SoccerWise - Caleb Porter Fired In New England, Shield Race Off The Rails + USOC Semifinal Preview

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

As we enter a massive week in US Soccer David brings in a massive acquisition on loan. Ben Wright (615 Soccer) joins as cohost to talk through the bevy of massive stories around the game. They start with the breaking news around Caleb Porter's dismissal in New England talking through what it means for the club & the two time MLS Cup winner. Then they recap a Saturday that was the highest scoring weekend in MLS history, put to bed eliminated sides TFC & ATL (off the back of their 5-4 loss), and finally the preview of the big USOC semifinals coming up.2:00 Revs Fire Caleb Porter19:03 Revs Coaching Options28:30 Whitecaps Roar Back Into The Shield Race On Mueller’s Birthday35:40 FCC Bounce Back Stoppage Time Win42:30 MIN Big Win In San Diego47:40 CTL Tie MLS Winning Streak Record Over Miami1:00:03 ATL Season Reaction & Offseason Preview1:08:03 TFC Season Reaction & Offseason Preview1:13:00 USOC Semifinal Preview

What is up, everybody, and welcome back to soccer-wise, a loaded episode to start a great week of American soccer. David Goss with you for this one, but no Tommy Scoops. As we have breaking news out of New England, we've got Open Cup semifinals to review. We have the wild and wacky shield race to catch up with. So I went for a big time acquisition. I went for the big loan from backheeled and 615 soccer. You know him very well. Ben, Ben, thanks for being with me. Hey, thanks for having me. I feel like when MLS plays through an international break and your star DP is on international duty and you signed someone on a short-term loan from Next Pro, that's me. It could go great or it could be an absolute disaster. But let's

see what happens. You're Edon Toklamati. Come on. I'll take it. Or you're Patrick Gajamong. Either way. Either way it works. It's where Charlotte really cooks. They have been cooking a lot in Major League Soccer. I'm excited to have you. Don't worry, everyone.

Tom is still okay. He's fully healthy. He is functional. I believe he was on CBS this morning. We're just giving him a little bit of a breather as he comes back from a long weekend of Blink 182 concerts and Sumblime and everything else that made him feel young just for the moment. As I said, off the top, there was no shortage of stuff to talk about. You know, Ben, I was excited for this one. It was an incredible week of MLS action.

We had a record set of goals scored on Saturday. We had the most goals in a day in MLS history, which, again, I say every time is a fakes that because you add teams and you move games around. But fine. Four hat tricks. That a record. That one I'll accept. That one I'll take. And we've got Open Cup.

So we're getting ready to get prepared. And then boom, what happens? We get the breaking news. And the breaking news that was shocking to everyone. that Caleb Porter has been let go of the New England Revolution. So we will get to everything in this show. But of course, we have to start with Caleb Porter. And as I said, everyone clutched their pearls, Ben, earlier today

when they heard this out of left field news that the New England Revolution core not eliminated from the postseason, thanks to Luca Langoni's 95th-minute equalizer, have chosen to step away from Caleb Porter. Assistant coach Pablo Marrera will be the interim for the rest of the season. I've got a quote saying how grateful they are for Caleb's energy and work from Kurt Analfo and how much respect they have for him. Kurt Anolfo will be doing media tomorrow at training on Tuesday if you're listening to this later. So you can sort of listen to that and let us know if we missed anything on all of that one.

But how shocked were you been when you heard this news? I was shocked it hadn't happened earlier, to be honest. I know they had that unbeaten run in the middle of the year that I think honestly kind of just kicked the can down the road in a lot of ways. But just with the start of the season and the end of the season, I guess, I think it raised enough questions. Yeah, I don't think Porter was the guy for this team. I don't think anything's worked.

Joe Lowry had a, I mean, he's been kind of hammering this quote all year. But at the start of the year, there was that, there was that quote from Caleb Porter where he talked about the roster kind of being rebuilt. He said, we had good players here. They just didn't happen to be the right players. now we have the right players now this is my team these are my players I've picked them and I'm confident in the blueprint that I have and like that's a great quote great to like motivate the guys whatever but you're putting 110% of the responsibility on yourself if these are your players if you've picked them if you're confident in the blueprint and the blueprint doesn't work like there's no scapegoat there and there was another quote from him to last night after the game he says I think we're close I really do I think we can be a team next year that finishes really high in the eastern conference. I believe that. I believe we're really close. I hope they keep continuity because continuity is key. I'm disappointed. I'm gutted that we're not going to make the playoffs again.

That's on me, but I believe this project is getting there. A couple pieces and time. Time is the big thing. I mean, that felt like a man just kind of lobbying for his job. So I don't think it's a surprise. If anything, it's a surprise it didn't happen earlier. And I really have no idea where they go from here because I think, I mean, I'm sure you have thoughts too, but like other than Carlos Heel, like, I'm not really sure what this team has going for them right now. And they have a lot of players because they made 15 moves in the offseason so that they could get Caleb's players that are on contracts next year and will be really hard to move out as well as the amount of money that they have invested in some of these players that at this point,

their value is much lower than what it was. You mentioned it. The poor form that they've had throughout the year, they've had three stretches of four plus games without winning. And, And obviously it is all like headlined by right in the middle of the season, a 10 game winless streak. They have been since Caleb Porter took over, one of the three worst themes in Major League Soccer in most statistics, whether it's, you're talking points per game and results, or I think you laid out fairly well in one of your pieces at back yield talking about goals scored and goals conceded. Like on both ends of the field, in every aspect of the game, this is a team that has been poor in Major League Soccer. and I think we were going to talk on this show about those comments anyway from last night, which felt like from the outside, okay, this is someone who is already pleading about this. And he said it in it, like, we're not going to make the playoffs.

I think next year we can be a top half team in the Eastern Conference. And obviously he won't get the opportunity to do it. And you look at this team and I think there's a lot of things to complain about. The biggest one to me is right now, and for the last four years, but right now a lot of the attack feels like get it to Carlos Heel. Carlos Heel will fix the problems. Carlos Heel will cover for you. And he does, right? You look at the game this weekend against TFC in the first half.

They're bad. Best chance is a Carlos Heel knuckling shot that leads to a rebounded chance that leads to a potential opportunity. There is not a ton of pattern play. At times when they move to the back five, the wingbacks who are good, and that's one of the things I will say. I'm excited about with this team in Fine Gold and Miller are so high up the field that they're just runners for Carlos Heel, and that gives him an option. but otherwise we are now two years into Caleb Porter five years over the last five years that we've watched him coach with multiple MLS teams where it is hard to see the ideas that he has and what he wants his teams to do and it's hard to see what they lean on I just still don't know what type of team they're trying to be they're not there's like not one phase of play that you can pinpoint that they're really good at aside from I mean like you said aside from Carlos Heel like Carlos Heel is good at breaking down a low block the Reves are not. Carlis Heel is good in transition. The revs aren't. I feel like so much, honestly, it's a shame because I feel like Carlos Heel is probably one of the five or ten best players

that we've seen in MLS in the last decade, and he's been just kind of stuck on these really bad teams. And it's, I think, a testament to him that the revs have even been this relevant for this long this year, because, I mean, I don't know where they would be without him. But yeah, I mean, they have a ton of work to do in the offseason. like you said a lot of these players like leo compana they spent a ton of money on him he's not performed it doesn't really seem like they like him that much at this point but they just went out and at the time it was the mLS record train like the mLS record trade like that's hard to offload like so they're they're going to take a they're going to have a ton of work to do just getting this roster in shape for someone else to kind of come in and try to pick up the pieces for calip porter he's won two

MLS Cups, it's one of the weirdest conversations you can have in American soccer. And this, and it's been this way for not just years, but all of this year. Like, if you look at Tom's post about Caleb Porter being let go, it is a stream of comments that are what took so long finally. I got sucked into the Rev's Reddit space. Shout out to all the Revs fan, which it turns out today was the final day to cancel or renew your 2026 season tickets. And the amount of people who said, I told them they don't do anything to change anything, so I won't renew, and then got back on and responded and changed their decision and all of that shows a little bit of the chaos. But like, everyone's kind of been waiting

on this. What is Caleb Porter at this point? And sort of, what do we expect for his future before we talk about the team? Man, I don't know, because I feel like he's banked on those two almost cups as the high highs to justify a lot of low lows. Um, But it's been a while since he got one of those. And I'm not sure what he has to kind of hang his hat on at this point or to kind of justify the higher because, I mean, the last, his last MLS Cup win was, what, 2020? Yes. That's five years at this point of pretty subpar, underwhelming soccer. And, I mean, it's a what have you done for me lately business.

And he has not done much lately, I think, to make anyone. want to take a risk. And I think he is a big risk at this point because what kind of the norm is and definitely the low end of the spectrum with Porter is really, really bad. So yeah, I would be shocked if he goes into the year with a with a job in MLS. He might be he might be someone who kind of hangs around and hire him halfway through the season after you start seeing kind of the coaching carousel really take effect next year. But I don't know. I would kind of be hesitant if I was an MLS GM. He, um, you mentioned highs, highs and lows lows.

It's MLS Cup or no playoffs. Like the gap there is shocking. It is unprecedented. It's the highest of highs and then drops off completely. And normally when you talk about a veteran coach, right? When you talk about people who have been in the league and been around, you're talking about high floors of like, okay, they're going to get nine teams make the playoffs in each conference.

Can you get me in the post season? Can you keep me relevant? Can then I maybe have the options? to push some talent and push some chips in and maybe elevate the team. And this was like the conversations around a Ben Olson who now has gone to Houston and sort of has found that floor, right? They've had some highs. But like in general, they are a playoff competitive team.

They've made some running cups. Like that's what you're looking for. That's what you're asking for. Pablo Mascherini feels like a similar conversation with R.S. And like, RSL may not make the playoffs this year. But like they're going to be around it. They're going to be in it. There's going to be opportunity and they haven't invested a ton in the roster.

I think for Caleb Porter, what's most dangerous? now is like as you said for a GM of another team there is no guarantee on that floor so you have to be hopeful that you're the one-off year with him and I think that's going to make it really really hard because the types of teams that are going to look at him are not the ones that are putting in the most money and bringing in kucho hernandez and lucas del a ryan and saying like yeah we're going to spend big for you and we have huge support like immediately the fan basis of sporting kansas city i think Somehow, Montreal, D.C., a Toronto friend texted me and said, lose our number, like, don't talk about us.

And a lot of these teams are teams with coaches that are in place and probably won't make a move. But, like, these are the clubs that you're thinking about that could move for a Caleb Porter. He feels like a quintessential D.C. hire him in May after they move on. 100, 100%. Would not be shocked if Montreal made it seem like they were doing something big and bold by signing him, even if it doesn't fit everything they want to be. And yeah, it is going to be fascinating to see if he gets another job in major league soccer, how long it takes and what he wants to do if he doesn't.

There are very few coaches who have won MLS Cup more than once. There are even less who have done it with two different clubs. The stuff he's done is fairly unprecedented, but it is a bizarre resume. And I think what you see from a lot of people in reactions is as things get, get bad, they get really bad. And I think he burns a lot of bridges in terms of relationships when he leaves jobs and that's not going to help you get the next one. On the flip side for the team, you look at this step chart and you can go, you can subscribe to our Patreon and get you access to the debt charts. Pretty much everyone is under contract for 2026 because all of these

players are new. Jackson Yule's over a million dollars on a three-year deal. Matt Polster's locked in to this roster. Langoni's locked into this roster. They can get off. Ganago because it's a loan so they don't have to bring him back and he would probably have to be a DP if they did. Sean Kalai has another year as a DP. As you mentioned, Campania has a couple more years and they gave up a record fee, which was the Esmere Barak Terevich money that they brought into the league to send over for Campania. So for the most part, I think a lot of this talent's going to be coming back for this team. I mentioned the wingbacks that I've enjoyed watching. I think find gold and Miller have been good. I don't hate the talent at centerback in Fafana and Sibaios

if they get a decent system around them to be able to play. Matt Turner makes their life easier as well as he comes in. Like what would you build around? What would you hope to see for this team over the next few months? Yeah. So, I mean, you just mentioned the centerbacks. I like them. I think Sabios and Fafana are like solid. They're not spectacular MLS starters, but I think you could do worse, for sure. Find a golden Miller, I really like Al-Hasan Yusuf in midfield. I think he needs a better partner,

but I think he's definitely a building block. And then with Carlos Heel, I mean, he kind of raises the floor of everybody around him. So, yeah, I think there are attractive pieces. I would definitely go out and try to, you have to find someone to consistently score goals. And I think they tried, to their credit, they tried

to do that with Alea Kampana, and it just failed. I think you have to get creative and figure out a way to kind of get out of that. deal and then reinvest that money ideally in a like a DP number nine if you can't like it looks if you can't have someone in front of heel who's regularly scoring goals i mean i think you're you see kind of the floor of this team and it's really low yeah they do have door tugerman that they signed as a u22 who has yet to play he's yet to be available i don't even believe he has his visa yet got called up to the israeli national team like right after they signed him

it's kind of been a bit of a mess with some of those signings. That is an option going forward for this team, but there's a lot of question marks. We have the question in the chat about Carlos Heel. How long does he want to be around for this? Listen, I would guess. I would venture a guess. I've never spoken to Carlos Heel.

So I cannot say for certain that if you ask him what he wants and what he wants to do, that like living in Boston and being there is probably pretty high on his list, because he's been through a lot already. This is not new for his time in New England. And my guess would be that something, and maybe this is a positive of like, okay, now you could sell him on something else for the, you know, for the offseason and everything. But like, it would have to be a crazy deal for him to leave because he's, he has probably

passed up those deals for him to stay and is fairly comfortable with what's going on around him. Yeah, I think the cash trade makes it really interesting, though, because that's a mechanism to move him within MLS, like where you're getting approved, not just proven, but like a legitimately elite, like one of the better players we've seen in MLS for the past 10, 15 years. If I was a semi-ambitious team who needed kind of that centerpiece, I would be calling them and throwing a ton of cash at them. And yeah, I mean, I get wanting to stay in New England, but he's like, he doesn't have a ton longer at the highest level. And if you can potentially

throw enough money at the revs to make it viable, and you can bring him somewhere where he can actually compete and like if you add him to a like an eighth or ninth place team and mLS you automatically get elevated to like i would put top four so i think he can go somewhere else and be closer to a trophy than i think he'll be in new england it's hard to find a team in that space that has the money that would spend it um Atlanta is the obvious one we're going to talk about Atlanta a little bit because we're going to do our eliminated teams that obviously have to get off. You'd assume it's Moran Chuck to make a move like that. You could talk about SKC. Maybe you could convince ownership because it's a known quantity inside the league

and they spend some money on Manu Garcia, but we're not talking anywhere near the levels of what it would take. I just find it really hard to think that anyone's going to put together a deal that the crafts want. They don't need the money. And then you're pushing him and saying, like do you really want to move and go and do this and then you probably have to pay him out to an extent and give him a new contract that he really wants to be a part of. I don't disagree with you that like if a team makes the move, boom, they're elevated and maybe it ends up in an Evander situation where it is that someone unexpectedly leaves and another team turns around and reinvest the $15 million they get for ex-attacking player in this offseason, but it would be

fascinating to see what happens with him. for the club overall, the pressure now moves. This is what happens when you fire someone further down the food chain. The pressure now shifts to Cardinalfo, who is part of what was this takeover post Bruce Arena, that hasn't put together results at all. So in the acknowledgement that Caleb Porter hasn't done well enough, it's an acknowledgement in the failure of your hire, because there hasn't even been it up to this.

It has all been low, as well as the signings you were a part of. And now there are question marks facing the rest of the front office, as well as the rest of the club structure for this New England Revolution team. And as we said, there are some pieces in there. But there, I mean, the Jackson Yule contract is wild. Tyler Conner's in the chat called it a crime against humanity. It is not that far off. It was bizarre when they signed it.

And there are a couple of these that are bizarre even now. And I don't think you're going to get a lot of teams to take them off your hands. So you either have to cover some of the money in trades out. you have to use your buyouts you have to hope maybe that there's some desperate moves for some people in the rest of the league or around the world that you can maybe move for them one thing to note so matt turner's on a dp contract right now uh they don't have to keep him on that deal after the season that was a mechanism to get him in so this team will have two dPs as of now Thomas chancelai and Carlos heel coming out of the season they can go 242 and sign another u22 and use the two million

allocation money or they could bring in a third DP because they've only used three 22 spots so far so that will be something that whoever takes over um can do so in terms of who could take over we got a vanie sartini shout in the chat which i absolutely love and didn't think of uh we went through those obvious names which are the ones who have just been let go jim curtain is the first name on every list he's been the first name on every list he doesn't have a job because he hasn't taken one ben could you see any world in which this is the one he decides he wants. No.

Yeah. I think, I don't know. I think Jim Curtin would want more control of the roster than I think he'd probably get into England. But he should be the first call that everybody makes. And I hope the Reds kind of do their due diligence and give him a shout. I just, I don't know. I have trouble seeing it working out.

The only shout that I have on this is a lifestyle thing of like he's a northeast guy. Right. He has not looked like. like he wants to move very far. D.C. was not viable. There's no way he's going to coach Red Bulls. Most likely he's not going to coach NYCFC anytime soon. So like that's what's most important to him.

Geographically, the closest job is the New England Revolution. I would be shocked if he walked into a room with Kurt and Alphone said, I want to be CSO and coach. And he offered that. I would be less shocked if he walked into a room with Brian Belello and Jonathan Kraft and asked for that. and they were more interested, and maybe there's space in there. But yes, it would be very surprising.

Peter Vermeis is going to be on this list if he wants it. He kind of fits into what we've talked about, which is like Peter Vermease coach is fine. GM is bad. And as we just read through, this roster is fairly set. Giovanni Savarese is going to be one up there as well. Like you assume those two are 100% getting phone calls if they want it. Yeah, I think so.

And I mean, of the two, I like Sabreese. think he's necessarily the most spectacular head coach NMLS, but I think he, like, he does certain things really well. He, he, like, comes in. His teams are kind of lethal in the open field, and I think some of the pieces the Revs have look at, like, they should work on paper in a more kind of transition-based approach. And he tends to get a decent amount of production from, from some of the younger guys. And the Revs have a decent amount of, like, high-level young players. I mean, we talked about, we talked about Peyton Miller already. I think he's kind of one of, he's someone I would not be shocked if he's kind of into USM&D picture here for this

next cycle. I think he's like a huge, huge high ceiling. So yeah, I don't know. Off the, like on the list that we're working on right now, none of, none of the names are super exciting to me. But I think that's just kind of where Amelis is right now with like available coaching candidates. Savarese played for the team for a year, has that connection. And I think it came, I'm pretty sure he interviewed last time. I'm not, like, reporting that, and maybe someone already has. That's me not being able to remember, but assuming that that's the case. He's another one with Curtin that, like, every team should at least give him a call.

And maybe has, and we know about half of them, and we don't know about the other half. And I think if he doesn't, if he doesn't get the job, then I'm pretty sure Tom's, like, required to punch through something or, I don't know. He has said multiple times what he would do. Is that why Tom's not here today? Yeah, that's why Tom's like... And he's on himself punching through a wall. He's on a rage hunt right now. It would, I will say this, for the Rebs.

We are listing these names, and they are kind of the only names left right now. They are not like super obvious. The Pat Noonans of the world, when he was at Philly, where you're like, this is the next guy, he's going to get interviews, he's going to get a job at some point. There aren't a ton of those. I listed out, Ante Razoff, Josh Wolf, you assume is in there. I would assume Freddie Juarez is in there. with the success Seattle's had and his little bit of experience as an RSL head coach.

I'm always going to name the lower division guys, Danny Cruz and Ben Pierman, who I think deserve a shot. You could probably throw Neil Collins in there as well. But I say all of this in saying the reps have basically never gone outside of MLS to hire a coach. So I say all of these names because it feels less likely that this is the team that signs a coach from Switzerland who no one's ever heard of, who moves every year. it's just not really what the crafts have done. If anything, the text I got earlier today, quote unquote, joking about Bob Rowley seems

more realistic to me than 39-year-old Belgian League coach, who I've never heard of. And that's just the way this club is operated. But there's a lot to watch with this team. The moves, the change has to be in the coaching and in the concept, because as we said, the roster can't shift. And yet, I would say there is enough talent around this that if you're able to put it together. That Peyton Miller, he is probably still, he's probably only a year away from another big move. Like there's a decent chance this team could put $30 million in transfer fees

together over a four year span for all four of those years to be without a playoff appearance would be really, really sad for this team. And they've done some good work to set themselves up and they have to continue to see that through. As I mentioned, it sounds like Cardinaloa is going to do media on Tuesday so that will shed some light as well to what this team is doing for a quick background. Pablo Morrera, the assistant taking over has been with Caleb since Akron. Played for Caleb at Akron was his assistant at Akron, Portland, Columbus, and now New England. So I would assume this is a short-term move to cover things. Are we ready to dig in? Oh, yeah. I want to just toss this into. I feel like they're still

kind of recovering from the whole Bruce Arena departure. And I think this is, it's not just an opportunity, but I think to kind of survive and be relevant again, like they have to figure out kind of like the top down vision for what they want this club to be. Because I just moving from Arena to Porter, like I get why they did it. It was not like a situation that they expected to be in.

But it doesn't really make sense from like a continuity perspective. And so I think you're seeing kind of the best teams and I'm all this now. They have kind of a close. clear way for not just how they want to play but kind of like the whole culture of the club how they want to like connect with their academy and that's not necessarily like it doesn't hinge on who the head coach is at that time and so I think for the revs they kind of have to figure out who they want to be as a club and then hire someone that fits that model and kind of keep that model throughout probably a number of coaching changes over the next decade or so instead of just kind

of resetting who they want to be as a club just based on whoever the manager is that at that time. So I hope they kind of take it as an opportunity to kind of just reset. And part of the chaos that's unfortunate is it felt like they had rebuilt the club, right? Right. And Bruce Arena took this team over in 2018, 2019, whatever it was, we kind of all said like, oh, this is MLS 1.0 in a 3.0 error. It's a coach from back then. It's a club from back then. They rebuilt their academy. And as I mentioned, like they are on the verge of putting $20 million dollars worth of transfers out the door a lot of them from their academy tajon not matt turner not

exactly but that's fine right that's part of what you do it felt like the process from matt turner to georgie petrovitch was really really impressive and that this was something that this club was going to be able to lean on going forward and being sort of this like goalkeeper whisper and continue to put transfers out there that can help fund the rest of the team and and they have spent like that you can't go and look at the scene and say oh they haven't accelerated with the rest of this league. We're talking about multiple U-22 signings over a million dollars, bringing players in who are borderline DPs on loan to add to that talent to make them

more robust. Adam Buxa back then and the transfer of him out into league on. Like they've done really, really well with a lot of this work. And the hope is they haven't squandered all of the resources that they put together through all of this. But as you said, this is a critical hire now for them or a critical decision. Because I would hope from the outside. it is not assumed that Kurtun alfell has his position

and is the one that is carrying out this process Jonathan Kraft is very hands-on he just withdrew as running for mayor so he could be even more hands-on if he wants to because no one has to elect him the CSO of the New England Revolution and like this is a club that's in a weird spot they have failed to get this stadium done

over and over and over again clearly from the way they're working on it they believe it's the next step in their club And so the question is, without that, what can they do to continue to try and be relevant in their own market? And I think for a lot of people, there was an assumption that soccer, like, wasn't going to be super successful and wasn't really a passion. They've got, they're hosting the World Cup, look at Vermont, look at Portland, look at Rhode Island, look at Hartford. Yeah. People care about soccer if you're good.

And you put together a decent product and you're entertaining. And the crafts have failed to do that. They are a power player in MLS. So they're not going to be pushed around by anyone in a league office or anything like that. It's their own decision now to try and handle this the right way moving forward. And I think the club's going to be under a decent chunk of pressure coming out of this into the next steps. Let's talk about the shield race.

Me and Tom wasted time talking about handicapping the shield race and trying to understand the concepts and the process of what was going to happen going into this weekend, coming out of the international break, and now it is off the rails. We talked about Philly and San Diego as the two. with Miami with an outside shot, and boy, were we wrong. Although I would like to point out that I said multiple times, Open Cup is a huge factor in all of this, and I was right about that one with the Philadelphia Union,

and I also mentioned Canadian Championship, which we'll see with Vancouver. There were all the charts games this weekend, but let's start with Vancouver, throttling Philadelphia. Thomas Mueller a hat trick on his birthday. Alej Badoia posted on Instagram, apologizing for his performance, at right back. It was like five starters, six rotation players or the other way for Philadelphia

on the road against a really good Vancouver team. And Vancouver didn't joke around with this at all. They were aggressive. They were direct. They were lethal. Ali Ahmed is one of the most fun players in MLS. Thomas Mueller fitting in perfectly. And this was a reminder to everyone, I think, of like, who this Vancouver team is and that they are still in this race. Yeah, 100%. I mean, this is Vancouver from the early part of the season that went on the run in Conccaf Champions Cup. And I think we were all talking about it as kind of the story of the season, obviously cooled off a lot over the summer. But I think it's probably a timely reminder for everybody that this team is still like

legit heading into the playoffs. And I think we've kind of all moved on to San Diego and Minnesota and Seattle and L.A.F. And like rightly so because they've, they've been consistent on the pitch recently. But Vancouver didn't just go away. And I think Thomas Mueller, I was a little bit worried about it just because of age. And I feel like we've seen kind of the older European guy come over and not necessarily crush it. But he seemed like so bought in, like on and off the pitch from day one. He's, I mean, he's such a smart soccer player.

He reads space so well. He kind of always knows not just the best places for him, but kind of how to get the best out of a team. And so I guess in retrospect, it shouldn't be. be a surprise that he kind of was able to just slot in and figure out his role perfectly. But he looks really good. This team looks really, really good. I mean, you talked about Ali Ahmed. I think in any other year, like, Emmanuel Asabi would be, like, one of the stories of the season.

He's been so good. And he kind of goes under the radar. Jaden Nelson has been awesome. They have, like, so many really, really good pieces. And I think because of the quiet part of the middle of the season for them, I think there may be a little bit slept on heading into the postseason. but they are, they're really dangerous. One of the big stories for them, the shutout on this one,

but in general is Vesselinovich going down. They've moved into this back three. And Ali Ahmed, because of Samadikubay's injury, playing at left wing back is like the perfect player to play there because he has played left back. He's played centrally. He's comfortable in the attack. If he gets isolated, I mean, unfair.

Some of the stuff he was doing to Alejandro Bedoya, especially on the second goal that he created. He made Badoia look every, every bit of a third. 37-year-old playing out of position on a cross-country road trip, which I think was what Toya was positive about and felt. And so you have Ahmed on one side and what he can do and the creativity he can bring. And then it still gives you license to push up from that right-back position, whether it's Ocampo or Special Burles are getting pushed out there. Whatever else happens with this group, like they get a ton of danger from the width. And that allows Thomas

Mueller to drop off the front line for pullbacks or attack behind Brian White or Daniel Rios, whoever it is. who is going to be a force that's drawing a ton of attention. And a lot of stuff falls to Mueller in those spots where he can be really, really dangerous. And it takes a lot of pressure off the central midfielder's to have to be pure chance creators. Because when you're playing from one goal leads and you're a team that could hit in transition if you want to,

like you don't have to force the game. You don't have to create the game at all time. And that puts Kubas and Burrhalter into their best positions. On the Philadelphia side of things, I asked the question about juggling and what they were going to do. Carnell went with this half measure. And then the most bizarre part about this is they go four zero down in the first half. And he subs in all of the starters that he sat with the Open Cup semi-final coming up on Tuesday night that they have to travel to again.

So they've gone cross-country to Vancouver. Now they have to head back to Nashville, midway across the country for this game. And I have no idea what that was about. I mean, first of all, it was just weird because he did it in the 45th minute before halftime, like, just wait until halftime and give, well, he might as well burn the window because you have no players left you can bring on the bench. But, like, also, like, take the 15 minutes and, like, give them a full, like, debrief of what you want from them.

It was also just, I don't know, like, I get they were really bad. It also just felt maybe needlessly embarrassing for guys. guys like Bedoya to haul him off two minutes before half time. But I don't know. I'm not in the locker room, so I don't know what all is going on there. I feel like if anybody can recover from it, it's a guy like Badoia. But yeah, it was just weird. You're 4-0 down. You're on the road against one of the best teams in MLS. You're not coming back. No, you're not coming back. So just like give Ty Barribo and Kai Wagner and Dan Lee Jean-Jox just the night off and save their legs for now going back across the country and playing against a good Nashville team who's

beaten you twice already in an open cup semi-final. And instead, he just kind of ran them out there for no reason. I mean, it didn't make a difference. They conceded another three goals. So, yeah, it was a really weird move. I don't get it. And, you know, we talked to Cornell a couple weeks ago, and I've talked to people in the club and, like, everyone is super happy with what's going on. So it was also a weird moment of like is he showing up these players is he trying to send a message to the starters and and then you look past this and you say like all right like let's say internally the club said the focus is shield not open cup which i'm okay with like you're leaving the shield race that's your option even after this you're still up two points but one point you're not going to be better in a week you're like before putting those players on for a full second half you're not going to sub them off at that point so now you're playing them all a full 45 They come back this week. They play the Revs.

They play DC. They have NYCFC, and then they finish with a currently nine-game win streak Charlotte team. So it's not the most difficult schedule, but the Open Cup clearly a factor. Like, this was not the 11 they would start against Vancouver if they could. And to handle it the way you did, and I don't know, maybe they watched too much of the Atlanta Columbus game and we're like, oh, four goals. It's nothing. We're definitely going to score four goals in this second half.

It was a bizarre thing to do, and we'll talk about how we think it affects them going forward. For Vancouver, they officially clinched their spot in the postseason. I know we went a little bit longer on the teams that have already clinched. Cincinnati clinched this week as well. Charlotte officially clinched probably won't do as much about them because we're probably going to talk about them more going forward. Speaking of Cincinnati, Evander and Brenner helped them break their goal scoring duck, and they are able to knock off Nashville to one with a 90. eighth minute winner from Evander.

So they officially clinched that playoff spot. They are back now in this supporter shield race that we kind of said they weren't. You saw the holes of why in this game. They created a ton of chances. They were completely incapable of putting them away. But they went out and got a player in Brenner who is an add-on right now, who was a DP, and you see why, the outside of the foot touch and finish on the goal. It's not a huge gap.

It's one that a Vander can hit with that pass. It's one that outside of Denke, no one else on this team could finish and maybe Denke can't at times this season. I think it shows you the high quality of class they have, even amongst all the, what it seems like, is this internal stress around goal for this team. Yeah, I've been just kind of mystified a little bit by Cincinnati this year because their actual production on the field is like so night and day different from their underlying numbers. I forget what their XG difference, but it's like a negative seven and they're like plus six goal difference. So they're like they're overperforming a lot of their stats.

I think some of it goes back to like even Miami last year. They overperformed a ton and it's like at some point you have messy. Like you're going to be able to do some things that a normal team can't do. I think Evander is close to being in that category. I'm not saying he's like Lionel Messi, but he's just such a special player that like at some point, stats aren't super predictive for him just because he can do things that no one

else can. But even the Nashville game, I felt like was it kind of good microcosm of their year. I talked to Laurel Fowler before the game and she talked about how since 2023 in one goal games they were, they were 41. They had won 41 and lost 16

heading into the Nashville game. So I guess now they're 42 and 16, which is just a wild stat. I feel like they can close down a game and just find those the tiniest gaps um and i think against nashville too like they let up a ton of chances national had multiple chances to score a second or even a third and didn't um but cincinnati put them under so much pressure that the every mistake that nashville made was magnified just because if you

give brenner or kevin denk or evander like a half yard of space in the box they can do something with it um i think both cincinnati's goals came on like just small mistakes from Nashville that normally they can get away with, and Cincinnati just pounced on them. And yeah, in a lot of ways, they remind me kind of a Minnesota, not stylistically, but just in how miserable they make it for their opponents and how they can kind of take, I feel like they magnify their opponent's weaknesses in a way that Minnesota does, and it's just miserable to play against.

I would be really scared to play against Cincinnati heading into the playoffs. Yeah, which for them, I don't know that we were going to be, saying two weeks ago like this is a team that it as you said has almost shot themselves in the foot at times um i do think in what we said on this show when we announced miles robinson signing the dp contract is like the floor with them is really high because they're elite in goal and across the back line and they don't give up a lot of soft chances and they're in every game so if they get a moment of brilliance as you explain they'll score they'll win by a goal and not every mLS team is the case with that right look at the revs like

If Carlos Seal has a moment of brilliance, it's a draw, it's a two-one loss, whatever it is. That's not the case what's in today, but they need a little bit more to help him get over the line against the best teams. Brenner scoring in this one is huge because he could be that guy. And all of the center forwards that they moved out in the summer, Sergio Santos, Corey Barrett, all these players, none of them were performing at a high level or consistent at all. The one worry for them is Matt Miyazga went down with an injury in this one. That's been the thing that has held them back. over the last few playoff runs is whether it's red card suspensions or injuries

missing a lot of their key pieces up the spine in big games and so Brian Anunga also went off Brian Anunga went off and he's I mean he was already filling in for an injury they're already really thin in midfield um Samuel giddy came on and I thought he looked decent he only played a few minutes at the end so at least they have they have an option now that they didn't a few weeks ago um but yeah I mean if you miss anunga it's kind of wild that he's such a key piece for uh supporters the contender at this point. But, like, they're already so thin in midfield that I think missing him could be a concern going forward.

You mentioned for Nashville, I said to you, like, it just felt mentally that they were turned off in some big moments. They were odd turnovers out of the back or a lot of moments where they were backpedaling rather than stepping where you'd expect them to. It just, to me, even though they played a high-level team in a big atmosphere and stuck in the game, it felt like that. they were not mentally fully there for this game. And I wouldn't be shocked if some of that is looking at the Open Cup semi-final

and the ability to host in that game. It was cool to see Tyler Boyd basically create a goal by himself out of nowhere. Like he has the potential. BJ Catalan talked about him all year in the slow process of him coming back. And it feels like with the way Nashville has played, how good they've been, how many players have been a part of that. Like whatever he gives them is additive at this point. And that could be a nice little boost.

over some of these top-level opponents. Yeah, I think he's going to be important. They haven't really had any tertiary scoring outside of Sam Surge and Honey Mukhtar. So hopefully he can fill some of that. I'm not sure how much we can expect from him just in terms of like playing 90 minutes for the rest of the year. I mean, he was out for 400 plus days. So I honestly think we're probably not going to see the best of him until 2026. But even if he can put in shifts like he did against Cincinnati,

where he came on for the final 30 minutes and got an assist. Like that's something that Nashville haven't really had consistently off the bench. They've had guys like Ahmed Qassum or Jacob Schaffelberg or Johnny Perez who can kind of sometimes do it and then other times they just fall flat. So I think Boyd will help with that. And I think that's, I mean, something that Nashville will have to kind of figure out for next season. Let's go to one of our other U.S. Open Cup semi-finalists. We'll talk more about Nashville and that's Minnesota.

Minnesota going on the road against San Diego and we had checked them out of the Shield race when we did this whole thing last week and then I think I put on Blue Sky at like 9.30 on Saturday night and was like, is Minnesota in this if they win? They go to San Diego. They get blitzed off the field in the first half. Dane St. Clair puts on maybe the performance of the weekend.

That is in a weekend where four players scored a hat trick and keeps them in this game. And then like you said, they have the ability to hurt you if you're ever going to take your eye off the ball. They feel perfectly set up to play San Diego because you're not going to have possession against this team. It is not possible. And Minnesota is able to hit in transition. They make it one zero. They do it again. They score from midfield eventually. Dane St. Clair loses the shutout late. But you have a game in which San Diego has 66% possession and FottMob has them at 2.16 expected goals.

They do not score in this game until the 95th minute. It's hard for San Diego to complain. The process is good. Maybe it's just one of those days, but I think it was a pretty telling primer for a potential playoff matchup. And, of course, it resets the Shield Race because San Diego would have moved into first place if they had won this game.

And now Minnesota are within touching distance. Yeah, Minnesota are, they're so fascinating because they play the most frustrating style of soccer. I think I've seen an MLS. But it works. I don't imagine that a lot of even the players in the locker room love how they set up and kind of the way that they play. But it's so effective.

Like, if you're good at breaking down a low block, Minnesota are the best at sitting in a low block and will frustrate you. And if you're bad at breaking down a low block, they'll give you the ball anyway and just kind of force you to do it for 90 minutes and it'll be terrible. And every time they get the ball in,

transition, they're dangerous. It's just so effective. And I feel like, I, like, whether or not they win the shield, they're definitely in the conversation. I mean, just looking at the next few games, they have obviously Open Cup this week against Austin. And they play Chicago at home. They go to Colorado. They play sporting Kansas City at home. And then they go to the Galaxy on Decision Day. Like, those are all very winnable games for this team. So I think they're very much in the conversation. but even like even if they're not they're built for single elimination like knockout playoff games and so i'm really excited to see what they do because i i think yeah this is this is maybe more than any team in the west one that i could see going on a really really deep run it's why i'm

fascinated about this open cup semi final even against austin because i think it's a pretty good preview of what they'll look like in the first round of the playoffs right sure they're probably They're going to be favorites. They're going to be a team with home field advantage. And all of what you just said relies on the fact that the other team at some point takes possession. And what we've seen in the past with teams that are kind of on the newer side of who they are in Minnesota, obviously, we're in the postseason under Ramsey last year, but

in this first year is when it gets to the playoffs and you have sort of this distinct style that doesn't maybe work in every game state, you have to be able to have the like internal a wherewithal to say, no, we don't want the ball here. We're not going to step out in these spots. And I think a lot of opponents are going to go to Minnesota and say, like, good, it's your job to create the game. Like, I dare you to do it. My guess is that's what Austin will do in the Open Cup.

And we're going to see how Minnesota deals with it and how they handle it. This game is the other example, which is, okay, let's say they get through that. Can they then go to some of the bigger teams, you know, Seattle, whether it's home or away, San Diego, whether it's home or away, in single elimination. This was an example that without Taniola O'Sheae, that they could still get it done, because that is a huge loss for this team, and he fits a huge part of that, which is his ability to create chances on his own, his ability to finish in transition, and they don't have that. But it is a Minnesota team that's in really good form right now coming into this game,

and this is a huge moment for them. We're going to talk about that in just a moment for San Diego. though. Like I said, I thought the process was right. Do you have any differing opinion about them? No. I mean, they created so many chances. And I think if you're playing someone besides Dane St. Clair, you probably score three. So, I mean, frustrating game. I don't have any red flags after that one. I said this on last week's show, but I'll mention it again with the schedule. They have a bizarre finish. Four games, three on the road, at Atlanta against San Jose, at Houston. and at Portland. So it's weird to me, right? You have potentially only two playoff teams or one

playoff team in those three on the road, maybe two. But at the same time, you got to go on the road and you got to win an MLS. That's not an easy thing. And to finish with two on the road, my guess, and I have not looked at a schedule, is this is college football or NWSL related, which is why they finish with back-to-back games because they share that building with two other tenants, which is not ideal as well. But this is going to be a huge question marks for San Diego because they're still firmly in this. And let's go to one more team that I think you have to say, or maybe two more teams, sorry, let me say two more teams that are in this conversation.

We thought it would be Miami. Charlotte rocks them at home with a 3-0 win. It's nine straight wins for Charlotte. I don't Toklamati gets a hat trick replacing Patrick Ojamong, like yourself, the big star stepping in for the big moments. I can only aspire to that level of replacement. We all aspire to it. But if you twerk.

Morgan Tensea will find you so you have to watch out. No one wants to see that. When he went to celebrate the opening goal, I was like on, I was off my couch, just in the TV being like, do it, do it, do it. Make them do it again, do it. Well, then you have Gene Smith dancing in the owner's box, too. Just a perfect night. He's got the air pot in because it's his team.

Not that he's going to say anything, but it's his team and he's coaching. Not that he needs to, but it's his team and he's coaching. That was like a whole great back and forth. about what he was doing. And Christian Kalina, the star of this game, saves the Penenka attempt from Messi at zero. That leads directly to the Toklamati opening goal to make it one zero. I thought Toklamati made mistake in transition. He could have set up Vargas to make it two at halftime, and then they come out and finish the job

against this Miami team. Doyle wrote about this in his article before going on vacation. This Charlotte team is bizarre. They had a better expected goals throughout their winless streak before this than they do now against their opponents what do you make of this charlotte team i think a lot of it they look they just look so much better with tim ream at centerback i'm so glad that the tim ream at left back experiment is over um like good on him for making it work for as long as he did but they just they look so much i mean first of all he's a great passer of the ball um and even on i think it was the second goal where he

he played the ball out to um to wilfrid zaha broke two lines um and and put Zaha in a great pocket where he eventually played it to Bronico and he crossed it to Tocomadi. Great way to set up a goal. So I think getting him in the middle has made a huge difference. And I think Zaha also was just like performing.

And he wasn't or when he was performing very sporadically at the start of the season. Well, go ahead. I was going to say part of that is that there's a potential threat of someone making a run outside of him. Sure. His team Marine was never going to do. He was going one v2 every time he had the ball

because you knew that there was no overlap. So now, like, he at least has someone to kind of pull defenders off of him. And I think it lets him cut inside into, like, the more kind of number 10y pockets that you would, that maybe you didn't expect from how he played with Palace. But, like, now in MLS, he's able to kind of drift into those more central roles. And I think he's done a ton of, like, he's done really well at adapting to this team without Pet BL. And he's kind of taken on not the same level of creative burden.

but he's doing some of the work. And so I think it's been really helpful to have him hitting form, having some help on the overlap. And he's really kind of turned provider in a lot of ways. And there was a great quote after the game where, I mean, he's the designated penalty taker. And Toklamati's on a hat trick. He gave him the ball and just said something,

I don't have it in front of me, but basically talked about how it's going to be something that he remembers for the rest of his life. And then Toklamati in his media afterwards, he talked about how Zaha is an angel. and so yeah it was just it was good to see i mean they're obviously they tied the the mLS record for consecutive wins i think in the shoot in the post shootout era um they're a really fun story their underlying numbers are whack like none of it makes sense but like none of mLS makes sense

right now so like i i have no idea what to make of it um but they go to n yc next and i think that's going to be a really tough match so i yeah very interested to see how they do there so just in case maybe connection breaks up whatever it is they have tied the record for a win streak in major league soccer since the end of the shutout error we say shutout error because there was no losers or no non-winners there was no ties because you had the shootout um sorry shut out i meant to say shootout like that's it that's like the whole ball game is like they have tied the best streak in the history of the league but they've done so in the most bizarre season they sitting third in the Eastern Conference.

They lost at SKC and Chicago right before this streak started. And then they've won at Cincinnati since this streak has started. They beat RSL and they now beat Miami. Now they have not beat like the cream of the crop game in and game out because you've got to play everyone. It's going to be switched around. But like they came into this one with the ability to tie the record against the Miami team that many people and maybe I'm looking at one thinks is still the shield favorite or

shield contender in all of this and they put together their same performance they've done over and over again they bent but didn't break defensively they're dangerous and transgressin this is the best vargas has played he is a player where went on he's a game winner and went off he is borderline unplayable and that entire span of quality has shown itself in and out in major league soccer so he's on a hot streak you mentioned zaha toklamati is more connected than aljama was to the rest of the team. So he's scoring goals. It's making life easier for those wide players. And in central midfield, and Doyle talks about this very well in his article, like, you've got willing runners, right? Brant Bronico would give his life to make a run that opens up space for another person.

And Deani has done the same thing. So right now, it's all working together. It's all connected. It doesn't feel super repeatable in a playoff streak, but that's not really your problem right now. And like, we talked about shield contenders. And like, I think. think you have to put Charlotte in there. Just, I mean, first of all, based on form, but also, so they go to New York City FC this weekend. After that, they play against Montreal at home, and they go to D.C. Those are very winnable games.

And then it sets up what could be one of the best matches of the season, Charlotte against Philadelphia on Decision Day. Like, that could, I mean, it's not impossible that that is for the supporter shield. And the icing on the cake of all of that is, CFC plays on Wednesday against Columbus. So the hardest of those games leading into that, they're going to get a team on short rest that doesn't have a ton of depth and hasn't looked fantastic over the course of this season.

That is a really good opportunity for this team. Talk to me about Miami here. First of all, Toto Aveles is going to be suspended for their game against Seattle on Tuesday. So that makes nine players who are suspended or whatever the number is in this game that's coming up tomorrow night for some bizarre reason because they have to fill in for the games they miss for Leagues Cup. Do you still, you mentioned to me that there might be a little bit of belief still. Yeah. And so first of all, we keep talking about games in hand. And it's great until you stop like actually getting points from those. So like, because you've got to play extra

games. Right. And it's all hypothetical. But like, and especially when you're playing extra games and you're all like 40 years old and have no cartilage left in your knees. Like that's, that's a problem. But just on paper, looking at the games they have, Seattle tomorrow is a tough game. But then you play DC, you go to New York City FC, that's a tough one. You play Toronto, you play Chicago, you play New England, you play Atlanta. They could all theoretically be out of playoff contention at that point. So I'm not saying they're the favorites, but you cannot write them off at this point, just because the on-paper schedule, the talent that they have, and the fact that they still

have eight games left to play, that's a lot. And they certainly have potential to make a run. I'm not saying they're going to, but, like, I just, we can't, like, count them out at this point. I would agree with you. I would say the feeling of watching them kind of fall apart against Charlotte as it got hard. It doesn't make me feel a ton better about the potential. If Messi doesn't miss a penalty kick and they go up one-nothing, it's a completely different ballgame. Like, so at the end, yeah, it wasn't great.

But there was also the potential aure on where everything completely changed. So, yeah, yeah. It is, I got a bunch of messages from Charlotte fans. It was one of the coolest moments of the season. Like Kalina saves the Peninca, and Miami is dominating at that point. As I mentioned, like the bend don't break. And the energy in the building all of a sudden comes up, and then they literally counterattack the other way and score in a transition moment.

Bousquet's like ghosted on the near post by the Bram Pranico run and literally just shoves him because he's like, I can't keep up with this play. And then Toklamati with the finish and the place just. explodes and charlotte's had some really funny social media stuff so tip of the cat to them especially the beckums uh if you haven't seen it on instagram afterwards of the clip coming out but like they were talking about switching into miami jerseys for charlotte jerseys whatever was i don't know a whole kiosk in the stadium they did but from afar from watching on tv it looked like a pretty pro charlotte crowd like this did not feel like uh and it wasn't

the upper deck wasn't even sold this wasn't like nfl stadium for messy like this felt like a pro-Charlotte crowd. It's one of the things that's been cool about them since they've joined the league. And either way, I think it's going to be a special playoff game for them. So Tuesday night, into Miami host Seattle. Leagues Cup final recap or redo, rematch. What, Suarez suspended for this one? Now Avila is suspended for this one.

I really hope, I really hope Swaras just sits in the same spot that we saw Mascherano sit and yell instructions down to the bench. just for the just for the memes he could be on AirPods to Dean Smith they could just they could be listening to the same Spotify playlist at the same time of course it would be Apple music of course never mind sorry I apologize for that for Seattle on the Seattle side they choked away a two zero lead at home to the LA Galaxy which is you know unfortunate for a lot of reasons one being like

again, games in hand, they could have had an outside shot about being a part of this conversation. If they have, if they don't drop that point and they win their two games in hand, that would be eight points plus. They'd be on 53 just ahead of Vancouver, one point behind Minnesota in the Western Conference. Roosnack comes back. I think overall, some things to be happy about, but definitely an unfortunate result. Morris came back. Jesus Ferreira scores a goal. So still question marks as the Seattle team goes up and down. A few other things to note before we get into our eliminated teams

and our Open Cup. Dennis Buonga, one of the four players that scored a hat trick. That was at Levi Stadium in front of a fairly sold-out crowd, many of which were there to see San Jose play L.A.F.

Many of which were there to see Sun Yang Ming play soccer, gave them the result they wanted. A goal in the opening minute from Sun, one of like a few goals in the opening two or three minutes. Right. As I tried to chase games on TV in this one,

One of the weirdest nights of MLS, I can remember. Yes. There was the, like, I turned off the Miami game. I watched 10 seconds of Columbus Live. I only see Atlanta score, and yet they're down 5-1. Then I'm like, maybe I'll throw Dallas on. Dallas is already up 1-0 on an unreal Logan Farrington backheel to a Petzar-Musa goal. Yeah, the whole thing was what Paxson-Arensen scores an equalizer or forced an own goal.

His header flicked off of someone. else it feels like. He's just not, when you think set piece threat, you don't immediately think the Errington brothers. You do not. And if you are, you don't think Paxton first between the two of them. But it was a great start for him in Colorado. They go up to one. Some like random young players got big performances as well. As you said, it was a bizarre night in major league soccer. Let's start with the weirdest game here. And we'll talk about our eliminated teams officially. So we're going to do this for every team as they get eliminated in MLS. And that's Atlanta, Atlanta went down 5-0 in the opening half against Columbus.

They end up losing five to four, which is the weirdest part about all of this. Wesam Abu Ali gets his first goal. Diego Rossi scores a goal after pulling up with a hamstring injury, taps it in, walks off the field, and now we're getting reports that he may be out for two to four weeks and could miss a playoff game. We'll miss the stretch run of the season. that is like the worst case scenario coming out of a game that you win by this much it was a sign I think of how weird both these teams are for Columbus the huge result and then on the flip side for Atlanta it was an international break you were off for two weeks for one opponent to come and you get blitzed off the field in the opening first half and then you don't give up on your manager which is like all of the comments I'm hearing of like Ronnie dial is next after Caleb Porter and like when's he out I don't know what you want to take away from this,

but for a team to come back under a manager, like that kind of feels like the wrong guy to fire in a way. Yeah, I don't know. I'm coming at this from a place of never being fully convinced or happy with the Rondi Dahlahire. Like, I didn't think it made a ton of sense off the bat, and now that we've had a full season of, like, just disappointment. I'm not, like, any more convinced.

I also think Columbus are not maybe the best kind of litmus test Yeah when you of the playoff teams they worry me the most

of just they're bad defensively I'm trying to pull up the numbers they only Cincinnati and Charlotte have allowed more goals than them of Eastern Conference

playoff teams and I feel like they're just more fragile than either of those teams like so that's not like a stats based thing but just based on vibes i feel like Columbus are not super convincing when they're defending do you feel like that's fair yeah and they i think have gotten worse as the season's got along i mean an injuries too much a large yeah and but that's you can't ignore the fact that like no but i would say for columbus you can't ignore the fact that like arguably two of their three best centerbacks are

unavailable to them right now. Everybody has to deal with that. Yes, but that also puts us in a place where we say, like, we don't really believe in this team, especially in a playoff run. One of the strengths of Columbus, though, has been, like, Wilfred Nancy's ability to get similar to production, no matter who's on the field.

And I think you've seen, even, like, the centerbacks, like, he's gotten creative and found ways to make it work. And, like, they haven't ever been, like, a just locked-down defensive team, but they've at least seemed less mistake-prone than they are now. I forget which goal it was for Atlanta, but they just played the simplest long ball over the top. It took a bounce in between the centerbacks and Patrick Schulte,

and no one really knew how to deal with that. And Theari just ran by and scored. To be fair, Columbus does that every while over the non-say years. That's not like the most, like going into the playoffs. that feels like a pretty repeatable scenario. And if you don't know how to deal with that, like a team who actually has like consistent goal scores is going to punish you too way more than Atlanta did.

Even the way that Aliu was pressing for a goal late, where it's like you're up 5'3, you're up 5'4, and it was like almost the acknowledgement of like, well, we need to score the 6. Right, yeah. To ensure that we win this game. Yeah. So there's a lot of weird stuff with that.

On the flip side for Atlanta, like, Miguel El Miron is always trying. It is not super effective. Bartos Lees, some of his underlying numbers are okay. I don't ever feel like he's a force in a game. Right. I don't mind Grigerson. I wouldn't say I trust him in a top tier of centerbacks. And then you have all of the question marks about all the other things they've spent money on,

starting with Marantzac, going to Lateloth. And like, whatever Ryan Adela is or isn't, this should not be a team that is eliminated on September 15th, with four games to go in the season from the playoffs. Like, typically just spending this much money should be almost a guarantee that you at least make the playoffs and to see it not be is kind of shocking. Like, hopefully Latte-Loth comes back next year and it was just needing a year to adjust. But so far, he's been a bust. I mean, he's not even, he's one of the most expensive signings in MLF history and he's not

even starting. That's a red flag. I like some of what Moranchuk does. I think he's gotten at least more consistent. Maybe not better, but he's like, he does good things more consistently now. I think he'd be great if he was like a Max Tam guy, but the fact that he's taking up a DP spot

makes it hard to like really make the improvements that you need to. Some of the young players I really like, like Luke Brennan, I think is a really fun, exciting player. Jaden Hibbert, I don't know if he's like your long-term number one, but he's at least given you something to think about. So there are a few things that I think they can at least kind of take into next season. But like they're another team who need, it feels like they don't just need to figure out the managerial situation, but they're going to need work on the roster, which is a wild thing to say after the winter window that they had. You got to wonder how much they regret the Moranchuk signing in light of the cash first coming in.

And like we mentioned with Carlos Heel, like the guaranteed, the known, like there's no way if they don't sign Moran Chuck signing. they're not in the Evanda race. Even the Lucho race, which could have put them in a better place. Like, as bad as it went for Dallas, Lucho still put up better numbers than Marantzsche has put up with more responsibility than kind of what Marantzac has in Atlanta. And you have to think this is a team that would have leaned into that with Henderson and Garth Lagerway's experience around the league and all of that.

And just the ability to throw cash around. Like they could have they could have beaten whatever Cincinnati put on the table just because they have an insane amount of money to spend. they beat it in the in what they spent on Latte-Loth and Moranchuk. Like they could have just spent that internally or spent less. And yeah, I think Latte-Lath, like,

I'm always going to give someone a second year and an opportunity and all of that. Is there a theory or something? There's a theorem that I would love to pop in. But Moran-Chuk is kind of trying to prove it wrong right now. And Al-Mirons creating his own theorem of, like, you can never go back home. Like, it's not the same.

I don't think he's been terrible. But I don't think he's been It doesn't feel like the game He used to drive terror into you When he moved on the ball And it doesn't feel that way anymore So yeah he still drives forward He's still aggressive

He normally plays on the front foot And everything that happens comes through him And maybe this is me Misremembering how good Joseph was And how dangerous Viobo was And like all the other pieces Where this was just who he was And the team's worse now

but it feels different when he does what he does now than what he used to be. He's also older, and, like, they were so, they were such a transition-based team at their best, and I think it's maybe unfair to expect that from him at this stage in his career. And they're also just not a transition-based team anymore. And so I don't, I don't feel like they're playing to the strengths of any of their best players right now. It will be interesting to see who's in charge of this team at the end of this year and going forward for this Atlanta squad. Let us know what you think. We're happy to talk about all these teams more.

Shoot us messages on Blue Sky. You can get in the comments on Instagram. And if you subscribe to the Patreon, you can get into the Discord as well and throw anything in there as well. Let's finish off with TFC here, who is another officially eliminated team. They did so in conceding this 90th minute equalizer to Luca Langoni, which was not enough to save Caleb Porter, as we mentioned. They sit in an interesting spot, right? they bought out the two Italians. They made a huge cash for a move for Georgie Mihailovich this year.

They brought in C. Fuentes on loan and sort of pushed out some of the, I guess you would call veteran pieces that haven't really worked to give some minutes to some young players. I think they've seen some reward for that. And we could talk about which are the ones we like. And then going past this year, they don't have a ton of money on the books outside of Georgie. So Oso, Larea, and Wingo all have one more year at like sort of high numbers. Everyone else is on an option or their deals up. So Sean Johnson, Roastead, Petretta, like all those guys are up if they want them to be. And then they've got a lot of these young guys.

Where do you sit with Toronto right now as they get eliminated, as I mentioned, with a month to go in the season, which is never ideal and like where you think they're moving? I feel like the whole season they were really kind of just hamstrung by the DP's situation I'm glad they got out of it I kind of wonder what could have been if they had pulled the trigger on that earlier just because I feel like it just really limited their ceiling

but now that they have that out of the way I mean they're not at the same exact level as Atlanta but they're not afraid to spend so I think they have a ton of potential and I mean the great thing about Amales is that you can elevate an entire team with one or two, like, really nailed DP signings. So if they can go out and do some stuff in the winter,

I mean, you mentioned some of the young pieces that they have. I really like a lot of the young players, like D'Andre Kerr. I really, really like him. Georgi Mihailovic, not a young player, but, like, if you're going to go in MLS and try to find a proven player, that's as much of a guarantee as you can get with him, and I really like what he does. So they have some exciting pieces,

and I think they have a lot of really good supplementary pieces. And now if they can go out and find one or two DPs who can beat, like, the guy for you, I think, though, they, it's not an uphill battle for them to be relevant again, if they can nail those. Yeah. It's, though, something we've said a couple times over the last few years. So it's like, we got to see it now once again from Toronto. And I think it's slightly telling that, like, the front office has just cut veterans, like,

like Brilda Halson, whatever, saying, like, you have to play these kids, which I am, the constant we talk about with Toronto is the inability to activate on the young talent that's in that city. And like all of the players who are from Toronto who don't play for Toronto. And in a bad year, I think it was a chance for Robin Frazier to put a flag down and say, like, don't worry, like, this has changed. Come here and you can play. And I don't know that he's a 100% done that. And I think that would be a little bit of a stressor for me.

Like, I look at this team, and Lazar, Stefanovich, has to play every game for the rest of the year. I think he's one of the best under 20 centerbacks in the MLS system. He looked really good this past weekend. He had, like, one moment against Langoni where he struggled. Fine, right? He's young. He looks good. You need to give him this chance.

And there's nothing else to do. I think Dandre Carr, as you mentioned, he has filled the role of, like, he could be a starting center forward. He could definitely be a squad player center forward for your team. That's something that you don't have to go out and spend. their own money on. I thought Phil Sont was a game changer for them coming off the bench in this one. I like a lot of the moments I see from him. Franklin is giving you strong minutes as well. So like there's a lot you can lean on there. Luca Gavron potentially is pushing for certain goalkeeper. Moli Kenri didn't play this weekend. And I mean, he's 23, so not like quite like at

the level of young player. But like he's looked really good. And he's another kind of local kid who definitely has potential to maybe not be like a high level every week starter. but he's one of those guys who can come off the bench and give you a shift and should I think he'll he'll be important next year so I mean there are definitely pieces yeah it's um it's all sitting there for this TFC team I think they've done the work for the most part as I mentioned it's like clear stuff out now I think there's a question mark I think there was a question mark of like how much spending they would do post Italians feels like the georgie mahalovitch trant like cash for gives you the answer of like they're still going to compete and they're still going to push you their chips in. Maybe it's not messy and the crazy insinier money, but like that's a really big move to make for a club. Even before that, like you don't buy out guys making that much money just to buy them out. Like you buy them out to go out and bring in someone else. So I don't think it's, I don't have any questions about if they're going to go out and spend big. I think they absolutely will. Let's think into our final topic for today, which is the U.S. Open Cup

semifinals. We have a full U.S. Open Cup focus show on the kickback committee, myself and Suzanne Santa Fuller sat down with Walker Zimmerman for a stretch. We talked about our favorite moments in Open Cup history. We talked through a little bit of the history and a little bit of the preview of the game. But let's dig in now and let's start with the Tuesday night game. Nashville against Philadelphia, 8 p.m. Eastern Time. You mentioned it when we talked about Philly. Nashville 2-0 and O this year against Philadelphia, a 1-0 win in July and a 3-1 win back in March.

That one on the road. So in two stretches where Philadelphia has been really, really good, Nashville has stepped up and gotten big results. Nashville coming off the back of this loss at Cincinnati in Philadelphia. Who the hell knows what they're like right now as they fly in to Nashville. Let's start outside the game and then dig in. You live in Nashville. You cover this team.

We've seen them host the Leaks Cup final. This is maybe then you could say the second biggest game in the club's history. What is the vibe been like around them and what do you think the atmosphere will be like? Yeah, I'm honestly really interested to see. I think it's still a newer fan base. I mean, not like brand new, but Nashville haven't been around forever. And they just don't have a ton of history in the Open Cup. So I think there is still some kind of, not everybody knows the Open Cup or what it is.

And so I'm interested to see what the crowd looks like. I heard initially they were expecting like $15,000, which I think would be on a Tuesday night in the middle of September. It would be a decent crowd. But yeah, I'm honestly, I don't have a. great answer for you. I'm kind of going into it curious to see what it looks like and what the vibes are. Yeah, it feels like from the outside, this is a team that like when they're good, they get a buzz and people are interested. I don't know if the market's fully locked in on like extra cup games. This is what this means. This is what it doesn't. They did for the Leaks Cup final.

There was a lot of buildup to that. And this is one of the issues with Open Cup is like there's less buildup because it comes here and there. I think when it's the final, you have so much time. Yes, you can build into that one game and push people into the building. So my hope is that it feels really big for this semi-final. It is the tougher matchup of the two to judge when you talk about Minnesota Austin, Minnesota hosting Austin, than this Nashville, Philadelphia game. Then as we said, like you have rotation coming out of the weekend. It is the Tuesday game, not the Wednesday game.

So you have less rest in this one. Both teams traveling to come in market much tougher for this Philadelphia team. What do you make of this matchup and how much? many times are people going to talk about B.J. Callahan being from Philadelphia. I think B.J. is getting tired of it. I bet he is. Yeah. I mean, even last week, playing against Cincinnati, he had all the Pat Noonan questions going into it. So I think he's worn out of the Philadelphia comparisons. They've matched up really well with them. Even in the 1-0 win in July, they played with 10 men for the last 30 minutes of the game and still managed to find a winner. So for whatever

reason in the first two games. They've kind of had Philadelphia's number. They've gone more direct against them than I think we've seen against other teams. They are more than happy to kind of absorb some pressure and just hit over the top. And that's worked really well. So I think Nashville will have an idea of how they want to approach it. I am fascinated to see just kind of what shape Philadelphia are in. I think you can either be completely demoralized and just drained after going across the entire country and getting beaten that badly. Or they can just come in and be angry off the blocks and just really go hard to try to kind of erase that and make up for it.

And so I think I would expect it to be the latter. I think they're clearly one of the best teams in MLS. I think they have a clear identity. They are deep. So even if they rotate, I think they have guys who can hurt you at multiple positions. And I, yeah, I mean, these are two teams who want silverware. So I expect Philadelphia to come in and be really dangerous. I don't think, I don't think we can take too much from just how they performed against Vancouver.

The directness is interesting, right? Because Vancouver's possession's been really, really fun this year. It's been really impressive, like, sorry, Vancouver, I just said that because of Philadelphia, Nashville. Vancouver's possession's been really, really, really impressive this year as well. More impressive than Nashville. But then when you talk about it. going direct like there are i mean shaffleberg's a clear option in playing that way i think wheel fits it as well and honey is super comfortable in transition and attacking back lines and

if you can get back lines to drop because surge stretches them then honey can fill the space underneath he can score on pullbacks he can score on second balls as well like there's a ton of success you can have in that you know how philadelphia is going to line up and you know what they're going to do I don't know if that invites like the opportunity for Nashville to make the decision or it forces them a little bit in a big game at home to say like well we don't want the game to get too stretch and we don't want it to be out of control so let's try and put our foot on the ball and control things and then you're creating gaps for Philadelphia to hunt and press and create their chances I think the opening 15 minutes massive in this one like you assume Philly's going to come out and they're going to try and play aggressive in that early time. time. They're going to push the fullbacks high. They're going to try and close you down. That's where Quinn Sullivan's super dangerous. That's where they turn defense into attack really quickly. I think if you can sustain that or pass through that a little bit, then you get into the, now the travel starts to wear on them. Now the experience starts to wear on them. Can I

crack gather behind us? But it is going to be those opening 15, 20 minutes. I think that decide this game. And there's talent in both these teams to win it for you. And I don't think there's a clear favorite going into it. No. I think it's going to be really tight. I mean, honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if it goes to penalties. I think for Nashville, Gaston Bruegman is going to be super important. I thought he had his best game for Nashville against Cincinnati. And I think he's kind of been getting steadily better and better for them and just gives them like just much more a forward, like a forward threat from midfield. Like he played the ball over the top. to Tyler Boyd to set up Serge's goal and he's he more than anybody on the team I think he can

play those entry passes he's also 32 um and doesn't have a history of like being able to consistently play 90 minutes and played a pretty intense game against Cincinnati just a few days ago so I'm I think on on a good day he would be the key for Nashville and I'm just kind of I'm not convinced that he's going to be able to like have that kind of impact for 90 minutes on on short west um for nashville is it a clear decision at centerback i can't tell from the outside like i think it's i think walker zimmerman and jason pelasios are the starters um pelasios missed the since he and alex wheel had some kind of illness they actually stayed they could have played and bj said that they stayed home just mostly to make sure that they didn't give it to anybody else um but

it sounds like they're better they should both be available the only like main injury they have is Johnny Perez. It looked like he did his quad against Cincinnati. So still waiting to see to get scant and stuff. But I would be, I'd be pretty surprised if he played on Tuesday. Yeah. For this Philadelphia team, they've been to three Open Cup finals. They've lost all of them. They've been to one MLS Cup. I think BJ was there for two at least. Okay. He keeps mentioning how he wants to make up for that. walkers ever mentioned that joe willis was in goal for houston in one of the ones that philadelphia went and lost so it has a little bit of experience in that matchup they've lost an

mLS cup they've never won a cup they've won one shield they're the only team in the final four that has won a trophy but they've never won a cup they've never had that final that they've been able to lift the trophy in and i think it's a big part of what this club would like to accomplish this is as good an opportunity as you're going to get but as we've mentioned like they are weighing as well the shield and what it is. My guess is you're going to see their quote-unquote best 11 to start this thing. And then the question will be how much they have in their legs and how much Saturday took away from them

and whether it's emotional or physical where they stand going into this one. The second game is on Wednesday night. It's Minnesota against Austin in Minnesota at 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time. No matter what, the winner of this game will host the final. They are 1A and 1B as hosting options. So Minnesota has the chance to host the semi in a final and win their first cup in their club's history. If not, Austin wins this game. They host their first final at all.

The biggest game at Q2 Stadium, for sure, because when they played in the Western Conference finals, that was on the road a few years back. And like a huge opportunity for both of these teams, for Austin probably their only shot at a trophy this year. And for Minnesota, as we said, sort of a bit of a dry run for what the playoffs looks. like as well as your best chance to win a trophy. So the question is which of these teams comes out and sort of has to take more possession, which of these teams does and who we think delivers in this moment. Austin went to Dallas and lost two zero in the game building up to this one. There was some rotation in there, which seemed to be open cup related.

They gave up a goal in the second minute and had zero point six expected goals in the rest of this game. I know it's on the road. I know you have open cup. but like the inability in the final third for them to be dangerous, the lack of direction in that final third has been the biggest problem for Austin. It's why Open Cup has been an outlet for them because they've won in PKs, they've played defensive,

and it's looked a little bit more natural for them. But as I mentioned to you, that's kind of Minnesota's gameplay. Yeah, it's going to be really hard for anybody to play defensive against Minnesota because the ball would just be sitting on the midfield line waiting for someone to take it. I have no idea how this one's going to play out I just I'm more convinced by Minnesota and just they have a clear identity

I feel like they know what they're good at they lean into that and they're just yeah I just feel like Minnesota maybe more than any team in MLS that I can think of are just built for knockout games I think playing at home as the host they're going to have to come out

and control more of the ball than probably they'd like. So maybe their possession goes up from 30 to 35%. But, yeah, I just, Minnesota playing at home, I think, is going to be too much for Austin. And honestly, I think it would probably be too much for 28 teams in MLS right now. Yeah. This is a Minnesota team that looks really good right now. I thought Kelvin Yaboa looked better in the last game.

He's lost confidence. He lost his starting spot, working his way back. But Pereira and Ludd are both match winners. in a game like this, I think they, you could argue Minnesota has the three most dangerous players in this game. Like it is a clear gap between the performance and production of Austin's attacking force, especially Azuni, his inability to affect the game if someone else doesn't set it up for him. Their loss of Brandon Vasquez, like there is not a lot to love right now in this Austin attack. And if that's the case, I don't think I have enough confidence in them

defensively to hold up and that is all without talking about set pieces and long throws and all of that like Minnesota's going to get that's also without talking about Dane St. Clair who I think is like a match winner on his own and especially I mean yeah if somehow this game gets to penalty kicks like you have a huge advantage just from him but but I think Austin struggled to create chances as it is and then the few chances that they get I think Minnesota centerbacks just smother everything. And then if when they don't, Dane St. Clair is able to stand on his head

in a way that few goalkeepers in MLS can. So yeah, I mean, not to say it again, but I just feel like they're, they're such like a team built for Cup games. For Austin, they came back on the road against Sporting KC last week during the international break. They got a win against San Jose in the game before. That has pushed them into the playoff spots.

Owen Wolf has been really, really good in this stretch of games. Bukhari's been better when he has started and when he has played. I think my understanding is Dessler was sort of rotated out in the last game because of the Open Cup. So he's been a factor for them. But again, there just was not a lot of spark to them in their last game. Minnesota's coming in, riding high. And then if you throw all that together, you add in the X factors of being home of Dane Tinclair,

as you mentioned, and then set piece threat. and like the constant ability to create chances off any ball that's played, any restart in the entire attacking half of the field, I will say, as I've said a million times, I don't think long throws should be a thing in the sport. That's a rule issue, not a tactic issue. No. I again, don't complain about people doing it.

I just think it should be eliminated because I don't pay to watch people throw balls. If I did that, then I'd be paying $200,000 to watch the NFL week in and week out on season tickets or wherever the hell you could sit. for that amount of money. But either way, this is what we have been waiting for. Semi-finals, two teams with a chance to go to their first chance for a cup win, four teams that have never done it before, like, this is huge for all these fan bases. You know Minnesota is going to be bouncing tomorrow.

If they host the final, it's going to be an unbelievable atmosphere. Wonderwall after an open cup win is like chills right now thinking about it. But Austin fans have been there for a lot of bad soccer. And that plays balances when it's good. And they will be there for the final as well. And that will be a huge moment for them. The final comes up on October 1st. It is a Wednesday night.

So it's coming up in a couple weeks. ATX history in the chat says hashtag keep doubting us. Take that. Like, that's yours. You get it. There's a reason that we're doubting you. But like, that's 20 goals from open play all year. Like, yeah, I'm sorry.

But I hope Nico Estevez is taking every little thing that he can. I hope Owen Wolf scores a hat trick and prove this all wrong. I would love that because I have him in my big ball league in the Austin podcast league that they invited me in because you're required to have one awesome player. And I swapped out, I think, Dessler for Owen Wolf at the first transfer window. And I feel pretty good about that one right now. And I'm riding high. You should put your, putting your resume for some open CSO jobs. I could potentially get hired by Austin off the back of all of this if there's any openings or potentially.

or potentials for them. Although if they win a cup here, that might change everything for this club and for the reality of them. Give me an idea. Last one for you. If Nashville did win, where you live,

what would it be like? What would it mean? I think Walker said this comment, which I didn't research, but I assume, which is no pro team has won a championship in Tennessee. I guess we're talking about the Memphis Grizzlies and the hockey team?

Well, Titans are terrible. I'm a Colts fan, so it can't be too sad about that. Predators haven't won anything. Grizzlies haven't won anything. So, yeah, I mean, it would be a huge deal, not just for Nashville, but for kind of professional sports in the state. Yeah, I think we talked to BJ Callahan and Patrick Yossbeck earlier this morning, kind of just previewing the game.

And they all, they've all talked all year about, just kind of turning it into Nashville 2.0, having kind of like a top-down vision that goes from the first team to next pro to the academy. And I think they've done all that, but they're also like, we're also in a business of winning trophies. And at the end of the day,

if you're not winning trophies and getting results, none of that really matters. So I think it would be maybe some validation for the work that Callahan and Mike Jacobs have done this year, but also I think they've been so good, good this year that I think we've all forgotten that there's still kind of in the middle of a of a rebuild they have i think 13 players out of contract this coming winter and so i think there's potential that this team looks very different next year and so i think it would be validation

but also hopefully for the club a springboard to kind of keep this trajectory and keep building under under bche calahan um but yeah i mean it would it would be huge just for sports fans in the city. The nature of the Eastern Conference is brutal for Nashville, which is they are already ahead of schedule, as you mentioned. They are on 50 points right now, which is if they won one more game, ended on 53 last year, that would have put you in fourth in the Eastern Conference. And there's a chance that they close out. They enter this weekend in fifth right now with four games left to go. Their best ever season was 2021. They had 54 points. They were tied with the union for second place,

finished third on tiebreakers with 54 points. They're, I think, probably on track for 56, 57, going to break that and could finish as low as seventh, which is just wild. The East is an absolute meat grinder right now. But as you said, BJ Callahan, it's been the style and it's been the success so far. And I think this is the most hopeful Nashville fans should be so far in their MLS time.

And for all of these teams, you are able to throw a cup final in there or a win, it takes you over the top. Minnesota, I've mentioned it a couple times. Like, I don't know how long Eric Ramsey is for this MLS life because he's a good young coach who speaks multiple languages, who has passports for multiple countries and can go and do things. That probably doesn't throw Minnesota completely off their track. I think Khalid al-Amad is like a huge part of what they're building and is probably the

brain behind it. But still, like, you want to win something while you have the guy and the whole thing's built together and it's why Joaquin Pereira is still staying and around like this is a team that could win now and now's a chance to do it and probably the best opportunity to do it um for austin a club changing moment to win a trophy and like have that to hang your hat on especially at a time when teams in the rest of the state are struggling and you're trying to sort of put your supremacy in there but you've struggled in those head to head matchups and for philadelphia to do it in the year you fire jim curtain would be wild like to turn it around as fast as you did to be on

track for a double if you win this thing. Right. And that's without talking about the playoffs and what could happen. It's absolutely absurd. And, like, the treble is available to them no matter what. I mean, I think a lot of people went into the year just kind of looking at Ernst Tanner. Like, he had, I mean, firing Jim Curtin put it all down to him. And I think he, credit to him, he backed himself and had like a vision for how he thought this club should be playing and weren't playing and went out and got a guy who.

who was going to play the way that he wanted to play. And I was, I thought, I thought it was going to be a huge swing and a miss this, this winter. And he definitely proved me wrong. And I think probably a lot of other people around MLS. Yeah. And they are a team, though, that will flip that roster over and over again. And so, like, when you're in a good form and you have a chance to win, doing now. They already started.

Yeah. Milano-Moski, I don't think he was here. He's not here to play on the wings or backup type of Riberio. Nice. they already have the next one ready um so huge moment huge set of games this week i will be out on thursday so uhmmy scoops is going to be taking over for me he's going to have a live show with all of your reaction and then the podcast as well myself and jordan angela are going to be back on wednesday early for an early recording uh to dig into all things nws l um of course thoughts go out

to savannah demillo and the entire racing louisville family it is good to hear that she is doing better off the back of last night. It was really, really scary to see. And we're hoping for the best for her. But whatever we learn, we'll talk about a little bit more in that show. I mentioned it, the kickback committee already live with our interview with Walker Zimmerman. Tennessee is our 50 states of soccer this week. So Ben, maybe I'll tap you back in for some more knowledge as we go along this week. And I think for Tennessee, they're hoping for arguably the best soccer moment in the state's history with a Open Cup championship and an Open Cup final appearance coming up later this year. Ben, thank you so much for filling in. Thank you for taking the time to join me and

hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Yeah, this is a blast. I can't wait for Tom Boggart to come in and smash a couple of hat tricks, but I feel like I put in a decent replacement shift. I think Tom's probably going to lash out knowing that he got filled in and replaced. So you're probably okay because you're probably going to see Tom pick up an early red card just to show everyone that he cares enough in the next one. So thank you to everyone for listening. Thank you to all of you who are in the chat. We'll talk to you all again very, very soon.