Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #659: A Tuesday Review, emphasis on World Cup bubble guys

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Charlie Boehm joins Belz to talk about Richards and the mess at Palace, Brenden Aaronson up from the ashes, Big Pat's distinct skill-set, E.B. White on Gio Reyna, Paredes returns brightly, Cardoso unconvincing to Belz, Pellegrino Matarazzo beats Barca, and Charlie was moved by the African Cup of Nations final. The trip to Germany and the Netherlands: 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, welcome to a Tuesday edition of the Monday review. I got Charlie Boehm here. Charlie, how you doing? I'm well, I'm well. Great to be back with you for my first episode of an absolutely massive 2026. Oh, that's right. Almost forgot.

A lot going on this year. How are you feeling about World Cup tickets? I know we've talked about this before. The prices. the billions and billions of requests for tickets that have come in from around the universe. No prizes for originality, but I'm pretty appalled. 500 million requests, we are told, from FIFA. I'd love to know how many of those are living, breathing human beings in front of the screen

and not bots or algorithms or what have you. Yeah, as someone whose life was fundamentally changed by the 1994 World Cup, a dumb kid growing up in the Dallas, Fort Worth suburbs and got to go to all but one of the 94 games of the Cotton Bowl way back when in my adolescent years and never saw the world the same way again. I'm super bummed out that we can't fill these NFL stadiums with more people in my position who could maybe have a similar life-altering experience. I'm sure that will happen, but it's just not going to happen on the scale that it could and should. And I think for me, the real FU moment was when it came out that they're going to charge admission to the fan fest, which as far as I know, have always been free and have been like the people's alternative. Right. Even in Qatar, very gentrified and difficult to access World Cup for large swaths of the world. There was still great vibes at those fan fest.

and you could always catch a game, whatever was going on, wherever you were, you could dip into the local fan fest and interact with real people from all over the world. And it was super cool. And again, there'll be some version of that at this years. But to have to pay a cent, a red cent to get into them is a huge bummer. I didn't even know about that part. And I also didn't know that fan fest were free previously. Man. Yeah, it's like, I mean, we talked about.

talk about it a lot, but it's going to be, it's going to be tough for that dumb kid from Dallas Fort Worth to get into a game. It's going to be tough for me to get into a game. It's still going to be a blast. Still going to be a blast. Thinking about it will be a smorgasbord of soccer, right? Yeah. But unfortunately, I think too many Americans are, and maybe this is just the reflection of our wider culture, but we're just used to watching stuff on TV, right, on the big screen at home and on the couch and that has this place and we're super lucky to having this kaleidoscope of soccer products from all over the world beamed into our homes at relatively affordable prices relative to the rest of the industrialized world but there's no substitute for boots

on the ground right a common mantra around these parts yeah let's talk about the weekend action a little bit why don't you start us with chris richards yes uh the u.s soccer 2025 male player of the year. Celebrated his award with another solid 90 minutes for Crystal Palace, just to run through some of the numbers here. I think we can call it a typical East Mama kind of performance. You know, 82 touches, 81% completion on 57 passes, 177% of his duels, ground and Ariel combined, led his team, co-led his team with four tackles one and led the game with

17 defensive contributions. but he came away with nothing because Crystal Palace managed to lose 2-1 to promoted upstart Cinderella's Sunderland and have dropped to 13th in EPL, haven't won a game since December 11th. That's crazy. That's 10 games winless in all comps. They've crashed out of the F.A. Cup to Macklesfield and was statistically the biggest upset in the history of that tournament.

And Oliver Glastner appears to be wanting to talk his way out of the job. He's already said he's not going to come back after his contract expires in the summer. And he said he and his team feel abandoned completely by the club leadership after this loss, claiming that he was left in the dark about the sale of Mark Gehita, Man City. Yeah, because they've sold a lot of good players in the last couple years, too, like Alisei, which I guess, you know, you understand. But Gehi is kind of the heartbeat of the team. Yes, he's also out of contract in the summer.

supposedly that the board, I forget the director's name, their response to to Glasner's outburst was that, you know, we were ready to sell him for more money last summer, and you said no, and we listened to you because he was so important to the team. So they are a selling club. He's helped them make a lot of money. It's been a great success story, kind of a all too, I guess, symbolic snapshot of where the club is at the FAA Cup Cinderella story. last year was one of the best stories in world soccer that they they won that trophy.

And now their title defense is over before anybody thought at the hands of what McElseville is non-league. I think fifth tier. I'm not sure. I can't remember exactly. Where is McElfield? I think it's in the north and it's between, it's not far from Manchester. They had, they were a, and they're coached by John Rooney, brother of Wayne, former MLSR.S. in Red Bull, New York alum. And they're a Phoenix club that was risen and has connected with their community after being run into oblivion in their past life as I think they were McEltsfield town before, I believe. Okay. So kind of like a little bit of a wrecksome thing going on.

Same part of the world. Yeah, you're right. It's like equidistant from Manchester and Liverpool. Also in that part of the world. also on that north part of England. Brendan. He's really, speaking of Phoenix's. He's kind of been one lately, hasn't he?

Yes. He's arguably been, arguably, yes. I'm sure we'd have a fun argument in Discord or Blue Sky or wherever else you gather for your online arguments about whether he's been there. Nowhere. But after falling, out and then some with the Leeds United

Faithful after leaving following the relegation and failing to meet the expectations engendered by his vastly inflated, I think, unfairly so transfer fee on arrival. Brando has worked his tail off and got a standing ovation when he came off

in their one zero last gas win over Jedi Robinson's Fulham over the weekend. And they've now, after getting into relegation trouble and a few just really a couple months ago having a lot of chatter about their manager getting fired. The whites have lost just once since November, and Brendos leads a team and assists,

ranks third in goals, second and chances created, and third and successful dribbles per 90, and BBC's on-site reporter filed a reaction post-hailing Aronson's quote-unquote remarkable turnaround, describing him as industrious, skillful, hardworking, and one of those players that you can't take your eyes off because you don't quite know what he's going to do next. It's, you know, it is, it is, it's kind of a lesson in if you're industrious, it counts for a lot, you know, for, for obviously, for a team, for a fan base. But when you add a little bit of cut and thrust to it, all of a sudden, you're the toast of the town. Yeah. I mean, there's still only 16th.

I think they're going to be sweating relegation probably down to the end. I would like to think that there are three teams that are worse than them in the, in the, in the EPL. A lot can change in the next few months, but a real cool story to see. And I think the little brothering moments can still happen, but maybe less often. I think he's learned how to be a little more comfortable in his own skin, leans into his strengths, is now familiar and comfortable with the rough and tumble. And for me, it's shaping up for him to be the super sub, the spark plug off the bench for the USM and T this summer. All right

Let's talk about a few of the goals that happened this weekend I guess We should start with Pat Ajamang So this was the kind of for me the goal of the weekend He it's a game winner Late he leans over and in front of a guy And heads it past him like down and perfectly Into the corner totally unstoppable

You watch all his shots in this game And you know all his involvement and it's pretty uneven. I mean, he misfits a somewhat difficult but not impossible. Half folly in the first half, kind of shanks it gently over the end line. And then in the second half, he skies a legitimate sitter right in front of goal. And then has another chance that makes a mess of a backpost header where he probably could have put it on frame.

But then, you know, you can see why Ajamong is irresistible to some manager. and maybe even, I mean, could be irresistible to Potch when it comes to World Cup roster time because of, because of the goal. It's just so, it's such a separator, the way he, his frame, the way he can use it. He can dunk on a guy. And he showed with this goal, he can put the ball on target with finesse, even as he's, like, got a guy draped all over him. And to me, it seems like this, this matters.

and maybe will overcome his weaknesses as a player when it comes roster time. You kind of don't agree with me, do you? Well, I'm rooting for Big Pat, but it's hard for me with the numbers, sort of where he's at in his individual career cycle, it's hard for me to see it coming together in time for 2026 for Big Pat because, as you said, the skill set is so tantalizing, but he still has these raw aspects or unfinished aspects to his game at age 25. I've written about him, as many others have.

He's a quintessential late bloomer. I don't think he really grew into his body until he was well into his 20s, you know, well into college. I could see him being a Tim Ream-type late bloomer and then international level in 2030 or 2034 and being super, I mean, I think he could be useful, a useful option this year. I think he's going to be, if he spends a couple years in the champo,

and I'm already seeing these subtle aspects of the number nine toolkit sort of getting refined and built out in real time. I mean, the sitter that you mentioned, that one was particularly frustrating because he does something that he's not always been good at at pro level, which is he drifts away from his marker, he's reading the space, he finds the pocket at the back post and reads where the ball's going to be.

everything comes together, all that off ball stuff that has sometimes been a shortcoming. And then he just blazes it over. And I think he, I think he hit it with his weaker foot to first time when it's like maybe, maybe in a year or two he's going to let that come across or maybe he'll just be a little bit calmer in that moment. Love to see where he's going. Don't know if he's there yet. Yeah.

Fair enough. Fair enough. I mean, it's that running onto the ball in the channel, his ability to do that and hold it up. And then, you know, that aerial dominance that could. get him across the line. Who else? I mean, to be fair, who else is really bringing that?

Not Haji, right? Not Haji, right? I mean, Fuller and Ballard game brings the channel running, but not the aerial dominance. And I mean, I just see, like, I feel like late in a game in the World Cup, you need to pump a bunch of crosses in. You're going to wish you had Pat to throw on there for the last five, ten minutes if you don't have him, you know? The battering ram. Yes. Well, I don't know.

I think this gets into a roster construction question because how many specialists can you or will you want to take? And how much of Potch's brain have we seen on this? I don't know if we really, really know. But for example, does Sebastian Burhalter get on the proverbial plane because of set piece deliveries? Does Big Pack get on the provable plane because of aerial prowess? Okay, so that's two spots right there out of what we believe is probably 27. Right. Yeah.

And this is, if you're, if you're really serious about a deep run, you're thinking about how you rotate the squad and you're going to, you've got to use the full roster, right, or close to it, which was a big problem in 2022. So, so again, that's beyond the remit of this episode. Perhaps, perhaps, yes. But surely we'll recircle. If I have to choose one specialist between Pat and Sebastian,

I'm taking Pat. That's just me, though, you know. I love that take. Wea also scored. Tim did. Tim Wea, a smart header on a half-folly cut back from the end line to make it 4-0 over Ange.

Punched it right into the far post. So elegant, the way he put that in the back of the net. He now has three goals and two assists in all competitions this season for Marseille, which I mentioned because it's not that impressive. It seems like he's scored more But I guess I've just watched so many I've watched the replays so many times of the

Of that that volley Crushed past somebody I forget who it was And then the one against Real Madrid But it just seems like he's scored more than he has He really hasn't He really hasn't had that much Impact on the score sheet for Marseille Well can we call him

Still fundamentally a rich man's utility player Yeah Maybe that's unfair but you know he's not always in those positions where he's he's getting big chances with regularity you know so he does play a lot of fullback yeah yeah so he's when he was at where do you play this time he was a wingback again yeah so i mean he got him behind on that on a chance early like was played in and um tried to clip the clip it over the keeper and it was saved well So it's like he, you know, he's in the vicinity of where goals happen.

He's a, yeah, he's a rich man's utility player. He's for a poor man, such as the United States of America men's national team. You know, he's a, he should be probably a starting winger. Right, winger? I think so. Me too. I don't care what his eye dominance is. Yeah.

Watch, if you're listening, please. Please. I beg you. Have you, have you, have you, have you been thinking about your eye dominance since that all? I've had to think about left eye, my dominance my whole life because I'm left eye dominant. Really? And I'm left hand. No way.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So whichever one you, whichever one you can't wink is the one that you're dominant with? I can wink with both, though. Well, maybe you're ambidextrous.

Back to the drawing board for me. Okay. Yeah, I can't figure out which I is dominant for me. If anybody knows how to figure that out, send me a email about it. Potch, Potcha, Potch needs to talk. He's, he likes the America trapping. So I hope he speaks with some, some military pilots about this. Both my brothers and my dad were all aviators. We're in our aviators. One of my brothers, yeah, but my two brothers had to go the long way to becoming pilots. They did it through the Army. So they had to learn helicopters first and then get into fixed wing. But I'm saying all this because a lot of military, like technology are these, like, they do these ocular things, right?

So basically like a monocle drops out of the helmet for, like, sighting for gun ships and that sort of thing. And at least at the time they were in the military, you only had it for the right eye. So if you were left eye dominant, you just had to learn how to shoot with your weaker eye. And so one of my brothers had to do that. It was very difficult for him. Really? I think it matters more there than on the pitch. That's arguing that case.

But again, somebody in the discord with military aviation experience can correct me. Interesting. Yeah, I just kind of, I guess I assume it's all just a bunch of gobbledygook, but I guess it is a real thing. I suspect Potch may be overthinking that particular detail. in his laudable eagerness to sweat every possible detail. Yeah, I'm for that. I like that part of it.

Right, Haji scored a goal, a game winner. It was important, but pretty scrappy, bundled one in at the back post for the winner in the 87th minute. Got on a, you know, came on as a sub with like 30 minutes to go, and pretty active as a striker. Got on the end of a couple of good chances. nothing to be ashamed of and then gets the goal zero celebration from him he's too he's too he's too classy to celebrate a goal like that too much uh haji if you're listening i hope you bought

your teammate tatsu hero of sakamoto dinner because he did the he did the heavy lifting beautiful turn yeah shot was saved but i suspect it was still trickling in it looked like it does what strikers do and tapped it in from one foot out got to do it Got to do it. Enjoy it. Spread that gold bonus around a little bit on your home, please. Do they get a gold bonus? Many.

I can't claim to know the granular details of Hajie Wright's contract, but many of them do. Okay. Now, I got to mention Damien Downs because he was, so we did a draft of the 72 players, I guess it was, that Potches called up since he took over. and a weigel spore, which is Greg Velazquez's team,

I think won in the poll narrowly over Vince and his mentality FC. If you want to go see those 11s, go to the Patreon, it's actually, I think I made it open to the public. But Downs was my choice at Stryker because Velazquez sabotaged me, He knew I needed Sergeant to be my last pick. And so even though he would have preferred Jesus Ferreira at right wing over Sergeant,

he took Sergeant in order to, like, destroy the curb appeal of My 11, which is my own fault. Anurac. Yeah. A little hipster. Yeah. So I have Damien Downs as my striker. And as a result of that, I didn't come close to winning the,

hearts of the voters. But Downs has now started two straight games for Hamburg. And, I mean, since going on loan back to Germany from South Hampton, he hasn't scored a single goal this season. So I'm not, you know, don't hear what I'm not saying here. I'm not trying to say, you know, Damien Downs was a really good pick for that 11. But he has, he has looked competent in a target role for Hamburg. They went zero-zero with Bruch and Munchin Gladbach over the weekend. He helped set up a really good chance early.

He rescued a few sequences with his back to goal. Pretty good in the holdup. Wasn't very threatening himself, which is what the voters perceived and I think remains true. So anyway, Damien Dons, keep an eye on him. And if you want to keep an eye on him, the biggest game of that city on that city's calendar every year when they're in the same

division. Hamburg versus St. Pauley is coming up on the 23rd. And you'll have some yank on yank action with James Sands, a regular for the punk rockers of St. Pauli. So fun, fun derby if you,

if you're looking to follow up on on Bell's, Bell's Downs, his Downs, his Downs diamond mining. there. Right, right. You know, we're trying to do a trip to Germany, which I should just go ahead and say right now, if you want to go on the trip to Germany with us, I'll put the link to the form in the show notes. We're going to go see Leverkusen at Kohln, I believe. We're going to see a Gladbach game, and we're going to see a PSV game. So obviously that's not, that one's not in Germany, but it's all really close, and we're going to Amsterdam too.

So we'd love for you to join me and Vince on that trip, and you're going. can express your interest on the form and in Google. In the past, we have thought about going to a St. Polly game. And apparently it's just impossible to get tickets. I mean, not just for the Derby, but like for any St. Polly game, which is. That's on my bucket list.

I want to get there. Listeners go, this is going to be an incredible trip. You all got to go. If you can make the schedule and the money work, that's an incredible itiner. You can see so much culture and footy. in such a small geographic area and yeah um st paulay the millerun tour i believe is a stadium right supposedly it's right downtown in the shadow of a repurposed nazi bunker and uh um quite possibly the best fan culture in all of europe i mean i'm as a hopeless leftist i'm i'm a little biased on

this one but um incredible club and having a yank a yank on the on the squad just makes it that much more appealing for those of us on the side of the Atlantic. So yeah, bucket list for sure. Yeah. So is Hamburg like the, they're kind of like the Republicans in town? I can't go that far. I know it's a heated, it's a heated derby, but I mean, I guess everybody's a Republican compared to the supporters at St. Pauli. But I think Hamburg did, their stadium is like out in the suburbs now, which a lot of these stadiums are, but not St. Paulies. Yeah. So I got to mention Giorina also played in this game.

And I think he looks, you know, he's not doing anything that's going to, like, change anybody's mind in terms of the score sheet. But he's looking healthy. And there's some explosion from him. He had, like, a crunching sliding challenge to win the ball back. He had, like, a kind of an explosive give-and-go up the right side. But I find myself every time I watch him play When he comes on

I think of Charlotte's Web And I think of the The way the goose tries to tell Wilbur to like To get after it Kind of mischievously You know She

She persuades Wilbur to like push his way out of his pen And then She says I'm going to just read from the book here She says How does it feel? feel to be free. And Wilbur says, I like it.

This is, that is, I guess I like it. Felt weird to be outside his fence with nothing between him and the big world. Where do you think I'd better go? He asked. Anywhere you like, anywhere you like, said the goose, go down through the orchard, root up the sod, go down through the garden, dig up the radishes, root up everything. Eat grass. Look for corn. Look for oats.

Run all over. Skip and dance. Jump and prance. Go down through the orchard and stroll in the woods. wonderful place when you're young. And I just find myself thinking that every time I see Gio Raina. Every time I see Gio Raina out there, just run around, just go do something. Any kind of did.

It's stuck in, buddy. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's beautiful. That's art. Everybody give it up for bells. Joe Scali also played in this game, but I don't have anything to say about it.

Folks, I had nothing to do with this bit. This bit is 100% bells. Art. I got more to say about Wilbur than Joe Scali. And James Sands, who you just mentioned, he scored his first Bundesliga goal for San Polly in a wild 3-2 loss at BVB. Yes, this is a fun one. And in the end, the scruffy leftist got robbed, in my opinion, at least, by a very late, very harsh P.K.

decision. They'd clawed back from 2-0 down to 2-2 at... Dortmund, which we all know is a very difficult place to play for anyone. Sands got the rally started with a corner kick header. Took a little bit of a deflection it looked like off the marker, but impressive on his part to get up and win it and give his team some footing with which to rally. His stats, I mean, look, it's not looking great for St. Polly right now.

This game maybe epitomizes the struggles they've had, extensive struggles they've had now they're down in the relegation fight but he's playing every week just about and he's right at the heart of everything 25 and 36 passing created a chance one two-thirds of his duels six defensive contributions so um i think it's maybe a similar conversation in a different section of the park to to the ajemong discourse because uh yeah has he been lights out for the us M&T, maybe not, maybe not. But very unique skill set, I think. He's learning, again, this is a guy who got over to Europe a little late, took him

two chances of stick, right, didn't really shake out at Rangers. They love him in St. Pauli. They waited on him after the injury last year, and he's come good. I mean, it's, you know, maybe he's there because they're short on talent week after week. but he's adding the little subtle edges to his game. Again, you see him, he creates a goal on a set piece. He knows how to get stuck in. He knows how to do the little dark art stuff.

He's always had a little bit of that in his locker, and I think he's added to it. And if they can avoid the drop and he's a part of it, I mean, I think he's helped his chances. I'd put him on the bubble for the World Cup roster, but there's not that many guys who are doing what he's doing week and week out at the level that he is and can play holding mid. or centerback and have the technical gifts that he has as well.

It's funny to see what he has become. You know, you probably do remember him playing for the NYCFC Academy team. And there was this, I think he was in this game, a big final between his team and the L.A. Galaxy when Cliven was still I think Cliven was still coaching that team the U-17s and Gio and James Sands were on

the NYCFC team and Justin Hawk I believe and NYCFC won like a I think in penalty kicks or something that went right down to the wire. The championship right? D.A. The championship maybe. Yeah and you just I just remember him from those days kind of

of a slender cerebral kind of defensive midfielder. And now you watch him play and he is just out for blood. He plays with as much bite as anybody in our pool. But does he have the chops? Probably not. I think there's too many good. It's the same problem for Burhalter.

I think there's just too many good midfielders. But if you need someone to just someone to just be a dog and just chain them to the centerbacks and say protect zone 14 protect your centerbacks I could make an argument that that he's approaching Tyler Adams's level there and that maybe being slightly less of an athlete than Tyler Adams works in his favor if you're giving to give him that assignment because Adam still gets baited out of position he still over over chases and gets pulled out of those zones in important moments. Both, I've seen it happen relatively recently, both for club and country.

So not trying to dog on Tyler Adams. I still think he's fundamental. But given the health issues, I do think Pach has got to look hard at how he stacks up the depth chart at the six in the six area. Okay. Well, hey, we got a couple other sixes to talk about who appeared this weekend. But let's, and we got to get into some Kevin Paredes. But first let's take a break.

If you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes. We'll be right back. Okay, we're back. We just talked about James Sands. So let's talk about Johnny Cardoso and Tanner Tesman a little bit, since they're also in that conversation for that spot. Cardoso, uh, why don't you, once you get us started on him, I definitely have a take.

But go ahead. Yeah, Johnny Cardoso. makes a second straight start in central midfield for Atlidico Madrid. They, some would say labored. Some would say cruised. 201-0 home win over relegation battling Alavis. Johnny was 41 of 44 passing, 93%. Brilliant.

High defensive contributions. Three of eight on ground duels, possibly a red flag there. One of four out of four on aerials, committed three fouls and got yellow-carded. And got, I would say he's, I don't know that he's necessarily. drawing the headlines, but I did find into the Calderon, one of the, uh, uh, Atleti blogs gave him a sixth rating, called him the ultimate disruptor. And I quote, whether it was a foul or a tackle, Johnny stopped several Alavesa attacks well before they could get started. He was aggressive in midfield, closed down space quickly, and consistently made life

uncomfortable for Alaves's ball carriers, his physical presence and willingness to engage set the tone in the center of the pitch. As the American continues to grow and develop in his career, he'll hopefully turn those fouls into clean, well-timed challenges. So that's a six out of ten? I believe so. Yeah, okay. And a big question tomorrow. They play Galatasaray in Champions League.

Will he get the nod there? That will tell us a lot, as will the next few lineup choices for Jolo Simeone. Madrid have, letty, excuse me, have six games and 19 days starting tomorrow. So we'll learn a little bit more in the next couple weeks where he fits into the rotation. Yeah, okay So he'll play He'll get minutes over this next A few weeks

But I did not find his performance Against Alavis convincing At least not to the degree That the blog did He just looked Like that three of eight

In ground duels Is almost seems Generous You know He just got worked Like not Like just physically He got worked

over and over again. Kind of felt like he was flopping all over the place. I mean, he played a nice diagonal pass down to the left wing. He was generally clean when he got on the ball. But like he's not, we were just talking about Sands being such a brutalist. He's not like that at all. He does not look convincing in those battles. And it turns out that's a big part of his job, you know?

and I guess I can see him just I guess he disrupted some stuff but it was always it's always like there was more to do you know like he got in there maybe he got a foot to something then he goes down and like somebody else has to clean it up so they let they let all of his hang around and the the ESPN commentators were fairly critical I think of that they get the goal early in the second half free header for so Soloth and then yeah You know, by most reports, kind of sat back and just sat on the lead at home against a small team, let's be honest. And considering the rising ambitions, the rising amounts of investment, all those things, you know, maybe this is just Cholo Simeone's team reverting to type a little bit. And they level 1-0, at least historically, despite all the efforts to evolve into something more. So, you know, he's, Johnny is playing in at the center of a four, four two most of the time. You know, Cholo tends to revert back to that. And it gives him a chance to showcase the full range of skills. But I really feel like the clock is ticking.

He just hasn't spent much time, if any, extremely limited, if any time under Potch in U.S. camps. And he's got, he's got the opportunity now. it seems like it. No one is playing at a higher level, right, when they play in the pool in terms of La Liga and Champions League. But see what he does with it. I agree with you that we need to see more. He does have, you know, he's in a perfect situation to make a run.

But, you know, I guess maybe his most notable moment under Potch was canceling out Jack McGlynn's banger by giving it away against Turkey. Ooh, that was the Fuse goal. Yeah. Brutal. Yeah, the one where he kicked it off the guy's foot into the net. Yeah, yeah, that's what he called it. Got it.

All right. Testman. Tanner Testament is back to health as well. Leone got to win, 2-1 against Brest. But the most interesting thing I thought was he's playing with Endrick now, you know, who's on loan from Real Madrid. And there was this, like, one time Testament gets into. the box, like makes a little darting run, and Hendricks got it on the right side line,

and just plays this ridiculous outside of the boot pass that kind of scimitars around the outside of the back line and falls right in front of him. And Tesman tries to take it on the half volley, I think with the outside of his boot, with his right boot, to sort of spin it into the far post, and it could just completely biffs it, like, sends it up into the sky. But, man, that would have been something special if he had gotten that right, because you get, like, the outside of the boot left pass and the outside of the boot right shot to create kind of like an S on the field.

It would have been special. It would have been special. But anyway, that's, like, the most, for me, the most interesting thing that happened. Testament was pretty solid, I think. as he tends to be and Leon gets the win and the goal happens after he comes off too. So it was 2-0 when he was subbed off.

I think, you know, the week to a week is so interesting to watch with him because he's at a whatever you, I know, I'm sure there's plenty of league skeptics and possibly even haters out there among the listenership. But that's a big club. Yeah. Beyond whatever financial or, you know, marketing issues the league has. He's at a big club.

He's under a harsh spotlight. He's in the center of the park being asked to do a bunch of difficult things against high-level opposition every time he turns out. And he very often is doing it. And again, I'm seeing him grapple with his challenge the same way he did in his last stop of Venetia. and come to grips with it and then and then advance and shift to the next year. And for for me, there's just not that many center mids who are in the pool who are doing the kind of stuff he's doing being asked to. And when he when he falls short, right,

he's they're getting savaged in Le Kipp and and other prominent places. And some of the, some of the, some of the criticism of him has been downright flowery and extravagant. And, and he's, you know, he's living with all that and,

uh, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

and, and going for it. So, and having a name like Endrick in the, in the lineup again, that raises that, right? But it also gives him so many more those learning opportunities.

He's absolutely been a learning computer in his entire professional career to date going back to when I interviewed him when he was like 17 or 18 or something, whenever he was at, you know, hit the first team at FC Dallas and was clearly grounded and focused beyond his years. So, um, yeah,

I rate him even if the week to week stuff. stuff falls short because I think he's the box to box plus, let's call it. Attributes that he's honing are so rare and so useful. Yeah, it's so, it's cool to see, you know, he's now playing alongside Endrick, great hope of Brazilian football. At least he was last year. He might not be anymore. I don't know.

And, you know, he learned a lot from Matich. You know, we're going to get to Kevin Paredes here in a second. He's like, he's playing alongside Christian Erickson. And it's really hard. I don't know if you've ever, if you have this experience, but it's really hard to get players to talk plainly about what they're learning from other players. Like even when we had Sanjay asked Tessman what it was like, you know, what he learned from Matich. And it was like how competitive he was, basically.

They did every, they competed in everything, including ping pong. really hard. But somehow it wasn't like, I always am hoping one of these players will say, I learned, like, I learn from Matich, you know, something specific about the game, you know. And you almost never, I know, you almost never get that. But I guess my point with all this is Americans are playing against, playing with outstanding players all over Europe right now. And even in the U.S. too. I mean, Sebastian Burhalter is with, uh, um, Thomas Mueller. Kramoski has been playing with Messi. I mean, there's a lot of examples of it everywhere.

But it just doesn't seem like it was that way 10 years ago quite as much, you know? The world class. And some of that, I think for some players, there's, I call it the Omerta. There's a sort of different interpretations of what's inside the fold of a team environment or a locker room environment. And sometimes they're reluctant to share or sometimes they're just processing in a way that they don't vocalize or aren't able to really. coin it into words for months or sometimes even years, right? But I think, yeah, again, that's part of the player ID process that I love is like seeing not only a player's skill sets, but their capacity for learning, right? And that's, I've heard from a number of coaches and

high level soccer types that that's increasingly important with the sheer volume of information, the volume of requirements of a high level player, especially one in a position like Testaments. All the processing that happens now is such an incredibly high level and you're expected to mesh the conception and execution so quickly. So yeah, let's all, let's resolve in 2026 to ask the better questions that can unlock some of that stuff because it is awesome when you can get them to open up the notebook a little bit. Yeah. I wonder if part of it is, I'm sure it's all of what you said, probably even more than this,

but there is, it does seem to me, I wonder if there's a little bit of, like to take the Tanner Testament example. He's not going to go on and on about things he learned from Matage because he has to come at it with the mindset that he and Matting are competing for the same position. So he doesn't want to like concede in some way that Matage is a master and he's an apprentice,

even though that's kind of how we all see it. You know, but I don't think, I don't think Testament wants to think about it that way, you know, and I think a lot of players don't want to think about it that way. But just my theory. Yeah. Kevin Paredes, he's back. He's back. I know Jordan, the moderator of the Discord server, is very excited about this.

Kevin has appeared in three straight now after missing the better part of two seasons, got his most substantive outing over the weekend, came on at the half and played left back, energetic, bright, got in a good flop to win a foul, which is one of his core strengths. Also won the corner kick for the late Equalizer by, you know, over in the corner, lifts the ball over somebody's foot to dart around him, to dance around him, and then tries to cross it and goes out for a corner. Ensuing corner kick is the equalizer, and Wolfsberg comes away with a 1-1 win. He played left back, I should say that, he played left back,

and a pretty attacking high role, but still he was a left back. And he looks to me like he's been, he's been, he's been redeeming the time that he's been out. He seemed calm and sort of aware of what was going on around him.

Seems like he's been watching a lot of, a lot of the game and, and studying. So, I don't know, put him in the left back mix. Why not? 45 minutes. And as you said, a role in the equalizer. That's how you keep getting those chances. Yeah, I'm a Paredes Liker.

Again, I've been watching him since he came up here in my region, the DMV region, as a teenager. The injury challenges have been brutal for him. And another kid that's, there's erinsen parallels, I think, in a young guy who's a little bit slight on the slight side of things and growing into the body and then figuring out, how to use it best at an absolutely cutthroat elite level of play, right? But it just keeps coming back. And I think there's something different about him than most of the other guys in his position, he positions in the pool. Yeah.

We haven't, I don't think he, yeah, we haven't seen him since the shape and philosophical shift under Potch with, you know, what I think of is more or less a three, four, two, one. I think that really suits him. We saw, I think in the Olympics he was working on both sides. I mean, he can play inverted also, which is another useful aspect to him. Lovely left foot, runs all day. Really fun to consider what that last camp could be like if you imagine that you have fit and in-form Jedi, Kevin Preddis, Max Arston.

Who else? John Tolkien. It's, you know, might be. I mean, just going at it, hammer and nail for those roster spots at perhaps the positional Achilles heel of all time for the USM&T. Yeah. Yeah, it's, yeah, that's what you got to think about, at least what I got to think about when I think about Paredes' chances. Like, it's Jedi's position. I think I think you possibly be a madman to not see.

it that way. And then he loves Max Arfston. So where does that leave Paredes? Even if he does, I mean, if he comes on like a ball of fire, then I think anything's possible. Other youngster in Germany is No Kai Banks. I don't

have a ton to say. I just keep starting. Augsberg drew at home 2-2 to Freiburg. I think it was a sort of a typical Banks performance. maybe a little better than it has been.

I think that's probably enough to say about it. He's, I guess, in a similar situation of Peretti where if he comes on like a ball of fire, he has a chance. And obviously there's more positional scarcity at his position than Peretis. Yeah, I'm counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight consecutive full 90s in the Bundesliga

and other comps. I do have a sneaking suspicion that it's that it's too late. Again, his cycle was personal trajectory doesn't line up with the way Pottch has been doing things and the extent to which he seems to have put so much trust in Ream Richards. And then, you know, who after that? Again, it could happen. It could happen. But he's got to be in the March camp, right, to have a shot, you would think.

Yeah, if he's not there. I have no idea. It's curtains. For this cycle, obviously. McKenzie, by the way, not in the squad. I think he was dealing with a little knock for Toulouse, and they beat Nice five to one, I believe. We got some coaching. We got some coaching news.

By the way, too. Sorry, one in injection. Banks is 19. Like, please everyone, like, he's ahead of the curve in that age-wise, but. We're going to be talking a lot about him in the future years, even if not as much this year. Yeah. I mean, people will say, well, John Brooks was 18 when he scored that goal against Ghana. Yes.

That's true. That's a great point. Player pool's in a fundamentally different position today. For the better. Yeah. What else? What about Pellegrino? What's he doing?

we if if if if you have to add a few minutes for yanks coaching abroad for these review shows i mean extra work but wow what a great what a great development that would be right if we got some that would be coaching abroad beating world beating world global giants uh in in the you know what i would say is probably the biggest upset on the european continent on the weekend pelegino maturato who's still just a few games into his Real Sociedad tenure, spearheads a two-one upset win, ambushing FC Barcelona. And there's some asterisk here, I guess. Barsa had, I believe it was three goals disallowed.

I don't think that any of them were horrendously bad calls, but we all know that the bigs tend to get the rub of the green in La Liga, and they did not this time around. They also had a P.K. decision disallowed. Good. But Dems the brakes, Madarazzo, who is the first American to coach in the Liga. He's taken Societad from 15th place to eighth place since he arrived. They're in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.

Soccer America, big up to the legends and OGs over South America. Had a quote from him, very much coach at work speak here. Of course, very happy. It was very special. We need to keep going. We've reached nothing yet. We've had some points. Yes, we've come one round further than.

the cup, but we're nowhere close to finishing where we want to finish. So we need to keep improving, keep working the way we're working, and then things will happen the way they should. Are those the words of a future USM and team manager, Bells? I'm going to say, no. I'm going to say he's never going to be the manager. I don't think so. He doesn't, he never, he never gives any indication that he really wants the job.

Yeah. Do you think he, you think he does? You think he's going to be the coach? Maybe he's going to outgrow the job. Maybe he'll be, he'll be too good to, too expensive. for the Fed by the time he's done in the Liga. You know, that's another way to look at it. Yeah.

Listen, I mean, but come on, everybody wants to coach their country, right? Sooner or later, I can understand why he's playing it cool. I can understand why he's got other stuff on his list. You can understand why he feels like there's lots of dragons left to slay over there across the pond and more power to him. But if he's not in the conversation, then the rest of us are doing something wrong, I think. Maybe, again, maybe not for the next, whether or not Potch has, of course,

dropped some rather strong hints that he wouldn't necessarily automatically leave after the World Cup, although I suspect it will be irresistible for him to go back to England. But assuming he does move on, it's probably too soon in fall of 2026 to ring up moderato for the USM&T job. but I think in a few years down the line, if he keeps on the current trajectory and keeps building these experiences in big leagues in Europe, I think we should be thrilled that an American is doing that

and then he should be rewarded with at the very least a couple of substantial phone calls, maybe even to Zoom. Yeah, I mean, that's really cool. I mean, he's living in San Sebastian, Basque country. I mean, I hear the seafood's world class.

Yeah, I assume so. I don't know. Why would he want to coach the U.S.? Especially like right after, even in like 27, 2027, what's the draw for him? I don't know. Yeah. 2030 will be here before we know it.

That's true. That's true. That's true. That's true. Another American coach who had a win over the weekend, much less dramatic. was much less dramatic, I said. That was Jesse Marsh and Canada beat Guatemala in there, Camp Poutine friendly, 1-0.

Didn't catch that one. It was my daughter's birthday weekend, so I try to cram in, can't Minti wherever I can, but I couldn't fit it this weekend. But deep down, deep down, don't you want that, don't we want a border class? in the knockout rounds. Oh, that would be so fun. That would be so fun. Come on.

Yeah. I mean, Mexico and the knockout rounds, been there, done that. Yeah. Let's take Canada. Let's take Canada down. Tasty. That'd be lovely. Good fun.

Great quotes. The quotes, the pregame media will be spectacular, surely. Hopefully we'll have a new president by then. So it doesn't have to be about that. I had not considered the U.S. Denmark Derby taking shape over the next few months. Let's hope. Let's hope it stays cold. It's hope it stays cold up there.

Yeah. No hot wars in the Arctic, please. Good grief. And then I wanted to throw one in front of you, Bells. I don't know if you've been taking in any of the Afcon. I'm super frustrated that super fun tournament that belongs in the, much higher in the global conversation is locked away on the over-the-top subscription service that of being sports.

But I carved out a little time on Sunday afternoon to hit up one of my local pubs and watch most of the conclusion. Morocco versus Senegal. Reeling Afcon final. Yes. Incredible. Has Afcon, did Afcon go full Concaf? or do they merely showcase that our Concaf Chaos is just a pale shadow of Cafite?

I think Concaf is a pale shadow, I think is where I land on it. Apparently a battle between the Senegalese and Moroccan press corps. And this raised the question if the USMNT press corps got into it with the Senegalese or Moroccan press corps. and press corps who would how would we do and i think we'd get yeah we'd be on the phone with hr before the as soon as things got tense you know and it's even harder to call hr when you're a freelancer so sometimes there's no it's just you and your just you and your wits in the box up there right 1099 life can be tough that way yeah i didn't watch the game i didn't watch the game but um Was it? Where was the final?

This was in a robot. So Morocco was hosting. Morocco who, I think it's, for me, it took on an extra layer of interest because this is a program that's tangled with the U.S. at multiple levels over the last few years and had some interesting games and have, they certainly dealt some heartbreak out to the, to the U.S. and some games of the consequence, but clearly have made a coherent, sustained investment and had a plan in trying to take their team to the next level and and and and seem to have succeeded. And, uh, but, but have often underachieved and fallen just short in, in Afcon over the decades. And so this was, this was really their moment. It seemed as though they,

they had it, uh, served up on a platter with what I thought was a super dubious injury time, penalty kick, VAR decision. After Senegal had had a goal of theirs waved off the other end, just minutes before by another soft decision in the penalty box. And then after just incredible scenes down on the pitch with Senegal's coach leading his team off the pitch and protest into the locker room and then being coaxed out, apparently he's going to get disciplined anyway for all that. And then could conceivably be disciplined with suspensions that that could even run into the World Cup, which is wild to consider that it could affect the summer's tournament.

But they go out there and then Baham Diaz after cynically, I thought, earning the penalty, then chips a Paninka right into the hands of Mandy, the goalkeeper. And ball don't lie was vindicated in multiple languages in this case. But incredible spectacle. I really wish more Americans could watch it. Maybe someday, again, another sign of, maybe another sign of growth is if we can get these kind of tournaments. more easily over the air. But it was super fun.

It made me wish I'd been able to watch more of the tournament. And I think any of these teams that we saw in the latter stages of the tournament will be a very, very tough out for the U.S. Should they cross paths this summer? Morocco and Senegal included in especially. But wow, just a really passionate occasion and something for, I think, us in Concaf to aspire to be at that level of both chaos and quality. Did it seem like there were a lot of Senegalese fans in the stadium?

Yeah. To say, but. And this is, I, I don't know if they've decided this. I mean, this is a, it was a brand new stadium, relatively new stadium, looked gorgeous. I'm pretty sure that that's, it's got to figure prominently in their posting plans for the next World Cup. I think that's going to be an amazing, amazing trip. I mean, FIFA's making it as convoluted as possible with some of the different centennial celebrations and matches in South America and sort of, you know, it's going to be a bizarre, ugly beast of a tournament as this summers will, I guess, just with the sheer size of it.

But you had a, I don't know, I will leave to others to delve into the details about the ticketing for the event, but there's certainly a spirited Senegalese. contingent, even though the home advantage was clear. I mean, the din of whistling, it really felt whenever Senegal had any amount of possession, the sustained whistling was almost like, it almost sounded like some kind of emergency beacon had been set off, you know, where there was an audio problem because the whistles were so loud and so sustained and universal from the home fans. And I will say I got to catch one of Morocco's games in Qatar, just, on an off day, just caught a bus and went and watched them play.

I think it was Croatia. And truly like an amazing supporter culture, just like a different, tons of spirit, tons of passion and just like different rhythms. The chance, the dancing, me, it felt like a whole different flavor of soccer culture that I hadn't had as much exposure to. This was a Senegal game? Sorry, sorry, this was in Morocco, in a reference to Morocco. So, yeah, so another one to watch both on and off the pitch, I think, for anybody listening here.

Okay, yeah, love it. We did, I mean, I know this isn't why you're bringing it up, but we did decide that, you know, with Vince on our side, the U.S. Press Corps would have a fighting chance, at least, you know? Vince is it would be a must. Yeah, Vince is going to be kind of a key player in that. That's where you'd have to call him, even if he's, if he's in the supporter section or in a, in, just a paying citizen, you got to call in the press box, buddy. Yeah, yeah, we drop the bat signal immediately. Greg's, Greg's no slouch either.

It should be said. Greg Velasquez. No shade to any of any other members of the US, M&T press corps. But, yeah. I think we, with our delusions of. of neutrality that are very unusual by global press box standards and media ethics and so forth, I think that would work against us. Well, that was the thing, right?

That was the thing that upset the Moroccan press corps as the Senegalese press corps was celebrating too loudly. And it's, I could imagine. I mean, it's a gov hunch. And if you, I could probably talk for a whole other episode about the experiences of being at various international matches, we're at work. in the press box and you very quickly see even like gold cup i mean i knew i knew what outliers i realize what outliers the u.s is uh in the world game in terms of like this idea of and even for me

like i feel so much of my my soccer upbringing and my entry point as a as a young person was through the national team right and and and i i recognize we're all carrying our nationalities whether we like it or not. But other countries have nothing like this idea of detachment that we kind of like, I feel like I have to have on some level to do the job, at least for most of the time when you're covering a match and you're covering a team and trying to look at things with the clearest eyes, right? But when you step into a typical, competitive international match press box,

and so many of the other teams will have, you know, I remember covering a Jamaica-U.S. goal cup game and there's like most of the Jamaica press back is wearing the official polos of the of the national team gear right and like yeah and having to be shushed by the by whoever's running the press box that day when they celebrate a goal I mean we're we're we're so we just have this quirk about our how our journalism culture and our and our soccer cultures have have mixed so so I think if it ever if it ever went down like it did in Rabat um you're You have to make some, we yanks, we have to make some difficult decisions very quickly. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, it reminds me, so I wonder, do you think that that detachment is important in journalism, in the journalism that you do? Or is it, uh, is it sort of a, what, like a red herring kind of? I don't, I don't speak for anybody else and I don't expect anything from anyone else. like for some people it came like I didn't really come up through you know the the whole network of organized mostly print journalism sort of crumbling throughout my adult life right but but a lot of the OGs in the USM and T press back who who many of whom are still there came up through the newspaper culture where you you have to have some some a sense of neutrality or or or triangulation to do your job that was like sort of built into whatever you were covering for whatever publication.

Right. I think it's changing a accident. A soccer game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I felt like what I often say is I root for individuals. Like I root I find myself drawn to compelling stories and and thinking positive thoughts

about a lot of people in this sport and rooting for people to succeed. and and inevitably I've learned that your local team or the team you're covering their success or struggles on the field will inevitably affect your career at some point, right? Like you tend to your career is often enhanced by covering a successful team, but I always felt like I had to sort of check something at the door when I was doing it for money, you know. I mean, I remember at some point I donated or gave away some USM&T gear that I had over the years before I really got into the business because it just felt like that was

what I needed to do. Yeah. The thing is, and this doesn't speak directly to what you're saying, but the thing is, if you really love something, you're, it's, you can be its fiercest critic. You know? Absolutely. Like, I've been, I've been furiously trying to find the G.K. Chesterton quote about this, but basically, you know, nobody says, the people who say my country, right or wrong, that's not really patriotism, you know? It's like saying, my mother, drunk, or sober.

You know, it's like, it's, you, I feel like, like, wanting the national team to win. and makes it does not mean you can't be a thoughtful critic of the national team. Some of the most. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've learned from, from, and I think this is something that's where the industry was, got taught a lesson by upstarts, right? I mean, the, whether you want to call it like the blog era or blogging revolution or

whatever, I mean, the, the increased diversity of perspectives have shown that, yeah, Some of the most trenchant and worthwhile coverage, including especially criticism, the USM&T comes from devoted fans, right? Nobody knows you like the ones that love you. Right. And no one gets more tired of your BS and your failures than the ones that watch you and know you the most. So I think that was that maybe filled a gap maybe in what was being provided, the content that was being provided. it. So I think for sure, I mean, what scuffed has done is there was no one doing that on and I think maybe still no one, right, on the scale and with the, with the relentlessness and the

regularity and the depth. Like who is offering that in the quote unquote professional or detached media core? Like there's a lot of good coverage out there, but in terms of the holistic nature of it. I think I think there's a lesson there. Well, you know who did was kind of doing it? It was Matt Doyle. You know, like, back in the back in the, I mean, he still is, of course, but back in the late teens, I always wanted to read what Doyle had to say about the national team. And you know why? Because I could tell he really cared, you know? He really, he's a big fan. He's a big fan in the national team. Like he wants it to win really bad. And that kind of came through.

and the way he wrote about it. And I like that. I think he's had to have a certain sense of balance with covering MLS, right? Because there's now 30 teams, and you have to try and look at them all fairly. And I think he's in a little bit of a different zone, a little different lane with the U.S. content that he provides. And it hits differently, and they dovetail really well. but I think I agree with you wholeheartedly on that.

The guy has been around long enough to have seen a lot as with the USM&T, liker and a longtime American soccer observer. Yeah. Well, you know, we'll do another podcast on epistemology and, you know, the nature of criticism. Everybody will be eager to listen to it. All right. I think that's it.

Charlie, thank you so much. for doing this. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.