SoccerWise - Digesting USMNT, CANMNT Historic Win & New Hampshire Soccer Love

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Somehow Tom & David survived the floods outside of Red Bull Arena (thanks Tyler) and have all their USMNT thoughts to dig into. Did anyone shine in their opportunity? Was the US really the better team like Mauricio Pochettino said? What was the coolest part of the gameday? What are expectations against Japan? After that they discuss Canada's historic 3-0 win in Bucharest & Ismael Kone's argument with Jesse Marsch. Finally we have SOME suspensions out of the leagues cup final, and the only shocker is Cuauhtémoc Blanco didn't some how pick up a game as well. Plus talking our 50 States and we're on to CD9's own NEW HAMPSHIRE.3:48 USMNT-South Korea Game Reaction23:35 South Korea Fan Takeover25:55 Postgame Comments34:50 Japan-USMNT Preview37:17 Canada's Historic European Win45:57 Ismael Kone-Jesse Marsch Bust Up50:45 Leagues Cup Suspensions For Lenny50:45 New Hampshire 50 States

What is up, everybody, welcome back to Sokolize, David Goss and Tommy Scoops, otherwise known as David Marshall Mathers. I am wearing a hoodie over my headphones because I am cold in my Miami apartment, which makes no logical sense. and therefore I am doing something wrong right now Tom I saw you in person this weekend it was fantastic and I'm seeing you digitally once again this is nice and then that is going to undercut me because I was about just call you soft for being called here in Miami guy goes to Miami is just like oh and then I said a nice thing and now you feel guilty about trying to 100% 3D chess there that's what I'm always trying to I'm always trying to keep you off guilter just making sure you don't know if there's love hate. You don't know what the emotion should be. That is how we feel about the U.S.

one's national team many times when we watch them play soccer. If there's ever any love, we will dig into that game. And of course, we're going to talk Canada as well coming off what is technically a historic result in their 3-0 victory in Bucharest against Romania. We'll talk about some Leaks Cup suspension stuff. And then we've got our latest state of soccer, and it is one I'm very excited about because I lived in Boston for four years. I have one of the worst New England accents on the planet, but I cannot stop doing it around certain words. And one of them is New Hampshire.

Welcome to New Hampshire. It's what's new. We are going to be doing New Hampshire as our 50th state. Of course, the home of the one and only. Charlie Freaking Davies, our favorite person in all of soccer. So we're going to talk to him later in the week about all things New Hampshire soccer and probably about the U.S. Men's National Team.

as well at some point. In all of that, we've got kickback committee coming out Wednesday morning as a bit of a reaction to the Japan game that the U.S. will be playing on Tuesday night. That's a good reminder. I have to watch the USA game on Tuesday night. That's what I'm going to be doing on Tuesday night. That game in Columbus, Ohio, I believe it's the inverse then. South Korea plays Mexico and Canada on the verge of playing whale.

So we'll talk about all of that coming up when we get there. It was an electric weekend for us. We met up in the parking lot post-hurricane at Red Bull Arena. It is what it's called. Tyler Adams told us to say that, so that's what we will say. We hung out then post-game outside of Red Bull Arena. Then we both watched our football teams get macerated on Sunday, mine a little less than yours. The Mets lost of the Cincinnati Reds.

My flight got to late two hours. We are living the dream. pretty electric and it just goes to show that obviously things go bad the sports season don't have hope

I think I texted you definitely texted my family this and I was like you know I have for the first time in a long time I feel something that isn't apathy

towards the New York Football Giants season starting and I was like they're not going to be good but they're going to be fun they were neither good nor fun so just continuation from

the debacle that was the national team against Korea yeah Is this what it's like being a Jets and Mets fan all the time? Yes. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

This morning, because I like to wake up, you know, I love to listen to a sports podcast. You like to wake up? Yeah, no, I don't like to wake up. As you all should as well, I like to get up, maybe throw something on in the background. And it's like, okay, do I listen to a Jets show? Because we're excited that we put up points while losing to our watchers. Or do I listen to a Mets show and we talk about the train wreck of a series that we just went through and how we potentially blew our season at the last possible minute.

Or I could listen to a soccer podcast, which would have been heavily related around the U.S. men's national team, not having beaten a top 50 opponent besides Mexico in the last, what, 1,000 days or whatever the number is. It is not an ideal situation. We were at the game. Many people saw me on TV helping hold up the flag. I was in the front row of the supporter section. and didn't know I was on TV

until my phone exploded after I think they showed it during the anthem And then you were Patriotic David Goss Exactly And you were in the press box Being a capital J journalist

Breaking down the stories And then joining CBS's live stream From a broom closet Somewhere inside the ticketing booth At Red Bull Arena Thanks to some friends That's where I did the hit from It was a 3x3 closet bed lighting

And I was holding a cardboard box that was holding my computer up and you know you just get stuff done when when you when you're capital j you just get done right edward armurro did a broadcast out of the back of a bomber plane over germany are you saying that you're better than edward ar murrow no i'm not okay good just checking on that one breaking news tom says he's not second biggest news breaker in mLS behind andrew weeby we'll talk about Andrew weeby's earth shattering news coming up later i don't actually have it on the rundown so maybe we won't um the U.S. playing in New Jersey, so they honored Michael Bradley before the game, which was cool.

He got his opportunity to come out. The crowd, you know, was able to interact with him a bit, a lot of chance for him going on around me, which I thought was really cool. I like that. We talked about him a bit pregame. I can only imagine the experience he has engaging with this team and watching this team and in the highlights that they put up about him, you know, it showed like him and Christian Polisick around the 2017 time window when Pulisic.

broke into the team and Bradley was the leader and obviously we know like the emotion on Pulisic's face when they didn't qualify and so much responsibility I think for that team fell to Bradley's shoulders and so it's interesting to now see him back around the group and I'm very curious to know what the conversations were like that he was having and then they got out on the field I thought the U.S. was good for about 20 minutes. They're fine. I thought they were fine. Yeah, they played through some buildouts.

I thought they controlled the game for the most part in that straight. and then who else but sunny with the opening goal to make it one zero and then south korea made it two zero right before the stroke of halftime on the lineup tristan blackman made his debut he was the only one that did but gets the start at centerback alongside tim ream which maybe was a little bit surprising and i think we felt chris richards would be the staple and then it would be who rotates alongside him so so potrino and so much to get to from his post-game press conference, but Pochitino in the post-game press conference indicated or at least said they were trying to protect Richards, he couldn't go 90, something that effect. Why play him at

all? Like, I don't, like that, that's like middling to me. If he wasn't able to play 90 minutes and it was a risk to play him too much, why did he sub in? It's just incongruent to me. And that's what, and again, maybe that's colored by earlier in the show, in the press, conference he just there's a lot of things that that I just patently I thought were patently false but just we'll just say I disagreed with okay we don't really have to wait I had some notes you know no no I want to talk about I want to talk about the game first oh no Luna was in the attack with the attack with the A guys which I think was what I wanted to see which was exciting burrhalter gets a start alongside Adams who else but max freaking Arfston with the start at left back and then Sergenio

desk back into the team now feeling healthy and Matt freeze it feels like right now is is the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. men's national team, got the full 90 in this one. Coming out of halftime, I think down to zero, the U.S. played with a little bit more emphasis, a little bit more push. And then you mentioned the substitution. So Chris Richards comes on in a large group of subs. They shifted to a 352 or 361, whatever you want to call it. Balligan coming in as the center forward in place of Josh Sargent, who got the start originally.

Alex Freeman comes on to play right wingback Richards coming on at centerback pushing Blackman and Ream a little bit wider and trying to add into the attack and then Zendayaas coming on as well and there was more threat from the U.S. after that partially because they were trailing to zero at home to South Korea

so you would hope that they would start throwing things forward and there was two or three chances one big one that it's a miracle they did not score which sort of feels like the team at times right now. But I don't see a world in which you come out of this and say that they were the better team. Let's start on the field. Was there things you saw that you liked, didn't like that stood out to you that are still sticking in your mind? Yeah, I'll start on the positive side.

I really like the combinations of pool stick on the right, loon in the middle, and way on the left. I thought way is decision making and like final touch final ball was bad on the day but I think that's something that can be improved with reps and again poachino spoke about this in the press conference as well saying you know hey when he's somebody who plays so many different positions hey if he's playing wingback that's a different mentality than winger so I think he was giving him a little bit of leeway for understanding that yeah like his end product wasn't great but it is a different mentality of how much more aggressive you have to be and just little things like that which I think is important to remember when talking about this

But more so for me, there was a few moments where Pulsick and Luna in particular were combining, and I really, really like that. And I think that those two positions suit those two players better than Luna playing on the wing or Pulsick. Like, it also gave Pulsick freedom to drift in and around. And again, that's what you want for your best players. So I enjoyed that. I thought that was a positive. There were some good combinations with Destin Poulsick.

It's still like a liability defensively that Sun exploited between Black. and Desk going down that flank, which is why you noted it already, the back three at the end of the game. And yes, game states dictated, I think that they were going to be on the front foot dominating the ball kind of no matter what system they're playing, but back three, or if you want to play it in a hybrid way, where Tim Ream is technically a left back and a back four, but stays when you're in possession as a back three and freeing the wingbacks to get forward, because Arfston, Dest and Freeman their best qualities are going forward and Anthony Robinson is really good going forward

too but he can he's more two-way than those guys I think that solves those issues it allows Pulisic to play in a half space going forward so he can be a winger he can be a 10-ish I think that that suits this team very very well but very very well is all relative given how empty this team has been yeah I thought as I said in the opening 20 minutes there's two or three times Korea pressed the U.S., and they played out of their right side and Pulisic, the final touch from Pulisic was really, really special to get them out. The frustrating thing about the whole team is then as they break in transition, someone chooses to hold play up, and then they reset, and there isn't really final third patterns

that then break a team down, and so they lose their advantage. But in saying that, like you mentioned, the connection there between Dest and Pulisic is good. sometimes Pulisic coming inside, Desk makes the run outside of him or the other way. And Dest is like the one player on this team where you can play him in a little bit of trouble coming out of the back under pressure because he will be able to play through it. And I thought they tried to take advantage of that fairly well. And then as you said, Pulisic's ability to float because Luna can take space around him or Desk can take space around him. In the first half, it was dangerous at times. In the second half, the best moments in the run of play, not set pieces.

was they found Pulisic in the central area with space for him to turn and run. And he was able to start attacking the back line. The runs and his decision making off of those were all pretty poor. They ended up, for the most part, being like, the obvious pass slid out wide to Zendahas or Freeman or whoever was coming in off their right side, which the defense was able to close down. And I think on the final chance, the one that Balligan has the open goal that's not able to put away, that starts with Pulisic being put into space and he takes a touch and he is way too slow

to try and get a shot away and that stuff's frustrating. It's frustrating for him. I think it's frustrating for the team and it's kind of like one of the issues which is I think still too much of this team is put on his shoulders of like just figure it out and there are very few players in the world

who can do that and I don't know that he's one of them. And so I think you walk away from this game and what I said post game we did a video I did a video for soccer wise is like middle third stuff is kind of fine I think they were a little easy to play through centrally I think part of that is Luna being in there and like that's going to be one of the things that you take away but in general it's fine but final third on both ends is a lower quality than the teams they're playing against South Korea being the example right now attacking third like super obvious defensive third the second goal it's a one too everyone knows that one, two is coming. Well, on the first goal, Ream keeps Sun on, and Blackman has no idea where the channel is. And there's no pressure on the ball, too. Yeah, and Blackman's spacing multiple times in that area was like, okay, well, they're

going to play into the channel, and he didn't really, I think, know where he was on the field and where he wanted to be. And some of that might be playing alongside Sergenio Desk in your debut and all of that. and so they got they got cut open a couple times in that area and then on the second one i don't really remember why ream is on the right and blackman's on the left at that moment but ream i think feels like blackman's a little disconnected and so he doesn't want to follow son's run because then you potentially have someone wide open on the top of the box in possession or whoever ends up making the run on the one too and so ream gets stuck in no man's land blackman's too late to come over

and it's stuff like that where south korea didn't give up those openings Like they did not lose men, they did not lose markers in the final third. Yes, and not quite to the same extent, but watching the incredible Bill's Ravens game last night, I don't know that the New York Giants and those two teams play the same sport. I use that as an example here. The South Korean structure, you know how they wanted to play, they wanted to build up on the back, they wanted to get in behind with Sun, they wanted to threaten, and with that threat, there was space in between the lines then.

You could very clearly tell how they want to play. Gus, tell me one thing that the U.S. national team wants to do. One thing, one definite stylistic thing that you know this is a goal, whether they're succeeding or failing. Is it pressing? Is it sitting deep? Is it transition? Is it patient buildout? Is it route one?

Is it crosses? Is it whatever? What is it? They're losing in the trenches. The run play option isn't there. But what are they trying to do? Is my point? I don't.

Yes. No, I agree with you. And I think that's like one of the most frustrating things about this team. So we, I went to the game with some people who had never been to a soccer game before at all. And one of them at halftime, it was like, oh, I haven't watched a soccer game in like 20 years. And they were like, why every time the U.S. team has the ball, the Korean team looks really organized and like they're all behind the ball and they all are in the same place. And I was like, yeah, it's kind of a good thing. And then they were like, and it feels like they're trying harder.

And you're like, this person who is technically a novice took 45 minutes to feel some of that. The U.S. press was maybe the worst part of the game. And the South Korean press was very, very good for the most part. And it caused the U.S. a ton of trouble. They had trouble playing out of the back. They put Arfston and Ream in bad spots, dest that to deal with stuff. The U.S. press, for the most part, feels like if Diego Luna decides to go, because he wants to press

two attackers will go with him and then the fullbacks have to figure out that they're pressing and they're about 40 yards off the play so if they can close a 40 yard gap in time then they will close it down and win the ballback and there's a moment in the first half where the U.S. turns South Korea over

I think it lands to Burrhalter on the top of the box who takes a shot like maybe was the best moment of the game. Everything else, South Korea is playing through pressure because the U.S. is disconnected and to your point. So that's out of possession. Transition moments, as I said. When they were able to play through Korea's pressure,

they held up the ball in transition moments. Final third runs passing patterns is maybe the worst part. And I've said this like four times now that that might be the worst part. So I think that's kind of building on itself. The amount of like crossfield passes they play to someone who's not open. So now you're making their life harder because people are frustrated that, There's just nothing in front of them and they don't know what they want to do. There's a moment in the second half where Freeman gets on the ball in the left wing

and I'm behind the goal staring and Zendejas, Baligan, Pulisic, and maybe one other person are in a straight line. Like they all made the same run and then they all stopped and stood in the same space. And this is not, we want to overload the space. This is, everyone's making it up on the fly. And like we have a question in the chat about MLS players and obviously, I don't know. There's some level of the internet that has some reaction, which I think is really fascinating.

I saw one person explain it online. They were like, MLS players aren't good enough. So they couldn't beat South Korea. South Korea, a team that wasn't capable of beating Oman. And it's like, so the players are clearly not the problem because all the players on Oman and Jordan don't play in European leagues that you're saying are better. There is no cohesion. There is no clear. ideas and there is no moment that the U.S. has where you're like, okay, they have something

about them, whether it's anticipation of the play, ideas that they want to make, working together to elevate the group above what the individuals are capable of. I think that last point is a good one. I don't remember the last time that it felt like this team played better than the some of its parts. And that goes back to the Burlter era too, because even when they were getting results and looking at the 2022 World Cup, I still think that was job well done. It was solid if unspectacular. Because even when they were getting some of those results, it was like always felt like that there could be more. And right now, we know that there should be more, right? Because

they're playing awful. They've lost outside of the Gold Cup five games in a row now. In 15 FIFA international windows essentially just saying take away the two January camp results under Pochitino because that's not a real window the other teams they're playing don't have their best player

you should win every single one of your January camp games or should be dominant right so take that away they have won they have lost seven of 15 games under Pochitino the wins are against

you know Jamaica twice Panama Haiti Trinidad and Tobago like they the best best part about the, like, Bob Bradley era was this team always played above the sum of its parts. Yes, they had some very, very good players, but we always have the argument about the talent level and, oh, you know, who would get in the team now, you know, oh, like, look at where

all these guys are playing and look at all the talents. And all that can be true. The team never plays beyond the sum of its parts. It always did. Or maybe we're doing a little revision's history. Maybe not. Maybe it wasn't always. felt like a whole lot of the time that the team was playing beyond the sum of its parts and I think that's one of the biggest frustrations

it's not even about potential which we got carried away with I think around the 22 World Cup which is why I keep on pushing back that round of 16 was job well done not not an A plus not a failure somewhere just pretty average sees get degrees you know

the potential has not come I don't say wall New Jersey lines. But, like, you know, you know where I'm going with this. Like, it's, it's just frustrating. And it's just ambivalence and apathy when looking at this team and, and you mentioned the comment in the chat and like the literal word. And like all of these are in bad faith.

All of these are in bad faith when it comes like this. Some people think, and that's always a good way to start with, this is what I think. Some people think that MLS players are sandbags in terms of, of holding players like Pulisick down. Do you agree? That I think it is reductive and frustrating and divisive that it becomes MLS for syrup. Criticize Tristan Blackman if you think he didn't play well.

Criticize Tim Way if you think he didn't play well. I don't care where the player is playing. It is not indicative. Like, every situation is different. It's just, that's where the ambivalence comes in because it's like, what's the point? There is no discourse. There is no meaningful way.

to talk about this if it's just immediately go look at the replies to any of my tweets around the national team it's like you gotta throw out 70% of them because it's like these are all bad faith arguments and it's like all right like what are we accomplishing here that's why you gotta be on blue sky only Tom that's why we are on blue sky

because it's the best and yet a lot of the replies are all the same a lot of the conversations all the same and it's hard yeah I mean one of the things was everyone, I think there was a large group of people who felt Greg Burrhalter was the problem. I think that's hard to continue to say at this point, like, as long as Mariso Pocitino's been in the job.

Here is the actual stat that I made up before. Obviously from Paul Carr, USM&T has now lost five straight games versus FIFA top 25 teams by a combined 11-1. They are winless in the last seven against top 25, getting outscored 17 to 3, excluding Mexico. which I think is fair, by the way, which is as hard as a USA-Mexico game is, there is a comfort level there of, like, it happens before. I feel like they've played them a hundred times in the last seven years. So excluding Mexico.

You're going to win one. The last U.S. win against a FIFA top 25 team was Iran at the 2022 World Cup over three years ago at this point. And that's sort of the, like, frustration that everyone is living in. And, like, I went to the game. and you're talking to people and people are asking me in New York like oh you're here for the game like what what's the deal with the team what's happening it's like it's hard to explain to people like oh yeah no this is fun or this is exciting or like because it's mad you should want to be a part of this yeah and it's really really tough I think in the end the coolest part about the game was the South

Korea fans at Red Bull Arena and like it was what 70 30 you think fans at least I'm not Not a hashtag math guy, so don't get me 100%. But, like, 75 is, I feel pretty safe saying. And, like, there was just so many red South Korea shirts. So many sun shirts, obviously. They had thunder sticks. I don't know how they got those in. A lot of, there was a lot of thunder sticks.

And I respected that. On a noise level, probably more than 80%. Yeah. And it's why I'm so excited about the World's Cup being here. like there is I don't believe there's another country in the world that can have that for multiple other nations right like you have many countries in the world where it's like there's one huge population that lives there right if you play a turkey game in germany i don't know france has its own stuff going on so yeah maybe if you played algeria morocco multiple teams

senegal whatever it is um you know french speaking nations but like that is the case at red bull arena for Ecuador and Colombia and when you bring Ivory Coast in and Nigeria and South Korea, like these fans had not seen their team in person, many of them, in 20 years, maybe their entire lives. And so it was really cool to see them get to experience that sun scoring, like obviously was the capper for everyone. You can feel the energy in the building when he subbed off and like how electric it was and how everyone was, you know, standing up giving him the applause, all of that. That may have been the highlight. That's not really supposed to be the point of things.

And like, that should be part of the fabric of the event. And it always has been for a USA game in the U.S. But the other side of it should be, oh, there's this, you know, you would like for any of the Korea fans who were there to have walked away being like, oh, this U.S. team is better than I expected. Or, like, they are a factor in what just occurred versus we won two zero. We were the ones who pushed the game. Like, we did everything.

Now push the game is the argument. part now coming out of it. Were you show Pochitino post game time? You were in the room. Can you sort of walk us through? And you are in the mixed zones as well of like what you heard and what went out. Yeah. Potatino, like he was not taken out of context.

It was not lost in translation. He said we were the better team despite the result. We need to be more clinical in the attacking third and the defensive third. My editorialization. Yeah, that's pretty important. I don't know. Yeah. You're right.

The final thirds are important. I think South Korea were better in the middle third, too, but I digress. So that was, um, listen, I didn't expect him to go up and just throw his team under the bus or panic, like so. I appreciate that. And he's, he's a pretty jovial and optimistic guy. Um, and he tries to come in with, with some context and not go too far in either direction. But that, I thought that was tone deaf.

Um, it landed as exactly as it, I expected and as it should have. among the fan base. And then there was some follow-up questions about, hey, like, what's your message to the fans? Like going towards the World Cup? And hey, like, if, you know, at some point you need to start winning games, right? Like, and he goes, no, we need to start when the World Cup starts. And he said in his career, he was with Argentina, a team that was, you know, an O2 or whatever, that won a bunch of friendlies and won them convincingly going into the World Cup and then got

eliminated at the group stage. I understand that. I would like to see some positive steps. forward and again even just a basic stylistic stuff so that I didn't like and so that became the obvious and most important question to go ask the players sir junior desk was the only one who was like no he's right we don't have any pressure like not any pressure like we don't have to win these are friendlies you're supposed to try things you're supposed to learn things um mat frees was like I want I always want to win we need to win yes like before the underlying performance

is most important but we need to be better we need to win um balligan was like yeah Yeah, there's always pressure to win. And guess what? At the international level, you're supposed to play really, really good teams. So it's supposed to be difficult. I am, like, he's like, the pressure doesn't, like, weigh on me, but there is pressure because I put pressure on myself as well to win games. Tyler Adams, like, he kind of, like, he, as the leader that he is, like, he goes, you know,

I love the feeling of winning. I always want to win no matter what. I agree. Like, he was like, I understand, like, Pochitino, I agree with the point, but we need to win games, right? Like, so I thought that was interesting, and I think that would have been a better tone for the head coach to take. Yeah. You can understand, like, trying to say, I have a plan.

It's a long-term plan. Not every result is, like, the exact thing. And therefore, I don't want to get too far down. The problem is you haven't won any meaningful game in a really long time. It is every result. And, like, there's no belief, oh, okay, South Korea, now Japan, the result's going to come. and I think as you said for a lot of the fan base

it's really really hard to hear especially in the context of we're talking three plus years without a win like this and I would argue that that and then I think then maybe the worst part for the 500th time I've said that

is that I don't know that they did play better like they had a slight possession straight up they did yeah they had a slight possession advantage against a team that was technically away and led to zero for over 45 minutes of the game therefore had no reason to be the impetus team on the front foot korea had the

possession in the opening five minutes like they came out and played then they sat in a little bit more and then they were lethal in their transition moments because they had clear ideas of where they wanted the ball to go and they were able to anticipate um and i don't know that the u.s was that dangerous most of the danger came late in the game when you get into as maddo i like to call it tactics free zone and a lot of it came off of set pieces which is fair but That doesn't mean you're playing better soccer or you were the better team in the game. So I don't know that any of that is true

and I think that makes it really hard to stomach for a lot of people. And so, and Mike is saying this in the chat as well, game states, it's so important. And I think that was part of the frustration too for me. It was just like, put you know, they had one or two shots in the second half. You know, they had one or two shots in the second half.

Like, is the audience that stupid that we can't figure out? They're defending a two zero elite. of course and guess what by the 60th minute South Korea made five subs this is what happens in friendlies the first 60 minutes are most important and then it gets disjointed

like yeah when Sun Hung Min isn't striking the fear of God into everybody in the defensive third of the United States it's a little bit easier to play against right like and guess what in a World Cup game Sun Heng Min is playing 90 minutes

yeah yep whew so the US will now go on to play can we talk about Sunn real quick yeah so um from the press box i was watching his movement off the ball up um and Tyler Adams spoke to this as well about like how how intelligent his moving is how relentless his moving is he would split the centerbacks and obviously the the space between black men and death excellent anytime like this was why it was clear you could see what

they wanted to do son was darting in behind or or getting like nonstop and the movement was so intelligent, South Korean head coach after the game, like, asked about Sun playing as a center forward. We wanted him to focus completely on the attack. We wanted to give him his strengths and everything, like get in behind everything else. So in an LAFC context,

this is, this is exactly what I think is the best use of Sun Jungman, particularly in a team with Denny Buonga, who's going to be playing left wing, and why I have so much optimism that, look, It's not a deep analysis to say, yeah, I think it's a good signing. But, like, this was like, oh, my God, like, that's all,

everything he did against the United States was world class. Again, Tyler Adams said that. The South Green head coach said that. And so I think that's an easy blueprint. But the caveat for LFC is that was all super, super dangerous because South Korea was able to hold possession and trying to hold possession, maybe more importantly. LFC need to do that.

And if they do, Bwanga and Sun are going to be. terrifying. And yes, they will have transition moments and they should have transition moments because they're really great at that too, particularly Bwanga, but it needs to start with more possession. And if they're able to unlock more possession for the rest of the season here and going into the playoffs, like, they'll be among the favorites. Yeah. The other thing for L-AFC that is really useful for them is the amount of L-AFC sun jerseys with the Korean last name that I saw in the stadium. Like, it is, that alone was, would probably be. one of the higher selling MLS jerseys of like just the people I saw on Saturday.

Not like, oh, this is everyone in the world who bought it. Like there was black and gold everywhere. Obviously they wear red. So everyone like had it as part of it. I saw LASC scarves. Like, and I think most people were local. Like most people live in Jersey or New York that are coming and it's a huge Korean population in its own right.

One that I'm very familiar with that I grew up around and that I love and think is great. And can't wait to go watch a World Cup game there. maybe again next year, as I've done for the last 20 years. But that is pretty cool. And I think there's going to be, as we expected, a lot of buy-in for him. And as you said, it can be really, really good on the field. I mean, he was the best player on the field. So if you're thinking about what do I do with DPs and how does a D.P.

And whatever, it's like in this game, two top 25 teams, well, the U.S. isn't. Like, he was the best player on the field. And so he is still that good. and the finish is unreal. Like, it is not a good angle. And he buries that thing, pass freeze, into the far post. And he's one of the best players.

I want to give a quick shout out to Vince and the scuffed family for housing me through the hurricane. It was slight coincidence, but slightly on purpose. I was out at the AO tailgate and I brought zero rain gear, including shoes of any sort

that should be in a parking lot during a hurricane. It's straight up hurricane for 35 minutes. minutes, and I was able to shelter in the scuffed tent. So thank you to Vince and everyone else. Part of the scuff family. I think we've both been on the show many times. And they do a great job. I assume they are going to be as despondent as we are. I've heard Charlie Davies was Jimmy Conrad. I saw someone in the comments on the CBS show saying, I've never heard Jimmy this

down. Is he okay? I haven't listened to the post game on TNT because I was at the game. so I don't know what Dunny was saying. I think everyone's kind of in the same boat, and it's hard because the team doesn't really give you an excuse or an opening to try and get out of that. They will finish up this camp with a friendly in Columbus tomorrow night, Tuesday night against Japan.

Japan came into the Mexico game tied zero zero at the Oakland Coliseum. Both teams played their best 11. I think this is a Japanese team that will probably have more possession. than South Korea did. I thought Japan was the better team against Mexico. I thought they were more dangerous from the run of play. And I thought they controlled midfield for large stretches of that game.

Mexico had some decent chances. Most of that was on set pieces or late in the game, as you said, after like the run of substitutions that occurs. Is there anything specific that you want to see, that you care about, that you're looking for? Or are we back to get a freaking result? And like, I don't want to talk about this. I ain't got nothing.

Are you excited for this game in any way? I like watching Japan play soccer, so there's that going for me. I don't know. At some point, this seems like a crazy thing to say. At some point, something goes to, like, one of those goals should have gone in against South Korea. At some point, something's got to roll your way. And if that's the case, maybe you generate a little juice off of it. And if they take a one zero lead, it could be fun.

But I don't know. I will say this, and this is someone who spent, what, the last two months talking about how Josh Sargent's the center forward, I won't be shocked if Balligan gets the start. He was effective. He was dangerous. He was threatening. Again, a lot of that is game states, but that doesn't mean that the coach isn't going to notice it or the coach is going to walk away from it.

Outside of that, if Richard just fit for it, he's the starter. If not, I guess not. I failed to mention in the run of substitutes, Christian rolled on. who got on the field in that set of four subs in the 60th or so minute. And did Christian Roldon's stuff? Got stuck in. Is it not to opponents? I think teammates like playing with him.

Like all that stuff happened. Exactly. Teamites like play that like that is a great way to summarize the Christian Roldon experience in addition to just his intelligence work rate quality and everything else. So it was good to see him get on the pitch. You never quite know. And sometimes it's like, oh, so he didn't make the squad. but he's now getting on the field a couple minutes later, but I get it.

Okay, Canada, 3-0 win at Romania. So for them, historic win, first win over your opponent in Europe in 16 years. So that takes us all the way back to 2009. A shutout, let's start there before we get to the goals. Pretty impressive for a team that's missing Moisbombito, Alfonso Davies, and Alistair Johnston, which you would argue are three of the four starters along the backline. Derek Cornelius being the lone true A starter. I think especially Mois Bombito, like Fonzie, best player on the team, game changer,

a lot of that going forward. Alistair Johnson, very, very good. But I think we're at this point where you trust Richie Larea in a lot of these moments. And Nico Segor got the opportunity and ends up getting an assist and a goal from the right back position. But I think that for Canada is a huge positive because. for them, as fun as the attacking talent has been over the last five years, the centerback specifically and the defensive depth has been the biggest worrying sign for this team. And so that was a huge moment for them. I think that was a huge performance for them. And in the 16

years, it's interesting because you're, on the one hand, you're like, okay, this is a team that's gotten a lot better, right? Like they have improved on the field and therefore that's why this happens. But the other parts to note about this team are just how much more organized and relevant they are to the rest of the world. You go back through these friendlies. They weren't beating European teams in Europe because they weren't even playing them. They played Maritania more times in a four-year span than I knew Maritania even played soccer games. And they played them in Marrakesh. And they played them, I think, in Georgia, where it was, oh, in Oliva, Spain. Why are they playing Mauritania three times in a four-year span?

I have no idea. Canada has played a ton of games in Dubai and Abu Dhabi because they're cheap places that will host you. They're midway between playing a Japan and Australia. They've played Oman. They've played teams where it's fine to go out and get different styles against you. Although, reminder, this is for a program that was not going to a World's Cup, so it's not like they were planning to play Asian Federation teams anytime soon.

It just goes to show on and off the field. how far this program has come, that they are organized enough internally to go out and schedule the right teams early enough so that they get good games in matchups, that they are viewed positively externally that, yes, they are worth the game, they're worth the challenge. The Romania coach, as they're in World Cup qualifying, kind of was like, I really wish we didn't have a game today, but I'm glad it's first Canada because at least it will be competitive and test their players and force them to sort of like elevate their game at play at a high level and now they're good enough to go into those games and get results.

So I think overall it's just a little window into how much this has changed in a very quick time. Yeah, that was my biggest takeaway as well is that was a good way to look back on like we forget now, you know, take it for granted, but we kind of forget now where this program was federation was a decade ago even, right? Like the rise of this team and the influx of development and talent that obviously got the world's attention when Alfonso Davies was coming through. But you look at all these players like, again, Jonathan David scored. He's once again the all-time leading score in Canadian soccer history. It's like him and Kyle Laren. So be going back and forth or the possibility to go back and forth as they continue to add goals.

But yeah, like Jonathan David is, again, Juventus center forward. Alfonso Davies is a Bayern Munich player, right? Like, these are things that you'd never, ever think about 10 years ago even, right? Like, or even with Davies, maybe from the outside, you thought, hey, is this just like, you're, like, Alfonso Davies, if he grew up anywhere in the world, he would, like, you know, some players are so, so special that they're going to make it no matter what, right? It, for Davies, like, yes, that's obviously part of it, but it, they have brought through a lot of talent beyond him to create what this team is now and go into Romania and winning that

game, and in a dominant fashion, helped a little bit, but Romania, particularly the Ali Ahmed goal, which shout out to Ali Ahmed for his first goal. This is, this is a program that that is really strong right now, but don't have that foundation of like 20 years, 30 years of constantly traveling, expecting to be in World Cups, preparing for World Cups, knowing all the things to do. So it's, it's not, they're not first at this moment, like kind of 2020 cycle was, but this is like the first generation of like oh yeah we're supposed to be here we were at the table yeah so i just 10 years back Canada didn't even play a friendly in 2015 they were in world cup qualifying in gold cups i assume that's why excuse me they played

one they played a january camp sort of they played guatemala and porto rico and they played ghana which i think was off the back of the u.s playing gana they played gana in Washington, D.C. I'm pretty sure that's because the U.S. Brockada into play, and then Canada was able to organize a second game. In 2016, Canada played the U.S. in a January camp friendly. They played in World Cup qualifying.

Then they played Azerbaijan in Austria. They played Uzbekistan in Austria. Then they played Mauritania in Morocco. Then they played Morocco in Morocco, which I assume is why everyone was there. And then they went to South Korea in November and played South Korea, which was clearly a window of Korea saying, if you want to come here, like we'll fit space in, but you have to come to us. Now you look at this year, Canada hosted this Canada Cup thing back in June, where you have Ivory Coast in Ukraine and Wales coming to play you. Now they're going to go play in

Cardiff against Wales. They played in Romania. Again, as you said, how far it's come, how different things are. And I think how exciting this team is. And like, as they broke through for 2022. It's this generation of players. Now you look at this game and the stars are Ali Ahmed, Taniola O'Sheai, Nico Seeger, all players who were not a part of the program yet. And so like there are more players coming through. Ali Ahmed had an assist on the opener and then pressed the goalkeeper into the second goal. That was clearly Jesse Marsh's dream freaking goal. And it's not like the best pressure. It really was an untimely mistake for the goalkeeper at a moment, but you are in place to take advantage of it. You are in the right

area to be able to score a goal because you're pushing play. And I think Ali Ahmed, it's really cool that he has been able to solidify his spot in this team. And this was Jesse's quote about him. We know Ollie's really important. He's one of our most complete midfielders. He understands the behaviors we want, the tactics we want. He's an incredibly important person. I knew when he went down at the Gold Cup. That was going to hurt us. I thought he played great. What goal you know i mean as a pressing coach those are the goals that make me happiest so really well done by ali so huge camp for him as jesse said when he went down at the gold cup he only what i think he had two goals against honduras in that blowout game then it didn't play a single game after that

in the gold cup which i think hurt this team the other thing about this camp is there is sort of a like okay did we lose to guatemal in a knockout game in pk shootouts because stuff happens sometimes or is something wrong and i think coming out and beating romania three zero the way they did, push it into the, okay, stuff happens sometimes in knockout competitions and soccer. And I think that's really good for this team. And then for Taney to get the start again up top alongside Jonathan David is really, really big. I think he's looked really good in that spot. He has the confidence to play his game.

He does not, like, defer to the stars. And I actually think that's why he keeps getting in this team. And it's the same what it was at Minnesota, right? Kelvin Yaboa, Joaquin Pereira, like, they're the DPs. and Tanny's like, if I have space, I'm calling my number, because I'm the guy, and it's helped him, and I think it's going to continue to help him as he moves forward in his career. And playing alongside Jonathan David, you go back to Minnesota, like the season started with him and Calvin Yaboah, and I think that that is why he was so comfortable in this role and why it makes sense. And they've got options in the attack and they're good options, and it's a really good time for Canada. And like you said, when those particularly Bombito and Alfonso Davies get back, like it's a really strong team.

it is a very very strong team a lot to be excited about one weird moment coming out of this game or in this game was that Ismail Kone was taken off in like the 60th minute alongside Ali Ahmed you assume they're friendlies it's a two games rotation when Kone came off he was sort of talking to Jesse and Jesse sort of grabbed his arm and was like trying to reason with him clearly there was a discussion happening. Then the camera cuts back to the play on the field. And when it cuts back to the sideline, Kone has refused to sit down. He's sort of like up off the bench,

yelling at Jesse. Dane St. Clair, obviously, because he's a legend, is in between trying to talk down Kone, and Jesse comes over and they're sort of in a heated discussion as well. And then it cuts back to the rest of the game. Nathan Saliba had come on in place of him. It seems like Kone was upset about coming off the field. I think the only reason this really flashed across for people is this is in the context of Ismail Kone, getting told by the coach of Marseille in training, tell your agent to go find a new team because you don't belong here.

And question marks around what Kone is like off the field and how he fits into teams, his maturity level, his professionalism, and all of that. Jesse came out of it. He was asked about it after training yesterday. and he was like, Kone's going to start in the next game. I think we have a really good relationship. Afterwards, we talked. I think we have a better relationship now than we did before. I would be shocked if Jesse was uncomfortable by a player being like effing plainie.

Right? Like, that sounds like Jesse's bread and butter. That's like Tyler Adams shit right there. So I don't think he's bothered by that. I think maybe some of the awkwardness came from being like, oh, good for Nathan Saliba, that he got on the field because Saliba was asked about it. And he was like, no, we talked. he talked to the team everyone's fine i think coney's going to do a press conference later today

he's going to be on the match a minus one press conference and we'll talk as well i think this was overblown because of his past which is fair in like if you have numerous things people are going to start to cloud around it yeah i i think jesse marsh handled this very very well with how he answered questions in the media it's just unfortunate that you understand and it's not the worst thing in the world obviously when a player's like no like I need to keep playing me play me like it is bad when you make it but like you just have to have more awareness in that moment just a billion cameras like it's it that's too like blow up on him in the locker room screaming him in the lot right like it's too public and I hope that he'll

learn like that side of things moving forward like again while it's not perfect I don't hate the underlying like that's better than like a different reason we're getting angry. And the old coach cliche is like, yeah, I don't want my players to be happy when they come off the field kind of thing. I would prefer them to not do it like that if I was a coach. And yeah, Kone, so Josh Kloak at the athletic wrote a really, really good piece about Ishmael Kone and that Marseille moment leading into the window.

And it was, he, he, there were several different quotes on it. So Kone clearly didn't say, like, I'll just answer this once, no comment or whatever. He was kind of like, hey, look, like, he's like the worst part of it was just that, like, my family. The amount of people who was sending me that and upset by it, he's kind of like, hey, like, in football, this happens. This happens more than people know. And I was happy to see that he said, like, yeah, I didn't think that they were going to, like, I would have wished that they didn't put that out. And I'm like, yeah, like, it was insane. It is the most Marseille thing you could do, though.

And that's what they used to, like, the trailer for the thing. Yeah. It wasn't like this somebody had to go find it. It was like, this is how they were promoting. the documentary and like I can't say enough how offwood is and and you know let's talk about off the field issues for the team that has mason fucking greenwood like give me a break dude yeah a team that by the way I think is one of the coolest in the world of like marseilles the city the fan base the history of the colors as a club is as big a tire fire as any club on the planet and if they

wanted to join major league soccer or the Turkish league or league mx they would be they would be you know, a pig in mud, I'll use that phrase or whatever else. They'd be perfectly where they need to be. Canada plays against Wales in Cardiff or at Swansea, that game coming up on Tuesday. So we will have reaction for all of that coming up on our show on Thursday, as well as on kickback committee, which will come out Wednesday around noonish with myself and Susanna and some special guests for that show. Before we get out of here, let's talk about a few things. Let's start with suspensions. The Leakes Cup suspensions came down,

and I cannot get over Stephen Lennart being a part of this. I've been texting you about this since way late afterwards because I didn't realize it was the actual Stephen Lennart, and I love it. I think it's the best thing that's happened in 20 years in soccer, maybe in North America. So just for people who maybe haven't seen or forgot the totality suspensions from the Leaks Cup,

because the Leaks Cup can only suspend people for the Leaks Cup, Louis Suarez, six games, Stephen Leonard, five games, Thomas Obelais, three games, Sergio Bousquet's two games. And again, all of these suspensions are just for Leakes Cup. All of those players are in coach, were fined as well. Yes,

in a very serious, again, spitting and everything else that we talk about, the levity and the golden line of Stephen Lenhart being in that is I can't tell you how many texts and replies and stuff.

Like, one's like, wait a minute. The Stephen Leonard? I was with the athletics Paul Tenorio. When this was coming down, we were getting lunch after USM and T training or whatever. Meeting of the minds. There was like 30 minutes where we probably didn't say anything to each other other than smiling and just saying Stephen Lenhart's name. And like him getting texts from people, me getting to be like,

is there another Stephen Leonard? And the detail, he's the team, like, psychologist. Which is amazing. It's, it's, you couldn't write this in fiction. It is, makes me so happy. And again, the much needed levity to a serious situation. Um, and I think that that's pretty balanced mental health awareness. Sometimes you got to throw, bro.

Sometimes you got to throw. Um, Tom taking psychological therapy lessons. Stephen Lethart is the time. My, my, my wife is a mental therapist and she is, um, obviously, an expert, incredible, so much more than me emotionally and books more, whatever. Stephen Lennhardt is my kind of psychologist, I think, with all due respect to my wife. You're going to be like, well, my research via Stephen Lennard said,

experts say that it's actually a good thing if I swing at someone. Scholars would argue. Yeah. All in my mentally game this weekend when I fought that guy. Yeah, actually, people say it's actually really good for your mental health. Yeah. For anyone who doesn't know, because we have fans who are newer to the league, Stephen Lennhart was a center forward in MLS,

a bit of a journeyman, but really made his name with the San Jose Earthquakes playing alongside Alan Gordon and Chris Wondelowski in a front line for a team that was nicknamed the Goonies because they had like a year where they had every game they were losing in stoppage time and came back and won because Stephen Leonard and Alan Gordon were just battering grams. That would beat the crap out of your team

and he is the ultimate, you love him on your team and you hate him when you play against him and he is a super fascinating human being. He then went and played in Japan a little bit, spent a lot of time in Japan, and is this like perfect... He's like the soccer player who doesn't watch soccer.

So that's like one side of him, which is a huge subset of people, which is really fascinating to interact with. And then the other side is he's this like Zen master guy who starts fights and gets suspended as team psychologist for five to ten games because he's out here because he's not going to let a fight

go away. And it's like just a fascinating human being. The joke I made in our write-up for the YouTube show was, I'm shocked Cuadamac Blanco didn't get in here. Like if you were walking to a room of MLS sickos and you're like, name someone who would get suspended for no reason, the list would be Stephen Leonard and Guadamac Blanco and probably Clint Dempsey as well. And I'm shocked that none of them ended up on this list either. Last little piece of this, do we think MLS will add any suspensions? I would be very surprised if they don't is my understanding and my expectation, but we'll see. Okay. Let's get into New Hampshire. New Hampshire is our state for 50 states of soccer coming up here this week. So we will have our five aside that we will put together.

We will have our scouting report as well. Best soccer bars, lore players who are the local legends, best grounds, most important grounds, whatever it is. Inside. the state best youth club we will go through all of that and so that is going to be a big part of what we're doing this week as i said charlie davies the number one player in the history of soccer in this state uh he is going to be coming on to join us to help talk us through some things in terms of five asides charlie davies is going to be at the top of that um chuck d a big part of the players that have come out of this state it is not this is going to shock you tom probably equal to new jersey in soccer like i wouldn't say that's exactly the list of players that we have in this

but there is some soccer that's played in new hampshire shockingly i'm pretty sure charlie's the only player to play for the revs out of new hampshire like normally you get some local players that have been somewhere so rachel hill currently um with bay fc full-time starter and nwes two-time max semi-finalists at Yukon, 40 appearances in NWSL over the last two years, clearly on here. Josh Bauer, I have pretty high up here because not a lot of people have played a lot of pro. Tom, a guy who came out of college really highly rated, he's probably still on a Doyle's spreadsheet

depth chart, college American players in this position list, and has had a good pro career and may still have better to come. yes yeah i don't want to sound disrespectful it is a different um stratus cherson look the arguments you're having on oh the jersey's i'm just saying by by the way i not to make this but yours michael bradley had a press availability before the game he did went out of his way to say new jersey is home so we need to no i think he went out of his way to say for soccer wise and kickback i am reaffirming that i am new jersey because i think he mentioned us in it he's a big big, big fan and everything that he's doing.

Siad Haji comes in here, was a GA signing a few years back, ended up on the San Jose earthquakes. Morgan Andrews, Notre Dame USC grad, played a couple of years for O.L. Rain and Boston Breakers before they went under. That is most of the names I came up with. Seacoast United, which is one of the big clubs in New Hampshire, I believe in terms of their PDL for the most part, now USL2, has had some big name players who have played for them

In summers like Moisbombo, Jeff Florentowicz, guys like that, I don't think they fit into the from there conversations. And so New Hampshire is a little bit light on it, which is what I'm saying is if you want to, you could move to New Hampshire, have a child, train them at a high level and potentially they could fit into our list when we redo this in a couple of years. Tom, do you have any big New Hampshire things you want to talk about? I don't. I could have seen that one coming. It's a fun state to go and visit and go skiing for a weekend, which is most of my experience. It looks beautiful. Yeah, especially in fall, which is the best season, which is an argument people had with me.

They were really sad that summer is ending as we were at this USA game and this hurricane turned the weather really cold. And I was like, no, fall's the best season. And everyone knows that. And we are deep into it. We will have all of your reaction to the U.S.-Japan game and the Canada Wales game. we will dig back into MLS coming up. There were MLS games this weekend. We didn't really touch on.

Shout out to Owen Wolf for a big weekend. So we will dig into all of that. And we've got plenty more to talk about. So stick around. Thank you to all of you for listening. Thank you to all of you who are here alive with us early on this Monday morning. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon. Thank you.