Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #715: Poch will stay, European preseason underway

Episode Date: August 4, 2026

Vince talks Belz into being excited about the decision. Sanjay wants him to play the kids. Cavan seems to have hit a bright patch. MLS gets a new commissioner who understands books. Gio to Strasbourg. 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, everybody. Players are gathering at their clubs in Europe. MLS is going full tilt, and Pachitino will return for another four years. Sanjay, Vince, how are you? Sanjay first. How you doing? I'm doing well.

Yeah, a lot happening in the world of soccer on and off the field. Just a few things. Yeah, it's been a wholesome day of soccer so far. coaching a local camp with my local high school coaches. It was pouring rain today this morning. We ended a little early, but it was one of those days where the field was soaked. Everything was muddy. Yeah, it was cool in a way. This is a high school team? The high school coaches and players and then other local coaches help out. And it's like our local town youth. So this happens every summer. And it was funny actually, like when you're,

working with different groups of players just to get to know them. Obviously, you ask them their name. We go around asking their name, and I'll ask them their favorite player too. And this was the first year ever. This happened last week. We're after working with dozens of kids, probably about 30 to 40 kids during the morning stations, not a single person named Messi. We had a lot of Laminia Mall, a lot of Mbapé and some more niche ones.

You know, you had some pedri, some. Um, um, the best was one kid was on the spot. He'd know who to name and he threw. He just said, Somerville. Crescentio. Yeah. Crescentio. He's a good player.

He got the nod before Leo Messi did, which was like, I was, I was dying. But yeah, you had a few Rinaldos too. And it wasn't just like, you know, United. Madrid Portuguese people named Ronaldo. Like, Ronaldo came up here and there, but it was mostly, you know, the young, the new generation, but not a single Messi, which blew my mind. So you had a few politics, but, yeah, that was funny. Interesting, not a single Messi.

I saw, I saw a kid with the, uh, Renato kid on yesterday of his club. Who's his boyfriend? Al-Halau? Al-Nasur, I think. Al-Nassar, okay. You know, one of those. But, yeah. saw him with a kid on yesterday.

The way you were building it up, Sanjay, I thought it was going to be some cultural touch point on how the U.S. Ms. Nfts team is breaking through. But you did mention that Christian Polisic got a couple mentions. So that's cool. It's funny.

Today was the first day for this week. Tony, you mentioned that. There was a kid who I remember when he was little during like Project Restart Polisic. This kid's name is Christian and you showed up to camp with the Polisic Jersey. I took a picture of it and posted it when he was like a little kid. And it's funny to see him like grown up now.

But yeah, no, not too many Americans. No, no, no West. No one else besides Christian, I don't think. I understood. I was at, just real quick, I was at a coaching class all weekend in, you know, near Athens, Georgia. And the instructor's name was Mario, and he's like a real ballbuster, which is kind of the, it's kind of the mode of what these coaching education guys are like and there was a girl with a Ronaldo jersey on in the group of like 12 kids who

volunteered to help us with our class you know how that works and he called her messy the whole time he called her messy the whole time what a guy all right so potchitino returns for another cycle it's a four-year contract he says when he signs a contract he plans to go to the very end of the contract but you know in football especially and in life, nothing is certain. What do you guys think? Are we celebrating? Are we, you know, just kind of taking the news in stride?

What's going on? I'm taking the news in stride, basically. I mean, I think for people that listen to, I don't know, the World Cup post-mortem, whichever pod we talked about it on, you know, I was kind of, I think I gave up a strong word salad on whether or not Potts should be back or not, you know, just kind of like going through my thoughts. And even after processing those thoughts or whatever,

still came back to the fact that, like, it was like, eh, comes back or he doesn't. Like, I'm cool with it. I would have been excited to potentially get another coach. And I'm also potentially excited to see Potch for another four years or maybe two years, whatever. I do think the possibility they stays for is greater than, some people may think, I want to say.

I agree. But there's just a strong possibility that the World Cup was the kickoff point, given that we saw Pach's tenure, even though the results were underwhelming, and I tweeted out today, like, we need to get that. This First Nations League, we need to win that. Because going 0 for 3 and Pach's first three opportunities get a Conca Calf trophy, I'm going to turn the heat up right after that, bro. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. We can't be going 0 for 3. I cannot accept that. But with the World Cup, him having everybody healthy, going through his progression that it kind of took to arrive, to put in the players where they wanted to be, or where he needed them to be or whatever. I'm thinking specifically about dropping Malik

into the double pivot, all his different types of things. Once we finally got everybody playing where it makes sense for it to play, we saw the team play how we think they should play. and I can easily see the team just kind of kicking off from there and we just start busting ass specifically in Conccaf, the way we should, man. We need to reestablish our Conccaf, Dominus, get back to it, and I think Maricio Pasciito can do that. So that's the thing I'm worried about, and that's the thing I think we'll be able to do with him at the helm.

Yeah, he also said some good things this morning about, you know, he's going to focus on the younger kids and, you know, maybe he'll move here permanently. He said he's going to consider that. The towering trees of the Atlanta suburbs are beckoning him. Sanjay, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, firstly, like, I think it's important to step back and remind ourselves that him picking us when he did was a huge deal and him returning for however long he stays, hopefully it's the full cycle. But that's also a really big deal. I think us being us,

you know, we're the richest country in the history of the world with a huge sense of self-importance, perhaps arrogance to some. But we're very mad, we're very much a middle-class soccer country. And there's more than one reason that he's coming back. But it was, it was cool to hear that what he saw this summer, I think he was genuine about this, what he saw this summer, the buying from the fans, the response to the team in that sport made a difference, right? That seems to have left an impact on him and his staff. And he said, you know, they went back feeling they were feeling empty after a certain point after the World Cup

so and I think I think that's big just because like okay I read that quote from Riesio and it got me to thinking about like just his effect on the fandom and the culture in general just as you know we don't have regardless of what you're thinking about Greg Barthalter right

we do not we now have a coach that like galvanizes people it seems. And behind Balagan and behind maybe Christian Polisic, maybe the third biggest USM&T related star that come out of this World Cup is Maricio Paschino. And so especially for

casuals and people that kind of got on the bandwagon, I felt like he's like he's their gaffer. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? My friends loved him. Yeah. Yeah. And so the fact that he's back and you know, we're kind of keeping that momentum rolling and whatever fans

as we picked up along the way, don't have to learn a new manager or anything like that. I think all that plays into it. And once again, once again, he needs to hit the ground running. I feel like because obviously the goal for the 2026 cycle was just the World Cup. He even mentioned that in his pressure today. That, you know, he got the job with just the mandate for only the World Cup. And now with this cycle, him and his staff are going to be. focused on more things.

From the bottom up, it seems. It seems. I guess we'll get more detail as it goes on. So the thing I'm worried about when he says, you know, he talks about the connection with the fans that was built during the World Cup is, I wonder how he's going to react to, like, a half-empty stadium at the Nations League or something.

I was thinking about that today. Nations League specifically, right, in L.A., where there was the valley, then the peak, And now are we, you know, what are we headed for in the street? We're going back into the valley, baby. I mean, unless, you know, something really changed in a way that I didn't perceive this past summer. I mean, we won't be able to tell until we get there, I guess, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I think it is notable to hear him say, you know, we got a video from U.S. soccer earlier today where I think it was Michael Cameron and asking him questions. And Potch said that this cycle won't be a continuation of what happened during the last 18, 19 months. He said, you know, we were only with the objective to arrive in the best condition to the World Cup. Now the approach is going to be different and must be different because it's a four-year cycle. And then in his next response to a question about the pool and younger players,

he said, I think we met a number of players. He's talking about the previous cycle, I think more than 70 players. And I think we have talent, but also we are seeing that start to appear. New talented players, 16, 17, 18, 19 years old. You know, young kids are the possibility and potential to be important players in the next World Cup. And he goes on to talk about how MLS and the Federation are doing a good job, all that stuff. So it sure sounds like he's ready to look at it. new players, which we all know needs to happen, right?

We need a forward-thinking selection strategy to beat real teams at a World Cup. A lot of things went wrong against Belgium, but the lack of – we can talk about high floor versus high ceiling, but we need better players, man. And we're hopeful that the kids were shining a light on early in this cycle can be a part of that solution. Yeah. And it is encouraging to hear, Amher. sort of explicitly say something along those lines. Yeah, he sounds like someone who knows his core is aging too, right?

Like he doesn't want to be like, oh, he's my guys and this is what we're doing. It's a new cycle. He's always going to want to put the regulars on notice, you know? They're back on notice. I guess so. And yes, of course, bring whoever can help us in along the way. I have no, I mean, after he mined for all these different types of, people. I mean, he combed all the way through

MLS, you know, combed through MLS. I mean, to the point to where, you know, he might be, he could potentially be a deciding vote on the new commissioner. I don't even know. Like, you know, just board of trustees, whatever, whatever. He got the keys to the castle. But, yeah, we just got to, we got to get back to winning, bro.

We got to get back to winning. And, you know, now that Mauricio is officially back with us and it wasn't just this, I don't know, jaunt, this trifle. affair with the with the with the united states as before he goes back to europe or whatever um it is it is time to officially give him his nickname you know and i'm not the one that provides the nickname this is provided of course by john mckenny weston mcennie's dad airborne 69 on twitter we we did not go into this during the world cup um he kind of tweeted it and left it but you know he posted another picture john mackinney with maricio postino simple caption no no no no no

long paragraph this time. As far as we know, there was no drama to sub-tweet about as you did with Greg Burrhalter for the infamous mentality tweet. All he says is, The Man with the Plan. And so now, Maricio Pachino is officially hashtag the Man with the Plan. No more, no longer El Loco. Hashtag the Man with the Plan, man. So let's see this plan play out.

and I have tenuous faith that we can get it done. Yeah, I've just talking here has moved me from ambivalent to in favor of the potch rehiring. Because I'm like, what are the alternatives? Are we going to find a better coach than him? And I don't think, I don't think the blame for Belgium. I just can't put much of the blame for that on Pacitino. Yeah, I don't put a ton on Mauricio at all. And then if you say, hey, Vince, all right, you could potentially have a situation where the Paraguay match becomes like the new level of the national team going forward, which or, or you can get an unknown, maybe second tier European manager or some.

American coach. You know what I'm saying? Like, which bucket am I taking? You know, I think I would take the shot on, you know, kind of continuing,

yeah, continuing from the World Cup on and just give that a shot. Like, you know, I would, I've already seen that. I would love to see that continue.

Whether it does or not, remains to be seen. But it's like, Riesel got us playing like that in a World Cup, winning matches. Yeah, let's go ahead and take that shot,

man. I think it's worth, stressing the part that like there was no obvious other even American coach never mind a foreign candidate um i would have no problem with getting to 2028 where we expect to be in a cope america and re-evaluating like after the world cup it was like okay and even now there's talk about what jobs could come up that would tempt him but um that job clearly isn't there yet for him At the same time, there isn't a clear option for us in terms of the American pool of candidates or the foreign pool. So maybe that candidate will emerge after a few years when it would mutually make sense to do something else.

But obviously the hope, like I said in the post-mortem, the hope is that he stays for four years. Because if he does, then yes, we're all taking this hands down. Like we're excited about it, right? if you knew right now he's here for four years you'd sign up for that in a heartbeat and be happy about it but i do want to push back a little bit on vince's emphasis on winning conga calf competitions or whatever it is not that like obviously i want to see the team win uh we want to see momentum we want to see some of that excitement we saw this summer just a slice of that carry over and and build on that but the most important thing to me is integrating these younger players

And if we lose a final to Mexico or even Canada, but we have kids getting, you know, real minutes, that, that, yeah, what are you saying? What are you saying? I mean, but these kids have to reach a certain level. Like, what are you saying? We're playing kids who currently do not deserve it in order to hope potentially that they're better than

whoever's playing in their spot by 2030. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I understand your premise. But like, in actuality, like, does that, how much sense does that make? My concern is World Cup qualifying. We have until the end of the next fall window in fall 2027. Everything between now and close to them,

including Gold Cup in like next summer for me is about So we're just saying you're saying get them better than before qualifying starts Yeah well before then I mean obviously even with Nations League like we have to win in November right To get to get to we have to advance in November to get to L.A. in March so it's not like winning doesn't matter at all anytime soon But it's about qualifying for the World Cup and making sure you're giving guys a chance to not just taste the international level, but do it together and build cohesion. That's what we've got to think about.

For the guys we think we'll be on the field in a game like Belgium four years from now. And we work backwards from there. I'm adamant about that. And beating Mexico. But the thing is... We've been in Mexico a lot. And where has that gotten us? You know, I was actually just going to say that.

Because I was thinking about... Where's that gotten the sport in this country? We won, what do we beat Mexico Like for five years straight Or whatever it was They never beat us Still nobody cared about the men's national team in America You know

Basically it helped A couple people win arguments on Twitter And that was the effect You know No no hold on first of all Because you're skipping paths You're looking You can't miss the

I don't know The trees for the four What the hell they'll be talking about The Forest for the trees Yeah Forest for the trees man I mean, come on. We got to take care of ourselves first.

You know, I want to beat Mexico, damn it. What the hell we're talking about? Yeah, yeah. I do too. I do too. But it is worth thinking about, like, that was, you know, the picture of all the boys with Pulisic doing the shush in, you know, like sepia tone at the stadium in Las Vegas, whatever it was. I think it was Denver. Las Vegas.

Yeah, Denver. Yeah, I just think, like, even that, even that picture, which was like, so cool. such a moment for like for the sicko class but did it ever did it ever break through beyond that you know we do have to take care of ourselves though I mean I'm the first to admit that I'm not saying to be clear

I mean no though that the answer bells does no because why would it break through to anything you know no we beat Mexico and penalty like in a in a barn burner of a overtime and penalty you know extra time and penalties It was an incredible night that we shared with about, you know, 20,000 other people.

It was important psychologically for the players for the team, right? Like, winning is part of development, for sure. But let's identify the high potential, really talented kids that we need in four years. Let's lean that way. There's like three to four. right now there are okay

all right okay whatever bro look we need we need to we need to win concaf trophies bro i don't care what y'all

i don't care you we need to sit back on top of our perch concaf i don't really to be honest I don't care about the journey I don't care where it gets us I want to win now

bro you know what I'm saying I want to we can do both We should do both, to be clear. I want to talk shit to my Mexican friends. You know what I'm saying? This is all, I'm talking about me. The greater whatever, when the spotlight's on us

when the World Cup, getting to the quarterfinals, all that. Good. When we play Mexico and are friendly this fall, I want Audrey Maddie on the field. I want Cabinsela on the field. Maybe Neil Pierre. I don't know if he's starting, but I want him playing in that game.

I want him tasting that game. and who to who we beat to get to our only only quarter final Sanjay I'm posing the question

to you Sanjay Who do we beat? A much better Mexico team Okay All right I'm just

Than the team they have now All right Listener you get Two strong perspectives here on whether we should be playing the kids And it's you know

It's up to you to decide It appears The FIFA World Cup privatization plan floated a few days ago it's not going too well for old Johnny Infantino

all 41 concaffeaccafnations rejected it I mean you know how UEFA feels about it they offer blood they want to destroy Infantino out for blood and yet they might not be able to get it

without hitting the nuclear option which it seems like they might still do only because of the fact that Africa is huge and has a lot of countries within it. And they seem to be standing behind Johnny. Why? From what I've read, it seems like they... Well, I read in one article that from the first...

One of the first trips that Johnny took after officially getting the job was to South Sudan. And he's quartered... I mean, so that tells you where kind of his attentions have been. You know, if you're going to South Sudan, I mean, you know what? One of the newest countries in the world, right? You know, it's a new seat. It's somebody new to FIFA, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Like, you know, that's a vote. South Sudan counts just as much as England, et cetera. And so, yeah, he has the entire calf on lock. Like, calf, not only have they, I mean, their statements have been basically the opposite of, like, Uafas. and Asia really hasn't said much either. So really it's just, at this point, it's UEFA and Kanka Kav, with UEFA being the strongest, going against Johnny trying to get a mouse to. Speaking of fellas who sometimes put the soccer second and the money first,

Don Garber is their MLS is voting on a new commissioner who will eventually replace Garber. Do we care? Vince or anything. Hell no, I don't care. I mean, what are you talking? I care about the MLS commissioner, bro? I mean, yeah. Look, eventually, and maybe if something good happens

that an MLS does a good thing, then I'll be like, hell yeah, Larry Berg. Great job, brother. But as far as, like, I mean, I just don't know. I don't know anything about the guy. I'm not tapped into MLS, especially not its front office dealings. Okay, okay.

Yeah, fine, fine. Yeah, I mean, I think it's just more about, you know, the culture of the sport and where MLS fits into that. Because we obviously care about that. And MLS definitely has some catching up to do. They need to elbow their way into mainstream relevance, which might take a very long time. I think it will, regardless of who the commissioner is going to be, barring a an unforeseen move towards pro rel, any sometime soon. I don't know if this matters.

I think the media rights deal that they covet is a generation or two or three away. They're still just kind of relying on like the organic growth of the sport and demographics. So yeah, I think like, like, like, let's just hope they keep playing the kids. We see more clubs playing the kids. As MLS teams, like, we expect them to be spending a lot more money soon, right? That's the whole debate in the league is, like, how much money should they spend? How should they spend it?

And does that really even make a difference for them in terms of ratings and all that, viewership? So I'm not sure it does in terms of catching up to the people. Prem. I think it's it's not looking great for them, but for the sake of the national team, I don't want minutes to be

squeezed away from young Americans. Well, I do want to say I was in a hotel on Saturday night, I think it was Saturday night, flipping through the TV and I saw, what did I see on ESPN 2, but racing

Louisville, visiting Tampa Bay Rowdies. It was a five. That's a Louisville City, brother. That's Louisville City. Oh, yeah. The women's team. My bad.

Louisville City playing Tampa Bay Rowdies in Tampa. It was a 5-4 game. Tampa scored two goals in the last, I don't know, 10 minutes. And I did wonder, I mean, it's a, it's not a very cinematic stadium because most of it is empty or like there aren't seats. But I did wonder how many people, you know, stumbling. upon that and enjoyed it because that USL is instituting pro rel. At least that's what they said in 2027. Did they say that?

Look, don't get a lot about what USL is doing or not doing. But, I mean, I know they're starting the Premier Division. I don't know if they're starting. They're aiming for 2028 around then. So they're starting the Premier Division in 27 and then in 28 they start sending teams up down? Supposedly. Nobody believes it is what I'm getting at you do.

We got a, it's one of those things you'll believe it when you see it, right? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Anyway, let's talk about some of the kids. Who cares about all this front office nonsense? Philly kids are doing

pretty well. Sanjay, give us... Hold on, hold on, real quick. I looked up Larry Berg real quick. I just want to talk about it. Okay, you want a little more front office talk. Let's go. Just real quick, because I looked them up just to see what the cut of this man's

jib is. I figured it might as well check it out. Larry Bird, co-managing owner, L-AFC, senior partner at 26 North, which, I mean, probably some type of fund. Former senior partner at Apollo Global Management, Apollo Global Management, private equity, it seems. We provide flexible capital at scale to leading companies around the world. We know what time that is.

And then before that, former chairman of McGraw Hill Education, the textbook man. Okay. That's all I got for you. That's all I got. You're going to text book, Larry. The man who made a math book in high school leading MLS. Yeah, man. Sure.

He's well regarded, but I don't think any executive, like, yeah, I don't know how much they can. they can do in the grand scheme of the challenges facing MLS. I mean, with any league commissioner, right, the power all lies within the ownership still, of course.

Like, you know, the whole league structure is the owners own the league. What's Larry Berry going to do? He's going to lean more into the, hopefully the more ambitious owners in the room. He'll tip things. He'll tip the scale.

way, but, like, again, no matter how ambitious they are. Can they make, can they make them the best league in the world? Probably not. There's still, can they make them close to that? Like, I don't know. And how is that going to affect playing time for young Americans? Well, we shall see.

I still wish there was more kids playing. But I think if you get three or four or five super teams who can do whatever they want, like the rules are ridiculous, let some teams do whatever they want, and then hopefully the other teams, we get enough production for our men's national team pool out of the rest of those teams. And there's no homegrown territories so kids can go wherever. This is a solid point, I guess,

with Berg coming from, you know, a new money team. But it just, I guess it kind of remains to be seen when, you know, you got the major, it seems to me the major power players should be in the room, should be the hunts, crafts, etc. the people with whom, you know, lay the foundation for MLS to be built upon it. So it's a, it's a, it's a tug of, not a tug of war, but I mean, kind of, read Paul Tornore's books if you want to learn more about this. We're not going to, not going to go into profiles of all these people, but his book does that well.

Larry Bird know about books. Yeah, kind of a, not a growth industry. Books. especially textbooks I just want to talk about that Cabin volley off the chest the little combo with Quinn up in the right corner

Quinn scoops it over another defender to him Kevin takes it down with his chest and then swings volleys with his right foot his weak foot and draws an amazing save from the Atlanta keeper

you know full stretch hand out that's a that's a nasty little piece of work from him. He looked good, man. It's not just like, I mean, they were a man up for, like, most of this game. But just the way he's moving around the pitch, like, letting his feet, shifting his weight really well.

Like, there are times where he's looked like he's not, he's not as, he hasn't been as as spry and quick and, you know, gliding around. like there's been some appearances where you don't see that and now you're seeing it feels like every time he's stepping on the field um connecting with teammates smoothly um yeah he's goal dangerous the production is yet to come he nearly had an equalizer probably should have had an equalizer towards the end of this but they pulled off an incredible comeback and uh he was he was part of the reason why incredible in the like it was like it was It was cool to watch, but they were a man up for most of the game.

Okay. Neil Pierre also scored the big lanky centerback. I mean, he scored the equalizer, ultimately. Yeah, absolute weapon, on set pieces. And even just, like, goal kicks, like, it's cool to watch him just hunt the ball. Yeah, bro, he be dominant in the air, bro. It's not just that he scored. score's goal, I mean, I mean, scoring goals is becoming a usual thing for Miss Pierre.

But like, this isn't just him getting one opportunity a match and then putting it away or whatever. He is like, this is a skill that he has sustainably. And consistently, he gets his head to ball in the box. Philly's good at finding him. Obviously, he's 6'7. 6'7 plus pretty good athletically. Like, I mean, nobody can really compete with them, bro. like Sanjay said, even on like defensive goal kicks or whatever, I mean, truly, truly dominating

aerially in a way that, I don't know, we've seen a young, I mean, especially not a young centerback, but just, I mean, a young player do in a while. I mean, that's just, it's like a plus, plus attribute that he has, you know, like Rick knows how to, knows how to find the ball. Like I said, Philly gets it to him, good deliveries. And, yeah, he's going to hit, like, I mean, before the goal, I mean, I think he was dangerous on, like, two or three corners before that. So. I mean, even the national team hasn't had a, I mean,

really the only areaally dominant player we've had in the last decade is Walker Zimmerman. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Pierre is next level. too. Defensively also, I think there's been growth. He's obviously, like we talked about on here, very aggressive, a business handler. You know, not that he's flawless like he probably should have done. Could have done better on the first goal they conceded where Al Marone gets that.

But it was like minutes later, about five minutes later, there was a player where Almeron had the ball on the left side, and he's like dribbling over to the right side. and Pierre just tracks him the whole time and like hunts him down. And yeah, I mean, you just see in each game like some crunching tackles, right? Where like no mercy, business handled. So yeah, he's definitely near the, at or near the top of the list of people we're watching, right? Yeah, okay. I mean.

We got out of way for the European season to come for me to put my list together, man. But sure, Neil Pierre is on the list. But just going back to the play that Sanjay talked about real quick, where he tracked Miggi across the field. It's like, you know, Mickey is trying, he's trying to shake the man, like, desperately. He's stopping, starting. Stop and starting, does it maybe twice? You know, try and hit him with little hezzies or whatever to shake free of him.

And Neil's not going for any. of it. And this is a man who is 6-7 making this play. You know what I'm saying? And looking good while doing it. You know, y'all know I'm big on movement hips, etc. Fluid hips. You know, the ability to stop, start as Meggy's moving.

The ability to accelerate, decelerate, all these things. It seems like Neil got it. It seems like Neil got it. And I, you know, I saw some talk on the Discord this weekend when the when the goal happened as far as that maybe that's a sign of a lack of physical ability with Neil or something like that. And I don't know what I saw from the play, it looked more like an inexperienced thing to me. Like he didn't notice that Miggy was in that space until it was kind of too late. He tried to get back and make a play and didn't.

It was a lot more of a bang, bang play than. And then I think people think it is, I guess. But so I guess I'm here to say that, yeah, I'm on board. I'm on board. You know what, Sanjay, I'm officially put him on the list of top five players to watch in the world, American eligible. Yeah, him. So, and you don't have a problem with him being in camp, right, this fall? I want to see him, Audrey on the field, Kevin, and maybe put paid miller.

Absolutely not put them on the field. I mean, you gotta, you gotta start. Yeah, let's watch guys who've been, I don't know. A friendly, a friendly against Mexico or against Canada, like, that's, that's a good opportunity. We're trying to get in pot one or what, bro. You know what I'm saying? I'm trying to get in pot one.

I don't know you're trying to do, Sanjay. I'm trying to get pot one, baby. But, I mean, look, to be honest, I mean, fine. you know, if he's on the field, I'm not going to complain necessarily. What do you have to lose by starting him and Chris Richards? When I watch him play, and as of now, when I watch him pass the ball, I'm not inspired. Now, I also tweeted this out. And people told me, like Marcus, other people who are familiar, they're like,

oh, he can really pass it. It just hasn't shown up in MLS yet. So I'm waiting. I will be there when it starts happening. He can pass it. I just think we've got to see him under more pressure than MLS. Like the tools are there. It's just, can you do it?

Well, how about you complete some passes under the limited pressure in MLS then? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me see that. And then, and then we can get them on the field for the United States Airs and National team. But, look, whoever's on the pitch, let's just win some games, man.

Peyton Miller had a really nice outside of the boot ball across the six for a tap-in. Kind of ran into the cup back zone, got played in, and then, you know, didn't want to use that right footage. So he just, like, outside of the boot, perfect pass for an assist. He is actually good enough to be in a camp soon. Like, I don't know if he's necessarily ready at left back because he doesn't always play there. But bring him in and let him play there. We can give Jedi some minutes off, if not the camp. That's the way I'm thinking about it.

That's another example. You have a problem with that, Vince? I mean, we don't got no wingers, bro. So, I mean, the opportunity is there. Go ahead and put them on the pitch. Yeah, at an attacker, yeah, I'll take it. Go ahead and put anybody there. Get some people, some.

I'll take some speculative minutes for a random attacker, for sure because we need some especially if uh especially if Timway is in hell I guess

yeah under Maricio Paschino you know that stands right now no Pay Miller is as the understudy to Jedi and let's give Jedi

some time off it's in his best interest too and we gonna play somebody left bag that don't play left where it's

I mean he projects is a left back. He has played some left back, yeah. But maybe not this season. I don't know. Yeah. Gozo got hurt, right? Yeah, but we have...

Let's call him in the camp, too. He will be a camp. He can give us a Greg Jenner's performance against Mexico. No, he'll be... He has a little hip strain, but he is expected to be available tomorrow. So it's not a Whatever you see on Fat Mob Stay calm

I'm so glad you brought up hip strains Because Giorina is headed to Straussborg Hmm What $4 million transfer free So the With plus some add-ons or something

Hard to figure out this man's career At this point, I will say But No beginnings Here's to New Beginnings. Clink. Let's go. New beginnings.

People are writing his obituary as we speak for the European journey. But let's see what happens. They're praying on his downfall, aren't they? Yeah, they have been for years. And we looked okay against 10 minutes for Belgium. And it wasn't a coincidence that it was when he came on the field. That's true. Zero shots still.

Yeah, there was composure on the ball. The team wasn't melting down after he came on it. It's true. Just his presence makes a difference. Compose as hell while we didn't threaten. No, that was our best 20 minutes of the half of the game before the, before Matt Freese just like drove a nail 17 miles into the coffin that he had assembled. Him and Malik had the composure. That was it.

that was it that day okay all right they're also just technically they're the best players on the team so it's not a coincidence yeah I have to say I have zero expectations for this

for this move um I mean that's the safe that's the safe stance for sure I don't know I'll tell you Georreina he's going to Strasbourg where you said four million right

um Strasbourg is a good team I don't know where they finish in I don't think they finish in I don't think they're in Europe this year but like as far as They were close

Me a league on watcher For the Like out of the teams Basically when one of our guys Played Strasbourg I check it out Because obviously they're part of Blue Co Right there

Chelsea's subsidiary Or whatever There's a lot of talent that filters through and yeah they just have they just put out talented teams and uh you know that's basically just one of the games when like one of our guys plays them i'm i'm locked into it to see what the performance is looking like because the talent on the pitch is absolutely there for the most part um with this team and it seems like i think i saw some stuff in the discord where like they listed out to transfer values of each player um i don't

Strasbourg's like preferred 11, I want to say. Gio ran it less than them. So it's looking like he's brought in to be a death piece, at least a start. We'll see how it goes. Whether G.O. rises like a Phoenix or not. But as for right, I mean, look, yeah, I just can't. I can't put any faith in this happening, bro, when I have not seen over this period of time, him truly gained the favor of a manager once.

Now, yeah, which a lot of that just requires him being healthy. And he just has not. Although he was, to your point, he was mostly healthy at Gladbach this spring. So he's got to figure that out. Well, I mean, mostly when old dude took over the, when they were in the relegation zone or whatever, and the new guy took over Gio missed like, I want to say like a month,

month and a half, like right around that period after he was kind of gaining some momentum. Like this is, oh yeah. You say mostly healthy, which he was kind of mostly healthy for G. Arena. But it's like you got to put these, we need some knocks. You know what I'm saying?

We don't need a month and a half out, two months out. We need a niggle. We need a knock. You know what we need. That's what we need from Giorana, man. We all need these sustained absences, bro. Because for whatever reason, he seems to get forgotten about quickly, despite all of his ethereal, effervescent,

transcendent talent on the ball that y'all like to tell me about. I'll be honest, I don't have expectations for it either. I'm not projecting my pool. my lineup for this cycle with him turning his career around in mind. But if he does if he does

what's going to happen. If he does, this team can... We're going to beat Belgium at the next World Cup. This team can, as Maricio said, touch the, what do you say, touch the moon? Touch the moon. Yeah, if Geo if Geo is

even close to what we hoped he could be. You got Gio out there, you got Tselman, you got Kavan, you got Audrey, you got Pierre Handelham Business in the back there with Freeman and Richards and Hayd Miller going up and down. We got a dream, man. We got a dream. Spain, the next World Cup is in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

Mostly Spain and Morocco. Portugal's got two venues. And hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. We got a few games in South America. America, too, for the 100th anniversary.

Yeah, three token games. As of now, three, so again, going back to the Johnny stuff, it is significant because if the World Cup expands, you might have more games there. You might have more groups there. It could be out of control. It could be madness. Yeah, I don't know. It seems as if it's cooked as a stance right now.

What do you mean? And like 64 teams, 64 teams. 64. Oh, 64 teams for the World Cup is cooked. It's so stupid because that's such a better format. Yeah, as far as like it. Yeah, yeah, the third place stuff was crazy. So stupid.

It was really quite convoluted when it really got down to business. We didn't even think about it because, you know, we started off in fantastic fashion, but you have like countries of fans or fans of countries, you know, waiting to see whether or not they're sticking around. is their place like it was so don't yeah no I agree I agree and it took all the took all the meaning out of our game against Turkey so um one more thing we got to talk about is Sebastian Burrhalt I guess we got to talk about Brenda too brando had a golden assist versus Liverpool in a friendly look I'm channeling I'm channeling Greg Velazquez here where we're not going to spend a lot of time talking about goals scored him friendlies

especially by players who are like fully baked out the oven, you know. But anyway, he scored the goal and assist versus Liverpool. Sebastian had a positive friendly versus Español. What do we? Oh, I guess we have we mentioned it on this podcast that Sebastian Burrhalter is at Middlesbrough now? I think we did. With Marcus. Now it's official.

Yeah. And he, yeah, go on. Well, Max is going too. I think that's, that news has come out as well. Well, the Middlesbrose, what do you think? I love it. We'll take it. It's so terrible.

I love it. Yeah. Can't ready to learn Middlesbrows, buddy. I wonder how much people are going to show that video of Aiden and Sebastian doing that sparkly dance around Middlesbrough this season. I mean, bro, it's going to happen for sure. I tweeted, I tweeted this. imagine they get promoted and the whole soccer world

sees that video. But if Middlesboro is like on their, if they're on their stuff in the way they should be, like every time they get a win, you know what I'm saying? These two boys just came in, dominated Jim Midfield. Taylor Smith's love story.

Video posted. You know what I'm saying? It's kind of in the way that I used to use the proud and excited video. You know that that's Middlesboro's friends, proud and excited. You know, so it should be spammed. Constantly, constantly. But yeah, Middleswell are up coming the Columbus crew.

I'm sure the bros themselves would love that. Look, don't write these men off. I mean, Brenda, yeah, obviously, goal and assists against Liverpool. Sounds really cool in a certain year, not as cool now maybe to fans. But, yeah, even though they're fully baked, they're, they're, stuff to qualify for the World Cup.

These are the kind of guys you want in the squad. Fair. And, you know, I looked at some, um, I think some highlights and stuff from, uh,

from Seb, from Sepp's play in this friendly against Espanio. You know, you looked good. He looked good, legitimately. Um,

yeah, I've said this, like, like, the way he's improved, it's, it's, it's impressive. It's just like, we can't talk about him like he's a teenager because he's not.

bro i didn't know it but i was like i don't know how old i thought he was i ain't know he was 25 though yeah yeah but like but he has gotten way better fast so you know said to neil pierre one day good on him like him sub corner the champo's a mirage though we know that now it doesn't matter how good you look there

by the way while we have uh been recording uh larry berg it's official is going to be the next commissioner And, uh, shout out McGraw Hill. We've got, um, not a Houghton Mifflin guy? Nah, man. Jefferson County Public Schools is McGraw Hill, brother. Okay. You've also got to report, my boy, Ben Jacobs, has reported that Alexander Chafferin,

who's the president of, uh, UEFA, and Narsal Khalifie, are going to meet in Salisbury to discuss a club world cup boycott if Johnny and Fontino remains. plus some senior officials want to abandon the FIFA president title and create a leadership team led by a chair. I think that's a good idea. I also saw someone tweeted like it should just be like a rotating thing between confederations. But I bring up the Club World Cup thing to say that apparently there's nothing that's been agreed to between leading European clubs and FIFA so far.

and the $250 million in solidarity payments to clubs that not compete in the last Club World Cup, according to the Athletic, that remains unpaid. And the formula for that hasn't even been determined. So, like, Club World Cup's future, we thought that could be maybe more event stuff in the U.S., but that future is very much uncertain. And last but not least, who knows how this affects maybe getting 20th. 38. We all want that to come back and it's funny because according to the principle of rotating

around continents, we were, like it wasn't far-fetched at all for us to be hosting again that soon. But who knows what's going to happen now? Well, all we need to do is elect a president who's nice to Europeans and then we'll, and then everything will be better, you know? Somebody who likes Europe. admires it. I think they want some interesting food.

They want some more tournaments for themselves soon, Germany, and we'll see who else. I thought about Germany. Yeah. I need that, brother. I need that. Oh, yeah. Germany World Cup? Yeah, that would be great.

We'll grant that. Scuff's will grant that. Well, it'll be the German exemption. Thanks everybody for listening. We appreciate you. If you want to skip all the ads, join the Patreon. The link is in the show notes. You get Vince's clip note videos.

Any extra episodes we do, which Sandra and I have done quite a few over the last six months. Vince too. Thank you for listening. We'll see you.