Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #682: Tyler gets a big win, Pulisic bright in big loss

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

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Welcome to the scuff podcast when we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, it's the Monday Review. We got Tyler Adams back on the field for a big win for Bournemouth. And the New York Red Bulls are alive in Miami. Peppy scored, Ballow scored. Vince, how you doing? Look, man, I'm doing great. And before we get started, let me just go ahead and say this.

I want to give a big shout out to all my boys that have beat the cheating allegations you know what I'm saying I want to go ahead I want to get it started right there shout out to everybody that I'm braved and beat the cheating allegations or any type of allegation that was made against you

that was a falsehood and you were able to come out on top unequivocally you know what I'm saying uh haters haters will hate haters will hate haters will hate

but you know I this is you know watching you try to calibrate yourself right now is absolutely hilarious I just had

this guy think about what I'm what I'm about to say I you know I feel a little bit of shame for even going here in the first place

that this is why I had to sit here and calibrate because to be honest this is kind of a traditional

traditionally mundane Christian Polistic issue that really should not have gotten all the attention that they got in the first place you know the idea the quote being Mayans was on Raya

before it even ended the idea that they could start that type of firestorm is ridiculous in it of itself in the first place you know what I'm saying but the thing is is like I thought it was just

going to be left there everyone that thought Christian Polisic was a cheater would continue to think he's a cheater, whatever. And I don't even care if he is a cheater. And I don't care if people really think that he is a cheater, even though I was kind of surprised to see some of the, like,

moral feigning. Is that the word? I don't know. People are, you know, I mean, I'm anti-cheater. Yeah, but go ahead. You know, I'm going to go ahead and do it.

I don't want to put my, I was raised by a cheater, okay? You know, I've been forged in the fires of adultery. I've been taking on different dates with, you know, different women weeks apart, you know what I'm saying? As a matter of fact, I even had to as a, yeah, I'm going all the way there. As like an eight or nine year old, I remember this specifically. One of my, the family member who should not be named. One of their girlfriends looked at me is like, he's not dating anybody else, is he?

I had to look at it. I had to look at this lady, this lady that. dead in their eyes, be like, oh, no, no, knowing that I was on a date with somebody else just a week before, you know what I said? I used to, I used to, I used to, I used to, I used to get packed along. I was a pack mule. I was forged, man, and, you know, and I think that is part of my, that's part of my story, it's part of my experience, and part of the reason why I do think a lot of different reasons to cheat, okay? A lot of different reasons for it to happen. I'm not saying all of them are acceptable. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.

act in and of itself is acceptable. That's not what I'm saying at all. But I do understand like kind of the humanity behind it and why it can't happen. But, but, but before I go any further, I want to be clear. Mans was on riot before it even ended, quote, end quote, means nothing. That's just a sentence that is written on the internet. You know what I'm saying? And so, yeah, we went through this.

I thought it would just end there and, you know, it would just be left in the ether, whatever, but, you know, to have that turn of fortune where Alexa comes out and puts on her social media that, you know, this is, I was, I was, in the words of Stephen A. Smith, let us stray, run am a muck. Bambuzy. Hood winked. Yeah. It was like, which I was trying to warn people. Like, bro, like, this is, look, if you're going to unlaw. unload the clip on somebody, which I feel like she thought she was doing right there with

Manz was on riot before it even ended. You would have said something better than that. You would have substantiated the Sydney Swini rumors or something. You know, like, I need more than Manz was on riot before it even ended to say somebody. But anyway, anyway. Yeah, Alexa, write an apology Instagram post. Because, you know, I've been in this situation, man. with my now, with my now wife, beautiful, loving, wife, you know, I've been in this situation

and, you know, it's just one of those things, like once it gets to the semantics part, it's kind of like you've already lost in like the court of public opinion where it'd be like with the friends or with the girl herself or if she gets her parents in on it and her parents that you're a cheater when it's like it's like no no I was actually not dating this girl that you say I'm cheated with at the time that I did I did I have my eye was my eye maybe wandering as as the candlelight was flickering out in this relationship and I sensed it you sensed it and that I and did I make some that I make some vacation plans yeah you know what I'm saying Annabelle's did I did I make dinner plans while I was still eating my lunch yeah maybe

Maybe. But there's like two or three steps in between that and cheating to me, to me. So I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me. We got a lot of men of the cloth that listen to this show. Yeah. Quite a few. Yeah. More than you would think.

I don't know. Maybe. Yeah, I have no way to verify that, but I do have a sense that there is a fair amount of that. Yeah. Yeah. And so maybe they'll come to me with a couple verses and be like, here, Vince, this is why you're wrong, you know. Especially some Old Testament, some Old Testament verses. That seems like, you know, that Old Testament, that's when they was really cut off your arm for some.

Yeah, I mean, for some Mans was on riot before it even ended. Or worse. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, just hearsay. Just hearsay. We get you stoned. You know what I'm saying? But I guess I'm, I guess to wrap this all up, I'm here to say, he without sin.

Cast, yeah. He without sin. Throw the first stone. I saw a lot of throwing stone throwing, Adam Bells. There was. There was a lot. Yeah. And I, you know, I don't think I've ever told you this, but I found out, I found out like a year ago, maybe it was, that my girlfriend in 10th grade cheated on me with my friend.

A year ago. Yeah, dude. He was just in an offhanded way. was telling me about how they, you know, how they got together over spring break. And I was like, I was like, I got my fingers out. I was like, wait a second. I was a little shook. I was a little shook.

I mean, like, I didn't, I broke up with that girl like a month and a half later. But man, she was already gone. She was gone, gone, gone. Girl was on Raya before it even ended. More than Raya, brother. Yeah. Good friend of mine, too. And, like, he was like, he was like, man, I thought you knew.

I didn't let him know that I was a little shook up by it. But anyway. Oh, this is what I, this is what I want to talk about. Like, it is interesting. But, you know, you play situations back in your head from, like, when you were younger or whatever. Like, for instance, there's this situation in my life when I was probably, like, I was around 18. I was in between the high school, my high school graduation and going off to college. I'm not going to get into the whole situation

But basically what The end of the story is I got curved Okay Curved meaning You know what I'm saying A girl politely said Thanks but no thanks

You know what I'm saying Adam Bells let me tell you this I didn't realize that that's what happened Until I was like 31 years old Right Like you thought she still liked you Or you know Yeah

You know He was just random memories pop in your head. I'm like, oh, oh, that's what she meant when she's... You know what I'm saying? Because shout out to her. Did it in a very, very nice way. You know what I'm saying?

Very respectable way to where it wasn't... You know, the language was such to where... You didn't even feel... You thought you were still winning. Yeah. Bro, you know what I'm saying? I thought I was still winning. I was still winning.

But, you know, relationships, etc. The things that go on within them. I mean, you know, Bells, we've talked about this. Me and you. off camera just on different things that are going on in our lives not not with our relationships to be clear to be clear but um you know yeah it's always interesting it is it's always it is complicated and when you say there's always a reason to cheat i think back to this 10th grade girlfriend of mine who it turns out did cheat on me i didn't even know it until i was like 41 or

something yeah but um yeah i was a terrible boyfriend you know i wasn't like mean to her i was just I was just like I knew I liked girls, but I did not understand how to like, you know, be a good romantic partner at all. Yeah. And so, you know, she was, she could, she could feel that like she wasn't going to get anywhere with me on that front. And man, she went on spring break with David Welzing and, you know, the rest is history. This was, they went to a place or they were. I think he went to her house. And she was, he was like buddies.

He was like buddies with everybody, you know. So I didn't, I didn't even notice that they went. Whatever. Yeah. So anyway, congrats to Christian. People are going to be like, why are you guys talking about this again? It was a real thing, man. He was being internationally blasted for what he did not do.

It appeared. It turned out. So he got back, you know, he started against Udnese. Let's just get that right out of the way. Let's do it. A.C. Milan lost 3-0 at home. But, man, it's actually a pretty good outing from Christian. He was all over the place.

Created a bunch of chances. Milan, Milan, okay, Milan lost 30. That's not good. They did kind of dominate the game. It was a little bit of a smash-and-grab job, and the ball just didn't go in. I think they got like almost 3xG, 20 shots.

three on target three on target out of 20 Rafa Rafa looked a little bit brighter than usual but it's still not the same Rafa he was like feels like he was two years ago Yeah definitely not Yeah and

You know there was a You know it's been a little controversy between Their relationship talk about relationships Once again Rafa and Christian politics relationship is Christian Polisicic on Ryan looking at teammates before it even ended type of thing but you know we get

in this match you know you had Christian finding Rafa Leah quite a bit including a cross from the what left side that Rafa met tried to meet with his right foot in step at the far post and kind of got it wrong just off maybe

just a little bit yep maybe the foot couldn't get up high enough to reach the ball something well actually you know what you would want rafa to do a little bit better with that but you know salamockers wanted him to do a little better because solomockers was arriving at the back post behind him yeah yeah yeah well nice defense there roth yeah um so that's that's something that that relationship might be on the men there um also christian you know he looked better than he's i don't want to say better than he's look but he looked he looked he looked he looked he looked Pretty damn good. Better than he looked for the U.S. in the window, that's for sure. For sure. No doubt about that.

A little sequence along the left touch line where he basically gets to a point where he is... Surrounded by a triangle of defenders. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say trapped. But yeah, by a triangle of Udine defenders. And Christian dribbles like all three of them. And comes out on the other side like unscathed.

Yeah. Like with the ball carrying it towards the back line. And then he, and then, you know what he does? He lays it off to Rapha Leo. He says, you know what, Rafi, you're standing right there. I've done all this word. You could have a ball. Rafa passes it backwards and then they just kind of set up possession.

But, you know, that was, that gesture did not go unnoticed as well. You love to see it. Yeah. You do love to see it. And that's part of the reason why I did want to start with like the kind of whatever, controversy around Christian and everything. Because we don't have a lot of storylines. And the one storyline that does matter.

or that seems to matter to people is Christian Policic in this slump that he's in, has not scored for A.C. Milan, I did the math. 785 minutes. The entirety of 2026. Has not scored a goal. Has an assist, I think. But here at the Monday Review, we are here to tell you that everything is looking pretty, Pretty darned. Yeah, I think so. He also had a nice slalom-ling run across the top of the box, left, cutting in on his right,

where he took a shot, I think, from about 16. It went wide left. That was the one that probably should have, could have been a goal. Yeah. Yeah, he finishes that a lot of the time. Anyway, A.C. Milan, they're out. They're not going to get, they're not going to win the title. That's over.

So now they're just kind of just holding on. for a Champions League spot, which they and Juventus both have. Juventus lost 1-0. Why is Wes not in the lineup? Was he suspended or something? Yeah, he had an accumulation. All right.

Fott Mob doesn't do a great job of noting that. Let's talk about Tyler. Because Bormouth beat your guys, Arsenal, at the Emirates 2-1, threw a little wrench in their title parade. I mean, they're still in, pole position, but Adams came on in the 70th minute.

He did what he does. Provided cover, cleaned some stuff up, started some drama, played a little head tennis at midfield in the lead-up to Bormann's game winner, which, I mean, truth be told, was a lovely sequence that he had nothing really to do with. But he looks like Pulisic, he looks, I'd say he looks sprightly out there, quick and scrappy. the Tyler Adams we know and love I guess this is the important thing Yeah

And what a great win for For Bormouth You know They'll be celebrating Down on the south coast of England Or they're probably done celebrating already They're getting on with their lives Yeah

We go again Type of thing Peppy scored A header goal And a two zero win I mean that's a lame duck campaign For them They already won the

They already won the title, but they still got to go out there and play against the Air Divisi opponent. So they beat Sparta Rotterdam 2-0. He was, you know, he scored the goal, which was well dispatched. But outside of that, man, pretty uneven from him as is customary. You know, he missed a chance right in front of goal. He got hit really hard at him across the face of goal. And he asked, afterwards he complained that it wasn't like just played to his feet.

a little more, a little more gently. But sometimes when he gets his ball, when he gets the ball with his back to goal, it's just sad how easily he crumples. And it seems like it's getting worse. You know, I have to almost think it's like a side effect from the arm. You think so?

Yeah, I mean, you need your arms. You do. Yeah. Because it's looking so bad, you know? Um, whereas, like, it seems like he's regressing in that regard. And you had, I just, I don't know. But even before the arm, I think, you know, we saw some, to see some evidence of this happening.

Um, so, I don't know. He's just a bit flimsy. It's just. Yeah. And if you're flimsy, it's hard for you to show your technique because you can't really, you can't stay in control of what your body is doing. Yeah, it's, it's a contrast between. You know, Rico and the person will talk about next, I guess.

Filarin, Jerry, Bolligan. Score once again, this time it gets Paris. F.C. Not to be confused with Paris Saint-Germain. But he loves going to Peri, but, brother. Yeah, he loves it there. He does. They did lose the game 4-1. I got nothing to do with me.

Nope, nothing to do with you, or maybe really nothing to do with flow. I mean, something to do with flow. He did miss a chance. They were already down 3-0. A ball gets looped to the back post. I only bring it up, not because of such a bad miss or anything. I mean, it's kind of like just skimmed over the head of the defender right in front of him. And then he just couldn't react in time and he kind of thied it over the goal.

But, man, he went down on the grass and he got this incredible close-up of his face. And he's just like, he's looking around like, what the hell just happened? How did it happen? and I mean the camera's like on his face but the goal he scored was just a really nice through ball guy teammate receives it was it Zachariah receives it in the middle of the park and um

and then flow passes flow runs in behind the the center back and it's just a perfectly weighted through ball and then he slots it past the keeper grabs the ball as it rebounds out of the net and sprints back to midfield because his team was down 3-1. Anyway, that's what I got on Flo. Another goal.

Yeah. Another goal, brother. I mean, what we're up to? We got some real big boy gold tallies going on right now. 17 goals, four assists for Flo Battlegunn over this season. 11 in league on, five in the Champions League, one in the Coupe de France. You know what I'm saying? It's a pretty good season at Monaco, you know?

That's real work, brother. one pin one pen out of that so i think he has matched his uh his non-penity goal tally from the goal tally from the season with the french club ronts i'm in my head i'm in my head about ricardo peppy 14 goals two assists this season three in the champions league one assist in the championship league as well 11 in the air divisi one assist well it's good let's go let's go I don't know if you know I feel like you did notice We haven't talked about this directly

But I remember That first Match of the league on season The Monaco play The Flo started in, I think It was like We watched these matches independently Of course

But it seemed And I don't think he even scored That match Maybe he did I don't know I don't think he did But I feel like we both came away With the same takeaway

That was like Flo was back He's looking like a real serious player It was one of the those, I feel like you don't, maybe you can see that in soccer this much where it's like, player goes off for a summer, it comes back, starts the season off, and it's like, oh, he's added something to his game, you know, where a flow, like it seemed like he really got in the gym, you know, he talked about the team of people he had around him. That's, I forgot where he talked about

that from, but the team of people he has around him, I guess, like, maintaining his body, getting his body right and all that stuff. It really just, as soon as the league all season started, I was just pretty confident. Like, I had already been confident in flow. I never lost confidence or anything like that, even as, you know, his Monaco start over those two seasons or whatever, kind of sputtered, whatever, do the health and other reasons or whatever the hell. But it was just like, as soon as the league all season started,

and I saw him out there, and I saw how he was playing, and how he was able to put centerbacks on his back and truly keep him there and control him from that position. I was like, yeah, we're going to be even good this season, brother. this is why you know it's like this is why people say that

XG is the thing that really matters not you know the ball go in part which I don't entirely agree with but this is why because because you can see you could see even when Flo wasn't scoring goals

that he was going to you'd be able to use that physical strength that skill set to get in position to score goals and it turns out that's true. There's a repeatability to the way he can get into the position to score. And it's starting to track a little bit.

The ball go in with the XG. Crystal Palace beats Newcastle at home to 1. Richards went 90, had some good moments kind of closing on attackers and taking the ball from them, not at fault for the goal. He did. I do think, you know, still think the Air Richards moniker is like completely off you know we there's been periods of this podcast where we've been tracking his aerial duels and saying like they're looking a little

better it's looking a little better it's still not he's still not very commanding in the air and the example I give here is the very like at the very death of this game Newcastle loops it like boots it long Richards has a chance to head it way and it's going to be the final whistle. Like, if he heads it back the other direction, game over, it was like 98th minute, there was supposed to be only five minutes of stoppage time. There was a metetta goal in stoppage time, which added to the stoppage time on stoppage time. But Richers has a chance to head it away.

He cannot deal with it. And it gets headed into the box and then it gets cleared for a corner kick. And Newcastle gets a corner kick at the very end of the game, which they don't convert on, but it's not the kind of, it's not the kind of corner kick you want to, it's not the kind of corner kick you want to concede right there at the end of the game. So, not quite Air Richards, I would say. Yeah. And those things, I mean, you talk about business handling, right? That's part of it. Yeah. Right. You don't, you don't handle that business in the air. If you don't definitively, especially in the Premier League, like, win those defensive headers. If you don't dump that thing, the other, other way, where it came from, you are setting yourself up for potential disaster every time, every single time. Yeah. It was like any, any messing around on that situation specifically.

Like the attacker doesn't even have to win the header necessarily, but just muddy it up just enough to where you don't head it away cleanly or whatever, a loose ball bouncing around the midway line or whatever the hell with a kind of. unset defensive shape. Yeah. Because maybe you were in position to press and they didn't hit it over the press, et cetera. You know, that's no good. Got to handle that business.

I trust Chris will do it when the world is watching. We have no other options, right? We don't. Tristan Blackman? Thinking about Tristan Blackman at all? No, I'm not thinking about Tristan Blackman, but I didn't disagree with your statement on the pod with Chuck. that, you know,

it doesn't really matter. Bring whatever center back we can bring at this point. Yeah. Okay, let's take a break and then we'll come back and briefly talk about MLS. There's a few things to mention. We'll be back. And we're back.

New York Red Bulls went and got a draw at Inter Miami. The kids kind of stunned the crowd down there and Little Messy. I mean, they didn't get a win, so I don't want to be over dramatic about it, but Julian Hall had two assists in the game, both really, really nice from him. The first one comes,

he does sort of a balligan impression, runs onto a ball in the channel, chops it onto his left foot, and then plays it right into the path of his teammate Jorge Ruvulcaba, who I had never heard of until today. I'm a big fan of Jorge Rovalcaba. as a person who's watched the in the in the discord i got to make sure i give this uh i think ironist

coal i think came up with the moniker the um the red calves okay for the nice for the specifically young bunch of uh of new york red bull team uh that's that goes out there weekly yeah um i've watched i've watched a lot of them and i like i like ruvalcaba he's just a busy he's a busy little player um he would probably drive me crazy if he was on my soccer team. But he's a, yeah, I like him. I like him. He's a, he's a, he's a good attacker, I think. He gets, this is, this is his only goal of the MLS season so far. You know, he just got here from Pumas. Okay. Yeah, he's a 24-year-old Mexican international. He, he, he, he, he finished this nicely. It was, it was put on a platter for him by Hall. I mean, Hall is the, Hall is the reason for the goal.

And then Hall gets an assist late. So they give up two goals to enter Miami. And then Hall gets an assist late. He's got the ball back to goal in his own box. A little he's he'll turn and dribble to the end line. And then he fizzes it across. And none other than Audrey Mehmeti slides and stabs at home for the equalizer. And you know Michael Bradley's over there feeling vindicated.

He just loves. He's just saying, look at me now, world. and um Vince specifically I still think about him him and Mehdi talking about being alive alive to alive to training alive to the game bring life

yeah bring life yeah and you know what Michael Bradley you can you can talk your you can talk your ass right now because you know the Red Bulls are legitimately good you know maybe this fizzles out when all these young legs get tired or whatever but it's a good team man it's a good team

i watched um audrey specifically um in this match and it's like brother continues to get better better or better man yeah yeah it's like because i i heard some pushback not not pushback necessarily but like you know people watch the clip notes or whatever or watch the comps that um have been made of Audrey or whatever, and he was operating in a ton of space. You know, had the opportunity to pick up the ball, pick up his head,

find the forward pass, whatever. That's MLS, baby, you know. Gotta join a travel team if you want better competition. Travel team. Yeah,

I didn't have any rebuttal to that. But in this match, it kind of started off that way. But into Miami, found a way to kind of get pressure to Audrey, when, you know, he was operating against their set defense or whatever. And it's like, and you can kind of tell when somebody's boistered by the time and space that they have versus not, kind of.

It's like his first touch is always extremely close to him. He does not give you an opportunity to get the ball. When he did have those moments prior to this match where, you know, he did have to be precise with it. You know, and even when he didn't have to be precise with it, you know, you didn't see any loose, careless. touches from him. He keeps the ball by his side and he's always pretty damn accurate with the past and yeah, so saw it in this match and then even like, so they go down and, you know, Audrey actually a failed defensive intervention from him from somebody, slidlinglinger across the top of the box from the right to left, um, on into Miami. Like he gets a foot in

and he knocks the ball away, but he basically plays a through ball, not like a through ball, but basically He plays like a little pass for whoever scored Inter-Miamy second goal to score from. You know, he, not an own goal, but an own assist. Yep, I got you. Basically. And to get them back in the game, like, Audrey turned it up. Like, you know, he was kind of the catalyst for the Red Bulls equalizing. And then keeping the draw even after that.

they equalized. You know what I'm saying? Like really taking charge in that midfield like really, I mean, commanded the game, man. Like as a, as a seven, I think he just turned 17. Now as a 17 year old, like man, he's, he's a real damn deal. And, you know, I've said this before. But it just continues. Like, you know, Chuck was talking about, you know, a lot of MLS teams been talking like the, the, enter Miami in Miami test. Yeah. Which, you know, maybe the new stadium, as its name doesn't have the same aura as the as the make of field and Fort Lauderdale whatever I don't know I don't know

but whatever test Charlie Chuck Boehm was talking about yeah they passed it they passed it man specifically it's the reigning champs it's they got they got Babe Ruth on their team you know I mean they have he tackled Babe Ruth in this match by the way

messy was carrying the ball into the box here comes Audrey Mehdi boom knock the ball away from him. I know that had to feel good for him. Yeah. I know that had to feel real good. So, yeah, man. I mean, there's just not enough good things I can say about this kid. He's the real deal.

That's awesome. That's awesome. And MLS is going to have him, I think, for another year. Like, he can't leave, I don't think, before he turns 18. I don't think he. I don't think Albania got that typo. Can we get him on the U-20 team for the World Cup next year? I hope so. Because, uh, I'm afraid he's going to.

Might be too good. Yeah. That's true. But I'm also afraid he's going to go, you know, he's not going to play for us. I don't know. I think I saw some things. I don't, I saw some things somewhere that the family, like this isn't like, they're not playing for the U.S. because they lean Albania type of thing.

Like they truly are focused on his club career. And I don't think they were, I think I saw something like, they weren't impressed by like, the Albanian situation either from the camps that he went to either. I guess I'm saying either is a strong word there. I wasn't impressed about the Albanian situation, just in general. So never going to play in a World Cup if you go play for Albania, probably. Yeah. Shout out to them, shout to the double eagles, but, you know.

Yeah. Okay. So further west, the earthquakes, San Jose earthquakes, coached by the greatest of all time, Bruce Rina. Bees sporting KC 3-1 in Kansas. I just bring it up because Nico Shakiris is, he's starting to look like a bit of a difference maker in Major League Soccer. He got, he had the assist for the first goal.

They were down 1-0 on the road against, admittedly, a very weak opponent. But he gets the ball in the half space, the corner of the box, goes at two guys, fizzes it across the and it just gets swept in by Skahan, I think is his name. Kind of look like a Tim Wea play. The way he got that cross across with his weak foot, no less. And then he keyed the second goal by just playing a nice through ball to a guy going down the wing. I mean, who knows where the defense was on this play. But they did convert.

and Nico's looking good. Vancouver beat NYCFC at home. No real blame for Matt Freeze on the two goals, so it's 2-0 to the white caps. Burrhalter had a set piece dime on the first one. Brian White and his conspicuous mouthguard scored the second goal on a header. He has six goals this season, which is more appearances than Josh Sargent has for Toronto FC. All right. But,

Brian, dude, Brian's the, is he the only guy in MLS who wears a mouth guard all the time? I mean, the dude loves his teeth.

I mean, he does have pretty good teeth, doesn't he? Yes, and then also, I mean, I would assume that. It's a concussion thing.

No, no, no, I would assume the other answer is yes as well as far as being the only man to wear a mouthguard. It could be a concussion thing.

I don't, does Brian White have a big history in concussion? I don't know. I don't know. He has a big history in mouthguards, that's for sure. You know, I forgot about mouthguards as safeguards against concussion. But then I remembered that our mouthpieces in college, the ones provided by the team.

Shock doctor brand. Shock doctor. You know what I'm saying? So you get your bell rung as long as you're biting on that mouthpiece. You're fine. You should be fine. I mean, get back in the game. Right.

Smell and salts. Yeah. The one, we'll leave with this, I think, but the one high-profile youngster who isn't getting much time on the field in MLS right now is Kevin Sullivan. Tom Bogart has a piece on this in the athletic, which is worth checking out. On a limited sample size, obviously, because he barely plays, Sullivan has created more big chances per 90 than anyone else in MLS. this season.

So it's like when he has gotten a chance, he's done it. Sporting Casey apparently offered to take him on loan because they see he's not playing much. And talks never got off the ground because Philadelphia wasn't interested. So for now, he's just going to sit on Bradley Carnell's bench. He came on, I think, for like the 90th minute, in the 90th minute.

Same actually is true of Malik Tillman at Leverkusen. They got a kind of an important. and win at Dortmund over the weekend. Malik, unfortunately, had nothing to do with it. Yep. Tantestment as well. Guy came in on the 86 minute or something like that. Yeah, had nothing to do with their two-no win over a L'Oreal.

Johnny still hurt, still out for Athletico. They lost to Sevilla. Yes, 2-1, I want to say. Yep. Um, well, before we... To lose lost 4-0. Mark McKenzie got Rickard. Ooh.

Which, I didn't see what the inciting incident was, unfortunately. But did you see Cabin's assist last week, though? I had an assist against Charlotte. Actually, don't think I did. It's like a cross that comes in, that he kind of helps along with, like, his left boot very, very deftly. Oh, maybe I didn't see that, yeah. You know what I'm talking about?

I meant to talk about that last week. I forgot. But that was a nice, that was a nice soccer play right there. I'm kind of excited about this U-20 cohort, because we'll get to see, hopefully get to see them play together. Coming along. Matisse Albert was on the bench for Dorman. This weekend.

So. Yeah. Things are coming along, man. I mean, look, I went back and watched some Xavier Gozo. Real Salt Lake has a bye week this week for what we doing. They played April 4th. They don't play to like April 18th. Like, what was we doing?

The season just started. But anyway, I went back and watched. most of Xavier Gozo's menace this season. You ready to call him up? Once again, I wouldn't be mad. I wouldn't be mad. And I am going to, I am acknowledging that the range of outcomes are extremely wide. You know what I'm saying?

For this situation, this is not a, you know, we say that he gives us something different, et cetera. He might give us nothing. Yeah. That's the thing. That's the thing about all his do. that give us something different, quote on quote, you know. Does it scale up against whatever type of competition? Will the lights be too bright, et cetera, et cetera?

You know, all those factor into the equation and can affect the outcome. But, you know, who else we spend that roster spot on? Like we talked about. Yeah, that's right. Well, let's bring them in. Why not? And we're going to Germany on Friday. So safe travels to us.

We'll do at least one, maybe two shows while we're there. Got interviews with Adam Elder, the author of New Kids on the Block, or New Kids at the World Cup, I think, is the name of it, a book about the 1990 World Cup team, which I think is going to be a fun conversation. And I'm going to talk to Anise Mersey, I think I've said this before, who runs 703 Warriors, which is a free grassroots, free but excellent grassroots soccer program in the D.C. area. Those are both coming up in the next few days. Thank you for listening if you want to skip the ads. Hold on. Real quick. It's just popped in my head. Do I have to get on Charlie Bone for tearing his meniscus in the same way that I got on Rico Pepe? I don't think he fell. He just moved. He just moved in a way that was. Is that worse? No, it's not because it's like, because it's, because it's just, it's just, our knees are old.

man and like I can feel I can feel things moving in there the way they shouldn't sometimes when I move around I it's not you don't have to lose your balance for that to happen you know no for sure for sure um you are right I just I just felt I just felt the need to ask the question I thought about it um solely because uh Chuck is such a good sport but right I do think it's hilarious that he was crutching his way around Mercedes Ben Stadium and getting But they had to do the... Getting crap from Kyle Martino about it. Yeah.

That's funny. That's funny. I mean, they had to go to Fayetteville or whatever and do the tour around the new complex. Climb all over that construction site, you know, with your troubled meniscus. Tough. Tough. Tough scene, man. Yeah.

Father time comes for us all. That's right. All right. Father time has come for this episode. We'll see you.