SoccerWise - Djoride Blockbuster Trade, Son Record Signing, Vermont Green Mania + 12 Biggest 2025 MLS Storylines

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

The Soccerwise crew is back coming off a massively eventful weekend from breaking news out of South Korea to drinking in all of Vermont. First David regales Tom and all of us with his experiences in Burlington for the USL2 final. Then Tom takes into the scoops in the ice cream shop right off the back of breaking the Djordje Mihailovic cashfer to Toronto. They dig into Son’s potential record transfer to LAFC. And then Tom lays out the 12 biggest storylines that will decide the fate of the 2025 MLS season from star players to  Injuries and everything else in between. And finally they start working on the latest “50 States Of Soccer” Wisconsin!00:24 - Gass’s coffee & technology mishap 02:16 - Gass recaps calling the USL 2 Final in Vermont20:16 - Ice Cream Shop, Djordje Mihailovic Trade 35:19 - Son Heung-min to LAFC40:00 - Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia Updates46:50 - 12 Storylines that will define the rest of the 2025 MLS Season01:16:24 - Podcast Business 01:17:10 - 50 States of Soccer: Wisconsin 01:22:21 - Closing Thoughts and Thank You’s 

Hey everybody, welcome back to SoccerWise, David Goss and Tom Bogert in his Scoop Season Error with you here. If you're watching live on YouTube, no theme song to open things up because boy do I have a treat and surprise for all of you. I poured an entire cup of coffee across my laptop on Friday en route to Vermont, which we will talk about heavily going forward. And therefore I don't have a laptop right now. So I am bootstrapping this whole thing. I apologize to everyone. If I sound crazier than normal, that's kind of just where the vibes are right now.

And we've got a great show coming up for you. We are obviously going to dig into the ice cream shop. Tom, you've got some huge storylines for us to talk about in MLS. And we have begun our 50 states of soccer here at Kickback Media across all of our shows, all of our platforms. We did Texas because we were in Texas. And this week we're doing a state that is very close to both of our cultures, which is Wisconsin. When asked many times about what should I know about Wisconsin going into this? What should we promote? I was told alcohol and cheese. I love cheese. You love alcohol. We both love both. Exactly. So this is feels

like it's going to be a bit of a hand in glove situation. We've got a ton of cool content built around this for the rest of the week. We're gonna talk about our five asides with the best soccer players of all time. We're gonna put together, we have Wisconsin-based guests coming on a lot of our shows for the next week with kickback committee coming out tomorrow and then of course we have our NWSL show on Wednesday with the one and only Jordan Angeley who is on site for Trinity Rodman's unreal comeback and goal and winner in DC on Sunday, and then interviewing Trinity Rodman

about everything going on there. So we've got a lot to talk about. We've got a lot to do. And I think it's going to be fun. I think it's going to be fun too. Goss, I appreciate you got everything out of the way formulaically. I don't even want to comment on anything.

I want to open the floor. ISO David Goss, tell me about your experience in Vermont watching a title happen Okay, so there's gonna be a long one from me for starters If you are watching on YouTube, that's a wrong Korean National Championship undefeated season at first undefeated season We think since 2010 when the Portland Timbers you 23 team did it Tom we were in the shallow end when we're talking usl2 and like exacts of like These are the players on this team the amount of players who show up for the playoffs because they're like coming back from their summer

Breaks and they're like yeah I'll play but I'll only play the last three or four games Including the winning goal scorer Max Kissel, who was the winning scorer for University of Vermont in the national championship. Then he went back to his native Germany. Then UVM went on a summer trip to Germany as a team. He caught up with the team, came back to Vermont via that trip, and was like, yeah, I will play the last whatever three games of the season, and if you make the postseason, which they did and now he is the winning goal scorer in USL 2. It was epic.

It was epic on a lot of different fronts. We both travel for a lot of soccer. We've both been to like a lot of the great soccer events. This was on par with anything else I've ever been to from a soccer experience point of view. You have a 25 to 3000 person stadium, which had probably an equal attendance on the grounds outside the stadium, unticketed, just watching the games than you did inside the stadium. So there's probably about five or 6,000 people at the game, but only 25 to 3000 are actually ticketed.

The rest brought their own couches and futons and chairs. You had people sitting on the top of pickup trucks. You had people sitting on the top of shipping containers. You had people just sitting in construction sites on towels to watch the game. And all of that was set up between 12 and eight hours before the game even started. Like we showed up on the stadium grounds

at 2 PM for a 7 PM game. And the entire hill was already covered in grills and couches and tables and all of that for people to hang out and watch. People lined up starting at 7 AM, 8 AM for a 7m. for a 7 p.m. kickoff. And ended up the line, I walked the line at one point after it already opened, it took me about five minutes to walk straight end to end around the corner and to the back of the line. The stadium was bumping, the experience was epic,

the weather was perfect, it's one of those things that I would have killed to have gone to anytime, anywhere. You add on top of that, that one of the people who helped found this and is help managing this, I went to elementary school with, and played on the B team on our local soccer team, because we were not immediately placed on the A team, because we were not good enough at soccer,

to now come back around and be in the soccer sphere together. And when he asked me to do the game, it was one of those things where you're like, enough at soccer to now come back around and be in the soccer sphere together. And like when he asked me to do the game, it was like one of those things where you're like, this is my only skill set. I'm not very useful in life. Like I don't know how to do a lot of things except talk about soccer. And now I have a really good friend who's doing something so cool and I can use my literal one skill set to help enhance that and help be a part of it. And this is the type of thing that like,

if I didn't know the people and they called me and asked me, I would have been there to do it. And if he called me to ask me to do anything, I would have gone there to do it. And so it was a no brainer, of course I'm gonna be there, but like to experience it, to watch it all happen, to watch how much all of it means to so many people in this community

and to watch them like celebrate and enjoy it and Explode afterwards and during the goals and there are flares which technically didn't happen but did obviously happen The tea fell Unreal. Oh my god. I was gonna say that welcome to the bernie bow. Oh my God. I was going to say that. Welcome to the Bernie bow. Oh my God. That's incredible. And so I'm on, I'm standing on top of a small hut at a card table across the field under a pop-up tent.

That's where I called the game from. Which is almost exactly like what it was like in college where I went to school in Boston at Northeastern. At Northeastern I used to have to climb through what they called a submarine entrance because it was like a ladder that was imprinted on the wall and you'd go through these little holes to get to the top to broadcast the game. It was the same thing here. We literally climbed up a ladder to get to it.

And so I was like back at my roots. It just felt full circle so many ways. And after the game, we go and we you know, celebrate with the players, celebrate with the staff, celebrate with a lot of the major fans. Then we went out onto the street and people are just stopping them on downtown Burlington on Church Street to take photos with the USL two trophy. And like, are like fanboying over like my friend that I grew up with who like helped start this thing. And we get out of, then eventually we get back

to his house at like two, three o'clock in the morning. And we get out of the car and I said to him, remember when we skipped junior prom so we could go to a Metro Stars Columbus crew game? Cause they promoted it as Juan Pablo on hell against Guillermo Barros Coloto to super classico River Boca. And I was like, this is something we should go to.

We took a public bus from Port Authority to Giant Stadium to stand in an empty stadium and watch that trash game at the time. Shout out to Eddie Gavin, because he was clearly playing for one of those two teams. Can't remember which one, but you know, he was on one of those squads. And it's like, look where we are now. It just was like crazy. We would have clawed at the opportunity to be in an atmosphere like that. And now he has created that and helped create that and be a part of it in this team. It was such an unbelievable moment.

I told him when I left, it's the coolest thing I've ever done in my entire life, because it would have been anyway, but to have to be connected to someone you care about so much and you're so like proud of was on a different level. And I got asked a couple of times over the course of the day, like, what is this? Why is this happening? Like what? And it's not just Vermont, right? It's Ballard, too. Like talking to the owners and founders of Ballard, one being Lamar Nako, but Sam Zizet,

who is like they are tight from being childhood and created this team. They're doing the same thing as Vermont, where they're like, we believe in our community. Their team's like 90% from Seattle or Washington or plays there. Like, it's all the things you want. It just emboldened what we've tried to do since we started SoccerWise as well, which is like building soccer things for soccer people, because we're soccer people. Every once in a while, you go to things in the US and you're like, this is wonky and I don't know why.

For the most part, it's because someone doesn't get it. They're not a part of it. Seeing people who care about it at its core, but our version, not just British people popping in, there are some British people involved, I will allow it, but like seeing people who are really at their core a part of it, just everything about it was unreal. The coffee cup on the computer maybe was actually the cherry on top because I like couldn't do anything. So I'm just, I hand wrote my notes like we're back into the Vince Coey era. It was just, it was so perfect. It was so amazing. The weather was perfect on top of all of it. And I know a lot of people in our, you know, community and

our discord, everything else, like we're talking about it and watching it. If you didn't go back and check out the scenes, go watch on social, go to our handles. We have a bunch of my videos up and other people's videos and go out next year. Like if you're in the New England area, go. If you're not, find your local team. Like Dothan, who Vermont beat in the semifinals, had over 8,000 fans at their final regular season game in USL2. Ballard sells out and has people that are sitting trees

and all of that around. The Portland Bangers, I know one of our producers, Douglas, flew out to Portland for a Portland Bangers game, not a Timbers or a Thorns game, but it was unreal, man. And I cannot say enough about it. And I unfortunately will probably be talking about this every day for the rest of this week. As you damn well deserve to.

Just from listening to you speak there, for those who haven't heard some of the background from Gossam this, it is one of the most pure and genuine and cool things like just listening to you recount this right now made me extremely happy and got me like ready to drive to Burlington myself just like all right like i'm gonna run through a wall i'm gonna sit on one of those couches from noon until kickoff what was your next year. 100%. 100%. What was the... Are you allowed to say any... and again, I don't even know if there's anything that you're not allowed to say. Your favorite part? The post-game stuff. Like whatever from the final whistle until whenever the hell you went to sleep 48 hours later.

Well, so I've been... it was kind of funny because there was this moment on Friday evening where they were talking through with the USL League two officials and their team, like run of show for, for trophy next, you know, the next day and what would happen. And like, again, I've been in those meetings 10 plus times for MLS cups, but like now I was in one with my friend about his team and like what was going to happen. And so I kept sort of like chiming in with like, Whoa, you know, like this and kind of everyone was like, we don't really know what you're talking about. I'm like, oh, have you not been on the field

for 10 plus title, like trophy lifts? And this is going back to me being the cup handler in 2016. So like, having really experienced from an operations point of view, the background. After all of that, I was talking to him and at one point the next day, they had all their trophies that they've already won

in for their team photo the day before to like present them. And I was like, you should bring all the trophies. You're gonna want them. And he's like, really? I don't really wanna like stress about where they are. I'm like, dude, after you win, said it that way, you are going to want to be, people are gonna wanna take pictures with all the trophies.

Like I've seen it happen, right? I have seen when I can't even think of a team that's won doubles and trebles right now, but TFC probably did Yeah, like they had the shield there because everyone's like taking photos with all of it. So then He was like fine, whatever so we bring them we go When the game ends, this is the second game I've been to I help out we break down the whole stadium He has like a team of interns and volunteers You're sorting trash because they recycle everything to the correct place because the team has like an environmental justice and environmental Opportunity tilt to it. So they like properly do all of that. They break down their own stuff

So the game ends at 9 p.m We probably left the stadium at 1130 maybe 12 And we go to like what is their official post game at a local coffee shop with the players and everyone else. And we get out of the car and right then like all the co-founders walked up at the same time as well as the star player and two of the other players. And so we hand everyone a trophy and everyone walks in and I'm behind them.

And everyone inside starts chanting, Ole, Ole, Ole, and like everyone's got their own trophy because there's four trophies that they won this year and everyone's like presenting them and my buddy had the cup on his head and it was like, this is sick. And it's just pure joy. And I've experienced that pure joy through friends now

over the years that I've like gone and worked for MLS teams, but this was different because it was just this other connection. And to watch everyone experience it was epic. The other thing that was the best, the players called my friend Bossman and they're like, oh, you're an old dude. They think you're an adult. This is insane. There are 40 plus college age kids who are part of this team over the course of the

season who are like, yeah, you know, like the decision makers up top and they're talking about my friends and that alone is insane. That's like the way I talk about you with soccer wise and kickback. Exactly. The adult in the room, all this stuff. Yeah. But compared to you, I feel it a little bit better. But compared to these players

It was wild. So yeah, that was that was a big one That's that also they have a Somalian food truck that comes to every game The truck left the game and went down onto the main church street outside the bars to do the late-night scene So we went and showed up at the bar and we were like going to get in they saw him They ran over to him He took the trophy into the Somalian food, they ran over to him, he took the trophy into the Somalian food cart, and everyone's taking pictures of him holding the trophy,

and it was like, this is sick. That is, again, that is pure organic and awesome. Can I ask, what is the dish that you got from that? I didn't. I would like to say that I didn't. That is shocking to me. I know. I was kind of proud of myself.

That's shocking, that's shocking. It was. Are you proud of it? That's shocking. That's shocking. It was Well, I didn't have time pregame because I was technically working and then I didn't late-night eat it Which I was proud that I didn't late-night eat it Although I had a 6 a.m. Flight, which I got an uber at 4 45 for and I obviously did not go to sleep Hell yeah, dude. Never gonna happen. Yeah, it was never gonna happen. Yeah. So yeah, man, it's like a once in a lifetime thing.

And it's like all these moments where it's like, all these kids are G8 Cup players. So like I already have seen them play. It was like all these things that came together that you just, I wouldn't have guessed that that would happen in my lifetime. So it was awesome. Shout out to Ballard.

They had a watch party. They've blown up in their area. Obviously larger than that in Seattle. Obviously they've got super celebrity fans like Noah and Ari at Lobbing Scorchers who are like these big Hollywood people. They're kind of like the Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac or any of our space. And they're not like core fans emotionally.

They're like big money more, but they like come in and get connected with it. And you better believe I am going to slurp every drip of the hot sauce that they're sending our way as losers. Just take a shot. Take a shot. What did we put on the line, by the way?

I know that we were so confident that Vermont was gonna win, but I didn't even remember the other side of the bet. It was soccer wise gear. I think we're gonna send them hats and then Figo was gonna make them a personalized hot sauce. Because he has not been in the lab in a little while. So he does not have a current amount of hot sauce.

I do think the victory by Vermont Green, because Figo used to be roommates with Matt Wolf and is also very closely tied to Vermont Green, has inspired him to get back in the lab and make hot sauces in general, not even related to, because he doesn't need to, because we won, obviously. And so it isn't even fully necessary. We will get with Noah and Ari's people, because the problem of getting them on the show today was,

we had to go through personal assistance and PR teams and all of that, so we just couldn't get it done in time. So we'll see if we can get them on the show to talk, was we had to go through personal assistance and PR teams and all of that. So we just couldn't get it done in time. So we'll see if we can get them on the show to talk because I do think they have some things about rave greens specifically that they want to say to us, which is part of the bet.

So at some point that will happen. But dude, just like, come on, dude, I feel like I'm in a 1995 high school movie about winning the division championship. Like these hats are sick. The gear is sick. I got swagged out. I'm in a 1995 high school movie about winning the division championship. These hats are sick, the gear is sick, I got swagged out. Thank you to everyone who stopped me and said hello. Shout out to all the Soccer Wise fans who are there.

I'm going on the local Vermont Green podcast later this week, which I'm hyped about, to talk more about this. It was awesome. It was awesome. It was sick. The Club 11 guys were there who were at our Austin event as well. If you don't know about this, Search Club 11, they are driving this bus around, mainly covering US Open Cup. They are content creators of photographers, videographers, all this type of stuff.

They've got this bus that they've swagged out with like all US soccer history. And one of the pieces that they are framing now is post-game Owen O'Malley who has become the like mayor of this team. Tom, you would love him. He was here on the OG team. He was a generation of DDoS draft pick in 2022. To St. Louis. Yes. He has since lost his pro contract. So he came to finish out the year with this team, basically started the first game, didn't play for two months because he was not fully fit, came on the field, scored the 103rd minute winner to win the division on the road at their biggest rival, scored another huge goal in the playoffs.

He's like the mayor of the city. He went into the supporting section postgame and his jersey got burned by one of the flares and he gave it to club 11. They are framing it and they are putting it next to their cosmos. Game worn jersey on the bus was what I was told. That is how high regarded sits. That sounds incredible. That sounds perfect. I got nothing to add to that. That's fantastic. I don't know. So much lore here. So much lore. It was an all-timer. In saying that we should probably do the rest of our show at some point.

If you guys want us to become a USL 2 show, I'm in favor of it. We would love to go to more soccer games. It is, you know, the game is really strong at so many different levels and I think we've talked about that on the show. We've covered Jägermeister Cup we obviously cover NWSL heavily we've talked a little bit Super League as well W League shout out to Hickory Nation I believe is the name who won the NPSL championship this weekend as well I know we've got some of their super fans in our in our discord and in our community who have sent some stuff over so So that, another cool story, again, watch party, sold out bar, like all of that,

to watch a game at the lower divisions in US Soccer, which is super cool. So we love talking about all this stuff, but then on the top end, we gotta do the Tommy Scoop stuff. So Tom, let's dig into, unless you're not done, we can dig into a little bit of the big time work. I told you, I'm a good teammate. I was ready to be laid out for an hour and a half.

It was a quick segment on Vermont. Thank you to everyone for handling my insanity on this. It was perfect. This is the line that we like to straddle. Just a little bit crazy, but fun. So let's get into the ice cream shop. First big one came breaking news today. Toronto FC have agreed a deal and are finalizing a deal

to sign Georgie Mihailovich from the Colorado Rapids for worth a Rapids club record outbound fee of eight million dollars up front plus one million in add-ons plus the Rapids will retain a sell-on clause. So as it was described to me, the Rapids rejected two bids from Toronto this summer and they were intent they didn't want to sell them this summer they're in the playoff spots they are looking to build they would have revisited it in the winter if they hoped but Toronto came very strong and they weren't going to do this until Georgie Mohailovic went to the Rapids and said please like I want to leave for Toronto this I want you to take this offer and so at the end of the day that the Rapids honored that they're not you know again

they didn't want to lose this player, but Georgian and Toronto are in talks about a new contract. And he is the face, the marquee face of this new era of Toronto FC, post-Italian DP disaster era. And Toronto wanted to get it done right now because even though he's not going to help them save 2025, Toronto believes that if this got to the winter there was gonna be a bidding war and they were not willing to risk this so they paid a little bit of a premium probably like the Rapids weren't gonna let this go for cheap to get him now

but they do still think that they would have had to pay something like this in the winter if not more if They were even able to get him if other MLS clubs are coming in for him There's like so much to take in with this. Yeah Lot of different angles to go Don't I'm not even gonna touch Montreal yet for a second, which is having their own Monster gotta be having their own experience on this Georgie approached the team because he wanted to move to a different MLS team so when Toronto had the two bids rejected and

He came to Colorado and said he wanted them to take the offer and for him to go there. And the Rapids tried to convince him to stay in a couple of times, a couple of meetings. But you assume enough would have been off of the same contract Toronto's offering. I don't have those details. It seemed like his decision was made. Again, I had a maybe that there's something there,

but that's as far as I got. Maybe, again, this is something that broke, I think a couple hours ago. There's been a lot of fallout I've gotten. Multiple high-level ranking executives at other MLS clubs texted me and just said, I had to triple check to make sure that this was actually your account, not a fake account.

The fake accounts are starting to get treacherous in moments like this This is I don't want to overstate this but this feels crippling for the Colorado Rapids That the rapids let me say from my point of view and you can and you can knock it down For the Colorado Rapids to establish themselves who they are, which is yes. We are someone that takes shots on American players that have gone abroad that maybe it hasn't worked out or American players in MLS, especially homegrown, or haven't gotten the shots with their clubs

that they thought. I guess the hope would have been that at the end of that story, which is now first developing for the first time, the end of that story was, and then that player becomes a club legend, and then that player stays here, and then that player is a part of this And then that player stays here. And then that player is a part of this.

I didn't have calculated in that. We then flipped them to another MLS team who has failed to make the postseason in multiple years, has put themselves into a cul-de-sac in terms of roster decisions and all of that. For that to be considered superior, I understand the Robin Frazier connection that- I had this wrong.

And I just assume that Frazier got fired two months before Georgie arrived. Okay. So I don't understand that. I thought the same thing too. Yeah. It that I think feels really, really tough for you could convince me that money they get and how big of a difference maker Georgie has versus other players and the talent they also have and whatever that they could like cover for it from a talent point of view at some point But I think from like a fan perspective from like a hierarchy perspective It feels really harsh to say this is where you sit right now in MLS Yeah, so let's stick on the the Colorado because I do want to get to Toronto side as well

But Gossa, I think you're completely spot on there. I think the biggest But Gasa, I think you're completely spot on there. I think the biggest surprise, and maybe we shouldn't be surprised with the new cash for rule, with the way that the global soccer world works. But to your point, I thought Georgie was the face of this project, that he was gonna be here long-term,

that okay, he already went to Europe and it worked out a little at first and he got hurt, and then it didn't work out. And now he's back home, now he's happy. Everything that I've heard about Georgie Mihailov in colorado was that he was very very happy and that this is what they expected him to be the face of this team the face of this club the control for when the next sam vines and the next colbassett and the next insert 18 19 year old that breaks through and then gets sold georgie's the control sam Sam Vines coming back is the control. Hoffa Navarro, Zach Steffen, those are the controls.

And then you have the young players, the whole where we want to develop you and sell you on and be part of it. But he was supposed to be the pillar. So again, I know Colorado, I hate to see him go. They're sad to see him go, but Georgie wasn't in the lineup on Sunday night. This is why.

And he made it clear, I don't, I want to take this offer to Toronto. It's not that he came to Colorado and said, I want to leave this club because I want to leave this. Yeah, it was the Toronto offer on the table. Hey, I'm sure he had an idea that there was a pay raise coming. And hey, this is this is kind of what I want. So that's where that that's what that one is for Colorado.

And again, it is it is like I understand why it feels like a bit of a cut punch to to the fans and stuff. And again, they is like, I understand why it feels like a bit of a cut punch to the fans and stuff. And again, they're in ninth place in the West right now. And it's tough. Like, I really trust this front office, this coaching staff to find another guy. But like, it's tough. Like, Georgie was that guy, you know?

Here's one of those things. I think we went down this hole a few weeks ago, and I don't know that I said this properly, so I'm saying it here, which is I trust Colorado's front office and coaching staff to deal with this as best as possible. It is not necessary that it has to be dealt with. If the ownership of this club invests the way other ownership groups are, and Toronto FC now, I will state specifically as one of them, they wouldn't have to do that. So it's like one of those things where there's sometimes

that we have this combo where you're like, the world is what it is. Gaga Selena, he's going to Chelsea. That's happening. Like there's nothing Chicago Fire's ownership could do short of buying 700 players, importing them all to MLS, changing MLS and making it the Champions League To stop that from happening and that's like fine

And I think we've talked about this on this show a lot of times like sometimes that's okay This one isn't the case and so I think poor again his group will deal with it as well as possible They're gonna be effective with this money as well as anyone's going to be. I think some of the moves they've already made for Kootie, P.A. Tron, guys like that are good moves and have future potential to be a future, maybe Georgie Mihailovic, maybe Cole Bassett level player, whatever it is. But like you didn't have to. And that's one of those things that we should define when we talk about this, because it's not a knock on the work that can be done to replace him.

It's the fact that it doesn't have to be a reality that it does have to be done. On the flip side, doing TFC, Georgi showed his versatility, right? He shined in non-safe system and he shined in armistice system. So it's possession heavy with high pressing and then high pressing heavy with less possession. He's worked in both of them. So I think I know which way Robin Frazier wants to go. But like you get a guy I always like early in these projects, get a guy who is versatile and also like what an epic MLS core of like Jonathan Osorio and Georgie Mihailovich to

like lead this thing. And then you can bring in other DPs externally who can come into it. And you talked about control. like these are your controls of guys Who have shown? Year in and year out they'll produce in this league Yeah, so on the Toronto side of this I understand why they identify George and myovitch and you look at and again It doesn't even just need to be on the back end of insinia Bernadeski disasters Georgie is like again. We'll start off the field like culture building,

that was something that was super important over the last two windows, and now they move forward with Georgie as a leader, as him entering his prime at 26 years old. MLS proven was a really big part of this search, and I think a really big part of why ownership was like, okay, like I want to give credit to ownership here. They're eating a lot of money on Insinia and Bernadeski. Things have been bad for five seasons in Toronto. I, my fear for this team was ownership was going to say, my God, no big signings until the winter, this season's already lost. We're not spending an extra six months of money for this stuff.

Instead, this shows me that they trust Jason Hernandez in that front office and Robin Frazier and his staff, which I think is good because I like just because like they've been burned for years and like it's not my money, but I wouldn't have blamed them if they said, you know what, let's revisit it in the winter. So this shows some faith in the current regime. This shows the current regime being able to get their pillar of the team moving forward, their face of this club moving forward, they will have another DP spot open, whether they fill it this summer or not, just getting Georgian now I think is really, really important. And in the winter, they've got like 15, or like, I forget what the exact number is.

They're gonna have a whole new team again next year. And finally, they are at the light at the end of the tunnel from all the bad crap of the previous five years. So many of these bad deals and some of the contracts that they could not get out of are going to be done and now you're building around a new foundation. Insinia and Bernadeski are gone. You don't have their shadow over you. You get to move forward and Georgie Mihailovich gets to be the face. What I was told, they're going to play him at left wing. They're going to play him at Sackie midfield. Like I said, the versatility is attractive

and we'll see how it comes together. But this this is an excellent signing and again whether or not you quibble with the fee You know what you're getting right? You know what you're getting with George Mihailovich He's in the 86 percentile in expected assists among attacking midfielders and winners this year 77 percentile in shot creating actions you're getting an elite attack attacking player in this league Maybe he doesn't have the upside of MVP like like Hany Mukhtar, Daewon Gwai. But he doesn't have the floor of Lorenzo Insinia. And I think that is really important for this team. He also was in MVP conversations with Montreal.

For sure, best 11. For sure, best 11. Yeah. I don't know if he ended up on a short list for MVP, but we were talking about that all year. And obviously, Nansei is a unique coach and all of that changes stuff. But like, yeah, this is a bit of a no brainer, I think for TFC also to just like, as assigned internally of like, we're doing things differently now. You know, the gap between Lorenzo Insinia and Bernadesi and Georgia Mohavec are maybe as large as you can get for like big expenditures for a team. This shows my head's been in the clouds

and I don't have a computer. Tyree Spicer got traded, right? Correct, to Orlando City. So the Spicer asked the team for a new contract. They said no, and he said, okay, then trade me. And so they did. I like him there. I liked him at wingback.

Like he was a difference maker. I don't know if I love him at winger, but Angulo is not like the most dangerous player or he could be a left back at whatever it is. He's an MLS player that I like acquiring and like taking a risk on. And I think I thought Toronto did well to draft him first. And I wasn't an obvious draft pick. Yeah. And I like the idea of him getting a move and being a difference maker. Sorry.

No, no, no. I was going to say the one more thing on this before we move to the next one is this shows the power of the cash for George. I'm high. There is no opportunity for him to get traded in any time before this winter when the cash for was introduced.

And I think, again, we were on this from the beginning talking about how important this is. Like a Vander would would be gone, Daniel Gasdag would either still be fighting Philly for a new contract or he'd be in another league, Lucho Costa, like all these things, like, this is, if you're Atlanta United, if they had three open DP spots this winter, maybe they go for three players within the league, right? Like, I think that we're going to see a lot more of like, oh my oh my god like at least if you have a couple DP spots open you're gonna hey you know I've heard people like I've heard everybody is at a price right and there have been like Santi Santiago Rodriguez

before he left NYCFC I heard he was floated around like people like people will call Nashville how much would it cost for us to get honey mook dark those are conversations that just don't happen because it was not possible before this. And we're gonna see more and more of this. The other thing we said, and this coming off the back of me saying like this is crippling for Colorado, maybe isn't the right thing to say,

but like if Georgie wanted a different contract, the only option for him would have been to leave. And I don't know that an external source is giving $8 million for him. No, like some of these players are more valuable within MLS. Right, so that's the other bump, which we discussed when it first came about is like,

do you end up having teams that don't have as successful homegrown territories who maybe will buy a local, buy a homegrown from another club, maybe overvalued because they want a homegrown and they want someone on that type of control but then on the Flip side is like now we have built this internal ecosystem, which is can the bigger market teams Invest money into smaller market teams who now have that money to go out, you know

The hope would be Colorado now goes gets to take four shots at the next George Imahailovich and then you know if one or two of hits, now they can cash in for 60 million the next time across the two of them or whatever it is. All of that's really hard to say in this setting because the hierarchy being set of like Colorado acknowledging that they are at the bottom of it is pretty tough. But in the past, it would have been they would have to strangle hold themselves into some weird Tam Gam draft pick trade that they don't have to do anymore. Yeah, and I will say, I think another offshoot of the cash for system is gonna be,

it makes it really hard to say no when somebody has a new contract. Because all that agent needs is one of the 29 other teams to say, yeah, I would give you more. Like look at Walker Zimmerman, like his contract's gonna be up, I forget when, whether it's this winter or next, whatever it is. You might say, alright, maybe they, Nash will keep him not as a DP.

If it's, one other team says, if he gets a free agency, we'll give him a DP deal. Then, like, that might be, and again, I'm just using Zimmerman as an example off the top of my head, but now with this, it provides more freedom for the players, and it provides much stronger leverage on there, because like like we were saying in Previous iterations of MLS you could just say oh well No, and then what can the player do short of making a mess to like make it uncomfortable? Toronto FC fans have a reason to show up for a game for the first time in years Like not saying they're gonna win everything but like if you're a fan

I think you'll be hyped and you'll be like, yeah, I want to go see him play I want to go see his debut. Whatever it is. Yeah, I Can't remember the last moment this club had like that of like here's the reason to come this weekend the start of 23 when there Was still hope for Insignia. Yeah All right next big one and this is very soccer wise that we did Georgie Mohailovich before Sun Young Min. LAFC, a deal is being finalized. That's first reported by myself and Ben Jacobs. The fee will be in the ballpark of 20 to 26 million dollars.

So it is going to be either the second highest transfer fee in MLS history or a new league record. Contracts are agreed. Club to club terms are agreed. Everything is set. Travel plans are set. He stayed back when Spurs left South Korea to continue their pre-season preparations.

Sun stayed back. It's unclear if he's gonna go straight from South Korea to LA. I've heard that there was plans for him to be traveling within one of these couple of days. An announcement could happen soon. If that's all, like again, whether or not an announcement comes in two days or a week,

like this is happening. Sun Hyung-min, LAFC on potentially a league record transfer fee. LAFC just rides the gamut of like, is this team being as competitive as possible? And then, yeah, we're gonna break a league record transfer. And yet one that is a little bit in question, like is he worth the league record transfer transfer I have trouble with these convos because

It's not my money like once you're past the number. What do I care? Why do I care if it's 18 20 26 like because of the way the DP set up is like you can only spend on X Amount of players so it's not like oh if we save some here. We're gonna use it somewhere else The question would just be and this was the debate we had when Lorenzo and Signe signed, of like, who else could you get at that number? Because I think with Sun, it's just how much does he have left to like fully be the guy for you?

And that's gonna be the whole debate. And then if it doesn't work out, I think questions will be asked of like, how much of this was commercial based of like, okay, it works, he's a big name, he's a good signing, and bringing a Korean international to our market makes sense I'm stoked about it. I think he's fun. I think he's fun in transition. I think he's dangerous I think him and buronga will work out fine

I don't think they cross over in the wrong way but that might need son has to play the quote unquote ten in that midfield and Then you have a lot of players in there who you've brought in that are starter capable that are not gonna start. And maybe it doesn't fill that hole on the right wing the same way that you thought it would, but this guy's gonna score goals.

He's gonna create chances. Like this is all gonna fit in to this team the way you want it to. And I can't really see it going off the rails. Let me just say on the point of what does he have, like, hey, if this doesn't work out, are we gonna look back at like all, you know, his legs are gone or something.

Last season, county stats in the premier league, and I remind you Tottenham finished 17th, but not necessarily a good team around them. Seven goals, 10 assists in 2100 minutes. That's pretty elite for a team that almost got relegated, not almost, but you know what I mean? In terms of underlying numbers, 95th percentile in expected assists, 88th percentile in expected goals plus expected assists, 92nd percentile in shot creating

actions. This dude's got a lot left in the tank, man. I think he's going to be a superstar immediately. And on the fee, yeah, it's's a lot Spurs were asking for 35 million dollars or 40 million dollars from Saudi if Saudi if he was gonna go to Saudi so LAFC did kind of get a little bit of a discount because Spurs wanted to help with selling and they knew listen we could say 35 million there's no way that LAFC can or will pay that maybe not can but that's but you know that's just so far beyond what the MLS record is. And I'm not an expert on the commercial side, nor do I particularly care, because whatever. Like you said, it's somebody else's money.

I will say, they're gonna get a lot of money back. So I think that transfer fee, they don't have to worry about that being a bad return on investment. And again, most importantly is what he looks on the field. And he looks like, even last season, when it was like, oh, is he still peak sun? Everything said he was peak Sun

Maybe he won't quite be that but the drop off from the Premier League and winning the Europa League to MLS I think it'd be fun. Yeah, no It makes a lot of sense. I think LAFC fans should be excited because again This is a team that's like kind of bucked back and forth of like we're being super competitive We're gonna then quickly sell Mateusz Bogusz our coach is leaving. We don't have another coach in place Obviously the Aaron long injuries thrown like a wrench and all of this but it like oh you got this opening for Club World Cup What are you gonna do? Oh, we're gonna sign an out of the team winger from Club America that no one wants and then we're gonna Extend it one more day to have him play in another game

Which like we don't even really want him to play. And so there's been these highs and lows moments. And I think this is a nice high for you to say, no, post-Turandot, we are still pushing this as hard as we possibly can. I completely agree. We're going to talk a little bit more about LAFC and the big storylines later. So moving on, just a couple more news notes to hit. The Portland Simbers are finalizing a deal to sign Christopher Valday from Olympiakos. Fees around 5-6 million is what I was told. He's joining on a DP deal. Portland wanted

to be aggressive this summer and add to the team. They're bringing in their DP that will replace Jonathan Rodriguez who hit the season ending injured list. And then next season they'll be able to have all three of those DPs because Santi Moreno ages out of the U22 initiative. I'm still told on Santi Moreno that he was held out of the team a couple days ago But there was still no new bid from Fluminense. The player wants to move but the offer on the table is not good enough for Portland They still want to keep the player They're still pushing to keep the player. Valdé coming in does not necessarily mean Santi Moreno is gonna leave and one more point I'm told Portland have one more

Significant addition starting level addition to the team that they're close on. So VELDE now and hopefully one more signing that adds to the starting 11. And this team wanted to be aggressive, they are being aggressive, they're getting some stuff done a little bit early in the summer and trying to impact the rest of the season and beyond. Yeah, they've looked good in League's Cup so far, that's a shot at a trophy.

I think a lot of the attack is super impressive. Tacosta's only gonna get better. Like, you're talking about an all-star in year one, and then let's hit that Gauss theorem on that one and see what it looks like going forward. And, like, a lot of these pieces are young. So I think this was the hope with Evander originally. It didn't happen, but now do you have a couple building block players that you can sort of set this thing,

whole thing up around? I want to give a quick shout-out to Noah Santos, who made his debut off the bench last game. This is how quickly I get there. He's one of my favorite young players. He is like the one player out of Portland's Academy. He scores goals in like every weird way, which it's like not Ricardo Pepe-esque, but it's similar of just like if there's a way to find a body part that can put it in, it will be

him clinical in those spots. And I don't know, we just named like 37 players who can create chances for a good finisher. Flippé Mora has lived off it over the last few years. I think Kelsey will as well. But like, there's a bunch of options there. So I think cool one for Portland. Yeah. And Valdes going to be able to add goals is kind of the profile that that I've heard from Scouts. And the idea is having him on the field too.

And when Anthony gets back as well and San Antonio Moreno, like that David de Costa, who's been I think very good since he got here, people have talked to her like we think he has another level to come once the team is kind of set up around him better and like a better fits like, like, because they thought the same thing about him and Jonah Rodriguez. But obviously he was limited to like 120 minutes before they had to put him on the season a integer list So there's a lot of excitement in Portland a couple more here to get to before we get to Our last segment but Andre Franco Chicago fire that deal is very close is what I was told And initially it sounded like he was going to her probably going to be a DP the update that I've got is

It's looking like a loan deal initially, which would keep their DP spot open for the Chicago Fire. So they're going to bring in an attacking midfielder from poor two and adding to their team again, they're over the playoff line right now and they're hoping to stay there. I did mention League's Cup either. We're not going to dig in deep on League's Cup

because like we're in the middle of this thing, whatever this phase is. And then for the next show will be done So we'll know what the next round looks like and what everyone did. So just remind you there We're not gonna we're not gonna go full leaks cup Which is what we desire to do at all times and we're both like super invested in every single thing that happens in it But you can tune into whatever we will be on at some point if you want that coverage Last one here Milan Aloski to the Philadelphia Union. I broke that

So he's a Debate point he left San Diego because they could not come to terms on a new contract Aloski what I was told wasn't asking too much into the TAM Like again the idea that they were asking to be a DP, it's not accurate in any way. It still was more than what San Diego wanted to pay him. They said, okay, like go find that contract if somebody's going to offer it. Philadelphia Union come in.

What I was told is the fee should be in and around a million dollars. And obviously he'll get a contract with Philly. I think this is very interesting because usually it's Philly says, I don't want to give you the contract raise. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then that player goes to somewhere else. So I think that's just interesting because usually it's Philly says I don't want to give you the contract raise and then that player goes Somewhere else so I think that's just an interesting subplot San Diego or confident in their team but but foot of Union getting a Striker that they think is gonna fit their system, and it's just a really interesting move I think you could argue he can play on the wide spots as well where Vasilev and

Quincella and play so it he will go into like a four to five player rotation or like position, which Philly is a thin roster. Like they want to play their kids, they've done it on purpose, that's fine, but they can contend for a shield, like legitimately, especially with the way League's Cup has rolled out and the fact that they're not in it against all these other teams.

Like they've got a real shot at this. So a guy who has already found his feet in the league this year is a good ad. My assumption would be every team's are at a price they thought on a player like this and Philly saw it and we're like, yeah, okay, that's worthwhile value for us. I'm sure they'll build him up and sell him for cash

for inside of the league at the end of all of this. But he seems to make sense, right? He's super mobile. He finishes well in transition. He's fairly aggressive in his first few actions going, going towards goal. Like all the things he did well for San Diego were very Philly esque. We're like, you could argue a decent chunk of fill of San Diego's players. I like that.

Not all of them. And I think a lot of ski fits into that exact mold mold of what they would have looked for rather than the like oh they're good because they'll play through pressure and will like try and play out of anything he's not that guy he was the like tip at the end of like okay the moment you get it he's trying to take risks and go towards goal like that should be a pretty clean rollover to Philly I would agree and. And what I liked about it, again, it was a smaller sample size, but I think it's real,

again, not to the rate that he was scoring, but I think it's real because he scores in different ways. It's a super diversified profile of finishing. It's not just like, oh, he can only be on the left side of the box and curl it to the bottom corner, right? He scores headers, he scores with both feet. He's uncorked a couple, maybe not from like distance distance, but they're not just tap-ins, they're not just like on a

breakaway. He's done it in so many different ways that I would bet on that, even though San Diego's argument was small sample size, prove it again, then we'll give you the contract. Yeah. Said it'll be Philly. So that's it for the ice cream shop here. There's more and more to go, but I'm sure we'll talk about plenty plenty more in in the transfer window here so what I wanted to do as we sit at the end of the phase one group phase stage you know whatever the clinical term is for League's Cup phase one before we get back to the Amalas Reiko season resuming and the stretch the knockout rounds of League's Cup and the finals for the you know the

final rounds of Open Cup Canadian Championship we're at a point right now to reset and get stretch for the knockout rounds of the Leagues Cup and the finals for the final rounds of Open Cup Canadian Championship. We're at a point right now to reset and get ready for the sprint. These are, to me, the 12 people or things that will define the stretch run of the MLS season. Goss, are you ready for my first one? To be clear to everyone, I have not heard these yet, so I will be reacting live to Tom Scoops.

I am ready. I am excited mainly because you're wearing that t-shirt. For anybody watching on YouTube, this is a Grateful Dead shirt. The tie dye. They sponsored the Lithuania basketball team to go to the Olympics and these were the shirts that Lithuania wore in the warm-up. Basketball lore. Very holistic.

Yeah, it's incredible. So, first first one I'm sorry I preface this this is boring but dude Lino Messi in his hamstring right that like let's not overthink this this is yeah one of the main things that is going to impact the stretcher under the season he should be back soon they seem to have avoided any any really bad news with the scans instead of kind of a minor a minor muscle strain In his last eight MLS games. He has 20 goal contributions 20 goal contributions in his last eight MLS games Miami

If they get some Leagues Cup knockout rounds, they're gonna be a serious player there They're serious in the shield race and they're obviously gonna be one of the favorites for MLS Cup So leno Messi is the center of all that. Yeah, I don't disagree with that. I appreciate you being main focused first before we get into our soccer wise bad as we go along. And he's the most important player in the league for many, many reasons. This will probably be the year he has a legitimate shot at MVP and he probably won't win it after having won it in years

maybe where he shouldn't have. But yeah. Yeah, for me, it's Andres Dreier still has it by a hair and he probably won't win it after having won it in years maybe where he shouldn't have but uh yeah yeah um for me it's andres dryer still has it by a hair and maybe he'll get to keep that for a bit longer it will be if by any wins the shield it won't be if they don't like if he can help them make the run back from games in hand but deficit on points that's how he wins it guys if if he has more goal contributions by like five or more, it doesn't matter if they finish third in this field. And again, reminder, like Messi's going to win the player

vote every single time on these awards. So that's something to play into it. And it's also funny because like, you're not supposed to count other stuff, but like if they win Leakes Cup, they made it out of the club world cup. If he ends up on that and they don't win the shield, I would be okay with that, even though you're technically not supposed to,

you're supposed to put on these stupid blinders and pretend the soccer games they played well in against arguably opponents better at times than MLS, didn't happen. Bro, you wouldn't vote Giannis Antenacubo MVP because of what he did at the NBA in-season tournament presented by Las Vegas and gambling or whatever. Well, I used to know someone very closely who worked on the in-season tournament and

I was a Rob Lowe in-season tournament fan first and then I was an NBA basketball fan so I probably would have. Fair enough. Bad example. Alright, number two of one of the twelve most important people or things to define the end of the MLS season. Number two for me is the Columbus crew attacking chemistry. What would it look like and how quickly can they maximize that? So Wes M. Abu Ali has been signed. They're still waiting on the visa stuff for him to come and show up.

He'll probably need a little bit to ramp up to be able to start. And Wilford Nancy has so many options. He loves mixing it up anyway. I'm sure it'll take a little bit for Wes M. Abu Ali to get in there. How quickly can he get to top gear? You've said it on this show several times of like all the crew drew today would have been a really nice day to have a

DP number nine in the team. He will be soon. What will this impact have on Daniel Gosdawg? Will we see better of him in this attacking trio? And like we said last show we both are in lockstep that Diego Rossi is still gonna be the alpha in this attack and the best player but I think Wesem Abu Ali is gonna raise his profile. It's like you and me you're always the alpha in this attack and the best player But I think Wesam Abouali is gonna raise his profile. That's like you and me You're always the alpha in this setting and I'm just here to try and raise the profile So so for this one as such one more amendment this is important for the shield race This is important for seeding in the Eastern College

This is one of the teams that that will have a say for everything left to play for. And they made a huge new addition this summer and let's see what it works. It's a huge one for Issa Tal who like post-Tim Bezbachenko, like this is their big spend. First opportunity to like show your process and what player you bring in. I think it's also a big one with Nance of like, we haven't seen him post-Kucho have to bring in a superstar player and like build things around them. How long does it take him to get Wessem Abou Ali

up to speed in his style? What does he need as a player to then be comfortable and like big picture, this is not an endless run for Columbus. This is a window. This is why you spend at a number like this again. And the window is, you know, has its time frame. Like if you miss on this one, that might kill the window.

Because if you're not able to be successful this year and he's not the guy going into next year and you have to deal with those question marks in the off season, like that could kill a lot of this momentum. And now are you back to the drawing board on some of this? And are you saying, all right, offers then for Schulte and Mo Farci and Zawadsky and Max Arftson, like do we take those and sort of rebuild the whole thing? And it's why I like that it's number two,

because I'm putting a lot of pressure on this because there is a lot of focus and pressure. And I think you're right to have this so high up the list. You named Max Arftson an update there is there is no update. I reported that Update update Middlesbrough put in an offer. I haven't heard anything new on that I haven't heard even if it was rejected or countered it definitely hasn't been accepted. I know that much To lose had an offer rejected early June and we'll see what happens but Middlesbrough really want him and

Crew obviously don't want to lose him at this stage It's Susan but we'll see if there's anything that will happen there or if there's something revisited in the winter All right third one for me. This is a multiple people John Thornton Neil McGinnis Steve Turandolo These are people who will define the rest of the season. So let's start with this Sun Young Min deals being finalized We just talked about that. He is part of this puzzle, but They have another DB spot open and they have a head coaching search. What will Steve Turandolo do to accommodate Sun Hyung Min? How will he tweak the team? What will the fit be with Danny Belonga? What else will they do again with Thornton and

McGuinness? What will they do again? They've already brought in a Scottish international centerback. There's some other stuff. They have like seven starting caliber central midfielders now. They should trade one of those players for something else. Maybe they will. That's why I'm not saying... Minnesota's gotta be on the phone being like, hey, can we grab someone? We'll give you... I mean, they don't want to trade Carlos Harvey because I think he's been fantastic. But you have a little bit of center back depth there that could fit with that center midfield depth in LAFC and create a swap. Yeah. So again, that's why this isn't just Sung-Hyung Min for me. This is the supporting director,

technical director, and head coach because all these things need to come together and there's so many different directions that they can go both again with another DP spot and the style and everything else and one more again you can just run off of this taking whatever direction you want. I preface this by Doyle. Doyle said this, I'm gonna give him the credit. Will the fit be good between Belonga and Son? Or will this be MLS's version of Mbappe and Vinny Jr.? That is such an insane thing to say. I don't even wanna accept the premise of that.

It's such an absurd thing to say. Why? Here's something I don't know. There are two ball dominant left wingers who play similar like super club. I think that that's a fair analogy. I think they're going to be fine. But I think they're like,

so much goes into Mbappe and Vinnie Jr. of who they are and like politics and forces unknown and $500 million, like all this stuff. I think it's slightly different, but Understand the concept here's something that's insane and again, I think you're right to have it in here a Club our league record transfer under a coach who has already said they're stepping aside is wild It is like another sign that John Thornton is the soccer of the club, and the other things are very below it,

which I'm not saying that's shocking, it's just like really different. I think a lot of clubs would say like, all right, we don't know what this all looks like, so we're not going to spend $25 million. We're going to like get a coach in, have a set and make sure it fits its style, then talk to players and then figure it out. All that is just like, it shows I think how LAFC is built. I think it's the reason they maintain success. All the ups and downs of the years of like they kind of have this defined

style, which is why I don't think the conversation around the coach, which I think we've not done maybe as much as other people would have thought, is not that interesting because it's like, John Thornton signs the players who are all very specific and the next person is going to play the way those players fit in because that's all they can do. Yeah. The only thing is that I think we all thought Terundolo was going to play more like Bob Bradley style than Terundelo was gonna play more like Bob Bradley style than Terundelo style

and I'm sure, I know that they wanna get back to more Bob Bradley than, again, as successful as LFSA have been under Steve Terundelo and again, they won MLS Cup under Terundelo, not under Bob Bradley but this team wasn't, this what team wasn't built to play like this. None of the players they signed moved closer to that.

Even like the loan for Frankie and Maya. We're talking about a guy who's played in pressing systems and pushes the game forward and plays direct. Nothing they have done outside of letting Steve draw on the lead who that was his own decision has moved them towards that. Again, that's fair. And again, that's why I think that these three people

are the ones that I wanted to frame this around because listen, like I think with Sun, they're Apex contenders. Like that's how I have that these three people are the ones that I wanted to frame this around because listen like I think with Sun They're apex contenders like that. That's how I have I have them in that top tier Do you? Okay, I'm going I think I think my tier of apex contenders is bigger than normal because I don't think that there's a ton that separates like Miami, Cincy, Columbus that separates Miami, Sinsey, Columbus, LAFC, maybe Seattle, maybe again, Philly, Nashville, maybe there's doubts

of how this will look in the postseason. Vancouver, San Diego, again, maybe they're not all quite the top, top tier, but I think that's a really deep list to be at this stage of the season rather than saying, oh, it's Miami and LAFC or it's Columbus and Sinsey, right? I think that there are well and truly a lot of different teams that can go on a postseason run.

I agree with you only on the premise that the conversation is who can win MLS Cup. And in saying that, all of the Western Conference teams only have to win one game to do that. If these teams played in the East and there was one table or whatever, I would not agree that all these teams are apex contenders, but because they could all win the West

and be one game away from winning MLS Cup, therefore I agree. Yeah, fair enough on that one. So yeah, I think that this is, I don't know, they're just gonna be at front and center, particularly with Sun, can't wait to see him debut and everything there. I think it's gonna be just must watch TV.

Next one I've got, Pedro la Vega's left-wing star turn question mark small sample size but oh my god he looks like a seven million dollar player now unlike what he's been the first 18 months since he got here um it's gonna get it. Please Scott's winner Pedro de la Vega. There you go you held out long enough for that um this is the best we've seen of him since he arrived and this isn't just the one of the best goals I've ever seen. The the crossfield diagonal from Roldan to De La Vega, one time volley into the top corner that hit what the crossbar of the post and the other post after it bounced in. It was one of the most aesthetically pleasing goals in the world and he looks like everything they wanted him to be now. I'm playing on the left wing rather than the right.

Yeah. I'm not going to let you suck me in yet. I'm not going to get there. I'm Pedro De La Vega. That's why it was a question mark at the end of this, because we've been burned. But even when he's had nice games, it's been like, oh, he's not trading today.

His hamstring hurts. And it's like, oh. Yeah, yeah. So I'm not going to let you get me there yet. But obviously, Seattle, I keep saying, even though Jordan now hurt again and everything else going on They just have the spine to win things if they have the pop in the attack and him being as good as they bought him To be would probably equal that I Think it's gonna be very interesting to watch this team them in Portland are the two perfect MLS teams in League's Cup through two matchdays

and T-Grace is the lone Mexican team that is perfect through two matchdays so it looks pretty good, don't want to jinx anything, it looks pretty good for them to continue in that competition and again, while they're playing like this they can win that and I think that's super fun. The next person or thing that will define the end of the MLS season. Chuki Lozano. So, I said it earlier, Anders Dreier is my MVP for now. Still is. Lino Messi is right there with him. Evander is right behind him. But Chuki Lozano is getting back to full health. I think he's already there, but like

he's back into form. He's going to be a guy down this stretch run again. Barring injury of course. So, Anders Dreier has been the defining player for San Diego. Well, this part of the season right now This is why you signed Chukwiluzano. This is why you paid the money for Chukwiluzano both on the transfer fee on a contract This is why you made him the face of the club Again, both of these guys I think are

1A 1B whatever it is. They're on the same level I'm I'm putting more pressure on Chukwiluzano match and maybe surpass Anders Dry. Anders Dry is on the carrying here Chukiluzano has been very good when he's played but I think now is when we need to say oh my god This is Chukis team. Yeah interesting. I It's hard for me to envision because I just haven't seen it like Chukis been good There has I don't think there's been any stretch of any game where I've said Chuukiluzano is carrying the team Chuukiluzano is unplayable for an opponent. There was a small stretch in the late spring early summer I forget exactly what it was like. Oh crap

He's here and then he got hurt but a lot of it's been finishing off plays that he didn't start a lot of it's Been like being in the right place Again, I'm saying I'm not saying he's played bad, but there just hasn't been anything where I've said, if I could extrapolate that out, then that's what I thought I would see. And so I don't see it happening. But your point of putting it here is correct,

which is San Diego is trying to do something unprecedented for an expansion team. And their big face of the team has not elevated his game to The whole expectation which is unfairly Carlos fellow The color fellow is arguably the greatest MLS performer of all time And so like the gap between where he's at and where Vela was at if he finds himself somewhere even halfway between that It's probably enough to get San Diego over the line to like win a West

And then at minimum at regular season of non playoffs and that would all be worthwhile. I agree. And again, like this is like I love Andre Dreier, what he's done and like I have high expectations and pressure on him as well. But again, for me, this is more about Chuki because like what Dreier is doing, like it's incredible, again, MVP level. If Chuki Lozano meets him in the stratosphere, it's gonna be dangerous. And also, can San Diego's preferred back five?

Like as that lady to get up here. Kids. Again, and if that works, then that would and even more power to them, but you'd feel better about it with, you know, Patty McNair and all that, right? So we'll see, and Willie Kumato, we'll see exactly how this unfolds,

but San Diego are for real, and it's about, for me, it's about whether they're in tier one or tier two at the end of the season, like that's splitting hairs, and that's an unbelievable win from where we were sitting in preseason with this team. Yeah, okay.

Next one, going back east, Philly beating who they're supposed to beat. They are leading the Supporters' Shield race, they're on 50 points. Since April 12th they have lost two times at Columbus at Nashville. Those are two really really good teams. Their remaining schedule over the last nine games only Cincinnati and Vancouver are in the top six in either conference. So they play people who are in seventh place or worse for nine of their or seven of their last nine games if they win seven Games they get to 71 points. I don't think anybody's beating that they teams could it's gonna be a really fun shield race

But if they win if they beat the seven teams, they're supposed to be which is much easier said than done I think they win the shield if they win six of those nine games nice 68 points. I think that that's enough to win the shield I don't think that that guarantees it or anything, but if they beat who they're supposed to beat, they like, again, we talk about Miami, Columbus, Cincy, San Diego. I think we need to be, again, it's not groundbreaking analysis. They're the team that's leading the shield race. But a lot of people have been like, all right, like they're good, but they're not that good.

And look at their schedule. If they keep doing what they've done all season, which is beat the team they're supposed to beat, they're going to win the shield. Is there a wrinkle in here where you think that they, reminder, have a quarterfinal US Open Cup makeup game next week that would add three games in their midweeks across this whole run where they ship that? I think that I think that they have enough options and enough players in the stages of their career where they can handle a high workload, even with this playing style.

Yes, that adds a wrinkle. But since the Nashville Columbus, Miami, these are teams that are in Leagues Cup that could get through. I know Seattle's not in the sports race, but you know what I mean? Like, they're not going to be the only team playing midweek. And again, I think this is a team that has enough options and adding Milan Aloski we'll see if they add anybody else they would probably like a center back if they can do that

like they've got enough to rotate and move in and out and they've been really good at balancing the team. Yeah I wonder what they'd rather win like for a club like good question that has been there before they won the shield Not the most straightforward year to win the shield. They got obviously killed in 2022 losing both Lafc by a hair what cold differential and then Stoppage time. Yeah, right stoppage time Gareth Bale goal into the PK. So I wonder which one they'd rather win But yeah, I have said I mean I said that coming into this leagues cup thing a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big I've been wrong about Vancouver plenty of times this year, so I'll preface that. You can throw out my opinion if you want. I think if he doesn't come back, combined with the departure of Pedro Vite and the injury to Sam Atahata-Kugbe, I don't think that they have enough to really push in the Western Conference.

Obviously they can win the Canadian Championship, which would be great. They've won that three years in a row. But without Ryan Gould, even with Thomas Mueller coming, maybe this is a bit, maybe I'm just being narrow minded about this team, but I don't think that they'll have enough. I have to see Mueller. I have to see how like up to speed he is. They will take a step back in terms of like possession and how they create chances no

matter what. If they don't have Gould and Vite, because Vite is such a ball a ball controller for them Gold is not the same player, but he gives them something Yeah coming out of midfield that gives them direction and purpose. I have to see it with Mueller without him to say Because I think the step back you take with that you could enhance with finishing and being more dangerous with the chances you create And so I could see a world in it But obviously for this club, like if they want to be cup contender at the top of it, the expectation would be you have to be

as healthy as possible. Yeah, and again, not just, like I didn't make a good enough job at processing this. Rango Veselinovich also, right? Like losing Gold, Vite and Veselinovich, and then again, Atta Kukpe, which they've covered better better four over there. But that's that like that's even taking away the Vancouver whitecaps, whatever our expectations

were coming in. Yeah, you take away the best attacker, the best creative midfielder and the best centerback or one of the best centerbacks on the team, like any team in a league should have like, it's impressive that they're where they are without goldald all season and doing fine so far without Vite and again without Veselinovich. Those I guess were those I know were recent but I think Gald not coming back I think it'd be one too many things. Yeah. Next up, are Portland good enough to be a sneaky contender? So they've got 37 points after 24 matches despite they came into the season with injuries.

They came in where I think David de Costa was officially signed two days before the open three days They didn't have any attacking players attacking midfielders Available for the first couple weeks of center like other than da Costa Anthony looks great once he got back in Jonathan Rodriguez Obviously was injured. He didn't come back. Well, the team is solid at the very least They are solid and now they're adding a DP and Velda. And like I said, they're closing in on another starting level addition and there might be room for one more. But again, they're taking a solid team and adding a DP winger and then another starter.

Is this team a sneaky contender? I need that starter to be a center back and I need to see that first and like a profile that can fit in quickly, aka someone who's played around MLS before. That's on the table. I don't think that that I know that's something that they've talked about. Whether or not it happens or not, we'll see. So you would need a center back to consider this. I think so.

Yeah. Yeah. With the way the West sits right now and the four that I have in front of them and where as of now health is with those teams, yeah, I would need that little bit more, but a lot of the fuel is there for me to believe in them winning playoff games because of having the best attacking player on the field

against a bunch of other teams. True. The reason why I want, like I was looking at this category of like, all right, like, yeah, what the Red Bulls did last year. It's like, all right, like who aren't we really talking about? And like I think that team is more much more likely to come from the west. And like again for as good as I think San Diego, Vancouver, Minnesota, Seattle, LAFC can be. It's not like they're unbeatable. It's not like running the gauntlet of, oh my God, we just played Miami in this. Even look at the first round.

Right now, maybe that's not a good example. Orlando, Nashville is a first round matchup right now. Columbus, Miami, I know Miami have a bunch of games in hand, so this isn't exactly fair. That's potentially a first round matchup. It's such a gauntlet, which is why I looked west rather than saying. Which I think is right, but I wouldn't ignore the fact that

Red Bulls went on the road and held a lot of shutouts to make it to MLS Cup And that's not Portland's formula right now, and I don't think the 4-3 Roadwin is a formula across every round I think it could be sort of what Atlanta did to Inter Miami in the first round But I don't think you can do it four times and make it all the way to MLS Cup. Four more left here. Simple one. Will Cincinnati peak at the right time? This was my shield pick preseason.

I've been sticking with it. Denke missed about a month. Obi Norboto, they've been, again, not great, but they haven't cratered, as you might worry, without him. The centerbacks have been in and out. Everybody's healthy now. They could trade a center back, right? If you look at that team, they just added a forward.

They just added a U22 wing back slash forward. They're gonna have more options for Pat Noonan and this staff. I am really hoping that this staff gets to be proactive for the rest of the season rather than, oh, another Ranger here. Oh, this is happening. This team, the talent stacks up there. They have their Ape, they have their Alpha and a Vander and Kevin Denke is right there too. They have the center backs, the defensive

structure. Like I still believe that this team, like I said it 15 times this season, has a real another year to play here. And they're still in the shield race, strongly in the shield race, I might add with 49 points, just one off Philadelphia. And we all think, the shield race, strongly in the shield race, I might add, with 49 points, it's one off Philadelphia. And we all think, yeah, yeah, yeah, but they can still get much better. No, there's a ton to be impressed with, with the fact that in a year that now just feels like an off year for them, they are in the shield race. They're going to be an MLS Cup contender no matter what happens. I think it's like a credit to the organization and what they're capable of.

I think it's a credit to a bunch of the pieces in this, including Evander. I think as much as you could talk about Nobito and what you need and the centerbacks and all of that, having a Denke, wow, where am I right now? Yeah, having a Denke Evander. I was about to say Kevin Kelsey and I was like, what is happening inside my head? There's too many Cincinnati Portland connections. Yeah, that's a good point. Having a Denkay of Vandera true connection by the time you make it to the playoffs, that to me is like the whole ball game. And Origiano has fit in and out of this stuff. I think Engel's been pretty good. Yedlin, obviously, you know what you're going to get there. Like Dada Valenzuela has been really good and I love him as a player and

I'm so excited He's getting minutes but the formula for winning is that Dinkie and Evander can create goals for each other and themselves out of nowhere and like that's untouchable in the playoffs and we haven't Seen that yet When I texted Doyle just trying to workshop There's a little bit plus because of all the breaking news my prep time was less than I wanted to be and I was just like all right Like let me make sure I don't miss something obvious and that's how I framed it to Doyle Doyle's first text back to me It was can dot ovals win. Let me a starter. I like I love that. That was the first thing you said

When my first one was lino messy, uh three more. Can I just say with him? He has never not performed when on the field So like in that whole in the whole question for two years now of like Oh is this young player really going to get chances on a team that whole in the whole question for two years now of like, oh, is this young player really gonna get chances on a team that's in a win-now mode? There's never been a game he's played in where they didn't get the result because of his performance. Yeah, he cannot carry the team or elevate them like these guys they spend money on but like I'm saying all that and saying if you're a different team, let's say one

that just got eight million dollars and over values players who are domestic who might get chances, might not be a bad one to take a look at. Fair enough. Two more, I don't even know if you need to respond to this. Let me know if you want to go off to. Red Bull's third DP spot. Will they use it? Because if they do, if it's team over,

this team still is upside, but if they don't, are they going to miss the playoffs? Even at this point, if they do, will they get above Chicago? It's weird that I still think that the ceiling of this team and again I this isn't just because of the playoff run last year I just look at the pieces and then if you add Verner or another DP of that caliber, which would be really really high level signing I

Can see it but also they could finish that. Yeah Yeah, Tim over in our team over in our watch Last one for me cash first, right? So the Georgie trade shows us that this is a hugely important mechanism in MLS, like the other trades before it. Is there another shock there and one that might be higher at the table? I'm not picking on Nashville because I don't think

that they would entertain any offers. But hypothetically speaking, what if Charlotte or LAFC makes an offer for Honey Mook to R. Sam Surge and turns their heads and say, we'll double your your contract and hey, here's $12 million. Just be happy with it, right? Again, I don't think that this is a, definitely not a probability, but I don't think it's a 0% chance. And again, I was just using Nashville as an example, but anybody within the top six or seven in each conference, is there the version of Toronto FC calls and says, Hey, like,

let's you out of nowhere kind of thing. And I think that you can't totally rule out that there won't be one more like this, not saying it's likely, not even, I don't even have a guess of who it could be, but it's something that we got to watch for now. Yeah. Okay. Like, like, like, hypothetically, if Atlanta United are able to send Alexi Morantchuk out and have a DB Spot open,

what if they call Nashville? What if they call Columbus? What if they call whoever? What if they call San Diego, Vancouver, Minnesota? Like, who knows? Go get Martino Hayda. Martino Hayda, yeah. Like, right? So I think that's one. And this reminds me, that wasn't the last one of the second last one because I accidentally skipped Minnesota United Cute story or legit contender? I think it's legit contender particularly because they hosted an open cup semifinal top three in the West They're for real. They're maybe not quite the apex level just because we have the worries about the place though gosh this sounds stupid I'm somehow excited for their style of play for the playoffs

Yeah, but also very worried about their style of play for the playoffs. Yeah, but also very worried about their style of play for the playoffs. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's one of those where it feels like it should work. We don't have proof yet. Although US Open Cup is a little bit of a sign. You could argue it's bad for MLS if it works because then it would be red balls and then back to back years of like, don't have the ball. Don't worry about maybe being a shield contender, like build for a knockout postseason setup. The other side would be, it would be cool to see other teams get opportunities.

And I think Minnesota, everything about them outside of this is like the fan base, the stadium atmosphere, the way the team is valued inside the market, like everything about them is a really cool team to have in an MLS Cup run. If they hosted it would be sick because it would be like a snow game, which would be the best and we'd get to go to Blackheart and party there before and after the game. So pick up. Yeah. Yeah. 100%.

So yeah, I think it would be super interesting. Also we have said and it's been discussed discussed like Eric Ramsey probably not super long For this league. So can he win something and like set them up in the right way? And then what is the handoff after that one going forward, which I think is really really interesting. All right, Tom I appreciate you taking us through that. Thank you Let us know what you think. Let us know if we miss any huge storylines, which ones you agree with which ones you debate with and for all the fans of those specific teams how How much is the acid reflex?

Reflex affecting you as you prepare for the second half of the season and worry about all the things that Tom just brought up Which then I said these are really big stressful things that you should all worry about Before we get out of here. We'll be back on Thursday live to do our, you know, talk more, ice cream shot, more scoops, everything else that's going on. As we said, we'll recap Leakes Cup in all of that. We also will be back on Wednesday with Jordan Angeley. That one will be to talk NWSL. We've got Trini Rodman's return, NWSL's return across the board,

some wild results in the first weekend. We've got a kickback committee show that will come out tomorrow that Susanna Fuller will be hosting. I think we've got some fun conversation topics. We're gonna talk to some deep cut soccer legends. We're gonna talk a little bit more of Vermont Green, some lower division stuff,

maybe some big picture us soccer things that are touchstone II Conversations that we all have all of this though will be in the context of as well our 50 states of soccer Which we're gonna be doing every single week. We've got Wisconsin this week. So here on soccer wise every week We are gonna put together the on field five aside of the best players from the state's history and sort of some combination of Mount Rushmore slash five-a-side and then on the kickback side of things we'll be doing sort of the best soccer bars, hallowed ground in every state, all that type of conversations. We'll put a ball on all of it on every Thursday so we'll finish it off here on SoccerWise, we'll

finish it off on the kickback side on a new show that we are launching that is going to be a live happy hour show that we're gonna be doing every Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening around 5, 5.30 Eastern time where myself and Susanna will jump on with range of guests, some of the other hosts from the kickback family and we'll just chat about soccer

and especially about the 50 states. I think we have this week lined up but I'm not gonna say for sure because that is the nature of all of this. A huge guest for this show but we're gonna start talking a little bit on the field here. We need your feedback. We are not Wisconsin soccer experts. We are not soccer experts on any of the states except of course New Jersey because we are New Jersey to our core. So we want your feedback of who should be on this list. You heard it.

If you listen to our show from Austin, we did it live there. Obviously we will do it live as often as we can, which will be fairly rare. So hit us on Blue Sky as much as you can. You'll see the Soccer Rise account put out the call for it, and then you'll see kickback as well. So send us names.

Who should we be thinking about? Who should we not forget? Who should be discussed? Who should we explore? All that type of stuff. For Wisconsin, setting the stage a little bit here, I think a lot of people will bring Jay Demarit up very early. He is like the core legend of Wisconsin soccer,

and I would be shocked if he did not land in a best five at some point. Jesse Marsh is one that I have forgotten about for a moment, which he would be so offended by, who is a Wisconsin legend and loves soccer in Wisconsin, and I believe is the reason that another Wisconsin legend, Tom Starlow, is even in the league because Tom's, I believe he's from Wisconsin and played for Wisconsin.

I know he played college soccer there. This is one of those ones that's tough, like Roosevelt Dell from Cincinnati played at Wisconsin. I don't think counts as a Wisconsin player. He is St. Louis. They will play with him. Oh yeah, and then he played at Wisconsin. So he's not going gonna count in this either. There are a lot of other big names as me a bar Terovich is one of them Wisconsin native Andrea Novakovic who's still playing over in Siri be a Wisconsin soccer player as well. I think there's a number of NWSL players on this list

So Tom there is free for a state that has no first division team right now, there's a ton of options from Wisco. Yeah, I think Jesse Marsh, Jay DeMare, those are the two that stand out to me as pretty, I'm like, for those who don't know Jesse Marsh as a player, like obviously as a coach, he's there. He was, you know, the lead player in MLS,

you know what I mean? So he's, he could be either role, both roles probably probably so Jesse Marsh is absolutely in this and JD Merritt as well So your point so and then I then I think the arguments begin about who else yeah Jesse Marsh won MLS Cup with DC as a bench player Under Bruce arena and Bob Bradley as assistant coach got traded to Chicago under Bob Bradley won Everything with Chicago after that followed him to Chivas USA, and had the only good season in Chivas USA history. Jesse Marsh got them to the playoffs. Chivas USA, who's been nothing but a joke.

Like, he made them not a joke, right? He was part of it, that made them not a joke. But only had, I think he only ended up with like two caps. So he was not a national team player. The other thing about this is, while it is five a side, you could say soccer importance for a national team player. The other thing about this is while it is five aside, you could say soccer importance for a lot of these. So happy to shout out names like it, Jesse or someone else.

Obviously Forward Madison has come onto the scene more recently. Great college soccer with Wisconsin. Marquette though, women's program, legendary program. University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, a legendary program. Jimmy Banks, one of the great players in USMNT history part of the 90s and Original World Cup team coming out of Wisconsin. There are a lot more players that I still need to learn about so Please send us a message

Shoot us wherever on blue sky mainly on Instagram Whatever it is if you are part of our discord feel free to put it in there as well If not, you can subscribe to our patreon get you access to our discord as well as our depth charts Which are fully up-to-date and cleaned up, which is great So you can get all of that and we'll continue to talk about this me and Jordan will hit on this on Wednesday as well As we search through for some more names and then myself and Tom will help us come to a conclusion On Thursday on what our five aside looks like and then we'll start our next week We've got a lot of states to do we are only one state in so far

So we got a lot of work to do still on the 50 states of soccer But we're having a ton of fun so far with everything we've done here as part of kickback the larger picture and of course What we were doing at soccer eyes for over a year now, so thank you once again to all of you for watching live. Thank you to all of you for listening via podcast. Send us to your friends, review us, please rate us. It's how people find the show. Thank you to Vermont Green for filling my heart with happiness. No thank you to the open coffee cup that I somehow for the first time ever ordered on a plane. I've always sat on planes and been like, there's no lids on these things. I don't know why people order them.

But on Friday I was like, I'm going to grind for the sake of Ballard and Vermont Green and I grinded straight into a wall as fast as possible. Thank you to Lithuania National Team. Thank you to the Grateful Dead. Thank you to Keon for saving me as well as Douglas, one of our intrepid editors and producers here at Kickback as well and we'll talk to you all again very very soon.