SoccerWise - Early Hot Seat Questions In MLS + CONCA-Champions Action w/Matt Doyle

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

We are only three games into the MLS season but in some markets the pitchforks and torches are already out. Doyle joins Gass to go through the best things they saw this weekend, and then the headlines of the struggles in Orlando/Portland/Philly. The guys then start to look into the USMNT roster race for a spot at the World Cup. And finally they preview the start Round of 16 with some mouth watering MLS vs Liga MX matchups and some heavyweight intra league ties as well.5:50 Nashville Music City Cerberus13:35 RSL The Kids Are Alright (Not ATL)21:31 Keaton Parks Back In Form24:20 Red Card Mania28:00 Pressure On Orlando36:34 Questions Around Phil Neville In Portland42:36 Frustration In Philly49:14 Quakes Are Back54:40 Monteal Shock Red Bulls59:10 USMNT Roster Shakeup1:07:53 Philly-America1:11:01 LAFC-Alajuelense & David Martinez Stunner v FC Dallas1:15:05 Nashville-Miami & DC Matchup In Baltimore1:19:20 LAG-Mount Plesant & Rapids Win Over The Galaxy1:21:35 Blockbuster San Diego-Toluca Series1:25:57 Cincy Trying To Bounce Back vs Tigres1:28:44 Cascadia ConcaChampions

Welcome everybody to Soccer Wise, David Goss here with Matt Doyle for another big Monday recap show. Thank you to all of you for being here. Thank you to all of you for listening. We have a big episode coming up for you. We have the return of Conca CawkerCath Champions League this week with some of the biggest matchups we will have as we get into the MLS first league. MX big time. We have some all-MLS action that's going to be pretty big as well. We had a huge weekend of action that we're going to go through.

and we're going to cover. We've got some national team conversation to have as we are gearing up for some rosters that are going to be dropping from a Senor Maricio Pochitino that we're going to get ready for and a lot of other topics to talk about. We pulled from blue sky. And there is one dominant topic people want us to hit on.

And it is not on the positive side. Jason Tatum is back. Was it two for nine against Cleveland? Doesn't matter. It's two and oh. It's two and oh. Okay. That's what we care about, David.

Yeah, taking the team out of the offense, Hero Ball. It's pure Kobe stuff. It's really, really beautiful to see once again. Yeah, so we've got a lot to talk about on this show. We are excited to hit it all. If you're listening on Sirius Radio, welcome. Thanks for being here. We will go long.

I'm guaranteeing it now without it even happening. So at the end of the hour, you can hear the rest of the show over on the on-demand player or anywhere you get your podcast, just search soccer-wise. And thank you to everyone who was on Blue Sky, who sent us a ton of the topic. that we're going to hit today. You might be noticing the lack of a third voice on this one. Andrew Weeby, as of two minutes after recording time, message to say, I'll be there in a minute.

And then one minute later, he was back out the door. He has, you know, stuff going on. I don't know if you've heard, Doyle. He's a father. He's a dad. He's got some stuff going on. It also sounds like he's got some contractors in. He's a homeowner, too.

Yeah, well, you know, that's going around. So yeah, you you understand the real plight as a as a fellow wasp hunter. That's correct. I captured the queen yellow jacket. Yes, it was a first day over like 30 degrees in New York in months. And so the the bugs came out and somehow a yellow jacket got into my bedroom. The cats would berserk. But I was able to capture her.

And I'm not a humane type. I did not release her into the, wild. She is dead. Don't you love the fact that if you have domestic pets, they are useful in any of the things they could be helpful for of like killing other animals that maybe you don't want around your home? I mean, so fortunately, I mean, you know this. I lived in a glass castle on the fifth floor in New York.

Like we didn't have a vermin in that in that space. But like I'm out in the country now. And like even though a condo is like one level up, we're going to have. at some point. And I do expect the cats to eat most of them because not a cat owner or a dog owner.

You should be aware that they're lovely animals. They eat bugs. It's just like it's what they do. That's protein to them. I was just worried about this one because like if a yellow jacket stings like the like Takedo's face

can blow up be my size and like I don't I don't need that. He doesn't need that. I save the cat. I'm kind of a hero. Yeah. I think that's what we're getting to me. I'm a big other.

been great hunter and a hero, and I've got the countryside tamed. It's on lock. And also, just after that happened, bald eagle flew right past my window. And then all of a sudden, the Dodge Ram drops from the sky and just bounces as it sits perfectly in your parking lot. And Three Bird was playing. It was incredible. I had like the Academy Award music that I was going to play for your heroics over that, but I forgot to click the button. So we'll do that next time.

when we get a chance to. So a lot of big conversations to talk about. We settle in week three action of MLS. Felt a little bit comfortable, I think. Maybe that was uncomfortable for some teams. Lack of a quality schedule. So a million games at the same time on Saturday night. And I'm trying to follow all of them,

which means I failed in following any of them. And then we come back on Sunday. And as I sent my blue sky post saying, I'm calling it on the weekend, 83rd minute, Cincinnati, Toronto, 0-0-0 game, which I was entertained by, which I was shamed for in the group chat. The group chat was not having that. By the pink of liking the zero-zero-zero Cincinnati Toronto game.

Daniel Chalui opened it up, scored the goal. So that's the one thing you have to always remember. MLS is chaos. Montreal goes and beats Red Bulls on the road 3-0 through Wiki-Friking Carmona. And then Daniel Shalori scores scores for TFC on a counter-attack. And TFC goes to Cincinnati and wins. without Josh Sargent, who I don't know if you've heard, but he has signed with the team, and he will be coming soon, but he did not play in this game.

It was a good 55 minutes of action. He was on the promo material, though. I noticed. I noticed. Yeah, I absolutely noticed all of that. Okay, let's start how we start all of these shows on Mondays with the best things we saw. Then we will go into our top headlines. And then this week will be a little bit different because we have Concaf champions coming up.

So we will sort of talk about all of those games. We will talk about the teams and MLS in that. we'll talk about the matchups they played this weekend as well. So that's where we'll hit the FC Dallas's of the world, SKCs of the world and stuff like that. But let's start with the best thing you saw, Doyle, and I think we're going to sort of become a one track on this show with this one. But what do you want to open us up with?

I want to open us up with Nashville because we all look at rosters and preseason. We all look at how teams did last year. And like, oh, this team won the off season. They added this piece. and they're talking about adjusting in this way. And it's never as good as you want it to be. And then there's Nashville, and it's as good as maybe even better than we were hoping.

Christian Espinoza adding that third heat to the attack. Like, we figured that was going to work really well, and it has. But also, he didn't play in this one, but Warren Madrigal has been excellent for them. It's the tactical thing, though. And B.J. Callahan talked a lot about this to our good buddy Ben Wright and Valer over at 615 soccer. They do incredible job covering this team. If you're a Nashville fan, go check out and check them out.

He talked about how he wanted to evolve into a team that can kind of control the game more through midfield and control the tempo of the game. And I kind of tongue-in-cheek called it Vancouverizing themselves in my column this weekend. And a lot of coaches talk like that. and very few coaches pull it off. And it looks at this point like Nashville are that team. Like they are so good on the ball in the way that Vancouver kind of, you know, blew our hair back, which is tough for the two of us, but blew our hair back last year early in this season by being so good on the ball

and controlling the game. And it's just nice to see like the A plus version, you know, the 95th percentile version of like like how we think something is going to work, actually come out and from the gun, start working like that. And they, like, they were dominant against what I think is actually a pretty good

Minnesota United team. I think Cameron knows that's done really good work through a few years, but the levels between Nashville and the Lunes, it was significant. And going into this series against Miami now, because they play Miami midweek in Concordiaf Champions Cup, Dave, I think that Nashville are favorites.

Like, you're going to force me to pick serious. I'm picking Nashville because they're on a level that Miami has not touched in 2026. Yeah, I don't think it's unreasonable. I think no matter what, it's like how delicious is it that middle of March we're going to get the teams that I picked as MLS Cup and Supporters Shield favorites to face off in two teams that are playing at a high level. Okay, you talked about Christian S. Moroza, try this on. NSC. Jake on Blue Sky called them the Music City server. Sam Saratani Muk darn Christian Espinosa. How do we like that as a nickname?

I mean, it's okay. Yeah, it's all right. You're not. I don't know. It's like they're trying pretty hard. You know, and I, I admire the effort, but like, I'm not going to, I'm not going to call them the music city server is. I'm just, just not.

I don't know. Maybe I will. Mark it down. I'll give it a shot. It's going to be week nine of MLS. Tactics free zone comes out. You should be subscribed. opening sentence, the Music City

Cerberist barks again. Yeah, I'm going to do it tomorrow. Remind me, I'm going to do it tomorrow in the power rankings. Yeah, we're going to give it a test run. Everyone has to tune in for that one just to prove that Doyle is either a liar or a man of his word. One way or the other, I want to see the responses from everyone.

We had another one on Blue Sky from the Amish Gigolo, which is an unreal name, which is Nashville are going to score 100 goals this season. For Nashville fans? Take the under, but yeah. For Nashville fans, this has to be so satisfying. Like, even at their best, they were not a team that was dangerous and open and fun.

As you said, the progression has been linear, which is really cool to watch, I think, for all of us from the outside. Like, I fell in love with Teg Seth and Yazbek last year, but not a lot of it was North South. Not a lot of it was super goal dangerous. Tachseth is not really that player. He's a connector. He keeps the game moving. Yazbek, as we see, has that ability a little bit more. But that was the building blocks of like, okay.

here's the platform that we can build the rest on. And now Espinoza has helped grow that going forward. I thought Quasum would be a huge part of it. He hasn't, which is great for Nashville, because like he might still be, but they don't rely on him in any way. And it seems like Madrigal has already stepped in and is ahead of him in the pecking order.

Does seem like he's also flexible. Like he could play up top for one of the front two when they need to be out. Wubin's Pashius has gotten minutes as well. So there's depth to them, which is what I think should be promising. in terms of if they can challenge Miami, if they do take out Miami, whatever it is,

we know how hard it is to compete across both competitions. This feels like a group that has the ability top in and then depth to sort of like maintain through all of that. Yeah, I agree. And flexibility as well because they played nominally the 442 or 422, however you want to call it with Alex Muel at left midfield, except he was tucking in to kind of make it a three-man midfield, which then releases the two forwards to be forwards.

And of course, Espinoza is going to stay wide on the right. It's an asymmetrical kind of thing, but the way Muel played the spot actually gave Nashville a numbers advantage in central midfield, which is not something that you often see from a team that plays any kind of, like a 4-4-2 or even a 352. So they just look really well-schooled tactically. I do think they found out a little bit like what not to do against Sepsie Dallas when they didn't, when Callahan didn't start a true number nine

and I think Paseas came in for like the last 15 minutes and they were exponentially more dangerous. So it hasn't all been perfect, but you could see the stuff that he talked about wanting to work on. It's there. It's all in there. And it's really exciting.

like they're playing the style of soccer that I unapologetically love. And to have another team, you know, added to the roster in MLS that actually plays like that is, it does the heart good. We should mention for Minnesota, Michael Boxall, unavailable for this one. That's huge for them, defensive player of the year, defender of the year finalist last year. Did he get my vote? No. Who won it?

Tristan Blackman won it, of course. Because you only have to play like 22 games to be defender of the year. which was the thing I forgot. So that's a huge loss for Nashville or for Minnesota. So a little bit of context there. Triontas goal, absurd moment. And he knew it the whole time.

He picks up the ball. He gets himself clean in possession. He picks up his head. He places it in the corner from, what, 35, 40 yards away. Not sure it was that far. But like, come on,

don't take away yards from the guy. You want meters? That's your issue? It was meters. Yeah. He hit it. And it's one of those that stayed hit. You know,

Well, it was one of those, like sometimes a guy catches it so perfectly and it just like it almost like picks up speed. Yeah. And that, it was one of those. And he's had a few of them now. And I think Minnesota fans shouldn't enjoy him while he's here because I don't think it's going to be for much longer. That was Joe Larry's hot take on Thursday's show was that he and Ronald Dunker are not long for this league. So enjoy them now while you can. So also a moment from him, but Nashville dominating against Minnesota.

and as you said, a strong Minnesota team, not at the same level. So a big performance for Nashville. For me, I got to go back to the well. It's the kids for RSL. I turn on this game in Atlanta and it's like, okay, cool. It's a big moment. You're playing in Atlanta. It's their home opener as much as they have struggled for years now

and has little maybe hope as there is at times. And I take this mainly from Atlanta fans on social who are like, today would be a good day for Atlanta not to suck. And that seems to be. Not today. the recurring conversation, you know, it's still a big moment for young players to go into this. And for as much whatever you want to say about conceding the two goals and how they played over the 90 minutes, they play with confidence.

Like they believe in themselves. They take players on the ability to call your own number on some of these shots that Gozo and has Arcani score on, shows that they know the teams behind them and that they believe they belong. And I think you hear it from Gozo. I chatted with his youth coach last week because we did a little socials feature about it. And he talked about being a 14 year old and like saying, oh, I learned, you know, to wait my time that not everyone's always going to be focused on me the way I am. And I sort of like learned how to buy my time. You're like, what are you talking about?

You're a child. There's no way you understand that. But you see it, I think, in his willingness to learn right wing back and to play at a different position and maybe be in theory further from goal, although it hasn't been an issue for him at all. and he talked about literally working on this one thing coming inside from right wing back to be a goal score that's exactly what he does Atlanta defends like I defend when I play pickup which is someone else will step in at some point

so I'll just stay in front of him slightly matted or defense as Walclad Frazier would call it and these young players for RSL took advantage and it's awesome to watch with them and so it feels like it kind of sounded like as guys got healthy maybe at least Moisa and midfield would start to lose time,

but I don't know that Pablo can at this point. Like, I don't know that you could take any of these kids off the field if you're getting the results. No, as long as the results keep coming, the kids will stay on the field. And I think that it goes out as a rating Penn starter. 100%.

He was no question. Yeah, I think when Luna comes back, Hazer Connie probably becomes the first attacker off the bench because, man, Morgan Gilavogi was awesome. Like he looks like a future star and you're not going to take Luna out. And Azarkani is the, you know, they play a three, four, two one. And Hezacani is in that two line.

Like, okay, you need depth there. And the 18 year old has proved it. Moisa, I think he's really good. His engine is really good. Physically, he looks a year away. And we saw that in the second half. I think Atlanta started overrunning them a little bit. And I mean, to his credit,

to RSL's credit, they kept fighting to Alexi Moranchuk's credit. He found two goals. This is probably his best game in MLS. The one was a link up with Al Miron too. Yeah, but like, best friends. There's just not a lot happening for that team. And they got, I wish I had not drafted Emmanuel Latte-Loss. I was in during the golden boot draft, I was kind of flipping a coin between him and Kelvin

you boa and I was like how bad could latte laf really be like the tata's here you know they're going to figure it out and this is maybe the worst team in the league through three games you put in your column the comment from sam jones who we had on this show five stripe final who's there who talked about the young players they developed and sold and replaced with old players they didn't develop those players the young players who they're quiet yeah they moved along in a process although caleb wiley yeah fair But, but, okay, that's a win. But look at the way those centerbacks that they have defend.

George Campbell. Wouldn't you rather have George Campbell or Morales, the kid who played really well for Montreal or, or Noah Cobb? Like, why not? Like, there's no difference in level between those guys. Or if there is, it's like tilted towards the now former Atlanta United kids. compared to these very expensive, you know, Tam level centerbacks that they have brought in.

And it's shocking because Chris Henderson, prior to Atlanta, had one of the best hit rates on signings of any CSR, any GM in MLS history. And they have just, like it was already a broken roster before he got there and really before Darth Lagerway got there. And it had,

like they just kept breaking it more and more and more. I thought Al Marone came out with his hair on fire and it was like felt a little bit like a throwback in the opening 15, 20 minutes. But as we've talked about, he doesn't have the game breaking speed with that. And so he's putting on pressure. He's trying to create the game. But that was the thing that made him like elite and into like Premier League and best player in Paraguay history territory. And without that, even when he plays that way, if the rest of the team played like it, great. It would elevate them, but he can't do it by himself and he can't carry them.

And it doesn't feel like they're all on the same page. Let's go back to RSL because we've got our questions from Blue Sky here from one and only McKellie Giannone, who says, what's RASL ceiling over under fifth in the West, Solons over under 10 goals and Gullivogi over under 10 assists. So for starters, McKellie, you got to give us like a half number so that there's an over and an under because nobody must have to go push. Yeah. Right on the number that you gave us second of all.

this is coming off his horn. His first message was concauttle over Cooper flag for a rookie of the year, which is a conversation we probably won't have on this episode. We'll be doing it on a later episode of soccer-wise. Of all of these, though, which one do you feel safest about going over? Hit me again? So fifth in the west. So I'll give you five and a half.

They're not finishing top five in the west. Okay. So Lon's over under 10 goals. You love that. And hit over. I think he's going to. Love that. Yeah.

A college, a college graduate LLSX process. And I didn't realize he had that speed either. So he's, you know, I understood him to be more of a, almost like a fox in the box type. And which is not to say he isn't,

but, you know, the speed he showed on that goal was, okay, he's got some tools to work with. And Gula Vogue 10 assists, that feels like the easiest one. Yeah,

that's an easy over. He looks so legit. Yeah. As long as people finish around him, right? it feels like he'll put up those numbers. Huge start for ourselves, though. What if I put Hazakani six and a half goals in league play?

I'd probably go under. I think we have enough examples of guys like this flashing and it being tough to maintain. And as much as Pablo's committed to whatever he's committed and I don't think there's like pressure on him, he does tend to then lean back towards veterans that he likes. And so my guess is with the injuries, Luna's not going anywhere this year. Like, I don't think he would, unless he starts four games and balls out at the World Cup, he's playing for this team all the way through the regular season and with Gullivogi there. So I don't think Hezartney will get enough minutes.

The only thing would be garbage time goals. Like if this team's really good and there's chance on the counter, but I would still go under on that number. They have Austin coming up next, then San Diego, then SKC. So you might have six by the time we get to the end. of the month with some of those matchups in there. And I could be absolutely wrong. But that's where it stands right now. Let's do one more best thing we saw from the weekend. And it's Keaton Parks. It wasn't his return. He returned in the first game. It wasn't his first start. He started against Philly. But he gets two goals laid on against Orlando. And he is 27 years old.

Yeah, something like that. With blood clots multiple times, which is just unheard of. He has continued to fight back and get back into the team. He is a fun soccer player to watch when he's available. We are always like dying for him to be available and hoping to see him play. So for him to get two goals was just like a nice way to have the home opener. Pascal Janssen talked about him after. You could see sort of for the whole team the celebration for him. It's just cool to see him on the field doing his thing.

And it's always going to go on the list of best things we see. Yeah. And in part, this is because he's such an aesthetically pleasing soccer player to watch because he has that thing of kind of misdirecting opposing defenders with his first touch and his body shape. And he creates time and space for himself that he then, like forget the goals. Like the way he creates time and space for the guys around him and specifically the attackers, he makes everybody 5% better. And it gives them, that's wrong actually. he gives them 5% more time and space. And for the typical player...

Which makes the game easier. And it makes them more than 5% better, right? Because it scales linearly. Because there's like a cutoff point where it's just like, that's not enough time and space. I cannot do anything except pass the ball backwards. Whereas if you have one guy in central midfield who's giving everybody that much more,

suddenly more players can actually take a touch forward, can actually pick their head up and play the pass forward. so it makes everybody on NYCFC better. And I picked NYCFC to finish third in the east this year. And I was higher on them than virtually anybody. And I couldn't quite figure out why. And then it was like, oh, yeah, I remember what this team looks like would Keaton Parks is healthy in dealing in central midfield.

And that's the version of NYCFC. We've gotten in the past two games. And I think it's notable that he didn't play as much in the first game against L.A. and they looked kind of punchless until he got on the field. He's not going to put up big numbers. I mean, no, he scored a brace in this game. Like, he's not that type of player,

but he is the type of guy who just, God, if you can make, give everybody in your attack five or 10% more time and space, they're all going to look so much better. And that's what they got even before the red card in this game. And then once they had the red card,

I mean, once they were 11 v.10, well they're getting pretty used to it at this point because I think it's three straight games. Three straight games to start the year against red cards. We got the question on Blue Sky asking if it's a record facing three straight teams that went down a man against you. I did not find that information. So if anyone knows it out there, feel free to shoot it to me on Blue Sky would love to know. It's not a bad way to play soccer to be to have that advantage consistently, especially when it comes in like the 18th minute against the other team's goalkeeper.

Now they have to make a sob. Now they have to do a whole shift. But we'll talk about Orlando in a moment. And it was red cards galore, by the way, across the league. It has been since it started. Most of them are the correct calls. So I think in one of the questions we had from people is like something changed and referring.

No, I think it's players not being up to speed fully and physically and mentally. You talk to a Gabrielle Pek in yours. There's a few of them that are just like absolutely bizarre. But that was one I was watching live where it happens. And you're like, there's no way he just did that. Yeah, you didn't have to do that, man. And the buildup to it was like, you're watching it.

You're like, he's going to slide in here. No, he's not. Why would he? Like, there's no reason to, there's no, the play's not going anywhere. And there was a few of, there has been a few of those. There are some we could debate. I would debate the Austin one. Clearly, you had your point of view.

I don't think it was a red card on Bureau. I think he's making a play at the ball until Komadi moves his leg in front of him. I don't think it's excessive force. I don't think it's a dangerous play. But it's 50-50 on that one. I'm not freaking out about it. Yeah, I'm, I'm waiting. to the experts, Andrew Weeby.

I need Andrew Weeby to tell me what to think about that one on Instagram. Weeby already weighed in. I feel good on the Justin Jay P.K. He agreed with me that if you get a half touch on the ball, you cannot truck someone in the box afterwards. So it turns out that I was right about that one, which felt really, really good to hear. Does that mean, Kaelin Carr was wrong?

Kailen, Kailen was on the call for that one. He was fishing for it. Yeah, I love listening to Kailen on the call. He, like, he does. so much homework and he's so well versed in all of it. But that was a moment where he was like, oh, he's just putting on the 2011 Dynamo headgear and being like, back in my day, that is absolutely not a penalty. And I think we see this with a lot of broadcasters right now, which is like, you know VAR is looming. You know it's been confusing. So you're like trying to

leave yourself the space to get out of anything, even if you're 100% sure you got the call right. And then you look at some plays where it seems obvious. It's called on the field. Then VAR brings them to the monitor. And then the call stands. So then it's like pure chaos of like what goes and what flies. But let's stop talking about referees and talk about the other fun thing, which is coaches that our teams are struggling.

Because the overwhelming majority of comments that we got online of what people wanted to talk about was pressure on managers. We had Matt Nelson, not you, Matt Nelson, on Blue Sky, who said, who sacked first? Preha or Neville. We had Midnight MLS who says which coaches are on the early season hot seat. We had Brian who said how long till Carnel

sees a repeat of his St. Louis exit. So the pressure is on. Whether we wanted to say it there or not, it is clearly how the fan bases feel and it was a large part of the conversations around the league. So of the three teams that just got mentioned, Orlando, Portland and Philly, Portland

have a win. Philadelphia, the Shield winners have failed to win so far this season. They have scored one goal and it came from a penalty kick. So you have to score an open field goal and Orlando have conceded 11 goals in three games. They've gotten smoked in the first half, second half and full game across the three games, if you want to word it that way. And they've hung around in a second half where they already trailed to zero. And then they had the great first half against Miami, a little bit against the run of play where they led to zero on this one. But let's go through these

and talk a little bit about these teams. For Orlando, the Cray Poe Red Card, obviously a huge part of the NYCFC game. But you wrote it, back-heeled wrote it, I said it. NYCFC dominated that game up until the red card anyway. The goals were coming. There was no world in which Orlando was going to score in the way that game was playing out.

You can go down to personnel, you can go down to some tactical decisions. But Preha said it after, like mentality, response. this team looks like they are in second gear and we are three weeks into the season they look confused tactically and preha to his credit said that's on me he literally came to like which i think separates him from maybe the next guy we're going to talk about he came to the microphone and said this is my responsibility i accept full responsibility um and i like to see that obviously oscar preha uh forgets more about coaching a soccer team in a day than you or i

will ever know. He is a legendary coach in this league. He's won an open cup with Orlando. He did the Open Cup supporter shield double with Dallas 10 years ago. That might have been in trouble if Morrow Diaz hadn't gotten hurt. He has developed players. I think one of the things that has gone wrong is he has not developed players as quickly for Orlando as you would have hoped.

And a good example is two years ago, they made the Eastern Conference final and they hosted it against the pretty bad Red Bulls team. And they lost. One was a one-nil at home. And that was their chance to go through. That was a chance to make it to MLS Cup. And we would be having probably a different conversation. We wouldn't be talking about Oscar Prairie Ha if they had made MLS Cup that year. How much better would that team have been if he had just been willing to be?

to get Alex Freeman into that lineup at some point in in 20 like why did it take until Alex Freeman was 20 in last season to get into so like stuff like that has been I think bothering Orlando fans over the last couple of years justifiably and then last year it all looked good through the middle of the year right up until the semifinals of the league's Cup because they had just beaten Toluca and Toluca is a wagon, man. Like you get past Toluca in any competition, you're doing well. Since that moment, they have won one game out of 13 across four different competitions, the 2025 regular season and 2026 regular season.

Leaks Cup semifinals, the third place game, which they lost to the galaxy. And of course, a blinking, you miss it appearance in the postseason. So it's not just three games. It's a like six-month multi-competition knows that death spiral, really. It's the fact that they're not developing players the way that they should. And it's the fact that they don't have tactical answers in the way that even Oscar Pereja admits they should. And then this is compounded by the fact that I think they had a pretty lousy winter of signings. You know, none of these Brazilian kids look ready.

And I know that's going to infuriate Tom, who came at me, studs up in the group chat for saying, like, man, these kids kind of stink. But, like, their best offseason signing so far has been their draft pick, Nolan Miller, the kid from Michigan. Let me, let me go one step further on that one because the Brazilian kid stuff. Yeah, I get it. It's stuff. There is like very little hit rate on U-22 initiative players. And the speed at which they hit is even lower. and the situation they're put in, which was Tom's point, has been pretty tough.

I think the lack of awareness at times over what you are looking to replace has been shocking to me. And let's start in central midfield. You bring out to Westie in last year and you bring O'Heda in this year and all of them are good on the ball. And none of them are elite off the ball and none of them cover ground at an elite level. And you are, let's go back through the years, replacing Erso and Sabam Mendez, And obviously, which is the big one that you're doing right now in this. And that is all like what we talked about with Columbus, where it's like Columbus has made okay moves to replace talent.

But they're all five to 10% worse or do five to 10% less. And that to me has been one of the biggest issues with all of this. It's like they have replaced players with names and names that are full-time players, right? Maxime Cropo, for all his fault, is an MLS starting goalkeeper. No, he is not. And obviously the core. No, he is there. Cornell and the Cornell stuff is a little bit different.

Gaiese as well. Gaii is a Peruvian international. It's great. But then when you actually watch it, there's way too many holes in what they have put together. And there's way too many deficiencies in what they've put together. And that, to me, has been the biggest issue over the last two and a half to three years. Is they built a team that all made sense.

They brought in, for the most part, pieces that complemented other pieces that they had. And then as those pieces have moved on, they have brought in talent as if they are just, judging it by itself and not connected to anything. The issue is, I don't know how much of that's on Oscar Preja. Like, he is the manager. He is not the sporting director or technical director. He has a ton of influence as a manager and has been there for a while.

It is not fully on him. And that's where the question of how much trouble he is in comes back, which is if you are a sporting director and you are somewhat new to that role, let's be clear, right? Because they just made that shift at the end of last season. Yeah. How much of it are you going to say is on him and on you? And then if you do step away from Oscar Brea, now all the pressure shifts. Right.

And that's where I think the timing of this becomes a little bit interesting. So for this Orlando team, they play Montreal at home, they go to Nashville, then they have the international break, then they go to LASC, and then they go to Columbus. That would take you through the middle of April. I don't know, we don't really have a ton of history with this. Pereha's not a guy who really gets fired. Orlando is in, this is similar to sort of the Pat Noonin combo.

It's insane. He's like, this is such a different reality for the club. This was a dreadful club over the course of their entire season. Five years, zero, zero playoff appearances. They have made the playoffs every single year since Pereja has been there. And like,

that's the thing. I understand why Orlando City fans want a change because it feels like there have been missed opportunities and it's gone stale and maybe there needs to be a new voice in the room. I get all that. There's an 85% chance that whoever you hire is going to be worse than Oscar Berea. Maybe 90%. I mean, the question we just got in the chat, which is a great question, by the way,

is is Perea the best coach ever in MLS to never win an MLS Cup? What are the other contenders Jim Curtin? Now he's saying not on current form. And whether he is or isn't, he is in that conversation, right? We are talking about a really good MLS coach. Yep. So we don't have the clear other names. Jim Carton would be the other one. It seems like he is not super interested in moving far away from where he lives right now and taking another job. And I think that's part of what puts pressure on this team. But the conversation for Orlando is understandable. The start has been really, really bad. Montreal at home has to be, like that has to be three points for them. There's no question about that. They will then, in theory, go to Nashville in which Nashville will come off two midweek games. The second. of which will be in Miami. So next week, Nashville will play Wednesday night in Miami in Fort Lauderdale, and then

they would have to fly back. So for Orlando, at least there's a little bit of an advantage there, but we just, I just called them a Cerberus, and I'm like all in on the Cerberus thing now. So it's not exactly an ideal setup. Then you come out of the international break at LAFC, who seem committed to starting their best starting lineup every single time. Every single game, yeah. They touch the field.

So that might be a problem for you as well. Montreal game has to be three points, not saying it's a given, as we saw against them. And Red Bull. Then Portland. So that was the other sort of question we've gotten across all of this, Preah or Neville. Portland loses 4-1 at home to Vancouver. Again, annihilated by Vancouver at home. It's happened in the playoffs, technically on the road while playing at home. It's happened in the regular season. And I thought Jeremy Peterman, who writes out of Portland, who does a really good job, the context of like Vancouver's the model here at worst for Portland they are in a similar area they are in a similar spending bracket although lower than Portland and this is a team that

dominates you at home eight goals against the second worst and MLS behind Orlando which I think is where a lot of this pressure comes from and as you mentioned Phil Neville then steps up to the podium afterwards and sound a little different than Oscar Pereja. Yeah I mean Phil Neville has developed maybe a habit of kind of throwing the players under the bus a little bit. And it's not to say the players didn't deserve it after this game because they looked overwhelmed. But when it happens across groups and across years, even after making changes and additions and subtractions and all that, like you understand why the fans are looking at the common denominator. and the common denominator right now is Phil Neville.

And, you know, we talk a lot about patterns of play in the modern game and the best teams like the Vancouver's and like what Nashville have done so far have these repeatable patterns of play. And it's all variations on like up back through. It's just a matter of like how small the upback through is. And the timbers just don't do a lot of that. And it ends up being a team whose best moments have to be almost completely improvised. And that worked a couple of years ago when it was Avander and Cabacita and, you know, a younger and healthier Felipe Amora who's so good at finding space. And those guys carried that team.

And without DPs of that caliber, and let's face it, even if David DeCosta was healthy, they wouldn't have DPs of that caliber. Are you selling your Christopher Veldestock yet, by the way? No, because I'm a sucker for someone who can beat someone 1v1 with the ball. Okay. Also, to be clear, I didn't say he'd win MVP and I didn't say he went a playoff series. I thought he put up numbers. I thought he'd put up numbers.

He's still getting his spots. He still gets the spots. Spots still exist. Phil Neville has a Phil Neville has not taken the raw materials he's been given at any point and helped it coalescent to some

you know a hole that's greater than the sum of its parts or even equal to I don't think and that was true in Miami as well and the defensive stuff is they have injuries they've had injuries throughout the year to coast of, you know, for example, not there. I can't remember a time in Portland where the defensive structure looked good. And so if it's fully on the individuals, then what is the value the coach is bringing,

unless it's purely recruitment. And then it sounds like he should be a sporting director and not the coach of the team. And so this now becomes consistent. So to throw the numbers in there because I couldn't remember. So Vancouver won 5-0 in that playoff game. Vancouver then beat Portland last year. year for one. So now they win again for one against their Cascadia rivals. And Cascadia Cup now is Vancouver and Seattle who will face off in Conca champions this week. And then Portland's the third one. And that's

the way it was for Vancouver for five to eight years. And that's the way it is for Portland now is like they are not a relevant part of this conversation. And when you talk about an MLS Cup prediction and playoff standings and all that stuff and you say like, well, you always have to talk about the Cascady teams, you don't mean Portland anymore. That's what you. where this club stands, and that is in light of them spending record amounts of money on players over the last few years. Avander coming in, and then on the sale of Evander, they then went back out and moved a ton of that money in ways that other clubs do not. So if the talent isn't there, then there's a bigger issue going on inside the club. And if you believe in these players and the

talent is there, then you have to believe that the performances could be better. And all of that is going to fall on the coach. And it was like overwhelmingly the response we got on social media about this weekend. And this comes as a team who's won one of their three games. So like they are not at the bottom of the standings. They have scored goals to an extent at times. Like they are not the whole problem, but it feels like such a cultural issue that they,

for the third time in three years, gave up against the rival at home and got run off the field by the Vancouver Whitecaps, who their actions look purposeful. Everyone looks committed. Everyone looks comfortable. They empower players who people have given up on. They empower players who they have given up on.

Yes, everything across the field from them looks polar opposite to what the Portland Timbers are doing. Shout out of Eric Ayazata, though. Scoring the goal, called up out of the academy, last minute signing, emergency signing from T2. He and Noah Santos are both around the first team. I think Santos is one of the best prospects I've seen in a long time as a center forward. I think he will be the best prospect out of Portland because he will be the only prospect

out of the Portland Academy. And this all goes into the conversation of Portland has wasted the opportunity to produce players over and over. They'll tell you their region's not very good. That doesn't matter. There are soccer players everywhere in the country. Utah's not a great region.

And Zavirikoso is about to play for 10 years for the national team and probably in Champions League coming up. And then the last one here to throw in, as we got the question from Brian, how long till Carnell sees a repeat of a St. Louis exit is the Philadelphia Union. Shield winners last year. They are 0.0 in 3 this season with two home games and only the goal scored is that penalty kick. The reference, obviously, Carnell first in the West, his first year in St. Louis in their expansion year, and then let go within three months of the start of the second season under Lutz Fanon Steel,

who now is no longer part of the club either. and St. Louis has their own problems going on. So Philadelphia, I've said it a couple of times. I think I had them preseason 8th or 9th in the East. It's a lot of talent to try and return. All of this is in the context, by the way, of like we still don't have an answer on who's in charge of this team, right? Their sporting director had this article come out by Pablo Mauer and the Guardian,

which if somehow you haven't read it, go back and read it. All of the investigation around that is still open to our understanding and has not been resolved. And so he is no longer part of the club currently, but other people have to make the decision. And it feels like in that context, it's ownership in Bradley Carnell that are probably the two most powerful people in the room.

And so that has to be mentioned. Wait, do you believe that's the context? What do you mean? Do you think Ernst Tanner has no say? Oh, interesting. I have no idea. I would be surprised if he wasn't still involved. Okay.

that would seem to be against the rules of what they're doing in theory. Okay. Seems like breaking rules for a second time, potentially there. But in all of that, it just changed the timeline of like, how quickly would this move if it did? And is it necessary? So let's talk a little bit about Philly. You sort of put in some of the underlying numbers last week in your article about some of the issues there. I touched on it coming into the season about the lack of chance creation loss in Kai Wagner

and especially in the injury to Quinn Sullivan, and then the lack of continuity. They are changing a ton straight up the spine. And even if these players hit, it might take time for them to get there. It's an unsurious offseason if the goal was to build upon that supporter shield win and actually compete for cups,

compete across multiple competitions. You don't get rid of Tyberrobo, Jakub Glesnes and Kai Wagner. You find the number that actually makes Kai Wagner. Wagner want to stay. That one in particular because he's been their best chance creator for half a decade. And you can't just replace that. And they've struggled so far.

And I know they just brought in a left back. But the chance of this guy being as good as Kai Wagner is very low. Ty Buribo is the type of goal scorer who is almost always going to be underrated because it's unsexy. All he does is find tapins. But like tapins don't dry up. even last year, the second half of the season, when he was quote unquote struggling,

he was still scoring a goal every 200 minutes. You know what you do? Like, that's a 15 goal score over the course of the season. So those two things. And then the big one is Yaacob Glesness. Like, that's not a move you make. Get rid of your defensive organizer.

Get rid of your defensive leader. That's not a move you make if you're serious about winning trophies. They're not. They're serious about making money in the transfer market. which is why Bradley Carnell in my mind is not in trouble. Correct. Though, um,

now like, given his track record with St. Louis, he's on watch, right? Like you're going to keep monitoring. From us. Yeah,

but like he's not, I, I would be shocked if Bradley Carnell, um, was moved along at any point in 2026. Now they're going to lose to Club America in this, next round. Like, they're not going to be, like, maybe they'll win one nil at home or something like that, but, like, they're not going to get past Club America. And then the focus is going to be on the regular

season. And if things go really bad, then you'll hear the grumbling. And at the very least, they'll be like, well, you've got to get Kevin Sullivan more minutes because he's the only creative player in the roster. But it's not, not even in the same realm as Pereja and Neville. if you are not going to be a winning team, if you are not going to commit to trying to win trophies and get over the line, then yeah, the only pressure is to play the young players to develop that next group and to move on.

And if in theory, which by the way is what just happened, they made it to the top in relative terms with Jim Curtin and then fell back down and then made it back up with Riley Carnell, you are calculating in the drop. Like the club is built on the drop. on the drop this year because they don't push it further. They reset and then rebuild. And Seri Larson might be defender of the year next year or in two years. But then they will sell him and then they will go out and do it again. And so I don't know how you generate the pressure on Bradley

Carnell unless you think you're underperforming or I think what happened with Jim Curtin was not playing into what the club wants to be built on. And that is like on system stuff and style stuff. So the only real question mark in all of that is playing the young players at enough of a level for them to be then sellable. Guess what? Kevin Sullivan already got sold. He already has the contract in Manchester City. They may not even care in all of that. And so I don't really know how much would change at all. And I think Philly fans should strap in.

I think the frustration is fair. Understand why we get that reaction from people as they watch the weekend. And they have two home games. they fail to score an open field goal. They fail to win a game to open the season. Like I understand all of that. I don't think any of it is changing anytime soon because it is all top down DNA stuff that the club has built.

And you hired Bradley Carnell in the context of what happened in St. Louis. So this is not like a curveball where it's like, oh, we got a little fortunate. The underlying numbers lied to us. We had a good year. And then year two, it's not real. Like you saw all of that and you chose to hire him. So this is not a surprise. to this team at all. Okay. That is all our talk there on the pressure around some of these jobs.

Appreciate the feedback from everyone. If you're listening on Sirius Radio, we're going to get out of here now so you can go listen on demand anywhere you get your podcast or on the on demand player for Sirius Radio. If you are listening via podcast, we can now discuss as well on the flip side, San Jose. Unbelievable start. They go to Philly. Timo Werner comes off the bench in the second half. he sets up the winner for Useni Buddha. And we got a ton of feedback from on social media, says our Hernandez, one of the best out of San Diego. I think he is covering both League MX and MLS says,

are the goonies back? And some other name on Blue Sky that I can't pronounce says, Quake's defensive solidity is a must talk. I know you were high on this team. You got to feel pretty good right now watching them go out there. Yeah, I'm almost ready to take by dub in terms of a call. Colin the quakes team that's going to improve year over here. And people forget, like last year,

they improved by 20 points year over year. They had a massive improvement. And they still weren't as good as their underlying numbers. And the reason why is twofold. It's because Daniel was terrible in goal. His shot stopping was awful last year. He looks to have rebounded pretty nicely so far. And then the other part was just defending from the front.

And everybody focused, I think, justifiably on how much they lost in terms of firepower with the departures of Joseph and Chichot Rongo and then especially Christian Espinoza. I think it was actually addition by subtraction with those first two guys. They're so bad defensively against the ball. And if you're not getting anything defensively from your front line, you make it so much easier to build right into the heart of your midfield. and that forces you to immediately start scrambling. And there are very few teams in the modern game

who can scramble effectively defensively week after week after week for 90 minutes. And that's what was being asked of the quakes. And Bruce Arena basically said it pregame on MLS countdown. He was talking to, I think, Brad and Sasha. And he was talking about Preston Judd and actually Jamar Ricketts and Sunni Buddha and Nico Shakira

was playing as a 10. He was like, these guys defend. These guys are really tough to play against the ball. And okay, we saw it in week one against a pretty bad sporting team and a week two against a catastrophic Atlanta team. And then we saw it again in week three

against Philly who is not great, but obviously better than those two. And then it transferred back a level or two because against Philly it's not preventing you know

builds through the midfield it's winning first ball second ball and it was a big test for Daniel Muni and Reed Roberts who are two relatively young. Well, Muni's 25 now so he's not that young but he's inexperienced as a starter centerbacks and

then Ronaldo Vieira and Balleroux in front of them and they went toe to toe physically with Philadelphia and if you match Philly's intensity like that and then you have guys like Jacarius and Timo Varner

you're like, okay, we're gonna have our chance to outskill them and they did and they did it on the road. 1-0, 3 straight wins, no goals allowed. The quakes are good, the quakes are good. Maybe not great, but the quarks are really good. The context on the grade is still a little bit unknown

and like obviously the first two games at home, favorable matchups. This game, I totally agree with you, which is the biggest takeaway. was their willingness to go toe to toe with car crash Philly and be physical and get stuck in. The Timo Verner turn and assist is fantastic. It's Nathan Harriol closing you and down the centerback there, right? I believe so, yeah.

Yeah, it looked like me. So, like, it was very much someone, quote unquote, playing centerback who's like, I don't want to get beat. I don't really understand my spacing. I'm going to approach this slowly. And Werner took advantage, but the Kroft turn there should not be available in a normal soccer game. as you go through the season. So like there are still some outstanding questions,

but that I think that like mental physical leap from this San Jose team, which was a bit of the jump that happened last year going into this year, I think is like absolutely huge. And then I had to go through the experience of watching that game. And my wife sits with me and she sort of just like asks questions.

And none of them were wrong, but you don't have the answer. And she's like, is Bruce Arena still good? And I'm like, yeah, well, there's like the second club. He's resurrected that we thought was like dead from MLS, whatever point oh. she goes well will he be national? Yeah, ask,

yeah, ask revs fans if he's still good. Yeah. And she's like, well, will he be national team coach? No, no, no, no. That couldn't happen. She's like, why I'm like, well, it can't happen. I don't really have an answer for you. It just can't happen.

Like, there's just no world in which it happens. But yeah, this has happened twice now. And I think going into the revs, we all question, like, does he understand the context of the league anymore and whatnot? And then with San Jose, for me, it was like, well, he'll get another owner to spend. And Dimo Verner's a big deal, but like, it's not on that. everything we just like they are the they they lead the league right now and in americans or domestic

players that play so like your back line is is super draft big yeah it's not and usini budd was a super draft pick from before him yeah and jimar rickets yeah you know and preston judd starting up like these are all college players yeah so it's like incredible what he's been able to do with this team uh i want to one more thing i want to talk about before we jump into conca cafe national team, which is a little bit similar. So Nico Securus, I think it's been fantastic as the 10, shadow marking, so closing down space to play through the middle of the field for centerbacks that are building out against them. And I think to me, the one big thing that jumped out from the Montreal game, Montreal went on the road and be Red Bulls, is Yvon Jaime as a second forward alongside

Prince of Wusu, moved Wicke Carmona into the 10. Wicke Carmona is on the ball one of the worst starting soccer players in MLS. But it meant Yvon Jaime. didn't have to mark in central areas and then was quick for the counterattack. And while it's obvious on the penalty kick, that was the first minute of the game, Ousu makes a break down the right side. And Jaime's in the box for the finish if Ousu gets the cross right. I think he has burst, Yvonne Jaime. He's clean in possession.

So to me, that was the most exciting thing for Montreal, which is get this guy out of central midfield because he's not going to work. He's not going to cover ground. He's not going to help make you harder to play against and just get him high up to field and let him be whatever he wants. It's more of a Martino Heda type of. Yeah, let it be a talus man and like do work for him. I would prefer it not be Wiki Carmona if it was me setting up the team, but like whatever,

all of it is is better. Wiki Carmona had a brace, brother. Come on. Even, even, Ethan Horvath. Life decisions. Wow. Life, life decisions that I think are questionable for sure in that past to a 16 year old in Audrey Mavetti.

And then the look at him. it was his fault that he played a ball outside of his body while he's coming back to his own goal under pressure after it was telegraphed to the entire stadium by pointing at him and telling him to come to the ball felt like a life decision on that one from Horvath and first of the bubble to pop for Michael Bradley and the Red Bull so we'll see how that goes going forward they have Toronto I think next week in Toronto that's the first game of the weekend we expect to see Josh Sargent to some extent. Big win for Toronto going on the road.

Let me just interrupt. Do we expect to see Ronald Doncor? Because that was a big miss in central midfield. And I mean, not to like Montreal were manmarking, which was obviously the right call. And, you know, Julian Hall looked. I almost said Jeremy. I almost said Julian Hall looked completely lost

and ineffective in that, which is understate. He's not a midfielder. And it was like, it was just. a really, really weird game. And it drove home to me how important Don Corps is to getting everything to sort of work like it did the first game and a half, two games for the Red Bulls. Yeah.

If he's on the field and you can spread the game a little bit and he's manmarked, he's going to beat his man on the half turn. And now he's charging into space and everyone's scrambling. And that didn't happen like a single time in this game. The only time it happened was from wide areas. with Rubalcava and Cade Cowell. And there's a decent chance that I just wither away at some point this season, watching those two waste opportunities in the final third.

So, yeah, it's a big one for Red Bulls. That'll be a fun game to TFC. Huge performance for them, by the way. Just like bounce back from, again, going to Vancouver and just looking not up as a team to go to Cincinnati to battle to be a little bit more composed. Shallowie gets the goal, but it's Ritchie La Rea, comes back, wins it, turns, goes upfield, hits the through ball. I think Shallowie's celebration,

he turned and said, what an effing ball. Like you could see him mouth it. And that's Richie Brings. He had a chance to score earlier in the game, which I think he messed up his first touch on, but both opportunities where he creates attacking chances from the fullback position.

And now they think Josh Sargent will be around going forward, which just gives him a whole new ability to possess the ball. I still worry about Central Midfield. I think Osos looked to step off, and I don't think him in C Fuente cover enough ground defensively to protect a back line that lost Walker Zimmerman, which we're hoping for the best for him.

Obviously, had concussion issues last year, had to go off the field after knocking heads with 10K, just the worst thing to see. So Walker, we're all rooting for you and hoping you feel better soon. And it was already sort of an area of concern for this Toronto team. And I think that's how you've protected and defend it. Okay, let's go into two more big topics. We're going to talk Conccaf and we're going to talk national team. first. So USM&T, Canadian men's national team. We are going to do a roster prediction show.

We're going to talk through it all on Thursday. And then the rosters are expected to come out this weekend for the March friendlies, which Maricio Pochitino has said will be the last big opportunity to make his roster. He is not bringing players into pre-worlds cup camp that are not a part of the roster. So I think the news we got was that it will be Memorial Day, no, the week before Memorial Day, that they will announce the World Cup roster before they come into that camp. So this is the last chance for players to be seen in person by Pochitino

and some big news out of the weekend. The first being Serginio Dese injury, the wording around it has been some of the weirdest I have ever seen. Like from coach to club to Serginio himself are like, he wants to play, he's going to play, he's going to fight, he likes to play. Nothing about what the actual injury is

or what the timeline is. So I don't know what to make of that. It makes me feel like it's pretty bad and that he probably won't be around, whether it's for the World Cup or the ramp up, which would then be a question on Pocitino. And it opens the door to Doyle at right back, where Alex Freeman would have been the clear step and starter, but has not played in, what, five straight games for Villarreal?

Yeah, I think he's only played like 30 minutes total. Yeah. So it opens the door at a position, which we don't really have a ton of depth chart options. So Tim Wea plays right back. for Marseille. And I know he hasn't played right back much for the U.S., if at all. But like, he plays there for his club team. And the way the U.S. have played under Pachitino has been the, you know, the back four morphs into a back three. Well, if you're working Jedi Robinson in at left back, like he can play left center back in the back three and just not go forward.

And that would allow Tim Wea to become the overlapping right back. in the same way that Sartcino-Dest often was. It's almost more of a wingback position, and I think that's way of his best position. The other option, obviously, is Alex Freeman, even though he hasn't played basically for a month. We've seen Pocitino be willing to take guys in who do not play much, like Gio Raina,

and say, all right, go out there and let's see how you play in red, white, and blue. And I think there's a level of trust there. I'm not super concerned about it. I'm also not convinced that Des, Desd's injury is as weird as, as you perceived it to be. I mean,

to me, it just looked like a hamstring injury. And Desk put out, you know, an dramatic statement on Instagram because he's a weird kid, but it's like, he's like,

I, you know, I want to play and blah, blah, it's like, cool, see you in six weeks. I mean,

Peter Baz's comments were like, that never looks good. that was his witch he's Dutch yeah he's Dutch like everything is going to be miserable have you ever tasted their food yeah I have it's a good point yeah the Indonesian food is really good for sure Indonesian food is really good um so it seems like way it would be the frontrunner obvious one Alex Freeman Joe Scali would be the other one got a full 90 um in Germany this weekend I I think if scali is in there then he becomes the third

centerback who tucks the four that shifts to a three he becomes a third one who tucks in and then then makes it probably max arfston at left back because arston is such a you know compelling attacking presence but if that is the case then i wonder if it just becomes mark mackenzie or miles robinson or like a true just centerback playing out there where you believe what they can do defensively you're not going to push them into the attack and then at that point you're just shifting the way the team plays and angling it one way, which could be a possibility from Pocitino. And I think this is all, if Desk is unavailable,

we're going to learn a lot of this in March, which I think is one of the big things to look forward to. My money is still on Alex Freeman. There is also the huge curveball back into the Matt Doyle's fear, verse whatever the phrase is where central midfield is pretty deep right now, and Tyler Adams plays right back in a World Cup game. And Christian rolled on, starts at D-Mid. Exactly.

All right. Exactly. Alongside Tanner Testman and Jack McGlynn or whatever it ends up being. Bego-Curis. So those are the huge, yeah, that's right. So that's one of the huge question marks that popped up. One of the other big convos we'll be having on Wednesday in the show or Thursday is center forward.

Everyone's scoring this weekend. So Flo Baligan, goal and an assist. Haji Wright continues to score. Pepe returned and scored a goal, which is exactly what he needs to do. and Brian fucking white baby continues to put them in for the Vancouver white caps so this is similar to central midfield this is a good conversation that I think we're going to be having around the US which is rather than a year ago I can't find an answer there's debate over what you're looking for and who you sort of want to land on it's very obviously flow balligan is well the depth right behind yeah yeah and I think I still think it's bad Ajiman number two he didn't score this weekend and I think he's in a little little bit of a dry spell, but that that happens. But what he brings in terms of moving the chains and occupying opposing centerbacks can't be matched by Haji Wright, Ricardo Pepe, or Brian White. Just can't. And we saw it last year in the Gold Cup when Ajiman was playing through an injury,

remember, and he still was like the only way the U.S. could complete a progressive pass. And on top of that, the way pressing has changed in the modern game over the past two or three years, everybody presses men now. And so you're seeing more and more long balls out of the back, either directly from the goalkeeper or just centerbacks under pressure trying to play it long. And that means we're back into like kind of the battle days where you need your center forward to win that first ball. and bad Ajiman is far and away the best center forward in the pool at winning that first ball, controlling knockdowns and giving a chance for the U.S. to win the second ball, and then get into an attacking pattern or just go direct. So I think to me, Aji Maan is still clear number two.

I think Haji Wright is clear number three because midway through the Gold Cup, Poach stopped trusting Brian White because Brian White, couldn't do the holdup play on long balls that Pat Ahsiman was doing. And in the most recent camp, Ricardo Pepe only got, what, 15 minutes versus Paraguay? And everybody thought like, oh, great, he'll start the next game. He'll start against Uruguay. He didn't even get off the bench versus Uruguay. And that tells me a lot about what, what Poach thinks of Ricardo Pepe.

So on the Ajaman stuff, I think the other part, well, one is Poach clearly, trusts who he values in person. And so Asimang has all that like that gold cup, different team, different context, but Pochitino's always going to lean back on like, well, he did it for me and I trust him in person. I also think all of what you talked about in the context of like, well, if Balagan's healthy, then this is our guy coming off the bench and like what better to have coming off the bench late in a game than a big target who can get on the end of crosses, set pieces, all of that, and we'll bring energy and play. But then outside of that, I do think you're looking for someone who would step in to be the starter next, right?

That's like, to me, there's like two things you're trying to play here. The game states of who's my second forward because they're my super sub attacker, and who's my second forward because they're my replacement starter on a set roster that I can't change if Bolligan goes down or gets suspended or whatever. And I think those are two different things because then you're looking at, well, who facilitated Pulisic is. best who facilitates whatever else of the attack is locked in there and sets it up which i think then opens the door to maybe some other options but as you said it's going to be a pretty big battle so we're going to talk about all of this coming up um this week and then we're going to be doing this for the rest of the year going into the world cup as we get ready for these rosters and these games but we've got conca champions we have not even hit on yet some of the biggest games coming up in

the region so you mentioned it philadelphia starts the competition for us in this round. 7 p.m. on Tuesday against Club America. Club of America beat my Carretero 2-1. I went to Curatoro for like 24 hours, ate a bunch of blue corn tortillas, drank a bunch of beers, and I was like,

this is my city. I live here now. And now I love watching them lose because they're lovable losers, just like my teams always are. They will face off against them. So it'll be Philly home, the first leg. And then away the second leg, which is still not at the Esteka, because the Esteka officially

reopens for the Messeca. for the Mexico friendlies at the end of March. So they are playing at Cruz Azul Stadium, which they don't use anymore, because they played at the Azteca while they built a new stadium that they could go move into, which I don't think is open yet,

so they're playing at the Universidad. So yeah, it's all working perfectly in Mexico City. In theory, this is a tough one for Philly. America has struggled at the international level, and I struggled in Conccaf. They have struggled to close teams out. They have struggled to finish teams off. They have normally gotten through against teams they're better than,

but it has not been the five zeros that maybe we saw coming, especially in Central America. Yeah. But also they have Alexendejas back now. And as I don't, like, there's nothing about Alex Zendaias that I watch his game. And I'm like, oh, wow, he's, he's really. But then you look at how much better they play when he's out there and how often he delivers for them in big games

and what he's done just over the past couple of weeks since coming back. And it's like, okay. Like, I can't necessarily explain it, but Gloom America are probably going to win this series as long as he's out there with the ball on his foot. He stitches things together and he can do a lot of things well where if someone else is creating chances he can get on the end of it.

If no one is, he can help set players up. The issue he's had with the U.S. I made the appeal last week on social. I made a video that I think he should be on the World Cup team. The issue I've had always is he gets called into these weird January friendlies and off camps and gold cups. And he gets given the 10 and build it. And he doesn't do that. But with all the other pieces on there, a guy who scores in front of 80,000 fans in League MX finals is probably a guy that I'm going to trust at SoFi Stadium at a World Cup to finish off what Pulisic creates and all that.

And as you said, since he's come back, the team's gotten a lot better. and they've been really good up the spine. So for this Philly team, this is going to be a huge test. It would be a way to take pressure off. I mean, if they get through a series like this, we can't even have a conversation about Bradley Carnell until we get to the playoffs and they would have to miss the playoffs,

I think for that conversation to come back up. So it's a huge opportunity. And Philly weirdly has been against Club America now. I think this is the third time in Concaf Champions. They've never beat them, but they have a little bit of experience doing it. So maybe that will be a bit of an advantage for them. That game's followed up by Monterey, Cruz Azul, and all League MX affair, and then closed out on Tuesday night with Lafc against Al-Holense at 11 p.m.

Al-Holense, first in Costa Rica right now on 40 points, 1-20 over San Carlos on the weekend. And L.AFC 1-0 win over FC Dallas. We have not talked yet about David Martinez's goal, which was a stunner, Doyle. You talk about ones that accelerate, broke the back of the net. Yeah. And your guy, Colodi, could do not. nothing about it. I mean, it was a great goal.

I called it like a brute force win where it was just like, oh, L.A. F. F.A.F.C. have more talent. And so they won because they have more talent. They could do nothing against that FC Dallas bunker. I think, you know, Bwanga had one good chance, maybe near the end of the first half, where Dallas came up a little bit. And I think there was some interplay with Son and Collodi made a great stop on it because

he's a goalkeeper of the year. He read that one well because he came off his line early. Yeah. But it was one of those things where it's like, okay, this is what LASC is going to, you know, they're going to face a lot of this. And most teams aren't going to be as good at it as Dallas are, but like they're going to have to be better because you're not going to get a banger like that every single week that said, I mean, yeah,

they're probably going to face that against Alifuelan. You know, like this is at home and Alifuelense is going to drop in. and like, okay, like, let's see, let's see if you can continue to do this. It's, um, I thought, so I thought there was openings for Dallas in that game. And there is a real lack of the third piece to play off of. And I think you saw when Musa and Farrington connected and we're able to start to link up a couple of passes. Like there are gaps in central areas for L.AFC, but no one else can be a part of that. I think Valentin looks like a solid player, but not a match winner.

And obviously it's week one, so we don't know. And then Musa had the big chance laid on because Herman Johansson, who was signed to play right wing back, played right wing back for the last five minutes and created the only chance of the game for Dallas. I will leave that there because I'm clearly pissed about it still. But they, I guess, Eric Quill set up Kamunga to counter Buonga and to try and, like, slow him down or take him out of the game. I thought it worked.

Like you and I had very different reads on that. game. I thought that Dallas went on the road to do a thing and they basically pulled it off. And, you know, the Musa chance was a good late chance. Farrington had a really good chance. I think it was just after the break that Lurice made a great save on. Camungo had a chance from the top of the box that Lerese made a really good save on. So I think they were probably better than LAAFC on the night. It's just LASC have more talent. Yeah. And this was an example I think of with Zustakio, it's, okay, maybe they don't, maybe they're not at their best being a high possession team, but other teams are going to make them.

Like, when you come there, you are going to make them. And I thought they looked a little more comfortable. I think the U-22 initiative kid is interesting for them. Every time he's come off the bench and some start, yeah. I think he, like, finds the game. He finds pockets. He's able to break lines in tight areas with his passing. But the biggest solution to all of this is Davy Martinez becomes Christian Olivera.

or Diego Rossi on the right wing. And now it's just a three-headed monster and it's unstoppable because you can only plug. I don't, I don't, I'm not going to let the dogs go out west. Come on. Okay. Yeah. Let it, let Nashville have a thing. Doyle, come on.

Let them have a thing. This was obviously a rematch. We saw it right, uh, two years ago. It was LAFC taking out Aalho Lense. It was four to two on the series. But if you remember, LAFC won the first game in Costa Rica three zero and then lost at home. two to one against alohelense and we're just able to hang on to get the victory in the series. So that game coming up on Tuesday night, on Wednesday, we get the big one to start.

Nashville against Miami at 7.30. As I said it, it's my MLS Cup favorite pick from preseason in Nashville, my supporter shield pick in Miami. We talked about Nashville, the Cerberus, and everything else already. For Miami, they go to D.C., Baltimore, and they win two to one in the end. was two zero quickly for them. And then it kind of felt like they put it in third gear pretty, pretty fast. You can give credit to DC if you want, but it just kind of felt like everyone knew the result at that point. Yeah, I think there is definitely an element of that like DC didn't start playing until they

were two nil down. And you could look at the underlying numbers and say, um, DC were the better team, higher XG and more box entries and all that. And I, there's a danger in that. but also DC did score a goal and then put Miami under pressure for like the final 10, 15 minutes of the game. And Miami could not control the game. They did not have that gear. Now, that's a gear that they didn't have most of last year either.

They found it down the stretch. They're looking for it again. While at the same time, it's very clear that Javier Maserano is just throwing stuff at the wall, trying to figure out how to unlock Herman Bertrami, who has not fit. like it has not worked with him so it's interesting he he has not fit in the way you expected him to which is score goals at the end of stuff he created the go-ahead goal in Orlando with the turn down the sideline and the pullback and he creates the goal here by defending not thinking the ball will go out when it won't go out with Lucas Bartlett so I agree with you in that Miami is tweaking things

I think the positive for Miami is this is why you spend $15 million because the floor is somewhat high of like the guys contributed to two goals that have won you games already this season. I will be fascinated if they can get past this round if he gets into League MX competition, teams he's played against for a while, teams he's scored against for a while, if that makes things even more comfortable.

But one of the issues with Miami is without Jodi Al, but no one creates width and whips crosses in and that seems to be a large part of what Bertrami's really good at. Well, I mean, Matteo Silvetti, when he played wide, right, he was actually, I mean, really, like he had the assist on Messi's goal. And then it's a question of like, okay, how else are you going to tweet? Like, okay, if Noah Allen's going to stay left back, he's just going to support, he's not going to push up.

Then that means you have to have somebody overlapping from right back, which they didn't on the day because they were starting Messi at right wing and they just wanted to give him that entire area to sort of interpret for himself. So that's what I mean about throwing stuff at the wall, trying to figure out. something that creates balance, but also incisiveness in attack so that the $15 million striker can start looking like it. Because I agree with you. He's found a way to contribute, and this is peace through superior firepower, but it's not adding up to something that looks particularly compelling at this point, which is very much unlike the team they'll be facing on Wednesday or

Thursday, or Thursday night it is. For Nashville, we have talked about it over and over. They're firmly connected to this club. They came in together. They played the their first playoff game together, the Leaks Cup final that Messi went to Nashville and won, and then the playoffs last year. And I think the playoffs last year, the biggest part that stood out to me was with the injuries Nashville had, it was what, Ethan Barlow starting at right back. They just couldn't play the soccer they wanted to play. And they got caught up in these like personal battles. And I think Nashville got overwhelmed with the Luis Suarez, Rodrigo de Paul, Messi talking and fouls and referee and all of that. So this is the huge test.

Like if Nashville plays their game as well as they've played it, they have a chance to win this series. If they can focus on that and hit that across two games, that's going to be the difference to me, Doyle. And so the learning point is can they get over that stuff, the like off-field emotional stuff and be focused on the fact that they are a good enough team to just go toe to dough if they play their game. That's an agreement from you.

That's a huge agreement. Okay. Wednesday night then, we've got LA Galaxy against Mount Pleasant coming from Jamaica at 9.30 p.m. Eastern time, Mount Pleasant. I think the reports are that they've had 10 players denied visas. A portion of them are players who are originally from Haiti, which is currently on the travel ban. And then a portion of them are Jamaican players as well, which is not a part of the travel band. It's really cool because soccer connects the whole world. So it's cool keeping people divided and making sure that no one can interact and that no one can really like

progress in society. So I think that's going super well. That's all in the context of the fact that Iraq cannot get to the World Cup into continental playoffs right now and also is setting up a scenario in which potentially Iran just doesn't come to the World Cup. So it's cool that the global game connects us all and the beautiful game connects us all in all of that. The galaxy 4-1 loss at Colorado. We talked a little bit about Peck, his red card. So you'd assume you'd see him for like 90 minutes in this because he's suspended. And it's all a little unfortunate with him, which is I thought a chunk of that game has shown the progression, each game of him and Klaus look like a really good connection. And it's the best soccer they've played without Ricky Pooge in the entire time

Peck has been there. Yeah. I agree completely with that. Klaus has fit. I thought he would fit pretty well, but he's fit better than that. And Peck was, you know, a part, a big part of that. Joseph Pencil was as well. And of course, he went off injured five minutes before Peck got that red card, looked like a hamstring. could be a month, could be two. Hopefully nothing more than that. So it's a very different Galaxy team than they were four days ago.

They should handle this this Jamaican team with ease regardless. I'm curious to see what happens on the wing in future weeks, because like you said, Peck should go from the start on this one. Maybe it'll be Harbor Miller on the other wing. Or Kuevas.

Quevas or Nassiamento, who just is not a soccer player in any position that I've seen. So it's like, I don't think the Galaxy are a threat to advance beyond this round, but they should absolutely win this series. And talk about drool. Wednesday night finishes with 11.30 p.m. Eastern time. So I'm going to get in bed, maybe a cup of tea, maybe a nightcap, a little bit of whiskey. and San Diego against Tolucah. Yeah. Context.

Toluca. They won back-to-back tournaments, and they are second place right now in League of MX. They have been the wagon. Antonio Mohammed, the head manager, talent loaded straight up the spine of this team, Mexican internationals that have fought their way into the team as well.

Ruiz, one of the best players in League of MX in that central midfield area against a San Diego team that's going to play. their soccer no matter what you do to them. Like this is a huge moment for San Diego. Pumas was big. And we had the San Diego. San Diego dot football crew on preseason. And they were like, this is a market that watches League of MX.

Like these teams mean things. And so for San Diego to put down markers to beat these teams is a huge deal. This is as big as it gets. Yeah. It really is. If they win this one, then I think that, look, they don't need help becoming relevant in their market right now. I mean, they have real juice in San Diego.

So they'll be fine one way or another. But in terms of becoming one of the clubs that we talk about in North America, the way we talk about L.A.F.C. and the Wilford-Nazi-era-Columbus crew in North America. Like, that's what San Diego is headed for if they win this series. I do not expect them to. Yeah. I just, to Luke is too good.

And San Diego, as good as they are on the ball and as talented as they are and as clear as their ideas are, they only have one match winner. And this is where I'm a little annoyed with their winter because, okay, you want to get rid of Chukiluzano and whatever the hell is going on with that. Like, I respect it. You have an open DP slot anyway. Mm-hmm. And you have a ton of gam. Use that DP slot to bring in a high level number nine or to bring in a high level number nine or to bring in a high level. creative midfielder and get another match winner out there because opportunities like the one

you've built for yourself inside of 14 months, they don't always come around, man. It's like these might be the good old days and this might be the opportunity and you might have missed it because it's in these games, it feels like it's understriar or nothing. So Lewis Morgan did make his debut off the bench against sporting Casey and the one zero win. He was for that Red Bull playoff run. he was a match winner alongside Emil Forsberg for a team that went to MLS Cup. I understand he is not.

For people listening, there's a little bit of eye roll and unhappiness in Doyle's face, which is fair. But like that would be a huge plus for them if he's available. And for a club that wants to win Conca Cap Champions Cup, Lewis Morgan, the healthy version, is your third best attacker at best. More realistically, he's your super sub. Yeah. Ooh, okay. Yeah, this one's a huge game, as you said.

It will change, I think, a lot of people's perceptions in the region. Afern in the chat says Toluca coming in healthy. El Turco said they're going for this competition. They played a full strength lineup against F.C. Juarez on the weekend. Toluca, one of the things they've been great at, though, is they are malleable. They will let San Diego have the ball, and Cordova will find his space. and Ruiz and RSA can build out from deep areas and get you in transition quickly. That's the fear for San Diego is like Toluca are okay playing against San Diego's game states.

So you have to nail it. Like you cannot. There is no scenario in which Toluca is uncomfortable because they don't have enough of the ball. So San Diego has to be efficient with their chances. They have to be dangerous. And any of those mistakes that they make, which sometimes is people don't want to play early balls in the box, they knock it around in the attacking third, they turn it over. it's transition against you the other way,

Toluca is going to murder you on those chances. So it is going to be must-watch stuff. That one's Wednesday night, late as we said. And then Thursday, Cincinnati faced off against Tigris at 8 p.m. Jinyak with the winner in the 92nd minute in the classical reggio against Monterey this weekend. Yes, Andre Pierre-Jignac still getting it done in big games. And Cincinnati, obviously, coming off the 1-0 loss against Toronto. Doyle does not feel like best.

scenario for since he going into this. No, since he were terrible in that game. And, you know, they got a vendor back for the final 20 minutes and they were actually worse with him out there because it's a lot of just he's going to go and try to get on the ball and try to do something with it. I don't know that worse is fair. They were bad both ways. They were worse because they were worse defensively, right?

Because you have one more guy out there who's just not going to close down, especially because he's coming off a hamstring injury. He's not going to bust his ass trying to win the ball back. And as genius as his highlights are, God, I'm starting to sound like Bobby here. As genius as his highlights are, like, nine times out of ten, they don't come off. Nine times out of ten, it's a turnover. And then you need to bust your ass to win the ball back, especially against a team like Tigress in international play. And it just, it looks and it feels really bad.

the off ball movement from Cincinnati is negligible. Just count the number of times that Denke is checking back to receive a pass with a defender on his back. And he has no options other than to just play it straight back. That's it. And then there's not a third thing happening off the ball. So it's like, okay, you play to Dankei, he plays back, and that opens up this running behind or this other pocket pass. And it's like none of that is there from Cincinnati. just a lack of offball movement, the lack of structure, the lack of repeatable play.

And that's why it feels like it's a vander or nothing. And that's not a way to win at a high level. There's a little bit of a debate of Samuel Gidey versus Nobado, like who gives them the best option. I think to me the reality is both of them are worse than Nobado was two years ago pre-injury. Yeah. And the team just... Nobody looks scared to pass the ball forwards. Yeah, he cannot turn.

Yeah, he looks physically uncomfortable. for a guy who was like an ultimate eraser and connector. And Geedy looks better than him, but that's not as good as he used to look. And so it doesn't help them. Okay, let me ask you this real quick, which you have to pick one, Philly beating America or Cincinnati beating Tigress.

Philly beating America, because I think Philly could at least be really, really tough defensively and then get two set pieces. Yeah. that i think is an indictment on where Cincinnati sits right now um and then the last game of this round uh coming up is Vancouver against Seattle uh so this first leg will be in Vancouver the second leg will be in Spokane for uh Seattle to host as they put grass down still at looming field and it's a cascadia cup game this is awesome like it's going to be fun it's a perfect way to close

it out uh Vancouver we talked about 4-1 win at Portland Seattle one zero win at St. Louis. It's a tough run right now for St. Louis, but for Seattle, they gritted it out. The big note was Yymar went off injured in this one. So that's a huge loss for this team. Alex Roldan slid in to centerback. And I believe Stuart Hawkins is out hurt. Yep. So is Kim Kihei. So I assume Alex Roldan is just starting at centerback now for this team. I would be surprised if he wasn't. I think that. that it'll be Reagan and rolled on and Kalana Kosovozzi at right back. Obviously knew who at left back.

They're comfortable with that. The attack looked rough. Like there's not the type of connection in the Sounders this year that they had at their best last year. And I think that, you know, Pedro de la Vega, when the Sounders were incredible all summer, Pedro de lavega was healthy and once he was not healthy they were a worse and much more predictable team

Snyder Brunel I think is a really good player he's not a winger that it was weird that he started on the wing and like is it Doyle Brian Spitzer starts a talented young center mid at wing yeah fair point two and a half years fair point

I would have like to see George like in Paul Rothrake is hurt now so I would have like to see Georgie Manungu out there you know, or you Sukenome, the kid who... I think Minungu is also hurt. How was he? I missed that. I think he was also unavailable for the St. Louis game.

Well, hopefully he's available for this game because when the sounders have one winger out there who can beat guys off the dribble, it has a cascade effect of opening everything else up. And they start looking like the sounders that were so good last summer. where like Vancouver they I thought they had lost that with Ali Ahmed AZ has been incredible for them through the past and so like there there are other two winger signings that they made this offseason that aren't even around yet and they're still like the caps look like the caps yeah so that will be the final game of this first leg the second legs will come the following week reverse hosts for the most

part most of these MLS teams are on the road. Seattle got the buy as Leagues Cup champions. So they are hosting and Inter Miami got the buy as MLS Cup champions. The bracket is interesting. Like if San Diego snuck through, they'd face the LA Galaxy Mount Pleasant winners, which would be, I mean, for San Diego, we talked about relevancy. Imagine beating Pumas Toluca and then L.A. Galaxy in Southern California on the way to a semifinal would be massive. L.A.F.C. will be up against that all-league MX tie of Cruz Azul and Monterey. the Nashville Inter-Miamy winner will play the America-Filly winner. They'll play Club America.

And the Vancouver, Seattle winner will play the Cincinnati Teagress winner. They'll play Tegress. So we are into the meat of Conca Champions, which is my favorite part of the year. Long one here is we basically have two competitions to cover, plus a national teams. It's why we love soccer-wise, baby. We get to do whatever we want. Thank you to you, Matt Doyle for being here. Thank you to Andrew Weeby for messaging me late on and not being available.

as always. Thanks to Tom Boger for just being out and being around and hanging out and doing his thing. And thank you to all of you for listening. Shout out to everyone in the chat. Thank you for being with us live. Thank you to all of you for listening. And we'll talk to you again very, very soon.