Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #688: Pulisic's slump, strikers keep scoring, 5k troops withdrawn from Germany

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

Vince and Belz run down some of the news and performances from the past week. 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, World Cup is coming in just over a month, just over a month. And there's a lot of action to get through from the weekend. Vince, how you doing? I'm doing good, man. May. May is here. Like you said, the World Cup is upon us. And, you know, the general malaise that I've seen from some still has not lifted yet. You know, I don't know. World Cup doesn't have the equivalent of an opening ceremonies or whatever, but maybe we need to just get to that point and let the,

because you know how it is, man. Yeah. The Dumer sentiment grows so large and so loud. And I'm not here to say that, you know, there won't be some problems with this World Cup. There obviously will be. But once a month from now hits and those prices that were $800, $700, $700, are looking at have a 90% decrease

and we're looking at $70, $80 for a lot of these you know, kind of quote, unquote, no disrespect to anybody, undesirable matches. The ones with the less traveling fans, less of a diaspora in the United States,

all these different types of things. Once I gets here, once that hits and once people realize that, you know, that is the case, I think we're going to be good to go. We're going to be good to go.

But, you know, that combined with a lot of our, European players hitting the hitting the quarterback kneel you know to to kneel out this European season that is that is waning that is waning and coming to a close

clock just ticking down you know it it creates the conditions for what we have here but I'm on the up and up bro you know I'm on the other side of my I've been burnt out I burn myself out Adam Bells which you have warned me

against a number of times Like from basically when I started clip notes on, you're like, hey, watch out, bro. Watch out. It's going to come. And I would, I wasn't dismissing what you were saying. I was taking your wisdom with heed. You know what I'm saying? But it was like, well, while I'm feeling good, I'm going to keep on feeling good and pumping

these videos out or whatever. But I knew it was probably around the corner, but yeah, it came. It came. And, you know, I think being in Europe, you know, that's the thing. You have these things that restore the feeling. You know, it's kind of an overused phrase that's used in like internet lexicon or whatever. I had the first restoration when I went to that Japan match in Columbus.

And the performance there was so good. The USA versus Japan in Columbus. The performance there was so good. And, you know, I hadn't seen a, bro, hadn't seen a U.S. win in a minute. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'd be going to these games and we'd be loose. 4-0, 5-2.

Hey, it was a lot better when, you know, qualifying against El Salvador, you know, winning, obviously a lot better than losing or whatever. Winning's more fun. Soccer's fun, but it's more fun when you're winning. Yeah. So first one was that. Second one, you know, going over to Europe, getting back to the roots, what it's all about, what this game is all about, what it means to people,

seeing that, you know, in person. and kind of just starting from scratch, you know, washing myself with my sins as I crossed the pond, you know, on the plane kind of thing. And now I'm back in America, new man. So I say all that to say, clip notes coming out shortly after you hear my voice in this episode, man. We're back, baby.

We're back. Current clip notes. That's right. That's right. Here we go. We talked about this a little bit, but sometimes, yeah, there is like a cleansing effect of crossing the Atlantic. And part of it is,

that being away from your family and then coming back to your family is a powerful dynamic. And it is. It's good. It's good. It's good in some ways. This makes the heart grow fonder. It does indeed. Hey, let's talk about people kneeling, kneeling.

Oh, I disagree. But go ahead. Let's talk about some quarterbacks who've been kneeling. Chief among them, he decided to start kneeling right around Christmas is Christian Pulisic. This is what everyone is. talking about what is going on with Christian. What is it? 17 games scoreless.

He came on as he didn't even start this game over the weekend against Sasuolo. Ace Milan lost 2 to 0. Tamori got a red card. We got two yellow cards in the first half hour. And Pulisic came on. Didn't look great. Didn't look great. No.

Kind of like a couple of sort of pathetic giveaways by his standards, certainly. pathetic. Just got like just got mugged. Guy didn't even take him by surprise. Just faced him up and then took the ball from him twice. And I mean he did have a nice carry and then sprayed it down the right wing. But that's it though. And that was nice, but it was like in the in the buildup phase kind of, you know, he's he's in his own half doing that.

You know, it's cool, cool to see. But that's not what we're here for. But yeah, we're here for goals and assists. listening to you introduce this topic the the thought did occur to me that maybe he really is just that much of a of a patriot

that he you know he really did he really did decide to kneel this thing out you know what I'm saying? I was like bro that look I got some heat on me I got some heat on me man they on me I sat out the gold cup

last year and you know the thing the reason why I tried to spin it you know it was like oh well You know, the World Cup's coming up. I'm going to be there for that, though. I'm going to be there for that. Y'all know me.

Christian Polisic. I saw it for the big games, etc. Y'all, y'all remember when I scored that pin and took my, and the iconic picture that kind of defines this generation when you beat Mexico and. I haven't seen that picture for a while, by the way. It's. Is it going around now? No. No, no, it's not.

But I'm saying if you're Christian Belix's PR person, that's what you would, you would remind somebody of that. Yeah. And since it has slipped to the recess of people, he'd be like, oh, yeah, that Christian Blissick, yeah, you know what, you're right. He looks so badass in that picture. They all do, actually. Every single person does. It's truly amazing. He would also bring up the fact that he put his golden ads on the line for the country, you know, score the goals and it's knockout rounds, etc., etc.

But it turns out he puts his money where his mouth is and goes to Maximiliano Allegri. to his very small office, I'm sure. And he says, bro, I'm not going to do anything this whole semester. Yeah. Like, come on, man. I gave you almost a season's work for production. Yeah, it's true. For especially a Max Allegory attacker.

You know, let me go ahead and take six credit hours this semester, man. I'm good. I'm good. But for real, it's not, are you worried about it that he's not doing that well? You know, last week I said I wasn't, but, you know, you watch him not bring life to a game. Yeah. As a sub, especially. And yes, they were down to 10 men.

But, I mean, you know, when he got mugged like that, when he faced a dude up and, you know, you start doing your. your little feints like you're going to take somebody on everybody knows what I'm talking about. Yeah. You know, little two touches, hip wiggle, two touches hip wiggle type of thing. And bro was like, hey, quit the bullshit. Yeah. I noticed.

We can go ahead and skip past all this. Rig and my roll, I'm going to take the ball from you right now, Christian Polisic. And I don't like that. Yeah. I don't like that. I noticed the guy's last name was Kulibali. And I was like, man, there's a whole clan of Kulibali's who, would do the same thing to you, you know, across Europe.

There's so many. Truly. Anyway, I'm not worried, actually. I think I've said this before. People have tired me saying it, but it's like the World Cup is its own thing. It's going to be a moment in time. Pulisic is going to bring everything he has to it. I'd be surprised if he plays this way in any of those games.

Also, I'm going to just segue away over here. taking other people on, taking people on doing lots of those little body feints, and it worked. With Serginio Dest, back on the field. But PSV Einhoven came in as a sub against Iax. Very good news. Thought he looked explosive too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I am thinking about all the...

Lineup iterations? No, no, not line-up iterations, but you see these slate of games. that we got this week. You know, like, for instance, we missed surge by a week. Yeah. We missed surge by a week. I-X-PSV in Amsterdam. You know, we did get to see the arena upon entering Amsterdam.

I didn't see it. There's no reason to go that way unless you're going to a match. Are you saying you would give up on the Joe Scali, seeing Joe Scali score a goal? To see Desk to make a 20-minute cameo? Well, the thing is, is I much prefer the three games. You know what I'm saying? So you give me three guaranteed games.

Like we got... Yeah, yeah. Right. Like, I'm taking three games every time. So without a midweek, a yank abroad to go see, you know. But, you know, it's just, I guess I'm, I guess I'm being greedy. Hmm. You know, it sounds like you are, actually.

Yeah. You see I-X-X-PSV. You see. You see Glidebach Dortmund in Glibbock, you know, the away section that was kind of sparsely populated by Mainz fans. Filled to the brim. Yeah. With BVB fans. Yeah.

Anyway, back to the back to the. Okay. So also, I mean, yeah, he roasted his marker twice, Sergenio, that is, coming in off the bench, coming in from the left side and whipped two decent balls into the box. Take notes, Joe Scali, which we'll get to in a moment. Peppy also in this game and scored right away. 30 seconds in off a throw-in, kind of a back post-clean-up job. Man, just keeps scoring. Can't stop.

I think 43 goals in 100 matches for PSV. It's a ridiculous amount of output for the times that those goals have come in off the bench. Right. It's like you couldn't – these aren't 100 starts. it's like you can forgive him if they were like 25 and 100 given like how many starts he's had in those 100 but to be like you know one and two almost without I mean let's what 30% of those games have been starts or something yeah maybe even maybe not even that many right I hate to speculate on such a weighty matter well well before I just want to make sure

we pause and take this time because discord user a floves I was going to bring this up too I wasn't going to name him but well this person has made sure to come into the discord and be like hey vince hey bells make sure y'all give ricardo peppy some love and he he actually did this before we had even recorded about the match that we saw in einhoven and i and i admit to make sure we focused on it focus on the brace that peppy scored in front of our very own eyes and make sure we gave him some love we didn't we didn't yeah we didn't that was actually a mistake and It's our bad. Yeah.

Can I give him some love? Go ahead. Okay. So the goals, both of the goals he scored at the game that we were at were outstanding headers. Like, one of them was like a lean away off the bottom of the crossbar. Like totally unstoppable. So, I mean, what do you say? He finishes with every part of his body in really impressive ways.

I mean, even the finish this past weekend was like, I mean, it's not that easy to head that ball in. And he just buried it. Yeah. Coming in full speed in the way he is. Yeah. Yeah. Once again, it's interesting how coordinated, yeah, just how coordinated he looks scoring goals as opposed to. You know what?

We're supposed to be showing love to Rika. I don't want to say this. And I was going to say just a little more love. I mean, it's muted love. You know, this isn't, we're not like falling all over ourselves, but he did play pretty well in the buildup over the weekend, I thought, in limited opportunity. I think he was like seven of nine passing in 72 minutes, but he was good. He was solid in the holdup, and that's, I think, better than average for him this semester, this spring. So. Fair, fair.

He's coming to the World Cup, and he's going to probably score a goal or two. Okay. I'll be surprised if he doesn't, you know? And that's the thing, though, because first of all, shout out A Floves for listening. Shout out to you for interacting. Yeah. First of all, because, I mean,

a lot of people might have been like, hey, you know, they're not showing my boy no love. You know what? I'm done with scuffed. You know, like people, that's the thing about podcasts and people will turn you off for a lot of different reasons. And if they said it out loud, they might seem petty, they might not.

I'm a podcast consumer myself. I fully understand. But anyway, the comments got me to thinking about why I really don't show Rico enough love. And it's like, you know, part of it, right, is like his actual gameplay. Like I got questions about how he would survive at Fulham if that move ever does come to fruition or whatever the hell. But also, it's just the fact that that Mr. Fowler and Jerry Balagan exists. you know and like with that we had this question right we were

strikeer deprived strike a hungry very desperate for like one of these guys to hit bigly and you know without the existence of you know flow showing up to Orlando at the dog park and whatever transpired from there going to Yankee spring training etc etc um if that didn't happen

I would probably be hanging on Rico's every touch and a lot, in a much different way, in a much different way. And so that's the thing, well, that's the thing about his buildup play is it's, it's, he's capable of cleverness and he does good stuff in the buildup sometimes. He's just really inconsistent and like a little weak on the ball. And it's, it's not that what flow gives us is chance creation, you know, like what was the, what was the team's biggest weakness at the last World Cup, we just didn't create a lot.

And when you have Fuller and Balligan on the field, I think we create more than when we have any of the other strikers on by a pretty significant margin. And that's just what it is. But, look. But Pepe's, there's a place for Pepey, and he's, I think he's going to, I think he's going to deliver. He's probably going to score at the World Cup.

Yeah. On we go to, oh, I, we talked about Pulitzer earlier, but let me just read a quote from Gazette de los sport on him. It's pretty dramatic. They were not impressed with his performance. And here's the quote. They describe him as tormented, reeling from personal problems.

Pulisic has become unrecognizable. He appears to be heading down the same grim path as Laos. End quote. Pretty dark stuff from the Milanese newspaper. It's interesting how these things tend to follow Maximiliano Allegory. As much as I love a man So I I saw a tweet from Mattel Bonetti

The guy that does the You know Commentary on CBS matches Does the Sirias stuff Big Syriac guy Italian I think At least by heritage But anyway he made a tweet

A kind of a jocular delivery On the broadcast Which which I I appreciate I appreciate Anyway he did a tweet listing out all of A.C. Milan's transfer business over this past summer transfer window. And, okay, so it's listed out like this.

Incou, flop, 37 million. Joshari. Flop. Ritchie. Flop. Estupinan. Flop. De Winter.

Okay. Rabio, great. Modric, great. And once again, to my original point, I just read this. And I was like, yes, I was like Maximiliano Allegory to me. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like all your attacking signs as you get in, ass. Rabio Modrick, though.

Like, you know, he's going to make sure that midfield's right. Yeah. He's going to make sure that midfield's right and chugging along. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, it just, it just kind of is what it is. Let's go ahead and get one goal, though, Christian. Let's get one goal, man. Please.

Yeah, get warmed up a little bit. Baligan scored again. Lovely goal curled in from inside the box in traffic in a win for Monaco. Fati got the game winner later. Monaco kind of limping here down the stretch. This is bottom table Mets. Mitz.

Kind of gave them everything they could handle. I mean, hit the post twice in the second half. Yeah, they are on 54 points currently. In a conference league? Okay, conference league spot sixth in League

behind man how do you pronounce R-E-N-N-E-S? That's just Wren. Okay, Ren. Okay, okay. All right. Thank you.

It was provided me much stress because I would have pronounced it the same as Rons. But anyway. Yeah, it's a little confusing. So, two points behind Ren, four points behind Leo, who is in fourth, six points behind Leon that is in third.

But, yeah, Valo continues. to play well had it's looking good Paul Pog was back he started from Monaco in this match that's cool he was like

one of the top five players in the world not that long ago Scali and Gio played against Dortman at the stadium outside Mush and Glabach uh yeah

Rousher Park yeah Roochapr man I would have loved to be in been there to to celebrate this win. Yeah, that would have been fun. The Dortmund and the Dortmund support was like really impressive too.

Yes. No doubt about it. I mean, these two clubs are not very far from each other. Right. We did a Dortmund Stadium tour and a Gladbach game in the same exact day. That right. I mean, what? 25 minutes apart from each other, maybe?

A little further, but yeah, not much. So. Tell us what, how did Scali? Well, go ahead. Usually, usually I would overlook a Joe Scali match for the most part. If I'm just looking through a rundown and I'm like, what we need to talk about on the Monday review this week? You know, I mean, y'all listen to this podcast. We haven't talked about Joe Scali a lot this year.

But I noticed he was playing left back. He was playing left back in this match. So I was like, you know what? Let me go and check this out. And check this out. Because maybe, I'm like, maybe there's a difference in the way. way he's deployed. Maybe he's not just up in the attacking line running in behind or whatever and a little bit more involved in buildup. I would say I was kind of like right and wrong.

You know, he was still up high in the buildout a lot of times. But, you know, there were more times than we saw in person at Broiscia Park when they played Mints. You know, he was coming back to help the SELSA build out a little bit. And, you know, he did. He was tucking in a little bit too, right? Like a very little bit. A very little bit. Not much. I saw a couple clips where he was doing that.

But so, yeah, I was, he was okay. He was okay. It was a good Joe Scali game. He was given Julian Ryerson some problems there, Dortman's right wing back.

You know, Joe, you know, I would like to see a Joe Scali Alex Freeman race. Like just a straight line. straight line race bro i want to i want to see end to end yeah yeah uh because i'm i'm curious i'm curious it might not turn out the way people are thinking um but yeah joe toasted ryerston like twice one time with a ball over the top um where he got to the end line try to cut back it was cut out

and another time where he received the ball along the touchline and a nice little dribble where he kind of pushed it past ryerston and just burned him from there burn from like like a straight from a from a stop I don't know what Joe push it past him gone man was gone got to the end line again tried the same cutback again when uh tobakovich was uh kind of free and running into the run into the penalty spot Joe could have played it across the box to him did not he could have played it across the box to tobogovitch like both times across the six the six yard box yeah um but he opted for the cutback both times and on the the second time, the ball gets played out for a Munchin'Glai back corner,

and Tobagovic really lets Joe have it. I mean, just truly demonstrative, like, you know, hands down at the feet, like, come on, bro. Like, you know, you see his head and neck moving in, you know, in intense fashion. You know, he was really letting Joe have it, which he should have. And, you know, one thing that happens kind of often when you're watching. watch these American soccer players abroad. And when they have these loud, um,

demonstrative strikers or whatever, you know, sometimes, you know, they kind of get on our boys and then flub a chance later in the match and we're like, yeah. Yep.

That's not what happened here. Not today. Tobagovich, the hero in like the 90th minute, I want to say. Um, gets a 1v1 against the keeper, slots it in with his,

slots it in with his right foot, breaks to deadlock. 1-0. Winner. Winner, Munchen Glabach beats the BVB, which one thing we learned in Germany, Burrisha.

When you say Baratia, and you're referring to a German soccer team, that's Glabach. Okay? The BVB, that's Dortmund. So Baratia comes out winners. Good for them. It would have been fun to see that.

Gio was okay, I guess. He played. He was on. He helped his team get a victory. He was on the field, but he didn't do a ton. He was on the field and also in the vicinity of the turnover that led to the winning goal. Did he get a toe to it at some point? No.

He did not. He was close. He was close. Oh, man. Yeah, it was the other midfielder. Other men who got the initial touch to disrupt whoever it was trying to collect that second ball and then also the diving poke away

that led to the breakaway. But Gio was right next to him though. Mm-hmm. You know. Yep, he was there. All right. Jedi. Started against Arsenal.

Yep. That's kind of big news. It did start against Arsenal. Ryan Cesson. Since Jedi has come back, he had like his run of like starting some matches, had been on the bench for Ryan Sessonio. Ryan Sessonioenioen, I think scored in the last match in the last full of match, I want to say. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can so.

So it was looking, it was, you know, it was looking great for Jedi. But anyway, got to start, I guess the Arsenal. And Arsenal 1-3-0. And I would say Jedi had faults on maybe 1.5 Arsenal goals. One in particular, for sure, for sure, when, you know, Arsenal's kind of like matriculating their way up the pitch. Jedi clearly is marking Bukaiosaka. As Arsenal make their way down the pitch, they,

and basically he loses, he loses Bikayo Saka. As Bikayo makes his run into the box, Bikayo gets the ball back, like completely loses the man. And this is not happening at like a fast speed, necessarily like you know you would expect Jedi to to stick to Bukai receives the ball back strikes it with his left foot near post goal goal for Bukai Osaka so that's the one 0.5 is on the Yolkarez goal

when I don't know if you saw this but Bacayo Saka broke Raul Jimenez's ankles this is on a set piece okay and so that a set piece from like 35 yards out you know but um arsenal i mean full them are set up for like a ball into the box or whatever so they're like in a flat line ral ol himinez is like the last person on that line uh ball goes out to bekayo saka rao himinez is out there to defend uh becao saka sits him down like makes a man like i mean puts him on his on his butt um and then after that jeddat tries to come out and block the ensuing cross from Bikayo

that's, you know, across a six-yard box and does not. Some people say he should have gave more effort there. I'm not... But you're saying it's half his fault, the goal, because... Yeah, I'm giving... I'm going to give him a 0.5

just because other people said it. So I'm like, yeah. Fair enough. But the Bukayo's soccer goal, it's just, I mean... It sounds very uncharacteristic of Jedi, you know? Yeah. working his way back into it, potentially quarterback kneeling,

due to cartilage slash meniscus issues, I'm not totally sure. But, you know, there was a couple of instances where he had to turn on the burners and run back. And he was able to do that. And so that's what I'm...

I saw one of those clips where he looked fast, like getting all the way back to, like, body the guy. I mean, this was a dangerous situation, too, to body attacker off to the... end line. It was really good.

Yeah, I mean, he was really like driving, you know, running, pounding into the ground, picking up those legs, moving. That's what I like to see. He'll be great at the World Cup. I think so. It's like one person I don't got to worry about, I don't think, as far as the World Cup, is Anthony Robbins. Another defender Freeman got his second start, right, against Levanté.

yeah what are you okay yeah got a second start I guess Levanti I think Villarreal won 51 I'm also starting to see

Adam Belles I think I'm starting to see 2027 trip coming to focus here all right okay Villa Real Marid

you know Parthagona yeah yeah we got a hat well who's it is what about

Sevilla we gotta go we gotta go to the we gotta go to the that part of the of Spain I feel like it sounds good to me

but you know we gotta get there Johnny in there Alex in there um you know maybe we get a cheek

Diego Luna to Espanio or something oh that would be you know to Sevilla to Sevia to Ria Sevia's fine

to Sevia's fine Um Zavrikozo, whatever But anyway Freeman started in this match And the guy who had been starting At right back for Villarreal, Marino was on the bench

And seemingly, seemingly to me, available for selection. I don't know if he truly was 90 minutes fit. But, you know, decent sign. Once again, playing in the band of three and build up the defense.

band of three. Yeah. You know? Basically right, centerback in possession. In possession. Looked okay. Did not catch as many. He didn't get to get up the line as much as he did in his first start.

So that's where like kind of the really impressive moments came for me, right, in buildup. So he was kind of just sitting back distributing. He had one really nice big switch that was cool. other than that, I mean, don't get me wrong. He was playing plenty of balls forward and... If you had to bet who starts between Freeman, Dest, and Scali. Excuse me. I mean...

I think it's going to be Freeman. I would like to... I mean, I would like to keep Anthony Robinson back and play search. Dest forward? Yeah. Yeah. If I had a pick, if I had to pick. But if we have, if we got, if I write back as the one stand back in possession,

then I'm definitely picking Alex Freeman to do that between him and Joe Scally. I guess I'm just seeing that he, I guess it wasn't as eye-catching because he didn't do the rambles forward. But he was still pretty solid in a 5-1 win. And it's just, it's just, occurs to me. He's kind of a versatile player. And, like, really useful. And you can see why Potch is kind of, you know, Potch has been the one who chose Freeman, you know, and brought him in.

So you can see the vision. Yeah, it's his, it's his crown and achievement, really. Probably. Yeah. Alex Freeman. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I'm thinking, you know, Max Arsson, Big Pat, who knows what comes to that.

But, yeah, Max Arsson, Big Pat, and I don't think we can give him credit for Diego Luna necessarily, can we? Oh, yeah. We knew Diego Luna. Yeah, not really. We can't give him credit to that. Luna scored again. He did.

A little tucked one away with his left foot. When he strikes it, I'm like, did he mean to strike it that way? Or did it just kind of... It does, man, for all this, you know, once again, And for all this you hear about, I don't know, how technically gifted he is or whatever. There's a lot of odd-looking stuff that happens. I mean, it was perfect.

It buried the shot. It was like slid along the grass into the far corner. No chance for the goalkeeper. But it just looked kind of weird the way it came off. Gozo scored, a big blast kind of on a breakaway where he just beats the keeper in your post. The commentator was like, the hype is real. Is that what he said? I was listening to this without the sound on or watching that game without the sound on

because it's moving at 3x speed or whatever. But yeah, I didn't catch that. But, you know, that's a goal probably that if I'm a fan of the Portland Timbers, I want my goalkeeper saving. Yeah. He did hit it hard, though. I was going to say, at first, when I was thinking about saying this on the pod, I was like, I probably want my keeper saving it 9.9 out of 10 times.

But after watching it, multiple times with the angles that they gave on the broadcast, 8 out of 10 times. 8 out of 10. I want my keeper saving 8 out of 10 times. It was a nice strike. It was a nice strike. Diego was running the show, though. He was looking very lively.

He was creating danger all over the pitch, particularly in like the first like 30 minutes for RSL. Oh, you know what? Before we go, before we go, Adam Bells, I do want to talk about something. I do want to make sure I talk about something. Let me pull this up. This is of great importance to, hmm, damn, that's wrong. That's wrong thing.

This is of great importance to the U.S. Men's National Team's future. Tweet from ABC News two days ago. Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef is ordering the withdrawal of about 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany. Yeah. I will, I think it's better that you explain why this is relevant than for me to explain it. Oh, I mean, you know, we're talking about these are, okay, first of all, I've said this on the podcast before. Horny troops, horny troops in Germany have been a pretty solidified and established and reliable pipeline of potential.

American soccer players. I mean, John Brooks, Fabian Johnson, Timmy Chandler, Malik Tillman. Malik Tillman. I mean, even the ones that didn't commit here, Nathaniel Brown. Sergenio Dest's father was a military man. Yes, yes, Sergenio Desk. Montreal, I assume.

Like, you know, you don't even know. You don't even got to know the background. Yeah, yeah. You don't even got to know the background, but you can almost guarantee. It's like you see a German-American on the books of... Yeah, you don't run into a Montreal Cool Breath every day in Jan Regensburg or whatever. Yeah. You don't.

But so, yeah, they've been providing. They've been holding up their end of the bargain, the troops over there. And, you know what I'm saying? 5,000 troops removed. Let's say, not all 5,000 of men, of course. Not all 5,000 of horny men. but let's say out of those 5,000 let's give a generous

I mean this is this is conservative conservative half of them 2,500 you know these are 2,500 opportunities lost for us to create the next Malik Tillman, the next Montreal Colbert the next Nathaniel Brown because obviously

Pete Hecks if you do one thing if you do one thing Pete put those truths back in Germany put those truths back in Germany man because if you would If you really want to make the case for like American athletic superiority, it's like, look what happens when we get our gene pool mixed in with proper soccer training. You know, the hit rate has to be above your average German kid.

You know, that could be figured out. Somebody could figure that out what the hit rate is. Right. And so, I mean, I think a pretty compelling case could be made for sure in what to really. once you really crush the numbers. But yeah, if this goes through and these troops are removed, I'm concerned about how this is going to affect things going forward, man. I mean, we always support the troops,

but we especially support the troops when they're African-American men in Northern Europe. Got it? Yep. Hey, thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.