SoccerWise - Elimination Preview & USMNT Roster Live From Charlotte + Kristijan Kahlina(CTL)

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

David can see Tom's crystal blue eyes in person as the squad camps in Charlotte ahead of Friday's elimination game. The squad goes game by game to preview the weekend of must win games. Then they talk about the breaking news around Tata Martino & his old buddy Josef Martinez. And of course they have to dig into the first Berhlater-Reyna roster under Poch. And then Kristijan Kahlina joins the show to talk PK shootouts, the pressure of must win games, winning GKOY, and much more.8:15 CTL-NYCFC14:03 MIN-SEA19:50 Pressure On Pat Noonan23:55 Preview FCC-CLB27:50 Suarez Retroactive Suspension31:00 MIA-NASH Preview35:10 SD-POR39:45 Tata Martino Back To ATL43:50 Josef Martinez Leaving SJ47:35 USMNT Final 2025 Camp56:50 Kristijan Kahlina Interview

Hey, everybody, welcome back to Soccer Wise, David Goss and Tommy Scoops with you in person. I can see the color of your eyes right now, Tom. I was about to say I'm just making awkward, stern eye contact with you to try to make you feel uncomfortable. Should we do it the whole show? yeah locked in right now the key to this is we don't have video because i didn't bring a camera so no one knows anything that's happening right now we are we're laying in bed together yeah we are actually we are in charlotte north carolina it is the site of the first playoff game we're going to be doing a special live show on thursday night at a brewery um not going to

promote it too much because the show's coming out as it happens and we have a uh interview with Christian Kalina, Christian Kalina, starting goalkeeper for Charlotte that I did inside the stadium a little while ago that we will be running on here as well, because we are on site for this one. Gorgeous fall day, perfect for soccer. That game is Friday nights, the first game of the round. And we're going to talk about every game coming up. We'll talk about the U.S. men's national team roster. You've got, of course, some breaking news that we will dig into.

But the people want to know who is the champion of the, I don't know, Brick, New Jersey. the men's league 945 league tier B 2025. Unfortunately, we lost. It's a tight one, good opponent, good result. One nothing, which is very abnormal for a men's league game. The other teams keep it played very well. Listen, we weren't good enough, and we're going to have to reload for next week for the next season in the top division, as we should be.

It's all right. It's over 30. I'm 30, and a couple of my college friends that I still play with, few of them are turning 30. We're reloading next session. Don't you worry. When you are elevating next season, is that you're getting promoted or you're going into an older league? Promoted, I think.

The guy who, like, because we just ran through our division. Got it. So what do you think about moving up? I was like, how about we on the title first? Is the champion going up? I hope so. We need revenge. Ha ha.

And because of that, it's been a long 12 to 14 hours for you post game. Yeah. Yeah, I've been a lot of self-reflection, feeling empty inside, sadness, and then some complications trying to fly. It's difficult, but we made it. We did make it, and we are here, and we are excited. I think we'll probably try and get a preseason pod about the team scheduled for a week or two. Sounds good to me. You flip right back into the next season.

Next week. There's no rest in Brick, New Jersey, Grind Set. Always Grindy. Yeah. I said Grind Set to Jordan on the show yesterday as a joke, and I was like, wrong show. It's a different show. She was probably like, shut up nerd. Yeah.

She's also lived it. Yeah. Yeah, she is the grind-set. So it's a little bit different. I think she got released on some list of advisory board. Dude, do you see the other names on that? I don't understand what the list is, though. Me neither.

Okay. She's on a list with, like, Eli Manning and, I don't know, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey. What were the other names? Chris Paul, Julie Fowdy, Lauren Holiday, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Morgan, Lindsay Vaughn, Magic Johnson, Brittany Mahomes, Sue Bird, Eli Manning, and I'll remember. junior and our very own jordan angelae grand hill yeah and they're all owners of teams so that's what is the advisory board for i would assume it's nwsl advisory board and jordan is the only member from denver and now she is best friends with really famous people she's so much cooler than us it's

unbelievable i know and it it almost feels like every time we try to get closer we get further away just a bit of the problem she's going into new new why would she answer us She's in these circles. I said something like, oh, we're going to Charlotte. We're going to go do this thing. She's like, oh, that's really cool. And I asked her something. And she's like, she's going to be in Portland on site calling an end of a self playoff game.

And then she's hosting their award ceremonies. That's awesome. Yeah. It's much cooler than what we are doing. But we are excited all the same. Let's start digging into these games. So we're here. I realize this this morning.

Like we're at single elimination. Yeah. Every game from here on out, no matter what, right? One team's going home. I'm excited. about that. I think it brings, it's what we all wanted, so I don't think we can complain. And across the board

this weekend, we'll have now five games, one team will be going home, and we'll have a little bit of juice. It feels like Portland, San Diego definitely don't like each other. Because Annabod's not. Definitely. I would assume Miami, Nashville, don't like each other. I think, by the way,

so we'll talk about Louis Suarez's suspension. But the other thing is, so Ian Frey got fined for simulation on the play with Eddie Tagsath. But what's the simulation that he got hit with the ball and then went down? I guess so. That feels like it was supposed to be a yellow card. So what's the complaint about the simulation?

The guy got charged for the thing he was supposed to? I don't know. I thought that one was a little bit weird. We know hell is real is going to have juice. Minnesota, Seattle has had a little bit of history, has a little bit of juice. And Charlotte NYCFC. I sat down with Kalina. We'll talk to him.

But I was like the celebration. what happened and he was like they thought they won the series he was like pissed he was like they won here and they thought that meant that they won the series and i wanted them to know that they didn't win the series and i'm like this is the value of this right is like okay these games are going to be as high intensity as we're going to get that's a good point and and and the familiarity and the hatred maybe hatred's too strong you know what i mean the competitive the right the competitiveness of playing like talking about miami nashville and and again Vancouver, Dallas had this where they played on Decision Day,

and then they played in the first round. I was speaking with Jack Mayer and Alex Mwheel about this game, about the series. They were like, yeah, it's pretty rare to play the same team four times in a row. We don't even do it in baseball anymore. We know everything. And one of the things was like, you know, hey, Swara, it's like, first, like, we know every variation that they can. We know everything about all of the players.

We played them so many times. Right, so. Yeah, yeah. Like, part of it can go to that, but, like, obviously in that one, there is the connection, and we'll get into this later, but the connection of two teams came into the league at the same time. We've only gone over it three times. We only did it, Decision Day, playoffs, playoffs. So I don't know that we will hit that again.

Yeah. But, like, they came in the league at the same time. They played each other, like, the first playoff game was Nashville, Miami. That was at Walker's Dimmer and at Dax McCarty that dunked on Blaz-Mittee. Then they've played, obviously, the League's Cup final that Miami. Where do you think Blazman-Tweetie is right now? Isn't he an ambassador for Miami, so? I think in South Florida. Is he? I think so.

Does he want to hang out? I should hit out Blaze. You should. Yeah, I didn't realize Blaze was local. I don't know that for a fact. Yeah, yeah. I don't really want to dox him either. I think South Florida, it's pretty big.

It's about 10 million people. Yeah, yeah. I think you're good. But part of that, too, when I was talking, like, are you kind of sick about answering questions about Miami? Because, like, inevitably, and they understand it, too, with, like, Messi and all the, the lights that come with that

it's like are you kind of annoyed like you want to talk about yourselves and are like yeah kind of they answered it in like a more professional and like trying to not give like a you know bolt and board material quotes or whatever but like you get like I felt bad like I'm sorry that I have to ask you about the team you're playing more than I'm asking you about you and the rare

part about this is we only have the one team in Charlotte who knows who they'll play in the next round because the both sides of the bracket on the other side are waiting which is another position are part of it. I talk to the Charlotte guys about Philly, but like you can't even talk, you can't talk to Nashville

and be like, oh, would you love to play Cincinnati? Would you love to play Columbus? So that changes it as well. But it's going to be fun. Friday night, one game, three games on Saturday, and then one game on Sunday. So it'll be a full weekend. We'll have your coverage on Monday. We will do our reaction show.

We'll recap everything and get it set for you. Let's dig into the game. Charlotte NYCFC, that opening game. Charlotte yet to score a goal in this series, NYCFC, the one goal in the opening game from Alonzo Martinez, the penalty kick win for Charlotte. I've been asked about this game, obviously a million times this week. I'm sure you have two. The one thing I said is this should be Charlotte's best performance because it's Zaha at home and just the law of averages is like you should now, but I think

responsibility falls on their shoulders, which is like you have to push the play. You can't sit in. And I think they tried to for stretches of the second game. and the chances fell to the wrong guy, which is another combo we could have. But, like, the responsibility in this game falls to Charlotte to try and win at home. Exactly. And I hope that they take that responsibility and go for it.

I hope that they're trying to make the game and they're playing against NYC and NYCFC like to have the ball. I hope that's shorter like, no, man, like we want to impose our will in the game rather than, hey, we just kind of want a bunker encounter. With Zaha back, again, it's going to be much different than game one. for, like, without PEPBL and then without Zaha, like, there just wasn't enough creativity. And so this is, it's weird that one player should be making so much of a difference,

even stylistically of how you're going to set up the team. And it should. It should with the mentality. And I really hope that that's how they come out and play. Yeah. But that's not been their DNA. And that's not been Dean Smith's preferred, like, back against the wall, how do I'm going to play? Like, I hope that they will.

I don't know if they do. I think to me, so one of the things I've been thinking about is, balance, which is you want Vargas and Zaha 1V1 out wide, but it can't be every time. And Tokomani needs more connection. I think that's what you saw the struggles. So there's some conversation. Do you bring Archie Goodwin in? Do you play 4-4-2? It's not going to happen. Like, they're not going to do that. That's, maybe they play it

earlier than they did in game one. Maybe they go to it at the 60th minute if they need it rather than the 75th to the 80th. But it has to be, there has to be some level of balance, which is the two of them are coming inside sometimes and linking up and then going out wide in finding their one-v-one chances. And it's only made harder by the fact that Republic of Ireland International, Kevin O'Toole will be on the other side of the field. Shout out to Kevin O'Toole.

For him, man. It's awesome. Red Bull Academy, Princeton grad, NYCFC draft pick, Republic of Ireland international, Kevin O'Toole. It's fantastic. It's unreal. It's fantastic. This is why the sport in America is the best.

I don't even know that he had a passport. I don't know that he did for a while. I would assume there's someone in Ireland looking at roster sees the O and the apostrophe and is like, let's call them up and let's see what we could do. There's been a couple that I've tried, right? They tried hard for Jack McGlynn. That was one, yeah. And there was one or two others that were like players who weren't in the U.S. picture

that you were like, oh, if they could get it, they would. And I don't know that they were able to get the citizenship. So it's a really funny thing. Kevin O'Toole's fun because he likes to start stuff. Yeah. And he's a bullshitter. And I appreciate every part about him. but it's you know for this NYCFC team as you said they like to be in possession they can be

clean the goal didn't come out of possession in the first game and so I think that's the real question is like who pushes the game who's able to find the chances what Kalina said to me and you'll hear is like law of averages like they should score for them to get shut out across three games two of them at home would be surprising and he's like I don't know where it'll come from but it will come and you're like well okay where will like we should have an idea of where it will come from and I think this has been some of the frustration with Charlotte the whole year is like they're malleable they can play against everyone but how do they impose themselves and if you get a home seat at some point that's the point is like you can you get the chance to impose yourself

Charlotte didn't do it in game one and this is now their redemption option opportunity exactly and they're good enough to do this part of the reason why the expectations are raised and and what we hope to see from this team is because they have the players to do it and and I think that they're capable. I think that they could still be obviously competitive if they just try to make the game defensive and see what they can do with a one like transition moments, little things like that. But this team, again, I hope to see more of them taking the game to NYCFC rather than trying to recoil and hit them in transition, which again, like I understand that as a tactic and as a style and then, hey, maybe that is the right play here. But for me, I would love for them to go

out brave and be courageous and take it to NYCFCC. Do you have a pick? Well, Lean Charlotte. I think NYCFC, again, with it being in penalties in game two, but like that, what a missed opportunity.

Yeah. Coming back now to Charlotte, like you've said. Yeah, you stole home field advantage. Here was your chance to close it out and you didn't. You're talking about law of averages, about the goals and stuff, right? Like, NYCFC, I think, have played well over these two games, particularly in the first one, and sometimes, like, Matt Freeze is obviously really, really good, too, but so is Christian Kalina.

So it comes down to PK shootout, both teams like their chances with their guy, and it ends up being Charlotte. We'll have the interview with Kalina at the end of this episode. Let's move on to our next game, though. We're going to do these in order of the schedule. So if you are wondering what the schedule looks like, you can just remember what we're saying. FC Cincinnati Columbus kicks off Saturday.

So it's four, six, and eight o'clock Eastern time. We know Yuyakubo will be suspended for this one, coming off the red card. I guess, I mean, I'm assuming you're living the same noon-in questions I am right now from the Cincinnati faith. Yeah, this is a very interesting topic I want to get into. The 4 o'clock game is Minnesota, Seattle. Oh, yeah, I skipped over that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got to put the West, got to put the Western Conference game first.

So that's what, three central time, whatever it is. I mean, they're all kind of in the same time zone at some point as well. Minnesota, Seattle. So let's get into that game. It was the most bizarre game in game two. We talked about it a bit on Monday. And I think it's one of those who comes out of it feeling better. Like does Minnesota say, hey, we actually were there and we got blitzed and it wasn't a big deal?

Or does Seattle say, no, the 35 minutes of us going up 3-0, that's what was real. And we have a clear path of how to handle things in game two, in game three. I don't know what to make of this. The thing that is still on the board, not quite how I, envisioned it, but the possibility of a team getting through with negative goal difference because they win two PK shootouts, I would have really liked that game to have been 3-0 if it was going to end up like this, just for the absurdity of this format. It's a great question, gosh, like what Seattle did, and what Seattle did truthfully in both games in terms of creating chances

and dominating the game, that should be replicable for game three. Minnesota, again, For a team that's so good defensively and has such good structure, like everything but ball go in all of the time for Seattle. Everything else has really worked out for Seattle outside of the shootout, right? So it's, I really don't know what to make this game through. I think it's fascinating. I'm very, very excited for it. Minnesota need more going forward because, again, as we spoke last show,

the two goals, they didn't create that. That wasn't out of pressure. That was a mistake, two mistakes from Seattle, and pretty mindless ones. The kind of mistakes that you make when you're up three-nil right before. half time. So Minnesota, there's still huge, huge question marks of what can they do other than hey, Dane St. Clair, you got to be special. Yeah. The, um, so Alex Raldon went off with an injury in the previous game. I think it was a groin. And then Rianze came on sort of early for him.

So that's something to watch. It doesn't change the shape for Seattle because they both play the position the same way. Alex Raldon has more experience. He's been there before. There's more quality there, but like you're still getting the overlaps, the underlaps, the comfort and possession. They're both college tens who play fullback. That's the move, and that's what they both do. And then my assumption would be Musovsky gets the start again with Morris out wide. I think the bigger question would be if Paul Rothrock can work his way into the team.

It doesn't feel like that's a move Brian Schmester is going to make, but I wouldn't be against it. For sure. They have, like, Jesus, Ferreira being on the bench would feel it would be the same kind of conversation you know so they're both deserving starters to get Musovsky on the field one of them has to be dropped I really really like Paul Rothrock I would again I would like to see him starting but I can't really argue too much with Jesus Ferreira right I would again if it were me I would lean Paul Rothrock but it's not it's not a

bad option or it's not like the wrong decision it's not objectively a bad decision right think either way. So he should have a part to play in this game, whoever starts, whoever comes off the bench. And I think that's going to be very, very important, particularly if Minnesota are able to defend really well and frustrate Seattle, it's going to become crucial. Okay, who comes off the bench? How do you change it? What do you want to do? How can you wear down this defense if, again, they don't have that stellar first 30 minutes or so that they did at home? The other thing out there in this game is Yaboa has played more and more minutes every game. He played 35 in the last game.

Is he capable of starting? And if he is, is that even something Minnesota wants to do? I think he provides you more possession, which is not exactly Minnesota's focus. But do you see over the course of two games, we actually need a release valve? And if that's the case, where then do you put Bongi? Because the midfield four is pretty packed. So does Bongi go to wingback? Does he take Rosales out?

Markinik has struggled the two games, but he's been a day. difference maker for them. So does he lose his spot? Those would be the big question marks for Eric Ramsey, but this feels like the game or the series where we know the most of like they're going to play the way they've played. It's going to be a third one. And I think if you're in Minnesota, you could look back and say like it's a deflected second ball off a set piece for Obed's first goal. That goal doesn't go in. We are who we are. We don't give up the next ones. We stay in the game. And I think that's fair for Minnesota read it that way. And I think they should, because they should come into this game with confidence that if they are

able to play in a similar way, that they can get a result. Do you have a pick for this one? I'll stick with Minnesota. Okay. I have Seattle in my Bractober, which, by the way, if you haven't done yours, your NWSL one is out. So you have to go do that before Saturday. If you want to win across all four, you get the spending spree at your club. You also can enter each league. So if you've missed other ones, but you want to do the NWSL one as well, you could do that. I believe that I have Seattle in this tier, which was tier two. I had them as my pick to go the furthest, if not to win the whole thing. And I'm going to stick with that.

I don't have a lack of confidence in them. Christian Raldon just called back up to the national team. It feels like the overwhelming feeling coming out of that game is they're flowing, they're back into who they are, and they're capable of taking this result. The place is going to be electric. Yeah. Like it is going to be so loud. The first corner kick is going to be crazy.

and that's going to be really, really fun to watch. So that's something to look forward to. Now we're on to Hell is Real. Do you want to do the Pat Noonan thing? Yeah. I'm not shocked, but I'm shocked. Yeah. I don't, I just,

this team was literally the worst since, what, Chivas in their first two years? And they were the worst ever. Yeah, like Pat Noonan in the front, Chris Albright in the front office, came in and immediately they've become one of the best teams in MLS. I understand that that doesn't give you a lifetime contract and that doesn't absolve you from criticism. But I feel like I saw something on Twitter that was like, I hope we lose game three so that since you can fire Pat Newton.

That's so wild. What are you talking about? And there's another side of this that I can accept, which is they've got, if you want to count it a weird way, there's like six DPs or seven DPs that have all time been DPs on their roster. Teenage Hadebe used to be one. Brenner used to be one, right? Has Orzano ever been listed as one?

No, I'm sorry, just a teen teenage. 100%. So, like, that's one of the things that, you know, there's, they've, they, and if you take that one away, if you just had Deng A and Evander, like, they spent X millions of dollars. If you add Brenner in, they spent X million dollars on him, it's a $55 million attack. Like, can they not do better? Can they not win? And then the last piece is, are they going to lose the Columbus again?

and are they going to lose their rival? They finish second in the league. This is a bad year for them. Second in the league. If this is your floor, how is this a guy you want to walk away from? And for anyone who's not a Cincinnati fan or maybe a Columbus fan, because they're probably keyed in, we are bringing this up because most of the comments we are getting on social media,

most of the questions we are getting is like, is Pat Noonan in trouble and should he be out? And it is the number one conversation I'm getting from this portion of the soccer sphere, and I clearly you as well, which I'm shocked by. I agree. To be feel like, I haven't spoken to like league sources. No, no, no, no, no. This is all fans.

No, I understand what just like, but I want, I think that that's an important denomination. And just to reiterate, I'm not suggesting that they are absolved from criticism, right? I'm not sitting here. Oh, my God, how dare you? No, we've said over and over again, we've been overwhelmed. And particularly, since he versus like noon and verse Wilfronzi, it's gone Columbus.

But the same argument I made for why I don't think that LEFC are underperforming because they lose in finals of Columbus, we can't spend all the time we do talking about how special, particularly the 23-24 Columbus crew were, and then be like, well, you couldn't beat them, you must stink. So for me, it's, I don't know,

I just think Pat Nune is one of the best coaches in the league. This isn't the barometer, but hypothetically speaking, if he was available. Everyone would interview. Yeah, how many people would be calling? Well, St. Louis would be stolt. Yeah, right?

So, I get it with the attack. It's mostly been constipated the entire season. Like there have been great Evander moments of individuality. It's a great word to you. They've used, Danke has had, like, I think he's very good. But nothing has felt connected. Nothing like Orzano has not been the same guy. Again, I don't know if that's down to Evander's style.

I don't think it is like, but. So there are fair reasons to be like, why isn't there more? but to go beyond that, I think, is just way too far. And then one of the conversations, they've not won a trophy. And so one of the conversations is, do they show up for big games? And I think that part I can understand coming out of game two, which was they looked unprepared. They didn't look ready for the moment.

And that's not unprepared like they didn't do tape. It's like they were not up to the intensity level from first kick. And why wouldn't you be? You've already faced this team once. You've been in this building more than once. you know the rivalry, you drove past the sign to get to the game, like, you know everything that's happening. And they came out on their heels, and they got blitzed for it. And whether Kubo gets sent off or not, they have no chance in that game. They're barely going to survive.

And Arstyn's creating chances, and, you know, we talked about it, what Taha brought to the team, all of that. I think all of those complaints are fair. And if it happens again in this game, it's a huge problem. I wouldn't say anything happens from that. This year, if you want to talk to me 12 months if it all looks exactly the same. Okay, maybe that's a conversation we could have. In saying that, we know there's no Kubo because he's suspended. Orzano came back and played some minutes. Nobado came back and played some minutes as well.

I would be shocked if Cincinnati came out in a similar way. Like, there's just no way that happens to you twice. They've got question marks on the back line because Alvis Powell does not look capable of playing. Flores looked bad, as I said on Monday, but came into a bad fit to. and I don't really trust Teenage of Debbie, I never have, but you have no choice at this point. And so this is a Cincinnati team that has to figure out a way to sort of plug some of these holes. I don't know how much you get at in Wobito. I don't know how fit he is.

I don't know how sharp he is. And if you add him, do you just take Gidey out, who I think's been pretty good? Or is there a way to like push a Vander into a more attacking role? Or do you take away the five in the back and do you put a Vander up top and play four in the midfield and say like, okay, can we clog some numbers here if we have Buka, Gidi, and Wobodo, but all of that would be stepping away from stuff that Cincinnati has been at their core for two years now.

Yeah, I'd be doubtful for a formation change. It's an interesting kind of thought point, but it's not really the time to do that, I don't think. And like, a lot of this could be solved if Miazga was available, which is unfortunate, particularly going back for him being suspended in the past for playoff games. So it's just unfortunate timing,

and I don't know he was injured last year. So two years ago was the pizza box suspension, the referee room. So this is now what? He will have played two playoff games in three years? Yeah. So not many, which again, it's unfortunate each of those situations. You can't plan on the injury.

The injury in this year, I know that he's not, you know, an Iron Man in terms of starting 34 games every season, but he's, this is just bad timing rather than I think something else indicative. and that's a Max Sam centerback. That was the defensive overhaul that you signed. That was their guy in that first season when they took over. He means so much to this team, not having them hurts.

Columbus fans, I'm sure, aren't really shedding many tears when they don't have Wessemabuali and all the issues that they've had this season. Rudy Camacho made his debut in the last game, which is crazy. So injuries happen, it's all part of it. I think the things would look a lot different. if Biasco was back there. For me, I still have CINCII here. If they're able to get, like, I have them winning cup.

Like, that was my bracket. Because, like, I think they're just going to get better as the playoffs go on. If they're able to get out of this. Yeah. And after game two, doesn't look great. No. But they- Getting better arguments does not feel there in the game one.

Game two was worse than game one. Yeah. But it's a home game for, FC Cincinnati to win or go home so I think one of the hopes is if Flores comes in and plays at the level you'd expect yeah does that release at Kaniki to then take advantage of the space arfston leaves because alvis powell was such a tire fire in the last game that at canique was sucked in trying to deal with taha brun and then arfston's running off him and it's you know columbus you're not going to stop so you need to take advantage of their issues it's the same combo we're

about to have with miami Nashville which we said like you have to be on the front foot and you have to score goals because of the mistakes they make. That's what Cincinnati's been incapable of, especially in the second game, but they've only scored one across two games. And so this, in my mind, will be the best of the three games because both have settled, both have had their chances. I think I picked Columbus to win. I still feel confident about that, but Cincinnati at home is a wagon because

DQL's arguably the best atmosphere in the league, and they'll know that they're playing for that and playing in front of it. So there's going to be an awesome game to watch and an awesome game three. So the game after this one is Miami against Nashville, and we got the news a day ago that Louis Suarez has been suspended by the disciplinary committee in Major League Soccer, retroactively for a dangerous play. Dangerous kick, but I think the phrases play against Andy Nahar in around the 79th minute of game two. It was not reviewed in the game. like the referee was not sent to the monitor and obviously he didn't pick up a red card

and so it's all done afterwards and you know what would surprise you Tom is Inter Miami is not stoked about that and they're not going to be super quiet about it either so Inter Miami put out a statement saying that they accept like sorry this wasn't really hey can you come over at this time

it wasn't a Google meet that someone had the option say yes or no to but that they think it's the wrong decision. Inter-Miami, this is the club statement. Enter Miami accepts and respects the decision made by M.S. Disciplinary Committee. At the same time, the club wishes to express its concern about the president's set by re-refering a play that had already been judged by the match officials in VAR, and its confidence that the same standard will be applied in the future to all on-field situations

in any match involving any team. Suarez kicked Andy to Har in the crotch. Yeah. So here's my thing. What are we doing? I watched the game. I thought it was a red card. Yeah.

But I don't know that it is a moment to what I think their point is that is so different from other moments that have happened this season that haven't retroactively been given as a red card. So in reporting this out, the way that the disciplinary committee can step in, it's under like three things. And one of them is the refs saw it and the VR. didn't do anything, but the disciplinary committee feels it's a clear and obvious error. This is like VAR for the VAR. They felt it was a clear and obvious error.

They need an acronym. Huh? There needs to be an accurate. Bar-Var. Yeah. And then people just walk around saying it. Bar-Var-R-Var-Var. Yeah, I mean, I guess it's weird

for all my, you know, games gone made, and me being, like, anti-all-this crap. Like, it feels weird for me, but, like, I think at the core of this, it should have been a red card in the game. I agree. But I also don't see it being so far out of bounds of any other thing that's happened

that hasn't been given one. So I can understand the complaint in the issue, which is like, let's go rewatch the last 20 MLS games, not even picking playoffs. It doesn't matter. I guarantee you there are moments in them that aren't given, that are seen on camera, that are not then suspensions afterwards. I don't think it's like a fix. because I don't think there's someone being like,

how can we make sure Miami loses? I don't think anyone's picking either way. So I don't think it's like geared towards them or at them in any way. But it's big. Suarez is suspended for this game. For Inter-Miami, there's a few options. They could just play Messi up top.

Messia and I, Yende, is my assumption. That's what they did when Swares was suspended for three games for spitting on the sound of security director. it makes it so much better that the reference points are all like the worst thing and a half ago and the worst thing you could have done so you don't buy the argument that he just lost his balance and he was just he got pushed by nahar and so that's what happened because that there's a lot of people oh no the anonymous messy argentina accounts that were hitting replace one of them i was like do you do you actually genuinely believe this uh what is it called uh eastern conference rosario boys 204

on Twitter. Is that what they call themselves? No, I do not think that. Because, again, I don't think so either. I thought it should have been a red card. So the only other thing I'll put in there is, I think Silvetti's looked good. Yes, he has. But he's not a winger. He's very clearly a center forward.

And so that's a good one option. I think he's physical and crafty. And I think there's a burst of pace. It's a lot of responsibility, but they only played two subs last game and he was one of them. So he's clearly in Macharano's plans. But you would assume it's Iyende, can he stretch the field, messy comes underneath, and then do you bring Yannik Bright in and just pack the midfield?

Maybe. Yeah, which is probably your best case scenario. Yeah. You almost get forced into what you should do, or you start Segovia, and then you just have more attacking options. Yeah, for me, because Segovia obviously could do the box-tock stuff too. That's where I'd go. Just to say, like, Alan Abondo, he's back.

I forget if he was injured or just an undue sub when Torres was suspended last time but he has just not looked like an MLS player yet he's very very young of course but he was bought for like $4 million by Atlantico Madrid and loaned here Miami were for sure banking on him for this situation for it to be okay

this is who we start and I just I just would doubt would severely doubt that I would even maybe be surprised if he comes in off the bench I like that I've thrown out some crazy ideas, and yours is to play us forward who has like 19 minutes. And then we're both like, yeah, no chance. Yeah.

And then in the end, it'll be none of them. It'll be the exact thing you said that it would be at the front. I haven't seen an update on Dan Lovitz, who missed the last game. It forced the formation change. Josh Bauer and Cocheren got in. I thought Cochran was fantastic in the game. I said on Monday, I thought Miami failed to take advantage of attacking that space. and so it will be interesting to see

if Miami has a switch in there is, does he and Frey get to start again? Does Frey maybe get slid inside or something like that? And that changes the shape for them with Suarez being out because that's the other option, right? They go 5-3-2, they push Frey in as a third center back. Noah Allen comfortably plays there as well. There's a few different options for them.

To me, the Nashville thing's the same game plan, right? Do they come out, play on the front foot and try and win the game? If they do, Kalina actually said it to me. I think we were all fair, but he was like, Nashville's had the first chance or the first two chances every game, including Decision Day, because Schaffelberg had the two chances in Miami, game one, that he slips on. And if that's it, they are up one zero, up to zero. But then while they played much better, they scored them in game two.

And that's the difference. So that will be really, really big to watch. And then there's that weird, I don't know, fine for Ian Frey that I'm not quite sure of. And I don't know. When have we ever talked about a disciplinary committee final? I know. It just came on the back of the other one. Because we were really reading those.

We're all, like, locked into this. For those who don't know, every single week, there are... Three or four. Of usually failure to leave the field quickly or embellishment. And it's just an undisclosed way. And we get every email. And I read every one and I go, I don't care about this. And that would be how I feel if the PR team hadn't put out this statement, which...

I wonder who wrote. And I wonder whose idea it was. Let's go to the final playoff game of this first round. San Diego against Portland. That one on Sunday. We don't expect C.J. Dos Santos to be available, but as we said on Monday, it feels like best case scenario after watching that injury play out. And then Jim or Forre will be back from suspension because it was two yellow cards,

not a straight red card in that first game. My guess would be he returns to the starting lineup. He brings a little bit more two-way play than Kamal Miller, but still balance from a scarred push forward and get into the attack and then we're waiting to see which the which teams show up in which i mean we've got over the course of the four halves i would cut them even in half and say like eight quarters yeah we have seen one team for portland two of them three of them we've seen one team for san diego five or six of them and the question is like what's the real thing and what do we get a full game of that's a good way to put it because this game

I think there will be set... I think Portland are a live dog here. I think that there are going to be moments where they have the chance to score, whether it's Veldé or transition moments. C.J. Dostentos, there isn't been an official update since he's undergoing... They didn't put out a timeline or anything.

Fractured cheek, I hope that he's all right. Be shocked if he's playing. And that's no inside information. That's just watching the game. How anybody could play again would be incredible. So that's a question mark now for San Diego on that backline, in goal, sorry. So there's going to be moments for Portland. Will they be able to withstand the waves of pressure that San Diego?

San Diego will have much more of the moments. But I do think that Portland are live dog here. Do you think Chuky gets the start? I hope so. So he started the second half in the last game. He was suspended for the first game. And he comes in and scores a little bit of a deflected goal. goal that he's able to tap in, but he makes the run.

He still gets there. And so it would be interesting to see the turnaround from he's not a part of this, and I don't know how he's involved to. He's now a full-time starter, but he's Chuky-Latano, right? That was the point of bringing him in. That's why you wanted it. Yeah. And I do like what Pellegrino has brought into his team.

And I'd like to see the drier Pellegrino and Chuky Luzon from the start. See what it looks like. Yeah. You probably put Pellegrino in the middle, where Corey Baird had started the last game. Baird struggling to impact the game, which would make a ton of sense. The other question is Bambino struggled in the last game as well. It just feels like a physically overwhelming matchup with specifically this Portland team. Like Anthony's been in the league now two and a half years.

The elder is a monster. I thought Wibi was texting us. I thought his comp to Buonga was a good one. Dale. And what we were saying, he's a one V-1 demon. If he gets to his spot, he can finish. Does he open up the game and create for everyone else? I don't know, but that's the same you say about Buonga.

It's like, Bwanga's a match winner, but Bunga doesn't dictate the way the game is played and not everything goes through him. Right. I think you could throw, I mean, you could throw Andres Dreyer in there a little bit as well, though he's part of a more cohesive system. Posolich is similar player, right? Like, if he wins his battle, it's a goal, but that doesn't, that's not the flow of the game that's based around them.

So, yeah, there's a ton of talent. there's match winning talent on both sides. I think there's a question mark at center forward for Portland. They've got options, but no one's performed at a high level. So is it Kelsey? Is it more a. Guera? I don't even know.

Do you throw a T2 kid in there who scored off the bench to save your entire season? How great would that be? It would be the most MLS thing that ever happened. And then next year he wouldn't have a contract. That would be the most MLS thing. We're actually going to spend $2.5 million on someone else, you know, a 19-year-old from Paraguay. Yeah, exactly.

And then he goes on to have a long 10-year on the last career and does great things. But all of these games are live. I didn't have us picked the last few because I forgot about it. So let's start here, San Diego, Portland. Yeah, I'll be boring and say San Diego. Okay. I'm going to say San Diego as well.

And then we didn't do Nashville, Miami. Miami. I'm going to go Nashville. Ooh. Yeah. So we've got a couple splits in there on it. Just embrace debate, guys. Embrace debate.

You know, I'm actually more impressed. By the way, Nashville lost that first game. We've got one more thing to talk about before we go. Well, a little MLS news. Tata Martino official. We talked about it a lot when the reports became you saying, is this going to happen? It just happened yet, hasn't yet?

Anything you feel differently or anything that's popped up with the details or something that you think stand out? Yeah, so this is obviously a very, very interesting decision. and it is a two-year contract says it signed through 2027. There was an initial report that suggested it was a one-year deal, which would have been shocking to me.

So I think that makes more sense. Yeah, Tauts us back. They got a lot of work to do. We know what he's capable of. And again, strip away the Atlanta history. This is a really good hire for any MLS club, I think,

given what he did in Atlanta and Miami. He comes with he's earned the right to have a big personality and a big say in decisions, and that helps. And we'll see what that's going to do in terms of the roster, because they do need some changes. They were already trying to overall the defense in the summer. I'm still hoping that Alexei Marnchuk is playing somewhere else

so they can bring in a designated player. They're, what does Todd, like, they spent a couple, like, maxed ham slots in the summer. does Tata like those players that came in? There was, again, a couple of centerbacks at defensive midfielder. Again, defensive midfield that they haven't had one since Tata left when it was, you know, Jeff Leranowitz in there, or Darlington Nagby since he left. He's not the same type of like destroyer or whatever, right?

But there's work to do. I'm excited at the possibility, but I think you can hear it in my voice. I'm not like going crazy. If they hired Tata a couple stops ago, I can't say, Landy United is back again until they are actually good. Just can't do it. So one of the things that's tough with this, and you kind of went through it,

is a lot of these TAM players are on guaranteed contracts next year. You get two buyouts, right? Yep. And there are ways to get out of other deals. You can send guys away for very little. You can see if people don't want to be there anymore. But Bartow Sli is on a guaranteed deal. Tristan Mu Yuma, Muranchuk,

Mihaj, Sabah, Latte Lath, Steon Grigerson, Juan Barracol, and Stephen Alzate and Miguel Elmiron. Everyone I just named is on, except for Mu Yumba, is on 870 or more. Most of them are around a million dollars. Also, obviously, there's the DPs, but the others are all TAM players.

Yeah. Because of transfer fees that came in with these too. Which, if the appeal of Tata is, he's great at roster building, there's not a lot of work he can do inside of that. I agree. The pushback would be, again, if they do indeed, get rid of, again, it's worth saying.

Chris Anderson said he expects the same three DPs to be starting on the first match of the season. I hope that's not the case. So there could be a DEP. They have three 22 initiative slots. Jamal Tiaray, Tam Deal, option for next year. Brooks Lennon, Tam deal, option for next year. So those are a couple to start out with.

And then like you said, if they, it's so easy to spend other people's money and I don't want to take for granted how much investment ownership is done. But maybe if they want to do those buyouts, if they want to put some more in. So here's my one thing, which I want to say on that is, I think Tata maybe keeps it open longer, which is if there was a chance Arthur Blank was going to look at the front office

and say, he has spent a lot of money, make it work. I think agreeing to bring Tata in, and you know Tata's expectations and Blank's affection for him keeps that door open for another year where he's like, I know Tata will spend my money well. He's done it in the past. He has the open. And that may have been part of the appeal

for Henderson and his staff to be like, yeah, let's sort of get this move in and let's get trust again from ownership or whatever it is. And so my expectation there is that's the opportunity. Speaking of Atlanta, Joseph Martinez will not be returning to the San Jose earthquakes.

Correct. Myself and Felipe Cardenas reported this last night. We were told it was like a mutual decision. They were collaborative conversations between Martinez and the quakes and it ends with the quakes will just decline his option because that's where the conversations went to.

The relationship between Bruce Arena and Joseph Martinez is strong. It's a good one. All of that's great, heading out the door. It's like when Joseph left Montreal with that last winter. They were talking about a contract extension and then they ultimately didn't come to an agreement so they agreed to go like...

Yeah. It's okay to say we're a million dollars apart or we're $200,000 apart. That doesn't mean we hate each other. We're flipping tables. And I say this to say he's, this will be, I believe, his fifth team in five years, wherever he signs this year. And obviously him leaving Atlanta was messy. Miami, he wanted to stay, but messy.

They had more money. And when you say messy, you're putting a Y on that? You're putting an eye at the end of that. Atlanta was the Y. Okay. And the next one, I remember joking around that time when it was like Joseph that have his arms around. Yeah. Even all the team.

We're all friends. Before Suarez Go, guys, they're calling us. But like, just to establish, it's not like he's burning bridges everywhere he goes and, like, flaming out. And also, he had his best season since his devastating knee injury. He had 14 goals that led the quakes.

That was his highest single-season goals since that injury. He played the most minutes he's played since that injury, I believe it was around 2000. He had 13 goals last year from Montreal. So this guy who scored 27 regular season goals in, I don't know, 3,500 minutes, something to that effect. It's a good player. He's 32. He comes with a big personality, a big name and everything else, and that can be tough, but the guy's just scoring goals. He's not an explosive regular runner anymore, but when he's making his sprints, he's made them count. It's difficult to build, like, if you're a pressing team, it definitely fit. But I thought in San Jose fit well. And we're told he's always got interest in going back to Atlanta. Totsam Martinez back. That helps. I'm just looking at the standings right now and thinking about teams and openings and where he could fall.

I think the work he's done over the last 18 months rehabs the idea of like teams would take flyers on him. The right team, the question would be how much money he would expect. Yeah, it's a good question. I think he would actually be a pretty clean fit here in Charlotte, not as a guaranteed starter. That's a good job. Topolotti's the guy, Archie Goodwin's, a part of it. Joseph at 6 or 700K, be around them. Play sometimes, don't play sometimes.

And I think there's a list of teams you could put in there. You could put Minnesota in there. Like, you know, Bongy's playing as a center forward and a wingback this year. So clearly you're thin at one of those positions. I just don't see how he fits under Eric Ramsey. I mean, you have to defend, but you're not pressing high. Fair. But, like, the way he's played, you could convince me of a bunch of these teams.

Does Cincinnati have money on the side that he's now the new Corey Barrett, Sergio Santos, Kai Kumari guy for them? You know, is Chicago looking for a Kuyper's backup? He's a true Fox in the Box Center forward. He'd score goals in Greg's system, but do you want to bring a guy like that in right now? Like, is that an interest? So I think there's a couple teams you could convince me on in all of this. And if Joseph doesn't care about the number and he wants to win, then the options are even bigger. and, like, is Vancouver in play?

And he could be a depth piece or Danny Rios, the placement or whatever it is. So, yeah, we'll be interesting to see there. Let's hit our final topic here before we get to Chris and Kalina, which is the U.S. men's national team. So they've announced their roster for the final camp of 2025. Just got to remember what year it is. They will be playing, I believe, the guise, right? They're playing Paraguay and Uruguay.

So they're playing the guise in this camp. The roster coming out, a lot of news. It starts with all the names that aren't there. No Christian Pulisic, no Chris Richards. I think those are the two biggest ones. No Timothy Wea, no Weston McKinney, no Jedi, no Malik Tillman. Those are all the guys that are on the team if they're healthy or available. I don't know that that's a given.

For most of them, it is. So most of these players are either managing injuries, recovering from injuries, or just returned by injuries, or they are out. One of them isn't that we know of, I don't think. It's Wesson McKinney. Yeah, yeah. West, like, Wesson wasn't going to be on the Gold Cup roster. They weren't able to select him because he was with Juventus at the Club World Cup.

I don't know, right? Like, he hasn't always been involved. I thought he was good last game. And he started both games. It's a shock to me. To be clear, starting both games, I think. If he didn't start the second game, you could convince me on this on. I think this is play for YuVe.

We need you to be playing for YuVe. be healthy, be there, be training. That's my opinion, but it's hard to say with the other guys that have been called in. Yeah. To be collaborative is very, very important with these clubs. It is not either party telling, like, you have to manage these situations. At some point, are we going to have our best players ever?

Probably not. Are we just going to defer to clubs all of the time? Crystal Palace. So I'm sorry, this isn't me saying defer to clubs. This is me saying the biggest concern for the Uve's national team is that Weston McKinney is not a starter for Uvei over the next six months. True. And what gets you there is not whether Uvei asked him to or not,

it's make sure he's healthy, make sure he's fit, make sure he's training there so that he's in best favor there. And it's not helping Uvei, it's helping Westin help himself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. But like, I don't know, how many of their starters are got, that's Juventis, they've got of 20 people on international. Yeah. So is it Weston and the U23s right now?

I think it'd be more valuable for him to be with the national team. But whatever, like, maybe that is the case. Rather than, like, hey, like, I'm just not picking you. But with these clubs, so Milan has been annoyed at the national team with Pulisic injury handling. The national team let him have the summer off. Yeah. Chris Richards, the Pallas manager is coming out, bitching about...

He was mad. Yeah, you know, he played all the... Chris Richards played every minute for Pallas before the international break. He comes back after the international break and immediately starting again. In the Carabal Cup, I think. Yeah. How about you rest him? Well, his point would be one's a friendly and one's a regular season game.

What is the – Carabal Cup is a glorified friendly. Yeah. Me. But so, like, I don't know. Like, it's just – Tom's not getting the show sponsored by Carabow every time soon. I remember when they announced that sponsored – when it was just the League Cup.

I had no idea what that was. No, the Carlin Cup, mate. That's the OG. That's – It's never been more gone. Yeah, but like, it's just... So... It would just be nice to have...

Yeah, it would be nice. The next time that the players will be back in camp is March. Yeah. It's a long time from right now. And they're not having January camp. Not that it matters in that scenario. Chris Richards out is huge. I assume they play three in the back because that's the only thing Pott's landed on.

So now it gives... I think it looks good. Yeah. Only thing that looks good. But the key. to it, the best player in all of it is not available. So here's the question for Potch is like, did you see enough with it that you have to work on it even without him? The other thing is what's Plan B? Like, Chris Richards could be hurt at a World Cup. That's a possibility. He could miss a game.

Is your plan B filling in for him? Is your plan B changing stuff? Which we don't know. So this is his opportunity to test that. My guess would be Tim Rheim steps into the middle of the back three or Miles. I think those are the two where their skill sets could try. translate best. And then you see a Mark McKenzie and an Austin trustee, it turns out, as sort of the wide centerbacks. But those are not the craziest names on this list. There are some wild names on this list. Jonathan Cleansman back in the team. So second call-up of the year. And Gio Raina and Joe Scali are back in the squad. But the big one is Giorina alongside Sebastian Burrhalter for the U.S. men's national team. What do you make of that? I will start. I'll just

kind of read Paul Tenorio and Harry Bushnell wrote this. They recapped it well. We know the situation between the Burrhalters and the Raina's with Claudio, Reina, trying to blackmail Greg Berlter with you as soccer. So, Gio and Sebastian, we're best friends. As we're Greg and Claudio. Yeah, yeah. But just folk, we talked about them enough.

Geo told Sports Illustrated an interview in 2020. We talk every day about him and Sebastian Burrhalter. it's unclear if it seems that that's not the case in April of this year Sebastian Berhalter spoke to the athletic

and indicated that they haven't they don't really talk so I don't know if that's animosity I don't know if it's just weird maybe we have a rekindling of a friendship here or maybe we get a report that the first session in like

in a rondo where they're warming up we see somebody get blown up I don't know but it's it's interesting It is, it may make U.S. soccer more interesting to people from the outside. It is a bizarre situation. It's been bizarre for two years now.

Like pretty much everything that's happened to GEO since the start of the 2022 World Cup has been outside the norm of what we've ever seen. It's amazing that he's been called back in, I think, on its own. He's played 45 minutes in the last month. I don't know where he got from your out to your end over the last. since the last camp. So that's bizarre on its own. Joe Scali has continued to play. So I don't know why he was out,

now he's back in. He also could be a wide centerback guy. He could be one that we see play as that right centerback. And then what is this internal group? And you say this in the vacuum of no Tyler, no Pulisic, like the guys who have been the leaders of this group,

no West McKinney, no Timothy Wea. They're not there. Tyler's there. Oh, Tyler's in this? Yeah, yeah. That's even more delicious. Is it? I don't know.

Tyler's the one who's going to lead the way in all of this. I don't know that he kicks someone, but it's like it's on him to sort of deal with it and lead them through. Obviously, Christian Roldont, like there are veterans in this group, but my point being the leadership of this generation, not a lot of it is that Chris Richards is not there. So now you've got to manage this in that vacuum with a group of players who are getting to know each other. I will say I'm excited to see Roldon got called back in. I'm really excited that Tanner Testman, Aiden and Morris both got called back in. I thought they were very good. I would like to see them play with Tyler.

I think both of them provide quality on both sides of the ball that we don't see in a lot of the rest of the pool in that position. Everyone else is geared towards one side, and I think it lacks balance. So I think they have a really big shot. To be good, I will like to see if they play back five, Max Arfston dominate so I can text you during every single moment that it happens. I agree with you. I agree with you. You do not. You're a liar.

And then Baligan gets called in scored a goal in Champions League. Pepe scored a goal as well. And then Haji Wright are the three center forwards. Yep. And Brendan Aronson is the other player listed as a forward. But again, if it is the 3-4-2-1, he would be in the attacking. He would be one of the options with like Giorina in that attacking midfield spot. Yeah.

So the first game is on Saturday of next week. And then the second game is on Tuesday. I'm right. I know that. Cool. The first game in Philadelphia. So we'll have coverage of it next week coming up as well. We've got Christian Kalina on the way right here,

and we will be back on Monday. We've had a great week of shows. We had the owner of Casey Currant on kickback committee. Chris Long, he talked about future expansion in NWSL, growing a club, what's worked, what hasn't. So a lot of interesting nuggets in there. We have, of course, all of our coverage, the NWSL playoff preview we have with Jordan Angelia as well.

So it's the first weekend of the postseason for single game. elimination knockout games on top of USL Championship, USL League 1, Go 1 Knoxville, and MLS playoffs. So I think if I count all those together, it's what, 4, 6, 11,

I want to say 19 elimination games this weekend, or maybe 15. I think I did the, the USL championship. No, it's down to 8. Yeah, yeah. So 19 elimination games this weekend, and we will be back on Monday

with all your coverage of it. But let's go now to Kristen Kalina. Well, we are on site and getting ready for the first playoff game coming up in the round of one, the elimination games that we are approaching for the weekend. And we are lucky enough to be in person at the stadium with Christian Kalina. Kristen, thanks for joining us. Thank you for your call. Yeah.

So I got to start on the big story. You guys win game two, penalty kick shootout, and you had some celebrations for the crowd. What was the emotion? What was the experience for you in that shootout? It was really nice to beat them at their home with their fans and yeah, I think they already celebrate the day past us because they play home, they beat us in Bank of America what is really difficult for any team. And they were really confident that they did their job. and in the other side we prepared ourselves to beat them there we did it and now we are banked at the bank

this is one of the conversations around this format of the playoffs some people are upset there's not single elimination but the other part is it feels like there's this tension that grows like you've now played NYC twice in two weeks do you feel that sort of tenacity as it grows over the course of the games yeah it's a little bit weird because you can even we play against them maybe five, six rounds before the end

of the season, home or away, and yeah, it's a little bit you can know the better opponent from every game what you play and I think both of sides now everything knows about each other even I don't think so that they

analyze us anymore and we don't analyze them anymore something specific, it's more like some small things but yeah it's from one side it's nice to play this games because you can see

like how the coaches are putting the teams and preparing the teams for the games because the most of the job they need to do because it's more battle between them than between us even between us but like tactically it's more about them because

now it's like third game how we will play like who will go and make first step forward who will go backward or like go to attack on 100% or you'll be a little bit more like in middle block, it's more about them. The big challenge for you and has been for the league is Alonzo Martinez up top. He's been one of the best strikers in the league over the last three years. What makes him special and what have you learned about him as you've seen him a couple times?

Now when I see him a couple times, I really like him because how he drives the balls when he gets the ball. he has like nice touches with right and left foot and how he scored here in the bank like you cannot just applause to him because it was great dribbling from him overall he's somewhere like

nowhere in the game like all the time like he's just waiting his chance and then he's running in the space this is his big advantage and yeah when he gets the chance most of the chances he score he has come a calmer finishing shoot shots really good penalties

and overall and what he plays for Costa Rica is big player for them and big player for New York City but normal we are not scared of him just like it's a really good player I respect him yeah I don't know if you saw in the gold cup he almost scored on Matt Freeze

yeah and Matt Freeze looked at it like this is this is a classic Alonzo Martinez strike yeah yeah You mentioned the PKs. There was a couple PKs in that regular season game when you face them, and then, of course, now the shootout. So how are you thinking about penalty kicks against guys you've seen before in terms of you think they'll go the same way?

Are you trying to push them the same way? Like, what's your process as you go into a shootout? The biggest thing is, like, prepare yourself that you know how they approach to these penalties. It's completely different if we'll compare, like, Martinez's penalty shootouts, who is shooting, like, whole season. or everybody else. When you have penalty shootouts and they will shoot like five, six, seven guys is completely different than when you have on the game,

the best player from them shoot the penalty and then it's like you don't have so many chance to save those penalties because they pick the best player. But when you have penalty shoots out after the game, then you have your chance and then the big role can play goalkeepers who are there and goalkeeper coach who prepared their goalkeeper. for that. I always complain about the water bottle and the paper.

Like, you don't need that, right? You can remember who the next five guys are? Yeah, you can remember, but then you need to go home and really study everybody of them. Most of the time, you can remember three, four guys, but if you come in Syria, a round of Syria, like, seven, eight, who should, then, like, you can not forget, even sometimes you know them, but the game changed. Like if they score like four or five in a row, I will say you are outside of the rhythm. Then you need to find another your rhythm to come back because they feel confidence, oh, he's far away every time.

Or when he is going on the side, we should good penalty. Like he cannot save. But even something like that happened in New York City. Like I was not there like in a rhythm. Like they find the way how they go next to me. But every penalty I was there like with my head and I didn't. I was just waiting that. I say one and it was bet between me and freeze, who will get first one?

Right. And thank God I get the first one and we beat them. As a goalkeeper, do you enjoy the shootout? Like when that final whistle blows and you know it's going, is that your opportunity or you're like, I wish we had dealt with this? For me, it depends, again, like when you're younger, maybe you feel some pressure because even for me, like, everybody knows me that I'm really good on penalties, like if you compare this season

I was not great on the penalties I just saved from Leo Messi but I don't put pressure on myself it's like more if you will enjoy you will get more success

if you put more pressure on yourself oh now everybody think that I need to save three penalties two penalties then you come on this like that you are outside of the rhythm that you don't save any penalty because you are overthinking no just go enjoy and then

don't care about what they will say or how he will approach the penalty or a word, he will say after he scored to you, it doesn't matter. Like, this is just game like every other. You need to find a way how you can save them, and that's it. I want to ask you about this season and pressure, because for you was an up-and-down season. There were moments where you didn't look like the same goalkeeper as last year,

and then you helped lead this team on the greatest winning street in MLS history. What was your thought process, what's your experience like as you look back on this year? Yeah, I think I started a really, really good season. First nine rounds, I was one of the top. And then it came, I think, 10, 12 games from the team and from me, like, a little bit more shaking. And, yeah, it was not the – I was not the same guy in that moment. And even with my confidence, but I think it was overall everybody of us, it was not just me. It was like whole team.

we back and myself I back in the end I said one time here to the media maybe seven eight rounds behind before the end of the season that I will be in the end one of top and I think statistically I am first or second goalkeeper this year on every stage where it is where matters for the goalkeeper and I'm really happy with my season because it's nice when you have a season where you go all the time up and But this season even maybe show more mentality and how it looks and where is my head when something goes down, how I can be back soon and really good last part of the season on a high, high level. And for this team, it's been a great year.

And while there's great attacking talent, the strength of this team is this back five, back six. What is the unit like? What is it like working with Tim Riem and Malanda and the guys in front of you and constantly building sort of this barrier? Yeah, it's like, I will say big respect between us. This is like the most important because respect to each other that you know that the guy behind you or next to you is like high quality player who can play with you. This is like first thing because everybody of us has our opinion, how we need to play, how we need to defend. But when you respect each other and when we say something to each other and we get this information in our head and try to.

understand my teammate, then you can grow up. If you have just your opinion and you go for like straight for your opinion and your guy is not accepting this, then you go like you're just waiting mistakes from each other and then you will say, oh, I say to you, you say to me. But if you are like try to work together like we did whole season, even when it was tough, tough time, then you have a defense like we have. What is it like working under Dean Smith and what's it been like sort of developing into his style. Yeah, every time I repeat myself from day one when he came here, he put some standards how he wants that we are playing like team

because it's not just about defense last five, six guys, it's about whole team. I will say if we have like two wingers who are not playing defense, you will feel this that we cannot like hold this all clinches or all the games where we play really good without them. Then maybe we are a little bit more weaker in attack because all the players, you have many teams who are like up for guys. They are not playing defense. But yeah, they are really dangerous in the counterattacks and in attack, but they are receiving a lot of goals.

And then like we are choosing or Dean Smith is choosing our tactics to be more stable, more compact, more play together all defense. And then we will do it something in front. The big thing though for you is you've got to score from the. the open field in this playoff round what's it going to take for this team to break through again i will say we don't need to put pressure ourselves because we didn't score last two games this is our game we play like that whole season we just need to be stick to our plan and something will happen we'll score tomorrow by set pieces penalty free kick uh counter attack they will make mistake i don't know how but for sure i'm i'm sure that we'll score tomorrow goal too and

that we can beat them on this way. What would it mean for Charlotte FC for you to progress past this round and win this first playoff series? Yeah, it's not just about tomorrow because, yeah, it's the most important that we progress if you look last four years. This will be for sure the best year. Like even now it's the best year if you look at the points

and everything else. But if we pass this first round, again, we'll put something in the history for this club that we pass this round and then next year again you will want to go further even this year but it's not just about this game because we know already against who will go if we pass this if we are not if you if we are not ready to pass new york city then how you will beat someone like philadelphia and in a way game then tomorrow in our head it needs to be like we really need to go strong as as possible to tomorrow to show that we can play against Philly away and normally, we will have some time to prepare this game.

But Philly is a really serious team and in their home is really difficult to play. For you, you have a unique position as a goalkeeper in that you're right next to the supporters, the whole game, especially the supporters section of the whole half. It feels like you have a real relationship with them. What would it mean to be able to win this game in front of them on Friday night? Yeah, it's Friday night. much nicer than Tuesday night what we had and I think the fans will enjoy more because normally you have a week in front of you I think the the crowd will be there like

like there any time when they can come because normally if it's during the week they are working and it's more difficult for them to to come on the game but to win in front of them yeah I will not say it means everything but it means a lot because this is our home we had great season in all home games and then came first game playoffs we lost but now we have again opportunity to to win more important game than first one and passed around i assume growing up in zagreb you'd never even heard of charlotte north carolina is that yeah yeah i didn't hear yeah what does the city mean to you now what's what's your experience like For me, I really enjoy in this city because it's something similar like my city, Zagreb.

We have approximately like the same amount of the people. It's really nice for me, for my family, it's calm city. First three years I was living in Uptown. Now I live a little bit further, but overall I'm really enjoying here and appreciate all the support from all the fans. And I feel like this is my second home because four. years I'm here and it's really nice. We had Zorin Kreneta on the show and he talked about Seattle as a reference point of maybe not the flashiest names or maybe not being the best team every season,

but being consistent, raising the floor, being constant playoff contender. Do you look out that at the league and say this is where Charlotte should sit in this four, you know, three, four seed every single season? Yeah, but this is like I see that Charlotte has a bright future but you need to show every season and be there because Seattle is like you know you take this from the history because last 10 years you can say for them they were there they are there and yeah I think last season we were there this season we are there and if you will show this in the next two three years that we are up above like fifth position like four second first so second third then you will everybody will respect you more and what is normal we are young club

They don't care about us as much as like some bigger clubs with bigger sea history. But from one point, this is normal and it's more, more, you can be more motivated. You've come over to this league and you've clearly, you watch the league, you are consuming it as you learn it. What do you enjoy about major league soccer? Enjoy like on great conditions to play on great fields, great stadiums, nice travels, big cities. everything about the organization is like really really high level and playing against the players player who are coming here in the US we know that we cannot compare with Europe but like the players who are coming here and who are coming like no names in

this league and they are making their transfers to Europe it shows like where we are and yeah it's really nice to play against even like big names like Leo Messi or or the Alba, Sergio Buscades, who are coming in Miami, but every other club has some big names. And to compete with them, it's really nice. What's the feeling, is it pride when you have a guy like Adelson Malanda who's sort of under your wing as you've helped support and you watch him potentially get this transfer and move on?

Yeah, I'm really proud because he made this transfer, but from day one when he came here, I can see this talent in him. And really happy that he deserved completely he deserved this transfer. And really happy how he's waiting this, like, no, I will not say a long time, but like he didn't rush. And this is the most important for the young players that you can play like a little bit longer in this type of league because it's really good league. But give you some confidence, experience. And I will say like for the young players, the most important is that you are ready for the next step.

Not just making the step forward and then not playing there. when you are coming there, that you are really ready, physically and mentally, that you're ready to compete there and to play there. For a goalkeeper, we talked about PKs. The other big moment for a goalkeeper to be in the spotlight is the goalkeeper of the year award. Do you think about it? Do you talk about it? Is it in your mind as you go about your year? Like last year, I won this trophy this year, how I start.

Yes, I was thinking about that. Like, normally this is one motivation more to be against. there but overall when everything can happen like then I was just contrary to myself how can I get back I get back and I will say statistics I was first or second goalkeeper in the all statistics but yeah they they choose that the St. Clair is the best one and I congrats to him I think maybe he has the best season behind him and his team playing really well like during all season what gives him, like, more easier, like, position to be, like, first one.

But, yeah, I'm happy that I'm one of top three there, and just to go to another year, to not to try to win this, but try to be constant whole year and to help my team as much as I can. Before I let you go, has there been a conversation about MLS Cup? Has it been talked about this year? In the start of the year, we were speaking about that we want to win something, but I'm opinion on that, that you don't, like, you can speak about that, but you need to show on the field. And like I said before in New York, we need to go there to show the energy, to show our mentality, we did. And now it's again about us, like, nobody can take this from us if we want this. But just to speak like, oh, we want to win, I think we are far away from that.

that we have four or five more four more games with tomorrow from game by game if we will win tomorrow we will be one step closer to MLS Cup but it's everything on us well we're looking forward to watching too and appreciate you taking the time to chat with me thank you very much You know, oh, oh.