Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #695: Our World Cup roster, how we'll line up

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

Vince and Belz talk through the official roster release, which is exactly the same as Saturday's leak. Vince makes a strong case that Tanner Tessmann is a miss from Poch, and we agree we have too many centerbacks, but we're backing this 26 all the way! 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 when we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody, Shakira's World Cup anthem is out with Burnaboy. So is the roster. They both came out on Saturday, actually, because of the leak. Anyway, the roster came out yesterday. It was exactly what was published by The Guardian on Saturday. So no surprises compared to that. But Vince, how you doing?

I'm doing great Adam Bells. You know, the roster of a real party would have been a lot better if it had not been spoiled by the Guardian. You know, I will say that. I mean, think of how that roster was announced. And if we were waiting on pins and needles for number 26 to walk out of that tunnel and then it was announced it was Alejandro Zendayaas.

It would have been, that would have been pure cinema, bro. It would have been. That would have been pure cinema. because I don't know if people would have, you know what? You don't know if people would have taken it so well? I don't know if people would have would have off the rip known that it was Ali

if they would have said from El Paso, Texas, they might have still thought it was Diego Luna coming out that tunnel. I don't know. Oh, yeah. I don't know. They might still thought it was Diego Luna coming out that tunnel. But, yeah, we missed the opportunity

for just some pure drama, suspense, confusion. Yeah. You know, all different types of things, which kind of makes me think that maybe U.S. soccer was maybe behind these leagues. Who can say? Who can say? Who can say? But, man, you know, what happened actually on the show, like, is what it is or whatever.

You know, we had a Gunner performance, which it was great for me. You know, I'm somebody who's been a day one gunner fan. My brother put me on. Maybe one of the few musical artists, you know, is always Big Brother filtering down the little brother. filtering down the little brother. That's right. I was done playing football at that point. And Reg was still playing for

playing for Louisville. And he was like, yo, this is who we've been listened to in a locker room. You know, this is, and this is 2016, bro. This is like Gunner had just released his first mixtape. But he came in, he was like Young Thugs artist. So he came in with that cachet,

like Young Thug don't stamped him, you know, whatever. But listen to that, listen to the original drip season from there, then drip season two. But anyway, to see the heights that he's reached. and now, you know, and I always love these like cultural touch points that I have with the national team or whatever. It's like, oh, they listen to the same music I list to. It even, it deepens. It means something to me, you know, it means something to me.

And to see Stu holding on stage, bribing out, Alexey Lawless as well. Funny stuff, funny stuff. But beautiful day on Pier 17. I mean, just a gorgeous, gorgeous. The day that you hope to get if you go to visit New York were just absolutely beautiful on the Hudson. Beautiful in Manhattan. I can just picture that walk from Manhattan out to the piers, man.

I made that walk last summer. Met Warren Sapp on the way to a ferry. We were going to, I forgot which number of peer it was, but we were hopping on a ferry to just ride down the Hudson, see the Statue of Liberty, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, the World Cup is here, man. The World Cup is here. It feels like it, doesn't it?

It feels, it just, I'm getting more and more excited every day. My wife wants me to buy a projector for the back deck. Yeah, yeah, that's going to be nice, bro. Yeah. You going to do it? Yeah, well, I just realized that the, for some reason, I was confused about the game times, but the game against Paraguay is 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Okay.

I know Turkey A is 10 p.m. too. the only early one is Seattle one So yeah Projecter's gonna be nice I mean Listener if you don't know Adam Bell's got a hell of a

Got a hell of a back deck And it's not just a back deck It wraps around the house You know what I'm saying If you There's a pool out there There's an outdoor shower You know that you can rinse yourself

Off from the pool Just in case you wanted to know Outdoor Kitchen With all the grills and accoutrema Yeah it is a pretty nice Back deck But you gotta remember How much maintenance it

You know, I'm out there, you know, trying to replace everything. It's so wet down here. It's like a rainforest right now. So everything, the wood just rots fast. Anyway, we're obviously going to discuss omissions, but really, I don't feel that bad about any of it. Diego, I think, needs, you know, we need to maybe mourn his loss a little bit. Just because he's such a, I think, such an endearing and lovable character. but mostly I'm just behind the 26 that got called up just like Potch.

I'm not going to disrespect them too much, a little bit maybe by talking about the other guys. But I'm excited about the 26 who are there. Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, yeah, just before we get into it, because I do have some, I do have some nitpicks. You know, I mean, just like one or two, for real. But, you know, before we go any further, it.

I'm sorry. But before we go any further, I do just want to say, congratulations. Full stop to all these fellas that have been named to the World Cup roster. I mean, you know, dreams have come true for a lot of these dudes. And, you know, just haven't been on, kind of been on that side. Like, I just know what it means, man. I know what it means. These guys have sacrificed a lot to get there.

I know it's like a cliche to say that. But even if you want to be good enough to like, I mean, it feels like. as a father of three children, if you want to be good enough to play high school sports, you got to skip a lot of playtime and go to practice a lot and go to tournaments and stuff. And yeah, I mean, can you imagine all the things these guys have missed over the years? It's like they have a great life, of course, and they're doing one of the most fun things on earth. But still, they've sacrificed a lot. And you could see it in their faces when they, when they talk about finding out.

Yeah, man. I mean, you dedicate your entire life to something, to the pursuit of, I don't know, greatness as a soccer player, being the maximizing your potential, being the best soccer player you could be, whatever. I mean, in any pursuit in life, if you do that and you see your work kind of come to fruition and get rewarded. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that's a huge thing for, I mean, the families, the players themselves, all that stuff. So serious congratulations. And, you know, it kind of hit me yesterday.

Tyler and when Tyler and Weston took the podium for that press conference or whatever. And, you know, when Tyler was like, you know, I don't get to play in front of friends and family a lot. Yeah. But they're going to be at these games. You know, it kind of just, it just really kind of hit me, man. It's like, man, it truly is a World Cup. You know, he's going to, he actually said he's going to be able to look into. the stands and see his family and like feel that and feel that they're there with them you know that

I mean all kind of things that maybe you know we take for granted um because I mean you know we talk about these guys applying their trade overseas or whatever but we're going to talk about the plight necessarily of you know kind of just what it takes to be over there and get it done um so yeah I'm just excited excited and and you know for everybody that was on the outside looking in You know, you did help along the way. It takes a village in it. I remember, I remember Georgie Mahalovich at a bar in Chicago with his USM&T kid on. Watching a World Cup game in 2022.

And it's like, you know what? You earned that, bro. You know what I'm saying? You might not be, you know, with the squad or whatever, but you put in your work, you put in your work too. So shout out to them. And big congratulations. A quick aside that I was reminded of by your use of the word greatness. A long time patron, Dmitri Dube said something in the last week that is just, I just think has to be brought up.

He said, he was talking about, you know, kids playing in the house. He said, you've got to get a rebounder and put it in the yard because, and this is pretty much a direct quote, moms will sensibly get mad and stand in the way of greatness. And stand in the way of greatness if you are, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, The kids are kicking the ball in the house too much. That's why you got to get a rebounder and put it in the yard. I just love that, standing the way of greatness. By the way, Demetri, I think a Haitian man, so I think it might be Dimitri, Dubet.

Okay. Dube, by the way, in this one. Okay, my bad. But anyway, the roster. Yeah, the roster. So by the numbers, Potch called up 10 defenders, which counts. I mean, he disputes this a little bit, but come on. This accounts for 38% of the roster.

So more defense. defenders than I think anybody guessed because he's got five centerbacks and five nominal fullbacks plus Tim Wea who can play a fullback so it could be 11 just which puts us north of 40 percent um west mcgette west mcgoy yeah right uh four geographically four of the players are from new york three from pennsylvania two from new jersey one each from delaware and massachusetts so the assela corridor just extremely well represented it on this roster um Texas has three in Pepe Sendejas and McKinney, although McKinney was born in Washington State. California has three in Arfston, Rodon, and Hajie Wright.

And four of the players, Ballot, Tillman, Jedi, and Dest were born overseas. Kind of interesting to me, the Midwest and the South, not very well represented. Like Tim Rehm and Chris Brady are the only true Midwesterners, although you could argue Pulisic is kind of a Midwestern. She's, it's a stretch to say her. She's in the, in the Asala Corridor. And then Chris Richards is the only representative of the South. You know, we've had a lot of players from Georgia on the World Cup squad in the past.

But Richard's the only guy from the south of the Mason-Dixon line. So, yeah. Quick note, Ballot was born in NYC. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Which I think is the whole reason why. Yeah, yeah, it is. why he's on this roster.

It's kind of an important clarification. Did spend his entire life in England, pretty much. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So those are the numbers. Let's just go through it real quick. Goalkeepers, Chris Brady from the Chicago Fire, a Naperville, Illinois native.

Matt Freeze, NYCFC, from Wayne, Pennsylvania, which is just a suburb of Philadelphia. I mean, don't come for me. It's in the vicinity of Philadelphia. Matt Turner from the New England Revolution from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Those are the goalkeepers. Seems like it's going to be a battle between Freeze and Turner,

and I give the edge to freeze. Centerbacks, Mark McKenzie, who plays for Toulouse. He comes from Bayer, Delaware, just across the river from Philadelphia. Tim Ream, Charlotte FC, St. Louis, Missouri native. I mean, he's from, he might have been born in St. Louis. I don't know. Chris Richards, Crystal Palace, player from Birmingham, Alabama. Miles Robinson, FC Cincinnati from Arlington, Massachusetts up by Boston.

Austin trustee plays for Celtic in Scotland. He's from Media, Pennsylvania. I'm sure that's not how he pronounce this. Probably some other way. Fullbacks, Max Arfston, from the Columbus crew from Fresno, California. Sergenio Odest. plays for PSV Einhoven. He's from Almera, the Netherlands. Alex Freeman, plays for Via Real, from Plantation, Florida.

Anthony Robinson from Liverpool, England, obviously plays at Fulham. Joe Scalli plays for Borussia Munchin-Gladbach. He's from Lake Grove, New York, on Long Island. That's the fullbacks. Midfielders. Tyler Adams, plays for AFC Bournemouth. He's from Wappinger Falls, New York, as we all know. Sebastian Burhalter from the Vancouver Whitecaps. He's from Columbus, Ohio, but he's got New Jersey blood in his veins.

Weston McKinney from Juventus. Little Ellen, Texas, is listed as his hometown. Gio Raina, also at Gladbach, from Bedford, New York. Christian Roddon from the Seattle Sounders from Pico Rivera, California. And Malik Tillman from Baylor-Everkusen, who grew up in Firth, Germany. Firth, Germany. I've got the wingers and strikers broken out here. Brendan Aronson

is one of the wingers, plays at Leeds. He's from Medford, New Jersey. That's why they call him the Medford Messi. And then Christian Pulisic plays at A.C. Milan. He's from Hershey, Pennsylvania. Tim Wea plays that Olympic Marseille, and he's from Rosdale, New York.

That's Queens. Or wait, is it? Yeah. Yeah, it's Queens. And then Alejandro Zendezas plays at Club America, and he is from El Paso, Texas. And then the strikers, Flo Balligan, plays at Monaco. He's from London. Born in New York, as Vince pointed out, Ricardo Pepe, who plays at PSV Einhoven as well. He's from El Paso.

And then Haji Wright plays at Coventry City, newly promoted Coventry City, and he is from Los Angeles. So that's the roster And I guess We've already discussed Diego a little bit But Should we talk about him a little bit?

What did Pach say about Diego? I guess we need to go back a little bit Okay Because the roster gets leaked On Saturday Obviously there's no Diego Luna And the person who there's the most

Surprise And outrage about is Diego Luna. But if you have the list of the Scuff podcast, you shouldn't have been surprised, man. You shouldn't have been surprised because in Pottes' March press conference, which, you know, after listening to Pottes' press conference yesterday

makes these comments even a little bit more meaningful. To me, I think if you really kind of break down Pott's mannerisms and, like, way of being, because, like, okay, yesterday, roster press conference right he gets asked about tanner testament why wouldn't tann testament on the roster he says as you alluded to earlier i don't want to disrespect the guys that are on the roster i want to talk about the guys on the roster guys left off i left off right yeah when in march i think we had the clip right um charlie bohm asked potch about diego luna and and

well first of all before i go any further this is a refrain that he's used a few times as far as let's talk about the people here, let's not talk about the people left off the roster. This has happened. This isn't just exclusive to like the World Cup roster. This happened in different windows in the period of time that Potch has been, that Potch has been the coach. Yeah. Not the janitor.

And when asked in March by Charlie Boehm, Charlie asked him, hey, no Diego Luna. He did play. He was coming back from an injury. He was like, he did play this last weekend. I think he might have scored a goal. did you think about calling him in to be around the group or whatever? And Potts says. Yes, I think it's, of course, that I saw him playing.

But I think what the player need to know, that we are in complete contact with the coaching staff and the performance area and medical staff, the all the club. And I think he struggled a little bit, the information that we have is struggle a little bit in precision and all the to get the form and then came insured and I think it's it's important to be careful player need to understand that we control everything he struggled a little bit is what potch said yeah and for me that was always something that was significant I brought it up when it happened it's stuck in my mind since

because and as we as we have just talked about like Potch can be a little inconsistent he might say I don't want to talk about players that aren't here then he might get asked about Diego Luna and then he starts talking about Diego Luna but whenever a coach

unnecessarily says something that isn't like at least neutral or positive about a player I always you got to take that into account bro yeah like you know he could have just said nothing. And instead he's like, you know, Diego, Diego, I mean, if you were translated all the way, he's like, Charlie, well, why would I bring him? His struggling ass. You know what I'm saying?

Like, what? Yeah. You know, I mean, that's, and that's always kind of stuck with me, man. And, you know, Diego didn't have an opportunity to change potches. I mean, that was the last window before the World Cup. And he wasn't in that one. He didn't have an opportunity to stop struggling with the national team recently before the World Cup roster was announced, man. So it was, I wasn't that surprised. When you say Diego was outraged that he wasn't included, what are you referring to?

No, no, I said people. Or maybe I didn't say people. But I saw a lot of, you know, angst and outrage over Diego Luna not being included in the roster. but yeah man I mean I saw some I saw some Reddit posts or whatever that were like it's that we're pretty upset that Tanner

and Aiden Morris weren't included and instead Sebastian Burhalter and Christian Roldon were and I'm like that's just people who aren't really paying attention that much you know I mean I think probably Tanner so just let's talk about Tanner a little bit I thought I think Tanner's probably a better player than Rold on well I don't even know if I want to say that

I don't know I think it's arguable that Tanner is a better overall player than Burrhalter or rolled on. But it is not like a super clear-cut thing at all. You know what I will tell you? I think it's pretty clear-cut between Sebastian Burr-Halter and Tanner Testman. And I'll tell you why, Adam Bells. You know what I've been doing for the past three days? I went back and watched.

Let me see. I watched the Paraguay match. I watched the South Korea match I watched Hold on Mark this And you're saying Tanner is clearly better than Sebastian Berhalter

I've watched a good A good amount of minutes Well first of all Before even go any further I did a review of this I think before the March window Going back and watching like some clip notes and stuff

Which I kept on our Patreon page We have extended highlights That note every timeline item from our match recaps on our Patreon for $5 to Crappers or more. It's a library that rivals the one at Alexandria. That's right, brother. And, you know, I came up with a new stat. I'm going to call it QMAR.

Quality moments above replacement. All right. And if you look at what Tendor Testaments put together over this past, like, year and a half, I don't think there are many midfielders matching this QMAR, man, on this roster that was called up. And the number one of which, we're talking about open play, by the way. You know, exclude the set pieces out of there. Sebastian Burrhalter is a clear, clear, clear, clear, and kind of drastic step down from Tanner Testman when it comes to just playing soccer and progressing.

With the ball. With the ball. With the ball. As a midfieler. Yeah. Okay. There's like, there's like no doubt, no doubt my mind. Like, well, oh, that was the other match, Portugal.

Portugal, Paraguay, South Korea because I wanted to get I wanted to check out Tan of Testament's minutes first of all, well some Tanof Testament minutes what I got in Paraguay. I mean, he was going crazy in the Paraguay match. Sebastian started against Portugal, right?

And then, you know, we got some Christian Rodin there as well because he started in that Paraguay match. And yeah, so just wanted to check those out. And, yeah, Sebastian, I mean, he rates the lowest of all our midfields. I think there is a debate between Christian Rodin Tandestim. For all the, you know, Christian Rodan is getting a lot of hate.

He continues to get a lot of hate, whatever. Christian Rodon earned his way onto this national team. And, you know, Sebastian Burlington did too. Don't get me wrong. But I think Christian, there was never like, Christian did his thing, bro. You know, from the moment that window, that window, what the Japan window, when he got called up, he got his opportunity. and he took it from there and he never really he never really let up you know his ability on the

ball his intensity in the counterpress even though he does tend to get little brother uh sometimes and by the way we got we got a clip note a special edition clip notes coming this week i went through um christian rodan at the club world cup um real sick old stuff baby because you know with the way this roster's laid out i think christian rodin he's going to be playing some big minutes he might to start against Paraguay. I would not be surprised to see that for sure. So I think it's a debate between those two, but when it comes to Sebastian Burhalter and Tainter Testament and Open Play specifically,

I mean, it's not even close, bro. Like, Seb is not comfortable in tight spaces. He's not comfortable receiving the ball, turning, turning, even if the space is like wide open. He's not comfortable on the carry, going forward, progressing the ball, all these different types of things, which, You know, we've remarked on this pot a few times where pot just kind of decentralized the ball progression. You know, it's not going through the midfield a ton, which is probably just a response to, you know, if you put two people in a double pivot right there, you're drawing, that most people are going to take that away from you.

They're not going to give you the easy opportunity to just progress a ball up the gut, which allows you to manipulate the line behind them, you know, kind of. to overload that line and get people checking into space, whatever, whatever. But Paraguad didn't do that necessarily. And, you know, Tentat's was able to, Tentatestment and Christian Rodon, we're able to have a good time. But, but, but it does make me think just because that the decentralized way is the way we usually end up playing. Because like I said, people are going to mark those two defensive midfielders out of the, out of the game, least try to, that defensive ability would be foremost in Potch's mind on what would be the criteria for the midfielders that they come in, that he get, they get caught into camp,

to which I probably would say, Adam, that said probably does have a little bit more bite than 10 of testament testament. But it's not a significant enough amount, I think, to overcome the gap in quality that we see. Now, deadball set people. We all know sub got that. Mm-hmm. But, I mean, and I guess the other question is it is even going to be on the field, which if you're if you're choosing a vibes guy, a Christian Rodon, a memorial Vibs guy spot on the roster, then I mean, you probably would take Sebastian, but as far as on the pitch, bro, I don't think it's I don't think it's particularly close. So. Okay. Well, you're saying on the pitch with the ball at your feet, which obviously is a huge part of the being on a pitch. Well, altogether, if you've roped the defense in with the, you know, defense and with the ability as a total midfielder to be able to function within this system, I don't think Sebastian Burrhalter is holding a candle to Tanner.

Okay. And it's like, we've seen it, man. You know, Mexico match. Yeah. South Korea. You know, I mean, there must be. He did okay against Portugal. but Ada Morris was much more impressive, I thought,

rewatching that match all the way through. Well, man, I'd defer to you if you just rewatch these matches. I mean, good grief. Yeah. I guess it makes me wonder, I mean, Potch loves Sebastian Burhalter. And, yeah, it seems like that's been the case for a while. And I guess it's a vibe. thing maybe or maybe he doesn't love Tanner's energy the way he plays.

Tanner is kind of a languid fella. I don't know how he would. Look, I mean, it's all possible. And I'm not like, I'm not crying myself to sleep. You know, Trubedoas, we real rise up again. You know what I'm saying? Keep the faith. We will rise up again.

I ain't worried about that. As a matter of fact, you know, I've become more, I've become more bullish with every setback we have, you know. I'm saying. But the Potch mentioned when I asked about his kind of

roster balance or whatever and I think maybe specifically he was asked about the midfield on this question. You know, he talked about there's a lot of dudes that can't play midfield within this team.

Right. I was just going to bring that up actually. Yeah. And you know, he's right. You know, if we drop, if we drop West back there, cool.

And, and Sanjay's talked about this too. We dropped West back there, cool. we drop Gio back there, which he did kind of, he did allude to, which I wouldn't,

it depends on the game state, depends on who we're playing, right? Geo, geo next to Tyler is fine, I think. I mean, yeah, you get a lot of ball progression out of Gio

and you get a lot of bite from Tyler and we'll take it. We'll drop Gio back there, Malik's done it. Malik's done a lot, yeah, at the club that he now wants to leave by our Leverkusen.

I think he mentioned Brindo as well. So I guess what I would say he also mentioned Sergenio Dest being able to slide in there. Oh and Jedi too he talks a Jedi could slide in. Yeah yeah yeah so with in a good bit of these options I probably would take over Tana Testament just on its on his face I wouldn't be so if he does believe all of that um then that's fine and and then it does actually does seem like Seb is just here to be the vibes guy, which there is no better vibes guy. I don't think that Sebastian Burrhal to. So.

Yep. There's even like a handful of pictures of him and Gio just beaming into the camera together. You know, so it's like even with all that, his vibes remain good. That's the true Disney indie. You know, I had I had posited it as maybe just being, you know, him and Greg when we walk off winning the World Cup together. Trophy held up. You know, that's when the credits roll.

But no, I think it's, I think it's him and said. That's what really, that's what really will pull out your heartstrings. Yeah. I feel like we should just have one more category of omissions. I mean, really, Tanner and Diego are the big ones. And then any of the young moonshot guys, you know, Xavier Gozo has been discussed. Audrey Mametti has been very minimally discussed. Julian Hall, you know, any of those young guys having a great season in MLS.

Obviously, none of them involved. And not, that is not a big surprise. Jack McGlynn with his two goals and 11 games away. But once again, shout out, shout out. We'll never forget that goal against Turkey, Jack. Jack McGlynn will rise again, too. We don't have a name for the group of people who like McGlynn, but What, so what do you actually think about the roster construction here, bills?

Well, I think I was, you know, back to the midfield, USMNT's Twitter account, whatever it is, posted a picture of like the six guys who are listed as nominal midfielders and there's like something about the engine room. And you're just looking at the picture. We got Wes, Christian Rodon, Malik, Tyler, Sebastian Berhalter, and Gio Raina. And I see that picture of them all, like, staring into the camera. And I think, I feel good about that. I feel good about that group of players. Sebastian, probably the one I feel the least good about. But I feel like we can put together a three-man midfield out of those six.

That's good, you know. Yeah, I think so, man. I've been, I've been reassured by watching these. And I wasn't, I wasn't off the Rodon train at all or falling victim to whatever. Narrative is being pushed. Whatever. But I will say, I have been reassured by these minutes, by these games I just rewatched for the national team. And his club bowl cup minutes as well, man.

I mean, he's doing good stuff. He's doing, I do, we are one Tyler Adams away from potential catastrophe. Because, I mean, even- That is true, yeah. So who, who's like, who anchors that midfield if Tyler goes down with injury or suspension? That is a question without an answer. It would be Christian Rodon. And, you know, he did it.

He did it against PSG and athletic. But it was hit or miss. And, you know, I mean, he gives everything he can to, like, cover the. the ground he takes good angles and stuff um but he also that boy be hacking bro like he he will just bowl people over um he's not like the best ball winner in the world or anything like that but like if he can't get the ball he's getting he's getting the man i mean there's multiple times just pure just shoulder right into somebody's right to somebody's solar plexus on the touchline or whatever um so he'll do christian rodan will give his best will it be perfect

No, but I mean, that's what we got, bro. That's what we got. And that's what it would be. And I think, I mean, my big, my issue with Roldon over the years is that he's not very good. He's not, I guess like you were talking about Burrhalter earlier, not great on the half turn, not great receiving in tight space and then finding a good solution. But the reality is, especially when the chips are down in this tournament, we're not going to be doing a ton of, like, you know, intricate buildup through the midfield. Yeah.

Against, say, France or Belgium. I mean, hopefully we get to play France. I don't think we're going to play France for a while. But Belgium, let's say Belgium. He's better not give him credit for, for sure. I mean, yeah. He's better, I mean, better than Tyler. better than Tyler I would say

Yeah that's a really pretty low bar Yeah the bar's on the floor brother Bars on the floor but um yeah he can do some things bro Like I said I came I came away I'm I'm ready for Christian rolled down at the World Cup I think we're gonna get some We don't get some good performances bro

He keeps it simple keeps it You know he has passing range He has the ability I mean he played him in the What was that That was Belgium Belgium Belgium I watched Belgium too his ability to The second half of Belgium His ability to find little

Slip passes Little slip passes In the zone 14 Using the little No look You know what I'm saying Hey Okay okay

He got a little something to him Got a little something to him Well we're talking about the Yeah okay We're talking about the floor here I think And really the ceiling is in The three players

On the left side of the picture It's Westa McKinney, Malik Tillman, and Gio Raina. And if we're going to have a great tournament, West McKinney's going to have a great tournament. And if we're going to go to the quarterfinals, very likely we're going to have to get something more than we expect, or more than you might expect having watched their club performances over the last couple months from Gio or Malik or both.

and we really need Malik to have a great tournament too and we really need Geo too yeah but I mean that last one though was pretty good for Malik I thought I mean Portugal he was he was popping off the screen

doing doing things getting the ball up to pulley when he was playing that strike a roll nice turns and stuff you know and then what first half of Belgium he was really good too okay um if I remember correctly. So I think

Malik's coming around for us. The Gio thing, I mean, yeah, I mean, we do. We're not hitting our potential without GEO, for sure, as far as what we can do in this tournament. So we'll see what he was able to produce, man. I'm, I'm kind of just intrigued to see what the lineups will be, you know? I mean, it's, and I think Potch

spent a lot of time sort of trying to be evasive, about that yesterday just because he doesn't want to give any hints to the opponents one of the questions was did you call any of the players who did not make the roster before we completely get off omissions

let's play this audio the answer was no he did not but here's what he said if I understand the player they didn't make the roster they don't want to hear me to say oh apologize oh

I care. Do you know why I care? Because during two weeks I didn't sleep. And today, still I cannot show the 26 guys that are in front to me because I am sinking in players that are out. That is about to care. It's not to call. Because if I call, it's about myself.

I say, oh, I call. I am very human about calling and then giving explanation. Come on. That is bullshit. I think it's a really great point, you know, that for the coach to call and, you I mean, first of all, it's not practical for him to call everybody who didn't make the roster, which is a point you made earlier in his answer. But it is kind of more about him making himself feel better than it is about the player.

Because I think he's probably right. Players don't want to hear about it, you know? Either you're on or you're out. You're in your out. What's going to happen in that phone call? I mean, this was Pott's point. I'm going to give him some tips so they can get him the next World Cup. Like, come on.

four years away. So I really liked it. I didn't. Yeah. I mean, look, I mean, I don't care either way, like that much. But I think, I think, I think, I think he should call. I think a call is a cooth thing to do. Me, me, myself.

I understand what Paj is saying. I understand his view on it. But I don't really view it as, you know, you're calling the dude to make it to make yourself feel better. But what do you say in the call? Hey, you didn't make it. I appreciate you. I appreciate, you know, your sacrifices, whatever.

You did everything we needed you to do. You just, there's other dudes came out on top, whatever. Boom. Hang out of the phone. Whatever. I don't know. I don't know. That's just how I view it.

You know what I'm saying? And over here in the States, brother. You know, I mean, Bell, you've seen hard knocks? you see hard knock no that's the one with rocking with mark if if mark's rocking with us we're rocking with mark no no that that's last chance you that's last chance you hard knocks follows like an NFL team through the preseason or whatever but anyway if you watch that you know when do do is getting cut for the team you come to the GM's office GM talks to you because you fund the team they let you down I mean they let you down but they you know and say hey

We appreciate your time, your effort, whatever. If you need anything, hit me up. Do they really mean that as far as if you need anything, hit me up? I might not. But I will tell you this. When my brother needed some stuff, he was able to hit the Carolina, and he was no longer with the Panthers. He was able to hit the Panthers up and get some positive things.

I mean, that's the least these NFL franchises could do for these guys. Come on. It's like they're destroying people's lives. Come on. Yeah, yeah. Understood. It's different. Look, like I said, I don't care too much, but that's just how I would probably go about things.

You know, no, it doesn't got nothing to do with making me feel better. I don't think. That's not how I view it, at least. But like I said, I understand what part is coming from. I'm kind of, yeah, I guess I'm kind of in a mode where I'm aspiring to be less of a talker, you know. I feel that. He says into his microphone on this podcast. but it's an aspiration to be you know to just let my yes be yes and my no be no and um and so i like

i'm sort of intrigued by stuff like that yeah and he also didn't call the players that did make the roster by the way right just added them to a what's that somebody added them to a whatsap group and they got a video yeah for podge so i mean look that's his way going about it um Yeah. Just, here's what it is. Now, the next thing, you know, we just talked about the midfield, but like the defense, though, the fact that we did bring 10 defenders. Well, wait, before we get to that, I just want to play this. It's another very quick audio clip.

Gio was asked if he was surprised that he made the roster, and this is, I love the brevity of his answer to that. Were you surprised? No. I wasn't. That's it. That's it. Just funny that he would just so quickly say, no, I wasn't surprised. I wasn't surprised either, Gio.

But anyway, to the defenders. So 10 defenders. What were you going to say about them? I just want to know your thoughts? What are your thoughts of Adam Bells? I think we have a lot of damn defenders, bro. We got too many centerbacks. I does feel like we could have traded Miles Robinson for a Tanner Testman.

and built some contingency planning into the roster that way. But so, yeah, I mean, hopefully that doesn't come back to bite us. It is too many defenders. Because, you know, like, a couple of these centerbacks, like one of these centerbacks might not play at all. Right. And it could be that two of them barely play. Very well could be the case.

Yeah, so, so, yeah, I guess it. If we're picking nits, which we are, that's one to pick. I don't mind all the fullbacks because there's so much flexibility there. You know, like Potch alluded to, Desk can slide in and be part of the two in the buildout. Or I guess Jedi can do that too, you know, the Jedi inversion, the famous Jedi inversion. And also Desk can play winger and Freeman can be like, like the elbow back, Scali, Scali can play on both sides. So it seems like there's like a lot of options with the fullbacks.

I do think the two, the extra center back is kind of weird. Those are my thoughts. You could probably lose one from like either position group, I would think. Ultimately, because like, okay, Joe Scali, for instance. Yeah, what's the under under on his minutes? By the same amount of Shaq Moore's that he got. In the last World Cup, I'd say. 30, about 30.

So, like, Joe, for instance. Like, okay, let's say we stick with what we've been doing most of these, most of this past two years, whatever. Alex Freeman, I'll bow back number one. Behind him, Miles Robinson has played that position, played it against Australia. Played it against Australia to middle and really. results.

Jordan Boss was, yeah, he showed him a thing or two. But, guess what we got, Miles Robinson behind Alex Freeman, let's say,

and then, you know, third, you know, Mark McKenzie can play that position. Mark McKenzie for Toulouse plays in a three

and he plays on the edges of it and he gets up extremely far all the time. He's very involved. He's around the, the midway line. Like, I mean,

quite often, you know, and even into the attack, into the attacking third for Toulouse. Like, I mean, he does it, you know what I'm saying? And with it being a three specifically, like, you know, it's his responsibility if the ball's turned over to get back and cover that space. Okay, fair enough. So that's the reason why I know our elbow backs aren't that adventurous, per se.

But Mark kind of occupies those same spaces for Toulouse on the left or the right. So that's why I'm thinking like He could be our third option there I just don't What's Joe Scally's utility? I guess it would probably be For If Jedi can't play against a good team

Against like a Belgium or something You would want probably Joe there instead of Max I would think Yeah So I guess it's that But it's just you know It's all Probabilities possibilities

What are the chances at this happens. I mean, I don't know. Do we need team defensive players for the U.S. Smith's national team? I don't know. The opportunity cost of leaving off the damn testament or whatever, but, you know, either way, we're behind these 26. That's right. I think it's probably let's, yeah, the more we talk about it, the more I think it is a like a bona fide mistake to not have a testman or a really testman, but maybe Aidan Morris too in the roster.

But we just got to hope that Tyler Adams stays healthy and gets to rotate a little bit so he doesn't get exhausted. Although the games are so far apart, it's a little, it's going to be a little easier than last World Cup on that front. Yeah, I mean, one, like one game a week. Yeah, it's a different kind of competition. Yeah, we should be, we should be all right, man. Hopefully.

So I guess you can ever say anything for certain with this group of players. And it is true, as many people are making this point, but it is true that our, this roster is, I think, objectively better than the one in 2022. Is it so much better that we're going to make a deep run at the tournament? No, I don't think it follows quite like that. but it is better. And that's good. It is, yeah, I mean, you talk about subs off the bench, game changers, whatever, solutions, you know, off the bench.

I do think. I mean, you got Malik on the bench. That's a big deal, I think. Right, right. Malik on the bench. Potentially Dest on the bench. Dest. Rico, Haji, Brindo.

you know, I mean Now you've gone into non-game changer territory real fast. I don't think Haji's a game changer either. I mean, I think... Geo on them. Yeah.

Look, Haji can be in the right situation. In the right situation. I mean, we saw him do his thing against Australia. Of course. We saw him do his thing against the Netherlands. Yeah, which, you know... The more I watched that clip, I'm like, he was trying to play it.

He was trying to... Yeah. He was trying to lift it at least to the back post. That's right. That's right, bro. There's a little bit more intelligent design than I originally thought. I thought the same thing. I watched it probably like two months ago.

And I was like, you know what? I don't think he was going for the far corner, but he was trying to. Definitely not. Definitely not. But he was trying to do a little something, something with it. Yes, he was. It didn't just clank off his foot and go into the name. No, it wasn't a total clanker.

There was some intention to keep that attacking moment, alive. All right, let's do our starting 11s. Hmm. You want me to go first? Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I want to go first, man.

All right. I'm going to, I'm going to change it up a little bit from what I, you know, would have initially said. So I got freezing goal. Chris Richards and Mark McKenzie has my centerbacks. Alex Freeman

at right back. Jedi left. back Tyler and Wes in the so I'm I'm doing this as a

as a 3-25 in possession so the back three would be Freeman, Chris and Mark and then Wes and Tyler has the two and then the front five from left to right

Jedi Jedi Jedi Pulisic Ballo Gio and Dest I'm dropping Timmy to the Timwaya to the bench. Okay.

By the way, did you see, have you watched any of the documentary? No, I haven't. I haven't yet. There's a really funny scene where he's like, you know how Tim Wea gets in this mode where he's just like,

he's like talking, but you could kind of tell he doesn't even believe what he's saying. I don't know. Maybe I'm reaching a little bit, but he, he's like, this is, you know, he'll say like,

This is a dream come true. And then he's like doing this into the camera. And then a bunch of dudes come over. I think it was like DeAndre Yedlin. He's like, bro, why are you whispering into the microphone? No, really. He's like, bro, say it with your chest. And Tim's like, and Tim's like, man, it was a relaxed moment.

You know, it was a chill moment. Relax. It was not, it was not, you know, he was just whispering. And then he goes to the guy with the camera. He's like, can I have five? Can I have five minutes? That's a perfect Tim Waya moment, bro. Because I mean, even me, as much as I love Timwaya, it gets to a point, bro.

I feel like he was, I feel like it might have even been yesterday. He was talking to something. I was just like, bro. Yeah, this is just, these are just words coming out of you. No, for real. Like, when he delivers him like that, it really does not seem like he has any intention. or passion or desire or is there even a human behind it type of thing like that? That's the thing.

That's the thing. When you're too cool or when you're trying to be too cool, there's a fine line because you can potentially lose your humanity behind your coolness. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? That's the thing about it. It's like you want to be nonchalant. You want to be, you want to convey that you're in control of everything around you at all times and the room stops when you walk in. and control of your emotions.

As a matter of fact, not even in control of your emotions, you're in control of the person's emotions that you're talking to because your coolness might just rub off on them type of thing. But yeah, it does get to a point where you can lose your humanity in that. And I think Tim's pushing boundaries, man. He's flirting with that level. Yeah. What do they call it when you upload your consciousness into a machine?

transhumanism. He's flirting with transhumanism here. Yeah. But I just thought so funny, like Yedling comes over like a big brother, like, bro, what you whispering about over here? He really be whispering, bro. So anyway, that's my 11.

It doesn't have Tim way on it. A little bit too much whispering lately. But he's right on that. He's right on the edge. He's right on the edge. It could be him over desk. I just love the idea of Dest cooking out there. You know, if he gets, if we can get him in that, in the opponent's half on the ball, you know something good will happen.

It's been a while. It's been a while, brother. So for me, yeah, I'm going, I'm going to freeze. Even though through watching these games, Freeze made an excellent stop on Bruno Fernandez's shot against Portugal. You remember that? Kind of snapshot. It's like bouncing to Bruno in the box, and he just swivels and hits it first time.

Freeze gets down, gets the right hand to it. I mean, excellent save. Matt Turner also made an excellent save on the Tim Ream handball play. Mm. Against Belgium. That just from rewit. So either of those two will be cool.

He also made a nice little chip pass out to the touchline. I forgot to who, but it was late in the Belgium match. I was like, oh. That was mad. But anyway, give me Matt Freeze because Matt Turner still scares me. He scares me, too. That's the thing. He scares me.

I know he's playing. I know he's probably statistically the better goalkeeper and all that. But it seems like he's a little bit got the yips with the national team. And then like, was it him who played the nice chip pass or was it freeze? It was Matt Turner. Okay. Because like, when I see him loading up a chip pass, I'm like, man, get ready in row 13, you know? for sure for sure i mean that that's usually the case yeah so free single um left to right

jettie yeah jade i ream richards right back yeah it's gonna be ream isn't it it's not gonna be mark mcenzie well it i don't think it is at least a start for sure not i think ream's gonna have to be get pants in a in a major way to lose that spot i mean we we do need his comfort on the ball quite a bit. I find, I find us relying on, we do rely on it. Yeah. So if we can't replace that one to one, I think that'd be, that'd be a pretty big hit.

And we hope, I hope at least that maybe he's been kneeling out this early MLS season to have his body prepared for the World Cup. So hopefully that's the case and he's not as washed as it kind of seems. But either way, we're going to find that out in the World Cup. up. Like he will be starting, I guess, Paraguay. Hopefully the pantsing doesn't result in an actual goal, you know, the pantsing that may be coming. You know, well, I'll get, I'll get to this after my lineup, maybe.

All right, so right back, I guess, I'm going, I'm going to go Alex Freeman. I don't feel the best about it. I might even put it. that cheeky Sergenio dust back there. Pott Chazen doesn't that? So. What about a cheeky Tim Wea? We could put a cheeky Tim Wea back there too. Then Jedi's playing elbow back.

Yeah, you know what? Give me that. I'm taking that. Okay. I need Tim Way in my attack, brother. Midfield, Tyler Adams. Christian Rodon. We're leaning all the way in, brother.

okay and and i i do think he's probably a candidate to start this this paraguay match i mean certainly he is a candidate yeah weston mckenny and then yeah weston mackney is my as my as my as my 10 and then we're going okay christian christian on the left weston occupied okay um flow of course And then right wing That's the thing about Well, Serge Yeah, give me Surge there

I'll take that Either Surge and Malik Okay Because that Wing would be Yeah The far right Would be occupied

By Timway Yeah So you got Pulisik on the far left Which seems Kind of unlikely Both politically And on the field

I mean we did it did we not do it against Belgium kind of maybe maybe so I think well it

go ahead well I do want to say I was through thinking about this you know I made my case for Tanna Testament but I do not want to leave out the fact that he was absolutely he probably had his worst performance

of the cycle against Belgium I do I did want to make sure I mention that because I would be leaving out some some key evidence I think that led to the decision in Pajas mind. I mean, he was, he was bad.

There was no, there was nothing redeeming there in the Belgian match. It was bad on the ball. He was bad helping with Doku. I mean, a couple times, doke, doku kind of like, you know, like, turned him like a top almost in like a very small space, a part of the, you know, to where if you look at it, it's like, okay, if he can't control like this very small part of the pitch that he's occupying right here. Um

what can he control? Yeah yeah yeah yeah type of thing um and then also what what match was that oh Portugal when he came on he got uh

he got shrugged off by Jow Felix one time dribbling into the box um got turned again kind of trying to kind of trying to press Jail Felix he had to take a file to get to get out of that situation

so I just want to make sure I put all my cards on the table here I appreciate that, Vince. Yeah. No, yeah. One other thing I think we should bring up is the likelihood of Wes being dropped into a double pivot with Tyler. I mean, Tyler mentioned it as a possibility yesterday, but we haven't really seen it from Potch, right?

He's mostly played Wes as a nominal winger tucked in. Yeah. So that does auger, that does auger well for, um, for a Christian rolled on start. Christian. Yeah, yeah. We got Christian and Christian, you know what I'm saying?

Big difference. You know, I mean, he almost played de facto pivot in that Australia match because, you know, he had to drop back and help us facilitate build out. You know, James Sands

kind of unable to unable to help us in that department. And, you know, if you go back and watch the clip notes of that match, there's a pretty, nice highlight reel of Weston McKinney plays and passes in that match from him

kind of operating in that in that pivot position so it's a possibility but maybe Potts sees that and you know he mentioned him as a

someone with the ability to potentially do it but yeah we haven't seen it we haven't seen it so who knows but you know Potch said everything man pot said hey we can play it We can play a back three.

You can play a single pivot, double pivot, back four. We can invert this guy. We can invert that guy. Right, right. The possibilities are endless, which, I mean, we've kind of seen it. Like, with Pottch's tenure over these two years, over these two years, you know, he kind of has done all these things that he's talking about. Maybe not a single pivot.

Maybe not a single pivot. But we've seen it back three. We've seen it back four, mostly a back four. mostly a back four to be but yeah so I mean we really have no way to know what we're going to come out in but I think for the group stage specifically

you know because people were talking about you know maybe the inclusion of Miles Robinson means we're going to a back three just like exclusively type of thing I will note that Miles Robinson played in a back four against Australia number one and then as a right back And then number two, we played these teams before and a back four.

And we mostly acquitted ourselves very well. I mean, we beat Paraguay and Australia, right? And then acquitted ourselves well against Turkey with a lot of players that aren't on the World Cup roster. You know, so I don't foresee ourselves going ultra defensive in the group stage. I just, I don't understand why we would. do that. No, it doesn't seem like Pach's style to go ultra-defensive, which I think will be fun.

We'll make it more fun, high-risk, high-reward, I guess. I think that's it from us. Like, the next, you know, the next thing is the Senegal match on Sunday. And that's Sunday 3.30 p.m. Eastern Time in Charlotte, North Carolina. The boys are in Fayetteville, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, training as we speak. I think first training started a couple hours ago. So that's that. Let's do it, man.

The World Cup is here, brother. Yeah. It's here. And as I'm starting to see, like, more and more cities are, like, announcing, like, it's going to be a party, man. It's going to be a party. maybe you can't get into the game or whatever maybe tickets are too expensive

for your liking. But it does seem like I'm seeing more and more cities announcing their plans for gatherings or watch parties and all these different types of things and I think

we're going to have a grand old time. Like I mean here in Louisville, the Louisville City and Racing Foundation is sponsoring a party for the, I want to say, I think it's a Mexico-South Korea match. They're doing a while watch party on the Great Lawn, which is like our waterfront park that's like on the river.

Yeah. We usually have like concerts and stuff down there either. But they're going to have like, I guess just like a huge projector down there just showing the game. And like, you know, there's just stuff like this popping up all over the place. Things that should be free that will be free to the people. And yeah, man, I'm just, I'm excited. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go.

Me too. I even had to talk to them. the excitement is increasing such that I had to talk to my wife I feel like I was like yo I don't feel like I'm doing enough for the World Cup I might have to go to L.A. I might have to go to L.A. She was like, well, can you bring, you know, our oldest with you? And, you know, at first it was a no, but now I'm thinking about it, shoot, probably. Bring her along, man.

Yeah. So shout out to everybody. thanks, you know, patrons for your support, being here with us for this long, listeners in general, et cetera. I mean, this is kind of the culmination of the SCUF project. It really is. I haven't been thinking about it that way, but yeah, it is. And I'm just really hopeful. The thing that excites me the most, honestly, about it, about the World Cup, about, you know, being about to happen is the amount.

I want it to capture the imagination of kids in America. Yeah. You know? Like specifically the kids that I am coaching in soccer. Like I look at them and I'm like, man, I told them the other day, I'm like, you guys got to go watch the World Cup, you know? Enjoy the spectacle of it. And I hope it captures people. And I feel like a lot of whether it will capture people or not depends on if we make it to.

It threw a couple knockout round games, you know? Bro. That is... Knockout... Yeah, I mean, even in a regular World Cup, it's building up to a fever pitch when we get to the... When we make it out of the group and get to a knockout round game. Now, you're telling me we can potentially get a winnable knockout round match.

If we win that match, brother. And then we go to play Belgium? I mean, yes. We will have a... we will have accumulated so much momentum that I think it's impossible to not have captured a lot of hearts and minds on the way there,

despite whatever may happen against Belgium. And don't let us win that match, brother. Yeah. I mean, come on. And then we're really, really, really cooking. Oh, man, if we have all that momentum and then we beat a Belgium, To go into the quarterfinals.

Yeah. That's the stuff that dreams are made of right there. Whole team on Saturday, and I live, bro. Yeah. You know, I mean, you know, we're crossing over into a different type of cultural Zite guys, you know? Yeah.

So. But if we do what we always do and get to the round of 16, it'll be much more significant than any other round of 16 because we will have a knockout match and we will win. and we will have won that knockout match. You know, I just don't see any way where that happens. And it isn't a major cultural moment. Yeah, right.

Right. All right. Well, let's do it. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.