Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #681: The Pulisic slander, the Americans reffing at the WC, and the young guns slinging in MLS

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

Charlie Boehm joins Belz for a listener's digest of USMNT-related news. Have a great weekend. 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, it's Friday, April 10, and we've got a little show for you. Charlie Boehm is here with me, Charlie, how are you? Doing well. So great to chop it up with you once again, bells. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure. I hope I'm not violating hip-a by saying this, but you hurt your meniscus a little bit in Atlanta, didn't you?

Playing pickup. I did. I did. I was what I thought was a minor, you know, owie. It's a little, a little discomfort I felt when shifting directions. At, where are we? We're at soccer. The West End Mata Station. West End Mata. Yeah, it was so cool to roll out there and play at a place I'd read and heard so much about over the years. What a cool idea.

I wish we had something like that scattered around the D.C. area metro stations. But little change direction thought, oh, that felt a little off. And then by like by game time, actually it was like within two hours, I was in extreme pain. Awesome. I was like, what did I do? I was limping badly at a USM&T, Belgium. People were like, what's what happened? What's wrong with you?

What are you doing? And as I as I limp around that enormous stadium where for some reason we were walking like long distances around the like the perimeter of like underneath. the stadium at field level. They had the press conference in the Falcons media room, and it was like, it felt so far. And by the next day, so then the Sunday was, there was a tour, a media tour of the National Training Center. Oh, no. Morning.

And then I was looking up to get invited to the Clint Dempsey docu series screening in the afternoon. And in the morning, my friend Pablo Maurer was like, your limp is getting worse, dude. Like, you need to go get seen. And it's a Sunday, which is, of course, the perfect day of the week to get medical care in the United States, especially orthopedic care of any kind. But anyway, I was able to find a place that gave me some anti-inflammatories and a knee brace and some crutches. So I was crutching around for the rest of the Atlanta international window, which was pretty hilarious. And people at the at the Dempsey screening were like, like, it's, I mean, I say this knowing like, for me, I'm, I'm, I still pinning. pinch myself a little bit. I find myself very fortunate to have made acquaintances with people like

Kobe Jones, right, Legends of the game, Kyle Martino and like, and these guys see me and they're like, why are you playing pickup? Why are you playing soccer? What are you doing? Like, because they don't. They just don't, they don't do that anymore, huh? Most of them don't, I think. For one, it's so hard to, to regulate your competitive instincts when you've played at that level, I think, is a part of it. And a lot of them have, have old injuries. And they're just like, what are you doing? And I was trying to explain to them as to other people. Like, I still play soccer one because I think I have a moral duty to do that as long as I can. Because if I'm writing about other people's playing, I should try and play myself as long as my body allows me to, to remind myself that it's hard.

It's hard. And also, like, it tricks you, right? Playing the genius of sports in general is like, I go for a 40-minute run. And it's like, I like running, but it's not that comfortable. I don't like, I don't know, man. Maybe I don't do it long distances enough. to get the runners high, but I'm just like checking a box. And then, and I burn like 500 calories, whatever.

And my watch tells me, you know, yada, yada. Then I go play a pickup for an hour or two. And like I'm fully in the moment. I'm burning twice as much like energy, like I'm getting a better workout. I feel healthy. I feel connected to my world and my life. And the ball just tricks you, right? So it's so great.

But Kobe Jones is like, I'm telling this to Kobe Jones. He's like, yeah, but that watch it and telling you about your. ligaments, man. Okay, grandpa. Yeah, I guess, no, I'm with you. I love, and it's just a, it's just a beautiful game. You know, I was, I was talking about this with my brother last night at a soccer practice. And talking about how when you go play pickup sometimes with the wrong type of folks,

you know, like the 25-year-old tryhard who, like, isn't actually that good. But every time they get the ball, they shoot. You know the kind I'm talking about? A little bit, a little bit. That's part of the experience, right? My brother's like, hey, I just want to get out there and pass the ball. And that's me, you know? I just want to, I don't even care what the score is.

I just want to like do some, I just want to do some beautiful stuff, if possible. And it's lovely. And we did, we had a great session. I'd forget if you guys talked about this on the show afterwards. But every listener's bells brought his wonderful daughter and a couple other, members of the scuff community brought their kids out and so we had like what was the age range probably like six to 60 or something you know like 60 is about right yeah like it was so cool yeah it would be great to have more kids out there you know anyway though to answer your question

very belatedly i really thought i'd done something significant but then i got to an ortho and apparently i just damaged my meniscus so it's not torn it's not a modern yeah it doesn't appear that if there's anything out of like out of place that would need to get repaired. He said that if the swelling and pain continues, maybe I get some, some what they call PRP in the biz where they inject platelet rich plasma to the area to encourage the healing process, but that means you also have to be on crutches for a while. So we'll see. We'll see. If I get a chance, I'll update everyone with the status of my antiquated subpar right knee. But that's, but, but, But I dodge a bullet.

Good. I'm glad to hear that. And thank you for your sacrifices for the game, for the community of USMNT fans, for scuffed. Let's get to something less serious. And I think it's been like, it's been raging across the internet. That's relative. Yeah, that's a relative. Well, it's serious to Christian Pulisic.

I'll tell you that much. Yeah. But so it's been raging across the internet for the last few days. the allegation that Christian Pulisic was cheating on his girlfriend before they broke up. And this was based on an Instagram comment, like kind of offhand comment from Alexa Melton, the ex-girlfriend. And anyway, it was a pretty, it was a pretty, I would say, shameful, just example of how we engage with information today in on earth. And anyway, she walked it back yesterday. She walked it all back.

I mean, she walked it all back. She said he wasn't a cheater. That comment was taken out of context and I got bad information or whatever. Whatever. Who cares? But I do think everyone who propagated that falsehood should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, nobody is ashamed because remorse, introspection, and acknowledging one's own errors on the internet are teachers. are tedious and complicated concepts that don't seem to have much traction.

You know who you are. Yeah. Exactly. You know what I find myself saying this, some variety of this phrase often, shame is so out of style right now. It's just not in the zeitgeist. Maybe it will return in a more so we can have a healthier marketplace of ideas out there in the discourse. Regret.

Regret's another one that's not really much in style, you know? Yeah, people are saying they're not supposed to have regrets, but it's okay to have regrets. That means you're a healthy, healthy human being. You're conscious if you're having regrets. Yes. But it is true that I will say that there's to try and, you know, we're about watching the games around here. Yeah, yeah. Well, let's move it out of TMZ into the.

But it matters. It does matter because like, it. Some people are better at compartmentalizing different segments of their life than others. And athletes maybe are sort of forced to do some version of that. Yeah. But I was struck by, now, listen, like, and this isn't, it's going to sound more critical maybe than it's really, than it really is or is intended to be. But like Christian obviously didn't have a great window on the field. I don't think he was set up for success by the formational change as well intended as Potchman.

may have been playing him as a striker. I was a bad idea at a bad time and didn't work. Of course, now it's easy to say. Agreed. But like his interviews and his time on camera, like Pulitzer's energy was, was low, I thought. And he's like, it just, I came away and all the melting stuff just like reinforces for me. I came away from this camp feeling like, like, man, this guy is like, let's change the face of the program or change how we think about the concept of the face of the program.

The reality is that Christian's energy was low to non-existent in March. He's still just not comfortable or charismatic in front of cameras. He doesn't present the kind of public persona that I would think that the program wants or needs to present for a home world cup in a matter of weeks. And it's not really his fault. It's a personality thing. And we, and by we I mean, media, the public. And I would include the Federation in this. I'll stop asking him or expecting him to be someone or something he's not.

Give him a break. Let him just be a talented, productive soccer player on the field. I, and I'm someone who gets frustrated with stars who don't do media, right? Because that affects my job too. But I would be totally fine with Christian Pols, like not doing any more media this year, truly, because he's not comfortable with it and it's not working for anyone. Yeah. We don't have an applause track on hand.

But yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly. Let the man be a, let him be a monk, you know, let him be a little soccer monk. Soccer robot. Like what metaphor of choice here, you know? Whatever he needs to get in the zone and let's hope for the sake of the program and the tournament and everything. Because he is also, you know, the tournament as an entertainment product for any, for the world, I think needs a productive Christian Polisick in it on form. And don't we have better candidates to sort of pick up that mantle? We do.

We do. I mean, pivot to Wes. He'll be a lot more fun in front of camera. I mean, like you said, Pulisic is, he doesn't enjoy being on camera. And I would argue that making him be on camera is actually counterproductive because the weariness just comes, the weariness just comes through, like comes through the the video or the, you know, the audio. So clearly he just, it almost is like anti-hype, you know.

And we're asking him to try and explain things that are hard for anyone to explain. And like after the, after the Portugal game, he was saying stuff that was like, I mean, he said, effectively he said like, well, we're going to figure it out when it counts. Which is like, ooh, I'm not sure about that statement. And then to say, like, you know, he was at, granted, he was prompted to compare this camp to the last camp before the 2022 World Cup, which, you know, was a pretty underwhelming European friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Japan. And he said, you know, we, we got criticized, but then we figured it out and we had a great World Cup. And then I'm going,

oh, God, now I have to talk about what you mean by Great World Cup. You've met expectations. Okay. But like, then it's like, oh, do I, why, why am I having to think about how Christian Pulisic thinks about tournaments? And the, you know, the. and the large scale progress or positioning of the of the program. It's like, like, this is not working. This is not good for anyone. And whereas when you go and like, granted, we only get 15 or 20 minutes or so of a training session and got to, but even that, you know, I try to learn as much as I can

from those little glimpses into the training sessions and where the program, where the squad is at, right? And like, typically what we're watching is mostly rondos, right? They come out on the pitch and they warm. up, they maybe do different activations, and then they warm up and get their touches going with Rondos. And like, whatever, I just started recording, I'm just like, I'm going to be the Rondos guy, because I think it's so interesting, this is a fundamental aspect of soccer training and soccer culture that was actually actively discouraged by this Federation at one point, not that long ago

in its technical manuals and modules. Because it's not game-like enough? Is that the idea? You're not going anywhere. There's no directionality. I wrote about it on SoccerWire.com back in the day. You can go check that out. But like, I think it's, I think you can get a lot from Watcher Rondo. So I was trying to record them. And I soon realized like, the best ones to record or the whatever Wes is involved in. Wherever McKinney goes, there's this energy.

And he's like, he's slide tackling in a in the Rondo five minutes after leaving the building, right? Like, just get on the pitch. And he's like, he two footed. He's like, he's chirping in a all positive way. Like, like the energy. is just so different wherever he is. And like, it doesn't always translate into when he has to go and do media or is asked to go into media. But like, that dude is the spiritual heart of the of the team.

It's just, it's so, and it's like, if you get that vibe, I think you often get that vibe watching a game and it's even more so in training. Huh. That's fascinating. That's fascinating. Yeah. And I mean, the point of these, of going on and doing these interviews is not to like precisely explain the situation. or diagnose the problem after a loss or, you know, precisely explain why we won a game.

It's just to be likable and have fun, you know? And Wes is those things. I mean, I don't care if he goes on and makes jokes about pizza or whatever, you know, it'd be great. Yeah, he was great on, he did the Cooligans, did an extended sit down. Oh, did he? And it was really good. Yeah, yeah, a couple weeks ago. And it was, and they did.

They talked about pizza, talked about the run. ranch on pizza thing. It was great. It was great. Okay. Well, the pivot to West is a, I mean, it's something we've been taught. We've been sort of moving around, circling around for a long time, but we'll see. All right. Next up, Tori Penso will ref games at the World Cup. She is the second American and the first American woman who will referee a game from the middle of the field at the World Cup. Ismail Ismail Elfath will be reffing at his second World Cup. Ismail Elfoth will be reffing at his second World Cup and there will be four more

Americans as ARs and two more as video review officials. Just another reminder, be nice to your local refs. They are in a battle group and we need them to be happy so that they keep doing it. So we have refs. But also pretty cool for Ms. Penso to get out there and blow the opening whistle and we're rooting for her. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And all the North Americans

repping the home countries. Oh, yeah. Go have a good one. Go have a good one, you know? And yeah, and I think too, just like with playing the game, if you, I refereed for a while as a part-time job in high school. Most basic level, it was called grade eight at the time. You will fundamentally see the game differently if you just spend a little bit of time from how I've never really reft.

How do you see the game differently when you wrap? So for one, it's just a similar aspect of trying. triangulation, when you're not team A versus team B, right, when you step out of the competitive adversarial framework that most players and coaches work through, you just have to see from both sides and you have to see what the referees are asked to do, right? Especially when we talk about three, in essence, right, three, because the fourth official is a new and a professional level advancement. You're asking three or even two in some cases, like sometimes the referee shortages are such that two referees will do, we'll have two center reps if you,

if there's short staffing enough to where you don't have enough for ARs. Like we're asking them to cover so much ground at such speed in an increasingly fast-paced athletic, complicated sport. It's such a tall, such a tall order. You have to make, you have to be so focused, so in tune, make decisions quickly, see things quickly and act on them. And then you have to understand the psyche of players and get in and manage that. And there's just so many nuances to it.

It's amazing. They are kind of like our, to take your term from earlier, they are kind of our monks. Like they're the priest class of soccer. Yeah. And so it's not necessarily, we're not all hardwired to like empathize with them, right? Because they're so distinct. But, but do you'll just go a little, just stick your toe in because you'll, even if you, you don't stick with it, like you're going to learn so much.

And we literally need everybody we can out there at the grass. your several totally yeah we have such a hard time finding refs in my local wreck mostly it works out but sometimes it doesn't there's going to be some AI going on with the ref with the ref with the ref it too right yeah can't be 20 can't be 20 26 without AI getting involved yeah FIFA loves a boldly worded extensive mini paragraph press release about everything they do but and that was what dropped yesterday uh with some pure luigi uh Kalina quotes and so forth. But we've got goal line technology, time-wasting regulations,

which were hatched and beta-tested in MLS and MLS Next Pro before FIFA adopted them just in time for this tournament. Add it to the list, the light bulb, the atomic bomb. Time-wasting regulations. The time-wasting, the throwing clock, the substitution clock, et cetera. FIFA's phrasing I loved was a package of measures designed to enhance match tempo. They've also got semi-automated off-sides technology. I'm sure we won't be talking about that, cussing and discussing that at all this summer.

And something called connected ball technology, which I think is their way of saying they've got goal line sensors in there or some version of that that will help with goal. Is it in or out kind of decisions? And yeah, and they'll have ref cams. So this is another thing that I don't know if MLS and North American soccer gets a credit, but that harness that the refs have been wearing around these parts in special occasions to literally put your put the world's view on a referee's chest, we're going to get some of that in this World Cup as well. Basically like a police body cam.

Yes. Right? Yes. I wonder who invented that. Supposedly AI is key to their ability to make it a non-nauziating experience with all the running and jostling. My favorite thing is when you can see the arms, you know, when they're at full sprint and you can see their alarms, you know, when it looks like a video game.

It's amazing. Yeah. Traditionalists despise it, I'm sure. But again, anything that gets us and puts you anywhere near the brain of a ref, I think, is a useful exercise for fans. That's also interesting footage just, you know, as like game footage. It's kind of cool to see that at field level. Totally different.

Like the cameras, the other cameras just can't get you in there. Right. All right. Let's take a short break because I think this is going to be a short episode and then come back and talk about some of the action that's happened in the middle of the week and some of the stuff that's going to happen this weekend. We'll be back in a second. And we're back. Let's kind of go through this stuff real quick. Adletico Madrid beat Barcelona 2.0 at the Camp New in the Champions League quarterfinal.

Finals first leg. That's a pretty interesting result. They did it without Johnny, who is dealing with the knock. If they can get a result at home, at Letty will be on to the semifinals, and our most enigmatic badge FC dual national will be the last American standing in Champions League. Johnny, any thoughts on Johnny from you after the Belgium game?

I thought he was pretty good. Enigmatic really is the word because I think subsequently, we got pretty good confirmation that he was being restricted. I don't know if you call it a formal minutes restriction or not, but he's dealing with something. He's, you know, the plus minus is this hockey term that we sometimes batter out in soccer, like what's happening when a player's on the pitch. I think it can be a useful data point,

but it doesn't really work in his favor here in some senses or in, I should say in general, because he's been involved with some uninspiring displays. And it's just still so baffling and frustrating that he's he's not shown anywhere near his true level, at least the club level that we see with the national team. So I think that's a real concern. I do think he's on the squad. I think we're going to be talking a lot about whether he's a starter or not. Can he bring out the best in Tyler Adams?

Can he be the complimentary piece? I think what you're going to be, I just have this sense that the center mid discussion is going to be driven a lot by like, do you need someone who does stuff or who helps other? people do stuff, right? So we're going to talk about Testman, Cardoso, Roldon, maybe Burrhalter, like, are these, it's like what they bring to the table, but also are they forced multipliers for those around them. And I just wish there was more larger and more encouraging data set with Johnny. And you know what? Real quick, too, on the topic of Adletti, I think people, from what I remember, and you can correct me on this, USM&T discourse was pretty muted, was. pretty like, ah, whatever, when Obed Vargas switched his eligibility.

And I, at the time, having watched him probably more than most just because of where he was coming up and what he did in MLS and specifically, uh, KalkkaGov Champions League play, it was like that you might miss this kid. And I think, I think this program would be, uh, I think, I think he'd be in, in the mix to start if he had stayed with the US right now. Oh, man. Yeah. That's too sad to even think about it's a bummer.

It's a bummer. But also, it's like he wanted to play for Mexico, you know? I mean, he wore the U.S. crest for essentially most, if not all, of his youth national team career. But, you know, who knows, right? I mean, who knows? At that moment, the Mexican program probably looked like a faster track for him just with the way the depth charts and everything worked out. But, yeah, and the whole narrative of the exiled. Mexican dad in distant Alaska and, you know, there's, there's no one more, to switch it,

to switch out English for Mexican, to take the old cliche, there's no one more Mexican than a Mexican who lives, a Mexican who lives far from Mexico, right? So I know identity and culture and history and family is all interwoven there. No criticism for him for what he decided, but it was a loss, more of a loss, I think, than it got cracked up to me. Crystal Palace beat If you're in Tina 3-0 and the first leg of the conference league's quarterfinals, I'm still not even sure what that is, the conference league. And if they should even be in it, they're supposed to be in Europe League. Yeah, I don't know.

But they're still playing some kind of European soccer at Selhurst Park. And if they handle the away leg, they're on to the semis versus either Shoktar or Azi Akmar. Richards went 90, got a yellow card. Sad news out of Darby County. Big Pat is officially going to miss the World Cup with an Achilles rupture. We talked about this on Monday because he was stretched off that day. But this is a huge bummer because it had potential to be a great story. He's not an elegant player, but he's a former D3 college soccer player,

not to mention of kind of a photogenic tall drink of water and a set piece monster. And it would have been cool to see his story. play out on the World Cup stage, it's not gonna. Here's to a speedy recovery for Big Pat. Not this World Cup, at least. Hopefully the next. Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Yeah, it's so interesting because he was, you know, he's been a lightning rod, I guess, in terms of his national team career. But since the move to the championship, you've just seen him just come to grips with that. I mean, he's obviously like part of the reason they went and got him from Charlotte is he's such a champo striker, right? And the particular styles that you have to have some familiarity with to survive in that division are well suited for him.

But he's still like, think about where he's of the Gold Cup. And I was wondering, like, is he limited, is he a limited player? But he's a late bloomer and he's still growing and developing. And that was so cool to see. And he's one of Potch's guys, right? I think he was on that plane. Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see who replaces him.

on that plane. Maybe Haji. Maybe we don't know exactly where Ricardo fits in Pach's plans. But then, you know, you had a piece on the MLS website, was it a couple days ago, about the tears. And, I mean, I think you put Sergeant and Josh Sergeant and Brian White both as long shots. Yeah. They are.

Which is true. Yeah. Yeah. But the phrase I use is, there's a brutal math, right? Whenever, whenever something terrible happens like this, it often opens a door for someone. We don't know exactly, though, because Potch may use that spot in a different way, right? Is he going to go with four strikers? Is he convinced himself that Pulisic can be a striker? Is he going to convince himself that Timi Wea can fill in there? Is it

balligan ride or die until he breaks down? I don't know. I think there's no one who's the like-for-like plan B guy that that argument Ajamong was going to be but it's it's possible somebody if somebody really grabs the grabs the initiative here it could happen I think sergeant probably has a little more pedigree

to do it with but man that that USM&T scoring drought of seven years now I believe it is is sure going to be an elephant in the room so so we'll see yeah it just doesn't seem like he's impressed Paschitino at all

either, you know. I mean, the long story short on this is like Fuller and Balligan needs to play at least 75 minutes every game at the World Cup. We got plenty of time between the games. Let's not faf around. Yeah.

And Hajie, I mean, Hajie was a, we can call him a super sub in Qatar, right? He scored a goal. Brings a little something different. Can play out wide as well. But he's just, he doesn't play, even though he's not that much smaller than Big Pat, he doesn't play that way, right?

He doesn't play like a ferocious, physically intimidating nine. No, he doesn't at all. He's gotten a little better at it, but it's still, it's not in his, it's not in his nature, I don't think. I think what's going to work well for him

is the memory of that goal against Australia. And yet, did the defender slip on the wet turf? Yeah, but like he scored a Golaso. against a World Cup opponent. I have a feeling that's going to, we're going to see that clip in the coming months.

Yeah. I mean, he gets a chance to strike the ball. He strikes the ball like he means it, and it's on frame most of the time. So something to be said for that. Both Monaco and Marseille are facing bottom half teams this afternoon in Ligon. Full slate of action in Europe over the weekend.

Plus the USA Women versus Japan tomorrow evening. What are you looking at, Charlie? Yeah. So speaking of Haji, his Coventry City are playing relegation battlers. Sheffield Wednesday. I believe it's tomorrow. And I think they can clinch, if the results go in their favor, I think they can clinch automatic promotion to the Premier League,

which would be an amazing story because this was a former member of the division that's been exiled for a quarter century now. So Coventry City back in the prim would be, would be fun to see and having a yank at the tip of the spear would make it even more interesting next year. And certainly that's going to help, it's going to help Aji to go into the summer with momentum, I would think. So that's a fun one to watch. We've also got, bright and early tomorrow morning, Tyler Adams and Bournemouth at Arsenal, taken on the league leaders at Merits. Tyler did a interview with club media that was released on Thursday, says he's, quote, feeling strong and ready to go for the run-in. Quote, unfortunately, I didn't get to go and catch up

with the U.S. team. I had to watch from afar, but it was good to be here with the boys to stay behind and get some good training in. Gave me a period of time to get stronger, more fit, and focus on the objectives with the boys here. So we'll see. Bournemouth can still make a push for Europe, I think. There, it's a very congested in the middle. They're 13th of the moment. moment, but they're only six back of Chelsea who are in sixth place and there's seven matches to play. So let's see. I hope that this is going to have a physical rhythm that will help him get back to full fitness and sharpness rather than red line him too soon. But he's been here before. So dang, his last match was March 3rd. I didn't realize he'd been out

that long. Yeah. Okay. I can't remember. What is it? What was the injury? I get him mixed up. It was the knee. quadriceps. Yeah. All right. There we go. And then Brenda and Leeds United are visiting Old Trafford. And Jedi and Fulham are visiting Liverpool.

Let's get a little, let's get a little Concaf Champions Cup chat going. Concaf Champions League is how I still think of it. Conca champions can help a bypass this. That's what it's widely called in Mexico. but I don't know if that seems to be tough for the English speakers. So that's okay. I can handle it, Charlie.

Conca champions. I can do it. Many listeners out there will know I am a CCC fever sicko. So always love to wait in this. Although for all the painstaking, agonizing, arduous progress that MLS has slowly painstakingly made in this competition and in the in the in the in the uh big picture competition with league amakis it felt a lot like the same old same old this week as we saw the the first legs of the quarterfinals we have four uh mLS versus mexico matchups and everything went pretty much the way you would

expect we had christian rolled on seattle sounders go down to el volkan and have the typical torturous night it didn't go full nightmare for them but they're down two nil after letting things slip away a bit in the second half and failing to really kind of snatch the little moments that you need to to win the margins against teams of this quality. Much has been said in Mexico about Tigris kind of fading from their best. André Pierre Giniak is 40 now and not quite the same beast that he once was, but this is still an incredible team with a culture of success and competitiveness. and they know when to go for the juggler.

They didn't quite deliver the death blow, so I think the Sounders can feel some hope, but they've got a mountain to climb back at Lumen Field next week where the World Cup grass is finally in place, so they don't have to traips out to Spokane to get their home leg here. Our buddy, BJ Callahan's Nashville, couldn't find the home goal or goals they needed, as Aliz and Dejas in America,

manage the hell out of a zero-zero in music series. not a disastrous result, but good luck in CDMX. That's a tough place to get a win or scoring draw that they'll need to advance. Pretty poor LA Galaxy, Shoredway, it's better to be lucky than good against Toluca, the rating back-to-back League MX champs. Despite getting played off the park for most of the 90-plus minutes, somehow only ended four to two as they found two away goals, but I do suspect Mexico's best team will have no problems in SoCal next week.

These galaxy are fun to watch, but man, they are, they are brittle. Porous. Yes. And then the bright spot was LAFC. They thumped Cruzez O'Soole 3-0 at home. But as Cincinnati showed us in the previous round, even a 3-0 home win is not enough to feel serenity as you travel to central Mexico. It's a mile high elevation. It's even with Cruzez Ozil being semi-homeless at the moment with all the different

stadiums of going on. It's a tough night, although I think they are now officially the flagship for MLS. They're leading the league table at home, and they are, in the words of their coach, Mark DeSantos, they got big balls in the big moments with guys like Denny Buonga and Sun Hung Men. Connected balls, as FIFA might say. Yeah, and listen, I talk, I know there may be some USM&T faithful that are wondering, And why are we talking about this?

But for me, this tournament is a real canary in the coal mine for U.S. soccer writ large. This is our annual data point, the most objective data point we have for where we stand as a scene and where our league's representatives, our top flight leagues representatives are competing against the region and outside competition, right? So we want to get out of the bubble and get a data point or two. and this is the best one we have. Yeah. It's like, can we, can our league do better than the league in a country that has never gotten past the quarterfinals? Never gotten to the quarterfinals, right? They've gotten there.

I think they've gotten there. Yeah, because it will be in the U.S. and the quarterfinals in 2002. They've reached the quarterfinals before that, I think, but it's the Kinto Partido has been the, that's been the challenge in this century. So, yeah, and listen, we, MLS wants to be the league of choice. It wants and has every, I think, reason to aim for being one of the world's top leagues in the long run, but it's going to ring hollow if you're not, if you're not winning this tournament, your continental championship is a key, key metric.

They're getting two finals more often, but not quite enough, is it? I remember how exciting those Toronto FC days were. where they like they they almost well they did they ultimately win it no no they they lost to uh matias almeda's chiva squalalajara on penalties in the final and listen this is a moving target too i will say concicalf in their wisdom uh two years ago i guess it was it was the wilfrid nancy crew made it to the final in in 2024 and then just in time for them to change up the format and the most bafflinger

like fashion possible. So we've gone from a two-legged final format to the one-legged, but instead of going full commitment and having the final at a neutral site, the way the Champions League does, the way the Super Bowl happens where it's a neutral spot, they want to have their cake and eat it too, so they want to have the ticket sales of a home team and the built-in audience there, but also have the spectacle of a one-off game, which means that the team that has gotten, that is judge in Concaf's algorithms to have gotten superior results in the tournament up until the final gets to host the final, which is just, God, it really, on surely competitive levels, it doesn't, it shouldn't bother me as much, but it's such a, it's such an airhead way to do it.

And it makes it that much harder for, for MLS because you don't want to have to go win a final in Mexico, right? And that means that you've got to be super good on the way. You don't just get there. You have superior results to your opponent. All right. Okay. So that's that's conca champions. Conca champions.

That's conca champions. Can you give us like three, four good MLS weekend plot lines before we get out of here? Yeah, yeah. So let's start from the USM&T lens. We got Josh Sargent versus possibly Miles Robinson. He's day to day with the injury he picked up in US camp in Toronto versus Cincinnati tomorrow. Sebastian Bearhalter versus Matt Freeze, Vancouver host New York City FC. And I guess we got to say Brian White and Tristan Blackman are in the mix too there.

We talked about what the Agamong injury could mean for US-9s. I'm curious as to whether the ongoing issues at Centerback opened the door for Blackman, who is very inexperienced international level, but he's got a lot of potch-friendly attributes. guys really good defending in space, really comfortable with a team that presses and pushes high and takes risks. So curious is whether he might be on the radar. Speaking of problematic centerbacks, I'd be fine.

I'd be fine with a blackman call-out for the World Cup. Yeah, totally. There's not much. The cupboard is bare. The cupboard is pretty bare, I would say. Yeah, it's not great timing for that. And you know what? here's where Potch kind of already painted himself in a corner by saying, and he's right,

it is cruel to call up 30 or 35 guys and then for the last, for that, you know, the pre-world Cup camp and then trim it down. But these kind of topics are exactly why coaches have done this in the past. I think Clemsman and Bradley both did this, maybe others, but like you can galaxy brain yourself into thinking, I've just got to get a few more data points. I just got to watch these guys in person a little bit more, right? He says he's not going to do it. His 26 will be his 26, as well as some injury alternates who will be on standby.

But wouldn't you like to see, wouldn't it be interesting to see Tristan Blackman against Senegal or Germany? It would, right? It would. I mean, it would be more interesting than seeing Mark McKenzie there again. I mean, if Mark McKenzie is on the World Cup roster, I'm not going to complain about that either. but we kind of know what that's likely to result in, you know. You don't want to be, you know, we weren't supposed to be at this point where

Potra's still figuring out what he's got with days away from the World Cup. But that, that's kind of the deal. It's just there's more questions and answers in Central Defense. And I think if Vince were here, he would say Tim Riem-Wash to Watch as Charlotte hosts a very good Nashville side. We know Tim Reams is going to be on the roster, right? Is Tim Ream a starter? Or do you have to change the shape or factor in your centerback situation into what shape

you play in and build out of and so forth? Yeah. So I think Potch is rooting for Tim to show his best self over the next few weeks. And I would imagine many USM&T fans are as well, even if they have their individual doubts. But yeah, we'll see. Washed or not, he's starting. Yeah.

He's starting games at the World Cup. Yeah, I think so. I do think there's just too many other variables. And I think let's hope Pach learned from that Portugal experiment that you just can't change too many variables at once. So I suspect that when it's time for him to make the big decisions in the actual tournament, he's going to have to revert back to some known quant. quantities. Moving on, will the Red Bull, New York kids get ritually disembowled by

Messi and Miami at their new stadium on Saturday night? Or do they step up and shine? Yes. Yes. And it'll be good for their character. This is a fun ongoing narrative sort of within MLS. It's like whenever you play Messi in Miami, it's just a different spotlight. It's just the game feels different at the new stadiums is the second game at new stadium and you and uh yeah so some people grab it some people find a different level others others get shook so i'm really curious to see how how michael bradley and the youths them deal with that that spotlight um in the midwest bruce arena's red hot san jose earthquakes visit lowly sporting kc will this provide bells another opportunity to build the

Nico Securis Agenda. Of course it will, yeah. I love this. I love that Bruce is doing well again. Was there ever any doubt? And then I love that, you know, one of his high performing players is one of the youth national team guys because, or one of the former youth national team guys. Because, you know, Bruce has never been like a player kid's, what's the word, advocate.

You know, he's never been a big promoter of that, of that lifestyle. Although, it's kind of cool. Although, he's playing a lot of kids now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the OGs would say that he's, would say that he's the one who brought Landon and DeMarcus into the first team. Yeah, you're right. You're right.

And they were both, that's a long time ago. They were both 19 years old, right? Yeah, but it's a, the, the Bruce Quakes, who are in year two have rocketed from, from bottom dwellers to, to one of the league's best so far. So fun. Another question for you, Bells, is Max Arfston on the bubble? His crew host Lully Orlando on Sunday night soccer. This is the showcase match for MLS. Should be an emphatic W for Columbus.

They finally booked their first win last weekend on a new coach, Henrik Riddstrom. I have a Q&A coming out with him. Very interesting, dude. Arfston is interesting to me because, and I wrote about this midweek, in my opinion, he's quite useful when they build out in that three, four, one, let's call it, with wingbacks. To me, he's barely on the squad if you're asking him to be a more traditional fullback and a fourback.

I think he might be on the bubble. I don't, again, I don't, at least I don't think right now I feel that strongly about him coming or not coming to the World Cup because I also don't feel strongly about the other alternatives. Joe Scali, I guess John. Tolkien is in that conversation somewhere, although he seems like a distant, distant possibility.

I mean, it's, I want, I want to see Sergenio Dest, if, you know, I want him to get back to health so he can play, and I want to see Jedi Robinson. I think Tim Wea is probably the next guy up at right back. Might even be the first guy up over Surge, because I think he's, even though he's a

converted attacker, he's a little bit stronger defender than Dest is. And, you know, it gets a player like doku like he did doku got the better of him for belgium but doco gets the better of everybody and and wea did um put up some resistance there so so i guess my answer is i uh arf still might be on the bubble i'm i'm a little ambivalent about it one way or not he could come in to a world cup game and provide a moment of a memorable moment you know that scores us a goal in that wing back position you're talking about because like because when even if he is not

nominally a fullback for us. He is going to be playing up high in the attack. The problem is, and this may be why you say he's barely in the squad as a fullback, is he can't defend. You know, and I can't defend that well. Yeah, 1v1 on the corner, that's a little, if you think back to that Swiss, I think I was a Swiss game and he was asked to be a traditional left back, and it was ugly. So it's like a, it's like dribbling up, dribbling against a 42-year-old with a strained monotonous. Who could that be? But if the other thing is, I don't know how old you are.

I just threw that 80. 40 something. Yeah, 42 flatters me. No, but the, I do think he's one of Potch's guys. I think, I think consciously or not, Pottch considers him a success story of the, of the tenure. So far, I'm, I think, and this is where it's a great time to move on to my next bullet point. and I'll bring it all around here. Rail Salt Lake have a bye week this weekend,

which is sub-optimal timing for Diego Luna, given his hunt for top form, but also the growing possibility of a Zavier-Gozzo-U-SM-N-T discourse. And this touches on the Arsden Dest, and honestly Brenda conversation that you guys got into this a little bit the other day, you want someone to come off the bench and change a game, right? And one of the easier ways to do that,

especially when we enter the tactics free zone, and given that international soccer often is less structured towards the towards the end of games, who's going to come on and beat someone 1v1? Who's going to go on there and create, you know, disruptive problems for an opposing defense to solve? I think we'd say Brenda is a candidate to do that kind of stuff. You would love to have Dest doing that, assuming his recovery goes well. I think when Arson's best moments in the U.S. shirt have come from moments

where he's liberated to get into the final third and go at somebody. And he's genuinely two-footed. I've seen him cross up. And I was interesting to watch him against some of the little moments against elite opponents in March. He can get past a top-flight defender. The stepover he does, I've seen it a lot now. It shouldn't work as well as it does, but it does. And then the other day in the cruise win at Atlanta, he actually switched wings and was

sending in good service from the right flank. I think he had the game clinching assist, one of the goal, one of the one of the assists of the game. So like the guy can do it on either side. And I think maybe it's maybe Arsson ends up being that guy. We thought he might be a starting fullback not that long ago. I think maybe he's better off being a super sub winger. And Pach has repeatedly lamented the, the dearth of wing options. Yeah.

And sorry. If you want to go to that field, man. Yeah, Gozo's the hot youngster who's doing this every week for Salt Lake. Yeah. Does he have the connected balls, though, to go past an elite defender at the World Cup? You know? You know what I mean? Yeah.

Like, he's, he can dribble by people. He's not like just doing it repeatedly throughout the game. And, but all that said, I mean, that goal he scored last weekend. Healthy. That is, that is the stuff. The people that I talked to, I got to sit down with him. Sorry to cut you off. I'm sorry about that.

No, that's okay. But when I sat down with him in preseason and talked to people on Salt Lake, the thing that everybody brings up is this kid is a freak in athletic terms. Like physically, all his metrics are like so far ahead of the curve for someone his age. I mean, that's what he's riding right now. That's his difference making characteristic. And I suspect it would also be a. be effective even at that level in the World Cup.

Yeah, maybe he can come in just with that with a sort of helpful cluelessness about what the occasion is. And to be fair, he did. He was a key contributor in the U-20 World Cup. I think he was the second youngest player on that squad and came off the bench and changed games with goals and assists. Yeah. Incredible segue work there, Charlie, too, because he was, he's still eligible for the next

U-20 World Cup. And there's a great, I'm not going to get into a detail on it, but there's a great interview from Brian Shoretta on Soccer America's website with Gonzalez Sigaris, the new U-20 coach who was the U-17 coach. It's worth reading. It's an exciting group of players. Kevin Sullivan, Matt, Matisse Albert, Gozo, Peyton Miller, Julian Hall, who has five goals already this season for the Red Bulls.

Aidan has Arcani, who has two goals for Rae-Soul. Lake alongside Gozo. And Audrey Mametti is also eligible. I think he might be a little too young. So anyway, check that out. Thank you, Charlie. Have a great weekend. Get some ice on that knee.

And we'll see ya.