Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #694: The USMNT All-Timers Draft

Episode Date: May 25, 2026

Sanjay, Belz, Charlie Boehm and Greg V compete for the strongest teams, with all U.S. men's national team World Cup players from '94 to '22 on the draft board. You decide who did the best. 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.scuffedpodcast.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. Hey, everybody, we're going to have a little fun today, and we're on a draft, one of our signature moves at Scuffed. The players available in this draft will include everyone who was on a U.S. men's national team World Cup roster from 1994 to 2022. Obviously, no roster from 2018. And we are each picking 11 players based on their professional peak. might have some discussion about whether that's ambiguous or not. And then we'll submit our rosters to the public for voting and we'll see who did the best. The contestants today are Sanjay Sujanta Kumar, Adam Bells, Charlie Boehm and Greg Velazquez.

And that is going to be the draft order. The draft will snake. So Greg gets the fourth pick and the fifth pick. Sanjay gets the eighth pick and the ninth pick. Any questions before we proceed with Sanjay's first pick? Sanjay? No, no questions. I just want to say, you know, I watched the first episode of the documentary last night,

the HBO one, us against the world. It was great. It really inspired me to pick, you know, a lot of players that I'm familiar with. A lot of people listening are probably wondering how, you know, someone who's 30 years old like myself is going to pick guys from the 90s. The truth is that that wasn't initially the plan. But other people here today decided to redraw the boundaries of the player pool. It's been gerrymandered.

Exactly. That's exactly what happened. And we're seeing that backfire in the real world spectacularly these days. And I think it's going to backfire on them over the course the next, you know, probably two to three hours. Talk that talk, buddy. Yeah. I know, I know, especially after the first draft, I know what the people want. I know what the base wants.

It's not about what I want. So I'm ready to give it to them. And that was my mindset going in before I was going to make this first pick. He's talking like a draft pick, not a drafter. Yeah. Well, I'm going to keep track of how many times you complain about how young you are. I've got one on the tally mark. Is he complaining?

I feel like it's a bit of a brag. Sanjay, are you implying that scuffed listeners are going to be more tilted towards more recent players and that all of us old who are going to pick other olds are only going to be hurting ourselves. Yeah, I think if I carried the younger voters who were totally duped in the last election, I think if they're rocking with me this time, I think things are going to go well. And of course, we all know that the past two World Cup cycles were the best in USMNT history, as we all know. So it totally makes sense what you're saying.

It's just common sense. You can also Google stuff, Sanjay. I mean, that's the thought that comes to mind. You are a professional ball knower, correct? This is inherent to the job description. I like to think so, but I think going back to, you know, the criteria for this, I think this is going to come down to like this generational, like, culture war here. That's how the talent is going to be interpreted.

And I think I'll definitely be on the right side of history when it's all said and done. I'd also like to, you know, there's something you folks aren't as used to doing, but, you know, fantasy sports were conducted differently when you guys are growing up. But now we trade picks. I'd really like to do that. That appeal was denied last time. But I got the first pick. I got a lot of leverage right now. Yeah, that's the real reason Sanjay is salty is that no one stepped up to get fleeced by him in some mythological trade arrangement.

I feel like if there was going to be a trade, I feel like it would have to be me really going for it because you guys are all going to get one of the God tier trilogy, Trinity, and I'm going to be left sort of holding the bag on that front. There's only three in the

God tier? There's only three players in the history of the program. I mean, there aren't, but I feel like everyone has a sense of the top three of the top three of going. Yeah. Greg, Greg, do you want this pick right now based on what you just said? You know, for all the smoke I was just blowing.

I'm going to pass. I'm okay with my four or five. Wise. Wise. Yeah, I forgot to mention we, I spun the wheel, and that's how we got the draft order. So, Sanjay, you ready to make the first pick? Yeah, this might come as a surprise based on what Greg just said. There is a consensus around the best three players, field players, right?

now but I'm thinking about how I'm going to build a team and I'm thinking about you know someone who I idolized for what he did on the field to be clear and not what's happened since then without further ado drove through this man's hometown all the time as a child my dad always reminded me this is where this guy's from Mr. Claudio reina is going number one overall okay just Surprises, Sanjay, always. Younger viewers may want to know that's Giorina's dad, so if you haven't heard of that guy. We call him Danielle Raina's husband in this podcast.

Okay, Claudio goes first. All I can think about is that magnificent run off the quick restart against Mexico and, you know, the assist or the pass before the assist on. Brian McBride's goal. I'm going to go with the second pick overall. I'm going to go with a current player, one who's going to be playing probably a big role this summer. Not probably.

He's going to play a huge role this summer, and he's going to make my midfield strong and give me a lot of options. Weston, James Earl McKinney, is my first pick. Wow, we got two, two from the Knott trilogy and now the board is setting up pretty well

for Greg again good Lord Wow okay incredible you guys I am I am flabbergasted that I get to make this pick at number three overall

but it's blindingly obvious that I got to go with the American goat Clint Deuce Dempsey number three the anchor the rock the one Yep

Interesting, you called him the goat You know Chasel-Dazzle when we were at that screening Down in Atlanta I was kind of polling people on who the goat was And everyone was Maybe biased in the moment But it seems like people actually think that

And maybe Greg will take the other goat Let's see I guess my hands are tied here And I will settle With pick number four And pick number five for Landon, Donovan, and Christian Bullisick. I don't know what's happening here.

Yeah, that's a pretty good start to your front line there. Wow, okay, great. Good, good. No, these are rational draft picks. So I feel a little less untethered from reality after Greg's gone here. All right. So who's number six for you, Charlie? Man, this might be easier than I thought, you know.

Yeah, I'm going to go with Tim Howard, my goalkeeper. Okay. Just furiously typing over here. Not furious because I'm angry, just trying to keep up with everybody. I'll take Brian McBride with the seventh pick. Strikers are not a really strong position in this draft board, I don't think. So I'll take him. Sanjay, you got two picks.

I got to look back to the 90s, you know, because these guys don't. Sanjay, did you, I'm just curious. Did you watch any tape? We have to call it tape when you go back to the 90s. Did you watch any tape of these fellas from the 90s? I have before. I didn't watch it like last night. I know, I know who the ballers were and who, you know.

Surely you had to watch tape to know who Claudia Arena is, though. now I remember 2002 somewhat I was I was six turning seven I remember the I remember the true Captain America and yeah you know it's about playing a certain style of football so without further ado here I'm gonna go with Michael Bradley and Tabramos

those those are good picks boy for somebody who doesn't know much about the 90s you sure are kind of parked there in the 90s. Not the truth. Yeah. Interesting. I'll just say too since we're on Tabramos and some of the guys in the 90s. The formation and position of these guys as you're kind of going through your head is kind of interesting to think about like so much, so much 4-4-2 from growing up and just like a right

midfielder playing a position that kind of doesn't exist anymore. The center mids kind of playing roles that have now been sort of split up and morphed. So always trying to imagine where the guys are going to play and how they're going to interact and like what what spots they can flex into is going to be an interesting adventure. Yeah, because my brain always just goes straight to the four, like the four three, three, you know, with a six, two eights, two wingers and a striker. But that's obviously not how the team has played. Anyway.

All right. With the next pick, I'm going to take John Harks. Talk to anybody from those days. He was just a dog and a creator. Pioneer. Yeah. So I'm going to go for number 11 pick. I'm going to go with Tyler Adams as my six.

All right. A healthy Tyler Adams, of course, who never picks up muscle strains. I mean, the guy played every minute at the last World Cup, you know? So let's see if we can do get that Tyler Adams again. Not knocking on the desk right now. All right. I'm pretty pleased with some options I've got here. So I'm going to go with another, what I consider, greatest of all time for the U.S.

on the defense side of the ball. And I'm going to go ahead and take Eddie Edward Pope. Eduardo. Okay. And I think I'm also going to take one Jermaine Jones. Let's get some center mid-steel in there. Yeah. Champions League veteran hit that rope against Portugal.

Charlie, back to you, brother. All right. Here I'm going to fill the most probably, I'd say the most problematic position in the history of the program, which is left back. Unfortunately, Juergen was wrong. Not anyone can play left back. I'm picking Jedi Robinson for my LB. I'm going to just follow up real quick with a DeMarcus Beasley pick for the next one.

Okay, I see how this is going. Tim Ream and Josie Altador. Boom, Sanjay was ready. He was sitting on those. You guys, we all have vastly different boards. what I'm concluding here. I mean, Greg's on, Greg's the betting favorite right now for sure,

because people will. They'll see the Landon-Donovan, Christian Polisic Frontline, and it's curtains at that point. Okay, I will, with my next pick, I will take, uh,

Stu Holden. Ah, that's a great one. I love Stu. Oh. Never really peaked at a World Cup, but he was on a World Cup roster, and his professional peak was about as high as anybody's not named Christian Pulisic. Bolton Wanderer Legend Stuart Holden. My next pick is Oguchi-on-Yea-Wu.

We're going at a great pace right now. I'm proud about it. We are flying. Yeah, I mean, we're kind of almost too efficient here. I feel like this whole exercise is about remembering some guys. and we're just we're just firing right through them. I think at the end we can do a good analysis of how teams would match up and whatnot. Okay, I've got to look at my board here.

Goodness. Yeah, this is happening too fast. I can't react in real time here. I think I think I'm going to, I also got to hit my left back. And I'm going to give myself some flexibility here. So I'm going to add, I'm going to add Fabian Johnson, who I absolutely ad, watching. So I got Fabian and Jermaine Jones.

Those guys came into play in the era. The nationality switch rule changed in 2009, right before the 2010 World Cup. But we couldn't get Jones in. He was hurt. But there was that era where we were just, guys were just flying over to the U.S. because they'd played youth competitive games for other countries. And at the time, that would cap-tie them. And then they changed the rule.

then we just had that influx. And Fabian was just a baller. You might have some chemistry issues on your team, Greg. If those guys fly in, I don't know, if they're going to come over for this. Especially if you have Bruce Arena as your coach, that could be tricky. Okay, so I got another pick here, right? Okay. I think I think I might just settle both my fullbacks.

And I know Tony Sanna is going to have a ton of cachet, but I'm going to leave him for Bels with their Minnesota connection. I think Bels is fighting against Sane a few times in the adult leagues in the cities. So I'll save him there. I'll take one of my favorites, and that's Serginio Dest. Yeah, it's a good pick. Well, I won't assume that Bels would have made that pick, but he was on my list. So I'm not going to let him have the option.

I'm going to grab Minnesota legend Tony Sane. And I'm actually playing, well, we'll see how it all shakes out, but I like the positional versatility. He's very much in the reckoning for centerback for me. Okay. To partner with Gouche. But let's see what happens. I just remember, I don't remember a ton from the 2002 World Cup,

from the experience of watching it. But I just remember Tony Sane being like imperious in that tournament. It just felt like, It was completely dominated his side of the field. So I'm sad that he's taken. I'm going to have to take Steve Turundolo for with my, I guess, what, sixth pick, the 23rd pick overall. Sanjay, you get two picks. I wasn't planning to do these picks back to back, but I have to now to complete the identity of my team.

I'm going to go with Greg Burrhalter and Gio Raina. It was absolutely genius. I hope that swings it for you. Berlter played a little left back, didn't he? Or was he strictly sure? Yeah. I know. No, he can deputize the left back.

So we'll see how I set up this team. Again, Gio Raina at his peak, we're talking about, you know, 18-year-old bullying Leongaretska in the German Super Cup, Gio Raina. That's what we're talking about with this team. No one's competing with this midfield. we'll get into it later but one might say that midfield's only enemy is itself who'd you pick first georena or gregg burhalter i too need a little uh creative tension wait charlie it's my turn right oh sorry sorry

that's okay let's see if you if you steal my thunder here um man i will take i'll take Tim Wea Oh, come on. I thought he was going to be around for a while. That's who I was thinking about taking instead of Greg. I thought he'd be there for me. He was, oh, man, this hurts. You guys always steal my Tim Weas.

Scored a goal at the World Cup. Had one called back against Iran that was, you know, less than an inch offside. He's a big game player. Charlie, you're up. Yeah, so I'm going to go with, again, some creative tension. I'm throwing Eric Winald, up top. Streets won't forget.

I know many people just remember the Twitter and television exploits, but this man was a game changer in his prime. Scored that big free kick goal at the Silver Dome, right? Yep. One of the first Americans to make a name in Jersey. Germany. First goal in MLS history and on and on. Incredible passion and drama at every turn. Yes. I think he and Clint Dempsey will be an explosive.

We would strike partnership. Oh man. Okay. Okay. So I get a couple here. I feel like I got good options in a lot of positions. So I'm going to go ahead and take the best U.S. goalkeeper of all time and Brad Friedel. Okay Who's your striker, bro? You know, I got some options for that You guys

I've kind of all picked some And I got I got some guys laying around You can do a job Christian Pulisick Falls 9 Josh Sergeant's still out there I don't think I don't think anyone's going to pick him He can be my 11th pick

Anytime I want As long as you don't need goals From your number nine I guess That works great Well I got my goals In Pulisic and Donovan Josie didn't score in 2010.

The husky role, yeah. Let's see what we got here. Let me add some more midfield talent. We were talking peak play, and I'm sure no one is going to, as they're listening to this, is going to sort of put in their own doubts about health because we already ruled that out. So give me a John O'Brien. Yeah.

Wow. Wow. Kind of amazing he made it this far into the. draft. Yeah. This is me just like pretending. I remember how amazing he was. Wow, Craig.

The old soccer dads are going to be very happy about a John O'Brien pick. A lot of, he's, I mean, Sanja, you pick Gio. So these guys are similar at the moment, similar buckets of what if. Stu Holden probably in that camp, too, a little bit. Yeah. But I don't think he ever had quite the ceiling. if these guys had. Stu was more of just like he's going to be a really steady, you know,

player you can help build. He can help you build around other guys. But we never got a chance to see him build like that. Charlie, your turn? There has been a substantial overlap on my list. So you guys are, I'm having to dig down the depth chart a little bit here. But it's a good, it's a good problem. Good problem I have because I think this guy is, again, another one who maybe got,

Didn't get his full due in his peak. But I'm going to select Benny Fowler, nice. I love Benny. Benny was the game changer in 2010. Him in 2009, too. Iconic Confederation's Cup. Yes.

Clinching Golaso in the Gold Cup final against Mexico. Shout out Max Britos. That was him on the call, right? Odds are that that era. They had Max work in 12-hour days at the Fox Studios. I'm going to take Jeff Cameron with my next pick. I feel like he gets, he gets, he doesn't quite get the respect he deserves because, you know, because of non-socker reasons. But man, man, was he good in that 2014 World Cup?

And he was, you know, he played at a really high level for a long time. Yeah. You can step into central midfield if need be. Yeah. You reminded me of someone who's available, and now I'm trying to think if I can mess around with my system here. You've got a lot of attackers available for you. You're looking for an attacker.

Don't listen to anything Greg says right now. It's all just a ploy. Took Burlder pretty early. That put me in an interesting spot. Leadership. that's what he brings to the table you just had to pick up together we know we know we know understand for the content let's go to a tv timeout it's gonna it's gonna be a long it's gonna be a long pause so bell's market the draft

the draft floor is booing right now I'm looking at your team Sanjay you got some you got some strength here what are you what position are you trying to shore up need some fullbacks It's about vibes. It's about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. You adding Christian rolled onto this list. With 3G and Geo in the same 11, the vibes are absolutely going to be off the charts. I wouldn't worry about that. You're going to get fancy throw of Marcus Hanamon in here?

There was, I actually got to do some tactical like adjustments now because picking Greg really changed things. We can just get up long dead silence, right? We can just edit that out and tell people how long it was, really. It's like Sanjay took 15 minutes to make this next pick. Yeah, we turned that to the SpongeBob thing. I should have taken Waya, damn it. I mean, maybe you can swing your trade now. I mean, we have gone way faster than I thought we were going to.

Obviously. Everyone did their homework. All right. I'm going to go. Wait, wait, wait. Okay, so it's been two hours since I took my 31st pick. I think Sanjay's finally ready. Here we go.

No, it hasn't been. It's been like a couple of minutes. I'm going to go with... And he's got two picks. That means he's agonizing this hard over both of them. Because if he knew at least with one of them... Well, yeah, because, no, I got to, when you snake like this, you got to think about where the board's going to be when you get your next pick, you know?

I'm trying to run through who you guys are definitely going to snatch. You don't need Omar because you've already got Burrhalter who can play centerback, so I wouldn't take Omar. Why are you? See, you can even remember some guys who aren't going to get drafted. Ernie Stewart was like a D-Mid? No. Yeah, I'd say that. See, now I'm showing my...

I think you'd deputize there. I mean, we were up against it a lot. back in those days. So he was back in our half pitching in. It's a total football mindset. Yeah. For sure. Pick the Dutch guy.

Just tell him to do three jobs. Sanjay Ernie Stewart is not a D-Mid. He's on my short list for one of the guys who could be by striker. You're looking in the Beckerman-Mastrowani territory. Yeah, no, I know. I remember Mastroenny's red card against Italy. Like, it was yesterday. That was awesome.

Fuck it, I'm taking Alexei Lawless and Joe Scali. It's bad Wallace. Wallace made it. That's three centerbacks. All right. We're solid in the back and we have versatility, you know, between Greg and Joe. They can... That's pretty good, man.

Yeah. All right, I'm taking John Anthony Brooks. Curses, bells. Cameron, Andrew Brooks. That was who I was trying to, like, squeeze into my team. You had so many left-footed players trying to play centerback for you. Sanjay.

That was you thief. Yeah, you get Copa America, John Brooks. That's right. Running back against Paraguay, back when he could still run. Interesting. All right. Well, I'm going to fill out my, um, I'm my back four with Carlos Bocanegra,

a left-sided centerback. All the left-sided centerbacks go at once. Oh, no, I still have one. In fact, I'm very happy with my left-sided centerback. Because to my knowledge, you guys can correct me, he's the only U.S. centerback who has connected on a World Cup bicycle kick. didn't score it fizzed inches

I was surprised he fell this far given my propensity for bicycle kick how much I appreciate them this is a lovely choice for me I'm going to take Marcelo Balboa Nice Greg seems the best That's tape worth watching

Can you shut up Sanjay Sanjay you find that Marcel Balba Baja bicycle kick If you were Of a certain age when you saw that You spent the next like several years of your middle school and high school life, trying to get where you can connect on bicycle kicks.

And, you know, it pays off. You will be, even though you're, you know, the 14th best player in Muscatine high school, you are the only one willing and capable of attempting a bicycle kick. I saw that clip, actually, because I did a piece on something like retro. And before I talked to him, I watched him. I watched some highlights and I saw that. That was crazy. Did a piece on something retro, huh?

I did a piece on, it was about 94. They played, the Brazil game was on July 4th. Do you guys remember that? Yes. I do. So it was about that run. And, yeah, it was about drawing parallels to 2024 and how they were supposed to play on the fourth weekend,

but didn't get that far. Fate got on the way. Makes me think of Hugo Perez. Yeah, he's still. Why hasn't he been picked? So my snake pick is another guy who I kind of, this could hurt me overall because I feel like people are going to point out that I'm cramming too many attackers in here now

because I didn't expect to get Donovan pool sick, and I felt like I had to add this guy to my team. and that is that is precky i need precky you got to have at least one indoor player to round out your squad and precky is my guy wait actually actually i take back what i said about gregg's team that midfield is is uh that's a little chaotic man you got germain as the holding guy good good luck with that i know i could if i pick pablo right here instead of precky i I win this in a landslide. But I'm going to keep it interesting here with Precky.

I could not quite, I really wanted Precky. I could not quite justify starting 11 spot. He was the main reason that I was advocating in the pre-show for a little riff on super subs, on who your first guys off the bench would be. Because for me, Precky is the super sub of all time. But I don't think he's going to be able to keep pace for 90s. We can, I mean, we have enough time now. We could do a couple of subs.

I think we, I think it's possible. I mean, we'll have a meeting about it here once we finish. No objection. Yeah, so my next one for 38, I'm going to address my wide midfield needs with another icon, Kobe Jones. Yes, I was really, I would have been devastated if he didn't get picked so much. glad he did this. And what I love about Kobe is that his game evolved and his longevity is so impressive because he was, he was another, he'd be another super sub conversation because that was

what he did in 2002 and came in. And I forget who wrote about this at some point, but when those guys that talked about the, when those guys that beat Mexico in the round of 16 in 2002 did oral histories and stuff later, they talked about how Kobe's job was to go in and get kicked. And he's the one who drew the red card from Rafa Marquez, which is another iconic moment in program history, in my opinion. And he knew exactly what his job was, and he did it quite well. But he could also, in his prime, that was Pat Post Prime. In his prime, he could beat almost anybody for pace and was a real game or two. And the only, as far as I know, the only U.S. Minnesota team player to come up through the hacky sack device.

development pathway. Different time. Different era. Okay. Let's see here. Yeah, I'll take Mastrani to round out my midfield. I think I'm going to put, have Holden be the tucked in left winger on my team. It's a good squad.

I like that squad. Thanks, Charlie. Well, we don't know his goalkeepers yet. He could totally flub his lines here. Sanjay with the double pick to close it out. I think my team

has a very strong identity in a way that none of yours do. You got Burrhalter playing left back? That's an identity. I'm going to go

with someone who probably hasn't peaked yet. Definitely hasn't peaked yet, but he still can. And even the level that he showed at the last World Cup and in the last cycle, technically, tactically, physically, is pretty much ahead of, I would say most of your midfielders. I'm going to go with Eunice Musa.

I love that pick. Good pick. It's a good pick. So you can move geo. Yeah, there you go. Great minds. There you go. And wait, are we doing, are we doing subs?

Let's say we can each pick two. Okay. We have time to do it. Not at the same time. No, yeah. Well, some of you are going to get to do it at the same time. I guess, Greg, you'll get to do it at the same time. Continue the order.

Yeah. I'm going to go with off the bench. I'm going to go with. because the keeper spot will be there for me. I don't need to fill keeper right now. Don't tell me when to pick keeper. Off the bench, I'm going to go, Bell's his favorite player,

Brendan Aronson. Man, good luck with that, buddy. Premier League regular, Joe Scala, youngest, non-German, right? 150 Bundes League appearances, just a lot of history on this team. Okay, so it's my turn. I'm going to, you know, I'm going to stick to the rules and get a goalkeeper.

No, maybe I'm not. Give me Clint Mathis, please. There you go. That goal he scored against, was it South Korea? Korea. What a goal. What a goal. Yeah, Conyers, Georgia's own.

That's a little town just east of Atlanta. for the geographers out there. I love that. All right, so all this talk about Ernie Stewart and nobody picked him. So that's mine. What a gift to fall to me so late in the game here. I mean, somebody still had another pick left

and was counting on you guys all not picking a second striker. Oh, that hurts me. That hurts me a lot, you guys, to not get steal Ernie there at the end, just for, Just for curb appeal. Yeah. The section football.

Who do we want to take? I mean, I do love, there's some guys I love who are going to be underwhelming to be at the top of this lineup graphic. I know curb appeal. I learned a lot about curb appeal last time. I forget who my striker was, but I was going to get Sergeant with the last pick, and Greg took him. You got Damien Downs.

Yeah. That's right. That's right. What's going to happen here is I'm going to be like two days later. I'm going to realize, oh, that's why Greg said that thing about Ernie Stewart at that point in the draft. Or this is what was going on. You know, it takes me a while. I'm a little slow.

It takes me a while to figure it all out. But by Thursday, I'll have it all figured out and I'll be filled with bitterness. All right. So I need a wrecking ball center mid. And I think I'll just do Beckerman. I did a job. Got us out of a group of death. with his totally unsexy but steady play.

So Kyle Beckerman. The thinking man's a wrecking ball. Plus, I have a buddy who's got a standing requirement. Anytime he goes to a soccer game, if he sees somebody wearing a Kyle Beckerman jersey, he must buy it off them. Which means that no matter what the price becomes, he has to pay it.

Wow. Has he done this? I mean, we haven't seen anybody with the Beckerman jersey yet. We have never seen it. We don't go to games that often. but if you see me ask everyone and you see if I'm with somebody I'm not going to tell you it is because I'd that ruin the game but then like I would just wear Kyle Beckerman jersey just in case you're going to run into me and this buddy okay I got I got to come

with the striker and I'm not picking I'm not picking Robbie Finley um it's tough uh you got Wando, Aaron Johansson. Oh man, I do love Aaron. Edson, buttle. I'm going to go with my guy. So it's my guy. I just love listening to this guy. I'm going to take Herc.

Wise. Wise not to let Bill's get in your head like that. I think Josh Wolf would have been, would probably maybe have gone over. I mean, he's got some goals against Mexico in non-world cup games. But I just really enjoy Herc. Great story. That's my last pick, right?

Oh, no, we're going to get one more. I'm going to get one more sub. It's a vibesy, vibesy pick. I like that. Okay, Charlie, you're up again? Yeah, so I'm going to do that. You went with Herc. I'm going to go with Wolf,

Josh Wolf. I'm curious who your sub is and who your starters are here. Yeah, I think I'm going to start Ernie. Honestly, I think I'll, Ernie's clever. He can play multiple roles. In the tax, so I'm going to give him the left mid job. And then, yeah. And then Wolf will be first option off the bench for now.

Okay, I have two more picks left. Hugo Perez. There we go. I'm glad he's off the board. Just a great somebody to bring in and create if you need it. Techers. Somebody Adam Elder said in his book about that. 1990 World Cup run that he had if you saw Hugo Perez from behind he bore the faintest resemblance to

Diego Maradona you know with his like mullet and his short stocky frame um and uh you know I'm riding on that um hold on I just I love the bells chose that but also I feel like what he hasn't accounted for uh is that he didn't pick a goalkeeper with his 11 pick or with his 12th pick and I think this is really going to set him back as he puts Hugo in that since Sanjay hasn't named a choice yet I feel like we could give Bells a do over here for feeling generous or we could make him eat it well no I have one more pick oh we get two subs okay my apologies all right no it's okay If you, you know, if you study curb appeal long enough, you realize that nobody cares who the goalkeeper is.

Yeah, USM&T famously not reliant on good goalkeeping at the World Cup. I'm not saying it makes sense. I'm just sitting here ruining the fact that I didn't take way, and I took Burr-Alter that early. Shout out, Greg. Greg was a good player. So I'm going to go Yeah, I got to get my keeper Who's better, Miola or Matt Turner?

I mean, I'm going to help you out here, Sanjay, to Bell's dismay, but you take the goalie who had an absolute worldly against Brazil in a competitive match. Can you not? The one praise by Mario. Yeah, I'm going to go with They both fit the identity of my team. I'm going to go with Tony Mio. Okay, fair enough.

And then as my last sub, as my last sub, as we get deeper down here, and I struggled to remember some of the earlier guys. But I remember Al-Andra Bedoyah being a great player, especially at the beginning of his second cycle. And a lot of other things weren't going well. So obviously he's been to start a games at a World Cup, and I thought carved out a very good career for himself. abroad came back here and is more than an athlete

and a guy I have a lot of respect for so I'm happy to add him to my team that has a clear identity look at this team all we were missing was Tim Wea um but and John Harksey could say I gotta say Musa really helps your to me

really helps your lineup a lot because you know it's too bad what's happened with his his playing career in the last 12 months or so, but he's a good player. Yeah, Musa is someone who could really mobilize the base when it comes to, you know, comparing the contemporaries and the older folks. I think if you take my team at its peak, like all these guys are the best of their abilities, Gio, Tab, Claudio, Michael Bradley, we have a striker practice.

that none of you guys do up top. No disrespect to the other guys. But Josie was all around for my money, the best striker. So, yeah, I think, like, if these guys were to actually get out there, I'd back my team against anyone. We got Tim Ramey, who can, you know, the cerebral left side of this back four, tactically astute and then some guys you can just get the job done on the right side and uh yeah your right side is just fundamentally unsurious i think i mean everybody's gonna have a blast just uh you know

lawless is going to have a bad attitude and uh he and scaly are not going to get along and neither of them is really that good anyway so law lawless is going to show up he's going to show up and just show up like the 1998 world cup laughing while laughing on the bench while we're losing to Iran. He's going to show up and be more patriotic than anybody else who steps in the field. The patriotism was a late addition to his life. He was at his professional peak. So are his connections.

His connections, you know, we're going to have some favorable refereeing through some politicking. So I think my team checks all the boxes all around. I'll give you credit for for sorry go ahead bells no you can give Sanjay credit but let's just finish voting let's just finish choosing players before Sanjay goes into full on lobbyist mode apologize mode yeah go ahead for for my final pick uh I'm it's amazing that a world whoa whoa whoa I get I get a pick before you I think what yeah he's got he's got to pick a goalkeeper he's not taking your guy oh I'm I'm see I see you haven't announced it yet sorry Casey Kelly I already put your pick in, Bell. I tucked it in while Sanjay was talking, but yeah. Casey Keller is my goalkeeper pick.

You're up, Charlie. That's great. There's so many good goalkeepers just hanging around. You can wait. You can put it off to the last minute. That's fantastic. Thank you, that, Bells. Mine is a World's Cup goal score who's somehow still hanging around here,

and whose ceiling we may still not have quite seen yet. Maybe things will be different in a future edition of this draft. But I've got Haji Wright as my... I sub off the bench, my game changer, versatile, shape-shifting strike option. I like it. I like it, too. All right. I think I will take, let's see, so I have one sub left.

I can't believe. Terrible error for me to pick Balboa right after you guys all picked your left back, left centerbacks when I could have had Ernie Stewart. then. That was a tragic blunder, because with Stuart, again, I think this is a walk-off. Who do I add? But there's some fun guys here. Give me, I hope we aren't picking another sub because I will not be able to pick another one.

I'm going to pick a fun vibes guy. I'm taking Frankie Hedick. He deserves to be on this phone call. Yeah. And then sorry, guys, I'll be right back. Who? I'm just like trying to figure out who else is even on this. That's the last pick, so we can talk freely here.

But who else is there that's even tempting? So Clevejo would have been an interesting, you know, old guy with technique. Yeah. Would be an interesting option. I think from the OGs like Clay Coyman, who's underrated, great, great character. guy, I Kate Vibs guy. Dooley as well was like massive reinforcement of the first German reinforcements. Agus, I think we're sleeping on a little bit, starting centerback in multiple World Cups.

Yeah. Moewee Dew. Is he anywhere near it for you? I thought Matt Beasler was pretty good. you know i mean he's not he's not the best ever but he was solid at a world cup yeah i mean i guess eddie lewis went to multiple world cups right and he was uh he was the guy you know rode in on the left side left sided role player mm-hmm graham zusi i'm i wouldn't pick him but so sorry guys i had someone at the door had to grab it's okay

it's okay no worries i was slightly tempted for um for ft man was a torres would have been a That my, my heart was, my heart was talking to me on that one, but the brain overrode it. But nobody took Shaq more. Wow. I think everyone on my actual board got, got picked. Did we mention Moe, do? Did someone say his name just now? No, I did.

I did. I did. Okay. I was really thinking about that for my, for my last sub, but I just wanted someone a little, uh, yeah. Yeah, he was, he was still on the, board. David Reggie, I feel like, was someone who could have gone. We want to name other players, you guys? Are there other players we should name? Yeah, I thought about, I mean, Zimmerman's on my board, Walker.

Oh, demerit, of course, legend, J. demerit, in the centerback category of Walker. I mentioned Matt Beasler while you were away for a second. I thought, I thought about picking him. See, you didn't pick Omar Gonzalez. You were trying to trick people into picking him. Okay, well, let's talk about, let's give the Florida Sanjay. Why do you think your team is the best, Mr. Sejanta Kumar? Identity? Yeah, yeah. I think that togetherness of the tri-state area is something that it can be found anywhere else in America, that grit, that industry, that innovation, that class in the final third.

I mean, like, seriously, like, Gio Claudio Tab. That's solid. That is solid. At their peak, like, you're not stopping them. Like, Greg, if your team doesn't have space in behind to exploit, like, good luck, man. We played into Josie's feet, and we're golden, you know, a little bit around. Not super peasy, though. Not super, I should have taken way a damn it, whatever.

Kind of more bronze. A little more bronze than golden to me. Tab is you have tab out wide. See, I think I want, I had tab on my first 11, but I want him in the conducting in the engine room. Because that was his, like, he was the only tempo setting press resistant guy we had in that era. That was part of what was amazing about him, why he stuck out, I think. But I'm sure he could do the job. I kind of, like, when I took Musa, I kind of had the width possibility in mind.

Not that I love him playing there in real life, but, yeah, way I would have been shoot, whatever. It's the price to pay for drafting Greg. God bless Greg. But just to take Charlie's roster, for example, imagine Jedi bombing up that left side against Tab, Scali, and Alexi Lollas. And then you've got Ernie Stewart and Clint Dempsey

combining with Jedi. I mean, Dempsey's going to have. so much fun in a game like that. He's going to give Alexi the old stiff arm, put him on the ground. I don't know if, I don't know if Charlie's team has the right balance. Like, there's obviously, like, fun possibilities, but you're asking a lot of Tyler there, a lot. And I frankly don't know how that, most of that back four compares level-wise.

Like, Pocenecker and Guts are good players. Tony Sano was a good player. but are they that much better than like thinking about like Tim Ream at his peak pep was like I would have signed you bro if you were a little bit younger right you can't say that about any other defender here but the thing is Tim Reem's peak was that moment when he said I would have signed you if you were younger you know and it's a conditional yeah his peak that now we can't talk about hypothetical peaks you know good player I think even at his peak he didn't have the the combination of uh pace and athleticism and steel that mine has. Obviously, I'm a little biased here, but I thought there was, and when you think about the versatility again, Boca and Sonnet can both step out wide if you need to go three in the back or something or need to shift things around. And then Gooch was the spiritual heart, I think, of a lot of those good U.S. teams of the late aughts and early teens. actually now you say that i think a back three set up might make the most sense for you

if you drop benny deeper like next to tyler and and kind of i envisioned a fluid four four one but i think you could easily go you could easily go three in the back here and and throw a jedi forward or or or even sona could sonny is a more of a runner than i think i think we've talked about he could he could get forward i mean that was that's my memory from 2002 was his just bombing up that right side. Yeah. Modern fullback for 2002. Yeah, like a 6-3-230-pound fullback.

I mean, he's a huge guy. I'll take silver. I think gold probably goes to Greg. Probably. I don't even know. I don't know. I think when I got Pulisick and Donovan, that was a good, that was a good double pick moment for my sporting director.

Yeah. I guess, and you have Dest to get the ball up to them. The issues if you get countered, you're going to have, Jones is going to be on walkabout. Dest will be somewhere in, somewhere in the opposition's penalty box. Donovan is an attacking-minded player, so it's going to be Pope and Beckerman, you know, plugging holes in the dyke, trying to put out fires.

So I would definitely attack your right corner. I got Friedel to, I got Friedel to bail us out, man. My guys can give up penalties all day And Friedel's just going to stop them I do think Herc is a step below The other three strikers No, no question That's my

Pope So I want to talk about Pope a little bit I know everybody wants He's always like Well everybody's always like Oh Pope is the greatest Centerback of all time Like

Is it true Or is it just that he never talks And so everybody's like he's great he's never spoken a public word that's since he left and so that which is a good strategy go ahead yeah his intelligence works in his favor there i think i think that speaks speaks well to him yeah uh oh i don't know everybody that i know that that has been around him interacted with him or played with him you know speaks speaks of his character and um just very uh imperturbable you know very compose but if you watch

The tape. He's okay. He's not like... It's just a different era. I mean, I'm just saying right now. The, uh, the, he's built a, he's built a reputation as our all-time centerback. Uh, it's going to hold up in a draft situation. But I would encourage few bells to, to post some of his tape and just start trying to wet

blanket Eddie Pope's legacy. It's a wet blanket, like the most likable person in the history of the national team? No, I mean, I'm not. I'm just saying like, I'm just asking questions here. Is he really that good? I'm not really sure myself, but I do appreciate. Like, I recognize all the character stuff. I admire him, of course.

I think back to 06, a lot of stuff that could have gone wrong did go wrong in 2006, but they still didn't lose to the eventual champions, Italy. A blood and guts 1-1 with 10 men. Nine by the end of it. Yeah, nine at the end. Even longer, it wasn't just so like stoppage time second red guard. We were working. I feel like that's a Gooch's moment too, because he obviously gave up the pen and the, in the Ghana match.

Questionable. It's a questionable pen. I'm not trying to. I was looking back at that tape recently. That was an incredibly weak penalty kick decision by supposedly the best ref in the world at the Belze, you're going to make a case for your crew here? Oh, I think I have a very solid team. Is it going to win with the voters over a Pulis-Ik-Donovan front line?

Probably not. But I don't know. I think my team's going to be hard to beat for anybody. Where's the weakness? I mean, Cameron and Brooks aren't exactly quick turners. I mean, we've got the original battleship. namesake, then Cameron's not going to be real nimble next to him. Cameron's nim, I don't know.

I think that was like the, them at their best was one of better partnerships I can remember for this team. I think Cameron is, you know, he's not a, he's not a racehorse, but I don't think he's like, he's not as slow as Brooks. He's pretty athletic. He played some defensive mid. Yeah, all right, all right. Oh, withdrawn, withdrawn.

I know we already did the damage, but we can strike it from the record. I think probably the weakness for my team is like maybe creativity, so a lot resting on Weston and Stu and John Harks. You know, I need some magic from one or all of those three. But I think it's a very, my lineup is very sound and solid. I'm not going to try to say it's the best one. I'm going to leave that to the voters, you know. I do think you've got the best pure nine.

And the question is going to be preventing McBride from getting left on an island. Yeah. Or just hoping that he can still find that little space to get that header. Just get a ball into the box in the air and send 10 of them in. He'll get on the end of one or two. Yeah, he'll knock some down for, you know, Weston and John arriving at the edge of the box. Charlie, I feel like you've got a built-in when all the faction that I think you can

lean on. I mean, I don't want to say he's like a cult leader or anything, but I feel like he's got a voting block. Yeah, I feel like he's a certain block. He's a character. I have to say, Eric is one of those guys.

I've spent a little time with him in real life, just events and coaches of conventions and stuff over the many years and he doesn't uh he's he's just a great guy to like sit down and talk ball with and then he he's like he you can't you can't replicate that in in social media landscape right and i think he kind of tries and so he he ends up he was probably our most outspoken program alumnus maybe at least for a while there in terms of of popping off on socials um but that's not necessarily like that's only one facet of him but i think he he definitely did cultivate a a fandom as a result, in addition to the people that already liked him as a player and

remember him and the straight shooter ethos that he's cultivated, I think, maybe they'll help us at the polls. I wanted to, I was, my, my main regret of this draft is, is not snatching up McBride, because I think that's, that's the reference point that you can build an attack around, and there's just not that many of those. So I think that's, that's, that's a, in, in, Adam's favor. But I like the idea of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of my front line and then some creative guys behind him as well. You guys were knocking my lack of, you know, maybe directness with the attackers, but I've got some arrivers in the midfield, I must say. That's true.

It runs out of the midfields. Scali can get forward too, maybe. So, I mean, I'd put ream out wide if I were in your position, actually, and let, let Bearhalter stay at home. But that's, you know, again, if you're, if you, if you trot out that squad, I'll, I'll, I'll for sure be, be trying to get some, some overloads down, down the left, down your left. Yeah. I think, I think, for example, my, my Kobe, Sane combo would, would be, would ask some tough questions of your, the left side of your defense. Yeah, that's... I hope you don't expect Gio to track back.

No, no, no, no, that's fine. He doesn't... Him and TAB can just stay up and do their thing. Claudio, too, like... Nice, so two passengers. That's... That's a... Two technicians who can...

Geo can create his own shot and create magic. And the father-son combo is just, uh, it's just irresistible. It really is. It is very kind of a strange dynamic. That creates. I wish I'd taken GEO when I had the chance, honestly. So I regret that. And I do agree with you, Charlie, that Dempsey is the greatest of all time.

But I think we just got to leave it to the voters now, guys. Everyone's made their case. In some cases, the case has been fairly weak, such as mine. But look, we'll get these out on the Patreon and out on Twitter eventually, then people can vote. It'll be pretty fun. It'll be interesting to see what people sort of are attracted by. I appreciate you guys doing this. It's kind of a nice way to look back and look ahead to the World Cup. And thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.