Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #691: The World Cup roster is a week away

Episode Date: May 18, 2026

Noahkai Banks is back on the field and rumors are flying. Gio says he "hopes to get the call." Dest looks hungry in a dead rubber in the Netherlands. Jedi scores on a penalty. Pulisic assist. Youngsters keep balling in MLS. 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 where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hello, everybody. We are one week and a day away from the World Cup roster being announced. We play Senegal in Charlotte a week from this coming Sunday. It's all about to happen. Vincent Sanjay are here with me. Sanjay, how you doing? I'm doing well. It's me back. Welcome back. Starting to feel like a summer of soccer.

Weather's getting hot out here on the East Coast. I went to the Hudson River Derby the other night. We've won a lot of Red Bull games lately. And, yeah, that was the most full-hat stadiums been in a while. And she gets you, you know, what's the appetite for what's coming? Well, you know, while we're on the topic, let's get to some really relevant World Cup news. How to I Dream a Mettie look in this game?

Right off the bat. There we go. I think people are going to see him play. for the senior team in the fall. And, like, I hope I'm wrong in a way, but, like, I don't think I will be. They're going to wonder, they're going to see him play in the fall, and they're going to wonder why he wasn't in the mix sooner. They're going to wonder, like, what could have been if this guy's attributes were there.

Now, maybe I say I hope I'm wrong in the sense that, like, hopefully, you know, Tesman and the other center mids, whoever gets called up, does a great job. But the way he progresses the ball, just so effortlessly, just finds people's feet playing forward. You put him next to bodyguard, Tyler Adams.

I think it could be really interesting, like tomorrow, but we're going to have to wait for that. Yeah, and also, well, Vince, how are you doing? I'm doing great. Good. I don't want to derail the conversation.

Yeah, yeah, I was just going to say, So another midfielder who was in the mix, Cardoso had surgery. Johnny Cardoso had surgery. The report on the Athletico social media channels, not from the club itself, but from the hangars on in the vicinity, is that it was an optional thing. He didn't want to play hurt at the World Cup and he wanted to get the surgery done so that he could be ready for the next season and to become an Athletico Madrid. legend and um so that's that he's out he's not it's not happening so it's what testman and um test man who was the other one you said who probably will be the whole holding mid i after that it's a it's a mystery right you got aid morris is the

steely backup for tyler i guess and then um or rolled on and then um berald are still in the next so yeah bro hath there's six goals so far this season in major league soccer hold on real quick before we go any further because um you know those quotes from the hangers on of athletic majority whatever people to cover the team whatever i don't want to disrespect them um you know we need a healthy media class a healthy um healthy group of hangers on of which we are healthy media right media coverage for for all soccer teams around the world anyway Anyway, the quote may or may not have been posted in a salacious way. You know, it made its rounds.

You know, people like, oh, you know, I knew Johnny didn't care about the national team, etc. This is what the actual article that was summarized maybe maliciously. This is what the article actually says. Jardy Cardoso began on May 13, 2026, the first day recovery on his way to becoming a legend of Athletico Madrid. It would not be easy to make the decision to have to give up. playing the World Cup at home and defending the shirt of a United States team in which he hope in which he also hopes to mark an error but neither of his two purposes would be possible if he had not gone through the operating room now hence I mean why they anyway hence the head

had to impose itself on the heart to undergo the intervention of his right ankle in which he suffered a high grain sprain with joint involvement it is true that Cardoso had a minimal chance in parentheses of just 1% of being able to be under Pocetino's orders if he did not undergo the operation that took place last Wednesday in Barcelona but not even that dribbling to the operation room would have

assured him that he would endure the entire World Cup nor much less augurs a promising horizon. On the contrary even if it was hard there was no better decision than surgery to not drag more ankle problems in the future. Cool, good to know Thomas Jefferson

is writing for the Bro, I'm like, as I got into it, I'm like, what's going on, man? It's a translation, right? So it's translated into the English of 1795 by the AI. But yeah, that makes sense. We don't want somebody going and, like, destroying their ankle forever to play in the World Cup. We don't want that. And we don't want to carry somebody who can't play either.

So I'm not, I guess I did kind of bring it up in a salacious way, but I, but I, I retract it and I apologize, you know. I'm not questioning Johnny's patriotism. It's so funny, bro, it's like, you read that article, you see one percent chance, Athletico Madrid legend, and, you know, like one other thing. And you just craft like a tweet out of it. It's just, man, we are at a nasty, nasty environment. Yeah. It's too much. That's not what it said, bro. It's too much. But, you know, some people, some people will get on their grandstand. You know, certain former national team legends turn podcasters would say if you have 1%,

even a 1% chance that I could put on that crest and represent my national team. Yeah, I was going to see that. You know, I'm taking it. There are people that I think will wonder unfairly, but it is what it is. Yeah, it's okay. Oh, it's too bad we won't have him, but... It's that one thing that also doomed us in the pandemic where, you know, when you're dealing with math and science,

you can never deal in absolutes. So, you know, when my man's put 99%, he probably meant, like, hey, he can't blame. You know, but the fact they put 99% all of a sudden, it's like, oh, so there was a chance. It probably wasn't a chance, bro. Yeah. Okay, but there is a chance, and he will be there

for Serginio Dest. I watched him. Over the weekend, PSV beat 20 5 to 1. This is interesting because this is a dead rubber. This is like the deadest of dead rubbers for PSV. They've already won the championship. What does it even matter? What happens in this game?

But Serge, Serge was out there playing as hard as he can play, I think. He was playing so hard. There was one moment in the center circle. He gets to a loose ball first, juggles over the guy to recover it, and he's striding into the attacking half. Tries to play a really clever, zipped, reverse through ball to his left. So he's, like, heading towards the right corner flag with the juggle touch,

brings it down, and tries to play a reverse pass in behind through the back line. It gets cut out. and man, he was so mad that that ball got cut out. Scoreboard at the time was 4 to 1, I think. And I just, the energy from Serge, like he's bringing life, he's trying to prove himself, he wants to do everything he can out there in these very meaningless games to get on that World Cup roster.

He deserves it. Bring him in. He's ready. He's ramping it up, man. You know, everyone else that's put in a solid, you know, their solid 2K minutes or whatever. We talked about it before. Victory formation, nail it out. Serge, ramp it up, man. He's going to be chomping at the bit once World Cup time comes around, ready to play some ball, man. Oh, yeah.

You know, Senegal, who's that the other team? Germany? Germany in Chicago. Senegal and Germany, yeah. Yeah, y'all going to ruin a day. Then we all stepped on the field, surging it. Yeah. If it's a choice between

Huaya and Serge, who's getting the nod? As a starter, you mean? Yeah. Maybe it depends on the opponent, but first game, who'd you want? Against Paraguay, I would take Serge, I think.

Yeah, I don't know. That's a tough decision. You know what I'm saying? You asked me to choose between my... Your first born and your second born. Exactly. Exactly. That's tough, tough decision.

I think they got to say maybe 10. But, you know, I'm... It can go either way. Whatever. Whatever, whatever, whatever, you know what I'm saying? A local chooses to do, I'm behind him all the way. You know what I'm saying? From now through the World Cup, I'm behind my man's all the way.

Yeah, I'm with you. I'm happy that he's the one making the decisions. And it's also looking like, you know, despite the... what, secruitous? Is that the word? Securitus, yeah. Route that we took to get here. It's looking like the World Cup's going to be, it's going to be okay.

You know, the ticket prices are coming down as we getting closer to, you know, we talked about last week as far as, you know, like, there's going to be plenty of tickets available to people. Now, of course, this was, we had to, you know, we had to take the scenic route to get here. But I think everything is going to work out. And of course, that doesn't absolve. FIFA and its issues or whatever the hell because, you know, you would have liked the tickets to just come out as cheap.

And then they go from there because that's the thing you need in order. That's a trigger to do the trip, you know, in the order of operations. Tickets first, then you get your hotel, you know, all this stuff, whatever. So, but I think everything's going to work out. Seems like everything is insanely priced in most places. besides the glorious state of New Jersey. Shout out of NJ Transit. They're charging people, what, $140

to go from New York to the stadium? Yeah, it's like not even $15, $20 right now. And then, you know, it's advertised like, oh, we got it down to like $100. And it's like, why was that even in the first place? You people got fleeced. But we'll be out west with this team.

You do feel for the people who sold their first. and second born to pay for tickets in the early days, you know? Yeah. Like dropped thousands and thousands of dollars, but, you know, that's what you get for being prepared and on top of it. Hey, you know, some people would rather have that, we'd rather pay for the convenience and not having to worry about.

Peace of mind, yeah. Yeah, peace of mind, man, I got tickets. They in my pocket. You know, because at that time, we didn't know that FIFA would... with FIFA would just you know time after time just release tickets like every two weeks

you know the fourth scarcity and all this difference it's just yeah nasty way to go about business but anyway I think everything's gonna be fine also in the PSV game

Pepey scored he scored a penalty it wasn't I don't I wouldn't say his best performance but another goal for him, full speed ahead. Gio is staying humble and hungry in the mixed zone. Somebody asked him, do you think you've done enough to make the World Cup roster

after another cameo off the bench for Glabock, a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim, just ended Hoffenheim's Champions League hopes. He said, if I say no, I'm not backing myself. And if I say yes, it's arrogant. It's a hard question to answer. I'm just hoping and waiting for the call-up. It would be an honor.

Sanjay thought. Maturity. Maturity, growth, right? That's right. I mean, you can't crucify him here for anything he said. People will try. They're out there. They were looking for an angle.

And he gave them nothing. And he gave him nothing. You know what? Sanjay, you do make a good point because, I mean, what was it? Remember that pod, like six months ago or something? Right, right, right. Exactly. That's what I was thinking about. When I came on here and coined the term geo derangement syndrome, yeah.

I mean, no, but you can't have it both ways, brother. You can't have it both ways. And also, geode arrangement syndrome also goes both ways as well. You know, some people would say you might be afflicted by it, you know, on the opposite end. But to your point, though, Sanjay, what started that whole conversation last time, was him taking a softball question, if I remember correctly, about what happened in the last World Cup

and him being kind of defiant in his tone and his response. You know, it's like, I'm not going to sit here and apologize. You know, you could have, you could answer that multiple different ways. And that would have come off better to, you know, the listener and or the leadership of the United States Soccer Federation. But either way, you know, in this question, this question,

the way in, and it's posed to him, he answers it with flying colors. So, you know what? Sanja, you make a good point. Maturity,

maybe he is growing up. To be clear, you know, I try to stay away from like the worst of what people assume about Gio and his character and being a bad team

and all the different type of stuff. But he objectively has some growing up to do. And, yeah, I like this response from him. The slander has been historically crazy, not that he's far from perfect, but you meet the guy and he's just, I don't know, I think there's a caricature that exists of what he actually is. He's a good soccer player.

We saw that over the weekend again. Granted, like, yeah, I'm not going to get excited the way we did last week about it. Like, the game was one, right? They were men up. They were up two goals when he came off. But, you know, like right away, he receives a pass turns really well, and he's, like, moving right away. Like, just little things that we weren't seeing in these cameos in recent months are happening now. So I'd be shocked if he's not there.

Yeah. When I saw that player talking about Sanjay, when he received that ball in that and a little pocket, it did make me, I compared it in my head to, like, Diego Luna and how, like, kind of sloppy he can. can be when receiving the ball in pockets, you know, at points in time. He's like, you know, Gio, when he's prepared, get some hands down in his feet, they fizz that thing into him, boom, and sticking, sticking right to his instep, you know. Yeah. So, will he be there? He will be there.

You know, it's funny. It is funny the way this went on, you know what I'm saying. Scored his first and only goal of the season on the second to the last. game in the season and then um you know got these minutes against hophenheim and that's it for g arena but you know what i want to stay on this match because you know who also was on the pitch in this game cole campbell that's right brother the young flosser his self i forgot about him the young flosser himself cold campbell man and he was gifted in black that's right that's right black excellence on the pitch man and you and you know he made sure that he had his little flourish

going on you know you see him and you think he looks at he looks similar to everybody else on the hafenheim team but you know what he had he has some um you're familiar with the color vault adam bells um that's what nike calls there like neon green you know that their cleats you know that that neon green color that they put on cleats um everybody else on hafenheims see to have some regular like white which is really kind of weird for like soccer boots like you know what saying like um usually see a little bit more color but it seems like half and hamdo the players for hofahamdo got time for that cole campbell out there in some vote boots you know what i'm saying easy to find them easy to find them and we actually got a one v1 uh geo ran a cole campbell rep with cole campbell taking

geo on um and you know geo joe tried very hard to stay with it was like really like uh it was kind like a small space kind of thing. Like, Gio, it wasn't like Cole got the ball on the touchline and, like, walked him down or anything like that. Like Cole received the ball right on the line of the box. Yeah, he had a few of the dances, right, in that area? Yeah, yeah. So I got it. It was him versus Gio squaring up.

Gio's hunched down. He was, you know, he danced with him a little bit. Cole ended up getting the best of him. Kind of got to the, was able to get the cross off. Gio right there he stabbed at it unable to block it Uh

The cross didn't do much I think it went I think I went on the top of the net Or whatever Like he's just a little dink from Cole Campbell He's basically like inside of the The uh The 18 at this point from the right side

But that was cool to see That was cool to see And also I went back and checked on his Um Over these So when he made the transfer He was hurt initially Didn't get to

Start the Ruck Renda off in, you know, the way he wanted to. He's been starting to get some minutes here lately. And it seems like Hoffenheim is going to let him do, they're going to give him a shot. They're going to give him a shot. You know, there was one instance in, I think they played Bremen, the match before this one,

where he's on the pitch and he's out, he's wide right on the touchline. and their centerback has the ball. And there's like two separate Hoffa Hahn players pointing to Cole Campbell. Hey, pass Cole Campbell the ball, man. He's one V1. And that tells me a little something about maybe how he's been performing and training or something like that.

I mean, he has the confidence, seemingly the confidence of his teammates. They're like, hey, if Cole is one V1, give him the ball. And yeah, he gets it. He does his little dead leg. He puts his hand up. Yeah, yeah, y'all know what I'm talking about. The little pose that attackers do when they're running. ready to do somebody.

Mix results on if he did do people, you know, but, yeah, I'm... Good to see him getting a shot after all the, you know, after the cloud of controversy that he left Dortmund in. Yeah, I have no idea if he's good, but I'm here for the war. Pulcic, obviously no longer at Dortmund, got the assist on what was ultimately the game winner for Milan, pretty straightforward stuff, poked it back. out of a scramble to a teammate at the top of the box. The teammate has a rip, 2-0 AC Milan.

Milan is now two points clear of Como in a Champions League spot with one match left, which is great for them. They just have to make it happen against Kallari with their last match of the season, and I think they're going to get a Champions League spot, get back in the Champions League where they belong. So no QB kneeling that means for Christian? I don't think so, and none from Dest, as we've discussed.

It does seem like Juventus is kind of kneeling a little bit. Man, come on. Lost two-neal to Fierrantina at home. Outside of the Champions League now, they need a lot of help to get into the Champions League. Let's see, I think they're in sixth in Sierra right now. Yeah, if Milan and Roma both lose and Como doesn't get three points, then they, and Juventus gets three points in their last game, then they go. But that's...

That sounds, yeah. It's tough. And Como's going to win, I think. They play a criminese. Uva as Torino. In Roma. Which is a derby, yeah. Roma as hell as Verona.

Yeah. They're not going to be a championship. Back to Milan real quick. Obviously, Christian. Coming off that news about maybe a glute concern recently. So I thought he looked physically fine when he was out there, right? Got that assisted well to poke it. Almost scored too.

A really nice combo with Barbiel. Yeah, yeah. He showed a good burst there to almost ice it the last minute, right? Incredible save by the keeper. It was like a desperate kick save that just got on the ball. A shame. Yeah, we're seeing. the right things.

We are. Jedi also? We mostly have. You know, there's been there's been politic periods of of coldness that have left us worried.

But, you know, this one, for the most part in this, you know, second semester or whatever, where he hasn't scored, he's mostly looked fine.

Yeah. I gotta be honest, I've never been worried about him. I think he's a big time, big game player when the lights are bright. I think he's,

going to show up and ball out. I mean, obviously it would be nice if he was in a little bit of form, but like, as long as he's fit and you were seeing the explosiveness and the things that, you know, he's known for doing in space or whatever, like that's all I needed to see. He's going to do fine, just like he did the last World Cup. I mean, he wasn't exactly flying into that, right? And he did his thing, so. Yeah. I don't remember anything about that. Was he still with Chelsea? Chelsea is, yeah. Okay, okay, yeah. Flame it flickered out a little bit. I understand.

Nobody was flying into that World Cup, really. You know, maybe Wes a little bit. I don't think he was. Now, even Wes was kind of like, yeah, yeah. Had a bad first half of the season? He wasn't playing that much. He was dealing with a knock. Yeah, right.

Definitely dealing with a knock. Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. I think you're right. All right. So Jedi, he's playing two, which is good news. He, they gave him a penalty at the end of this game, Follum versus Brentford.

I think. Wait, is that right? I think it is. Well, no, actually it's not. It's not. They played wolves. They played wolves. And they drew him one to one.

I did think Jedi looked, I mean, he looked sturdy, but he did also end up on the wrong side of a defender two, three times in the first half. And he definitely slipped on the buildup to Wolves' opening goal. Now, a lot still had to happen for that goal to happen, but he did raise his hand after the sequence. A little my bad from him. Anyway, I mean, who cares? Who cares how Jedi played over the weekend? He's going to play left back for us.

I mean, I hope at the World Cup. We need that, brother. Yeah. Speaking of dead. I think you mentioned dead legs, Brenda went off hurt for leads with a Charlie horse. Owie. Owie, boy got a Charlie horse.

Why do you put it like that? Then they gave him a nugi. They're like, come on, man. People cramp up every game, but he's like, howie. I saw, I saw a tweet about a muscle injury and I was like, oh, what happened here? But, yeah, we're good. We'll be good. He's fine.

And Brenda Endry making you say oh Sanchi? I mean, he's going to be in the squad. I know Bell does not want that. He made that abundantly clear last week, but he will go. If you're a starter every week in the Premier League

and you bring what he brings, you make the U.S. and national team squad. That's right. Okay, I guess if it's like that, Richards twisted his ankle in a two-two draw at Brentford, this is the team that played Brentford, Crystal Palace.

But he didn't come out of the game. And Glazner said they're hopeful he'll be back in the middle of the week. So Crystal Palace still has one more league game, and then they have the Conference League final against Ryo Viacano. I don't forget. So, he won't be, he probably won't be QB kneeling. We know Chris, he's a man of the club of South London. I got to say Vince this one really made me freak out

I wasn't watching this live either But I went back and watched it from the time of when he got injured And like if I was watching that live I would have been bugging out Because he was like on the ground for a bit And it You know it was worrisome But he gets back out there He finishes the game that went like

You know they had 10 minutes of stoppage time So he played a while after he went down He played a solid 20, 25 minutes or so 20 minutes He did walk off the pitch with his arm around a Crystal Palace staffer or whatever like you know

walking very gingerly with the arm around the man he wasn't like you know he was supporting his own weight but yeah you know it was it was quite ginger but you know you would think that Glastner has

some information when he makes these comments in the post game or whatever and so if it's just like a regular ankle sprain he should be all right he should just a regular a twist, you know, treatment. He's probably in treatment right now. You know what I'm saying?

Night, day, keep that good. I thought that he would be able to kneel it out after this match, but I forgot they were in conference league final. Yeah, and this is annoying because if he's playing through something and then he gets

to U.S. camp and he's not 100%. And like you said, I was out, Senegal friendly, is like not far from now. So. Well, he's like, don't be there for that. Yeah, it's four days after the, or three days after the,

um, the conference league final. No, he, I mean, he would physically be there. Like, he just probably wouldn't have started the game. Like, I think he would just go straight there.

And, but now if he's like dealing with something, then, you know, he almost definitely wouldn't start the game, right? Like, and then what we're talking about one game against Germany,

and then that's it to, to maybe see the lineup that we've never seen yet. You know, like, cutting it awfully close so um it's a right brother we don't need them playing it sure rest the ankle yeah i mean we'll get to the the centerback situation because we got some news on on that front potentially but um i guess if it's just if it's going to be him and reamed then then sure let him rest well yeah we'll get to the centerback stuff first i mean this is center back stuff

celtic beat hearts to win the scottish title again this was like a bit more drama in the table than usual in the scotie Scottish Premership. Trustee got pulled in the 72nd minute when it was 1-1, so Seltic could play more attackers. They did. They dominated the last 20 minutes and got the winner in the 85th minute or so. Then they got an insurance goal at the death because the keeper was up to try to head a set piece in. Then the fans rushed the field, which is frowned upon in Europe.

Everybody's like, what do you think this is? Iowa City? The buzzbeater. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They're not allowed. They're not allowed to do that. It's not acceptable.

I mean, even... I mean, it wouldn't be acceptable for the equivalent of Celtic in an American sports league. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you were the college basketball equivalent of Celtic, like Kentucky, basketball, Francis, came to rest of Florida.

Yeah, you're not allowed to. It's expected to win. You know, so, be it. Celtic beating hearts for the Scottish championship and rushing the field you know it's a little yeah there's just no dimension where that's accepted

unfortunately we don't rush the field of the USC ever do you guys win anything anymore ever maybe it's time to start rushing the field we're almost back yeah I mean Iowa fans will rush the field if we beat Iowa State. It is embarrassing.

It's pretty embarrassing. But, you know, there's not a lot to do in Iowa, so... Is, I mean, what do we make of trustee? Because he was good in that Portugal game. To be honest, I haven't watched him much with Celtic, but my

good friend from USC who coached with me there, he's Scottish, he lives and breathed Celtic, his family, so I'll hit him up every now and then, you know, to check in about CCD when he was playing or trustee and he was very down on on trustee which I was That's interesting.

Yeah I was like he was like yeah he should not be trusted for For the World Cup so and he's a guy who would be very inclined to you know He'd want to see his Celtic guys out there if they deserved it but the way this this title race ended in the way trustee played he didn't love it I'm just because a great friend of the pod Jim Hart down in the Tampa area You know he's a big Celtic fan too He says trusty's a business handler and he takes care of he gets things sorted out in the back so i mean it is interesting trustee's got a lot a lot more eyes on him than he would if he were at like a lot more eyes in

the lower 48 of america on him than he would if he were like at hoffinheim or something because he plays for celtic oh yeah so i don't know it's kind of a it's an interesting thing i i thought he was good against portugal and that was enough to get him in the squad I asked Potch about him after the game, and Pachshan are very encouraged. So if it's between him and Miles Robinson, based on that game, I would go with him. But who knows? We'll find out next Tuesday. All the mysteries will be uncovered.

Can't wait. So are you going to the revealing, Sanjay? I will be there, yes. Yeah. And then off to Atlanta next day. Okay. Noki Banks back in the news

made his first appearance since March off the bench and we got a big rumor from one of our fellow hangers on Cocker Calfe Edgar, what do he say, Sanjay? He said, let me pull up to tweet again

I was not expecting this one at all. He said, I'm hearing from a few people that No Kai Banks might be in the World Cup roster for the USM&T not sure of true but it'll be big if he is. And then he said there's someone from USSF talking other dual nuts, too.

But obviously, Nokey is front of mind for everyone right now. Edgar, we got to say, is usually right about stuff, right? Edgar usually is ahead of stuff and has good sourcing. So this is the world we live in now. I don't know how much it counts for, but I saw Edgar retweeted this. And I noticed it was true, too, on Instagram. I'm like the U.S. national team account liked Nokey's recent post. They might have done that anyway.

But it's curious timing, right? Because he hasn't, he didn't play since he told everyone I'm torn. I don't know if I can't go to camp. I got to figure it out. And he just didn't play in the Funness League. And then we hear this. And, yeah, I mean, he played the other day, too. So he came off the bench when the game was definitely lost.

But, you know, even in that cameo you saw the things that got as excited. Like, there was a little thing he did, you know, in a tight space. He was playing right centerback, right on the right side of the three, as he's done in the past. And the way he just gets out of a tight space on the right side, and he's left-footed, obviously, like without a problem, It's just like other guys aren't, like, Miles Robinson and Trussie aren't doing that. You know what I mean? Defensively, he's a very eager defender still. That doesn't change.

He's a young, young, you know, wide-eyed defender. But, yeah, I mean, I wonder if Pach has been on him more. And if Posh doesn't seem like the guy to promise things, but it's getting to be a desperate situation at centerback, not just for this World Cup, but moving forward. We've talked about this. Like, give the man what he wants. Give him, my friend texted me a while ago when this was all playing out in March. He was like, give him whatever NIL he wants.

Get him on board. So that's where we're at. I agree. I mean, okay. I hear you. I hear what you're saying, Sanchez. Are we, okay, let me pull this up real quick. He hasn't started a match since March 22nd.

Got pulled a half. Hasn't completed the 90s since February 27th. Are we that desperate? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, everyone talks about Ream and whether he's too old now. I think McKenzie should get a shot to start. I think him and Chris have barely played together, but when they have, like against Turkey, for example, I thought they were steady together.

They're obviously close friends and know each other well. So there's that on and off the field. And I think McKenzie's had a, he's earned it with his. with his, you know, what he's done this season in Europe. So, um, in league, uh, but are we that desperate to have banks like in the squad? I think, I think so. Okay. I'm, I'm at this point.

I'm agnostic. You know, it's one of those things where it's like, um, he was getting those minutes. Really, I would say probably three, fours of those minutes where we're kind of maligned by me and and bills. I mean, not that he was. ass every time he stepped on the pitch but it was just like not moving and then once like a little bit of the

once some vulnerability creeped in or he dealt with like a little knock or something or like Augsburg got all the way back healthy then he was you know he's back on the bitch and this is not not to denigrate the man but uh I don't know he's definitely definitely not a business handler like I share the concerns, the doubts about, you know, he's young defensively, but the attacking

upsides, tremendous. Go ahead, Bill. Sorry. I was just going to say, I thought we identified a sort of a turning of the corner for him, maybe early in the semester, early in the Rook Runda. I did malign a lot of his minutes earlier in the season, though. I think he was improving a lot. Look, it's a successful season.

Yeah, you know, what he did. It's a successful season. And he's going to, he's in the place where he needs to be. You know, he's in Germany. You know, them boys, they get them boys in the weight room, put some weight on that frame. The biggest league in the world, as we have established, you know.

Get a speed up. You know what I'm saying? His physical needs to catch up to his, to his, well, to his, well, to his, to his technical ability, basically. Like, you know, the physical is lagging behind what he can do with the ball. No, he's different type of stuff. So once he gets that, which I think is he's in prime, get bigger, faster age, you know.

Is he still 19? I think he turns 20 this year? If he hasn't turned. Yeah, yeah, he's in 19. Yeah, so, I mean, come on. You give him by 2030, you know what, we're going to be good. But you know what? Now that I think about it, let's go ahead and bring him, bro.

let's go ahead and lock that down what i want to say about yeah as you bring up his youth like like i said he's eager to step in for challenge and and maybe commit a tactical foul but there's going to be a lot of lock picking in the first two games he can he can do that in terms of his distribution like he's a nice presence back there and his recovery speed and transition is good compared to people like um rheim mackenzie i believe like say what you want about his judgment um but but that youth could serve as well. I don't think he's very fast. I'm not saying he's very fast,

but I think he's quicker and faster than, like compared to Ream and McKenzie, I think it would be nice to have it. Fair, fair. You put Reed McKenzie, Noah Ka Binks in a race, I would like to see that race, for sure. It's just going to take McKinsey,

like, three seconds to get off the line. That's the problem with Mark. It's just not very twitchy. He's fired his podcast back up. Welcome. Mark, colleague. You know what I'm saying? Keith Pierce?

Yeah, yeah, back in the interwebs with us, man, orange slices. You know, it was, I consistently listened to it. It was sad to hear when he didn't make the World Cup last time. I don't know why I'm fighting back up. I laugh. But he was talking about how,

And I understand this totally how, like, his mom was kind of like a little embarrassed because she had been telling everybody like, oh, watch the World Cup. My son's going to be in it. My son's going to be in it, et cetera. And, you know, he didn't make the World Cup. And it's just something I think about often because I know what it feels like kind of to be in those positions. And I know how moms act, you know, when they're in those positions as well. You know, very proud, of course.

Yeah. And their boy, you know, telling everybody, you know. And so I'm happy. that Mark showed his mentality, got his, got his move to, got his moved to Luce, played, and is probably going to be in that number when it's revealed next Tuesday or whatever. So shout out to Mark, man. Yeah. And importantly, or maybe not importantly at all, but who knows, he put the orange slices on pause why he had to get it right.

You know what I'm saying? He was like, I didn't make the World Cup. I don't dessert a half a podcast. You know what I'm saying? And he put that whole thing on hold. It was basically like right after he did the kind of reaction to the not making the roster thing. And he was like, you know what? Let me just focus on the ball, man.

And so he focused on the ball and look at the rewards. So shots out the mark. Yeah, it's like it's a conversation I have with myself like every, almost every night. I'm like, tomorrow I'm going to shut the hell up, you know? It never happens. I does seem like Mark Kag. I was just thinking about his mom telling him. telling people to watch him in the World Cup and then it not happened.

It does seem like he comes from a great family. And, yeah, I'll be really sad for them if he doesn't make the World Cup roster. No, he's making it. And like I said, I think there's, he's got a shot to start, in my opinion. All right. So that's the centerback position situation. Kind of a big, like, throbbing question mark. Malik had his first start in about two months.

Malik Tillman, that is, in case anybody I forgot his last name. Went 62 minutes in a draw versus Hamburg. Had a good header that drew a good save from the keeper. I don't have much else to say about it. Leverkusen just misses Champions League. It was still in the mix when we were there at the game in Cologne, but it's not happening now. they probably weren't a team that

deserved to be there. Yeah, I mean, I'm taking a lot away from what I saw in Cologne, but, you know, Cologne put them to the sword, man. Shout out to the Leverkus and supporters once again. Always living my heart, my mind. But, yeah, tough luck, unfortunately.

Yeah. For them. We're going to see all of those Levercouzen supporters in World War III when it breaks out. They're going to be rushing across. some misty field together. Just destroying everything in their path.

Xavier Gozo. Let's get to some of the MLS action, which is pretty exciting. Xavier Gozo has added three goals since the last Monday review. Two in the middle of the week, one over the weekend. It strikes me he's scoring in a lot of different ways. I don't want to get Sanjay too fired up here, but he's scoring in a lot of different ways. So the midweek goals, one was a toe poke in tight space. he receives it and then just slots it with the toe far post i love a goal like this from a striker

you know you're trying to teach the kids to stop kicking it with their toe when they're nine but when you see a striker and a professional striker uses the toe you're like that's a real soccer player right there you know he's like finding a way to score and then he does another one he has another one on a breakaway where he slots it he like lies with his eyes near post slots at far post with his instep and then over the weekend he just kind of swept home a cut back off the press. Any thoughts on Gozo? I mean, I don't have a strong feeling as strong of a feeling about it.

I don't have a feeling about it that he should go to the World Cup. Nah, hashtag Gozo must go. Gozo. Gozo must go. Yeah, I mean, in all seriousness, though, like, I think we just kind of assume he's a wide player. Um, maybe he's a nine. No, he is versatile. Like, he, um, I talked to him earlier this season for, for back yield and, and, uh, we talked

about this. Like, people have, uh, sort of, I can't remember if he said he was trying to emulate Therre Henri, because he's an Arsenal fan, but, um, that, that came up how, like, you know, Henri was kind of like a versatile attacking player who could play centrally, too. And, um, yeah, gozo can't, like, you. You can see it at the end of a game, too. Like, he'll just be central instead. So obviously he's got that juice 1B1 wide, but this kind of versatility can only help your case.

He should go. This is kind of like the Mehdi situation, maybe even more immediate with Gozo where he's going to go to Europe soon. He's been linked with some legit clubs. I don't know if he'll actually play for those clubs soon. Maybe he'll go there and get loaned. But, like, he'll go over there soon and he'll ball out. And people will look at that and wonder, like, you know, what if we'll actually?

we had him a few months ago, or six months ago, whenever he goes. So this team is struggled to. And you know what I'll say? Good. MLS should have been on the European calendar sooner. You know what I'm saying? You know. Oh, yeah.

This season would have happened. It would have already happened. You know, his goals would have been in the bank. They could have, they would have had a whole year to potentially earn national team callups. I'm just kind of being facetious. No, no, you're right about that. Speaking of which, everyone, check out my friend, Paul.

Tonario's book coming out in a few weeks. It's about messy. But a lot more than that. It's about MLS and the business of soccer here. It's interesting stuff. So the calendar is part of that. Obviously, they've made the change now. But yeah, crazy missed opportunity. I really can't believe that they let that slip. But now, he should go. Anyway, like this team needs some some more ideas in juice and hopefully you know jacka glen's there we think geo's going to be there i don't know if some dayhouse will be there but in terms of like wide attackers because i have to say i'd be watching i've been watching these performances bro and like the goals are cool but like the performances as a whole they just not like anything like incredible to me

He's not on cheat code mode in the MLS. And if he's not on Cheekle mode in the MLS, and it's making me wonder, like, what can we actually expect to get out of this man at a World Cup? You know? Again, for me, it's more so out of, like, necessity in his profile. It's the same kind of, like, situate. It's the same kind of concept with banks.

Like, is he definitely going to help? I don't know. but would you want to have him in a squad of 26 people? Yeah. No, I realize we're running out of spots for guys you want to say that about. Like, I want to say that about a lot of people,

but they should make room for him. Serigno being back definitely makes it tougher for Gozo. Like, I'd said a few months ago, like, someone would have to be injured, and then Sergino got injured, but now he's back. So, yeah. Okay. I mean, I'm going to be excited.

excited if I see that Potch has seen the light and added one of these youngsters. I mean, that'll be fun. Let's move on. Two more youngsters to talk about, then we've got to get out of here. Kevin Sullivan got his first goal of the first league goal in the middle of the week. Clever finish on a cup back. Actually, he started with the ball in the right wing, cuts in on a guy, chips a nice ball to the back post, and that gets one first time sent right.

right back across the penalty marker and he arrives on it and buries it near post. He is playing more. I think he's started the last three games, right? Two or three games. And you can tell he's starting to figure out how to get comfortable applying his tools to a game. I think that's clear. He's generating opportunities with his passing. Very scrappy.

I mean, he's still a little bit of a whiff of. the middle linebacker about him out there. And now his first league goal, still only 16, three years younger than Gozo and Banks. So we're talking about basically a generation down from them. I just think it's good to see Kevin making it happen. And hopefully he continues to in MLS and is one of those players who gets a chance with the national team in the fall.

Agreed. Lots of look forward to you between him. Matisse Albert at Dormand goes out. It's good to see these, you know, young venomous attackers. Yeah, love the venom. Matisse, not in the squad for Dortmund over the weekend, which I'm not sure why that was.

And then Nico Shakiris is out for three, four months. So if you're scrolling through Fott Mob looking for evidence of his growth, you won't see it for a little while at groin surgery. Big bummer. Getting a little Pax and Pawluckle PTSD. We're not there yet, but, you know, he's doubled injuries before, and he's not super young anymore, right?

He's not like a prospect. Like, he's got to, we've got to see some, a few good seasons strung together in MLS, and this sucks. He was playing great too before. He was. He really was, yeah. Go ahead.

Speaking of the quakes real quick, y'all seen the Sam Sarver incident. Where you're shocking a beer? Yeah. Yeah, he's a character. Sam Sarver, FC Dallas, I think right winger, or something like that. Basically, games 2-2, I want to say.

It's in San Jose. It's in San Jose, you know, Bruce Arena and them boys, running MLS. I don't know if they are anymore. I think they're still doing very well. but basically in I don't know what time it's you know games it's late in the game

he essentially gets gifted a goal because San Jose has like a defender on the ground that's like petitioning for the ref to stop the game he's like holding his hand up like please please stop the game which leaves just a humongous gap in San Jose's defense second ball is collected by FC Dallas

ball goes up to Sam Sarver 1V1 gets to keeper almost instantly because of the man that's down on the ground. He scores a goal. He scores the goal, okay? Then he corrows some of his teammates and they sit on like the ad boards. Put their hand up to the nose

and squeeze their nose as they're about to dive, you know, off diving board and, you know, just fall off the ad boards onto the ground. That's the first part of the celebration. The second part, apparently San Jose fans have thrown beers on the field. my man's picks up a Modelo

opens it now I'm a I'm a little bit of stickler about about shotgun the parlance of shotguning he didn't shotgun this beer you know all the beer came out of the top of the beer

you know what I'm saying he tried to yeah he tried to he didn't have any keys on them yeah you know you wouldn't have any keys on you if you're playing in a soccer match of course yeah he was in shotgun form but he didn't actually do it yeah but he did give like an ode to the

exactly he gave like an ode to the shotgun by holding the can horizontal at first. But he also realized that there's no way I can have keys on the soccer pitch. So, you know, he just ended up squeezing the Modelo very tightly to make the, to make the beer come out. He swallowed some of his face, all over his face. All over his face. He swallowed some of it, maybe. But, yeah, it was nice to see.

It was a good, it was, it was fun and interesting. Sam Sarver doesn't seem to be. I don't know. I think he started one match. FC Dallas has played nine matches, or he's played nine matches for FC Dallas. He's a bit player at the moment. But he had the,

he had like the dagger last week too, I think against Arsale, right? Where he like ran the length of the field with the ball, pretty much a whole field and then put it away and then like jumped into the crowd. So he's becoming something of a viral sensation, whatever you want to call it. Like, he's having a moment.

Yeah, good for him. That's a great clip. He runs back to midfield with white foam all over his face. It's pretty exciting. And, you know, that's the best thing to do with a beer that's thrown at you, right? Shock on it. That's right. Did you all watch, before we wrap it up, did anyone watch the documentary, the first episode on HBO?

About Clint? No, no, the HBO one. I'd either watch that one, too. The U.S. national team, those. Yeah. I got you. I haven't watched it. I haven't watched it either.

I will. I'll watch it out of there. Thanks for bringing it up. Because the room where I usually watch that kind of thing in my house, we just had it renovated. So I was waiting. But now the next episode is coming out tomorrow, I think. So now I'm just going to watch it wherever I can so I can get up to speed with that.

Because it got great reviews. Shout out, Rand. They've been at all the, Ranjanino. They've been at all the camps, their whole team forever. So good to see that get the, get, get, I saw Adam Schaefter retweeted it, which was like, whoa. Yeah, I did see that. There we go. Yeah.

I'm glad to see that attention. Like Sanjay said, I mean. Them boys, like, the dude, the main dude ran that, I guess, produced the whole thing, whatever. First of all, I got some, like, background from, like, a thing to Noreo. I want to say, I think Tenoio is going to be featured a lot in this. He was the, you know, I actually saw him outside doing, like, a little hit. He's doing, like, the context of, like, what's going on, what's going on with the team type of thing. He's going to be that type of guy.

Not the narrator, but the one who's, like, you know, they got the camera on him. Like, oh, yeah, the team right now is going through a period of whatever, whatever. So anyway, bro had to really hustle to get this done. You know what I'm saying? He had to like, first of all, come up with the concept. He had to pitch it to all these different places, you know, whatever. HBO is the one that ended up picking it up or all these different types of things. And it was like, it was like a real hustle to get this thing approved and done.

Like it wasn't HBO to not commission this. This was his like kind of brainchild, love child. whatever that he's getting out there and yeah they were posted up every camp team hotel like they were there um so i'm i'm interested to to watch it i did not check out i haven't checked all the first episode yet but i'm gonna get on it yeah just me and the wife will get on it watch it today um shout shout to randon and his team anything good requires a lot of hustle I feel like. Okay. Hey, a few announcements.

Number one, we're doing Sanjay, Greg, and Charlie Bome and I are doing a special episode tomorrow, recording a special episode tomorrow that will drop at some point. It's going to be an all-timers draft. So we're going to draft 11s from everybody who played for the U.S. men's national team, starting with the 2002 World Cup roster going forward. So it's not Alzheimer's, but it's like, you know, modern. modern era, all timers, and no current players allowed. So Greg is, you know, sort of quietly building an extremely elaborate plan for dominating this draft. We're all going to have to come ready to contend with him. That's happening tomorrow.

Wednesday, Vince and I record an interview with none other than J.T. Batson, CEO of U.S. soccer. Yeah. So lots coming down the pike. Then we got this roster coming out next Tuesday, and then the game start, and then the World Cup starts. So stick with us. We'll see you.