you know, Sanjay, I have to fight another day. I'm going to take, no, I changed my mind last minute, leading into potential. We're going with Paxton Aronson.

Oh, okay. I'm very curious to see how your 11 looks on the chalkboard. Me too. Got like a, got like some kind of a. Butterfly shape going on with the midfielders Pax. Okay. Okay.

I was terrified, Sanjay, that I, as a joke, gave away what I eventually decided to do. Uh, Bells, I,

I, my lineup is a, looking like a three, two, five with McKinsey Zimmerman Scali, holding the back three, Tillman and Cardoso in the middle, Jedi, pool of sick,

big pat up top, GEO in the middle. And then I just have this gaping hole in the right wing, uh, that is going to, I was thinking maybe, maybe just to bring it, full circle, I'd go, Jesus Ferreira, who's called up to do January camp, sent home injured before he played.

Motko was also on there, just as a slight bit. But it is definitely going to be Josh Sargent. This is also going to destroy the curb appeal of your 11 when people look at it and see whatever name. Oh, my gosh. You're taking Josh Sargent. Unbelievable. I'm in Brian Allen's a Bundesliga now. Damien Downs is a Bundesliga striker.

so you've got Damien Downs. And I'm only half joking when I say that. You could be a perfectly serviceable striker. Oh, yeah, I'm screwed. I'd ride that potential. I'd lean into Sanjay's and say, Damien Downs is on the way up. I do not rate Damian Downs.

Just started... One bit. In the Bundesliga, within days of arriving. Jeez, Greg. I'm like your Pacton pick, by the way, Sanjay, for just generally, I feel like he's probably underrated now. Like his numbers were solid. His ghost

stats were solid and just the goose egg in Colorado, I think it just makes everyone to immediately just write it off. Oh yeah, he's done. But he could be something. He could be a the coach killer. I'm saying? He shows up. Armis is gone that's great.

He comes with the horse sale sign. Put it up in your yard, coach. He was like our youth national team relatively speaking Jewel, like not that long ago. Like, he was good when he wasn't necessarily crushing it

at club level, and now I hope he does. And, yeah, for the Euro snobs, don't rule out his return after good form in Colorado. Yeah. My big question,

once again, Pax, is just, is he really a 10? You know what I'm saying? That's what he's trying to do, right? This whole Colorado thing, bet on himself to be a attacking midfielder playmaker,

whatever. Um, is, is that really his, uh, is that the path to, is that the path of highest potential for Pax and Aronson? I don't know if that's the case. I just don't know if that's the case. You know, I still remain a fan and I look forward to see what he does. Because he did have some stand, he did have some standout performances in, uh, in MLS. One or two.

Anyway, I'm up. I need a left back. I have scoured all, um, positions. designation, midfielders, attackers, to see if I could make a left back out of something. Not really, you know, with the things that are, that are left over. You know, Luca Del Tori cannot play left back. Sean Zawatsky, you know, I don't know who that is. Once you lean into Timway, are you witnessing?

Timway, I left back. No question. You see, Greg's trying to put something. Greg try to put something in my head, man. And so, you know, I see DeWan Jones here, right? Marlon McKenzie's out the board. Max Arston, obviously. John Tolkien.

We got Nathan Harriol. We got Marlon Fawcci. You know what? Give me Christopher Lund, bro. Because you know what? There you go. Give me Christopher Lund because we really need somebody that's going to hold it down. You know, Haji isn't much of a defender.

I got him on my left wing. how's he ain't going to say they're going to hold her down and come back i need somebody to really lock it down over there and i'm and i'm betting on i'm betting on pure athleticism the ball the ball player of christopher lun you know i'm saying he's out of the buildup he's he's long gone out of the buildup we got tim ream we got miles robinson and we got uh alix freeman back there to handle that christopher lun you get out of here you barely you barely touch the ball you just run up and down and play some defense on the wings because he's been mostly solid on that

throughout this young Bundesliga season. So give me him. And then I'm a, you know, ain't nobody else took notes. So I'm taking a starting goalkeeper for the U.S. men's national team, Matt Fries. You know, that, none of that I filled my, not that I have filled my 10 outfield players, give me my 11th.

And we're cooking, man. We really cooking. All right. That's solid. Again, I think you got a lot of curb appeal. Vince, when people look at your front, when they see what you got. up front.

Okay, so it's just picking a goalkeeper's name of it, I had, right? So I'm going to do the fun one. I'm going to take the Barcelona kid. And I feel like it's 50-50, whether he ever plays like a first team minute in a big five league. And I just don't care. It's fun. Sanjay said it's about potential. Yeah, you really just undercut my strategy there.

That was an essential. You know, you got to do a different Everybody got to have a different strategy coming into it, man You know, okay Can be cookie cutter out here I'm going to go with This is actually Who I use

On the left side As a wingback type Oh, hold on, hold on Is Sanjay allowed to not pick a goalkeeper in his first 11? I just, I just, I feel like we didn't establish any rules here So A few subs, yeah, don't try to Try try me.

Don't try and stop me. Don't try and stop me. If we move to end the draft. No, if somebody moves to end of the draft in the next round, you're not going to have a. You got. Bell's picks his 11th. Yeah. I'm forcing us to.

I'm itching. I'm itching to be done here. Yeah, I was about to say. They're going to make it past me. You're going to have to play James Sands at goalkeeper. They go make it past me, but this is. We don't even have two subs right now. We have zero subs.

We've chosen 44, we've chosen 42 players. Yeah, but, this is where the difference is made. No, it's not. I'm just saying that the tactics here, the game show tactics. Indiana of the best 11th is not saving anybody. It's going to mean that if you don't pick a goalkeeper on your 11th, you're going to get immediately the door is going to slam shut.

Yeah, as soon as my 12th pick comes up, I'm moving to shut it down. I think I have support. But just appreciate we're being honest about it and didn't let you pick this field player. This is crazy. They saw me go. for the left side with the sleeper and and and and they're threatening a this is like a mistrial this is bro bro i i mean you we try to tell you this before the before the draft started bro we ain't going to pass we're not going past 44 players at least let me do a trade then

test for geo come on greg i can't do it i got i like i like what i've got a good balanced shape again i think people will see the names and they'll you know i got good name recognition for the guys in the attack, which I think people, you know, I think that draws voters. All right, before I take a goalie, Zendayaas said as a really attacking left wingback, that's not crazy, right? I think you can pull that off. Yeah, I bet you could do that in league amic. Yeah.

All right, I'll go with, I want to freeze. I'll go with the Schultes on the board, right? Yep, so, Stefan. See, if we had more picks, I'd take more than one goalie, and I'd take Jonathan Clemsman here for the. for the pole momentum. Who would you have taken for your left side if we weren't going to shut you down without a keeper?

Quinn Sullivan. Okay. But I will take, I should not be taking this much time to take this pick, but I will take Jonathan Clemsman. I like it. That's good for the bans. I haven't seen him play a minute, but.

So we're left with bells to pick a striker unless he's putting McKinney up there? Yeah. Damn, and he missed the sergeant, Buzz. Who are your, who are you narrow in it? It's because you pick Turner, so you got to hope your goalkeeper pick plays. Bells, who, who did? Yeah, that was a blunder.

That was a blunder, let's be honest. It's kind of between Downs and Ferreira, and I haven't watched either of these guys lately. I'll take the younger one who is in the. Bundesliga. It didn't look like much of a player to me, but he's my striker, by golly. Damien Downs. Nice. I like it. It's an American at Hamburg, Klan Stryker. Like, we love that setup.

It pays off for us, inevitably. Bobby Wood scoring goals at Hamburg was, that was like maybe the first thing I ever comped. Hold on. Wait. Bobby Wood a handover? Was he at Hamburg? He was a hammer. He was a hammer for a little bit after Union Berlin and scored some like bangers, like two.

Okay. That first fall, he was there. Speaking of what, before we get, before we get done with this episode, um, Bels, you, you want, you want, are you updated, you updated the episode, right? I just want public apology for correcting me when I was right, man. Oh, yeah, I should. I should apologize for that. I, I, this man out of here. He had Cole Campbell.

Yeah, I was sure Cole Campbell was going to Wolfsburg somehow. And I didn't even double check it. And then I put in a correction on Vince, even though he was correct about it. He said they was going to Hoffenheim. He was right the whole time. And I went back and I deleted it the correction. Because I don't mind making the mistake myself, but correcting my colleague when they're correct already. That's incredible.

That's terrible. So I apologize to everyone, because most of you probably did hear that. And I'll do my best not to let it happen again. So that's 11. I think what we should do, guys, so we have a document that Sanjay shared. I think we should each put our 11 in a line, like a formation. Well, we need officially, I'm going to move to a previous question. Oh yeah, move to previous question.

I'll move that we end the draft at 11. Yeah. I love that Sandra that you think adding Quinn Sullivan here is going to change any hearts of minds. I could have got Quinn Sullivan on that. In this 77th minute is a sub. Yeah, he would. After you can't break down my team

because I actually drafted defenders. you can you might go down Who's your fourth defender? Me? Sanjay Alex In Dehaz, nominally. So I have, from right to left,

yeah, Desd Richard, Sands, Banks, and probably Zendahas's left wing back. And then I've Sebastian Burralter and Tessman probably in front of them. But yeah, I mean, no one's breaking that down.

No, I think some people are breaking it down. Okay. And then who's your other forwards besides Rico? Well, we got Paxton. Yeah, Paxton's there. And then, but I don't know. Let me set this up for a second because it's about putting Jack McGlynn in a position to ruin all of you. And I think that can be done.

But you're working with, it's basically a three, four, three. McGlynn on the right wing, Paxton on the left wing. I haven't decided yet, but let's start with someone else. All right, I've got goalkeeper and future Barcelona starter, Diego Poken. And then I've got a back line, left, right, Jedi, McKenzie, Zimmerman, Scali.

These guys are seasoned vets. I got Tim Tillman, who is nice, sitting next to Johnny Cardoso. and then I've got Gio, that's my playmaker, scuffed legend. Everyone's heard of him. Then I got Pulisic and Sargent playing underneath Big Pat. That team's solid. We could play that team against Argoi.

Yeah. So you got Pulisic on the left wing, sergeant on the right wing, kind of? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pulisic will go wherever he wants, so I got Jedi to get around the outside. And then Cardoso-Tillman double pivot with, them right in front of them. All right. And I got, so I got Turner and Goal. Arfston and Tolkien, oh, from right to left, Arston, Arston, CCV, trusty, Tolkien. I got a midfield, which I would like to emphasize. I want to like everyone to pay the most attention to. Of Adams, McKinney and

Musa, kind of in whatever, you know, set up you want. Trivet. We're back in the trivet. Whatever. And then a front three of, a fearsome front three of, of, Brennan Aronson, Damien Downes, and Diego Luna. All right. Yeah, I mean, that front three and, I mean, that's just, the best team is Gregor Vince. Bet Bell's no shot. No, I think you're right. I'm a solid, I'm a solid third place.

Ah. Go ahead, Vince. All right, so freeze and goal. You know what I'm saying? The U.S. Minnesota team starting goalkeeper, Matt, freeze? I almost forgot the man. All right. Freezing goal. Freezing goal.

All right. From right to left, we got Freeman, Robinson, Ream, Chris Lund. I'm thinking about how this is going to work here. I think we're using potches. I think we're using potches formation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're using Pontch's formation. We're using Potch's formation.

So we got Freeman, Robinson, Ream. Okay. We're doing a little we're doing a DP of Malie Tillman, Adam Morris, Christian Rodin as half space merchant. Okay. Tim Way on the right. Holding down, holding down the width on the right.

Haji Wright tucked in. Christopher Lund, Roman. He has the athleticism to get back and cover his spot when needed. You know, we get caught out. But we're not going to have a lot of turnovers because we can, got Aidan Morris man in the ball. You know what I'm saying? We got Malik Tillman backpassing the hell out of it until a, until a seam opens up, and then we're off to the races. And then, you know, we got, and essentially it's going to be Haji Wright and Haji Wright, Christian Rodon,

and Tim Waye, buzzing around Flo Bolligan, man. It's going to be, that's going to be exciting to watch. Yeah. As you as you will talk through it, though, I feel more confident about my chances against your team because that left side of yours is just. just soft and chewy. Like, if there's not very many left backs, left centerback combinations that Brendan Aronson could cook in the World Cup, this is one of them. This is one of them right here. I don't know, man.

I guess Mr. Pace and Power, man. The little brother against Mr. Pace and Power, man. Pace and Power, Christopher Lund, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. I don't know. The voters will decide. Sanjay, what do you think?

How are you going to line him up? Well, first off, I think Vince's, I think Vince's back line is more suss than the media is on to. And I think his midfield, I think there's serious problems there. No, hold on, bro. Because we're going to talk about sus back lines, bro. I mean, you know, you keep touting yours as if nobody could ever get at No Key Banks and Chris Richards. But come on, man, I mean, you know what I'm saying? Well, no, no, no, you're forgetting.

No, no, no, you're forgetting the key part. here. So, see, I'll get into mine and then I'll poke more holes. Um, so first off, Jonathan Clemsman and Goal, what a journey he's been on. What a resilient guy. Um, it's crazy because he is like 40. Isn't he like 30 years old? I keep thinking, oh, he must be a 22 year old youth. He was part of the youth system. But he's like 30. Yeah. I mean, he's getting there. Yeah, I remember his dad throwing him into practice 12 years ago. and now he's here. A lot of things happen in between.

It's amazing. He's here. Resilience and a really handsome guy too. Yeah, we're going desk bombing on on the right side. Chris is the right-sided centerback. Jimmy Sands is that central centerback. No key is a left-sided centerback. And really, you get a lot of real ball-knowers will remember that goal cup game against Canada

up back in 20, 21, I think it was. Yeah. When Sands was the best player on the field by far, in that role dropping into the back line. I was the Biden administration. Triggering buildup. And he hasn't really been used like that since for the U.S., but if he's used the right way, he unlocks.

a different dimension to your team. So Zendayaas is going to be on the left side. Bels his face. Zendayaas is going to be in the left side, providing with there. Left is in left wing back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, left wing back. But this is why subs come into the picture.

Like if Paxson comes in, then there's a lot of fluidity with these guys in front of, I'll get to that. But we got Tessman. and Sebastian Burrhalter as the nominal holding mids, but again, when Sands steps into the midfield, gives those guys a bit more license to join the attack, which they've both done really well. Jack McGlynn is going to get the start over Paxton, and he's under RICO. And he's really the only player in this draft, too.

Scores or almost scores every single time he plays for the national team. So when you talk about playing out, when you talk about playing out, when you talk about balanced midfield, and when you talk about goal threat, like, people are going to look at this at first glance and not really think that I have a shot. But if we were to get together and play FIFA, I would win with total football, as well as Sebastian delivering set pieces to Chris Richards dunking on all of you. Testman's also got some height. Banks can get up there. So, yeah, I think the service level, this team isn't going to win it. But when you dig deeper, which is what our podcast is all about, that's in our DNA. I think this team has what it takes.

And in all seriousness, I think that either the backlines or the midfields of these other groups have real holes. This is the most balanced team, without a doubt. I want to say I do think Testman is a really good pick. I thought about leaving Adams on the board to go for Tillman, Malik Tillman, take McKinney and Tillman and then just see if Testman would last. So I'm with you on the Testman pick. I'm with you on McGlynn being Gold Dangerous. And I think he can, you know, he can find that little pocket.

and have that shot from 20 yards in sort of any given June afternoon. It could happen. And then who else you want shooting from there? So I buy that, but the rest of what you said, I don't know. You're spending a narrative, man. You give me one week with these guys doing shifting without the ball and everything. I mean, that back three is impermeable. And Des and Zendayaas, they know when to release.

Impermeable is crazy, bro. And you said the other groups have holes in their midfield. Have you seen my midfield? Have you seen it? No holes. I see a lack of ball progression in your midfield. That's what I see. There we go.

Once again, we've got to start this whole discussion over again. We've seen your midfield not really know what to do once it gets the final third at a World Cup. We've seen that already. All right. Greg, you probably don't even want to lobby for your 11. I put my 11 out there already. It was a long time ago. But it's already been said.

I just want to repeat to sign. Sanjay has a midfield of the Badger-Barrehaaltern Tanah Test. Just before we get on. Come on. Let's go ahead. I'm loving Bells is because Mr. Aesthetics, the guy who, like, dogmatically would want to play pass-moo soccer, is running out Turner, trustee, C-CV, and Tyler Adams.

Yeah. And Brendan Aronson. Well, who is, I guess he's a passer and a mover, but it's not the aesthetic that I sort of aspire to. And you know what? everybody's getting out their last remarks. I do want to, because I was thinking about this, as I laid out the vision for my team, I did not make it clear, Malik Timman's in the attack as well, you know what I'm saying?

It says similar to how Potch is committing six players, sometimes seven players forward, Malik Timman will be there. So even though he's in the DP, you know what I'm saying? Like I said, he's running the entire show. All phases of the game, you know, he will be the focal point around which his team runs. So here's what we'll do. I think we'll put the lineups out, definitely on Patreon, definitely on the Discord server, maybe even on Twitter,

and see what the voters say. I think that's it. I appreciate you guys doing this. Sorry we stopped at 11, Sanjay. Yeah, I'll just ask listeners to think not about names, but about how these teams will come together on the pitch and their deficiencies. Don't be distracted by what.

one or two or maybe even three big names, think really hard about what a team lacks. Tell it to Pod Save America. And how badly that can be exploited. I mean, you look at some of these back lines. Objectively,

I think Greg has, I think if you roll these teams out, I think Greg's team would win. But even Greg has a goalkeeper, we know nothing about, really. Exactly. And I objectively ask you all to look at all the performances that Potch has gotten out of names that we would have deemed non-desirable, you know.

Vince, no, you got to lean the other way. You're giving Sanjay points when you. Yeah, he's slandering Tesman in Burrhalter, like people who didn't watch the last window. But he's saying my midfield got some, got some flaws. Christian Rodan made of the match in Australia against Australia, you know. Adam Morris, you know, did a job against Ecuador, okay? did a job. All right.

Didn't fall completely flat on his face. You know, I'm saying. It might have been F-O-4 goal. May or may not have been, but who isn't it? You know. Yeah, I mean, they're fine players, but, and they have shown well at times, but you look at Testman, I have match winners. Like, Sebastian will be a role player for me, but even he can win players with

set pieces, but Testman and McGlynn are match winners. So is search. And McGlynn are match winners. Not a match winner. So is Chris Richards. He's the most complete player in the pool. He is the most complete player in the pool. Who is?

Testment. Sorry, midfielder. Midfieler. I am really looking forward to see who the voters pick between me and Vince. I think it'll be a good battle. The voters are going to pick between you and Vince. There's no doubt about that. I'm going to Greg then.

And I think I think I like, I like your best. back line, Greg. Your midfield, while aesthetically pleasing, you know. Cardoso's a cheat pick because while we don't really know anything about him, he's

got the badge FC weight behind him. He's playing again for I let it go, so I mean, that's going to keep the voters from thinking it's a total pushover. Plus, again, people are going to see Tillman and a lot of them will just kind of forget that that's a different Tillman. I know one there

they really like. Yeah. I think there's some saviness, underrated saviness with a Tillman Cardoso pivot on the paper. But we need visual representations of the formations in order to send them out for the vote. So we've got to figure that out. Hey, I think we're done.

Thank you, everybody. I'll probably win this if I get enough MLS people out to the polls. The more they look at this team, people appreciate what Sands have done, what he's capable of. and then Sebastian and McLean in my midfield. If I get enough MLS balliners, if they're not instructed to vote, if there's not insane voting ID requirements for the MLS people,

and they show out and force, they will win me this poll. All right. You sound like a good communications director. That's right. All right. Hey, thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.