SoccerWise - CONCACAF Recap, Contract Extension Explosion, Griezmann Reports & Jamie Watson On The Road To 26

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Their are games in the book but the news keeps rolling in. David is joined by two special guests to talk about the biggest stories right now. First Valair Shabilla joins to recap the week of CONCACAF results, and what the bracket looks like going forward. Then they hit on the breaking news from Griezmann's fit in Orlando, to Timo Werner's impending debut, and the big extensions signed in LA & Vancouver. Then Jamie Watson the man of many talents joins to talk about his biggest storylines in MLS, NWSL & USL and then looking forward to the big matches coming to the yes on the "Road To 26."4:28 Whitecaps Moving On In CONCACAF6:30 LA Galaxy 3 Games In10:00 Nashville Hot Start & Miami Rivalry Renwed19:20 Antoine Griezmann In Talks With Orlando29:42 Timo Werner San Jose Debut33:11 Denis Bouanga Signs LAFC Extension37:28 Caps Extend Blackmon & Cubas44:20 Jamie Watson Joins To Talk MLS, NWSL, USL & Road To 26 Powerhouse Friendlies

Welcome everybody to Soccer Wise. David Goss here for a big show coming up. You heard Matt Doyle and Andrew leave you with me on Monday running down everything that happened on the weekend, hitting every single team, every single game. Today we're going to talk about some of the big stories around the league because even with the games kicking off, we've still got massive transfers, we've still got signings, contract extensions, and so much more. So we're going to have Valer Chabella on. You've seen him on our channels here at Kickback. You've seen them, of course, at 615 soccer.

Based in Nashville, we're going to talk about Cocky Calf Champions League, all the big results from the week and look ahead as we look down the road at the bracket. We are going to talk about Nashville, their success, what they've done. But we're also going to talk about a lot of the big news. We're going to talk Antoine Grisman, Timo Verner's Visa. We're going to talk about the extensions for Denny Bulanga, as well as the big ones in Vancouver. So we're going to hit all of that. Then we've got Jamie Watson joining us.

He, you know him very well from MLS games, from NWSL games, from USL games, and now you're going to know him as well for some of the biggest internationals as Road to 26, who we have partnered with, have some of the biggest teams in the world coming to the U.S. for the friendlies coming up in March and in June, they'll have Brazil, they'll have France, they'll have Croatia, they'll have Colombia, and Jamie's going to be on the call for some of them. You can still go get tickets, but we're going to talk to him about the biggest storylines he's looking at in MLS, NWSL, and USL, and then the opportunity to call some of the best teams in the world,

some of the biggest names in the world, an opportunity for all of us to go out and see these games. So let's get to that right now. Well, I thought this was going to be a quiet show. I didn't think there was a lot to talk about outside of the games that have happened in MLS. I messaged my good friend Valer, who you know from kickback here

and of course from 615 soccer out in Nashville and was like, Nashville is the story. I want to talk about Nashville. Then I put together the rundown and was like, we don't have any time to talk about Nashville. Valer, There's like a thousand things going on, even when it feels like we're finally get to talk about the games on the field. Yeah, it's just nice to have a, you know, a new beginning of an MLS season where everything's still happening.

The transfer window still open. And it's like, oh, yeah, Griesman, by the way. He's coming. Yeah. Yes, we'll talk about Griesman. We will talk about some of the big contract extensions that have happened. But we're going to, of course, start in Kankakeaf because that's where we have to. Were you at the game on whatever day it was?

Wednesday, Tuesday? Yes, I was. I was at the game. Saw all five goals live. I was, there were at least tens in the stands. Tens, maybe 100. I would venture into hundreds, but it was a proper concaf time, man. It was a good time.

The theory still exists that Wubin's Pashis could play in CPL. He has played in CPL. So this theory is still there that if he needs to, he could go back and play there, getting getting a little bit of a performance in against Ottawa. Nashville was one of the many that we kind of knew coming into this. Second leg, we felt like Cincinnati and L.A.F.C. were safe. Spoilers, we were right, especially on the Cincinnati side.

Cincinnati, it's an 11 goal victory across the tie. Is that correct? A nine goal win in this game? 12 goals, yeah. We kind of reached the point where I can't really count anymore. Yeah, yeah. Once they scored nine in one game, I think you just kind of have to give it up there. It was one of those where you're like, 13 goals across the two legs, nine goals in the second game, fully rotated team from them, a lot of young guys getting opportunities.

And then I just, I don't really know what you're supposed to do in a professional sporting environment where it's like, you're not going to go one touch. You're not going to pass it around. Clearly the referee can't call the game. So Cincinnati cruises, Nashville cruises. L-AFC, their full pretty much best 11, sun and belong on the field in a tie that they led. six to one in a second leg home game. I have no idea what's going on there. And then Vancouver and the LA Galaxy were the two that are earmarked on Monday saying they're the two that still had work to do.

It wasn't easy. And the two got over the line. Valer, besides getting to see all 15 people at the Nashville game and talk to them in person one-on-one, what stood out to you from the round? Yeah, I mean, I think we go back to Vancouver. The way they started off that first half was a little rough. I thought, you know, they didn't, it's not like they were under immense pressure or anything like that, but you would just expect a team that made the final of this competition to be a little bit more on the front foot there. And they had a couple of moments in the first half, but things really kicked off in the second half.

Thomas Mueller comes in right on the break. I think Jasper Sorensen was a little, I don't know if he was upset. On the camera, he just looked a little nervous more than, more than I've seen him, I guess. Brian White obviously misses that penalty. so things didn't go well, or sorry, the coldkeeper saves the penalty. You got to respect the goalkeepers out there. And, you know, Brian White, the penalty, it was a soft one anyway, so, you know, kind of like, all right, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But then the second half things turned around for Vancouver. And really, like, I think, I'm going to butcher their name, but I think they had a couple. I'm not even going to try to pronounce the team name, but they had like, they had like a couple of chances here and there, and they got close. But overall, Vancouver, we're just kind of controlling. The kid they have in the middle, Badwall, I thought he had an incredible game. The way, his ability to just turn like a player and just play a throughball, amazing. Again, another young kid coming out of that system, which is good. And then, you know, when you look at, obviously, Mueller, his experience coming in, changing that game,

and Burrhalter scoring that second goal. But even before that Burrhalter goal, I think they hit the post once or twice. So, yeah, things kind of turned around. And it just showcased that, okay, yeah, Vancouver might have something to rely on this season because their 1-0 win wasn't really that convincing in the weekend. So you want to build a little bit of a reputation going into the season that it wasn't a one-off last season. Yeah, it's been a slow start for them. And yet they've gotten results, which is like a dream world for Vancouver, four years ago, three years ago, two years ago.

And so it's like trying to take it all with a grain of. Assault, as you said, Badwall, big performance. We knew Illumi coming into the year, the two of them really high prospects. And so I think for Vancouver to get them some minutes feels good, but it was close. For me, it was the LA Galaxy game of like, I think Doyle tried to talk me down a little on Monday of like they were not as bad on the weekend as you expected or as you thought. And I thought I was really underwhelmed. And through the first half of this game against San Miguelito, I thought Peck looked good. put it out on blue sky. He had a goal called back, but he came off the right side. He switched

over to the left side. But even then he came inside and found the game. Marco Royce is capable of special moments. He just doesn't dictate games. He is not around the ball throughout 90% of the game. The galaxy need direction and they need someone to provide that direction. I think Jow Klaus brings more of it than what they had at center forward last year. But it has to be peck. Like that's the part I've landed on. And it felt like in this game, he acknowledged that too. Now, the issue is, I don't know that he's capable of it. And if he is doing it, do you lose his superpower of getting him in 1V1 chances? And I thought he got a couple looks and he didn't win his battles, 1v1 in possession,

to like have game breaking moments. And the Galaxy, I thought were fine overall. But this is now three games to start the year. They've scored two goals, one in the opening four minutes against NYCFC. and just overall they've been overwhelming. And nothing has changed about my feelings as I watch this game. So great

for the galaxy. They get through better than not getting through. That part, I will fully admit, but was not an overwhelmingly promising game. And now they move into the next round. So let's reset the bracket where we stand here in Concord Calf Champions League,

as we say here on soccer wise. We are into the round of 16. So a number of teams got buys into this round. So now we're going to see a whole new cohort of teams play against the ones that just got through. For the Galaxy, it's maybe the luckiest draw. I was going to say. It's Mount Pleasant of Jamaica. Yeah. I say that though in the context of like they just struggled with San Miguelito and nothing's a guarantee in Cockcalf as Austin FC has taught us. But yeah, it's not a bad setup for them. Some of the other teams that we saw win in this round, LAFC will go and play

Alo Halense. If you remember a few years back, I think it was right before. for COVID or during COVID, then epic series with all of Hulence that they survived in. FC Cincinnati, after their dominant win, they pick up Tigris now. My guess is they won't score nine goals. And if nine goals are scored, I don't know that it will be in favor of FC Cincinnati. In that matchup, Vancouver moves on to play the Seattle Sounders. Philadelphia Union, at the time of listening, may have already beat Defense Force, but they will. They'll move on to play Club America.

And then San Diego are playing Tolucah. And Valer, would you be shocked to know that Nashville SC is going to be playing a team called Inter Miami? Let me tell you about this. Because Nashville SC and Inter Miami have had this shared history before Messi even got here, right? So they have played, Nashville SC has played Inter Miami more than any other opponent in the history of the club. They've played 19 times. This would be number 20 coming up. And then 21 subsequently a week after.

I don't think that record is going to be broken anytime soon. I think Orlando's actually maybe like either two or three on that. So I don't know what it is with Florida teams and Nashville. It's not even that close, really, to us from Nashville to Florida or Tennessee even to Florida. But yeah, I think like when you, and then when Miss Messi got here, it got even more. It's crazy. Like they've played in Open Cup. They've played in Champions Cup.

They've played now second time in Champions Cup. They've played in Leaks Cup. they played regular season and they played in the playoffs a couple of times too so it's it's just i don't know if there's a new competition like campionis cup i know that's generally a mexican team but you never know maybe maybe you'll have maybe into miami league amici's i don't know uh so one of these one of these days i want to see it in other competitions as well so um you were at the game on the weekend i picked nashville preseason to win mLS cup i didn't really think about this competition with them because I thought it was too soon, even though a lot of pieces are coming back.

Obviously, Espinosa, the big ad. I guess one question is, what have you seen from them? What have you been impressed by as the season has started? And then two is, do we think that this is something that they're focused on? Like, is this somewhere they're going to put their energy? I think they're never going to admit this, but based on talking to them. And they keep saying, oh, we haven't thought about Miami. We haven't thought about Miami.

I mean, you know, I just don't believe that. I'm sorry. Like, I think they have circled this fixture because we knew that if Nashville advanced, they're going to be playing into Miami. It was already preset. And I just, I know, I know they keep telling me that they haven't. I've asked BJ, I've asked a couple of the players as well, and they all say no. But I do feel like, because it's Miami, there's going to be a little bit extra here.

The way last season ended, I think left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouth. whether it's fans or Nashville SC players. And I think have an opportunity to go against the Miami side that seems like they haven't figured it out. I mean, obviously, it's been one game for them. I'm a FC away from home, not an easy match at all. So I'm curious to see what Miami comes up with this weekend. But in terms of Nashville, I mean, we talked about in the preview a little bit, obviously by that point we hadn't watched any of the Nashville games.

But it's the depth, right? I mean, the fact that, and I put this stat out on Blue Sky yesterday, but Nashville have used 23 players so far in these three games, 23 players. A good amount of those were debuts as well for the club. And out of those 23 players, they've gotten 12 different goal contributors. And I know CCC, I know Ottawa isn't inter-M Miami by any means, but it took them 13 games to get to 12 goal contributors last season. And I know, again, it's CCC, but that is the sort of depth Nashville is

working with. And when you look at just each position, they're too deep almost in every single position. Now, yes, if Andy Nehart goes out injured and Jordan Knight has to cover for him or Josh Bauer, it's not the same quality. But you're only going to be replacing one or two pieces at a time. It's not like, well, I don't think so, but I don't think the entire team is going to be injured at once or half the team is going to be injured at once. And we saw that a little bit last season when a certain piece goes out and then the guy behind them is, you know, a capable player, that's just going to be, that's, that's not going to affect the team. But then it just goes back to the DPs as well. I mean, they're firing. Samson, which already has three goals

in two games. He didn't even play last, well, not last night, just this week. And then Honey Mukhtar scored, Espinoza starting to look really good. And outside of that, you have young players coming in. It's, it's just, it's a story of depth. It's a story of a team that really turned things around from where they were in 2024. I already felt jealous week one about my forced defender golden boot pick because Well, Ledzi looks like a guy who likes to step into the attack from centerback. He's the Ghanaian centerback they brought in to basically be the replacement to Walker Zimmerman into the starting lineup.

He had some chances on set piece stuff, but like he picked up the ball and just drove into midfield at times to create for people. and maybe it's the revs, maybe it's not, but like that's a lot of confidence from a centerback who has just joined this team for the first time. Yeah, that was my favorite point for him. I mean, he was somewhat responsible for New England's goal, but it's kind of like, all right, whatever,

you got to give, it wasn't just him, but when you look at that specific moment, I know what you're talking about. He did it a couple times throughout the game, but he's under pressure. The New England player is pushing him really hard. He turns the player, calmly, runs straight all the way through to almost the New England box, and then earns, I think,

a throw-in at the end of it, and then just turns around to the crowd and just hypes them up, like, as hard as possible. And this isn't like the 25th minute. Like, you know what I mean? Like, like, natural is good. They're winning 2-0 at this point. Like, everything is calm. And, yeah, and I think the crowd, and then after the match, he went to the crowd, and

he had this tradition in Norway where he used to play with a megaphone. would just sing with the crowd. And he continued that on. And he went to the crowd and they gave him a little yellow megaphone. And he was out there singing. And I think it's like Waka Waka song. Nice. His name.

Hell yeah. Yeah. And then at the end, he says like, it's Nashville's time or something like that. So it was a really cool moment because generally in your debut, like, I don't know if you can win the crowd right away as a centerback. You know what I mean? Like it's going to take a little bit more than just your debut. But he was with it.

And then if you look at his style when he walked in, He walked in with a cowboy hat. He walked in with a little belt and little pants. And he looked like he looked like he knew kind of what the city needed. He has personality, rare for a centerback. And I think that that's going to be fun to track throughout the season. I'm already in love with Madrigal. So we've got a lot to talk about for Nashville as the season goes along.

It's going to be a huge matchup, though, against Inter Miami in Conccaf. So for everyone putting it down on their calendars, March 10th is the start of this set of round, round of 16, that's leg one. So March 10th through 12th, that's in two weeks, midweek. That will be that whole first leg. And then the following week will be the second leg. One thing to note, so Seattle will be hosting in Spokane for their second leg against the Vancouver Whitecaps on all Cascadia matchup because the grass is being put down at Lumen Field. I believe the sounders are going to play three games in Spokane. I think I'm saying Spokane, right? I've said it wrong in the pass and been very much corrected.

And I think Seattle Rainer are going to play out there as well because of the grass. Now, it was talked about in the broadcast. The Sounders will then go and play on this grass, both before and after the World Cup a little bit at Lumenfield. So it's a split experience for them across this whole World Cup thing. That's obviously going to be a huge game. And then the other one to note is Inter-Miamies Stadium, the new stadium, is scheduled to open on April 4th.

I think it is against Austin FC. So this game will have to be played somewhere else. Our theory is it'll just be at what was Chase Stadium, which I think is now called Inter-Miamy-Stadium, which is the one up in Fort Lauderdale where they played for the last five to six years. But we don't actually have confirmation of that. So if they're looking for a place to play,

I play pickup every Tuesday down in Miami. If they need a field, we can only fit like 5V-5, but it'd be an epic 5-V-5 game. Is the field available on March 18th? That's when the match is. Yeah, it could be. And my five, here's my five. Let's do five v five.

Any tax up has to be five v five. Connie's obviously in. I will say Christian Espenosa. Okay. Easy. We probably need one defender. And then I don't know if Surge is a five-v-five guy. I wouldn't.

I wouldn't. I would put either Madrigal or Wubin Paceous there for a striker. Yeah. Yeah. They just got a little bit more sauce. You know what I mean? Like, Surge is, he's great connector. He does all.

the dirty work, but I want somebody who's going to embarrass some players. You know what I mean? That's a 5V5 thing. On the flip side, I think Noah Allen's a 5V5 pick because he defends across all the positions, aka he could stay with everyone. Messi, obviously. Rodriguez-Depal, obviously.

I end definitely not. He's a speed guy. That's not the right game. I assume Bertrami's in there. So that gives us four and obviously no goalkeepers because just one of the field players will rotate into goal. Like it's 5V1 keeper. I'm trying to think who else, I guess probably David Aijala.

I would put Falcone just for the memes. Just for the, yeah. I mean, by the end, he would be the MVP because everyone would love him. He's like the most lovable person. He's insane to watch. But everyone who plays against him seems to end up endearingly loving him. It's the shame Toto Avila has left the team because I would put him in there for the memes for sure. He's probably available for the 5V5 games since he will be suspended for Red Card at all times.

Okay. So that's Concaf. and we obviously love talking about it here at soccer-wise. But as we said off the top, we now are going to dig into some news and we're going to talk about some of the big stories because it just never ends. So for the weekend coming up, there are some big games. The biggest one is probably Orlando versus Miami,

as it just kind of follows Inter-M Miami around. And shockingly, the biggest name to talk about is not on the Miami side right after we finished recording on Monday. the news broke by Paul Tenorio of the athletic and Tommy Scoops of the paternity leave. That Orlando City was in talks with Antoine Griseman. We've heard about him connected to MLS for a while. It was L.AFC for a long time. Orlando is not unfamiliar with moves of this magnitude, having brought in Kakah and Nani in the past.

Luis Muriel, obviously not on the same level, but a pretty big addition to make. and so they are a team right now with an open D.P. spot after buying out Muriel, they are a team that got smoked in the opening weekend of the season. And this was just huge news for their season for the league and potentially what it could look like in 2026. I gave some quick thoughts that we put out on social on Monday, Valer. I love this move for Orlando.

I think this is a good spot for him. He's so good that, yeah, every spot he'll score, he'll be good. but this feels like the right type of move, which is they're looking for someone to fill that position. They are not looking for be our star and we'll just build the team and figure it out. It feels like a very defined role to bring him into. Yeah, just really quickly on Orlando,

when they first got into the league and got Kaka, Kaka was my favorite player of all time. Like, just at the time, I was a little younger, right? And I'd moved to America maybe like a few years before that. And I hadn't watched any MLS, and anything at all. Like, I knew the LA Galaxy because of the Beckham deal, right?

But Orlando City comes in, Sankaka, and I'm like, all right, I guess I have an MLS team. Like, I'm just going to watch... I'm just going to watch Orlando just for Kaka. And I didn't end up watching a whole lot,

but obviously followed through. And that was way back when, obviously, and then since then, things have turned around where I am now here, the big leagues with David Goss covering OS. So just a little personal anecdote there.

But, but yeah, on Greisman, I mean, I do. do think from a tactical and maybe even technical standpoint, it kind of makes sense. If you look at Atlatico Madrid, the way they play, I don't think Alco Pere has quite Diego Cimioni yet, you know, or at all. But I do think there are some elements that Griseman will not find sort of hard to implement here in Orlando. You know, when you look at, Atlatico Madrid generally doesn't have the whole, all of possession. Athleticum Madrid

aren't trying to be on the front foot every minute of the game. They're not a possession-based team, and neither are Orlando. You know, I think there are varying degrees, again. So I'm not saying the same system or anything like that. But I do think there are some elements that he can bring with him. And then just Orlando as a market, you know, he went to Barcelona and things didn't pan out for him necessarily. So he went back to Athletico Madrid, kind of being that secondary market. And I hope Orlando people don't get mad at me by saying that.

But, you know, he was, he was rumored with L.A.F.C. for so long. And it's just kind of like, when is this going to happen? We were waiting for it for the last three years, and it never happened. So maybe he wants to, he's a weird guy, you know. He's, he's had some weird in a good way, I guess. But he's had some interesting interviews and stuff like that. So maybe he's just like, you know what? I want to go live in Orlando because it's, I don't want to be part of the top, top team.

And I don't want to, I don't want the L.A. business. And, you know, prefers Orlando. maybe. Maybe he likes their basketball team better. He's been... He loves his NBA. He will be at every single game. That is a guarantee. We are getting a...

He shakes hands with ex-foreign player on the other team at every Orlando Magic game for the next two months. And then they'll make the playoffs and get swept. And then he'll go to every Celtics game after that, although they'll probably be swept as well. But yeah, it was a little bit of a curve. I mean, obviously it was a curveball with him being connected to L.A. see all the time. I think it shows one, the varying degree people are open to looking around the

league, right? Thomas Mueller, even bigger with Vancouver of like that being a surprise of as people get their head turned to, okay, maybe this is where I want to go. It is less dependent now on, well, it's New York or L.A. and that's it. And there is more opportunity for these clubs that can show we have great facilities. We have a great fan base. We are trying to compete for trophies. And I think that it's more sellable to a lot of these people. And Orlando is obviously a famous international city and has that connection, especially to a lot of Europe because Europeans love going to Disney and they love going to Florida, as I've learned in person.

So I think a lot of it makes sense. I think it's a great sign of ambition from Orlando. I had Orlando dropping in my standings. Obviously, was not convinced over the weekend. I think the biggest issues for them are centerback and defensive midfield, even though they have options in Central Midfield. field, I don't think any of them cover ground and defend, especially when there are question marks behind that. And then even with Maxime Cray Poe, whether it's a drop off from Gaiese, I don't

know. But obviously, the move they tried to make in the offseason, they thought would be a bigger jump with Cornell. Griseman doesn't fix any of that. And yet I'm still like, oh, Antoine Griseman's coming. That's interesting to me. It just feels like, okay, then do the thing you do well, great, and figure out the back end once he's already here. Yeah. And also, It also doesn't help that Cartagana got injured was like 15 minutes into the game. And, I mean, you know, he spent most of last season hurt as well. And the 19-year-old kid, his name is escaping, who came in for him, I thought he struggled a little bit at first and then kind of...

Gasky. Thank you, Gasky, yes. And Iago, you know, he has so much potential at centerback, but just thrown in, even, you know, pretty much, I don't know if he's able to communicate with the people around him yet. I mean, he's a kid too, you know. And so it's a big risk that they took with the three Brazilian players. And we talked about it in the little videos that we were doing to preview the season.

So it's a risk they took. But there is an upside to it. And there is a way that this could work out. I just think there are a little too late in some of this business. Like even the Griffin Dorsey thing didn't happen until what last week. Right. So he couldn't be in preseason. Yeah.

Right. Like if you could get him in and Grisman obviously. like, you know, if you could have got him in any earlier, I think things would have been a little better. I do like Cripo. I think Giehese last season, I don't know. He looked rough to me last season and even maybe the season before. So I'm not too worried about the goalkeeping situation. But if you're facing 20 shots a game, so are they going to go in? And that was kind of the problem with them last season as well. I felt like where their defenders just didn't have. And then I think Angulo came into the second half of that game and looked a little better too. So maybe

maybe he'll start some of the games. But yeah, I agree with you. I don't think this is solving everything, but if they can score three goals a game, then maybe that kind of... And the other reality is it's MLS. And if he comes in in the summer and Jansen comes back, and some guys have started to settle

and you start to see of the young Brazilians or whether it's O'Heda coming in, the other O'Heda coming in, starts to settle in, then just make the playoffs and go for a run from there, which Orlando has done in Open Cup and in the playoffs two years ago when they made it to the Eastern Conference finals. So yeah, it's a huge piece of news, though.

I think exciting, something that can energize the fan base. There's a club that sits in a weird spot. Like when they're good, people come, when they're not, people still come, but it just feels like they sit in this weird area behind the top four or five every time, but trying to be competitive but not overly. And this feels like a big move for them. I mentioned Paul Tenorio helping break this story. alongside Tom. He also put out at the Athletic, the yearly anonymous GM survey. I think 22

chief soccer officers is the phrase of you use, because every team likes to call them something different. Some clubs, it's the president who's the chief soccer officer, right? Because they cross between both roles. Sometimes it's a GM, technical director, sporting director, whatever it is. So they do this anonymous survey. Both of them have come out. So one is like very on-field talking player specific. And one is a little bit more big picture. Nothing. like crazy in this one, I don't think. It's interesting to hear the sporting directors talk about what the effect they think the World Cup will have. I think some of it's a little bit funny. Like one quote was like, oh, well, look what happened in 94, all these internationals. And it's like,

it's not 1994 anymore. All of these people, all these people play soccer in the U.S. Every person who's a big star coming to the World Cup has played a friendly in the U.S. or Canada over the last five, 10 years. So it's like, I don't know that it's as extreme as people think, but they did talk about chance to have meetings with agents and players and be connected and all of that. And I think the hope would be there's some big signings to be made. But as the conversation in the survey goes, there needs to be some salary cap adjustments or roster style constructions to be able to bring that in. So go check out the survey. Anything you think is weird or interesting or dumb, feel free to send it to us. If you're part of the Discord, you can put

it in there. If not, you could hit us on blue sky. You could tag Paul too and Felipe and tell them they're idiots. That part's not on me. So that's your own decision. But if you choose to do that, you are welcome to. Orlando, Miami, one of the big games this weekend. I'd say some of the other ones we circle that are probably must watch as a neutral. Philadelphia, NYCFC. Philadelphia coming off the D.C.

Los, but Supporters Shield last year, NYCFC, Eastern Conference finalists. Vancouver, Toronto is just always a vibe. So it's always a must watch and seeing if Vancouver can get on track. Houston, L.A.F. I have a lot of Houston stock. It was up and down against Chicago, but they got the. win. Guillermo gets two goals and Mateus Bogus against his old team and also Mark Dos Santos starting his best 11 in every single game. I don't know what the end game there is or

when it runs out on you, but it's worth watching. And then San Jose, Atlanta, probably not one we would have had high on this list, except the news coming out yesterday that it looks like Timo Werner has received his visa. So he was not available for the game last week. It seems like he will be. It's a home game. You'd expect to see him at a minimum, just make his debut for the fans and the experience. And similar to Greisman, this is one where it doesn't fix everything, but it's a huge moment for this club valet. Yeah, you know how they do the, like, documentaries inside the locker room? I just want to see a Bruce Arena team do that.

Like, I just, I just want that. And making fun of everyone? I just, yeah, I want to see, I want to see his interaction with Tim of Werner because I mean, but, but on a real note, though, like, I think team Verner is just going to be a good sort of breath of fresh air for San Jose fans. It's been so long since they've had that sort of marquee signing. Obviously, they had Christian Espinoza. They had Chichorong, they had Joseph, and they were scoring and all that. But there is something about having a name that everybody knows that I think will kind of

maybe bring some fans out, but also bring out the best of the players that are there already. I mean, nothing is a guaranteed. He hasn't played a whole lot of soccer the last year or so. So things have been kind of up and down for him. But, you know, we talk to Sam Surge here in Nashville, and he had some offers from England as well. And his main thing was, you know, Nashville care about me. Nashville support me.

Nashville will kind of give me this what I need. And that's why I resigned with them. That's pretty much what he said word for word. So if Timo Verner can feel that support from San Jose, and Bruce Arena is a great guy at that. right he's somebody who really like if you if you talk to his former players they like him maybe not clinton dempsey but the other ones uh but most of the new england guys you know they they came out in support of him after all that uh the whole situation so so when you look at that

and if he can create this environment to where verner feels loved and feels supported and verner comes in scores the goal or two the fans are behind him and now you're selling out paypal park is that still what it's called i probably check that yeah uh but i think i think you're looking at a really positive thing. And I don't think they need Tim of Werner to be a 30-goal player. Obviously, that would be great. If he can be a Carlos Vela for them, if he can be a son for them, that's great. But if he can come in and just have an impact of maybe 15 to 20 goal contributions for the season, I think that would be huge and positive for a team that really needs gold because they lost all of their goals scores and goal contributor coming into 2026.

And I think to me the key, similar to the Grisman Convo is, and not the best example, because it's KC at home, but they had 2.9 XG in the first game. They don't need him to create chances and score them. They only need him to finish them. And that's an ideal scenario for a guy, as you talked about getting comfortable. It's also an ideal scenario for a guy who's played in very specific systems and has been low on confidence. It's like, you're going to get a bunch of chances. Start putting them away. You'll feel good about it.

And we don't need you to, like my guy, Petsar Musa, we don't need you to drop in deep and be the number 10. We don't need you to go win the ball. We don't need you to track back and cover transitions the other way. We need you to lead the press and we need you to finish the chances we create for you. And that's Team O'Verner's career when it's been at its best. So the hope is that it's a pretty good spot to set him up in. Let's talk a little bit about some other contract extensions.

You mentioned Sam Surge there. Some big ones across the league this week. Dennis, Denny, sorry, almost got caught. Denny Buonga, who has been connected to teams in Brazil, has been connected to Inter Miami for some big transfers. He has signed a contract extension with LAAFC. So this is probably the biggest story of LASC's offseason, even with their ability to sign players and them being a big name.

It kind of felt like there was all of a sudden this top dog, not top dog situation. So he's extended through 2028 with an option through the 20, 29 30 season and it puts to bed. I think the biggest concern that could have derailed LAFC season, LAFC season this year. And I think I picked him to win the whole golden boot. So it really, really puts me in a cleaner spot that he's not going to leave midway through the season. Yeah, I think he's one of those guys where you look at his age and you're like, okay, maybe he's going to start showing signs of slowing down and no, not really. You know, it's not really happening.

for somebody who relies on his pace, I really thought that we're going to start to see some of those signs, but he seems to take care of his body well. And, I mean, you don't need me to tell him about his, tell you about his goal scoring ability, right? I mean, like, he's been, he's been that guy for L-AFC. And look, at the end of the day, we were all kind of like, well, what if, what if they got 15 million?

What have got 20 million? What is that number for him? But I think what LASC have shown here in this extension, and even throughout, is that they don't really care about that aspect. They don't really care about it being a good business necessarily, as long as it's helping the team. And having Dennis Bwanga on this team,

regardless of how much money they would have brought in otherwise, makes them more of a title contender. And they already are. Even without him, they would be because they have son, right? And they have a great foundation. And they have a coach that seems to be getting the best out of his players so far. But with Bwanga, it just allows, like, that floor has risen to a crissue.

crazy amount. And then the ceiling is also kind of, right? So it's like, it's, yeah, they could have brought him 15 million. That's probably like double their investment or something like that from when they paid for him and invested in some other guy, brought in some other dude from, you know, league on or whatever. But then that, that guy is going to have time to adapt and all that. And we've seen it with like, TELIS came into L.AFC for a little bit. And he couldn't break through it. Obviously, Juru couldn't really leave his mark. So, I think the front office just looked at and said, you know what, we have a guy scoring all these goals.

This 15 million is not really going to change our trajectory, but Dennis Bwanga being here is going to change our trajectory. And I think that's smart. And for him as a player, look, I was just talking about being loved and being supported. I mean, the RIFC fans adore him, you know, and as they should, he's playing with his national team still. So it's not like we've seen in the past where some national teams just wouldn't pick MLS players and he kind of had to pivot.

he lives in L.A. He's making millions of dollars and he's really good. And oh, by the way, his best friend on the pitch is Hungman's son. So, you know, it's not, it's not a bad situation. I think L.A.F.C. have gone so close.

They've made, I don't know, 20,000 finals in the last five years or whatever that stat is. So, you know, they're pretty much one step away from winning. And I think he kind of realized that and wanted to stay for it. It's a huge moment for the club. I think for the fans that we get a little bit of feedback from who are like, we should act like a big team, let's go get a big start. This is acting like a big team.

Ignoring the big number to say, we're in win now mode, we don't care, right? This is the same version of instead of going out to spend $10 million, they're giving up that $10 million to keep him. Plus, the extension, and I will say this on the Vancouver ones, we're going to talk about a moment. My guess is the extensions, quote unquote, while they're added years. It's really the restructure of the deal and the rate. So they're paying Buonga more to not sell him for a bunch of money because it's the best chance that gives them to win now.

That's what a big club does. That's like what LAFC should do. And I think fans should appreciate that. Let's talk about these Vancouver moves as well. So Tristan Blackman last year's Defender of the Year, who was also rumored for potential Godfather deals. It sounded like Inter Miami. And Andres Kubas have re-signed. So these are some ones with some interesting details.

Tristan Blackman resigns for the team through the 2930 season. So his deal as a way it was structured had an option going through the 2027 season. And part of the chaos and all of this I've mentioned a couple of times is we are shifting schedules. So players currently have contracts that don't actually run through the seasons the way they are aligned when it happened. So in theory, these contracts are going to come up on November 10th or December 10th, whatever they signed through. And if they're signed through 27 or 28 or 29, that will still happen. And the season will be in the middle. And so part of what we're seeing is teams restructuring to set players up to end when the actual

MLS season ends. And then part is extensions like we see with this Tristan Blackman deal. And my guess is we have $800,000 down for his salary that he also got a raise in all of this because that's probably what the big conversation was, which was Inter Miami was offering to then give him a new contract. for some more money. The Kubas one is fascinating because the Kubas one doesn't really extend his amount of time. It takes him through the 27-28 season and his current deal ended in 27. So if you take away the short season, he will play the same amount of seasons under this deal for the Vancouver Whitecaps.

It also takes him off a DP spot into a TAM contract. So it creates a little more flexibility for Vancouver and obviously in creating a new deal if you've paid out the original transfer fee that's not going to his salary hit anymore so now you can give him more of the money directly and then maybe that number even while giving him a raise comes off the DP number Thomas Mueller has elevated to the DP number so they still have two and they could have a third if they want to but that's really fascinating as well but I think Valer the big thing is just is a club that maybe surprised people last year and to keep some of these staples around shows that they're not just going to cash out and move on. Well, that was the big story in the off season, right?

Like, how many of these pieces are they going to lose? Because there was the Sebastian Burrhalter. He was, you know, he needed a contract concession. Blackman, obviously, with Miami. They did end up losing Ali Ahmed and Jaden Nelson. And then Vite kind of left in the summer, but I don't think we can count that for, for this, for this purpose. But, but all things considered, they kept the core guys. I think for me, like, the spine is always going to be more important than the white areas.

So if you can keep Burrhalter, you can keep Blackmen. I think you can replace the winger's somewhat easier. You know, Jaden Nelson and Austin seems to be doing all right. And then Ali Ahmed is killing it in Norwich in the Champo. I know your favorite league. But really, you know, it just shows where Vancouver is. And getting Cuba's, you know, I think a lot of it also had to do with Cuba's getting a raise quote unquote too like hey you've been a great servant of the club let's get let's get

you on this new deal where you can get a little bit more money in but then also also you'll look at what they did with thomas mller now look ton cap champions cup final um ls cup final thomas mller playing for you they're selling more tickets there's a lot more buzz around this team and maybe comes the summer you have a dp spot open and you know what your need needs all or you can go chase somebody. You can even, you know, I wouldn't put it past them. I wouldn't put it past them to go for a cash fur somewhere in MLS to get what they need. It's hard to look at this team and say, oh, this is a specific need that they have to have.

Yeah. But, like, you can always have an extra DP, you know, like, you can always have that. And I think I'm curious to see just what these five months or so kind of reveal about the Vancouver White Cups, and maybe they'll identify one or two spots that they can improve on. Yeah, some of it will be. be predicated on Ryan Galt's health. Some being predicated on if he's not. Is it that wide attacking spot that Ali Ahmed has left?

But yeah, it sets them up in a really good spot. It's obviously a huge sign in we still don't know the future of the club in terms of the sale and all of that. Whatever messaging is going on internally is enough for these players to have the confidence to tie themselves to it because that, you know, Tristan Blackman's going to have a better read on what the experience will be like for Vancouver Whitecaps player than any of us will. from the outside. So clearly what's going on internally is positive, which I think is really, really big to see because that's just this huge unknown looming over this team that you never

know how it's going to affect things. And for two staples who have options to say, no, I'll be here. Like this, I believe in this project, that's a really, really big sign for this club. Okay. Portland Timbers made a signing officially finally. Alexander Aravenna officially signs on loan from Grimeo. We've talked about this already as the news was coming out and Eric Ramsey was fired from West Bromwich Albion. So every single coach opening in MLS over the course of 2026, we'll start with Wilfred Nancy and Eric Ramsey. I don't have like a lot to go into. I didn't watch a single second of West Brom there. I don't really care. But it sucks for Eric Ramsey. He was a great personality inside this league, even if maybe it seemed in play the best soccer. But it was always a vibe and always

and experience and another fan base for MLS fans to be awkwardly connected to online and maybe there's some animosity in there which seems to be a part of this experience every single time. I was listening to an unnamed, unnamed British podcast about soccer and they kept saying that Eric Ramsey tried to play expansive football. That's where their words. And I just couldn't believe it. And I never watched a minute because I couldn't care less about West Brum or the championship. sorry to all the folks who do follow. Which is fine. We respect that.

Yeah, I was just like, what do you mean he's playing expansive saga? I got to watch this and then I didn't even get a chance to watch it because he was fired. So unfortunate for him, obviously. Well, George Campbell of Montreal and Atlanta scored the only goal in his last game as head coach for West Brom. So worth watching for that. And I learned in a history podcast the other day that Albion is the Roman-T is the Roman term or the Greek term for a Brit. So that's where that name comes from. It's like old, old, old school, which is always interesting as well. Okay, Valer, we could do this all day. I appreciate

you taking the time to join me. You'll see him on our socials at Kickback. Follow him on Blue Sky and Instagram. Go read 615 soccer, the work you and Ben do. Go listen to pharmaceutical soccer. Nashville is one of the stories that's must watch. And 615 covers the whole league as well as any platform that we have out there. Always love doing this. Let's do this again soon. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. Well, I'm very excited for our conversation here with one of my favorites. I've known him for a while.

I watched him play professionally. I want this to be known. R.S.L. Back in the day the dreams, Rice Eccles Stadium, right? You got it, man. What a memory from you. Those were my peak days of Fox Soccer Channel on a Saturday night on the East Coast when I had no friends and nothing else to do.

But you know him as Jamie Watson. and TV analysts. You've heard him on broadcast all across the world, if we include the FIFA Club World Cup, USL, NWSL, MLS, Minnesota, Nashville, everything else in between. Jamie, and now you're here to join me. Gosh, this is the pinnacle of all of those achievements, man.

No, in all seriousness, I'm such a fan of you, of the show, of everything that you've been doing the Soccer Wise Kickback Media. You guys have been everywhere. I cannot get anywhere on social media without seeing you guys. You've taken over my eyes.

algorithm and now I get a chance to tell you in person without just listen to you every week how much of a fan I am. So thank you for having me on, man. I cannot wait to talk. And I think actually, funny enough you mentioned Rice Eccl Stadium. I'll pull out. You know we all have a setup, right? Yeah. My setup includes, oh, if I can get there, here it is. One of my first goals, I just might have, I might have just crashed one of my other things back there on the set. My first ever goal from Rice Wickel Stadium. Oh. And you know what, what a time it was. back in my dad's birthday, June 22nd of 2005. What a time it was in Major League Soccer

because the games actually weren't even televised. So my parents never actually saw the goal. I never saw the goal. Yeah, it was quite a time for Major League Soccer back in 2005. Okay, so I'm going to take us off track immediately and talk about that. Was Eddie Pope on that team? I was number 22. Eddie Pope was number 23.

So 18-year-old rookie me with highlights in my hair and a puka shell necklace on straight from UNC gets to sit down next to a UNC legend MLS legend in the locker room. It was the coolest thing ever. Eddie is low-key, the funniest dude ever. Okay. He would give you these one-liners under his breath.

He didn't say a lot, but when he said something, it hit, David. It was like, and here I am next to him just trying to chop it up with him. But meanwhile, inside I'm like, oh, my God, like Eddie Pope's talking to me, you know? Unreal. Could have been nicer, man.

And then on the other side of the locker my Brian Dunsteth, who was just giving me a hard time. Such a pain in the ass. About everything. Clint Mathis was there. It was a squad. Jason Christ, Andy Williams. Yeah, it was Andy Williams, was still one of my best buddies. The reason I wore number 77 was because of Andy later on in my career. So, yeah, man, what a crew it was.

We just sucked. Yeah, you were terrible. Five, 22, and five. So did I feel bad when the LA Galaxy were like, you know, 13, 14, 19 games. Yeah. You know, did I feel bad about that? No, I wanted them to be the worst team ever. Nice. And not us. So, yeah, good trip down memory lane.

And, yeah, our priorities are straight. We probably couldn't tell you what we had for lunch two days ago, Goss. But here we are talking about the rosters from teams in major league soccer, you know, 20 years ago. Yeah, this is what I do, Jamie. This is what I do. I remember back to the days. It's also funny because I'm doing, I'm working right now when we're going to talk about NWSL a little bit on some. like history primer stuff on NWSL. And this was like early MLS days where it's like, you guys sucked,

but there were so many legends on the team. And NWSL was the same like first years. There's just not enough teams. So everyone gets packed on to the same roster. Someone has to be good. Someone has to be bad. But it's like you look back on some of these teams and you're like, World Cup veterans, World Cup veterans.

I mean, international World Cup veterans and five wins. Exactly. And then like 18, 19 year old me, straight out of college on a generation of the use contract. Yeah, it was a wild time. It was, I don't know what version of MLS it was. This is obviously pre-Beckham. So, you know, I don't know if we had turned to MLS 2.0 yet,

but it was a, it was the Wild Wild West. And, yeah, it is evolved. So when we see it now where we have these world-class stadiums and the biggest names in world soccer coming over and rumors every day that the next big name is coming over, it is incredible to see. And, man, you've been along for the ride. So, gosh, it's so good to go down memory lane with you.

It is always a blast. One of the reasons we're having you on is because you're going to be broadcasting some of the biggest names in the world on the road to 26. We've partnered with them and you're going to be the broadcaster on the game. For two of the biggest games I could possibly think of, France versus Brazil and Brazil against Croatia

coming up in March here in the U.S. You can buy a ticket for not $9 million and you could go and see the best players in the world play in games that are massively important to them on the road to the World Cup. and you're going to be a part of them. So we're going to talk about that in a moment. But first, I want to dig in a little domestic, and then we'll get there.

I was texting with you this week and said, all right, let's hit all the leagues because you can do it. Not everyone can do it. And that's the part that I appreciate here. And I'm really, really excited about. So we're going to talk MLS, NWSL, and USL here. And I want to get first any big thoughts on the first weekend of the MLS season or anything you'd been thinking of in the off season that confirmed or was denied on this weekend as we sort of start to get into the stretch run.

as the game start getting played. I appreciate that intro because it makes me feel like I'm a Jack of All Trades Master of None is what it feels like covering all of the leagues here. It's so cool, man. I love it because I get to cover it. I played in basically every tier of this league. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm not sure. But I have an appreciation and can understand and relate to sort of some of the thought processes

and dynamics of what it takes to get from one link to the next. And sometimes the challenges that come with it, whether it's right, wrong or indifferent. But when we talk about Major League Soccer, look, all the conversations, rightfully so, have been about Inter-M Miami and how the Strong have gotten stronger. I believe when it's all said and done, I don't know, you know, week one, you know, scoreline of 3-0 on the road wasn't as convincing. And the performance wasn't great. But I think on paper, there's never been a better team than what we see with Inter-M Miami right now with this group. And I think that the fact that they've gone and got Dane St. Clair really fixes the biggest issue.

You know, that group last year, they were just rotating and trying to figure out which goalkeeper would work and Ustari was never the answer, was he? And, you know, he was serviceable. And the group in front of was just so good that it overcame their defensive frailties. But Mikhail in the back, I remember talking to Ben Olson when he played for Houston Dynamo before he went down to Brazil. Ben Olson said he was, Mikai, was the best centerback in major league soccer. Now, he believed in that.

Obviously, he's his player, and he's like, you know, he was gassing him up a bit. But at the same time, he was like, I've been around enough to know when you have an elite centerback in this league. And this is one of those guys. So then you get Falcone, who is just must see TV because you have no idea what he's going to do. He's going to give you the best tap you've ever seen. Exactly. Or he's just going to, you know, fly into a tackle and get a red card. Yeah, it's incredible getting Iynde back.

Yonik Bright. is a player that goes under the radar just because there's a superstar in every position basically on that team. But he's really, really good and allows DePaul to go and do what he does. And, you know, Iande, Berta Rame, Messi. Yeah. Let me ask you about this because you brought up Dean first, which I think is fitting, goalkeeper of the year coming into a team into a weakness.

Also a guy that you've been around, right? You were in Minnesota when he got there. You watched him from a rookie where he was not destined for this, right? He was not a generation of Jesus. like he was he was on a good Maryland team in the end, but he was not earmarked as Brad Guzan when he came out. What have you seen from him when there's a little, there's sort of this conversation.

It came out of Minnesota, obviously, of like, okay, here's the bright lights. Like, is he made for it? Like, is he really the showman on the small team or can he be the big name on the big team? What do you make of his personal move to Miami? First of all, Dane is a wonderful person. He is just a great human being.

You know, he is somebody that I've had the pleasure being around for a long time. Like you said, I got to see his maturation and see him coming full circle. I really enjoyed watching when Minnesota United had goalkeeper Vito Minone, who was the goalkeeper of the year, and they had Dane St. Clair behind him. And part of the reason Vito didn't get a bigger deal like he wanted and ultimately moved on was because Minnesota United, they knew what they had with Dane St. Clair. They knew that he can play with his feet. he is gosh he is so good you know they would do rondoes he'd be playing in the with the players

um doing all the tricks juggling he could do honestly god his feet were better than mine and i played in the field my whole life like he's a goalkeeper right he's massive inside good shot stopping still has a long way to go he's still very young i mean for goalkeepers he's 28 years old he's going to get more and more experience there's still another decade plus in this career for danes st. so for inter miami to go and get him my goodness man it was such an important signing and it'll be really good for Dane as well too because I think he'll absorb a lot of that class that'll be in and around the group that's with him and he'll be forced to continue to mature and so he'll be a big signing for that group but man how good is this team

I rolled off seven or eight names before I even got to messy and obviously he's the cream of the crop but that's how good this team is is that they're not just one player that is the greatest of all time. It's a collective group. So there's a reason everybody's talking about it to Miami and it's not just because of messy, although he is that good, the back-to-back MVP. It's the collective group got better and that's where this team

is going to see their ceiling rise even higher this season. I don't know if I told this story on a show yet, but one of my favorite Dane moments was the All-Star in Minnesota. I think Tony Sane hosted a party or something and Dane walked in because he had training whatever a little

bit later and this was two, three years ago. So he wasn't even like goalkeeper of the year yet, but he was good and he was with the Canada team. And he's talking to like all these legends and he was trolling all them because Maryland wins national championships and their and their schools don't, which I tell people all the time, it's insane the amount of World Cups a person can play in. And like the most thing they're committed to is their alumni school and like the college soccer rivalry and vibes is out of control. And he was like, I think I was sitting with Charlie Davis and he's like, well, if I played a school that never won a national title as well, like this is what I'd be like. And it was like, this guy is the biggest star in this room of stars. And it was like,

this guy's destined for greatness. So I don't think he'll be intimidated coming into the Inter Miami locker room. But I think it'll be fascinating. We're going to talk with Valer as well about Nashville. But you are, you're in Nashville right now. I pick them as my MLS Cup winners in preseason. It's a fool's Aaron to pick an MLS thing. Pre, you know, preseason, you know that better than I do. But like, you've been around this club pretty much since day one. What do you make of? just the way the club has changed and shifted. Yeah, well, you know, because you pick them to do well, that means your predictions will not be laminated and put in the locker room.

Only the bad ones. You'll only be in the bottom tier, whichever ones you pick at the bottom of your rankings and preseason projections. Look, Nashville just got more and more complete, and obviously the story's been told, you know, there's whispers of Christian Espinoza becoming a free player when he is a multimillion dollar player and how that came about.

these things happen. It's not the first time contracts are written and not executed or, you know, these things happen. And there's a lot of good stories. That's maybe like soccer-wise, after dark, we can tell the stories one day when the statute of limitations is up. Yeah, for sure. To go and get Espinoza was a stroke of genius. And Mike Jacobs would have zeroed in on that. And he is so cerebral and so smart in his approach to be able to collectively fit this group, but the acquisition of Espinoza was so important because it took the pressure even more so off of Hany Muktar and Sam Surge. It used to be at first with Nashville, if you took care of honey, you were going to have a good

chance of beating Nashville. Then you add in Sam Surge and like, okay, well, now that has to be a bit more balanced. Now you truly have a three-headed monster. And then now if you overcompensate for one, there's multiple players in the attack that can hurt you. And that was always the thing that Nashville needed to get over the hump. And then B.J. Callahan has an identity with this group, and they're entertaining to watch, they're fun, they're winning.

They are a team that, like you said, they can navigate the Eastern Conference. They can be there. And then in a one-off, they do have the quality to beat any team in the playoffs. So I don't think you're crazy for picking Nashville. I still think it's into Miami over the course of 34 games that will be at the top of the mountain. But it's American sports, baby.

Only we really care about who wins the playoffs. So just win your six games they need to. But yeah, I think Nashville certainly are in the conversation this year as a team that should have expectations of winning. And it's fun to say that in these parts. It hasn't always been the case. Huge season coming up for Nashville. Well, I mentioned it before. Jamie, we're going to talk NWSL because you're going to be on broadcast again for NWSL games and U.S.L, which we will get to in just a moment.

But we're gearing up. We're getting ready for our preview content. We've got massive previews coming up next week with Lori Lindsay and Jill Lloyd into the best in the game. Obviously, me and Jordan this week we talked about maybe some. some of the more under the radar clubs. We talked about the teams we think will make the biggest jump, which in theory means you got to go to the bottom of the standing. So we've talked a little bit this week about the Chicago's and the bays and whatnot.

You've been on the call for a lot of these games over the last few years. As the off season's been going on, as you're getting ready, do you have any of these like burning thoughts that you're like, how is no one talking about this or this is my big thing that I'm watching going into NWSL? Yeah, I love that we're about to dive deep into NWSL because this is a league that I am really. passionate about and I think that the league has done an amazing job year over year growing. The quality of play is so good.

I love how far this league has come and getting to help tell the story each and every year is one of the coolest things that I get to do. I will say as we talk about women's soccer in this country, you have to make sure to invite me back before the summer because we need to talk USLW when that gets ready to kick off because gosh, that's one of our biggest connections, is it? I promise we will talk about my scarf is up there. But for now, your Minnesota or a scarf is there. I am also a community owner and I have to just,

I had to go raid my kids closet to get their jersey. I literally took it from Cade. Sorry, Cade. Love that it had to be in number 10, by the way. Respect. Of course, right? Respect. And then my son had to get the goalkeeper jersey,

Jameson, which someone needs to tell him. his dad was 5-8 and a half on a good day. He's never going to be able to be a goalkeeper. It's all about the feat, right? The position has shifted. Yes. Great tie in there. Yeah, so maybe one day, yeah, that was a great Christmas gift.

A good friend, Andrea Yaakov, Minnesota United, one of the founders there, West Burdine, and the whole crew up there worked really, really hard to put one of the best teams across any league, great, incredible fan experience, and they've done a great job. I won the Heartland Division last four years in a number. row. So, gosh, I know we share that. We're going for the national championship this year.

And the secret weapon is I gave my nieces. I told them for the holidays that we bought shares of the team that will go to them when they're old enough. And my one niece doesn't fully understand the phrase ownership. So she thinks she's the coach of the team, which is the secret weapon. That's how we get over the board is. Rosie is going to be coach of the team and get us from the Heartland Championship to the national championship.

Thank you, Rosie. Well, and Rosie, we trust in Minnesota Aurora as well. So look, yeah, I know that you've got a lot of time for women's soccer in this country, and so do I. And I think that it's absolutely remarkable. The job you do with Jordan as well, she is one of the premier one. She did an incredible job hosting the end of the season awards last year. That felt huge.

That was amazing. I had serious foma watching that. The NWSL is getting a lot of things right from the broadcasting standpoint. I get very fortunate to be able to do a lot of the world feed. people that tell me, Jackie Oatley, I got to see her a couple weeks ago, and she tells me, she's like, Jamie, it's great to meet you in person. I listen to you all the time on the world feed. And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

Yeah, so it makes so much sense, right? And so I'm like, I'm so excited to meet you because you're so good at what you do. And it's really cool. And you mentioned Lori Lindsay, who is probably doing some game somewhere in the world right now. It doesn't matter what time of day she's working and covering a game. And Jill Lloyden is like one of the preeminent, her and J.P. Delic Camera do a wonderful job on one of the games of the week for the broadcasters. so many talented people that are covering it. And I've caught the NWSL fever too because what I don't

think a lot of casual fans who know about NWSL but don't watch NWSL, what I don't believe that they know yet is just how good this league is and just how great the players are, how fast it is entertaining. I remember the opener back two years ago at CPKC Stadium. It was a game I was on and it was one of the best soccer games that I've ever commented on. It was five to three or five to four. I think it was when it was all set in done. I think five four is how it ended. Kansas City won over the thorns.

And I set my headphones down and I was just like, I wish every single soccer game that I ever commented on was like that. From my life to the soccer god's ears. So to answer your question, yeah, I've been watching every move. And I think the biggest one was the day in which Claire Hutton goes from KC to Bay FC for over a million dollars, one of the largest inner league trades ever.

But then on the same day, Corey Bethune goes from Washington Spirit to KC. And it was like, can you imagine what must have been going on, Goss, in that front office where it's like, we've got a seven-figure transfer going out for one of the best young players,

but we're bringing in one of the best young players. And it is like this, you know, it's this incredible rotation. And it was really cool. to see that the Corey Bethune has been involved in two big trades because she also was a part of the deal that sent Ashley Sanchez to the courage and yeah she was drafted. Yeah, she was drafted. So you're talking about some of the premier players in this league and years later how it's all taking shape. And so that draft take, you know, turns into Bethune, which turns into a record transfer. And then you have to say that the biggest offseason move was the move to resign Trinity. Rodman, Global Superstar.

She is electric. She's entertaining. You hope you get to commentate on her and interviewer because she'll give you something that others won't. She's must watch TV. It's awesome. I know I don't need to tell you this, Goss, because I know that you've been an early proponent of soccer in this country

at every level for men and women. But, man, if you haven't watched an NWSL game, first of all, where have you been? And secondly, you need to because it is so fun to watch these games. and the talent level is to be the atmospheres are going to be wild with the two expansion teams coming in. I think Gillette's going to be huge for a Boston legacy. And then on the flip side, we've got Denver who's already breaking records with all the tickets they're selling. Over $40,000 already.

I mean, the match last year at Oracle Park where they set a record, it's like, congratulations. And then another team stands for one year. Yeah. I was like, now we've got to go and top it. And it's just the bar gets higher and higher. There's a reason the evaluations on these clubs are through the roof exponentially where they were from a business side of things. Man, it's incredibly a part of it and a talent on the field.

Also, along with Trinity Rodman saying, one of the other big stories, I think, was formerly Tara McKeown, now Tara Rudd. Her staying in Washington as well really gives them a chance to be in that top-tier conversation of championship expectations. So they've finished second two straight years, the Washington spirit. They've lost in the final two straight years. are they the clear favorites in your mind right now? I believe the clear favorites are still Kansas City current.

Timwa, Chowinga is incredible. That was her breakout game. The game was talking about two years ago. That's something, by the way, that just doesn't happen in other parts of the world. And it happens in MLS a little of like unknown and genuinely unknown. Playing in China during COVID, like no one had really watched her. Yes. Back-to-back MVP's and arguably the best player in the world.

Insane. Yeah. She's ridiculous. And it was like this breakout party for her when she had that first match. And then every week there's the expectation that even if for 89 minutes she's having an awful game by her standards, she still has the quality to make one play that breaks open the game and wins it. And she's always the difference maker. It's Kansas City.

It's Washington. Gotham has been able to figure out how to be able to navigate. They get into the playoffs and they can guide them. themselves to the top of the mountain. It's all set and done. You can never count them out. But what I'm really seeing is it's getting even more competitive deeper, where two seasons ago it was the big four, Kansas City, Washington,

Gotham, and Orlando Pride. And then there was a big gap. There's no longer that big gap. And Gotham showing you again, they get into the playoffs. And they can beat anybody did three years ago now with winning as an eighth seed. And then they go and win again this past season, getting into the playoffs, you know, at the end of the tail end of the season. So anybody can really bit anybody in this league.

And that makes it enticing to watch each every match. Yeah, this was part of what was hard for us. And they're like, who's going to make the big jump? Who's going to make the big drop is like it feels like there are 12 teams in the middle where we sit right now. And it's really, really hard to decipher, which is why it's worth watching every week because you never know what's going to happen. You don't know who's going to win. And it's one of the most entertaining leagues in the world.

let's go here to USL for a moment before we talk a little bit more road to 26 in the big games coming up here in the U.S. in the end of March. You've covered this league for a long time. You've been around this league even longer. We are about a week or so out from kicking off. We think if there's a CBA, which is another conversation that will have to be had maybe in the next week. What are your big thoughts as you head into the USL season? Well, I think on both sides of the table, there's a clear, both conferences, I think there's a clear favorite for each conference. I look at Louisville City and what Danny Cruz has been able to do year after year. James O'Connor leading the charge there, you know, both James, obviously, as a former teammate of mine, somebody really believing, so is Danny Cruz.

But what they have built at Louisville is the expectation is a championship every season or bust. and I do believe that they are. How many years do you do that before you get an MLS job if he even wants it? But like I say him for every job and sometimes I get laughed at. Sometimes I don't. I don't know. I mean, we don't get a list of finalists for everything. The convoes I've had behind the scenes, he's not.

It doesn't seem like he's in as many conversations as I would have expected. Like at what point is proof of winning enough where the player, Elijah Weidner makes the jump. Like the players make the jump. So there's a clear connection. It's soccer on both sides. Danny has been one of the most consistent coaches inside USL championship for the last several years. And you're right. The proof of concept is what he's wanting to do.

He's been an assistant there since, I believe, like 2018, but the head coach since 2021. And he consistently has proven that he is able to take a budget in USL championship that is larger than most. They do have the resources in Louisville in a wonderful stadium. It's a great market in Louisville, a great site. his market for U.S.L. Championship side, but he's taken what he's been given and he's been able to turn that into something significant every season. And Dabela last season, player of the year was incredible. Kyle Adams defender of the year, this group from start to finish their stove, what I love about Danny is he's so smart about who are your cornerstone pieces, who are the big

acquisitions you can go after where you get the resources. But then he's smart about who he gets on loan, getting a goalkeeper like Damien Loss to be able to come in. And you understand Now I'm being clever about the budget because there's a way in which it can be manipulated where somebody else is picking up the cost. It's a good player that need games. There's so much of that tinkering that goes on, not between the lines that Danny's been really, really good at and his staff has been really good at. And the team ownership have really supported.

But Louisville has been the cream of the crop and they always are. They got upset last season by Detroit City. I was in the building where all the matches are that go through in South Florida. I was, the shock on everyone's face, faces was palpable when they realized, wait, Louisville's not in the playoffs anymore. Louisville's not going to win. And that allows a team like Pittsburgh to be able to go in. And what a good story was for FC Tulsa to make it all the way to the final. But Pittsburgh was just so good.

And that was a cool moment, Beto Ejerk, who scores the penalty to win it. His dad was my orthodontist in Orlando. So I'm like, I would go and train with Beto when he was a kid. This is a true story. He was so good as a person and as a kid. And so I was always like telling his dad, Arturo, I'm like, I'm going to keep up with Beto as he progresses on. And, you know, you say that, you have hopes and aspirations. But then to be watching the final, like, I know him.

I thought he was a kid. Yeah, I might have scribbled on his shirt and ruined it signing it for him back. No one is more ingrained in every strand of soccer than Jamie Watson from orthodontists to Minnesota Aurora, from MLS to end of WSL. No one else can do what just happened on this show. And at the highest level, you are going to be on the call for the road to 26 games. They are going to be some of the biggest games we've ever seen. We have France first Brazil coming up on March 26 at Jolette Stadium. Yeah, I don't really have to describe France first Brazil. It's France first Brazil. Like it's it's the whole number three versus number five in the world. World Cup final. It could be a 20206 World Cup final. And then you're going to be in Orlando as well, back in Orlando, so you can go to your orthodontas

to see Brazil face off. Thank you. To see Brazil face off against Croatia. Anytime Brazil plays in Orlando, it's must watch or must attend because the fans are crazy. But like for you, as someone who we talked Rice Eccles Stadium and RISL and all of this, just to be at France, Brazil, like how huge a moment is that and how excited are you? it's it's the coolest thing because there's only by the way there's only like something like less than 7,000 tickets left for this match to sell out Gillette Stadium it's going to be incredible And those tickets, by the way, are not $750 like a World Cup game. Like, if you want to go see Kilienebap, if you want to see Venetius Jr., like,

this is the place to go. So make sure to go to Road to 26 website. It's stacked, right? It's Gial Pedro, Veni, Militow, Gosh, Casamiro. Yeah, I mean, you go through it. It's a Hussu on the Brazil side. And then for France, there's a Ballandoor winner, Dembele,

There's Mbapé, Lucas Hernandez, Zaire Emery. Barclah, I mean, just the whole group is insane, right? It is what could be a, if we're talking on July 20th and the FIFA Men's World Cup has just been played in the final of the night before, you shouldn't be going, we could be talking about, yeah, we saw this match actually on March 26th at Gillette. It was just a preview for it. It's a match that's worthy of a World Cup final.

That one, we really big time, eyes of the world will be on that one, obviously a top five matchup with the rosters that are pretty much going to be most of the players. Because this is the last window, right? These are huge games. These are the last window before things he had said at the beginning of June. And then those two matches, the one in Boston on March 26, Brazil, France. There's also a match in Orlando, same day, Columbia versus Croatia at Camping World Stadium. Three days later, we're both excited about this one.

France takes on Colombia, which I think you always feel like that's a matchup that could be in the quarterfinals, semi-finals. That would be really cool and that one, Northwest Stadium in Landover. And then, like you said, the one Croatia versus Brazil on March 31st, that's a really, really cool matchup that I'm excited to be in the building for. You've got

Croatian people that you know you play soccer with. I've got a lot of requests in the South Florida area. For sure. That one's an incredible matchup too. So it would be like a pinch me moment to be just in the building for these matchups. And it's insane. When I, when I started hearing the teams that were going to be on the road to 26.

Yeah. I was like, no way. Now, come on. You're serious, that team, too? Wait, what? So you've got France number three, Brazil number five. Columbia's number 11. Uh, or Croatia's number 11.

Sorry, Columbia is like 14. Four teams in the top 14, three months before World Cup starts. It's absolutely crazy. So Road to 26.com, that's where you can find out about those matchups. And then it was really cool for me, like personally got us. I got to be in Cleveland the other day. we announced a matchup that will be at Huntington Bank Field on June 6th, Brazil versus Egypt. So I'm a Liverpool guy.

So, yeah, Susanna Fuller. She'll appreciate that as well. Big shout out to Suzanne and Ian, Ian, another former player, coach, a teammate of mine along that long journey. She's a big Liverpool fan as well. So to see Mo Salah in person, I think I know where Susanna will be on June 6th and Cleveland to watch that matchup. it'll be incredible to see, man. And the matches just get bigger and bigger

that they keep announcing. There's more to come. So Road to 26.com, you can sign up to get emails whenever those matches that get announced. You can buy tickets from there. Man, it's the place to be this Road to 26.com tour. It's something special, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Yeah, we partnered with it because I think for us, one of the things we've talked about over over is access to the game. And the World Cup's exciting and it's amazing. But we have seen the barriers to that access. And this is what I've been talking to people about for a year, which is watch where these teams go to base camps. You can potentially go see them train or see these players in person, and that will also dictate where these friendlies are. And I think sometimes people hear friendly and they're like, okay, I've been to a friendly before,

but the last camp before World Cup, Carlo Ancelotti and his one year a chance to work with these guys, you know, France trying to win a World Cup after going to the last two finals and winning one of them, like, these are not friendlies to the way we know that phrase. These are meaningful games where these coaches need to see what their team looks like on the field. So I think for me, there's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go see these games. And that's why I think we were really excited to be a part of this. We've given away tickets. We've given away four tickets, two to each of the games.

We've got more giveaways coming as well. So follow us on Instagram at First Touch and then follow Road to 26 and everything else as well, as Jamie talked about. And I cannot wait to get to some of these games because it is going to be awesome. And as someone who's been going to the weird off like Columbia Ireland friendlies at Giant Stadium in 2004 on a non-fifah date, this is the full opposite experience. But it's going to be really, really cool to see. And make sure you follow Jamie because you got to see whatever games he's going to be on each weekend so that you can tune in. Always appreciate you coming on, man.

A lot of fun. And we'll talk RSL days, 05 again sometime soon. Hey, thank you for having on. Keep up the good work. It's been great. I got to relive the glory days the other day with Doyle and we be. and you talking to my ears while I made dinner, just like the good old days.

You know, it should be like a podcast or something like that. It's a lot of bad idea. Thank God we have soccer-wise. Luckily, we have extra time that we can talk about it. That's the only goal that we have out there. Thank you, Jamie. You're the man, guys. Keep up the great work.

Well, thank you so much once again to Jamie Watson. Make sure to go search Road to 26 and check out if there are any games in your market or near you. Once again, it's the most affordable way to go see world-class soccer. once in a lifetime experience here in the U.S. And thank you to Valer for joining me every time. Could have chatted soccer with him all day. Clearly, I told him maybe 20 minutes.

We went like 45 and we could have done it more and more. Big games coming up this weekend. We'll be on blue sky the entire time interacting with you. We'll be in the Discord as well if you pay for our Patreon. And then we'll be back on Monday with your big review show. And we are going to be starting our huge NWSL previews team by team with some of the best names in analysis on the soccer site. So thank you to them to again. Thank you to Gregory for all the work he's doing, putting these together. And thank you to all of you for listening. We'll talk to you

again very, very soon.