SoccerWise - 2025 MLS Season Preview CHI, MTL & PHI

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Hope is in the air in many cities as the MLS season approaches and we've got some big previews to prove it. It starts with the energy around Gregg Berhalter's new look Chicago Fire, and Tim (Men In Red 97) stops by to talk all about it. Then Andy (The Ball Is Round Montreal) joins to chat about the funky & fun roster being rolled out in Canada. And finally the mood comes down a little as Chuck (Views From The Bridge) discusses the Union finally playing in a post Jim Curtin world.1:00 Chicago Fire w/Tim  Men In Red 9730:10 CF Montreal w/Andy The Ball Is Round Montreal57:36 Philly Union w/Chuck Views From The Bridge Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

I'm David Goss, Tom Bogart here at Soccer Wise. It is time to talk about the NBC hit TV show, Chicago Fire. I just like to bring it up as much as humanly possible. I think at this point, I'm the one messing with the SEO. I feel like I mentioned it up as much as humanly possible. I think at this point, I'm the one messing with the SEO I feel like I mentioned it way too much. We've got a conversation Station coming up about the Chicago fire and about everything going on with this club year one time Under Greg burr halter a huge roster flip. I'm pretty high on this whole thing. Am I wrong? Am I out of touch? Well, if you are then we're gonna be wrong together

thing. Am I wrong? Am I out of touch? Well, if you are, then we're going to be wrong together on the same as well. I think you also have them in playoffs as I do. I think at let you know, pretty season predictions until until we get it written down. We had the overunder. Things change. I have them past the wild card game. I have them in the top seven in these. Like that's how how much I think I trust the infrastructure and the high floor with the Greg Burr alter team with the talent on the team Jonathan Bamba got to see him a little bit at Coachella. He was awesome So the structure everything around the scene and with that special player to make Hugo Kuypers even better because he should have he wouldn't He should have he will have much more service and many more chances 12 million dollars center forward

I like the look of this team and they still have a DP spot open if they want to use it that DP spot Obviously the name our stuff was like wild and crazy and out there but Shakiri was a record-breaking MLS designated player they have spent numbers like that. Maybe on the wrong players in the past Should that be our expectation there in that spot and should we be looking at the summer? I'm hoping so I I'm assuming so. Like, Bomba's not that, right? No, but like, again, they're not concerned with cosmetics, they're not concerned with saying

record breaking, whatever, right? Like, they, again, they were in for Namor because they thought he was a good fit and they thought that they could get it done, right? Jonathan Bomba, it's not like they were gonna say, hey, like, we really think he's good, I know that we can get him for like three million. Here's 10 anyway, just to say that we spent more money, right, like, so I think Jonathan Bomba. It's not like they were gonna say hey like we really think he's good I know that we can get him for like three million Here's ten anyway just to say that we spent more money right like so I think Jonathan Bomba was just a really good deal because

His cell to Vigo contract was really really high so it's Elsa Seltzer was ready to move on from him more so to get the salary off than it was we're holding out for a high fee right so I think that he's more like a seven million dollar player but was bought for because of other different circumstances so I do think that that also helps free up the transfer fee for a If they use a DP in the summer, let's say Brian Gutierrez has sold the Europe DP 10 obvious So right now I like that they didn't block Brian Gutierrez

But I think that's a possibility for the summer and then you bring in a DP 10 or a DP winger with that third spot Yeah, I think it's fair to say Walk before you can run and like walking has been hard in chicago for a little while and hopefully it happens now This it's one of the great histories in major league soccer like when I became a fan of this league The thing chicago and dc had done already were things that I didn't know were possible of like The way the atmosphere was around the games the quality of Play on the field all those types of things and then Into some leaner years, but there were still those up years early at Bridgeview under Dennis Hamlin

And then of course the bastions Weinsteiger year under Pano and all of that And we're still waiting to see get back there like this should be one of the tent pole clubs in Major League Soccer. It feels like Joe Monsanto wants it to be, and it feels now that Greg Borahalter is the first person involved who's ready to do that. And now the question marks abound. It is going to be, Tom, one of the teams with a lot of storylines and chatter around it

because of Greg Borahalter and his visibility as the U.S. Men's National Team Manager for all of those years. But it feels exciting, I think, because now he gets to do the thing he likes, which is coach soccer team, and have them play and be able to affect the roster in ways that sort of can mimic what he wants to see and what he wants to do. And you mentioned Brian Gutierrez. Good young talent coming out of Chicago should be at a really high level.

So we had our conversation with Tim of Men in Red. Let's go to that right now. Fire, fire, fire, fire, fire. Hopefully we will be singing once again this year. We are time is time now to talk about the Chicago fire. To do so we've got one of our favorites, Tim Hotsy here, a legend in our Discord as well as Men inRed97, the website. You can listen to their podcast as well. Tim, we've done a couple Zooms together, but now it's our first official show together, so I'm excited. Yeah, me too.

Thanks for having me. For anyone who doesn't already, you can subscribe to our Patreon. It gets you access to our Discord. There is Heavy Kit Conversation going on right now. Upon the release, it was a great spot to talk about all of our over-unders for the season as well on our points totals. And you also helped guide me. I would like you to know that I got my tire patched and it is back

in my garage and it all worked out and it was $300 cheaper than buying a new tire. So it worked out pretty well for me. 100% worth it. I was kind of worried when I didn't hear from you for a bit. I'm like, did, did I just kill David Goss? Cause that, that would be bad. Like I've patched tires before and like, I've always been fine, but I'm like, Oh man, is this like the one time that anything bad has happened like this? No, I didn't do it myself.

I had someone professional do it because I know my city slicker limitations, and I didn't want to go too far. Let's dig into the Chicago Fire here. It is a fascinating off season. They were one of our big conversations on our Over Under points show that we did with Matt Doyle and Tommy Scoops. They are going to be, I think, center to what a lot of people are watching

early on in the season. A ton of transfer news, as well as of course, a new coach taking over. We should probably start there because it's so big. Greg Borahalter takes over as not just the head coach but the sporting director of this club. He's a big name. It's a massive move. I know you've been around Chicago for a while and Greg of course living there working for US Soccer. What did you make of it when it finally happened and what does it look like so far? Yeah I thought it was nearly an ideal

hire because the you know obviously the team has been through this like hope and and dashed hope cycle for so many years. They needed someone to come in and that could help establish the culture of the club and that's one of the things that everyone says that that Burr Halter did with US men's national team. He kind of fixed a culture that had broken. And so the alternative would have been like hiring someone to come in as like a CSO type. And then they hire a coach and then it's already the preseason. Like we've seen that before. And it really wouldn't have, you know, I just don't think that there was a better hire than him.

And since then, like I've been to training a couple of times this, this preseason, and it is an entirely different tempo, um, around just like what the expectations are, the way that the players are acting. And I think we've started to see some of that from the team's preseason games. Um, you know, sometimes in results, but I mean, it's preseason, so who cares, but just in the way that guys are moving the way that guys are carrying themselves. I mean, it's preseason, so who cares? But just in the way that guys are moving, the way that guys are carrying themselves.

I agree with you of like the hire made so much sense. There's two sides to this that I think Greg Burhalter hits both, which is raise the floor in MLS, but also raise the ceiling because Joe Mancillito wants to spend and Chicago's a massive market of what an MLS team could be. Atlanta's pushing those lines,. Atlanta's pushing those lines,

Inter Miami's pushing those lines, LAFC has. Chicago should be one of those teams, but you can't get there until you do the first part. So to have someone in Greg Berhalter who could in theory do both, his international experience, his national team resume, and all of that, but also understand on the bottom side of like what Jack Elliott brings to a team in MLS and

you know what you can get at the defensive midfield position and the little steps you need to take is huge. One of the questions though is then what does his workflow look like as both CSO and head coach? He has made a number of hires around that. What do you make of the staff he's put together? Yeah I think it's been a pretty impressive staff. I mean, like, that was the big question is, is he gonna be able to delegate? And we still don't fully know that because he's never had to, like, he is yet to sort of, like, get back into coaching games that matter in MLS and, you know, doing the other stuff than, like, doing all the CSO part of the job. But he's, it's a larger front office

than it was before, bringing in Greg Broughton, who, you know, first time in MLS, I would sort of argue he's already kind of been doing some work in MLS, keeping a name that we all wanted to see in Duncan McGuire in the league. So, you know, this is just the payback for that. But yeah, you know, it's him, it's Mikey Stevens is in as well as there's some people

returning. It's a larger front office and so there's people there that will help around. As long as he's willing to delegate, which it seems like he is, then I think that helps some of that and he's also kind of bulked up the coaching staff around him. So having help with both sides, I think has been what you wanted to see for it to work out. I was fortunate enough to be on a call about youth development with Greg Brown because he was at Bodo Glimt where they are like an outlier in what they've been able to do, the success they've had.

So you've got the soccer ideas there. You've got Mikey Stevens who has a ton of MLS experience being at pretty high levels with LA Galaxy and then of course US Soccer background. That all makes a ton of MLS experience being at pretty high levels with the LA Galaxy and then of course US Soccer background. That all makes a ton of sense and I think the coaching side is the side that's easiest for Greg. I'm not saying it's easy but like that's the most familiar part and so it feels like the setup is pretty strong and they came in and I like a lot of what's happened so far. Let's run through our transfers.

We will hit our Doyalisms where the great Sage himself speaks. I think this was a walk and talk one. So maybe a little bit of Sounds of New York City in the background. And then Andrew Weeby went full Weeby and hit me with like 37 texts. So we got two over underlines that we're going to use from him. And on the transfers, it's been exciting both in and out, I think for Chicago Fire fans. Some names that maybe they've liked to have been out earlier are finally out the door and then some big names coming in. Let's start with the incoming. Jonathan Bomba signed as a designated player from South Tobago is the huge one. Jack Elliott signed

as a free agent. Philip Zickernagel and Romelu Kuwame brought in as Tam midfielders. Sam Rogers, a former U.S. call--up I think he's got one cap in a US national team player over in Europe brought in and then some really good home groans some record home groans as well as some local pieces in Dean Bolts and Omar Omar I Glasgow who was with the two teams so a ton of work done on this side of things the one name I did not say in all of that is Neymar will do that in just a moment What do you make of the work they have done and the pieces they have brought in? I mean, it's when you look at the who the starting 11, you know

You'd expect to be assuming everyone's healthy on day one I mean it's a significant turnover from what we saw last year and the pieces that are Still around are I think the ones the ones that you wanted to see. Kipers didn't light the league on fire, but he got double digits and goals, which is something the fire have not done for a number of years.

And every single game that I watched with my notes on Kipers were not, he's not finishing chances. It was like, he's doing impressive holdup play. And he's making a good run and then nothing happens, right? So, you know, we've talked about, you know, the coaching being kind of easier for Burrhalter. One thing he's always done is make strikers look good

and he's never, I think it's fair to say, had a striker at the club level at least that has the ceiling that Kuyper says. So that's gonna be great. And then, you know, half the Ross are turning over bringing in a big free agent in Jack Elliott, second year in a row that's going to be great. And then half the Ross are turning over, bringing in a big free agent in Jack Elliott's second year in a row. That's happened after bringing in Kellen Acosta last year.

And then Acosta had an off year last year. I think you're hoping he rebounds. Brian Gutierrez did not have the breakout season that I think people had hoped that he would. But he does look more energized, more engaged, and may be ready to do that this year. And so it could be a very different feeling roster, even more than the fact that like

half of it's actually turned over. I think that what you're hoping for is improvement from the group that is holding over as well. Yeah, I think the idea of internal improvement because of better structure and clearer ideas that fit some specific skill sets as well is really, really promising. Jonathan Bomba is interesting. He fits the profile of where we are seeing a lot of MLS teams move of the into the top five leagues, borderline starters, starters that are not stars, sort of maybe some players that have missed on a move and are looking for an opportunity

but have a ton of potential. It feels like he fits all that profile. What's sort of the idea around the scouting process here, him choosing to come and the expectations in year one? Yeah, I think he's an interesting hire. I think there was some kind of like grumbling in the Fire fan base that has gotten used to the team spending a lot of money on transfers

when it's like, oh, just like a $3 million transfer, like that's nothing. How is this guy even a DP? I think that he was ready to leave Celta in Spain and he won Ligar with Lille that one year that was really fun to watch. I think that what Burrhalter and his staff are expecting is for him to get closer to that form of being a guy that can be both like a dynamic playmaker as well as finish a number of goals. And I think that that's going to be crucial because one thing that hasn't happened, as

much as the roster's turned over, it still feels like there's not a lot of depth in some key places, including at Stryker. So there's going to have to be an offensive plan for what happens when Kipers is not on the field, whether that's like late in games, cause he's, you know, went 90 minutes the week before, or whether that's cause he's out for spending time out with an injury or something. Yeah. Um, I, I would say with that Lille team you watched,

and I was watching a lot for Jonathan David, I thought Bamba was a game breakerbreaker Consistently at the league on a level and so I have a lot of hope for this move I don't know that it's enough. I wouldn't say he's Kucho I wouldn't say he's Lucho or maybe even a Vander and so is it enough as an MVP candidate to carry a team? I'm not sure but I like the idea of making these first few moves and leaving the door open to see what else do you need, what do you want to lean into as you go forward. And they've cleared out a ton of space as we said. Soke bought out, Feddy Navarro and Toby Assalquest transferred out, Coutias on loan to Monsueito's other club Lugano, and then finishing off the contracts of Rafael Chijos, Fabian Herbers, Lassiter, Richie and Wyatt Omsberg.

It is a lot of names out the door. I think you put in the, um, in the discord when what was it? Fetty Navarro finally got, or no, sorry, Gaston Jimenez. Gaston Jimenez didn't mention him. Yeah. Yeah. He's the other one. But it was just, it was like the, I think it was Christmas Eve when the deal was announced. And I mean, cause it just seemed like Heights had a compulsion for giving the guy new contracts. He had three separate deals in MLS, two of which like the second one kept him as a DP.

And you're just like, how wasn't this a deal that was tamable? Like that, that would have been a logical move at the time, but that took until a third deal. And then he's under contract basically until he's like eligible to collect social security. Like it's, you know, um, but yeah, he, you know, I think that he was emblematic of what the problems that the with the roster construction under height. So moving on from him, I mean, I was surprised I thought that was going to be a buyout because there was no one that was going to take his, you know, no offer would come through that he'd look at the wages and say, okay, I'll take that. So that was impressive. And just the

agility that the front office has shown in making those kinds of moves, I think, is is not something that the fire I've had in the past few years, like heights did that his his first offseason ahead of the COVID year. But since then, it was a almost like a glacial pace with turning over the roster, like a lot of moves in 2022, but didn't make a difference in the end with where the team landed in the standings. Let's go to our Doyalism now. Reminder before we get there, because of all of the craziness with Cups, I remind for every team what they will play in for the Chicago Fire. It is just

the US Open Cup as they didn't qualify for the playoffs last year, so no Leagues Cup and no CONCACAF Champions Cup. Open Cup, of course, qualify for the playoffs last year. So no Leagues Cup and no ConcaGaff Champions Cup. Open Cup, of course, a competition that has been very friendly to the Chicago Fire, but that's a bit in the past now. So let's go to our Doyleism, then we'll jump off the back of that. I am buying the Chicago Fire as one of the most improved teams in MLS this year. We've seen them make big moves in the winter. They added at least five starters, maybe six,

depending on if Sam Rogers gets into the starting lineup at center back alongside Jack Elliott. And that's one of the best free agent signings of the off season. Maybe the very best actually. Elliott's been awesome. And the thing is, he'll fit exactly what Greg Berhalter wants to do, right? Greg Burhalter

Always wants to fix the structure and defense whether it's club or country He relies upon his center backs in the build out He wants to make sure that those guys are sort of dictating the game and Elliott does that really well He didn't get to show it all the time just because of Philly's game model But I think he will under Burhalhalter in Chicago. So that fixes like 70% of what was wrong or what's been wrong with the fire for most of the past 15 years. And obviously then once you have that sort of foundation, it makes it easier to build a functional and hopefully high performing attack. And if you think about Burrhalter's best crew teams, it was center forwards like Kai Kamara, Ola Kamara,

Jossie Zardas having the best seasons of their careers. And I think Yugo Kaipers is that of center forward as well. So just looking at it, it all makes sense in a way that the Chicago Fire have rarely made sense since about 2009 or so, the glory days of Caelan Carr. We love Caelan Carr, so we love the reference there back to the Dennis Hamlet years.

Of course, for some, it has felt even longer since success. Overall, what do you make of Doyle's thoughts of what Greg's going to bring and sort of what this team looks like? Yeah, I think that he's got it completely right. I mean, you know, the team hasn't really had a coherent structure that's lasted for very long, you know, more than a season last year. I think one of the things that Brian Gutierrez kind of was held back with was that it went from like, he's on the wing to like, he's starting in the midfield to like it just felt for a while like he

was kind of wandering around somewhere between the wing and like the the number 10 spot and like didn't really have a job he's just kind of like out on the pitch and that's not a good way to develop a player it's also not a good way to you know give a guy confidence that I think that he needed when it felt like Shakiri was always going to be above him in the pecking order regardless of what happened on the pitch. So the structure I think is going to be huge and it really could be the first time in, I mean, I don't even know how long that the team has had a coherent identity with how they want to play that sort of like

last multiple games because like even going back to the Pano era, it felt like there was just like a rotating cast of like, okay, who's going to start it right back this time? Like, I'm pretty sure that like, any name that you could think of from those those squads, like, ended up playing there for at least a game, like, you know, and so I think that just having a structure is going to be huge. And I think that I the hope has to be for the fire that they are one of the most improved teams because they finished 15th in the east like one spot above the wooden spoon and So they can really only go up, but I think that they hope that it's substantially up and they've been making the right moves

I think to do that Doyle's thoughts on Jack Elliott, I think are interesting in that There's clear expectations that he raises the floor defensively. He has been really, really good as a tackle, you know, as a ball winner, as a tackler. He's shown his athleticism as well to cover over the top. We haven't seen much of him as a passer just because of the way Philly's chosen to play. And so I think that's what we're still waiting to see is, was there more space for him to grow into or is he is if he is what he is at 29 years old, which I

think is still an improvement for Chicago. And then Doyle mentioned Sam Rogers in there. We're not 100% sure who his partner is. Who do you think is it Carlos Teron spot to lose for now? I had initially thought that it was going to be to run spot to lose just seeing just seeing how Rogers has been looking in training. It wouldn't surprise me if he was the starter by the beginning, which then begs the question of like, what happens to Carlos to run like the team had been working for a move for

him in a couple different windows, but he always got injured at exactly the wrong time. And now you wonder like, is that holding him back because no one wants a big, you know know physical center back that can't play because he's hurt all the time but I think that Rogers could could really be you know have pushed his way into being the starting in the starting conversation and you know I've seen Jack Elliott just like in training and stuff like that do things with his feet that I haven't seen center backs in the fire do in a very long time so I think the hope is that he can grow into that if he hasn't done it already. Like I think he did play in a

defensive midfield position in like emergency situations a couple times here and there for Philly. So like you don't do that if you think the center back is just like a big tall guy that's going to like you know stop balls in the air and stuff. Unless you're a soccer team that just wants to see if everyone can run into the opponent at as fast as humanly possible at the highest speed Ever generated, but I would agree with you there. I think there's a lot of these pieces I'm excited about in this team one is Andrew Goodman We have seen Greg Berhalter really Employ attacking fullbacks in a way in which they're able to put up big numbers and affect the game at a really high level

And if bomb was gonna come inside a, there should be some space there with injuries. We just haven't seen the best of him for a very long time. So that I think is a little bit exciting. And there's a lot to be excited about around this Chicago team. So you talked about improvement. Let's get into it. Let's get into our over underlines with Andrew Weeby. He starts with Brian Gutierrez, 16 and a half goals plus assists this season.

He asks, basically, does he make a leap? He's been sitting around 10 for a couple of years now. I actually posed a similar question on our over under show. I think the number I put was around what Diego Luna has done. So I think Luna was the American assist leader last year. I think it was 14 assists. And then the question becomes as goals and assists combine,

where do you think he falls? So what do you think of this line and where do you fall? So he had nine last year, six goals and three assists, but he normally was a guy that would get assists and not others. So I think the fire hope that that's what he can do. I mean, the Luna comparison, I think is interesting because they're almost exactly the same age. Gucci, I think was a name that not just in Chicago, but like elsewhere, like the youth national

team picture that was expected to basically be doing what Luna is now. And I think that the fire had hoped that he would be the sort of like engine of the team in a way that Luna's being asked. I think he can do it. I mean, he's looked good in preseason. I don't think people realize how high his ceiling is because you only see it in like isolated moments. And a lot of the time he's hung a lot closer to his floor than his ceiling. I've been seeing him doing stuff more consistently in preseason. He looks bigger. He looks stronger. I mean, he's still of that age. Like, he's turning 21 this year, where he is bulking up

physically, because some guys at that age have done it, and some just have not. And he does look bigger and stronger. And it could really be. Breakout year seems weird for a guy that has gotten 2400 minutes last year, but it feels like it could be the year that Brian Gutierrez goes from, oh yeah, that's the name that I've heard in MLS to like, that's a guy the way that people are talking about Luna.

Yeah. I think if he's online for these numbers and I have him over, I'm super confident in what he can do. I like the way you put it of like, you have seen the flashes and yet he's still probably been at his floor, which means if he hits his ceiling, he can be really, really special. I did scuffed and they asked about players to watch in MLS

and he was one of the first that I named when you talk about young Americans. I thought he looked the part in January and like January camp is not everything, but to physically look like you belong on that field and look as good as Jack McGlynn and Ben Hockramosky and all these other pieces I think is is promising and it is a position on top of the number nine That I think Greg Borahalter does a really good job

Helping make their life easier. I think with Bomba and Zinke and Eagle the game's gonna get pulled wide I think Gutierrez is gonna have a ton of gaps and openings to either be 1v1 or to be able to burst through without being stopped offensively and get into transition moments. Be dangerous. I think the structure for him is going to be really exciting for the first time for him to operate in. My biggest concern about this number is if he's on track for it, if he plays a full season of Major League Soccer. I think he's that good that if he starts the year the way we think, teams are gonna come in with offers. And if teams come in with offers, I don't know that Chicago can say no,

especially with the DP spot open. Do you look at it and say, all right, let's do the business now. Let's go get our number 10 at 27 years old, who will be here and we'll make the money off Gutierrez. And of course, all the money that's already come in on Duran and everything else going on over the last few weeks Let's finish on this one teamwide

Andrew B gives us forty three and a half points That is the over under that he sets. I guess I should probably have had Matt Doyle's over under which we just did I don't know why we be felt should do the same thing. And that was 43 and a half points. So he's just asking us the same question twice again, I guess that allows you to answer. I already answered on the show. I said over. What do you think? Yeah, I think it's going to be over. You know, I think the comparison that you're hoping for is like, FC Cincinnati, you know, after Chris Albright and Pat Noon came in, like 80% of that roster stayed on the next year with the fire. Like, you know, we said five or six new starters, so it's going to be closer to like 50% of the minutes or 60% of the minutes

are returning. And they improved like 29 points, the fire had 30 that would put them well over. I don't think they're going to get close to 60 points, but I had 30 that would put them well over. I don't think they're gonna get close to 60 points, but I think that they could be upper 40s, I think, and like be pushing for not just a play-in spot, but like one of the lower seeds in the playoffs proper, like seventh, you know, or around that area. Yeah, I'm in agreement. Let me finish you on like a massive question.

How big of an impact can it have in Chicago? Playing at Soldier Field, I know the Bears are all over the place right now. Joe Mancuellito wants to invest. The Neymar rumors, whether they were real or fake, are exciting. At the end of this year, how much can it matter? How big can Chicago Fire get? Or what do they need to do to sort of reestablish themselves? You know, the thing I've been saying is like, everyone's like, oh, you know, no one cares

about the team and market and stuff. And there's some truth to that. And that is like, will winning fix it? And I've kind of said, let's just try a couple seasons of winning first and see what that gets you. And then and then we can try troubleshooting other problems, right? I think it can be huge. I mean, Chicago loves a winner. Like the Blackhawks were drawing 12,000 people, 11,000 people officially announced, you know, attendance. And that was very optimistic. They got good. They won a Stanley Cup and then they've been, you know, consistently selling out for a decade, even after the team's form has dropped off.

The fire needs to reintroduce themselves in relevance to the market. And winning is the way to do it. And they're doing it with a bunch of home-growns. I think that there's seven in the roster. There's a number of other guys like Andrew Gutman, like Chris Mueller that are from the Chicago area that are also in the roster.

So it's a hometown team that I think Chicago is just ready to get behind if if that's marketed. But the way to do that is by playing exciting soccer and winning games. The Chicago Fire were relevant when they were good. And that was before Major League Soccer was relevant, which is the part that's really, really hard about all of this. I'm hopeful. I think the Neymar stuff as fun as as it was and as wild as it was, I think it sort of though puts them in a conversation where I think people that are looking to make moves will think about them. Agents will reach out. There'll be conversations. Whether it's the right or wrong move for the club, I'm not sure and I don't think they need to make a signing for a name.

I like your theory, which is try being a good professional sports team first. And if that doesn't work, then you can try and become the gimmick or add to that or all of that on top of that. So I'm excited for the season. I cannot wait to see it all get started. I can see from Greg and I'm sure you see it when you talk to him. He's excited to coach again. And we're all waiting to see what it looks like. There are a lot of people on the internet who have their fingers above the keyboard, ready to type and throw their commentary in,

whichever way it goes. And of course, we're gonna cover it here on Soccer Wise. So if you're listening for the first time, we're covering MLS and NWSL every day of the week, live three times a week, podcasts four to five times a week. And if you are listening to Soccer Wise, as you always do and you want to follow Chicago Fire, go to Men in Red. It's the best place to do it.

As you said, Tim, it is a very Chicago heavy club and you guys have a finger on the pulse of that better than anyone. And hopefully there's some fun stories for you to talk about this year as well. Yeah, fingers crossed. Bonjour, David Gast, Tommy Bourguin here at SoccerWise. I didn't know, I don't even know how to say here in French. I probably could have learned that in the last second. I know it felt pretty good. Uh, here in French is Voici, soccer wise. I'm not editing this, by the way. We're rolling right now.

We are ready for our Montreal segment. It's one of my favorite cities in the world, let alone in North America, let alone in the MLS soccer sphere. I've been to playoff games there. I've been to regular season games there. Sometimes I just go to eat the food and drink and wander around and be outside and like absolutely love Montreal. It's one of my favorite cities, Tom, and they are,

I have said this many times, they are as if our discord at SoccerWise ran an MLS team. It's all the experiments. Young players, giving them opportunities, trading inside league resources to get players, giving them opportunities, trading inside league resources to get players, all these other things. And we're not sure what it's going to look like on the field, but you know we're going to be tuned in. I'm only surprised that you would have done this intro alone and also not interviewed. I thought you were just monologue 45 minutes about CF Montreal, but mostly just the city

of Montreal. So I appreciate you letting me be in on the David Goss Montreal hour and I just want to go wherever you go I'm still shocked that I just didn't do the Conversation with my favorite Patrice Bernier who's a legend and just talk about here all the whole time So I was pretty proud of myself for avoiding that and now I'm proud of myself for continuing to do this we've got a segment coming up with Andy of the ball is round Montreal podcast and They are excited. I think for this team as well It's hard I think sometimes talking about this team because you got to put it in context, right?

There wasn't really a world where Montreal was going to challenge for MLS Cup. And so you're always having that conversation inside the context. But it does feel closer to Wilfred Nansé's last team where there are prospects that you believe in that you're going to give opportunity to and a cohesive style that it all fits in under Laurent Courtois, who's completely revamped his coaching staff because he's sort of been given more resources from the club. And I think that's where a bunch of the excitement, excitement Tom comes and the potential for me to get up to Montreal I think so too look like there is a scenario where a lot of these young players take another step forward and They're kind of just flying around the pitch. They're really fun. They're

Fluid they could press you high they could drop in deep then hit you on the counter So there's a lot of ways for this to go they have have about, I don't know, you look at it at their starting 11, 18 realistic possibilities to be the starting 11, like the best choice 11. This is one of those teams that probably won't have the best player on the field really ever, but they're also built to not have the like a handful of the worst. Like this is soccer is a weekly sport and that's their idea. The collective here is the goal. They're bringing in young players that develop

That's what the wrong couture does to Corey ray excellent eye for town in that front office. So There is like I have questions about this team. I don't know if I'm sold. Yeah, but I do trust Corey ray that front office and the coaching staff that that there is there is a path to being good. Yep I could go sit in little Italy drink my coffee Talk to you Montreal. Giacomo Veroni would fit into all of that as well. I'm very excited for the season Kate and Clark can have. I think there's a lot of pieces in this team

that I'm excited to watch and hopefully it all comes together once again. So let's get into our conversation now with Andy right here. Well, we were talking about one of my favorites. We are talking Montreal in my dreams. I'm fluent in French. I live in Montreal. I go hang out. I eat a, you could call it a bagel, whatever you want to call it, a little snack. I wander to Stade Saputo. I watch the game and then I go home. That is not the reality

for me, but it is the reality for Andy. You are one of the hosts of the Ball is Round Montreal podcast, and you're going to give us that local flavor, that local aspect of what is happening for one of the most fascinating teams around Major League Soccer. Is that a fair term? Bonjour, bonjour, first of all. And I would have honestly, I would have thought you said poutine bagel. I'm surprised. Yeah, I do like a good poutine. I was trying to be nice. I was going to say smoked meat sandwich.

And then I was like, I don't know if I want to go Schwartz's already. Now you're getting me hungry. I just got to get out here for a minute. But yeah, definitely an exciting team. Very, very exciting team for this for 2025. You know, the fan base is excited. We're all excited as to,

but there's a lot of question marks, a lot of question marks. There's excitement, but a lot of question marks So so we like to run through our transfers then we go into any of sort of the off-field stories anything else That's big that's going on then we'll have our toilism His thoughts on a lot of this and then Andrew Weeby provides us with our over underline to help us But normally, you know, we we just bounce through the transfers. There's two or three to talk about But normally, you know, we we just bounce through the transfers. There's two or three to talk about

13 players have left CF Montreal since the end of last season that is players that have been loaned out that are on contract players that were loaned in whose loans expired as well as contracts that have been Declined and potentially sold there are some bigger names in there Victor one Yama being the biggest He was the loan DP on the team last year, but did not play very many minutes and was not a huge factor. Joseph Martinez, of course, the leading goal scorer last year, allowed to walk away after his contract expired. Gabe Corbos, Robert Thorkelson, Lassie Lappalainen, Ilias Iliadis. At some point this just feels like a game and these are not real names. These are, Raheem Edwards and Rita Zuhir have all been allowed to walk away. So it is a massive change for this club. The big name there, even though Wan Yama was the DP, was Joseph Martinez.

He sort of found himself again midway through last season and helped carry the team to the playoffs. What is sort of the view inside the fan base allowing him to walk away? Well, look, I mean, he did give us a fantastic end of season that allowed us to go into the play-in. But at the same time, people forget that throughout the season, it was difficult to him.

He had issues with the coach and he got injured. So we never got to see the full Joseph Martinez that we expected, say. But that's why I think now the fan base is very much like, okay, he left and he was all right. I guess he did really well at the end. We would love to have him back and continue what he would for what you know, what he showed us in 2024 But it's not the reality It does look like the team did try to get him back but but they just weren't able to come to an agreement It's just unfortunate but now you got and we'll get into that later. You say, okay

well, he left who you got for me now, who do you who do you have? Yeah, who's gonna replace him and and that's just where everybody's kind of looked, as I said earlier, a lot of question marks, right? Because Joseph was a big part of what happened at the end of the season. And the answers aren't given, but I think it's actually more ambitious or more senior than I would have expected. I think if you had asked me in a vacuum last year, I would have said, yeah, okay, you're going to let Joseph walk away. That's fine. He is not who he used to be. And when he struggles, it normally affects the rest of the roster more than you want it to be. Montreal has built themselves now as this youth developer trying to

acquire assets that they can then help increase their value and move into other portions of their career. So you'd think you'd go in that direction with this spot. into other portions of their career. So you'd think you'd go in that direction with this spot. And then we kind of get the curveball that New England Revolution designated player, Giacomo Vrioni has been traded to Montreal basically for nothing, but they do take on his full salary as a true and genuine designated player in MLS. He will partner up top with a couple pieces that came in over the last 18 months, Bryce Duke being one of them in the trade with Montreal, Caden Clark being the other who had a really good finish to the year and then Prince Owusu, the last sort of experience piece coming into that attack. And the Veroni move makes a lot of sense for where Montreal wants to sit.

They're getting the asset for way less than what he came into the league for, but it doesn't guarantee production at that center forward position. And that's the thing, I mean when Giacomo Vrione was first signed with New England there was a there were big expectations for him as well and with the price and you know his potential, but there's a lot of question marks again. Is he gonna be able to, is it a change of environment, is maybe the kind of soccer that that? CF Montreal likes to play more fit to toward the way he like he likes to play as well Is that gonna really be the the in French we say the the conch are the the thing that's gonna really let him let him

You know produce what what he's capable of producing And that's something that that David as it is right now He hasn't been practicing with the team. I'm talking about today I don't know if in the next few days will come out that he's but he's been on the side and not injured He hasn't come in with an injury into this that was disclosed at least by the team, but he's been supposedly catching up to the team Their their shape their shape, but at the same time They're shaped, but at the same time, it's taking a long time. We're two weeks away now, today we're like two weeks away from, we have one more preseason game.

And that's it. And then we have the season started. So definitely a big name, definitely a big price to pay. But is he going to be available on the first day? Is this going to be a bigger thing than we thought it would be? So we'll see. And he wouldn't be the first designated player striker to not fit in one spot in MLS and find his feet somewhere else. Just chatted with the Philadelphia union about their season. Julian Carranza was that player.

He struggled at Miami, he was pushed out, ends up going on to be one of the best strikers in MLS at Philadelphia and then now ends up in the Champions League as well. So it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility of what the revs saw originally with Vrione coming to fruition. I think the hope is the style fits with him a little bit better, which is it feels like Kaden Clark and Bryce Duke will be a little more connected to him. He'll have more support players to play off of players to connect with. And then you get to see the quality in his feet and get him into dangerous areas in the

final third, but not purely chances where he's attacking across or trying to get across the last defender to get a tap in more to being able to play to his style. And I think there's excitement for me with the pieces that play underneath him in what Caden Clark and Bryce Duke can be on the other transfers or the other additions to the team. Fabian Herber is a solid piece to come into an MLS squad. And then Jalen Neal is sort of the big fancy or is the big shiny piece. Jekyll Marshall Ruddy was brought in last year as a big time homegrown prospect and now Jalen Neal brought in for 750,000 allocation money from the LA Galaxy is the big get for

this team in terms of who they want to be developing players like that. Absolutely. And you know what, that's something that kind of what you mentioned David is the success that CF Montreal, you've mentioned examples in Philadelphia and all that. But in recent memory, CF Montreal has had a lot of success finding these players that did not fit in a team. Kaden Clark, we talk about Georgie Mihailovic in Chicago. We talk about a lot of players. Alistair Johnson. Alistair Johnson that found success here in CF Montreal. So they've been doing really well in that department

and it's worked out. So yes, I say question marks, but they do have a track history of doing it right. So it's the first year, David, and I don't know how long that we have actually some stability in coaching. So that might actually make a difference, but yeah, it's definitely promising and exciting and yes Caden Clark we

can't wait for the Caden Clark show to continue because that's uh he gave us something very exciting last season with uh everybody focused on Joseph Martinez but Caden Clark definitely turned that midfield upside down with uh with his performances. The coaching continuity is Lawrence Quartois coming back for his second year after Wilfred Nance left and before that around the Hernán Lassada things and Thierry Henry and there's been a lot of up and down. What do you make of Lawrence Courtois at this point in his tenure and sort of what's the feeling on him in the fan base?

Well look, I mean, it's the fan base, like I said, are feeling that finally there's some continuity. We're not starting from zero, right? There's something else, though. They flipped around the staff, the staff around Laurent Courtois. The only staff that they kept was the assistant coach David Sauvrier. But beyond that, they got rid of all the other coaches and one of the coaches actually got sent to the academy and they brought in Marco Donadel, they brought, I'm sorry if I don't say their name correctly, Kobe Johnson and then there's Thalandia as well that coached in Columbus Crew and these are coaches that, you know, Marco Donadel, before Laurent Courtois was hired, Marco Donadel was actually a Candidate to be hired for CF Montreal. So a lot of people were questioning that so a lot of people are saying like this is Pretty obvious to everyone that you know, the moment something doesn't go right We're putting the next guy in you know, Marco Donadel is naturally gonna replace Laurent Courtois

So that's what a lot of people are keeping an eye on but it doesn't take away from the fact that He did manage to make something out of nothing last season when he had that really, really bad run. You know, we got eliminated out of the Canadian Championship too by Forge. And so there were, he really managed to, you know, flip the script in his favor and, you know, give us a chance at least during the season. Yeah. It is obviously built on the model of Wilfred Danse and he worked for him in Columbus.

And then you have the connections now with Cory Ray being one of the chief soccer officers coming over from Columbus and having worked with Courtois and run that second team. So there's a lot of, you said, continuity. There's a lot of stability as well as I think shared soccer minds and the hope is to have that style that in powers young players with confidence to elevate their games and that's what Wilfred Nansay is done at an elite level and that's what they're hoping to do once again With this group for this Montreal team I believe it's Canadian championship in cup competition as well as leagues cup as a playoff qualifier last year. So an opportunity in both those cups

to potentially get some silverware outside of MLS competition. Let's go to our dualism and then we'll dig in a little bit more. The fact that there is a team that is going about their roster building the way Montreal are going about their roster building, way Montreal are going about their roster building. Honestly, it delights me to no end. I think it makes the league more fun to follow because

guys like Kaden Clark, Jaquille Marshall, Ruddy, even Bryce Duke, they're fun players and they weren't going to get their chance elsewhere. That was pretty obvious, or they weren't able to take their chance elsewhere in some cases, but they have to a degree with this Montreal side who made the postseason last year and they were all those players a pretty big part of it. That's fun. Also fun. George Campbell on the back line. I kind of underrated him throughout most of last season but then we saw at the end he had kind of hit a new level and then he brought that to the U.S. national team in January. I thought he was really dynamic carrying the ball into midfield and that's going to be a big part of Laurent Courtois' system, right? We know that he comes from the Wilfrid Nancy coaching tree

and having ball carrying centerbacks is a big part of it. So it, it should be fun tactically. It's fun from a personnel standpoint. It's from, it's fun from a roster theory standpoint, like they went out and they traded for a DP striker rather than spending cold hard cash. I don't have a problem with that. I actually thought Chack and Llorione was pretty good last season for the revs and if he comes good for Montreal, then they'll have, I mean, they'll have gotten themselves a DP number nine

for essentially nothing. I'm not sure that the feeling is particularly high, but they are low P gonna be, I'm gonna use a word again, one of the more fun teams to track this year because they're so unorthodox in how they go about their business. I think I put in our Discord chat that we have for SoccerWise, which if anyone doesn't subscribe to our Patreon, it gets you access.

We've got channels for MLS, NWSL, USL, national teams, all of that. I think I put in the MLS chat at some point last year around the Cade and Clark to kill Marshall Ruddy trade. I think this discord is now running CF Montreal. Like as Doyle said, it is this MLS sicko's experiment that's going on in real life and it has some real potential. But the question then from Doyle at the end was the vibes. What is sort of the feeling from the fan base about what that means for your club and and then maybe what it looks like in 2025 well look first of all shout out to Matt though came I came to our show was fantastic Uh, but yeah the the vibe right now, you know

People are excited. They're excited about the signings. They're exciting about george cambell They're excited that these two jaylen neal and george cambell might be the next big thing for the u.s these two, Jaylen Neal and George Campbell might be the next big thing for the US men's national team, the pillars. And that's exciting to have them in Montreal and see them grow. George Campbell has taken leaps and bounds under Laurent Courtois and I think that scheme fits him somewhere where we maybe saw a little slower development with Hernan Lasada the year before that. But yeah, absolutely. The vibe right now is that we're very excited about the potential and the fact that as he said, some of these signings, we got them next to nothing because they seem to be monitoring closely situations. Situations like what's going on with that guy, why hasn't he played? And every time we have a signing, I think it was the same thing with Joseph Martinez last year. It's like, whoa, that came out of left field. We did not expect that one that one to come what they're examining situations that have been going on for a little bit and

Jakil Marshall ready as well huge huge huge potential in Toronto and then Toronto lets him go and now we're seeing where Toronto is six months later, you know, it just Let's not get into that little bit of a smile on that one for anyone who's listening via podcast But you know, it's funny funny it's in the Canadian Championship you were mentioning a little bit so in one of the competitions we have um he the first game we play usually this competition is one of the lighter ones that you know that a lot of CF Montreal fans see this competition as like you know we just the big one to beat is Toronto once we get to them. This time around, they're the first game we're playing. So if we get a lot of people are saying if we beat them, then we might have a decent chance to go all the way finally.

But anyways, I'm not going into it. Yep, and the Canadian Championship hero Vani Sartini is no longer so Vancouver may not be the same giant in that competition as well. By the way, I didn't say this, for League's Cup it's Lyon, Toluca and Puebla. I believe all of those games should be at home, although maybe the Toluca game is on the road because Toluca is such a high seed that they get hosting privileges, but it's still in an MLS stadium. After all of that, I'm really glad I was able to get through that.

The league's cup stuff is fascinating for sure. The excitement I think for Doyle with George Campbell, I get. I was excited when they picked him up in the trade. I thought it made a lot of sense for the team to get players like that. And then Jalen Neal, the idea for me in watching him in a three center back setup is exciting because I think he struggled with some of the responsibilities at the LA Galaxy where now he'll have a little bit more support so at the Galaxy he struggled with some physical 50-50s there was a lot of ground he had to cover as one of two

center backs in a team that pushed their fullback forward now we'll have Joel Waterman next to him now have George Campbell next to him Sam Piett in front of him. It's the right spot, I think, for a young center back who can show now his best attributes, stepping into the midfield in possession, going and winning the ball early and restarting attacks. And I think that's where Montreal looked out and, as you said, monitored the situation. They know the Galaxy are in cap trouble. They know that they have to get rid of something.

He's the best prospect. You approach them with ends what ends up being a pretty reasonable deal when we see all the numbers that are flying around and they brought in, I think, a really exciting piece. It's definitely, like you said, one of those exciting pieces that the players that are coming here, JMR, he, he like a, the Kilmar Schorotti or Jalen, you know, they're, they're not coming because

necessarily they love Montreal, but they know that the thing that they'll have here that they might not have in their team currently that is worth doing this to the jump to a place where it's as I mentioned to you earlier David, where it can snow 40 centimeters, you know, and we can go below 40. The only reason why it's actually worth making that move is because they're going to be able to play David. They're going to be able to have minutes and they're going to be able to develop and the organization is going to be patient.

But as you mentioned, the patience also kind of runs, you know, runs short sometimes when like the long list of 13 players that you saw that got released. Patients only go so far, right? But yeah, they're very, very exciting. I completely grew mad, but yeah, it's situations like Dante Sealy as well. Yeah, they've taken some flyers on Dante Sealy, Brandon Craig, Luca Petrasso, similar, but not the same, not the same profile, probably just an MLS roster player.

Those are all these pieces that they've put in and said like whatever we get from them is great. One of the ones we haven't talked about, which I think we should mention before we get to Weebies over Underline, is Nathan Saliba because he is the, you know, the heir of Ismael Kone and Georgi Mihailovich before him, but really the one like out of the academy into the first team piece. And I think his ceiling is very, very high. We know there's been connections already with teams overseas of a potential sale. What do you make of the season he could have and how long he'll be in Montreal?

Well, there's a way to approach this. OK, so there's the expectation that the fans have for all the players like Jalen Neal that come in with potential Kaden Clark and all that but Nathan Saliba it's not like the rest of them it's higher he has to go and he needs to take that next step this next season he needs to be MVP every single game the reason being is because he's a local kid he's their pride he's the he's the pride of Montreal right so definitely a big season for him. He has had two full seasons, even though last season was cut short by a few games with

the concussion protocol and a few injuries. But he's shown again during those six game runs, he had a fantastic goal. He was very involved in the game. So again, if he can continue that, he did really well under Hernando Lassata as well during his first full season as a pro. And he's just been developing, taking leaps. So the early reports from Training Camp is that he hasn't impressed much, but again it's Training Camp and a lot of things can change once the whistle blows on February 22nd, right? So yeah, it's definitely one of those exciting projects that a lot of people are saying he should be sold by the summer because that's how much he's already been linked to teams in Europe, but I think they weren't pitching enough for him.

And so that's it. I think he's got a tremendous roof over his tremendous potential. Yeah. And yeah. He's he is I as you say I think he's a really high prospect. I think there's a place in Canada's midfield that he could fill as well. He was miscast as a 10 when he first came into the pro ranks and that wasn't his fault and now that he's played a little bit deeper and that's part of why I like Hayden Clark and Bryce Duke being in this team. It puts him back in the right position. There's a lot to like about all of that. There are question marks around all of these pieces. You don't know how they'll perform. There's not givens. Otherwise they probably wouldn't have been available for what

they were available for or they may not be on this Montreal roster. But that is I think part of what Doyle says in the fun is you don't know what you're going to get. And if it hits good, it's going to be awesome. And if not, it might be a bit of a car crash, which might be entertaining as well to people from afar. I had scheduled in a 47 minutes about Jules Anthony Valsante, but I'll save that for next time that we talk. And let's go to our prediction line from Andrew Weeby. He says, will the top scorer be over 10 and a half goals in MLS competitions over or under? So his point is, will the top score this year be equal to or better than Joseph Martinez? I put in alongside that if

we want to guess who we think that will be, but you can start just with Weeby's question of do you think that top scorer will go over 10 and a half goals? I do if we have if the proper based on the signings that we've made recently it does seem like these players do like like to cross the ball and they need to be accurate crossers so yeah I'll go I'll go yeah they'll go over over with Joseph Martinez then. Yeah I think so the same I think Giacomo Veroni will be over that number like Doyle I like some of what I see from him

This feels like a vote of confidence even with the trepidation as you mentioned of not being sort of hitting the ground running It's a long season. There's gonna be a lot of opportunities I also think Caden Clark will get around that number like we have seen when he gets consistent run of minutes he scores goals. He sometimes scores stunners and other times he'll pop up. He's always making a far post run. He's always putting you know he's always working hard to get in the box. I had a chance to see him in person for the Venezuela friendly in January down here in Miami and I thought he was just uber aggressive constantly making defenders work and over the Venezuela friendly in January down here in Miami. And I thought he was just uber aggressive,

constantly making defenders work. And over the course of a full MLS season, that's going to get you a lot of opportunities. The physical like aspects have always been there, right? He's high level trainer, you know, can run a ton of high level sprints throughout a game, all that type of stuff. And I think now that he's had that dip in his career,

he sort of understands where he needs to be focused to make sure it doesn't happen again. He had the high highs, sold to Europe, didn't work out, comes back around, Minnesota wasn't the right spot. And now it feels like mentally he's in the right place to take advantage. So I'm gonna go over, and I'm gonna say both of them, go over.

I think you get two double-digit scorers on this Montreal roster this year. If you want to follow things in Montreal, you should follow Andy on social media and then you should go and listen to the Ball is Round Montreal podcast as well. If you are new to us because you're a Montreal fan, welcome to Soccer Wise. We stream live three times a week covering MLS and NWSL as well as NSL as it comes around. We cover all things soccer, lower divisions, international, everything else in North America. So welcome. I hope you enjoyed it. And Andy, let's do this again soon. Yes, let's go. We are talking Philadelphia Union.

Will we be hearing that song this year, Tom? Do you believe in the Philly turnaround under Bradley Carnell? I do. I think I'm higher on them than most. And again, maybe that's just kind of blind trust for watching, like looking at a roster under Ernst Tanner and Jim Curtin. And now it's Bradley Carnelladley carnell's head coach and just being like

i don't know how that is but i've said that seventeen times and fifteen times they've been really good signings i'm just gonna go ahead and assume bruno damiani is gonna be good i'm going to go ahead and see it in the novel which is going to be a good center back right because we watch it happen with

uh... you trusty mark mckenzie to it would jack eliot for you that jake of less is like because we watched it happen with, you know, trustee and Mark McKenzie to with Jack Elliott before he left, Jacob Glesnis, like, I still think Stuart Finley is good just because Philly signed him and he didn't work out. I still think that there's another scenario that happens. So maybe this is me over indexing on blind faith because I've seen it before. MLS is a different spot, a different league than it was in 2019. So maybe they're doing the same things, but it's going to be more difficult to make up that talent gap or spend gap But all that being said I'm optimistic It's hard for me and we're gonna have our conversation with Chuck booth coming up in a moment from the views from the bridge

podcast obviously Philly locals I think Chuck said he's he's covered the team for a decade. This is gonna be the first year without Jim Curtin It's hard to put into context. I think for me because M MLS is a younger league, even though it's hitting its 30th season, what moving on from a coach like that is. We have seen coaches with long pedigrees choose to leave themselves, sort of mutual leavings. Jim feels a little bit different and I think, Tom, I'm still waiting to see like what the impact will be on the club and on the fan base.

Yeah, I think we've seen the impact on the fan base. They are pissed. And I will say I got some Philadelphia Union fans in my life who after I reported the Jack McClendon news, got a lot of angry texts about like, screw this team. Why bother? Like, are they purposefully trying to do whatever they can to piss me off specifically was what text I got from

a friend and so that's the vibe right now it's tenuous if they win games I think things will be alright but there's not much of a lease there's not going to be a ton of good will to this front office. For an office is betting on themselves or centers hey we want to get back to you know the top fives for all of the pressing metrics for all of us. I believe in this game model. I believe in our ability to sign players that are undervalued from others that fit better with us.

That's the bet they're making. If they win games, I think the fans will come back. The fans will be on the side again. But if they start slow, ooh boy, this is going to be one to watch. Yeah, it is going to be fascinating to watch. We don't know where it'll fall yet. But for more on it, let's go to our segment here with Chuck. We continue on with our season previews here at SoccerWise,

talking about every MLS team. And for a lot of the teams we talk about, you talk about MLS, but it's sports markets, like big time sports markets. Philadelphia is not one of those. It's not a city that's built around their sports teams right now. There's not a ton of excitement around it.

So that's where we're gonna go. Chuck Booth with us from A View from the Bridge. They've been covering the union as long as anyone. Chuck, it's a downtime right now in Philly, right? Well, depends on who you're asking, because it's a pretty uptime for most of Philly. It's a very downtime for soccer in Philly, though. I believe did you fight through the parade?

Was that today? Yeah. Luckily, like I live around the corner from the parade. So I just kind of walked on the parade route. And then when I finally had to use the bathroom and wouldn't have been able to get back to the parade, I went home. You you got to celebrate at the highest of highest of highest go birds the championship on one side now we're going to move to the Philadelphia Union and talk about soccer in Philadelphia. Let's get into it. We have of course our Doyalism that we will listen to and

then bounce off the back of. We got our line set by Andrew Weavey. I think they both echo what I'm feeling which is confusion a little bit around this club. We normally start with our transfers and we go through what the offseason's been and how the roster's changed and all of that but we can't because Jim Carton is such a central figure in the history of the Philadelphia Union, the sport in Philadelphia, and the league in Major League Soccer. And he was let go and is no longer a part of the club as Bradley Carnell was brought in in his replacement. Before we talk about what it means in the news and all of that, what is Jim Curtin? What has been the reaction in the fan base? What is he going to mean for years on for this club? Well, I mean, Jim Carton basically deserves a statute

outside of Subaru Park or whatever, eventually the name of that stadium will be, just since you can't get tied to a name of a stadium anymore. Because like literally, like even there, I've been covering this team for more than 10 years and there's never been a time until this year that Jim Curtin hasn't been the coach of that team that's why that I know of and like that's just nuts to even think about like that kind of longevity in coaching just doesn't happen anymore.

And like it's still something where no one can really even believe the fact that he's been fired. And I think like it's not only just the fact that he got fired, it's more the nature in how Ernst Tanner carried about letting go such a figure in this team that's really rubbed people the wrong way, but Ernst Tanner, being Ernst Tanner, doesn't particularly care. It is the superpower of people

from that portion of the world to sort of ignore a bunch of social cues and power right through It is absolutely incredible that you say that about Jim curtain because when he started it was The yearly Jim curtain watch right he kept getting signed to one-year contracts and one-year contracts and one-year contracts And the debate every year was did the team do enough for him to hang on is the team doing enough? For anyone else to take this job and take it any higher? He was a Philly native, a Villanova grad, came up through the academy as a coach and when then it all sort of went right for him, Jim Curtin has put together one of the I think most successful runs in MLS history. Are the trophies

all there? No. But year after year to put up the points numbers that they did, to contend to be a MLS Cup contender and a US Open Cup contender every single year is one of the best seven, eight year stretches in MLS history. And I think that's what he'll be remembered for when it's all said and done. Oh, absolutely. Like there's no way that he's not gonna, I mean, he, it's a short history, but he is the best coach in union history ever. And even without trophies, like arguably one of the best coaches that MLS has seen in general.

Yeah, yeah. Some people like to say didn't win the big game. I think that's a little harsh. I also think I'd rather be in big games and not win them to not be there at all. Also arguably the union haven't had a big game player. So that's another thing just that has to be taken into account is that their record transfer up until now is 3.1 million dollars and plenty of teams will spend

that three times over yep on their designated players or spend more than five times that one one we did our Austin FC preview. I think it was thirty three million dollars spent on the front line for Austin FC just for this season. And that doesn't include the fact that Cincinnati spent 20 million on their center forward and then Atlanta spent 26 million on their center forward. So, yeah, there has been a little bit of a gap. I think one of the ways to say it is in on paper They were technically not favorites in really any of the finals except

The Houston Dynamo US Open Cup, even though that one was on the road. That's one I would I think he would have wished that he could have back. Yeah that that one was brutal I'm glad we could get out no way around. I'm glad we could get there so quickly and be on the same page. Let's dig into, well, let's talk Bradley Carnell first before we go into the transfer. So he's the replacement. Former Red Bull assistant coach ended up being the interim at the New York Red Bulls. His background is he's South African, played in Germany for a while, got into the Red Bull family of things through that, came to the US to work as that

assistant at New York Red Bulls with the interim manager, and then got hired almost eight months before the season started as the first-ever head coach for St. Louis City SC under Lutz Fanenstiel, another you know, sporting director with a German background, ended up finishing the best expansion season ever. finished first place in the Western Conference, a wonky year 56 points, which would not get you anywhere close to a first place most years, but it did that year and then was fired midway through his second season, which was 2024 and eventually ends up getting the job as the head coach. What's been the reaction to him and sort of what do you make of him being the one to take over for Jim Curtin?

Well, that's yeah, that's kind of the problem is like feel like the reaction to carnell If he wasn't taking over for Jim Curtin would be I mean, this is fine Yeah, he's done done well in MLS see we're clearly Adopting the rebel system and he has plenty of experience in that. It seems like for what Ernst Tanner wants this team to do, he is an appropriate fit for it, whereas with Jim Curtin coaching it, it was just kind of what Jim Curtin wanted to do while slightly appeasing Ernst Tanner as much as he could. But when you take over for like an actual like club legend just expectations are so much higher and it's

not like the union we're gonna be able to pull in a coach where it would be like okay we get why you got rid of Jim Curtin because like you got this like insane coach. Right. Yeah. It's not like Tato Martino called them up and said, I need to coach this team, make it happen. Now, I think there's some positive in my mind just when Jim Curtin got let go that I didn't

think it'd be someone who had MLS experience. So I think to find someone in what Ernst Tanner was looking for, which is the style, pushing the young players, all these other things, but to have someone who's been around this league for about five years now and has been a head coach himself and had success, I think that is all fairly positive, but you have to look at how quickly it burned out

in St. Louis and be a little worried about that of like, what is the shelf life of all of this and how much building will there be? And let's look at the roster for that. Two huge names out in the off season. Jack McGlynn sold to Houston and what I'm going to call a cash for in this moment. And then Jack Elliott allowed to walk away one of the linchpins of this entire run under Jim Curtin. Leon Flock as well, a huge part of things. And then Sam Adenoran, one of the other bigger names who came in late last year, had a little bit of a run. Brandon Craig, Matt Rial, a few other players

that have been around the margins, mainly homegrown players that were allowed to let, were allowed to be let go. Were you shocked by the Jack McGlynn move, especially that it was inside of Major League Soccer? Yeah. So yeah, I think that's the big thing is the fact that kind of no one would have been surprised for Jack McGlynn to move. Yeah. And even like, Jack McGlynn to move. And even like when it came to Jack McGlynn on the Union, he wasn't really a player that ever fit the way that the Union was supposed to play. Like he was just too creative and too attacking of a midfielder for this team. Which is nuts to say. Like that when you have a player of that talent caliber you find a way to accommodate them and

it's not like this team like has so many attackers that you can't accommodate Jack McGlynn so I don't I don't fully understand like why him not being a fit for how they wanted to play was a problem. But like, at least if you are gonna sell him, like you can't really argue with the fee that they got and the fact that there's still this 50% selling clause for like when he eventually moves again because he's gonna light it up in Houston

and then immediately be on the move. Yeah, the move to Houston for Philadelphia makes sense in that they are now sending him into a system that fits him perfectly and He can try and main or try and hit his maximum value there to then be sold on for the big number So it's almost punting some of the development into punting some of the development into Houston, but still having that connection via that sell on clause and then There's the chaos around NYCFC Red Bulls bids because Jacqueline Glenn is a New York City native and they have to give them a percentage For what they get all of that

Makes a lot of sense except I think he was the best player January camp I think he might be one of the best young players in the United States. And so it's hard on the surface to say, yeah, well, he's going to go play for another MLS team. And that's the right thing to do, even though the way you explained it and the way I think it does work, which is he doesn't fit, they want to commit more to the style, which means they're going to push him either further out of the team.

And his value is probably going to tank at that point. Make the move now. It is going to be a lot of weekends of pass of the week. Jack McGlynn, Jack McGlynn having a great weekend. He's the Dynamo led by Jack McGlynn. And I think that's going to be a little hard to swallow along with I think Jack Elliott and what he's going to be able to do with the Chicago Fire. But there were

replacements brought in and there were replacements brought in at a level of spending that maybe we haven't always seen for the Philadelphia union. Jovan Lukich brought in a center mid from Spartak Subotica as another central midfield option. Ion Glavinovich brought on as a center back, a young center back from Newell's old boy. And then the big one that we think is about to happen, which would be a transferred record for Bruno Damiani, a 22 year old Uruguayan center forward, over $3 million on the books at National

spent last year in Uruguay with Boston River, where he scored 12 goals in 28 appearances. I saw the clip, I believe Jose Nunez put out there, of his agent on a radio show earlier today, talking about how this sort of came about and the connection in all of it. But does this excite you? I'm using the word historic,

but also it has to be brought into context, again, with the Philadelphia Union. Did these moves signal a big change? Um, I mean, I wouldn't, yeah, like yes and no, because it's one of those things where it's good that the union are spending money because they have had the money to spend forever. Because even after selling Brendan Aronson and Mark Mackenzie. It's not like that was reinvested directly into the team and then they got more money from the moving again So

It is good to see it reinvested. It's But when it comes to like these players even it's like they should maybe be good possibly like it they're still not not like shopping in that market where anything feels close to a sure thing and like even with a record transfer for a forward you want them to have more than one season of double-digit goals ever. And I know like even Julio Carranza's numbers in Argentina weren't good. But it still seemed like there with his like movement and physicality that there was like clearly a player there who once they got into the right system would flourish. And I'm not sure with any of these guys outside of Lukic, because Lukic's tape does actually

look really good on this guy. He should be fit for being a pretty good do-it-all defensive midfielder in MLS. Like obviously he's no Jose Martinez, but no one is. Yeah. And like Philly doesn't need him to be Jose Martinez. They need him to be Leon Flock. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting because I wrote down on our rundown, like looking at Damiani's resume, it reads similar to Diego Rossi when he came into the league, but Carlos Vela was on his team. And so Diego Rossi didn't have to be the guy, he could be a piece around it.

And that's one of those things that Philadelphia doesn't have. Now the conversation around him is he's a very complete center forward. Apparently the Rebs were in the conversation as well, probably wanted him on loan instead. In that move they ended up making for Ganago, which didn't end up happening because the number is pretty high and Philadelphia has been pretty committed.

Tiber Evo had a good start or had a good run last year. So there's some options in there, but it is hard for these young players to have a lot on their shoulders right when they join the team. And as you said, the short thing conversation normally that starts to cost more and more money and what we've seen major league soccer is Tiago Amada is a short thing, but it costs 18 million dollars.

And outside of that, you're taking a risk to put a lot on the shoulders of a young player. For this year, only US Open Cup for the Philadelphia Union didn't qualify for Leagues Cup or Champions League or Champions Cup. Maybe not a bad thing for them to sort of reset things as well as potentially not to push their depth after years and years of starting with CONCACAF competition and having random semis and quarterfinals in the beginning of the season. Let's go to our Doyalism now and then we'll bounce off the back of that. What we're seeing in Philly is an all-time bet on yourself moment from CSO Ernst Tanner,

who fired Jim Curtin, who is one of the most respected coaches in the league and one of the most successful coaches in the league over the past 10 years inspired him out of out of nowhere this winter with the reason being that curtain and tanner didn't really align 100 percent anymore in terms of the game model and that's the big change the game model is going to go back to energy drink soccer just like full-on balls to the wall pressing energy drink soccer, just like full on balls to the wall, pressing with very little room for anything that we would recognize as soccer. Tanner rather said, there wasn't enough running from the Philadelphia Union team last year,

which is insane to me. It's like the first time in my life that I've heard anyone say about MLS, any MLS team, there's not enough running. So that gives you an idea of what it's going to be. It's going to be a lot of young players, a lot of guys brought in on a budget, a lot of pressing, a lot of running, expect Daniel Gosdag, Ty Burrivo to be a big part of it. I'm not sure who's gonna win the starting number six job. The Denly Jean-Jacques is a good bet and there's question marks in central defense as well. We know how they're gonna play. New coach Bradley Carnell was brought in because he's a Red Bull guy as well. There's not gonna be much nuance to it. There's not gonna be much subtlety to it. It's going to be balls to the wall pressing out of that 442 diamond 100% of the time. And look, I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

Man, it feels like Doyle maybe is about to be hitting walls as he talks about that. He makes the point that we sort of said it's the recommitment to the style. One of the things I'm struggling to comprehend is last year, the story with Philadelphia was they were the outlier in a negative way. That all the numbers from goal differential, just counting stats to underlying numbers, said that they should have been a playoff team and they weren't. Now they're telling us that they're going to get better because they're going to shift the style and those are the underlying numbers that they're telling us that they're going to get better because they're going to shift the style.

And those are the underlying numbers that they're looking at. What do you make of what it was last year and how much this recommitment or this style can help them make a jump back into the postseason? And this is where I'm concerned. Because, I mean, there are two major things to why the union didn't make the playoffs last year. Andre Blake being injured on and off because when Andre Blake is healthy, this is a playoff

team. And the extreme regression from Jacob Glestos at centerback because he went from being a best 11 centerback to someone who arguably should have been dropped for the entire second half of the season. And unfortunately, the union didn't have an actual center back to be able to drop him for and guess what? We're entering the season and they still don't have a center back to drop him for. Like there's good signs coming from players like Neil Pierre coming up

from U2 and I guess the hope is like these guys are going to take a step forward and actually make this a playoff team. But also there's a reason, like there is a reason why Jim Curtin wasn't playing these guys last year. Like he's never been someone who shies away from playing young players. I mean look what Quinn Sullivan became under him in midfield when he finally found a position as that right sided eight. Like they just weren't ready and yeah if they still aren't ready this team's cooked. Yeah it is I think I think this is a bit of a gap year of like you're trying to push a few pieces in that probably aren't ready to carry the role. I think the talents there I mean we've talked about Neil Pierre

before like I'm all in I think he's a future national team center back it's a lot of responsibility at a young age and as you said it took Quinn Sullivan a couple years it will take a lot of these players a young age. And as you said, it took Quinn Sullivan a couple of years. It will take a lot of these players a couple of years. Ed Davis, like all of these players are not ready to be huge pieces yet. And the depth is probably not there. The style does help with some of that,

which is we have seen for Red Bulls and for Philly in the past, the style at least allows players to hide a little bit because you're predetermining a lot of the actions. So the game doesn't slow down, but the experience slows down for the player. It also lets you swap in and out pieces if they understand it a little bit easier.

So it often makes it easier for players to take the step to the next level because at least their role and responsibility and the language and all that type of stuff is exactly the same. Does that happen this year? If Jim Curtin had moved so far away from it, are those players there yet? That's another question as well. But I think the worries are right at this point.

I think they're fair. And it feels like even with the signings, if it takes a little bit for some of these players to hit, cause they're young pieces moving countries for the first time, moving to a new style, all of that, it's gonna be hard for this team to play catchup midway through the season. Speaking of young players, we do have one for over underline.

It's one that's gonna be talked about quite a lot this year. Andrew Weeby says, Kavin Sullivan's minutes over under this year, 999.5, AKA, does he play a thousand minutes or more in this MLS season just in league play? Yeah, no, that's a concerning one. Because the hope is under, but when you look at this roster and just figure out who's gonna be your chance creator you have Kyle Wagner and

then you just have crickets because yes and that that's gonna even be an interesting thing when it comes to the six because there is a chance that She and Jock just has to play as that left-sided eight just because Who else is gonna play there? But Daniel Gosdok's not a major chance creator as a ten and then Nathan Harrell's not a chance creator as a right back, so It's hard to tell where

those are gonna come from and that Unfortunately might lead to a 15 year old spending way more time in midfield than he should be Yeah, there is I think by design probably not a ton of other options to try and push These young players on the field. There is not really as you say someone who's going to hit that last pass. There are a lot of Decent finishers straight line runners athletes like if you get into dangerous areas if you win the ball off turnovers Gazdag, Boribo, Ura at times, they'll put that away. The question is who hits that pass to create that chance.

That is the one thing where there has at least during preseason been not much but at least a little bit of 433. And it feels almost like with where we're looking at what this roster does well That it may be more suited to playing more 4-4-3 during the season than the actual 4-4-2 diamond Just because that allows you to try and get some situation of a winger in there to help create something. Yeah. And then at least putting two defensive midfielders

behind Gazdag allows just more when he goes off and goes roaming as well. Cause while he can run, he's still not really a pressing 10. Yeah. Yeah. He is a second forward. He's a finisher. He's had big numbers in that position.

For Kevin Sullivan, a thousand minutes would be, I'm looking at last year and obviously it was a weird year, but Carranza and Martinez both played a thousand minutes before they got sold on 13 and 11 starts. Obviously this would be mainly off the bench and spread out over the course of the year, but like Olivier on Bizeau, had 1,100 minutes last year. So it would be a huge jump for a player who only played eight minutes in Major

League Soccer in their career. He's a young player, but the excitement is he is probably the best prospect we've seen in the United States since Gio Reyna. He has grown a ton physically. He is clean with both feet. He's a dangerous player. He creates for his teammates as well as the ability to create chances for himself. I mean, you see it. He's ripping shots from 35 yards away any chance he gets. I think it'll be interesting because they want to push young players and they want to push them into the team. But Jim Curtin was also so crucial to Kevin Sullivan's development, his connection with

Kevin and his family and his background and all of that I think has been a large driving force in like why Kevin Sullivan's been pushed as he has and maybe why he's even still in Philadelphia and didn't choose to go and sign a European contract. So it's all very fascinating from here on out. It is going to be an odd season in Philly. I listened to one of your final episodes from last year, and I think someone said, "'Do we want Philadelphia to make the playoffs?' And then there was a long silence,

and everyone kind of wandered around for about half an hour. And so if the question is, do we even want to make the postseason? I think a club is in a weird spot, and now they're into the post-Jim Curtin error for the first time in over a decade, which is wild to say and wild to see. If you want to follow it all go to View From The Bridge, of course, and you should follow Chuck as well on Blue Sky

covering all things soccer at CBS on top of the Philadelphia Union people.