SoccerWise - 2025 MLS Season Preview San Diego, San Jose & Houston

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Our final season preview episode is here! With our last three team specific segments we have some big ones! First we talk about the new kids on the block in San Diego FC w/ Tony. They talk all about what San Diego will look like as an MLS market and fanbase. Then we move north to San Jose to talk w/Alex about the Bruce Arena era and this striker heavy buffet. And last BUT NOT least we go to MLS sicko favorite the Houston Dynamo w/Jesus about Jack McGlynn taking over the reins from HH.4:59 San Diego w/Tony 2 Balls & A Mic34:10 San Jose w/Alex Quakes Epicenter1:02:00 Houston w/Jesus Bayoucitian  Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Welcome everybody into Soccer Wise David Goss here for our final season preview team specific episode. We have made it to 30 different segments with different local hosts from around major league soccer it has been a long journey to get here but first kick of MLS is coming up in a little over 24 hours so it's time to get this done and get our final episode out I've enjoyed this a ton I appreciate appreciate everyone for listening. I appreciate everyone for engaging with us, sending their comments, their thoughts, you know, what they felt listening to the different episodes, what they think about their teams as well. For the upcoming season it's been really fun but

I of course most appreciate all the different people that have come on the show. I've met a lot of really cool people through this which is the reason I love soccer. It's the reason I love soccer. It's the reason I love soccer in North America. It is a great community and it is a great connector with people who are interested about the world and people who are passionate about this sport and what this sport can be and passionate about their clubs

and their local community. So it's been really cool to connect with everyone. I am hopeful to get out on the road and do some in-person connecting at some point over the course of this MLS season or the many seasons, whether it's around NWSL, MLS, maybe a CCC final, TST, whatever it is this year. I am hopeful to see a lot of different people.

And if you want to be a part of something like this, sign up for our Patreon to join our Discord. It is going to be the place to be on Saturday to chat about all these games and chat about everything that's going on this week during CCC games. It's just been on fire. It's been electric. It's just been fun to be a part of and hang out and know that other people are doing the same thing as you and passionate about the same

Things as you as well as you can sign up to our patreon that gets you access to our discord It gets you, you know a feed with just Tom's Skeets every time he's breaking news and putting out stories and all that type of stuff It gets you alerts every time we go live It is a great place to talk US women's national team during during the She Believes Cup, NWSL Canada National Team, MLS. We've been talking a ton in our USL channel about the Division 1 status and what it could look like and what this season will look like for a lot of different clubs. Minnesota Aurora's announcement got thrown in there as well which I was lucky enough

to be a part of. So a lot going on. It is the place to be. It also gets you access to our depth charts which are fully revamped they give you a full idea about what a team's salary cap looks like what type of players they've brought in how much they're spending on these players how it compares to other players what we think the teams will line up as on the field and so much more so that is my little pitch to get you in there if you're not

already. For everyone who has messaged us coming off the Golden Boot episode, which by the way was ecstatic, was really really fun, Andrew Weeby, Matt Doyle, Producer, and Anders joined us. We all put together teams along with Tom and myself and then Morgan put together an admin squad with what was left which is probably gonna beat my team in the end. And then in put together an admin squad with what was left, which is probably going to beat my team in the end. And then in our discord, someone created a golden boot channel and people have just been connecting, sometimes with strangers, with other people in the discord and they've gotten together and started to do their own drafts.

So we've had a number of different drafts happen on zooms and calls and all that around our discord. And all of those teams are all going to compete against each other because as long as you've got four or five teams they're all pretty much the same in terms of the draft so everyone's got a shot and we are gonna work on some prizes maybe for the winner but in that Golden Boot episode it ended a little abruptly for Tom as a his family's dog and his dog got in a fight upstairs so thank you to everyone for reaching out with their concern. Melo is doing okay. Had to get a little bit of a vet's visit, but Melo is in the cone of shame

and is doing fine now. And Tom appreciates all of the love that has come from everyone. And I know there was some concern. So I wanted to allay those fears right now, which I'm sure I just mispronounced as my brain is melting because we've got our three final season previews out of 30 that we have done over the last two weeks to get ready for this MLS season. It is the new kid on the block San Diego. We don't know what it's gonna look like, but there's a ton of excitement. So we talked to Tony about that. We talked about San San Jose the Bruce arena era has begun

So we dug into that with Alex as well And then we talked Houston Dynamo with hey Zeus our final team to cover as we head into the season So let's get to those segments right now Well, it's finally time to hit the new kids on the block. It is the exciting new kid in school. No one knows, are they cool? Are they not? Will they talk to us? Will they won't?

No one knows what's gonna happen, but for someone on the ground who has a little bit of an idea, we have Tony Sanchez here with us. Two Balls and a Mic is the podcast. SanDiego.Football is the platform. I know everyone's gonna be intrigued by this team and wanna follow, so you can go there

to get all of your content, both audio and written, to follow everything. And Tony, it's a pretty exciting week for you. Yeah, it's been absolutely busy. Thank you again for the invitation. And let me tell you, it's been a long time coming. Soccer in San Diego has come a long way and MLS is finally here. And I can't tell you, you know, it doesn't

feel real. It's always been in theory, right in theory club, but now you start to materialize it in the first game against the champions going to be is going to be interesting. It's not just the champions. It's LA Galaxy for San Diego LA give people an idea a little bit of what that rivalry is and what you think that'll look like. Yeah, so LA and San Diego LA give people an idea a little bit of what that rivalry is and what you think that'll look like yeah so LA and San Diego essentially it's the big brother little brother classic situation where little brother technically with San Diego is always being overshadowed you know in different

sporting capacities you know you always have the Dodgers Padres in baseball, you lost the whole Major League team in the Chargers, and going over to Los Angeles. So boom, that hurts. And you know, it's interesting with the construction of San Diego FC, having the roots with LA FC. And if there's one thing San Diegans don't like, it's being LA light. And you know, you can draw some parallels to the construction of SDFC and what LA FC did once upon a time very well, by the way. It is. Yeah, it's going to be very interesting. You know, I

went back through the last few expansion teams and it's hard because outside of St. Louis, they were really all heavily COVID affected. And then you're going back six, seven years to LAFC, which it just feels like a different era of the league and the sport in this region and all that type of stuff. And so I think it's really been hard for me to put my finger on what this all looks like.

For anyone who's listening for the first time, welcome. Anyone who's listened before, you know, we kind of have a format for these. We're gonna break that format a bit because we're not gonna go through every transfer and everything that's happened and we're not coming off a previous season. So we're going to just talk a little bit about this team. We've got our Doyle ism and our over underline as well to finish out on. Let's start with Mikey Vars. What has he sort of been like so far to the

fan base and what have you seen from the outside? So it's really a perfect situation. If you ask San Diego FC everything that they've done is is exactly how it's been calculated and head to coach Mikey about us is that piece that you want to go ahead and build a roster with especially with a mentality and the right to dream aspect, where you have a lot of Academy players coming through this specific philosophy of playing the game. And Mikey Varas is somebody who's known as developing youth talent and developing talent. This is his first major stint with adults with, you know, non children, essentially, you know, he did have a interim role with the US men's national team right before pochettino. But overall, this is going to be his first experience with that. But with

Tyler heaps at the helm and really just kind of having this new way of moneyballing MLS, it's going to be interesting to see how that exactly quantifies in wins or losses. And, you know, I asked Coach Mike you about us the other day, hey, like, are you going to prioritize performances over results? Are you going to stick to the strike to dream style and what that looks like aesthetically? Or are you willing to just say abandon it in the 85th minute? Because you know,

if you throw another striker in there, just abandon that sort of mentality, you can get a tie or a win. So these are the really common threads that are going to be interesting to watch through this this season for San Diego. And what should we expect from the fan base in terms of reactions or what they want from all of that? Like what is what do you think San Diego FC's fan base will be? The fan base is a fan base that's been struggling in terms of really coming together that it's finally happening. You know, there was an initiative here in San Diego that failed with Landon Donovan in Soccer City to bring MLS.

And then it ended up being San Diego State University that built a Snapdragon Stadium where a San Diego FC will be. And so with that, there's been just catch 22 after catch 22 for people who have been following this and wanting this locally, San Diego loyal USL Championship Club essentially perished and gave way to San Diego FC. So there's all of that along with the mix of people who have never been exposed to MLS. They are Liga Mx fans. Currently, right now, I am half a mile from the San Diego Tijuana border. I can see it from my house. And you know, that's the interesting dynamic where at the end of the Friday night, Cholo Saturday, San Diego FC. Exactly. And those relationships are being built. But the fan base wants championships. San Diego has never won a championship outside of the San Diego Soccer's msl. Indoor professional 16 time champions don't let them forget it. But other than that, nobody has won a championship in San Diego in a major league

sport. So that's that expectation. Go ahead and be a team that develops locally be a team that develops and has an attractive play style but at the end of the day, this fan base deserves a championship. So the big names on top coming in to try and make that happen, Chucky Lozano, of course, the biggest of them. He is sort of the Carlos Vela of this whole project, the face of it, that early signing that you could build the hype around. And of course, the connection you mentioned to a lot of League MX fans where he came from and of course, El Tree, which he's more famous for.

And then Andres Dreier brought in as well as that second designated player. Those are the big names. And that's what is gonna sort of fuel a lot of this early on. Who are you most excited to see on this roster and who have you sort of kept coming back to to be like, I wonder what it looks like when they are finally out there. I mean, honestly, there was a lot of question marks to begin

this roster build from the get go, but I'm very interested to see how the right to dream DNA legacy players that were brought in are going to really develop this play style. That's the number six, Svetskov, who is essentially going to be the captain working in that midfield and that six, who's exactly going to be just pulling the strings, being the maestro in the middle, but also being a reflection of what this play style essentially is. And up front, number nine, you have Markus Invarityn who also comes from FC Northland the Right to Dream

Academy and you're gonna need to see that adaptation also be input with a lot of talent as you mentioned you have Dreyer's on the side along with Chuky Lozano those are X factors that can get you out of an interesting pickle but obviously this this DNA the backbone, the spine is gonna go through number six and number nine, Sperskov and Inversin. What is the expectations for Chucky in this first year? The expectations depending exactly who you ask.

If you ask somebody who is a Mexican national, it's Chucky needs to be back in selección mexicana. He needs to go ahead and make it back to the national team. That's that's the end goal. Something that has been hasn't been done for a player in MLS to really have to go back and regain the level in the national team for the Mexican side. So that's that's on that side for San Diego FC specifically, you just need to go ahead and be that just that game changer that at

any given point you can give him the ball and he can resolve a game for you and he can essentially do that you can see during the Coachella Invitational during the preseason during trainings. He has that quality that's just a level above he has that gear that he can just cruise in and it's already above a low level of a lot of gear that he can just cruise in and it's already above a level of a lot of defenders That he's faced so far But if chuki can go ahead and get everybody else involved and really develop and teach his ways along and marry it with

Um that the play style it's going to be very interesting He's not known for scoring a lot of goals If you're expecting at los vela right out the, like, wow, fantastic, you're not gonna get that. You're gonna get more contributions off the ball, drawing defenders and being important in that way. Yeah, he is a different player. It's gonna be tough for him with the comparisons. And then you look at the other big, you know,

expansion teams that have hit really quickly and you have the Miguel Almiroes and Joseph Martinez is of the worlds that have powered that Chukilotsano I think a little bit of a different player But the potential for him to be the impact is still there Which is can he come inside draw defenders make life easier for everyone on his team? And then when he gets isolated, can he break out and create chances and get on the end of things and score goals? I think the expectation probably is the double double season and I think anything there is fine.

Like you'd like for it to be more than 10 and 10, but if it's not, I don't think it's the end of the world for this team and I don't think it's the end of world for him. And reminder for everyone, like he's coming off basically a full European season, you know, half a European season and then all of that going into this. So it's a very odd calendar for him to get settled and to get locked in and get ready

to start. And it starts, of course, with the LA Galaxy on the road, which is a fascinating way to start things against the reigning champions. And then the first home game is March 1st for St. Louis. What's the moment that you're looking forward to most? What's sort of that aha moment or something that you can't wait for everyone outside of San Diego to see? I really excited to have San Diego showcased as a sports

town. And and the real moment is going to be where March 1 comes through. And it's just a moment of realization of this is what everybody's worked hard for. This is the moment that everybody's really come through. And really the expectation of all right, you say that you watch soccer in the ratings in the World Cup, San Diego is always top. You say that you have this great talent pool that comes from SoCal. Well, let's go ahead and materialize this now in a major league form. And I really hope that the community takes to it. And so I think the moment's going to be as soon as that first kickoff happens that

moment. Once the whistle happens here on March 1 in San Diego is going to be just a culminating moment for a lot of different people on the pitch off the pitch and just the hard work that that comes with that. At the end of the day. Hey, why not have two big big moments, right? You got San Diego FC's first ever game in LA, then you have San Diego FC's first ever home game. I mean, you can draw attention to that too. So I think that that's that's really going to be that moment where, you know, nothing else matters. We've we've been speaking and speculating about what they've done in the community, what the

kids look, what the crest looks, what all this looks like. At the end of the day, what I personally and a lot of people care for is once that ball rolls, all right, well, let's see what they do with the time in the 90 minutes within the pitch. Yeah, Major League Soccer loves the start the expansion team on the road to have that big moment first game and then have a second big moment in that first home game and I think it works. It's it sort of helps you build momentum build excitement Some of that is sometimes geared on that results of the first game

But I think it goes out the window with the excitement of the second game no matter which way it goes Snapdragon Stadium is gonna be fascinating to watch obviously we know the issues with the field But we see the crowds for San Diego Wave. We know how big it can be. We know how exciting it can be. I think it's the right size for a soccer crowd. What, it sits like in the middle 45,000? 35, 33, 35. Yeah, so it's as loud as it gets, to be honest.

Right, yeah, it's perfect for like what I think people would dream as the high end for soccer specific stadiums as they get built going forward. And we see a couple expanding already in Toronto to see what they have to do for hosting the World Cup. So it's going to be an epic moment. I think it's something everyone's going to be tuned in for. Let's go to our Doyleism now.

Let's hear his thoughts on this expansion build and then we'll jump off the back of that. I like a lot about San Diego's initial build here. Obviously, the biggest part of that is having two DP wingers and Chucky Lozano on one side and Andres Dier on the other. I mean, Lozano's a Mexican national team legend, been a Champions League player. And while Dier, I think, struggled a little bit this year in Belgium,

he was awesome last year, like literally one of the best players in the league. He's still in his prime. He's awesome last year, like literally one of the best players in the league. He's still in his prime. He's on the fringe of the Danish national team should be like very easy to plug in play. And then behind those guys in midfield, I love the Luca del Torre signing. I think if he can stay healthy, he's the best 11 caliber player. But then there's just a lot of question marks around that. Like we don't know how Marcus Ingabartson is gonna be at the number nine.

He's never been a big goal scorer. Goalkeeper is a massive question mark with CJ Dos Santos. Like he's never been a starting keeper. The center backs should work, but we don't know. It's not like they went out and got Walker Zimmerman for their initial roster build here So it's just the typical question marks that you have from an expansion team and on top of that look

I admire the fact that they're gonna up the degree of difficulty by being a team that wants to use the ball Right like Mikey Varus and Tyler Heaps said that explicitly to us two months ago when we were there for the expansion draft Like it's in our DNA. We want to be a team that has possession. And I think that's great. And I like watching teams that play like that, but it's harder. Like Arsene Wenger said it like 20 years ago, it's harder to create than destroy and like that remains factual in this day and age.

So there are going to be some stumbles out of the blocks from this team, which I should mention still has an open DP slot I think has two open U22 slots as well So like there's a lot that is not yet complete in terms of how they're built But whether it's complete or not, I expect some early troubles But I do expect this team to play attractive soccer and to be much better in September than they are in February and March. Alright thoughts there from Doyle. As he said he is correct the open DP spot the open U-22 spots that was part of why we were waiting to do this to see if maybe it got filled before the season starts.

Clearly that won't be the case. I want to go back to a couple of the names that he dropped and sort of keyed in on and I think he's right to focus on the spine outside of some of the big names and you talked about a few of them Luca della torre there's there's a lot of excitement around this right? He's a full US men's national team player He's also part of the story He had to leave San Diego to go have a professional soccer career because there wasn't a team and now there is and so for him To come back and maybe reestablish himself in his career, but also help this team from the start, it feels like a really cool narrative.

Yeah, no, it's really impressive what SCFC has been able to do with the player, right? You were almost wondering who the player was going to be, you know. You can have Brandon Vazquez, was Paul Arreola going to be back? You know, you technically have Joe Corona across the border with Cholo's but Luke, Luke, Latorre is definitely one that was circled. And again, it's one of these things where a base case scenario if you ask San Diego FC, that's exactly who they wanted from the beginning. And so having him be over here on

alone, it's just like a little taste of it and trying to go ahead and lure him into a permanent deal. His play style is going to really meld very well with Mikey Varas's idea in this 433 transition. And you saw it when they went over against the Red Bulls in this last preseason game where those spaces are open and he can definitely make those diagonal runs and receive a pass from the back end in order to go ahead and just create something out of nothing. And again, talking about that counter attacking style, Mikey about us and SDFC, they're going to live and they're going to die by that counter attacking

style. You saw it in the first two games in the Coachella Valley Invitational, where they were they were definitely punished for that. But Luca La Torre is absolute class. It's another player that you can definitely see that there is an extra gear just waiting to be had. And you know, he didn't play a lot of minutes in La Liga last year for him. But now again, he's still getting that training. He's still in that environment where he's able

to bring that experience and really put this midfield together and it can really be incredibly special to have him link up with Dreyer's and Lozano whenever they want to. Yeah. He's going to be really interesting in this team. Like you said, his ability to sort of pick up the ball and attack defenses is going to be big. I watched that Red Bull game and it was really interesting. The space is then that opened up for Dreyer and we saw Dreyer get the goal. But I think it takes a lot of positional responsibility off him

because Delatory is going to cover some ground in that midfield area and be able to draw a few different midfield or defending players. Doyle talked about the rest of the spine, the unknown. We have seen teams in MLS come in with quote unquote unknowns and goalkeeper, but I think there's belief that a lot of these guys have the talent to do it. And I think the pool is deep Enough across Major League Soccer that there are backups that should be starters and I think that's fine The Andres Reyes trade is interesting to me. It makes a lot of sense, right? You look around the league who's got some depth that center back Red Bulls were one of them They brought in another center back Isla was a young center back for them

But Andres Reyes should have been a starter in MLS Cup this year. He has some incredible skill sets They don't exactly fit with what San Diego's talking about wanting to do But they are super important to a team that's figuring out on the fly He can put out a lot of fires for other mistakes that are made defensively The question will be his responsibility playing out of the back I think in all of that, but it feels like from the start for an expansion team, that's a really nice pickup to have a guy like that at his age with a little MLS experience. Now, absolutely.

And he's coming in very well. He actually picked up a bit of a knock here in preseason. He hadn't been shown in preseason at all, but that's exactly what it's going to be for Reyes is really just utilizing him at his best time and his best positioning. This team is going to transition from that 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 really quickly with the wing backs going up and down with Kumado and Negri. So you're going to need somebody to have great defense and you know, you're going to need to have somebody who's going to take a yellow card in the midfield to stop that counter

attack and potentially a red card here and there as we know, Reyes and his play style as well. So I guess like if you can definitely hone that style and focus it into what we need you to do is this. Get this ball from here to here and that's all you do. Defend the rest of the game. And Reyes is going to be incredibly important for the squad moving forward, especially paired with somebody in the center back position with Patti McNair who is really good on the ball where that almost compensates for any sort of lacking there that Reyes may have.

Yeah, it feels like a good pairing, which was the idea clearly for San Diego. And I think it's really good base to build the rest of this team off of. Let's go to Doyle's sort of final piece of that which links up with what Andrew Wiebe put for his over underline. Doyle talked about the possession, the commitment to the style, the commitment to playing, you know, expansive soccer and how fun it can be to watch but also how tough it can be sometimes to build a winner out of and it goes to our line from Andrew Wiebe. So Andrew Wiebe sets are over underline for this one at 51 and a half percent possession

over the course of the full season. So last year in Major League Soccer, there were 10 teams that finished above 50% possession. CF Montreal, the lowest of that at 50.1. Houston Dynamo, the outlierlier along with Columbus at 59.3 and then a few other teams the crew the Galaxy Inter Miami sort of falling in between. So 51.5 would put them just a tick above where the revs finished last year and right below NYCFC on that list but it would say we are a possession team. If you are anywhere above 50%, you are a possession team. So the

question is, do you like that line? And do you think they stay committed through the full season, even if results go up and down? In terms of commitment, yes, 100%. They are going to stick to this mindset. They are going to be stubborn and they're going to be frustrating to watch a lot of the times, especially when something like this, it takes time and chemistry to build a multi dimensional facet of possession ball, you have to be able to have that trust all the way back to your goalkeeper.

And I think that's where CJ dos Santos comes in, right where his on the ball ability is what's putting him overseas in the I got here not necessarily his shot-stopping ability but his ability to draw defenses in and Really pinpoint a pass and start the attack from there at the end of the day I do have to agree with with that sense where I think that's exactly where they're gonna ride the entire season and It's depending on what they do with that position. As we know, they can have all the possession outside the box they want. But if they don't shoot, the ball's never going to go in and you're going to have a lot of losses

and ties that way. But if that's what you're aiming, and you're trying to go ahead and be a team that travels across the country and you know, I kewada has overlaid Europe over the US map for all these players coming in last week, you know, just to be clear, San Diego is one of those points that travels the most out of anybody in the nation. So that's definitely a reality that they have to do and consider. But at the end of the day, if they really want to go ahead and manifest those away draws and get those points in and really ride that out, they're going to have to keep that identity. And I think they have the depth right now and they have again

that that mindset that if we don't have the ball, we can't create the best offense is sometimes more offense and we'll worry about defense later. So that defensive line may get shaky. But if the mentality is let's score more than they can score. Now you're going to you're going to find yourself in some really happy times, but you're also going to find yourself losing in a watershed game. Yeah, it is a tough one for me to sort of judge

because it seems like the club has that, you know, the Right to Dream connection gives you that overall larger vision. I think inside of that larger vision, it gives a coach a little bit of leniency to say, I can take style over results at times, because that's what we said we want to do. Like that's who we said we are. And so many, you know, pieces of what we're trying to build. And so I think that to me, makes it sound like, okay, it'll be online with this. The other side of things is just how hard it can be. It's so hard to build a team out of scratch

and so to become all of a sudden in your first year an outlier feels really, really tough to accomplish and it feels hard to believe. So I look back, LAFC in their first year, they finished at 53% possession in the end. It took them five or six games to get there because it took five or six games to get settled and established and dictating games. If we go back and remember their first ever result was against Seattle. They scored a counter-attacking goal. It

was like the only shot they had and it was Diego Rossi and Carlos Vela in transition. And so it's hard to imagine it works that quickly that you're able to have that number sustained but I think the overall image of what you're saying is right which is they're gonna try as much as they can they're going to try to commit to that style and get set up that way and so I would assume they end up over 50% on the season and they're in that top 10 or 11 Echelon which I think would be really cool for fans if it's me Okay, if you're gonna win or lose we don't know year one

But like make it fun to watch give us something that we know we're signing up for give us something that we can believe in And I think that that style and all of that sort of fits in that. So I think I'm gonna go over on that line even though I think the line's a little high for me there. I would like it to be 50.5 or 49.5, but I'm still gonna take it. And I'm going to say that I am positive on all of this. Let's finish with a line I made up. I'm not a professional like Weeby,

but I tried in this one, which is I just averaged out the standings for the last six expansion teams. As I said, it is hard to judge because of COVID and everything else that happened, and St. Louis threw this whole thing off with their first place. But it comes out to eight and a half in the Western Conference. So the question there being, do they finish ninth or below, or do they finish eighth and above? Ninth of course would be a playing spot. Below would be outside the postseason. Where do you fall on the expectations and where this team sits in the standings

at the end of year one? It'd be really easy just to take the, hey, they're going to be dead last and you know, it's a first year and they're going to go ahead and give it, give it that try. Right. And with everything pointing to that stubbornness to that staying to this play style and and and way that they're going to go ahead and win or lose games it's very easy to go on that slippery slope but there is something that this club has and it's ambition and on all fronts all on and off the pitch they want to go ahead and revolutionize the way that soccer is played in the United States from the right to dream academy

To peppering some DPS here and there This is some club that has that drive that has that ambition But again in theory in theory everything is heading that way in practice We've saw we saw them be exposed in the in the in the preseason a little bit there were tired legs They were coming off the conditioning of a double training day right before and then you know, they they got Stomped by New York in the first game and in Coachella, but at the end of the day, I drew think that They have a chance to make a playoff run There is definitely an opportunity for them to go into that ninth eighth position

and I think if you're San Diego, that's a phenomenal success. Even if you don't go into playoffs, as long as you're fighting in that area, I think that's a very good marker. And I could definitely see them ending at least fighting for single digit positioning at the end of the season in the Western Conference. Yeah, I say this all the time. I think the playoff race is such an the end of the season in the Western Conference. Yeah, I say this all the time. I think the playoff race is such an exciting portion of the season and extends the value of the season and gives people something to tune in for and be locked in for and look

at the standings and sort of just consistently follow that if you're in that conversation, it's good enough even if you don't make the postseason because the reality is with the play in, you make the playoffs in three days later you're out and You know as great as that looks and I think it sounds good as well to say I think the six-week Experience before that of like will we get in won't we this result matters this doesn't you're following what other teams are doing I think that all has a ton of value. I think it's fair to have some belief that they can be in that I'm gonna go under on this line, but I think you are right that like they are

playing meaningful games in September and August, and that will be a win enough for this team. My hope is my big hope with this, though, is if it doesn't go well early, that there's not a panic summer, that it's an acknowledgement of like, okay, we had a plan. We're going to stick to that plan because that's the one thing we have seen. And Miami were the big ones with this, uh, that you can get thrown off really quickly and unless you can get messy and come to your team it's hard to get back on track after all of that and not sure that that's going to be the case for most

teams in Major League Soccer. Either way two mics and a ball at san diego.football that's the spot to follow it we will link it everywhere in the description and in the video. Tony, I can't wait to watch this go down from afar. Hopefully I make it out there at some point for a game as well. But enjoy it. San Diego fans have earned it. It should be a great week, a great couple weeks, a great season and good luck. No, I really appreciate it. And you are welcome here in San Diego. I actually talked to Tom at Coachella and I invited you

guys to for tacos whenever you're here So you let me know and we'll make it happen And if you are feeling a little adventurous bring that passport We'll walk you over to TJ and get some get some tacos down there as well. Hell. Yeah That's exactly what I want to do as I said Friday night Chola Saturday San Diego FC I think that's the dream right now for soccer in North America. So enjoy it everyone and we'll talk to you again very soon. Well let's head to the Bay Area, otherwise known as New England Revolution West as we talk about the 2025 San Jose earthquakes. It's time for our preview and you know there's no one else we talk to. And one of the members of Quakes epicenter as well as the Aftershock, the

postgame show, live that everyone knows so well from the San Jose Earthquakes, Alex Morgan. Alex, thanks for being here. Happy to be here and excited to talk some Quakes. It is... when was the last time at this point of the year, you know, set up to the season, were you this excited to talk about this point of the year, you know set up to the season Were you this excited to talk about this team? Every year the quakes get sold on false hopes and in dreams. So every year We've been excited to talk about the quakes for the last five or six years and somehow it never quite Materializes the way we think it's it's going to you. This year, it's hard to tell because on the one hand, bringing in Bruce Arena, it feels

like there are going to be some pretty substantial changes to how this team looks, how this team runs. And on the other hand, they still have six of their last eight head coaches in the organization between Luchi Gonzalez joining as the Academy director between the interims Ian Russell, Steve Ralston, Chris Leach, Alex Cavello. Everything behind Bruce Arena still seems like it's remained largely unchanged. So there's a kind of open question as to how much this organization is actually going to change this year.

I did not see all the former head coaches are in the building angle coming and you're absolutely right and it is bizarre and I guess the hope would be there's a lot of brain power in all of that But you never know what it ends up looking like we will go through our transfers in and out There have been a lot we will hit our Doyle is and we've got our over underline as well But you brought up the big name and I think most of the time we start transfer side because that's the big news and moves but it's Bruce Arena. We didn't know he would ever coach in Major League Soccer again. We didn't know he would coach in a place like San Jose and that's not a knock in any way. It's just not one of the few places he has connection to or is

associated to. He of course and now like Galaxy Legend as well so this whole thing sort of came out of nowhere on me. What has been your experience of following it as the news has trickled out and as it's become official? Yeah let's be clear Bruce Serena has a connection in a pre-existing relationship with the San Jose earthquakes. It's just as the coach of their arch rivals and enemies in Los Angeles galaxies for for for 10 years right. So I think that's gonna be a hurdle that some fans are gonna have to get over. And the question is if he can bring results this season

in the short term. That's pretty clearly the barometer that he's gonna be judged on. When the Quakes were bringing in Luchi Gonzalez, their last head coach, they were talking a lot about building a culture and building a culture and, you know, building a long-term project, you know, from the first team, you know, all the way through

the back office. That's not the sense we have with Bruce Arena. This is a pretty drastic change. It feels in some ways as if they've set that long-term project aside and that Bruce is operating as a rental coach for two, three years to kind of give a shock to this system and get some immediate results on the pitch because that's what he's done his entire career.

That's his bread and butter. And so, yeah, that's ultimately how he's gonna be judged is whether he can be the shock to the system that this team clearly needs after a historically bad year last year. And the idea there is just win stuff for a little bit? Like be good and then figure it out after that? Yeah, I mean, I talked to Bruce,

sat down with him for 20 minutes at the Quakes pre-season camp in Coachella and was asking him questions about the long-term vision for the organization. Because if you look at the transfers that they've brought in, it's five or six guys who are between the ages of 29 and 33, which is not the profile of player that the Quakes have been recruiting for the last five years. The Quakes were really, really focused on bringing in young talent,

guys like Hernan Lopez, 2019, guys like Christian Espinosa from around the world who they could develop and envision themselves as maybe the West Coast Philadelphia Union, something in that model. That's not the model anymore. Bruce was not wanting to speak to the long-term vision that he had.

I think that's because he doesn't have one. That's not his job. That's not the way he sees his job here. He's I think 74 years old now. He's not building a dynasty in San Jose. He's already had his dynasty at the LA Galaxy. He doesn't want to do that again. He's just here to get a job done. And what would you say he's been like so far in and for I think everyone listening most people already know but Bruce arena obviously one of the great characters in American soccer of uncertainty. He was suspended during the season and then eventually stepped away and had to reapply for the ability just to coach in Major League Soccer.

He has always been, you know, loud spoken and confident. Have you seen any change in him? Change in Bruce Arena? Yeah. Change in Bruce Arena? No, no, and I don't expect any change in Bruce Arena. I mean, it's still completely opaque and a complete mystery what actually ultimately happened, you know, at the end of his tenure with the revolution and what's happened since. You know, what we know is that John Fisher, the Earthquakes owner, is willing to give him another chance. He's in typical Bruce fashion, still abrasive, still willing to get on your nerves, and excited to see exactly how that unfolds during the post-match press conferences throughout this year. One of the things I will say for people listening from the time I've seen in Major League Soccer with Bruce for the last 10 or so years is he has been heavily focused on first teams

and winning. All the clubs he has left though, the academy setup has been better, more well-financed and the pipeline has been better built than it was when he got there. And so whether it's his focus or his plan, I think he does have the ability to force owners to be committed and spend on their club. And that's at least one of the avenues in which an owner can spend. Sure. And he won't be alone in that, right? Luci Gonzalez is now running the Earthquakes Academy. And he's one of the best. That's what he did with Dallas. In some way, it feels like this is an ideal role for him in the organization.

The Quakes have invested a lot in their academy. They had the sale of Kate Cowell to Chivas. That was their first big transfer. They also sold Marcos Lopez Marcos Lopez Defion Ord and he's actually done well participating in European competition. And there are some guys coming up through the Academy right now who are getting shouts with the US Youth National teams. You know, Nico Shakira is one of them. Cruz Medina is one of them. You have Oscar Verhoeven is one of them. I think actually my impression from Bruce because I asked him about which of the young guys he's kind of expecting more from this season is that he's going to be conservative for now. I asked him, look, Niko Shakira had a breakout

season last year. He was getting lots of first minute teams. You have Youth World Cup on the horizon. What do you think he could do? And Bruce was like, we're going to slow down here. He did not have a breakout season. He got minutes because there was nobody else in the midfield, but he didn't contribute as much as we wanted him to going forward. He was playing in too deep a role in the eight position. We want to release him, allow him to play further forward in the 10 position, and actually see some offensive output before we start talking about the next steps of his career.

So I think he's gonna be a little cautious, at this stage, he's certainly not gonna forefront them in the way that Lucci has been for the last few years. Yeah, it makes sense. And it makes sense because of the transfer list that I'm about to read off that he has created. So you've got your revs moving over, of course, Bruce leaving as revs head coach, he has brought back in in his career

Ian Harks, Mark Anthony Kaye, Dave Romney, Nick Lima, Earl Edwards Jr. I believe that's it for the Rebs side of things and then it's the big names. It's Joseph Martinez signed as a free agent and the biggest move of the offseason Chicho Orongo traded from Real Salt Lake for a massive amount of gam before the cash first came out. I'm still curious if that would have changed things after that happened but those were the monumental moves made by Bruce to reshift this roster and a lot of it is through the spine. Center backs, central midfield and the two center forwards. Let's start with Chicho.

What should the expectations be for him who also finished last year in a cloud of uncertainty both on and off the field and now comes in under Bruce Arena for the first time? Well, yeah. I mean, there's been uncertainty about both Chicho and Joseph, right? That's... Yeah. I think there's not a lot of clarity as to, you know, where they're at and, you know, what, you know, they're, you know, we know historically what they've

been able to produce in Major League Soccer, but, you know, how many goals they're going to have between them this year is an open question. And also, how they're going to fit together, because right now in this Earthquakes team, you have three guys who like to float around the middle, who offer similar skill sets in Joseph and Chicho and Hernán López, that don't kind of easily fit into any formation or structure. With Luchi González, it was always about structure. The Quakes were incredibly playing, incredibly positional soccer, focused on regular concrete

patterns of play, that's out the window. This team is now going to have, you know, free flowing, you know, fun, dribble heavy attacking soccer. And, you know, it's going to be up to Bruce to see if he can get them to combine together and find their rhythm together and kind of find that intuition together on the field. I think a tough turn of events for Amal Pellegrino, who was like a borderline second forward last year to now be in this team that has 97 PureSec center forwards, as well as some of the biggest personalities.

This is a debate I've had with people, you know, in group chats and whatever over the last week or two, but there's this assumption that Joseph and Chico will start up top. And when I question it, everyone keeps saying, well, why would you bring Joseph in? I don't know that Joseph Martinez in my mind comes in,

you know, with a guaranteed spot of like, you are Joseph Martinez. The years he's had the last few years have not shown that. And everyone's saying, well, you can't bench him. It feels to me like Bruce Serena is the bigger personality in that room. What do you make of how this will be set up and sort of what will happen around Joseph as we've seen him maybe struggle

with the loss of playing time in the past? Yeah, so he's been starting in pre-season. The Quakes have been playing primarily with a three at the back, a kind of three-four-three diamond formation. Again, the structure is kind of hard to determine right now, but that's basically how they've set out thus far.

And Joseph has been starting up top. You know, Chicho, I guess nominally, has been playing on the kind of number 10 position, but again, it's very free-floating. That's how I expect they're going to set up on opening day. I think Joseph walks in with enough of a reputation and enough raw skill that he'll be that starter day one. It's his spot to lose. It's his and Chief Joe's spot to lose.

The person who's on the outs, as you mentioned, is Amal Pellegrino because there's not a clear role for him in this team. He's very comfortable as a winger, out and out winger on the left wing. He had that spot last year and he didn't, he wasn't quite able to claim it. And now that they're playing with a three at the back, he's not, he's not really made for that wing back, that super wide role. and he's also not an out and out number nine. So it's really unclear where he fits in, and it's also a little bit unclear where Christian Nespinosa fits in, because he's again an out and out right winger. If you move him back into the kind of wing back position, you're losing out on the productivity

that he has going forward. That's where he's played in preseason thus far. And Bruce doesn't even seem to know that he can play in the number nine role. I talked to Bruce and I was like, okay, what are you going to do with Christian here? And he didn't even know that Christian was able to play up top. And then I talked to Christian 10 minutes later and Christian was like, that's my preferred position in this formation, is the number nine position. I was like, clearly there's still some sorting out to do. Because ultimately,

I think Christian offers the most when he is making runs in behind when he's getting to the byline and he's cutting balls back. And so it's unclear to me right now, you know, where exactly that will land if Bruce will use him, you know, that way and maximize his potential. Yeah, it's tough in that setup because Christian Espinosa in a 4-3-3 on the right side over the last few years has been a top five winger in Major League Soccer and for large stretches has been the best pure winger. Not every team plays with that position anymore. And that's the conversation you start to get into is how can you get him into his best

spots because in theory it's sort of what John Herdman did with Bernadeschi last year of like play him at wing back so that he can be isolated out wide and attack defenders from comfortable areas. The problem is if you are caught defending that player one has the put in defensive work deeper on the field or two is too far from goal to be effective enough so then if you move him centrally you keep him higher but does he get into those isolated 1v1 scenarios where he likes to? And that's sort of all the puzzle with this. The rest of that central area is going to be flipped now as well. Is the expectation that Mark Anthony Kay and Ian Harks and Dave Romney are all starters up the spine? That's the expectation. Don't know if I love it. I think that in these first few

preseason games at Coachella, my main concern has been the central midfield. You've had Marc Anthony Kaye as well as Ian Harks and Hernan Lopez starting in the central midfield and it looks shaky. It looks like they've been overrun in the midfield and teams are able to break in behind there. So that's where I would, if there's one area I'd flag as a major concern, it's that central midfield. At the back, I think they have enough options now between Bruno Wilson, between Rodriguez,

between David Romney, between maybe some fullbacks or wide players that you could bring into one of those central three positions. I think they should be more or less covered. My concern is the center midfield. Yeah I think Dave Romney is a good MLS center back. Not elite but probably adds to this. Mark Anthony Kaye at his best over the last five years would change this midfield. We just haven't seen him there very often and so my hope is getting off the turf in New England

and getting back out to California. When he was at LAFC and as he left LAFC, I thought he was Canadian national team, borderline Premier League player. He has struggled with injuries and has been in and out of teams since then. And so the ceiling there is massively high. The question is just at this point in his career,

if he can get back there. On the other side, going out for this team is well, now the rest of the New England Revolution as everyone's gone in the other direction. A lot of names that have gone out from this team because Bruce Arena is flipping things. So Jackson Yule out the door on this group, JT Marsinkowski has gone down to LA,

Jeremy Obobacy has gone down to LA, Jeremy Obobacy has gone down to LA as well, and a couple other names of players who have been around this team but I think the point being as things have been a struggle is there are not really many sacred cows that were on the roster coming into this offseason and there is a lot to turn around for a wooden spoon winning team in the New England Revolut- or sorry, wow, I really convinced myself on that one. Into the San Jose earthquake. Let's listen to Doyle's, Doyle is him right now and then we'll jump off the back of it.

Bruce Arena's last ride, man. It's exciting. Bruce is the greatest history, it's the greatest coach in the history of MLS. And one thing he's done at every stop is sort of renew the culture of the team he's at. And, you know, nothing, not never more famously than when he was hired by the galaxy in 2008, that team was going nowhere. They were one of the worst teams in the league. By 2009, he had him in MLS cup. By 2010, had him winning the supporter shield. 2011, they won the double like that's that Bruce arena. he does it by fixing the culture and the quakes needed that like, you know, it didn't work the last couple years under Luchi Gonzalez. They went backwards in 2024.

They weren't able to reverse that even after parting ways with him. So Bruce has brought in a bunch of his own guys. I think four or five guys from New England, most of whom will be starters. And these aren't high level talents, but they're guys who do know how to win in this league. They were central part of those great Bruce teams there from 21 to middle of 2023.

And then the other part of this is the academy in San Jose has been really underutilized over the years. And it goes, I guess, kind of underappreciated that Arena was wonderful at bringing new players into the team. You know, DC, LA, he did that early in his tenure, the Rebs, and even a little bit with a brief stop at the Red Bull. So the hope is that he can build the foundation with all these veterans. And that will make it easier to integrate all the Academy kids, three

new draft picks that they're all very high on as well. And that better days are ahead for San Jose. But remember, this was a 21 point team last year. So even if they double their points total in 2025, that's probably not going to be good enough to make the playoffs. So it's just a massive hill to climb for this team. Like we could see real progress from them and still come nowhere near the postseason. That's just the reality of where they ended up last season. And so it's a two, three year project at the very least.

All right, from Matt Doyle there, the words of the sage himself, what do you make of what we heard from Doyle about the excitement around Bruce Arena and what he can build, but also the mountain that they have to climb? Well, first of all, I don't know if this is Bruce Arena's last ride.

I get the feeling that Bruce Arena will be coaching long after we're all dead and buried. We said this 11 years ago that Bruce Arena's last ride was that final Galaxy MLS Cup and then into the US national team and then into the refs. Yeah, yeah. No, Bruce, I think Bruce still has some legs left in him. Yeah, look, I think that as far as the academy goes, you know, we talked about Nico Shakira's, I think some other shouts could be Oscar Verhoeven, you know, potentially getting in a wingback position. You know, I think that the Hill is going to be difficult. They were a 21-point team last year.

And I think that the consensus was that they were maybe a little bit better than that. I think that that's what Bruce is saying on his analysis, that they were a little bit better than that. That was where Chris Leach ended. That was where Luci Gonzalez ended saying this wasn't a 21 point team. But it's not much better than that. Maybe it's a 25, maybe it's a 30 point team.

It's not it's not much better than that. And so so they do have a big hill. Bruce Arena wasn't willing to kind of set expectations. He was pretty clear. This is not the LA Galaxy. This is not an organization that is primed to win the MLS Cup. He's not gonna deceive anyone about that. He's also not even gonna commit to making this a playoff team. He

said, you know, we're gonna see how the first few months go and if playoffs are a possibility that would be great. But he's not coming in with any expectations of making the playoffs. You know, I tried to push him on that and he said we'll talk again in in July He's not gonna he's not gonna talk about the playoffs before July because they need to get a sense of of where this team is At what it actually looks like tactically and then where it's at mentally because you know a 21-point season takes a toll on the locker room It takes a toll on players. It takes a toll on everyone in the organization to be historically bad and go down in the record books as such a bad team. I think that's why, you know, having kind of some of the veteran leaders on the team like Jackson Yule and Jeremy Obobese rotating out was important just to get something fresh in there and to do a mental reset. So I think that there's kind of some conservatism about projecting how well this team is going

to do this season. And really, they just don't want to lose their first five games by three or four goals. I think if they can get through the first few games, relatively unshaken, that will be a good stepping stone upon which they can build. Well, if the bar is very low, it makes it a lot easier to jump over. And if that is the case, not losing your first five games and all of that,

that puts you in a pretty good spot. Let me ask you about Hernán López real quick, because I said to you before you came on that I was ready to do San Jose I thought everything was locked in and then all of a sudden in the in the Lucho news San Jose got an inserted we already saw Carlos Gurezo who was a DP pushed out of the team because there was not enough spaces left to bring a Lucho or someone like that in you'd have to push someone else out of the group is Hernán López locked into this squad like is he

a central part of what is happening? He has been for the last year. Last year, he was like by far their most creative, productive, important attacking player. He was always able to create chances and always able to produce goals and assists, even when he was getting double teamed, even when he was getting shut down because the Quakes didn't really have a ton of other attacking outputs

that teams thought were threatening. It was disappointing to me to see that he might be moving out because what's happened over the last few years is that the Quakes will bring in a few new players and then sell a few players. The sheets are never quite big enough. You pull it up to your head and then your feet are cold. You move it down to your feet and then your head. So it felt like that story was happening all over again. But I think as far as the rumors go, there was some uncertainty as to

whether the clubs that were interested would be able to stump up a large enough transfer fee and actually follow up on the payments because that's been a concern in the past out of some of the South American teams that were expressing interest. There was some panic among the Quakes fans when he was not named on the roster for one of their Coachella games. He was on the sidelines and it was unclear why right after those rumors had broken. But turns out it was just a kind of a lower muscle injury.

And speaking to kind of folks in the team, Turns out it was just a lower muscle injury. Speaking to folks in the team, it seems like he will be a member of the squad this year. I expect he'll play an important role. He's a player that because of his age, because of his output, you know, he could be he could be moved for a kind of significant profit for San Jose. And so, you know, they'd be negligent not to consider those opportunities. But I think there's a sense that now is not the right time for them. Let's finish on the last two big attacking names. We've talked Joseph and Chico a bunch. Andrew Weeby sets our line for this show and he does so with those two.

He says, combined, do Chico and Joseph score 26 and a half goals this season or more? That is an MLS competition only. So in the regular season, do these two either play together most of the time and successfully enough to break that line or does one of them completely explode and get into a golden boot conversation

What do you make of this question sort of as that being the question mark for? Weaves as well as where do you fall in the line? I've been snake-bitten enough I'm not gonna make overly optimistic predictions about the earthquakes It's it's been 11 years and I think every time I have overshot my preseason predictions. So not going to do that to myself anymore. Going to take the under. Mostly because I think that guys like Christian Espinosa, who've been in this team for a long time, will assert themselves and will continue to play a big role up front.

And you know, as far as the framing goes, my worry actually isn't their attacking output so much as the defense because last year they got ran through on the defense and I don't know if they fixed the central midfield issues. Last year you had Carlos Gurezzo, who showed up day one and was immediately getting beaten by every single number 10 that he played. And I'm not sure that you have a rock solid solution with Mark Anthony Kaye and Ian Hark. The question that I would throw out there is what's the over under on the goals conceded? Because last year was 78.

And is the benchmark 60? Is it 50? Is it 40? Because those would lead to drastically different seasons for the earthquakes. Yeah, record setting negative goal differential is never exactly where you want to end a season. And that is where we sit right now with San Jose.

I will take the under as well. I think there's enough question marks in this group in terms of health and whatever. And I don't know with Joseph when he, now that he's lost a step, he was the PK taker in Montreal and he had to work his way back into the team. I don't know if he can do so once again,

but either way, follow Quakes Epicenter for all your coverage of this team. They are one of the big stories this year. So for San Jose, that at least is an elevation, whether it is Bruce Arena's last ride or next ride, whatever it is, people are gonna be tuned in. Chicho and Joseph in a front line together and the band back together for a lot of these revs, guys.

It could be a really interesting and really exciting year for San Jose. I can't wait to cover it here at Soccer Wise. And as I said, go to Quakes Epicenter for all your coverage from the ground as well. Alex, thanks for joining me and let's do this again soon. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been fun to chat. Well, we have made it.

We are on the verge of the kickoff of the Major League Soccer season. We've got one more team left to talk about and it is potentially a big one. A lot of big names going out the door potentially some big superstars future stars coming in the door and we're gonna do it all with the head of the Bayou City in Jesus Acevedo jr. Jesus did I just nail the name? You didn't know the name I shook my head. I was like, yes Thank you. Thank you, David. I was nervous. I was working on it. I was ready for it. He's used We've done stuff for a long time together You have been the best covering this Houston Dynamo team

It has been an eventful team over the last few years, of course the Western Conference finals run some big star players It has been a little bit of a different offseason though going into it. What you're feeling right now as we look towards the kickoff of the season. My feeling is, you know, similar to what I've been seen online from fans and what I've seen is that they didn't expect so much change this offseason that has happened, you know,

Ache Ache going now, you know, Coco going now,ika'el going out so all those changes Steve Clarke going out so all those changes it's definitely I don't want to say they're kind of like restocking or retooling because this team still has ambitions to continue on the path that has been for the past two seasons like you know like you said Western Conference finals you as a champion beating Miami in Miami. Well, for Larderdale, I guess, but you know. I don't care. So the assessment is that, is a team that I think has skewed now

a little bit younger without Acha Acha going out and you know, Steve Clark going out. But it's also, there's a lot of questions about who's gonna be carrying this team. You know, Arthur is still there, so he's still gonna hold that defensive midfield position, kind of now lead that defensive midfield line. But now where is the attack gonna come from?

Ezekiel Ponce is coming back, he had a full offseason, he joined the team mid-season, so now, he has a full offseason now with the team, so now this is a guy that they've paid the most ever for, so now he needs to play like it. He needs to score goals. So the assessment is one that a guy that they've paid the most ever for so now he needs to play like it You know, he needs to score goals So the assessment is one that there's a lot of change and a lot more questions than answers, you know I mean they sign Nico Nico Lodeiro, which they've been trying to get a Nico Lodeiro type forever and they just ended up getting

So go figure, you know, and I know people have saying he could be like a Darwin Quintero But I kind of see possibly be more of a Vicente Sanchez type, you know Yeah, I just play with you know, one more Cabrera 2018 No, possibly go get more playing time than everything the Sanchez did but but that's that's still the the question is You know who is gonna play that DP 10 road down because I mean Nicolo there was not your long-term answer You know, and I think I was reading that there's a clause in this contract that if national Comes and asked for interesting, he can go. Right.

So if he can go home, then he gets the opt out to go home. So yeah, the assessment is one that there's a lot more questions than answers. But one thing I'll tell you, but I've noticed in the past is when Ben Olsen's teams, we're here with the Dynamo, they always start slow. And by slow, I don't mean they're always losing games. There know, there's a lot of draws there, a lot of like tough 1-2 losses, but around the summers when they start kind of picking it up, they kind of start turning the knob and I don't know if that's because of the way that the system they play, they need those months to kind of like start connecting passes and now especially maybe even more

with so many new players added in. So yeah, so my assessment is a lot of changes, but still a lot of questions. And I think the Dynamo team is going to kind of be borderline draws once their losses until they kind of get more into the system and try to build that synergy with this new team. It's fascinating. They start the year with Copa Tejas coming up tomorrow against tomorrow Dallas, which is really interesting way to start the year. We have our Doylism coming up we've got our line from Andrew Wiebe but you ran through a lot of it there but let's start with our transfer in our offseason and it starts with Aceh Aceh. Came in as the biggest signing in the club's history the biggest name in the club's history as former captain of El Tri in Champions League and actually

ended up you know starting a lot for Atlético Madrid his final half year after he'd already signed with Houston and the years he played with Porto. Before we get into the rest of it, now that it's over and we look back a little bit and I think time will change things, what's his legacy? What did his signing mean for the club and how it ended up working out? You know, it's pretty interesting you say legacy because he was here what, two and a half years? So it's like, what kind of legacy can you establish, you know?

But I think in those two and a half years, I think that first season, that first half season was really tough on him, really tough on him. You know, he was coming back against still dealing with injuries and trying to get, you know, build up to the MLS style of game. The second season, his first full season, I mean, we saw what he did when he plays. You know, he led the team to the Western Conference Finals, you know, US Open Cup champion. He really stabilized the team, you know,

and everything played through HH. So I think his legacy is one that maybe kind of put Houston back on the map perhaps, you know, to more of the bigger MLS audience. For sure, I mean, just on the name alone,che Ache you know so so there were definitely more eyes on the Houston Dynamo and when the rise from the Houston Dynamo they delivered you know like I said started slow both his last two season but I think his legacy is one of maybe putting this team back on the map now how he left may leave a

sour taste in a lot of people's mouths, you know when he spared, you know and red cars So that was his last game and to be honest, I don't think he really wanted to leave the dynamo I think he wanted to stay here with with Houston and this is just I haven't talked to him since then, you know But I think just this is my opinion based on some of his posts that I saw I felt like he wanted to come back, but I think the dynamo saw the right on the wall You know, he's a one-year-older. His second full season, he missed a lot more games than his first full season. So that definitely aided the Dynamo's up and down season.

I mean, when he was playing, the Dynamo were a good team. You know, they were a possess. I know Matt Doyle, the Dynamo were one of his favorite teams because of their playing style, you know. And, you know, he was always trying to tell people, hey, watch the Dynamo, watch the Dynamo, they have a great playing style, you know? So, but his legacy is one I would say

is put the Dynamo back on the map. But the way he left, I think left a sour tasting people's mouth. And I would like to see going to how you first frame me. I want to see how a couple of years from now, how we look back on these two and a half years of Aceh Aceh. Yeah, a lot of times for players like that, you know, they leave and sometimes then the

negative end goes away or depending on how connected they choose to stay to the market in the club, sometimes then they sort of come back into Vogue as a fan favorite and all those things. And so I think that will be interesting for me going forward is like, does Ache Ache come back to Houston? Does he talk about the Houston Dynamo as he's gone? And does that excite fans? Him wanting to stay makes sense.

He's making five and a half million dollars to live in a pretty nice city and enjoy his life. You could understand from the end production why Houston maybe blinked twice at that number and my guess would be he wanted to stay in certain terms and not no matter what and we've seen that now with a few of these players where it's like well we're gonna bring them in for the now and then when the now ends you have to sort of make that hard decision of like is this the players thing it happened in Nicolodero in Seattle

He is now staying in Major League Soccer But not at the same production level of what we saw which we'll talk about in just a moment So Ache Ache leaves let go at the end of the season his contract not extended and then there have been some other big Output players for this club, but it's been on sales. Coco Carrasquilla, who has been the maestro number two to Aceh Aceh at times, or number one, however you look at it over the last few years, he's been sold, and then Mikael, just recently sold back to his native Brazil,

brought in as a Houston two player, now sold, we think, for multi-million dollars to Palmaras, a massive success off the field in terms of conversation and all of that. But these are two huge losses. What do you make of the club's decision that now is the right time to sell and whether it's helping these players do this, their dreams, or the club making a financial decision about these losses?

I definitely had to give Pat credit. I mean, there's a lot that you can blame on him, but you have to give him credit for making that tough decision, especially with Ache Ache. I mean, most of the GM, not most, but maybe a past Dynamo GM re-signs him for that 5.5, just on name alone. You know, about the thing Pat looked at it, and he's like, okay, how many games did he play? What was the production value? When he's on, okay, how many games did he play? What was the production value

when he's on? Obviously he's good, but we need you know, can we take that gamble or can we turn that 5.5 million into something else which is what they have done now Coco. I like most others expected that maybe he was going to have one more year with the Dynamo now he was going to take the reins from Ache Ache and kind of be now like like he said that that number one option in midfield that they sold them you know I know Coco always had aspirations to go to Europe the offers weren't there that satisfied that he's an animal front office you know and then

Pumas comes along and I mean you you you you know he wanted to go and challenge himself at a higher level and you know at this point Liga MX is still a bit of a higher level than MLS. Michael is one that I want to say it a surprise because Pat on that kind of, he was dropping breadcrumbs in some interviews saying that they had got offers, you know, they had not offers, but they have been in talks with Michael. And it's definitely one, I would say the best off season from the front office standpoint about selling players, you know, especially

Michael, you know, I think this is maybe the first or second I'm trying to remember player that they've sold. I started from Dynamo to, you know, that's Houston has not had a good history of, you know, building up youth players from Dynamo to then going to Dynamo, then saying, I mean, which is what other MLS teams have have done really well. And this is the first season I've seen the Dynamo actually do that. And I think it's kind of, it's a signal that, hey, now the Dynamo are a team where you can go,

you can build up your game and they will take care of you. They will say you to a team. Yeah, so I will say from the from office standpoint, I think it was a good off season. Granted, they didn't get the players back that they wanted, like a DP style 10, you know, or a Nico Loderre type, as I was talking about earlier. But, you know, or a Nico Lodero type, as I was talking about earlier. But, you know, I think there were more,

I don't wanna say wins, you know, cause obviously it's a whole retail roster, but from a front office standpoint about how this sets them up better for the future, I think it was a win that way, but I think obviously it was a loss cause they didn't get more players, impact players that they wanted.

Yeah, it's the tough job for CSO of managing the now and the future. We had this conversation around the LA Galaxy. Now the Galaxy are pinched in a different way because they had so much on-field success that everyone starts hitting bonuses and there's not really space. But I think for Houston, similar,

of like this was a two, three-year span in Aceh Aceh's first contract of like, can we contend? And they did. And then you look at it at the end and you say well If Hector's leaving are we still at the same level and if we're not is now a time for us to cash in Get this money so that we can use this money for the future and as you said Create this name for other players to say we can be a jumping-off point for you and help you in recruiting that next

Generation of players and hopefully recruit players maybe at a higher level than what Houston's been able to get over the last 10 plus years. And so the only issue in the middle of that is they hadn't really gotten those players as of right now. They've gotten some. The other big loss to mention is Steve Clark,

who struggled in the penalty kick shootouts to end the year, but was a top five goalkeeper pretty consistently in his time in Houston. Yeah. And they're replacing him with Andrew Tarbell and Jimmy Mauer, which are serviceable MLS keepers, but it feels like that to me is a big loss as well. I do think so too, not just that. I mean, you know, the Dynamo had one of the better defense last year, you know, and Steve Clark was a part of that, you know, organizing the back line, obviously, Michael, too. But I think it is, it's a loss that we all know fans were mad at Steve Clark upset because he doesn't stop penalties. And look, I get it, you know, and I mean, we said earlier before we hit a court, if you get into penalties, you're either already half loss or half on.

Right. It's not his fault. Yeah, it's not his fault. But I mean, when he was called upon to stop shots, he did that, you know? And so that's one thing where I'm looking at is the defense. I know Ben loves defense. So that's one thing I'm looking at in the first couple of months is how does these defense work? Cause I mean, Eric Srebrnjkow and Mikhail,

they led that back line so well over the past two seasons. You know, Mikhail under Eric Srebrnjkow's tutelage grew a lot more. I mean, as we know, that's why he got sold. So, so yeah, Steve Clark, I think it's a loss that I think. It's not talked about a lot, but I think it's one that could impact them, especially in this first couple of months as they ramp up the defense. Yeah. And he was obviously a cultural leader for the team.

That is a huge loss. I think there's also now a lot more members of this team that have been around now through this two, three year span, the Griffin Dorsey's and Daniel Stares is and, um, you know, our terror and all of that. So your hope is maybe that's blunted a bit there. And I should mention on Mikael, I voted him best 11 as a center back. Like that's how good of a player I think they are losing. It's not just, Oh, it's a starting center back. I thought he was the apex as the starting center back for this pairing in replacement for all of these I mentioned Jimmy Mauer And the two big names that you've mentioned Nico Ladera and the other one is Jack McGlynn brought in on what we're calling right now a cash for a crash cash trade transfer

Inside of Major League Soccer and Jack McGlynn seems like the model of what they're trying to build to look at a player like that and say to them, you could be the next Coco. You could be the next Mikael. Come here, build up who you are, and then sell you on. And he's got big potential, but it was to me a curve ball when I saw him brought in and it be Houston connected.

It definitely was. This is part of what I was saying. We're now they skew a big young, you know, Jack is what 21 22 years older, you know, scored a great goal in the January US men's national team camp. So I definitely think he's gonna feel that archer archer role more or less, you know, I wonder how much more freedom they'll give him offensively because as we both know, you know, great

offensive player, his defense can kind of he can improve on that, you know, but that's where he can benefit from playing with Artur. So, but I'm interested to see how the midfield shapes up now with Jack kind of leading the line, you know, because they had Aceh, Aceh, Arthur and Coco, I mean, those are, you could make the argument the three best midfielders or best midfield line in MLS, you know, you can make that argument.

So losing two of them, it's a big loss. So I think Jack, you know, like you said, I think he can put a stamp on this team and be like, this is my team now, or, you know, be among the team leaders. So I think this for Jack is an opportunity to be like, okay, I got traded weights for a team that didn't allow me to play as much as I like to play upfront. Now this team is going to allow me that. So now he needs needs to shine through and I think you said it perfectly I think he should look at me like well They just saw a couple players if I put in a couple good seasons I could be on my way overseas

Yeah, so yeah, and the style fit is so perfect for him He's coming out of what was probably the worst-case scenario for him and credit to him. He made it work He got on the field as a young player He started an MLS Cup like so many great things in Philadelphia and I think he'll be a better player for it. Now he's coming to a team that fits all of his skill sets. They've got the hole in the in the roster as you said with Hector leaving for him to fill. So he's going to get high volume of

touches in a flow of the game that he wants from an area of the field he wants and he's going to get to pick his head up and serve passes and connect the game and all those types of things which I think is why our over underline is gonna be based around him because I think there's a lot of excitement from the MLS sickos and nerds about what he could be. Nico Lidero the other signing we heard sort of all offseason we want a pocket 10 we want to go DP all of that is this sort of an acknowledgement that those deals didn't work out and Nico's a bit of a stopgap that's essentially what it

is you know I think they I didn't hear about what names they were looking at but I know they were looking for I mean they've been trying to get a number 10 for six seven years now you know and that just seems to never they seem to always get the number 10s when they're a bit past their prime you know you know we sent the Sanchez, you know, Darwin, Quintero, and now here we have Nico. AKA cheaper would be the other term I would use. Definitely, definitely.

But yeah, I think he's just gonna fill that stop gap. You know, my concern is, you know, like I mentioned earlier, what about in the summer? And I said, now it does come calling. Now you lose that, your stop gap, and now what happens there? So I wouldn't be surprised if Pat's working the phone and trying to get something done by the summer

to fill that stop gap so I would then have to rely on Nico. And I think that's where, you know, Jack, depending how he is up to speed on Ben Olson's game plan for the team, you know, it can make it easier to, okay, you know, he can go ahead to Nassau Nile or, you know, not have to rely on Nico as much But I think it's definitely a stopgap. I mean, I think Nico from we did with Orlando last year very serviceable still

I mean, he still still has the moves obviously not what he was with the Seattle Sounders, right? but but definitely still can be serviceable and And that's all it is. Just a stopgap. Yeah And again with style Orlando plays against the ball a bit more right easier as an older player to have the ball come to your feet I think the what you're talking about in terms of start of season makes sense of like it takes a while to build this style But when teams come to Houston in the summer and have to chase the ball They should be struggling and it is a really good time for Houston to hit their form Reminder because it's different for every MLS team for cup cup competitions it's Leagues Cup and US Open Cup for the Houston Dynamo. You talked

about that US Open Cup victory back in 2023 which was a huge moment for the club and the potential to do it once again. And then on the Leagues Cup side it's a tough one. Tegress to start things out Mazatlan and Pichuca but that will come later in the year. My last question for you and then we'll get into our dualism. On Ben Olson's side they are the outlier in Major League Soccer. They were almost 60% possession last year, number one by far in MLS. Big changes up the spine, basically the entire spine, Hector, Coco, do you think it remains the same? Do you think the commitment to the style is still there? Even if the success or the exact players aren't there?

That's a good question, you know and and and and I was hoping to ask Ben some of these questions Which I should say right now the actual dining more having some press conferences at show stadium But you know when David guys calls you you get on a call with David guys So that's so there you go David, but no, no, I think knowing Ben and how he's operating, he, it's gonna be different. Like I said, I think these first couple of months, fans and the MLS media needs to kind of, have temper as far as what this team could look like.

Cause I think just that changing the spine, I think that's a very good way to put it. The spine of the team has changed. And so I think Ben now, Ben with this assistant coaches. They have to kind of see, okay, how do we maintain the same play style, but shift it just a bit based on the players that now we have, you know. So I think it's going to be a bit of a struggle, but I think they're going to still, I think that defense is gonna hold them down to at least kind of stay borderline to where they can,

they don't lose too many games where like, well, you know, this season is done. So I think they just kind of gotta weather the storm in these first couple of games. I do think it'll be the same where they still have possessions. I know that's something that Ben Olson has really talked about that that's their style,

that's what they play. You know, they don't change too much for teams, maybe a tweak here or tweak there. And Ben's one that he holds all his cards close to his chest, as I'm sure you know. So I'll ask a couple of questions different ways and he'll just look at me like you just asked that question. Or he'll just say it because it's Ben Olson. Or he'll just say, yeah.

But yeah, one thing he said is that we don't change that we are who we are. We'll make small tweaks here, small tweaks there But nothing that that'll be drastic, you know So I imagine it would be the same thing this season like I say I'll go back and say I think the first couple months They're gonna figure things out see what tweaks they need to make to make sure they still play their game that that they'll play the Past two seasons that some MLS sickles love It's gonna be fun to watch. Let's go to the number one MLS sick on Matt Doyle and let's hear his thoughts. I spent the whole off season really wanting to believe with the Dynamo because their game model the last 18 months proved really resilient even without Hector Herrera and Coco Carrasquilla,

both of whom are obviously gone. But you take away Steve Clark as well, who I thought was really good last year, and that's a blow. I don't expect them to be as good in goal. They lost, you know, backup left backs. That matters in this league, having someone who could add a little penetration. Their U-22 attackers, Inali and Ken Yonias, both recovering from an ACL, ACL tears. We don't know how they're going to be. Sebas Ferreira was a bust of a DP. Nonetheless, in the middle of of last year he got hot for about a month and he got them points just coming in off the bench or sometimes starting and putting the ball in the back of the net.

They don't have a guy who can do that this year behind Ezekiel Ponce and to be fair Ezekiel Ponce wasn't great in his 800-ish minutes or so. Like he was fine, but he wasn't a high level match winner. So there's so many question marks. I was gonna hang with them. And then the news came that they were going to sell Micael, the great young Brazilian center back to Palmares, which I mean, a club like Palmares comes in with a record transfer fee offer.

You kind of have to do it. So it is just too many pieces missing from this team. And even with the additions, Jack McGlynn playing as an eight, Nico Lidero probably, I guess, as the number 10, which would push Amin Basi over to that cocoa roll. Even with the additions, it just feels like they took too much of a hit in terms of pure talent

and too many question marks in both boxes and up the spine. It doesn't matter how resilient your game model has been, when you have that much change over there's got to be some regression, especially within the context of so many teams in the Western Conference really investing and looking better on paper this year. I think that glass half full take at this point anyway, is that it's going to be a one step forward or back to take two steps forward kind of season for the Dynamo as they sort out the rest of their roster, hopefully get McGlynn and Brooklyn Reigns and maybe a couple other young players more playing time and bigger

roles, and then really hit the ground running in 2026. Not writing them off entirely for 2025, but I don't expect them to be as good this year as they were the last two. It's so funny, he said something that I've said to people here is that I feel exactly say I feel like they took one step back, but they're going to take two, three steps forward. Right now. I don't know if that'll be for the whole season. Right. That's how exactly what the,

I can tell you, see, they took that one step back to kind of reassess, and now how can they take in this one step back, and take his two, three steps forward? That's exactly right. And that's one of the things for anyone out there who's listening, who doesn't listen to the show, we've got salary cap, and we've got depth charts

that we built that you can get if you subscribe to our Patreon. And it basically says most of the Contracts on this team and after this season, they're all options next year So they got a ton of money in Mikael and in Coco They got the money off the books from a che che and they are now in a position of if they want to rechart things Going forward and we still are looking at a roster that Pat onset has been j juggling from the previous regime because there were so many long-term contracts. So if that's the case, I think there's positives in that if Houston can explain that and push that.

But let's talk about the big name that is on the roster, which we hadn't mentioned yet as much was Ezekiel Ponce. And Doyle talked about it. Tepes Ferrer out the door. The hope is getting healthier on the wings with Anelie and Quinones coming back. What can Ezequiel Ponce be and what is the feeling that you're hearing sort of out of the club about what last year was and what he's brought?

You know, last year was, I think still, you know, and it's almost like Emil and Emile Straub to say, oh, he was getting adjusted to the league, right? That's essentially what it was, right? He was getting adjusted to the league, right? That's essentially what it was, right? He was getting adjusted to the league, you know, and so that's why I mentioned to see how he does in these first from now when the season starts to pull until summer, how is Sponsor doing, you know, because he's had the first full off season with the club.

Yeah, he knows how it is to play in MLS. So I mentioned to see it now with some the service that he he didn't get is what I'll be looking at, you know You know, I think though hit up on something that we hadn't talked about the and Ali and Kenyon is both hurt You know both electric players, you know, especially and Ali in the two games. We saw everybody was like, whoa, who is this kid? You know, so and then he got hurt And so so I think how points it does will be based on how much delivery he gets into the box, where he gets the ball. He's a proven goal scorer in Europe, but can that translate? That's what I'll be looking at. And I think the summer will be a good

assessment of what kind of player he can be. Maybe him and Nico will find some kind of player he can be, you know, maybe him and Nico will, you know, find some kind of linkage to together. So, but that's that's the one question I have is how he's going to do in these first months leading to somewhere. Yes, even if the team doesn't do as well, you know, but if he's kind of like, you know, banging in goals and and and, you know, making those runs behind defense, holding up the ball like like, you know, sinking a place with with other players. But I think it's I know fans already last year, they were like like, you know, uh, uh, sinking a place with, with other players. But I think it's, I know fans already last year, they were already like, Oh, who is this guy he has going with? He spends a bunch of money. So I know fans here in Houston, they've been clamoring for number nine ever since

the model Manotas left, you know, they were hoping that Sebastian Ferrer will be there and he was that at different points. Some fans will argue he didn't get the rightful time in that position that he should have gotten, especially last year, you know, when, you know, just like those say, you know when you know Just like those say, you know for a month he got hot Saved him for a couple games saved him some some draws When it comes to points, I think summarize when I'm really gonna start being more Assessing. Okay, you've had three four months now. What have you done? So yeah, so yeah

The roster is interesting and if in LA and and key known as and I thought all of you showed Burst as well and right maybe there's a question it's maybe he's the backup center forward really and playing out on the wing wasn't his true role but if they can if both of them can hit if you have two wingers maybe you slide bossy back inside it changes the runway for Griffin Dorsey on the right wing which has been I think part of the success of having Coco as, you know, a quote unquote pocket winger that likes to sit inside. But it feels like the talent is a little different now and it's going to have to be adjusted of the way it all plays out as the season goes along.

Let's finish on our over underline here. And it's Jack McGlynn related because we're the sickos and we're excited about it. And so Andrew Reaby sets it over under for goals plus assists, so all goal contributions in MLS regular season play at 16 and a half. So last year, his best year as a pro with Philadelphia, he had four goals, seven assists to finish at 11. So the question is, as the full-time starter

with a lot of this attack running around him, is going to put in five more six more goal contributions? My guess would be we probably land on the assist side more So does he get to double digit assists and then probably sort of hold steady with five or six goals this year What do you make of this and where do you fall? I think I fought just under I think it's gonna be 15 combination of goals and assists? I think I fought just under, I think it's gonna be 15 combination of goals and assists. And I think I wonder maybe, going back to what I was saying, maybe it's a kind of a slow start for him,

but then once some of these injured players, especially Enali Kenyane start coming back, that'll open more avenues for him to find people behind the line. But also thinking, I think you brought up a good name, Ali, which I actually forgot about him. I think what he brings on the wing could also open things up for Jack McGlynn. The only thing is that as many fans know, Ali, you is not the best at sometimes shooting the ball when he's in the right position. So, you know, Jack could be like, I gave you the ball right there. So, so it could be, so I

think that's why I think 15 is a good number. mean 16 plus over that I think would be great I'll be you know that some team could come over I've been in the season and signed him if it goes more than 16 and a half so but my number is 15 yeah I mean he would be bordering on or probably end up on most assists for an American player if he ends up there although I think Jesus could put up some big numbers this year as well, Brian Gritti, Eris, Diego Luna. So there are some options,

but I'm gonna go over on this line. I think if you look at seven assists last year with Philadelphia and just the game's gonna run through his feet even more. And what we saw in that U.S. national team game, which I'm just intrigued by was his role in that was what it will be with Houston is he came and got the ball from the centerbacks and so he was able to

consistently be the one setting the tone setting the play and he can either hit those through balls and long balls from deep or Slowly progress the game up and then he's in the final third also creating chances or if you leave him open Turns out he can shoot was As well, especially on his left foot, maybe not so much on his right foot. So I have the belief that he ups all those numbers just in terms of sheer quantity of time and opportunity. And I think that end the system as well,

fitting him and having him sort of pace through the games and get comfortable and find the gaps and start to probe a little bit and try and pull defenders out with his eyes and his hips and then start to break things. So I'm gonna go over on this one and say I think he'll have double digit assists And my guess is the goals for goals last year that at a minimum He equals that if not gets a little bit better

And he's able to hit over that line and I think if that's the case, right if he hits if ponse has a pretty good year If they're able to settle the spine well enough out, you know, losing Mikael and Steve Clark. I think it's a team that could push for the playoffs. And I do think it's a team that you could confidently say at the end of the year is prepared for that step forward the following year. And if that's the goal, I think it's unfortunate for fans from two years ago saying we're right on the verge of the Western Conference finals to take the steps back. But I think Pat Onsend will probably tell us and maybe he'll do so at some point this year at the end like the club Will be better off going forward for all of that

Yeah, I definitely think so and I think you know If if I can say if he hits more than 16 and a half he gets to 18 19 20 I think dynamo would definitely get some calls about right potentially, you know I'm not saying that there was center right because I know that I will wait for the right offer but I think that would definitely put him up there maybe a best 11 candidate you know with those kind of numbers and I think the play style going to what you've been saying all episode long I think that more than anything is just gonna help him you know have to bond his feet more you know so so yeah I think I think that's a number I'm still gonna stay with 15 just to be more conservative

But I get even that be realistic. I think Yeah, maybe I'm being a little bit more realistic like I'll like I wouldn't be surprised and most of his numbers come up Staggering and then after the summer they just kind of start picking up as the team will hopefully pick up their play So it's or look we could both be wrong and the Dynamo come out just shooting fire and they blaze through the hole. Listen, season kicks off in a couple of moments. So everyone will know that maybe when they listen to this over us, they start with FC Dallas, Copa Tejas out the gate.

It is a fascinating situation across Texas. Eric Quill taking over in Dallas and then Nico Estevez moving from Dallas to Austin. Austin spent a little over what 25 million dollars on their frontline Dallas brings in Lucho Acosta and Houston had been the favorites over the two of them the last two years now that might be in question I think all of that makes all the teams better having more intrigue having more interest I think it's gonna be a fun year in Texas and

I'm looking forward to it if you want to follow it by you city in is the place to do it Jesus Ossoff a to jrou City Inn is the place to do it. Jesus Acevedo Jr., thanks for taking the time and let's do this again. For sure David, thank you so much and good luck to you guys and soccer wise headquarters. Thank you. Thank you. you