Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #731: USA v Mexico recap

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

Greg and Belz talk it through. Mexico in shambles. Cavan scores cinematically to become the youngest USMNT goalscorer of all time. Tres a zero in Arizona.France trip: https://earthlydelights.club/scuffed 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. We talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody. The USA capitalized on some Mexican shenanigans in the back to score three goals, including one for 17-year-old. Kevin Sullivan, 17 years old in five days. Thank you very much. And we win the duel in the desert.

I have a man with me who can't stop calling it the duel in the desert. He's telling everyone he knows about the duel in the desert. Greg Velasquez, how are you? Bell's probably the most famous American duel that hasn't been documented in a Broadway play. I know. So, hey, good to see you. Thanks for having me. Yeah.

Anytime. What did you think of the game? Bells, I am delighted because we comprehensively humiliated Mexico. And that's always a fun thing to do. It's zero stakes outside of that. Like there are no stakes to this match other than don't get humiliated yourself and humiliate them. Like those are the only sort of two outcomes that can really matter for my well-being, for my mental well-being. I'd love to see some really nice soccer in large stretches.

We don't always get that in these games. We didn't get too much of it in this game from either side with some caveats. But the fact is no one can take away the fact that we've. left our rivals thoroughly embarrassed. Yes. It doesn't matter that they're the ones who embarrass themselves either. I was going to say, how much of this humiliation falls basically on the shoulders of, I don't know, mostly the goalkeeper, but the central defenders do a little bit.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. How did we feel after our goalkeeper left us a little bit humiliated in the World Cup? Like, we were, you're just humiliated. Yeah, that's true. You got to eat the whole thing. The source may be specific, but the impact is... General.

Universal. Yeah. It's fun to revel. Like, you never want to shirk yourself the reveling opportunities that you get. You got to take them when you get them. Yeah. I can't say, I mean, I don't feel like I'm reveling that much, but maybe I'm just getting old. I could be that. Like we literally have the scuffed originator not reveling when a 17-year-old and five days Starlett scores an emphatic, hilarious goal against Mexico.

So I do feel like that says something. Yeah, maybe I need to look in the mirror. I think I did actually get to watch my kids and I watched that live. They got to stay up really late on Saturday night. And that was pretty fun for them. I was like, that kid's 17. You know, he just turned 17, and they were like, what? So that was fun.

And I did enjoy that. I didn't think Kevin played particularly well on the night, and I don't think, I don't know that anybody played that well for the U.S. But here we are. 3-0. I'm just laughing. I don't know if you've been monitoring the Discord, but I kind of blew things up in the scuffed universe because I compared Kevin's performance, the tape of his performance in this game. I called it Brenda-esque. I think that's what this game really was for Kevin.

So should we just talk about Kevin a little bit? Yeah, I mean, it was more hilarious than a Brenda performance. I mean, the falling over backwards, misjudging the sky ball moment, the time, a couple times where he tripped over the ball. I think he's great, but, and I, and I, obviously the sky's the limit. But on the evidence of this tape, like he said, I don't know. But that's the beauty of it. It's like he has the goal, right?

And the goal is going to paper over tons of things because it's such an awesome clip. It's so, it's just great optics for him to get that right before he comes out of the game. I know he was going, he was about to get subbed off. Yeah. But if you, if you look back at his like next two or three best moments of the game, they were like, they sort of, they almost worked. You know, there were things that like didn't quite work.

Or he might have beat one guy. He beat a guy clean, like real clean. dusts a guy. But then in his next attacking touch, he gets dispossessed or he picks out the wrong passing window and it's intercepted going for like, you know, some, something spectacular or something just decent. But yeah, the actual tape is not quite, things just not quite coming off until they very much came off on his last touch of his night. What did you think was his second best moment of the game? It was probably one of the times he did dust the guy 1v1, because that match.

Like the fact that he could beat a guy that clean and just and again not just create a window the Tim Wea style where like I beat a guy enough that I can hit a ball past him Yeah, Cabin's beating a guy and he did this in the in the Chile game too at the end he's beating guys clean where they are they are wrong side of him and then he seals them off leverages them and he's beyond them running and he gets to make the next decision about the next defender coming out and that that other defender is now out of the play and that's a massive deal like doing that against Mexico level players for however much we want to laugh at Mexico's downfall. These guys aren't these guys aren't plumbers. So to beat these guys clean, that's something. Yeah, totally. We need the next thing to happen that is a payoff too.

So we need them to pay off those moments. And that's the beauty of this game is everyone's super excited watching it. And that's the difference between watching Brenda in 2026 in this Cabin game that I'm calling Brenda-esque is when Cab does something like that. and then it doesn't come off. In our minds, it doesn't matter because we're human beings. In our minds, just maintain and even, like, project the excitement that he just created and be like, that, what could have happened was this, this, and this. And so we're giving him sort of credit in our minds for what could have happened there

because he hasn't beaten us down with the reality of not having it pay off over multiple games and performances. So we still have this blank slate of Cabin might do this next time. and that nearly awesome thing that happened will actually materialize. And we get to kind of enjoy that. I mean, it's spending your lottery winnings when you buy the ticket. We get to spend those cabin dollars for that next game that we're sure he's going to play and do even better. Yeah.

I thought his, that ball he tried to fire into Malik Tillman was probably his second best moment of the game. like because because what he won the ball in the press then he like dribbles skips around a couple guys and then he just like he you know I love the way he presses a game like he pushes a game that way um sees tillman kind of emerging behind the back shoulder of the some defender for mexico and just tries to rifle it in there doesn't quite come off it was cut out right by the defender yeah it passed a little bit behind me like the windows there he shimmies he saw it right away He saw Malik right away, but there were bodies in his way. He had to create the window, which he did with a great shimmy.

And then when he tries to curl that ball in, the lane is there to put it on Malik's front foot. But the pass just doesn't quite curl all the way around. And it's cut out by a recovering defender because the pass is not quite good enough. But three feet behind where it probably needed to be. But again, in your brain, you're going, he took the ball with work rate and intelligence. He saw the opening, created the lane to get it, to the man and picked it out and he just barely missed. And then he scored a goal later, so he's the best USMNT player of all time.

That's how it works. Yep. And Mexico. Do you see the Josh Sargent goal I posted? No, no. I was just saying like you score a goal like that, you're basically guaranteed, if that's your first goal for the U.S., you're basically guaranteed, you know, 10 years of being a star for the national team.

And then to prove the point, we've got, that's how Josh Sargent scored. his first national team goal. Oh, it was coming diagonally at the goal at the goal. And like the goalkeeper just kicks it off him, right? Yeah, goalkeeper tries to loft it over him to the fullback. And Sergeant just doing a little one-man press half-heartedly. But the loft is underhit. And so Sergeant just sort of pivots, takes it over his shoulder with his back to the goal and like, pradles it down.

And then beats the keeper. It's just him against the keeper. So I just thought it was a good echo. Yeah, you love that type of echo. All right, let's do the lineups. Because we do need to get into the goalkeeper a little bit, too. Okay. Let me just cap it off because I don't want to be accused of being such a soaking wet blanket here.

Super excited about Kevin. Drop this kind of a game again as a 16-year-old, I'm calling him 60. It's a big deal. And there is room for that to be better the next time. We aren't just like, this is this baseline. It's never going to be any different. in this is a game we get. Like, we don't know,

but this is an important box to check off and dropping this level of performance in this game is a perfectly great box check, building into the next one. Yeah, he's not going to keep falling over a bunch as he gets older, I don't think. And, I mean, yeah, he's, he's, every reason to be excited about him, every reason.

So the lineup, all right, not wet blanketing. Greg is not wet blanketing here, for the record. The goalkeeper for the U.S. Diego Cochin gets to start versus Mexico. Big vote of confidence for him. Alex Freeman, Chris Richards, Austin, Trustee, and Jedi across the back line. Got a double pivot of Tyler Adams and Sebastian Burhalter. And then Kevin Sullivan at right wing.

And then Gio Raina and Malik Tillman round out that band of three. I mean, Green is everywhere on the field. So I don't know really what you call him. I guess a 10. I don't know. And then Julian Hall as a striker. Any corrections or addendums to my line up there? We can just start to use whatever numbering system we want now to start describing the team.

Like a lot of times, Kavana was defending up top of Julian Hall. So you could say it's a 4-4-2 with Tyler and Seb defending in the middle, and Gio and Malik sort of defending the wide channels. And then in possession, it very much is like, yeah, we got some soccer players. We got a bunch of hoopers. Just let Malik and Gio. We got a couple hoopers. I shouldn't say a bunch.

We got a couple hoopers out there. Let Malik and Gio go where they should go. Everyone else kind of move around where you think you should go after you see where they go and see if we can hoop it up a little bit. Yeah. What do you think of Malik's performance while we're on the topic of hoopers? I mean, he got a goal too. I think Malik's performance is such that in these kinds of games against a pretty,

I'd say Mexico, well, the reason Mexico, is below us right now in my opinion is because we have a Malik. We have a Giorana. So Malik for me can have a quiet, sleepy game and get a lot of things not quite right and sort of disappear for stretches and not adamantly dictate the game. And then he'll still just pop up and be like, man, that guy can just do it. That guy could like, even if we're not looking great, even if we haven't had a great coordinated movement, like at some point Malik can just dust three guys for Mexico.

and Mexico don't have that player. Mexico don't have a Malik Tillman who can do that. They have to get a bunch of things right in a row with a bunch of different players to even try to fashion a chance, and they didn't really fashion that many chances against us. And we just, Malik, can just do that for these games. Yeah.

Boy, does he relish that role, too, of just stepping on the ball and just kind of messing around a little bit. It's going to be a lot better when we do get some other guys back and it's not like it's just Malik as the guy who can do this kind of thing in a game. You know, it's going to be great when Balo's back and Pulisika's back and Malik can be doing that in addition to all the less sleepy work that some other guys are putting in. Yeah. Wes. McKinney, West. Yeah, exactly. Um, okay, Mexico's lineup and I'll

give the clubs for all of them. It's a lot of guys. from Chivas, Raul Ranel, was the goalkeeper. He plays at Chivas. Really bad game for him. I think it's fair to say. I don't know.

The goalkeepers union might have something else to say about it, but he was pretty bad. And then Israel Reyes at right back. He plays at America. And then Diego Campillo, who plays at Chivas, Johann Vasquez,

who plays at Genoa still in Syria. Is Genoa still in Syria? I think so. Jesus Gallardo, who plays at Toluca and then Roberto Alvarado who plays at Chivas he was on the right wing

Eric Lira who plays at Cruz Azul Luis Roma at Chivas those two in the midfield and then Orbelin Pinera who plays from Monterey he played on the left wing and then Santiago Sandoval and

who plays at Chivas and Santiago Jimenez who plays at Porto now were the nominal strikers. Gilbert Geberto Mora, the sort of the yin to Kevin Sullivan's yang, was not involved in the game. He was out with an ankle injury. Yeah, so missing Mora, I think, I mean, I'd say it's fair to say they were missing him. And then...

Yeah, he's a really good player. I want to be clear about that. Yeah. And then missing some presence up top with a couple of their better strikers out. and Jimenez sort of being a hilarious striker for the narrative being their starter. I think he's a solid player. I just think it's hilarious how he's become a total, like, I mean, he's basically just become a punchline in the discourse.

And then he had the punchline or punchline adjacent moment depending on how you view him. Yeah. Him and his breathe right strip. All right. Did you, I mean, before we get to the timeline, do you notice anything about how they, how the two teams approached the game that was distinctive? Yeah, Mexico, I mean, like all out aggression.

Like, I mean, they were manmarking, they were pressing high, they were all over us, out of possession. And it was working very well. Like, we were a mess trying to, trying to get through that. We basically didn't do it very well. Ever in the whole game. Until they were out of 10 men.

And then in attack, I mean, they look slick for 10, 15 minutes. Like they were, the camera angle was catching some great opposition movement where you have a guy from the front line checking back, a guy from the midfield or wide running past him. And you see the pattern as it's developing. Like, oh, man, they're going to find him. And they sure found him. And we weren't tracking those movements and patterns that well.

as a team. But once they, you know, executed a couple of those well and pleasingly to the eye, again, they had nothing to actually turn that into a clear-cut chance. I mean, they got one decent look out of it early on. And, and even that was, you know, it's a shot through a bunch of bodies we'll get to in the timeline, but they didn't, they didn't turn it into look after look after look or even really desperation defense in the box on a continuous basis for us. No. Agreed. Let's do it.

Let's get to the timeline. Three minute mark. It's a bouncing ball, like a long ball from the left back at our back line. Somebody takes it down and plays Santi in. And then Jedi has a good angle on it. Both centerbacks are behind the play at this point, trustee and Richards. Jedi has a good angle on it. he sort of crowds Santi off the ball and then tries to clear it over to the spot where he usually

is in the left side, plays it directly to Alvarado. Alvarado has a chance to, like, he fizzes it in for Santi at the back post, and it's just like a little bit behind him, and Santi kind of makes a meal out of it. And no goal, but like a lot of excitement early on from Mexico. Yeah, and I'm going to be honest, I know, I know Santi has the big chance later that Pops is a big miss. But this is soccer-wise, this is the best chance Mexico have in the game. It's Jedi's clearance sets them up perfectly for a 2-1- Both players in shooting range.

And they waste this pretty badly. And this is a big one. It's a big one for us to give up needlessly. And it's a big miss for Mexico to not capitalize. Yeah. Tough look for Jedi on this. Yeah, I just like felt a little panicky from him there. And then, I mean, Mexico, like we talked about earlier, Mexico's looking sharp in the opening 10.

All that intricate passing we were talking about earlier. And there's just this ability to find a little bit of space and work their way out of trouble and work the ball forward. 8.30 mark is the next thing I have. A Burrhalter giveaway in our half just passes it straight to Mexico. Again, for me, some people are not going to like this. But to me, it looks like Burrhalter just can't handle the speed of the game when it comes, when it ticks up a notch like this. Like when we face a team like Mexico, not a bunch of world beaters, but still he looks like he's kind of in quicksand out there a little bit with the ball at his feet. I mean, I wholeheartedly agree.

It's one of those where if we just didn't have any other options, you'd be like, okay, well, like, we can make do with this. we can try to hide some deficiencies. I feel like we do have better. And obviously, you know, Seb didn't start any of the meaningful World Cup game. So obviously, Potch thinks there's better lineups too. We're missing some guys.

But I do, I do think there are even better players available in this camp. In this camp. Yes. One of them played right wing later in this game. But I also do think that Potch really, really value Sebs. I mean, basically the vibes.

I mean, we're back to sort of a vibes ad. Seb has definitely contributed meaningfully on the score sheet. So again, it's like you can't just kick that stuff out of the picture. And this isn't a game where we have to have it. So it's if you want to give Seb some leash here and like, all right, here's your chance. This isn't Chile. This isn't Peru because those aren't great opponents. This is Mexico.

They're going to be feisty. They're going to be fighting. And they're decent. So what do you have in this game? and it was a mixed bag I don't know that Seb has not graduated for me to be one of our grownups

based on this performance he did draw the red card so maybe that's the you know that was the thing that sealed the win uh it's too bad Vince isn't here to talk about how he was rushing to the defense of a black man

but he was and uh yeah the vibes are good, but against the ball with the ball, I think he's a fairly limited player. It's more than the giveaways, too. Again, this is going to be, we won't have a bunch of clips of it. We actually do have quite a few clips of him sort of giving it away or not being up to the speed. But it's also just about the separation, the ability to have him be an outlet. And we've talked

about this before with him and other players. When we do struggle to build out of the back against an aggressive team. It's because a player like Seb just isn't one you can reliably give the ball to. He doesn't get the separation. He doesn't hold it with his leverage. You just don't have that safety valve in a key area of the field.

And Geo eventually started to come back and be that player. And maybe it's more on Geo or Malik earlier for not recognizing that they're needed because they are those grownups to come help us out. but Tyler isn't going to give you a one-man orchestrator, uh, midfielder and Tyler and Sebastian together still aren't enough to give you a midfield that's going to get through that,

that kind of a pressure. They, they don't quite come out to a one, uh, full-time equivalent at midfield. It's like 0.75 FTE. Well, it's not just them either.

You're, you're also, you've got Austin trustee is one of their guys. He's not going to be Tim Rame being like, okay, fine, I'll pick out the, the, pass through traffic and skip the line.

Like that's not going to happen. Richards, I mean, honestly, isn't that player either for as much as we want to put him in his own bucket. He isn't consistently just picking out dimes from the back line. Nope. But Gio is a really good player and so is Malique. Gio was so good in this game. I thought, okay, there were Tillman Adams,

Tillman and Adams giveaways in that you know a couple minutes and then Gio was unable to keep the ball and throw in at 1025 we can't we're not getting a handle on Mexico's press when it comes to getting out of our half but like you said earlier we're not giving up a ton of chances either probably because

Mexico just can't turn the screw they really can't 11 minute mark Romo gets a shot on a cutback from Sandoval as he goes at Tyler Adams in transition just kind of plays it back to the top of the box. Romo's shot is wide, or maybe it went over. It misses the frame.

And then Adams lifts his arms and Potch's direction after this. Like, Maricio, what's going on here? Well, because I'm going to nitpick a little bit. This is like shades of 2022 and other one stuff. This isn't in transition. It just feels like it because Mexico baited us upfield and then jail break behind us. This is a Mexico buildup that's going on for a while.

their left side all the way back to their centerbacks, over to their right back, who's now... So where's Jedi? Jedi comes way up field to press as Mexico's sort of testing our patients. And they've got us pressed because their right back has dropped so far. Mexico's right back, their whole back line has dropped so far back in their possession. We've been lured up.

And so Jedi comes up with their sort of right wing player. And he's well past midfield. and our coverage is actually good to start with. But then Tyler just doesn't track the guy. Like he doesn't fully take over the left back spot as Mexico worked out of that side. And they basically set up this huge gap because Jedi's way up field and Tyler sort of checks out. I'm just going to say it. But credits to Tyler.

I'll just credit the Tyler. Like he's got to let he gets all the way back and he gets in position to defend it. But we just, we invited that. that ball at the wing because we left that huge vacancy. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it feels like it'd be different if it was Tecotito running at him than with Sanova. Although Sanovo had some bright little moments in the game.

12 minute mark, an excellent come out and claim it from Cochin on a through ball from Jimenez to Orbelin, Pineda. And then Paneda was off, apparently. but I just clocked this because Brady didn't do the same thing on what seemed like a much easier, a much easier reckoning, like a reckoning how far you, how far that ball is out,

how far you need to go to get to it, can you get to it before the attacker? It seemed like the one that Brady didn't do was easier than this one that coaching did do, even though it was ultimately a moot point. Yeah, I wasn't on the recap for Brady's, But that was tough from Brady. And the replay might not show it because by the time he's in the frame in the replay,

he's like standing on his line. So like, oh, maybe he wouldn't have. But he wasn't standing on his line when that ball got hit. No. When that ball got hit, he is, I'm sure, out of the penalty marker. And he would have, I mean, that's a, he should be getting to that ball. Even if he doesn't want to wait for it to get into the box, he should be out there with his feet getting that ball well before against the attacker.

And then he makes a save. We're not going to talk about that game very much. but then he makes a save on the shot, which is like a good save, but man, you shouldn't even have to deal with that to begin with. A nice bit of combination from us. 13 minute mark through Julian Hall

gives us Tillman with the ball in the center circle, so it's like up back, up to Hall, back to Tillman. I think it was Gio who played it to Hall. Hall lays it off for Tillman. He's in the center circle with a lot of time and space, and he tries to hit the long through ball. for Cavan, which is on if he, you know, if he hits it well, but he hits it way short with his left

foot and it's cut out. Yeah, I had a few of those, a few of those misses that were on and you expect Malik to get him. And because it's Malik, instead of Sebastian, I'm going to start wondering if the field's bad. Yeah, maybe, maybe. Something's wrong with the surface. 1327 mark, a missed opportunity for Chris to win a duel on a bouncing ball. versus Santi at midfield. Nothing comes from it, but...

Come on, boys. Come on, centerbacks. Let's be a little more authoritative here. 1545 mark. It's a long throw-in from Jedi to Tillman. It puts him into space. This makes my U-10 coaching heart happy to see, you know, a throw that sort of takes advantage of the moment. And Tillman just runs 40 yards with the ball.

I mean, he's racing at three defenders into their box, tries to struggle his way through it. and mostly does, but he's off balance as he breaks through and tries to shoot, that shot is blocked for a corner. Exciting, though. And this is kind of an example of what you were saying earlier, where you can just give the ball to Malik and he will sort of keep it for a while. Yeah, he can do this where he can emerge from this scrum of bodies somewhat reliably.

Like this isn't like, oh my God, how to, like when he, it's not the first time we've seen him do this. He just has that that glide and that, what do you even call that Wells? Glide is a good word for it. I got a little, I guess a little annoyed with Malik for just being a little bit too, like keeping the ball too long, you know, like just get it off your foot every now and then, you know? because there are some players who would struggle ball but with malik it usually isn't like he usually does this in a way where it doesn't go off mexico shins like he does twinkle toes it's like it's like the most athletic twinkle tozing uh that i've really ever seen for the u.s that's what we're

calling it it's twinkle tozing i like that uh yeah um a lot of moments like that for malik so 18 minute Mark, this is when Cabin badly misjudges a clearance from Mexico's box and kind of jumps up and falls over backwards and Sandoval is off. Tillman cleans him out. Looks like a clean tackle to me. I don't know. I don't know if it's a clean tackle or not. But the ref gives it a foul, not a yellow. Rafa Marquez is very upset about that.

He's like, if it's going to be a foul in that moment, it should be a yellow. It should be tactical yellow. I don't know. Still through 20 minutes, the U.S. looks pretty bad. Well, the takeaway there is definitely the cabin moment because that's not a great one for him. And he'll have another one later that's not great for him. So I am really, really glad that he gets the goal because all of those disappear. The takeaway on this sequence is, again, Malik, just being an absolute grown-up and making up like 25 yards on Mexico's, you know, within seconds.

It's like if you don't take your first touch and get to top speed quick, you're done. Malik's on you and that's it. And you needed the ref to bail you out because Malik's the grown up in this match. Yeah, I love that about him. Despite all his languidity, he's very, very good at taking the ball from people. 22 minute mark, another bouncing ball.

This one on a long speculative pass from Gallardo. Pretty much hoodwinks, Austin Trustee. It bounces over him and Jimenez goes in behind him and takes it. Jedi's in hot pursuit, but Santi gets a clean shot off the bounce, misses the far post wide. Apparently there was an offside call. I missed this, but there was. So Santi was the guy offside. He started on the weak side.

And while our centerbacks are paying attention to who's the striker right next to him, the miss it? Well, I guess it would be Sandoval or Romo probably is up there. Okay. Sorry, I missed who it was. but we're both trustee's challenging for that header and both guys miss it. That guy's on side, but since both guys miss it, Santi, who started out offside when he goes in, still offside. So that kind of bail us out.

My takeaway on this one, though, is not necessarily that trustee couldn't handle the business of the balancing ball. I wish he would have. It's actually coaching's feet because coaching didn't have a lot to do in this game from a shot stopping perspective, but his feet were just a total mess here with Santi running at him. And you can, you know, kind of maybe he's like retreating and he never actually gets set. By the time, Sont, he's retreating like side on, which is fine to make up ground, get back to your goal.

But, you know, there's a rhythm to shooters where you see their shooting motion begin. And when you see the guy getting into his shooting motion, that's when at some point you've got to get your feet set and be squared up and be ready to make a play. And he just never gets there. So as Santi's hitting this ball first time, he's still in his retreat posture, side. on facing the sideline with his hips and that ball goes to the his back side and you see him like flail to flip his hips as the ball's traveling across him it's just it's just really messy it's a really messy look for for goalkeeper tape um what it is it's a bit of an unusual situation because of the you know he's probably focused on the trusty battle against the other mexico player and and so it kind of could could have surprised him a little bit and he just didn't react well in that surprise moment with his footwork. This is meaningful because, you know, we all, I think a lot of us very badly want Diego coaching to become the, you know, the goalkeeper that was promised.

And maybe we'll have to wait a little while. I mean, again, this is, it's little stuff, it's little stuff. But we just, you know, we, uh, shawaki's, uh, footwork, I'm just going to call him shawaki because I just enjoy that, uh, shwaki's footwork on his goal. I know it's been highlighted by Mulea, and I think Mule is correct. Like he, he's taking a huge backward hop to his goal line. Is that shooter setting up? So he gets himself set.

But for some reason, he concedes angle rather than most keepers would take a small step forward from their starting position. He actually takes a little hop back, which means he just has farther to go to get to that far post shot that gets by him. So that wasn't great footwork from Shwaki. And then this isn't terrific footwork. This is probably even a little messier. It's basically just panicky.

It's sort of, it's a panic moment. Okay. All right. So 24, 30, 20, 4 minute, 30 second mark. A little bit more business handling from trustee on this bouncing ball at our back line. He kind of hacks away, hacks it away with his long left leg. So maybe he's starting to get a little fed up with all the nonsense. And then 25 minute mark, Sullivan falls down trying to dribble past a couple of guys.

I think he beats one guy, then falls down, then goes back to get it from Pineda and gets meged. And we got that in like high definition replay a few moments later on the broadcast. He really did get megged, like fully. It was quite lovely from Pineda. Right. And on the heels of like going to ground and getting dispossessed, which again, a bit Brando coded.

But like Cab does not quit. He does not slow down at any point. He just sticks with it and sticks with it. And he's not, there's no like hanging your head or embarrassment. Like he's just ready to go for the next ball and try to beat the next guy. And I mean, again, we, I've got a lot of high hopes for this kid. He seems to have an incredible mentality for sure. And then we get her goal, 28th minute.

This is actually, the buildup is quite lovely, at least part of it is. Burrhalter plays a pass down the line for Freeman. I mean, we're kind of tapping the ball around on the back line, on the right side of our back line. And Burrhalter's back there. And Freeman ends up pushing high, and then there's space behind him, and Berhalter plays kind of a blooped ball down the line for him. Freeman, it's not like a perfect, this isn't like some perfect diagonal pass or something. Freeman takes it down toward the end line because that's really all he can do at that point.

There's not enough momentum on it for him to take it down the line. And he draws two defenders over on the sideline. And Geo Raina, of all people, comes like bursting into the space down the channel. And Freeman plays a lovely outside of the boot, a little pass into Raina's path. Rayna dribbles towards the end line kind of reminiscent of his father in 2002. I don't know if you caught that echo, Greg. That's brilliant. I love it.

And he goes to the end line. He plays what I would call a fairly mediocre pass across the gold mouth, like kind of right at the keeper. But Ron Hell, I don't know what exactly is going on here. Like maybe he's put off by the nearby defender, thinks he's going to try to clear it. but it just hits his leg and then pops right up for Julian Hall who sweeps it in 1-0 USA yeah so this is great like we are we already have Mexico's press beat so we're

kind of camped out a little bit without a lot of threat this ball from Burrhalter to Freeman is just it's just a space eater it's just knowing that Freeman gives us this against a lot of players because he's going to be physically dominant so it's like that wide target we used to do this with Jordan Morris where we just kind of hit it up towards him to the you know This is basically the sideline pass where it's between Freeman's shoulder and the sideline. And so Freeman can collect it. What works for us here is just Geo working against the scouting report because when Burrhalter hits his ball, Gio is standing at midfield.

And Mexico's players who would be in charge of keeping him accounted for are well goalside of him. They're a goalside of him by 10 yards. But they're watching the play. And to a man, I'm sure none of them think, I got to worry about Gio Raina breaking into the space behind me. Like, no one is, no one is thinking about that. Gio Raina is, like, when you're marking the 55-year-old dude still trying to play pickup, you don't have to worry about that run from him. It just isn't a run that he makes, and Gio makes a run.

So it's great recognition from Gio to see that the space is there, in part because of Mexico's aggressive man marking scheme. So, well done from Gio, to break into the space. Brilliant pass from Freeman on the reverse. And then I'll half defend Gio's choice here. It's a great first touch from Gio to nip ahead of the centerback who's coming over to try to intercept it. So it's great to beat him there. And then because of that touch, he doesn't really have anything else to do.

It's basically a surrender, hit the ball at the goal and see what happens. Like that's his only play. It wasn't where he could have gotten his body around it to hit it at a 45 degree angle back. He has no other play at this point. He's out of options, hit it towards the goal and keep the play alive for at least one more beat. And then it just so happens that Mexico take that beat and just cover themselves in gasoline. And Julian Hall is very happy to like the match and smash it in. What do you think happened there between the goal?

Is it that the goalkeeper and the centerback, they couldn't figure out who was going to deal with it or something? I mean, I've got nothing. The keeper has just a little hesitation. I don't know. I don't know what he was expecting. But he freezes for a second and then just pops his foot at it a little bit. like it's bad. It's a real bad moment for him.

If he commits fully right away with his foot, he'll pop it right back out towards where Freeman's standing way out on the sideline. Like he'll hit it sort of a V shape. It'll go from G.O. to the keeper's foot up to the sideline. If he can react right away and get his hands there, he'd do that. But the little freeze and then the foot pop is obviously disastrous. Yeah. Well, three goals in three caps for Julian Hall.

That's what that is. 34-minute mark. Romo gets a yellow for pulling down Malik as he's starting a counter-attack. Yeah, you know, what do we talk about here? Let's see. 37-25 mark. It feels to me like Malik keeps trying to turn under pressure or dribble through a crowd and hoping for a foul call.

There's a string of like three of these over this five-minute period where he just can't he's not getting the foul call and he's not getting through the defenders but you know you win something you lose some when you're out there

getting on the ball all the time 39 minute 40 mark Freeman continues to offer considerable thrust on that right side he plays hauling behind with a curving ball down the line but Paul is just a step offside. I mean, it's fractional. A few moments later, he combines with Gio and Cavan and strides down the line, gets hacked down by Pineda, wins a set piece on the edge of the Mexican

defensive third. It does feel like Freeman is, I mean, yeah, Freeman is providing a lot, I think, for our team at the moment. I think that's exactly the case. And I know at the beginning, I was talking about Gio and Malik being our grown-ups. And in this game, Freeman is a grown-up. Like, and I'm hoping, and it seems like, through this window, Freeman is probably leveled up to where I think he will be a grown-up in our lineup for a while. Yeah, they, they, Mexico cuts, Mexico gets a chance in the 43rd minute where they cut through our left side. Jedi wins a duel with Sandoval. I mean, it doesn't exactly win the duel.

He breaks up Sandoval's dribbling at him. And then, but then Romo pounces on the loose. ball and whips it across. Coaching gets a touch to it as it's headed towards Jimenez, the backpost, and Santi just can't deal with that slight ricochet and sends it wide on an open goal. I think I agree with you that the other one was probably easier to deal with than this one because of the ricochet, you know? The other pass was behind, the pass in the third minute was behind him, but he could have,

like, adjusted to it and maybe like side-footed it in or something. in this case, I don't really, what do you do when the ball change his course, traveling quickly, like five yards from you? I don't know. Yeah. Who can handle that? Right. And he didn't have time to get it. It's going to spend beyond him where it won't matter where he's going to have to, if he just chases it down, he's now facing back up towards his own goal.

So he has to just reach as far as he can. And it just happens to be that ball that is just outside of the reach. That's how I see it. And I mean, again, just the timing of where, feet were when coaching hit it, makes contact with it. I just don't know that there was another play he could have made.

And it just looks really bad. And he would have looked better if coaching had just put it beyond his reach entirely and giving him zero opportunity to touch it. And coaching honestly is kind of in the same boat. Like that ball, I think, is probably just beyond where coaching is able to get a, to grasp it and control it.

And if that's the case, then your options are either to do what he did and disrupt it. Or it's to just not go for it at all and just stay on your line and try to deal with a point blank shot. So it's not great options either way. No. So I'm not really down on coaching for that play.

And I really don't think it's like some horrendous miss of a sitter from Jimenez. Okay. Well, that's the half. I have to mention. Sorry, we're at the half now. And I think for the U.S. That's two shots in the half. that right?

Wait, what was the other one besides the goal? We had the, oh man, let me pull it up. I'm trying to think of it. Oh, it was Malik's Malik's off balance. We have two shots in that. We've got Malik's off balance hit where he's almost on his butt by the time he swings at it. And we have the gift for Mexico. So it was not, it certainly isn't a game that's really...

Statistical dominance. or any kind of dominance. That's kind of what it is, right? It definitely feels soccer-wise like a stalemate. But I don't know. I mean, what was your feeling at halftime? It felt like we were playing with house money. Like we're glad to be up one-zero.

Mexico doesn't look terribly dangerous. Neither do we. That was my incredibly insightful analysis at halftime. I think I'll take it. I think I'll take that. Well, so I have to tell everybody there's this trip to France happening. Greg, you're going, right? You'll be there. I would love to, Bals. This trip to France happening in the spring, April 10 to 17, Marseille, Nice, Monaco.

Link is in the show notes. Vince will be there for sure. We always have a blast on these trips. and I don't know that anybody has regretted going on one. Also, if you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. Link is in the show notes. You also get the clip notes videos, which Vince is actually working on as we speak, as we speak. This is a first one to France, right?

First trip to France? Yeah, we've done two to Italy, one to Germany, and yeah, we're back to the Mediterranean again. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, I think so. All right, we'll be back in a moment. And we are back right at the beginning of the first half. Kavin gets his revenge.

He meg's number 20, which is Mateo Chavez, who had come on for Gallardo at the half. Chavez later also got a red card, so he had a very sad. He had a very sad, what, 17-minute cameo here? 18 minute cameo 48 minute mark Nice sequence where Raina settles it in midfield I mean he

I have not put all of them in the timeline But the amount of times where he takes chaos And brings order to it Is um Is really striking if you go back and watch this game He strokes it out to Sullivan A good outside of it And then he plays a good outside of the boot curling pass

To haul in behind Hall whips it across Tillman takes it on his chest and he's sort of dribbling away from goal. I feel like he could have laid it off for Sullivan here, but he takes an extra beat, tries to pass it to Raina. Raina is, like, immediately covered when he gets the ball

and he gets crowded out inside the box. But, you know, nice to see us creating a little bit of danger of our own doing. Yeah, with some choreography. Love to see a little choreography. And, again, Raina as that player who can do things so casually that you kind of, again, almost take it for granted. And he just created that moment out of a pinball situation that no one else is going to do that in.

Right. So casually. I mean, he just, it's just like, it's like he doesn't give a crap. Just puts it out, like plays it out perfectly without it with no fuss. A moment later, like 15 seconds later, Freeman finds Raina inside the amoeba, and he makes a deft little left foot in step one touch pass to Tillman. just inside the box. Tillman back heels,

Raina into the box, and he whips it across. It's a couple yards ahead of Hall at the back post. I don't just, would you like Raina to try to do something else here? No,

I love to all that. I mean, I mean, on the final pass, the final path. Oh. Like, should Hall be there?

Should Hall be there? I don't know. I think it's tough to say Hulls should be there. I don't think it's like the obvious place that he had to be, that's the only place he'll be able to score from.

So you need to be there. I don't think he could have. I think it came in so hot that there's nothing that really Hall could have done. So I think Geo, again, is trying to extend the play by being like, this is where if he's there, then we'll get a goal out of. If he's not, then the sequence is over. But there's nothing else coming from this play. So this is what we're after.

But the lead up to it is excellent. I love, love, love. Freeman's role in this because it's deceptively simple. It's just that willingness to connect. He played it interior to Gio to begin with. And so often we've seen our guys sort of result to the cross. You know what I mean? From that area, it's just like, well, on the right back, I've got it up here.

I'm going to just whip it into the box. And to hit it into the feet of Malik or Gio is almost always going to be a much better decision. So Freeman, helping those guys, setting those guys up to cook a little bit is great. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, um, there's a couple times, like two times in five minutes where Gio and Kavana kind of step on each other with the ball.

And, um, I don't know, nothing really, I don't really have any larger takeaway from that, just noticed it. Uh, and I feel like Gio should maybe just let Kavana go a little bit and go get open sometimes. 5410 Hall wins a set piece Raina curls it in Maybe Chris Richards could have gotten to it on the stretch

If he had like if he laid out I don't know But it falls in behind the back line And it's claimed by Ron Hell Yeah we were wondering if the camera angle's deceptive there Because it did seem like if Richards just sells out And puts a toe like reaches a boot out Or just leans

Just a slight lean like an American baseball batter leaning into a pitch. Like that should do it. But maybe the camera angles off and he was actually a yard and a half way. I don't know. It could have been, yeah. It just, again, I feel at this point in the game, I remember Tecotito and Carlos Vela,

like not that long ago, when they would just present a much more formidable opponent than this collection of players. And obviously, Gilberto Mora and Raul Jimenez would change that somewhat. But these are not those days, you know. Oh, yeah, Kinones. Greg's trying to save face for me by typing Kinones into the document. And Vince wants me to point out that the ancestors are just sick, that Orbelin Pineda is out there.

Yeah, it's Tex. All right. Burrhalter concedes a set piece in the 57th minute fouling Panetta. And it does seem like this is a point where we should mention that against the ball, Burhalter is not very good. He's not very good again. He does not good at winning the ball. He's not good at staying in front of people or like offering resistance when he's on the chase.

And he doesn't worry you. He doesn't worry whoever's on the ball. When Burrhalter is the nearest defender to the ball, they are not worried. And he just cannot escalate their heart rate in any meaningful way. Yeah, I sometimes the phrase that comes to mind for me in youth soccer is like pretend defending, like you're pretending to play defense. You're just kind of like jogging around. That's not exactly what he's doing.

I don't think he's pretending. He just can't. No, that's the thing. He just can't actually do it. If there's one thing we could say about Burralter, It's that he is working as hard as he can at all times. Yes. That's why Podge loves him.

And I mean, any coach would love that. So the ensuing set piece falls to Alvarado and he volleys it on frame with his left foot. Coaching leaps and tips it over. This is, I think, his only notable save from the day. Was this a good save, Greg? It is fine. I mean, this is a routine save. The ball is basically hit at him.

where it's just within reaching up an arm. So it's not, he didn't need any range here to get to this. He had a clear, clear line of sight. So it is a solid hand. I mean, he didn't punch it straight up where he then needed to go deal with it again. So on that, on that front, he maybe maintains any lead he might have had coming into this game over anyone he was already had of. I don't think his, like the footwork I highlighted, that's not going to be something where it's like, He's not ready.

We can't have him out there. So the fact that he made the one save you needed to make, looked good with the ball at his feet, looked very calm. I mean, I think he will continue to be a, at the worst, in the rotation of getting matches. Continue to be a viable option. I think, well, yeah, and I think he'll keep getting games. I don't think he's bolted to number one or anything,

because I think it's just everything's too foggy to say, this guy put on a definitive performance, he's now the number one. But I think he'd be like, we'll find another game for coaching soon. Okay. Adams gets a yellow card for lifting a leg as he goes down in a heap challenging for the ball

in the 61st minute. I don't know, not really that interesting, but it happened. 62nd minute, we get our goal. Our second goal. The ensuing set piece off of the Adams foul is cleared, and then they played all the way back to Ron Hell, and Sullivan is chasing.

He's kind of like off to Ron Hell's left, and Ron Hell tries to pass him to the inside. Sullivan jumps the route, takes a touch, chips it from 33 yards. You've all seen the clip probably many times. He starts sprinting toward the goal while the ball's in the air, and I guess he said later he was a little worried that it would hit the crossbar, go over. But it didn't. It fell right into the goal, nestled in the bottom of the back of the net. He's now the youngest goal score in the history of the U.S.

men's national team beating out Matisse Albert, who claimed that honor last week. So, 2.0 USA. It is, I was... No, it was just because it is ironic that, like, Sullivan was about to get hooked. Like, it was... He was in, like, the next stoppage he was going to get subbed. And then he did get subbed, but... Lucky for us.

he got this first. And it's, I like the little detail that he was going to go after that ball just in case it it's a crossbar because that's, I mean, it's, it's might seem trivial, but that's a nose for goal thing. Like any player who's like, this ball could come off the keeper's hands, this ball could come off the crossbar. Like what could be the next play that could conceivably lead to a chance presenting itself? I need to start doing the work early for that.

Like that's what you're looking for as a coach. That's amazing. Yeah. That's how you get poached goals, you know? so I'm actually happy about that little detail. But mostly, mostly it's just what a phenomenal, again, highlight that we get to savor and enjoy basically forever now. Yeah.

I mean, it's a, it's a gigantic open goal, but it's still like not that easy to do that under pressure with the goalkeeper kind of right in front of you. So credit to Kavan, obviously. let's see we get some subs at the 65 minute mark oh sorry bells just because i pointed this out at half time i said you know we that was we had two shots at half time so that goals 15 minutes into the half and that was our first shot at the second half but we've now got two goals on on three shots so again just pointing out that we weren't even though our choreography was starting to look a little

better uh we weren't super super dangerous in this game what's the xg on a shot like that sullivan shot it's got to be really low, right? Does the models take into account the position of the goalkeeper? They do, but I'm sure it's really hard to model like the goalkeeper behavior there. I think the model was shared during the chat was that it's about 0.3. Okay. And again, I'd be curious to map it out like from overhead. If you get the overhead view, the keeper so far out with Sullivan there.

the keeper's actually taking away a lot of the angle. So if you try to beat the keeper to the side and miss by a little bit, because it's going to travel so far before it gets to the goal, that little miss is going to push it farther and farther wide. So anyway, I don't know. We don't see them a lot, so I don't know who on our squad is going to reliably hit that

and who we're going to panic and be like, I wish that wouldn't have fallen to that guy. Well, you know, I actually thought about this as I watched the game because he went and sat down next to, he and Hall went and sat down next to Sergenio Dest. And I'm like, would Sergenio Dest hit it with that kind of, in that kind of cultured way into the goal? Dest is a player I love.

I'm very much partisan for Sergenio Dest. But yeah, I don't know that everybody on our team would. I mean, I know that everybody in our team wouldn't, is what I guess what I'm saying. we don't have time for it but to go man by man and be like what would they have done Dest 100% doesn't clip it from there he actually attacks the goalkeeper on the dribble like there's no question that he's like oh my god I've got it's like it's like a punt punt return running a punter keeper yeah like I've got the I just have the punter to go

pass like this is going to be fun that's what have a blast in that situation yeah but but maybe won't score um I mean it's It helps that it was on his left foot because he's left, Kevin's left footed. Yeah, I don't know. All right. Justin Ellis came on for Hall. You start in Kevin against Jesse in the in the,

Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, 100%. Okay. Same. Are you starting Julian Hall or Justin Ellis? I'm starting Hall. And I'm actually,

I'm actually also getting Destin there for some reason. Maybe we'll get into it later. Well, how you get, wait, yeah, let's get into it later. Ellis on for Hall, Eunice Musa on for Sullivan, and then we get the red card for Chavez. He follows Moussa pretty heavily, like comes through late and, you know, puts a leg through his legs. Berhalter comes over to defend his brother,

and Chavez's infantile response is to slap him in the face with both hands. This is a hilarious. This is a hilarious just moment. A double hand slap. and Burrhalter sells it. He goes, he maybe doesn't sell it the best, but he does sell it eventually.

And see you later, Mateo. And he is in tears, I can tell as he walks off the field. What a pity. And the game is over at this point. Yeah. I mean, Mexico weren't coming back anyway.

I'm sorry. Even at 2-0, they were done. This Mexico against us. But this is, again, a more humiliating way for them to lose. so this is excellent from Sebastian Burhalter this is really good

to kind of go in and pop him in the chest I mean you don't know for sure he's going to slap you in the face but you know you're going to get a reaction so I'm choosing to believe that it's controlled from Burrhalter we obviously get the hilarious reaction of him to his yellow card where he looks up at it to see if it's going to be yellow or red and then like nods along like yep yep solid solid that's what you like that

But yeah, this is, we've talked about smart gamesmanship and dumb gamesmanship for four years now. And this is, that's the proper level of antagonizing from Sebastian. It's the reaction to the slap needs work. But this is smart gamesmanship. What do you think he said to him? He must have said something pretty, well, maybe he didn't. But when I see like somebody just went double hand slap, he makes me think he said something really, really, really, like really turned the dagger. I think it's just, you just get in someone's space aggressively like that.

And human beings, if they haven't like prepared themselves, you know, will have a visceral physical reaction to that. Like they're being challenged. It's like, it's like, it's like the animal kingdom. He's being challenged and he's reacting. or wolves, that's what they are. I'm very, I must be very soft because I don't think anybody's ever come in my space like that in my life. I've never really, it's never really happened. Has it happened to you?

Probably, but I'm not, I'm not going to be the type who's going to react like that. I'll never be the, I'm never going to be leading the wolf back. Yeah. I'm bossing it around from the rear. That's my goalkeeper nature. Not that way, guys. All right. 71st minute, Justin Ellis works one guy in the box,

tries to work two more, loses the ball. But you do get to see, like, he is, like, tidy and clever with his feet, which I enjoy. And now we're just tapping it around Mexico's nine-man block. Richards gets his pop-up header on a set piece that lands on top of the goal in the 73rd minute. Freeman visits a shot just wide from the edge of the box. after a big switch from Raina to Musa,

and then Musa shifts it inside in squares for Freeman. It's a decent effort. Burrhalter a little lucky not to be shown a second yellow for cleaning a guy out on the sideline in the 78th minute. Just on the Burleter note, I don't even know that that was like gamesmanship or anything. I think that was just, again, him just showing up a little bit late

and not realizing that he was going to be that late. I think he was thinking this is an honest challenge. And I mean, like, oh, no, I was. way late on this. No, that guy is quicker than I thought. And then Musa whips across at Ellis, and I would like to see him

throw himself at this ball, Clint Dempsey style, but he doesn't make any contact right in front of goal. We get subs. Raines comes on for Burrhalter, and Peyton Miller comes on for Raina, Eric Lira and Roberto Alvarado

come off from Mexico, and there's high fives all around from Rafa Marquez all the way down the line, which I guess is the right, it's the right team spirit, but it was just kind of funny to see them do that, down to zero with ten men. And then, then we get our goal, our third goal,

84 minute mark, Eric Lira, no, it can't be him because he just came off. Somebody plays a pass back to Campillo, the centerback, and he sort of inexplicably lets it run past him and Tillman beats him to it, thrashes it in the upper 90. Top bins, I'm sorry. Every time I think of the words upper 90,

I think of the time you chastise me and said, we've got to call it top bins now. Not upper 90. It's like that was a 90s thing. Anyway, near post. It uses radians. No one uses degrees anymore. It's a nice finish with his left foot

up in the very top corner, near post. and it's and it's 3-0 there has been some problems which Vince wants me to mention with the broadcast missing action in favor of replays and cutaways and

they missed this they missed a goal against Mexico they missed they missed this in real time actually because they were showing the replay of Sullivan's goal yeah it's insane so not only did they miss the goal but they also were cowards because they miss the goal

by showing the moments of the match or whatever, the sponsored moment of the match. And they used two moments. They pick two totally unrelated plays. Like, you got to own this and just like be decisive. So that's also why it took so long to show the moments and how you ended up missing that much game time

and how you miss what is actually a great finish to really stomp on Mexico's growth there. Yep. Tillman then sits down and he gets subbed off for Albert and there's a big chance for Ellis which we need to mention in the 89th minute he's played in by Miller on the break, cuts in, has Albert there off to his left for sort of an easy square instead stops the ball with his left foot, tries to finish with his right foot

and kind of soft-foots it right at Rahel who gratefully scoops it up and then the final whistle blows a classical de concaf goes our way Canada next tomorrow night. So let's talk about starting lineups and then we got to get out of here. Okay. Because school's about to be dismissed down just down the street.

So you said you want to start Kavin and Julian Hall and Sergenio Dest, how are you going to do that? I'm benching geo, and it's just because, I mean, obviously I'm not a geo-bencher by nature. but like I'm loving what we're getting here and I'm not I just don't want to keep rolling these dice Yeah what with the

vis-a-vis his hammies is what you're talking about He got his sprint in He had a sprint A nice payoff from his sprint Let's call it one sprint per camp Yeah like let's get him 30 minutes Against Jesse Let's let him embarrass him like with one or two things

In 30 minutes but let's not push it here. So Desk can do some fun stuff, I think. So we got Kavin, Malik, and Serginio across the band of three, and then obviously Freeman, Richards, trustee, Jedi across the back line. I think that's what we've got to do. I don't, I'm not in favor of moving Richards to left centerback to try out one of the other right centerbacks who's going to be average.

I would rather keep Richards there and just play average trustee. next to him and just hope. And then give me, give me Musa. I want Musa sitting next to Tyler Adams. Obviously will not happen. Hasn't played center mid really ever for Pachitino. But let's just,

let's just see it once. Yeah, we're going to see Berhalter again, I feel like, but, or at least flip Berhalter and Malik, so Malik is deeper and he can try to be grown up and buildup.

Okay. What are you hoping for? Like, what do you really want to see? I mean, I'd like to see, I want to see Raina again. I am going to be greedy. And I'd like, so maybe put him next to Tyler Adams or Malik, like you said, Malik next to Tyler Adams. And you know, you know Raina's going to come back and pick up the ball everywhere on the field, no matter where you put him on the field.

I'd settle for that too. I'd settle for Malik Deep and keep Geo in if we're going to do it and run Geo Cabin and Dest. I feel like that'd be a fun. I know a lot of people are done with Death as an attacking wing player. But man, the guy can do a lot of fun things. And I desperately desperately do not want Jesse Marsh to have joy. So I'm really motivated by that. Yeah, this guy, man.

I mean, I haven't always agreed with all the anti-Jessey propaganda that we publish on this podcast. But it's like every single day, like every two days, there's something new from him. Like just what is it? He said today or yesterday. day. America is the only country where that the balligan thing would ever happen because they think they deserve special treatment. I'm like, I mean, maybe true, but you're an American, Jesse.

What are you talking about? It's like quit trying to like win points all the time. Anyway. So yeah, we need to beat Jesse. I'm really glad, again, I don't take for granted whatsoever. I don't care that we only got four shots in the game or whatever. Beating Mexico is great. It hasn't happened in a while, and I'm really glad we did it.

But beating Canada would be almost sweeter at this point. Yeah, we kind of have to, because it will feel so bad waiting for the next window if Jesse Marsh gets to sit there with a win against us. Like that will eat away at me. We don't need that at all. No, thank you. All right. Thanks, Greg. What a pleasure.

Thanks, everybody for listening. We'll see you.