Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - Episode 92: A new monthly USMNT player pool Top 40, and several listener questions

Episode Date: August 7, 2019

The Scuffed Top 40 makes its August debut, as we run through a (highly debatable) list of the top 40 players in the USMNT pool if we were to start a World Cup qualifying campaign tomorrow. Then we take listener questions ranging from "what does Earnie Stewart do all day?" to "who is the most overrated player in the pool?" and "what is the point of the U18 men's national team?" 0:30 Intro and housekeeping 5:20 the August Scuffed Top 40 -- from Tyler Adams to Richie Ledezma 1:06:30 Questions from patrons on Patreon Scuffed is on Patreon, we're trying to think of perks for patrons, and your support helps a lot. $2 per month is the base level: https://patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.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 scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Minneapolis. With me is Greg Velasquez in Des Moines. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. Hey, everyone. Greg and I are back in our virtual studio after a few weeks of interviews and a deep dive into the next U20 player pool. Check those out. If you haven't already, the interviews were with Julian Arawo and Rafiiki, and they were both quite good in my humble opinion. Greg, how are you? I'm doing great, bells. Don't sell yourself short. Those interviews were good from anyone's opinion. opinion, humble or otherwise. Right. Yeah. Thank you. Today we're going to introduce a new and hopefully recurring feature of the podcast.

We're going to call it very simply the top 40, just like the old days on the radio. Do you remember, do you remember that? Casey Kasem is who I grew up with in the top 40. Is that the, is he the only person associated with the top 40? It may have been, it may have been like broken down regionally or something because, you know, we both grew up in eastern Iowa. Casey Kasem was the guy I heard too I tried to Google it and I saw I found a bunch of other names

but not Casey Kasem so Like this is going to sound morbid But I feel like I've been Maybe it's just invented in my head I feel like there was more than one case Like there was always just a new Casey Kasem Yeah Like you know how there's more than one Batman

Like everyone had their bat I mean he was always Batman But there's five different acts I feel like that was the same thing but with Casey Kasem Yeah like the Dread Pirate Roberts That's a better. That's a better example. Yes, Bell's the Dread Pirate Roberts and Casey case. Well, in any case, this is going to be the top 40.

Much more on that in a minute. It's a top 40 of the player pool. But big picture, it's a good way to keep track of the pool and signal some of our oh, so precious value judgments when it comes to the group of men available to play for the USA in international footballing competitions. But first, a little housekeeping. Number one, thank you to all our patrons.

on Patreon. That honestly sustains the podcast and we can't thank you enough. No pressure, obviously, but if you don't already and you want to contribute, you can find the link in the show notes or our Twitter bio. But mostly thank you to those of you who are contributing. That's awesome. Number two, please consider writing a review and rating the podcast. This has not been a big emphasis for us, but I keep hearing other podcasts, go on and on about it. So I'm like, wait a second, should I be emphasizing this? I think we are underperforming our expected reviews and ratings, given the loyalty of our listeners. So I'd love to get 50 new reviews this week or something like that just to see what that does for us on the charts.

Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, especially if you feel so led. And number three, thank you for all the questions on Patreon. We solicited a bunch of those and we'll get, we got to. a lot of good ones and we're going to get to those at the end of the episode. So now, without further ado, the scuffed top 40. Greg, I'll let you introduce this. All right. So the scuff top 40 is the is an aggregate rating between myself and Mr. Bell's here of the player pool. And when I say the player pool, I mean like the player pool. This is, Bells has compiled a list of players from Christian Pulisick down to some 15 year old that only six people have ever heard.

heard of. There are probably, without exaggerating, 300 names on this list. And every quarter, Bells have been putting it on Reddit and soliciting ratings from the general public and then aggregating those ratings to come up with like a quarterly list of the entire pool. Some of you may already, some of you listening may already have maybe familiar at this, maybe you've participated. Right.

But what we've done now for the scuff top 40 is just average my score and bells of score for the pool and and cut it off at 40 and we're just going to run down that list see where see where all those guys are and what they're up to with their clubs right and we should mention that we've had we have a little bit of bad news on the the u.s soccer reddit player pool ranking it got van it's been vandalized sort of sporadically over the over the quarters but this last time it was just it was messed with beyond belief and we're we're not going to be able to do it there anymore, but we have a better idea, right? Yeah, so since we can't trust Reddit anymore to be considerate with our document,

we are going to basically make it available for people who are in the Patrione. So if you're a contributor on Patreon, you'll get the link for this, and we just feel like that's an easy way to sort of vet it and just have it go out to people who are not going to vandalize it because we assume that anyone who's willing to donate to our cause every month isn't going to. and undermine things that we're trying to do. Exactly. So we'll probably revive that next quarter on the Patreon

and with a couple other people who we know who follow the player pool voting in it if they are so led. Okay. Top 40. Why don't you take the first one? Number one on the list. The number one ranked player in the U.S. player pool by Greg and Adam. And I think we, this is a consensus number one. Tyler Adams.

Tyler Adams has been injured for almost the last, it feels like about six months now, right? He's essentially been injured since the March friendlies. He played in March friendlies for the U.S. in the first game, had planned, I believe, to return to Germany in between the two games and did so. But then it turns out he picked up a knock to his adductor, the dreaded adductor, as it will come to be known. US soccer lore. And he came back and played in the Procal final against Bayern Munich for Leipzig and has not played since.

Missed the entire Gold Cup missed the entire preseason now. And I mean, there are reports that he will be back within weeks, but you know, you just don't know. They've said that he will have it. It'll feel better for him and then he'll come back and play and then it turns out that it's not fully healed. So we're just going to be waiting and watching Mr. Adams in Germany.

Yeah, it's a bit concerning, I think. But, you know, plenty of time for him to heal before World Cup qualifying. And I think anything that reduces the chances of him reaggregating that injury are good, even if that means he doesn't play for the national team this fall. Number two, Christian Poulosick. We're just going to try to give a quick update on each guy here. Looks like he's going to be the starting left wing for Chelsea against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. What more can you say?

Is there anything more to say? Godspeed. Chris Wilson. Yeah, $70 million man are our biggest, like our biggest player financially. Is that how you'd phrase it, our biggest player financially? Well, yeah. I mean, no doubt. And it just feels like as has been the case, in some ways, unfortunately for him for the past four years.

He carries some not insignificant portion of the weight of the male footballing nation on his shoulders. Our highest profile player at this point without question. Yeah, no doubt. All right. Number three, number three, John Brooks. John Brooks is a sort of locked in starter for Wolfsburg at centerback. They're opening up their schedule in the poke call this weekend. I'm assuming John Brooks is starting.

Yeah. He'll start on, I think the game's on Monday, and he'll start there, and he'll start thenceforth, henceforth, thenceforth. I don't know which one it is. Number four, for us is Weston McKenney. He took a break after the Gold Cup and arrived late for Shalka's preseason. I think he neat, I read he played some right back in a friendly late last week, and despite some speculation online, he won't be the captain or the vice captain.

Captain's going to be Alexander Neubel, the goalkeeper, and the vice captains are Omar Maschorel and somebody else I can't remember who. We'll see how soon McKinney gets on the field and at what position. I'm not panicking, but I have pretty low expectations for him for the first month of the season, which starts in just under two weeks. So the first few weeks of the Bundesliga will effectively be well. West and McKenney's preseason. Is that kind of what we're saying?

It sort of feels like that, right? I mean, we don't have inside info or anything, but he's been slow to get re-assimilated, I think. Which is understandable. Yeah, I'm not. He has been playing in the friendlies. Like, he's getting in, so he's easing into things, and we'll just have to find out where he stands under the new management. Right. All right.

Number five, Josie Altadour, scored four goals in his past five games for Toronto FC, who are kind of on the bubble of the playoffs right now. And I think at this point, after the demonstration of the Gold Cup, he is still the United States starting striker. And will be until Josh Sargent is able to dethrone him. Agree to agree. Hopefully that, nothing against Josie, but hopefully that dethroning happens relatively soon. We'll get to that in a second. Aaron Long comes in at number six. Seems like he wants to go to Europe and New York Red Bulls think he's worth $15 million, which nobody will pay for him, a 27-year-old

MLS centerback. You can find all sorts of lip reading and other types of journalism on this subject online, including Long speaking to Altador either after or before Red Bulls beat Toronto. 2-0 on Saturday. Red Bulls visit L-AFC on Sunday. So that's what's up with Aaron. It's posturing, right? Red Bulls are simply posturing here. They don't believe Aaron Longsworth's $15 million,

and surely there are dollar values they would accept below $15 million. I don't think for a second that Red Bulls are turning down a $14 million offer saying, no, we value it. So it's posturing. There's some dollar amount between the reported $4 million and this $15 million.

that Red Bulls would accept, and somebody just has to find that value. Right. Yeah. There's also the issue of work permits and so forth. There's a whole field of study that people like Daniel Smith, a great friend of the podcast, are experts in involving passports, international law, dual nationality. But we won't get it all that here. The scuffed legal team is working hard on all.

the variables. All right, number seven on the list is our goalkeeper, presumed number one, Zach Stephan. At this point, also the presumed number one at Fortuna Dusseldorf, as his primary competition has suffered a long-term injury, I believe. So, I mean, at this point, we'd expect Stefan to be the number one by default for Pocall and league matches alike. Yeah, good news for him, bad news for Michael Rensing, but honestly, who cares about Michael Rensing? It's harsh bells, but it's true. Number eight, Matt Miasga, the centerback for Redding FC.

He's on loan there again. After being on loan there, the second half of last season, started his championship season with a loss, 3-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. He was beaten by a moment of class on the third goal. I don't think he was at fault for either of the first two. You know, Miazga is going to keep battling. We know that. I'm not worried about him drying up and blowing away.

He's just going to keep at it. Yeah, he seems like a survivor. He obviously had the stint at Nant that went poorly, and he quickly escaped the situation, quickly and literally escaped the situation, bounce back, and I'm expecting the same thing. He'll just be a regular contributor for Redding, and I'm expecting them to safely navigate the championship.

Yeah. Okay, who's number nine? Number nine is, I feel like, our riskiest, top 10 player, and that's Paxton Pomacall. Zero caps to his, zero senior caps to his name, but he's emerged for FC Dallas who lost to Orlando over the weekend. They're a bubble playoff team as well. They kind of, I don't know if I'd say they cooled off, but they, I feel like they dipped badly when Pomacol left for the World Cup, and they have not rebounded since he's returned. All-action midfielder remains the highest rated American Major League Soccer this season. Highest

rated by who, Bells? Who scored.com. Don't hate. It's a piece of information. No, he's the highest rated American with more than 10 appearances. I think Omar Gonzalez, strangely enough, has a higher who scored rating, but he's only played four matches so far. Well, I don't see what's so strange about that. So here's my quick thing on Paxson, Pomacol, and it'll apply to some other guys on this list as well, who I think the general U.S. fan base is very excited to see in the national team. Comacol, I think, checks all the boxes for all factions in that he has emerged as a clear first-team starter, which is an important box for some people. I just want to reiterate that doesn't in any way mean he's a guarantee to succeed to succeed for the national team. So Pomacol seems to be the guy where there's this consensus that he should, he will upgrade R-11, and I believe he will too. but we just have to remember that even these guys, even the pommicalls who are we feel so sure about could get into the national team scene or get into a national team game and struggle with it.

We don't know for sure that he will be able to play at that level. I'm optimistic as well, but optimistic enough that he comes in at number nine on our list. But we just sort of have to remember that even a couple of these sure things who are now playing for their first team, are still going to sort of disappoint at the national team level. And if you want evidence that that can happen, just look at some of the guys who we think that Paxton-N-Pomacol would replace on the U.S. national team. Yeah, I guess here's my case for why Pomacall should be,

I mean, number nine is pretty high, and we did these ratings a few weeks ago, right? And I did them very quickly, so I'm just going to give that disclaimer. I just kind of pop-pop-pop-pop-p-pup, put in numbers. Sure, you have to win there that many players to go through. But I would say Palmicle, Palmicle's high for me, not because he's like some majestic number 10. It's because he does so many little things well.

He moves well off the ball. He's very tough defensively. And I think he's a clear step up in class on the ball from the sort of, I guess, Christian Roll-Don mold. I think he has a little bit more ambition when he's on the ball. I think his first touch is better. I think his vision is, his passing vision is a little better. So, and I think he does all the things Roldon does, but better. And he's a step up in class on the ball.

Anyway, that's my take on it. I'm inclined to agree. I just, I feel like Christian Roldon doubles as sort of the cautionary tale as a guy who's a very solid, very positive player for his MLS club. But then you get him into the national team picture. and he's, I want to say he's underwhelming. Yeah, yeah, totally. And I thought he was, I watched the Seattle game on Sunday. I thought he was overwhelming in that game too.

All right. But anyway, that's just my, that's my sort of disclaimer on Paxton Pomacall. I think he's, I think right now I'm really excited for him, and that's why he's showing up in the top 10. I'm just prepared for it to be like, he's not going to step in and be Christian Pulisick immediately. You know, he's not on that plane. yet. I don't think.

Yeah. So I just, I just want to temper my expectations a little bit for his inevitable call. He's going to get called up and soon, I believe. But, uh, I just want to make sure I'm not expecting the world. Yeah.

I think of him as a good supporting, like a good supporting cast guy for Pulisic for what it's worth. Should we move on to number 10? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This one, this one's also, I mean,

this one's kind of a head scratcher for me personally, but, hey, I helped create these rankings. So what am I talking about? Walker Zimmerman. Lafc is one of the best teams in the league, and Zimmerman is one of their centerbacks. I don't know much else.

I've seen him with the national team. I haven't watched LASC lately. I thought, I think he's a step down from Miasga, but maybe a little more athletic, maybe a little more ambitious with his passing. Also a little bit looser and chaotic than Miaska. Looser. chaotic, but he still managed to get through the Gold Cup and all of his appearances in 2019

so far for the national team, in my mind, without really like a single giant mistake. Okay, okay. I think that's fair to say. And that's a big deal when our last World Cup qualifying campaign was sort of derailed by some massive centerback mistakes. Yeah, totally. So I guess in this case, the minimum amount of reliability gets you into the top 10. minimum amount of reliability combined with some very quick rating, some very quick ratings

from Bells. Yeah, right. You're probably much more painstaking about it than me, but it should be, it should be noted that he's the third, no, he's the fourth centerback on the list. So he's not. Four centerbacks in the top 10? Yeah, it's crazy. That's not, I mean, just again, it shows where we're reliable.

We are, I don't even think that's that much of an issue. I mean, those guys, Miazga, Long, and Zimmerman are all sort of these very three reliable players that I don't think I would have an issue with any of them starting a World Cup qualifier tomorrow. Right. There's not much separating the three of them, if we're honest. Let's go to number 11, much more exciting player. More exciting, but again, it's a bit of projection, and that's Tim Wea. So Timway, I picked up some caps in 2018, none so far for the under new management. But he has had a big development on the club side where he moved to Lil.

He's been playing well in the preseason. If you haven't seen his all touches video against Roma, courtesy of USMNT videos, who's now rebranded. Sanjeev is no longer an anonymous account. You want to go check that out. You also want to subscribe to Sanjeev on. YouTube because he's doing a ton of great work for the U.S. men's national team fan base. An unbelievable, an unbelievable amount of work. It's mind-boggling.

Somebody in the U.S. soccer house should be doing that kind of stuff. It shouldn't be crowdsourced the way it is. Anyway, go watch Tim Wea because I think he is just a really clean player, and I think it comes through really well in that compilation video. Yeah, it seems like it's coming up roses for him. Leo just unloaded has just unloaded two talented attackers Nicholas Pepe

to Arsenal and then Rafael Leao I think to Inter Milan or A.C. Milan I can't remember which.

So attackers go into big clubs in Europe and then it seems like there's going to be room for Wea to play and their season

opens on Sunday morning as they host Nant. Yeah, that one and that game in Chelsea are the two biggest games for me for the weekend, I believe, because of the likelihood of Waya and

Pulisik starting. The thing about Pulisik's games, though, are they almost don't even matter. I mean, he's a locked, he's a locked on starter for the U.S. men's national team. Whatever happens at Chelsea. That's a fair point. Yeah, that's a fair point. And with Wea, with Waya, there's room for progress. Like, if he comes out and scores a brace against Nant, then all of a sudden, holy crap,

Like, if Burrhalter doesn't call him in, there'll be a riot. There'll be a riot on Twitter. There will be, yeah, this ball is set up for some Twitter riots based on some of these guys in there. And their first team action. In a way, I would be one new. I mean, if he starts it all for Lille, I believe that that would lead to a riot if he were to be omitted. Yeah. Surely he won't be omitted.

All right. Another one, Bells, who's 12? Number 12 is Dwayne Holmes. He's been injured since the Gold Cup played, looked pretty good in the friendlies before the Gold Cup and then suffered some kind of hamstring or quad injury that left him out of the Gold Cup. And he hasn't been healthy for Darby County through preseason

and didn't suit up for them on Monday against newly relegated Huddersfield a game that they won. Hopefully he'll be back in a few weeks. But I wouldn't, I wouldn't count on him getting called up for the September. him or friendlies. Yeah, he's missed the entire preseason for Huddersfield since that pre-gold gold cup injury. I think he was carrying an injury into that

Gold Cup camp. But he did. He did look good in very limited time. The bar that he had to sort of exceed was set very low from some guys in the early who started the Jamaica friendly. But I think Holmes' rating is really just based on the fact that he represent such an immediate upgrade to some of those depth pieces.

So he's a guy who you could make a case would be a decent starter for the national team, but at the very least provides us a nice quality backup where maybe the drop-off is not so steep. Yeah. I think of Holmes and Pomacall really in similar terms, even though Holmes is five years older than Pomacall. But at the moment. Where they are at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, agree to agree.

All right. Number 13, DeAndre Yedlin. Also missed all summer. Missed the Gold Cup. Missed the preseason has apparently just rejoined training for Newcastle under new manager, Steve Bruce. And yeah, it'll be kind of another one to watch for Yedlin. I feel like he's a guy whose job is sort of always on the line for a mid-table-tight team that sort of would always look for ways to upgrade in those positions to strength. their strength in their standing in the league.

So Yedlin, and Yedlin's also going to be fending off some new right-back options for the U.S. national team. Hopefully, yeah. I heard, I was listening to some other podcasts because I'm not really a Premier League expert at all. And it sounds like Newcastle is going to be, it's likely to be in a relegation scrap this year. They didn't upgrade much at all. so that'll be something to watch. It kind of reinforces, I think, a point you've made, which is that Yedlin is kind of a lower table,

lower table right back in the Premier League. I mean, that's, yeah, that's kind of where I value him at. And it's not a bad place to be. I mean, we don't have a lot of Premier League players laying around in the National Team Pool. But it just means he's certainly not untouchable in the way that a Christian pool is sick at the moment, untouchable. Right.

Number 14 The always popular Michael Bradley He is just trying to get Toronto into the playoffs I think that's that's pretty much the update on him I know there was some talk of him going to league amechis in the summer earlier in the summer But that seems to have quieted down quite a bit So let's all right I feel like I feel like this is a good time to remind everybody that these these ratings are if if world cup qualifying began

tomorrow Michael Bradley number 14 in our ratings uh number 15 Josh sergeant um Bells you're you're a your fan you you kind of get immersed yourself in Verde Bremen media what are you hearing about Josh Sargent well I got tipped off to this by the radio free we ser podcast which is which is worth a listen because they do they do cover Verde Bramon from a you know a Verde Bremen perspective and it's often more interesting to hear about Josh that way than it is to hear about it from us because it's there's something a little more even-handed about it you know but we you know we try to be even-handed but we're we're more interested in the national team anyway they they made it sound like flohring co felt floco

for short as they call him is going to start nicholas fool krug the new signing at striker in the upcoming dfb polkal match and then josh sergeant is expected to start in the Bundesliga opener. Obviously we'll see, but I message with the radio freeweiser guys a little bit, and they sent me a couple articles that seemed to sort of prove that out. Coffelt has liked what he's seen from Sargent. Sargent did look really good in the last friendly against Everton played in the second half. He looked much more fit, bright, active, and defensively committed than I think he did in the Bundesliga in February when he played his last minutes of the year or basically his last minutes of the year.

So, so Coffelt likes what he's seen and Full Krug is also, you know, nursing a bit of a knee problem. I think he had surgery. So they don't want to push him too hard. So it's a combination of they don't want to push Full Krug too hard. And Sergeant has,

has earned a spot. So we'll see. Hopefully he starts against Fortuna Dusseldorf next weekend. All right. So the Fortuna Duceldorf next weekend. All right. Usseldorf is their league opener. They've got the Polkall game in a few days coming up.

And I know I'm always reluctant to sign too much value to things in preseason, to performances in preseason. But this isn't, I mean, Sergeant was very effective in that Everton game. But even aside from just how effective he was, he did just look a different player. He moved more freely than he looked like he was moving back in February. Absolutely. Yeah, he looked, he looked, frankly, he looks trimmer. He looks skinny, a little bit skinnier, a little bit stronger. And I think I counted three instances where his pressing won the ball back for Verde Bremen.

I mean, that's the kind of thing. I think that a coach in the Bundesliga is looking for from his striker. And he provided it. I'm taking number 16, even though I ostensibly also took number 15, fell off. I'm throwing off our order. Number 16, Paul Areola. DC night has been a bit of a slump.

They just got thumped. 5-1 to Philadelphia playing with 10 men. Ariola missed at least one big chance in that game. And it's just, again, it's just is sort of hammering home the scouting report on ariola and that he just isn't quite effective in the last 18 yards. Right. But he still offers a lot to the national team picture because of the amount of work he does. that's i mean we just say the same things every time about paula r y'all but there he is at number

16 waiting for somebody to to take his spot from him yeah i mean probably worth mentioning too turmoil in dc right now because wayne it sounds like way and runy's going to go back to england and be a player coach for derby county and dwayne holmes's club which is awesome yeah just an awesome development uh it sounds like dc will get ronie services for the rest of the season uh at the very So that's good for them. But, yeah, so a short stint in D.C. for Mr. Rooney and his family. Yeah, his wife, apparently, not happy with Bethesda, Maryland, which, you know, I haven't spent much time there myself.

Number 17, Reggie Cannon, just made his 50th MLS start it right back for FC Dallas, was suspended for yellow card accumulation for their 2-0 loss to Orlando over the weekend. Made a good impression at the Gold Cup. Obviously, we've been over that. he pressed pushed forward into that sort of right wing role he was he was pretty good i still hope that he is eclipsed with the national team by our next entry next entry number 18 and iax starter sergino dest yeah well we got to be fair here iac starter is a bit strong yeah he started sir gino des started in the uh dutch super cup uh the yohan kroy shield match

which is barely a competitive match. They beat PSV-20 in that game. Notably, Chucky Irving Lozano started for PSV. So that was a fun little narrative, but it certainly appears that Dest is not the actual number one left back for Iax. I don't even know if he's really, if that's his true position even at Iax. He's clearly a right back first. But Iax since then in the league, Tagli Fico is returned and started in the league match and is starting as we record this in IAX's Champions League Qualifier. Right. And Joel Veltman is starting it right back.

But Dest is in the squad and I think he's, you know, he's pretty much one injury from a starting spot. And I wouldn't be shocked if he starts on Saturday. They're in their second league match. it's against I think a pretty weak competitor FCMM and you know Tagli Fico and Veltman will be recuperating from a midweek Champions League match

so I think he's I think things are looking good for Sergino yeah that's that's really what we're tracking is if there is an injury or if there is rotation on either the right or left side where does death stand in the rotation order yeah Hopefully.

Hopefully he can get his next man in. And even if he's not Bells, is he still a right back option for the U.S. national team this fall, or does he need to be rotating in regularly to make the grade for Greg Burhalter? Well, I think I know what you would say. Everyone knows what I would say. If you've been listening to this podcast, if you've listened to us even once, you know what I would say. Yeah, you would say that he should be called up because he's the best. best right back we have, right? I mean, is that, is that a oversimplification? A little. He

should be called up because he deserves the opportunity to show that he's the best right back we have. Even, even when he started that Super Cup game, which got everyone really excited. And at that point, almost everyone was like, all right, now he's got to be called up. He's got to be called up. Just like with Pomacol, there's no guarantee that Sergino Dest is going to come in and like be able to handle international soccer for the U.S. national team. Like, still possibly he comes in and can't quite do it. But he should absolutely have the opportunity, and he should have had the opportunity five weeks ago going into the Gold Cup

to show that he's the best right back that we have. Yeah, I mean, I make no secret of the fact that I want him to be called up. I want him to, and I want him to be captied in October, in Nations League. Who knows? Who knows what's going to happen? There's so many possibilities. There's the possibility that Greg Burhalter still doesn't rate him. There's a possibility that he doesn't, he ultimately does want to play for the Netherlands.

So he's going to slow play the U.S. and just kind of keep us at bay. Yes, yes. What we definitely need to watch for are comments from Greg Burhalter in September about saying something like, we feel it's best for Sergino to stay in Holland to keep fighting for his spot with his club team. because that could for sure be code for we absolutely wanted him. He turned us down. We're not going to say that publicly, so we're going to say that we felt it was best for him to stay with his club.

Yeah. I mean, if Burhalter even mentions Dest by name, that would be a positive development in my mind. Surely he's tracking him. I say that kind of thing all the time. Surely Ernie Stewart is aware of Sergino Des. Why wouldn't we give the U.S. Soccerhouse a generous interpretation Why wouldn't we?

Number 19, you got anything more on desk? I hope to have a lot more on desk than the next four weeks. Okay. Number 19, Jonathan Amon, has, you know, he's kind of fallen off the radar

because, once again, he is hurt, it appears, as has so often been the case for FC Norgillan to start this season. The dynamic wing attacker can't stay healthy, man. That's, uh,

and as a result, I think if, if I could re-rank these right now, he would not be number 19 on the list. Yeah, Amon's definitely benefiting from sort of a general scuffed favoritism. We both like really exciting attacking players, and Amon in his very brief time in the U.S. shirt, was that. But yes, he's barely been healthy.

He was barely healthy the past two seasons at Nordtland, and if this truly is an injury issue and not a transfer preparation injury issue, then yeah we're going to really have to start thinking about amen and putting him more in like the nick to tieway category yeah yeah a little concerned about that yeah number 20 all right number 20 miles robinson centerback starting centerback for atlanta united uh was just uh covered in a piece was it bobby boswell who wrote the piece or was bobby boswell just quoted in the piece who's quoted in a piece quoted in a quote in the piece uh called robbie boswell who wrote in the piece uh called robert Robinson, the best one-v-one defender he's ever seen. If you haven't seen the clip of Robinson holding off, who's he holding off against Antunas? Antunah, Antunah. That's right, holding off Mexican International on tuna comically inside his own box, comically and calmly inside his own box, then you need to find that clip.

Roboosri did something funny with it. I think he put, he put the word me over. the head of Antuna and then hopes and dreams over the ball and then depression and anxiety or something over the head of, uh, over the head of Miles Robinson. So, so obviously, so you get it. Depression and anxiety are just like doing circles with the ball around Rob Usri. It was, um, it was it was a good bit. Yeah, it was a great bit. Yeah, definitely. Good bit, Rob. Uh, so yeah, so Miles Robinson definitely seems like he could be an option. As much as we love our four centerbacks, we're all in the top 10. I feel like it's, even though we like them and they're reliable,

they're not necessarily playing at some like astronomical level. So it's not unthinkable that one of these younger guys could leapfrog them if we end up with, say, a, I kind of think of them as like Christian Pulisick level players. If we can end up with a Christian Pulisic level centerback in the next four years, which seems very possible. Yeah. Wondering if maybe Miles Robinson could be that player. Yeah, I think the question is how well can he pass out of the back? Some people we know are assuring us that he can't.

I haven't watched a ton of Atlanta this year. I don't know. Have you? I have, but I mean, Robinson's job doesn't seem like it's, it doesn't seem like his job to break lines to be hit, to be hitting the target's feet. Not that he hasn't done it. I mean, you'll get some clips every once in a while. of him playing a ball into Joseph Martinez or whatever,

but it doesn't seem like that that's what they're relying on for their buildup. Okay. All right. Number 21, Nick Lima. He's the left back for the hottest team in Major League Soccer, San Jose Earthquakes, even though he's a natural right back. My thing is just to keep plugging away, Nick. I mean, he's good to have as an option at fullback.

I don't, it doesn't appear that Greg Burhalter has thought of him as a left back. he's right back for the national team if he's going to play for the national team good depth good depth to have good depth yep serviceable player I think it's still maybe a little too early to rule to even say Burrhalter doesn't consider him for a left back

I think Berhalter had a real plan going into the gold cup probably a plan that he'd had since January or March and trying to flip a player around within that plan maybe just not something that he was interested in doing now that he's got sort of the time to

reflect on what's been accomplished. Maybe, maybe, Nickleyu becomes an option on the left, on the left for Mr. Burrhalter, especially because that would free up some room for Sir Gino Desk on the right, just saying. Well, I mean, I wonder how much that left back really does need to have a good left foot

to pass, to pass in the brilliant way that Tim Ream does. Tim Ream did have some highlight real passes. Number 22, uh, Bobby Wood. I feel like it must have been my score that was bringing Bobby Wood up into the top 23. Yeah, you are the Bobby Wood faithful. I am the, I am, I feel like Bobby Wood is a serviceable backup forward,

which is what the role he has been playing for Hamburg so far this season. He was on the bench for them in their season opener and then did not play in a 4-0 win over the weekend. Number 23, Sean Johnson. Starting goalkeeper for NYCFC, the 10th best team in Major League Soccer, who just lost on the road 3-1-2, Rayall Salt Lake. I don't have anything else to say about Sean. I think he's either our second or third goalkeeper. He's somewhere in there. All right.

Well, in that case, number 24 is Ethan Horvath, who's probably also our second or third goalkeeper. Played well last season. Well documented, had a nice run in the Champions League group stage. Despite that, Club Bruges has just signed. Simone Meniole from Liverpool. Miniole had a decent stint at Liverpool. Is their number one? So that's some real competition for Ethan Horvath.

We'll see how that develops whether he stays, wins the number one job, stays in as a backup, or whether they try to ship him in the next couple of weeks. Yeah. Interesting. Number 25, Cameron Carter Vickers. Tottenham Centerback still hasn't found a home this season, but reports in the British press claim that the interested parties include Leeds, Fulham, West Brom,

Darby, Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Luton, and Barnsley. You know, take from that what you want. They just Googled championship clubs and listed all of them. We obviously want him to play for Leeds and Bielsa. He's not going to be playing. He's not going to be featuring for Tottenham.

Of that, we can be pretty sure. Yeah. 26. Anthony Robinson, we're kind of hitting some defenders here, which is nice to see. Back at Wiggin for another year, after basically starting every game for them when he was healthy last year, started the season opener and a 3-2 win over Cardiff City. I don't think he was involved in any of the goals, but Wiggin, if he's used like last year, will be just a left back who flies up and down the sideline.

Yeah. He did overlap while one of the attackers cut in and hit straight up Galazzo from the left side into the right. side netting. All right, that's involvement then. For sure, that's involvement. Guy gets forward, draw some attention. Yeah. He should be noted that he's a Wigan athletic player now.

He's not on loan. He was signed. Oh, my apologies, you're correct. Yeah. I mean, the sonnet doesn't make a huge difference, but it is a fact. Number 27, Georgie Mihailovich, came on as a late sub for Chicago to help see out there one zero win over Houston over the weekend. And I think Georgie's just kind of, kind of sliding down the pecking order here.

Yeah, probably every week he'd probably fall farther. I'll actually kind of explain that. So within our rating systems, we don't actually rank the players 1 through 40. We give them scores of 1 to 100. So you can theoretically have a dozen players with the same score, which I think we kind of both start to do. I started to group these sort of placeholder players like a Georgie Mahalovich. We'll get to like a Christian Roldon or Jordan Morris. I grouped all those guys below the really exciting, the most exciting prospects we have,

whereas Bells tended to group the really exciting prospects just below the established pros like Georgie and Morris and Roldon. So I think even though Bells were both more excited about, say, a Richie Ledesma or a Christian Richards, for whatever reason, you rank them below these guys who have already been sort of capped regularly. And that's why they're kind of hitting higher in the top 40. Yeah, on one hand, maybe you could say I don't even know my own mind. But on the other hand, Georgie, Georgie has been in Burrhalter's system. It just seems like if a World Cup qualifying campaign were to start tomorrow,

Mahalovich is much more likely to get a call up than Ledezma. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. So very pragmatic approach from you, which is funny because I'm usually the conservative one here and you're the hype man for these kids. But in this case, it's kind of flipped. And that's how Georgie ends up at number 27 on our list.

Yeah. And that's sort of, don't hate us. That's sort of also how number 28 is Tim Riem. Yeah. Tim, number 28, Tim Riem, working back to fitness with Fulham. I think he was with the U-23s over the weekend. So, you know, we'll see what happens with him this season. He seems to be a locked-on starter for Burrhalter.

So in that sense, 28's probably even a little low. Yeah, that's a good point. Next. Number 29, another sort of grizzled veteran Darlington Nagby, aged 29 years old. But he's a regular starter for Atlanta. He hasn't been able to crack Burhalter's rosters so far. far. Surely he's a guy who could definitely do a job for the national team and in a variety of roles, but who knows if he will ever have that chance. Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing him

again. It's not my heart's desire, however. Number 30 is Jordan Morris. To be fair, this is a player I don't particularly rate at all, but he did score twice and missed one big chance in Seattle's three two loss to sporting KC over the weekend. I don't know. This is another sort of pragmatic ranking just because he's in, he's already in the program. And we're talking about if World Cup qualifying started tomorrow. So I think he's going to, I think he's going to keep sliding down the rankings as more of our prospects emerge. But for now, he cracks the top 30.

Yeah, that's, that's very much the case. And with Morris, with like a Christian Roldon, these types of guys, I think for sure by 2021, 2021, 2022, the field will have overtaken them. We just don't know which specific guy from the field will do it. The field being the, you know, the U-20s that we all know, the U-20s that we haven't heard of, we're going to be like late bloomers. But at the moment, at the moment, Jordan Morris literally was our starter in a gold cup final. So even at 30, kind of like Tim Riem, it's from a pragmatic stance, we're probably underrating him. Yeah. You can see the tension between our, you know, how we're sort of viewing the future and like what's the current reality in these rankings.

31. Yeah. 31 is Andre and Ivakovich. At the moment, not being loaned out by Redding. He actually got on the field for them in their opener, league opener to Sheffield Wednesday, a 3-1 loss. So Novakovich and Matt Mioska, roommates at Redding. Are they really roommates? Do you know that? I doubt it.

Yeah. They probably both own their own places. Oh, yeah, right. Have their own leases. They don't have, the players don't stay in a dorm. Yeah. All the lonies. Novakovich gets its own places.

Right, right, right. Yeah, I like Novakovich still because I think he, I think he can do the job. that Zardis was tasked with doing better than Zardis. I guess I'll put it that simply. Number 32, Sebastian Lichet, back in the starting 11 for the Galaxy on the wing, even though he's been sort of in and out with injury. And the Galaxy are a train wreck. They just got stomped by Atlanta.

Zlatanis. Yeah. He's got suspensions coming out of his ears. Next. Tim Parker, who shocks me that he's on this list, and I think is another consequence of your pragmatism. But he's a New York Red Bull starting defender. He has been capped in the last 24 months for the U.S.

and had respectable performances there. Not really that much else to say about Tim Parker. Yeah, he's clearly not rated by Burrhalter. That's probably overstating it. It doesn't seem to be rated by Burrhalter. But, you know, he has some national team caps. beat out by Omar Yeah

Number 34 Bill Hamid DC United as we mentioned is sort of cratering And gave up five goals over the weekend Hamid is I think on the outside looking in Next Yeah and he seems to know it to do Tyler Boyd who would probably be a lot higher

If we were to have taken a score from say today has completed his move with Besheek Tas and has been, I think, playing, starting every single game of their preseason. At this point, it's all indications that he is a starting player for them. Their league opens up. They're still a week away from league opener,

but Tyler Boyd could definitely move very quickly up this list. Yeah. Yeah, you know, as we're going through this, I'm like, next time I'm going to be a lot more careful with my rankings. Yes. Now that we're going to have to have to defend them on air. People are going to be like, what are you guys talking about?

Boyd's the big one. Boyd's the big one that probably should be like a top 15 at the moment. Yeah, no doubt. Though one more time, I'm even, I'm not that, I'm not that high on Boyd's performances from the Gold Cup. I think he could well be that, but he didn't, he still didn't blow me away, goals notwithstanding. Yeah, there's sort of a part of me that likes to be iconoclastic in these rankings and and rank, if I feel like I rank somebody lower than a lot of other people do, then I just really hammer that. And I think I did that with Boyd. And, but, yeah, he's easily top 20.

But I do agree. I do agree. I think people got really excited about him because he scored those two goals against Gianna, right? Yeah. And then he took, like, and he took 60 shots in the next game and didn't score. And then, like, he didn't play that much the rest of the tournament, right? So right right and so we we never found out if it was injury or if it was a if it was sort of that I don't Selfish seems harsh I mean these weren't terrible shots

But whether or not he was Enough of a fit for what Burralter was wanting Yeah, I mean he certainly seems like he's a better soccer player than Jordan Morris So I don't know draw your own conclusions next all right Number 36 is Christian Raldon and yet another solid but not spectacular outing for Christian Raldon in Seattle's lost to sporting KC. You might say it was unspectacular.

Yeah, I would just say he looks like an average and maybe average to slightly above average center mid in Major League Soccer. Okay, and at this point, I think we both say that's not going to get the job done. You know, let me just jump in again here and say Matt Hartman, who's on this podcast, sometimes and is in a Slack channel with us. He, I think he said once, they don't know what to do.

He was referring to Rodon and, uh, Ariola and a few, a few other Americans. They don't know what to do when they don't have their South American playmaker to, to give the ball to, you know,

and that's, that really comes out when you watch Seattle. It's, that is Nico Lodero's team. Roldon is just there to give the ball to Nico. And, um, you know,

I, maybe that makes Roldan look better than he is or something like that, but his role in Seattle is very limited. He's out there to enforce and win the ball back and then just give it to Nico. And the reason that doesn't translate to the U.S. because you could say, well, the U.S. has Christian Poulosick. Why doesn't he just get the ball? Because Christian Poulosick is not a playmaker.

Right. Like we need an actual playmaker to be the one to sort of free up our Christian Poulsics. And that's where the Raldon's, this might be a little too harsh, but Raldon simply doesn't help in that regard. Like he doesn't help the national team win games. And again, that's why I'm counting on, I'm banking on somebody else in the field, overtaking it pretty easily. To be honest, I think Roldon's probably already overtaken once we have everybody healthy and available. Once we're willing to take from our pool of U20s instead of sending them to the E20 World Cup. this September, if we have the full pool, I don't think Raldon's in the 23.

Yeah, I hope that's right. Nothing personal against Christian, but I hope that's correct. Let's move to it. Just because I know Roldon has had some very vocal defenders, Roldon at this point, can't say that he hasn't had his chance. He's been like in every camp Burralter's head, and he's gotten his chance now. In the past, maybe you could say, well, he's never gotten a look, never gotten a look. He's now gotten his look.

Yeah. And I think, you know, just to be fair to him, I think he is, he is like a great presence in camp. I think he's a really hard worker and a really nice guy. I know he, you know, speaking to the media at one of the mixed zones after a training up here in St. Paul, or actually it was in Blaine, which is a northern suburb, he was like, he was a total gentleman to everybody. I know that's not enough to, like, get you a spot on the national scene, but I think it helps. right sure yeah you're marginal good guy to have i mean in january camps maybe he'll be a staple for those january camps for a cycle right all right number 37 i don't know if it's my turn or not i'm stealing it christian ramirez uh in and out of l asc lineup i think is sort of fair to say mostly out don't maybe that's not fair to say he's mostly been out um so you know he sort of seems to be behind uh even a giazzi's artist in Burrhalter's mind, so the fact that he's not playing consistently isn't going to help him win any spots back, win any minutes back for the national team. Yeah, he's only played one minute since the 4th of July, and so I don't know who came up with these rankings, but...

Well, to be fair, the competition at LASC is pretty fierce in the attacking positions. Right. All right, number 38, Chris Richards. Way too low. Way too low, Bells. Yeah, well, I mean, his club situation is just too complicated, I think. Looks like he's going to be with Byron 2, at least to start the season. Wish he could go on loan somewhere, but that doesn't appear to be in the cards.

Maybe he breaks into the Byron first team. I mean, that seems like a moonshot, but maybe it'll happen. Yeah, the thing about a Chris Richards or like an Eric Palmer Brown is they're not just competing with the five other guys in their in their you know team uh for playing time chris richards is competing basically he chris richard has to be one of the top like 40 centerbacks on the planet to play for byrne munich because if he weren't then they would just buy one of those centerbacks if there's you know like there's there's there's probably 15 teams that byron munich can't steal their centerback from so uh if you're not on one of those teams then and you know that that's just sort of

the reality of those the global superpowers right yeah i you know listening to that vert bremen podcast they're really they're really thin at centerback up there and i i know those those guys are worried about it i mean i thought well couldn't they just bring in chris richards and they wouldn't have to they wouldn't have to guarantee him playing time they could just say hey you're here as depth you can train with the first team we'll see what happens but i don't I don't know. Maybe that's probably a bridge too far for Florian Coffelt. I don't know. It seems like they could have put it. They found some loan destination for him. I'm still hoping that he moves. I'm still hoping that he doesn't spend the whole season in the three Bundesliga.

And again, I don't think there's much chance of him actually breaking through to the first team. So I'm hoping that he gets a loan to a two-boondis-licket side or another Bundesliga team. Let's hope. There's still three weeks. There's still three weeks. Are there really three weeks left in that window? As long as you're not going to an English team. England's window closes whatever it is Saturday, Friday, the first day of the games. I think it's the eighth is when their window officially closes.

Okay. Cool. So there's time for that to materialize. Yeah. For Bundesliga guys, they can still move. Number 39. Brad Guzon. Brad Guzahn.

He's the goalkeeper and the captain for Atlanta. He turns 35 in a month. Atlanta's doing really well, by the way. We should mention that in the context of all these players from Atlanta. They're second in the east, despite all the hand-wringing, despite all the problems between DeBore and Pity Martinez and everything that's gone on. They're doing pretty well, and Guzan is captaining that team right now. But he does turn 35 in a month.

I don't know how much we need to keep tracking him. Now, if you're worried that the top 40 was about to fizzle out because we're getting to Brad Guzan, Don't worry because number 40 is Richard Ledesma. So we end with that hopefulness for the future. And Ledesma squeaks in, apparently. Thanks to Bell's cautious ratings. Assuming we're assuming Ledzma will start with, I don't mean start as in be a starting player,

but Ledesma will begin with Young PSV this fall. I don't think there's any indication that he's going to be a senior PSV team player the way Dest is at Iax. So really what we're hoping is that Richard, that he's a starter for Young PSV in their opener. I believe Ledesma's opener is Friday. It's Monday.

Or is he a Monday? He's Monday. Okay. Le Desma, Young PSV opens Monday. So we're just hoping to see Ledma's name on the 11. Definitely hopefully hoping to see him in the 18. Yeah. Fire up your Janky streams. It's, he he did get an assist in the last

friendly that Young PSV played. played the entire second half and he was coming back from a little bit of a knock. So I, so I, I'm optimistic. I think, I think if he, you know, if he can stay healthy, he will tear up the erstivisi and eventually get his chance.

No prediction on when that'll be. Get his chance with the first team? Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, his chances with the first team will be determined by his performance with young PSV. And so, hopefully he tears it up. All right. Well, there you have. it. That's our 40. And I think, I think when we revisit or when we have our next 40, I imagine

it will look a lot different. I think a lot of things are going to happen this fall to shake this up. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully. So there are some names that were omitted that you want to mention, and I want to talk about too. Yeah. So I think the biggest omissions, especially for our podcast and sort of what we focus a lot of our attention on were the kids. And so you have guys like, and the other thing is this would have happened before, two big developments in club status for guys like Alex Mendez and Chris Gloucester especially. So Mendez in the past two weeks has, past week has officially moved to IACs,

which is an incredible move in my mind. Yeah. From Freiburg, from Freiburg, where he played with the U19's last spring. Yeah, it's great. Right? He's going to get paid. Getting paid and you just know that there is now a path. I have no idea if Mendez will actually progress along that path, but the path has been built.

It exists from young IACs into the senior team if he can sort of prove that he belongs. Yeah, it's great for him. And they're going to dominate possession and he's going to get time on. I mean, he's going to have a chance to get on the ball a lot. So 100% positive. And we haven't had a chance to talk about that. even though it happened a while ago because we've been doing so many other things with the podcast. So kudos to Alex.

And I imagine if these ratings have been taken since that move, he would have shot up just because, again, his situation is now, I think, a perfect fit for him. Yeah, right. Who else? Newton, another new move today. Chris Gloucester, and I haven't seen it on the official team account, so I don't know if it's final, final, but it's being reported as I don't know who's reporting it, Bells. You keep track of those details. Sportbuzzer.de.e.deutser.de. All right.

I'm only laughing because I clearly have never heard of it. I got tweeted. I got tweeted by a really sharp Hanover watcher in Germany with the link to the article. I trust that it's reputable if he recommends it. So, I mean, and now it's being widely reported. It's kind of all over the place, right? So at the very least, we're now, it's a strong link, link between Gloucester and PSV, whereas it had just been sort of rumored before. So anyway, Chris Gloucester to PSV would be a big deal.

He was clearly on the outset Hanover. They had just had their starting left back get red carded in their season opener. And then Gloucester actually didn't even make the bench for the following game. So whereas you might have thought, oh, their left back's suspended. Gloucester's surely going to start now. No, he actually went from the bench to not even being on the team. so something seemed amiss or something seemed a foot we'll say yeah and it turns out it was something was a foot uh another guy left off this list ulyanas and we'll just talk we'll just lump uh julian araho in as

well for the for the young guys that were not in this top 40 list who uh doesn't mean we're not very excited about them and what they could do for the program uh uh ollie's gonna have his work cut out for him at wolfsburg um no indication that he's well is there something was he's he training with the first team? I'm not sure, actually. I know he's definitely going to be with the 19s to start the season. Okay. He's a kid.

Yeah, he's barely 18, so he's got a full year, full year of being 18. Sorry, he's going to turn, he won't turn 19. He won't turn 19 until April. He's 18 until he's 19. Julian O'Rahoe in and out of LA Galaxy's starting lineup, and that's by choice. I mean, he's not, he's not just an injury rotation guy, I don't believe. No. He's in even when the full team's available as a 17-year-old.

That's a pretty big deal. You're probably also all aware of the fact that he is open to, what would we say? Yeah, so open to playing for Mexico and Mexico potentially are kind of looking into, or somewhat are kind of courting him a little bit, probably as a result of us telling everyone that he's open to playing for Mexico. Yeah, I don't know if that's really what it is. That much, we don't, we don't have that kind of poll on the FMF. No, because I know, Gerardo, Torado, Torado has been courting Richie Ledesma for even longer. I mean, like, he's- And Gerado, Toronto is?

The technical director for the Mexican football federation. So he's Mexico's Ernie. Here's the way you're saying. Yeah, Ernie on steroids. All right. So anyway, those, that's sort of the youth contingent. There are a bunch of other young guys as well, but those four in particular, I think people are high on. Now I'm looking through Sebastian Soto, also not on our top 40.

So another young guy that doesn't mean we're not excited about them. It just means if the World Cup starts tomorrow, they might be behind some more established players. But there are a couple established players. The big one that I'm kind of excited about is Jackson Yule, who's had a bit of a renaissance in San Jose. Yeah, Minnesota boy. Learning how to play from Pilato Almeda. Really exciting. I don't know.

I don't know. I mean, I know Matt Doyle's really, Matt Doyle's super high on Jackson U.O. That's like one of his core tenets as a human being at this point. What excites you about him? His passing range. It's his passing range. It's all of these passes.

There's that trope in U.S. soccer media about only Michael Bradley makes his pass, and that's one of the reasons that he has to still be in the roster. And I just think that's... I think it's really silly. I think there's a ton of guys who can hit long diagonals. But Jackson Ewell actually has a hundred different techniques that he hits these long diagonals with, or these driven diagonals. He's just a really sexy passer. And I'm excited.

I'm interested to see what he could do in a possession system that relies on someone who can sexually spray the ball around. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. And then we don't have Jossie's artists on this list. Jazzis artists, not on the list. And I don't think that that's like an oversight.

I really don't think he belongs in even a top 40 for a World Cup game that would be played tomorrow, a World Cup qualifier. I just don't have him as my striker or my backup striker or my backup striker. Well, several people at U.S. Soccer House would beg to differ. Greg. Yes. Yes, they would. So I guess we'll keep watching Giazzi's art as an U.S. Man's National Team shirt.

Yep. Okay. Hey, should we move on to the patron questions? Yeah, let's take some of these questions. Good questions submitted. Yeah, lots of good questions. Some of which we've prepared answers for and some of which we are just going to take on the fly.

I'll say we haven't figured out how often we're going to do the top 40, but I don't know. What do you think, Greg? Monthly? It feels like a monthly thing, especially as we start getting monthly windows where we get more insight into how Burrhalter reads the pool. Okay, so this will be the August top 40. We're going to come back in a second and do some patron questions. We're back. First question is from Kevin Chan.

This probably isn't a question that can be answered this week, but would just love it if somebody, anybody, anybody could investigate what Ernie Stewart does in his day to day. I think after certain recent frustrations, most of USM&T fandom would love a little bit more of a breakdown than what we're getting. Well, funny, you should mention it because we are trying to get Ernie Stewart on the podcast. The request has been made. We will follow up with U.S. soccer over the next several weeks. Until then, I don't know the answer to the question. I don't think you do either, Greg, right? No, no idea.

I mean, I'm assuming he's just tracking players. And I mean, we see pictures of him at various game sites, don't we? Isn't that sort of, he's kind of like the traveling gnome where we get a picture of him in Berlin or a picture of him in Poland for the U-20s World Cup? So I don't know. He seems to be just sort of involved in that regard, but I don't know what his day-to-day task list would be, certainly. Yeah, just because someone's not super public with what they're doing doesn't mean they're not doing anything. I guess we should acknowledge that. But I don't know.

I did see him at he was at the pre-gold cup training camp in Blaine, Minnesota, dressed like a coach, as was Raphael Wiki, the U-17 coach. So there seemed to be sort of up and down the hierarchy presence at that training. But, you know, that's all I got. Question number two from Zane Price. It's a long question, but it's worth reading in its entirety because I think he puts it pretty well. My question is, are MLS homegrown contracts hampering our pool's development? The majority of our European talent, with the notable exceptions of Miaska and Adams,

were plucked from development academies before MLS teams could sign them. That's notables include Mendez, Ledesma, and Gio Raina. The rebuttal from MLS teams has been to aggressively sign the next group of young talent and give them minutes at a young age so that when, if they perform well enough to go to Europe, they are collecting a transfer fee. I think it's great that Yao, AOC, Bousio, Lava, etc, are getting MLS minutes, but if in the end it makes it more difficult for them to go test themselves in Europe, that seems like a net negative. I believe in the MLS, it's a growing brand and the soccer's getting younger and better. However, if right now Chris Richards was still at FC Dallas, it wouldn't shock me if they asked for transfer fee of upwards of $5 million from Byron if he was a full-time starter, which he should be at Dallas.

The title of first-team contributor is going to drive the price up so much for our next. generation in my view that European clubs will find cheaper outlets for finding young talents. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Okay, so that's a pretty good question. Bells, give me your thoughts on the homegrown contracts and its effect on getting our best players, the best development they can get. Well, yeah, I think it's a really good question and well stated, but I think it's case by case and it's still evolving.

You know, the market for MLS talent in Europe is, is hardly settled. Wouldn't you say that? It's such a new, it's such a sort of new thing for MLS franchises to be, to be selling their talent.

I mean, it's not totally new, but it's just, it's new for there to be like a lot of interest and a lot of sort of deals in the works, right? Right, right. And the pathway isn't established in the sense that, sort of now on the same trajectory. You have guys like Mendez and

Janice who are going over like on the cheap to these clubs in Germany and then having to try to prove themselves for the bigger paycheck, whereas Ledesma went straight to PSV. Yeah, well, it doesn't want straight to PSV and was making a lot of money right away. Of course, Richards went for a million and a half. So, so even there, it just seems like there's no, yeah, there's no established, uh, price points or anything else. Right. And I think I don't blame MLS teams for, you know,

negotiating aggressively, you know, in a vacuum. I think, you know, if the Red Bulls want to, you know, posture that they think Air Long is worth $15 million, fine, you know. That's their prerogative and he's a valuable player to them. And if they want to get top dollar for him, that's good on them. And I think when it comes to these homegrowns, I can understand MLS for franchises want to lock down these players that they've had a hand in developing and then they want to try to get good money for them in the long run. I think it'll eventually work out.

You know, I think it should eventually sort of find some equilibrium. We're just not there yet. Right. We're not there yet. And I think MLS is going to have to react to this because the players, I think, are just getting a lot smarter about what their value is. So I think they're going to be less susceptible to MLS leaning on them at age 17 to sign a five-year contract. An example would be like what Kobe Fernandez Foster is kind of doing at LASC, or I'm sorry, Los Angeles Galaxy, where I'm sure he's been offered contracts, but he has not signed with Galaxy yet. And so the question is, is he going to be able to tread water until he's 18 and he can move?

Yeah. And this is an interesting case because he's represented by the Clibins. The Clibbons also represent Alex Mendez. Alex Mendez went to Freiburg for, we don't know the precise numbers, but for not very much money. He wasn't making that much money at Freiburg, playing for their U-19s. And everybody would be sort of pilloried the Kleibons for that. But now Alex Mendez is making a non-EU salary, presumably at IACS, you know, which could be as much as like $240,000 a year. It has to be.

Like, that's the minimum it can be, right? Yeah, I think so. I'm a little not 100% sure on like if there's a there's a different different types of contracts for young iax or i don't know i don't know i'm not a hundred percent certain number but but i think there's a very good chance he's making like a way above upper middle class salary now in in the netherlands a mere you know 11 months after he left the la galaxy where the only option like you mentioned the only option these mLS franchises give young kids often is a three-year contract with two option years for the club. So they've locked you down for five if they want you and they're paying the league minimum. Or they might have a homegrown minimum. Maybe 70,000 a year, maybe 80,000 a year. If you're Atlanta, maybe more.

I don't know. But it's still not what Mendez is making in Netherlands most likely. So, yeah, maybe MLS will have to figure out, like you said, the kids are figuring out. The kids and their agents are figuring out that like it's not necessarily. good idea to sign one of these homegrown contracts. Maybe that's going to force MLS to be a little, to structure the deals a little bit differently. Or they'll need to, or they'll need to sort of prove to the players that they're willing to deal. You know, I mean, they'll have to prove like an FCD Dallas will have to show, hey, we'll sell PACA call.

So the next guy who comes along won't feel like that five-year contract is like a prison sentence or that they're being held hostage. Yep, exactly. Okay, next question. Ira Jersey. What do, from Ira Jersey, what do the youth teams that do not have World Cups actually do, like the U-15s, U-16s and U-18s? Is it just supplemental training and player identification or do they play competitive matches? So I'll take this one. They play tournaments and they have occasional camps.

It's not all that different from the other, the high-profile U-17 and U-20 age groups, except that they don't have World Cups to prepare for and they don't. convene as often. And it's different at each age level. The U-15s, for instance, are playing currently in the Conquit Calf Championship in Florida. They've beaten Haiti and Guatemala in the past few days. The U-16s were in a tournament in Europe a month or so ago. I would say the U-18s are probably the most neglected of the age groups, if you want

to think of it that way. They play in some tournaments, but probably have the fewest camps in competitions of all the age groups because the best of them are with the U-20s. And then they're sort of thought of as like sort of a pre-camp for the next U-20 cycle too, because they're going to be the top end of the age group in the following U-20 cycle. Sure. All right. That seems like a good enough use of time for those age groups.

Next question comes from Patrick Keeler. Why did Greg Burhalter spend six months working on a quote-unquote system that doesn't seem to fit our player pool? Greg. I feel like it's a loaded question, Bells. I don't know. It's hard to take that because I don't mind the system. In my mind right now, the system or the closest description I could give it the system would be the way we play in possession, which I'm calling the sort of 3-2-4-1.

And I think that system, I think that system is perfectly fine. I think it's a pretty cautious system. It's designed, I think, protect against being caught out in transition. by having three dedicated players that defend deep. So if that's the system, I don't see how, I think that's a perfectly fine system for our player pool. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's hard to argue that one system fits the player pool

and one doesn't actually because the player pool is ever shifting and player form is ever shifting. But I will grant Patrick that it is a little frustrating to me that like it seems like the whole system is predicated on Tim Ream at left back. So it's not, right? I mean, another guy could do that job. Who? It's predicated on having a, on Tim Rhyme being the current best option to sit deep as a defender in like a centerback role,

but then also be able to defend on the edge as a left back when we sink into our block. Right. I guess I'll go even a little bit further and almost kind of give like a meta answer. And that I think a lot of the whole talk about the system for Burrhalter with the quotes that it entails stems from the inverted right back that he busted out in January and that it seemed that he was building for Tyler Adams. And that's how everything started talking about the system. The system became shorthand for that. And then once Burrhalter got away from that, it's still somehow remained the system, even though it's way less complicated when you just have Reggie Cannon bombing up the right sideline to become like. an attacking winger. It's not, it's not anything terribly complex at this point. And then it's just,

I think, an attempt to have some really effective interchange between players while we are possessing, most notably Paul Ariola and Christian Pulisic. So I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with the system. I think Burhalter's taking a lot of flack about it because of the, the Tyler Adams angle. Yeah. So that leads us into our next question, which is from Sergio Morales. Is the Adams at Right Back Projects still in play for September? Any chance we completely abandoned that, any chance we completely abandoned the three at the back shape,

or at least the Ream Roll, would love to see us play traditional fullbacks, especially with Desk being capable at both fullback spots. Good question, as directly relevant to what we were just talking about. I think the Adams at Right Back project is definitely not going to, be in play in September because he's not going to be in play. And I have my doubts that he'll be

with the national team for Nations League in October and November as well. And the longer Adams is out with his injury, the more it seems like a bad idea to even entertain this Adams at right back situation because it's clear that we shouldn't have our entire system have to change radically because of one guy being

injured. So in my mind, that's a warning enough to Burrhalter to employ a more sort of traditional, a more conventional style formation because you know, you're seeing what can happen when suddenly the guy that you're building everything around is not available for an eight-month stint. Well, maybe he's building the game model.

I guess that's what the coaches call it these days. The game model or module in a way that it could be easily, you know, Adams as an inverted right back could easily be added into it. Is that possible? you know more about coaching than I do. Yeah, I mean, you could because your general base is the 3, 2, 4, 1, then it's all that matters to sort of, all right, who goes where to get to that shape as we transition from our defensive shape,

whatever he settles on for that, into the 3, 2, 4.1. So, again, there's nothing terribly radical about it, any more so than the fact that, you know, it just seems more familiar to us for our 4-4-2 for, say, pool sick to drop in as a 10 from, his forward spot in defense to attend an attack. Like nothing seems crazy about that. There's nothing inherently more crazy about our right back stepping into the midfield.

That's a, it's a 25-yard movement. Like it's not anything insane. Yeah. Well, to go into the rest of the question, I don't know if there's a chance that we'll completely abandon the three at the back shape. I too would like to see us play with traditional fullbacks eventually. especially given the strength of the fullback position in the U20 and U17 levels. I mean, we've got Sergenio Dest, Julian Araujo coming up.

Araujo is not, I don't think, ready for the national team at the moment, but he has a really high upside. And then on the left, we've got Gloucester, you know, hopefully gets his chance with PSV, and then even lower down, you know, in the age groups, Kobe Hernandez-Fosters, a really exciting left-back. George Bellow is a very highly rated left-back just can, coming back from injury. So we have a bunch of sort of traditional full back slash, you might even call them wing backs coming up through the ranks. I'd like to see,

you know, some future where they're employed in those roles. I'm less eager to sort of jettison the three at the back shape, despite the guys that you just sort of listed off. Because I don't think any of them right now are vital to the health of our possession attack. And that's really what we're talking about here is how do we, attack. And so if we want to leave three at the back while we attack, I'm totally fine with either Cannon or Yedlin or both being on the bench and giving Sergino Desd that full right side to attack down. Obviously, Sergino Desk maybe isn't a good fit for the Tim Ream role, even though he's playing left back for Iax, because the team Tim Riemo role sits at home when we

attack, and that'd be a waste of Desk's talent. But the left back sort of that you're listing, I don't know that Gloucester is going to cut it at the national team level. and Kobe's how old's Kobe 17 yeah he might only be 16 I don't know so so that one is that one seems I mean there are a lot of hurdles yeah Kobe's got a lot of hurdles left to clear before we start trying to figure out how he fits in with with our 11 yeah totally fair totally so I'm interested in I'm interested in seeing Destinet attacking the right back spot I guess if we go to more conventional pullbacks and you have like an Anthony Robinson bombing up the left, or if you put Dest out there so you can have Dest and Cannon on at the same time,

then what you're going to do is you're going to have to drop a central midfielder back as we attack to account for the fact that we're now just leaving two centerbacks home. So you're adding that attacking fullback, I guess, to get Cannon and Dest on in this hypothetical, but it means you're going to drop a Bradley or an Adams, away from the attack, and so I don't know if there's a net improvement on your attack. Well, I have no problem dropping Adams out of the attack. I know some people are taken with his late runs into the box. I've never been, I've never seen that as his strength, as a player,

or even something that's necessary for him to do. But I take your point. I take your point. Let's move to the next question. Scott Jorek says, Some podcasts last week stirred the pot about the whole younger dual national recruitment effort. I believe that was us. How about some love for the older dual nationals?

How much risk are we at of losing these guys? And he lists several people. I'll just list them very quickly. Brennan Heinz-Ike is 24. Shaq Moore is 22. Dwayne Holmes is 24. Andrea Novakovich is 22. Emmanuel Sabi is 21.

And Ethan Horvath is 24. They all have, you know, various international connections that would allow them to play for another country. My response is, I just don't think any of those rise to the level of a Richie Ledesma or Sergino Dest in terms of future upside. So I don't get as hot and bothered about them. I mean, Sabi's done some interesting things lately. I don't think, I don't think Dwayne Holmes is going to play for England. So I'm not worried about that. Navakovich probably won't play for Serbia if he's not playing for us.

Serbia's got a good and improving national team. But really, for me, the big thing is Mexican-American dual nationals. In two ways. First, just pragmatically, so much of the talent that this country is producing is Mexican-American. I don't know the exact numbers, but if you look at the U-17 roster or the U-15 roster, it's just like half of our good half of our best players are uh Hispanic and of course most of those are going to be Mexican American so that it's it's important for us to sort of get it get it right like have Mexican American stars on the national team demonstrate to these young players

that there is a place for them with the U.S. national team with all due respect to Hurk Gomez and Omar Gonzalez there never really has been like a true star of Mexican-American descent on the on the US national team so I so I think that's important and I just think it's important for the culture you know I I want to see that sort of be a source of unity for the soccer following public and you know hopefully as a ripple effect across the culture I mean that probably sounds polyanish or whatever but it can't hurt right yeah no bells I think that was actually really well said so I'm told on board with that And of the guys that Scott listed, you know, the other thing about when you're taught older dual nationals is that their, that they're sort of sealing ability level has sort of come into a lot clearer focus. And of the guys he's listed, probably Dwayne Holmes is the guy who's like, oh, this guy is really going to be able to play for us. You know, Shackmore is on our list. See, someone who are tracking. Ethan Horvath seems to be in the – there's not a lot of guys here who are moving the needle for us.

Holmes moves the needle a little bit more than the rest in my mind. I think Novakovich and Sabi have the chance to move the needle a little bit, assuming some things break the right way. And Horvath, you know, he's in the conversation as a top three or four goalkeeper. But, yeah, I just don't see any of them leaving. That's the other thing. I don't see any of them really being in demand anywhere else, mainly because of that ceiling is already pretty focused,

and no one's come calling for him yet. Okay, next question. This is from Joe Vernon, Joseph Vernon. It's hard hearing about dual nationals that are not contacted by the USSF. It frustrates me as a fan of the team. Do you have any ideas of how I can help to keep them excited about playing for the U.S.? I just make sure to like their tweets. Does an email to Ernie or USSF help.

It's hard to sit back and feel helpless when the players are being recruited to other countries and not recruited by the U.S. to stay. Well, Joe, I don't really know what the right thing to do is, I guess an email to Ernie or USSF wouldn't hurt. And I think liking their tweets or whatever doesn't hurt either. But my sense is we can communicate all we want with these players that we as fans value them. I certainly do it to some extent. I think it probably helps, but I don't think it replaces meaningful communication from senior leadership with the men's national team.

That's my take on it. So I think we need them to step up. Yeah, and I don't know how much this, the sort of current Federation really feels pressure from the fan base. Like, no matter how vocal the fan base gets, it seems like they're very immune to that sort of ground swell. Yeah. They are unwavering. No, I don't know. That's probably not fair.

But I think everybody feels pressure. That's part of being human. If you hear the same thing from enough people and they're expressing displeasure with you, then you feel it and you notice it. But I don't know. Again, we're trying to get Ernie on the podcast. Yeah. I was saying it's actually a very human reaction, too, to double down on what you're doing and sort of really dig in. That's true.

And be like, oh, you think we should be contacting these players? Well, now we're not even calling them up. No, I don't think that's happening. Like, I don't think it's that petty. But there can be that tendency to, like, really stick to your guns even more about the, you know, about the recruitment and the steps you're taking to recruit or not taking to recruit and to not give in to sort of what. you perceive as public pressure. Yeah, or public pressure that you perceive as being silly or misguided, which I think there may be some of that going on to.

Next question comes from John Lukens. Who is the most overrated player by the fan base and or the media? And who is the most slept on? Oh. Dangerous question. You go first, Bells. I think, you know, this is going to be easy for me. I'm just kind of taking the easy way out

but I think Julian Green is still overrated by the fan base I do I think he's still overrated I think people are like oh yeah you know Julian Green what about him scored a banger for Greutreferth over the weekend I think he something happened there he scored that goal

in the World Cup or you know he was he had his 45 minutes of first team football with with Byron Munich and it just sealed the deal like he's still he still has some shine on his increasingly bald head. Who is the most slept on?

I'm going to again take the easy way out and say it's Richie Ledesma. I know that actually a lot of people are aware of him and excited about his path at PSV, but I still don't think people realize how good he could be. All right. I like that. So I'm going to have a tie. I'm kind of cheating with my most overrated. But I'm going to go with

Tyler Boyd so far. And again, it's not because I think he's not necessarily a good player, but I think people are just really looking for anything to grasp onto. And so they're taking his short cameos in the Gold Cup and turning those into like he's the answer. And I'm also going to put John Brooks on this list, which I think is maybe more of a left field response. But I think John Brooks is our best centerback.

I think that we almost like say that so often that it's almost like he's invincible or he doesn't have any flaws to his game because we can definitely call John Brooks our centerback. And I feel like John Brooks is a good centerback, but he has really clear flaws that we might have a hard time game planning around. Yeah. You mean like his defending is just too slow. Yeah. So I feel like we're setting this up where I don't know. Maybe that's a reach, but just because he's locked into the lineup, but I definitely am not saying, does John Brooks deserve to be in the lineup?

I just worry that we put him on this pedestal of like some elite centerback. And he's a good centerback, but he's a mid-table Bundesliga centerback. I mean, Wolfsburg was a little better than mid-table last year, but I get it. I do get your point. And I think his traffic cone tendencies do keep. me up at night a little bit. Who's the most slept on? Man, this is, I feel like I'm reaching again with this one.

But I'm going to say Brandon Servanya. And it's because we, you know, Pamicol's getting all the love and Servania has worked his way into the starting lineup since the U-20s and he's playing in a position where, in my mind, with Tyler Adams' injury concerns, like we have to, we have to find other guys like, not necessarily like Adams, but we have to find these sort of defensive-minded midfielders to protect our back line. And I don't know who we have to do that right now.

So I'm hoping, I'm kind of hoping that we're sleeping on Zerania and that he can be a guy who can do that for us in a fairly short term. Okay, this is from SRGN-O-2. I'm sure it's a Sergenio-Dest burner account. it seemed early on that G.B. Greg Burrhalter

was pretty open and transparent regarding his communication at least around tactics. Why hasn't anybody broached the question about communication with high-end

prospects, particularly dual nationals? Are we, y'all included so niche that this is not on the mainstream media's radar? I'd like to understand

that the concept of recruiting is even something he believes in, especially given that this was not an issue during his playing days since FIFA approved the one-time switch of dual nationals. Obviously, we covered a little bit of this ground already, but Ernie Stewart, again, has been asked on the podcast.

We'll see what happens with that. Greg Burhalter's feelings on it and why he hasn't talked about it? You got any thoughts, Greg? I mean, he mentioned it. He had been interviewed ahead of some friendlies shortly before, or shortly after, right after the ML season it kicked off when, I think, in the first couple weeks, Efra Alvarez had

some really nice moments for Los Angeles Galaxy, and somebody asked him specifically about Efra. And I think, you know, the question kind of hinted around, like, what would you do to try to get him to play for the U.S. instead of Mexico? And Burrhalter just said that

he wants to create an environment that dual nationals would want to be a part of. They'd want to pick the U.S. instead of, instead of another country. So I think that would probably that would probably be the line. I imagine that would sort of be the line

that Burrhalter would stick with. Now that's sort of just in regard to dual nationals. I really think that that whole part about what communication with high-end prospects is appropriate. I think that's a really important question for both Greg and Ernie to answer. Yeah.

Because I don't think you should like separate the communication. with prospects from like the environment that you're giving these prospects to play in like that's a very important part of any environment. As anybody who works with human beings knows like people really value communication. And I'm not I'm not saying you've got to promise a bunch of things. Just have an open line of communication with key players in your program. That seems like a no-brainer. Yeah, I agree. But I also think he's probably right that we are so niche that it's not on the mainstream media's radar.

I think even people who I think could only loosely be considered mainstream media members like Brian Shoretta is still pretty niche, if we're honest. And the Total Soccer Show guys, Daryl and Taylor, you know, even they who are niche but not quite as niche as us, I think is a fair way to put it. Even they are like when they, it's so easy to caricature the call for communication with high-end prospects. And they've both done it in the past couple weeks. Like, you know, Sherretta's all like, well, it doesn't matter how many fruit baskets you send these prospects they're going to play for whoever they want to play for.

And that's it. And in the latest total soccer show, I listened to Daryl and Taylor, you know, they had like some laughs about, well, what do you talk about, you know, where you're on the phone with them for the, you're on the phone with them for the fifth week in a row. You're like, well, so how's the weather? and you know, they had... You're twirling the phone cord around your finger. Yeah. Something to say. They had a big hearty heart about that.

And I, you know, I like Daryl and Taylor, but I'm like, you know, I think a lot of people aren't really thinking about it the way we are, you know, which is just, just check in every now and then let them know that they're valued and being tracked. Yeah. Just don't allow there to be a communication vacuum. It's somebody where these sort of doubts start to creep in. of am I in the plans, am I not in the plans, for another federation to swoop in and be like,

they don't care about you. In our country, you'd be valued. And I think Shoretta does a disservice with that fruit basket stuff where he says, if your program couldn't sell them, as though the, again, as though the communication with players and the program are somehow separate things. Like the way you treat your players when they're not in camp is also part of your program. It is the program, yeah.

I mean, the program is the human beings in it and your relationships with those human beings. It's not like the soccer balls. Right. The facilities are also part of it. I'm actually going to keep going to some of Shoretta's examples because I think they're kind of, I think you, I get the talking point he's bringing up, but I think they're all kind of these straw men. He talks about, you know, because a lot of people will make the comparison to college recruit. and Shoretta says this isn't sending, you know, if we're trying to get Julian Araho, if we're trying to text him, that's not the same as texting recruits. That'd be like recruiting your starting sophomore wide receiver.

Like you are, he's already, Arahos already in the program. You don't have to keep recruiting him. And even that, I think, is a bad analogy. But even if it weren't a bad analogy, like, I don't think that Nick Sabin, the day after his bowl game, ceases contact with his players until the first day of spring practice. That's crazy to me too. Like he's going to be in contact with these guys through the entire offseason all the time, as much as the rules allow him to. Yeah, he's all over those boys, man.

He's all over them. They literally have to restrict his contact officially to otherwise he would be in contact contact with him nonstop. So even the examples that people are giving for how crazy that would be, like don't hold up. Yeah, but even, but the analogy is bad in itself because these are, this is pretty, pretending that like being this being a youth national team player is the same as being a starter for the national team it's not the same thing it's like i like actually like the internship analogy i know not everybody likes that but like it's think of it like you're an intern you intern at a really good

company while you're in college uh you it was an honor you learned a lot you go back to college for your senior year that that that company thinks like hey we are you you interned with us we think you should come work for us. Well, you start getting, they don't communicate with you in your senior year, and you start getting offers from General Electric instead of Johnson and Johnson. And Johnson, your Johnson and Johnson contact

goes dark on you. And you're like, I don't know where I stand with them. I mean, I haven't heard from them. I think they like me. I think they see a future for me at the company, but General Electric is telling me, like, they got a spot for me. They got a spot for me at the turbine facility in Cincinnati.

Maddie. And I keep going with this, Bels. I want to see how far you go. I think that's a better analogy, even though it got kind of ridiculous. It is. And, you know, another, I think Susaweda put it really well when he framed it as, if you're going to recruit people, you recruit them on what you can do for their future. You don't recruit on what you've already done for them.

And that's where you see the difference because Mexico isn't sending their U-20, their U-20 coach to come talk to Julian O'Rahoe. They're sending their technical director. You know what I mean? They're sending their top guy to come say, this is where we see you. This is what we, where, what you could do for our program. And we're just, we're just choosing not to do that. We're choosing to say, no, the way we do it is our youth coaches talk to the youth players,

and that should be good enough. And if it's not, then, you know, that's the hill we're going to die on. Yeah. And I think this is kind of cool. I don't know if this is the way it goes in every case, but at least in one case, The pitch involves, from Toronto involves, I want to know if you would like to make history with the Mexican national team.

It's about the future, just like Susayeda said. I mean, of course, it's got to be about the future for Toronto because they have no past with these players. But in any case. But that's what the kids want. And then the last thing I'll say on this is, because again, Sir Gino's burner account that asked us this question starts out as a general question about high-end prospects and then says particular dual nationals. I think what you have here is the way you think about communication with the dual nationals should sort of inform everything else because as soon as you say, oh, well, by doing, by communicating this way with the dual nationals, we show that we're valuing them.

Like the immediate next question would be like, well, why wouldn't we value every other player as well? If that's just the right way to do it and there's no downside, then we should just be doing that with all of our players. And that's the obvious next step is be like, okay, well, we should just be figuring out what communication helps the entire pool and then do that. So you kind of examine it really carefully for these dual nationals because of what's at stake and then establish your best practice based on that. Yeah, that makes sense. A lot of sense to me. And I guess the straightforward answer to his question is about, are we so niche that this is not on the mainstream media's radar is yes.

I mean, we've given this more airtime and I think more careful consideration than just about anybody. And it's because we're just a tiny little slice of the American media landscape. And that's putting it generously. 628. Yeah. We've dropped since then. My name is. Ah, nerd.

All right. I think we should stop there. We've gone on pretty long. Thanks, everyone, for listening. Thank you, Greg. We'll see you.