SoccerWise - Breaking News! Revs To Hire Marko Mitrović & Marc Dos Santos Front Runner For LAFC Job + MLS Playoff Recap

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

Only three of the eight MLS series are wrapped up after game 2 of the first round. Tom & David dig into everything we saw on the weekend from Nashville's offensive explosion, to the Portland Timbers dramatic comeback, and our three teams that took care of business. BUT to start Tommy Scoops has opened the Ice Cream shop early! He brings the breaking news that the New England Revolution will be hiring US u20 Head Coach Marko Mitrović as their new head coach & LAFC has a frontrunner to replace Steve Cherundolo in current assistant Marc Dos Santos.1:30 Revs On Verge Of Hiring Marko Mitrovic15:30 Marc Dos Santos Is Frontrunner For LAFC’s Next Head Coach26:15 STL Hire Corey Wray As New CSO34:40 LAFC Trounce Austin To Move On40:15 Vancouver Outlast Dallas To Clinch Their Spot In The Next Round45:30 Austin And Dallas’s Offseason Outlooks52:22 PHI Hold The Lead This Time Against A Weakened Chicago56:45 Nashville’s Big Bounce Back1:03:47 The Crew Rampant Against FCC1:07:30 What Did We Just See In Seattle?1:11:00 Gage Guerra Rescues The Timbers1:17:55 North Carolina FC Close Up Shop On Their Player In USL Championship1:25:01 USL Hires Tony Scholes From The EPL To Run New Division 1

what is up everybody welcome back to soccer wise david goss and the man the myth the legend true to his name tommy scoops for a big big episode here on a tuesday delayed a little bit as we waited for the final results of the MLS playoffs of the second weekend of phase one, of opening two, of bracket three of the Major League Soccer playoffs at 1045 Eastern Time on a Monday night. So we've got a lot to talk about in this show. And Tom, we sat down to do it and you said, hang on, wait one minute because I've got the ice cream shop to open up for you. There's a cold front in Miami. It's like 76, 77 degrees right now. I don't know that I can intake it, but we are excited about all the news that you have for us in this show

is we're going to be talking about two potential big coaching hires in MLS. So anyone out there watching on YouTube jump into the comments and join us because we assume there will be a lot of questions. We've got a lot of questions. We've got a lot of thoughts as well. We will get to the playoff games, I promise. We will talk all about that. We've got a special show coming up later this week that we will tell you about as well. but Tom, I don't want to let people wait any longer.

Start with the news. Let's dig into it. Yeah, we'll start New England. The New England Revolution are going to name U-S. U-20 head coach. Marco Mitrovich, their next head coach, per sources. I'm told that that deal is all agreed and set, just kind of waiting on paperwork, and then it will be done. Marco Mitchervich was tapped by other MLS clubs to interview for their jobs,

and over the last 24 hours, he pulled out of those potential interviews indicating that something was close with New England, and New England eventually land on their guy. they get a youth national team head coach. So they're looking at Peyton Miller at their burgeoning youth recruitment, their academy to first team pipeline, which was almost non-existent in what,

2019 cost you're more of an expert here. It has been much better, much better in the last few years. You have had Noel Buck, Esmer Barak Terevich, and Peyton Miller in this first team now. This is something that they've emphasized over the past few years and they're continuing to double down on it.

So Marco Mitchovich will be the next New England Revolution head coach. Just coach. the U20 national team at the U20 World Cup got out of the group stage, I think an average performance for the team. But this harkens back, of course, a year ago to Mikey Varus when we had our conversation with Bobby Warshall, where we talked about like, how did he end up head coach of San Diego? Where do you go? Who do you choose? And we kind of got walked through, like, what are the possibilities and what are the names? And I think the names associated to

this one, there are not any that are obvious or outstanding. And Marco Mitrovich, now has put together a couple years where he's coached in major league soccer as an assistant coach under velko panovich in his time in the chicago fire he's had success overseas with the serbian u20 national team winning youth world cup worked at the u in the english championship under pano as well at redding and now in the u.s soccer system for a couple years i feel like you're talking about a guy who has both you know a finger on the pulse of the game and what it takes to win in MLS and how it's set up, obviously a background helping bring young players in, which should be a major part of what the revs are built on. And as you said, the work that they have done over the last

four or five years, which I think got stunted a bit under Caleb Porter seen in the trade for Noel Buck by Bruce Arena, who was like, this guy's good. We thought he was good. We pushed him in. Not that he played much more in San Jose. And so I think it makes a lot of sense when you hear it come out. This was a club where we always felt like it would be. someone who is U.S. Soccer's feared. This doesn't feel like a club that's going to go hire Rene Viler to run their team, right? They've always sort of leaned back into U.S. soccer, and they get to do so once again, and I have to admit, Mike Yvarez's success in San Diego makes me feel much better about this appointment. Yeah, that was what I was going to go

to next. Like, that has to be the absolute best case scenario, given what San Diego and Mike Yvarez have done, and it shows what you can do when you're aligned. It is a much different situation in New England, of course, there is a roster already here. There are some good parts, there are some bad parts. What they need to do is just be more competitive and flowing more in the same direction. And their bet is Marco Mitrovich is the guy to take them there. Again, he has had success with the U.S. youth national teams. The Olympics, both quarterfinal runs to the Olympics and in the U20 World Cup. They lost in Morocco, both tournaments. Morocco just won the U20 World Cup. So they're kind of a wagon at the youth national team level at this point.

And I believe Hakemi was playing for them at the Olympics. So it's not as if they lost to a team that they should have beaten. There were some really positive moments in within these two groups under Marco Mitrovich. He has the MLS experience as being an assistant under Velko Ponovitch in Chicago, as well as other experience. So this is like, again, while he hasn't led a first team senior soccer team yet, he's got a lot of experience and a lot of different experience, I think that should help him in his first year here. Yeah, there, you know, if you hire first time pro soccer head coach, there's always going to be a question marks about you said. There's a as much guarantees as you can get there.

I would also say it feels like Eastern Europe has been a place where the revs have had success, obviously, more, you know, Moso and goal with Petrovich coming in. It's another area that he can lean in and help this club. But the big story with them is like the roster is set. They signed 14 players last year. Very few of those are to one year contracts. Like this is a set team for the most part. You have to be able to come in and work with what they have.

And your hope is, my hope is, that what Marco Mitrovich brought to his presentations and his interviews was like, this is how I can use Leo Campania. This is how I can use Tomas Chankalai. This is how I can help Carlos Heel. That has to be the starting point for this team. There's no reason this rev team doesn't make the playoffs. I understand we've talked a lot about how good the EAS is. The jump is a little bit of a gap for next year. But like that as your baseline should be very straightforward if you have the team playing together and being cohesive.

that's a great point too gosh and the most important part for a head coach in mOS is to make better with what you have probably even more so than having that kind of defined style and stuff again i think both of those things are extremely important but you can't go buy another backup right back in mLS if you don't like what you have you can't go spend 10 million on another forward if you've already done that on a few players the best coaches in this league whether they're domestic or or from abroad whether they have experience here or they don't whether they were players or not, are the ones who can get the most of everybody on the roster. Again, we're probably going to use all of the best case examples here,

and it is not fair to try to compare Marco Mitzrovich to Mikey Varus, as we already did, or you look in this mold, like Wilfred Nancy. Like, that's why he's a cheat code for the Columbus crew. It's not just his tactics. His tactical brain is, you know, one of the best in the world. But it's because of what he can get out of everybody on the roster. Everybody seems to get 10% or more better under him. So for head coach to be successful in MLS, it is, I think, both of those.

those two things. And the third angle is part of that value of if you can get the most out of youth players, something that Jim Curtin did with the Philadelphia Union, what Bradley Carnell is doing with them now. And you kind of go on down the list of insert your favorite kind of youth head coach here is those are part of the cheat codes in a salary cap league because those are your least expensive players. And the more you're getting for them, the more it frees you up to spend money on higher priced players or the more of that you sign a Tam centerback who stinks. Well, guess what? We have other options. And so you're not hamstrung. It just gives you more rounds. And we should say on the young side of things, it's not just the academy. It's

Dorit Tugerman. It's Eli Feingold, right? It's the players that they have signed that are young players, that they, Luca Langoni, that they expect to be difference makers. They've invested millions in those players. There has been really good signs from a bunch of them that they can be a difference maker. And this is now a club over the last five years that has sold Tejan Buchanan, that has sold Adam Buickson, that has sold Matt Turner, who that is a major part of the way they've been built. And so in talking about a guy, can you develop? Can you help people get to the next step? That is the other side of things is it's not just bringing 14 and 16 year olds through the academy into the first team. It is helping the U22 initiative players and the young

players who are already in your roster and be appealing to future ones because we so we don't know 100% what this revs roster will look like. Matt Turner right now is a designated player, right? Because of the mechanisms they used to bring him in over the summer. We expect him to come off of that? Is that true? He is able to come by. I would expect that, but he's able to be bought down, yes. So they could have an open DP spot to sign in the summer, or in the winter, sorry,

or they have an open U-22 initiative spot. They could go 242 or they could go 3-3. They still have that open U-22 initiative spot. So you'd assume this is a club that will spend a little bit of money even more so with a young player who could help this group, because over the last few years, they've proven they're willing to spend the money. The question has just been how it's been put together. And then as we said, for the most part, this roster is set. You look through most

of the names, Campania, Sabios, Thomas Chankalai, almost all of them are under contract for next year. Luca Langoni's on a four-year deal. A lot of the other players that they brought in at the beginning of the year, Jackson Yule has a few years left. Al-Hassan Yusuf has a few years left. So there's a lot of pieces in this team that are already in place. But the difference, can be that academy and those young players. And the thing that the revs did after Bruce Arena got the first team all set under his sporting group was they went out and recruited heavily around the country. And so a lot of the players that you see now that are in their team, Santiago Suarez,

a 6-5 centerback, clean on the ball, came out of the Sacramento Republic Academy, has been on their two teams, spent the year on loan with Birmingham. Can you get that guy into a first team setup? If you do, can you maybe move or flip a senior centerback? open up contract space and then maybe use it somewhere else. Peyton Miller, I think, has been one of the best young players in the league. I think his ceiling is as high as any other fullback that we've seen come out of major league soccer.

Like I think we're talking about an elite attacking fullback and you could start pushing from the George Bello conversation, pass to the Caleb Wiley conversation and then get into like, I think we're approaching Fonzie conversations with him. I think that's how good he is. And can you get him in the team? And then can you get the next generation? of guys in the team as well because that's the real test is like can you create a pipeline can you push them can jack panayat to get a spot back into this team and earn an opportunity the no

buck experience was like chaos and a train wreck and the hope is that you're now looking at a guy who has been on the other side of this with the youth national team watching the pipeline for each of his players trying to help a lot of them like i think a lot of the u20 team we see is guys that are stuck at their club and the u20 national team says all right we can get them two games and maybe put them in a shop window if we bring them in. And I think that's been a large part of what they've done. You know, the U20 group at the World Cup, I don't think was the best possible under 20 group

because I don't think that's the job anymore. And so the hope is Marco Mitchevitch watched all this happen and says this is how I would do it if I got the opportunity. Yeah, and a couple notes there. Peyton Miller, you're right. He is a huge, huge talent. Well, he turns 18 or has just turned 18. I don't know if Marco Mitzrovich is going to get the pleasure of coaching him one time

for the revs. I genuinely don't know. there's a possibility, if not probability, that he'll be gone this winter because there are a lot of serious teams looking at him, and he is viewed that same way, Goss, in terms of, like, not just the top, like American talent. Like, this is a guy that is viewed in his age group

as one of the better ones in his position under 20 or over at his, in his birth year. So that's somebody to watch in the winter, whether, you know, he has him on the field, that'll be an asset or the asset will be getting the maximum amount of gam that they can in terms of a transfer, like they did Bar-Tarvich, which then was what they used to spend on, on Leo Kapana. And that is a very, very valuable roster building tool.

So it's not just about bringing the players through. It's then when you sell them, that gives you more money to spend on the salary cap in the league where every team is looking for every extra dollar that they can put into the team around the salary cap. That's one way to do it. And then the other side, just to mention, Vanney Sartini was a finalist for this job. I am told he was interviewed several times by the New England Revolution. So is Josh Wolf, but they ultimately do go with Mitch Ritch. I think of the joke I made was Josh Wolf, right?

I think when we originally talked about this opening, I was like, this has Josh Wolf written all over it. That's good to know, I think, for all the fans out there, we've got the messages from St. Louis fans already in the chat. And if you're watching live, feel free to throw in questions there. Corey Ray just took over like two days ago, so it assumed St. Louis will be a half step behind some of these teams, but you'd expect to Josh Wolf to be on that list.

Vanney Sartini's an interesting one. Like, he was such a unique experience. in Vancouver that there are questions of like where else does he fit and do other people look at him but he has a resume and it feels like MLS teams are going to take the call and they're going to see what's there and what can happen so huge news there huge news for the revs and I think you mentioned this huge news to get it done like reset try and build in the offseason try and be cohesive hit the ground running in the preseason as well there's no reason you should be behind the eight ball with all the work you've done with this

roster over the last few months or over the last year. And so at least the reps put themselves in a safe place in terms of that. Anything else we're forgetting before we move on to the next story? I think that's it on the Marker-Mitchevitch side of things. I'm sure that there will be much more to break down whenever this does go official and when he's unveiled and everything else that they'll do this winter. Oh, one more thing. I will say, just speaking of people around the league, New England is viewed it as a very good job, despite kind of the stadium situation. And part of it too is like if slash when they do get their own stadium it's going to be huge uh but for right now you have an ownership that spends money you have a group of players that yeah there are issues on the

roster but carless hill is still so very well respected around the league that a lot of people look and be like i can make it work like oh i have carless and like a handful of other guys i really like we can figure it out from there right like you have the hardest part done of getting the former unless MVP in the team and again with the youth development that they have and uh chris tyranny i think deserves a lot of credit for helping build that out in the front office as well as everybody else does there um but like new england is still viewed as of that's quite a good job from what i was told and another thing just to point out peyton miller coming from connecticut like those are players that have gone to nyccc they've gone to red bulls like the revs have made

a mark they need to continue to do that though and of course we're seeing it feels like an explosion of soccer in new england with Portland hearts of pine and vermont green and all the stories going on around there and so i think the hope is that the revs can try and maximize some of it. It's going to be hard to do without a stadium. It seems like everyone's going to get a dollar from the crafts for a stadium as the crafts try and be cheap about it. So I don't know if it's going to happen.

I saw five more, quote unquote, cities in the area of where the stadium would be built. I'm like, no, we actually need money off this as well because it will affect us, which I'm all four in favor of, but the revs have been trying to get this thing done for 12 years and haven't. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, we'll see what happens on that side. Let's move to the next one. LAFC.

So assistant coach Mark Dos Santos is the frontrunner to replace head coach Steve Trondola when he departs the club this winter. LAFC insists to me that nothing is done, nothing is agreed, and nothing will be until the playoff run is over because they are only focused on the playoff run. But sources across the league are telling me that Markos Santos is the clear frontrunner. I was able to confirm that he is absolutely a finalist. And again, he's another guy that would be getting interviews at other clubs. Yes.

But LAFC is obviously would be his top choice. And it looks like as of right now, he is the frontrunner to become the club's next head coach when Toronto departs this winter to go back to Germany with his family. This isn't shocking. It's not surprising, but it is at the same time a little jarring. It's one of those things that I think as we've talked about these job openings, like we have said. And when you think about it, you're like, yeah, of course, elevate the assistant. to take over. Steve Chirondelow, right, was head coach of L.AFC 2.

When Bob Bradley was there, Bob leaves. Steve Tarunzlo gets elevated. Mark Dos Santos, for anyone who doesn't know him very well, Canadian-born coach has been with LAAFC off and on over the last seven years. So he was an assistant to Bob. On the inaugural staff. Yep. On the inaugural staff went and was the head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps for three years.

And when that ended, came back to LASC and has remained with LASC since 2022. he was a long-time head coach across the lower divisions. He won championships with Swole Park Rangers and the San Francisco deltas, was Peter's assistant for a little bit before that, Ottawa Fury, and then has worked in Brazil. I believe his family is Portuguese origin, but grew up in the Montreal area, so speaks Portuguese, French, English, Spanish, and all of that.

He has been interviewed for head coaching jobs for 12 years now. He has gotten some of them. But, like, Mark Dos Santos has been a name in this, space over and over and over again. First it was he was the hot lower division coach. Is someone going to take a risk on him? And then coming out of LAFC, which had all success and Bob Bradley, he gets the job with Vancouver. The Vancouver job did not go as well as you would have liked. There were brighter, there were bright spots and positives. It was an up and down experience. And then over the last three years at LAFC, I think they've been fairly successful.

and he has in some ways been connected to it and been a part of it, which you cannot deny. To me, this whole thing is another re-entrenchment and what I've said for weeks. This is John Thorrington's club. John Thorrington runs the club. He makes the decisions. He sets the tone. He sets the direction. Mark Dos Santos is from that tree.

He understands that and he can be a part of it. And that seems to be one of the most important parts for this team. I think for some fans externally, there's a little word. that there's not going to be any shift. But I say that as they are on the verge of another Western Conference semifinals and have been flying since Sun got there. Yeah, it's funny, like, writing out,

it's just the basic information, not just like the scorecing and the scooping. The like, DeSantos has been an assistant on LFC staff under Toronto Lo since his first season in 2022. Under Toronto, LFC has one MLS Cup and won the Sporters show in 22. They won the Open Cup in 24.

They've gotten to another three finals, 23 Champions Cup, 23 MLS Cup, and 24 Leaks Cup. And they are among the favorites right now to get to Amlas Cup out of the Western Conference, if not win it, given how great that they've been since Sunnard. Turns out I picked them in my Brocktober bracket.

I didn't realize that. No, you didn't realize that. I thought I'd picked Vancouver. You could have talked yourself into that being a Mark Dos Santos legacy pick too anyway. Yeah, for sure. Now, so, like, for... This is something

that I would, you know, we would argue about this on the show or argue with Doyle on the show about it, this team just has success. Like, no, they don't win every final and no, they don't always play like you might want them to play. They're in finals every year. And while this might be underwhelming to some fans, like Antipostaloo was linked with this job.

When that happened, I was told that there was nothing to it. I don't know what other kind of big names that they had talked to or are talking to. Again, like the club will say that nothing's decided. they're still finalists, right? Like, this is pretty sensible, honestly. I understand being underwhelmed, but a big name does not always equate big success in this league.

You can go these examples, like the first example of my head probably doesn't really fit here just because of how different the league is. But Rude Gillette was the L.A. Galaxy. That was, like, one of the worst manager riders in league history. Yeah. Just because you're a guy from Europe that you're bringing over, doesn't automatically equate to winning.

Would somebody like Ange and Thorntonanon in this front office, which has proven they are one of, if not the best in the league over this tenure? Would he have clashed with that person? Would Tata Martino have jived with this front office? I don't know. So for looking at like, oh man, like it's his assistant, like you said, Bob Bradley to Steve Trondola went pretty well. If it ends up being Mark Dos Santos, as I'd expect, I think it's difficult to argue with. It's difficult to argue with in that keeping the trains on the tracks. has been successful and would be for LAFC.

Like you said, Buong is in his prime. Son just got there. It doesn't feel like that's going to change anytime soon. So they're a contender in every competition they step into. It does feel like we're at this point, though, in the league, where some teams, at times, it feels like, are trying to elevate the league or change the perception of who they are outside of Major League Soccer. I don't know that that does this for LASC, right?

The NG conversation, those guys, the convo is like, can they be the best team in the region like hands down is that can there be a moment where you're like lafc no league mx team can touch them they should be playing in copel lab if they got to the club world cup they can contend with teams now i say that after they just beat club america and went to the club world cup didn't know what was going to happen so obviously through a wrenching things but it comes down to the style i think for a lot of people they don't play in a way in which it feels like oh my god this team's doing something different they're very good at what they do and it has been very efficient and it fits to some of their talent but in saying all that

john thorngen picks the talent and if the style fits the talent that's clearly the decision they want to make and it has a really high floor like that's the thing you just established the minimums are finals and semifinals appearances the frustration though is this belief of like okay can they take like what columbus and nonce have done and move that to l a l a coochos sign i mean son is the Kucho signing maybe like what do those signings look like what does the next Diego Rossi look like with a World Cup coming around the corner and I don't know that LFC's set up to do that in saying that they're going to be top three and everyone's preseason poll next year gosh you could be the head coach and they'd have it they'd be able

to sign Sun again I get there you don't need any name brand for Los Angeles I see but is that the minimum or the maximum then because if that's fair that's what more could you do like who else could you convince right if you can get Keelini to come on a TAM deal like what's the next like we are still waiting for the in prime 27 year old full international from a big team to come and lafc should be the tip of the spear or the first option for that player and it hasn't happened yet mark dos Santos i don't think get you closer to that but to your point john thornton could probably get the deal done anyway if it's there yeah and and like listen this is unfair to to screw it not in force i don't care about being fair to um most people would say

Ange Pasta Kluglu is more aggressive and more front-footed and more exciting than Nuno Santos. How did that change work out? Yeah, for sure. Four weeks until he got fired again and everybody, like, Nottingham fans are like, why did we do this?

Why did we make this change? I understand the idea of can we lift our ceiling rather than focusing on raising our floor. But it's easy, it's always the cat for what you wish for kind of situation where it's just like, man, you know, it was really nice?

Being in the semifinal all the time. and winning. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. And with some there, like, you would hope it's better next year than it is this year. Aaron Long comes back from injury. It's a team, you know, we talked about Ryan Hollingshead last week. Like, it's a team that has pieces that means you will be competitive going forward. And they are run as well as any team in major league soccer. And to Mark Dos Santos, his credit, by the way, he's won. I know it's lower division stuff, but in literally one year with two different clubs, he won. So he has an experience of doing that. He's, been an assistant now for three years with a successful team where you have to think, okay, maybe there's these change of concepts of this is what I did wrong. This is what went right. This is what I would do next time. And his Vancouver time, they didn't make the playoffs. COVID hit. The team was relocated to Salt Lake City. He got fired. And that's when Vanity Sartini took over at a time when they probably needed that emotional lift, maybe more so than a tactical lift. But everyone you talk to, and every time I've ever spoke with Mark Dos Santos, I've walked

way impressed by his soccer ideas, by his breadth of knowledge, by his breadth of style because he has been all around the world and has spoken to so many different soccer people. And of course, he's had the success now as an assistant. So it makes a lot of sense for LAFC, even if it doesn't get you going and isn't most exciting. It is probably what we figured coming into it, the most logical move for this team. And as I said, for LAFC, they've got a lot that they can already like by the way our depth charts are fully updated after coming off the salary releases and all the roster news and all of that so if you don't already you can subscribe to our patreon it gets you access to those depth charts it's the easiest way to figure out where your team is

going to be going forward i'm looking at it right now jeremy abobesi mark delgado danny buonga all of them locked into contracts david martina sergey belencia ryan portia eddie sagura son of course and Timothy Tillman. All of them are locked into deals going forward for next year. A bunch of others will have their contracts picked up. It is a club where you'd like to see any youth player get an opportunity besides Nathan Ordaz ever from the maybe best soccer market playing wise in the entire country. So hopefully Mark Dos Santos can be a part of that,

but it doesn't seem to be a key feature for LAFC in their roster building. Any other big news from any of this you want to hit before we move into the playoffs? um let's go to the playoffs unless that we wanted to do anything on st louis yeah i guess that so we have the question thoughts yet on st louis hiring cori ray i think a lot of this was put out there on social media because of the conversations we had around ray i think with sporting kansas city was the expectation or maybe it was early reports about him um being in st louis and obviously we talked about him in montreal uh i think the world of him i think he's going to be one one of the best executives in Major League Soccer.

I think it's a perfect signing for St. Louis. Corey has high-level experience with Toronto. He was in the rooms when they signed Sebastian Jovinko and Michael Bradley and put together a team that was nationally recognized and winning in one of the biggest cities. And then he went to Columbus and built Columbus, too. And when you look at this team, like look at the Columbus crew that beat FC Cincinnati three days ago.

Six or seven of them came through the crew two team. Corey was the only one who realized that Max Arfston was available for the draft and had already played an MLS Next Pro and was like, why wouldn't I sign, why wouldn't I draft a guy who scored 10 goals in MLS Next Pro last year, Jason Russell Row, Mo Farsi, guys they brought in,

Sean Zawaski, Homegrown that they brought in, developed, Taha Bruin, a guy who was part of a rebuilt academy that Columbus put together that Corey was in charge of and then put through a pathway and a pipeline that he helped develop on top of all the first teamwork that he has done. So it feels

to me like a home run for St. Louis. What is St. Louis as a club and their ceiling and who are they? That I can't really answer still on all of that, but this is the first stepping stone. Can you tell the Patrick Ajumong store or do you want me to? Yeah, so he, I messaged it one time about Patrick Ajamong because he was killing it in MLS Next Pro and Corey watches more college soccer and Next Pro stuff than anyone I know. So when I'm trying to get a read on guys sometimes, I would message him and he was like well you know we found him we wanted to draft him in columbus and we were told by the league he has to come to the combine then so we could like take photos and get his measurements and all of that he crushed to that combine and charlotte ends up drafting him before

columbus's pick comes up and it kills the people uh at columbus who are a part of that this is such good lure um yeah so you hit a lot of my own similar feelings what i'd say is is you said it well the he was in the room for a lot of these things he wasn't like an intern in Toronto I know that he's younger or he looks younger too so he you kind of forget that 20 he was assistant GM when they won the treble in 2017 he was assistant GM he was assistant GM in Columbus when they had a very robust for an office he was the he was he was one he was the assistant GM when they won 20 20 M uskop and 23 in muskop he was part of all of that again best mchenko was the architect of both places again you have

Issa Tal, you have Neil McGuinness, you have who are a bunch of other people, like Toronto, there's a lot of people that came out of that front of. There's a lot of good people in both of those clubs. But Corey wasn't like at the bottom of the, like I think that that's important to, I spoke with St. Louis President Diego Gigliani.

I'll have a story coming out soon, but one of the things he said was exactly that. It's not it's that he had high level experience at both, particularly both of those clubs. Toronto were a joke before Besbechanco and the crew turned them around and Columbus went from missing the playoffs under Caleb Porter, too, winning a musk up.

And they had the first one under Caleb Porter, too, to be fair. But, like, he was integral in both of those roles, whether or not he was the person leading it. Again, that's Bez on both accounts. But, like, he was a high-level employee of both of those clubs that won a lot of stuff. He went to Montreal. I don't think that I need to say with any inside information. Now, would you guys think that Corey was making a whole lot of decisions all the time there?

Or was the problem? Yeah. There was a lot of press releases where both Saputo kids we're always first and i thought that was the biggest red flag so i don't know the ins and outs there but i have a couple guesses so if for those if there's a st louis fan i've seen a couple that have been like oh like we hired the guy from Montreal like that seems weird just erase that from the resume also i would throw out there the last person who hired someone from Montreal was Columbus they hired wilfrid nonce and it worked out pretty well so talent can come from anywhere that

doesn't mean the structure is correct. But yeah, he's got tentacles across North America and as I said, was in the room, like you mentioned, for, you know, got a lot of these big deals over the line. We're talking Cucho, we're talking Diego Rossi, we're talking Lucas Zelayaon, we're talking Sebastian Jovinco, some of the biggest moves in the history of this league. And I think for St. Louis, what I said to someone on social this weekend and on Blue Sky was, what I would start with is, even though we've complained about their DPs, and maybe them not being at a true DP level

and spending it in different ways, to me, the middle of the roster is what's been broken for them most often. It hasn't been cohesive to the style, which is bizarre to me, as much as they have really played one style and talked about it over and over again. And it hasn't supported a team that you want to say,

okay, if we're not the highest-spending team, then you need to have the best eighth-best player on the field. You need to have the best two options off the bench. And then I go back to what I just said. the guy who signed Mo Farsi and Jason Russell Roe to MLS Next Pro contracts. That's the type of guy I think you want to have with this team. He knows what it takes to win in this league. And that's something that, well, St. Louis did it with Bradley Carnell as coach.

Outside of that, they have really not relied on any MLS experience. Lutz Fan and Seal, of course, from outside of Major League Soccer coming in for the first time, Olaf Melberg as well. Like all of these characters don't really have a ton of experience in Major League Soccer. and they've had one good half season in the club's entire history and it needs to be better than that. It should be better than that for a market

that loves the team for a stadium that's bouncing. And the stories I think many of us have heard is like, okay, the stadium is a bunch of the expenses early on. The hope is they follow the FC Cincinnati model of like once you get through a few years of revenue in the new stadium and paying it off, then maybe you go really big for an Evander, a lucho Acosta, a Denke, all that type of stuff.

And if that's the future for St. Louis, they have to stabilize now and build a base where we are competitive and this is the one piece we need to move into it. And this feels like a really good pickup. So, thank you for the questions from St. Louis fans. Let's stick into the playoffs now. The news never stops. This is why we love doing this show live when we can. This is why we love having soccer wise because we wanted a show we could talk about whatever we want, whenever we want. And that includes the Columbus crew too at this exact time. We've got a couple playoff games. hit, of course, from the weekend.

We have five more series to finish this weekend, and we have some cool breaking news from soccer-wise, which is we will be in Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday and Friday to help get ready for that game for Charlotte FC. So we'll be on the ground in Charlotte on Thursday. We're going to do our live show from Charlotte, talking about all the games. We'll have some interviews in there as well. And then if you are in Charlotte, we are going to be hosting a special show at a bar. on Thursday night for people to come out, hang out,

get ready for the game, get psyched. It's kind of our dream show. We've always wanted to do like college game day, tailgate, pep rally, whatever you want to call it. So I know Eric Crackauer is in the area. We're going to have him come out and hang out, talk to some other characters from around the Charlotte of C-scene, but we want to hang out with fans and get pumped for the game.

You will be staying for the game. I will be leaving because my sister is getting married this weekend. So I have to go and help out there and be around. that but you will be there for the game and we're really excited for this last set of games across the league so if you are in the charlotte area hit us up you know my blue sky hit me up and let me know where you're going to be and what your plans are and all of that and as i said on thursday we're going to have a special live show but we're going to hit all the games so i want to focus here first on the series that are done and then i think we will have on thursday a bunch of preview time

to talk about the games that are coming we have three series that finished up this weekend the Vancouver Whitecaps saw off FC Dallas and penalty kick shootout. Philadelphia took care of business against Chicago and LAFC. What's the phrase you'd use in Austin? I was going to say shellacked. Austin. I think that works. Okay.

I don't know if that's a fair enough statement to make on the end of the weekend. Let's start with that game. The LAFC team, it felt like, you know, when we did our rankings of upsets, it was the highest. I think Austin was the highest of these three of. like could they come back, could they make a performance based off the second half that they had? And it was LAFC to a T like we just talked about, right? It was getting your guys into space and letting Buonga and Son rip a team in the open field. And Austin almost looked like

everything they learned in game one went out the window and they wanted to play differently in game two. Yeah, this was, um, yeah, belt of ass comes of mind. This was the son and Bwanga. This is what, $27 million league record signing, and then Bwanga was less than that, but has steadily gotten pay raises as one of the best players. This is what happens when you absolutely nail your DPs. And that isn't a suggest or belay what else that they've done right.

They've done a whole lot of things right. But a lot of their run down the stretch, and this game was like, hey, cool, we have the two best players on the field, and it ain't close. Get out of the way, watch them cook. Tom, by the way, I'm really proud of you

for not having a huge explosion that Liverpool has finally fully defeated Real Madrid. I hadn't checked. I didn't want to know. I've been trying to block it out of my mind because married to the game first, grind set first.

We were originally going to do this show earlier and I specifically was good with the time we picked because it would have been over before Liverpool started. That was the high I chose it. And so I had to miss it. I just need to know.

to catch up on every video if Trent Alexander Arnold stumbled out of the field. News is news is news. So Sun gets the goal scoring started. Austin FC gets a penalty kick. Mirto Azuni's attempt is saved. Austin FC gets a second penalty kick. Danny Pereira scores

his. Why? Because Danny Pereira and Owen Wolfe are the only two players on this team who perform game in game out. Maybe you could throw John Gallagher in there. Brad Stuver, it's hard to say just because he's... Bradstuver. Bradstuver, yeah, yeah. No, I would not say Brendan Heintyke.

I'm just saying in general. I don't. He played a hospital ball across the field while they had pushed everyone forward that led to Sergei Palencia playing Sun into 65 yards of space. And everyone's like, why Stova off his line? Why stuver off his line? How is it possible that the best open field player in the league at this point in half a season somehow gets into the most dangerous spot possible?

It was, and you said it, nailing your DPs. Uzuni can't score a penalty kick now across the Open Cup and a playoff elimination game. That's a $12 million player. And then Buonga and Son are absolutely unplayable on the other side. And yeah, this is an Austin team. I think we'll talk about them more next week because I think we'll do a couple of the sort of end of seasons for these teams. But it's an Austin team that has a lot of question marks about the money they've spent and the way they're set up going forward.

There are a lot of ways to lose playoff series. Some make you feel good about your team going forward. Some don't. This is definitely not one that makes you feel good about things going forward. And then on the other side for LAFC, I thought there'd be a bit more of a formation change because of the issues in central midfield. There was a personnel change to fill some of those gaps. You had Jalson get the start in this one, him and Seguer sort of stepping into midfield

and helping things out. But LAFC, I think, just decided they were going to drop more numbers in. I thought Ordaz played more central against the ball to help fill some of those gaps as well and keep numbers around Wolf and Pereira, and then they were able to get out and get open. So, yeah, it was a, it was a tough watch for this Austin faithful and for L.A.F.C. It's a continuation of what it's been the second half of the year, and it's probably why I picked them to win the West. Without really knowing I did. Yeah, like, look, like when they're.

have the foundation they have with those two special players like against vancouver that's going to be such a fun series it's going to be so great and we'll have plenty of plenty of time to sorry series it's just a game now that the series are over the series part of lafc's playoffs are over that's going to be such a fun knockout round game it's going to be two really really good teams and while thomas moeller has been one of the best players in the league since he signed while burhalter was on my best 11. Kubas, I think you and I, more than just about anybody outside of Vancouver, has been seeing his praises. While Blackman was the defender of the year, Vancouver have a lot of great players. Sun and Buongar are the two best players on the pitch when these two teams fight against each

other. Yeah. And that's, again, that is no knock on any of the Vancouver players. I just rattled off seven guys who are elite. Right. Sun and Buonger are another level. They will feel that way against literally every other team in this league bar Miami and they'll still probably feel like screw it we're better today the one thing Vancouver has is you know how LAFC are going to play so you can game plan for it and let's let's talk about that that that's the thing is that like it'll it'll be going it'll have those like two sheer store power but the Vancouver kind of system should be able to or like there are there are different ways that Vancouver play let's talk about Vancouver here because they knock off FC Dallas they come from behind Ralph Preso scores in like the

96th minute and that equalizes to send it to penalty kicks and then Vancouver goes and wins a penalty kicks. Not going to lie, all of this happened in the middle of game seven of the World Series, like in the ninth inning of game seven. So I had half a high on it when I watched it live and then I've gone back and looked through it again. Dallas goes back from a formation change. They went to a flat four. They brought Norris in as the left back and then Farrington back in up top which we expected and the interesting note from this one was ralph preso starts at centerback after matthias laborta's suspension ended and the boarda started on the bench so coming into this series if laborta's healthy you could argue he's the best of any of the backline options

and you could play him in any of the spots right he's played left back he's played right back maybe eddie r accomplos more of a game changer from right back fine he doesn't even start And that feels like the Jesper Sorensen thing of, like, belief in guys, guys perform, keep giving them chances. Listen, when you have the centerback bearing of Ralph Preso and Bilal-Halbuni, you don't break it up. I love this team, man. And then Laborda does come in, and he doesn't play at centerback. Ralph Prezo stays in. He comes in for Dick Johnson.

He comes in for the left back, who plays completely stylistically differently. It's just for Swanson, man. It's just unreal. what a team what a coach everything on that and again

I'm sure we'll continue to say plenty of plenty of nice things about Vancouver I really feel for Dallas like they

earned a game three but it was kind of ripped away with a scramble off a set piece and then you lose in penalties like these are obviously fine margins

but they did they did everything right and it's not like they gave up anything dumb to to concede it was just sometimes the ball

doesn't bounce your way on a set piece like after the game one, shalacking, I use your word, I thought that there was no shot even in Dallas. I was like, dude, it's just going to be more of the same. Whether or not it's 4-0, I just think that Vancouver are going to control this. And even if it's a one-goal game, it's not going to feel like that. So credit to Dallas, again, I've said this plenty of times on the show,

but it's worth reiterating, where they were in July, dead and buried, just completely dead and buried. And you talk about losses that make you feel a little bit better. Dallas, right now, I mean, there's still plenty of question marks with this team, but there were a few less than there were four months ago. Yeah, and you talk about the fine margins. So Petzar Musa scores in the 26th minute. He's played through from, like, midfield, and he's just so good. He comes across Pryso right as Pryso's approaching him,

so Ralph Pryso has to slow down so he doesn't clip him, and then he doesn't have the ability to accelerate back up to close the space, and he takes this long touch which pulls Tanaka off his line but he's still able to beat him there to clip it in for the goal and then three minutes later Kamungo puts the ball in the back of the net and it's kind of like okay

Vancouver's going to close up shop stay healthy we're moving on basically to game three like a two zero 30 minutes in the crowd's all over it Kamunga offside for that goal and that's where it's like if they go up to zero especially in the first half that's probably the game then La Porta comes in

at halftime for Tate Johnson and Smash and Legat comes on for Capsis. Daniel Rios did go up, do go out with an injury. So it's something to monitor because this is a thin Vancouver White Caps team, not in the lack of depth. It's just how many injuries can you sustain at a high level as you're playing bigger and bigger games going forward. So Hulumi came on and played at the center forward spot to close things out for them. But they're just not going to quit.

Like they're never going to give up. It wasn't pretty. there wasn't a ton of big chances the game maybe wasn't as open as they would like it to be but as you said they get the late free kick any set piece with burr halter is a threat they've got big bodies they're able to create chances and ralph preso gets two touches on it so it's what thomas mueller on the first header back across again guys won a world cup like 93rd minute he heads it back across preso reacts he flick on header. Khalidi, who's been awesome, saves it,

and then it falls to Pryso for the second chance. And then they go into the penalty kick shootout and they get the win. And yeah, Dallas gave a fight. I would argue Eric Quill shot them in the foot in the first game with the way he set them up and overthought maybe the result from Decision Day and how you judge playing up a man for so long

and what it ended up being. If this was the team last week, I don't know that they win, but they have better than a zero point zero one expected goals on the road and like you give yourself more of an opportunity across two games and i think that will be a little bit frustrating for dallas but as you said like okay there's two ways to end of season dallas going in the right direction i think that will be the feeling coming out of it who again there's a billion different things that'll happen between november 4th and you know february 20th whenever the season starts

If you're going to pick right now who's going to finish higher Dallas or Austin next season, what would you say? I would pick Dallas. Yeah. I would do that. So part of the context is I don't know when Brandon Vasquez is back. Yeah, that's the attacker that I feel safest about. And he's injured, right? Well, yeah, for Austin.

Right. Across the two, yeah, across the two teams, Moussa. Oh, for sure. Yeah, but I was saying. Oh, yeah, that, yeah. So Petsar Moussa is a part of this team going forward. I mean, they need to improve it. they need to improve at centerback.

They don't have a second starting centerback on this roster. And if they're able to do that. So the good news is they have one. And that was not the kid. They got the Tam centerback right. Like, Urgide is legitimately good. And that's a building block.

And I think they've done good work in midfield. Like I think you can feel like Kaike is one for the future. I think Kapsis is one for the current. Romero, I think, has given them good performances. And if they can get centerback right, I think you can move Kamungo, back into an actual like full time attacking role and i would even feel fairly okay about this attack even though would love to see an actual lucho coaster replacement like a big signing blah blah

blah even if you didn't do that and you told me they could solidify defensively even more they've clearly answered questions at goalkeeper as well i would believe that this is a dallas team that's we're talking four or five seed next year um with the potential to push higher so yeah i would feel much better about them you're the same yeah but but i'm probably much closer than you are um i think this would be a real conversation if vasca if like we like we knew that vasquez would be back tough Julio cascante is still on the roster in austin like what is happening you just retook laos and boobacore it's playing real minutes for dallas for dallas for dallas for sure but like five years no starting centerbacks rubin gabralson is the only starting level

centerback this club has ever signed it is is mind-blowing. You took me a second to remember that name. I know, because I was like when I was, when I was watching the game and I'm spouting out on Blue Sky, I was like, this team's never signed one.

And I was like, no, I remember there was one moment and they sold him immediately, which wasn't a bad move. He wanted to go home. They made money fine, whatever. But like, they just have never signed starting level centerbacks. Listen, okay, let me ask you this.

I don't know how to word this, so choose odds, percentages, whatever you want to do. Is Owen Wolf on Austin FC next year? Oh, man. It's funny. I was talking to somebody about this today because I haven't heard anything. And I was like, what the hell? Like, there has to be teams circling around. Like, it has to be.

And the answer was like, yeah, but I don't know how serious. And it's, he shouldn't be cheap. And it's just one of those weird ones at the moment where I'm just not hearing it. Like, there are teams in top five leagues, like, genuinely like them. but do they like them to whatever number they would have to convince Austin to sell them? Top five leagues, look how much Paxton Aronson costs? Like, how is this not a cash for up front for a team?

And if I'm Owen Wolf, hell yeah, like this team, I had one of the best seasons of young players ever had. Good point. Like, he should be, and I'm not saying he should be on the national team, he should be in a national team conversation with the year he's had. It's not going to happen, even with an open cup run, because they just don't play the soccer that can make him better

or make him look better and they're not successful enough and I say that again, I understand they made an open cup final run and they made it to the playoffs. But like he's the best attacker on the team. Diego Luna is the best attacker on his team. He gets a national team appearance

and I think when Diego Luna pushed in there was more support for him. So yeah, that's where I'm like, I don't know what else is there and how it's set up. It feels like from talking to Danny Pereira at All-Star, he's happy to live in Austin,

his whole life which is great um and he's an awesome piece for this team but like i i still i have question marks about the people making the decisions coming out of this year and like yeah azuni and bucari are going to be top of the gos theorem list for next year but can they both happen at the same time that's a really big ass they're going to be top of the list or that well they're top of the list in terms of the ones who could be well bucari had that half season so he's in Marantzsche territory. Yeah, true, that's fair. And listen,

he's in Moranjuk territory. Be careful about Danny Pereira. Don't snitch. Danny, I got you. I hate snitches, too. For anyone who didn't hear our live show in Austin, Danny literally was at the time being rumored to a team in England, I think. And I squashed it.

And we asked him a question of like, what's it like to be a part of rumors? He was like, well, it's stuff when guys are being rumored and you've got snitches like, and he just literally looks at Tom and or points at him. Yeah. and there was no ambiguity in who he was talking about no and he's like so yeah uh but vanc l a fc is going to be awesome um in the next round as you said it's it's a clash of styles which is awesome it is the big bad wolf for vancouver which i kind of love right like Vancouver's been eliminated by lafcc time and again in multiple competitions we're talking about in concaf

and in mLS playoffs and last year the like positive feeling to them was okay they pushed L.A.F.C. Like, that was the positive. Now they're going to have a home game against this team in a single elimination, which is huge. And if anyone hasn't watched it, go watch Fannie Sartini's post game against L.A.C. last year. It's a second chance for us to bring it up. God. He wandered around the field after the calls. And I thought he was on his knees stabbing himself, but I believe what he was bansomiming was enjoying, having Ced Durandrill enjoy his time and he also then afterwards said something about if the referee ends up dead i'm going to be the first i think this was two years ago isn't it because he served that was two years ago

he served the suspension uh okay oh man whatever it was these these two teams have been linked for a long time and it will be a huge moment for vancouver i hope with the international break and all that we're talking like record crowds for an mLS game we saw what um ccc already sold out the load bowl they've got the upper bowl open which I think for the first game was 32K with a bit of the upper bowl so yeah we have a comment here in the chat that says whitecaps

Lafc would be a great series to watch best of three I agree but don't give anyone any ideas please please don't put that out there. Because then we'll do a best of five round one a best of three round two. Don't don't even put that out there in the universe the one other team to clinch their spot the Philadelphia Union and they went up to zero

and they had a game plan this time which was instead of letting the other team back they scored a third goal so tie barribo two goals in the opening 15 minutes and then bruno damiani with the third goal and the big story with this game was the injury to chris brady and then geoffrey gall getting the start laid on and is at fault on two mistakes for the opening two goals and this is not a good enough chicago team to overcome an issue like that i don't know how many teams would be you know like particularly one verse eight situation um yeah i was on i was on sears with with uh danny higginbotham today danny was on the call for

that game and you could see danny's a really good dude you could see it he was like i really try to never feel bad because it's part of my job that i need to point things out even when they're bad and he goes mate i just felt so bad like backup goal keeping that situation um it's there's not so much to add right and And Matt, that will do it for a game. I don't know when Chris Brady got injured. I do know he wasn't on the injury report. This is the conversation.

And I don't know what the updates were on Zincredong. We were like, maybe he'll be able to come off the bench. Well, he was able to start. I don't know. Like, this has nothing to do with the game itself, more about the culture around this league and doing availability reports. And it actually matters. I don't even check them because it doesn't matter.

It's unacceptable. And we had this conversation around Zinkernoggle last week, which was he got injured in warmups. It happens. That's fine. We knew we weren't going to get an update all week. And we eventually, it felt like we're fairly confident he was going to get the start or at least be available.

I voted this guy, young player of the year. Like, this is a huge factor on this team. He's shushing. I voted him young player. Oh, Chris Brady. I'm so sorry. I was still on Zincolano. No, no.

My bed. He's shushing the crowd in Philadelphia in the huge moments as they come back. and try and get the win, he's the story. And like, this is not a Chicago fire problem. This is a major league soccer problem. If you want your league to be covered, then there needs to be details about the league. It's why it's easier if you know,

more salary information across a bunch of stuff, and I get there's personal stuff fine. And I understand HIPAA, whatever it is. The NFL and college football and college basketball have made a concerted effort to ensure that injury reports, are accurate so that there is more interest and more coverage of the teams. You would have had a day of stories, two days of stories about who starts in goal for the Chicago Fire and what does it mean and how big of a factor it is.

And like, that's what sports are built around. And Major League Soccer doesn't do nearly a good enough job. On the flip side for Philly, Westfield gets the start as they sort of change stuff up a little bit. But once Philly went up 3-0, this game was over. 35th minute. Yeah. And they played it out that way. And huge for Philadelphia.

They get the time off. They get to rest, right? They were the ones who had to keep the foot on the gas all the way through the season to win supporters shield. They are a club that has experience with layoffs like this because they've been in other formats over the last few years. So I think of all the teams, they can manage it the best. And now they get to sit and wait and see who they will see in the next round.

So the question is, who will get to that round? On the Eastern Conference side, we still have three series left open. Charlotte penalty kick wins over NYCFC on the road. Both teams have won away. Now Charlotte hosts on Friday night. And then on Saturday, Miami hosting Nashville in Cincinnati hosting Columbus, those two will meet at the higher seat stadium in the next round. So if Nashville gets the upset, CINC would host them.

Oh, it doesn't even matter. Sorry, if Columbus gets the upset, then Miami would host them. If not, if Cincinnati wins, they're hosting no. matter what, whether it's Nashville against Miami. A lot of these were huge turnarounds, Tom. Nashville exploded out the gates. It was the performance we thought we would see coming at a decision day, but we didn't. Columbus as well exploded out the gates, put Cincy to the sword, and eventually then the red card really saw things off, but they were both phenomenal in the second game. And I have zero idea what will happen in the third game, which sets it up

really fun. For sure. I'll start with the Nashville. Miami side of things, this is what happens when you play your game against Miami and you don't try to pack in another defensive midfield or try to hope to stifle Neil Messiness attack. Guess what? If Messi shows up and it's a messy day, you could have 14 defenders on the field. It wouldn't matter, man. Like I was speaking to a sporting director of another playoff team and Miami came up. And it was like, yeah, we go into that game thinking we need to score three goals.

goals because it's absolutely stupid to assume that they're not going to score multiple goals because if we play like that, they're just going to break down a low block. So if we come out without any courage, if we come out trying to limit them, we've already lost. And Nashville, I can understand that on Decision Day, I don't think that they played scared and they gave up five goals. So going into game one, they were probably like, we really need to make defensive changes. And I just don't think that that's the way to beat this Miami team.

you're playing into their strengths you're playing into them having the ball if you're recoiled so far back and they're able to get when they get all their numbers forward so your attackers need to defend or your attackers are doing too much off the ball then you're not even in a position to hurt them in transition which is their biggest vulnerability or defending for long stretches of time because their front three don't defend like that's the tradeoff of having literally the best player ever and a 38 year old or whatever louis swarez is is that you're not going to be the best counterpressing team in the league but you're If you have possession and establish it, it doesn't matter if there's a low block. They're going to play through it, play around it, and play over it. So Nashville, if they need to play like this in Miami, and there's a chance they give up four goals. But if they come back to Miami and just try to bunker and hope for a set piece or transition moment, I just think that that's going to be an automatic loss. Yeah.

The best moment of this game was when Eddie Tacks Seth. belted the ball off Ian Frey after the whistle like two and a half minutes into the game it was like it was something we would both do and it was like we're here we're here and it and the building was electric I like was all over blues guy talking about this and I texted some people who are at the game but like I questioned for two weeks like what does the crowd look like it felt like a pro you know as usual bunch of inter Miami messy fans bought tickets to go for decision day and then every time they cut to the crowd it was Nashville fans just looking depressed alongside those Inter-Miamy fans, whether they are or not. And I just couldn't imagine what it would look like. It was raining. It was miserable. It was cold. And it was electric in that building there for Nashville.

And they, as you said, they came out. They pressed high. That engaged the fan base. They get the early goal. They played on the front foot. They pushed the game. And I think it may have been the best day in Nashville's history, even with the finals that they've been to.

like, or no, sorry, U.S. Open Cup winning, actually, is probably the best one. Maybe the best day in Geotis Park history. Like, it was awesome. It was really, really cool to see. But Miami are weird, man. And they're weird in everything you just said. Everything you just said happens in their own bubble. Matthew Coker on started at left wing back alongside Josh Bauer.

And Miami didn't have a way to attack that because Ian Freight doesn't really push forward. Yeah. Like he is a natural central midfielder who's. unbelievable on the ball, but isn't as aggressive, and Jordi Alba attacks. Yeah. And at no point in the 90 minutes, is there a coach who's like, oh, you know what? Maybe we could take advantage of that. Maybe we should shift some things.

I don't know if it's moving Alba out there. I don't know if it's recycling the way you're playing. I don't know if it's moving a different winger out there. Is it taking fray off and playing a natural winger? Like Josh Bauer was great in this game, scores the goal, had no. unbelievable day. But he wasn't really challenged that much, except for the moment where there's an overlapping run that both guys go with and messy cuts inside and is wide open. It's almost like if you attack the guys who don't naturally play that position that often in a high leverage

moment in the attacking third openings could happen and it could be positive for you. This Miami team's bizarre and like you said, like they're playing their own game and if they play it at a high level, It's probably too much to overcome, but there are gaps there. There are openings. I thought Muel was good. Then Schaffelberg comes in, gives you a different element as well. I love this central midfield. Yazbex a beast.

He is a two-way monster, and he's going to be a huge star, I think, next season, as well, a lot of the pieces in this Nashville team. And I think it's split for this third game. This is how I felt coming into the series. Then I felt completely the opposite to the first game. Stupid, right? again on the second game but like if this is if this is what nashville's going to do like i think they have an opportunity if they try and push this into miami team they lost that home last year in the

third game over three round first round playoff so the possibility exists and i think Nashville's done everything to put themselves in the driver's seat for that and then on the flip side for columbus you know they weren't that far off the mark against cincinnati and they did the full non-say thing max sarfson the best attacking player on the field that left wing back like this is how you play if you're the Columbus crew and it was awesome to watch yeah well so you yakubo gets a dumb red card um just i don't i don't think that that needed to happen and that was at 1-0 and columbus scores the free kick that was like the 41st minute whatever it was right just before the first half it is over at that point it's over just pack it in let's let's get ready for game three that's how

that felt Columbus were all over Cincinnati early on again they deserve the lead and since he were teetering, and Columbus felt it. Columbus kept pushing, and credit to them, they got, they put Kubo in a bad spot for the red card. They score the free kick immediately. So it's like, foot on the neck, this is over. We're going to control us. We're going to dominate this. One thing, so I don't think that Ta-ha-ha-ha-Brun was like the key that unlocked everything here, right? He's the best player in the world. I think he was good. Balander. What it is more indicative of to me is coaches love to talk about being brave, being strong, being all of these things.

And then let's use Nashville for an example. Little adversity against Miami? Here's another defensive midfielder. Let's bunker. Greg Burrhalter with the Philadelphia Union, game one against Philly, let's sit all the way in, let's defend like hell, let's try to get out of it. Let's just hope to get lucky and get a set piece. I'm not necessarily knocking that. I understand the thought processor, but I disagree, particularly with the Miami situation with the Heschro, but I get it.

Wilfrancci does not ever do that. He always preaches courage. He always preaches betting on yourself, trusting yourself, be aggressive, be on the front foot. He would have been easy to start Daniel Gosdock. He hasn't done that for a while. It would have been easy to just lean on some of these other veterans. He's starting Taha Bruin. And he's, like that in a moment is telling the team, first of all, to Taha, I trust.

you first of all to everybody on the roster i trust you all but second of all this is the courageous thing this is the one that this is the decision that takes strength so when i'm asking you guys to be courageous when i'm asking you to be strong i'm going to do it with you right now and i'm going to show you and i just think that that it just typifies the culture there and again like i don't i don't want to oversimilar this to say that taha brun was mad at the match like what a what a tactical genius what a no no it just shows that like not this is what this is who we are this is what we do, and this is just another decision that was indicative of that, that ends up with you beating your rival 4-0 when you're on the brink.

Also, Taya Bruins awesome. But, yeah, I fully agree. He earned it. Like, he wasn't there just because, like, it's, it's, but again, like, Daniel Gossack being on the bench, Jason Russell would be on the bench, particularly after that first game. Could have been easy to go back to either one of them. And he said, no, I want Taha. The thing I think that really helped from a soccer point of view with that,

and I think you're right about the culture and the way it infuses the players with confidence. Lassilop a line is a straight line runner. And so he's not really going to come inside and outside. There's not variance. And Taha likes to be on the ball. He doesn't mind when pressure comes around him. And it opened up the idea that Rosi could go out wide or Arsden could underlap. And that change opens up enough space for them to get the half angles they need to get defenders behind them and all of that.

So I thought that that variability of Taha's game opened up a lot. And it's another game where you look at it. And if you have to pick an individual, Max Narf's the best player on the field. Like, it's insane what Columbus has built. But it's repeatable, clearly, because they've done it time and time again. And then Cincinnati was completely off the mark on this one. Like the red card's bad. Alvis Powell was bad.

So much of this game was bad for this team. There was really no positive moments going forward. And I think for the next game, we'll talk about it more on Thursday. But like Columbus went flat four in this one. they were able to get enough defensive work. Well, Zawatsky's in there. So I don't know that you can completely call it that. But like this is as confident, I think as Columbus is going to be defensively going into it.

Origeno came back off the bench, right? Late in this game. That's why Kubo is starting at left wing back. So if he's available, it really doesn't hurt you that much that Kubo picks up that red card. And Nobado got a couple minutes off the bench as well as he continues to try and work his way back. where I think Gidey's been pretty good for this team. So I don't know that that's like the huge hole, but

that's probably a gap in experience and quality there at that position. Powell can't play the next game. He just can't. It's like I just, I know that they're going to be down Kubo. They're already mixing and matching and trying to patch together with, you know, maybe

hopefully Origano is able to start. I don't care if he's not. You need to find a way to not have that happen again. They really miss Nick Hagelin, but but yeah it could be angle when you can move done that shows that he's worse than out I mean he had a train wreck of a game because he came into a game that they were downed man yeah I mean that's

that's always what's going to happen let's finish up in the Western Conference the other two games and again we will preview all of these weekend games coming up on Thursday we'll be live in Charlotte as well so we will talk a lot about Charlotte FC and NYCFC in that one San Diego losing at Portland and Seattle last night with one of the craziest games I have ever seen. They jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first half and Minnesota pulls it back to 3-2 at halftime. It's squeaky bum time and all of that going into it in that second half. And in

Seattle, Seattle are able to weather the storm to get to the second game. Obed Vargas, the big star with the two goals but like everything we want to see from Seattle in that opening 30 or so minutes and if you start there it's like we talked a lot lot about Jordan Morris playing out of that center forward role he earns the corner kick that leads to the first goal he's creating chances he's terrorizing Musovsky's movement is super dangerous for the Seattle team Obed takes advantage they're able to pour the pressure on and take advantage again and then there's that moment where it's like I don't what do you do with will we believe in Seattle because they've been there and their experience, and they give up two goals going into halftime.

It was absolutely ridiculous. Bad giveaways on those moments, too. Like, it's not like Minnesota broke them down, which is the most disappointed. Like, they just got really sloppy up 3-0. And credit to Minnesota for taking advantage. And Triantis, good signing, good player. I think we can say that pretty definitively right now. He gets the first one.

Robin Lode gets the second one. That in set pieces was how this team was going to threaten. So 3-0, it was unnecessary. fairly tight for the next, you know, 40 minutes or whatever, until Obed scored the fourth in the 86 minute. And to your point, it shouldn't be happening with the Sounders team. And maybe we're over-indexing on just a couple bad sequences of play in a game that they ultimately scored four goals at one.

Yeah. But I don't know, man. Like, that shouldn't be happening because of how easy it was. And it's not as if Minnesota is creating pressure either. If you go back and watch those two goals, Minnesota defended fine. It's not like that was a, oh, my God, what a problem. press they cause or like a great individual play to cause a turnover yeah one of them was just a really sloppy pass that led the player backwards and it was a good tackle from there on but

these are completely avoidable and frustrating yeah um be interesting to see what seattle does in minnesota to make it different than game one there are gaps in there it is odd that this minnesota team is so well structured and they're so defensive base but yet it still feels like a jesus ferrera a paul rothrock a jordan morris can get one one v one and it really this game i think came down to they won some of those battles early they didn't win those battles like it really does feel like 50 50 flip of a coin dain st clair maybe if he's a little bit better he keeps out that first goal then maybe the tight swings a little bit more for this minnesota team but we know who both these teams are going into the third game

it's going to be a battle it's going to be a crazy atmosphere but like this is what we thought from this series i think we all would have bet this goes three games it's one of the tightest ones we see and that's where we stand this one a little bit more of a surprise san diego falling at portland in a pk shootout it was a 98th minute equalizer by gage gara to score it is his first career major league soccer goal uh in his first year with portland played most of the year with t with portland timbers too and uh is a former college soccer player at louisville an army i believe and originally came out of the houston dynamo a cat he yeah he he he gritty grind it out i mean 98th minute off a free kick bounces around goal

then in the post game interview i think it was with jill sackovitz he curses like he's hyped and it was kind of a very endearing moment it shows how close portland was to being out and i think still shows a bit of the gap in all of this but there's talent in this portland squad and it shows the coaching staff putting their hands up and saying, fuck it, you come in. This dude has played 11 minutes since July 19th for the first team. 11 minutes.

When he scored, I swear to God, I had to look up what position is this player. I would like to think that I know just about every single player on every single major league soccer roster. And I was like, if you did a bit where you said, like, before the game and just saw the benches

and was like, I'm going to give you two players on the bench and one fake, and you've got to pick out the fake, I might have said Guara. Like, yeah. So, like, that goes to show, like, how deep that this team is digging, looking for answers, looking for anything. And they get it. Like, what an incredibly cool moment for the Equalizer.

And then they win on penalties. And now they have a chance to go back. I'm sure you saw a post game, Anabal Godoy. I forget who he was putting. He was telling somebody, meet me in the parking lot if you want to keep talking about. I was texting you about my experience. I can't wait for game three now.

I was confused because he was taking the jacket off. and what I learned getting suspended from high school after a county championship game in which there was some confusion was you don't want your numbers showing afterwards. Smart! That's a good point. That's a thing that I learned from experience. To be clear, I was a victim. I was the only one whose number was shown and I was asked who did it.

And of course, your boy doesn't snitch. So I'm the one who got suspended. But I didn't do anything wrong in all of that. And my parents will be the first to come and tell you that. So if you'd like them to leave you a personalized voicemail with that information, they will explain the story to you. But yeah, this was, this is the nice part of the three games, right? It gets chippy, it gets rowdy.

Like, you have a little bit of experience between the two teams. I was blown away by the lack of understanding and defending from Portland in the end of the first half. Amal Prelegrino scores the go-ahead goal in like the 48th, sorry, 53rd minute, whatever it is. By the way, C.J. D. Santos, who got injured, which was why there was all that extended time, we're hearing that it's a fractured cheekbone, which. for anyone who watch that it feels like a best case scenario that was a really scary moment so it's good to hear that it is something that is healable and going to get better but obviously it's a huge question mark for port or for san diego going forward he's been a massive part of their team in year one he has been one of the many great pickups that they've found and he's a huge piece of the team going forward but so because of all that there's extended extra time and dryer links up with pelegrino pellegrino's first touch pops straight up like like towards his waist. We're talking about a guy who's six three, six four,

and no one steps to him. And as it falls, he hits it off a volley. I don't blame Pantamus there. There are three or four Portland defenders, and the first instinct is not to close on him. And this is one of the issues with Portland is like, there's good pieces in the attack.

There's good piece in the defense. Neither feel fully solid at any time throughout this season, but especially in this series. And yeah, if Veld goes off and wins his battles and is efficient with his chances and puts them on goal. Like, there's a chance this team could sneak a win on the road, but I'd be shocked still.

San Diego are definitely the better team. I wouldn't quite as go as far as shocked just because San Diego have their own flaws, too. And we talked about this on the last show. Again, they would deserve to get through, I get depending on what game three looks like, of course. But this is still one of the best teams in the league, but they're vulnerable. And, like, Portland was able to take advantage of it

do enough. Again, it did end up with a set piece goal late, and then they win on penalties. Like, those two things don't always have to be, like, are not always easily replicable, but they're getting a game three. And in game one, I know the feeling within that locker room was if we didn't get a red card, we were going to win. Whether that's right or wrong, that was their feeling. So Portland are going into this game three, like almost probably annoyed, like, man, we could have had game one. At the same time, San Diego was 10 seconds away from winning in regulation. I agree, but I'm telling you, like, this is a little bit different than, like, I don't know. Like, when Philly were up three-nil against Chicago, I guess that could happen because San Diego are so, so very good.

But I think Portland are going to go into this with their own confidence. Again, whether again, that's rational or your rational, I think is besides the point because there are flaws in this, in the San Diego team for as great as they are. And when things look, man, that first goal, things, when things look good, man, they look. fucking good with this team. The passing sequences, everything, Anders Dreyer doing his stuff. Drew Gizano coming in, back off the bench. Chucky back, huge. Yeah.

Again, at their best moments, they're like, this is clearly the best team in the league. And then those moments where they're just so naive defending where it's like, oh, like, what's going on here? So it's a little bit of push and pull. I still think San Diego are obviously the heavy favorite for this game, but I don't know, like Dallas going to Vancouver for game three, I would borderline put at a no chance. Portland are a bit higher than that. Right.

I would say, Veld, by the way. And from what we've seen over the last few weeks, like definitely going to be top of the list preseason Gost theorem next year. You get it when you see him. I don't know that he connects the game. I don't know that he's the guy who brings everyone in, but it feels like any time he gets the ball 1v1 around the box,

there's a chance you're going to score a goal. And he's big, he's athletic, he's got a good touch, he's two-footed, like he is a problem. And he has been the main chance creator so far for them. Omar Fernandez came close as well. Like they could have tied a 2-2 earlier. But, yeah, I think there's still that gap between these two teams. But we'll see in the next game.

So that's our roundup there on the playoffs. I mentioned once again, we'll be live in Charlotte. So we're really, really excited about that. We're excited about all of these playoff games. Like, my assumption is all of them are going to be dramatic. There is not a gap, really, between any of these teams. There isn't really maybe this is the one of, like, surprise that one team has pushed it. to three games. And so the assumption is in that third game, it's going to be intense and it's

going to be really, really fun to watch. So we'll have your coverage coming up on Thursday. Then we'll be back next week as well to talk about more about the teams as they go into their offseason that are eliminated and talk about where the series stand as we head into an international break. We had the breaking news to start this show as well. So a long show here. But I want to mention two more stories before we get out of here on the USL side of things. So the first is that North Carolina FC, 24 hours after losing in a playoff game, announced that they'll be closing up shop for the next. Winning?

They play this weekend. Sorry. Yes, right. Okay. Thank you. They beat Loudoun, 1-0. They are playing yet another playoff game. And then they told their players that they're shutting up shop for the next two years in

hopes that they will apply for a spot in the new USL First Division, whatever it ends up being called. I put money on the fact that it's called the Premier League. I will put money on that back from the USL championship in USL League One and that there are players who don't have non-guaranteed contracts, of course, are released. And the ones who do will be paid out two months of salary from an expectation that they were going to have a contract for the next year as a full year. I don't know what word to use besides embarrassing. You want to be an owner of a sports team, but you don't really want to carry the cost of the sports team that I don't know that you should be a part of the. league or the organization and I don't understand a world in which you are a legitimate player

to push a team into another league a higher level while not being able to operate a team at this level and what over the next three years convinces anyone that you deserve to be a part of that if you don't even have a team on the field it makes no sense it was it's a nonsense story it is insane to me that guaranteed contracts are not paid out you sign these guys to contracts And apparently the structure of the deals and the wording is if they cease existence, but like you promise this person who probably built their life around this, it is hard enough to be a player at these levels. You move every year.

You are not making crazy money. There is a lot of costs that fall back on to you. This is an insane story on top of the news that we've been hearing for weeks about the CBA negotiations and how contentious they have been between the owners, the league and the players union. Yeah, it's weak, I will say, in reporting this out, I haven't gotten many positive texts about the ownership. This is the same owner that was,

so this used to be the Carolina. Railhawks, they rebranded to North Carolina FC. When MLS was considering Carolinas, Raleigh was for a brief time, a frontrunner. Didn't get a stadium, Dave Tapper, Charlotte swoops in, they come in. This is the same owner. and like to your point gosh

this is not a great first foot forward if you're applying for the top division and again sources have told me they have already applied USL believes that this market is a division one caliber market well they need it it hinges on a stadium deal and I don't know

what I don't have I don't know the ins and outs of this situation but I know that they didn't get one when MLS was coming which would have had a more immediate kind of monetary value given like maybe it will they can do it cheaper with usel would be the argument um the players again so they won this weekend they play this weekend sources told me that the firm expectation is this the players will keep playing until the season ends when this playoff run ends oh they have to try and get a new job yeah the players got got a text last night

saying um that that they were pretty much ceasing operations we're going to talk to you um Sorry, I'm trying to pick out points that I want to read from the text that I obtained from a couple people. My hope is that you all understand the club needed to communicate this as soon as possible and to not wait until the end of our season because we're trying to look out for the best views, essentially with the paraphrasing list. I don't understand to your point why guaranteed contract can just be vaporized. And again, if you're applying for T1 status and being like, we can't run a U.S. Championship Club, and it's not that expensive. I think the minimum contracts are very low in this league, and I would not recommend anybody just try to go for shoe strings,

the bare minimum, but it ain't that expensive for operating costs. If you can't do that, what convinces USL's leadership that you are the group that's going to help drive this league forward? This is a dichotomy of the ambitions of USL, which are real. Pro-REL, that is historic in this country, to hopefully maybe at some point supposed to be put in. I hope that they do it

and I hope that they raise a challenge. I think it'd be cool. I love having more options. I love competition is what makes everything better. But we all want to focus on that and these announcements and we're going to have a division one and we hired this guy from England

and we're going to do this, we're going to do that. Just trust, source, just trust me, bro. Yeah, maybe 27, 28, something like that. We need to figure out all the details which is pretty important to all of these things happening. That is what we're supposed to be focusing on.

And I hope that we get there. I really do. In reality, this is yet another year where a team is either going on hiatus or folding. Last year it was Memphis. There's like eight that can come off the top of my head over the last five, six years. Yeah, Memphis last year, Rio Grande Valley,

the year before, San Diego Loyal, with San Diego coming to major soccer, the year before that. Of course, all the two teams coming out of the league. You can also note with this North Carolina team, the change from the railhawks, all of the scandals that were around the railhawks, right? They were connected to traffic sport.

There was an FBI raid or CIA raid, whatever the hell organization is in charge of that, that took members of this club down. They moved from USL to NASL, NASL to USL to USL, USL Championship to USL League One, and then League One back up to championship. It's probably not a great business model to be that inefficient and not really know the future. Yeah, exactly. You know how much that does to a person. And it, but it also shows, like, how unstable still a lot of this is.

We've seen USL League 1 teams already that have announced that they'll be dropping out of USL League 1 and becoming semi-pro teams, like it's a completely different cost situation. But it doesn't feel like any of the way the owner ran this is correct. I mean, if you have guys on two-year guaranteed deals and you're saying you have to tell them now, like, when did you sign those deals? When did you decide that you weren't going to be running a team anymore? And all of this is in the same building that has an NWSL team. So, like, you still have a guy who's connected to the soccer and all of that, and the building will still be supporting professional soccer.

It's a bizarre situation, and it's really unfortunate. I think it shows where you need the player's strength. The players are not an endless resource. Like, I know there's a feeling, oh, anyone would want to play professional soccer. But, like, these are the types of things that push people out of the game. And if you don't have people that can be in USL for long careers and then become coaches and scouts and front office and all these things, you're not going to build it up. All of this, you mentioned, comes in light of the announcement that Tony Scholes, the chief football officer of the English Premier League and former CEO of Stoke City has been named president of the USL's new top tier division one professional men soccer league. So he will oversee the operations of the league shaping its structured standards and long term development as the USL prepare.

pairs to introduce pro rel. I don't know what any of that means in reality, and I don't think any of us do. It's a big name with a big resume, which I think is really, really promising. I think there can be feelings on both sides. I would say that I think we overcompensate many times for the experience people I've had in big leagues and big setups, because this is a challenger organization. USL and soccer in America is a challenger organization. coming from an established doesn't always mean you know best.

So if Tony Skulls walks into a room and talks about the beauty and love and passion of pro rel, that's great. You could also have someone record a 30-second video, and you could play that about it. Does he know how to build one out of scratch coming out of a country that's had it for 105 years? And working for a club that was 110 years old, like you are not putting in anything new in a Premier League structure. You are just keeping it running at a really high level. I don't know this person, so I'm not quite. questioning this, but I think these are some of these flashy things that we see and are supposed to fall in love with while you have an owner texting his team going into a playoff game that

they're closing up shop and they don't know what the future looks like, but they want to be a part of Division I. So there's huge question marks, and that's what we like to talk about here at Soccer Why. So we're going to continue to cover these stories. We had Matt Sheldon on kickback committee last week. Congratulations to Detroit City for their big upset. Playoffs have been amazing because single game elimination is hectic and fun and wild. We are all excited about one Knoxville. We're excited for Portland to get their first playoff win. We are excited for the USL championship playoffs to continue as well.

And we're going to have all your coverage here at Soccerwise. So thank you to everyone who's joined us live. Thank you to you, Tom, Mr. Breaking News on a big day. No jet's trades happened, I guess, on your watch either. So I guess I have to go check Adam Schefter on Beliske and see what he said and all of that, which is lame. pathetic, but thank you to everyone once again. We'll talk to again, very soon.