SoccerWise - Best Future Of MLS Eliminated Teams & All-Time Top Duos

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

David is unavailable this Thursday for a live recording but fear not! He got in the lab with Tommy Scoops to cook up something special for you all. Your hosts put on a draft of the 8 teams already eliminated from playoff contention to see who's future they trust the most. Then they dive into the history books with your recommendations of the greatest duos in MLS history with the like of Obafemi Martins, Sebastian Giovinco, Robbie Kean etc that Son-Bounga are chasing.3:20 Wessam Abou-Ali's Season Ending Injury & Impact On CLB10:25 DC United Fire Entire Scouting Department14:05 Mateus Klich's Comments Ripping The Great State Of Ohio & PNW20:45 LA Galaxy's Future Prospects24:38 TFC's Future Prospects30:10 SKC's Future Prospects34:40 ATL's Future Prospects40:50 Rev's Future Prospects46:20 STL's Future Prospects50:48 MTL's Future Prospects54:45 DC United's Future Prospects56:30 Best Duos In MLS History

All right, everybody, welcome back to soccer wise, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you for a special episode. Why is it special? Because every episode we do is special. But the main reason is I have been invited to go to an event at the U.S. United Nations located in the greatest city in the world in New York City. So I'm out currently at this time when you were listening to this. This is the magic of television. So we pre-recorded this episode.

We did so before the Wednesday night games. And we are going to dig into some historic conversations here. So we are going to talk about the futures of all of the eliminated teams. We're going to do a little draft in which I try and defeat Tom in every way possible. Then we're going to talk about the best duos in MLS history because we brought up on Monday. and we got some great feedback from all of you as we went through that. Tom, are you ready? I need to be better at knowing my teammates.

This is something that I preach in life on the Men's League Soccer Field with your friends, with your family, know your teammates. I need to know better than to say the word draft around David Goss because it's like PTSD. He's right back on the battlefield, life or death, how do I win this? I was using draft as a way to say, hey, here's how we talk about the teams and this is how we'll structure it. and I got 17 follow-ups about how do I win, who's going to vote on this? What do I do? F you, he tried to elbow me through his computer, and that's on me.

I've got to know my teammates better. You were like, oh, yeah, it's not a big deal. And I was like, okay, cool, I'll just put a poll on all these places so we can see who wins. And you're like, I don't understand why they're going to see a poll. Steak traps? Steak traps? Yeah, that was my first question. Well, I guess let me start you with this, and this will decide who gets the first pick.

Give me your analysis of the NYCFC Inter Miami game from Wednesday. depending on how close you end up being to accuracy. Here's what I'm going to say. NYCFC win. That's what I'm saying. I'm saying 9.41 p.m. Eastern. I'm saying 2.1 NYCFC win with a great messy goal involved. And then I'm going to, I'm going to go 3 to Vancouver over Portland.

And Vancouver are firmly in the shield race after that victory. And that's the entire conversation of tomorrow's show. Cool? Sounds good. I thought it was a really good performance in Brian White. I'm surprised that you weren't as impressed. I guess you don't care as much as I do about what he did. Let's hit a few things of news and then we'll get, we'll start with our futures draft.

So as Tom alluded to, we're going to draft all of the teams who we think in order of how we believe they will have the strongest futures of the teams that have not qualified for the postseason. Unfortunately, if we're talking non-playoff teams, one of them might end up being Columbus. Wessam Abu Ali has officially been announced as out for the rest of the regular season with a hairline fracture in his right ankle. It's expected to sideline him for six weeks. Diego Rossi, we already know his injury coming off. The 5-4 win against Atlanta was two to four weeks, which was most likely going to be the rest of the regular season. Are we out on Columbus making the playoffs? Do Red Bulls have a shot at this?

No, not worried in that front. the Columbus are seven points ahead of them with three matches left. But like, we keep on waiting for the flip to switch and the guys to come back. And like, Abu Ali's looked really good since he got here, three games, three goals in a row. Three goals and three games in a row, including this game in which he picked up that hairline fracture. He played on for like 10 minutes after the injury. So that's disappointing, unfortunate that he's out. It sucks, honestly, because I want to see this team with West Ham Abu Ali, with Diego Rossi,

with Rudy Camacho. Camacho's been out the entire season. he's not played yet. Yeah. In July, he got surgery. He's been out of it, too. For Camacho, he said, they said he was due back in September when the surgery happened in July.

He's been photographed in training Brandon McKay. The Columbus Dispatch has provided some updates there. It's just, there's not much to go by. He has been out there with the team, and hopefully he comes back. But, like, Occam's razor here, man, like, this is way too many ifs on this team for what we thought was a team that had the answers. Any minor question or major question would have an answer. and right now there's just too many question marks to take them seriously.

Can I actually, I'm going to go back to my, I'm going to go back to my original question. So Columbus are five points up on Chicago. Chicago have a game in hand. That game's against Interm Miami. Chicago plays Columbus this weekend. Columbus then plays Orlando, and then Columbus finishes on Decision Day with the New York Red Bulls.

I don't actually know that this is deciding. Stop, Tom, Tom, this is a two. The Red Bulls have to take nine points out of nine for that time. happen yeah fair that's that's yeah right uh i wouldn't be shocked if columbus falls to ninth though and like this is in the context of what we are saying which is this is a team incapable of winning over the last month to two months against bad teams against bad teams the one win was the explosion in the first half against Atlanta united which ended terribly this is a team that needs to score to beat teams because they are not good enough defensively and they just lost now both their designated

to play attackers. Wessem Abu Ali, I thought it was going to be hard for him to be at his best without Diego Rossi, but fine, he's a fox in the box, he's a natural striker, he's creating chances, his movement is good. If you get him the ball in the half turn in dangerous spots around the box, he's going to create for himself. You've now completely lost that. So now you're looking at, I don't even know what this attack looks like.

I mean, it's a lot of it will follow. Russell Road, Gos Dog, and then what, Chambo at the 10 or, or Top? Ha, Brune. Where is Jason Russell Row right now? He's about to get called back in. I am being serious. I think when you play Columbus over these next three games, I assume Max Arfston is like top of the scout against you.

He is probably the most dangerous attacking piece on this team. None of it's good. It clearly tanks the season. It moves Columbus from like, yeah, you still probably, if they end up coming out of a wild card spot, it's just an unfortunate wild card matchup. for noncee's a great manager like Columbus is a great home atmosphere right you know you're going to have to go there now in a three game series but it's not any near what that fear was two days ago when

I said like oh this would this will loki be a miserable team to have to play and it tanks the season for them and I have said this over and over with the idea of bringing in players to replace Cucho well for Nancy is not going to be there forever like you don't really have nonce years to waste and um I think the pressure is going to be high on this club coming out of this season to take advantage of next year. I would totally agree. And it just sucks that we feel like we're already talking about next year. And again, even with the Abu Ali, right, you assume that obviously if he's out for the

regular season, that it's probably going to linger the playoffs. But maybe I saw the headline and was trying to read a little optimistic. Like, oh, maybe he'll be good for the playoffs immediately. It's like, no, he's out for six weeks that, like, when would he come in? if he comes back, like, if they're still alive, what would he look like? So, yeah, it's really unfortunate. Um, in MLS, if you're without two of your three attacking with two of your three DPs and the third, Daniel Gossack has, has not been effective for this team yet in terms of goal contributions. So it, like, it, it, it feels weird to be writing off a Columbus crew

will for non-state team, but it, it's, that, that's kind of where we are right now. And, and yeah, to your point, your larger point, yeah, next year is, is extremely important. And also, like, this is, this is part of the risk in waiting to sign these DPs. Like, I do agree with what they did. And, you know, with Wesse Mabu Ali, like, that was somebody they wanted in the winter. They tried, like, hell. And they, they decided he was a guy. And, like, he looks like the right signing.

And, you know, if next year he's, he's, the team is really good and he's really great, which I think he's going to be, that's fine. But, like, part of that risk is you lose opportunities to turn those draws to wins that we would, you wouldn't have even been able to raise. They would have clinched mathematically for the playoffs. Maybe they'd be higher up in the state. standing so I don't know it's just it's just really unfortunate I was trying to figure out a creative way to do this like odds lines whatever couldn't get there because not really got

a math or any of that stuff sick is Daniel Gossack on this team next year yes he just signed a new contract that kicks in next year yeah and no one's gonna come and get him I was going to say like what like what do you yeah my point my point is like sorry maybe it's it maybe it's just the refusing to take the L I still think he works out for this team but there isn't a lot of evidence that it should have happened by now. He was somebody that you weren't worried. You weren't supposed to be worried about how he was going to adapt to because he comes from MLS.

He's MLS proven. The floor is supposed to be high. And it hasn't quite worked out like that yet. But the style never fully fit. It was like, oh, yeah, this makes sense as this was your best case scenario at this moment in time. The contract obviously changed things and there's no way you're going to get equal money for him.

If I was maybe some of the teams that were going to talk about coming up, I would reach out and ask and say like do they does he fit our style better than he fits if i'm st louis do i reach out and have a conversation and from the new york red bulls do i reach out and have a conversation like he's clearly not going to be a 20 goal score for every team i think for the right team he can be and if i was columbus i would say we did it because we wanted to not waste this year blah blah whatever it didn't work out we got abu ali who's the guy alongside dago rossi can we use some of that money on something that's just more useful to us going forward. I think these are all questions that have to be asked now because that's what's happening

with this club. I just do want to reiterate. I want to see an extended run of games with this front three available starting and playing together. Like I still, I wouldn't sell low on God's dog this winter. Yeah. If you were, though, you might call DC United because we don't know who's picking up the phone and they might do anything right now.

It was reported by Pablo Mauer that you then confirmed. The DC United has fired their entire scouting staff. That's after, of course, firing their manager earlier this year, then firing their chief soccer officer, and then hiring the consultant who was hired to help them find a new chief soccer officer, who has never held that role before and has never worked in Major League Soccer. And, of course, a head coach that has never worked in Major League Soccer until the end of this year helping a team.

see out a terrible season, and now there's a chance me and you could be calling the shots for D.C. United over the next few weeks. Yeah, I mean, listen, the one thing I will agree with, just in general, like, I think that there were some good people that ended up getting let go here, but like, I understand the thought process that ends with. We just need a complete clean reset. I don't trust them to hire the red people. I don't trust them to do it in a quick fashion. and I don't trust them to invest enough to hire enough people. And that this is going to come down to, like, again, I keep on going back to it because nothing has changed.

The Wayne Rooney era was Wayne Rooney wants a handful of players. And then the three people that were working in the front office go execute that. It wasn't a scouting process. And they were trying to build that under the previous now in the office. Well, they're going to be a pressing team. But like they did start to put it together as staff. Like, I don't know how, like, so Sean Howe is somebody who worked for this team, Stuart Mayors. I don't, I don't know where Stuart Mayors is now, but Sean Howell works for San Diego.

So, like, they had brought in the new people, and they had already tried to do the start from Skash thing. And they don't see it out. So I don't know, by the time these scouts get all settled and it's, listen, it's, it sounds easier than it is to be like, oh, let's just go sign a bunch of six scouts. Like, even Philadelphia, which, again, has one, like, from their academy to their front officer's scouting network, really strong. one of the strongest in MLS. It doesn't come together that quickly. And like you could hire the wrong people. You don't,

you know what I mean? Like it's really difficult to do this and to do this quickly. My assumption is three things. First, hardest working man in football was like, raise my rent. Like,

I want to grind more. So I need more work to do. But genuinely, the other would be if you remember, I'm going to go back all the way to like Brad Friedel with New England, which is a bad comp. But like,

he came in and was like, I've worked all. all over like I have my contacts I have people in my group that have other contacts like that's what we do scouting it you know this better than I do there are scouts who work as part timers for multiple teams there are scouts who do multiple jobs there are scouts who cover regions where you call them you ask them they work for you and the assumption here I am not saying any of this is good the assumption here is someone coming from the global network of this sport has those people that they would reach out to and lean on and like short term you are working on X amount

of signings and like you think you can do it that way while you get the rest up because you are right which is the full-time hires the process the system the that type of stuff is going to take time and it takes time to get it right and you have to keep working on it and that's all the stuff that really scares me because you're talking about someone who's never held a leadership role before and so that's almost even worse but in terms of like who who's going to make it and how are the signings going to be closed for 2026? That part's probably manageable with the way they're set up. Also like, I don't know how much money is DC United spending in this offseason?

Like, what were they really going to do? We're going to get to that in a moment. But that may be a part of this as well. It's like, we don't need anyone else to scout Jared Stroud for us because we already know we got Jared Stroud in-house and Kate and Clark and all those other things. Current DC United designated player, Matthias Click. Has come out in an interview in Polish, I believe. Yeah. It's sport, the outlet in Poland called sport, which is a sick title.

Sport. Dot pl. And he did an interview about major league soccer and his experience there. He was asked essentially, where would you, if somebody came to you and said, where should I sign an MLS? That was the foundation of this question, of this quote. Go on. You should take this, because I don't really understand. I get all of it

I don't know what he thinks he knows about 80% of this also it's funny who's his advice okay so he was asked he was kind of asked where would you recommend players to go he said I would advise

against Miami while Messi is there it's a disaster of a club people are fleeing from there organizationally it's bad Messi's father is the one who really wants a club everyone speaks Spanish and nothing can be done

without their consent do you want me to keep going for the quotes or do we stop there and then continue on the rest I think that first one is like not shocking to hear. No. I think most people would like kind of assume it.

I don't know that Mateus Click is the expert on this. Like I don't know who he's referencing off of or he knows. I think it's a- Talk, man. Yeah. I think it's a little bit overrated. Also hilarious. It's just hilarious.

Who that can go to Miami is calling Mattias Click and being like- Also fair. Like is Patrick Bamford really picking up the phone? Like is that really? what's happening right now. It's a good point. It's a fair point. It's a good, that's a good name reference. Again, I will say, players talk, man. Like, I got, I was speaking to a player this year that there is a story, um, of a player, he was playing against them. He has no relationship with the guy. And he's telling me, all game long, this opposing player, when his team loses

the ball, just turns, kind of just generally to anybody and to himself, like, this team effing sucks. God damn it. I hate this year. Like, do you, players are doing this on the field when they're like again i know that that's not the norm but like he doesn't have to have friends on the team to have heard some of these things or friends of a friend kind of thing so i will say players do talk and again maybe just talk to some players who are unhappy but regardless your your point is correct i don't think that he was trying to be the the foremost expert on the matter i think he was just doing an interview and it got aggregated and i was part of the problem here but in my defense it was and jerns it's happened to me

Disgusting journales decided to run with it. And then Tom brings up his own blue sky post about it. Anyway, so, yeah, I think that's all fair. And then, again, that was the most newsworthy item of this quote. The rest of it was just unbelievable. It was so good. He goes, I would, oh, and another thing he said about Miami was, you know, the stadium, it's not even Miami.

It's 45 to 50 minutes white, which is fair. The next thing he says is, I would recommend New York. The Red Bulls have a better stadium. but New York's ADFC is also building an awesome stadium. Let me stop. Do Red Bulls play in Harrison? They're not in New York. He's posted up in Clifton with his squad.

But I thought it's funny that that was back to back. And he continues and goes, quote, there are clubs like Columbus grew in Cincinnati that have great stadiums and great facilities, but the place itself is very boring to live in. She's talking about Ohio, which is tough. I would recommend Nashville if you have the option of Nashville-S-C. It's a beautiful place. It's the capital of country music.

Also, Portland and Seattle have a great atmosphere, but they're at the end of the world. It's my favorite part of the club. It's the end of the world. Dude, we... It's on a coast. We need to hit up Mateus Glick and have him do a travel series for us where he travels around the U.S. And just said... Out of pocket lines.

Let's be real. This guy spent, what, at most two nights? in all of these places at most. He played for two Eastern Conference teams. Has he gone to Portland, Seattle that much? And played, debatable term, spent half this year not even here. So, and came in, I think, midway through a season as well. So spent, like, has probably been to Columbus and Cincinnati once each, which, by the way, Columbus, Great City.

I don't ever been to Cincinnati, so I can't speak to it. Nashville, classic Euro soccer players being country music phenoms. They're all so obsessed with it, but Great City as well. and then Portland Sandal being on the end of the world. From what? From where? Bro, it's no Warsaw. No, it is no Warsaw.

And where is he going after this? Did he sign? He plays for Krakovia. Okay, cool. It currently does. Yeah. The center of the soccer world on that one. You wanted to finish this off with a little bit of breaking news from yourself.

The San Jose earthquakes have signed Preston Jud to a new contract. This is a good move. he's been really good he's got you know essentially gold contribution every hundred minutes his underlying numbers are really really strong Doyle has been calling on blue sky for teams to try to trade from him uh San Jose end up keeping him there was interest from what I was told but he stays in San Jose so can imagine a spine of Andrew Privet and Breston Judd I'm already starting an MLS Cup contending team that sounds like an expansion drift it does I wait oh I wish I could run an expansion draft that's my dream I think we're

going to do that by the way I mentioned it we're going to build our team however we want but first good good good to be prep for that today when we had an opening yeah that's what i thought too the moment that we this came up and our schedule shifted in this way again i would like to say really impressive come from behind win from nycfc today they're firmly back into the shield race and miami's uh chances are done we're going to do our futures draft so this is our belief in the futures of each of these teams uh and we're going to do it separate I realized after we could have just power-ranked them together. It's not how it works.

Double for complicating this. Just pick who you think is the best near-to-midterm future of these eight teams, seven of which are mathematically eliminated and the eighth of St. Louis City. Spoiler, they're not making the playoffs. So that's what we're going to go with for right now at this stage. The teams that are still live, like the Red Bulls, Houston, San Jose, and Real Salt Lake, they are still alive with leaving them out of this. And they're kind of good.

The pool to pick from St. Louis, Kansas City, L.A. Galaxy, C.F. Montreal, D.C. United, D.C. United, Toronto FC, New England Revolution. Of those eight, David Goss, who do you like most of their situation? Heads or tails? God, heads. You get to pick first. Congratulations. L.A. Galaxy with a bullet here. L.A. Galaxy with a bullet. Listen, Ricky Pooch, coming back, speaks for itself. I got a joke from somebody midway through the season that it's pretty clear he is the MVP. Yeah, this is the Peyton Man. an MVP. Pain Manning got hurt and the Colts went two and 14 after like winning the division five years in a row. I love this take because what's an MVP? What does it really mean?

What's most valuable? I love that take. I'm putting him on my short list. So you put him on the ballot. Yeah, so listen, they have Ricky Pooch, one of the best players in the league. They still have packed Payne Sill. While they lost players, there's still a decent amount of the core of the 24 team. That was one MLS Cup and a very, very deserving MLS Cup win.

Youshita's going to be a year older, but you still have Amiral Garces. Even if you sell Gabriel Peck, which is a possibility of winter, Leon were interested him in the summer from what I was told. I don't believe that they ever did make a bid. But he's on the radar of European clubs. It is kind of time of that cycle if there's an offer in January ago. Well, they just bought him and Joseph Payneville before whatever 24. And they spent $20 million.

And like, they're going to spend that money again. They spent $5 million on Lucas Sanabri on the U-22 initiative. if they pick up Mateus Nachimento's purchase option, that's like $5 or $7 million, I believe, something in that range. Like, this team is going to keep spending money. They have a floor of quality in the team, and you have, like, Will Kuntzna, front office has proven to be really, really good at what they do,

and Greg Vanny has won multiple and lost cups. Like, there is, I don't think this is anywhere close. It's L.A. Galaxy, and then I think it's like two open tiers before you get to the next team. I both agree and disagree with. you i agree with the gap between them and the teams below i would say like big picture worries are there for me um my ishita getting a year older after being a year too old after being two years too old like they won mLS cup fully deserved and fair uh there are underlying numbers or

overlying numbers from that year that were questionable then you come into this year and they and then they completely fell off the face of the earth i would and they still have a bunch of contracts locked in. Like Sinabria hurt now and locked into deals. When does he come back? How does he fit in? Never really saw the best of him. I don't know if Nassimento has proven that he deserves to be a guy. I assume they're not going to sell Peck because he's had a bad year and the number is going to be low on that one as well. But like you've got a lot of guys sucked locked in, Marcos Royce, Marco Royce, whatever, that have now proven over a year and a half that they can't carry teams by themselves. They're Ricky Pooge merchants at best.

And at worst, they can't play with Ricky or they don't perform at their best like Marco Royce when he's in the team. So like, I fully agree with you that I would trust Will Coons over everyone else. I trust Galaxy ownership over everyone else. And they are starting at a floor that is better than all these teams. but I would not say that I have them obviously back in an MLS Cup contention the moment Ricky gets healthy and steps on the field. I think that's fair, but I... But none of these other teams are going to be even talking about.

Oh, for sure. But like, again, like that, that is a separate conversation. I understand that that's what you were saying. But like, for me, it's easier to find a centerback partner for Amiro Garces or, I don't know, right back of Mickey Amane or, you know, another DM than it is to find Ricky pooch or Payneill or hell even Christian Ramir Like we haven't said Marco Royce's name yet

He's been after a slow start Sorry I haven't said his name yet After a slow start He like has been like It's they have issues yes But they are much easier to solve I am second on this And I think this might be a hot take

I think I'm going to go with Toronto That's who I had seconded Oh so it wasn't a hot take I think another club that has proven from an ownership point of view that they're willing to take the team seriously that they want them to be competitive when now, reminder, they're expanding the stadium

to host World Cup games. Like they have something to play for now to be market relevant and bring fans in and be the next team that people want to go watch after they watch the World Cup, whatever is there. And they have cleaned up most of their books. There's not a lot of guys that you hate that you have on for long-term contracts.

You probably have control of most of the deals that you question or they're players that are on decent deals that, you know, are 100,000 to 200,000, whatever it is. And so I think the Georgie Mihailovic move was the right move in advance. I think they've looked better with C-Fuentes in the team. Is that going to, are we like 100% that that's going to be done if they want it? He's on loan until the next summer. Oh, right.

Yeah, through June 2026. Good call. So that's another one option. I like Oso, obviously, as a player, and I think he fits with everything else. And then the question just becomes how else do they fill this team in and sort of what do they choose to do? But I think they've blotted a decent amount of young guys this year who can give you depth. And so I think your focus can really be on the high-end talent that you bring in and how you want to set it up. And everything proof so far.

I mean, I wouldn't have said this pre-Georgie. If they hadn't put that amount of money in a cash fur, I would have been like, okay, they're paying out Bernadessi and Insigne, this might be like a slow restart for this team, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Ritchie can come off a D.P. spot, right? Yes. So that helps you as well. You probably will have two open D.P spots if you want them or one and a couple of U22 spots if you want them as well. so Jason Hernandez, I don't think, has had the best opportunity where some of these other CSOs have proven that they're bad at choosing talent and players.

I think there's been obviously mistakes for Toronto, but their hands were tied behind their back for the most part already. And so now they get their first blank slate. I will trust Robin Frazier more than I would trust a lot of the coaches on this list or the lack of coaches on a lot of these teams. So like overall, I think it's the cleanest package. Caging, clearly you agree. Easy, easily.

So right now, with the MLS Club roster profiles pulling that up, that just got released post-secondary transfer window, George Mujovic is the only player listed as a DP. And Cassius Malouya is the only player listed as the U-22 edition. I'm not certain still exists. Wait, no, you don't remember this? What? He started all three games in the Club World Cup group stage for CS Tunis or Wahad Casablanca.

As a Toronto FC player, like I'm saying, like, I don't have a, I thought it was hilarious that TFC was the worst team in MLS, and the one dude, they were like, this guy's not good enough, was the starting 10 for a team at the Club World Cup, and they, like, kind of played okay. But the larger point is that that's delightful. What a larger point is, is that they have one DP spot filled, and that's it. Like, they could add two more DPs or one more DP and four U-22s.

And like you said, they have a ton of money coming off the books, a ton of money coming off the books here, as Goss Pointe's who is Club World Cup hat, like, NFL happened. Like Maxime Dominguez, Derek Etienne, Roel Petretto, roasted Cigert, like, oh, Sigrid roasted. I keep on saying his name back. Whatever, who cares? He's probably

not going to be here. I know that they're going to make a ton of changes this winter. And we all love, we fall in love with flexibility in Cap Space, all that kind of stuff for good reason, right? But New England had that this winter and then they still suck this year. Right? Like, so it's not a guarantee, but I do trust this team. And that's better than having those Petretta and roasted contracts going on in infinity like

they had been before. We know those two players are not good enough. We know that several others aren't good enough. So what they need to do, which is much easier said than done, but they need to add like an A1 centerback and probably a centerback partner, which is not easy to do. But they have Georgia Mihailovich. They should be signing one, if not two DPs and a whole bunch of other stuff. Like this, like, Sufentes, hopefully he'll be here long term and we'll go from there.

But like, yeah, this team, again, like, I feel. For me, there was a top three and then a drop off, like, again, the galaxy by themselves. And then, like, once we get past the top three, I'm like, like, I really like we're Toronto City. Okay. I think you are. So, assumption being they're going to go center forward, right? I would assume so, yeah. Yeah.

I kept floating the Carl Aaron thing, which clearly is never going to happen. So, yeah, I know. I have been told behind the scenes that there's no chance that an MLS team is. going to be allowed to give that guy a big deep... Was that sources? That was sources. Cease and desicences. Tom, if you don't got it, someone's got to say it.

I'm not going to let you... I wake up at 2 a.m. I'm not going to let you bury these stories anymore. So, yeah. Anti-Canadian. Anti-Canadian. I do wonder if there's any other Canadians that would make sense for a big move going into a World Cup, but probably would end up on Vancouver

because they're better at running their team and you get opportunities to play and all of that. We are back to you now then. Yeah, so I kind of waffle on this mentally, but I think I'm going to put sporting KC's third. You said there were clear three teams. I was that was more about, I was more about that.

Like, you could try to talk me into the next one, but like I feel good about that kid. Weird. And this play, this is a play on, you start with Yovalich and Manu Garcia. And Manu Garcia has quietly been very good. His underlying numbers are excellent.

But Yovalich is in, it should be completely. competing for the Golden Boot most years, right? That's how good he is. So what you do is you build on Yovalich, Manuel Garcia, Chaloie, Jacob Bartlett, then Jake Davis,

and then there's guys like Janssen Miller, Andrew Brody, Logan, and Dembe, and that's kind of the starting point of a squad, and that's pretty good to me. They also have money coming off the books here. They also have freedom. They're also in the final stages of that CSO search. If they hire the right guy there

that has the chance to add a deep, and then add some good players run a league. I think that this team could very quickly get into the playoffs, and I know that that's not, you know, raise the banner situation, but it'd be pretty good for Kansas City from where they were. They've been rudderless at the end of the Peter Vermease era. They, I was worried that the transition was going to be bad, and it still could end up being bad if they don't hire the right person, right?

But I was worried that this was going to linger and it was going to take them too long to evolve into the next era. And if they hire who I think that they might hire, then they would be in a very good spot. I wonder with this team I get your point of like contracts coming off the books they really don't have a lot of money guaranteed for pieces they want

they are not a team that seems to have run well in terms of oh we could pick up extra allocation money here they have not sold any young players to like bring in big chunks so I wonder how much they're in like a dangerous approaching LA Galaxy space of like haven't really done anything positive for their books in a while

but you are right that they have a ton of flexibility if they want to but they also were like, oh, we're going to spend big and then brought in Mano Gossia and Suleimanov this off season. And like if you get two more signings at that level, is that good enough? Is that enough to trust? I don't disagree with you that there's stuff I like in this.

Obviously, I'm a giant Jake Davis fan, so I'm here for that. He can play all of him positions. You can do that. Logan and Dembe coming back has been another bright spot for them. It's hard to say that like they'll finally sign a good center back when we have no idea who's a barn. to that process. This will be a new regime.

I know. But it's a fair point. It's a fair point. As someone who's a Mets fan who got new ownership, new front office, new players, and they're still the same sad sack team who somehow are capable of the worst things. I think sporting Kansas City fans are hoping that that's not the case. But it's a sellable market. It is an atmosphere that I think if you're competitive next year, fans are coming back.

I mean, they're selling out every single NWSL game right now. fans are coming back fans are supporting it makes home field advantage a little bit better a little bit easier um and yeah they've got some openings to be able to do some work it's just who it will be if you had to if you had to blind pick do you think kerry zavagnan is part of the head soccer structure whether it's as coach or assistant gm next year i'm assuming he's going to be with the organization but that's that is not based on any in sourcing or information that's just uh again i don't think he's done bad since he's been head coach he's been he was there he's been there longer than for me's like if he wants to roll at the club i think he'll be there

yeah i think most people would hope it's not as head coach uh yeah i think that would be weird if they hire if they hire a cso from out of the club and that they don't hire their own head coach like this is how these things go you've put me in a tough spot here because i did not expect that yeah yeah so i've got a couple of decisions to make and And I think, actually, I'm just going to speak plainly here, and I don't care because I still think I'm going to beat you, even though I don't really know what we're doing. Montreal and D.C. are clearly the bottom two on this. Don't be the guy in the fantasy football draft that says players who are on the board. So I really didn't expect this.

So I'm doing a quick look through on some stuff. Did you think Kansas City was at the bottom? Did you think Kansas City was with them? I'm a little surprised at that's who you took. I thought it was going to be obvious who you took in a different way. I'm going to go with Atlanta here. I thought that's where you were going to go. The obvious part with them is willing to spend at massive numbers, record setting numbers,

and as bad as this year has gone, I would maybe only behind Will Coons pick Chris Henderson to run my team over anyone else that's involved with any of these teams. And I can't judge that on one bad year. the the i don't know whatever phrase you use the elephant in the room is if ronnie diala is the coach of that team even even the moran chuck stuff worries me less than the decision you have to make of whether or not the guy who you hired to bring the club forward and has failed to do that in any aspect so far this year can be the guy that you want to lean on um after this season and that's going to be the big decision they have to make they're already eliminated So you'd hope that if they're going to make it, it's going to be fast and you're able to move on from there.

But all of these other teams have more worrying issues for me or are stuck and need people who I've never seen perform before, perform at a higher level. Ronnie Dehela has won an MLS Cup. Chris Henderson has helped teams win an MLS Cup. I am hoping Garth Augerway is heavily involved with building this team going forward. He's won multiple MLS cups, as I have a bunch of the players on this team. not fully sold on Gregerson yet as like a 1A centerback so you have to finagle for me a top line 1B to pair him with which I don't think is on the roster and now you're looking at some tight money on that one I'm obviously going to go Goss theorem with Latte Loth and believe that

it's going to hit next year and my only thing on Moranchuck is like if any team has the just like internal fortitude to be like whatever we'll sell him for whatever we get and we'll buy the next guy for the same thing. And now cash furs are available. So maybe that next guy is someone a little bit different. I'm not saying Vermont check out. I'm saying, no, no, no, no. That, you, you explained that correctly. I jumped on that too early. So all of that gives me the most confidence in this team. And I'm sure everyone listening, fans of other teams or whatever, like classic cliche, but I would rather pick the team that spends $22 million on players than the team that has no history of whatever we're doing it.

So this is why I went with Kansas City over them. Like, I'm sick of saying Atlanta United's back and, you know, whatever. Like, this DP situation is bad. It is really bad. Maybe, like, again, they're more likely than any other team to try to get out of it. And same thing with Daila, like, sources across the league that I talk to at other clubs that, you know, they wouldn't know anything for sure. The sentiment around the league is overwhelmingly expectation that Atlanta United

parts ways with Ronnie Daila. Talk to somebody around the team said that, like, that's definitely a possibility, not a definite, nothing has been, I guess, technically decided. But that's something to watch. And so on the money side of things, like he's one of the highest paid coaches in the league, and he's under contract for at least two more years, I believe.

And other teams would probably be like, we're going to let him start next year because we're not paying him out and then not going to pay another new coach to come in. So there's a point to you, but like, the attacking DP trio has been just got awful. It's just been terrible. and you talk about, all right, if you're not sold on Gregerson,

they added three center backs or two centerbacks, this window. Like, Mihaj is being paid like a 1A, 1B guy. So if you don't think it's him, then they just made another bad signing. And again, I'm not saying one way or the other on that. I haven't totally formed an opinion on that player because I want to be honest with you, I'm not super locked in Atlanta right now because I'm sick of watching this team play. And, you know, they gave up five goals in the first half to Columbus, whatever else, right? I'm trying to keep a clean slate going at later.

back. Sweet. Awesome. Columbus has been sick this year too. Um, this, like, I don't know, man, this team on paper at the beginning of this season, I thought it was one of the best in the East. And they have been one of the worst in the league. And because of those expectations, they've been one of the saddest stories in the season, the most frustrating stories. So for me, they don't have a ton of flexibility without sinking a ton of money into it, which again, Arthur Blank could. And he's done that before. But I don't see the big changes here. that lead to something different, unless that they do make the coaching change

and, like, I don't know, I find it hard to believe that it's all in Ronnie the island, too. I just think that there's too big problems here. Yeah, I agree with you. There's a little bit of, their underlying numbers are a little bit better, like they're XG differential.

They should be a little bit better. Not a lot, but they should be a little bit better than they are. One way to fix that is your league record signing it forward better, and starting Brad goes on again. They got fooled by a really good playoffs. series, and he's a legend, and I love Brad Guzahn.

But I thought he was done after last season. It's never done. It's not over. It was never over. But that's how you want to perform your ex-G. That is not luck to me. That is bad decision-making. I don't disagree with anything you said. I'm going to go with the Latte-Lath-Gas theorem thing because it has happened a bunch before. Oh, for sure. For sure.

And for guys at that position, a player in his prime. so your hope would be that he hits. Moranchuk's past that. And sorry, and that was the thing. So, like, I do, I am optimist. I'm glad I have fallen lots of lot as well. But look at the roster. I did the same thing with Alexei Maranchuk this winter.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm done giving them the benefit for the doubt, which I've done for so often. And I have to rewire my brain, because of your point, Garth Lagerway, Chris Henderson, Ronnie Daila. That's a winning formula. Like, it should be.

And it's just, it's kind of inexplicable. And maybe that's part of me being, like, screw it. I'd rather take the blank slate to kiss. City than this again. Yeah. I don't think that part's wrong, but now that we're past that, I still trust this over whatever Montreal or D.C. is going to build. I still trust this. I assume this is your next one that you're coming to, but like how much St. Louis still has? And I don't know that that's a good thing. And then whatever is going on in New England. So my next pick is New England. I'm taking that over to St. Louis because I don't trust the front

off to spend and I don't I don't I don't know what to make of the team I don't know like there's too many question marks in St. Louis so for me New England yes while they are locked into a lot of contracts the starting point is Carlos Hill and like whether like these are these are your players you like these are your players all 19 of them um so like Luca Langonia George Tugerman, they just spent, so even if you don't love Leo Campana, bang, they have a $5 million U-20 initiative forward. It's going to be here. Matt Turner is one of the best goals in the league.

Hopefully they'll be able to find a way to keep him because, Boyler, Leon don't want to keep him. So if he wants to stay in New England, there should be a solution there to be found. Again, Peyton Miller, probably going to get sold this winter. And then, bang, you have $3 million in GAM there, because there's going to be a lot of money. A fine gold has been very good.

Like, while there aren't, like, there are bad contracts, and we talked about this one, they were eliminated. but there's a lot of good here. And again, if you let go and I go, you have a DP spot open. And that can solve a lot with the team that already starts the Carlos Hill and maybe another centerback, right? But there's enough pieces here that I trust. And again, like, I trust this ownership to say to, hey, to, like, one of the reasons I think Jim Curtain took this conversation with them is that is he would trust the ownership to spend, doesn't totally hate the roster. and that, like, I think the crafts will be like, hey,

like what they did with Bruce Arena. If they just do that again, this is a good job. The Jim Curtin would change my opinion. Any other coach is working for Kurt Anolfo, who is the guy who built all of this. And it's bad. So that was where my hesitation came from, one, the lack of flexibility.

Like, even if the crafts are like, yeah, we'll spend everything you want. You can only buy out X amount of contracts. You can try and move off of some for like nothing or losses, but because everyone signed this off season, everyone is under contract. And like everyone that you have questions about, they're under contract. The next person is going to have to make a Fofana Sabio centerback pairing work. I think it's possible. That's their job. They're going to have to do that. The next person is going to have to find a way to make Jackson Yule a useful player for this

team for the next two years because no one else is taking that deal you know matt polster on a long-term deal fine gold maybe you could get something for but that's like the guy you don't want to give up because he's been pretty good for you and Peyton miller may be gone and they might not have no control over that and like they've done well to flip some of that money and create some more space but we're past money now like you literally don't have roster spots to put guys into and so it is a it is a full gamble on the next coach doing better with this allotment of with this selection of players than the last and i find that hard to believe if cardinal pho is doing the hiring is i find it hard to believe that someone and i'm just going to pick a name of the caliber of like a pat newan who went in and took

what was there and made it better is going to take that job if they get multiple offers or even if maybe that's the only offer like it is so dysfunctional what has occurred at that club over the last three plus years, that it's really hard to believe that most people are going to want to risk their career on that. So I will, I'll go with your last point first. I think if they offered Gio Sabresay the job, he'd probably take it. He interviewed and he wanted it when they hired Caleb Porter. That was the wrong decision.

I think GioSavreirae improves his team again. Like we talk about Jim Curtin, we talk about whatever. I don't think that it's only a Jim Curtin thing for me that would make me view this team differently. I will say different situations before you start. hard shooting your hours. But the last time Caleb Porter left the team, what happened the next season? The Columbus crew won MLS Cup. The Columbus crew went out and did something what one MLS team had ever done in the past and gave up resources to bring in a coach that had proven in the year

before he should have been coach of the year that he was the best coach in the league. I don't see, I don't even know where to start with that. That's not going to happen with the revs. I don't see them doing it. I don't see the next version of Wilfrenonse taking it. So that is a big gap to recover from. And the guys who ran that Columbus team were good at what they did.

My point is, don't look at this roster that they were playing up to the sum of their part. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's fair. And again, like I'm saying, I do like a bunch of these pieces. I like the centerbacks. I hate central midfield. I don't mind most of the attackers. Campania can't stay healthy, but

is good. And should be producing more. When he's healthy, Tugerman has a great profile. He's done big stuff and youth international stuff. Like, there's something to believe in there. And obviously, Toklamati has sort of set the standard of, and Tybarribo, a player is coming from Israel and being performing, you know, performing at a high level as center forward. So I get not being fully out on it, but like, it's hard for me to even get to some of that stuff and believe that they're going to get best options. and option A as a coaching option and someone to come and take over it. But you are right.

GeoSeverarisa was pretty deep in the process. I wonder how much the last year plus has changed that opinion for a lot of people and who else is available. Okay, I'm going to go with St. Louis. St. Louis is exactly what you think, which is they've come on a little bit strong late. They have a ton of flexibility on the back end of their roster. They have no flexibility on the top end of the roster, and they have no proof that they're willing to just brute force their way out of it. The guys who are under contract for next

year guaranteed. Boundgardle, Marcel Hardle, Edward Lovin, Tomas Ostrak, Cedric Toychert, and Thomas Totlin. Like all of the guys who, it's like, yeah, we spent a little bit of money on these guys. We thought they were better than everyone else thought they were. They are not elite signings. They are not the crazy money signings. But I would be shocked if this team chooses to get themselves out of it. I will say I am more hopeful about them going forward. I think that they've been chaotically managed over the last two years, and I think a lot of that falls on Lutz Fanon's deal, and it felt like the idea to bring Bradley Carnell in early, have him build, and then immediately fire him at the first possible moment, and then have an interim who did well,

who knows the club, and then replace him, and then fire that person at the first possible moment. it seems like maybe it wasn't the most stable situation. And I do still think a lot of these players fit the idea, which is a lot of these players at their best and impressing moments. A lot of these players are good to great finishers at pace, are good to great chance creators when the game is hectic and when they're chance creating out of turnovers, what we've seen from Jiao Klaus at his best.

If he's a part of this going forward, like I think you could believe in a decent chunk of this that they can be a playoff contender with a stable setup and that's like your best case in error right now. Yeah, it's just tough that like Jow Klaus was one of the two DPs and then the U-22s are Sang Benjong,

Chris Durgan, Jake Gurd Reich, who's on loan, Valu Fall who just got here and hasn't been starting, but they did spend money into him, you know, again, not judging him too early. That's a tough start. That's a tough ceiling point for a team when those are your six kind of high-leverage spots. And then you'd like, again, like having-

I think-Claus is an option, by the way. I think- Is it an option? I think we have listed 20-26 as an option year. Should I do the Rosillo joke? Like, I think you don't pick that one up. I don't know, man. I don't get that joke. I don't listen to the show that much.

If he can't be bought down, yeah, you just got to cut. Like, again, like, John Klaus has a tan player. Good. D.P., not so much. It's like with the team, like, again, like, Berkey and, Louvin on and Toyshirt on Tam deals that's really really good that's great Rossville but then when you do two DPs are just slight extensions of that it's it's almost interchangeable it's like a could Hartel be the Tam player and Burkey's the DP right like it's all

kind of in the same bucket what we have listed by the way is they can get off Durkin they can get off Henry Kessler which would be a huge contract to get off of they could get off Klaus and Conrad Volum is like a five year year after year after year deal I don't know why he signed that contract yeah I don't know why he signed that contract. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Seems like that's like a homegrown deal that 15-year-old sign.

But not using it 90,000. All of which is illegal in the world of FIFA, but that's a different conversation. Yeah. For a different day. Yeah, I think you hit it there. I don't have a ton more ahead. And like we've been dancing around. Like there's a clear top one and a clear bottom two.

And I think these five in the middle was where the arguments have. Like, listen, like if you would put St. Louis ahead of New England or Atlanta ahead of Kansas City, right? Like, I wouldn't quibble with that. Like, it's not, I think it'd be objectively wrong to have anybody but the Galaxy first or anybody but Montreal and D.C. last. Yeah. I would say St. Louis, I actually have believed they, you could convince me they make the playoffs in the whatever seasons sooner than the three teams we picked in front of it.

Like the odds that they are an MLS Cup contender before any of the teams in front of them, I wouldn't take, but you could convince me St. Louis a playoff team next year, and New England, Atlanta, SKC, or Toronto are not as close. Fair. So because it could go worse in those places than I think it will in St. Louis. That puts you next. You get the big pick, man. Montreal.

I'm going with Montreal. Oh, it was a quick one, too. He knows his guys. I did, I was ready to go. I had my draft board ready. So that's why. Ivan Jaime, think that's a big signing. Sinshuk, again, like they put real money to him,

even if it's probably from Bologna or to Bologna, if he's good, whatever. That is still two serious signings that they haven't made in the past, and that is a step forward. Dante Steele, he's been very good this year. Prince of Wuss who's been even better. Thomas Gilead, I hope he's here for another full season because he's awesome. He is a lot of fun. And then you have a selection of young centerbacks.

Maybe they add a player who's 27 years old in the winter to play in defense to increase these other players, there's a pathway forward for this team. Do I trust them to get there? Not entirely, which is why I have them second to last year, but at this point last year, I had some optimism,

and then it was just all of the, you know, bargain basement signings, right? Like, there clearly wasn't, and there clearly wasn't a concise view of where they wanted to go because they fired the wrong control very quickly. And that came from ownership, and they had hired the assistant

that took over as the interim Mark O'Donadale. I don't believe that they've removed the interim tag. I haven't heard anything there. I don't know what's going to happen. So maybe he's the coach or maybe they'll fill the coach.

Regardless, I like, I feel a lot better after the summer transit window. I think just with a couple of those signings and some of the directions that they're doing, I don't feel great about them, but in these regards,

like it's them ahead of the other team. It is splitting hairs in every single way. First of all, I wouldn't say they've never made those signings because they signed you or a job. But no, stop it. Yes, of course, bro. Like, I was in college, dude. Like, drug war was 16 or 17? Stop it. Of course, bro. Druggo was 16, 15? 15? 15? Yeah. I wasn't 21 yet, dude. All right, dude. Congratulations. But you know you're drinking. But you know you were crushed. They signed

deed your drug, but a dozen years ago. You weren't drinking, but were you crushing beers? Obviously. Of course. Of course. Uh, yeah, they have sort of, I'm, I would never trust. if Montreal bought a dozen eggs and we're like, I'm going to eat eggs every day for the rest of this week, I wouldn't trust them to do it tomorrow. It is just pure, utter chaos. Even worse than what I talked about with St. Louis

because theirs is connected to ownership and it's not going to go anywhere. So I think Joey Sabuto did his interview about Bologna and was like, believe in our process. And it's like, I don't know that Montreal fans control your process at all. And it hasn't worked. So I don't really know what else they're supposed

to do but believe in your process and it hasn't worked i think you know jalen neal's injury was really tough this year like a lot was put on him to be a major part of the backline george campbell leaving um having sold alister johnson before that like they've kept selling out and every you know it's not every piece is going to hit and so you you you got caught a little bit this year and if you want to tell me okay we think our friend morales is going to be ready next year we think jail and neal will be healthy already the backline's a little bit better boom we traded joel water mom we traded joel water why because no one wants to play for us like just i have no idea prince of wusu was a great signing um i was wrong about that one he's played much better than i expected and like you said like you're

basically asking for like two more prince of wusu signings from them right on other levels of the field centerback and central midfield i don't know if it's going to happen but nathan saliba left and i haven't seen as high level of a prospect for them like him and so i don't know that the next guy is up with them, and they're going to have to try and continue to go outside the club and find those players, which just doesn't feel super likely. Do you think there's any chance Giacomo Veroni plays with this team next year? I think so. Okay.

I don't think so. Just checking. Bryce Duke is a free agent. He's on an option, which I assume they'll pick up. But it would be interesting if they didn't, and he ended up on a team and could play actual soccer. And I get the hardest working man in the game of footie. I get DC United What to say about DC United

Great fans Cool stadium location And the women's team's really good It's probably about it Do we feel good about that? I have no idea what I have no idea what this team looks like Next year

It seems like they will look probably closer to this year Than most people would like to see Patola on a long-term contract, Peglow, on a long-term contract. So those guys aren't going anywhere. Schnagg on a long-term contract, Kyle Rolls, on a long-term contract. So these guys, Boris Enau, a lot of the guys that they sign sort of in the middle of the roster, they signed to longer deals.

So they're not, I don't think this is a team that's going to jump in quality next year. They don't have a huge track record of spending big on other players to get them to do it. Benteke has an option. I'd be shocked if D.C. and I didn't pick it up. And the only way would be if Christian Benteke said, please, like, do not pick up my option. I will not show up and play for this team. And then it becomes a fight over that.

Nothing's been cohesive with this team either. Sounds like they've got in top level art author coming in to help push things along. And we've talked about D.C. enough over the past week. So I think we can be done with that one. Let's go to the other. end of things. Let's go to greatness for a second. We talked about Son and Buonga being the best duo in MLS. And then immediately the chat blew up with the names of other great duos, all of which had played previously in Major League Soccer because everyone thought we were talking about all time.

So now we're doing the all time conversation. We got a ton of feedback from you all across social media and we're about to be guys naming dudes. Best duos in MLS history, you feel that there is a clear set of class. I think that there's, I think that, I think it's one or two. I think it's Kailen Carr and Cuadamanc or Kailen Carr and Brian Scheng, you tell him. I guess what? Did Katelyn play with Brian Jing? Yeah, he did.

No, no, no, they were the two up top. That's what I thought, but I was scared that I was going to be real. No, no. Oh, no. Yeah. Wait, now you've got me questions. Oh, oh. For a peek behind the curtain of our friendship and our group chat that the last time we hung out in Hoboken

New Jersey. Shout to Hoboken. We sat at a bar and quizzed each other on how many players can you name from like 2007 MLS Cups during the line. And it was the most fun I've had all year. I think Nate Jekwa was a part of one of the teams. There was like another, because Kaelin was always part of a big little. Classic Emil Haski stuff.

Classic Tulsa. But Brian Ching was one of them. Who I was about to say is, so he started on that PDL team. Well, he started his youth club team with Chris Wondelowski. And then he played PDL with Kai Kamara. So if we're counting all of that, I think some of those have to go in there. And that would be the pure top class is all Kael and Carr related. Shout out to Miro, the future of the game.

Out to Miro. Mero might already be getting in some of these shouts. We mentioned it on the show last time some of these that people sent us. So we got at United Away who says Obaduce, which to me is obvious. That's in the top five. That's in the top five. And it is cohesion together, like the way they played off of each other. It is overwhelming quality.

Supporter Shield winners, open cup winners, and it is individual production. Both of them put up double-digit goal scoring, multiple assists, huge seasons when they were together. So we got that one from United Away. That clearly goes into the top five. Most of the other ones we got were a little bit more questionable on the all-time history. I want to start with the top five because that's, that is, let's not confuse people for me. and tell me if I'm wrong if there's some oversight

that we're missing I think it's a clear of top five it's Donovan Robbie Kane Donovan David Beckham which is great Moreno Etcheveri

DC United the first dynasty of this league Obaduce Josie Giovico I think that's the top five we're going to name a bunch more dudes

but for me the longevity of all of those runs the trophies that all of those teams won and just the way that they defined eras right like first with Donovan Beckham

of course and then continuing with Robbie King. That's the questionable one, by the way. Donovan Beckham is the most questionable of all of that. They didn't play off each other. They didn't win anything until Keene got there. Then they won more after Beckham left. Donovan Keene is the clear one there.

Yeah, I would agree. If you were telling me we missed someone obvious and we have to drop one out of this grouping, that would be the one I would say we'd have to drop. Because the reality of that is the MVP is named after Landon and Donovan when he played, they were really good. Beckham was another really good player and I think for off-field stuff, yes,

like famous, push the league, blah, blah, blah, but on field, I don't know as much. I will say Storm and Shadow, 7502, which is a great handle on that one, put on our YouTube page commented Tierra Henri and BWP. If you remember, BWP tied the all-time goal scoring record,

the one year that he was a full-time starter alongside Henri and Henri, and Henri is Tierra. I think they won the Shield that year. that's but that that's there's there's there is we're going to talk about a lot of they played together for one year that that that's not enough the duo that includes bwp it's sasha the clutch and bradley right phillips that was a run for several years that they they defined that era under jessie marsh they were there's a year where they were both MVP finalists um so again that henri bwp partnership was incredible but because it only ran for

one year that's not closer to the top five for me in terms of like lee i mean for me this has to do with longevity as well. Okay, I respect that. Dude's naming guys as well. I put in Stern John, Brian McBride. I'm going to be fully honest. This is before my time. But from the, Brian McBride's one of the great center forwards in American history,

immediately hit the mark once he hit Columbus. And Stern John is arguably the cleanest finisher in league history and won the golden boot. And those are two that played up top. We will get to some other positions as we go along here. You put in Carlos Waldorama and Roy Lasseter, arguably the greatest finisher in league history with arguably the greatest chance creator in league history. And both of them set records the year they played together in Tampa. Yeah, the COVID, so the COVID year, when I still were getting at M.S.com, that was, thank God. And like I say that, like, thank God that I thought for sure I was going to get laid off.

It was like, why would anybody be paying me to write about MLS soccer while there's a pandemic? Thank you, I didn't. I asked that same question right now. The value of that, for me, of that time, I got to index on all of that history, man. Like, oh, my God. Like, we did watchalongs. Doyle was writing columns about, like,

getting to dive into some of these players during that time was invaluable for me. And this was one of my favorite duoes from that time. Yeah. We don't have anyone to pair with Jeff Cunningham, who's one of the greatest goalscores in league history, played on a million teams because he kept moving around. Although, I'm going to throw a wild card curveball.

in here. Great duo pairing. Omar Cummings, Connor Casey. Both bigs, both littles, both fast, both finishers. And that was the 2010 Columbus team that made it to MLS Cup. I put in Javier Morales and Alvaro Sabo Rio. Javimo was before Sabo and then Sabo's peak goes into the end of Javimo. But like Fabina Spindal is the only other one that I think you'd really argue as like a duo with Havimo and just not as high level of a player. So I think that's one that's up there. Taylor Twelman and Steve Ralston as well. Twelman was one of finished as one of the greatest goal scores in league history.

Ralston finished as the assist king. They played a lot of years together and they went to a lot of MLS scups. They just were incapable of winning them. Yeah, no, that's a really good shout. And as we get kind of more recent era, listen, Joseph Martinez, Miguel and Morone is always going to be somewhere in this conversation. We talk about long, the only thing keeping them from the top five is longevity. two seasons so but man was that electric and in that same era carlos vela diego rossi again this was

18 year old diego rossi scored the first goal in club history and he was immediately really good obviously he's grown to be a better player but that was a signing that could have went wrong and it could have been carlos vella by himself and it wasn't like while he was the clear alpha clear best player in the league at the best season ever in league history Diego rossi was a really good second banana in that team and then a couple others like taty casinos maxima house the duo that led NYCFC to win almost cup in 21 that's got to be here that that was a good shot by you Gus

and then a couple of like you heard that NYCFC fans I'm the one who put that in there I have to I have to say Chris Wanalowski and Stephen let's stop stop stop I wish there was like a pure chance creator that you're like this is the guy who created all the chances we didn't put Nico Lodero that's the tragedy of Wondo's career I know 100% we didn't put Nico O'Daro and Rauluri Diaz would

probably be the one that's in here yeah that's in here And that's one of those where you're talking about a duo, you're saying like, you, like Josie Jivenko, you knew big moment, Jivenko would create a chance. Josie would put it away, other way around, whatever it was. I think Lodero and Rory Diaz are two that go up there and, like, it was something you could rely on and consistently go to. I don't think, I'm trying to think about those SKC teams and like, I don't know that, you know, Benny Fowber was a consistent one. Maybe at their peak it was Failhabber and Tom Dwyer would be the best. you could say but yeah that the there's not a ton of longevity um with that one we had a shout from

tyler c93 on youtube who said uh beau and buxa which is not a ridiculous shout in that they set the points record the year they played up top neither of them were the best player on that team so i don't know carless hill plus one of them i think it would be bruxa i think when they were at their peak no i thought it was bow for me no i think bux's year that he was elite was the year they were at their best. And then he sold immediate. For sure, but Gustavo Bo was like, had his moments, would pop, would come in and out.

And I felt like that was the most consistency. They all put together, but that's fair. Then someone sent us a message and they were like, well, we're talking duos, Matt Beasler and Iko Parra, and you're like, oh, okay, cool. So we're going to do that. We're going to mince words. Me and intellectual.

Yeah, do players. I play each other. But if you want to go defenders, we can go to fendors. It's a great shout. Let's do it. So coming off the back of that, these are the ones we threw in there. Nat Bortchers and Homison Olavay, back to that RSEL scene. My God.

Because we were talking about the cores of the best teams in MLS history. Chad Marshall and Roman Torres, which I don't know that they were at their peaks together that long. No, because Chad Marshall's peak was before that. Right. And then he was dominant with Columbus and the dominant of Seattle. Right. And what a career. And I think Zach Scott played alongside him for a lot of the early big games, like the Duce Obie years.

And then Kim Kihei came in and helped finish off that error with Roman Torres after Chad Marshall retired. Yeah, I remember that more. But still two players, what, 2016 at their peak, they go and they shut out Toronto in Toronto to win MLS Cup. And then Jeff Egoos and Eddie Pope, it kind of was like one of those where both players deserve it themselves, does pick a pairing at some point in their careers. We have probably missed a bunch of centerback pairings.

We missed out on the Chicago teams. We couldn't pick like C.J. Brown, Carlos Bokenagar, a combination. You could throw Jim Curtin and the coaching out of those Chicago teams. Absurd. Jesse Lars, Jim Curtin, Chris Aramis. Yeah. Maybe that's the game we need. Maybe we need the coaches game to re-decide it.

Any other dudes that you'd like to name? No, I think we've named enough dudes. We have named... Never named it. Let me rephrase. We've never named enough dudes, but I don't have any at the top of my mind. Personally, I'm shocked after the performance last line of Brian White,

that you didn't say Brian White and whoever else he would be connected to because remember what he did in that moment against Portland? yeah it was pretty impressive you can edit in in those gaps what happened there but a voiceover of like your mouth is moving different words and it's like what actually happened yeah exactly well we've got a lot more to cover we've got the open cup final coming up so we are going to be doing some interviews for that we're really excited about that we're really excited about the yagermeister cup as well which is following that

on the weekend in u.s.l hartford traveling to sacramento so we're going to have coverage of that as well. We are finishing up the state of Nebraska. We're going to be interviewing on the happy hour live show at 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, depending on when you're listening to this, Paige Nielsen, who is along with Jason Christ, to greatest players out of Nebraska history. Christ was not one we found a pairing for, but alone, his numbers are pretty impressive. So if someone can remind us, maybe it's him and Andy Williams on like trash RSL teams or something like that at those beginning years. And if you've got any duos that we didn't know about, feel free to send them our way.

If you think we're wrong about the way we drafted, you can do that as well. And if you'd like to vote, we'll create a voting mechanism so you can choose who you think did better in the drafting that Tom's mad that I am even saying this about. And on that note, I hope whatever you're listening to this, the Mets have stretched out a wild card lead. My heart palpitations have come down a little bit. And for anyone who's celebrating the Jewish holidays, Shannato Avala to you, I hope it is a sweet new year for you. And for everyone, we'll be back with all your Sackwise action. coming up to see you. So thank you to all of you for listening.