Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #706: USA v Bosnia & Herzegovina recap

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

Belz, Sanjay and Charlie Boehm recap the big win from Wednesday night. Full timeline, Malik and Wes once again shine bright, everybody's bought in, the TV audiences are massive. Now we look to Monday. Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus 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: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedCheck out our store, where you can get Scuffed hats and sweatshirts and other stuff: scuffedpodcast.com/storeAlso, 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, everyone, happy 4th of July on this, the 250th anniversary of our country. We have another World Cup win to recap. And joining me to do it are Charlie Baum, a soccer writer based in Washington, D.C., and Sanjay Sujah Sujanta Kumar, a soccer writer based in New Jersey. Both of them have been with the U.S. men's national team for more than a month now. Guys, how are you? Sanjay, how are you? I'm doing well.

Yeah, this trip has definitely been a lot. It's been exhausting. It's been challenging in every way, imaginable, but in a fun way, in an exciting way. And now we're just running on adrenaline, excitement, right? This is a, what a time to be alive. Chaz, how are we doing? West Coast, baby. I am back in Seattle.

flew up here from San Jose last night. Feel fortunate to be covering a World Cup run. But all that being said, all this sound and fury has taken us to exactly where generation after generation of USM&T squads have found themselves the round of 16. It's true. Yeah. What happens now? I didn't think anyone would be flying from SFO yesterday, but,

sure enough, there were several familiar faces, including Jeff Carlisle and I were next to each other on the flight up. So you're in Seattle, too, Sunday. Yep, yep. Okay. I had the athletic boys. The athletic trio was on my flight from SJC. And, yeah, the soccer gravity of America has again landed on Puget Sound. But I should also share to real quick, got to attend Bruce Arena's earthquakes, San Jose Earthquakes, Media Availability yesterday.

They trained just around the corner. Their practice fields are just around the corner from PayPal Park where the U.S. and the team was doing a regent session yesterday morning. And so, of course, Bruce got a bunch of questions about the national team, which I think he was maybe a little bit of, be mused to be fielding. But he pointed out what made Ciam obvious, but is maybe a good thing to start with, which is we're finally playing a legit team now. And in so many words, he said, you know, Belgium is far better than anyone else. They haven't really played anyone in the top half of what you consider the overall talent shakedown for this tournament. He pointed out that he didn't think anybody from the Bosnia 11 would make it into the U.S. 11, but that is definitely

going to change with Belgium. So this is where it gets real, legit talent here. Yeah, I think he's both right and also kind of lobbying for himself with that. Mildly salty, perhaps, yeah. Well, just arguing for his own greatness, you know. I think that's what he's doing a little bit. He's like, well, you know, they're still not as good as they still haven't done anything compared to what my team did in 2002.

I mean, he has the, he's not wrong. Yeah, he has the signature. win against a European or South American team claim, right, with that Portugal win. Obviously, Bosnia, it's great to break this streak at the World Cup end over the last five years, but yeah, obviously it's a different gravy now come Monday. Doug McIntyre was at this availability as well, and he said, you know, given where the, he asked Bruce, given where the state of the soccer was in America at that point, Remember that the domestic league MLS is just a few months removed from having almost been folded at that point.

Korea, Japan, 2002. He said, Bruce, how did you get to the quarterfinals, given everything where soccer was in the U.S.? And Bruce, of course, in inimitable Bruce Stiles says, well, the coaching was excellent. The players are very mediocre. Isn't that obvious? I posted it on my blue sky. It was Bruce's dealing. He still got his fastball.

Good. Well, there is so much to talk about with this game. We got, I thought, heroic performances from the midfield. Again, they've just been divine, all tournament, West, Tyler, and Malik. A pretty controversial red card, which I'm sure we'll get into. A great showing from our centerbacks. More country roads. The TV audiences, something that's been different, I think.

Crazy. Is the TV audiences. The win over Bosnia. Let me give you the facts here. The win over Bosnia and Herzegovina got about 24.5 million viewers preliminarily. So that number's going to rise on the final Nielsen numbers just on Fox, plus another 9 million plus on Telemundo. So that's 33.5 million, which is almost 1 in 10 Americans.

For comparison, the NBA finals average 20 million viewers. And this was a big finals because it was the Knicks in it. And last fall's 2020, 2025 World Series, the most watch MLB championship since 2017, averaged 16.1 million viewers. So it feels like we've kind of reached escape velocity here. I expect there to be millions of children signing up for rec soccer this fall. Even more than the ones who listen to scuffed and get your youth soccer. Yeah, yeah. It's going to go beyond that.

perspective. Yeah. Beyond that crowd, I would think. Not to jump the gun here, but there was a figure being thrown around recently about, like, if the U.S. were to be in the World Cup final, what the number would be

in. I heard around like $50 million. I think if the U.S. even got to a semi-final, it would be astronomical. Like, we would definitely hit escape velocity. And, you know, in the right time, thought, it would be nuts. I think you would be closer to a

Super Bowl number than 50 million, but first it'll be a good team. I also do a little more perspective. I'm working on something about then and now from 1994, and we are almost exactly 32 years on from USM&T versus Brazil on 4th of July in the round of 16 in 1994. They played just up the road. They played at Stanford Stadium just up the road from where U.S. and Bosnia played the other night and that that uh broadcast got about 11 million viewers in which is obviously the nielsen landscape was different 32 years ago but people were a gog that was a record at the time and a record

that that stood for years and so to think about being triple plus that level i mean it's a handy shorthand for for the explosive growth of the of the game and now we can start to legitimately ask if the peak is maybe a little higher than we realize what the future could look like. Yeah, I mean, being alive past the Fourth of July is priceless for the growth of the sport. It's never happened. And obviously the new expanded tournament

and new format helps. But it's still really cool. And let's keep it rolling. Yeah, it does, though. It all comes down to this next game if we win it. then it feels like a step forward. And if we lose it, then it's the same as always as... It's a disappointment if we lose it, right?

Like, in terms of hosting and hiring a coach like Podge, like this is the hump that we have to get over. And we've got to do it without balo. We've got to do it without Fuller and Baligan. Let's let me do the lineups and then we'll get going in the timeline. So U.S. came out, no surprises. The same lineup we had against Paraguay and I think against Australia too, right? So freezing goal.

Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Tim Ream, and Jedi Robinson across the back line. Adams, Tillman, and Wes in a three-man midfield, desk on the right wing, ballistic on the left wing, and Fuller and Balligan at Stryker. Any quick thoughts on the lineup, guys? just a small clarification Australia was no pool sick right so that was when you saw the two up top which I have a feeling we'll talk about a little bit today

because I'm wondering if the shape will shift in the absence of flow against Belgium that is a big question is it going to be a like-for-like peppy replacement there or or what Bosnia comes out in a 532

and I'll give the clubs for each of these players because you know Yes, they're not Bosnia. We are a better team than Bosnia. We showed that. But these aren't slouches. Nikola Vassilj is their goalkeeper. He plays at St. Paoli.

Amar Dedich plays at Benfica. He's the right wingback. Nikola Kattich, who plays at Shalka, recently just promoted to the Bundesliga, which is where they belong, as one of the centerbacks. Tariq Muharamovich, who plays at Sasuolo and Syria.

He was very involved in this game, kind of everywhere, involved in all the scraps. And then Stepan Rodolich from Dina Mozagreb. He's the guy who was like 6'5. And then Sear Colasinatz, who plays at Atalanta. He used to be at Arsenal,

excellent left back. And then Armin Giggovich from young boys. Yvonne Sunditch from Pafos, FC in, I think that's in Greece, and Karim Al-Abegovich from Leverkusen as the midfielders. Al-Begovic was, is a good young player. And then Ed Ingeco and Ermadine Demirovich at Shalka and Stuttgart as the two strikers. Before we go to the timeline, let me say, join the Patreon. If you are able, the link is in the show notes.

You can get our pre-game hits. You can get Vince's clip notes where he. clips every action we're going to talk about here shortly and puts them in a video for patrons if you're able please consider joining let me add something on that mr bills i would just ask all of our loyal patrons followers who we cannot do this without uh if you know anyone who's a casual fan or a soccer fan and is definitely into this um just give them a little push give him a little nudge i've done that with a few people i know well who follow least, you know, everything around the team and what's going on in the free feed.

This is the time to really get people to lean all into this team because soccer doesn't stop with this tournament. It's just beginning for this team. And we want everyone on board for the next cycle too. Yes, sir. The timeline. Right away, Bosnia gets a couple chances. So they win a corner kick off a long ball at the 10 second mark that glances off Richard's head out of bounds. Al-Begovic hits a dangerous inswinger. Jedi has a lot of it away. Pulisik boots it out of the box. The tension feels different now, right? Because it's a knockout game, and they

took a second to get this corner ready as well, so you could just kind of feel that tension set in, you know, because we had talked about the Bosnia aerial threat and the Sepis is going into it, so it's a real big relief when Jedi deals with it, and Pulisi gets it out.

Yeah, it sailed over Ream and whoever he was marking and is good for Jedi to poke his head in there. Bosnia not sitting completely back early. They're applying a little pressure in our half here and there. We get our first half chance in the fourth minute, move it quickly around the back from right to left,

over to Pulisic. He darts inside, skips past two guys, kind of gets the ball caught under him a little bit in zone 14, but then does get a shot off and it's blocked. But it's good to see him, you know, prancing in from the wing and doing his thing. I thought it was a good chance, honestly, in terms of open play for this, when you look at this whole game. Yeah.

You can see they're in there, you know, kind of flexible 5-3-2 with the outside guys of that three stepping pretty far outside, sometimes the outside of the U.S.'s base three in build with the two strikers an arrow. So on this chance, you have the right center mid there, Gigevich, I think, has gone out closer to Ream and the wingback deal. Heditch goes out to Christian. Jedi is narrow, which we saw a lot of in this game, him and Serge being, you know, fluid in their positioning. And he drifts away a bit, taking the centerback cadditch with him, enough to the right side where, like, Malik also starts to run and his marker, Sunni, she's Christian the whole time. But there's now enough space there that they've vacated where it's a problem for

Sunnich, and he's a step late, even though he sees Christian. So I think the only question I have here is could Christian play West? Because the centerback Rattelich there on the LOS side, he comes in and commits enough where I think that pass might be on. But can't blame Christian for having a go. Yeah, I feel like he's going to have a go almost every time in that case. Fifth minute we went a corner from West running the left channel and then just knocking it off a guy on. the end line. I mostly note it to say we're still doing a lot of the same things. We've been doing all tournament. It'll clipping that ball into the channel for Wes or Malik. We have different

ways to attack and we're using them. What I clocked even before this was like the way the ball was won. Like something didn't come off for us. There's one two with Christian Malik. Christian fires it to West who tries to play with this awkward back foot pass to Ballo. and Kattage gets to it before Ballo, but then he just, like, laces a clearance. And you reminded me the Australia game early. It's, like, these guys got nothing.

Like, you could, against a good team, you're going to see someone try and get that under control, box Ballow out, play it back, and reset for them. And these guys were not here to do that, right? So, again, this isn't a great team, and the U.S. are going to be on the front foot just naturally for a while. Yeah, okay. Charlie, we're moving fast through this timeline.

Okay, all right. Yep, the good stuff's coming. Yep. Ninth minute, nice sequence from us. Wes and Tyler Adams settle some head tennis with some one-touch passing in traffic. I got to say, Tyler, this is maybe the best Tyler has played on the ball all tournament,

the way he was ping and passes around. But he sets a good tone for himself with this pass, which is through the lines to Tillman. first time. Tillman takes it on the half turn, plays a little backboard pass with Ballo, and he's got a chance to beat Maharovic, Maharmovich one v.1, and he can't quite do it. He gets shepherded out of bounds. But really nice, quick transition, nice combination play, and I think, you know, there's obviously much, much more of that to come. Yeah, in a game like this, when you suddenly have them running towards their goal, it's usually how

good things happen. I don't know if it's as an AVP, as we used to say, but we'll see it on the goal later too, right? Like when things are happening, suddenly like that, it's good. Bosnia gets a big chance in the 10th minute, which is kind of interesting. Muharramovich takes a quick goal kick and then just blasts it 70 yards to Ettingeco, who was 10 yards offside, but you can't be offside on a goal kick. I actually didn't know that until Wednesday. but um so he's he gets it he receives that long goal kick behind our back line taps it out to demurevich who blasts it from the edge of the box it's batted away by freeze but you know he

had a he had a window to shoot he just kicked it he just shot it right at our keeper on the ensuing corner in the 11th minute from alabegovitch uh that leverkusen 18 year old uh it's an on target attempted olympico and freeze is leaning the wrong way, but he backtracks and pause it off the goal line. West volleys it to safety. But, you know, this is a little different than the Paraguay match, it feels like, at this moment. Something that I was, that occurred to me repeatedly during this match was they had, because

in the end, the pitch control was, you know, the numbers and the, and the, the, I tests were all pretty dominant in the U.S.'s favor. if Bosnia had one pacey player who could stretch the lines to play off of what the big trees were doing up front and give Jekko a little different dimension to what is clearly an advanced soccer brain that he possesses, I think this could have been a very different match, but they just didn't. Athleticism, and particularly on the speed side of things, made it so much easier for the U.S. to eventually clamp down on this sort of stuff. Yeah, it was like Australia without Irankunda, right? I mean, I know the defensive shape is slightly different, but yeah, it couldn't really relieve the pressure. And that was really their last chance before the red card.

I mean, their last serious chance. So, let's see, 15th minute, nice sequence from the U.S. off a cleared set piece. It's Dest, Wes, and Tillman combining to spring Jedi to the end line. and he plays a nice right-footed cut back to Balagan who just mishits the shot and sends it out for a goal kick just couldn't get around it this was a difficult shot with two defenders between him

but you know he probably does better most of the time with it and it's a well-crafted opportunity from us small note this was this was Jedi on the right right this is a good example of these little three-man games that we've been seeing a lot this tournament it was like well wait a minute Hold on. He's on the other flank. He still gets a cutback with his weaker foot. But that space is getting probed and exploited.

Yeah. Nice little triangle. I agree, Bell. It was tough. The ball was a little bit behind Bellow and not a good angle to go. But I was just surprised he found himself in the space that he did. The centerbacks, like I think they see him, but they both kind of collapsed on the goal, and they weren't that tight to him between him and the goal.

Again, the angle is tough, and they obviously are there for the block, but Ballo is lurking and starting to feel inevitable. 17th minute, good ball into the channel from Wes for Ballo, and Ballo just can't beat the defender, but like I said earlier, we're finding ways to attack that channel. And I like that, and honestly, just expect it now. You know, it's, I've said this before, but it doesn't always look this way when you're playing against a team that is trying to defend.

And I think it's a real credit to the U.S. that even when we're the protagonist, we're creating openings. 17-minute mark, lovely textured ball down the line from Alex Freeman. Springs Wes, and he whips the ball across the six. You know, maybe he could have made another decision

with this ball across the six, but Vasilje punches it away, but it goes right off Jedi's head as he arrives and bloops over the crossbar. Keeper is a little shook up from a Jedi shin to the face, but no foul or anything. But this is like an exciting moment for the crowd, you know, of Gold Mouth Scramble.

Yeah, Vassiz would do media post-game and he had a tasty Shiner on his, I think it was his left eye. I think was inflicted on that play. Did Freeze get a shiner on that play? Did Freeze get a Shiner on that play in Stavage time where he went down after getting pushed. Sanjay, I don't think he talked if much, if at all in the mix zone.

He was moving fast. He kind of darted out of there. Yeah. He's like the face. Okay. I actually, a funny story, quick story. I rode down with his family friends and one of my best friends who's dating one of his family friends.

And it's just funny how my friend finessexed. into the Friends and Family section. I'm ready for this game. Like last minute. Beautiful. Your Friends and Family Network is massive, Sanjay. Yeah. Very random, yeah.

Well, I don't know how random it is. You are from the area where, like, the most USMNT players have been from, historically. East Coast-ish. Also a social butterfly, isn't he? Don't you think that? He really is. He gets about. Just oozing with charisma.

Uh, 20... Sorry, I was just going to clock there real quick. That's why we want Wes in this free roll, right? Not just like the fun stuff he's doing on the ball, but the runs are great. Also from Malik, the timing of it is very good of recognition. Yeah. I mean, we get another ball from Ream over the top for Tillman and the channel and win a corner. We get a lovely dummy in the 23rd minute from Tillman on a desk pass between the lines.

It goes straight to Ballo. We work it over to Jedi and Pulisic. doing but I love a dummy and we had a couple of those in this game. 28th minute, big sweeping switch from Wes on the right over to Jedi on the left. Wes showing off his full complement of skills and Jedi dribbles it out of bounds, but that's okay. I guess people were a little frustrated with Jedi during the game. Didn't think he had his best performance. I don't know.

All right. 29th minute Pulcic gets going in the like stepping into the middle a little bit with the ball and plays a lovely reverse pass for Ballo behind the line he gets it has a little trouble receiving it in stride and then gets shepherded wide

tries to beat his guy does kind of push the ball past him and there's some slight contact ball goes out of bounds Bala wants a penalty, but it's not given, and I think that's probably fair. Should we talk about the goal? Yes, the quote-unquote goal. Oh, yeah, it wasn't a goal. It was chocked off.

But 31st minute, I love this whole thing. The way Tillman pounces on that loose touch in the midfield. I mean, our press is a revenue stream for us, for sure. And what a machine Tillman is. just with the skill of taking the ball from somebody. Like he's so good at that. So in this case, he pokes it right to McKinney, who immediately, like, it's just a first time

left-footed past Ballot at the top of the box. He takes a touch to his left around Cottage, who is scrambling to recover, and then slots it past the keeper near post. Lovely goal. A little touch from the keeper, but not enough. But Ballot was offside by, I mean, he was very clearly offside.

when McKinney hit his pass. It's just McKinney was, McKinney's mind is too fast for Ballot to get back onside. No goal. This was, this was so impressive and it reminds me, I guess you could argue,

it wasn't a textbook counterpressing situation because Bosnia were trying to, trying to play. I can't remember what it started with. But one of the athletics tactics gurus wrote something this week about how the statistically, the USM&T are the number, one counter pressing team in this tournament to date.

And you see it. It's these glimpses of a true American style that I find so inspiring. These guys are, have soaked up high-level ideas. They're executing in the run of play. The group that was introduced and was working with some high-level ideas under Greg Burrhalter but often seem to be thinking rather than playing is now just in the, in the flow state so often and so quickly. And the athleticism that they show and the quickness with which they react to those

moments collectively and get going the other way is just a super, super dangerous thing. And it's, again, I feel like it's a cornerstone of this emerging identity. Yeah, no disrespect to Greg, but this intention with the ball and this looseness wasn't there before. And then in terms of the pressing, the counterpressing, I'm curious if you guys think this can be an advantage on Monday, not to look too far ahead for a sec, but the athleticism advantage has definitely been there to date in this tournament for the U.S. Belgium have not just good players, but they do have some athletes on that team.

Everyone thinks about Yoku right away. but yeah, I think the U.S. is still probably more athletic and we'll hopefully have more energy between, you know, the crowd that youth and I'm not playing under 20 minutes in this game. Yeah, I love the, I mean, we'll see what happens with Belgium, but I love the, I love this emerging style. And I do think a lot of it, the ferociousness of the counterpress is kind of the key ingredient, you know, for key. keeping the opponent back, creating opportunities like this, but also creating opportunities like this, but also just like keeping them away from our goal. And I got to think that these giant crowds,

which like as Sergenio Dest told you guys, he had not experienced a crowd like this before the Senegal friendly in Charlotte. That was the first time, a big pro-US crowd on home soil. and it's got to be a big factor in our ability to do this because it inspires the players when they're playing in front of a crowd like that. It's huge, but I also think tactically, like the rest defense

and just individually, like the anticipation from players, like these guys are dialed in right now with and without the ball. Like, it's very noticeable. And everything is shaken out in their favor with the schedule and the locations, right? They've been playing in temperate, weather environments. This was a warm day, but nowhere near the maximum summer heat that you get in much of the U.S. right now.

And they have had most of the legs out there. This game had had two weeks, essentially, since their previous match. So what a bonus. It's going to get a little harder now with shorter turnaround times. But these guys are just, these guys look fresh. I noticed the dialed in thing too, Sanjay. like especially after the red card the way the way our midfielders were moving around against the ball I mean they were like you know 90th minute just busy and totally yeah to use your words dialed in

uh 38th minute good win by tyler plays it right to west another immediate pass in transition springs ballowing behind his ball across is cut out bosnia has a good sequence in the 39th up our right side low early ball in behind. It's kind of mishandled by Jedi under pressure, but fortunately falls right to freeze. This is one of those like teasing balls curling behind our back line. And it's a little scary. And I got to say like in the, in real time, on rewatch, this game is just very relaxing to watch because I know we're going to win. But in real time, it didn't feel quite as pleasant. It was, oh, that was tense. That was a tense moment. You heard like a bit of a gasp, at least I did. the tournament flashes before your eyes, right, when something like that happens.

And on this play, against a better team, you know, like, Giggovich had stopped running, right? Because he thought Jedi was going to deal with it. If that's, you know, a striker who knows what he's doing, he's been around the block, he's anticipating a mistake and maybe getting to that, or, you know, at least putting freeze in a more uncomfortable situation. So that's the difference, you know, in the next round and in the quarters if we get there. Yeah, Holden and Strong noted that on the broadcast that Giggovich just kind of gave up on the play early. Like, come on, brother. Lovely sequence from us in the 39th minute.

Jedi plays it into Tillman in the box. He kind of, he's like headed towards the corner flag, but back heels Pulisic, who is streaming into the box behind him and he goes to the cutback zone whips it across the six it's tipped by the keeper and kind of goes over everybody I could have maybe slid it in for Ballo

instead of just rifling it but it's tough you know there's bodies flying everywhere now I was frustrated by this decision making here and it wasn't just him West did this as well a few times you get to the endliner or you get the space to deliver a ball. And you have three centerbacks in blue who are 6-4, 6-2, 6-7.

Why play a ball above waist height? I mean, everything I thought needed to be on the floor in that situation. Apollo is 5-10. I thought Pulisic was maybe the most guilty part of here. You know, the adrenaline spikes a little right when you get into that space. You know the cutback is on, and that's a very dangerous ball to play. but on the floor, man, on the floor. Yeah, we've seen some own goals too, right, already in that situation.

Yeah, you don't give yourself a chance for own goal to score if you kick it over everybody, you know. Bosnia does start to knock it around a little bit towards the end of the first half, get a little bit more of a foothold in the game, but wait, but wait, 45th minute goal USA. So we put together a few good attacking sequences that didn't yield anything, but we get our opener on another good sequence with an assist from good fortune. So we start to press with energy and force the goalkeeper into a long boot.

Ream gets under it, one touches it right to Tyler Adams in the middle of the field, just inside Bosnia's half, and he dummies it for Tillman. and then he, Tillman, Wes and Ballow are attacking 3V3 from Zone 14. So Tillman tries to slip it in behind to the centerbacks left so Ballo can run to his right to get to it. I don't even think there was enough space for that to come off, but the wide defender pokes it back towards the middle and it sort of glances off Muharramovich,

who is marking Ballo and settles just behind Ballo as he's running. He puts on the brakes, swivels and then shoots it kind of gently through the keeper's legs from about 15 yards out. It goes off the inside of his right leg and then just rolls gently into the across the goal line. 1-0 USA.

I love everything about the defensive speed of thought here. So, and it's possible, guys, right, that we have some Tim Ream non-enjoyers in the listenership. and I was I posted at halftime of the Turquia match like you call that a first half I call it Tim Riem infomercial right I just feel like if you have any doubts about why the ancient man is on the pitch and we're in the captain's arm band like this plays in yet another piece of evidence into that body work like he knows where Adams is and then he goes and wins a ball a header and mid-year-olding air, right? And when he leaves the ground, he already knows what he's going to do, plays an angled header. And then Adams, who we've talked about his attacking or vision limitations in the past, he's, his awareness in 360 degrees is very impressive. He doesn't, he sort of does a little, it's a, he sort of call it a back heel, but more of a flick into this space. He sees Tillman

behind him. Just really impressive awareness. Just another, an example of ways, which Tyler has added to his game and has made big gains in the last couple years. And then again, yeah, Tillman's ball is not good, but you're setting up these situations and then recreating them, right? And you work through them again and again until you're stopped or you break through. And that's what happened here. You get some luck, but it's the patterns. It's the speed of thought.

The Bosnian defense was not set, and they were exploited. So just so much small, been important, good stuff being stacked together. Yeah, Adams, that's not the first time he's done something you were not expecting in possession, right? I mean, this is more transition, but just on the ball, that's what keys this whole thing. I think obviously reamed is really well. And then you make your own luck, right? That's what this goal is. Yeah.

I don't know if there are any ream non-enjoyers. left in the listenership. If they are, they're crazy. Show yourself! Show yourself! There were Reem skeptics for a long time. I was one of them. You know, I mean, I think it's natural, but his qualities, there's never been any doubt about that, what he brings. Right. And yeah, that, that, you're right, that Turkey, Turkey A match was an infomercial for Tim Ream. I guess we'll see, you know, the thing people were

worried about with him is his athleticism, and he's going to be tested a little bit more on Monday in that way, I assume. So we'll see how it goes, but yeah, we wouldn't be here without him, I don't think. JECO, in stoppage time in the first half, just spears Tyler Adams in the open field. I mean, just like a textbook targeting a defenseless receiver flag here. and Adams goes down. They're both down for a while. No foul given.

No foul given. I mean, I'm not going to get too deep into the, like, grievances towards the ref thing, but I just note that that should have been probably a yellow card. There was also tactical foul on Pulisick on the sideline that didn't draw yellow, like a shirt pole, which is just helpful context. as we move towards this red card.

And then around the 52 minute mark, which is like seven minutes and just stoppage time, we get a lovely spell of soccer from the U.S. First we carve them up, and it ends with like a speculative ball into the box from Pulisic. Then we get it back immediately, which is what we did a lot throughout this game.

And then Jedi and Tillman combine up the left side. Tillman croifs it to Jedi down the line. I mean, he just sprinkles this classy stuff in throughout the game while he's also probably the most effective presser on the team and is just running his balls off.

I just can't get enough of him. But anyway, he croifs it down the line for Jedi who cuts in and plays a crisp pass to Pulisic at the top of the box. He kind of gets it taken off his foot immediately. He could have done a Tyler Adams and dummied it for Wes, but he gets it taken off his foot

immediately. And the clearance goes just to Tyler, and he plays a quick, like, again, Tyler, just a quick diagonal over the, over the back line to the right to Serginio, who's on the back post. He leaps and nods it down for Balagan, who is on it, and arrives, I mean, Balagin's alertness and movement in this play is, like, is astonishing. He's so quick to arrive at the near post, and he kind of half-volleys it gently off the crossbar. It's the only technique that would work here, I think, for getting it on frame because the, I can't remember which centerback it was, but their leg was in his way for, like, putting his laces through it. So he had to kind of, like, try to chip it on the half volley and nearly scored. Like, it just hits the crossbar and it lands on the top of the net.

Again, this is so good from Tyler to keep this thing ticking quickly, right? He's in the right spot to recover it. And then picking out surge, great run. very quick run from Serge when he sees Tyler kind of open up a bit and then he knows it's on and Colossina just totally flat-footed so that was really nice to see Surge doing work in this

higher role yeah okay that's the half we're up one zero no quick quick note bells as you as you noted made an allusion to the notes

the half ends with McKinney and Adams kind of showing some dog mentality. They were pressing, I think you have here, Alibaghavage, who took exception to it. And they were, I really, from a U.S. perspective, I think you got to like what they were showing there, which was one, it should have been a, they're up for the fight, they're imposing themselves physically, they're responding to any bit of bullying or provocation

against a teammate. And the referee at that point, his and his assessors, red flag should have been going off because by that, that was a sign that the players were not in love with the way that the match was being officiated, did not feel that they were being, they and their teammates were being protected. So we got to do it ourselves, right?

So when you see guys start to scrap and show piss and vinegar in those moments, I think that says something about the refereeing, which will become more evident later. Yep. Okay. Let's take a break. We'll come back and talk about the second half. No changes.

for us at the half. I don't have much to say about the opening minutes of the second half other than I'm just in love with the way almost everybody on the field can pick out a one-touch pass at any moment. Do you guys have anything before we continue? I would just say it's so nice to have that lead going into the second half because it's a totally different mindset, right? At least for viewers, if that tension is mounting, you're thinking about attacking

subs and all that around like the 60th minute or something so it's uh yeah things are continuing to cruise for a bit longer yeah it would have been a uh prospect of suffering had we come into the second half at zero zero uh 49 minute mark tilman just does soonitch on the half turn soonish pulls at his jersey and there's no yellow probably because tillman doesn't flop 53rd minute a lovely sequence from Pulisic and Tillman down the left channel

Tillman tries to slip Balot to the cutback zone and the pass is way too heavy but the combination play here from Tillman and Pulisic just fantastic Esmir comes on for Bosnia

and you know I got to say he was a non-factor in this game I guess you could argue that that justifies the curious decision by Barberes to not start him but I was pretty

flabbergasted like a kid doesn't want to doesn't want to do something special against the country of his birth like come on yeah yeah I mean it was crucial for them in qualifying as we all know

and um scored the game winning penalty in the shootout with Italy I mean, as most of you know this, but Italy was disqualified from the World Cup by Bosnia. That's not the right term. Bosnia knocked Italy out. Eliminated in. Yeah.

Yeah. And Barbara said said nice stuff, because we asked him in the Massachusetts 1 press conference about Esmer. And he said we are expanding our horizons all the way to the U.S. And the bit of American culture that he brings is very important because they are. They are bringing in this diverse squad from all over, including diaspora kids. And Esmer is a big part of it. Yeah. And St. Louis is the fourth largest Bosnian city in the world, right?

It's amazing. And I just was chatting with Jeremiah O'Shaan about their match here in Seattle the other day. He was blown away by the sheer volume, both numerical and audio of the Bosnia. It is, again, considering this is a country with a population roughly equivalent to the greater Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg area, they are incredible, incredible soccer culture, incredible people. We get a, well, we have to witness a nice sequence from Bosnia in the 59th minute. Kolesanats gets past Freeman and fizzes it across to Damirovich. I mean, just a lovely intervention from Tim Riem to cut this out with his right.

foot at full stretch. So once again, we've got to tip our cap to the old man. Was it an athletic play, would you say? It was pretty athletic. It was, you know, it wasn't a dominant athletic moment. The brain is always faster. Yeah. 61st minute, we get the huge moment with the red card.

Jedi clips a ball into the channel for Ballo. He and Muharramovic are battling for it. They clatter into each other, and, you know, Muharayevich goes down, so does Ballo. On replay, it shows Ballo raking his boot down the right calf of Muhammovich and even catching his foot and turning his ankle. The slower you watch it, the worse it looks. But Ballo did lift off immediately when he realized what was happening. It seemed totally accidental.

Medical teams are out there for a while. then Raphael Klaus, the Brazilian ref, goes to the video screen and comes back and surprise, surprise, shows a red card for Fuller and Balligan. That means he'll miss the game against Belgium. He misses the rest of this game. We're only up one zero. Huge decision. What did you guys think? There was no surprise in the stadium.

I don't think. I saw, like, there was an audible sort of wincing kind of grown sound that went up from the sellout crowd when the replays were, were being posted up on the screens. Like it was just, maybe it was a different viewing experience, but the way that the ankle and foot twisted was grisly. And so zero intent, but I really got to emphasize here, I think we talked too much about intent on these kind of decisions and with refereeing decisions in general.

The outcome was a dangerous. play and when a referee like that who i don't think had a good day overall but has it presented to him in such grisly fashion i don't think there was much choice for him oh we got we got a ref sympathizer on the pod this morning no i have no sympathy for the for the ref but because he again he did not have a good day he he he could have done more as i noted at the end of the first half there were all these signs of mounting tetchiness and uh and the blood rising that he he did not sense or failed to handle. But in that moment, the standard has shifted.

And I know, so big part of the discourse here is look at what Messi did. And like U.S. soccer staff in the mix zone immediately after the game had already put together this compilation of image stills from other such tackles, one of them by Leo Messi in this tournament, which were not punished. Some of them not even yellow cards, not even fouls. It's totally valid. FIFA has a problem here. But this particular referee and crew, in that moment, they're on the spot and they have to work with what's in front of them. And it was a rough tackle.

Zero intent, but definitely danger. And the damage inflicted, I think, was unmistakable. And it all sucks. But just to clarify on the laws of the game, there is no requirement that there be intent for it to be a red card, right? There doesn't have to be any intent. Is that right? Okay.

That's my understanding. You know, and I know there's those, I'm sure there's people out there listening who have deeper knowledge than I do or even we do, perhaps. But in this case, your boots are an extension of your person, and they're also a potential weapon. And so you have to be responsible for how they're deployed. Yeah, I'm not an expert on the laws of the game, but what I can say is that I think, I think you guys would agree with this. Like, the way VAR is being applied is inconsistent and interpreted, right?

Like, it's almost like the human error is bleeding into that. And I thought this was ridiculous. It was weird because, yeah, we didn't know what happened in real time. And then you're seeing it and everyone has a bad feeling. And then it's Copeland, it's a Cope America PTSD, right? it's a little different situation. Ballo had put the U.S. ahead in that game against Panama, that infamous game, even after they had gone down.

And this time, he'd already put them ahead. But now they're going to have to weather... We thought they were going to have to weather a storm without him. But really, it was just a drizzle. The thing about the laws of the games is that the laws of the game is that they change all the time, too, right? They're always, like, they're always changing the language. So it's really hard to keep track.

If, I guess, I kind of, I really do kind of agree with you, Charlie, that it was, like, I tell, I tell rec soccer players, it doesn't matter if you do it on accident. It still could be a red card, you know? And, um, I do think that's true. And it was, it was bad. But just kind of cosmic justice sense, it's like, it seems so unfair. fair. Like, he didn't,

he didn't mean to do it. Now he misses what now becomes the most important game, probably in U.S. men's national team history. And, man, that sucks. Yeah,

it's a brutal, it's one of the irreplaceable players in this 11, not the only one, I'd say, but one of them. Arguably the best player. I think that's fair to say.

A lot of people are saying that. I just don't get how you can't appeal a red card either. Like, my understanding is that you can appeal to reduce the severity of a suspension, right? But you can't actually try and erase this one game ban. But I think that should be amended. I have to say, yeah, so that's what we're told immediately after the game, that if there was a multiple game of suspension, handed down, then you can appeal that, but not the decision itself.

My suspicion, though, is that even if you could appeal it, because the system, in FIFA's eyes, in their bureaucratic worldview, the components of the system functioned appropriately, and so they would not want to, in their view, undermine their referees and their systems. But you're right, this is a World Cup tradition. This is this, it's now deeply woven into the fabric of this event that every single edition, there's some FIFA directives, there's these priority directives, there's something that's important. And as members of this big bureaucracy, the individual referees involved, whether they're on the pitch or in VAR, they have to execute what has been put in front of them if they want to continue to get matches,

to be reviewed and evaluated, and to survive within the system. It is absolutely a massive bureaucracy that works that way. So again, I think the ref was not good on the day. But in terms of like the individuals' motivations within the system, that's the context. Shout out to all the American college football fans tweeting jokes about like injunctions from judges and lawyers and tax tech and all that. That was amazing. If you understand any of that, that was rich on the timeline. It was.

And that brings me to my, I guess, last point about the red card, which I think it, which is this. I think for the culture, for the nation to rally behind the team, it's actually not a bad thing. Because it galvanizes everybody. And they're like, man, this is, you know, it's us against the world. we're losing our best goal score for accidentally stepping on somebody's ankle. And so it almost adds energy to the fire that is coursing through the veins of the nation. Yeah, I mean, my home group chat was still alive a day after about this bullshit in their words. Yeah, like Chris Richard said after the game, it felt like they didn't lose a guy because of the crowd.

and now you hope it'll juice the crowd that much more, not that Seattle needs any juice to begin with, but crowd's going to be a big deal on Monday. I wrote about that a bit after the game. Like, that's going to be a huge factor. Yeah. So we drop into our 4-4-1 after the red card, after the dust settles on that.

West and in the middle and that, Tillman-Wide, yeah. Yeah. Bosnia gets a little bit of a second wind. They're coming at us, and it takes us a little while to figure out. 66th minute. There's a cross clipped in, not dealt with. Demerovich has a shot through Richard's legs. Thankfully, goes right to freeze.

68th minute, another shot for Bosnia. We're not handling business in the best way. But the chance comes from a scramble, and it's like a low percentage shot from the left side. And then the water break comes, which I think it was nice timing for us, actually. And then we get a little nice spell of possession in around the 75th minute. After a Bosnia corner kick, it kind of helps us stamp our ground

in the words of not legend Matt Miyazga. 76 minute mark, more possession for Bosnia around our box. They're shooting, we're throwing ourselves in the way. Nothing is beaten the first defender. and then 78th minute we just get something delightful from our team. It's a chalked off goal, so it doesn't count, but it's worth describing anyway. Ream clips it up to Pulisic. How often are we, how often are we saying that?

Ream clips it up to so-and-so, up to Pulisic. He squares it for Tillman at the corner of the box. He takes a touch across the top of the box into zone. and then just back heels, dramatically backheels Wes into the box. I love the way these two work together. Wes takes a touch turns and clips the ball back to Tillman at the penalty spot. So Tillman continued his run. And he takes it on his chest, tries to shoot,

shot is put off by the defender, and it falls to Pulisic, who kind of crashes into the goalkeeper, bundles at home at the far post. it's full celebration time, but oh-oh, the Pulisic was off by, you know, a couple yards, actually. But I did feel like, I did feel like this goal, even though it was chalked off, kind of reestablished our dominance, which was only slightly in doubt, I think, for a little while.

And it also re-energized the crowd. Go ahead, Sanjay. Yeah, even during that stretch, like Ream said after the game, like after the U.S. went down, I mean, Bosnia had a little bit more of the ball was what he said, but he said the U.S. was still able to keep hold of the ball, kept an unbelievable shape and everybody knew their roles. And he just said as well, like it felt really calm and really, really easy and simple for us in that moment because we were all just calm. Like that is, I think in stark contrast all of us watching. Like I was nervously looking at the clock, you know, seeing they could ride this out. ride this out and as you get closer to the goal

you feel everything kind of calming down and then things are going to be okay. Can I read a couple quotes? Do you ask that this is a striking theme? So Richard's, Chris Richards after the game said I think it showed how strong the team is that we went down a man and nobody really stressed out.

And then Captain Agent Ream went in even more depth he said because of the way we train because of the conversations that we have, the communication that we have, the together, the that we have, the fight, the intensity, the aggression with and without the ball, it was a steely focus. And unless you're on the field and see it in guys' eyes, it's hard to understand, but it felt so

comfortable, even down to 10 men. That's the way you want to feel. We've got to talk about Potch a little bit here. I mean, maybe before this goal. Did you guys see the Tom Rinaldi special on him where he went, he went to Murphy and talked to his parents and stuff. I have not seen it. The U.S. soccer coms posted that on the WhatsApp media group that they've been operating

during the tournament, but I have not watched it as yet. Yeah, I've got to watch that after this on the way to training. It is fun to see his mother and father. I mean, his mother gets really emotional when she says how tremendous she thought it was that he got the job as the USA's

head coach. And, I mean, he really, he is from, I mean, he's from the sticks, bro. Like, he is a farm boy. Yeah. For sure. It's just, I mean, it's striking to me to see, like, that somebody who grows up on a farm can be an elite soccer player. That is not typically how we think of it here in the States.

But, well, Marcel Bia also visited him in the, you know, in his youth and like the legs on him, right? Yeah, he wanted to observe his legs while he was sleeping. Sickos remember that story. It's burned into my brain for one. Yeah, I'm pumped for potch. That's my guy. Emotions going in all directions, and right now they're only going up. Shout out to Waki, drawing proper attention to the Bielsa childhood visit to the farm.

Yeah. Wachie's been cooking a little bit, dropping some newsletters. here lately. Yes. Love the newsletters. S sensational. Like no one else, truly. So 80th minute, a long throw down the left.

It pops around in the air for a while until Jedi collects it and passes to surge at the edge of the box. He touches it past Rodolich and the tall centerback pulls Desk's shirt. Referee plays advantage and then it gets cleared and he gives the centerback a yellow card and we get a full. free kick from 19 and a half yards out, let's say. And Malik and Jedi stepped to the spot. This is the 82nd minute. Jedi's doing a lot of talking.

Malik's doing a lot of listening and smiling in the close-up. And Malik takes it and hits it near perfectly. I mean, so there's a sort of physics breakdown of this. not to be too indulgent here, Charlie, but Charlie, have you ever been able to generate the up, down spin on a free kick? I like that. I've never... I've never been able to do it at all.

I mean, it's hard. There's the top spin that more, I think normal people can practice and get, and where you'll see that the ball is worrying sort of, right? But the way Malik hit it was more like there's movement on that ball, but it's not a complete top spin, right? So it's like a measured, he strikes. I thought of guys like Lampard, Frank Lampard was quite good at this. There's a certain way you strike across and through the ball that just makes it move

different. Matt Doyle said actually he shouted out Ronald Koehmann, who today is known as the disgrace coach of the eliminated Netherlands. But back in the day, he was a pretty decent player in his own right who could do this on free kicks. But the movement on that ball was exceptional. And no, it is not easy to do. And most fans will know by now that Sebastian Barhalter is rather good at restarts. He's one of those gym rats who spends hours on this stuff.

And he was just sort of paying tribute to Malik in the mix zone afterwards. that he's like, you just don't understand how hard it is to hit the ball like that. Yeah. And it is. It is. They spend a lot of time on it. He hits it with his in-step, right? And then brushes his instep.

As he strikes it, brushes it up and across his body to generate that spin. And yeah, that is very, very tricky to do. Anyway, nearly perfect, Vassil tries to, I mean, by the time Vassel's sees, it sees it, it's just come, come over the wall, and he can't get a strong enough paw to it, even though it's not like pure upper 90. It's, you know, he's, it's not a perfect shot. And so afterwards, Jedi said that one of the conversation, part of the conversation they're having was do we go under the wall? Because they thought the wall might jump. So, so Jedi was, I don't know if he was advocating for it, but that, again, this is the tallest, I think they're

the joint tallest team at the tournament is Bosnia and Herzegov. So, you know, and we talked about it in the context of the centerbacks. This is of any wall, this is not an easy wall to go over. And I just keep coming back to the Matrix Neo comparisons. Like Malik Tillman, we've known for years, his pure, his talent, his gifts, right? But it was like, how is he going to put it all together? And it's just the last couple months have been breathtaking. And this is just another example.

It's like, oh, okay, he's got that in his locker too. Yeah. A guy who had lost, kind of lost his spot at Leverkusen this spring. Go ahead, Sanjay. Yeah, I was just going to say it's amazing how he gets enough power on it to still beat the keeper. I look like that. That blows my mind. But yeah, Malik, shout out having an amazing tournament. I was definitely a skeptic at one point, but he's putting it all together, and it's really exciting to think about the present and future of this team with him playing at this level. It's a game changer. Yeah, he does everything well. It's crazy.

To have a guy who can hit a free kick like that, but then also presses the way he does. And the swagger he brings too, right? Chats, there's someone asking about this after the game, but between him and Wes, but I think it's like it was super noticeable with him in this game. The flicks, the turns, like the little things that just, you know, add that extra whatever percent to

to this team going forward. If I can just try and put the listeners in this environment, he is, he's so, he whispers essentially, his normal speaking volume. He had done media in Matchy a minus one, right? And they're training at PayPal Park, which is the stadium of the San Jose earthquakes, which is literally next door to San Jose Airport. And Malik, you're leaning forward, like, you want to stick the microphone or your phone right in his face because he's, he's, his normal tone of voices.

like down here and he's he's like, you know, it's a second language, English. And then a, and then a huge plane is going to take off and land, right, like a few hundred yards, a couple hundred yards behind him. So he's completely inaudible. And so we're all going like, oh, damn it, right? Like, am I going to get any useful quotes out of this media availability? Right. Like Malik is just, and then so he steps up in the mix zone to what they call the stage where he's got a big room of reporters steering at him. And thank God they had him well, Mike. and this was where we saw the iconic bloody sock. So he had gotten, he had gotten cleated on that foot and that torn open.

The cleat was torn open and he couldn't continue. Slips on another one. The equipment manager had hustled back to grab a second pair of boots for him, slips on the new cleat, and then whips that free kick with it. And the torn cleat, as Jeff Ruder of the Guardian, has wonderfully reported, was post-game was immediately being whisked away into the FIFA Museum for posterity. Wow.

My favorite thing about when he does MediaVail is like he'll take in your question and then he will smile. Usually he'll smile from like ear to ear. Like he's really happy and then he'll deliver an answer and his, you know, tall-spokenness. But yeah, he's a nice guy and a hell of the player. His sock was bloody too.

I don't know if we mentioned that. There was like a, there was. Blood his stock. Buddy sock, yeah. He was in his stocking feet, to speak into the media, and you could see the blood and the hole that had been torn in not just the boot, but the sock. And he went, the mystique grew, and he said,

I actually didn't think I was that good. I had issues with my performance in the game. I mean, he did have a couple heavy through balls, you know. But he was asked to post game about, like, the flare that they're playing with. And I think, maybe I'm paraphrasing here, but he was like, Someone asked, like, you know, what's that about? And he was like, because that's the best way to play this game. Yeah, he was confused by the questioner, not realizing that this is the best footy.

It was like, why not? But I just got to say, while we mentioned the bloody sock, like cutting through the American sports consciousness in different ways, right? Like, we have the balo silencer, right? And LeBron tweeting at him. And then, yeah, we're going early 2000s, mid-2000s, World Series lore, the bloody thought. so it's all happening. And I do. He also praised Pach and others have said this too.

They emphasize the manager gives us the freedom to go express ourselves. Potch believed in Malik too in a big way, right? Like a year ago during Gold Cup, he's calling him in one of the most special talents that we have and it's shining through now. I do love, I mean, even if he is soft-spoken, I do love listening to, I love listening to Malik. talk because he is somebody who loves to talk about soccer, you know. He's like really interested in it and kind of, I think he's kind of a sicko in a weird way. Like he's not a USMNT sicko,

obviously plays for the team, but like he's a sicko about soccer. Yeah, it was a great, great interview we did, Bill's in Dallas once upon a time. Yeah, the one that we lost half of, or three quarters of, thanks to the only time we've ever had technical difficulties yet. And I, I didn't do the backup because we had the fancy setup. So you love and you learn. And, you know, when some guys, some guys naturally have, they express the swagger, right? Malik's is a little subtle, more subtle. He said, we talked about going under the wall.

We talked about going to the side. We talked about going over the wall. I know some guys doubted me, doubted whether I could go over the wall. So for him, that's, for him, that's like a, that's like spike in the football. By his name. You let him know. Well, you're going to need another big performance from him on Monday, that's for sure. 84 minute mark, Destin West try to work it out of the back right corner.

West dinks it off of Bosnian for a U.S. throne and then turns and pumps up the crowd. It's starting to feel like a celebration. He and Tyler, like we talked about at the top of the show, just totally locked in in that that bank of four moving talking moving with purpose it is wonderful to see a team playing like that cut to gregg burhalter as sebastian comes in he kind of looks like uh robin hood from the disney film when he's pretending to be a blind beggar got the sunglasses on uh 10 minutes of stoppage time added 92nd minute I got a ding

I got a ding sub a little bit here he gets isolated wide with Alibaghavich and then just shepherds him onto his right foot so that he can whip a shot past the far post come on brother you got you just came on

you're fresh as a daisy let's not let's not let people cut in and shoot it from 17 yards away I didn't even notice your notes about the post second goal thing until now this is why we're the most meticulous best podcast for this team listeners we don't stop even when the game is one we keep going to the end go ahead ches small yeah note here

i was intrigued by poch's approach to substitutions because by the by the time that second goal went in i think bosnia had used four their five i believe and and u.s had yet to make a sub on a sunny day where there was a lot of energy and they had already spent a good amount of time short-handed. I don't know if this is a heat check by Potch. I don't know if this is maybe a hint that he's not entirely in trust with his bench. And then to bring, if you need a body who can defend out wide, it's a little, I'm not sure. I think maybe this says something about We know Tim Wea is not in the best form. Maybe he's lost Pach's trust.

I don't want to be too decisive here. Because obviously there's internal dynamics we don't know about, but I thought that was a moment for Wea. And so sticking Bearhalter out wide there was a little surprising, and I'm not sure that played to his strengths. Yeah. It's a good point about the subs waiting too, right? This isn't, I mean, it was a while ago,

but this has been a criticism of Potch, waiting a bit too long to make changes, right? I believe that that's been a thing before. You could argue that he's saving them for the possibility of extra time. And so then going up to zero, but you can breathe a little bit more and not think about that so much. I mean, there really was a backbreaker, just a massive, massive moment to get that goal.

But, yeah, I'm clearly, Cerely Seb has his trust, but I don't think he set him up for success in that particular moment. Yeah, the sub thing is interesting because there is the concern that it ends up being just like it was in 2022 where really only 11 or 12 guys play. But I mean, it's not too much of an issue yet. Just got a note, the Wes is still going strong in the 94th minute right before he gets subbed off, even though he started all four games and played hard in all the moments. soccer America yesterday called him quote the USA's most important player in quote that was a Ben Wright piece

um hey speaking of which uh shout out to the goat Paul Kennedy he was acknowledged for the game right chat's on his backyard we were snared we were snared here so i get off the elevator at the press box level Neil Buthy who's a for used to run the comms department at the The Federation is now has his own shop doing agency kind of stuff. He sees me, he goes, hey, follow me. So I'm like, what the hell's going on? Right. So he walks over and Cindy Parlo-Cone is in the sort of media area behind the back of the press box.

And he's like, hey, everybody just wanted to gather. And there was some other journal standing around. So it's like, they do these impromptu scrums, right? Don Garber did one for US Australia. Okay, we're going to get a few minutes with Cindy Parlo-Cone. Great. And then she starts talking and then Neil hands her a jersey, one of the wavy Waldo shirts. I'm going to go, oh, I'm going to answer.

And then Neil goes, right, we're going to start with first question of Paul Kennedy, Soccer America over there. And then it turns out this is a fake media availability. This is on an elaborate setup to say Cindy Parlow Cohn starts paying tribute to Paul Kennedy. She said, you're a huge part of what we do. And 55 years, you're retiring after this tournament. and we're so we're so thankful for you and just like big ups one of the the OGs of US soccer media hands in the custom jersey and everybody everybody gets to give Paul a few flowers and clap for him and yeah and again just down the street from

from his home so that was a cool moment and I have to say I was impressed I was completely snookered but it was a great moment yeah Neil gave some of us who were already there, a heads-up before, and it all came together really nicely. It was very well done, and shout-out, Paul. It's such a nice guy and a legend in this landscape. Well-deserved, yeah. So, I mean, a couple other things happen in the game. There's actually a decent chance for Peppy at the 95-minute mark.

You know, on rewatch, I was really studying Rico to see what we might see on Monday. He did okay in the build-up a couple times. and in this opportunity I wouldn't say he needed to score here but he wasn't able to corral the ball as it was bouncing and he got dispossessed by Muharamovich and then Freeman collects the clearance and blasts it from like 25 yards

and it goes over the crossbar last thing I'd say is Erman Mamich grazes the post on either side of the goal not literally he doesn't literally graze the post but he comes close on both sides with good efforts in the dying moments.

But at this point, it felt like a victory lap for the U.S. Everyone was standing in Santa Clara. And then they played final whistle, country roads. Potch is belting it out on the field as he's hugging people. Wes is dancing around trying to direct the stadium in the song. Pretty cool. Wes was literally skipping. I stopped and took a video from the press box before I went downstairs.

because after 90 as you mentioned after 90 minutes of a two-way play a lot of grind he was literally skipping about the pitch waving his arms and he gingering up the crowd and and hollering hollering some john denver so what a guy man what it won an engine yeah hard to argue with ben right it's got to be at this point's got to be west or malick as the i mean they're the they're the they're the two guys who have kind of carried us. We talk about the 12th man a lot, and we're going to hear about it in Seattle. To me, Malik is the 11th man.

He's the one who brought everything together. We didn't know who's going to be that cog to make everything link in central midfield, and it's him. Yeah. But Wes is the one, Wes is doing something very similar, just in a slightly more advanced role. I think I said this in a pregame hit,

but it may be, I mean, I don't, this may sound premature, but like, we were all wondering what they'd do without Johnny and Tessman and, and some other center meds that he left at home, but maybe a blessing in disguise in terms of Malik getting this, this, I think he would have started anyway, because Potch really believes in him that much, but for him to just get the keys like this and run with it, it was amazing. and even before the euphoria of the postgame scenes, when he scored that goal, just like, seeing the, like, honestly teared out for a second, seeing just the reaction of the stadium. Like, just seeing everyone just losing their minds, stadium's full, American flags everywhere.

Like, that was one of those moments where it's just like, you know, it's all coming together, it's all worth it. It's been amazing regardless, but now that they're in this Belgium game, you know, where we want to be, and a big reason is Malik. I feel like the singing of country roads gets incrementally better each time because people are expecting it and getting used to it.

What did you guys think of the crowd and the energy in the stadium compared to Seattle, L.A.? It was excellent. They've had the vibes in San Jose and the Bay Area are pretty high. I'm writing something about this for Sounder at Heart. They didn't love, like, there wasn't, they felt like that venue got hit with some less than inviting matchups, right? Some smaller nations and some newcomers and some less tasty games, but they still were filling that house up every time.

The San Jose earthquakes blocked off several blocks of the downtown San Jose around the San Pedro Street market for watch parties, and they've had more. than 400,000 people come through to those over the course of the tournament. Obviously, that's driven by Mexico fans. I was around for the Mexico game the other night, and it was absolutely lit. I mean, they had to close off the viewing party because it was so full. But they're also getting huge numbers of U.S. fans, huge numbers of Columbia fans. This is a sleeping giant, I think, in terms of the soccer market. The earthquakes and Bayfc haven't really been in the elite of their respective leagues, but you see the potential here. Like I said, super cool to have it come back

and have the U.S. play a big game here 32 years later after that game at Stanford in 94. And I still, I guess I feel some manner of confusion or frustration or resentment that the powers that be, whether it's FIFA or the Federation or a combination there of, like, there is not a supporter section at these games. There is not a central place where A. or Sam's and the other organized groups can be clustered and where that tends to be a locus of noise, right? That's always noisy. That's where the chance and songs will start from and emanate out. I think this could be.

And the opposing teams have it, right, Charlie? Yes. I'm told that this is a federation decision about how you allocate tickets and so forth. And so, like, there's AO members and OGs and stuff and leadership in the crowd, but they're not in the same area. They're not clustered behind a goal like, like you. would have at a qualifier or a typical home match. So I think they've lost something there. You know, the USA kind of chant ends up being the default.

And there's not as much organized supporter culture powering things. But given that, I mean, everybody's been raving about the players and coaches have felt the energy and have asked for it to keep going. Yeah, like the Bay Area is a great soccer place. I agree with Charlie. I think it's, I mean, obviously the team is playing really well right now. the quakes with Bruce, but I think overall the club is a sleeping giant if and when they get an owner that could, I know that stadium's relatively new, but if they ever get a stadium

downtown, watch out. Like, that's an MLS super club waiting to happen. I have to call this out because I haven't heard it anywhere, seen it anywhere yet, but I texted Henry during the game, see if, you know, I'm just seeing things. I thought there was a notice a little amount of empty seats opposite us. I saw some red sprinkled, especially like at midfield. And I was really disappointed by that. Again, to be clear, the stadium was pretty much full. US fans were amazing.

But that really pissed me off for the magnitude of the game. And if you're someone who's trying to make a buck off these tickets, again, because I don't know who's reselling those tickets, but if you're someone who has tickets and you're trying to resell for a fortune and it doesn't come off the way you want, get off your ass and go to the game. Like, this is once in a lifetime stuff. Like, there's no reason there should be a single open seat.

And I saw enough open seats where it actually bothered me. Officially it was a sellout. Right, yeah. I was just going to say that, officially a sell-out. It wasn't just to be clear. Like, it wasn't just people coming and going, because I was checking it periodically throughout the game. Like, there were seats that were not occupied.

And enough where you can. can notice and it's maddening. Okay, well, what, let's, let's, let's, let's be done here, but first, what, what would you guys do on Monday? Would you start, would you start, would you try something more inventive? I would start peppy, I would start peppy, I think the question becomes, uh, like, what's the dynamic with Christian? Where is Christian operating? What are his instructions? Because, um, if it's more like the Australia game where it's, you know, a center forward and basically Christian playing kind of like, like, Ballot, I guess, you could say. But you know what I'm getting at. Maybe just

telling Weston to help out a little bit more deeper and telling Christian to go to his thing more. But yeah, I'd be surprised, going back to the conversation about subs and potts sticking with, you know, his group of guys, I mean, it'd be really surprising to see Haji play, right? He had, like a minute off the bench against Australia, it would be really, I'd be shocked if it's anything other than peppy. We don't need a galaxy brain way to get Peppy off the field in a big game. I've seen that movie before. He should be there. He should be here. He should be starting Monday. Small note here, I've been surprised at how little we've seen of Hajie Wright. He was wearing a calf sleeve during one of the training sessions. I think it was before Turkey, Turkey. Turkey.

match. So I just caught him briefly in the, as he was passing the Mixo and after the Turkey match and asked him like, are you carrying a knock? Like, are you, is there something up with a calf? And he's like, no, no, I'm fit. I'm fine. So obviously that's of limited use, right? They could be under careful orders not to reveal anything. He could be lying that that's his prerogative. But he says he's fully, fully fit. I'm, I keep coming back to the decision Pach made when Pulisic was ruled out for the Australia match, where rather than try and replace Pulisic as a one-for-one, he changed the shape. So we had essentially what I would call a three-five two with Balo and Pepey up top.

And afterwards, Potch went into some, by his standards, a fair amount of tactical detail about the sort of the three-player relationships, the three-man games that they were trying to foster along each flank. So as he, and I'm paraphrasing here, but that you had, I think it was. Pepey and Jedi and Wes maybe on one side and Malik and it would have been it would have been West on the left side with Jedi probably and then Malik on the right so basically the wingers the wingers the advanced midfielers and the strikers sort of clustering together relating right and creating patterns of play and combinations respectively and so

I'm curious as to whether rather than try and replace those key individual he tries to replace it in the in the aggregate i don't i don't i don't i don't know maybe we'll get some smoke signals the next couple days of media availability um he has spoken positively about peppy i was not particularly impressed by what we saw from peppy in these last couple games in terms of someone who could step into that low and strikeer role and not have a big dip and again against an elite opponent yeah i just don't think there's there there's a real alternative i mean if it's not haji then what's the outside of the box thing? Like, Christian and you add another...

Yeah, Christian and Peppy up at the... In the two. No, I just mean like the crazy outside the box thing would be like what we saw against... Geo ran a false nine. Yeah, Christian. One more attacking mid-winger type. Christian, yeah.

But, no, I think it'll be peppy, but it's going to be... It's going to be interesting because we've talked about how well they've opened. opened up these teams. I'm still surprised at times when, like, the mid-ish block leave some space behind the back line for the U.S. to exploit. But now, and that'll probably be the case again because it's going to be a more open game

on Monday, but now you don't have someone who can exploit the space, right? Unless you tell Christian to stay really high, whether it's just him or hopefully it's him and Pepe. That's going to be key. I think it's also worth, I also have not been pleased with the way Pepey has played so far in this tournament. But he is a player, we have to remember, he is a player who has scored massive goals, both for club and for country at, you know, high-level situations. Like, think of when he scored the game winner for PSV and Champions League to send them

past. Who was that? He went past. Sevia, maybe. I think it was Sevia. Yeah, it was Spanish team. So, you know, he's no stranger to, like, scoring a big goal. in a big moment and, you know, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he does on Monday if he starts. But it's the, it's the splitting the space behind that he's not going to be, he's not perfectly suited for. And then also, is he going to be able to win battles with centerbacks physically to sort of hold it up and allow everybody to join him?

I guess we'll see. Hey, thanks, fellas. This would have been, uh, this would have been an interesting, uh, big pat scenario, right? if he was here instead of Haji. Indeed. That's true. Yeah, we'll see. Stay tuned. Follow Sanjay on social.

We'll share whatever we can dig up over the next couple days. Follow Chaz on social as well. Are you still on Twitter, Chaz? Not really. I'm not really active there. You can DM me if you really need to, but I'm spending most of my energy on blue sky. less fasci environment for me, so I prefer it. Yeah, follow these guys.

Don't follow me on social media. And of course, the scuffed mothership, yes. Oh, yeah. Vital, vital. And please try and get one or two people you know who are falling in love with this team to join the Patreon. Bring them into our community. Let's keep it rolling.

Thank you, fellas, for doing this. Have a great time in Seattle and enjoy the game on Monday. everybody have a good weekend we'll see you