Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #668: MLS is back, Tyler's back, Pepi's BACK

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Vince and Belz breeze through the news of the weekend. Join us in Atlanta on March 28, details here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/five-from-belz-150653874 Join us in 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. We talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, Major League Soccer kicked off this weekend, and there are some youngsters to lock in on. There's panic in Guadalajara. Pulisic started again. I mean, Pulisic is back in the starting lineup, and Pepey is back, and Tyler Adams is back.

So lots to talk about. Vince, how you doing? I'm doing good, man. Anytime we can get MLSA back, you know, so it's a good. That's a good time. Before we get into MLS, which we should, you know, we should respect the domestic league and talk about it early in the show here. But before we get into that, it's sort of some rapid fire stuff. We got to talk about what's going on in Halisco. Cartel boss Oseguera Servantes, a.k.a. El Mancho died in military custody after a.

firefight, I believe, over the weekend. And so now it's hard to take, it's hard to know how seriously to take these reports, you know, of just widespread chaos. Yeah. But there does seem to be some unrest in that western swath of Mexico, which includes the city of Guadalajara, which is the largest city in Halisco. El Mentiono was the boss of what they called the Halisco New Generation Cartel. So it was there. It was in that area. And Guadalajara, of course, is this going to be the site of four group stage games at the World Cup?

No movement on that so far, as far as I can tell, at time of recording. But, you know, people are talking. And Alighamechis Feminine game was postponed at the Estadio Akron over the weekend. That's the big stadium where the World Cup games are going to be. So that's happening There's burning buses And other sort of unsettling pictures online We'll see

Maybe the U.S. gets a couple more World Cup games I don't know Yeah What does that see if this one? I'm not rooting for that I hope they get it sorted out But Yeah

World's a crazy place man Yeah Yeah the military I guess there was a firefight He was injured in the firefight Then he died in military custody and that did not sit well with his henchman. All right, MLS.

Audrey Mamedi, that's who everybody's talking about this Monday morning, 16-year-old midfielder for Red Bulls. Michael Bradley's the coach there. Mimetti is Albanian-American. He's represented both nations in youth national team play. He looked very silky in the middle, very progressive with the ball. He's a tall kid.

So, you know, I know you love it. I know you love a tall midfielder. He's tall. And got an assist on one of fellow youngster Julian Hall's two goals. Hall also looked good, which is surprising to me, given how out of sorts he was at the U-17 World Cup. But, you know, I'll never learn. I'll never learn not to take anything from those performances

because he looked good. I mean, yeah. I don't know You don't think he looked that good? I don't think so. I don't think it It's kind of hard to tell with him As far as like projecting him forward

Because I mean he did he did show some good things right Hold up play for the most part And his ability to lay the ball off whatever was cool Combination In combination that little one down the left touch line That was eye popping Yeah that caught my eye Yeah that was nice

It's just going forward just wondering like how is he going to present a consistent threat in the attack? Because he's like not much of a ball carrier from what I can tell. Or at least not an MLS yet. Yeah. Not much of a ball carrier. Pretty good. Showed some pretty good strength to stay with the ball.

Some decent strength. Yeah. Yeah. But it's just like it just seems to me like right now he's just like a poacher kind of thing. And it's just, uh, I got to. see more. You know, whereas, well, compared to Adry, Adry, Adry, Adry, I'm going to get the, I'm going to get the, I'm going to get the, I'm saying.

You know what I'm saying? Just called him. It's like, bro, I mean, it just jumps off the screen. First of all, just the performance by itself in a vacuum. And then you add on the context. It's like, oh, he's 16 years old. Large fella, right? All that stuff.

The ability to play on the half turn. I mean, just pumping the ball. between the lines. Yeah. Carving them up. Carving them up, bro. Carving them up. Got to the touchline for the,

not the touchline, but the end line for the assist on, was it, was it Hall's second goal? Yeah, that was Hall's second goal. Okay. That's a midfielder and ass midfielder that gave you a midfielder and ass performance

at 16 years old. And you can see the projection as far as like, you know, his build, his body. Like, everything pretty much seems like it's good to go, bro. And we talk about a 16 year old. Right. Like, it was moving. Everything involved with the performance and just, because, you know, we heard about him, heard

about the fact that he's like the best midfielder to come out of New York Red Bulls since Tyler Adams, you know, but he's not Tyler Adams, right? He's different kind of player. Different kind of player. And to where if he can continue these types of performances up, like, you're not going to have too many types of questions about where he can go, you know, as far as like in his career. Like, there won't be, because I remember, I mean, you and Greg were almost split when Tyler made that move over to Leipzig, you know, as far as what he could be, I guess. And, you know, even now, you know, you might ask one USMNT fan about him. Get one opinion. Ask another USM&T fan. Get another, whatever. It seems like Mr. Mehdi has a type of, has a type of game to where. No reservations. No reservations. You just got to look at him and be like, oh, that's a, that's a real hooper right there. And so. I'm very excited, man, because we need these.

I personally, I personally, forget us, forget we. You know, I'm talking about myself. I need these players, bro, to keep me, you know what I'm saying, engaged with what's going on. You know what I'm saying? You get to a certain point where I'm watching, I mean, as much as I love Weston James Earl McKinney, you know what I'm saying, watching these dudes just every week, we need new blood. We need new blood, man.

We need it so bad. New ideas, you know, that type of thing. You know, things can get stale. Things can get stale. Dale, that's all I'm saying. And to have somebody pop up on the scene like this and ball like this, because, you know, I've been trying to, I've been trying to find them. I've been trying to find them in my spare time, whatever.

You know, I've been looking at a, you know, you were sniffing around Luca Bombino a little bit last year. Bombino, Tah, Abruhn. Yeah. You know, different types of dudes. And it's like, they're okay. Yeah. Don't get me wrong.

I mean, I like Bambino quite a bit. And I like Young Austin FC. Tyler. Tyler Wolf? Yeah, yeah. I like Young Wolf quite a bit. Yeah. But this is different.

This is different. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, he looked like a very, very good soccer player on an MLS field. And I should mention he also got stuck in. Like he was hard to get past. in midfield as well, which is a big, a big, big thing. Yeah, and able to ride challenges as well from the other side, like him with the ball. Somebody comes up on his shoulder, boom.

And, you know, he had mistakes. And Orlando City attack breaks down, you know, in New York Red Bulls box. Mehdi's at the top of the box. He gets the ball, you know, turn, and he checks one shoulder and doesn't check the other. And there's somebody coming from his blonde spot, you know, kind of robs him on the ball. right at the top of his box. He has to go ahead and take that foul to make sure. Did he get a yellow card for that?

It was pretty late. I don't know. It was yellow card worthy if he didn't get one. Right. But, you know, dangerous free kick right there at the top of the box. You know what I'm saying? I mean, but that's like, you know. You got to let them make mistakes.

You got to let children make mistakes. You got to let children make mistakes. Right. There's a difference between, like, you know, when you're at this point, when you're 16 and MLS, I'm looking at the skills. What skills do you possess? are they projectable going forward, et cetera, et cetera.

But what makes you a true professional is the application of those skills, right? I, like, if I didn't have the belief that next time when he gets that ball, he'll check both shoulders, I might, I might ding him more for that. But no, he's just a young kid making a young kid mistake. And, I mean, that could be cleaned up as early as early as next week. You know what I'm saying? And so, hey, if this is what the Red Bulls are going to be on, I mean, we also had K-Cal out there. Yep.

On the right wing, causing a lot of danger. Involved in the first goal. Yeah, looking K-Kowlish. And, you know, if this is what the Red Bulls are going to be on, now, I might have to put some respect on Michael Bradley. Yeah. I'm not going to go there just yet. Just yet. I mean, you know, it says the very beginning of the MLSA season.

Let me get about 10, 15 games deep that I might. I might put some respect on him. I'll put some respect on him. I mean, I'm glad he's playing the kids, you know. And I do want to say about Julian Hall, I wanted to say one of the things, that back heel he had at midfield where he's running full speed at the ball and he kind of helps along into the path of Forsberg,

who's kind of the straw that stirs the drink over there. That was pretty, that caught my attention too. That was pretty slick. He showed him like an aptitude with the ball at the very least. but if he's just going to be the poacher dude, I got to see more like, I don't know, I need to see like runs in the channels. I need to see, like the flow stuff.

You know, can you be a consistent threat during the match? For me, it was just like he showed up, he scored some goals. Ain't nothing wrong with scoring goals. Emil Forsberg put that one on a platter form. I mean, that was the platter of all platters. You know, empty net on the goal line, essentially, put it in. and then the other one pretty nice pretty decent finish

because the ball came in through some traffic from Mehdi to Julian Hall in the second one but also not also from very close range yeah also very close range but yeah I just want to see

a little bit more and it's like he's played in MLS like I've seen him do some things I just I'm not as sure but yeah anyway man he's only 17 right or if he's 18 he's barely 18

so he's still pretty young too speaking of people who are not young Tim Riem got cooked, got cooked at least once in Charlotte FC's game looked unsettlingly susceptible in the open field. I mean, you know how it goes, bro. When you old, you got warm up. He'll be good by April 15.

Exactly, exactly. Right around the time. Matter of fact, yeah, the Belgium game, give them a month and five days. Okay. You know what I'm saying? So we've got to speed up the timeline a little bit from what I just proposed, but I was thinking about tax day, I guess. Miles Robinson did some heroic defending at least once. Jack McGlynn had a real nice assist.

I thought it was really nice. Yeah, yeah. I mean, upon further review, it's a nice pass, nice assist. Yeah. I mean, still a lot to do for the goal scorer there. Yeah, yeah, but, I mean, he really led him. Like Jack with the ball, played in behind, really led the goal score into an advantageous situation. You know, it was all the pass from Jack.

Yes, he had to carry it. Yeah. I mean, and score the goal. But, yeah. Jack's a man of ideas. Jack, unlocked that. Execution. Diego Luna out of the squad for RSL with a knee injury.

Christian rolled on, gets a victory in Seattle. He's just plugging away up there. Josh Sargent is on his way to Toronto. I think it's official official, right? As far as I know, yeah. I mean, he's nowhere near that Norwich City squad, so I hope he's going to, I hope he's in Toronto by now. Yeah.

Yeah. Does, do you think he has, do you think he has a chance if he goes crazy? Like, if he has a chance, what percent chance does he have? Ten. That's the number that comes to mind for me, too. He'd have to go crazy, bro. He'd have to go crazy. Yeah, I mean, Rico's back, right?

Rico's back and scored. I mean, Haji Pat. Yeah. Which Haji is more inconsistent nowadays than, I guess I would say he usually is, I guess. I mean, you know, he's had some large gold droughts in the season. Mm-hmm. But he's got big game, he's got big game temperament, you know? Right.

Big game temperament. And I just wonder, I mean, you know, when you score the two goals for the national team against a potential opponent, well, not a potential opponent and an opponent. An actual opponent. An actual opponent in the coming up World Cup. That has to hold some weight. And then, yeah, Big Pass doing his thing in the champo as well. Yeah.

So I think Josh really got to hit it. And it's like his history with the national team. as well not the I'm not worried about this goal drop the fans back to whenever but under Podge I'm a little worried about it no no I understand but under Potch

specifically you know he hasn't he hasn't performed well man he just hasn't performed well it's not just about him not scoring goals the performance has not been there and his ability to trouble opposing defenders when being fed those big pat

or flow balls into the channels You know what I'm saying? It's just like... Yeah. He got a uphill climb if he is to do it and get on the World Cup roster. I mean, Brother needs a strong dose of mentality is what I got...

That's how I look at it. When you get a chance, you got to come in and stake your claim, stamp your ground, seize the moment. And Josh looks a little mopey to me in those situations. So you mentioned it, Pepe's scored,

but we got to talk about that. Pepi's back. for PSV faster than we thought he would. And he scored a couple minutes after he came on thanks to a kind of a howler from the keeper and Saibari's hustle. But it was called back. Sabari jumped into the box like, I don't know,

a half second before the goal kick was struck. And then he stole the pass from the goalkeeper out wide, squared it for Pepe, Pepe, thumped it in. That one's called back, but Pepey was not. not to be denied, not to be denied. He scored a banger, he was dropping into the hole quite a bit in this game, and when he scored it, he got it, maybe 25 yards away, teed it up, and then just bent one in at the far post.

A lovely hit. 3-1 PSV. And the game was in some doubt at that point. I mean, Aaron Veen was threatening. So it's an important goal. Peppy ices it. Everybody celebrates because he's back. He said, I'm going to the goal.

I am going to go to the World Cup. Beautiful. I mean, first of all, to be able to come back from that tragic fall that he took, you know, that life alert ass fall that he took, that broke his arm in the first place. That's the thing when they gave the original timeline. I'm like, I mean, the arms just broke, man. I mean, we can get that thing in the cast, air cast, whatever was going on, let him play some ball. So, yeah, happy he's back.

Happy he scored a goal. And overall, I think he looked pretty good in this, man. Yeah. Had another chance that he hit right at the keeper. Decent in combination. Peter Bosch. I think Serge passing the ball, right? What's that, Serge?

I think so. Okay. Serge, I mean, Serge looks like a live wire out there. Yeah, yeah. He's real perky. And also pretty good, did some pretty good stuff for one-ve-one-de-de-de-one defending. against a team, like I said, in Hereavine, that wasn't just a wallflower. I mean, they were there to play.

They were there to threaten PSV. I mean, PSV is 17 points clear at the top of the Air Divisi. It doesn't feel like they're, they don't look like a team that's 17 points clear. Yeah, but they probably just have throttled down. I mean, because it's been like a month, right, of like, pretty main results or performances at the very least. But what can you do, man? It's hard to maintain that edge, like internally. I mean, don't we know it?

100. Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, that's really good news. I talked about this with Doug on Thursday, Doug McIntyre, but it would be heartbreaking for Pepey to miss another World Cup. It would, wouldn't it? Yeah.

It would. So, other strikers, Fuller and Balligan, scores again. I missed a guilt-edged chance in the first half, arriving on a loose ball just outside the six and just blasted off the keeper. His team went down to zero. But then he got the first goal back

in what was ultimately a three-two comeback win for Monaco. It was a turnover around the beginning of the defensive third for Lons and he gets it to his feet, kind of shrugs off a defender, and then sneaks it in at the near post. This was... With his right foot. Yeah, with his right foot.

This was favorable goalkeeping from the lawn's goalkeeper for Ballot. But this, a goal's a goal, and he's striker number one. We'll take it, brother. I mean, we needed, I needed, we all need it, you know, I'm going to include everybody here, and this one, in this one. We all needed these, this week from Ballo, you know what I'm saying? He had went through a little bit of a drought.

I was never worried watching the performances and also just Monaco and their performances have just been not the best at times. But I didn't want to lean on the, you know, Ballo's not getting no service thing, you know, because I believe following Balligan, following Jerry Balagan to be above that. and so I just kind of waited because I mean because nothing was really changing as far as what he was doing but and you know

and you know the thing that he needed to get him back right a PSG match he has made bro he has killed you can put a highlight tape together from even his time at Ross yeah

well done thank you you got to turn your pretentious up to a thousand you know when you say a French word but um even his time there

he killed PSG every time he plays him I guess it's like you know just a type of attacker and striker he is first of all in the high line

and the fact that you know that he can just sit on a centerback and anytime the ball's turned over they know they got that out ball

whatever right into the channel yeah I mean you can almost play it blind like boom just hit that thing up like ballows over there

somewhere yeah you know and he always just wrecks racks PSG every time he plays him and so getting them in the Champions League

and you know as is custom with Balo he can rack up some XG on you he might not score a goal though right it just depends on if he gets some favorable goalkeeping or not you know whatever

but you know he brought the he brought all the danger that he usually brings against PSG and then bag the two goals as well so then you know now he's rolling.

Yeah. I mean, reference your earlier point about it being difficult to keep an edge. It's not difficult for Ballo to have an edge when he plays PSG. And I mean, that makes sense, you know, playing against the big dogs. Not just of France, but of Europe at the moment. He always brings his A game. Yeah. And that was his first league uncle on a while.

And like quite a long time. He had buttressed, you know, his goal tally with Champions League goals in the meantime in that league on drought or whatever. But you know, at this point, he got 11 goals, three assists on this season. I want to say when he started out fast, we were like, we were sitting and trying to think of what would be an acceptable goal tally for it. I want to say I said 12 to 15, or maybe I just said 15 flatly. But either way, you know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty happy with what's going on.

And, you know, he got 11 goals. What, loss is second in League on. They would have remained first if they had beaten Monaco and not giving up their 2-0 lead or whatever. But I think Flo has two goals against loss this season. Two goals against PSG, you know what I'm saying? I mean, five Champions League goals in general, plus two goals against loss. You know what I'm saying? That's seven out of.

11 goals, you know, against quality competition. Yeah. And it's totally likely, you know, they've got a couple of weaker opponents coming up, Angiers on the schedule, and so is blessed. Talk about turning your pretension up to a thousand. Blest. Yeah. And, you know, he could easily get a hat-trick in one of these games,

and then all of a sudden he's, like, closing in on 20 for the season. so he'll be fine um Tyler Adams back in the starting 11 went 66 minutes and a zero zero draw at West Ham good to he good that he's back and healthy good that he's back and healthy man and he really had me cracking up in this game because like within the first like seven minutes of this match he has like two fouls that like it could be yellow cards that that they kind of could be yellow cards the first one is like a second ball like the midfielder like the ball's bouncing midfielder gets to it first like heads it away and here comes tyler like pretty late just crashing into him you know what i'm saying after he's had the ball away you know the ref blows the whistle Tyler stands up raises his arms he's incredulous free he's like he's like what what You know what I'm saying?

And then the second one is, and he comes in late to a West Ham player once again who, like, I think he gets the ball, gets a passaway. And here comes Tyler kind of, I mean, almost kind of like studs up into the man's ankle. Like the foul. How does he keep getting away with it? Bro. It's a rough foul, bro. And then you see, Tyler's incredulous once again.

The ref calls the foul. And then you see a West Ham player come up to the ref like, bro, he cut. two fingers up. He's like, bro, that's two. Once again, this is before like the eighth minute of the game. Right. And they already letting the ref know, like, bro, I mean, you see this man hacking out here, bro. Yeah. And, um. Which he does. He does. He's a hacker. He's a hacker. And, you know, it continued. He chilled out for a little bit. But, you know, it continued throughout the match, you know, it was just, it was funny. There was more hacking than ball winning, unfortunately, in this match in particular. Um, and, you know,

I don't even have to talk about the Yeah, yeah, I think he gets away with it I think he gets away with it Because he knows how to speak the language of authority That's right He knows he knows the frequency That authority figures are operating on And so he gets away with it

Jedi out of the squad for Fulham As they beat Sunderland 3-1 Which is troubling but Marco Silva said he was feeling something in his ankle earlier in the week, and it, quote, doesn't look serious, in quote, according to journalist Jack Kelly. So that's a relief that it's not his knee. Yeah. Hopefully he's back soon.

Jack Kelly. That's just a English man in it. Yeah. It's kind of a journalist name. I think there was a guy who wrote for USA Today back in the 90s named Jack Kelly. I think he might have gotten nailed for plagiarism or something. Um, anyway. That doesn't exist nowadays, does it?

Getting nailed for plagiarism? Yeah, nobody, there's, like, who even, who even cares? Yeah. I got in a little bit, I have to confess, I got into a little bit of a YouTube shorts black hole last night. And, um. What were the topic? I'm not sure. Oh, no, actually it was Twitter.

I was just going through Twitter. And I'm not sure how much of it was AI, you know? I honestly just don't know at this point. Like, is it AI or not? Yeah, doing what? Making the shorts? Yeah, like AI video of like somebody. Oh.

I don't know. It was a lot of like couples' hijinks kind of stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bro, that couples hijinks and people on college campuses asking, risk-a questions to co-eds or whatever. Yeah. There's a lot of that you'll find. If you happen to scroll down, you know,

if you click on a video on Twitter and you let the autoplay go, you know. Yeah, it was, it was, what's your wildest, a shameful, you know, half hour of my life for sure. It truly is a waste of time. Like, man, we're not getting anything from these vertical videos. I don't need to know what this girl's body count is, you know? Bro, right. Don't be asking people what their body count is on the streets.

Ridiculous. Who even, why would you even answer that? Maybe answer it to for us. All right. Chris Richards helps Crystal Pallas throw a shutout against Wolves, Wolverhampton. He was in the middle of a back three, which is kind of rare. Maybe that's a new, maybe that's a new, new direction for him.

Wolf's probably unlucky not to score, so I don't know if it was really that imperious of a performance from Chris, but did the business, and they got a late goal from Gassonde, a nice little stab home at the Near Post to get them the three points. So good win for Crystal Palace.

Richards is putting in shifts. Yeah. They haven't had a lot of those lately. Wins? wins, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Glosner been unhappy. The band's unhappy with Glosner.

My how things change, you know. What have you done for me lately? Well, I mean, he's leaving. So, you know, I mean, they're free to be, like, unhappy with them at that point. I mean, man brought them an F.A. Cup trophy, you know? Of course, of course, of course. He's, you know, this is when I was, when you're in the moment.

you know and and one of those types where distance distance will make the heart grow fonder type of thing like once he's gone yeah he can come back at any time get a standing ovation all that right it's just kind of like what do they expect what do crystal palace i mean we should get jack pierce on here and ask this in a respectful way but like what do you what do the fans expect to happen each season you know well that's the thing it's like where something something happens something as momentous as Crystal Palace won an FAA Cup then you start to dream really

Yeah And the dreams are what kill you Right exactly Exactly All right To the north of Italy Where it was kind of a weekend To forget

For the big boys Milan lost to Parma 1-0 at home Benha Kermoski Did not play a role For Parma I feel it's necessary to say He was on the bench

Yeah he's a he's cooked and Eunice Musis cooked too. Eunice hadn't played forever. Bro, I just want to go ahead and make sure that we get that in the show. Yeah, Eunice, you will not be seeing him World Cup 2026. It's a shame. It's a shame, but, yeah, bro. This loan has just been like, it's just ended him.

Not ended him. It's probably ended his World Cup chances. It's ended his World Cup chances. Atalanta beat Nopoli Yeah No thanks to you I mean he was He was on the bench as usual

But Pulisic started It's first starting a little while He's been dealing with some Bersitis As you all know He had some chances to score Got in good spots Looked I thought pretty sharp

But AC Milan couldn't get it done Now they're 10 points behind Inter Any chances of a Skudetto Are slipping away they cannot afford to drop points like this against, you know, Parma. No. Also some word that Laos, you know, Arsenal's looking at Laos,

Pool 6 maybe looking to head away from Milan, which I kind of hope he doesn't, but... I don't know, bro. I mean, there's just not a lot going for Milan right now. You know, like, I mean... Yeah, but it'll... that cycle will come to an end I mean they're A.C. Milan.

Will it? Because most of the time I've been playing attention to soccer, they've been kind of where they're at. Yeah, that's true. Maybe I'm just stuck in the past. And then Yuve lost at home to Como, Cesque Fabergas and Como, even without their, you know, very dangerous Argentinian attacker

serving a suspension. Wes had kind of had a rough one. It was his giveaway that led to the buildup for the first goal. I mean, the goal wasn't all his fault. The Gregorio led in, provided some favorable goalkeeping to come on in that moment. And then Wes, Wes was a little behind the play on the second goal, got beat on the back post. This one I give him much less blame for because he was like, he was, he was, he was, he was, He was tracking somebody else, and then he had to switch over and track this other guy.

And he was just a second late. But Yuvra can't be dropping points at home like this. Even though Como is good. Como's like one of the better teams in Syria. Yeah. Playing Central attacking right back is tough, man. It's a lot of responsibility. It's like, bro, when you talk about like, he's tracking his one duty,

he's track another dude, I'm like, damn, bro. He got to worry about doing that. after he's, you know, parked at the edge of the 18 trying to, trying to... Right, and then has to bust it back, you know, kind of diagonally to get back to it.

But, um, Uve was let out on their home pitch, on their home pitch before this, did you see this? I saw their cool uniforms, but no, I didn't see that.

They were let out by rapper, uh, French Montana, onto the pitch today. Well, not today, but was yesterday, Saturday. Um, people are saying this is an example of

Yuvay's demise which may be but who's saying that I've seen a lot of people just say Prestiani say that that that's the

overwhelming sentiment on XA everything app and you know I just first of all people like the disrespect French Montana

okay and he's not the best rapper he's not I wouldn't necessarily call him a good rapper like you know he hasn't put out um an album necessarily that it's like worth checking out but as far as hits as far as like singles as far as you know when you when you channel you got a you got to you got to channel french montana and what he does best and and he adds it to us and added to a song he makes a song better he makes a song better and you can't tell a story of um 2010 Well, actually, you kind of can tell the story of 2010 about what I include Fresh Montana, but you'd be missing some big songs.

You've been missing some big songs in there, man. So that's all I want to say. Okay. But, yeah, I do like the kids. Well, actually, I don't know. They're all right. They're pretty cool. I think they're pretty cool.

I'm kind of going back and forth on it because it's like, if you want a rugby, then just buy rugby. You know what I'm saying? As far as, like, a person buying and I'm wearing it. Type of thing. Did you see what era that those kits are from? Not really.

I saw some, I kind of saw some stuff. Okay. On the everything app, but. You love to it as the everything app. But, um,

just, it's Como in general. I do just want to say, um, they, they give a lot of people a tough time. They're a solid team. Yeah.

And it's, and that pause kid, is like he's nasty the one who was suspended um yeah and it is it's cool for me to see because you know we were there not you but i was there um you did you decided you didn't want to go on that trip but but we did go on the trip without you uh we were there in the spring of 2024 and did you get a bear that game or oh yeah yeah but the thing is you it's it was this is what i was going to bring up is such a um it was such a sort of bare bones set up, you know, even though it's on the lake, on the bottom, like on the lake, you're looking

out on the water in the green mountains. It's very beautiful. But the stadium itself, the concession stand, it was like a high school stadium, you know, concession stand was just down there. So you could stand in line, wait for a beer, and you're watching the game right out there. Oh, okay. Yeah. There was no concourse.

And there were like rusty, you know, rusty railings that people were like bumping into and like ripping their, I saw a guy rip his khakis on one of these. rusty railings. I mean, it was like kind of, um, that's an Italian's not 11. Right. Yeah. It was right. Yeah, he was not a, he was not a happy camper. And, and it was just like such a basic setup and such a sort of family, you know, lots of families around us on, on the grandstand. and to see them be like so good because they were back in Siri B when we were there

and they got promoted at the end of that season but to see them be so good it's kind of crazy yeah and it's like you know people associate Spanish soccer with you know

being soft or whatever and I just want to say like you watch you watch Seth Fabragas's Como right you watch Michael Arteta's Arsenal I mean They play hard

They play hard They value the duel You know It's not it's not just all about You know Getting receiving You know Passing the ball around

Whatever I mean even Louis Enrique's PSG You know So Interesting I don't know They like There's a reason why Spain is Spain

Bro They really got the whole thing figured out You know It's a I think people still think they can like, you can just push the Spanish around or something. It's not the case.

And CESC was, you know, particularly, like, artistic as a player. Right. He was, um, so that, that is, uh, that is something that's striking. Um, you know, not too far away, just on the other side of the Alps. Leone's winning streak comes to an end at Strasbourg. They lost 3-1. I thought Testimo was looking, I mean, first goal. had nothing to do with him, but

thought he was looking a little spectatory as Strasbourg started to threaten to go up to zero in the second half. And then the second goal unfortunately deflected in off him. It was a hit from distance, turned a routine save

or at least a saveable shot into one that was totally unstoppable. I don't know. Do you blame Tesman? I feel like Paula Fonseca did because he yanked him immediately. Yeah, maybe, I mean, he did, I don't know, it, it just kind of seemed like maybe he had some blame to the, like, I don't know, like technique wise with how like he turned, it. It seemed like he turned his body kind of late, like to where, you know, the way his body set up, the keeper could almost read it and be like, okay, if the ball does hit Tanner, it's going to go this way type of thing.

but it's like he turns it right at the exact moment like he was almost like intended to deceive the keeper type of thing right turns his turns his shoulder ball hits off that then like the ricochet is going a totally different place and nobody could expect it to go top corner basically i don't know how i don't know how harsh or not harsh that is but but i will say that his overall performance wasn't like i mean really over these past two months you know what i'm saying, I need Tanner pick it up. Okay. I need Tanner pick it up.

If he's going to, because, you know, people talk about it. I'm like he's a starter. You know what I'm saying? We talked about this last week. But, um, yeah, man. Let's go, let's go ahead and we need, we turn these performances up and not, brother. Yeah. Maybe, maybe having a loss in the column, uh, will, you know, light a fire under him

because they've been, you know, so good over the last couple months as a team. And, but, you know, Christian Roll. Don. Christian Roll Don's over there in Seattle and he's saying, this is my job. This is my job now. Meeting Gaffieri. Who going to take it from me? Not you, Tanner.

Yeah. Well, that's what we're here for. Competition in it. Yeah. Oh, and then one more player who is very much part of this conversation. Johnny, he started. Adleta got a win over Espaniel, 4-2. How did he look?

Any thoughts there? So, Athlete mostly had Espano camped within their own defensive half or whatever and so Johnny was able to get on the ball

and make a lot of passes, a lot of plays with the ball, and, and, yeah, I thought he looked good.

It's a, a, a, a Spanish superpower versus a, you know, Lesser team A lesser team

But it's just like a performance in general That he can It's a perfect performance To like get your confidence up You know You got the team Camped out In their own half

You get to just pass the ball around You get to touch it Pass it get it back Etcetera A little jolly up If you will And yeah he looked He looked good

Playing for Madrid in this match and Cholo even said something to the effect of at Johnny performance you know that's the reason why he's at the athletic and so that's why he's here that's right so I mean rest and peace extra time radio

that's what we want to see man that's what we want to see and you know okay this didn't come from X to everything app this came from blues sky there's some sounders there's some Sounders fans saying that Obed's going to take Johnny's spot

and yeah I'm monitoring the situation I'm monitoring the situation so just be warned that if I come if I come back and dunk on you a year a year from now

you had it coming just be ready for this is going to be a poster as a matter of fact the whole reason I was tipped off to this is somebody tagged us it was like, because the original post was something like, Obed going to Athleti. So we can, I can finally be proven right that Obed's better than Johnny, like I've been saying.

And then somebody responds to it and shout out to you, listener to the Scuff podcast. He says, I hope that happens so I can stop hearing about Johnny on the at Scuff podcast. You know, like, damn. You know what I'm saying? But, hey, it's all fun in games and whatnot. But you better hope that check comes to cash because if it don't, I'm coming to collect, brother. Yeah. And, you know, early returns aren't great.

Obed didn't even get on the game, get in the game in this one. And, you know, this is no fault of Obeds. You know, he just got there. He just got there. Alex Freeman didn't get in the game this weekend either for Villa Rial. But I just got my eye on it. Also, one more player, Nochi. Noah Kahn Banks.

Norfolk Banks. He had a he had one of those mishaps. He had one of those mishaps Adam Bills. I hate to see it. And this one is this is one

where I'm not going to be super mad like it's definitely a demerit against no key. Augsberg won the match, which I do think this needs to be said, the fact that, you know, Augsberg was relegation threatened, right?

They were down there in that bottom half of the table. And you look today, I mean, they're still on the bottom half of the table technically, but they are at 10th. Yeah. They are in 10th in the Bundesliga. And, you know, they've leaned on no key throughout that whole process. Yeah. Throughout that whole getting out of the dungeon.

And, well, first of all, this brings back one thing that, I don't know if it's become an adage of mine, but you might be hearing it for the, you probably are hearing it for the first time. I don't think I was heading out about it. One thing about being mid-table, you might call a team a mid-table team. Mid-table teams, by virtue of being mid-table,

they're almost always, at some point you're going to be threatened with relegation. You know, it might not be a real threat. Maybe on the XG table you've been killing it this whole time and just waiting for the ball to bounce your way or whatever. But, you know, by being a mid-table team, you do put yourself up to the risk of being in danger of getting relegated. I mean, you see, Glybock's right here. Glybock's two points in front of, you know, the last playoff spot. They're in 14th place in the Bundesliga as we stand.

Every staying here right now. St. Pauley, James St. Pauli, in danger of being relegated. I mean, they are in the playoff spot. Yeah. And Wolfsburg right in front of them. So anyway. And we would all consider all like, well, Wolfsburg and Gladbach particularly. Like one of those teams are just like perennially, perennially safe.

Yeah. Not the case, man. One misstep, one bad transfer. Josh Sargent decides not to come to your team, whatever. Boom. Boom. Here you are. But anyway, so there's no key play.

I think Wolfsburg is kind of like building out the back. There is a pass that cuts out. a lot of Augsberg's defense and there's essentially it plays in Willsberg's right winger and he's like off to the races okay now Augsberg's left center back is a little bit behind the play because he's kind of he's kind of caught out by the pass but he's he's on his horse trying to get back into the play Willsberg's right winger is going down you know he's outside the goal mouth, but going towards the goal, right? Nokey sees this.

And what, okay, so when the pass is played, no key is right next to a Wolfsburg attacker in the middle of the pitch, essentially. So you would think the play is just, hey, stay with him. What Nokey does is decides to run over to the ball carrier. Even as the centerback is pointing, like, hey, bro, like stay with your runner. Center back's point, stay with your runner.

and the ball carrier is like outside of the goal frame like wide of goal and he does have a step on the center back but you know with the with the way that the angle the centerback's chase take the the angle the center back is taking while he is chasing him down you know bro's only option is probably going to have to be roof it near post yeah and you kind of live at that. You know, he's not going to be able to come back onto his left foot and like cut across the face of goal or anything like that. I don't think with the centerback's position, because he's not, he's not totally does it. He's made up some ground, right? But Nokey thinks he needs enough help that he comes over to the man carrying the ball. And so now at that point, the man that Nokey's supposed

to be marking is like wide open in the face of right in the middle goal. So Bro just plays a cross on the a cross on the ground and an easy goal there. Okay. Yeah. It's, uh, I see it all. Yeah. It's just,

it's just a bad, it's just a very bad decision. Um, that, uh, he shouldn't, yeah, shouldn't be making. Shouldn't be making.

Um, but, like we said about youth. Gotta let children learn. Yeah, let children learn. And it's a shame, which they're doing. Which they're doing.

doing it, Augsburg. Which they're doing. And it's a shame because I thought he probably played his best match of the season last week. Like, yeah, without a doubt, in my opinion, his best match of the season last week.

But we got that there. But, you know, didn't cost Augsburg any points necessarily. Any continue to start week after week? Yeah, a couple announcements real quick. One, we're going to be in Atlanta on March 28th for the, USA Belgium game and we're going to play some pickup in the morning and then we're going to

tailgate from about noon to the to kick off at Blue Lot, the Blue Lot, which is just up the street from Mercedes-Benz like three or four blocks. So stay tuned on that and then also Germany trip, Germany and Netherlands trip that's happening in April, April 18 to 26 and I think there are still, I believe there are still at least one or two slots, just one or two slots. So if you want to join us for that trip, hit the link in the show notes. Thanks everybody for listening. Thanks to all you patrons for making scuff possible. We'll see you.